Teaching by Day, Selling Dope at Night

A 26-year-old man who returned to Korea after studying in the U.S. tried to work for a large English institute in Seoul in May last year, but could not do it because he had no bachelor’s degree.

He learned from a friend about a Web site that sold fake degrees. The man paid 300 U.S. dollars and received a fake graduation certificate from the English department of California State University at Long Beach via international mail.

He then applied to the English school with the bogus degree and was hired. Though teaching students by day, he also sold narcotics at night.

The man sold 0.7 grams of methamphetamine in a syringe and sold it in December last year for 300,000 (267.3 dollars) to 400,000 won (356.5 dollars) each through another Korean whom he met in the U.S. He also sold meth at a popular club near Hongik University in Seoul and smoked marijuana through a bong in a car.

Another English teacher, 26, who knew the two men was even bolder. He left Los Angeles International Airport with meth and pot in his underwear and entered Korea in January 2008 undetected. He consumed meth with the traditional Korean alcoholic beverage soju and water at his home in Seoul.

The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office detained the institute teacher on drug charges and the others were charged without detention. Prosecutors said yesterday that they are looking for the person who supplied drugs to the men.

bell@donga.com