One Hundred and Seventeen Days: A Memory of
Korea, Eric Costen, Carbon Magazine
Ever considered teaching English in Korea? Eric Costen’s story
should be enough to change anyone’s mind. After evading immigration
officials and enduring an overbearing boss for over three months,
Costen, who was teaching without a work permit, had enough. As he
describes in his disillusioned account of life as an illegal alien,
all he can do is hope that Mr. Kim won’t report him to the
authorities when he doesn’t show up for class one day. ‘A few weeks
before I arrived Lauren Ryan took off on Mr. Kim and he reported
her to the immigration officials who stopped her as she was
boarding her plane home. She wasn’t arrested, he told me. She
wasn’t even charged. But she was detained long enough that the
plane left without her. Mr. Kim knows this because his
brother-in-law works as a customs officer and he has done it many
times before.’ — LU
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