By Iwazaru How do you stop a scammer? You contact the police, present evidence of the scam and wait for justice to be served, right? Unfortunately that justice may be–and usually is–slow to arrive, if it ever does. The system has to do its work as the judicial machine chugs or sputters along. Such is [...]

By Iwazaru

If you’re planning on travelling this winter pay very close attention to whom that travel agent is claiming to be able to get you “Real Cheap Travel.” The clues will be rather obvious: he goes by the name Wystan Kang or Joseph Kim; he works for Zenith Travel or Expert Travel; he promises he has a great fare lined up for you to Palau, Hanoi, Bangkok, Fukuoka…anywhere; you need to wire the amount to his bank account before you can get the ticket; days start to pass and he’s not getting back to you; The ticket may have some trouble, he tells you (or maybe he doesn’t and you end up at the airport where you’re informed the ticket has been cancelled); he can’t return your money; he’s very sorry.

This is the story that dozens of expats have to tell stretching back many months. Yet there had been a hint of justice in Ocober of 2011 when Wan-koo Kang (aka Wystan, aka Joseph Kim) was arrested, had his business license suspended by the Seocho District Office and the doors of Zenith Travel were closed. The case then went from the Seoul Metro Police Agency’s International Crime Investigation Department to the East Branch of the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office where it is ongoing now. Reportedly, Kang was taken before a court after his arrest where the judges determined that he would be released without detention while the case proceeded.

By Iwazaru

With the reported arrest of “Wystan” Wan-koo Kang in October, many thought that justice had been served. Zenith Travel had its doors shut and Kang was to face prosecution for scamming dozens of foreigners out of more than an estimated 100 million won. So why is he still conducting deals and scamming more foreigners?

Within days of Kang’s arrest in the second week of October, those involved with the case reported that Kang was continuing to arrange travel plans for people. One by one people connected with the “Case against Wystan Kang” Facebook group reported that they’d been scammed. On October 17, one individual wrote:

“Thank you very much for organizing this group and I am sorry for your losses. I have used Kang for years and just recently sent him money for a ticket. I was unaware of all the recent negative press. Strangely, someone sent me a confirmation for my ticket on Friday. However, when I called the airline it of course had not been paid for. I am assuming my money and ticket are gone. Do you have any idea who would still be responding to emails? Should I fill in a report with a police station? Any info you have would be greatly appreciated.”

By The Expat

I don’t like or dislike the entire “Korea Experience.” That is to say, I’m not in love with the place, but I don’t hate it either. I’m simply a non-person here, a marriage migrant who rolled the dice and accepted the outcome.

We all have experiences both good and bad in Korea, but for me, most of my experiences are simply neutral. I don’t experience mind-blowing revelations, nor do I experience extreme depression or feelings of hatred. Day after day passes, and my experience mostly remains neutral. In fact, I make a concerted effort to exert as much control over my neutral “Korean Experience” as possible.

For example, I avoid areas with large numbers of publicly intoxicated people. I also avoid driving for reasons of both health and sanity. Not going to drinking areas and avoiding driving have significantly reduced my number of unpleasant encounters with the locals. I mostly encounter Koreans in positive or neutral situations, and largely avoid unpleasant situations. This has allowed me to avoid the trap of constantly harboring feelings of negativity.

By Mizaru

Part 1

I’m in Love with modern moonlight

And the neon when it’s cold outside

I’m in love with rock ‘n’ roll and I’ll be out all night

To Sinchon Rotary from Incheon International Airport. Airport BusLimousine # 6044. I’m just back from an E-2 visa run to Japan and, yes, it feels like I have been on some sort of public profile tour. I get off the plane, bob and weave through immigration and set feet on solid ground. And it’s not just in my head that Korean Immigration is clocking me and to the best of my knowledge it has nothing to do with making 3WM. I am up to about 10 delays, missed trips, rescheduled flights skittered boat crossings and the like which when all combined should add up to about two months of ‘overstayed visa’ time. Of course it’s a melodrama involving officials and a back-packer, “Why have you overstay?” “I didn’t know, Mr Kim at Immigration office told me to get a bigger passport. I need more pages.”

By Mel Joyce

“If any of [Joe]‘s relatives are reading this page, please contact me. I am one of his friends in Korea.” This is what I found on my brother’s Facebook page on May 31st, 2009. I was stunned. My heart skipped a few beats; this was the reason that I had joined Facebook. My worst fears were taking shape before my very eyes.

I respond to my brother’s friend Jill as quickly as possible. She tells me that he hasn’t been at work in several days. People have seen him in bars drinking, dirty, talking to himself and throwing things. We discuss the situation and his friend says she’ll get a group together to go searching for him. They can’t find him. One friend finds him and he tells her that he has been locked out of his apartment and he doesn’t have a bed. She brings him a mattress to sleep on, but it doesn’t make him stay.

By John M. Rodgers
Following five months of investigation into the circumstances surrounding PVT Fisher’s case including but not limited to the conduct of his attorney who was chosen from a list of 15 USFK approved Korean lawyers, the alleged events on the night of Fisher’s arrest, the testimony of the taxi driver which was seemingly taken as the key element in the conviction, the forensic analysis of the crime scene and evidence seized from Fisher’s person, and the USFK’s interest in, handling of and contact with Fisher and his case, The Three Wise Monkeys (3WM) has come across numerous discrepancies, leaps of logic, acts of negligence, failures of responsibility and attitudes of indifference.

Among the many things supported by documents that 3WM has obtained, is the fact that PVT Fishers initial conviction on 10 June 2011 was based on flawed reports/documents that judges relied on to make their determination. That initial judgment served as the basis for all subsequent decisions and the final rejection of his appeal on 8 December 2011. This calls into question Fisher’s entire legal process.

Over the next few months, 3WM will publish a series of articles focused on exposing the many aspects of PVT Fisher’s case that, at the very least, point to a flawed handling of the case or, at the worst, indicate an utter miscarriage of justice.

By Iwazaru

Seven full days into the more than 400 kilometer pilgrimage across the Korean peninsula in an attempt to trace the footsteps of 7th century Buddhist monk Wonhyo, the members of the trek have changed, the leader, Tony MacGregor, has taken a dangerous fall, Koreans have stepped forward with immense generosity and the road has provided its good share of challenges and rewards. All the while Macgregor, Chris McCarthy and Sangmin sunim, a Buddhist monk who’s joined the pilgrims, have pushed on sometimes joined by professor David Mason.

On Saturday, December 10, MacGregor was happy enough to answer some questions about the journey while settling in after a dinner at Muryang Buddhist Temple in Yeongyang. Among the many things he said, one stood out toward the end of the interview when he offered that each day was a “stepping into the unknown” which he was actually enjoying.

See here for the original story about the pilgrimage and visit the official Site where the pilgrims post pictures and words each day.

Editor’s note: Over the past few months 3WM was in contact with a volunteer at an Korean orphanage who offered to submit an article about the goings on at the center itself. Yet, as she conducted her research for the article, she found herself under increasing pressure from the staff. Below is the article she was able to submit under the circumstances. Following that is some of the correspondence that took place between 3WM and the author during the course of the research and composition process. 3WM is withholding the name of the author and the orphanage.
By Jane Doe

I do not blame the children at the orphanage for being wary of new tutors. The children become very hurt when a tutor fails to show up or when his teaching contract is finished and returns back to his home country. My students adored the previous teacher and felt deeply saddened when she left. After several months of going to the orphanage, I had to leave to teach English on Jeju Island for a month. Dae Kwan was a bit disappointed to see me leave and stopped attending the class taught by my replacement. When I returned to the orphanage in March, Eun Jung chose another volunteer to be her tutor. I tried to not take the rejection personally and wished Eun Jung the best.

By Iwazaru

Over recent years the growing trend in Korea’s ESL education has pointed toward a preference for Korean English teachers in both private and public schools. The administrators of schools prefer to have teachers who can work within the system, removing any sort of language and cultural barrier and, as new reports and polls are now showing, parents and kids prefer a Korean teacher over an expat (see here for a detailed list of sources).

Now, the Seoul government has taken heed and says it will show all expat English teachers in Seoul’s public high schools the door beginning in September of 2012.

By Iwazaru

The pilgrimage began in the southeast Korean city of Gyeongju and will end, if all goes well, in the city of Pyeongtaek more than 400 kilometers away near the western coast just south of Seoul. Four years in the making, the journey is an attempt to retrace the path of Wonhyo, an eclectic Buddhist monk and wayfarer during the 7th century who set out on his own pilgrimage to China but abandoned it near present-day Incheon after experiencing an epiphany of sorts (he allegedly drank maggot-filled water from a broken skull in the dark of night which caused vomiting followed by a vision). Wonhyo’s realization that the refuge he’d sought during a storm had been a tomb and the gourd he’d seen, a skull, led him to develop the philosophy Ekayana which asserts that all things in the universe are connected and that the inner journey is essential. He returned to spread the revelation.

By Jake Reed

Six years after first moving to Asia and I find myself becoming lazy. Lazy in my desire to care about China’s track record with respect to abusing human rights, purposely manipulating its currency and just about everything Fox News blames China for. The laziness comes out in my compliance at being on the outside looking in. Getting stared at, being cut in line, and putting up with jeering from way too serious local coworkers have become part of my 9-5. I’ve become indifferent to the expensive foreigner markets, the special foreigner price at most restaurants and the local girls ephemeral charms that hide evil intent. Despite all this and heaps more, I still choose People’s Square as the place where I close my eyes and open them to the ever-present Shanghai grey.

Take a walk anywhere and eventually you’ll run into landscapes where run-down buildings meet novel, haste-induced architecture. Building materials decorate half-finished constructions. A Chinese friend once laughingly told me that the haste and lack of quality in the construction biz is done in order to insure future jobs.

By Simon Phillips
On December 4, a motley crew of academics, explorers, and journalists will pioneer a journey which has been about five years in incubatio—following in the footsteps of the ancient Korean monk Wonhyo across the Korean Peninsula.

The pilgrimage is the first one of its kind ever undertaken in honor of Korea’s best-known Buddhist hero, who found enlightenment in Dangjin in the 7th Century while attempting to sail to China.

It will start from Gyeongju—former capital of the Buddhist Silla kingdom where Wonhyo lived, and end in Dangjin, on the west coast of South Chungcheong Province (south of Incheon). The pilgrims will travel mostly on foot along provincial roadways and mountain-trails.

By Kyla Polanski
Toward the end of the event we were directed through hundreds of bowing and cheering people that were lined up like they had been in the afternoon, but were now at least three rows thick. Before we were free, rows of what looked like airline stewardess’ all chanted, smiled, and bowed in sync on either side of us. Their chant was in Korean and was continuous. I’m sure the words were simply saying goodbye but it was a haunting finish. Volunteers and people shouted and waved at us randomly around the sidewalk, while we walked to our bikes. Even the people selling pineapple slices on a stick were in our faces and waving their fruit aggressively.

On the way home, my ears were buzzing and I felt like I could use a cold beer and enjoy some MUCH needed silence. My thoughts and feelings were all over the place. I recall thinking that Mannam was probably a religious cult. And then thinking, Wow, that would have been a disappointing laser show in the 70’s! I felt physically itchy and we all had the need to research whatever that was. My friends recalled that there were no signs of sponsorship throughout the event. We wondered when and if Mannam would email us. Of course they’re going to email us! Gah! I couldn’t stop thinking about the toll of appearing happy and smiling for hours on end, or how the crowd erupted and lost all control when Lee Man Hee walked on stage.

By HBCTravis
Leaving a comfortable if scrambled life for one of uncertainty is never easy. All the money had been spent and all the drinks had been drunk and were finally accounted for and straight in my mind. Maybe not straight, but good enough for my conscience to digest. Good and bad deeds had been done while I was in Korea. People loved me and despised me. Life had happened and life is sometimes messy. I had been screwed and had done my share of screwing. It was time to pay the tab and go.

I packed up my belongings, settled debts, said goodbyes to friends, and bought a one way ticket to Phnom Penh. I promised my girlfriend I would remain faithful to her while in Cambodia. I tried to tie up the loose ends in my life. Unfortunately, after six years some things are too complicated to be wrapped up completely and things have to be left unresolved. Fuck the crazy Christian school and the manic money lady. Fuck this shack above the VFW Bar. Fuck the boozed out days and the wasted six years.