Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Busan Police: Parents hiring Filipino nannies or foreign instructors "need to take particular caution"

On October 29 the Law Times published the following report:
Hired foreign teacher turns out to be drug criminal
Busan prosecutors arrest 2

Investigators from the Eastern Branch of Busan District Prosecutors' Office announced on the 25th that Mr. A (37), a Filipino domestic assistant, Mr. B (24), a Chinese American English teacher, and Mr. C (30), a Korean American English teacher, had been arrested and charged for secretly bringing methamphetamine and marijuana from places like the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Mr. A worked as a domestic assistant and is suspected of smuggling 8.8 grams of meth from Hong Kong and taking it when the owner of the house (where he worked) wasn't at home.

Mr. A is known to have hidden the meth in his bag or clothes and re-sewed them or had it delivered via international mail. It was revealed that the amount of meth he smuggled was enough to dose around 290 people. As it's been confirmed that Mr. A often visited the Filipino Market in Hyehwa-dong, the prosecution is investigating drug buyers and takers centered around the Filipino market. They have also requested that the Hong Kong police cooperate in their investigation by providing information related to sellers who provide drugs to Filipino housekeepers.

Mr. B, who works as an elementary English teacher* at an international university's school of continuing education, is suspected of secretly bringing 4.84 grams from the U.S. and smoking.

Mr. C worked as an English teacher** in a language hagwon and is charged with smoking 2.8 grams of marijuana on 14 occasions since August.

The prosecution said that "All of the foreigners prosecuted for drug crimes are residents of the Gwanganni Beach area, and the area's many low rent, small officetels and foreign clubs are the cause of frequent drug crimes." "Parents who employ Filipinos as domestic assistants extra-legally for the purpose of child care and English education or foreign instructors need to take particular caution."
I'm not sure who's responsible for this grouping of arrests - whether it's the police or the media outlet - but I'd imagine it's the latter, considering the headline (which is even more amusing since the article mostly focuses on the Filipino - not that that's surprising). Sloppy work all around, really - the sub-headline says 2 were arrested, while the opening paragraph says it was all three. Also, I'm assuming the (*) is  not an elementary school teacher, while (**) you'd think the Law Times would know that teachers (교사) don't work at hagwons; instructors (강사) do. Nice to see prosecutors warning parents to take extra care around foreign teachers and Filipino nannies - it has been three years since national assembly representative Lee Ju-yeong described native speaking instructors as 'especially potential child molesters,' and one can never be too vigilant.

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