Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alyssa]

I was enlightened today. I read the report by Dr.Bang (about racism and koreans) and he listed the answer to 90percent of the problems I had in korea. I always wondered why my co-workers were offended if I said something (with no malice intended) 'there are so many exposed sewer holes on the street'..or something like 'I wish korea had more western spices'. I was not trying to stir up trouble, but there was always an angry tone about this or that. Then I always wondered why korea was always trying to promote people like rain, or boa, why would they even care about a korea wave?? I had never heard of ANY country having meetings about making a cultural wave....no Canada wave...or Italian wave...not even a Mexico wave...
So WHAT WAS IT?? Why the SOUL OF ASIA commercials, the reruns of the world cup or the world baseball classic all the time....Why the anger, why the stares, why the focus on what western teachers do?/ WHY, WHY...WHY?


Then today I read the report BY A KOREAN, about KOREANS, and it all came down to this:::


While they have an inferiority complex (열등의식) to whites,




Now, I DID NOT SAY THIS, so do not accuse me of being angry at korea, or racist. I was only trying to understand why there were so many little problems. Now it is clear. And I did not even make this study. So when you see the major problems on this board, the people who were having problems with banks, tests and more medical tests for western teachers,
fights in bars, anger over guys dating korean girls, co-workers getting angry....it will help to remember this. Thank you Dr. Bang for having the courage to show us a look into the mask of korea.

[okokok]

White is right!

[Bigfeet]

Koreans aren't used to being multi-cultural.

[VanIslander]

Koreans keep telling themselves they are number 1 but they also have a racial hierarchy which puts themselves not at the top, and they culturally value (so very much) economic success and riches which many Western countries have to a greater degree than Korea, ... so... as a result, there's a lot of fragile egos, wishes to emigrate and impulses to suicide.

Sad but true.

[travelingfool]

I had a class of adult students (all ajosshis) who said that whites think they are better than Koreans. It all boils down to the inferiority complex. That is why they are constantly telling us about their 5000 seasons and 6 billion years of history. The Chinese I worked with and taught weren't like that at all.

[Alyssa]

I honestly think that if I had known this I would have had a better stay in korea. It changes the whole outlook of the teacher. I suppose it makes one become more sensitive to them. I always thought that making suggestions about things would help them, but if they are feeling inferior that would explain why they seemed to get angry and make comments about my country. Oh well, live and learn.

[DaeguKid]

It hit me about 2 weeks ago...we have all heard it and see them do it... "KOREA!!! FIGHTING!"
I always asked my girl "who are you fighting?" (she never says it, i use the word 'you' as in Koreans. She said she doesn't know. And then it hit me, they are fighting EVERYONE who is not Korean.

Koreans have been trained like a lap dog by the media and government. They have been brainwashed to think they are the best, that the food is the world's best, the woman are the hottest, the men work the hardest and that Bowman Lake in Gyeongju is the bees knees. Sad eh! FIGHTING!

Though I must say this much, those who leave this island that we are on (its not technically an island, but the only way out of here is either by boat or air) actually realize that Korea is not the end all and be all...

I think I came across a study years ago here that stated that some 95% of the Koreans surveyed said that they love Korea, that 80% of them would pack up tomorrow if they could live in the Western world. Interesting.

FIGHTING!!! bah....

[wylies99]

Yeah, they're always FIGHTING with someone about something.

A couple weeks ago, a Korean teacher said to me "You must be happy. America has many friends. Korea has few friends." I don't give it much thought, but they obsess over things like this.

[DaeguKid]

[sojourner1]

I sure hope the Koreans are reading, because they need to learn what's going wrong between us and them and how this big dysfunction in their culture is handicapping them from achieving what they so seek. Many skills, much knowledge, freedom to be individuals, and wealth. There's a serious communication failure going on all over the place out there due to tensions over being scared of being looked down upon or seen as inferior. This is also why students are often terrified to perform. This is one toxic culture ingraining tensions, anxiety, fears, and financial corruptions. I guess it only shows for the fact this small country is still at war and actually has enemies on all sides. I guess we'd naturally be up tight too as the North said their goal in 2009 is to ramp up their military strength and weapons of war. I feel bad for the South Koreans to be disliked and threatened by their neighbors, but I wish they could be nicer (and honest!) to each other and their guest teachers as well as business partners.

Inferiority complex is a very serious issue here. I just wish they'd be themselves, be more honest, show some integrity, openly communicate at ease, and relax, but they're just like stretched rubber bands full of restrained tensions. I can't seem to have good relations and good times with them, because they exhibit so much tense anxiety oozing out of Korea. Only a few are not like this such as another foreigners Korean wife who is a very kind warm hearted Korean woman. She has traveled and lived abroad so she's open minded to the point she said, "I know what it's like for you to be a stranger in a strange land." Very sweet, I wish I could see more of her and her husband, but they run a hagwon outside of their full time PS jobs so their too busy to do much. I know he's kinda depressed about not having much free time, missing friends and family, and feeling so isolated, but he's plugging away well with the plan of them going to America to start a business one day and putting their toddler in the English speaking world as she grows up.

It's stifling to me after many months and yes, I am leaving instead of resigning for 2 more years since I don't like Korea and all it's tense uptight people. Not only the tension in the air, but the pollution is also killing me. Uhhgg, 2 year contracts are being offered this year. I can't stay since it's not a real life for me and no one seems to be all that friendly, but just exhibit stress, tension, and incongruities. I was hoping to make friends and they'd be more comfortable and used to me after 7 months, but nope, still as tense, if not more so, than in my 1st day here. I'm talking about the locals who don't seem to like me and fail to try to communicate. They don't want to communicate for the inferiority complex they suffer that handicaps them from successful interaction with the only westerner in the neighborhood. This inferiority complex also causes lack of productivity at school and work on a mass macro country level scale too. It's the same thing all over Korea. I've come to hate going out to shop and commute as I hate how tense Koreans act when I'm around them and they're not friendly, but often cold as ice and bitter in attitude though quite restrained by their rules of saving face. Or do they act like this all the time? Maybe?

They'll walk fast and can't decide if they're going left or right on a foot path and will always confuse the hell out of you on purpose, often just colliding into you, because they feel so uncomfortable about this foreign man approaching them while they make the teeth sucking noise. WTF? I'll walk into the gym or a store or an office and get the teeth sucking sound and get a cold unwelcome feeling. I'll step out on a foot path and drunk guys just shove through me, because I'm in their way and then stare me down and act like I'm wrong. Like some kind of primitives stepping out of the stone age and seeing this out of place strange guy in their way. Like, "what is he, who is he, why does he look different, why don't he talk right?" I'm like, "Shillomnida," and they say,"Nay," and leave it at that. Or it can be like seeing a man and woman about only 30 years old at a bus stop and he farts. She laughs, steps back, and acts like it's cute and funny. I laugh and the man looks at me and I say, "very funny," and smile, but he is so stressed and tense going, "OK! OK! Funny!" And the woman walks away acting like she was dissing him for being too serious so he chases her. They didn't come back to the bus stop in the 20 more minutes I was there. The man was super embarrassed and feeling inferior for no logical reason. WTF? He should had laughed with us, not got all serious and uptight.

I've grown to dislike most Korean people on account of all these awkward tense gestures they throw at us along with unrealistic expectations such as thinking we should know and understand what they think without being told as if there's telepathy. My bone is they're so phoney and materialistic as they come, but personally don't like us on account of race and intimidation that we're better at English. (teeth sucking) It only means a lot to most Koreans to learn English to get a good job; not becuase they like English and actually want to speak English. It's too bad it's gotta be like this, but they just simply don't know no better than what they do and how they do it.

[Panda]

Alyssa and all posters

The best way to know a nation is to know its history.

By looking at Korean history, you would get answers to lots of Ys in your mind.

Briefly,Its true Korea is a country with 6-billion-yeared history, but except only very short period of prosperous independency, most of the time, this nation was struggling with foreign occupation, poverty, civil war, etc.

It used to be the poorest country in the world, moaning between China and Japan..........and later the Western society.

On one hand Korean people are unconfident about their culture and economy (almost everything), unlike the American people who are proud of their pluralism instead of their short history, Korean couldnt abandon their history although its such a huge pain to even just look at that piece of shabby cloth (history).

On the other hand, Koreans are trying their best to rebuild their national dignity, it is like jumping from one extreme to the other one, they want everything to be No1 in the world,they worked insanely hard and they make specific aims to everything...... they actually feel so good and they have never been so proud than then.

Korea, the proudest nation in the world, now is laughing, laughing with tears shimmering in its peoples eyes and wounds aching in their hearts.

They have been cowering in the shadow of the world for thousands of years, and suddenly getting up in the past 30 years...

If you read their history, you will understand a lot about this most paradoxical country in the world.

[Unposter]

While I do think there is something to the inferior complex, I think these things are a lot more complex than you are making them out to be and probably many of the problems you suffer from (just guessing - I could not possibly know) come from cultural shock by both you and the people around you.

Some things to consider:

Before coming to Korea, I was pretty easy-going about my home country; sometimes I would make criticisms; sometimes I wish things were better etc...

Now, I hear some Korean and Canadians make similar criticisms such as Americans are stupid look how they elected Bush TWICE or how can Americans not care about how messed about the health care system is blah, blah, blah and well it gets me angry. I know these things are problems but I don't really want to hear people from other countries complain about my home country. They don't understand the problems the way I understand them. In my mind, they say things out of hatred not out of objectivity.

Of course, they may or may not hate my home country. They may or may not be objective. They may be just making conversation; talking about something they actually know about my home country.

Well, Koreans are the same way. They know their country has problems like any other country. And, like most people they would like to see changes though they don't always know what to do or how to go about these things. But, they don't always want to hear someone from another country remind them of the problems. Maybe after they get to know you and know where you are coming from, maybe they will open up to you but otherwise sometimes discression is the better part of valor.

And, nationalism is not exactly unique to Korea either. Most people take pride in their nationality. I would not begrudge Korean pride either. Take a look at all the stupid fueds between Americans and Canadians and Brits etc...we all seem to get a little more patriotic and a little more sensitive about things when we are abroad. It is easy to feel vulnerable and go off on things you probably would care less about in your daily life back home.

Sometimes, I too think it kind of stupid that Koreans get all riled up about the good things about Korea or if a Korean has done something good they get all proud like it was them and then I think well it is not too different back home.

These are kind of dated but I remember reading about Mexicans glued to the TV every time Fernando Venezuala pitched for the Dodgers. I heard Jews were just as bad when Sandy Koufax pitched. Blacks generally watch Black TV shows and get excited when a Black person makes a name for him or herself. I am sure Canadians can tell you all about all the Canadians on TV or the movies and Irish people can tell you about famous Irishman throughout history - you can go on an on. Ethnic pride is hardly new or unique to Korea.

Anywya, take a deep breath and relax and try and enjoy life. You don't need to look for some secret boogeyman. If you are easygoing and try to have a good time people will join you. If you are reserve and fearful people are going to want to avoid you. We can all decide to be open or closed to the world around us and people will react accordingly.

I'm sure the Korean sense of hierarchy does play a role in their confidence/inferiority. Much of Korean culture is eliminating faults and trying to be perfect. Koreans can be under a lot of pressure. And, I think they do envy Westerners who can not worry about things and have fun. Korea is all about winners and losers (somewhat like America) except that in America being middle class is being a winner in Korea unless you have the largest apartment in Gangnam and a SKY education you are a loser. It is tough to be a Korean.

[caniff]

^ I'd say that's a pretty good post.

[T-J]

[Alyssa]