Do not work for CIS, Canada International School... http://www.cischool.com/

Mr. Kim, the owner, doesnt return tax refunds, underpays severance pay, refuses to write letters of recommendations if he doesnt like you but employs alcoholics because they dont complain as much, fires people without warning or pay, will throw you out of your apartment, will cancel your work visa. Mr. Kim lies more then he breathes. He has threatened me on countless occasions and uses intimidation and lying to get his way. There is nothing honorable about this man so if you work with him be warned that he WILL screw you over.

I am a certified teacher, experienced, hard working and loved by students and parents. I was employed at Canada International School (CIS) in Uijongbu, South Korea, for over 2 years. It was a fantastic experience and I loved the students, staff, administration and curriculum. In April of 2009 our principal was fired and the owner of the company, Kim Hyung-Man or Mr. Kim, stepped in to act as principal. CIS has three schools in Korea and at least one school in China.

Within a period of 3 months 10 teachers had quit or were fired directly because of Mr. Kim. (Liz, Linda, Jennifer, Nolan, Amy, Stacy, Hee, Hyung Mi, Lisa and myself) It was obvious that Mr. Kim was a businessman and not an educator. He had no concern for the well being of the staff or students. He extended our teaching hours without pay, he demanded more testing and it was our duty to create these extra evaluation tools. He routinely would give us assignments that were due by the end of the day such as outline everything you have taught in the last 3 months including page numbers and describe what you will be teaching in the next 3 months, due at 6pm.

Shortly after Mr. Kim came to the Uijongbu campus of CIS we had problems with one of our teachers. This teacher left the school during class hours, swore at fellow staff members in the hallways, did not complete his lessons plans on time etc. The situation got so bad that we asked Mr. Kim for help, asked him to talk to him. Mr. Kim told us a story about his other school in Seoul. In Seoul he had a teacher who drank alcohol on the job. BUT the other teachers made him feel so uncomfortable that he quit and Mr. Kim did not need to give him warning letters or fire him. So his suggestion was to take the matter into our own hands. Mr. Kim didnt care that he had just admitted that he allowed a drunk teacher to teach at his school.

Anyway after about a month with Mr. Kim I quit. The school was falling apart, teachers were quitting or being unjustly fired, parents were complaining and students were pulling out because of Mr. Kim. I gave my 60 days notice, according to my contract. Two weeks later was payday. Instead of paying us at lunchtime as we always had, he paid us at the end of the school day. It was on this day that I was informed that I was fired, not getting paid and needed to vacate my apartment. Mr. Kim also said he was calling immigration to cancel my visa.

I got an emergency visa and took the matter to court. My lawyer told me that I was owed 10,000,000 won in unpaid salary, tax refund, and severance pay. The severance pay was underpaid for my first two years at CIS. I didnt know it at the time but CIS was paying my severance based on a 2,000,000 won base salary however it is illegal to do this, severance is based on an average of three months wages, including overtime. By LAW, I was also still owed my tax refund, some teachers have received their refunds, others havent. I had found out that there were schools in Seoul where Mr. Kim had NEVER paid tax refunds. At an average of 1,000,000 a year for tax refunds and 30 teachers who did not receive tax refunds for at least 7 years, thats 210,000,000 won that Mr. Kim STOLE from his teachers, tax fraud.

After spending two months in Korea waiting to receive my wages, tax refund, underpaid severance etc, I was threatened several times by Mr. Kim. He said he was reporting me as illegal to immigration, I was not. He said he would call the Canadian Curriculum board and Id never work again in Canada. He said hed sue me for making trouble for him if I pursued my case. He said hed pay me if I left the country but he told other teachers that if I left without pay he would never have to pay me. I thought that the threat of contacting the Canadian Curriculum board was particularly pathetic since there is no curriculum board, CIS is NOT an international school, and CIS teaches American text books.

Please be warned that Mr. Kim is a pathetic excuse for a human being, CIS is falling apart, people are quitting, parents are pulling their kids out but most of all no one who knows Mr. Kim has any respect for him, including staff, parents and children who call him Stinky Mr. Kimchi. Be warned. Dont deal with the devil.