Korean Job Discussion Forums

[neutron44]

Hello everyone,

I have arrived in Korea and obtained my F-4. I have read a lot of threads posted about F-4 visas and was hoping somebody could answer my questions.

1. Would immigration tell me if I had to serve in the Korean Military?

2. If I have already obtained my F-4 does that mean that I renounced my Korean citizenship, thus making it impossible for me to serve? I am an adopted Korean and I only have an American passport and on my family registery it only had my name as Family Chief with no previous family record. I did have to go to the province office and get a paper but I don't know exactly what it said on it.

3. Is there a website or a document explaining F-4 rights?

4. If I have an F-4 and want to teach privates do I need permission from my academy?

5. If I want to buy an apartment in Daegu what is the best agency to go through?

Thanks again. I am only worried about the military because I don't know if I renounced my Korean citizenship status or if I have a dual citizenship without knowing it. I don't think I do but I need to find out to ease my mind.

Neutron44

[Real Reality]

Korean-American Forced to Serve in Military
Kang came back to live in his motherland when he was 32 years old after both his parents passed away in the U.S. "I knew any male had to serve in the military (in Korea), but I thought the age limit was 32. My pastor also told me that I'd be exempt from the Korean military service because I served in the U.S. military," Kang said. However, when Kang tried to apply for his citizen's registration card, he found out that he was still required to serve out his mandatory two years as the Defense Ministry had changed their age limit to 35 a few years ago. The government pays him 26,000 won a month ($21) and some 110,000 won for lunch and transportation.
by Byun Duk-kun, Korea Times (December 12, 2003)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200312/kt2003121218123212020.htm

The accidental citizen soldier
Young Jin Chun is thoroughly American, a 25-year-old Bellevue resident and Newport High School graduate who wanted to soak up his ancestral culture and learn Korean while teaching English overseas for a year or two. Thanks to the South Korean government, he's getting that experience, but not in the way he ever imagined. The planets did not align for Chun. They collided.

Although he's a U.S. citizen, Chun has been drafted into the South Korean army -- a two-year hitch in one of the world's most tense military regions.

As Chun belatedly learned, the South Korean government determines citizenship not by where a person is born, but by the citizenship of his or her parents.

In Chun's case, it appears a family member -- maybe his paternal grandfather or his father, who is divorced from Chun's mother and lives in South Korea -- entered his name in the nation's family census registry, the hojok.

Chun's parents emigrated to the United States in 1973 and became naturalized citizens. His father completed his doctorate in engineering at the University of Illinois-Champaign, where Young Jin, the middle of three sons, was born eight days before Christmas 1978.
By JOHN IWASAKI, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER (April 8, 2004)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/168210_korean08.html

[prosodic]

[Gord]

[prosodic]

[prosodic]

[neutron44]

Thanks everyone, it has relieved some fears I have had since entering into Korea.

Neutron44

[hellofaniceguy]

It says a lot about a country where the law forces one to serve in the military!
I'd say that well over 50% of korean males would rather not serve in the korean military...under the current conditions...not due to a war...but the way they are treated, abused, beaten...and the pay!!! Something like 20,000 Won a month for a private. A few Won more as one gets promoted.
And when citizens from other countries whose parents are korean are forced to serve because they are korean...the korean girl scouts/military is desperate then!

[inkoreaforgood]