Scroozle's Sanctuary

Korea: Land of Prophets and Sects

2013-05-13T20:23:00.001+09:00

When Europeans came into contact with Korea, all those centuries ago, they brought with them their various faiths and beliefs. Christianity had a rocky start in Korea, and it was quickly outlawed under penalty of death. Many missionaries and practitioners were put to death for practising western barbarism.

Following the Korean War of the 1950s, Christianity has enjoyed a sudden surge of popularity. Seen as a modernising force, Koreans took to western religions, allowing Christianity to spread and compete with Buddhism. Today, Korea pumps out more missionaries than any other nation, other than the USA, and boasts some of the largest congregations in the world. Christian voters are a formidable force and have been particularly vocal in the past few years. Christian politicians have seen great success in elections, notably with former president, and mayor of Seoul, Lee Myung Bak.

Protestant Koreans are well known for their proselytizing throughout the cities. You’ll see them downtown with microphones, droning on while the crowds work their way past them. They’ll enter subway cars and give a brief sermon. They’ll camp in front of escalators at train stations handing pamphlets out to people trying their best to ignore them.

With such a fertile breeding ground, a fair number of fringe groups (or cults) have cropped up over the years. Some have been found guilty of embezzlement. Others were charged with crimes of a sexual nature. Their leaders promised new readings of Biblical scriptures, and spoke of their divine rights to messiahship. As time wore on, these organizations became increasingly crafty with their interactions with the public. Massive PR stunts took place on a frequent basis, and attempted to muddle the connections between the original cult and its child organizations.

If you’ve been following Scroozle.com for the past year, you probably know where this is heading. However, rather than focus on one fringe group, I’m going to introduce a list of some of the more common ones.

Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity

Better known as: The Unification Church

Founder and leader: Moon Sun Myung (deceased). Now led by his wife and sons.

Leader’s divine claims: Moon was supposed to be the second coming of the Christ. But he died. Oh well.

Best known for: Their mass weddings are pretty well-known. Thousands of couples get together at the same time and are wedded. People can’t choose their partner, however. Moon would play matchmaker, and would assign women to men. The couples could be composed of nationals from two very different countries, and they may not even be able to speak the same language.

Further info: The Moonies (as they are known) play in the big leagues. They dwarf the other organizations by sheer size and success. They have basically become a massive conglomerate/empire, and while the word “peace” is emblazoned on their churches, they have subsidiaries that create weapons. Moon was jailed in the US for lying on his taxes, and controversy has always dogged the church, both in Korea, and in America.

Scroozle’s experience: I’ve never run into anyone from the church, or at least I never ran into anyone who made it clear they were a Moonie.

Providence

Better known as: JMS (Jesus Morning Star)

Founder and leader: Jung Myung Seok (pictured)

Leader’s divine claims: Jung is the messiah and has a mission. The mission? To rape as many girls as possible. Women were told to undress for his personal health checks and forced into sex with him.

Best known for: The sexual abuses perpetrated by its founder. He would force young women to have sex with him, so that he could rinse away their sins. With allegations of rape breathing down his neck, he fled the country, but was nabbed in China. He’s currently serving a ten year imprisonment sentence.

Further info: JMS is basically a cult’s cult. It’s so obviously a cult, you can’t even be bothered referring to it as anything but. You have the psychopathic, and rapey, founder. The brainwashed young people duped into submitting their body shots, so they can be adequately judged. The entire thing was one large set-up for its founder to get laid.

Scroozle’s experience: Again, none that I know of. JMS made headlines a bit before I came to Korea. By the time Jung was caught, I was in my first year in Daegu, so I wasn’t too aware of things.

World Mission Society Church of God

Better known as: God the Mother/ Heavenly Mother

Founder and leader: An Sahng-hong

Leader’s divine claims: An was Jesus. But he died in 1985. Now his wife continues as God. But the female version of God. Because there are two Gods, you see. A male and a female God.

Best known for: Annoying foreign English teachers with the phrase “do you know God the Mother?”. These people are Jehovah Witnesses on steroids. They will do their best to figure out where you live, or work, and show up. They will take you aside and try to speak about their beliefs. They may act surprised when you answer the door, and are confronted with a foreigner, but they somehow only have English-language materials with them.

Further info: They are currently caught up in a criminal case in New Jersey. Unsurprisingly, when you’re a non-profit organization, you’re not supposed to make profits. Guess that hasn’t been the case. Like Jehovah Witnesses, they tend to go after foreigners in Korea, so be wary. Don’t hesitate to blow them off.

Scroozle’s experience: These people annoy the hell out of me. They hunted me down in Gangneung and somehow found my apartment. They got me to come to my door at 10 PM so they could tell me about “God the Heavenly Mother”. My first run in with them was back in 2009 (or 2010), in Daegu. One of my coworkers at a hagwon (I went to on Thursdays) took me aside, one day between classes. She brought me into her classroom, closed the door, and filled the time with doomsday claptrap. Fast forward a few years, and one of them called my school in Gangneung, claiming to be from the city council and wishing to speak with me. There is a big church of theirs in Gangneung, and it’s unfortunately located next to the skating rink. I am sure I will have many more encounters with them in the future.

Good News Mission

Better known as: International Youth Fellowship (IYF)

Founder and leader: Park Ock Soo

Leader’s divine claims: He has the correct interpretation of the Bible, due to the fact he has the right heart. He can teach you how to get a similarly right heart.

Best known for: Their IYF camps and English contests. They will advertise their English speech contests, and handsomely pay for foreign English teachers to be judges. This gives them the legitimacy to do what they do.

Extra info: And what do they do? Like many of these fringe groups, they have a big volunteer arm, and it’s based on deception. They hold camps throughout the world, and then starve the camp goers, lock them into their rooms at night, and sermonize to them. They sucker big name sponsors into supporting them, thereby creating the air of an established volunteer organization.

Scroozle’s experience: Know who has a big complex opposite of the World Mission Society Church of God in Gangneung? The Good News Mission! I often see many students playing at their facilities, but I’m not entirely sure they’re aware of the true nature of the IYF. They may believe they’re taking part in a leadership movement or participating in English debates. Last year, they asked two EPIK teachers to judge their speech contest. At that time I was caught up with Mannam, so I was wary of the IYF, even though there wasn’t a lot of info available on them at the moment, aside from this.

Shinchonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony

Better known as: Shinchonji/SCJ

Founder and leader: Lee Manhee

Leader’s divine claims: Lee was visited by a star/Angel/Jesus/God/soju and told he was the “promised pastor”. This was foretold in the book of Revelation. This puts him on equal footing with Jesus. He also has the only correct interpretation of the Bible.

Best known for: being the formally secret backer of Mannam. They’re also quite well known for their Bible studies school “Zion Mission Central”. SCJ likes to pretend it’s a force for peace and volunteerism, but they use these events to prove certain prophesies in the Bible are being fulfilled. If the Bible says the promised pastor will unite all nations, and SCJ holds international summits and Olympiads, how could you doubt them?

Extra info: It was previously thought SCJ used Mannam to funnel new bodies into the religion. However, they use Mannam as a repository for SCJ members. This gives SCJ members something to do, and limit their free time. It also allows them to self-fulfill their own prophesies. Mannam was originally supposed to be a secular organization, but the lid was blown off that last year, and that particular creed no longer appears to be the case.

Scroozle’s experience: Scroozle has pretty much become synonymous with SCJ and Mannam. I was generally unhappy with the lack of unbiased material on Mannam, so I took it upon myself to research the hell out of them. What I uncovered lit many a discussion and forced Mannam and SCJ to change their habits. Mannam isn’t nearly as active as it used to be, and SCJ is doing more of their “volunteer” work as themselves these days. They don’t target westerners as much, but they still go after other foreign segments in Korea.

What are the warning signs, sir Scroozle?

Do they have immaculate and very good-looking women interrupting you on the street, or being employed at their events? CULT.

Does their leader claim to have the correct reading of the Bible? CULT.

Does their leader clam to be Jesus/God/the Messiah? CULT.

Do they have a massive volunteer arm that promotes world peace, but doesn’t actually do anything? CULT.

Does their website have pictures of the founder all over the place, attesting to how great he is, and reminding you of North Korea? CULT.

Do they operate a number of churches abroad, all with very different names? CULT.

Do they threaten you with legal action if you speak out about them? CULT.

Do they push their thralls to mindlessly comment on the internet how great they are? CULT.

Do they organize mass events reminiscent of North Korea? CULT.

Do they force their kids to do this?

Well…you know the drill.

The Recent Outbursts of Right-Wing Japanese Stupidity

2013-04-30T20:48:00.001+09:00

If you’ve spent any amount of time in East Asia, you’re well aware of the tenuous grip on historical reality some of the countries have here. Many of them are keen to boast of their successes while ignoring the more distasteful aspects of their past actions. At some point in time, every state has practiced outright barbarism upon humanity. Sometimes you need to go back through the annals of history to obtain examples, although in other cases it’s well within the limits of human memory.

The antagonistic relationship between Korea and Japan has been well-documented. At the end of the nineteenth century Japan meddled within Joseon affairs, and brought the dynasty down completely. What followed was a series of colonial governments as Japan annexed Korea and assumed control of the peninsula.This sordid tale of Korean history is played out in school texts across the nation, and every citizen knows it by heart. Japan, the aggressor, comes in and attempts to destroy Korea, the victim.

Respite only came in 1945 when Korea won its independence following the surrender of the Japanese forces in WW2. Throughout the war years, Japan had drafted Korean men to fight along the front lines, and used the women in its colonies as sexual slaves. All this is well-documented and simple Google searches can bring up ample photographic evidence. I won’t share the photographs just yet, but if you don’t like to view graphic depictions of human depravity, it might be wise to visit another site.

Hardline nationalistic rhetoric has been on the upswing recently, the world over. Throughout the economic downturn, ugly rhetoric is often used to great effect to churn up support and cast the blame onto certain segments of society. Greece has been a prime example of this, as the Golden Dawn movement makes inroads within the political arena. The attacks on “free-loading” minorities, during the 2012 US elections, came from right-wing candidates as they vied for political power. Last year, a major broadcaster in Korea ran afoul of the foreign population when a xenophobic fill-in news piece came to light. It seems examples abound the world over.

In recent months, Japan has been particularly loud. Since the election of Shinzō Abe in December 2012, tempers have been flaring in Korea, China, and Japan. Abe has a long history of muddling historical facts to gain political points from his support base, mostly at the expense of Korea and China; two countries wronged by Japan in the not-so-distant past.

In the past, I have attempted to smooth out some of the anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea. I’ve written a few entries over the years, and have had angry Korean netizens attempt to argue with me. I’ve rarely sided against Japan in these affairs, as it was never really the policy of the Japanese government to engage in anti-Korean sentiment. It was normally the work of idiotic Japanese individuals, and they were hardly worthy of my time to address. Korea, on the other hand, has had political administrations actively try to stir up anti-Japanese sentiment, and I took issue with that.

If you don’t follow the East Asian blogosphere as closely as my friends and I do, you may have missed the drama several news stories have caused. In February, a high school Japanese girl was given the opportunity to verbally lash out at the Korean population in Osaka. She called on them to be massacred in the same manner that befell Nanjing. Her speech was caught on video, and went viral:

Was this just an isolated incident, cherry-picked to blow things out of proportion? Unfortunately not. These kinds of rallies are all too common an occurrence, and it seems as if my friends in Japan are sharing these links on a weekly basis, if not with greater frequency. I wouldn’t mind so much if it were just school kids with nothing better to do with their time than make a spectacle of themselves. However, when the ruling party gets involved, then someone has crossed a line.

On the 23rd, Japanese lawmakers visited a shrine. They did it to mark the spring festival, but the shrine in particular has notoriety attached to it. The Yasukuni shrine is well-known as a place that honours the war dead. However, it also honours those that have been convicted of war crimes. Abe himself made an offering to the shrine, even though he did not visit it in person. Japan’s neighbours have long asked Japan to acknowledge its past transgressions and atone for them. All the while, these demands have fallen on deaf ears, and politicians continue to let their actions speak for themselves. While it’s clear not every Japanese individual agrees with such idiocy, greater effort to decry these actions must be made.

Moronic attempts to rewrite history such as the following cannot be allowed to continue. Abe has even gone so far as to declare a new day of celebration. This festive occasion is to mark the end of the allied occupation of Japan. On the face of things, this might not be case for alarm. And yet Abe ha decided to go one step further:

Mr Abe infuriated China and South Korea when he suggested he may no longer stand by the wording of an apology issued in 1995 for Japan's war-time aggression, saying the definition of "aggression" was hard to establish.

There is nothing hard about it. Japan invaded Korea and China. If there weren’t any aggression, Japanese troops would never have left their islands. The simple fact they set foot in other countries means they were the aggressor. And, yes, Japan should atone for its crimes. The fact one of the leaders sees fit to rewrite history is alarming. Certain Japanese politicians may want to craft history in their own image, but luckily the internet is always able to set things right.

Perhaps Abe needs some examples of Japanese WW2 aggression, and then he might change his tune. You want some examples of aggression? I’ll give you examples of aggression.
Is this aggressive for you? No? What argument are you going to formulate? That war is hell, and the victor crowing over the defeated isn’t all that out of place? Perhaps you’re right. You’ll certainly see plenty of contemporary examples of NATO forces doing the same in the Middle East.

So let’s pull back a bit further. Go for the wide angle. Let’s capture human depravity at its finest. Japan, you have the floor.

Still not enough to convince you? Are all these bodies the product of a freak accident? One that somehow managed to bind the victims’ arms behind their backs and strip them of their clothes at the same time?

Curious.

How does it make you feel, Abe, to spit upon these people’s memories? I don’t hold you personally responsible for their deaths, and the agony they went through beforehand, but I hold you personally responsible for failing to learn from history’s mistakes.

In English, we have a saying, and it goes: “lest we forget”. Come November 11th Canadians donate money, and get a plastic poppy in return. They pin these red flowers to their jackets, over their hearts, and generally believe they’re doing some good. Traditionally, you’re supposed to remember those that fought for your country, and who laid down their lives so that you may live free. I find that to be a bit trite. When I wear a poppy, it’s not to remember the soldier who had died. War is a barbaric thing humanity has been unable to shed. We’ve had civilization for thousands of years, and yet for all our enlightenment we still kill ourselves on battlefields. No, when I wear a poppy, it’s to remind me of the human cost of war. Not of the men and women in uniform who are doing the job they signed up for, but for the civilian population caught up between the fighting. The children who are mercilessly savaged in the name of some pathetic ideal.

And this is where Japan’s true crimes enter the picture. Japan didn’t simply enter into battle to pit soldier against soldier. The truth of the matter goes far beyond that.

No, what Japan did is something no politician should forget. These actions speak for themselves, and they should drown out any attempts of denial. You may no longer stand by the wording of the 1995 apology, but don’t expect the rest of the world to suddenly throw its hands up and adopt your delusional grasp on reality.

We can’t forget, and we won’t.

The Unexpected Benefits of Life in Korea

2013-04-22T01:11:00.001+09:00

April 22nd will mark the end of my 60th month in Korea. That means I have finished five full years in this country, and am about to enter my sixth. The original mission was to do at least four years, and then either go back to Canada, do something else, or continue as is.

I obviously went with the last option.

While I have often written about my life in Korea, that aspect of my blog has taken a bit of a back seat in recent years. The days of the ol’ Sanctuary being a diary account of my time here can only be found by going way back into the old entries. With 1180 posts, you have some digging ahead of you if you want to experience this site in its original mission.

Back in 2006 and 2007, I girded myself with as much knowledge as possible concerning Korea. I wanted to know what to expect when I got to Korea, so as to minimize the impact culture shock would have. It worked remarkably well, and I never went through the love/hate phases most expats experience.

Rather than rehashing what a million other bloggers have said over the years, and present a list of things what to expect, or what not expect, while living in Korea, I will create a different list. Here are three of the unexpected benefits Korean life has given me over the years.

A New Perspective as a Visible Minority

Being in a marginalized part of society comes as a huge shock to many white Anglos. For most of their life, they lived in a privileged racial class. They could invisibly slip into crowds back home without people staring at them, or shouting at them on the street. They were rarely subjected to outlandish media reports claiming how dangerous they were to society. They weren’t constantly reminded how different they were to everyone else in the country.

Many English teachers have difficulty adjusting to this sudden change. Visit any expat alehouse in a Korean city and you’ll hear many a complaint. Blog entries, and message board posts, decrying racism aren’t exactly in short supply either.

Being a “white”, English-speaking, (male) Canadian, meant all this was a new experience. For once in my life, I was a true outsider. Moving every four years in Canada, to different parts of the country, meant I had some experience with having to adapt. You can adapt all you want in Korea, but you’ll end up sticking out amongst the majority of the population here. That’s just the way things are in one of the most homogenous societies on the planet.

What can you do? Give up, and get angry, or accept it, and gain insight.

Having lived five years as a foreigner, I am more sympathetic to my fellow foreigners worldwide. It’s not easy uprooting yourself to go somewhere different, and have people unsure how to approach you, or even intimidated by the sight of you. It’s even worse when the media objects to your presence, and tries to stir the pot of racial prejudice.

I firmly believe everyone should experience this at some point in their lives. Walking a mile in somebody else’s shoes might just make you appreciate certain things a bit more. It should also make you want to change how things are back in your native country.

I have been very aggressive with racial lunacy in Canada, especially when it’s white Anglo Canadians spouting it. Most of these idiots have no idea what it’s like to have their idea of racial superiority knocked out from underneath them. It’s often the case, when I go back to Ontario, that I run into such confrontations. Even within my own family, I will snuff out prejudice whenever I feel it is justified.

Out of all the experiences I’ve had in Korea, it might be that my status as a visible minority proves to be the most instructional. Examining why, and how, people feel the way they do about me here, can allow me to more accurately judge how Canada (and North American society in general) falls short. It’s easy for people to say “oh, Korea’s a racist country, and Koreans will never accept me!” and then return home, oblivious how their own country treats foreigners. It has humbled me. It has made me more aware of how marginalized minorities can be, visible, or otherwise. It has made me champion egalitarian causes in a far more proactive manner.

[That being said, let’s not forget being a white English teacher still affords you some respect in this country. It would be another matter entirely if you came to Korea with much darker skin, and a non-English native tongue. I certainly do my own share of moaning over the mandatory HIV tests, and whatever MBC decides to air, but my life would certainly be more difficult here if I were a South East Asian factory worker. It’s all well and good I gained a new perspective as a visible minority, but in my experience here I was never outright treated as dirt]

Greater Contact With Creative People

The expat community is abuzz with people who keep themselves busy with creative hobbies. In Canada, it was rare for me to find anyone who did anything creative, and took their creativity seriously. In Korea, I am constantly in contact with some of the most creative people I’ve ever met. Writers, photographers, videographers, designers, and song writers are just a few of the people who have become good friends over the years.

The expat lifestyle might just naturally draw those who are more creative. If you come to Korea, and you have a particular hobby, make sure you get in with those with similar interests. It will greatly enrich your life, and make your stay in Korea an absolute blast at times.

It’s one of the great ironies, as Korea often has been stereotyped as a conformist country. Despite that, Korea offers an environment where you can completely thrive as an artist. The vast majority of my expat friendships here stem from my blog. My blog gave me a reason to start a YouTube channel. Connecting with everyone gave me a reason to join Twitter. What began as conversational chit-chat later became deeply thought-provoking conversations. People who were once usernames, floating about in the ether of the internet, are now real folks, and dear friends.

Internet-based friendships might strike one as weird back in North America, but the internet is our communication lifeblood in Korea. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to collaborate, or schedule meet-ups. Without it, many of us wouldn’t have heard of each other. However, even outside those of us who are content-creators, Korea is awash with talented expats. You’ll find many with their musical instruments of choice at the local bars. They might also be organizing adventurous trips to new locales, eager to do something invigorating.

Being an introvert isn’t much of a problem in Korea, as there are many of us here. We understand what it’s like to be in the throes of creativity, and locked away for a few evenings while you hammer something out. We know what it’s like to want to get together so you can share and talk about your own creations with other like-minded people.

Meeting up might be more difficult if you live in rural parts of the provinces, but I usually manage once every few months. The good times are definitely worth the bus trips, and I always look forward to it.

If you feel particularly adventurous, I’d also recommend getting involved with Koreans who share the same hobbies as you. I did that in Daegu, and I must say it was great. The language barrier is less of a problem than you might think.

A Better Understanding of the Limitations of Monolingualism

I was horrid with French back in Canada. My brain was somehow unable to grasp the grammatical differences between languages. I was always embarrassed by my inability to advance beyond simple French conversation. I had some great professors in university (the first time I actually took a real French class), but they weren’t really able to get through to me.

That changed when I came to Korea. Maybe it’s because I threw myself at the culture. Maybe it’s because I refused to hang around foreign circles while in Daegu, and immerse myself completely in Korean. Whatever the case, I was finally able to understand the science of another language. Korean somehow broke the blockage in my brain, and allowed me to use something other than English.

I’m not bilingual, and I’m nowhere near fluent in Korean. My own vocabulary is still limited, and my grammar is riddled with problems. However, I can use it when I want to, and that comes in handy. I can hold my own in conversations, provided I know what the topic is, and I have enough words stored in my head to make a worthwhile contribution. It also allows me to navigate services in Korea that would otherwise be out of reach.

That provides me with a great deal of independence, compared to my expat peers. I can travel anywhere in this country, and not be hindered. I can understand last minute-alterations. I can communicate with others when I require clarification.

Even with the (what I consider to be) little Korean I know, I have access to a world that would otherwise be shut to me. I know foreigners in Korea who have spent multiple years here, but never bothered to learn anything beyond the names of common foods, as well as “hello” and “thank you”. I can’t imagine living life like that here, and having to rely on your Korean co-workers whenever you need translation services.

Korean has somehow also given me the ability to pick up other languages. For the first time in my life, I can see myself having a multi-language future. That might be the norm if you’re European, but for an Anglo North American, it’s a big change.

Everyone in my family is monolingual. Most of my relatives are too, unless they also speak some Canadien French. No one knows a language outside of their culture, and it has significantly limited their lives. None of them have any international friends. There’s an entire world of experiences they’ll never get to be a part of, simply because they approach the world through a monolingual blinder. Even when they think they’re branching out, they’re really not. What they consider to be international food, is really Americanized knock-offs, and they’re none the wiser. When they travel, they do so on cruises, or through organized tours, which wraps them up in a bubble of Westernization, so no authentic interaction actually occurs.

Out of all the foreigners I know in Korea, there aren’t very many who have the same number of Korean friends as I do. Sure, everyone has that one Korean friend they get along with, and/or rely on. For the most part, though, ESL teachers tend to spend more time with their fellow expats than they do with the Korean population. I have dozens of friends in Daegu, Gangneung and Seoul, and many of them can’t speak English. This might come as a surprise (unless you’ve been with this blog since 2007), but the majority of my best friends in Korea, are actually Korean. In Daegu, I hung around with my colleagues, and my bowling club pals. In Gangneung, I had far more foreign friends than before, but again, most of my outings were with Koreans, than foreigners. My life would be empty without them.

Having serviceable knowledge of Korean can open many doors. It allows you to better understand the culture and society. It helps on a personal and professional level. It gives you access to opportunities otherwise outside your grasp.

And so, in Closing…

Life in Korea might have its ups and downs, but for me it has been more hill than valley. Maybe I’m one of the lucky few. It generally seems the longer one stays in Korea, the more aggravated they are over the little things. Having spent all my adult life in this country though, Korea seems more “real” to me than that far off land called “Canada”. It has been my home these past five years, and it has been a real pleasure.

I try desperately to give as much back to the country as I have been given. I often get thanked for my contributions to Korea, and to Korean students, but I usually feel as if I fall short. If karma is to be used as a metaphor for societal balance, things are far more weighted in my favour. Korea has given me leave to eke out a living, while also thrive doing what I enjoy doing. It has dramatically changed who I am as a person, and how I perceive myself as an individual. Some people don’t understand how I could have let five years of my life slip through my fingers, and screw around in Asia. What they see as a waste of time, I view as a valuable foundation to prepare me for what’s to come.

There’s an entire world out there, and I’ve barely scratched the surface.

2013 Gyeongpo Cherry Blossom Festival/경포벚꽃축제

2013-04-14T20:53:00.001+09:00

I shot that yesterday, and today. I just finished putting it together.

I took some pics as well, and they’re in this Facebook album.

Now even though you may have missed it, you can still feel as if you had went. Be here next year!

Message to Canadians / Message aux Canadiens

2013-04-13T09:58:00.001+09:00

Dear Canadian, you are receiving this email because you are registered with the Government of Canada's Registration of Canadians Abroad (ROCA) service. Please share the following important information with other Canadian citizens in your area and encourage them to register with the Embassy of Canada in Seoul.

The Government of Canada's travel advice for the Republic of Korea (ROK) remains "Exercise normal security precautions". The Government of Canada's travel advice for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continues to advise against all travel due to the uncertain security situation. On March 11, 2013, North Korea issued a statement declaring that the Korean Armistice Agreement is invalid. While past threats made by the North to nullify this agreement have gone unfulfilled, further provocative action could occur. Despite recent statements issued by the North Korean government, we continue to advise that there is no immediate threat to Canadians in South Korea. However, as tensions could escalate with little warning, Canadians should be vigilant, monitor developments and follow the advice of local authorities.

The Canadian Embassy to Korea in Seoul is closely monitoring the situation and will advise the Canadian community in Korea of developments as required. As the situation evolves, we recommend that you consult the Travel Reports for North and South Korea available at: http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/korea-north-dprk and http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/korea-south, for up-to-date information. You can also subscribe to travel updates at http://travel.gc.ca/news-warnings/subscribe.

We encourage you to invite other Canadians in your region to register with the Registration of Canadians abroad service at www.travel.gc.ca/register . This service allows us to contact registered Canadians during emergencies and disseminate important information, including points of contact and safety and security advice. Registrants should also update their personal information (address or telephone number) with the Embassy (seoul-cs@international.gc.ca). You can also follow us on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/insidecanadaen or https://twitter.com/TravelGoC , and consult the web links below for additional information:

Please ensure that your travel documents, including your passport, are valid.

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/consular_services_consulaires/passport-passeport.aspx?lang=eng

To help you and your family prepare for emergencies, we encourage you to consult the Embassy Web page on Emergency Planning: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/consular_services_consulaires/emergency_plan_urgence.aspx?lang=eng. Information on government evacuations can be found at: http://travel.gc.ca/assistance/emergency-info/evacuations.

There is no resident Canadian government office in North Korea. You can obtain consular assistance and further information from the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang at Munsudong, Daehak Street, Taedonggang District, Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea Telephone 850 (2) 381-7908, 381-7904, or 381-7485 Fax 850 (2) 381-7663; Email: ambassaden.pyongyang@foreign.ministry.se

The Embassy of Canada in Seoul, South Korea, has consular responsibility for North Korea, but is limited in its ability to provide consular services. Canadian citizens requiring emergency consular assistance can contact the Embassy of Canada in Seoul at 21 Jeongdong-gil (Jeong-dong), Jung-gu, Seoul (100-120), Republic of Korea. Tel: 82-2-3783-6000; Email: seoul@international.gc.ca.

For emergency assistance after hours, you may communicate with the Emergency Watch and Response Centre (EWRC) in Ottawa by calling the Embassy of Canada in Seoul at 001-800-2326-6831, 002-800-2326-6831, or 008-800-2326-6831. You may also reach the EWRC directly by dialing 613-996-8885 (collect call where available) or by email at sos@international.gc.ca.

Embassy of Canada to Korea
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Cher Canadien, vous recevez ce message parce que vous vous êtes inscrits auprès du MAECI à l'aide du système d'Inscription des Canadiens à l'étranger. Nous vous saurions gré de bien vouloir faire part de l'information suivante à tous les citoyens canadiens se trouvant dans votre région et les encourager à s’inscrire avec l’ambassade du Canada à Séoul.

Les Conseils aux voyageurs du gouvernement du Canada pour la République de Corée demeurent de prendre " les mesures de sécurité normales". Les Conseils aux voyageurs du gouvernement du Canada pour la République populaire démocratique de Corée demeurent "d’éviter tout voyage…en raison des conditions de sécurité incertaines. Le 11 mars 2013, la Corée du Nord a déclaré l’annulation de la Convention d'armistice en Corée. Bien que les menaces passées faites par la Corée du Nord pour invalider la Convention ne se soient pas concrétisées, d’autres actes de provocation pourraient être posés. En dépit des récentes déclarations du gouvernement de la Corée du Nord, nous sommes toujours d’avis qu’il n’y a aucune menace immédiate pour les Canadiens en Corée du Sud. Les Canadiens devraient être vigilant, suivre l’évolution de la situation et suivre les conseils des autorités locales puisque les tensions pourraient s’intensifier très rapidement.

L’ambassade du Canada en Corée surveille de près la situation et informera la communauté canadienne en Corée des nouveaux développements, au besoin. Nous vous recommandons de consulter régulièrement les Conseils aux voyageurs pour la Corée du Sud au : http://voyage.gc.ca/destinations/coree-sud. Abonnez-vous Dernières nouvelles http://voyage.gc.ca/nouvelles-mises-en-garde/abonner

Nous vous encourageons à inviter les autres Canadiens dans votre région à s’inscrire dans notre système d’inscription des Canadiens à l’étranger au http://voyage.gc.ca/voyager/inscription .

Ce service nous permet de communiquer avec les Canadiens inscrits lors d’une urgence pour offrir de l’information importante incluant les contacts d’urgence, ainsi que nos conseils sur la sureté et sécurité. Vous pouvez aussi nous suivre sur Twitter au http://www.twitter.com/insidecanadafr ou https://twitter.com/TravelGoC et consulter les liens internet ci-dessus :

Veuillez vous assurer que vos documents de voyage, y compris votre passeport, soient valides. http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/consular_services_consulaires/passport-passeport.aspx?lang=fra

Pour vous préparer aux situations d’urgence, nous vous invitons à consulter la page web de l’ambassade sur la planification d’urgence : http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/consular_services_consulaires/emergency_plan_urgence.aspx?lang=fra. Plus d’information sur l’aide du gouvernement lors d’évacuation d’urgence est disponible à l’adresse suivante : http://voyage.gc.ca/assistance/info-d-urgence/evacuations.

Le Canada n'a pas de représentation officielle en Corée du Nord. Vous pouvez obtenir une aide consulaire et de plus amples renseignements auprès de l'ambassade de Suède à Pyongyang : Munsudong, rue Daehak, district de Taedonggang, Pyongyang, République populaire démocratique de Corée. Telephone 850 (2) 381-7908, 381-7904, or 381-7485 Fax 850 (2) 381-7663; Courriel: ambassaden.pyongyang@foreign.ministry.se

Les citoyens canadiens ayant besoin de l’assistance consulaire urgente peuvent contacter l’ambassade du Canada à Séoul au 21 Jeongdong-gil (Jeong-dong), Jung-gu, Seoul (100-120), République de Corée. Tél : 82-2-3783-6000 ; Courriel : seoul@international.gc.ca

Pour obtenir une aide d'urgence en dehors des heures ouvrables, vous pouvez communiquer avec le Centre de surveillance et des interventions d’urgence (CSIU) à Ottawa en téléphonant l’ambassade en composant le 001-800-2326-6831, 002-800-2326-6831, 008-800-2326-6831. Vous pouvez aussi appeler le (CSIU) directement au 613-996-8885 (à frais virés) ou par courriel à sos@international.gc.ca.

L’ambassade du Canada en Corée

Sexual Assault, Police Ineptitude and Suicide….in Nova Scotia?

2013-04-11T22:28:00.001+09:00

Some background information about myself: I’m Canadian, and the nine year period I spent in Canada, prior to Korea, was in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax is the provincial capital of the Atlantic Canadian province of Nova Scotia. When asked for my hometown, I usually say “Halifax”, despite being born in London, Ontario, and half of my life spent in various Ontario cities (Ottawa, Winchester, Pembroke, and North Gower). I never really lived in Halifax proper, but a town called Porters Lake, which was about 40 minutes away by highway. Porters Lake is on the “Eastern Shore”, and Cole Harbour is the largest, and closest, mini-city in the region. Cole Harbour has recently shot to fame in the hockey world, thanks to being the birth place of superstar Sidney Crosby.

Now it’s making headlines once more, due to the recent suicidal death of a sexually assaulted 17 year old. Cole Harbour may be in Nova Scotia, but it’s not one of those sleepy little Maritime towns. It’s a rough-and-tumble place full of racial tension and delinquent youth. With the Steubenville rape case fresh on everyone’s minds, the obvious parallels are being drawn. If you haven’t heard what happened yet, allow me to bring you up to speed.

On Sunday, Rehtaeh Parsons [pictured] succumbed to a suicide attempt made a few days prior. What pushed her to take her own life? In 2011, when she was fifteen years old, she was over at a friend’s house drinking vodka. She drank enough to get sick and black out. While blacking out, one of four boys decided to rape her, and then take pictures of the assault. The pictures spread in her school, and an intense campaign of bullying provided a constant source of harassment. The bullying never stopped, and she never regained any of the friends she lost along the way.

So, where was the justice? Her school didn’t do anything to stop the bullying, or correct the behaviour of those that assaulted her. Despite the fact distributing child pornography is a federal offence, no steps were taken to clamp down. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Canada’s national police force) apparently told the family they had no evidence a crime took place, despite the proliferation of the photographs. Having been let down by society in general, and completely shut out, she killed herself (however, her heart was donated and ended up saving another person).

To add to the mix, Anonymous has decided to get involved.

What has this taught us? That the disgusting culture of rape has been allowed to run amok and unchecked for far too long. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone, but at the very least people are finally starting to take notice. Yet even with this miniscule amount a progress, the victim-blaming continues by the intellectually devoid hordes.

Yes, I know she was a minor drinking alcohol. That’s hardly new, though, and not all that surprising in Nova Scotia. Her sobriety shouldn’t be an issue. The fact someone raped her, while she was drunk, is the issue. Unfortunately, this all too common among the male population of our species. Date rape drugs shouldn’t even be a thing, and yet here we are.

I’m quick on the draw to criticize Korean authorities when I feel something is amiss, since I’ve been living here for over five years. I, and many other expats, have been extremely vocal over the number of sexual assaults in Korea, and sexism in general. Now my ire is directed entirely at my so-called hometown of Halifax.

How justice could have failed at so many levels is staggering. What the hell is wrong with the teachers at Cole Harbour High? How could you have twisted this prolonged campaign of bullying into a “minor case” of bullying? How major does bullying have to be before you step in? As an ESL instructor even I know when to step in at the sign of the slightest sign of provocation and put a stop to it. As someone from Porters Lake, I’m well aware of the reputation your school has, and it’s been made abundantly clear you’ve been failing as a collective whole for decades now. I’m sure you could give me a cop-out answer in that you can’t keep tabs on every student, but my school has 50 more students, and I’m well aware of who’s being picked on, and needs help. I can manage this remarkable feat all the while speaking a language different from my students’. As a teacher, you should have a built-in intuition. If not, then you’re obviously in the wrong profession.

What will it take for you to become actual role models for your students? Another brawl? Another suicide? Another case of bullying? For god’s sake, take responsibility and start making a difference. You can start by cracking down hard on bullying, no matter how slight the offence might be.

As for the RCMP, they’ve been a joke for years. Sexual harassment is rife within the force, so it’s no surprise they took a lazy approach. Maybe it’s time you break from the old-boys’-club mode of thinking, and start protecting the citizens whose tax money pays for your wages.

Being naturally cynical, I’m sure there are plenty of other Rehtaeh Parsons out there. They’ve long had to burden the ridicule of their peers, while the authorities in their lives did absolutely nothing. Perhaps we as a society could come together and put an end to this mockery of justice. Perhaps we could even finally stop enabling rapists and blaming the victims of sexual assaults.

It shouldn’t be too much to ask.

24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle

2013-04-09T23:40:00.001+09:00

On various Shinchonji websites, there is a series of questions, 24 to be exact, posed by Samsung’s founder, Lee Byung-chul, while he was on his deathbed. Lee Byung-chul was apparently non-religious, but he directed these questions to a Catholic priest. Shinchonji purported these questions to have been unanswered for over twenty years, because they were too difficult. Until Lee Manhee decided to have a go at them, that is.

Unsatisfied with Lee Manhee’s logical inconsistencies, I have decided to type out my own responses. This will be a massive post, so feel free to skim to pertinent parts. If you belong to any of the Abrahamic faiths (Jewish, Christian, or Muslim), you might want to give this one a skip. My atheist tendencies come out strong, and I don’t bother to soften the blows.

The bolded parts are the questions posed by Lee Byung-chul. The quoted italics are Lee Manhee’s words. Mine follow.

1. How can you prove God’s existence? Why doesn’t God clearly reveal himself?

Looking at oneself gives proof of God’s existence. God does not reveal himself to people because God and men have become enemies.

There are two kinds of gods or spirits: God the creator, who is life, and an evil spirit, who is a created being.

Each kind of god has both a parent-god and a child-god. The god who exists inside of a person is the child-god. A person (body) is like the house for a god.

A god is a spirit and the soul is life. Even if the god leaves, a person is able to breathe and live if he still has the soul. When both the god and the soul leave, the person dies. However, even if a body is dead, the spirit is still alive. We cannot know God if we do not know about religion. Man (Adam), who was created and was the child-god of the Creator (Acts 17:29), became a living spirit after receiving the breath of life (Gn 2). However, as a result of receiving the evil spirit of the dragon, who is a created being, the living spirit and the evil spirit became one. This caused confusion, anxiety, and pain. The soul and the spirit left, the flesh returned to the dust and became dust (Gn 3).
People who are born with the genes of the first man (Adam) are the people who have been living on this earth until today. When man, who is the child-god of God, receives another god, the parent-god, who gives life, leaves and after living the life they are left with, the man dies.

As a result of inherited sin and personal sin accumulating on top of original sin; sin increased and our lifespan became shorter (Gn 6:1-3; Ps 90:10). Because evil entered into life, pain and death also came into existence. By receiving another god, sin was committed and because of this sin, the holy God of life left men. The parent-god cannot come to people because of sin and people cannot go to the parent-god because of sin. This is how there came to be a division between heaven and hell.

Confirmation: I am dreaming. My spirit (god) that looks like me comes out from me, goes far away and wanders around. The spirit wanders around and is able to see and hear. My body’s soul, which is still within the body, is not dead and is still breathing. The spirit (god) and soul (life) are separated. The spirit which left even has the ability to fly. The soul which remains in my body lies still and breathes. When the soul (body), which is the house of the spirit, is shaken, the spirit comes back immediately. The spirit then lets the soul know what it has seen and heard. The child-god cannot receive help from the parent-god as a result of sin. One cannot know God through worldly knowledge or wisdom.

Since there are two kinds of gods, which give two kinds of thoughts of the heart, it causes confusion; and after suffering under this kind of captivity and pressure, the spirit leaves, the soul also leaves and only the body (house) is left to return to the ground.

Heavenly religion belongs to the parent-god and it is education which is given to the child-god. This education provides a way for the child-god to meet the parent-god and receive the breath of life. The spirit, which became a living spirit as a result receiving of the breath of life, became a dying spirit and soul as a result of receiving an evil spirit. How does it cause death? It sends all kinds of illnesses and destroys the inner parts of the body (house). Because the house is destroyed, the spirit leaves. By understanding religion, escaping from the evil spirit, and believing in the parent-god, who helps people to become living spirits, the body will be judged and die because of the original sin, hereditary sin, and personal sin, but the spirit will live by being encouraged through faith. This is due to a separation between the child-god and the evil spirit, which was with the child-god.

In order to save mankind, who is in this kind of state from the evil god, first the cost of sin must be paid (with the blood of a righteous man). The evil god must be overcome and one must overcome oneself. This is when one is able to find oneself once again, escape from the evil god and become one with the parent-god, who is the Creator and life. This is the path of religion. This does not occur simply by wishing for it, but rather, it is possible through the one who gives us the path and life (religion). It is similar to a reunification where an orphan finds and drinks the breast milk of his mother.

I have seen the God of heaven, have heard his voice, dreamed dreams and have experienced the spirit and the soul leaving my body. I have also experienced the spirit and the soul leaving and returning (to the body, which is the house of flesh) twice.

Both times I tried hard not to die. After the spirit and soul left, I did not think at all about the body, which was the house. With the same outfit I wore while I was alive, I was traveling somewhere on earth. This happened when I was walking on a path by myself. I do not remember for how long I had left the flesh. I was going far away and the moment I thought about the body, I was back in the body and came back to life again.

Conclusion: The proof of the parent-god is to look at oneself, who is a child-god. How can the son say the father does not exist because he has not seen him? The reason why the parent-god does not show himself is because the child-god has committed sin by uniting with another god. This is why the parent-god (holy spirit) has been groaning (Rom 8:19-27). If I wrote based on the evidence recorded in the Bible, I would have a lot more to say; but I have explained, as you can see above, so people who do not believe would also be able to understand.

The only proof of existence Lee Manhee can offer is by quoting Bible passages. That’s akin to proving Spider-Man exists, because you have Marvel comic books backing you up. Let’s be clear here, though. The god in this context is the Abrahamic one (Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, whatever), which was created while Babylon held Israel in captivity. At this time, Judaism wasn’t monotheistic, which opens up another can of worms. It’s convenient for the question to be framed this way, because it discounts the existence of other gods (Odin/Jupiter/Shiva/Baal), while focusing entirely on the one “true” god.

However, which Abrahamic god are you going to choose? The Old Testament version, which slaughters innocent people, and acknowledges the existence of other deities? The New Testament version, which tried to soften its image? We can rule out the Qur’an version, because Islam hadn’t made many crossroads into Korea in the 1970s.

The god of Lee Manhee is one from both the OT and the NT. Most Christians go for the NT version, with fundamentalists mixing the two.

This God does not exist in the world outside of fiction, because he is a product of creativity. The Hebrews needed a deity separate from what Babylon offered, so they created one. He can’t reveal himself clearly, because he doesn’t exist. To prove God’s existence, you need exactly that: PROOF. Holy scribblings do not constitute proof, as they are also man-made.

2. How can it be proved that God is the creator of the universe and all living things?

One cannot say a king does not exist simply because he has not seen him in the palace. The proof God created all things is creation itself. How can anything grow if there is no seed and how can anything sprout if nothing has been planted?

The Creator is life and the words of God, who is life, become the seed to create all things (Lk 8:11; Jn 1:1-4). The creation of heaven and the earth is like the son existing because the father exists. The son knows his father. The reason why a son may not know his father is because he is not the son.

He’s quoting Biblical scriptures to prove his point. “God did these things, because this book about God says he did!”.

“The proof God created all things is creation itself.”

Alrighty, then. Attempt to prove it wasn’t Odin that created the universe. Or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Surely they must have been responsible because the universe is in existence, and they are the only ones powerful enough to will it into existence. If it was a deity that created the universe, prove to me it was Jehovah. You can’t without quoting the Bible, and that is why you fail. You can’t use your religious scriptures to prove your point, because other religious people will just use theirs.

You can’t prove that God created the universe, because his science is completely off. Plants and vegetation are created prior to the sun, moon, and other stars. As his science doesn’t match with the science of our universe, he’s obviously not the creator.

3. Biologists advocate human beings are the outcome of a long process of evolution. How is this different from God’s creation of humans? Are not humans or living creatures a consequence of evolution?

Humans and other living things are not the result of evolution but change. Then one may ask why there was a change. A color is one color, but when two colors are mixed, the result is not the same as the original color. The chick born of a mixed breeding of a native and foreign chicken is not the same as the parent chicken. The chick would be a half-half hybrid of the native and foreign breeds. What the true God has created is always the same. Yet, since there are two kinds of gods in this world, there are those who are born of another god and have become something different.
For example, the faces of identical twins are almost the same. Although the environment and the atmosphere each twin is exposed to are different, because the genetic information of the twins when they are created by a man and a woman are the same, the faces of the twins look the same. However, the face of the child born afterwards is different. The reason for this is the difference of accumulated sin and aging.
It is not evolution. When evil entered into the first man, a living spirit (life), the color and behavior of men became mixed and changed. Men began to resemble the image of two gods; however, when the Creator, who is life, returns, all men and creation will be restored to their original state. This change occurred because of the evil god.

No evolution, huh? How do you account for the racial diversity on the planet, if humans didn’t evolve and adapt to their various surroundings? Oh, I see. The other races (I presume the non-Korean ones) were created by the other god (Satan). How progressive of you. I’m sure Mannam would love to know what you think of their international division.

Humans are indeed a product of evolution, and it’s still an ongoing process. Why else would we have wisdom teeth (unless of course you buy stock in the Satan’s-interfering-with-God’s-creation idea)?

4. Someday, it seems like synthesis of life and people living for a long time without illnesses might be possible. If scientific development continues, wouldn’t the existence of God be denied?

Someday, synthesis of life and people living a long time without illnesses is possible. What you have said is correct. However, it is not through science. I do not think just because science develops, it will be able to analyze the two kinds of gods. Gods can only be known through gods. Also, since life spans were shortened due to sin (within biblical history), when sin is decreased and disappears, people will be able to live longer. The only way to resolve the problem of sin is the blood of Jesus (a righteous man). This is when God could reunite with men.

You just can’t use the same source to back up all your claims (the Bible). Any decent university professor would give you a failing grade for such an appalling lack of research. Humans didn’t live for thousands of years before sin whittled them down. That never happened. Don’t believe me? Crack open a biology book, and a history book on medicine in the ancient world.

As for the original question, I don’t think the ability to copy a god’s work disproves the existence of the god. That just elevates humanity to the same level as the god.

5. If God loves people, why does he allow pain, unhappiness and death?

Mr. Lee, you are saying this because you do not understand the meaning of religion. There are two kinds of gods. One is the Creator, who is life and the other is an evil god, who is a created being. Of course, the Creator loves all creation because he created it. The evil god, who is a created being, makes all creation suffer because he did not create them. He makes people blame God just like Mr. Lee.
Then who is this evil god, the created being? In the spiritual world, there are four cherubs (four living creatures, four archangels); one of the cherubs (archangel), who was in charge of one-fourth of the troops, rebelled against God and became an evil god (Satan, devil). He tried to throw the true God out and make himself God. This was the traitor, the devil, who took away the whole world created by God, and he has been ruling over it.
The way the true God, who is the Creator, makes this fact known to the people is through the Bible. As written in the answer to the fourth question, someday the true God, the Creator, will come and restore everything to its original state. The pain people suffer is not given by the true God, the Creator; rather it is given by the traitor, the evil god.

Using your logic template, how is it God doesn’t intervene when his own creation (the evil god/Satan) causes pain? Why does he shirk responsibility? Is God powerless? Why does he wait to restore the world, when he has the ability to do it now?

My fellow atheists like to pose the same question as #5, as if it somehow proves atheism is real. The existence of pain, unhappiness and death don’t disprove God. Have you read the Old Testament? Have you read the Book of Job? It’s his SOP. God isn’t benevolent; he’s a spiteful deity willing to kill innocent Egyptian children. A loving god doesn’t create Hell (bonus point: our notion of Hell comes from the Middle Ages).

6. Why did God create villains? Examples: Hitler, Stalin and other kinds of criminals

The true God, the Creator, did not make evil people. The traitor, the evil god, took people away; and in order to make them his, he entered into them and made them do evil acts. This is how they became evil people. The seed of a god is the words of that particular god. When an evil spirit enters into a person, that god makes the person act according to its will. Therefore, evil began from the evil god. I hope you understand all creation has a spirit and a soul. The way to know this (truth, fact) is through religion.

Are you sure Shinchonji is Christian? Pretty sure Satan isn’t considered a god in mainstream Christianity (bonus point: Satan doesn’t exist in the Bible! There are many “satans” because the word just means “enemy”. Later Middle Age church teachings consolidated all the enemies [Lucifer/the snake/demons/devils] into one entity).

This answer provided by Lee Manhee is a total cop-out. It doesn’t explain why the Creator allows his creation to inflict evil on everyone else. If God does not create evil people…then who created Satan? God created Satan, thereby creating a villain. You can explain that evil humans are the result of Satan, but Satan is still a result of God.

7. It is said Jesus came and died to atone for our sins. What are our sins? Why did God leave us alone to commit sin?

The price of sin is death (Rom 6:23). What kind of sin did we commit? Since Jesus died on behalf of us to pay the price of sin, our sins have been atoned. Is the reality of being atoned for really reflected in the way we live now? Also, why did God leave us to commit sin? You have asked good questions. If you were living right now, I would go to you right away and give you the answer. But for now, I pray and ask Jesus to help Mr. Lee, who is in Hades, come to know the true meaning of religion, repent, understand and attain salvation (1 Pt 3, 4). Jesus speaks on behalf of God and I came to speak on behalf of Jesus.
Explanation: The Creator God does not have a genealogy. He is the only God, who is self-existent (Ex 3:14). Our sin is not keeping and obeying God’s word (covenant), but believing the words of the traitor (Gn 2:17; Gn 3), Satan (snake), who said we would be like God. The Creator, who is the Father, told his son, who is a created being, he would die if he ate the fruit of the tree (of good and evil). This is similar to a covenant God made with his son. Although they knew this (truth, fact, knowledge), their sin was the fact they believed in the words of the snake (devil), who said they would become like God if they ate the fruit. This is a spiritual sin through which they turned their backs (betrayal) against the Father. This is the sin we have committed. The Father did not leave his son alone to commit sin. The son chose to sin. In the end, the words of the serpent were lies and God’s word was the truth.
Jesus’ blood of atonement was commemorated until the Second Coming with the bread and the wine (Mt 26), and it is effective at the Second Coming. Look at Revelation chapters 5 and 7. This is not a lie; it is the truth.

Lee Manhee: LET’S THROW A LOT OF UNRELATED INFORMATION, SOURCE IT WITH BIBLE CITATIONS, AND HOPE THEY FORGET THE ORIGINAL QUESTION!

Let’s wade through this mess. First, the sin we committed was the original sin (eating from the Tree of Knowledge), which was a spiritual one. Jesus’ sacrifice was only for this sin? Or for all sins? Jesus’ blood of atonement is good until the Second Coming? Well, that’s good. Does it cover all the other sins that have happened since the Garden of Eden, and the crucifixion of Christ?

Look at Revelation chapters 5 and 7? It’s not a lie? What is this, and how is it relevant? You’re using these chapters to prop up whatever you’re trying to tell us…and then you don’t give us the appropriate text?

8. How was the Bible written? What proves that it is God’s word?

God began recording the Bible approximately four thousand years ago during the time of Moses. God made known to Moses the world which existed prior to Moses. God used people to write the sixty-six books of the Bible on behalf of him and therefore, God is the author. The reason why God made known what is recorded was so people could come to know and understand the true God, the devil, people who have sinned, and this reality in order to bring people back to God, lead people from what is evil to life, and give people salvation.
The contents of the Bible could be generally divided into history, teachings, prophecy and fulfillment. The following is an explanation which proves the Bible is God’s word. The Bible is a record of the revelations the prophets received. It is a history book which has recorded what God has done in the past. To say God’s prophecy, which is recorded inside the history book, was fulfilled accordingly, is proof the Bible is God’s word. God made a promise (prophecy) to Abraham and according to that promise, he came to Moses 400 years later and fulfilled the promise. Before Jesus appeared, God prophesied about Jesus through the Old Testament prophets. A few hundred years later, according to the promised prophecies, God came to Jesus and fulfilled all the prophecies (Jn 19:30). To say something appeared according to prophecy is proof God and the prophets existed. What is fulfilled is the promised prophecy. This prophecy is the revelation the prophets received and recorded; this revelation was what God gave to the prophets. The one who prophesied and the one who fulfilled the prophecies was God. The people who recorded what they heard and saw from God were the prophets. History and the physical fulfillment of the prophecies testify to this.

Wrong. The early part of the Old Testament consisted of various tales passed down orally. They were collected together during the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews. The ancient Hebrews needed uplifting tales to bolster their spirits so they concocted some good yarns (bonus point: the Hebrews were never in Egypt!). Sharp-eyed observers might notice the influence of Zoroastrianism in Judaism once the proto-Persians destroyed Babylon, and set free the Hebrews.

That’s the Old Testament. The New Testament was written decades after the death of Jesus, and only put together officially by the church centuries later. A Roman (well, Gaul) by the name of Irenaeus picked and chose what he thought were canonical texts, based solely on his personal beliefs. Out went Mary (he hated women), and in went Mark. He’s also responsible for cooking up the Anti-Christ, the number 666, and other Revelation prophesies.

I like how Lee Manhee proves the Bible is God’s word, by only using the Bible for reference. God made a prophesy to Abraham (a guy that’s completely as real as Odysseus) and it was fulfilled by Moses (another guy that was completely and factually real), two people only found in Old Testament writings. If Jesus existed as the Bible claimed (an almighty sorcerer who could raise the dead and exorcise possessed pigs), it’s amazing that contemporary Romans didn’t write about him.

History doesn’t attest to what the Bible says, because there is very little factual history in the Bible. The Bible can’t even get its own history correct, which is why Jesus has completely different genealogies in Luke and Matthew.

9. What is religion? Why do humans need it?

In the Western world, jonggyo (Korean word for religion) is referred to as religion. What does it mean? Jonggyo means “highest teaching.” Because it teaches people what is seen in heaven, it is the teaching of God. The meaning of the word religion is the teaching which reconnects the lifeline previously cut off. It is not teachings based on the level of this world, but based on the level of heaven.
Why do humans need this teaching?
Whether the child is good or bad, what kind of parents would not wish for their child to receive a good education? The Creator is the Father of all creation and all creation, which has been created, is his children. What heaven wants to make known is not the things of this world but the things of heaven and the things of God. The Bible contains contents such as the history of believing in God, teachings, prophecy and fulfillment. Religion teaches these things, and in particular, with regards to creation, prophecy and fulfillment, they are fulfilled according to what is seen in heaven. The reason people need this teaching, which is the teaching of heaven, is because religion educates people, who are captured by sin, with the things of heaven. This is so people could come out from sin (devil), return to God (cross over from death to life), receive salvation and live together with God in his kingdom, heaven.

(Most) Religion is a means for old men to control the masses. The old men use fear and intimidation to ensure obedience, but discard their own rules when it suits them.

“The Bible contains contents such as the history of believing in God, teachings, prophecy and fulfillment. Religion teaches these things, and in particular, with regards to creation, prophecy and fulfillment, they are fulfilled according to what is seen in heaven. The reason people need this teaching, which is the teaching of heaven, is because religion educates people, who are captured by sin, with the things of heaven.”

The Bible also condones sexism, homophobia…and slavery. It has talking animals in it. Any redeeming tales in it, can be found in greater abundance elsewhere.

10. What are the spirit and soul?

The question regarding the spirit and the soul is both easy and difficult at the same time. How can a person, whose entrance to heaven is blocked because of sin, understand the spirit and soul? It also should be known there are two kinds of entities, whose spirit and soul, are united. How can people of this world understand this?
Wherever there are water and light, there is also a soul. This soul is the life of all creation. However, the spirit is an entity who controls the life of all creation. If necessary, there are times when a spirit works through living things (such as animals or plants) besides people; but generally, this is not the case. People have souls, but the question is to whom does the spirit and soul belong?
What I am saying is there are two kinds of gods (spirits). Mr. Lee Byung-chul has dealt with people who have a lot of money and power. How much have you dealt with God or the poor? There is an old song with lyrics that say, “A person who has possessions but cannot use them is the beggar amongst beggars, but the person who does not have anything, yet lives well, is the hero of immortal rivers and mountains.” How much money and power do you have right now, Mr. Lee Byung-chul? You don’t have anything. Whether poor or rich, are they not the same?
Why did people, who have the spirit and soul, kill all the messengers God sent for the past six thousand years? To who do the spirits and souls of those who kill belong, which would cause them to commit such evil? The answer lies in the fact that they do not belong to God.
A spirit could go out and wander around in a dream but the soul is with the body. A spirit can even fly. This spirit controls and leads the soul, that is, the living person. Not only this, the spirit could even meet the spirit of a dead person. When a person dies, the spirit and the soul leave the flesh. If my spirit unites with the spirit of evil, then it is thrown into a chaotic state; and even if I know it is wrong, I could do an evil act because of the spirit of evil, which has captured me.
The soul and spirit is the life and mind within the body.

Bonus point: The “soul” (the most integral part of the Christian faith) didn’t appear in the original writings! It was only worked in later, thanks to contact with the Neo Platonists. In fact, the immortality spoken of was actual immortality (in that your physical body would be revived, and you would live forever). Dualism (the idea of the physical body and mind being separate) was a concept the Hebrews didn’t know about. Don’t believe me? Reread the Old Testament.

You have mistranslations from Hebrew to Greek to thank for this. Later scholars, who were living in a Greek world, compounded this problem by adding Platonic concepts to their essays. Eventually you got a soul that exists within your body, but is not a corporeal object.

For Lee Manhee, the soul exists because the Bible says so, but he isn’t aware that he’s following centuries of miscommunication. In this, he can be forgiven, because nearly every Christian is making the same mistake. The Jews, however, know what’s what, and have been silently laughing for the past 2000+ years.

11. What kinds of religion are there and what are its characteristics?

In the east, there are the three paths–Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. There are many religions which have broken off from these three paths but have similar teachings. The way these three religions–Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism–have expressed themselves in different time periods, may be different; but it is in essence referring to the same thing and in this sense, it is one religion.
The text for Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, is a record of what people heard and saw from a divine being, but no one has been able to understand the meaning of it until today. There are other religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Calvinism, but the founders of these religions were not people God had chosen and appointed. They sought for God on their own will and with a religious mindset, they received and recorded the revelation from heaven; but no one knows its meaning.
For example, Buddha started to walk on the path of religion because he wanted to know why people were born only to grow old, become sick and die. He received revelation and recorded it, but he could not understand the meaning. What he did know was Jesus would come. He said when Jesus comes, what he taught would be like a lamp without the oil, and he wrote the path of Buddhism would come to an end five hundred years later. Jesus came approximately five hundred years after Buddha. Even if Buddhism existed after Jesus came, it had become nothing but a lamp without the oil. What kind of spirit would be reigning in the midst of this kind of darkness? There is a saying: “Devils move at night.” The Zen Master Seongcheol said he met Buddha in hell and in 1987 on Buddha’s Birthday, he made the following confession in a Buddhist literary text: “Satan, welcome. I respect and worship you. You were originally Buddha,” [Choseon Ilbo 23 April 1987 p. 7, Gyunghyang News 23 April 1987 p.9, The Librarian’s Office of the Supreme Patriarch of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism (Keunbit Chongseo 1) Seoul Sashiyeon,1994, p. 56-59].
The words of the Zen Master Seongcheol are correct. He did not say this because he had become senile. Why do Buddhists continually follow this religion even if they know this fact? The people of Judaism killed the messengers sent by God (Mt 23:34-47; Acts 7:51-53; 1 Th 2:15). God sent his son Jesus, but they killed him as well because he was the heir. The reason why they killed him was so they could keep the church to themselves (Lk 20). How can there be grace and salvation in this kind of situation? This is the characteristic of religion.
The Bible says true salvation lies with the promised pastor and the twelve tribes, which is created once again at the time of the Lord’s Second Coming.

For those not in the know, Shinchonji created twelve tribes. In other words, Lee Manhee must be the promised pastor, because he has twelve tribes.

If only someone had created Excalibur. Having the promised sword, they would have been the legitimate ruler of England.

12. If one does not believe in Catholicism, will he still enter into heaven? There are many good people among those who do not have a religion, atheists and people of other religions. Where
will they go after death?

This question comes from darkness (ignorance). Even if you do good deeds and do volunteer activities, you cannot enter into heaven unless you are born again. People think if you are good, give a lot of donations and attend church diligently, you will be saved. It’s not true. We must act in accordance to the Bible.
As it is written, in order to enter into heaven, one must act according to God’s will (Mt 7:21) and be born again with water (word: seed) and the holy spirit (Jn 3:5; 1 Pt 1:23). It is by being born again through God’s word, which is the seed (Lk 8:11), by having God’s holy spirit with you, by being sealed with the word of revelation from heaven, and by having one’s name written in the book of life, one is able to become a part of God’s family and enter into heaven (Rv 20:15, 21:27). In other words, a person must be born again through God’s spiritual seed and God’s spirit in order to go to heaven. What this means is the people of religion today do not have God’s spirit and God’s seed.

In other words, most of us will be doomed to eternal damnation, and torture. A loving god, indeed. Think of all those untold millions of people who never had access to Christianity. God created all those people just so they could be tortured for all eternity.

What Lee Manhee doesn’t state here, but does elsewhere, is that only Shinchonji will be granted access to Heaven. Actually, only 144,000 SCJ individuals, to be precise. The other seven billion humans get instant access to Torture Central.

13. If the purpose of religion is to help people live morally, then why do Catholics consider their religion as the only true religion and other religions as cults?

Whether a person is Catholic or of another religion, if this person is not born again, he is in a cult. It is written in the Bible this kind of situation will exist at the Lord’s Second Coming. People who are born with the genes of Adam (those with original sin and increasing amounts of hereditary and personal sins) are all the same. Their seed is a physical seed, which is without the holy spirit; and the seed of the heavenly gospel is God’s seed (Lk 8:11). Anyone who is born again through God’s seed will have his sins atoned for by Jesus’ blood.

Oh, hey. The word “cult”. Where have I heard this word before in relation to Shinchonji?

While I’ve been bashing Lee Manhee, I would be amiss not to mention Catholicism. As a history student, I am acutely aware of the horrors the Roman Catholic church has wrought upon humanity. Why this organization is still allowed to exist is beyond me.

14. How can we believe the spirits and souls of people who have died do not die, but go either to heaven or hell?

There are times when a person’s spirit meets the spirits of dead parents, siblings, friends or celebrities in a dream, when one is half asleep, or in a vision. This proves the spirits of dead people exist just as my spirit exists in a dream. When a person dies, this person’s spirit does not go looking for heaven; heaven and God come to this earth (Jn 14:2-3; Rv 21:1-7). When this time comes, the living and the dead will be judged. They will be judged according to what they have done as recorded in the books (Bible) and will be sentenced to hell or heaven (Rv 20:11-15). Ask a corpse. He will not be able to answer because he does not have the spirit and the soul within him.

Lee Manhee and his “visions”. I’d recommend a visit to a psychiatrist for old Mr Lee. He’s either drugged, or susceptible to hallucinations.

As for Hell, it doesn’t exist in the original Bible writings. Much like the soul, our notion of Hell comes from later additions. In the Old Testament you have Limbo and “Sheol” (a grave). No eternal damnation. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Our understanding of Hell only comes from the Middle Ages. It was a useful tool to collect money (back then, you could buy your way into Heaven), and it just stuck around.

Vague comparisons to today’s Hell can be found in the New Testament. By this time Greek concepts were trendy, so you have reference to Hades (not Hell) and the Pits of Tartarus (pretty much a place of non-ending punishment).

I hope you’re noticing a trend here. Monotheism, souls, and Hell are all outside concepts.

15. There are many who are rich even if they don’t carry out a life of faith. There are also evil people who enjoy the riches and comforts of this life. What is the teaching from God concerning this?

No matter how much you eat in a dream, you don’t feel full when you wake up. Similarly, riches and the comforts of this life don’t last forever. What you possess are the three meals you have eaten, and after death, you have nothing. We come to the earth with nothing in our hands and we leave this world with nothing. Even if a person gains the whole world, what good is it if he cannot protect his life (Mt 16:26)? The teaching from the true God is not about wealth and fame here on earth but it is about religion and giving life to people. It is also about leading people to heaven instead of hell.

This is rich coming from the guy who puts on the Shinchonji Olympiad every four years.How much money is collected and wasted on such an endeavour?

16. The Bible compares a rich man entering heaven to a camel going through a needle’s eye. Does this mean the rich are evil?

The rich are not evil. There are two types of rich people: one is rich in terms of material wealth and the other is rich at heart. The end result of someone materially wealthy and someone who is materially poor is the same. They both have twenty-four hours and eat three meals a day. What is the difference?
However, it is different for those who are rich at heart. If the rich cannot enter heaven, why did God give Job more possessions? People who are rich at heart do not lack anything, so they become complacent and do not seek. The materially rich feel like their bowls are still not full so they seek and work to gain more material wealth.
If one comes to know oneself and the true God, whether one has a lot of authority or much wealth, one would realize what the true treasure is and seek for it. The true treasure is life. Rather than seeking for food which perishes like a dream, people must seek after the food which does not perish and is eternal.

Dammit, I don’t even believe in Jesus, but what you’ve done is completely misconstrue what he meant. Jesus meant the rich have a greater chance of going astray, due to the corrupting nature of material wealth. All men can go to Heaven, but it’s more difficult for the rich, since their lives are complicated by their money.

For supposed Biblical scholars, you sure don’t know the Bible very well.

17. If 99% of the Italian population are Catholics, why are there so many crimes and disorder in the society? Why can’t they set a good example for the world?

I think the reason why Mr. Lee said this is because he did not know about religion. He did not know about the two kinds of gods, the Creator’s position and which god controls this world. Not only Italy, but all mankind are in the same situation. When the Creator, the God of heaven comes, the god of evil will rebel even more. The Italian people try to carry out a proper life of faith and because the pope is there, the god of evil works all the harder. I think even if Mr. Lee Byung-chul saw this, he could not understand; but if he had reached the proper stage of religion, he would have known. Not all people of religion are people of religion. Only those who act according to God’s will are the true people of religion.

In other words, only SCJ is the true religion, and all others are heresy. How convenient.

Some words of advice, Lee Manhee: if you’re going to go by the Christian Bible, I’d drop the reference to other gods. People might get the impression you’re heretical.

As for question #17, it’s a pretty lame question. A better question would be why do the popes have a long history of criminal activities?

18. Believers sometimes become fanatical. What is the difference between a communist being fanatical about communism and a believer being fanatical about religion?

Whether a person is fanatical about communism or about a life of faith, it is the same in terms of being fanatical. However the content and purpose of what the person is fanatical about are different. When believers come to know themselves, the world, the devil and the true Creator, they escape from evil and walk on the right path. On the other hand, those who follow communism do not follow it because they want to. Instead, they are forced to follow it by the communist authorities. They lose their freedom and are dragged by it. In terms of the world of faith, the origin itself is a different path.

Yes, because religious people have never forced other people into their religion. And religious authorities in SCJ have never told their followers how to act, or to avoid certain people (or lines of questioning).

Fanatics are fanatics. And when it comes to religion and politics, they’re to be avoided.

19. They say Catholicism and communism are extreme opposites. Why then did nations with a large Catholic population become communist? For example: Poland and other Eastern European countries, Nicaragua.

It was not something the Catholics wanted. It says in the Bible, the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. What creation hopes for is liberation from its bondage to decay and be brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Ro 8:20-21). All believers know those who are under communism are under pressure, groan and suffer; and we groan with them. We pray to God for their freedom.

Has anyone mentioned how remarkably alike your Olympiads are to the North Korean Mass Games? How about the tendency your followers have plastering your face over everything like they do in the North?

(Psst, North Korea believes they are communist, too. Maybe you shouldn’t emulate them!)

20. Why are there so many crimes and suffering people even though there are many churches and Christians in our country?

This is similar to the answer for number 17. The Bible says Christians become more evil when they do not follow the principles of religion. It also says, when a person betrays, more evil spirits enter into the person (Mt 12:43-45).Only one-third of the Korean population are Christians and more than two-thirds are unbelievers. It is not just the Christians who are at fault. If the society of unbelievers and the Christian world become corrupt and as a result, the world is filled with unbelief and crimes, the Creator would destroy that world. At this time, the new heaven and new earth will be created and the true culture of heaven will renew the world.
Mr. Lee, have you ever thought about what would happen to your body and soul after death? Because you did not know, you probably did not think about such things. I pray you meet Jesus in Hades and learn about heaven, hell, corruption of the world, and about what you need to receive salvation.

I don’t know about the founder of Samsung, but my body will be cut up and donated to various people, and the leftovers will decompose. Eventually, the atoms that make up my body will be reclaimed by the sun. As for my soul, it doesn’t exists, so no worries there.

21. They say the decision made by the Roman pope is infallible. He is also a human being so how can he claim such self-righteousness?

I think you are talking about the authority to make a decision inside the pope’s organization (Catholic Church). I think the authority was given to the pope because whether it is about one thing or another a decision has to be made. The true standard for people of religion is not that. It is the Bible. The Bible is God. The decisions should be made based on God’s standards. There is no perfection before the new generation born of God’s seed and the Father of heaven come. Everyone must know the promised will of the Bible and speak accordingly. I do not think it is something man could judge.

These questions aren’t even addressed to you, so why are you bothering to answer them?

The Bible is God? The Bible is a book printed by humans. God is supposed to be perfect, but the Bible always has translation errors, and mistakes in it. Also, which version of the Bible are we talking about here? Each denomination has a different Bible. If every Bible is God, then that means every denomination is correct which negates what you said a few questions back.

22. What is a priest? Why is he single? What is a nun? Why is she single?

I think priests and nuns are in a similar position as ministers and evangelists. There is a saying which says, it is better to live as a single person in one’s latter years, but Paul was single for his religious beliefs. The reason he remained single was so he could carry out a true life of faith and to do the work of the true Lord (1 Cor 7:8-9). However, this does not mean God wants to destroy the basis of creation (male and female).
Amongst all the religions in this world, I praise the way Catholics lead their lives of faith. Even though it is only outward, they have an ascetic mindset. They would be like angels if they only had God’s word within them. Unfortunately, they do not have the word. There is only one promised pastor in the New Testament; and also only one person who received the revelation, the word of life. How can the people of this world know this? However, those who pray will be able to find him.

You’re certainly full of yourself, Mr. Promised Pastor.

Priests are single because they are afraid of human sexuality. They fear its power. They repress it. Then they molest children.

23. Some Catholic organizations conclude the employees are exploited by the employers and encourage businesses to divide and collapse. Is this denying the system and benefits of capitalism?

You have misunderstood. Not only Catholics, but all believers believe in the God written about in the Bible. It is not about believing in the things of this world, nor is it about interfering with the things of this world. It is possible some people, who follow communist ideologies, have infiltrated into the private business sector. However, I do not think this is in accordance to the Catholic doctrines. We must become a nation and people who live well as a result of receiving the blessings of heaven. Businesses must exist for people to live. Before calling someone who divides and destroys businesses a communist, it could be said they are carrying out the actions of the devil.

Yes, let’s absolve them of their crimes! It was the work of a supernatural entity! We do not have the freedom to choose our own actions.

Why do you hate the devil so? Is he not also a creation of God?

24. Is the world coming to an end?

The world does not come to an end. There is, however, an end to a generation. In Genesis chapter one, there is a creation of heaven and earth; and in the New Testament, in Revelation chapter 21, it is written the first heaven and first earth disappear and a new heaven and new earth are created. It is written because heaven and God come to this place, there will be no more pain and death. What does this mean? How can the people of this world know God’s will?
Because people take the Bible passages literally, they say the world is coming to an end or there is going to be a World War III, but this is not true. When Adam’s world became corrupt, God went to Noah, who was Adam’s tenth descendant, and created a new world. When Noah’s world became corrupt, God went to Abraham, who was Noah’s eleventh descendant, and made a promise. Four hundred years later, God appointed Moses and brought Noah’s world to an end. When Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites, became corrupt, God went to Jesus and brought Physical Israel and the Law to an end (Mt 11:13; Lk 16:16).
The path, which was established through the First Coming of Jesus, comes to an end at the Second Coming because it also became corrupt. The re-creation of God’s new kingdom is referred to as a “new heaven and new earth.” This earth will not disappear and people will not disappear. Then what does it mean?
During the First Coming, Jesus did not sow physical seeds but sowed the spiritual seed of God’s word (Lk 8:11). At the Second Coming, the fruits which have grown from the seed are gathered to create God’s new kingdom and people. This is the new heaven and new earth. The passing away of the first heaven and earth refers to the churches, pastors and church members coming to an end. It does not mean the world will come to an end. It means the first heaven, in the religious sense, comes to an end and the new heaven, in the religious sense, is created. Within the world of religion, no logical rhetoric of this world, which is not of the Bible, could be acknowledged.
People, who speak on the topic of religion, should not speak through the thoughts of men but through the promise of the holy spirit. Because Mr. Lee saw things from a physical point of view, he misunderstood. If one views these questions from a religious point of view and from the viewpoint of heaven, I believe they would see Mr. Lee was speaking based from the viewpoint of the world.
I, the writer, have brought the food which does not perish, the food which leads to eternal life. I will give it for free to those who want it!
There are many other things in the Bible besides the questions Mr. Lee asked which Christians should know in order to receive salvation. I want to make this revelation known.

You should thank me, then. I just let the entire internet know.

As for the question, yes, the world is coming to an end. It might take billions of years, but it is ending. I would worry less about the world coming to an end, and more about making the present world a better place.

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Scroozle Does Star Trek

2013-04-06T16:01:00.001+09:00

My YouTube channel got the new design, so I had to make a trailer for it. They asked for it to be short, and give prospective new subscribers a feel for your channel.

I decided to give them me guest-starring on Star Trek:

It’s not every day you get to appear on Star Trek.

Ah, rainy Saturdays. Where would we be without you?

Message to Canadians / Message aux Canadiens

2013-04-05T22:40:00.000+09:00

Dear Canadian, you are receiving this email because you are registered with the Government of Canada's Registration of Canadians Abroad service. Please share the following important information with other Canadian citizens in your area and encourage them to register with the Embassy of Canada in Seoul.

The Government of Canada's travel advice for the Republic of Korea remains "Exercise normal security precautions". However, we advise Canadians to continue to monitor developments closely as tensions on the Korean Peninsula could escalate with little warning.

Tensions have increased on the Korean peninsula as a result of North Korea's ongoing nuclear weapons development program. In April and December 2012, North Korea attempted to launch two missiles into orbit, and on February 12, 2013, performed a nuclear weapon test. Additional tests cannot be ruled out. On March 11, 2013, North Korea issued a statement declaring that the Korean Armistice Agreement is invalid. While past threats made by the North to nullify this agreement have gone unfulfilled, further provocative action could occur. Canadians in the Republic of Korea should be vigilant, monitor developments and follow the advice of local authorities.

The Canadian Embassy to Korea is closely monitoring the situation and will advise the Canadian community in Korea of developments as required. As the situation evolves, we recommend that you consult the Travel Report for South Korea available at: http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/korea-south, for up-to-date information. Subscribe to travel updates at http://travel.gc.ca/news-warnings/subscribe .

Canadians are encouraged to maintain their level of readiness to cope with any emergency situation. Follow us on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/insidecanadaen, and consult the web links below for additional information:

Please ensure that your travel documents, including your passport, are valid.
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/consular_services_consulaires/passport-passeport.aspx?lang=eng
To help you and your family prepare for emergencies, we encourage you to consult the Embassy Web page on Emergency Planning: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/consular_services_consulaires/emergency_plan_urgence.aspx?lang=eng. Information on government evacuations can be found at: http://travel.gc.ca/assistance/emergency-info/evacuations

Canadian citizens requiring emergency consular assistance can contact the Embassy of Canada in Seoul at 21 Jeongdong-gil (Jeong-dong), Jung-gu, Seoul (100-120), Republic of Korea. Tel: 82-2-3783-6000; Email: seoul@international.gc.ca.

For emergency assistance after hours, call the Embassy of Canada in Seoul and follow the instructions. You may also call the Emergency Watch and Response Centre (EWRC) in Ottawa toll-free at 001-800-2326-6831, 002-800-2326-6831 or 008-800-2326-6831. You may also reach the EWRC directly by dialling 613-996-8885 (collect call where available) or by email at sos@international.gc.ca

Embassy of Canada to Korea
###
Cher Canadien, vous recevez ce message parce que vous vous êtes inscrits auprès du MAECI à l'aide du système d'inscription des Canadiens à l'étranger. Nous vous saurions gré de bien vouloir faire part de l'information suivante à tous les citoyens canadiens se trouvant dans votre région et les encourager à s’inscrire avec l’ambassade du Canada à Séoul.
Les Conseils aux voyageurs du gouvernement du Canada demeurent de prendre " les mesures de sécurité normales". Nous conseillons aux Canadiens de surveiller de près l’évolution de la situation car les tensions sur la péninsule coréenne pourrait se détériorer rapidement.
Les tensions se sont intensifiées dans la région en raison du programme de développement d’armes nucléaires de la Corée du Nord. La Corée du Nord a tenté de lancer deux missiles en orbite en avril et décembre 2012, et a testé une arme nucléaire le 12 février 2013. On ne peut écarter la possibilité qu’elle procède à d’autres essais. Le 11 mars 2013, la Corée du Nord a déclaré l’annulation de la Convention d'armistice en Corée. Bien que les menaces passées faites par la Corée du Nord pour invalider la Convention ne se soient pas concrétisées, d’autres actes de provocation pourraient être posés. Les canadiens en Corée devraient être vigilant, suivre l’évolution de la situation et les conseils des autorités locales.
L’ambassade du Canada en Corée surveille de près la situation et informera la communauté canadienne en Corée des nouveaux développements, au besoin. Nous vous recommandons de consulter régulièrement les Conseils aux voyageurs pour la Corée du Sud au : http://voyage.gc.ca/destinations/coree-sud. Abonnez-vous Dernières nouvelles http://voyage.gc.ca/nouvelles-mises-en-garde/abonner

Nous encourageons les Canadiens à maintenir leur niveau de préparation afin de pouvoir réagir face à toute situation d’urgence. Pour de plus ample renseignements, suivez-nous sur Twitter au : http://www.twitter.com/insidecanadafr et consulter les liens internet ci-dessus :

Veuillez vous assurer que vos documents de voyage, y compris votre passeport, soient valides. http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/consular_services_consulaires/passport-passeport.aspx?lang=fra

Pour vous préparer aux situations d’urgence, nous vous invitons à consulter la page web de l’ambassade sur la planification d’urgence : http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/consular_services_consulaires/emergency_plan_urgence.aspx?lang=fra. Plus d’information sur l’aide du gouvernement lors d’évacuation d’urgence est disponible à l’adresse suivante : http://voyage.gc.ca/assistance/info-d-urgence/evacuations.

Les citoyens Canadiens ayant besoin de l’assistance consulaire urgente peuvent contacter l’ambassade du Canada à Séoul au 21 Jeongdong-gil (Jeong-dong), Jung-gu, Seoul (100-120), République de Corée. Tél : 82-2-3783-6000 ; Courriel : seoul@international.gc.ca

Pour obtenir une aide d'urgence en dehors des heures de bureau, téléphonez à l'ambassade du Canada à Séoul et suivez les instructions qui vous seront données. Vous pouvez aussi appeler le Centre de surveillance et d’intervention d’urgence (CSIU) à Ottawa sans frais au 001-800-2326-6831, 002-800-2326-6831 ou 008-800-2326-6831, Vous pouvez aussi appeler le CSIU en composant le 613-996-8885 (à frais virés lorsque offert) ou par courriel à sos@international.gc.ca.

L’ambassade du Canada en Corée

There you have it, folks. Our first correspondence with the Canadian embassy. Six days after the North declared we were in a state of war.

The horror.

I’ve Had It With These Motherfing Headlines on This Motherfing Website

2013-04-04T18:26:00.001+09:00

(This post’s title was inspired by Snakes on a Plane)

So here I was. Between classes. Perusing the BBC, when my eye spied a collection of photographs on Kaesong (Gaeseong).

It was the first photo’s caption that raised my dander. I’ve made a screen shot of it just to save you the clicking trouble.

North Korea has sparked panic in the South by refusing access to the Kaesong joint-industrial zone. Southern workers returning from the complex on Wednesday were mobbed by reporters. Kaesong has been at the heart of relations between the two Koreas for a decade.

[Edit: they’ve now changed it from “panic in the South” to “alarm among business leaders in the South”]

Sparked panic, eh? There sure is a lot of panic in Korea, BBC. Yesiree.

I know the BBC has been milking this North Korean story for all it’s worth these past few weeks, but this kind of false-news reporting is worthy of tabloids. I read the BBC to escape the pathetic tripe published by other “news” sources. There’s fact reporting, and then there’s pure sensationalism.

And this falls into the latter camp.

The Western media should be ashamed of themselves. North Korea doesn’t pose a threat to any of you. Their silly little missiles won’t make it to your shores. Their army is malnourished and stuck behind the world’s most heavily landmined border.

In case I haven’t made it clear to you…THERE IS NO FUCKING PANIC IN THIS COUNTRY. South Korea isn’t Syria. We’re not scared to go outside. We aren’t wide awake at night, wondering if missiles are going to rain down on our heads. You know how many times my students and co-workers have mentioned the word “북한” (North Korea) these past few weeks? A big, fat, zero times!

You remember when the North declared a state of war now exists on the peninsula, last week? Here’s a newsflash for you morons: THE KOREAN WAR NEVER ENDED. A state of war has been occurring since the 1950s. Want a run down of all the incidents?

1950s

-February 1958: North Korean agents hijack a South Korean airliner to Pyongyang en route from Busan to Seoul; 1 American pilot, 1 American passenger, 2 West German passengers, and 24 other passengers were released in early March, but 8 other passengers remained in the North.

1960s

-1964: North Korea creates an underground group: Revolution Party for Reunification, this group is ground down and eliminated by South Korean authorities by 1969.

-April 27, 1965: Two North Korean MiG-17s attack a United States EC-121 Warning Star reconnaissance plane above the Sea of Japan, 80 km (50 mi) from the North Korean shore. The aircraft was damaged, but managed to land at Yokota Air Base, Japan.

-January 17, 1968: In an incident known as the Blue House Raid, a 31-man detachment from the Korean People's Army secretly crosses the DMZ on a mission to kill South Korean President Park Chung-hee on January 21, nearly succeeding. The incursion was discovered after South Korean civilians confronted the North Koreans and informed the authorities. After entering Seoul disguised as South Korean soldiers, the North Koreans attempt to enter the Blue House (the official residence of the President of South Korea). The North Koreans are confronted by South Korean police and a firefight ensued. The North Koreans fled Seoul and individually attempted to cross the DMZ back to North Korea. Of the original group of 31 North Koreans, 28 were killed, one was captured, and two are unaccounted for. Additionally, 68 South Koreans were killed and 66 were wounded, the majority of whom were soldiers and police officers. Three American soldiers were also killed and three were wounded.

-January 23, 1968: The United States Naval ship the USS Pueblo is boarded and captured, along with its crew, by North Korean forces in the Sea of Japan, in North Korean waters. The entire crew of 83 is captured, with the exception of one sailor killed in the initial attack on the vessel, and the vessel was taken to a North Korean port. All the captives were released on December 23 of the same year via the Bridge of No Return at the DMZ. The USS Pueblo is still in North Korean possession and is docked in Pyongyang and is on display as a museum ship.

-October 30, 1968: From October 30 to November 2, 120 to 130 North Korean commandos land on the northeast shore of South Korea, allegedly to establish a base in order to wage a guerrilla war against the South Korean government. A total of 110 to 113 were killed, seven were captured, and 13 escaped. Around 20 South Korean civilians, law enforcement officers, and soldiers were killed.

-March 1969: Six North Korean commandos kill a South Korean police officer near Jumunjin, Gangwon-do. Seven American soldiers are killed in a North Korean attack along the DMZ.

-April 1969: An EC-121, US reconnaissance plane is shot down 90 miles (140 km) east of the North Korean coast, leaving 31 dead.

-November 1969: Four US soldiers are killed by North Koreans in the Demilitarized Zone.

1970s

-April 1970: In Geumchon, a region of Paju south of the DMZ, a clash leaves three North Korean soldiers dead and five South Korean soldiers wounded.

-June 1970: The North Korean navy seizes a broadcast vessel from the South near the Northern Limit Line. 20 crew are captured.

-February 1974: Two South Korean fishing vessels are sunk and 30 crew detained by the North.

-1974: The first tunnel into ROK is discovered (the three following tunnels were found in 1975, 1978, 1990).

-June 1976: An incursion south of the DMZ in Gangwon-do leaves three dead from the North and six from the South.

-August 18, 1976: The Axe murder incident -- an attempt to clear brush in the Demilitarized Zone near Panmunjom ends with two US soldiers dead.

-October 1979: Three North Koreans enter the eastern DMZ. One is killed.

-December 1979: One US Army Soldier killed, 3 US Soldiers wounded after stumbling into a North Korean minefield in a heavy fog while patrolling DMZ. One body is recovered from the North Koreans 5 days later.

1980s

-March 1980: Three North Koreans are killed while trying to cross the Han River estuary.

-May 1980: North Koreans engage OP Ouillette on DMZ in firefight. One North Korean WIA.

-March 1981: Three North Koreans try to enter the South in Geumhwa-eup, Cheorwon, Gangwon-do; one is killed.

-July 1981: Three North Koreans are killed trying to cross the Imjin River to the South.

-November 1984: Nine North Korean soldiers and one South Korean soldier die, and one American soldier is wounded during the firefight that erupted when a North Korean security detail chased a defecting Soviet citizen (Vasily Matusak) across the MDL into the southern-controlled sector of the Joint Security Area.

-November 1987: One South Korean killed on DMZ central sector by North Korean sniper fire.

- November 27, 1987: Korean Air Flight 858 was a scheduled international passenger flight between Baghdad, Iraq and Seoul, South Korea. The aircraft exploded in mid-air upon the detonation of a bomb planted inside an overhead storage bin in the airplane's passenger cabin by North Korean agents.

1990s

-May 1992: Three Northern soldiers in South Korean uniforms are killed in Cheolwon, Gangwon-do; three South Korean soldiers are wounded.

-December 1994: North Koreans shoot down US Army helicopter. One US KIA and one US POW for 13 days.

-May 1995: North Korean forces fire on a South Korean fishing boat, killing three.

-October 1995: Two armed North Koreans are discovered at the Imjin River; one is killed.

-April 1996: Several hundred armed North Korean troops cross repeatedly into the Demilitarized Zone.

-May 1996: Seven Northern soldiers cross south of the Demilitarized Zone, but withdraw after warning shots are fired.

-May & June 1996: North Korean vessels twice cross the Northern Limit Line and have a several-hour standoff with the South Korean navy.

-September 1996: A North Korean Sang-O class submarine landed a three person special operations reconnaissance team on the shores near Gangneung. Their mission was to spy on the naval installations in the area and then return. The submarine made a failed attempt to collect the team on the 17th, and returned the following day. The submarine, however, ran aground in the attempt, and all efforts to try to make her free were in vain. A 49-day long manhunt ensued, from 18 September through 5 November, resulting in the capture or elimination of all the crew and members of the reconnaissance team, except one, who is believed to have made it back to North Korea. 12 ROK soldiers, eight by firefight and four accidental, four civilians died, and 27 soldiers were wounded. Of the 25 North Korean infiltrators, one was captured, 11 were murdered by the other members for failure in responsibility of running aground of the submarine, and 13 were killed in firefights with the ROK Army.

-April 1997: Five North Korean soldiers cross the Demilitarized Zone in Cheolwon, Gangwon-do, and fire on South Korean positions.

-June 1997: Three North Korean vessels cross the Northern Limit Line and attack South Korean vessels two miles (3 km) south of the line. On land, fourteen North Korean soldiers cross 70 m south of the center of the DMZ, leading to a 23-minute exchange of fire.

-June 1999: A series of clashes between North and South Korean vessels take place in the Yellow Sea near the Northern Limit Line.

2000s

-2001: On twelve separate occasions, North Korean vessels cross the Northern Limit Line and then withdraw.

-November 27, 2001: North and South Korean forces exchange fire without injuries.

-June 29, 2002: Renewed naval clashes near the Northern Limit Line lead to the deaths of four South Korean sailors and the sinking of a South Korean vessel. The number of North Koreans killed is unknown.

-November 16, 2002: South Korean forces fire warning shots on a Northern boat crossing the Northern Limit Line. The boat withdraws. The similar incident is repeated on November 20.

-February 19, 2003: A North Korean fighter plane crosses seven miles (11 km) south of the Northern Limit Line, and returns north after being intercepted by six South Korean planes.

-March 2, 2003: Four North Korean fighter jets intercept a US reconnaissance plane over the Sea of Japan.

-July 17, 2003: North and South Korean forces exchange fire at the DMZ around 6 AM. The South Korean army reports four rounds fired from the North and seventeen from the South. No injuries are reported.

-November 1, 2004: North Korean vessels, claiming to be in pursuit of illegal fishing craft, cross the Northern Limit Line and are fired upon by the South. The vessels withdraw 3 hours later.

-July 30, 2006: Several rounds are exchanged near a South Korean post in Yanggu, Gangwon.

-November 10, 2009: Naval vessels from the two Koreas exchanged fire in the area of the NLL, reportedly causing serious damage to a North Korean patrol ship.

2010s

-March 26, 2010: A South Korean naval vessel, the ROKS Cheonan, was allegedly sunk by a North Korean torpedo near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. A rescue operation recovered 58 survivors but 46 sailors were killed. On May 20, 2010, a South Korean led international investigation group concluded that the sinking of the warship was in fact the result of a North Korean torpedo attack.North Korea denied involvement.The United Nations Security Council made a Presidential Statement condemning the attack but without identifying the attacker.

-November 23, 2010: North Korea fired artillery at South Korea's Greater Yeonpyeong island in the Yellow Sea and South Korea returned fire. Two South Korean marines and two South Korean civilians were killed, six were seriously wounded, and ten were treated for minor injuries. Approximately seventy South Korean houses were destroyed.North Korean casualties were unknown, but Lee Hong-gi, the Director of Operations of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), claimed that as a result of the South Korean retaliation "there may be a considerable number of North Korean casualties".

Wow, look at all those incidents. Airliners blowing up. Submarines off Gangneung. Shelling. Assassination attempts. Koreans have lived through all this, and now you’re telling me Kaesong closing is causing panic? Seriously?

Gain some damn perspective. You wusses in the West are getting more bent out of shape by North Korea than we are, and we’re the ones within striking distance. The North Korea military is full of outdated and broken technology. Sure, they might get the first strike in, but they’ll be pounded into oblivion in the follow-up.

All this hysteria in the press can only cause harm via jittery stock markets. It sure as hell doesn’t reflect the reality of the situation, so give it a break already.

Checking Naver (Korea’s search engine), the current top ten searches don’t have anything to do with North Korea, except one. And it’s referring to the Anonymous hacking of Uriminzokkiri, while all the others have to do with celebrities and entertainment.

There’s your panic right there.

The Other Subjects

2013-04-02T21:07:00.001+09:00

A common complaint amongst English teachers in Korea (not just the foreign ones) is the composition of the classes. Our English classes aren’t split-up based on level, and that makes planning and teaching a great deal more challenging. How does one construct a lesson when you have 36 students and some of them have not yet mastered basic phonics, while others have lived in America for several years and are near fluent? If you make it too easy, the advanced students tune out. If you make it so the advanced students are fully engaged, you end up losing the other students.

It’s the classic Kobayashi Maru.

The solution? Make classes where the students all have the same ability, and nobody gets left behind. It’s a common enough answer when you ask English teachers how they would improve the way English is taught.

Interestingly enough, that was the way classes were structured in Korea, a few years back. This was before I made the jump from hagwon to EPIK, so I cannot comment on how well it worked (although hagwon classes are usually constructed in this fashion).

It does point out something rather significant though. People are willing to think outside of the box when it comes to learning languages. It makes sense to organize all the students based on English ability, but why not take that further? Why not organize all the subjects at school in a similar manner?

Radical thinking?

Not really. I’m sure you could find a TED talk somewhere highlighting the exact same idea.

Let’s consider the English Program In Korea as a launch pad, and go from there. Once a week the students will have a class with an “expert” in the field (i.e. the native-speaking teacher). This expert will show the students how they can use this tool (English) in practical scenarios. For extra exposure they can attend after school classes, and camps held throughout the year.

While the sciences and maths are important in Korea, they don’t get the same treatment. There’s no math “expert” that visits the students on a weekly basis. After school classes are largely for those struggling to keep their grades up, and not to encourage practical usage. There are math and science camps, but not held by the schools (held by private companies or the Ministry of Education). Good luck to any math teachers who want to split their classes based on student levels. You’d be laughed at.

When you want someone to learn a language, you always expect them to learn from a native speaker. Anything else wouldn’t be “authentic”. The equivalent of a native speaker, in other subjects, would be professors, engineers, technicians, etc, or people who use the subject every day. Yet schools don’t ask these individuals to come to schools and enrich the learning experience.

One reason for this would be cost. EPIK isn’t a cheap program, hence all the cuts in recent years. If you were to expand that framework to incorporate all subjects, the education budget would dramatically balloon. There are also critics who point out that EPIK isn’t nearly as effective as it ought to be, and perhaps they are justified. On the other hand, EPIK isn’t being used to its full potential, and that holds instructors back.

The point isn’t to emulate EPIK with the other subjects. It’s to encourage similar out-of-the box thinking. My very presence in Korea breaks the traditional school model. Why must students, of a similar age, be lumped together, regardless of comprehension level? Why should an eight year old, capable of doing grade six maths, be forced to do the same level as their peers? Why must a grade nine student, who has a grade six comprehension level in social studies, be automatically thrust into the next grade’s class, come graduation? Yes, it’s easier on the school system, but it’s damaging the future of the students.

English teachers might complain we’re fighting an uphill battle in Korea, but at least we’re afforded a greater deal of freedom compared to the other subjects.

Imagine a school system where students learn at their own pace. I think the greatest fear is that some students would be too lazy, and by the time they are graduating age, they wouldn’t have the necessary skill sets. Or that it might somehow upset the social order by having mixed-aged study groups. I’m not sure how the current state of affairs is much better, and I’d argue students are already graduating without some of the necessary skill sets. Having taught same skill classes in Daegu, I know students learn a lot faster when they can fully understand what is being taught to them, and it doesn’t matter if they are 12 years old with nine year olds.

The current school system is how old? How much has the world advanced since it was first implemented? Yet, we still stick to it because we are too scared or lazy to introduce change. Perhaps we should look into correcting that.

The Book of Shinchonji

2013-03-24T16:08:00.001+09:00

The Book of Shinchonji from http://cafe.daum.net/scjschool

Recently, the Shinchonji army has been busy swarming the internet in the comments sections. They’ve spammed dozens of blogs and article praising the greatness of SCJ, and Lee Manhee.

Last night, one of them tried to call me stupid, after months of silence:

When this person left that comment on my blog, the first thing I checked to see was if they were a SCJ plant.
Clicking on their Disqus name gave me their posting history. Then, I Googled their email, which lead me to their Twitter account. Finally, their Twitter feed gave me a link to a Korean message board cafe, which provided me with the above collection of essays.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) In Which Scroozle Almost Gets Suckered Into Attending a ‘Cult’ Activity
2) Mannam- A Follow-Up Investigation
3) Mannam Part 3- The Unintended Trilogy
4) 2012 Shinchonji Olympiad
5) Is Shinchonji Actually Using Mannam to Promote Itself?
6) Mannam- The Statement and the Apology
7) Mannam, Shinchonji, and the World Peace Initiative (WPI)- Thoughts Around the Web
8) The Curious Case of the Disappearing Article
9) Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지
10) The Book of Shinchonji
11) 24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle

An Unexpected Snowy Journey

2013-03-20T22:54:00.001+09:00

See what I did there?

Who doesn’t love slush? Anyone?

It’s been awhile since I cranked out YouTube content, so I figured I would make something out of today’s unusual weather. I started filming at lunch, and then at 4:30 as we were all shuffling home.

This video will give you an unscripted look at student-teacher interactions outside of the classroom.

Meanwhile Across the DMZ- Peeping Tom Kim Jong Un

2013-03-13T22:01:00.001+09:00

Why North Korea bothers to release these pics is beyond me. Their uniforms look like they predate the second world war.

Staying Busy in Daehanminguk

2013-03-12T22:14:00.001+09:00

There’s an old saying by a wise man called “스크류쯜”, and it goes something like this: “Every year in Korea shall be more challenging than the last”. Depending on your outlook, this can be taken any number of ways. Some people relish challenges and obstacles, and the act of overcoming them gives a richer sense of satisfaction. Others may be annoyed at the stumbling blocks set before them, and having to weave between such impediments can be a draining process. Still others may throw their hands up in despair, admitting defeat as life continues to throw them curveballs they have no chance of avoiding.

Since getting started in 2007, my Korean life has generally followed this adage. When you prove yourself capable in Korea, chances are the responsibilities will increase exponentially each year. The only school year this never really happened in was the 2011 year. 2010 was my final year in my hagwon in Daegu, and I took a four month break before returning to Korea. My first year in Gangneung was a complete breeze compared to my third year in Daegu. The workload increased in 2012, and then again in 2013, thereby falling within the philosophy of 스크류쯜.

In 2011, the EPIK teaching duties were split between two foreign teachers at my school. We were both from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and got along fabulously. However, we had a pretty reduced schedule, as there weren’t enough classes to fill both our schedules. The school tried to supplement our hours with teaching extra classes. These extra classes were after school programs with students and other teachers. Even then, though, we still fell a bit short of the 22 stipulated hours our contracts asked of us (we must be at school for 40 hours a week, and we’re supposed to teach 22 hours a week, which is slightly more than the other teachers who generally have 20 teaching hours).

During the budget-cutting crisis of 2012, my school gave up its extra foreign-teacher position. This meant I was saddled with teaching every single class in the school. There was no problem filling up my requisite 22 hours, and in fact I was sometimes teaching 24-26 hours a week. After school programs with the students rounded out my overtime hours. Although I was incredibly busy, I still volunteered to hold conversational classes with the other teachers. I alternated between the English teachers and the other departments each week. It wasn’t uncommon for me to leave school well past 5:00, and some Fridays I got out at 6:00. While teaching ate up a lot of my time, I still needed to ensure I could lesson plan. Unlike many others, all my lesson content is original, and Prezis can take a while to crank out. The biggest drain on me in 2012 were the English camps. I always wanted the students to have the best time possible, while learning as much as possible, so I wanted it to be perfect. I spent many long hours refining everything so it could go off without a hitch.

2013 started off in the best way possible; I decided I would stop stressing over the winter camp, and allow it to be more organic. The students were the ones who created the camp’s content, and we had an absolute blast. I decided I would like to follow the same process with my regular lessons (try to be less lecture-based, and more content-creating based). Filling my required 22 hours isn’t a problem this year, either. As jam-packed as my schedule is, I still can’t fit all the classes into it, as there simply aren’t enough hours in the week! While I can teach all the 1st and 2nd year students, I can only fit in half the 3rd year classes, so I rotate with them. I also teach an after school program in the seventh period on Mondays and Thursdays for the students (which falls into overtime territory). Starting up soon, will be an extra class where I’ll hold conversations with other teachers. Sound busy? It should. But that isn’t everything I’m doing this year. Every second weekend has me going to teach 3rd year middle students from all over the city, through the Global Youth Leadership program. This program has me drawing from my own experiences in the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet program, my school’s after school classes and English camps. Last weekend, we had a leadership camp in Okgye (an overnight affair), and it was pretty fun.

While it sounds like an insane schedule, and it pretty much is, I’ve adjusted to it remarkably well. I need to ensure I have three base lessons for the students at my school. One class for each grade per week. Then, I need to prepare lessons for the after school classes, and it’s all new material that can’t be used during regular classes. I also need to know what’s going on with the GYL program, and prepare accordingly. When the teachers want to have their conversational classes, I will need to make sure I’m ready to go on that front. When it’s time for the English camps in the summer and winter, I’ll have to plan out all the little details. At exam time, I will be asked to create exam questions, and go through every single exam question to ensure there aren’t any problems. Creating such a massive amount of material takes a lot of energy…but that’s only half the job. The other half is standing in front of the room and teaching (maintaining order, giving feedback, offering corrections, going through the lesson, fielding questions, juggling students at different levels, etc).

I was a bit anxious going into this year, because I wasn’t sure I could handle such a workload. I burnt out pretty dramatically in Daegu, and didn’t want the same thing happening in Gangneung. I figured if push came to shove, I could do my lesson planning on the weekends, if I didn’t have enough time during the week. With half my weekends taken up by the GYL, I wondered how I would wing it. Many EPIK teachers here don’t use their full 22 hours, and a lot of them have said I’m the only one they know who’s actually making overtime pay. Working overtime during the week, and then teaching on the weekends presents its own set of challenges.

For whatever reason, I don’t seem to be struggling. In fact, I appear to be thriving. I taught six classes yesterday, and five today (most teachers teach four per day), and yet I already have 2/3 of my lessons for next week completed…and it’s not even Wednesday. I also know what I am doing next week for the after school program, and two weeks later for the GYL program. This is without having to bring any work home, or sacrifice my lunch time walks.

There are some secrets to my success thus far, though. One is my experience. Having taught literally thousands of students, and now being in my sixth year, I can draw upon so much. I outright know what will work, and what won’t. Take today for example. It was my first class of the day, and they were going to do this lesson, which I hadn’t taught this year. The backbone of the lesson is a series of videos that help put the theme into context, and spark conversations. When I walked into the classroom, the computer had been taken out and was being repaired. Rather than panicking, or throwing the entire lesson out the window and fill the 45 minutes with games, I taught it entirely by memory and used the chalkboard. The class was a breeze, and the students didn’t tune out because there was nothing for them to watch on the TV.

Another secret of success is the school itself. For another year, I’m working alongside some great English teachers. Many of my friends aren’t so lucky (same with me, in some of my hagwons in Daegu…). Perhaps my school has pull (yeah, it probably does), and only gets the best teachers, at the expense of the other schools. I was worried in February, because five of my co-teachers were being replaced, and I had no idea who would be replacing them (the sixth will be replaced in May…so I will be the one with the most experience with our school). I lucked in, and that was a huge relief. Since I’m in my third year of teaching here, I’ve built up quite the little cadre of students. Thanks to after school classes, camps, and lunch time walks, they are now dispersed within the different classes. We latch onto each other, and the lessons flow from there. I invigorate them, and then I feed off their enthusiasm, which gets me through the day (otherwise I wouldn’t be able to stand, or keep my eyes open after 2:00…yes, I use that much energy in my classes).

Depending on how you look at things, being a busy English teacher in Korea can be a blessing, or a curse. In Daegu, my schedule made my health take a nasty nosedive. I was able to accomplish a lot in Daegu, but it came with a price. Earlier in this entry, I mentioned three different outlooks. In Gangneung, I more or less fall into the first camp. As I successfully overcome each obstacle, it creates a snowball effect, and my momentum is steamrolling everything in its path. Teaching is an art, and the more things I can throw at it, the more refined it will become. While I may never become the epitome of what I consider a perfect teacher to be, perhaps one day I’ll come close enough to be satisfied with the end result.

Welcome EPIK 2013

2013-03-03T18:15:00.001+09:00

Spring is upon us once more, and that means the new school year is about to commence (tomorrow, actually). With each school year, a fresh batch of EPIK teachers is introduced to Korea. Many of these teachers have newly minted university diplomas.

To them, this post is dedicated.

It’s been a while since I wrote something new for the ol’ Sanctuary, so I decided I would write something to help the rookies. If you’ve just arrived in Korea, chances are you’re experiencing sensory overload, not to mention jetlag. What follows is a list of observations. Hopefully it helps you make the smooth transition from university student to ESL teacher.

Don’t Initially Push Yourself Too Hard

Think of your first contract as a marathon. You need to pace yourself throughout the year, and expending all your energy while you’re still recovering from jetlag will burn you out within a month. Don’t promise to do a million things in your first week until you get the lay of the land.

While you may be convinced you’re going to be the most awesome English teacher to ever grace our shores, let your awesomeness blossom over time. Take things slow in your first week at your new school. Get to know the English department, and the materials you have your disposal. Mingle with the students at lunch time. Some schools won’t let you teach when you first arrive, and will allow you time to recover from EPIK orientation. Use that time wisely.

Other schools might throw you into the mix IMMEDIATELY. If this happens to you, don’t panic or stress out. Since you haven’t had time to get acquainted with lesson planning, you can throw together a bunch of different activities, and call it a lesson. That will give you some breathing room. If you’re stuck for ideas, check out some of the tabs up above, on this blog.

Get to Know Everyone

I cannot stress this enough! It’s not enough to mingle with your English co-teachers. If you want to feel included, you need to get to know everyone else at your school. Some of my best friends are teachers who don’t teach English at all. These relationships are integral if you want a smooth time in Korea.

When you see people in the morning, give a brief nod of the head and an “annyeonghaseyo”, or even a “good morning” (even if they don’t speak English, everyone knows what “good morning” is). During lunch time, never sit alone (eating alone in Korea sends the wrong signals). Grab a free chair and sit next to the other teachers, even if it’s your principal.

When all the teachers go on trips, try to attend as many of them as possible. Even if you think it will be boring, and everything will be in Korean, it’s important they know you’re a team player. This includes dinners for the end of semesters and retirements. Koreans bond over these outings, and you’ll probably find friends in unlikely positions.

This goes for the students too. Don’t be a recluse. Approach them as often as possible so they’re aware of your presence in the school outside of class time. I always walk around the school during lunch time. Don’t hole yourself up in the teachers’ office.

Everyone Has Problems

The expat ESL teacher is often prone to bouts of complaints. Sometimes you may feel like everyone is out to get you because you feel isolated, and culturally separate. One of the most common complaints is the “why do I have to do this, when the Korean teachers don’t have to???” one. The fact is, everyone at your school has problems and complaints. You just may not be privy to them, due to the language barrier.

Many EPIK teachers feel we do the majority of the work in class, but get the short end of the stick when it comes to benefits (vacation, desk-warming, etc). However, the majority of teachers in your school have duties and responsibilities that are entirely invisible to you. They have to deal with angry parents, who harass them at all hours. They have to attend workshops and other career-oriented meetings throughout the year. They always have paperwork to file that deals with student reports, grades, budgets, and a million other things. Teachers in Korea don’t just deal with the subjects they teach and homeroom duties. They also belong to separate departments in the school (clean-up, club activities, student counselling, broadcasting, after school classes, etc), and that territory comes with a whole slew of other responsibilities.

Your coworkers also must deal with their families, a facet lacking in most expat’s lives. They often put time aside to deal with their families, since their work responsibilities usually take priority. However, you’d be surprised at how often more work is shovelled onto them, chipping away at their already limited family time.

If you teach in a rural location, or a provincial one (outside of the major metropolitan cities), don’t be shocked if many of the women at your school are in “weekend” marriages. I’ve lost count of how many of my coworkers’ husbands work in Seoul. That’s the reality on Gangneung.

So, don’t complain too loudly that life is unfair for you. You’re in the same boat as nearly everyone else.

Miscommunication Is Bound to Happen

You’re going to be the last to know about stuff, so stay flexible! Changes will be made to things around the year, and you need to adapt on the spot.

Sometimes lines of communication will get jumbled, so just shrug it off. This will happen along all levels, so try not to get too angry, or your blood pressure is going to be off the charts by the time you’re finished in Korea.

This is just the way things are in Korea. It’s not always because you’re the foreigner. Often, your coworkers will be just as in the dark as yourself.

Try to Stay Neutral in Office Politics

People are going to fight throughout the year. Teachers will be fighting with other teachers. The admin office will be fighting with teachers. There will be unhappy little cliques you’ll probably become aware of over time.

Unless someone has seriously screwed up, I rarely take sides in fights and arguments. I’ll listen to everyone’s grievances, but just to be aware of what’s happening under the surface of forced smiles. Preoccupy yourself with your classes and lesson planning. Don’t get too caught up with choosing sides, as bad blood tends to sour expats’ stays in Korea.

If you’re having a problem with a co-teacher, take that person aside in private. Don’t make them lose face by calling them out in public (a massive no-no in Korea). If you’re having problems with someone you don’t teach with, try to get a general consensus from other people before deciding how to tackle it. It’s okay to be aggressive and stand up for yourself if you’ve truly been slighted, but don’t be antagonistic just to “get back” at the other person.

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Once you learn to shrug off the small stuff, it’s smooth(er) sailing.

I hope 2013 is a great year for you, and you’re able to get the most out of Korea!

JangHeung Area Children’s Center

2013-02-23T13:00:00.001+09:00

[The following is a fundraising campaign on behalf of John Wurth]

What is this?

These are pictures of classroom areas at the JangHeung Area Children’s Center, located in JangHeung Eup of JangHeung County, Jeollanamdo. Our Center serves 61 children from one of the 5 poorest counties in Korea. Currently we have 3 classrooms at our center. 2 are one-room classroom buildings. That is what you see above. One of the classroom buildings is 100% unusable, the 2^nd classroom building is not good either.

Our Center operates on an educational budget of less than 1,200,000w per month, less than 20,000w per child. Our total budget is less than 80,000w per month for each child. This is less than 50% of the tuition for any one hagwon that I am familiar with.

All of the children in our program come to us through the local welfare office. As you might imagine finances are tight and we don’t have money for extra things. That includes replacing our 2 classroom buildings. To continue our mission of providing a quality education for the children in our program it is imperative that we acquire the necessary funds to meet this essential need and provide safe, usable classroom space for our children. We need your help to do that.

For More Information about us please visit our Facebook group at JangHeung Area Children’s Center. Please join us today.

Our Fundraising Goal: 12,000,000w

To make a donation of 20,000w, 30,000w, or 50,000w you can:

Send bank transfer to:

NongHyup Bank 657-01-074288

Make a contribution online at:

Indiegogo http://igg.me/p/342633. Registration required to prevent fraud. Donations are via credit card.

[Scroozle’s notes: You can wire money easily through ATMs. If you’re too shy to speak to a Korean bank teller, just use the bank’s ATMs to transfer the money over. Most bank ATMs have English options these days in Korea, so it should be a quick and hassle-free process]

Navigating the Sanctuary: February 2013 Edition

2013-02-21T21:50:00.001+09:00

I made some subtle changes to the blog today, as I usually do prior to starting a new teaching year.

First, let’s go over the tab at the top! Option number two is called Other Creators!. Here, you will find my recommendations for other bloggers. The vast majority of them I have met in person over the years, and they are good people. Many have their own Twitter handles and YouTube channels, which I’ve kindly included.

They all have brief write-ups too, to entice you to click on them.

Tab number two is called “Zack’s Teaching Materials”. Here, you can find every single lesson plan, activity, and worksheet I’ve created since 2007. I’ve uploaded them to Google Drive (Docs), and you can download them and edit them to your hearts’ content. This material stems from my hagwon-teaching-days-in-Daegu to my public-school-teaching-days-in-Gangneung. I believe in open source education, so I put them all up for other teachers. The public school material will be continuously edited, uploaded and refined as long as I am teaching here. All the lesson plans conveniently have a link to their own unique Prezi. Oh, yes. Every single one of my Prezis can be used, downloaded, and edited as you see fit. Score?

Tab number three is “Other ESL Resources”. It has a list of links, in alphabetical order, where you can download activities, lesson plans, worksheets, and other stuff. It ranges from fun, to pretty heavy duty. If you’re stuck, and tired of doing the same old thing, give one of the links a click. All the material there is good for kindie-university.

The third last tab takes you away from the blog, to “Crimson North’s YouTube”. All the videos I’ve created over the years can be found there. You can see stuff from my first year in Korea, 2007, all the way to the most recent stuff. If you can’t decided between teaching at a hagwon, or doing EPIK, the video content could help you out.

The second last up there is “About”. It takes you to CrimsonNorth.com and explains the ins and outs of my little enterprise, as well as explanations for the meaning behind “Scroozle” and my logos.

There’s one more tab up there, after the rest. “The Geek Roundup” is actually another blog I run. I don’t promote it in here, at all, because it usually doesn’t have much to do with teaching or Korea. I often like to write about stuff I find interesting (collectibles, computers, electronics, graphic novels, video games…you get the picture), and I do it in there.

Let’s take a gander at what’s going on on the right hand side. Under “Who is Scroozle”, is my Google+ profile. Scroozle.com runs on the Blogger platform, so I use Google+ as my default profile. While I don’t add strangers to my Facebook profile, my Google+ profile is fair game.

Under that, you have the toolbars to search the blog, and an archive for each month. A while back someone told me they were reading my blog in reverse chronological order. I hope they survived the experience, because many of those early posts leave a lot to be desired.

Next in the column is “Crimson North Comics”. Here, you can download four volumes of my webcomics I created many moons ago. Are they good? Not really. But they’re unique. And free.

Directly below the comics you have the box for the Crimson North Facebook page. On this page I often share links pertaining to Korea. I also upload photographs, artwork, and other things of interest. Each time I blog, or make a video, I send the link over to this page.

Under the Facebook box is my Twitter feed. Here, you can see all the mean stuff I say to my friends. Twitter’s a great place for discussions, and some of my best interactions are on the platform.
The final box is one for my Google+ followers. They must be gluttons for punishment, because I usually upload very cynical and negative stuff to that service. Some of my students’ parents also added me on the service, funnily enough.

To cap it all off, you have two boxes to subscribe to the rss feeds, and comments. I dunno if anyone uses them, so I might delete ‘em in the future.

For many years, I had a no-ad policy, but I’m running an experiment. If you have an ad-blocker extension running, you won’t see any. If you don’t have such an extension, then there will be an ad under the first post, and on the top right corner. I can’t choose the adds that run, but they’ll be about Korea, teaching, or whatever’s in the blog. Unfortunately, Kpop ads sometimes appear.

The horror.

[Edit: yeah, if you notice this description isn't matching with what's on the blog, it's because I keep changing stuff. Been at it for the past few days!]

Strolling through Rural Gangneung

2013-02-21T15:54:00.001+09:00

We’ve got it all.

Gangneung is a fairly strange city. It’s uncommon for cities in Korea to have access to a lake, as there are so few of them in the country. Not only do we have access to a lake, but we also have the sea. The above video illustrates the relatively flat area of the farmland here in the “city”, but then, we also have this up in the mountains. The city itself is the same size as Halifax, Nova Scotia, population-wise. Physically, though, we’re much smaller. Urban sprawl really isn’t that much of a factor in Gangwondo, like it is in North America. From my home, I could walk to the sea, or to the heart of the downtown core (in opposite directions), well under an hour (more like 40 minutes).

In recent months, some of my Daegu friends have visited me, and they marvelled at how compact and convenient the city is. It lacks some of the amenities of the official metropolitan areas (Seoul, Busan, Daegu, etc), but most of us can do without daily access to amusement parks.

Recently, the city has been going through a massive redesign. This is largely due to the coming winter Olympics in 2018. While “Pyeongchang” is on the banners, Pyeongchang is more of a county, and Gangneung is the nearest city. Gangneung is going to be ground zero for many of the events, so the city is in the throes of remodelling. My part of the city in particular is a great example of the current craze. So many new apartments and restaurants popping up on a weekly basis. It remains to be seen if the city’s population will be able to sustain such endeavours after the Olympics run their course.

I shot the video with my GoPro in 1080/60p mode with ProTune turned on. I wasn’t too happy with ProTune as it made the video significantly darker, and I had to change things on my computer. In future videos, I’m going to focus on stationary cameras. I lack a dolly, or a stabilizing steady-cam apparatus, so I need to get creative with stationary cams.

The North Korean Topic- Again

2013-02-13T11:53:00.001+09:00

Yesterday’s event really shouldn’t require an introduction. As most of you know, Pyeongyang (Pyongyang) detonated an underground nuclear device, the third such incident over the past few years. Global leaders were forced to dust off their scripted diatribes and once again berate North Korea over the irresponsibility of its actions.

By this time, the dance is so familiar, you can nearly anticipate what each head of state is going to say verbatim. Naturally everyone said swift and decisive action was needed to properly chastise North Korea. When isolation and sanctions fail, tough sounding words are the only recourse left.

While there’s a flurry of panic elsewhere, citizens in Korea really couldn’t care less. Everyone here knew the test was going to take place, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise. The news stations played it up, but not too many people are actually working it into their daily conversations. It’s a non-incident. Why? Because people here have long since given up hope of actual change, and have decided to ignore North Korea and starve it of the attention it so desperately wants.

For the rest of this post, let’s ignore Korean attitudes to the test, as outside of fire-spewing politicians and headline-seeking media types, people just don’t care. Instead, I want to focus on non-South Korean players.

Over the years in Korea, I’ve witnessed quite a few North Korean “events”. There were the failed rocket launches, and then the successful one. There were the nuclear tests. Then there were the outright violent incidents such as the sinking of the naval ship, and the bombardment of the islet. What were the responses to all these incidents? If you guessed economic sanctions and strong words, give yourself a pat on the back.

Do you know why North Korea ignores what the international community has to say? If you guessed they have little incentive to do so anyway, give yourself another pat on the back (but, change hands; you don’t want to play favourites).

Many of the comments from the West are of the hand-wringing type. Why, oh, why doesn’t the UN do something? The UN doesn’t operate the way Joe Public thinks it operates, for one simple reason: The Security Council.

The Security Council is not the General Assembly. Whereas the General Assembly is an all-inclusive club of nations, the Security Council is the club of elites and only inclusive to the special few. In other words, you have a great deal of power divided amongst a small group of players. This small group is further cut down to the number of three. There are only three major players on the Security Council: America, China, and Russia.

It’s somewhat amusing we demand North Korea to adhere to international law, and we plea for the Security Council to come together and do something in the interest of peace. When we look at the three major players on the Security Council, “adhering to international law” and “protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals” aren’t two phrases that immediately spring to mind.

North Korea no doubt notes this apparent hypocrisy, which helps explain its outright dismissal of UN resolutions. Earlier, there was much talk about the flight path of NK’s rocket. Japan and the Philippines both demanded Pyeongyang keep its rocket out of their airspace. Did NK listen? No, of course not. Why would they, when such things are regularly flouted by other members of the UN on a frequent basis? The North Korean government may be demanded to make democratic reforms, but again, where’s the incentive?

To be clear, I’m not saying two wrongs make a right, and that North Korea should be forgiven for its actions. I’m merely saying you cannot expect North Korea to abide by the moral authority of the Security Council, when the Council itself lacks an apparent code of ethics. The political elite in Pyeongyang know this, and they ultimately know they don’t have anything to fear as long as the Security Council’s only purpose is to serve the self-interests of its members.

So Obama will condemn North Korea in the short term, but it will have little bearing on the long term. America won’t condemn Israeli expansion (but Russia will). Russia won’t condemn the Assad government in Syria (but America will). China won’t condemn the Kim dynasty in North Korea (etc, etc). Bogging down the Security Council is a web of self-serving interests, and it’s this web that makes the UN, as a whole, an organization incapable of serving the needs of the many.

Everyone knows condemnation from the West rings with hollow words, perhaps none more than North Korea. They have little to fear of decisive action against themselves, because there are too many other bones of contention to pick (Syria, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, Tibet, Libya, Palestine, etc). The almighty veto is a manifestation of the web keeping the Security Council from doing anything for the greater good.

In the meantime, North Korea will continue to starve its people to fund military projects. It will continue to flout UN resolutions, and international law. It will carry on the childish war of words its “press” engages in. Why? Because it can, and it will do so until it can’t.

See, you again in a few months.

Outdoor Hockey

2013-01-31T07:42:00.001+09:00

I went to Ottawa to visit a buddy of mine, and took my skates with me. Making use of the outdoor rink they have near his building was definitely on the agenda. I wanted to get a video of me playing hockey for a long time now, so I’m glad there’s one more thing I can check off the list.

The following video wasn’t shot with my GoPro. Instead, it was shot with my new Sony Cybershot, which was kept stationary for the most part. I can’t wait to get to Korea and test these cameras out! I’ve been dying for this kind of HD footage. I’ll have to revisit some of my local places in Gangneung and reshoot them in HD.

Scroozle. the goalie.

The song is appropriately titled “The Hockey Song” and is sung by Stompin’ Tom Connors (a Canadian folk icon). Every Canadian knows the refrain by heart. If they don’t, then they’re an American pretending to be a Canadian.

Scroozle’s Magic Shovel Technique

2013-01-30T10:56:00.001+09:00

Oh, Scroozle. You, and your GoPro

I’ve been watching Qiranger’s GoPro vids for some time now, so I’ve been trying to emulate some of the stuff he does on a regular basis. It took me a few seconds to figure out how to do the above time lapse video, but I wanted one done of me doing the driveway here. Rather than have it a straight time lapse, I thought setting it to Benny Hill’s theme song and reversing everything would be more humorous.

Skating on the Rideau Canal

2013-01-30T01:54:00.001+09:00

High end camera…middle class video

I had never skated on the Rideau Canal, and I wanted to do it in 2011 when I was here, but never got around to it. I needed to do it this time around, especially considering I had GoPro in my possession.

I decided to try out different things in the above video, as you can pretty much tell. I’m still learning how to use the different modes, so I’m eager to try as many as possible. So I sped things up, slowed things down, kept the camera stationary, held the camera in front of my chest, held it over my head, and even tried a little tilt shift.

Video Mode

2013-01-29T01:24:00.001+09:00

I’ve been rather silent these past few days, or weeks, while in Canada. As other matters have been occupying my time, the ol’ Sanctuary has taken a back seat. I wanted to upload a series of videos I’ve been shooting while in Canada, but I never started editing them.

Right now, I am transferring the files from the GoPro’s SD card to my laptop’s hdd, so I can use Cyberlink’s PowerDirector to stitch them up.

While we wait for that, here’s a video I tested my GoPro on a few weeks back.

Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지

2013-01-19T04:09:00.001+09:00

1) In Which Scroozle Almost Gets Suckered Into Attending a ‘Cult’ Activity
2) Mannam- A Follow-Up Investigation
3) Mannam Part 3- The Unintended Trilogy
4) 2012 Shinchonji Olympiad
5) Is Shinchonji Actually Using Mannam to Promote Itself?
6) Mannam- The Statement and the Apology
7) Mannam, Shinchonji, and the World Peace Initiative (WPI)- Thoughts Around the Web
8) The Curious Case of the Disappearing Article
9) Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지
10) The Book of Shinchonji
11) 24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five months back, I wrote a series of exposé pieces on the volunteer group Mannam, and its ties to the religious fringe group Shinchonji. At the time, I was focused primarily on Mannam, and didn’t afford Shinchonji any real scrutiny. Since most of my dealings were with the Mannam arm, and I believe people are free to join whatever religious groups of their wont, I ignored SCJ for the most part.

Live and let live.

Since then, various members of Sincheonji have come forward with information on the inner workings of the organizations. Many of them have had doubts, and the series of blog posts that erupted around August and September of 2012 pushed things over the edge. For many, the doubts they had were validated by my (and other sites’) findings.

Over the past few months, I have sifted through email correspondences and Facebook postings. What follows will be pertinent information as given to me via these correspondences.

What is SCJ?

Shinchonji is the most common Romanization of the name, although properly transliterated it would be Sincheonji. It’s the name of the church founded by Lee Manhee, and its primary teachings center around the Book of Revelation.

It’s a controversial church in Korea, due to its deceptive nature and the tactics it uses to lure in new converts. Other Christian churches in Korea sometimes carry warnings at the doors trying to prevent covert SCJ churchgoers from taking their flock.

The church also operates “front” churches, meaning they look and operate as ordinary churches but act to funnel people into the main SCJ fold after a while. Churches operating overseas also follow this route, and often have different names. Unfortunately for them, the name “Shinchonji” has brought enough bad press upon their heads. They need to keep the connection secret, otherwise they would have difficulty setting up shop.

Scroozle’s word to the wise: If you’re not in Korea, but the church you attend was founded by a Korean, you might want to investigate. The country has a tendency to produce a bunch of cult-like religious churches, whose founders promise clear readings of the Bible and some secret truth. I’m not saying every pastor of Korean ethnicity is trying to deceive you, but if your church has a very short history and it was founded by a Korean, you might want to look into it.

Do People in SCJ Know About the Connection to Mannam?

Yes. Mannam is a tool used by the SCJ heads. Here’s an email that was sent out to their various churches when Lee Manhee made his trip to Africa, late in 2012 (the initials SSN refer to Lee Manhee, as it’s a Korean transliterated title).

Dear Churches
it is now going summer and i feel like going to beach^^ ( Not now)
Wonderful nature of South Africa make us humble before God's throne. we have more opportunity to understand the principle of nature that is God divine. with 23 days left towards SSN visits, we are moving more and more fast.
I hope we all pray so hard to accomplish God's will.
The purpose of SSN vist
1. To let all mankind know that Shinchunji is the only the place that can receive salvation and The avocate, who is Chairman of Shinchunji, is the only one that can lead us to heaven.
2. To make everybody recognize Only Shinchunji can show heavenly culture. Mt11:27
Let us do not lose our focus on the purpose of SSN visit here.
In terms of the event, First priority of event should be Open bible seminar
we should put our energy and all the efforts on OBS first and the others are rest.
if we can make it perfect and beatiful then there is no argue. if we can bring many pastors,members and medias, then SSN should be pleased.
Mannam and WPI is just instrument to take an eyes from Media and Keyperson.
Eventhough the size of event that we will do in Capetown would be small, important thing is let Press and Media should know about the SSN.
Person who going to meet is more important.
The Keyword is SSN
and SSN 's purpose is to let mankind know Revelation and fulfilment so that no one can excuse i did't hear the words.
The work we are doing now is not measurable thinking of ourselves. it is already beyond capacity ourselves.
However this is how God works. if we do just things that we can do, man will say " i did this Job"
but with numerous prayers and seeking God's wisdom desperately, if we did something that beyond our ability, we will say " God did this Job"
Obviously one of that ways will be judged but one of the ways will be admired.
God always ask us to overcome!! but if we do things that just we can do. How we can say " Father i did overcome like you, Jesus and SSN" in front of God's throne. we should manage ourselves and find a way to cope with all the matters with God's divine nature.
please constantly hang on God's purpose up until finished.
Then How we can seek God's wisdom?
Just prayer? NO!
If i myself am God's instrument, Others too are God's instruments.
Therefore we should trust 100 % eachother.
if one do not believe that God will use not only myself but also the others, the one willnot listen to eachother.
we will not do work by oneself but seek God' wisdom from each other.
(Heb3:15, Heb4:1~2 , Nu22:30~33)
That is the way that SSN do too.
SSN entrust duty to us
Surely the cock of the walk and the self-righteous isn't God's instrument.
Let us be true believers and True Belivers will acheive.
More importantly SSN belives in you.
Let us overcome!! amen
Have good day
thank you
Love ****

Now, we all know the rigmarole Mannam went through months ago trying to convince the internet they weren’t connected to SCJ, or controlled by SCJ (despite Lee Manhee being in charge of both). The fact they decided to carry on with the denial says more about them than I ever need to write.

Scroozle’s word to the wise: Hey, guys (Mannam). You do know that you’re forbidden from participating in religious activities, right? I know the SCJ mass games was akin to a coming out ceremony for you, but you seriously need to update your websites if SCJ is going to send out emails like the ones above, or the letter below. Peace, dudes.

What’s the Purpose of the Tool?

I speculated that Mannam’s purpose was to gather as many foreigners as possible for photo ops and use their internationality to rope in more people. That aspect has certainly been put to good use these past few months (see above email, and below).

However, Mannam serves another purpose for SCJ. One former member of the church explained its primary function is to keep its members perpetually tired, so they don’t question the futility of their actions. SCJ church members are often cash-strapped and overworked, so the constant demands from Mannam do not give them time to reflect on their actions.

Scroozle’s word to the wise: Creating an organization to keep their people in a constant state of exhaustion is almost too cartoonish to be taken seriously. I know it’s standard brainwashing 101, but still. I never expected it to be successful in the 21st century world, let alone with 100,000+ people. I guess it just goes to show real life can be stranger than fiction.

Do People in Mannam Know About the SCJ Connection?

There are two Mannams. One is Mannam, and it’s primarily made up of Koreans and SCJ members (hence the “claim” it’s Korea’s largest volunteer group with 100,000+ members). The other is Mannam International, which is sometimes headed by the foreign SCJ brigade, but is largely filled by unsuspecting foreigners.

The latter organization is the one that holds the cooking classes, the soccer games, the language classes, the running clubs, etc. Most of the participants don’t have any inclinations towards SCJ whatsoever, and might be surprised by the connections. However, those in charge and organizing the events are usually in the know. They’ll deny it, because that’s their SOP.

Scroozle’s word to the wise: if they threaten you with legal action when you wish to come forward with information concerning the connection, then they’re probably part of SCJ. Threatening legal action is what these fringe religious groups do in an attempt to control all information about them. Rational people would just laugh off the accusation.

Is SCJ a Happy Homogenous Group?

Apparently not. Parents are often at odds with children who convert, and vice versa. There are also power struggles as people jockey for leadership positions. I’ve been informed these can come to a head whenever Lee Manhee is off on a world tour.

With Lee Manhee’s health deteriorating, questions of succession will pop up. With their proclivity to go the North Korea route, they just might make him immortal like Kim Il Sung. Whether that will prevent the church from splintering into dozens of separate of entities remains to be seen. There have been breakoffs before, and that brought about fingerprint scanning devices to their buildings, so as to prevent ex-members from gaining access.

Is SCJ a Threat?

Their biggest crime is probably being serial liars. Nearly all the Mannam leaders denying connections to SCJ five months ago, were themselves members of the church (later confirmed through correspondences with ex-members). If being part of SCJ carries such stigma, one wonders why they continue with the deception that gives them such a bad rep. By my estimation, it would be better to come clean and own up to it.

SCJ isn’t a suicidal cult, nor does it have confirmed cases of rampant sexual abuse. It does like to "accept" money from its followers and it "helps" those who are lost and seeking purpose. Its Bible studies promise to give such meaning, if one is willing to devote all their time to it, and cut off family members who disagree. Yet, if that’s what you want from your religion, then by all means sign up.

Just know what you’re getting into.
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1) In Which Scroozle Almost Gets Suckered Into Attending a ‘Cult’ Activity
2) Mannam- A Follow-Up Investigation
3) Mannam Part 3- The Unintended Trilogy
4) 2012 Shinchonji Olympiad
5) Is Shinchonji Actually Using Mannam to Promote Itself?
6) Mannam- The Statement and the Apology
7) Mannam, Shinchonji, and the World Peace Initiative (WPI)- Thoughts Around the Web
8) The Curious Case of the Disappearing Article
9) Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지
10) The Book of Shinchonji
11) 24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle

Scroozle's Sanctuary

Korea: Land of Prophets and Sects

Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity

Providence

World Mission Society Church of God

Good News Mission

Shinchonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony

What are the warning signs, sir Scroozle?

The Recent Outbursts of Right-Wing Japanese Stupidity

The Unexpected Benefits of Life in Korea

A New Perspective as a Visible Minority

Greater Contact With Creative People

A Better Understanding of the Limitations of Monolingualism

And so, in Closing…

2013 Gyeongpo Cherry Blossom Festival/경포벚꽃축제

Message to Canadians / Message aux Canadiens

Sexual Assault, Police Ineptitude and Suicide….in Nova Scotia?

24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle

Scroozle Does Star Trek

Message to Canadians / Message aux Canadiens

I’ve Had It With These Motherf***ing Headlines on This Motherf***ing Website

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

The Other Subjects

The Book of Shinchonji

An Unexpected Snowy Journey

Meanwhile Across the DMZ- Peeping Tom Kim Jong Un

Staying Busy in Daehanminguk

Welcome EPIK 2013

JangHeung Area Children’s Center

Navigating the Sanctuary: February 2013 Edition

Strolling through Rural Gangneung

The North Korean Topic- Again

Outdoor Hockey

Scroozle’s Magic Shovel Technique

Skating on the Rideau Canal

Video Mode

Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지

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