Korean Job Discussion Forums

[big_fella1]

This rant has been building for a while. I am angry.

Last week 2 men attempted to bomb what they thought was a US government facility in Daegu, it was a children's institute in an office building.

Has an arrest been made? The police say it wasn't terrorism, how do they know? Is bombing things okay in Korea? The police have fingerprints (every Korean is fingerprinted), they have video and they have mobile phone location evidence and forensic evidence and no arrest?

Now some dirtbags from USFK fire a BB gun on some people in Itaewon, the chance of a death is neglible (although they should be severely punished) and a loud chorus of Koreans want to renegotiate the SOFA or kick out the American troops that have allowed the Korean economy to grow so rapidly. South Korea is a country still technically at war but thanks to the American troop presence has never had to spend more than 3% of GDP on the military since 1993.
Source: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/south-korea/military-expenditure-percent-of-gdp-wb-data.html

As an F5 visa holder I am required to be fingerer printed and photographed like a criminal every time I enter the country in which I live in front of my young Korean daughter. Why? To stop terrorism. This is tosspot, Korean Police have fingerprints for every Korean and there has been no Daegu arrest yet!

There is no way I will comply with their directive to report to immigration and submit my fingerprints and photograph. I'll see them in the Constitutional Court of Korea if they would like to learn what article 6 of the Korean constitution means with regard to their ratification on the CERD convention and I have no intention of being in contempt of court and appearing in my pyjamas if I were to be arrested for failing to comply.

The fact that they can't catch the Daegu bombers is proof fingerprinting doesn't work and all recent terrorist acts in Korea have been committed
by Koreans.

As a multicultural family, I have a special invitation to visit the reopening of Sungnyemun this weekend, and the Korean perpertrator of that terrorism crime is more than halfway through his sentence. Would a ten year sentence have been given to a foreigner who made a terrorist attack on Korea's number 1 cultural asset?

[newb]

Justice won't be served in a culture that believes in "fan death."

[Steelrails]

Well at least they aren't prematurely arresting Elvis impersonators.

I think one has to be careful about this as Korea's view of domestic incidents like this is different, a legacy of the military dictatorship and stringent anti-communist security apparatus.

It's also important not to give things away while there is an ongoing manhunt, especially since this could potentially involve North Korean agents. It's not just as simple as finding the guy who planted the bombs. You have to infiltrate the organization and find any accomplices.

[War Eagle]

Yes, give it some time. I'm sure there's some things we don't know about the bombing case that's holding up the arrest. To think the Korean government would intentionally not arrest someone who detonated a BOMB in a SCHOOL, well....

@newb It's called a superstition. Every culture has them. To the Koreans, the ones from our culture sound just as crazy.

[newb]

[Paddycakes]

[big_fella1]

[CentralCali]

[big_fella1]

[rockbilly]

[Weigookin74]

Had a friend getting mad all the time over things and they were legitimate things to get mad over. He was married living in a small country town. Then he got divorced, married a new girl, and moved to a bigger city. Now, he's in danger of becoming an apologist. As for me, I've noticed the country becoming more friendly the past couple of years. But, definately, there's still predjudice out there. I could feel it from many during my first 2 to 3 years here. As for this suspected terrorist, I'm sure they are investigating and we don't know what is going on behind the scenes.

I feel the friendliness, but am not an apologist. I know what lurks out there. I've simply become more balanced. You want a really racist country, seek out an island nation nearby. They (businesses) post signs denying foriegners, won't rent to them, get pulled over by police asking for papers, have way more yellow journalism about them, get hunted down by bloggers if they too many negative things about their country, don't get permanent residence even if they've married a local, etc. (These things do not happen to a foriegner in Korea or less often anyhow.) This from a country that has been open to the outside world for a long time.

Not making excuses for Korea. I had reached a point with all the damn C - blocking and rudeness where I almost quit Korea going into 2010. But had to stay for another year for another reason. Since then, much of this has disappeared. There are still videos that pop up and incidents that still happen. I call those out and don't make excuses. I'm become neither a hater nor an apologist. My old buddy converted from a hater to an apologist. It's almost sickening. Ha ha.

Don't get me wrong; I like Korea most of the time. Things still seem odd to me, like opening the windows when it's really hot in summer or very cold in winter. But, I just dismiss it as something they do and occasionally joke about it. I won't judge someone for having feelings one way or the other. We all have our experiences. If there hadn't of been this shift recently, it'd be hard to say how I'd be feeling now. That MBC video brought back a lot of bad memories.

[NohopeSeriously]

I think NETs in general forget that South Korea is one of the most militarized places in the world.

[earthquakez]

[quote="Weigookin74"] I've simply become more balanced. You want a really racist country, seek out an island nation nearby. They (businesses) post signs denying foriegners, won't rent to them, get pulled over by police asking for papers, have way more yellow journalism about them, get hunted down by bloggers if they too many negative things about their country, don't get permanent residence even if they've married a local, etc. (These things do not happen to a foriegner in Korea or less often anyhow.) This from a country that has been open to the outside world for a long time.
quote]

I hope the island nation you're referring to is not Japan as your information is dead wrong on most if not all points.

1) Your thing about signs not wanting foreigners happens in Korea too. In Japan most of the businesses that do that are the equivalent of room salons and yes, I've seen various room salons and other businesses in Korea that advise those places are for Koreans only. Same diff.

2) In quite a few yrs in Japan I was asked on the street by police for my alien registration card exactly two times. And politely. In Korea in less number of yrs I was asked on the street for my alien registration card by police exactly three times. And politely.

Apart from a few hotels in Japan mistakenly asking me to give my passport to them when I had a resident card, I had no problems re being a foreigner and ID.

In Korea even at Costco, I found it not unusual for Koreans to demand passport, cards etc rudely and handle the ID rudely. My last membership at Costco nearly ended before it began as I had not done the registration update because of a delayed medical test, and had to show my passport to get a new Costco card because I left my old one in Blighty.

The way the arzewhole handled my passport as if it was a piece of rubbish, throwing it on the counter and bending it while rifling thru all the pages despite the fact that all he needed to look at was the front page, never once happened to me in Japan. The Japanese handle documents with two hands and respectfully, esp passports.

3) Just like Korea, your employer or other guarantor in Japan handles your rental biz until you find someone willing to rent to you on your own. I never had a problem renting on my own because I always saved enough money for the deposits. There are foreigner friendly rental agencies in Japan just like there are in Korea, and yes, Koreans can and do refuse to rent to foreigners.

4) Yellow journalism re foreigners in Japan? Less than in Korea and definitely less re native English teachers in Japan.

Japanese people simply are not obsessed with English teachers for dating Japanese females and allegedly being drug addicts the way the Korean media had a field day doing for a few yrs recently - Japanese men are more secure than Koreans in that way.

The usual Japanese media actually is careful not to play up issues with foreigners including English teachers, including the fact that for a minority Korean-Japanese are over represented in organised crime. The Japanese media could really go to town on the large Korea-Japanese resident contingent sympathetic to and sending money to the North Korean regime while enjoying the benefits of living in a democratic country. But they don't.

A native English teacher in Kyushu molested Japanese children a couple of years ago - and there were no calls in the media or general population for AIDS and drugs test, criminal checks every 6 months or even a link made between being a foreign English teacher and molesting children. Korea has the patent on that.

5) You're confused over the bloggers hunting people down. The whole praise Korea or be run out of the country, don't touch Korean females as in date them, tell Koreans how much we've suffered movement is a Korean thing and scarily, comes from a lot of younger and young Koreans. It's mainstream, sadly.

The Japanese right wing uyoku movements are mostly older people and nutcases. Japanese people often say how embarrassed they are by these misfits. The usual Japanese media and bloggers are no friend to uyoku who often have organised crime ties.

6) Permanent residence is easier for a single foreigner to obtain in Japan than Korea. Full stop. If you marry a Japanese, permanent residence is simple to obtain.

Just recently I heard from a friend in Japan about the death of a foreigner who lived there for about 20 yrs. The foreigner was HIV positive, not married to a Japanese person, not married at all, and the J authorities had allowed him to live in the country that long. Says it all about the difference between Japan and Korea.

[newb]

[newb]