Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SamJ85]

Not that I'm planning on embarking on one, but I remember hearing that cheating on your wife/husband/BF/GF happens a lot round here. I saw a quote of 70%, possibly on Daves, but this has to be BS?!

Anyway, I mentioned this to my (single) co-teacher last week and she gave me a look like I'd just punched her mother in the face. She said that it never happens in Korea, but that people in Japan get married knowing that they/their partner will keep screwing other people.

I suspect that this might be a good old fashioned bit of Korean, "We're perfect, everyone else isn't (especally the Japanese)", or maybe she was upset I might have suggested Korea has (ahem) a lack of honesty and morals.

Personally, given the amount of lying that goes on in parts of Korean politics and business, I wouldn't be suprised if banging your secretary was a top five pastime for ajoshiis.
Either way I'm putting this out there. What do people think? I'm not under the assumption that this doesn't happen everywhere, so don't reply to say what a bstard I am for bashing Koreans. I generally like the place and the people.

[agoodmouse]

She got cross with you because you're broaching an unsightly statistic, which, if true, people here have to deal with (i.e. cognitive dissonance).

What did you expect your co-teacher to say? "Great" or "well, what now?" It's a sad, sad country here in Korea when it comes to prostitution and adultery.

[SamJ85]

I didn't mention the 70% figure at first, and when I did I said that I though it had to be wrong. I was more interested in the fact that she instantly had a bash at the Japanese rather than admitting that it does happen here, wether to a lesser or greater extent than anywhere else.

[CentralCali]

Wow. Why on Earth would you have broached that subject with your co-teacher?

Anyway, a good thing to remember is that adultery is actually a criminal offense in this country. Best to avoid it.

[cdninkorea]

Adultery never happens in Korea? Yeah right. Here are some counter-arguments you can use:

1) If it truly never happens, why is it even illegal? After all, if no one had ever murdered anyone, there'd be no need to write legislation on it.

2) According to the Korean Institute of Criminology, prostitution was a full 4% of the Korean GDP in 2003. It's possible that only single guys contribute to this figure, but it's unlikely. Consider: room salons, anmas (massage), norae-bang girls, and the many red light districts in Seoul such as Cheongnyangni, Miari, etc.

3) Consider the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of love motels. Some patrons are married couples who can't get away from their kids or live-in parents, but not all. Also the "host bars" in Gangnam where lonely wives meet men.

Edit: Don't expect to be liked if you bring these things up. But hey, you'll win the argument...

[justaguy]

This topic deserves 4 words.

NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

[Johnny_Bravo]

[Adjumas Cheekbones]

Look, seriously it's everywhere. Everybody knows it...Korean, foreigner, Korean doggys, the cockroach in my kitchen, Mr Soju, Big Bang, dalgi-dalgi speaker truck guy, 100 year old cardboard box collector guy....everyone.

But why on Earth would you bring it up with a Korean who your A)not shagging B) not doing norebang with at four in the morning.

Its like mentioning the war to a german.

[Robot_Teacher]

Definitely not something to be talking about on a job, but Korea is lying to itself and just cutting it's own throat when it comes to all it's ignorant phony acting like these sorts of things among other things don't even exist. Heck, just act like you don't even see the other people walking in the street and what they're doing.

Chins up in the air; minds in the gutter.

[ryoga013]

[Johnny_Bravo]

[SamJ85]

I should try and clear up a few points here.

First, I wasn't trying to hit on my co-teachers. Nor was I asing if any of them had personally cheated on anyone. There were two of them present and they seemed happy enough to ask me about girls and relationships back in the UK, so why shouldn't I ask them about here? I wasn't trying to pull any lothario style moves on either of them. I wouldn't start seeing a co-worker in the UK so why would I here? Sorry if you got that impression ryoga013, it wasn't what I was aiming for.

Second, I thought the 70% stat was BS. If asking a Korean a blunt question is a bit rude, believing everything negative written about Korea on Daves has to be incredibly naive at best. I though I'd try get a Korean opinion, since it's about Koreans, and most Dave-ers are foreign.

I would have accepted "None of your business" as her answer and moved on. But since she wanted to discuss it, I though I'd see what other expats thought.I was more interested in the anti-japanese rant I got. How come people here know so much about how corrupt Japanese marrages are, yet they don't acknowledge their own society's flaws?

[Johnny_Bravo]

[SamJ85]

[Medic]

You get down to the working class, the coffe shop owners, and the cafe owners you'll find the husbands pimping their wives, and the mothers doing it obviously in front of their kids. A lot of mothers in these hard times are selling their bodies to help paye the bills for their kids education.

I walked into a coffee shop tabang and saw a mother consolling her son in one booth while she was entertaing( not just drinking mind you, but a bit more intimate stuff) men in another booth. Sheesh. I was also in a cafe a while back owned by the parents of one of my students at a boys middle school. Any way the father of the boy invites some guests in to sit and drink with his wife. One of the guys fondled the wife infront of the husband like it was no big deal at all. Husband didn't give a dam.