By Lee Scott Read Part 1 here. When we arrived at the police station, the minivan’s owner had gone out to have dinner.  They called him and asked him to come back as soon as he could.  When he came in, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t recognize him.  He was the owner [...]

By Achilles “I don’t like teaching English!” said “Sally” to the class. “Matt” said the same. And then “Lisa.” And so it continued for an entire week. Korean middle and high school English teachers from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) might be the most miserable people on the peninsula. The big news for [...]

By Jen Lee Call me a wuss, but Korea has been pretty cold during the past few weeks or so. I mean, I prefer the cold over the heat (not looking forward to summer), but the extremes of either make me not want to go outside for anything. One thing about women’s fashion that has [...]

By Mizaru

In the basement of the apartment building I lived in is the Police Bar. My room was above it out of earshot; a 5th floor walk up to a small room of cubist angles and a skylight. TV and cable were provided and a shared public bathroom cleaned for real every morning by a Chinese woman from Szechwan who for whatever reason didn’t mind fishing used condoms out of the toilet. At three-hundred bucks a month and an around the clock bowl of rice available how could it be better?

The first few nights and for some months to come Sinchon had a helter-skelter pace to run in and the neon dreamscape of a modern Kubla Kahn to be seen in.

I’m back in again and the only thing that seems new to the neighborhood now is a quirky comic bookstore off the main road that has transfigured itself into a “Purple hair redux” boutique. And contrary to a rumor, the Police Bar has not closed. The Japanese students that I used to cohabit the building with still drop down to it at around 12 a.m. and then the Police Bar has to stay open till the sun comes up. This is still part of that Sinchon de-rigor—as long as there are customers keep the place open, almost every place open, and let them revel on the streets in the smells of the crackling pork and bubbles of far-reaching perfume.

By Lee Scott

It was a little after midnight when we heard a loud police siren coming. A black minivan came tearing down the street, headed to where we were standing near the kebab truck. The driver was veering toward crowds of people in the pedestrian street and blasting the van’s police siren. We couldn’t understand why the van had a siren or what they were doing. The driver slammed on the brakes right in front of a crowd of young men and women who scattered in a panic. All the while the guy in the passenger seat of the minivan was laughing and shouting imprecations at the pedestrians over a P.A. built into the siren system.

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 Seon-Myung Yoo

At 10 p.m., when Jin-Pyo gets up to leave, his older sisters see him out to the door, bombarding him with advices on how to find his way back home. He vigorously explains to them that his smart phone has a navigation application and that there is no need to worry. The mass of harsh intonation of Kyeongsang dialect move out the door to where his car is parked. Then, after the car has driven away, the mass of the sound rolls back into the house as the sisters bring out the special board with blades embedded to cut the radishes in thin strips for the peppered spice to go into the cabbages.

By Jen Lee

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 Seon-Myung Yoo

Before the Kim-jang

Jin-Ok Hong, 51 years old, is scurrying through her house, vacuuming, wiping, washing the dishes, and doing the laundry. While the washing machine tosses and turns the laundry, Jin-Ok squats down in the bathroom to scrub the floor and walls extra carefully. Then, she prepares a simple lunch for herself before her siblings arrive for the annual kim-jang.

Kim-jang, is the process of making kimchi for the winter. Historically, Koreans have pickled their cabbages and radishes toward the end of the fall after harvest in preparation for the winter. The tradition is preserved into the modern contemporary Korea. The women of the family get together every year to go through the various stages of kimchi-making at a large scale.

By Iwazaru and Peter Ward

What comes next is where it gets very interesting. Successor designate Kim Jong-un is now in the unenviable position of having to preside over his father’s funeral and then attempt to consolidate his grip on power. What follows is seemingly likely to take one of three paths.

Kim Jong-un, with or without the help of his aunt Kim Kyong-hee and her husband Chang Song-taek may succeed in consolidating his power. This might not happen straight away. He may not simply leap into the shoes of his father and start going on tours of the country, giving disciplinary speeches to the high-level cadres that turn up in the newspaper and be the centre of a fanatical personality cult all of his own. The above mentioned has already begun in the North—he was reported to have gone on tours with his father several times, and has his own (still nascent) personality cult. He may take his time, behind the scenes consolidating his power, whilst in public mourning his father’s passing, much like Kim Jong-il did in the three years after the death of his father.

By John M. Rodgers and Jamie Grimwood

In mid-July as 3WM entered a summer hiatus, the former editor in chief received information regarding the case of PVT Andre Fisher from an acquaintance who’d had previous legal difficulties within South Korea. That information was hastily formatted and published. Essentially, it was a plea from PVT Fisher’s family and friends and included a rough petition to parties of interest and links to other reports and the “Bring Andre Fisher Home” Facebook page. No editorial discussion took place regarding the objectivity and presentation of the content.

Subsequently, an attempt to clarify several essential things took place. First, what actual facts existed in the numerous reports—both in the press and on social networks? Second, who could provide legal documents or official statements to support any assertion made with those reports? Third, were those legal documents and official statements consistent?

With the core 3WM staff scattered and on a scheduled break until mid-August, the process moved at a sluggish pace. Moreover, the path to the facts was littered with one obstacle after another, mostly piles of misinformation and subterfuge. Dates, times, locations, evidentiary details, USFK conduct in relation to the case, Fisher’s treatment in prison—all these things were jumbled up in opinion, translation, interpretation and negligence in research (some of which 3WM initially contributed to). Now 3WM intends to present the clearest possible explanation of Andre Fisher’s case from beginning to end.

In part one of this series, aspects of the evidence from the night of the crime on 18 November 2010 into the early morning of 19 November 2010 will be examined. This information is based on official documents obtained by 3WM.

By Yi Nam-hui

At the end of last year, designated as “Literature Year,” there was a small fracas in publishing circles. A novel had come out with the provocative title, Try to Do as I Do. It got attention because the book was full of sexual descriptions from beginning to end. It was the sort of book rarely seen in the publishing world. The author, who went around repeatedly saying he had intended to write a porno novel, was not in the country then, but the authorities were seeking judicial means to have the book banned. A year-long offensive and defensive battle ensued as to whether the book was smut or art. The issue was taken up in a public debate on the topic of “Sex and Liberation” held at a live performance theater as part of a big cultural fest. The event was really typical of that period. It was a pretty fiery scene. Everyone demanded to have a voice in the debate, and contradictory opinions existed even among those opposed to judicial handling of the case.