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The curse of E-6-2

A scene from South Korean documentary film "Host Nation" (2016). Introduced at the 22nd Seoul Human Rights Film Festival in 2017, the film portrays a Filipino woman named Maria, 26, who, dreaming of escaping her poverty-stricken slum, comes to South Korea with an E-6-2 visa, but ends up in an adult entertainment parlor near a USFK camp in a South Korean port city. Korea TimesThis is the first of a two-part series about migrant women in Korea who struggle with risks of deportation, physical threats and psychological hazards in much of their daily lives. ― ED. Migrant workers in Korea with an Arts and Entertainment visa mostly end up in the hands of human traffickersBy Ko Dong-hwanA Durebang agent talks with women at a bar in an entertainment district near USFK Camp Casey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of DurebangWomen, mostly Filipinas, who work in bars in the entertainment district near United States Forces Korea's Camp Casey in Dongducheon, hardly go a day without drinking. With bars opening after 6 p.m. and not closing until the last patrons leave, usually in the

Oct 17, 2018By Ko Dong-hwan

Foreign Line

Korea Legacy GalaThe nonprofit Korea Legacy Committee (KLC) is celebrating its third anniversary with a gala at the Four Seasons this Friday from 7 p.m. until midnight. The 3rd Anniversary Korea Legacy Gala is said to be one of Korea's premiere charity events led by young professionals to empower the next generation of Korean leaders. The KLC, created in 2015, is a team of social entrepreneurs who work hard to create awareness of issues regarding the elderly population and is dedicated to supporting them through volunteer events and fundraisers. Their mission is to engage, educate and inspire a new generation of Koreans on the issues that face the country's elderly.All proceeds from this special black tie event will go towards the Seoul Senior Welfare Center, Seoul's largest nonprofit dedicated to supporting impoverished elderly.The gala promises delicious cocktails, special musical guests and a night full of fun and dancing. Tickets for the event range from 40,000 won for students, 80,000 won for distinguished guests and 150,000 for VIPs. The ticket price includes an open bar, light

Oct 16, 2018By Kim Ji-soo

Seoul hosts China-Japan-Korea heavy metal tour

By Jon DunbarExpat metalhead Dan Orozco at GBN Live House on Dec. 30, 2017. / By Jon DunbarOne of Korea's oldest active underground musical movements is heavy metal. But who keeps it running? It takes a lot of people working together, making connections and keeping the spirit alive. Guatemalan/American metalhead Dan Orozco came to Korea to teach English, but while this country has produced some great metal bands, he found it needing help. "Been into metal since I was 10, hearing of Metallica from watching Beavis and Butthead, and from there on thrash metal became one of the biggest loves of my life," he told The Korea Times. "I of course like a wider variety of metal, from speed, heavy, epic, speed, doom, death, black, and power metal."He's been here for several years, but during that time he's gone overseas frequently to sate his thirst for heavy metal at major festivals, such as True Thrash Fest in Osaka. When he started telling bands to visit Korea, he found himself press-ganged from inviter to promoter. His love of heavy metal brought him into a position where he could act as a b

Oct 16, 2018By Jon Dunbar

Seoul hosts China-Japan-Korea heavy metal tour

Tribute band brings Beatles music to Seoul

The Beagles perform at Woodstock in Seoul on Oct. 13. / Courtesy of Kim Jin-haBy Jon DunbarIt is hard to intellectually argue that the Beatles is not the greatest band of all time. The Beagles, a canine-inspired cover band, performs Beatles songs here, there and everywhere in Seoul. Yoo Jaeson (guitar), Johnny Kim (guitar), Hong Sang-jin (bass) and Bill Elliott (drums), come together over a love of the band. “I guess the four of us came together because we share a love for the music,” Yoo said. “The Beatles' music isn't as simple as it sometimes sounds; we have to play instrument parts, then sing vocal parts. Singing lead vocal is one thing; learning all the harmonies is another. But when the harmonies and the instruments hit together correctly? Oh, what a good feeling that is.”The Beatles' illustrious career runs the gamut from early skiffle-inspired music to the later psychedelic stuff. And for four guys in Seoul, operating a Beatles tribute band is no easy mission.Guitarist Johnny Kim leads them in the early-era songs, when the Beatles just wanted to hold y

Oct 16, 2018By Jon Dunbar

Tribute band brings Beatles music to Seoul

Cityscapes Farewell Nightmare Lab

A shelf in the Nightmare Lab at Seoul National University's closed Suwon agricultural campus contains dozens of preserved specimens in jars, seen in September 2013. / Courtesy of Ron Bandun By Ron BandunUrban explorers are sometimes criticized for hiding, or even “hoarding” the sites we visit. But there are legit reasons for withholding information from the internet. We protect sites by obscuring place names, embargoing publication of pictures until a later date, even controlling who knows offline. Now that the Nightmare Lab is gone with only a trace of wallpaper remaining on concrete, I can tell this story.Our story begins with a longtime collaborator, photographer and self-publisher Joseph Jung. He'd lived in Taean when it was hit by the 2007 oil spill, and that coupled with an aging population led to myriad school closures in the area. This developed in him an interest in visiting abandoned schools and photographing them. He'd told me he wanted to publish a book

Oct 16, 2018

Illegal foreign residents reach 330,000 - 36% from Thailand

By Park Si-sooAs of August, 335,433 foreigners were overstaying their visas in South Korea and 36 percent of them were Thai, according to justice ministry data on Sunday. The illegal foreigners accounted for 14.5 percent of the foreign population of 2.3 million. Rep. Song Gi-hun of the ruling Democratic Party revealed the data, which he received from the ministry for the ongoing parliamentary audit of government bodies. The data showed 188,206 Thais were living here and nearly 65 percent of them (about 120,000) were undocumented or overstaying their visas. The ministry has deported nearly 20,000 undocumented Thais since 2016. Nearly one-third of people from Kazakhstan (11,746 in 30,525) and from Mongolia (15,478 in 44,272) were illegal residents. Nearly half the foreign population was Chinese (1.059 million) but only 6.7 percent had illegal status. Nearly 53 percent of illegal residents entered the country by taking advantage of visa exemption programs. “Many foreigners entered the country using a visa exemption program and illegally settled to make money,” Rep. Song said

Oct 14, 2018

Illegal foreign residents reach 330,000 - 36% from Thailand

Japanese anti-hate speech NGO wins Internet Peace Prize

Takao Yamada, right, the director of Kawasaki Network of Citizens Against Hate Speech, poses with Min Byoung-chul, the chairman of the Sunfull Internet Peace Movement at Hangyang University in Seoul, Thursday, after receiving an award from the Korean nongovernmental organization. Courtesy of Sunfull Internet Peace MovementBy Kim Jae-heunThe Sunfull Internet Peace Movement awarded the Internet Peace Prize to Japanese anti-hate speech citizens network Kawasaki Network of Citizens Against Hate Speech, Thursday.“I am very honored and happy to receive this prize from the Korean organization. I hope our efforts can be more recognized here,” Takao Yamada, director of the Japanese citizens network, told The Korea Times during the award ceremony at Hanyang University in Seoul.“Cyberbullying causes harm to foreigners living in Japan. We want to stop the discrimination against them.”The Kawasaki Network of Citizens Against Hate Speech is comprised of 165 human rights organizations working to fight hate speech and discrimination against foreigners and minorities in Japan.

Oct 12, 2018By Kim Jae-heun

Japanese anti-hate speech NGO wins Internet Peace Prize

Foreign Line

Women's Networking in GangnamWeWork Gangnam Station, a coworking space, hosts a networking event for women tonight from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The event brings together “women who want to connect, women who want to support each other, women who want to make new friends, women who have their own businesses or want to start their own businesses.” Free beer and snacks are offered. WeWork Gangnam is near exits 6 and 7 of Gangnam Station on Line 2 and the Shinbundang Line. Visit fb.com/WeWorkGangnamStation for more information. RASKB looks at PyeongChang OlympicsBonnie Tilland of Yonsei University lectures on national hopes and new directions in Korean globalization surrounding the PyeongChang Winter Olympimcs earlier this year, specifically through the youth volunteers who worked for hours without rest or pay. She suggests the young South Korean Olympic volunteers are held to certain national expectations of globalized behavior, but they selectively subvert these expectations based on their experiences as global citizens.The lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 16 in the second-floo

Oct 9, 2018By Kim Ji-soo

Joseon Images: Korea's earliest female cyclists

Joseon Images: Korea's earliest female cyclistsIn the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bicycles became a trendy and popular form of transportation in Korea. The first known bicyclists included an American naval officer named Lieutenant Philip V. Lansdale who visited the capital in the latter part of 1884, but it wasn't until the 1890s that bicycles became a relatively common sight on the streets of Seoul. Muriel Lewis, an American schoolteacher at the Unsan gold mines in northern Korea in 1935. An annual bicycle license was required and cost 10 yen (about $2.70 in silver dollars at the time). / Courtesy of Jan Downing By Robert NeffIn the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bicycles became a trendy and popular form of transportation in Korea. The first known bicyclists included an American naval officer named Lt. Philip V. Lansdale who visited the capital in the latter part of 1884, but it wasn't until the 1890s that bicycles became a relatively common sight on th

Oct 9, 2018By Kim Ji-soo

Canadian acoustic punk musician Jenny Woo ready to 'Tear Down Walls' on Korean tour

Acoustic punk singer-songwriter Jenny Woo / Courtesy of Jenny Woo By Jon DunbarCanadian singer-songwriter Jenny Woo is currently making her way across East Asia for the first time on her “Tear Down Walls” tour named for her latest song and album. Having landed in Hong Kong last week, she is now traveling Japan before coming to Korea this weekend for shows in Seoul and Cheonan. Originally from Canada, Woo was born to a Scottish mother and Chinese father, but has no Korean roots. “Wow, actually I had no idea Woo was a Korean surname … now I know why so many people ask me for my best kimchi recipe,” Woo told The Korea Times. “I grew up eating dim sum and speaking some Chinese words in the house, but to be honest I don't feel extremely Chinese. I identify much more with being Canadian, being into punk rock and just being, as opposed to any particular ethnicity.”Woo grew up in the Edmonton punk scene, where she gravitated toward the “older, wiser” skinhead community, pla

Oct 9, 2018By Jon Dunbar

Global Community

Global Community

The curse of E-6-2

Foreign Line

Seoul hosts China-Japan-Korea heavy metal tour

Tribute band brings Beatles music to Seoul

Cityscapes Farewell Nightmare Lab

Illegal foreign residents reach 330,000 - 36% from Thailand

Japanese anti-hate speech NGO wins Internet Peace Prize

Foreign Line

Joseon Images: Korea's earliest female cyclists

Canadian acoustic punk musician Jenny Woo ready to 'Tear Down Walls' on Korean tour

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