Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

[Real Reality]

Korea's struggle against corruption could be paying off now that it has a rating of 47 out of 133 countries, a slight improvement from last year's 50, the International Corruption Perceptions Index stated yesterday.
Korea ranks 47th in corruption index by Jin Hyun-joo, Korea Herald (October 21, 2004).
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/10/21/200410210027.asp

Transparency International
Corruption Perceptions Index 2004
http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2004/cpi2004.en.html

Although reform measures are on the way and are pushed forward by a public increasingly impatient with collusive relations between government and business in South Korea, reforms still have a long way to go until the aim of "clean politics" can be achieved. The recent disclosure of scandals involving foreign firms has to be seen as especially problematic. While the abuse of personal contacts and family or clan ties hitherto could be interpreted as a relic of traditional relationships in Korean politics, the use of these structures by foreign firms suggests not only the survival, but rather a revival of these structures, thus further complicating political reform and the fight against corruption in South Korea.
Corruption through political Contributions in South Korea,
Report on recent bribery scandals, 1996-2000
by Verena Blechinger
http://www.transparency.org/working_papers/country/s_korea_paper.html

[edgellskiuk]

I would say Seoul is "Average" in many respects no better and no worse than many places.

Signage - Seoul is better than tokyo, but is it me or is english seeming to disappear on signs more and more. I may be wrong but it just seems that way.

Tourists get ripped of everywhere and most developing countries have a 2 teir pricing system.

I would say food wise Seoul is still very limited. It is improving but compared to almost any major city it is low. On par with Warsaw 5 years ago. On that note does anyone know a good steakplacethat is not also family place? I would like to eat a steak without having cotton wool in my ears.

[Barking Mad Lord Snapcase]

[Swiss James]

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

[Barking Mad Lord Snapcase]

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

The random acts of kindness by strangers can impress some people. But they hide a deeper attitude which says that foreigners are immutably alien. It's not that they hate you, but you'll never ever be truly welcomed here. They be polite and friendly, but you'll always be a visitor, a curiosity.

[Mashimaro]

I want to believe that koreans are kind to 'foreigners' but I'm sorry to say I think most of their friendliness is limited to white foreigners.

Does my chinese friend get as many random acts of kindness as me? no, is she harassed by taxi drivers when they find out she is chinese, yes.

[ersatzprofessor]

I have a little story about lack of Korean honesty. Well, maybe not lack of honesty so much, but more an honest respect for people's privacy. I'm still livid about this!

About a month ago my wallet simply disappeared. Since I am a completely absentminded person, and have two small kids who continually get into everything, it was not an unusual event. I figured it would turn up somewhere in our apartment.

About a week after that I get a call from one of the professors at my college. "Did you lose your wallet?" he asked me. Why, yes, I replied- but how do you know?

This is what happened. I had stopped at one of those expressway service stations, and apparently my wallet must have somehow fallen out of my pocket as I was getting into my car. Some anonymous person found it and handed it in to the manager of the service station. They simply held it at first, assuming the owner would return, but after some time went by they realized this wasn't going to happen. So the manager went through the wallet and discovered my foreigner id card along with a few business cards from the profs at the school. So he called one, confirmed it was my wallet, and then had it couriered to my school.

So I get my wallet. All my money (about 40,000 won) and everything else is still there.

So of course I called him immediately to complain about his invasion of my privacy. The nerve of that bastard. That's why Korea will never amount to anything!

[pecan]

[quote="Barking Mad Lord Snapcase]Methods should be judged by results. If the results are good, then the methods have been mostly correct. If the results are not good, then either the methods are not entirely correct or there has been unfavourable external influence.

Is Korean traffic "correct"? Does Korean business practice engender better results than the West or Japan?[/quote]

Your post does not make any sense.

What do you mean by "is Korean traffic 'correct'?"

"Better" is a relative term.

Your goals should detemine what "better" means.

The topic was asking about better ways to understand Koreans. Simply implying that the way they do things is "wrong" will not help you to understand them.

Harmony is more important than many Western ideals. You can either accept it or bang your head against it. However, it does not change it.

Nut

[dogbert]

[korian]

have to agree on the honesty thing or acts of kindness as it were. one day in seoul i lost my cellphone. nightmare as you know. called my number again and again. scoured everywhere i could. nothing.

then met my girlfriend later that night. she had my phone. what the? some guy found it on the seat in the subway and called numbers till he got an answer. fortunately it was my g/f. they then arranged to meet, not close towhere either of them were, was a half way point, and he handed over the phone. unreal.

compare that with an incident just last week back here in oz. my mate found a slick new phone in a carpark. call the number i said or leave it on til the person calls. no way said my mate. slipped out the sim card, slipped his in and that was that. he had a new phone. not good.

[Sleepy in Seoul]

ersatzprofessor, you are upset about someone going out of their way to return your wallet (with all your spending money intact)?

How bizarre!

They didn't have to do it for you, but they did. What would you rather they do? Have a total respect for your privacy (which would mean doing absolutely nothing)? What are you ashamed of in your wallet anyway?

Strange... I would much rather someone looked through my wallet and returned it to me, rather than just leave it alone and I would probably never get it back.

Or are you trolling, and I have been totally taken in?

[Swiss James]

Ummm, I think he was being sarcastic.