American molested 12 year old

[WorkingTitle3484]

Oh boy...this was reported a few days ago...it seems like a 24 year old American guy is accused of molesting a 12 year old...in Busan I think...thank you for finding it CDW.  This seems more credible than a blog, but my Korean isn't that good to understand more than the gist of it. 

MODS: Please turn this into a new thread at your discretion.  Last thing we need is another news source about a knucklehead's maldecisions.

[Mountain Crocodile]

If this is true, and I seriously hope is isn't.   We are going to see the mass hysteria of past times.  More cbc's, checks, and other stresses.  I would not be surprised if this event (if true) was used as an example to accelerate teachers out of public schools as not only an economic issue, but a manufactured child safety issue as well.

I recently told a mod that I was afraid of this type of thing happening again.  13 days later....it's reported.

At least this time we know whats coming.



MC

[cornflakes]

disgusting.  hope he gets deported ASAP. make sure to keep him away from thailand too (that's probably his next destination).

[CDW]

More info:

"The police arrested a 24-year-old American English teacher for sexually harassing a 12 year old boy in a public bath in Busan. The suspect allegedly grabbed the boy’s thigh and genital, and put his genital near the boy’s mouth.

"The suspect apparently claimed that he mistook the public bath for a gay bar, and approached the boy because the boy was smiling at him. Not much more detail is available at this point, but it is worth mentioning that that the incident happened around 7:30 in the morning."
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2012/01/28/on-the-kiddie-fiddling-nset-front/

[cornflakes]

"The suspect apparently claimed that he mistook the public bath for a gay bar."

loling at this hard.

[jurassic82]

If this is true, and I seriously hope is isn't.   We are going to see the mass hysteria of past times.  More cbc's, checks, and other stresses.  I would not be surprised if this event (if true) was used as an example to accelerate teachers out of public schools as not only an economic issue, but a manufactured child safety issue as well.

I recently told a mod that I was afraid of this type of thing happening again.  13 days later....it's reported.

At least this time we know whats coming.

How could there be any more checks than there are already? Apostilled FBI check, finger prints now at immigration and the airport, and I forgot the apostilled university degree. I wouldn't stress. I really doubt they would use this to get NET teachers out of public schools. That's nonsense. I just hope they get the guy out of Korea and he is never around children again.

[rhizome]

"apparently claimed that he mistook the public bath for a gay bar"

:rage:

On behalf of all queer-type-friend-loving folks out there, I want to take a second to ask filthy pedos the world over to stop using LGBTQetc people as an excuse to feel up youngsters. 

disgusting.  hope he gets deported ASAP.

^also this^

[plchron]

this absolutely sucks because i go to them sometimes to soak out a hangover. And already because I am a foreigner I get weird suspicious looks. Now this one POS ruins it for all of us.

[JahRhythm]

This is a terrible story and I hope they throw the book at him.
But let's take a breathe here and not prematurely bemoan the "backlash" before it even comes.

[Frozencat99]

Ideally, he'd be deported, sentenced, and get rehabilitation back home. Since that won't happen, I wouldn't be surprised if we just witnessed the start of a new recidivism cycle.

I agree with Jah, unless one of you has accurate premonitions, let's not bemoan what hasn't happened (and what very well might not happen).

[Zzyzx]

Ideally, he'd be deported, sentenced, and get rehabilitation back home. Since that won't happen, I wouldn't be surprised if we just witnessed the start of a new recidivism cycle.

I agree with Jah, unless one of you has accurate premonitions, let's not bemoan what hasn't happened (and what very well might not happen).

I don't know the specifics, but under treaty many sex offenders are sent back to the USA for their trial and punishment.

I don't know much about Korean prisons, but I know that the assorted filth of American society only really looks down on one sort of person. His period of detention would not be a pleasant one.

[woman-king]

More info:

"The police arrested a 24-year-old American English teacher for sexually harassing a 12 year old boy in a public bath in Busan. The suspect allegedly grabbed the boy’s thigh and genital, and put his genital near the boy’s mouth.

"The suspect apparently claimed that he mistook the public bath for a gay bar, and approached the boy because the boy was smiling at him. Not much more detail is available at this point, but it is worth mentioning that that the incident happened around 7:30 in the morning."
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2012/01/28/on-the-kiddie-fiddling-nset-front/

Wow, that's like . . . the worst excuse I've ever heard.  I have a hard time believing anyone would seriously try to give that as a defense for molesting a 12-year-old.

[hilarity ensues]

It's awful when something like this happens, but this definitely isn't something that anyone except the offender should have to answer for.

And why would there be more background checks? You still have to get one to get into the country, and if you had done something while in the country, then I'm pretty sure that the police would already know about that. I'm not sure how they could make it any more complicated than it already is, or what they would stand to gain by doing so.

And I don't know the specifics but what if it was his first offense? You can't really guard against that, can you? The only way you're going to prevent this from happening altogether is to mind-controlling microchips in everyone's heads. 

[woman-king]

It's awful when something like this happens, but this definitely isn't something that anyone except the offender should have to answer for.

And why would there be more background checks? You still have to get one to get into the country, and if you had done something while in the country, then I'm pretty sure that the police would already know about that. I'm not sure how they could make it any more complicated than it already is, or what they would stand to gain by doing so.

And I don't know the specifics but what if it was his first offense? You can't really guard against that, can you? The only way you're going to prevent this from happening altogether is to mind-controlling microchips in everyone's heads.

Yeah, I can't imagine what other kinds of legal precautions they could put in place for this--like you said, if he'd never been convicted of something like this in the States, all the background checks in the world would be useless.

What I think some people are worried about is a rise in Anti-English-Spectrum type vigilantism against English teachers.  There's been some horrific sexual assaults on Korean women by American soldiers in the past year, too, so while of course in theory no one besides the offenders should have to answer for this kind of thing, we both know how public perception can work in Korea.  This guy is potentially especially problematic because he's a teacher, not a soldier.

[Frozencat99]

It's awful when something like this happens, but this definitely isn't something that anyone except the offender should have to answer for.

And why would there be more background checks? You still have to get one to get into the country, and if you had done something while in the country, then I'm pretty sure that the police would already know about that. I'm not sure how they could make it any more complicated than it already is, or what they would stand to gain by doing so.

And I don't know the specifics but what if it was his first offense? You can't really guard against that, can you? The only way you're going to prevent this from happening altogether is to mind-controlling microchips in everyone's heads.

Yeah, I can't imagine what other kinds of legal precautions they could put in place for this--like you said, if he'd never been convicted of something like this in the States, all the background checks in the world would be useless.

What I think some people are worried about is a rise in Anti-English-Spectrum type vigilantism against English teachers.  There's been some horrific sexual assaults on Korean women by American soldiers in the past year, too, so while of course in theory no one besides the offenders should have to answer for this kind of thing, we both know how public perception can work in Korea.  This guy is potentially especially problematic because he's a teacher, not a soldier.

Homophobic assaults, too. I had the opportunity to overhear two Marines this weekend talking about how they wish they weren't stationed here so they could "attack ***s that hit on them". It is rather unfortunate that we'll be grouped in with them as English-speakers, but I suppose many of us go for the all-inclusive xenophobia when we're given the chance.

[hilarity ensues]

I don't think we're going to be 'grouped in' with anyone. Everyone knows that pedophilia is extremely vilified in the west… probably moreso than in Korea.

Anti-English Spectrum has already shown their hand, and just like back home most people don't want to be associated with hate groups. For a normal Korean, hanging out with AES would be like one of us hanging out with neo-nazis… I guess you might get some loose cannons who think they need to go on the offensive, but if they were to actually do anything then I don't think the newspapers would be able to spin that into anything that wouldn't demand sympathy and basically force the Korean public to confront their own xenophobia and how dangerous and horrible it is.

And AES mostly deals in the same kind of subtle racism that makes conservatives back home blame immigrants for their problems.

I suppose they could add the off-chance that a NET could be a pedo to the list of reasons why NETs don't need to be in the public schools but it would be a huge stretch to pin that on every NET and plus that's a concern with all teachers… and apparently students too.

So yeah, I wouldn't worry about this being a backlash with anyone except racist losers who are already incapable of critical thought and just like having reasons to hate foreigners… 

[Harpoinseoul]

This man is perverted. It has little to do with being gay, but rather, just sick in the head. Peodophilia has more to do with power and control + sadistic & psychotic behavior.

[Frozencat99]

It has **nothing** to do with being a homosexual.

I think we'll be grouped in him by AES just like any other anti-immigrant organization uses individual heinous crimes to protest the presence of a population. It's always the same pithy arguments (threats to safety, threats to child safety, threats to tradition, threats to job security) that they use to invoke moral panics. The moral panic surrounding pedophilia is rampant enough as it is back home without it being thrown in our faces here.

As has been said, though, there isn't really a logical or feasible way to increase the security checks in place. I suppose we could be taken to sign a mandatory affidavit or separate contract with police promising to uphold the Korean criminal code but that's about all I can conjure up.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

There are no doubt a lot of 24-year-old American teachers here but if there's more information it would sure be great if someone could name and shame him. Unfortunately same-sex sexual assault doesn't exist as a crime here and while same-sex sexual 'harassment' does it's usually not treated as a very serious crime. Finding out where his US residence is and alerting authorities there might be more effective than anything the police might do.
 

[tavernmoe]

I don't think we're going to be 'grouped in' with anyone. Everyone knows that pedophilia is extremely vilified in the west… probably moreso than in Korea.

The posters on Korean Sentry are having a field day with it.