A screenshot of personal information belonging to Allison Hall, a 30-year-old American teaching English in Korea, is displayed on a recruiting website. The information includes personal details such as her birthday and marital status. Captured from the recruiting website

In 2023, Allison Hall, a 30-year-old American teaching English in Korea, discovered that her friends’ personal information had been posted online.

The following year, Hall — then chair of the Native Teachers’ Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions — found similar posts exposing union members’ personal details on a recruiting website. Private English language academies in Korea often rely on these sites to hire teachers.

However, teachers say that their information can be accessed without a login and readily downloaded, while lawyers argue that the practice may violate the Personal Information Protection Act.

To test the system, Hall signed up using outdated information. Her details appeared that same day.

Last year, a friend told Hall that another recruiter had begun posting even more sensitive data about teachers. She repeated the test and her information was posted within a week.

“All of my information was posted. My face, my name, my work experience, my age, my race, my gender, my home address, including the room number. Everything was exposed,” Hall told The Korea Times. “When I saw it, I froze in panic and felt a cold chill through my veins.”

The cases underscore growing concerns that some recruiter-run websites in Korea are publicly exposing foreign teachers’ personal data — often without clear consent — under the guise of standard industry practice.

On one recruiting website, anyone can browse teacher profiles that include photographs, educational histories, birthdates, work records and even whether the teacher has tattoos. On another recruiter’s web community, full access requires membership. Yet even publicly visible thumbnails reveal names, current and desired salaries and visa status. Some posts also include appearance-based remarks, such as “She looks pretty.”

Screenshot of a recruiter’s web community listing information about native English teachers, including visa type, educational background and remarks such as “She looks pretty.” Captured from recruiter's Naver cafe

Source: Korea Times News