Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Oliver]

I am crapping myself. For 2.1 million won you are making 860 UK pounds a month. I am due to fly in a few hours and don't want to go...

Oliver

[Tobias]

If you're thinking this way and you've not even left your home country yet, it's time to cash in the ticket and stay put.

If you really want to do this, then come on. Having second and even third thoughts from the get-go? Then stay home for now. Wait until you feel more comfortable. You owe it to your future students to be on top of your game attitude-wise.

[esetters21]

Yes it will. Tobias gives good advice here. Don't come if that is your main concern. Good luck in your decision.

[ttompatz]

[esetters21]

[hari seldon]

[esetters21]

[nuthatch]

Oliver:

[esetters21]

I had this very discussion today with my kgf. Korea is going to be the first and hardest hit economy in Asia and will be one of the last to recover. Those were her words and I do not disagree with them.

[hari seldon]

[bassexpander]

S. Korean won drops almost 5 pct against dollar

SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean won plunged almost 5 percent to a near 10-year low against the U.S. dollar Wednesday on concerns that local banks and importers face an acute shortage of dollar liquidity.

The local currency closed at 1,395.00 won against the greenback, down 66.90 won from the previous session's close and the weakest level since September 1998. At one point, it fell as low as 1,399.00 won. It was the fourth consecutive session of decline.

[nuthatch]

another thing to consider and a good reason NOT to come:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/world/asia/09korea.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

October 9, 2008
North Korea Reportedly Tests Short-Range Missiles
By CHOE SANG-HUN
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired short-range missiles off the country�s western coast this week amid tensions raised by its moves to reassemble its nuclear weapons program, South Korean media reported on Wednesday.

North Korea, launched two missiles on Tuesday toward international waters between the North and China, South Korea�s Yonhap news agency reported, quoting an unnamed government source.

North Korea launched the missiles from a naval base in Chodo, an island about 60 miles southwest of Pyongyang, said Chosun Ilbo, a mass-circulation daily in Seoul, which also quoted an unnamed government source.

Chosun Ilbo said the number of rockets fired was unknownbut that they were either KN-01 land-to-sea missiles or Styx ship-to-ship missiles.

North Korea has deployed more missiles around the island and declared it a no-sail zone, meaning that it may launch more missiles to mark the Oct. 10 anniversary of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, the newspaper quoted the government source as saying.

But another mass-circulation newspaper, JoongAng Ilbo, said the two missiles fired on Tuesday were air-to-ship missiles launched from an IL-28 North Korean bomber.

�We cannot confirm these reports because it�s an intelligence matter,� said a spokesman at the South Korean military�s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

Attention is focused on whether North Korea�s leader, Kim Jong-il, reportedly ill after suffering a stroke, will attend the party anniversary on Friday. Over the weekend, the North�s state-run media reported that Mr. Kim watched a soccer match in his first public appearance since mid-August, but they did not carry his photo or video footage.

South Korea usually dismisses short-range missile tests by the North as part of routine military exercise. But analysts say that the North tests its missiles when it seeks to bolster its bargaining power by escalating tensions.

In March, North Korea test-fired a barrage of short-range missiles off its western coast, while threatening to slow down the disablement of its nuclear weapons facilities in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang. North Korea stopped disabling the Yongbyon complex in August, angry that the United States did not remove it from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Last month, it began reassembling the facilities, which the North had used to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Christopher R. Hill, the senior American envoy for North Korea, visited Pyongyang last week to try to find a way to salvage the nuclear disarmament deal.

North Korea conducted its only known nuclear test in October 2006. It is unknown whether the North has the technology to arm its missiles with nuclear warheads.

North Korea has a large arsenal of missiles, including ballistic weapons that can hit all of South Korea and Japan. Missile experts say that the North is also developing a long-range Taepodong missile series capable, when fully developed, of reaching parts of North America.

[Mr. Pink]

You have to realize that economies are tanking in North America. When people keep selling off massive amounts of shares, that means the demand for dollars increases, thus its value increases.

Canada lost 3 cents to the US dollar in one day...yes ONE day. I know its normal for the Korean won to go up and down crazy amounts like that in a day, but not in Canada. The reason? The TSE lost like 1/3 of its value in the past 4 days of trading.


Thinking of coming home cause the exchange rate sucks: news flash, jobs are going to start being lost if this economic trend continues.

[broken76]

If you need to send home money on a monthly basis it's not a good time to come. If you can save your money here and exchange it later on it's fine. It may drop a bit more but it will go back to the usually rates after a few months.
For those that don't have expenses back home it really shouldn't affect their daily lives too much except for higher inflation which would pretty much be in affect worldwide.

[sojourner1]

Come on and see the world. Who knows, you might get very lucky in life.