Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

What is your image of Koreans? What image do Koreans have outside of Korea? Has your image or impression of Koreans changed much since coming to Korea? If so, how?

Korean expatriates in the Philippines pointed out that "As far as the incidents and accidents involving Koreans are concerned, there are many cases of unseeming behavior by Koreans becoming problems." According to an employee of a private school specializing in study-abroad programs in the Philippines, "It's a common occurrence for Korean golfers to drink and then curse at caddies or throw tips in their faces." He said during matches, Koreans speak to local caddies in really coarse Korean, saying things like, "Hey, you @#$*, can't you find the ball?"

Recently, the owner of a bag making business in Sri Lanka secretly fled the country overnight after bankrupting the company to finance his gambling habit.

According to a white paper on human rights conditions of Korean businesses abroad, published by the Korean House for International Solidarity, hundreds of employees at a sewing shop in Indonesia launched a protest in front of the Korean Embassy in Jakarta when the Korean boss fled without paying them 3 billion rupiah (about W500 million) in salaries. At a handbag factory in Vietnam, the Korean vice president of the company brutally assaulted a door-keeper because the company's door was not closed properly. Authorities confiscated his passport. At another factory in Vietnam, a Korean manager slapped the cheeks of female workers with a shoe for making small talk in the factory. He was deported from the country.

Illegal Korean immigrants in those countries are causing problems both large and small. On Feb. 2, 33 Koreans who were doing missionary work in the Philippines were barred from leaving Korea and kept in the Immigration Department confinement cell when counterfeit immigration stamps were discovered in their passports.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200402/200402200009.html

[HardyandTiny]

[Tiger Beer]

Before or after being in Korea, or anytime outside of Korea, I have never had bad impressions of Koreans. Even in the States knowing exactly what Korea is like, I haven't seen any Koreans I didn't like or had a problem with. Its the exact opposite, I quite like seeing them outside of Korea.

IN Korea however it can be quite exhausting at times.. but not some horrible experience.

[sadsac]

Whilst living here in Korea, on the whole has been a positive experience, when travelling with Koreans or where Koreans travel frquently, I have found them to be arrogant and rude and that is disappointing. They believe that they can use the same behaviors at home elsewhere and it doesn't work that way. Maybe this is why nearly 80% of the Fortune 500 companies won't deal with Korean businesses.

[Real Reality]

Korean invasion
Koreans forcing their way into the first tee even if it's not their turn yet to tee off. Koreans hitting shots from the tee box even when there's still someone about to hit a shot on the fairway. Koreans hitting shots even when there's still someone about to stroke his putt on the green.

We are partly to blame, though. We allow them to control us instead of us controlling them. We allow them to intimidate us with the power of their currency, effectively reducing us to mere beggars. We allow them to trample on our sovereignty, for a fast buck. We have lost all honor and dignity in the name of money. One day, we will wake up to see our golf courses being owned by Koreans, run by Koreans, with Filipinos being mere servants serving them kimchi. Worse than one being tagged as a running dog of Abu Sayyaf. They have invaded the village that I live in, renting whole houses and noisily drinking beer till the small hours of the morning any day of the week.

To be sure, let me assure you that I am not anti-Korean. I have friends from Korea. In fact, one dear friend of mine is a Korean. What I am saying is, the Koreans aren't bad per se. If they've been bad to us in our own land and continue being so, not their fault. We are at fault because we allow them to do what they want to do to us.

It's as simple as that.
http://www.inq7.net/spo/2004/feb/10/spo_25-1.htm

How Does China Look to Koreans When a Chinatown Does Not Exist in Korea?
Chinatown is an almost universal element of Chinese cultural and business aspects, and can be found in numerous destinations around the world. However, in spite of being a neighboring country and culturally proximate to China, there is not a single Chinatown in Korea -- often an uncomfortable topic for Koreans, given that its absence engenders an image of Koreans being reclusive and xenophobic by nature. Indeed, human rights activists, on occasions, assert that the lack of a Chinatown is proof of the discriminative attitude of Koreans towards the Chinese. http://www.rieti.go.jp/users/michael-yoo/cfk-en/01.html

Koreans and the Poly-ethnic Environment in Central Asia
North and South Korean media began to represent transformational changes in Soviet Korean culture as a "crisis of Korean identity". Even now, calls sound constantly that Koryo saram must return to the bosom of maternal Korean culture. That is, Koryo saram again must radically change their way of life, mentality; they must sacrifice their habits, customs and traditions.

But do they want that? South Korean businessmen, professors and pastors constantly stress the principle of shared blood ("we are all Koreans"). They deduce from this basis a principle of obligation that practically reduces to the fact that, in everything, the Koryo saram must follow South Korean models of behavior and consciousness. Of course, sooner or later this situation will lead to a negative reaction on the part of local Koreans.
http://www.aks.ac.kr/EngHome/files/cult11.htm

[gomurr]

At home I never gave much thought to Koreans, of course how many people back home couldn honestly tell the difference between them and the Chinese. Koreans that I have met in canada tend to be more polite because on a certain level they know that we wil not put up with the same BS that foreigners put up with in Korea. I also believe that Koreans have an inferiority complex and tend to think that the world owes them something.
I have seen 1st hand many times how Koreans act in the Philippines and it makes me ashamed to say that I live and work in Korea. They are abusive and disrespectedful to people and push their way to the front of a line. They look down on poorer countries forgetting that they too were once that poor.

[Korea Newfie]

[jaebea]

There's a similar one near Yonsei Uni, but really not a patch on what most people would see as a "Chinatown".

I find this a sticking point too, as most of the "Chinese" food in Korea is rubbish. :)

jae.

[just because]

I like Tang Soo Yook and mandu. they are both chinese foods(well bastardised versions).

[Ilsanman]

There's a Chinatown in INcheon, but I heard it's insulting to Chinese people.

[dogbert]

Korea doesn't need a "Chinatown".

[HardyandTiny]

There used to be a real Chinatown across from the Namdaemun market heading towards Seoul Station. The entire block between the station and the market on the east side was Chinatown and the center of Chinese mob activity in Korea. The Korean government forced them all out in the early 80's prior to the olympics.
I'm glad they did.