Source: [The Korea Herald]
We here at Korean Media Watch like dealing with rumor-mongering and myth-spreading with real numbers. Ben Wagner writes in his article “Abandon Discriminatory HIV Policy” in The Korea Herald about the problematic ways that the “AIDS” issue has been used as a blunt tool scare tactic to justify stigmatizing foreigners, then discriminatory regulations. The article also examines the shady origins of the “English Spectrum” myth, and how it was nothing more than a xenophobic response to essentially nothing.
Given the number of different occupations a foreigner can have here in Korea…I wonder how wise it is to lump sex workers and English teachers in the same category. If the issue at hand is the fact that foreign instructors are being maligned as plague-bringers, shouldn’t the statistics at least divided between categories of foreign workers to provide more accurate information? I can see how some might see this as objectionable, but these figures would only be used to show whether the ludicrous accusations that are leveled at us through the Korean media so often, have any substance.
I seriously doubt that a significant number of English teachers are HIV positive. Korea seems an unlikely place where one could obtain the medication they need for such a condition.