The Marmot`s Hole

Gabe Hudson, a creative writing instructor at Yonsei University, gets harassed by a middle-aged Korean man in Insa-dong because he was eating dinner with a Korean woman. Hudson is American.

The piece of news generated over 300 comments, so it apparently touched a nerve with a lot of readers.



2. Tragic death in Daegu

May 15

The death of young Michael White in a Daegu-area sauna caused a stir in the expatriate community because of the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. Obviously, it`s tragic when a young person dies, and this tragedy came with a lot of questions attached to it.



3. "Kickin` It in Geumchon" video

March 23

The band EV Boys` music video "Kickin` It in Geumchon" was clever, and every foreigner in Korea has seen it.



4. Donations for severely injured teacher

March 5

William Kapoun tragically passed away after being caught in a fire in his home in Seoul. Fire safety was brought into the spotlight. Again, it`s big news whenever tragedy befalls anyone in the foreign community. This tragedy, however, prompted an impressive online campaign to help.



5. Teacher enrages netizens

May 13

Korean netizens were enraged after a photo of a young English teacher with his students is juxtaposed with a photo of the same teacher at a club in the embrace of three Asian - possibly Korean - women find their way onto the internet. As sure as the sun rises in the morning, English teachers will be garnering media attention for doing something stupid.



6. Wacky Chinese demonstrators

April 28

Chinese students riot in downtown Seoul during the Olympic torch relay. This was major news involving Korea`s foreign community, specifically, the Chinese student population.



7. Right wing media takes on illegal immigration

March 24

This not exactly PC article attempted to challenge Korea`s illegal immigration issue, and caused a stir in the foreign community here. This is the other side of Korea`s growing multiculturalism - illegal immigration, crime, media backlash and public debate.



8. Incheon-area foreigner drug bust

Jan. 9

20 people - 12 foreigners, including an American identified as Mr. W, and eight Koreans - for allegedly not only smuggling and selling pot and hash from the United States and Egypt, but also growing it here in Korea.



9. Hanguk Ilbo: Foreign boyfriends are cool

Sept. 18

Daily Korean-language newspaper reported on the latest fad sweeping the nation: Korean women with foreign boyfriends. Asia Today, another Korean-language paper newspaper, reports on the outraged male netizens.



10. Korea Herald editor gets stabbed

June 17

Mattehw Lamers, editor of the Expat Living section in English-language daily The Korea Herald got stabbed. His public comments sparked a voracious debate among expats in Korea.



11. Media targets teachers

April 17

In the first episode of season 2 of CGV TV`s "Sexy Mong" series, the Sexy Mong girls head to that den of inequity known as Hongdae, where they witness foreign men and Korean women doing the "bubi bubi dance" and hear the tale of one women who`d recently fallen victim to the evil deeds of a foreign man.



12. English teachers need a stake in system

April 1

Gimhae Foreign Language High School teacher Dennis Yang wrote that for the English education system to improve, foreign teachers need to be given a stake in the system. Good comments on the problems of the English-teaching system.



13. Mongolian woman becomes immigration official

July 9

A Mongolian-born Korean national has become the first naturalized Korean citizen to become a government immigration official. Foreigners actually making good, showing they`re more than just police-blotter material.



14. E-2 regulations lead to teacher shortage

Feb. 1

The Kyunghyang Shinmun`s Newsmaker magazine ran a piece on how the new E-2 visa regulations are driving up the price of foreign English teachers in Korea.



15. Lee Myung-bak wants more foreigners

Jan. 19

In a meeting with leaders of the Democratic Party, then-President-elect Lee Myung-bak said he would push for changes in Korea`s civil service law to allow the government to employ foreigners as civil servants in important policy making positions.

By Robert Koehler