Phony English Teacher Gets Jail Term
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A Canadian English language teacher who fabricated his academic record was sentenced to six months in prison. The Canadian, identified as J, was issued a visa using a fake college degree and worked for a private English language school.
``Qualification of private language school teachers is important considering that Korea greatly depends on private education. He should be under severe punishment as he fabricated documents for tutoring in the country,’’ said Han Yang-seok, a judge at the Seoul Central District Court.
``However, I consider that he didn’t committ other crimes and was engaged only in education,’’ Han added.
The Canadian came to Korea in 2003 to get a visa as an English teacher but he was denied because he didn’t have a college degree. To get the visa, he forged graduate certification of the college and a transcript.