By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
From December, foreigners will have to submit diplomas and police check documents, when applying for a visa to get a job as foreign language instructor here.
In addition, they will be required to have an interview with a Korean consular official to work to teach in that capacity, the Ministry of Justice announced Saturday.
The tightened visa rule, however, has loopholes in it as it will not screen foreigners entering Korea as tourists and getting jobs as language instructors. The latest plan may see many foreigners visiting Korea as tourists with the purpose of finding a job here.
There are 16,000 foreigners registered as language instructors. However, the actual number could be as high as 30,000.
From now on, those with criminal records involving sex offences, narcotics and diploma fabrication will not have their visas renewed, a Ministry spokesman said.
He added that a special department will be created in the Justice Ministry to verify documents, especially academic records of foreigners.
The wrongdoings of unqualified foreign instructors have been a headache for the government. Earlier this month, Interpol arrested Christopher Paul Neil, a Canadian English instructor, who fled to Korea after sexually abusing dozens of boys in Thailand. He had worked at an international school in Gwangju until Oct. 11 before he was arrested in Thailand.
In July, Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office punished two Australian and Canadian English instructors on drug charges. A Korea Foreign Teacher Recruiting Association recently blacklisted two alcoholics and five sexual harassment offenders.
The spokesman said the new regulation will help differentiate the majority of talented and qualified foreign language instructors from unqualified teachers and those with criminal records.