South Korea - The Korea Times

1 in 4 migrant workers in Gwangju struggling with unpaid wages

Nearly 25 percent of 369 migrant workers from 12 countries said they are struggling to get unpaid wages. Korea Times fileBy Jung Min-hoOne out of four migrant workers in Gwangju say they are struggling to get unpaid wages, a survey showed Monday.According to a survey conducted by the city government between March and October, 24.7 percent of 369 workers from 12 countries said they are struggling to get unpaid wages from current or former employers.The rate is higher among illegal aliens (33.3 percent) than those with visas (23.8 percent).Asked how they responded to the problem, 68.2 percent said they changed jobs, while 31.8 percent said they did nothing.A total of 54.5 percent said they have experienced some form of mental or physical abuse, mostly from their employers or Korean colleagues. Male workers (56.8 percent) are more likely to experience abuse than females (48 percent).According to the Korea Employment Information Service, the number of migrant workers in South Jeolla Province, including the city, is about 14,000.Factory owners are their biggest employers, with 8,400 peopl

Dec 16, 2019By Jung Min-ho

1 in 4 migrant workers in Gwangju struggling with unpaid wages

Gov't to better protect human rights of foreign entertainment workers

The Korean government has announced new policy measures aimed at improving the human rights of E-6 visa holders here. GettyimagesbankThe Ministry of Justice on Tuesday announced new policy measures aimed at improving the human rights of foreigners working in the local hotel and entertainment sectors with the E-6 visa.The new measures to strengthen screening and monitoring for applicants and holders of the E-6 visa, dubbed the "culture and entertainment" visa, will take effect at the beginning of next year, the ministry said.The E-6 visa is issued for foreigners planning to work in music, art, literature, sports, entertainment, advertisements and fashion modeling. Foreign employees in tourist hotels and entertainment restaurants, in particular, are said to have been vulnerable to human rights violations, ministry officials said.Under the revised rules, local immigration offices will hold direct meetings and interviews with foreign workers in the hotel and entertainment sectors to ascertain whether they suffered human rights violations, including sex trafficking. The authorities have h

Dec 10, 2019

Gov't to better protect human rights of foreign entertainment workers

164 Vietnamese students vanish in South Korea

By Park Si-soo Police are searching for 164 Vietnamese students enrolled at Incheon National University's Korean language school after they have been unaccounted for 15 days.The university reported this to police on Tuesday, in accordance with a law mandating universities to report foreign students skipping classes for 15 days. The students are among 1,900 Vietnamese students on a one-year Korean language training program at the university. The program began four months ago, said the school. Police believe the genuine purpose of coming to Korea was to get a job after learning Korean for a short time. Many people from developing countries in Southeast Asia have settled here this way in pursuit of big money despite the risk of a crackdown by authorities, maltreatment and exploitation by employers.

Dec 10, 2019

164 Vietnamese students vanish in South Korea

Japanese skate punk band Green Eyed Monster heads for Seoul

Green Eyed Monster / Courtesy of Green Eyed MonsterBy Jon DunbarJapanese skate punk band Green Eyed Monster is coming to Seoul this weekend for two shows. First the group will play at Club FF on Friday, and then on Saturday at Club Hippytokki.The band connected recently with the Korean punk scene when Korean band …Whatever That Means toured Japan in September. Members of the Korean band found Green Eyed Monster on YouTube and made contact there. After the Korean band toured there, it was decided to bring the Japanese band here.Tamako, the band's frontwoman, told The Korea Times the band name was actually a Shakespeare reference. The term appeared in Shakespeare's 1596 play “The Merchant of Venice” to denote jealousy as “the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”“I named it with a wish to be a cool band that would not be deceived by people,” Tamako explained.Green Eyed Monster is from Atsugi, a bedroom community in Kanagawa Prefecture about an hour outside Tokyo.“There is not much of a punk scene in Atsugi,” Tam

Dec 10, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Japanese skate punk band Green Eyed Monster heads for Seoul

Former Seoul expat spends 1 year in Chinese custody

Michael Spavor, now a prisoner in China, enjoys lunch in Pyongyang in 2010. / Courtesy of Jon DunbarBy Jon DunbarIt was a year ago yesterday that Michael Spavor left his home in Dandong, China, to catch a flight bound for South Korea. He never made it. Chinese security agents detained him on suspicion of endangering national security, 10 days after Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at an airport in Vancouver. Spavor, as well as Canadian ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig, has now spent a year in Chinese custody.His family and close friends released a message recently at freemichaelspavor.com to address Spavor's situation.“Our friend, brother and son, Michael Spavor, has spent a year in Chinese jail. He will soon spend his second Christmas behind bars, without his family, and without access to lawyers,” the statement said.“Michael is an earnest, genuine, and impossibly fun person who we believe has been detained in error. He deserves better, as does fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig. We call on all sides to work towards a quick and positive resolution that results i

Dec 10, 2019By Jon Dunbar

How Syngman Rhee's success led to Korea's division

The cover of "Foreign Friends ― Syngman Rhee: American Exceptionalism and the Division of Korea" by David FieldsBy Matt VanVolkenburgAs implied in the title of David P. Fields' book “Foreign Friends: Syngman Rhee, American Exceptionalism, and the Division of Korea,” it offers a new interpretation of one of the most controversial topics in the study of modern Korean history: the division of Korea in 1945. In addition to serving as a biography of Syngman Rhee's life before 1945 and narrating a history of the Korean independence movement in the U.S., the book also highlights the ways in which Rhee invoked the idea of the American mission in front of American audiences in order to gain their support.Rhee himself was a beneficiary of American missionary work in Korea. He was saved from blindness as a child by Western medicine and educated at the missionary-run Pai Chai Mission School. There he was converted to political liberalism which led him to participate in a campaign to reform the monarchy. As a result of this agitation he was arrested and tortured for months. He later c

Dec 3, 2019By Jon Dunbar

How Syngman Rhee's success led to Korea's division

RASKB: from pens to podcasts

One of the logo images for "The Korea File" podcast by Andre GouletBy Steven L. ShieldsAs a 119-year-old organization, the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch (RASKB) is understandably not on the technological vanguard. But we're trying. The RASKB, which is keeper of a great deal of information stored in our books, journals and the minds of our members, has teamed up with “The Korea File,” a podcast hosted by Canadian Andre Goulet, to reach new audiences. Goulet has lived in Korea and has a lasting interest in all things Korean. He oversees a continuing program of interviews with RASKB officers, lecturers, and excursion docents. Many are academic professionals; others are “armchair” enthusiasts. All have expertise and decades of experience. The podcast joins a growing list of efforts by the RASKB to promote Korean studies.I was the first one interviewed for the podcast series back in April; we talked mainly about the founding history of the RASKB. Goulet had prepared a list of questions, which he sent me in advance so I could collect my thoughts. His interview

Dec 3, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Sephora lets down customers in Korea with limited product lineup

Korea Times fileBy Celeste KrielWhile Korean cosmetics and beauty products have become essential items on the bathroom shelves of beauty lovers around the world, it is still difficult for darker-skinned women living in Korea to find their shade of foundation here. With the arrival of Sephora, darker-skinned women had expected this to change, but have been left disappointed.Sephora, the world's biggest cosmetics retailer, opened its first store in Korea Oct. 24 at Parnas Mall.Sephora in the United States is known for selling multiple beauty brands and providing an array of shades in almost all of them. Thus, some shoppers expected a brick-and-mortar store in Seoul meant not having to buy online and pay for delivery and customs taxes ― or have it shipped from a family member or friend back home.However, makeup lovers were left disappointed after they realized Sephora Korea stocked only four brands with diverse shades catering to the darker end of the complexion spectrum.Uchenna Usegbu, a longtime Sephora U.S. customer living in Korea, had high expectations because Sephora in the U.S. i

Dec 3, 2019

Sephora lets down customers in Korea with limited product lineup

Taiwan's No Party for Cao Dong brings party to Seoul's streets

Taiwan's No Party for Cao Dong is coming to Seoul this Friday / Courtesy of No Party for Cao DongBy Jon DunbarIt's a busy week for music lovers in Seoul, as Seoul Music Festival offers a full schedule of events. One of those is happening this Friday in multiple venues around the Hongik University area in western Seoul. It's not too different from a normal Live Club Day event, with 21 bands performing at eight venues, but this event is a little more global than usual, with visiting bands representing Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, China and Indonesia. One of them is Taiwan's No Party for Cao Dong (NPCD). The band is back in Korea following an appearance last year at the first DMZ Peace Train Music Festival in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province. “We had a very good impression on Korea and really enjoyed the beautiful mountains and river that were around,” the band members said in an email interview with The Korea Times conducted while on tour. “The music we heard was also incredible. When we found out that we had a chance to return for another festival, we were very excited!

Nov 26, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Taiwan's No Party for Cao Dong brings party to Seoul's streets

New Orleans' Eyehategod coming to Seoul's Mullae metal district

The members of Eyehategod / Courtesy of EyehategodBy Jon DunbarNew Orleans is renowned around the world for its music. As well as jazz, R&B and funk, it is also home to more extreme genres such as punk and metal. Eyehategod (EHG), coming to Korea for the first time this weekend, formed in the Louisiana city in 1988. The band is widely associated with the sludge metal genre, although its members are known to shrug off any such labels. “Sludge is just another label to describe a sound ― like grunge, same concept ― a label to lump a certain sound into one category,” Mike IX Williams, EHG frontman, told The Korea Times. “That's fine however. If people want to call us sludge, that's cool. We just really took the sounds in our heads and put it into musical form the way we wanted to hear. I'm happy for EHG to be crowned progenitors of an entire genre…sure.”Williams himself emphasizes the band's roots in rock and roll ― “It's all rock and roll,” he said. His own life experience shows he's no stranger to all its various subgenres.“I persona