Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Palladium]

Professionals to benefit from India-Korea pact
19 Jul 2009
IST
Shantanu Nandan Sharma
ET Bureau

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Professionals-to-benefit-from-India-Korea-pact/articleshow/4794246.cms

NEW DELHI: Indian self-employed professionals in sectors such as IT, telecom and engineering and English teachers could look forward to easy
entry into South Korea soon, with New Delhi and Seoul set to sign a landmark economic pact that could enable Indians to take up work assignments in Korea.

The India Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or CEPA will also facilitate Indian banks to open branches in South Korea and could foster greater collaboration in the animation and gaming industry.

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma is expected to sign the pact in the South Korean capital on August 7, which India will project as a major step forward in its Look East policy, a commerce ministry official who did not wish to be named told SundayET.

Other officials said the agreement will benefit the Indian services sector greatly with South Korea liberally allowing Indian banks to open branches in the country and especially encouraging Indian talent in the animation and gaming industry to collaborate with its Korean counterpart.

The CEPA is expected to have a special provision on audio-visual co-production between India and Korea, with a special emphasis on the gaming industry. South Korea is a major player in the gaming sector globally and ranks behind the US and Japan. It has proposed to invest about $236 million in the computer gaming industry through 2012.

Indians will also be able to participate in the $5 billion-a-year English teaching market in South Korea. On its part, India has agreed to eliminate tariffs in case of 70% of items imported from Korea, while Korea has agreed to do so in 90% of items exported from India. Also, India would maintain 15% of the items in the negative list, which include completely manufactured vehicles.

Significantly, the North Korean city of Gaesung, located just 60 km away from Seoul, is set to emerge as a major beneficiary of the CEPA as New Delhi will extend the same kind of concessions to goods produced at Gaesung. South Korean companies in the fields of low-end engineering products, leather goods, jewellery, chemicals and textiles have invested heavily in Gaesung to take advantage of cheap labour prices. Also, Indians belonging to 163 professions covered under the contract service suppliers (CSS) will be the beneficiaries of the pact as they would now be allowed to enter Korea easily. Broadly speaking, professionals under CSS are employees of a foreign company who enter the territory of another WTO member temporarily in order to perform a service.

[Palladium]

A few of things to consider.

Number 1, the reason the USA can afford to have bases in 120 countries is that as the world reserve currency, it allowed the USA to inflate it's money supply and economic policies past all sanity.

Number 2, as the economy goes over the cliff and the money supply contracts, the USA will no longer be able to afford all those bases all over the world. Including Korea.

Number 3, military personnel and equipment are EXPENSIVE. A fw years back, the USA was pulling out a brigade. The Korean government asked them to delay it because it cost them over $5 billion to replace it. A brigade is generally 500-700 personnel (depending on the unit type and mission). If the USA pulls out troops in the order of 10,000 or more, those low 6% taxes you currently pay will probably head to 10% or more as Korea has to foot more of it's own defense costs.

Number 4, programs like EPIK are expensive. The Korea government has about a W50 million/teacher investment per year. Just like in the crash of 1997 (I was here), many of those programs will be severely cut or shut down.

MANY hakwans will also go belly up as well, and being Korean, they will screw anyone they can to save money. Unlike the last time, the USA had a strong economy, and Korea exported it's way back to normalcy. Not this time around, tho.

Number 5, if Indians (and possibly) Filipinos start coming en masse, they will most likely lower salaries as they will work for less in Korea as teachers than the countries already here. As a cost cutting measure, I believe many Koreans will jump on hiring them to cut costs. The teachers here now will be crowded out.

I hope you have plan B ready in case the above happens. I believe we are seeing the end of the "golden age of ESL" in Korea.

[crossmr]

[ReeseDog]

[Smee]

THere are a number of factors contributing to what I see as the eventual removal of native speaker English teachers from the "big 7" countries.

We first heard about them bringing in non-native speakers as teachers last year. They're already using Indians and teachers from the Maldives and Phillippines to teach some English camps. In Jeollanam-do they're using Indians instead of the public school teachers already here. You're right that there will be some resistance from parents, but I think that money will eventually talk, and public schools at least will say to themselves, why spend twice as much on an American who doesn't get results?

[Snake Doctor]

Koreans will be in for a big surprise. Educated Indians complain waaaay more than Americans and Canadians.

[crossmr]

[The Gipkik]

[Palladium]

There are many calling for dire economic conditions in the USA this fall. People such as MISH (Mike Shedlock), Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Peter Schiff, groups such as LEAP2020 are saying the same thing. If the US$ does reset, it will result in chaos around the world until currencies reset against it. This will include Korea. By rights, this should have happened last fall, but Obama threw $12 trillion at the problem. BTW, the programs he's using to stimulate the American economy aren't working, except to make insider banks like Goldman-Saks richer.

The price of gold will tumble at first as everyone sells anything possible to meet margin calls. Then it will skyrocket as everyone starts to park the money they have into something of value. Commodities will tumble and we will be in for a very hard winter of 2010. I believe that programs like EPIK have money already allotted for the next school year, but I wouldn't count on much money being available as Korea increases social spending. Like I said before as well, many hakwans will go belly up as well. I expect a huge outflow of teachers, but maybe not as many as 1997. There are not so many jobs to go back to in North America.

If you have cash, you may be able to buy some PM's on the relative cheap this fall. I expect with everything going on, this may be your last chance to load up if you haven't done so yet. People like Jim Rogers are saying the best currencies to hold are most likely the Canadian and Aussie dollar. Relatively low debt combined with the fact they are resource exporters may keep their currency relatively strong. But the question must be asked, who will they export to if things do go downhill.

Even if devalued, the US$ may hang on longer than you think, because there is NO replacement for it. Yes, BRIC countries are calling for a replacement, but Texas has a larger economy than Russia. And California has a larger economy than China. They may want to become a replacement currency, but they simply don't have enough ass or gold to become so. Maybe in a few years, but not now. Even the Euro is having major problems and doesn't have a snowball's chance to replace the US$.

[Palladium]

It will effect teachers in Korea, like I said, prepare "plan B" because many of those jobs out there in Korea now won't be there in a year or so.

Egon von Greyerz
Matterhorn Asset Management AG
July 17, 2009 Newslettter

http://matterhornassetmanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/st_newsletter/stnl_iframe.php?newsletter=20

In this newsletter we will outline what is likely to be the devastating effect of the credit bubbles, government money printing and of the disastrous actions that governments are taking. Starting in the next 6 months and culminating in 2011-12 the world will experience a series of tumultuous events which will be life changing for most people in the world. But 2011-12 will not be the beginning of an upturn in the world economy but instead the start of a long period of economic, political and social upheaval that could last for a couple of decades.

We will discuss the three areas that we for some time have argued will determine the faith of the world for the foreseeable future, namely the coming unemployment explosion, the next and much more serious phase in the credit markets and finally the likely hyperinflationary or just inflationary effect this will have on the world economy and investments............

..............THE DARK YEARS

In the next few months we will see the start of the Dark Years. For the first time in the history of the world there will be a synchronized downturn affecting all nations (although some a lot worse than others).This is the culmination of the world and especially the Western world, living above its means for decades in a mania of credit bubbles, asset bubbles, real estate bubbles as well as excesses leading to decadence and a society with very weak moral and ethical values. (Of course no society recognizes this as it is happening but only afterwards). Governments have fuelled this process by printing unlimited amounts of paper thus destroying the money and purchasing power of most nations.

The Dark Years will be extremely severe for most countries both financially and socially. In many countries in the Western world there will be a severe depression and it will be the end of the welfare state. Most private and state pension schemes are also likely to collapse. It will be a worldwide depression but some countries may only have a deep recession. There will be famine, homelessness and misery resulting in social as well as political unrest. Different type of government leaders and regimes are likely to result from this..............

[crossmr]

Here is your problem:
Many koreans see English as as necessary as food.
English is not a luxury service for them.
It is completely necessary for them to do business not just with English speaking countries but also countries like Japan, China, etc. Why? because the business people in those countries are also learning English. That whole bollocks about Chinese becoming the international language a few years ago was just that. All the Koreans I know who go to mainland china, hong kong or japan all speak english on the trip. There are no translators and no one speaks cantonese, mandarin or japanese. If the economy is not good, you need to do more business to try and recover which means you need more English.

Luxury goods and services will be hit hard, but essential things will still get consumed. The korean mindset is that english is essential. Most people are going to be fine. There will be more competition for jobs which is why you might see crappy teachers getting punted faster and easier than before, but business shouldn't suffer significantly. 1997 was 12 years ago and the world is a much bigger place. The internet and international business is far more prevalent than before.

[VanIslander]

I'm still correcting mistakes "taught" to some of my students by a Russian "teacher" at an English camp in Korea last summer.

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

Number 4, programs like EPIK are expensive. The Korea government has about a W50 million/teacher investment per year.

Salary and benefits are W25 to W30 M. The other 20-25,if used on say, 8-9 pyoung housing-is returned after 1 year anyways.

Not that expensive at all really. Inefficient, but hardly a huge expenditure.

[bassexpander]

Hmm... I always feel the need to post this sticker, from inside of a Korean taxi, when people start the "they're going to replace us all" talk:


http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd16/bassexpander/pickup.jpg

If a phone english school finds it profitable to advertise that they don't employ people from countries like India or the Phils., then imagine how the general population must feel about it.

[samcheokguy]

Not to mention the resale value of an apartment in Gangwon-do is under 50,000,000 won....seriously.