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College English Teacher Claims Job Loss Over Dokdo Comments

By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter

Gerry Bevers
An American English instructor at a Korean university claimed he was not rehired because of his views on Dokdo, the disputed islets between Korea and Japan, which Tokyo calls Takeshima, in an interview with the Korea Times last week.
``I was informed late last month that my university would not be rehiring me as an English instructor due to my views on Dokdo,’’ said 51-year-old Gerry Bevers. Bevers has been working as an English instructor at Gachon University of Medicine and Science for the past six years. His one-year contract was renewed every year _ until this year.

The e-mail he received from the department head informing him of the decision was sent to him on Dec. 23.

It read: `` This morning, at a meeting attended by the president and the deans of the school, your contract problem was discussed, and it was decided that your contract would not be renewed. I think there is little doubt that the school made this decision because of the Dokdo problem. It also hurts me to have to relay this news.’’

Since mid-August of last year, Bevers has been writing a series of articles on Dokdo. In them, he expresses his view on the islets based on his own research. They are titled ``Lies, Half-truths and Dokdo Video’’ and are available at www.occidentalism.org, a blog run by an Australian.

One of his articles posted on the Web site reads: ``There are no Korean maps or documents before 1905 that refers to any island in the Sea of Japan as `Dokdo,’ including the 1900 Korean Imperial Proclamation mentioned by the American law professor. Therefore, every time the video claims that a Korean map or document says `Dokdo,’ you will know that it is a lie.’’

Bevers also runs his own blog, titled ``Korean Language Notes,’’ on which he also posts his views on Korean history.

In early November, the university announced an open recruitment system for new English instructors. The university needed to hire more teachers when it transformed into four-year university from a two-year college last year.

As a result, Bevers had to reapply for the position.

The dean of planning had told him that since he was a good teacher, he should not worry about the recruitment process, and the interview for getting rehired was just a formality, according to Bevers.

Not long after the announcement, he was called to the president’s office in mid-November. He thought the meeting was about his job, but it wasn’t. The president said that someone who saw Bevers’ writings on the Internet complained to the president, saying that it’s improper to hire such teacher in a school whose motto is ``Humanity, Service and Patriotism.’’

``The president told me that I should stop writing about Dokdo on the Internet,’’ Bevers said about his meeting with the university president. ``He gave me a history book that I appreciated. I told him that I wouldn’t write any more.’’

Bevers had an interview with the rehiring committee at the end of November.

About a month later, he was informed that he would not be rehired.

To find out the reason for the school’s decision, he went to the office of one of the administrators from the school from the rehiring committee. Bevers secretly recorded a conversation with the administrator, because he thought he might have to sue the school.


http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200701/kt2007010720352211980.htm