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This is a news blog for my Undergraduate Criminology class at Ewha University in Seoul, South Korea for Spring 2010.
Shuying Mei
ReplyDelete- "Crimes Rise in N. Korea After Currency Reform"
According to this article, North Korea's currency reform last November has resulted in a significant increase in the country's crime rate, particularly with regard to the crimes of burglary and murder. The price inflation which occurred as a result of this failed currency revaluation is one of the factors that have caused many North Koreans to turn to crime for survival as many are not able to afford basic necessities such as food.
Hence, I think this phenomenon is relevant to this coming Tuesday's topic of anomie or strain theory because the social structure of income inequality in North Korea puts a strain on the poor or the working class that when the prices of goods increase or when there's a poor harvest, they are forced to obtain food through illegal means.
Even if there was rationing which allowed people to obtain food through legal means, many North Koreans were still denied access to it. Through the providence of rationing, the North Korean government was indirectly encouraging the North Koreans to achieve the goal of survival through non-engagement in criminal activity. However, the government failed to provide food for everyone so there's still an increase in
crime rate as there are still some people who are deprived of the opportunities to achieve this goal through legalized methods.
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Crimes Rise in N. Korea After Currency Reform
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Burglary, murder and other crimes have increased in North Korea in the wake of the failed currency revaluation last November, an online news outlet run by North Korean refugees said Wednesday.
The report came out after Won Sei-hun, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), said last week that despite the internal trouble following the currency reform, the Communist country is still under control. He ruled out the possibility of a coup in the North.
The North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity (NKIS) reported that a North Korean was shot dead in a fight after he, along with several other hungry residents, attempted to loot food items by jumping on a train in North Hamgyeong Province.
The train shipping imported foods from China was passing through the region. The province shares a border with the northeastern part of China.
"A man, who was identified only as Jung, died during a physical fight with security forces," the report said.
The NKIS Web site provides stories about what's happening in the isolated state based on reports from secret stringers living in large North Korean cities.
The North Korean freelance reporters send their stories to the organization's staff based in Seoul by cell phone on a regular basis, an activist of the organization told The Korea Times, asking not to be named.
She declined to give details on the secret reporters, such as the number of stringers and what cities they are based in.
The NKIS said residents in North Hamgyeong Province have been living in horror as several burglary and murder cases have been reported since last month.
Crime has risen in the North after the failed currency reform led ordinary people to face an even worsened economic reality. After the revaluation, prices soared, and it was harder for people to make ends meet.
In January, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il directed his deputies to prioritize normalizing food supplies to make sure that hungry residents did not skip meals. This resulted in the growth of food imports from China.
ReplyDeleteThe NKIS said Hamgyeong residents witnessed trains shipping imported foods from China travel through the region almost every day.
Despite the increasing amount of food imports, many residents still don't have access to an adequate supply of food as state rationing has not been properly implemented.
Last year, an official from the World Food Program (WFP) projected that up to 40 percent (8.7 million) of the citizens urgently needed food aid.
"The failed currency reform is responsible for North Koreans starving. But it is not the sole reason," the NKIS activist said.
Poor harvests and international sanctions against the Stalinist country for its missile and nuclear tests last year also made it difficult for North Koreans to survive.
Asked if this year's food situation is worse than that of the mid-1990s when the North was hit hard by floods, the activist said it is probably not.
"I think the current situation facing people out there will be slightly better than what they went through in the 1990s. But it is still worse than what happened in the early 2000s when international food aid came," she said.
Despite the hardships the people face, the official said it was unlikely they would strike back against the government.
"North Koreans became more vocal recently, but there are no associations that can help them organize protests or uprisings. Residents there are also relatively unaware of the need for change," she said.
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/03/113_61776.html
JiHye Kang
ReplyDelete"Embezzlement increase"
The article deals with the increase in embezzlement, one of the white-collar crimes, in Korea. The economically powerful, such as financial experts and professionals, were involved in the cases. According to the article, the global financial crisis being a catalyst, embezzlement cases have increased by 17% over the last 5 years. I think this phenomenon related to the strain theory.
Strain theorists argue that the society can affect the way people behave. In other words, the social structure and culture can shape or predetermine the way people behave. Strain theory explains that the strain between the material success as a yearned goal and lack of legitimate means to achieve the goal becomes the cause of crime, pushing the people to choose the illegal means. It also applies to the economically successful that commit the white-collar crimes, the embezzlement in this case. Especially, Merton classified the white-collar crime as “innovation”; they accept the socially valued goals, such as the material wealth, but choose illegal means to achieve it.
Korea is one of the many countries that are influenced heavily by the capitalistic values. Money became the measure of everything and it even seemed to have replaced the standards of morality. Mammonism is prevalent among people and it not only affected the people who are in the process of struggling but also the people who (economically) established themselves. I think it even hit them hard because people who have a lot tend to want even more. They had to break the rules be richer and wealthier than they are. They could have used some self-control here “money-comes-first” value system in which they live encouraged them to be greedy.
The experts in the article attributed to the government’s lack of a surveillance system and rampant materialism. A professor, in the article, assumes that people committed in crimes for money to get out of Korea and live abroad. I think this is a very shallow interpretation on motivation of crimes and is not helpful in understanding the any white-collar crimes. It should be understood at the macrolevel: societal structure, socially valued goals, prevalent ideologies and so forth. I do agree that Korean government has not taken enough measures to prevent the white-collar crimes. There is no doubt that this must have made some rich people believe that they can resort to some illegal means and get away with it.
ReplyDeleteThe expert pointed out thus: "A weak surveillance system on corporate transparency and a pervasive sense of materialism in society also have affected the recent surge in such crimes. Comprehensive measures for prevention and punishment should be strictly administered." It is understandable that more prevention measures are needed to set up a stronger surveillance system on corporate transparency. But if the socially pursued value is the problem at hand, I doubt the mere stricter punishment will be effective. Since it cannot solve the fundamental problem at root, it might curb the increase a little but it will not stop people committing white-collar crimes.
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Embezzlement cases have increased in recent years, especially since the global financial crisis hit the nation nearly two years ago, police data showed yesterday.
According to the National Police Agency, the number of embezzlement cases reported was 23,830 last year, up 17 percent over the past five years. The figure seemed to be decreasing until 2007, but started to surge from 2008. The number of defendants was 33,086 last year, a 10 percent increase from the previous year, the police said.
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http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/03/26/201003260047.asp
Sohhee (Sophia) Hwang
ReplyDeleteThe Number of Insurance Fraud Has Increased 32%..Rise of Crimes of Poor Young People
I think this article is related to Ch.9 because it talks about poor young people with low-paying job or with no job. According to Ch.9—Strain Theory, people of low income are committing crimes to achieve culturally determined economic goals. The article explains that people of lower economic stratum think of insurance fraud as a way out.
-------------------------------------------------보험사기 적발건수 32% 증가..생계형 범죄 늘어 입력 : 2010.03.17 12:00
[이데일리 이진우 기자] 보험사기 적발건수가 가파르게 증가하고 있다.
The number of insurance fraud is increasing rapidly.
경기가 나빠지면서 소득기반이 약한 계층의 보험사기 시도 건수가 늘어나기도 했고, 정부 차원에서 보험사기에 대한 단속을 강화한 것도 원인으로 지목되고 있다.
With economic recession, the number people of low economic stratum committing insurance fraud has risen, and also government is putting more interest in this kind of crimes.
17일 금감원에 따르면 지난해 보험사기 적발 금액과 건수는 각각 3305억원, 5만4268건으로 1년전보다 금액기준으로는 29.7%, 적발건수 기준으로는 32.3%가 늘었다. 주로 자동차 보험과 관련한 보험사기가 전체의 85% 수준으로 압도적으로 많았다.
(Numbers)
보험사기를 저지른 계층을 직업별로 보면 일용직이나 직업이 없는 경우가 전체의 29.5%로 가장 많았는데 특히 이들 계층의 보험사기 건수는 1년전보다 136%나 증가했다.
People who had committed insurance fraud are mostly people with low income or no job at all. (Numbers)
금감원 관계자는 "대체로 이들의 사기유형은 피해를 과장하거나 고의로 자동차 사고를 야기하는 경우가 대부분이었다"면서 "성별로 보면 남성이 전체의 78%를 차지했다"고 설명했다.
Financial Supervisory Service stated that most of frauds are related to car accidents. (Numbers)
보험사기를 저지르는 연령대는 40대가 전체의 27%로 가장 많지만, 최근 10대와 20대 청년들이 저지르는 보험사기가 보다 빠르게 늘어나고 있는 추세다.
Most of criminals are of 40s, but recently teens and twenties are also committing insurance fraud, too.
금감원은 앞으로 병원이나 정비업체 등과 결탁한 조직적인 보험사기 적발에 조사역량을 집중하겠다고 밝혔다.
FSS stated that it will focus on finding out organizational insurance frauds.
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http://www.edaily.co.kr/News/Finance/NewsRead.asp?sub_cd=IC11&newsid=01079126592904304&clkcode=00203&DirCode=00402&OutLnkChk=Y
Elizabeth Tang
ReplyDelete“Cheating SAT teacher gets 8 months in prison”
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This article caught my eye due to its relevance not just due to content, but also because we can relate to it since we are students. Basically, the article tells us about a teacher from a private tutoring center, of surname Jang, who was sentenced to eight months in prison after being found guilty of leaking questions from the SAT (a test that helps determine college admissions in the United States). He purposely committed the crime so that students would flock to his classes both for the sake of his reputation and financial benefit. This is reinforced by the fierce competition where the South Korean students are vying to enter universities in the US due to reasons such as inability to enter local universities or are not satisfied with the level of education offered in Korea.
This article touches on the strain theory which states that human desires are “created by cultural influences”, and since Jang deliberately did so for his namesake and also for financial gain, we can infer that he is feeling the pressure of monetary and material success, which is highly prevalent in most developed societies today. He could be classified as an innovator since he cheated by providing SAT questions to his high-paying students.
On one hand, we could say that it was Jang who was influenced by the competitive culture of monetary success in Korea, while on the other hand, he could have been driven by the student’s demands for better education. If there is no demand, would there be supply? In this case, I feel that his actions were further reinforced by the students – their appetite to outperform each other in the hopes of good education. It even seems that (from earlier articles) that some parents and students even requested for these illegal ways and means to get ahead of fellow exam takers. This is once again touching on the strain theory, specifically relative deprivation, where the parents and students are feeling deprived when comparing themselves to other students who could potentially outperform them or are able to get enrolled into prestigious universities in South Korea. And if they see others doing it, they may just engage in similar behavior.
The only difference is that Jang was directly involved in the leaking of the SAT papers while the parents/students were playing supporting roles, which still indirectly brought about pressure for Jang to do the criminal act he did.
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ReplyDeleteFrom article 1 (http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2918399):
The Seoul Central District Court said in a verdict that the 36-year-old instructor, identified by his surname Jang, “deliberately planned” the crime for the sake of his reputation and financial benefit.
Jang, a popular lecturer in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district, confessed to prosecutors that he leaked exam sheets from the Scholastic Aptitude Test to use them in his classes, for which students paid high tuition in hopes of getting good SAT scores.
… The case highlighted the fierce competition among students who apply to U.S. universities.
Thousands of South Koreans go to the United States for higher education, either because they are not satisfied with the level of education offered at home or could not win admission to the most competitive Korean universities.
From article 2 (http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2915804):
The recent incident raises serious concerns about the enthusiasm for education in Korean society. Parents’ desire to educate their children lies coiled beneath some extremely shameful actions and an attitude that shows a blatant disregard for honesty as long as it can help raise their child’s grades. This is even more apparent in the attitude of some of the parents who attended a presentation held by the institute where the lecturer caught for obtaining test questions from Thailand used to work. We were aghast to hear that parents said, “Get questions for my child, too,” while also commenting that they register their children for classes with the lecturer who can tell them the questions before the test.
-Jun So-min
ReplyDelete-"Fire accident in Gosiwon(a cheap one-room apartment)"
-A Gosiwon in Seong-dong, Seoul, was set in fire by a delivery man, Jung (27) who was living in that building. Jung set the fire just because he was pressured to pay his overdue rent by the landlord.
I think this case illustrates some parts of Agnew's General Strain theory. Agnew argued that "misrolevel stresses emanate from negative interpersonal, peer group or familial relationships." Also, the "inability to escape from painful situations is another major type of strain." (p.249)
The "strain as the actual or anticipated failure to achieve positively valued goals", (in this case, the failure to pay overdue rent) was the microlevel stress that made Jung set fire to the building.
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Jung (27) set fire to the Gosiwon he was living with oil and a disposable lighter.
It is said that Jung decided to set the fire when he called the landlord to complain about the slow internet speed and the lanlord asked Jung to move out for the 230,000W overdue rent.
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URL:http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/03/25/2010032501049.html
1. Ye Eun Cho
ReplyDelete2. Violence persists in primary schools
3. This article is about shocking number of primary students are being victims of violence and sexual abuse. Peers and seniors in school have abused victims and children are easily persuaded by the aggressor's threats to remain silent. Also, middle school graduation is another issue. Seniors justify these actions as 'school tradition' and abuse students or commit serious physical violence. Crimes that are occured by students are rising. Not only physical violence but also sexual abuse. Study shows that violence crime is caused by stress and if the aggressor is male, sexual abuse follows with violence.
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4. A significant number of primary school students are exposed to violence, including sexual abuse, according to ChildFund Korea yesterday.
Among the 335 primary school students who participated in the Assault Prevention workshop in September-December and asked for professional consultation, 41 or 12.2 percent had experienced intense violence at school, said officials.
Thirty five cases involved bullying and six were sexual assaults.
Also, the survey conducted on the 1,609 workshop participants showed that 1.9 percent had experienced sexual abuse, said officials.
A large number of cases were committed by peers or slightly elder students.
"Most involve senior students bullying the juniors," said a ChildFund official.
"Even among peers, students who are physically superior tend to intimidate the smaller, weaker ones."
Some of the young victims only realized by participating in the workshop that such practicies of violence should not be kept secret, said officials.
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5. http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/03/26/201003260048.asp
Gayoung KIM
ReplyDeleteSocially isolated people stabbed
(Actually the article was in Korean and I couldn't afford to translate perpectly in English)
It’s been quite a long time since it happened but when I found that this article I would be a good example of a sick society where its people, especially who cannot afford to achieve middle-class life level suffer lacking of proper attention and mental care.
In 3p.m. 21 October 2008 in a Gosiwon in Nonhyun-dong, Seoul, 9 people were killed or severely hurt. A 31-year-old man, identified as Jeong set a fire in his room and stabbed the people who were escaping from their burning room.
His neighbors who have known Jeong for 6 years made negative and harsh comments about him. According to these people, he hadn’t respected other people and been unemployed for six months. He had also been raised in an orphanage from the early age. Besides, he had had no friends to talk to or lean on. TV was the only friend through which he communicated.
I think he had been so isolated that couldn’t learn how to express his feeling in a normal way. In this point I guess that this article is also related to socialization theory.
A Criminology professor said ‘We have to focus on social elements that caused this tragedy. Feeling sense of belonging to a family, company or community, and relationship with people whom you think are supporting you can prevent you from making an extreme choice like killing other people without any reason or committing a suicide etc.’
According to the Statistics, 1 out 5 families in Seoul is a single-person household and the polarization of wealth has become more serious. People have less conversation than before. They feel deprived, and devastated, which can be an important cause of crime.
Therefore we need not only a job education for those who have lost their job and have no social relationship, but also a mental care for the isolated and lacking of social interactions. Experts say that it’s the community center in each Dong that should find these ill people and give them a chance to have counseling and job opportunity.
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10월21일 오후 3시. 식당, 술집 등이 빼곡히 모여 있는 서울 논현동 영동시장 골목. 이 골목 끝에 위치한 고시원에서 전날 아침 8시15분께 정아무개(31)씨가 고시원의 자기 방에 불을 낸 뒤 방에서 나오는 사람들을 흉기로 마구 찔렀다. 6명이 숨지고 3명이 중경상을 입었다. 끔찍한 일이 있은 뒤라 거리는 흉흉했다. 정씨가 2003년부터 6년째 생활해왔던 시장 골목에서 정씨에 대해 물었다. 날카로운 대답들이 돌아왔다.
(I've already wrote this part in English on the top)
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http://h21.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/23647.html
Yoon Young Kang
ReplyDelete"Korean-American gangsters arrested"
This case can be divided into two parts, and the two parts could be explained in different manners.
The first part is crimes they committed in the US. According to the subcultural versions of the Strain Theory, these people might have come from economically disadvantaged class, would have not done well in school, could have faced racism, and thus entered the Korean-American gangs whose member probably had same types of problems. Murder and attempted murder do not seem to be the result of the illegitimate process through which they tried to achieve their goals (to succeed), since these crimes were committed unplanned and do not seemed to be related to "success," the case of credit card fraud for "R", and the fact that they were in the gangs proves that they attempted to gain what they wanted to get through such illegal means. Although this part is not the crime committed in Korea, I wanted to emphasize this part as well because it fitted in the subcultural versions, and it was an important part of this article since the main focus on the fact that the Korean private institutions had hired Korean-American gangsters, as the title shows.
The second part is crimes they committed in Korea: creating false college diploma and drug-dealing. This could be explained by Merton’s Theory. Like the US society, Korea is also a capitalist society and economic success is highly desirable. Also, in Korea, the fluency in English is a privilege – when added by a college/university diploma, it could guarantee a steady job as an English teacher, much higher wage than they could earn back in the US, and much better treatment (even respect). Therefore, these two people wanted to take advantage of this Korea “culture,” and in order to become an English teacher, they created false college diploma. Moreover, probably to gain more monetary profit, they smuggled drugs and sold to other English teachers.
Therefore, this case could be explained by the subcultural versions, and by Merton’s Theory.
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The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Wednesday arrested two Korean-American former Los Angeles gang members, R and Lee, for taking and selling drugs in Korea while working as English teachers at private education institutes in separate cases.
One of the men is wanted for murder in the United States and is expected to be extradited to face those charges. Both had allegedly created false college diplomas through the Internet in order to obtain work in the hagwon.
R, 26, was reportedly a member of a Korean-American gang in Los Angeles when he got into a fight on July 14, 2006, at a cafe in the city’s Koreatown, stabbing to death a man identified as B, 27. Four days later, R fled to Korea.
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http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2918361
Lim Young-ju
ReplyDelete'Itaewon Murder' Case Up for Reopening
The article is about cold case called ‘Itaewon Murder’. It's been classified as a cold case for a decade, but now, the case is up for reinvestigation. Before 9 months ago, in march, the movie ‘The case of Itaewon Homocide’ was realeased and it covers ‘Itaewon Case’. This movie aroused people’s curiosity about the case.
Itaewon is famous for many foreigners, and also foreigner’s crime. There were US Armed Forces near by Itaewon, so the crime rate which is related to U.S army was high, and the suspects of ‘Itaewon Murder’ is also Americans. For me, Itaewon is labeled as crime town because I heard that the town is very dangerous, and my friend who lives there told me that, either. (But I think not much as An-San.)
And I think Korea and America conduct psycological warfare about handing suspects over. The statute of limitations is still in effect, and Korea government want suspects to investigate. This case bring the antagonism about America, because there were lots of crimes like this(offended by Americans). U.S governments exercise their extraterritorialty and usually the criminal received low sentences. And I think this case will be the same, or exists as cold case.
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On April 3, 1997, one of the two teenagers stabbed Cho, a college student, in a franchise restaurant in Itaewon.
Initially, Patterson was indicted for possessing the weapon and Lee for stabbing the Korean to death.
Upholding a lower court decision, an appellate court sentenced Lee to 20 years in prison in January 1998, but the Supreme Court ordered the appellate court to review the case, citing a lack of evidence. In respect to the ruling, the appellate court later acquitted Lee.
Ahead of that ruling, the prosecution indicted Patterson on the charge of homicide, but its carelessness in extending a travel ban imposed on him made it possible for him to flee to his home country.
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/12/117_57330.html
EunBin Suk
ReplyDelete"Murder of Mother and Sister for Insurance Money"
The crime that this teenage boy committed can be explained with relation to both Robert S. Agnew’s strain theory and institutional anomie theory. First, the crime resulted because of microlevel stresses that produce strain with crime. Jang, a seventeen-year-old boy, had to stop playing sports during middle school because of leg injury. That was when he started to have frequent fights with his father. Jang may have been getting stress from not being able to achieve his dream in sports, “a positively valued goals and stimuli.” (p. 249). He was frustrated and was angry about not being able to play anymore. That resulted in his delinquent action, wanting to relieve stress through a deviant act of murdering his family. Second, the economic pressure to achieve social standing and personal worth in society led to crime (p. 254). Jang said that his motive for murdering his mother and sister was to live in Gangnam, southern part of Seoul, for once in his lifetime with the insurance money. In South Korea, there is a social drive of most people wanting to go live there. For most, it is the dream of the future. There is even a Korean idiom that literally says, “Follow your friend to Gangnam,” which explains the importance of having good friends that will help you to improve your economic status. Jang wanted to get off from poverty. He felt his worth in the society came from his economic standing. He wanted to achieve the dream of living in Gangnam, even if that costs death of his family.
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Ordering a neighbor to set house on fire… planned murdering parents
“If I get the insurance money I wanted to live at Gangnam”
2009. 11.09
Having the desire to live at Gangnam once in his lifetime, a teenager committed a crime of immorality by killing his mother and sister for insurance money.
Seoul Joongrang Police signed an arrest warrant for Jang (17 yr. old) on the 9th for ordering a neighbor friend to set fire on his house to kill his mother and sister. He wanted the insurance money of about 3 hundred million won.
According to the police, Jang said to Kim, a neighborhood friend, (15 yr. old) “If I kill my mother and sister there will be insurance money. I’ll give you some.”
The police said that on the 5th of last month, 4:40 A.M., Kim sprayed gasoline in the living room and set fire with a lighter and murdered Jang’s mother (49 yr. old) and sister (19 yr. old) by fire.
Investigation results tells that Jang helped Kim to get inside the house by putting the house key inside the milk delivery bag and requested Kim, “If my father comes out alive, then kill him with a weapon.” Fortunately at the time, Jang’s father was not at the house.
It was also investigated that Jang went off to Kangwondo with his girlfriend at the time of fire and took his picture and posted on the Internet and made an alibi.
Receiving fire notice, the police investigated with a great weight on the fire prevention because it was fire due to gasoline. They were able to see Kim through the surveillance camera.
The police caught Jang who was at an escape by close inquiry on Kim, who was imprisoned because of other burglary case.
Jang’s motive of crime was “living in Gangnam after getting the insurance money.”
The police said, “Jang did not have bad relations with his mother and sister, but he often fought with his father” and “conflict with his father became worse after having to stop playing sports because of leg injury during middle school.”
They are investigating on Jang for any other conspirator.
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http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/11/09/2009110901024.html