Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hagwon Muppet]

Might (pending final acceptance) have a rather nice teaching gig there but thought I would run a quick check through here to see if there were any horror stories or things to be aware of?

[julian_w]

Hmm... 'things to be aware of...'

Good question. One answer: pollution.

From my experience (one week's worth...!) the wind generally blows out to sea, and so the industrial area down here in Jungsaengpo gets the worst of it while the city is usually spared. Today, however, was nice for us, because we had the breeze from the sea, and fresh salt air. Felt sorry for the city people tho! I'm here to join Greenpeace saving the whales; and was chatting with one campaigner the other night who said Koreans were some of the friendliest people he'd met, but he couldn't stand the pollution in this part of the world. One of the other guys - who lives in London - has reacted so badly he can't stay here, and hangs out in town. Runny swollen eyes, sores in his mouth and throat etc. It's serious.

I just read this article recently. PM me if you'd like the whole thing... tho it goes on about whales a bit. It does start nicely tho, talking about Ulsan. Sorry for the blips - I just cut and paste it from my email add.

Here's the beginning:

>On the shores of the Korea Strait, Ulsan looms out of
>its own Stygian filth. One of South Korea��s most
>heavily industrialized cities and the country��s
>largest supplier of metals, Ulsan has welcomed
>engineering and petrochemical giants like Hyundai,
>Sumsung, Dupont and BASF, whose emissions duly left it
>one of the most polluted cities in Asia.
>
>In 1986, says the Korean Foundation for Environmental
>Movement, 40,000 residents were evacuated from the
>city after succumbing to illnesses linked to toxic
>waste and, according to the National Statistics Office
>of Korea, air pollution still kills 5.3 Ulsanites
>every day.
>
>Undiscouraged, city promoters are rebranding Ulsan as
>an environmental paradise, just in time for the 57th
>Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
>on May 27.
>
>Fumes from the Samsung solvent plant and the Yukong
>number five refinery waft over billboards that show
>dolphins leaping from a crystalline sea and proclaim
>Ulsan as an ��Ecotopolis"

From:
>TURNS OUT WE DIDN��T SAVE THE WHALES AFTER ALL
>
>This month, in Ulsan, the Japanese and their
>supporters look set to win a crucial victory in their
>campaign to bring back commercial whaling.
>By Dave Hansford
>New Zealand Listener, May 28 2005, pp. 24-27
>www.listener.co.nz

* * * * *

Good luck whereever u end up. If it is in Ulsan, perhaps consider getting out as often as u can, and from the job for somewhere else as soon as poss.

[peppergirl]

Dunno about the pollution, moved to Ulsan a couple of months ago and have had no problems whatsoever. And I live a lot closer to the industrial areas than you would if you'll be living near Ulsan university.

I've been told the pollution in Ulsan got a lot less since 2002, as the city tried to be clean up a bit for the wordlcup.

[guangho]

A related question- is there a master list/directory of Korean universities and their contact information?