Jindo's Growing Up!

[driftingfocus]

Well, Jindo has now had its first “runner”.  It was bound to happen eventually, but it was not who I expected.

For those unaware, “pulling a runner” is the term for when someone packs up their stuff and high-tails it out of Korea before their boss gets word they’re leaving and informs immigration to detain them.  It’s frustratingly common, and while

Comments

[driftingfocus]

If you run, you're effectively deporting yourself, which means you are barred from entering the country for 5 years.

*Edit: You also have to realize that most of the folks who run do so because the schools, say, haven't paid them in months, are making them live in apartments without hygienic facilities, sexually assault or harrass them, etc. Many of the shadier hagwons will hold their teachers' passports captive as a means of preventing runners, but unsurprisingly, those are usually the schools that abuse their workers the most.

[forceiswithyou]

How do they get out of the country? Run straight to the airport, or the border, or a ferry, or something? Sounds really intense.

And NO WAY. Passport hostagery is the biggest red flag of all red flags. Man. Awful.

[driftingfocus]

Yeah. Usually they get off work, go home, pick up their bags, and head straight to the airport (since that's really the only way out of Korea, other than a ferry to Japan, and most folks just want to go home). Usually on a Friday, so that they have a buffer before they seem to be missing.

Yeah. One of the things that anyone who has worked here will tell you is that you never, ever, ever give your passport to anyone but immigration - there is no reason that anyone else should ever need it. However, some very naive and inexperienced folks come to Korea, so they don't know any better.

[holden_wake]

A friend of mine worked at a really shady hogwong and was told he was going to be fired when a replacement came. However the replacement bailed so his hogwong owner wanted him to stay and actually tried to ask for his passport.

So he did a mini-run and left his apartment and stayed at mine for a few days until the situation was defused and the hongwong owner agreed to write him a letter of release so he could work somewhere else.

This happened in Seoul too, so it can happen anywhere. Be aware of holding the passport trick.

Interesting info about the running, I didn't know about the ban of travel to Korea thing and all the details, since I never considered running.

If someone is in the public system though, I don't think there is a need to run per see. Since all they have to do is give their employer one month notice that they are quitting.

[driftingfocus]

Well, there can be some reasons to run from a public school. I know folks in SK who have worked at public schools that are just as shady as hagwons - not paying them, making them work over their hours for no extra pay, etc. In those cases, the school would also not write them a letter of release, so there was no reason for them *not* to do a runner, since waiting longer just meant more unpaid work.

And yeah, when you run, you are effectively deporting yourself. Deportation orders involve a 5 year ban on travel to Korea.

[holden_wake]

Oh, believe me, I know the public system can sometimes be as shady as hogwongs, since the Wando Foregin Language Center felt like I was working at a shady hogwong, haha.

I wonder though, with the public system there is a little more accountability. If the school was refusing to write a letter of release I'm sure Andrea could be called (I assume she is still the foreigner rep in Jeollanamdo?) and the Jeollanamdo Office of Education would get involved and force the schools hand to agree to the letter of release.

I'm at least aware of a few people in Wando leaving early and getting out of their contracts by giving them a months notice.

But yeah, I could totally see how being a runner in the public system is still possible.