Exposing the Myth of Foreigner Crime in Korea
The above title is not something you will see headlining a Korean newspaper anytime soon, however when you compile the statistics it is true:
Five types of serious crimes _ murder, robbery, rape, theft and assault _ are on a steady rise in South Korea, while the ratio of arrests to those crimes is on a decline, the Korean National Police Agency said Monday.
The total number of those crimes committed nationwide rose from 455,840 in 2004 to 487,847 in 2005 and 489,575 in 2006, said the agency. [Korea Times]
After reading this article about rising Korean crime rates I decided to crunch the numbers and compare the ratio of total serious criminal offenses committed by Koreans to the ratio of total serious crime committed by foreigners in Korea. When a total population of 49 million South Korean citizens is divided by the total number of serious crimes of 489,575 the ratio is one crime per every 100 Korean people. Below is the raw statistics provided by the Korean National Police Agency:
Korean Crime Data 2006
Murder – 1,074
Robbery – 4,832
Rape – 8,759
Larceny – 192,808
Violence – 282,102
Total – 489,575
Now let’s compare this number to the foreign crime statistics for 2006. In 2006 there was a total of 3,701 total serious foreigner crimes. Recent headlines show that the foreigner population in Korea has exceeded 1 million for the first time ever for a grand total of 1,000,254 foreigners. The ratio of serious crime for foreigners in Korea comes to 1 crime out of every 270 foreigners. Below is the raw statistics for foreigner crime once again provided by the Korean National Police Agency:
Foreigner Crime in Korea 2006
Murder – 72
Robbery – 107
Rape – 68
Larceny – 971
Violence – 2483
Total – 3,701
Let’s look at these numbers again. For every 100 Koreans walking around in Korea there is at least one serious criminal while for every 270 foreigners walking around there is one serious criminal. The average person walking down the street in Korea is nearly three times more likely to have a serious crime committed against them by a fellow Korean than a foreigner.
Let’s break down the numbers even further by sub-categories.
The ratio for murders for Koreans is one murder for every 45,623 Koreans. The same murder ratio for foreigners comes out to one murder for every 13,892 foreigners. This murder ratio is much higher than the Korean murder ratio. Before any Korean citizens reading this begins to fear their kid’s hagwon teacher or the next GI they see walking down the street is going to murder them, keep in mind that in 2006 no Koreans were murdered by either a US soldier or a foreign English teacher. None. In fact a Korean has more recently murdered a GI than the other way around when Major David Berry was murdered in Itaewon by a crazed Korean man. I can’t even recall the last time a foreign English teacher murdered anyone. The murders that I have seen in the Korean news by foreigners against Koreans are coming from Chinese and third country national workers. Just for clarity once again I repeat that in 2006 not one English teacher or GI murdered a Korean. The kids can stay in the hagwon and the next GI you see walking down the street will not murder you.
Now let’s look at the robbery numbers. The ratio for robberies is one robber for every 10,140 Koreans. For foreigners the ratio comes out to 9,348. So you are slightly more likely to be robbed by a foreigner in Korea than by a Korean though once again this number is probably inflated by the 3D workers.
Here are the ratios for rape. There is one rapist for every 5,594 Koreans while there one rapist for every 14,709 foreigners. So the possibility of being raped by a Korean man is nearly three times greater than being raped by a foreigner.
Here are the ratios for larceny. Larceny is one person out of every 254 Koreans while for foreigners it is one person out of every 1,030 foreigners. So basically you are four times more likely to be ripped off by a Korean than by a foreigner. This shouldn’t be surprising at all considering the number of shady characters that have tried to rip me off in Korea before and this doesn’t even include the shady taxi drivers. I can only imagine what this number would be if they actually cracked down on the taxi drivers.
Finally let’s look at the violence ratio. There is one person committing an act of violence for every 173 Koreans. For foreigners it is one person committing an act of violence for every 402 foreigners. Koreans are about two and half times more likely to commit an act of violence than a foreigner.
So to summarize the average person walking down the street in Korea is per capita three times more likely to have a crime committed against them by a Korean, more likely to be murdered by a foreigner even though as I pointed out it wouldn’t be by a English teacher or a GI, slightly more likely to be robbed by a foreigner than a Korean, three times more likely to be raped by a Korean, four times more likely to be frauded by a Korean, and two and half times more likely to be assaulted by a Korean. Despite the wide spread media attention condemning foreigner crime in Korea it is quite clear foreigners are not a criminal problem in Korea outside of the murders being committed by 3D workers and a few thiefs. Statistically speaking if you live in Korea it is safer to hang out with those bastard GIs and the low quality foreign English teachers than the native Koreans. Who would have thought it?
I wonder if there will be a KBS2 special on this any time soon?
Woooww!! impressive. You put a lot of effort here. But why is this so important?
Persecution complex.
[…] ROK Drop: Exposing the Myth of Foreigner Crime in KoreaPosted 5 hours agoThe above title is not something you will see headlining a Korean newspaper anytime soon, however when you compile the statistics it is true: Five types of serious crimes _ murder, robbery, rape, theft and assault _ are on a steady rise in South Korea, while the ratio of arrests to those crimes is on a decline, the Korean National Police Agency said Monday. The total number of those crimes committed nationwide rose from 455,840 in 2004 to 487,847 in 2005 and 489,575 in 2006, said the agency. [ Korea Times ] After reading this article about rising Korean crime … [Link] […]
Why is this important …
… because foreigners living in Korea have to deal with the consequences of the Korean government and media making a concerted effort to intentionally and recklessly associate rising crime rates with foreign influence, specifically certain categories of foreigners (read: foreign companies, GIs/SOFA, and English teachers).
I don't have enough fingers to count the number of times I have been in mixed company and asked to explain "why foreigners commit so many crimes."
My usual reply is "where did you hear that?", and every Koreans' response has been "Well, I saw it on the news."
Jax pretty much hit the nail on the head because crime rates are rising and with a election coming up this may become a political issue by the opposition blaming the ruling party for not cracking down on rising crime. So if the ruling leftists stick to their usual play book they will look to blame it on foreigners.
At the beginning of the year there was a lot of articles coming out about rising GI crime due to the grandma rape case and the police woman sexual assault. Than the incidents stopped and the media took to bashing English teachers instead. It appears they have now run out of English teacher stories to sensationalize so they are ready to move on to either GIs or 3D workers again. When the media does keep the stats I provided above in mind.
It doesn't matter how much koreans commits crimes. It is korea, koreans are the majority here, so they will always commit more crimes that foreigners. In USA americans are the largest crime committers group. Isn't obvious? This tread is ridiculous and shows how racist you are.
What impressed me the most in this tread is not the comparison between koreans and foreginers criminals, but the fact that foreigners commit so much crime in Korea. The fact that koreans commits 1000 rapes doesn not justify a foreigner raping someone in korea. It is not because foreigners commit less crimes than koreans that makes you less guilty before the law.
The problems with americans committing crimes in korea is that the majority of americans living in Korea are soldiers and english teachers, and these people are not "praised" for their good behaviour. The problem is the "quality" of most americans in korea. If you don't want to be labeled as crimminal, stop committing crime. Is that simple !!!!
First of all I did not say anywhere that I justify anybody Korean or foreigner raping anybody in Korea. You said that not me. Secondly, of course Koreans will commit more crimes but if you do the math foreigners commit far fewer crimes per capita than Koreans. It would be safer for a person in Korea to walk down a street full of English teachers and GIs than to walk down one filled with Koreans.
Thirdly, it is statistically impossible to presume that over 1 million foreigners in Korea will have no incidents of crime. Name one city in the world with over a million people in it that has no crime?
Also did you know that Koreans are the fifth highest ethnic group only behind Latin American nations filling up American prisons?
http://rokdrop.com/2005/09/22/foreigner-crime-up-…
The amount of Koreans filling American jails is one of the main reasons why Korea does not have a visa waiver agreement with the US.
Than to top it off a Korean gun man kills 33 people this year at Virgina Tech. There are 432,907 non-US citizen Koreans in America. Did you know that just with the V.T. killings the per capita murder rate for Koreans comes out to one murder out of every 13,444 Koreans in America? That is a higher murder rate than by foreigners in Korea and I only included the V.T. killings. Using your logic there should be a backlash against Koreans in the US.
However, unlike you I realize it is impossible to expect an entire ethnic group to commit no crime in America. That is why after the Virginia Tech shootings there was no backlash against Koreans.
Dr. Yu, it is thought processes like yours that motivates me to compile these stats in the first place because a lot of people in Korea think just like you.
Mr. Yu,
If you truly believe in what you say….I will say this…you are the last person Koreans will follow. To this day I cannot figure out why people like you make Koreans look bad.
I'm glad they can't persecute thoughtcrime yet, or I'd be the biggest serial killer since Eichmann.
Deflating sensationalist Korean media scapegoating of foreigners. And it looks like you forgot to mention how the Korean media uses only the family names of Korean suspects but the full names of foreign suspects. Remember, here is Korea. Koreans are the majority. They can steal, rape, and murder each others and foreigners all they like, but if one foreigner dares to do so. You're such a racist bastard, GI Korea.
'Doctor' Yu needs to go back to school and take remedial math and statistics courses. Impressively dumb.
Dr. Yu (though I doubt you are a 'Dr.' unless that's short for 'driver');
Please look up ratios/per capita numbers; it could change your life.
Also, noting the probability of a rape or other crime isn't condoning it.
Good luck, you really really need it.
"‘Doctor’ Yu needs to go back to school and take remedial math and statistics courses. Impressively dumb."
Is this the way you want to deal with foreigners committing crimes in korea? with math and statistics?
"Dr. Yu, it is thought processes like yours that motivates me to compile these stats in the first place because a lot of people in Korea think just like you."
Fist of all. Treads like this only worsen the relationship between koreans and foreigners (americans). Do you thing that by posting "news" like this you will be less guilty? again, it does not matter if koreans commit crimes in Korea. Stop committing crime in korea than people will stop calling you criminals.
Second. Don't expect foreigners being treated with full respect anywhere in the world. Even in Europe and USA foreigner are treated with some kind of disrespect. I live in Brazil and Brazilian people calls me smuggler because they think I`m Chinese. This is the brazilian stereotype toward most Asians. I don`t fight them nor insult them, but I try to show them that they are wrong and that they should treat foreigners with more respect. Sometimes I think they are ignorant because of this, but fighting them is the worst way to get their respect. Respect is rewarded with respect. Know this principle and try to apply in Korea. Wasn’t it Kennedy that said “don’t ask what America can do for you, but what you can do for America?” well, don’t ask what Koreans can do for you to become your life easier in korea, but what you can do to improve your image and life before the Korean society.
Is not by blaming koreans as criminals that you will be less guinty.
If Brazilians accuse you of being a smuggler, why don't you "fight" back?
And there's no better way to debunk that stereotype with numbers and math. How many percent of Asians living in Brazil are proven to be smugglers? In yonder years some (many?)white people believed black people raped white women and that chinese sacrificed babies to buddha. Only negligible amount of such incidents ever occurred.
Yu,
Why do you keep associating GI Korea's analytical assessment of foreigner/native per capita crime in Korea with this ridiculous generalization that every foreigner in this tread is trying to "fight" Korean society, act "less guilty," and excuse criminal behavior?
This tread is about exposing the facts associated with a foreign criminality myth that is intentionally perpetrated by elements within the Korean government and media enterprise, not by the average Korean citizen.
Do you honestly think that shedding light on this subject is taboo and only serves to worsen foreigner-Korean relations? Should we just avoid the subject altogether and fall back on stereotypical views?
Somehow, Virginians managed to factually engage this subject after the V.T. shootings and avoid a downturn in American-Korean relations. So do you really think that the average Korean is incapable of engaging in a facts-based discussion on this subject with foreigners (which is something the Korean media will never facilitate)?
I don't know what kind of apathetic world you live in down in Brazil, but I, and many of my Korean and foreigner associates, have had this discussion, and we all managed to parse fact from fiction and build a more genuine respect for each other. I am glad that GI Korea made the effort to show that 2006's crime stats confirm what we already believed. Maybe you should give this concept a try with those Brazilians who call you a Chinese smuggler.
It sounds like Dr Yu has already determined that we here are all criminals because we need to change our behavior… Well I've lived in Korea for 4 years now and from the beginning have shown respect to Korean people (Imagine that…a GI being respectful… whats the world coming to).
Dr. Yu shows a characteristic that he has in common with so many of his fellow Koreans, unable to differentiate the actions of individuals within an ethic group, and thus just blames the entire ethnic group for the action of a few of its members. He also uses the well-worn, "this is Korea" statement in order to gloss over the fact that Koreans are responsible, per capita, for more crimes than foreigners.
His statements are ridiculous. “ Why don't you stop committing crimes in Korea." He is unable to understand that we, as foreigners, have no way of stopping the crimes committed by certain members of our ethnic group. It's too bad that he makes himself look so incompetent and stupid by refusing to understand that groups aren't responsible for the acts of individuals. This understanding is not quantum physics, just a treat people as you would like to be treated concept.
He is unable to understand the injustice of foreigners in Korea being all painted with the same brush of guilt, despite the fact the statistics show foreigners commit less crimes per capita than Koreans, and despite the fact he is looked down on in Brazil.
They say the travel opens your mind. Dr. Yu has demonstrated it is not always the case
Quick, somebody notify the Minister of education, I think we have found another doctor who bought his diploma off the Internet.
Ex-Seoulman
Wow, it was really really hard to wade through all the bs posts above. The complete arrogance and indignation of foreigners astounds me. Even sadder, I myself am a foreigner in this country.
Anyway, I'll start with GI Korea.
"Now let’s look at the robbery numbers. The ratio for robberies is one robber for every 10,140 Koreans. For foreigners the ratio comes out to 9,348. So you are slightly more likely to be robbed by a foreigner in Korea than by a Korean though once again this number is probably inflated by the 3D workers."
I understand the reason why you felt you needed to post a so-called "analysis". However, if you're going to analyze the numbers, analyze the numbers. Don't make a disclaimer on a certain section based on your opinion, otherwise you're mixing the facts with your own opinions, which is ridiculous.
Secondly, your entire analysis is an oversimplification of general statistical data. You don't take into account a variety of other factors that may influence your analysis, and simply base your conclusions on a few random figures that you decided to compare. For example, dividing the # of crimes committed (~489,000) divided by the Korean population (49M) does not mean 1 out of every 100 Korean people commit a crime. The 489,000 is just the TOTAL number of crimes committed nationwide in 2006. The article did not specify that ALL of the 489,000 crimes were committed by Koreans alone. If you took the same statement from the article (below) and imagined you were living in the US, would you imagine that it was all Americans committing the crime? Furthermore, would you imagine it was all one particular race?
"The total number of those crimes committed nationwide rose from 455,840 in 2004 to 487,847 in 2005 and 489,575 in 2006, said the agency"
Man, I feel like there's just too much to respond to. Well anyway, everybody goes through racism. Asians, Hispanics, etc. and other minorities face discrimination in the US, so… whatever. Personally, I think Korea isn't all that different from any other country. Some of the things I see, like the Korea Loves Dokdo commercial, feels like propaganda, but then again, US news channels utilize similar techniques, e.g. FOX is notorious for its conservatively slanted opinions. Their interviews, such as the interview with Bill Clinton several years ago, tried to discredit Clinton and his governmental policies and attempted to shift some of the blame from the current administration to his, like the budget deficit, which is clearly Bush's fault.
I want to respond to the other posts, even Dr. Yu's, but most of the people don't seem intelligent enough to stick to the issues, and instead make stupid comments like:
"Quick, somebody notify the Minister of education, I think we have found another doctor who bought his diploma off the Internet."
Logical, rational argument doesn't really have any place for crybabies who don't like what they're hearing.
“Now let’s look at the robbery numbers. The ratio for robberies is one robber for every 10,140 Koreans. For foreigners the ratio comes out to 9,348. So you are slightly more likely to be robbed by a foreigner in Korea than by a Korean though once again this number is probably inflated by the 3D workers.”
I made this comment about 3D workers to make the distinction that robberies are not solely coming from English teachers and GIs. As a whole foreigners commit slightly more robberies but if you just take into account English teachers and GIs where the perception that crime is centered on it would probably be less. I would love to see a break down by nationality of the criminal numbers but the KNP website does not offer that.
"Secondly, your entire analysis is an oversimplification of general statistical data. You don’t take into account a variety of other factors that may influence your analysis, and simply base your conclusions on a few random figures that you decided to compare. For example, dividing the # of crimes committed (~489,000) divided by the Korean population (49M) does not mean 1 out of every 100 Korean people commit a crime. The 489,000 is just the TOTAL number of crimes committed nationwide in 2006. The article did not specify that ALL of the 489,000 crimes were committed by Koreans alone."
The article did not specify the 489,575 was only ethnic Korean crime but if you go to the KNP website that I linked to in the posting it lists 489,575 as the total Korean crime rate and then has a separate section with the foreigner crime number of 3,701. If foreigners are not the ones committing the crime to account for the Korean number than who is? Space aliens?
“The total number of those crimes committed nationwide rose from 455,840 in 2004 to 487,847 in 2005 and 489,575 in 2006, said the agency”
Man, I feel like there’s just too much to respond to. Well anyway, everybody goes through racism."
I never made an issue in the posting about the rising total Korean crime rate, you did. I realize the crime rate is rising because of growing population, changing social attitudes, as well as increased enforcement of certain laws compared to in the past. That is why I did not make an issue of it.
I made an issue with the perception of English teachers and GIs committing a disproportionate amount of crime in Korea which the statistics as I have shown has proven the perception to be false.
"but most of the people don’t seem intelligent enough to stick to the issues"
I had to chuckle when I read this claim because this is coming from the person that just went on a rant about Fox News, Bill Clinton, Dokdo commercials, budget deficits, and President Bush that all had absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand.
"Logical, rational argument doesn’t really have any place for crybabies who don’t like what they’re hearing."
Judging by your comment it seems like you are perfectly describing yourself.
Have a nice day.
The complete arrogance and indignation of foreigners astounds me.
A sweeping, absurd, polarizing generalization, if ever there was one. Some commenters like myself live in our native countries, BTW, and are not "foreigners."
Sonagi on your 25 Sept post please say their was no contradiction and that it was your way of being sarcastic.
Bones,
Yes she was just being sarcastic, nothing to worry about.
Okie dokie.
GI Korea:
"As a whole foreigners commit slightly more robberies but if you just take into account English teachers and GIs where the perception that crime is centered on it would probably be less. I would love to see a break down by nationality of the criminal numbers but the KNP website does not offer that."
You're still qualifying your answer. Key word there, PROBABLY. You even mention in the last sentence, you would love to see a breakdown, however there isn't one. Therefore, don't qualify. I don't see that it is difficult to understand. Your perception and belief that teachers and GIs commit less crime may be true and most likely is, but without the factual data, you can't say for sure. Unless you're omniscient. No? Okay let's move on.
"The article did not specify the 489,575 was only ethnic Korean crime but if you go to the KNP website that I linked to in the posting it lists 489,575 as the total Korean crime rate and then has a separate section with the foreigner crime number of 3,701. If foreigners are not the ones committing the crime to account for the Korean number than who is? Space aliens?"
I went to the website beforehand, and I apologize, I can't read Korean. You can explicate that info for me, thanks. Additionally, I went to the separate section, and could make out the one word for foreigner, so yes, I understand there's a separate section for foreigners. Now here's something you can explain, bc I don't know the answer: Are the crime figures just reports of crimes, or of actual arrests? Let me explain. If they were just reports of crimes (which is how it sounded to me in your original post), then you would have no idea what the criminal's races were, would you? If they were actual arrest figures, then you would know the races. See the difference? The separate section for foreigner crime, perhaps then, means how many crimes were committed against foreigners? I don't know, again I can't read Korean, but until you explain that to me, or somehow know what the race breakdown was, it would be an assumption to say that the 489K figure is all Korean. Additionally, if the 489K is the total crime figure, then naturally it would include the foreigner crime figure, which means you would have to subtract that number first.
" “The total number of those crimes committed nationwide rose from 455,840 in 2004 to 487,847 in 2005 and 489,575 in 2006, said the agency”
Man, I feel like there’s just too much to respond to. Well anyway, everybody goes through racism.”
I never made an issue in the posting about the rising total Korean crime rate, you did."
The first sentence was actually from your topic post. I referred to it in the preceding paragraph when I said:
"If you took the same statement from the article (below) and imagined you were living in the US, would you imagine that it was all Americans committing the crime?"
The second sentence was part of the next paragraph. It had nothing to do with that quote. Perhaps I should have said SEE BELOW. I don't know, it was clear to me anyway.
“but most of the people don’t seem intelligent enough to stick to the issues”
That quote was directed at people who like to make abusive comments, rather than present a reasoned argument. Additionally, that rambling at the end was presented as part of my conclusion to the post, pretty much just adding my opinion after the entire argument. It was an extension of my thought that there is misguided and intentionally deceitful information being spread worldwide, not just in Korea. It wasn't necessary, I felt like sharing my opinion. But I guess that wasn't obvious when I said "Personally, I think…" However, I don't make fun of or insult other people who happen to think differently, because I realize that not everyone would share my point of view. Furthermore, I think (note: that means my opinion) that people who make stupid comments like that are just overly sensitive to other people's thoughts without a means to communicate the reasons for their emotional response in the form of an argument. Hence, the comment about crybabies who don't like what they hear.
"Judging by your comment it seems like you are perfectly describing yourself."
See? Crybaby.
Sonagi:
"A sweeping, absurd, polarizing generalization, if ever there was one. Some commenters like myself live in our native countries, BTW, and are not “foreigners.” "
Okay, let me qualify my statement… the complete arrogance and indignation of the people making comments on this particular topic. There, happy?
Yes, I assumed that the people posting here were foreigners in Korea, based on the topic and the site (let me qualify that too… that was my first visit to this site). Yeah my bad.
If you read the conclusion to my post I clearly say you are slightly more likely to be robbed by foreigner than Korean so any point you are trying to make is quite mute.
The KNP website has a lot of various statistics from everything from parking tickets to drug offenses. I only translated the page with total crimes of murder, rape, robbery, larceny, & violence because that is what was is used in the Korea Times article to come up with the total number of serious crime which is reflected on the KNP webpage. So I took the stats for murder, rape, robbery, larceny, & violence from the foreigner page and added them to get the foreigner number.
The KNP webpage is organized with a page for Korean crime and another page for foreigner crime. The page is not crimes committed against foreigners. The page is crime committed by foreigners. Even if the Korean crime page included foreigner crime numbers if you do the math it hardly changes the per capita number to almost 1 out every 101 people. Once again your argument is mute.
The stats on the Korean page are broken down with two subcategories: the number of cases and number of people arrested. The 489,575 number for the Koreans is the total number of cases. On the foreigner webpage they just have the number of cases.
Also since you are new to commenting here I have wide variety of commenters with some liberal and some conservative. Plus some of them can read Korean such as Sonagi. I am not fluent in Korean but I have self taught myself conversational Korean and how to read Hangul. I translate things from Korean into English from time to time in order to practice my Korean especially since I do not live in Korea anymore.
This is not an anti-Korea site but a site that shows Korea for what it is, good or bad and the fact of the matter is there is a perception of out of control foreigner crime by the Korean media which as the stats show isn't true.
You have to read everything and make coherent sense of the entire argument, not just bits and pieces. By that, I mean that you did state that "… more likely to be robbed…" etc., however, the point of the argument was your words directly following that, which basically, in essence, said "the figures are overblown bc of […] so it's probably not true". My argument there was, if you wanted to use statistics to back your findings, you should do so throughout and not mix in your opinions into one section to make your case completely one-sided. 4/5 of the stats support you, too bad 1/5 doesn't, but you can't say "well, it would be 5/5 if…" Now, you're just starting to pick and choose which parts of your previous statements you've made to aid your defense, so… no, it's not moot (not mute, in case you'd like to know for future reference).
I'm glad you explained the crime page in more detail. I think it's reasonable to assume that not all the criminals are identified in all of the cases, which means that you cannot assume that of the 489,000 cases, all the criminals have been Korean. Have you perhaps thought that of the foreigner crime page, the number is of cases where a foreigner criminal was identified in committing the crime? But again, all these things I don't know, as I mentioned in the last post. But that's why you're responding, so you can clarify your position and your topic, so others can better understand. In any case, the main point I'm trying to make here is that, it seemed strange to take a lump sum figure of crimes committed and somehow assume that it must translate to being committed entirely by Koreans, just based on the fact that there's a separate page for foreign crime. I wouldn't make that broad assumption, and no, I don't think aliens committed the crimes, I would naturally assume they didn't have the information to (or just do not present) the racial breakdown of the criminals in the 489k cases.
I didn't think this to be an anti-Korean site, but the people who post (at least for this topic) definitely show a negative bias towards Koreans. I've only read through 4 or 5 topics, and I haven't seen too many positive comments, but then again, the articles regarding Korea aren't really positive to begin with.
I agree, there is a lot of misconception about foreigners, but… well I have yet to experience anything different elsewhere. France, Japan, Mexico… it's all been pretty much similar in my eyes. As for the Korean media, well, like I said earlier, I definitely think there's hints of propaganda type material on tv. But again, I feel it's been the same elsewhere. I would say the US has been noticeably bad with the amount of disinformation that has surfaced in recent years. I read the Limbaugh article you posted, so I'm sure you agree on that at least. Anyway, I don't think I have anything further to add regarding this topic.
I think jj is right. There is too much negativity on this website. You need to start publishing entries on how kimchi cures SARS and protects against HIV. With Hangeul Day coming up, it's the perfect opportunity to expound on world's most scientific alphabet. and no blog on Korea would be complete without a post of Korea's four distinct seasons.
Sonagi I will take your suggestions into consideration. 🙂
Just for jj's benefit the foreigner crime stuff to me is actually a small issue. More annoying issue than being really important issue. USFK, North Korea relations, NK human rights, the return of kidnapped citizens from North Korea are some of the much larger and more important issues I cover here. The fact is that there is not a whole lot of positives going on in Korea right now in regards to these topics thus the blog reflects this.
If Roh went to a USFK base and thanked US soldiers for giving a year of their lives away from their families to help defend Korea I would post an article and thank Roh for it. However, he doesn't do this instead he would rather go and get a photo op with Kim Jong-il and waste tax payer money by giving billions to Kim Jong-il.
So as it stands my "positive" posts about Korea will have to continue to be my various travelogs around Korea, my historical postings, and off beat stuff.
jj's apologist writing style seems familiar. I recall a like-minded commenter on the Chung Dumb Young thread about Taft Katsura.
HAHAHA kimchi cures SARS? I've never heard that.
I would have to agree on the current state of affairs in Korea. It's saddening.
Sonagi
Don't know what you're referring to by Chung Dumb Young, but I suppose I can look that up later.
Or right now, why not.
jj,
You can read about the Taft-Katsura agreement here:
http://rokdrop.com/2007/01/08/the-taft-katsura-ag…
Sonagi,
I'm pretty sure jj is not the same person.
Yeah found it and read it via search. Strangely, couldn't find it with the search tool here, but went to google, and ended up being the first or second link. Funny.
It was a really good topic w/ interesting comments. I wanted to post my thoughts, but alas, I saw how old it was…
[…] these articles they would actually do some research about what they are writing about. As I have pointed out before foreign crime is appearing to rise because more foreigners than ever are living in Korea. […]
[…] the rest of the media) deserves a lot of flack for not giving more context about foreigner crime. http://rokdrop.com/2007/09/24/exposing-the-myth-of-foreigner-crime-in-korea/ "For every 100 Koreans walking around in Korea there is at least one serious criminal while […]
[…] http://rokdrop.com/2007/09/24/exposing-the-myth-of-foreigner-crime-in-korea/ […]
[…] If you’d like a statistical number crunch of how these crimes break down you can check it here: Exposing the Myth of Foreign Crime in Korea Noting that you are three times more likely to be passing a Korean criminal on the street as […]
[…] http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/10/19/foreign-crime-on-the-rise-or-so-warns-the-chosun-ilbo/ http://rokdrop.com/2007/09/24/exposing-the-myth-of-foreigner-crime-in-korea/ http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/03/21/brutal-murder-leading-to-anti-illegal-alien-sentiment/ […]
[…] bitterly oppose respecting foreigners’ human rights when arresting them, but how accurate is it? In this blog post, the statistics were analyzed, and in fact, foreigners seem less likely to commit crimes. One must […]
[…] record are good things. The clearly spoken and explicit rationale are what makes this so annoying. One blogger looked at some numbers and found that foreigners are less likely to be criminals than […]
"I say kill more GIs"
Just a friendly remider of what the KATPUSSA next to you is thinking.
[…] and then. Last year the Chosun Ilbo looked at it, and ran this picture with the article: ROK Drop looked more closely and saw that the rate of crime by Koreans is of course higher. When you break down the numbers […]
[…] that the per capita ratio of crimes by foreigners is lower than that for Koreans. (sources one, two, three, and […]
I have a question: this is a useful post, but it's gotten a bit outdated. Has ROK Drop thought about adding yearly updates to help this post remain useful for future reference? It'd make a good go-to link for all kinds of topics discussed on K-blogs and such, but continued comparisons for 2007 and 2008 would strengthen it.
Roboseyo, great idea. When I get some time I'll see if I can dig up some update statistics to put together a new posting.
Straightforward and well-written article.
Getting the stares on the subway and getting into elevators- in my few months here I just thought they were curious looks. Even when the drunk ajjoshi was in my face shouting at me on my first day in the country because I'd accidentally sat in the seat reserved for the elderly, I wouldn't have thought Korean people, generally speaking, have some kind of anti-foreigner complex. (The only word he was saying I understood was American- he said "American" in English) But now, when I go about my daily business I really can't stand being automatically viewed as some kind of criminal. When I walk down the street with my 28-year old girlfriend (she does look young) and I get the "How dare you sleep with one of our women?" look it just upsets me. I honestly can say I have an inkling of what it means to be a minority from living in this country. I also thank my lucky stars I'm not forced to stay here through financial necessity.
And I resent the fact that "Dr. Yu" writes this "foreigners (americans)". Just because you have a chip on your shoulder re: people in Brazil assuming you're Chinese, don't simply start labelling all the people who don't look Asian in Korea as Americans. I wouldn't do it to Asians in Ireland so why you would perpetuate this on a website is ludicrous.