Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bondrock]

Web site has answers to expat FAQs:

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2915832


Web site for Miraculous Korea:

http://www.koreabrand.net/en/how/how_image_navigator.do


This country has more nicknames than James Brown.

[mc_jc]

My question is; What's the miracle?

[SoCalRich]

[Bondrock]

[SoCalRich]

[oskinny1]

Another horribly designed Korean site. It my look pretty, but since you have to click on every picture to find out what the question being ask actually asks, I see it as a waste of time.

I liked it better when Korea Sparkled, like a vampire sucking at your seoul.

[redaxe]

Korea : The Miraculously Sparkling and Dynamic Hub of the Soul of Asia.

[air76]

At first I thought that this thread was a joke....as much as we laugh at the ridiculous adjectives they use to describe Korea, what choice do they have? If they want to brand their country to increase tourism then they have to choose a brand that most international tourists would relate to. While a certain demographic would like to visit "Weird Korea", which of course is a more accurate description, the majority would not.

In general I think that Korea is a pretty awful place to come as a tourist (not that it's so awful, just that there are so many more interesting countries to visit in the world)...I've had a few visitors over the years and it's always hard to come up with cool things to do here. There are a lot of "pretty cool" things to do and see, but there is really nothing spectacular to do. So, Korea has no choice but to exaggerate the sights and activities that they do have in order to attract more visitors.

I've enjoyed Korea because I think that it is simply the most bizarre country in the world...but 90% of what I like about it (as a travel destination) is that there is so much to laugh at and shake your head at, not that visiting palaces and temples and "mountains" that all look the same after you've seen one really gets me going.

You can't really brand your country internationally with slogans such as "Come see our ridiculous marketing techniques, such as two scantily clad dancing girls with bizarre leg-warmer thingies boogie in front of a new galbi restaurant that is next to 7 other galbi restaurants." or "Come to a stationery shop and giggle at all the DDONG on our notebooks."

Of course there will be people who argue that Korea is in fact an extraordinarily interesting and beautiful country to visit, but in my experience 80% of those people have traveled to less than 5 foreign countries, often just their home country and Korea.

In short, the tourism board HAS to say Korea is Dynamic and Miraculous in order to attract more visitors simply because it is not. People go to Spain and then return home telling their friends and family how great it is, driving more tourism...people generally don't come home from Korea and tell everyone that they know that they simply MUST go to Korea. I am not bashing Korea, it is just reality that Korea is not Brazil, Korea is not Japan, Korea is certainly not France or Italy, or Egypt or Peru...or Mexico...or England or Thailand...Korea is not one of the great tourism destinations of the world, even if you love it here you can't deny that.

So for me.....Dynamic Korea makes sense, if you want to attract more people to visit Korea, you have to fudge the truth a bit.

[VanIslander]

Kooky

[janafromfrance]

[eamo]

Korea is miraculous?

Does that mean it can be canonized by the pope and become Saint Korea?

[Wishmaster]

Uh, no...Korea ain't a place for saints. That is for sure. Besides, wouldn't this whole "Miraculous Korea" thing backfire on them? I mean, once people get here and find out that it is the exact opposite of miraculous, I would believe that they would go out of their way to tell people back home how much it actually sucks and not to spend one cent to go there.

[stevieg4ever]

Hahahaha classic!

I wonder what the slogan will be next week.

Its just amazing, even having been to over 25 countries myself I do not think I have ever met people with such a high opinion of themselves and their country as Koreans.

<helmet: check>
<bullet proof vest: check>
<camoflauge: check>
<daves' apologist detector: check>

[Konglishman]

I will go ahead and tell a story which I think illustrates one of the problems with respect to tourism.

A couple of days before I went home for Christmas, I got an email from my brother asking for a Seoul Olympics T-shirt.

A friend of mine suggested that I go to Dondaemun since they sell a lot of T-shirts related to sports. Everytime that I asked one of the store owners if they had a Seoul Olympics T-shirt, I would always get one of the two following responses. The store owner would show me the 2002 World Cup T-shirt instead. Or I would simply get laughed at.

Finally, I found a tourist information center nearby. So, I asked where I could find a store that sells Seoul Olympics T-shirts. Then, I was told that there probably was not any place like that since the Seoul Olympics was in 1988. I countered by saying that since that was an important part of Seoul's history, there should be a place somewhere in Seoul that sells the Olympics T-shirts. Finally, after further conversation, I was told that I could probably buy one at the Olympics Museum in Jamsil.

Unfortunately, the museum was already closed. So, the next day which was the same day as my flight, I went to the museum. The only place that was selling anything there was a small shop on the second floor. In truth, it was more of a coffee shop than a memorabilia shop. And lo and behold, the shop was not selling the Seoul Olympics T-shirt although other more Olympics T-shirts were sold. After getting someone fluent in English on the phone, I was told that I could get that particular T-shirt in Geneva!

After that, I was told by a gyopo friend that certain Itaewon vendors sell the Seoul Olympics T-shirts. Probably, I should have gone there to begin with, but I had not since several Korean friends had insisted that Itaewon would not be selling something like that. And unfortunately, at that point, I did not have enough time to go there and wait for the vendors to show up.

[stevieg4ever]

Sorry to sound stupid but what exactly does this illustrate in regards to tourism in Korea.... except that it is bloody difficult to get a 1988 t-shirt?