Korean Job Discussion Forums

miniD · Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Location: rok

i've been sick ever since coming to seoul. bronchitis, and it's making me crazy with the hacking cough and whatnot. the stinky thing is that i am job hunting and have found a couple good offers but don't know if i can stay if it's the smog that's doing this to me (i'm coming from the u.s. rockies and the doctor says that my lungs have been pampered for so long that they are having a tough time dealing w seoul).

has anyone had this experience before? and has it passed?

i started applying to cities with better air and got an offer in sokcho -- anyone who's been there/is there please give me input! Laughing

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

I really haven't noticed the smog in Seoul to be so bad. If you don't count The Yellow Dust in the Spring.

I noticed a lot more pollution in London and New York. Black bogeys is a tell-tale sign and I never get that in Seoul.

You might just be reacting to the dry, cold air. Korea in winter has very dry air.

VanIslander

Derrek · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Are you keeping your place clean?

I have a terrible allergy to dust (probably dust mites). I sneeze and my nose runs like a faucet if I haven't dusted around and kept things clean. Those piles of dust that accumulate under the TV and Computer drive me nuts, so I have to keep on top of that.

Also, check around and see if you have a mold problem.

You can get asthma/bronchitis from dust mites too, I believe.

teachingld2004 · Joined: 29 Mar 2004

Sokcho is beautiful. But then again, one's vision of beauty is not anothers. It is colder there then in Seoul, and there is not as much to do. Well, thats not true, lets say there is not a "night life" like Seoul.
But the air is cleaner, and if you love the sea, go there.
Why not get on the bus, take a trip, and see for yourself. It is only 4 hours away.

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

Gotta disagree with VanIslander here...well, sort of! BETWEEN Pohang and Ulsan would be good, but IN Pohang or Ulsan would be BAD! Ulsan is a huge industrial city with lots of petrochemical/industrial/car/shipbuilding plants (although I must admit, on my recent trip the air was much better than in the past) and Pohang about the same. There is a small town outside of Ulsan called Hogye that's a great place...good foreigner community and far enough outside that the air is clean.

margaret · Joined: 14 Oct 2003

A very similar thing happened to me when I lived in Jeonju. I had "borderline asthma" in the U.S. It only effected me when I smelled cigarette smoke or many chemicals, especially insecticides. My boss is Jeonju sprayed the schools where I worked with mogi spray and I got so sick I ended up in the hospital. Now if I get even a tiny cold the asthma comes back but otherwise I'm fine. And even when I do get a cold I just cough, don't get short of breath and think I'm dying. I'm staying out of Seoul, except for maybe a short visit. I'll be heading for Mungyeong soon.
In my case, I never started with clean lungs in the first place--I grew up in Akron, Ohio, the rubber capitol of the world, and my mother was a 4 pack a day chain smoker.
Margaret

Zenpickle · Joined: 06 Jan 2004 Location: Anyang -- Bisan

"The Seoul Cough"

I am in Ansan, pretty far off the fringes of Seoul proper, but my lungs were killing me for my first month. The cough tends to return for a few weeks whenever the seasons change.

waterbaby · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie

miniD · Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Location: rok

you think yong-in would be a good option? or pyeonchon? or are they like little seouls...
too bad cause i like seoul, just don't want to die for it Embarassed

zappadelta · Joined: 31 Aug 2004

pyoungchon is much better than yongin

miniD · Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Location: rok

does that mean yong-in not good for black lung?

coolsage · Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2005 9:46 am Post subject:

In most of Korea, particularly the western strip from Seoul southward and over to the southeast industrial zone, the air is frequently unfit to breathe. However, up here in the northeast, where heavy industry is pretty much non-existent, the forces of nature still outweigh the endeavors of even the most diligent Korean. Anywhere in Kangwon Province is breathable, but avoid Wonju if you can. Not that the air is bad, but the place is a grim armpit of a city.

margaret · Joined: 14 Oct 2003

What on earth is so bad about Wonju? This is the second reference I've read recently on this list to it's awfulness but no one said anything specific.
Margaret

zappadelta · Joined: 31 Aug 2004