Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Baek-in Pedophiles in Korea???!!!

Say it ain't so. Interesting discussions over at Marmot's, ROKdrop, and Lost Nomad
You take an environment of legal laxity as is found in Korea and you are bound to attract some of these freaks. Problem is that they don't look or act like freaks. They are often very good with children and exactly the kind of person that children's hagwons are looking for; a director's dream. As the father of a 5-year-old daughter, I worry every day that she is going to run into someone like this guy...whether Korean or Foreign the odds are just too great to not be on edge.

I am reminded of a complaint that my wife waged with me one day. She commented on a foreigner that was standing next to the entrance to the place my daughter goes to dance class. My wife said that this guy looked up and d0wn my daughter in such a way that it really upset her. Not to be overly boastful, I realize that I'm just like every other proud father in my love of my daughter but I know that she is exceptionally attractive (child model) and a very tempting target for a Korean pedophile because of her caucasian appearance. So, of course, I'm watching eyes and behavior with the paranoia that only a father can have.

It would be interesting to hear from other fathers out there, particularly those like myself with mixed race children: Do you think you are more paranoid here than you would be back home? Do you worry, like I do, that your lack of langauge skills would aggrevate a potential situation? I personally don't know how I would have stopped myself from opening a can of whoopass on the guy my wife saw looking at my daughter like that. But that is a foreigner, the cops wouldn't really give a hoot....what if it was a Korean man? What could you say, what could you do? What if your daughter's bus driver or swimming coach molested her?
All comments welcome.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's just pretent for a second that the guy was eyeing your wife instead of your baby girl.

That kind of "look" would have been worth some whoop-ass. So, if you take it down the road of a guy who is eyeing a little girl like eye-candy, the whoop-ass should be doled out accordingly.

The more vulnerable the target, the more repugnant the act.

Your wife should have gone up to him and slapped him silly!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I've just found your blog and it looks interesting, I'm looking forward to spending some time going over your past posts.

I also have a Korean wife and have a daughter (and plan to have one more baby next year), but as she's only 17 months old at the moment I haven't really given a thought to her getting that "look" yet. But after seeing so many videos of students being beaten by teachers recently I HAVE been thinking about how I'd react if a teacher hit her at elementary school, and in that case, cultural sensitivies be damned: I'd go to the school in a flash and beat the crap out of any teacher who laid so much as a finger on her. And I think the same reaction would be appropriate at anyone eyeing up my prepubesent daughter, or at least a warning and making sure he knew I'd be prepared to kick his ass if he did it again.

Sure, if the guy was Korean and we did get into a fight, then I'd probably be the one thrown in jail and/or liable for compensation. But sometimes a father has to do what a father has to do, right?

Fortunately, I can't actually imagine anything like that happening in Korea, at least before my duaghter is a teenager. One of Korea's good points, yes?

Cheers,
James.

Fencerider said...

James, your faith in Korea is refresing but unfortunately I don't share it. I have heard too many stories right here in Korea and I know that most of this stuff goes unreported for fear of embarassment or further traumatizing the child. Mixed children are at higher risk for the kind of attention that pedophiles give.
As for kicking someone's ass, well...i don't think I would do it in a visible way...that would just not suit me or make me feel any better. I would wish to inflict the same kind of deep psychological scars that such abuse would leave on my daughter. Imagine scene of revenge written by Steven King and you'll be about half way there. Let's just say he would dissappear for several days and would not come back the same person as when he left.
As for someone looking at my wife with eyes of desire...well...actually I don't mind if other's look at my wife because I know they can't have her and she can take care of herself....i pity the fool who supposed otherwise and tried to lay a hand on her.

Anonymous said...

You raise some good points, but sometimes looks can be decieving. If your daughter is cute, the guy looking could have been genuinely admiring her, we all look twice at young children who are cute.

Generally people admire children who are a novelty in a nice way anyway. In Korea a novelty in a nice way is to be a child of mixed eurasian stock speaking Korean