Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cfile2]

I am working on a story for Yonhap News about the culture of "No Foreigners Allowed" in Korea.

If you know of any bars/saunas/restaurants in your area that keep this policy (including No GI's allowed) I'd like to hear from you.

Also, if you have any personal stories of being refused from bars, saunas, restaurants, or wherever due to being a foreigner, I'd love to be able to speak with you so send me a PM or respond in the thread.

Thanks.

[northway]

There are a ton of places in Hongdae that bar GIs (Papa/Mama Gorilla, and the original Gorilla, are the only ones I know for sure, off the top of my head).

Besides that, one of my buddies can't get a massage in Pyeongchon no matter how hard he tries. Take from that what you will (he actually wanted a massage!).

[Chet Wautlands]

Please let us know when the story gets published.

I have never experienced this in my time here (4 years). I did have a friend who got told he couldn't go into a club. The bouncers said, in Korean, that he was too fat. My friend didn't understand, but I did. Awkward...

[cfile2]

Providing I can get some people to talk to me (seriously doubt any Korean business owners will speak with me) it should be published sometime around the end of December I imagine. I'll post a link when it's up.

[ldh2222]

[plchron]

bally aqua land, BUSAN, near busan station and texas street. got refused entry at 3:30 in the morning on saturday/ sunday morning. wasn't even drunk. PM for details, would definitely provide a funny anecdote to the start of your article. I talked some shit

[strange_brew]

Say Hello in Jungang-dong, in Ansan. A bar in Ansan...makes one shake their head. They straight up just tell you, no foreigners. I know many people who have tried and failed to get in there.

[creeper1]

Many foreigners complain about not getting into booking clubs.

The thing is Koreans typically spend lots of $$$$ (order a bouttle of wiskey at 120,000) here and the waiters bring over the girls in return but waygooks don't get that cultural difference.

The tight wad ESLer orders a Cass for 6,ooo won and hits on girls without taking heed of the etiquette.

[cfile2]

@ plchron: I can't PM you because it says I need to have posted 25 times before I'm able to. Could you possibly send me the details via email?

[email protected]

Also, any more details on this bar in Ansan?

I'm hoping to cover more than just bars. To a certain extent, excluding people from going to bars is not that big of a deal (especially where booking clubs are concerned). It's other establishments like restaurants and saunas that I think more people get upset about.

[Malislamusrex]

I asked a woman at a clothes repair shop

"panji fix juseyo?"

she said

"go away foreigner.

isn't much of a story to be honest.

[T-J]

[Los Angeloser]

The Blue House (Cheongwadae) didn't allow English speakers/foreigners to visit for fear of Swine Flu in late 2009, but Koreans were allowed. I think you'll need to do a series of stories.

[jrwhite82]

[Munniko]

I feel like sometimes that foreigners aren't allowed for legit reasons, like the booking club near us wouldn't let foreigners in because of a crazy incident where a large group went didn't really understand that you need to pay for a table and then any drinks you order in addition to that, so when the bill arrived they just kinda threw what they thought they owed and ran. I think it took almost a year for the club to start letting foreigners back in....and now they don't want you to leave. (totally separate funny story)

[seoulsucker]

I was with a group of Korean-Australians in Gangnam and we were looking for a happening spot to get a table with bottle service, etc. Someone suggested NB so we decided to check it out. This was back in like 2005 before I knew any better.

The first sign of discrimination was when the bouncer only asked me for my ID, but seeing that I was well of age and not a soldier he let it slide. The other guys in my group questioned it, but whatever.

Second sign was when the people at the door attempted to charge me double for entry. When it was explained that all foreigners had to pay double, three or four guys in the group said that they were Australians, so should they have to pay double too? The answer was simple, "No, you're Korean." After a brief debate, and letting them know that we planned on sitting in the VIP and ordering a few bottles they agreed to let me in for the standard entry fee.

A VIP hostess escorted us through the crowd up to the second level, but once at the bottom of the stairs and again at the top of the stairs a goon in a suit tried to stop me from coming up. At this point we were all really getting annoyed.

The bouncer at the top of the stairs made some radio calls, pulled the VIP hostess aside, and she politely informed us that there were no tables available at that time. The VIP area was 90% empty. They probably lost a couple of million won in business, which to be honest is a drop in the bucket for a place like that. I've heard similar stories like this about that place, some ending in very, very ugly confrontations with bouncers and/or other clients.