On Thursday evening I received an email from a distressed mother asking if there was anywhere her daughter could turn to – she had recently arrived in Korea and it soon became apparent that the hagwon which had hired her was going to leave them high and dry after, without pay and on the verge of being kicked on to the street!

She arrived in October and has yet to be paid. Her school has presented a list of excuses, yet none of these really provide any solutions as the school which hired her and supposedly supplied her with a visa, did so illegally by using another school to obtain the visa. She, and the six other people who are in the same boat as her, found this out the other day after a trip to the immigration office in Cheonan. The school has been curt and apathetic to their situation

I could go into the whole list of details of this dreadful situation however it will serve little benefit other than to fuel already obvious prejudices against hagwons.

Right now, what she needs is help!

The Irish Association of Korea does not, unfortunately, possess the resources to assist her, however I’m certain that we do have an extensive network of Irish and non-Irish around Korea who may be worth their weight in gold.

Do you live in or near to Cheonan? Could you possibly meet up with her and give her a friendly ear to listen and support?

Have you experienced anything similar? Could you possibly offer some practical words of advice which may actually help her in this situation?

Can you help her find a job? She has all her documents ready and waiting

Please share this post or tweet it to your friends.

If you can offer anything please email iak.chair@gmail.com and I will pass on your details and/or information. I am reluctant to post her details her to avoid a flood of condolences in her inbox.

Thank you everyone for reading this.

Kindest regards

Conor O’Reilly
Chairman – Irish Association of Korea