Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wayfarer]

country? A few times I've noticed posters on these boards, and elsewhere (including my Korean co-teacher, incidentally - I don't remember what the hell she was talking about, but she was comparing Korea to a "big developed country like USA") saying that. What? How did you get a bachelor's degree? How did you get put in a position to teach other humans?

As of last year, Korea has the world's 13th highest nominal GDP,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29 . Per capita, it's still at number 35 (out of over 200), in the same neighborhood as Israel or New Zealand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita

Outside my building, within a 2 block walking distance, there about 5 pc rooms, 2 department stores, a bookstore with an English section, bars serving overpriced drinks, and plenty of plastic mass-produced junk everywhere.

Millions on this planet don't even have running water or electricity. That's the undeveloped sector. In other places (Iraq), the water and electricity are there but often don't work - that's the developing part. Korea is neither.

I'm only talking about dollars and cents. Whether Korea is morally or socially developed is another matter, upon which I won't comment at the moment.

[seoul101]

I think that's where the term comes from, it's the moral and social issues and systems that contribute to make a country developed as a whole. I wouldn't call Korea developing, nor would I call it developed in the sense Western Europe or N.America is.

It's quite interesting how so many Koreans I've spoken to talk of their country as 'developing', often as an excuse or way of explaining why something is like it is.

[wayfarer]

[Adventurer]

Korea is a developing country. It may have one of the top 13 countries, but it not as developed as the countries of Western Europe, and it is a third world country. Many websites do list South Korea as a third world country. Many countries that produce things are considered third world countries. I would say Japan is definitely a developed country. It clearly falls into that category. Korea is basically borderline. Definitely, in the 1990s Korea was simply in the developing countries category.

[ulsanchris]

go to the country side. also go to some of the poorer areas of the country. also it has to do with per capita income. the average income for korea is 20,000 dollars. which is quit good but not enough to be a developed country.

[xtchr]

I'd definitely consider some of the rural areas here still 'developing'. Is a world away from Seoul - houses can be very substandard, having separate outhouses etc, and old women washing clothes in the communal stream etc. Old men still planting rice by hand while carrying baskets on their backs.

[JongnoGuru]

[Otherside]

I'd classify Korea as developed. In terms of standard of living, GDP/capita, education (yes...it's a little screwy but educated Koreans are smart, especially in quantative subjects and the investment they put into education is astronomical..) and overall infrastructral development Korea is developed.

[wayfarer]

[Adventurer]

[wayfarer]

[Adventurer]

[ryouga013]

[fustiancorduroy]

When I talked to bankers in Shanghai, they said Korea was a developed country. I mostly agree, but some aspects (like corruption and openness of the market) are still developing.

[seoulsucker]

According to a friend who worked as a research fellow at the Korea Development Institute (the most advanced thinktank in Korea) they're up for review in 2012 and will more than likely be placed in the "developed" category.

Heavy industries in Korea are sharting their collective pants apparently, because an entire new set of production/emission/pollution standards will go into effect. He admitted that the country has pretty much been sandbagging for the past two decades or so...we had some interesting chats.

Probably the most intelligent and articulate Korean I've met...so it didn't surprise me when he left the country about a year ago.