Weird encounter of the stalking vigilante variety

[WorkingTitle3484]

Mmmm just because they come doesn't mean you have to speak to them.  Rule of thumb: Don't do what you wouldn't do at home.

If it's stalker status, break up your schedule.  Your actions might be too predictable, which could be dangerous.

On the real though, open your eyes and be safe.  That's just a general NYC/ big city or majorly populated rule.  Little tip to make yourself unapproachable, be a jerk like the rest of NYers.   With large cities come a larger number of weirdos.

Furthermore, if someone thinks it's free English time, turn it into your practice Korean/Spanish/ other language time.  This way both people are happy and the other guy is more likely to bugger off.  People will only talk to you on the street if they want something from you.  Yes, Koreans help when you're in need, I'm aware of that.

I know you're not looking for advice, but please be careful because there's a definite veil of "Korea's the safest country in the universe!!".  So, because you're in Incheon, which is so close to Seoul, I feel it's important to be doubly careful there because of the number of people.

[KLM]

That's awesome that it works for you, but I would definitely not recommend white girls telling creepy Korean men they're Russian... Female and Russian in Korea generally means prostitute so this would probably cause more problems than it solves... but as long as it works for you, cheers.

Good point! I totally forgot about the gender aspect. If I were female, I would say Greece, Hungary, Austria, Argentina ... and yeah, Russia would be a bad choice.

[horiconnights]

I don't bother with the I don't speak English bit, it could be very insulting if they find out.

...So? You're not under any obligation to be nice to someone you don't know who comes up to you in public and starts talking to you.

[Squire]

I don't bother with the I don't speak English bit, it could be very insulting if they find out.

...So? You're not under any obligation to be nice to someone you don't know who comes up to you in public and starts talking to you.

But it's common courtesy to be polite

[jaakked1]

This is IMPOSSIBLE!

I simply can't believe there are Koreans who
don't like foreigners
and want to be rid of them.

ALL Koreans love foreigners!

[hilarity ensues]

I've never had this exact thing happen but when I start thinking about how many kids I teach and just how involved a lot of the other teachers are in the students' lives and how parents talk and gossip and rant and rave about everything, it doesn't really surprise me when somebody knows my name or where I live… actually, for some of my students, finding out where I live was sort of like discovering buried treasure or something-- I assumed it was because they were going to start ringing my doorbell and running away or something but it turns out they were just curious.

On the other hand, if someone started yelling at that would be pretty freaky… but part of me just thinks it's because a lot of Koreans don't know how to act around foreigners and they're afraid of embarrassing themselves and get so anxious that it makes them awkward and weird… I sometimes get mocked just for speaking English but those people are losers anyways. 

[confusedsafferinkorea]

This is IMPOSSIBLE!

I simply can't believe there are Koreans who
don't like foreigners
and want to be rid of them.

ALL Koreans love foreigners!

Eh?

[Yu_Bumsuk]

I think some people get far too worked up over things like this. Just brush him off and if he follows you duck into  the nearest women's toilet. If he loiters around take his pic, send it to some friends, and then go jump in a taxi. Or you could post it here. Not many will remember the Willy Watcher of Itaewon Station but that's how people finally got him to sod off for good.

[plchron]

Sorry OP, one more warning, Korean men have raped foreign females before. Just keep that in the back of your mind. This place is generally safe, but there are psychos everywhere and I heard a horrible story about a rapist in my city when i first got here in August. Better to be safe than sorry. Good luck! I almost hope he was the investigative type instead of a pervert.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

I think some people get far too worked up over things like this. Just brush him off and if he follows you duck into  the nearest women's toilet. If he loiters around take his pic, send it to some friends, and then go jump in a taxi. Or you could post it here. Not many will remember the Willy Watcher of Itaewon Station but that's how people finally got him to sod off for good.

tell that to the females and males whom have beenattacked in such situations.

Seriously bad advice here.

[Harpoinseoul]

Sorry OP, one more warning, Korean men have raped foreign females before. Just keep that in the back of your mind. This place is generally safe, but there are psychos everywhere and I heard a horrible story about a rapist in my city when i first got here in August. Better to be safe than sorry. Good luck! I almost hope he was the investigative type instead of a pervert.

I totally disagree. This place is NOT safe for women. I work as a counselor and even though I am a male, I am constantly getting calls from International women who have been raped by (mostly) Korean men. (Imagine how many calls female therapists are receiving!) This place is totally unsafe. I would suggest that all women carry brass knuckles, mace, tasers...whatever you can when you are out and about. The myth of safety is really a big fat illusion. Be safe everyone.

[woman-king]

Sorry OP, one more warning, Korean men have raped foreign females before. Just keep that in the back of your mind. This place is generally safe, but there are psychos everywhere and I heard a horrible story about a rapist in my city when i first got here in August. Better to be safe than sorry. Good luck! I almost hope he was the investigative type instead of a pervert.

I totally dissagree. This place is NOT safe for women. I work as a counselor and even though I am a male, I am constantly getting calls from International women who have ben raped by (mostly) Korean men. (Imagine how many calls female therapists are receiving!) This place is totally unsafe. I would suggest that all women carry brass knuckles, mace, tasers...whatever they can when they are out and about. The myth of safety is really a big fat illusion. Be safe everyone.

Yeah, it's been brought up here before but it's worth repeating again: When people talk about how safe Korea is compared to the West, that's more in terms of drug, gang and gun-related violence.  When it comes to sexual assault, Korea's record is much less "safe," and the precautions that would apply in any big city in the West should apply here as well.  And remember, as a Western female you stick out in a crowd and are perceived by at least some Koreans as sexually "loose" due to stereotypes about Westerners, and therefore, unfortunately, equals available to anyone who wants some. 

It doesn't really sound like that was this creeper's angle in this case, but still, something to be aware of for newbies.

[hilarity ensues]

On an unrelated note, I was waiting for my train and had this conversation with an English vampire today-- a complete stranger, mind you.

Vampire: Hey, nice to meet you...
Me: Yeah.
Vampire: You are American?
Me: No.
Vampire: I've been drinking… do you like drinking?
Me: I don't really do it very often.
Vampire: So what do you like about Korea? Do you like the women? Little boys?
Me: WHAT THE F--K??!

Sorry to hijack the thread with my own messed up stories, but even after being here a while Korea never fails to simultaneously enrage and puzzle me.

The really messed up part is that earlier in the day I'd let some other vampire buy me a coffee in exchange for some English conversation… it's not something that I would usually trade for but I was feeling kinda nasty today and I didn't have anything to do so I said okay. I order the most expensive coffee I could find and we talked for about an hour… he was super low, boring personality, but it was okay because I could basically say whatever I wanted to… at the end of it, he told me that he needed money for the bus and so I ended up paying him for the coffee.

Later on he found me again and sat next to me on the train to engage in more boring conversation that wasn't social or friendly or genuine or anything except him wanting to practice his English… he kept telling me to write things down and then he actually had the nerve to ask if he could have the pin I keep on my backpack. I don't even think he had a train ticket… he was probably just following me around.

I'm actually half expecting him to call my school or something messed up like that… 

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

If the above is true, I'm not sure who I found the more crazy - the vampire or you...!

No way I'd have paid for the coffee.

[cornflakes]

Wow, crazy story.  A couple comments:

a) While I don't condone this man's actions or the actions of these 'groups', there was a small shred of truth to this whole charade.  Just like 'most' koreans are nice and welcoming, most NETs are professional and honest teachers.  But just like 'some' koreans are racist or xenophobic, some NETs are unprofessional and completely unfit to teach in Korea and SHOULD NEVER have been allowed entry in the first place.   

The majority of the honest and professional NETs out there have been tainted by the few bad apples that have been caught doing drugs or other crimes and then showing up in class.
Whenever I hear about those NETs, I just think to myself, "how the hell did they get hired to be an english teacher in korean public schools?"  And I realized that much of it probably had to do with simply being "a native english speaking foreigner" that somehow automatically makes you employable rather than your degree or experience.

When I was at the EPIK/GEPIK orientation and training sessions (I've been to a few now), I couldn't believe how some of the "teachers" behaved.  They were like immature high school students who only talked about smoking weed, hittin the clubs, getting drunk, basically disrespecting Korea and the job by only viewing it as a pleasure peninsula to get high and wasted while getting paid to teach english.   Of course, I didn't want to say anything upfront.  It's not for me to bestow judgment on others.  But this 'shred of truth' gives me a glimpse of light to understand why some nutty koreans might have a distaste or dislike for NETs, or at least have curiosity to want to follow and find out what we are doing.

Still, I don't condone their actions as it is extremely invasive, but I do think the Korea needs to make sure they are hiring the 'good ones' and not just 'anyone who has a white face' like they used to in the past.

If you look on youtube, you'll find quite a bit of videos uploaded of 'foreigners' in korea causing trouble.  Unfortunately, those few bad apples have made it bad for the rest of us.  Even when I watched those videos, I was extremely angry and wanted him deported.  You can only imagine how much worse it is for a korean or parent watching those videos and desire to weed those kind of people out.   

b)  NETs in the public school account for a very small percentage of total foreigners in Korea.  I believe someone mentioned roughly 20,000.   Not counting those that work at hagwons, but I believe that number is a good estimate.  Not only that, most NETs are actually well educated (minimum BA degree) and with teaching experience.   So, I'm not sure why they would be targeting NETs.   If anything, they should be more concerned about the unskilled and some skilled workers they are bringing into this country by the droves from South-East Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Arab countries.   Let's not exclude the number of US Military folks stationed on this peninsula who also go about causing a ruckus because they have this 'chip' on their shoulders for being a US Soldier.   I think NETs are a small group and considering most of us are highly educated, we shouldn't be that big of a worrisome 'target' group.   

c) I wonder how far this 'big brother' world is going to go?  People want to keep tabs on people now more than ever for some of the most irrational reasons.  I hate to say it but, it's the same irrational belief that the US government wants to clamp down on privacy and know everything about you and your whereabouts for fear of 'terrorism' in the country.  I'm sorry but claiming you want to increase security and take more freedom and privacy away from the individual because of terrorism is akin to saying we want to follow NETs because they may be molesting or sleeping with their students.   That's just completley irrational.   We want to invade Iraq because they are hiding weapons of mass destruction.  Yeah, right.  We all know how that ended up.

[orangeman]

Wow, crazy story.  A couple comments:

a) While I don't condone this man's actions...

While I agree there are some loose cannon waygooks, it can't be left to random strangers on a subway to weed out the bad ones.  Why should some lonely angry old man who obviously already has some anti-foreigner thoughts be the judge of professionalism among Native teachers?  What responsibility do I, or any one of us, have to convince random strangers on the street that we deserve to be here?  I'm here for a job and I do it to the best of my capabilities with professionalism, but I'm also a human being with bad days and time off.  I'm not a 24 hour walking billboard for global integration in Korea.  I'm not going to grovel to every Korean and submit to their ridiculous questions because I'm ever so grateful to be a 'guest' in their country.  I certainly don't walk up to Koreans in Canada and make them justify their existence in my home country.  Some people/groups do that, but I think they're wrong just I think these groups in Korea are wrong. 

I simply don't ascribe to the belief of blaming the victim.  The belief that foreigners are evil existed before any reason was given, and it will endure past any evidence.  I'm not saying we're not responsible for our actions, but we can only be responsible for our individual behaviour.  The fact that some Koreans (and some Canadians, and some Americans, and some everyone) judge us as a group doesn't obligate me to police other foreigners.   It's simply impossible. 

Besides, I would argue the same amount of waygook bad apples slip through the cracks as Korean bad apples.  I've seen my share of alcoholic, womanizing, embarrassing or shrill, hateful, mentally unstable teachers who were born and raised in Korea.   Korean kids deal with Korean teachers 99.9% of their school lives, and a bad foreign teacher is only here for a year or two while a bad Korean teacher is here their whole lives.  If these vigil antes really cared about the kids and education in general like they said, they would be going after these teachers.

[JahRhythm]

This is Cornflakes second anti-NET post of the day.
Pretty sure he's that one dude who writes those pointless screeds on Korea Times opinion page.
Disregard this rank apologist.

[southcareer]

This is a heads-up for Bucheon/ Incheon area folk. There seems to be some obnoxious vigilante lurking around, whose apparent goal is to instigate foreign English teachers into breaching terms of their contracts and visas.

On Saturday 21st January, I met some friends in Seoul. We parted around 10.30pm at the station, each taking a different train. I changed at Sindorim and while waiting for the train had the strangest and most frightening experience I have had in Korea. I was approached by an ahjussi, smartly dressed wearing a wool coat, blue jeans and smart dress shoes. He was around 5’11”, medium-build, late 40s- early 50s, fair skinned with some freckles, and short tidy hair. His English level was perhaps High-Int. to Upp. Int. with good American pronunciation. He looked average, perhaps like how many of your students’ fathers look on their day off.

He seemed keen to practice his English and I allowed him to rattle on at first, giving very simple answers to his questions.  He went through the usual rigmarole of questions that as a foreigners we are regularly subjected to: Do you like Korea? How long have you been in Korea? Can you speak/ read Korean? What do you do? Where are you from? etc. At this point I found no reason to lie and just answered simply. However, for every answer I had he seemed keen to contradict me and impart his superior knowledge on the subject: I couldn’t read Korean, because I do not understand the science behind what it takes to read (I’ll spare you the details); I wasn’t from the UK, clearly I’m a New Yorker (he got really agitated at this, so any snooping he had done had proved false-ha!), he explained that yes perhaps my DNA is Scottish but I was certainly from New York; perhaps I got my job because my background was ‘so superior and wonderfully good’ (whoever said that Koreans couldn’t master sarcasm need to meet this guy); and lastly being a teacher is a terrible ‘nasty’ job – I should consider being a journalist. This here was the clincher, he was intent in getting me to agree to extra work writing for an English magazine. I told him straight that I wasn’t interested in being a writer, that I had neither the talent nor the interest.

Now at this point, I should have walked far away but that would be admitting defeat. The train came and I purposely positioned myself away from him (but obviously in a non-defeatist kind of way.)  He called me over by my name, twice. At which point tiny little alarm bells started to ring in my head. I couldn’t recollect giving him my name. I judged that I must’ve done since he called it so confidently. He wanted me to stand away from the doors and closer to him. I pulled out my phone and looked busy, ignoring him. He came over and started talking again. He asked where I lived – I lied. I spoke loudly in the hope that he would sod off. It didn’t work, he asked me to speak quieter, he then held out his hand to shake mine. I didn’t remove my glove and he recoiled his hand like he was about to be bitten by a viper and his face twisted in disgust.  I felt obligated by the many pairs of eyes in the busy train to remove my glove and shake his hand. His name was David. He then asked mine, cue alarm bells. I told him twice that I had given him my name and both times he said that I had not. At which point I told him that he knew my name, that he had called it twice. Apparently, he had guessed. It isn’t feasible to assume that someone can randomly guess someone’s name, and even if they did they wouldn’t utter it so definitely or unquestionably; he must have known my name; how did he know my name? I interrogated him. He tried to convince me that he guessed, that Jennifer is a common name, I could’ve also been called M. Now what is interesting about this is I have a friend called M, who is actually from New York. My initial thoughts are that this guy is a weird stalker and he has his information crossed. My face must have given way to my thoughts and he flustered another name – Jessica. He continued tossing around these names while no doubt trying to dig around the recesses of his malevolent mind but alas this pathetic little group, few in numbers, ended in a mighty crescendo of …an etc. He couldn’t even lie well – malevolent and feeble minded. 

He sighs in relief and then points to the doors “this is your stop, your getting off now.” I had lied about where I lived, so not only did he know my name, possibly my friend’s name but he also knew where I lived. 

I ran out the doors, up the stairs and called a friend. At this point, I hadn’t put two and two together.

So today I met with another female friend and I related this tale to her. Her hagwon is near my school and she had experienced a similar encounter. Now I don’t know the particulars but we agree on his appearance and he had asked her if she would be interesting in teaching his wife privately.

I don’t know what I have done to be subjected to such a level of scrutiny; I haven’t broken any laws in Korea nor have I breached any terms of my contract or visa, I am fully qualified to work here, I don’t think I am an excellent teacher but I do think I am competent, I enjoy teaching and put a lot of effort into it, and I always try to respect Korean customs. My school seems happy with my work and I have a good rapport with the students and teachers. As to my friend, she's practically an angel.

I haven't reported this to my school yet, as my CoT is very sick and pregnant at the moment and I don't want to give her additional stress. I'll report it when we return to school on Wednesday. I haven't reported it to the police either, as it seems unlikely that anything can be done about with no evidence. Even if I did have evidence it seems that in cases were it's Koreans vs. Foreigners, Koreans are favoured with impunity while foreigners are favoured with further scrutiny. I don't wish to criminalised for being a victim. No thanks. 

I am posting this for people like me (particularly women), who meet this weirdo and think they are being stalked by some pervert/ serial killer (that's were my mind went). Hopefully, if you do meet with this situation you can tackle it rationally and calmly.

Perhaps a little ironically, this post is very well written and engaging; the progression of events is never laboured and leaves one thinking ahead slightly, yet focused.

You should consider a sideline in journalism.

[southcareer]

Yup, I've had similar encounters where my spidey sense started tingling.  I've learned to just lie lie lie and remove myself from the situation.  One time a young lady struck up a seemingly innocent conversation with me on the subway and once I mentioned I worked in a public school she told me she was a part of SMOE and demanded all this personal info.  I just walked away and she started yelling at me so I got off the train.  I get this a lot in my new neighbourhood as well.  I don't mind making small talk with the kimbap ladies or 7/11 guys, but I've learned to be evasive and guarded when approached on the street or on the subway now.  Actually, a few weeks ago I had a somewhat similar encounter as the OP.  Lots of weird questions and when I got off the train at my stop he tried to stop me.  There really are anti-foreigner types out there looking to start trouble.  Don't be paranoid, just vigilant.

No, I think you acted fine.  He didn't get what we was looking for.  He could be with the anti-English spectrum guys, presumably there is more than one.

I love their choice of 'spectrum', how ironic is that!

And, in that article, the sentence "x, who is single and has no children", made me laugh out loud, literally.  That's the reporter trying to tell the reader, "this bloke smells of weird."

[Uhfotis]

As someone in another post about privates mentioned if you turn someone in you do get a piece of the fine money... Maybe he's just trolling for that.