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Korea Newfie
Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador
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 Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 6:15 pm Post subject: The theft count... |
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Last weekend, had an umbrella stolen at the library, had to walk home in the rain.
Last night, my girlfriend had her locked bicycle stolen from outside a subway station.
In the last 2 years, I've lost 2 wallets, neither of which I've ever seen again. (My fault, I have a problem with losing wallets, but when I've done it in Canada and Japan, I got them back each time...)
Oh, pilseung Korea... |
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Dr. Buck
Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Location: Land of the Morning Clam
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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Many people have anectedotes about getting their wallets faithfully returned here, along with other stories of good Samaritan sort of behavior.
Also, many people think that Korea has a low crime rate and is a prety safe country. I agree in some ways but that is changing. I know that much crime goes unreported here, and even more crime gets reported but goes undocumented with a policeman's shrug of "what can we do about it?"
In the last couple months, I heard some incredible stories of crime, both extreme and minor--first hand accounts from the victims themselves, both foriegn and Korean.
The times are changing, especially with the credit card debtors getting desperate and violent.
That's the crime rate, but as for safe, as in general non-violence, I'm not so sure. I've witness plenty of twisted street fights, beatings and screams of abuse but the most disturbing thing is some of the stuff you see on the Korean TV news. It's incredible. Kick back a few nights of the week and check it out. Bust open a beer and call it amazing entertainment; an eye-opener. It's like a conspiracy that this stuff doesn't get mentioned much in the local press. Korea likes to keep their dirty laundry to themselves in a big way.
I remember this one documentary that reported some insane doemstic abuse; another was about these polluters dumping crap into the river, another was about some con artists scamming old people and beating them into submission, another about increase of rapes, -------it just goes on and on.
You really don't know how misrepresented this country is in the English news until you start digging into the Hangul news--granted, the journalists at MBC, KBS and others probably aren't Pulitizer material, but it better than nothing. |
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sparkx
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: thekimchipot.com
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mb2086
Joined: 10 Feb 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Korea is a safe place. If you beleive anything you see on TV you are pretty gullable. Crime happens anywhere but Korea has a LOW crime rate. If you loose your wallet you only have yourself to blame. I keep mine in my trouser pocket - never lost it once anywhere. |
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Korea Newfie
Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 5:40 am Post subject: |
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| Korea Newfie wrote: |
| I've lost 2 wallets...My fault, I have a problem with losing wallets |
| mb2086 wrote: |
| If you loose your wallet you only have yourself to blame. |
Thanks for the input.  |
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mb2086
Joined: 10 Feb 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 5:45 am Post subject: |
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Korea Newfie
Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 5:50 am Post subject: |
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| mb2086 wrote: |
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Sorry, just had a low point yesterday with the bike theft and some stuff going on with my school.
Actually, not sorry, just didn't mean to be offensive. I know how emotional people can get on here, and I hate it. Don't want to be one of them.
I know it's my fault of I lose my wallet, I was just pointing out that I didn't have it returned here, whereas I did in two other countries. It may be the safest country in the world, but I haven't had as much bad luck with getting ripped off in any of the others I've been to. And I felt the need to vent.
As my students would write:
~The end~ |
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Confused Canadian
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| Dr. Buck wrote: |
Many people have anectedotes about getting their wallets faithfully returned here, along with other stories of good Samaritan sort of behavior.
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I have one such story from several years ago....
One of my good Korean friends came to Seoul one weekend (he was living in the boonies at the time, 3 1/2 hours outside of Seoul). He went to a movie theater, and while reclining in the seat, his wallet fell out (he only realized this after he'd gotten on the bus back to the boonies).
He had no driver's license or other major forms of ID in his wallet (he kept them somewhere else). He just assumed that his wallet was gone. Well, about three months later, it showed up.
A farmer, also from the boonies (different boonies) found his wallet at the theater. The only piece of ID he could find was my friend's old University of Daegu student card. He contacted the school, made a lot of phone calls, and eventually found my friend's current address and phone number. One day, out of the blue, he showed up in my friend's hometown to return the wallet. Not a thing was missing, not a single won. I'm not sure if this guy made a special trip to return the wallet, or if he was passing through. Either way, this story impressed the hell out of me.
Korea Newfie, sorry to hear about your wallet. Not trying to say bad things don't happen in Korea. They do. But good things happen here too.
Confused Canadian |
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justagirl
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Cheonan/Portland
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 7:36 am Post subject: |
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My father and mother-in-law came to visit us in Korea. The morning the left for the airport, they caught a taxi near our apartment to get to the bus station downtown. Once there, my FIL realized he'd left his briefcase on the SIDE OF THE ROAD where they'd gotten the taxi!
It wasn't just a briefcase...it had their plane tickets, their passports and all other important ID's. Rushed to take a taxi back...it was still there, exactly where he'd left it. And he fortunately got back to the bus station in time to catch the only bus that would get them to the airport on time for their flight.
Lessons learned:
1. give yourself plenty of time before leaving the country in case of emergencies.
2. the Koreans who passed by the briefcase were honest and decent people, thank God.
3. Don't trust the FIL with important documents in the future. ha ha. j/k 
justagirl |
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uberscheisse
Joined: 02 Dec 2003
Location: japan is better than korea.
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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two extremes:
in apkujeong one of my coworkers got her purse snatched by a dude on a daelim delivery-bike. cops said they couldn't do anything...
in andong i dropped my handphone in a cab, phoned it the next day and the cab driver went out of his way to meet me, gave me my phone and was really against taking 5000 won for his troubles.
keep it together, but don't let yourself get caught slippin' because korea, for all its honesty and 'saving face' isn't exactly a convent. |
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mb2086
Joined: 10 Feb 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 4:32 am Post subject: |
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Korea Newfie:-
Don't worry. Ii was feeling a bit like that also. |
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