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I have to agree that there is seriously a lack of information out there in terms of the changes starting in about 2 weeks from the Immigration department here in Korea. So, I’m going to post anything and everything I read & heard about it. The article I’ve already posted here about people having to go back to their home countries seems to be a bit misleading. There appear to be options in getting your records for visa renewals. A couple examples were posted in the earlier post about what I’ve told my coworkers already.
Also, I noticed this: http://www.dmv.org/criminal-records.php — I can’t verify if this can be used. It would still probably need to get an apostille and I don’t know if it would qualify necessarily. It is quick and that’s why I thought it was interesting as an option. I found it as a response to a somewhat misleading opinion piece by this guy in the Korea Times about the new changes here: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/opi_view.asp?newsIdx=14987&categoryCode=198
While the guy does address some salient points like there is a lack of information on the topic, I think he’s overestimating a bit on the time it takes to truly get your criminal reports. Also, if the Korean government only asks for the report in your home state & it doesn’t cover all the other places where you could have a felony or otherwise, I guess it’s the Korean government’s problem instead. Stop worrying about whether there is a loophole and just deal with the immediate problem for now getting a criminal background check done.
And just to highlight one point in the article from the Joonang Daily, but any foreigner hired by the Ministry of Education for the EPIK program already employed can skip the Criminal Background check. I don’t know why, but I read that and thought I’d point that out.
The Han Blog: Koreans & Gyopos 
I’m hoping to be in Korea by the beginning of March. I was just informed of the changes, and so far it doesn’t seem too bad.
I definitely does not take 12 weeks to get a criminal record check (here it takes about 5-10 days). Some have suggested that the medical exam is an infringement on one’s personal rights, and I completely disagree. It never hurts to get an exam anyway, and makes a lot of sense to me considering the risk of communicable diseases.
Whether or not these new requirements make a difference, who knows, but it’s understandable that they would want to try; if a criminal record check keeps one dangerous person out of their schools it’s worth it, in my opinion.