Book Review
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Boycott Helios in Iteawon (Eng/Kor)
Posted: 2003/09/13 By: Protest (Views:3726)
View this message with Korean text
memo
"Read this horrifying story and spread the word...
ADMIN: please translate this into Korean and tell as many Koreans as possible.
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WARNING
VICIOUS ATTACK on FORIEGNERS
AT HELIOS
Last night I witnessed the unthinkable. I would like to document the
following events.
I showed up at Helios to meet my girlfriend. The bar was rather busy and
seemed to be doing quite well.
At about 3am, the music stopped. We were sitting at a table near the
exit. About a minute after the music stopped, a waitress said we had to
leave. I replied “I just bought this drink two minutes ago and will leave as
soon as I am done it”.
My girlfriend commented on it being rather abrupt service. If you want
people to leave, don’t sell them drinks two minutes earlier.
All that aside, we decided to just drink up and go. I am Canadian and I
teach English in Seoul. I saw that there was a group of about thirty Irish
men and women who went to Helios together. They were also asked to
leave the bar. I did not see any confrontation and watched them start
moving closer to the door.
As they were slamming back their drinks and getting ready to leave they
were singing the popular “Fairytale in New York” song by the Pogues.
They were very happy and friendly and my girlfriend and I enjoyed listening
to them sing.
They hadn’t even finished singing that song and five or six Korean bouncers
started circling the group. I was starting to feel uneasy. Then I watched as
one of the Korean bouncers, possibly the supervisor, began instructing the
other Korean men to go somewhere. They diligently went back behind the
bar and came out with bats and clubs.
I could not believe my eyes. Were they doing what I thought? They
completely surrounded the group of Irish and started pushing them out.
They knocked over chairs and physically pushed them towards the door. I
have worked in bars and I have never, ever seen anything like this.
I was in absolute shock. Helios served thirty or more Irish people many,
many drinks throughout the course of the night. They probably took in over
a thousand dollars from that group alone. Then five minutes after they
serve the last round of alcohol to the group, they come over with bats and
clubs and physically begin throwing them out.
This would be enough to start a major brawl in many bars, but I was
impressed by the behaviour of the Irish group. They actually did not start
fighting. Several of the group were very angry but were being held back by
fellow Irish men. The Irish were taking their own people out of the bar, but
that still wasn’t enough. The Koreans started hitting them with the clubs.
I was sick to my stomach. I was disgusted. Helios places advertisements
in English magazines and newspapers. They claim to cater to foreigners.
That is not the case. They want foreigners money but that is all. The
minute they get your money, you had better get out quickly or you will
regret it.
Trust me. This is where things started to get really, really ugly. I had not
witnessed this kind of violence carried out by bar staff anywhere. As a
group of six or seven bouncers, they proceeded to follow the Irish out onto
the street. Once they got the Irish onto the street, utter mayhem broke
loose.
I am still in shock. Literally. I cannot believe this happened. The bouncers
started hitting the Irish with clubs, spraying the area with pepper spray and
shooting the Irish with a canister gun of some sort.
About twenty of us hit the ground when we heard the first wave of gun fire.
One of the Irish was shot in the head. We first thought it was a real bullet
and he was going to die. I don’t know what they shot him with but blood
was racing down his head, neck and body. I was frozen for a second. I
would not believe it. There were people scattered everywhere and running
away.
I am proud of my girlfriend. She quickly ran to the aid of the man who had
been shot. With the help of his friend, she tore off his shirt and wrapped it
around his head tightly to minimize the bleeding. We were trying to get
security to help get an ambulance.
They did not care. NOT ONE BIT> It was the most disgraceful lack of
concern for human life I have ever seen. They shot the patron in the head
and they looked at us like annoying insects as we screamed for help and
an ambulance.
They were completely unfazed and demanded we leave. We managed to
carry the poor lad to a Taxi and send him to the hospital with a friend of
his. I do not know the poor guy or what happened. I hope that he is still
alive.
My girlfriend was crying and crying. Her hands and legs were covered in
blood. She was screaming at the bouncers “WHY? WHY?”
The cops soon arrived on the scene. My girlfriend had so much blood on
her that they thought she had been shot. She was now completely
hysterical. The cops asked her what happened and she replied “the
bouncers from Helios attacked that group of Irish with Pepper Spray, bats
and guns”. As she started to describe this, one of the bouncers came
running over and said she was lying.
I had been quiet until this point, but I could not believe the gall of this
bouncer. I shouted “look at the blood on her!! Where the F*&% did that
come from” As she held up her hands one of the Korean police officers
laughed.
Apparently it is not just Helios that does not give a damn about foreigners.
I am not a fighter. I don’t even like to argue. At this point I took it upon
myself to get the name of this concerned officer. His badge name is Sa,
Sung Jin. If you are a foreigner and get hurt in Seoul, you will certainly not
get any help from him.
I started asking if there were any others who saw what happened. I started
taking email addresses from people. There were so many people lining up
to give me their email addresses. People were outraged. Not just the
Irish, but bystanders who watched malicious assaults occurring on the
streets of Itaewon. Two black gentlemen stepped forward and told me they
saw everything and were appalled. A Russian girl came forward and gave
me her email address as did a Moroccan and two other Canadians.
There were at least ten more people coming over to give me their email
addresses. At this point, the officer in charge of the investigation became
most concerned about me. He screamed “GET AWAY”. His only concern
was that I would share this tale with the rest of the world. He is right. I am
doing that.
I am a journalist. I report on events like this. In the eyes of the head
officer, I was the most dangerous person there. Why? Because I might
tell people about this.
You will notice that my name is not mentioned anywhere in this article. I
am very concerned about retribution. I do not want these goons from
Helios hunting me down. They will blame me for writing negative things
about Helios. They will not be concerned about physically attacking
foreigners.
This happened. Ask around and you will hear about it. It was a disgrace.
I ask only one thing of you. Please read this and pass it on to another
foreigner. I am sending copies to the newspapers, but I wonder if it will
actually receive any press in Korea.
“HELIOS IS NOT FOREIGNER FRIENDLY” |
| 
|
| Boycott Helios in Iteawon (Eng/Kor) | Protest | 3726 | |
| Korea loses face for GOOD | Ex-Teacher | 795 | |
| Sickening | Caoimhin | 807 | |
| Yeah, right..."...for no reason, this" and "for no reason, that".... | Me | 928 | |
| Look in your own backyard..... | Me | 852 | |
| So, what do you have against the Irish? | Ex-Teacher | 757 | |
| To be perfectly honest ... | Ex-Teacher | 866 | |
| glad to b outta here | bowenzie | 723 | |
