Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Work Makes Most Koreans Sick
An overwhelming majority of Korean office workers complain work is making them chronically sick, and three out of 10 have quit their jobs due to ill health, if an unrepresentative survey is anything to go by.
In the latest in a string of online polls, job search website Job Korea found that of 560 office workers, 75.7 percent or 424 said they contracted a chronic illness at work. Of these, 40 percent complained work made them literally sick to the stomach, citing gastric ulcers, stomachache, constipation and diarrhea, followed by stress-related trouble with 26.4 percent, and bone and muscle problems with 17 percent.

Those who suffered headaches and depression accounted for 5.6 percent each, and some 1.9 percent had respiratory trouble. About 27 percent said that they had resigned over health problems, with more men (29.8 percent) than women (21.7 percent) throwing in the towel.
Chosun Ilbo (July 28, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200507/200507280023.html

[Gopher]

Stomach issues? It is hard to balance so much drinking and a steady job, you know...

This story reminds me of the stories on my campus while a grad student. The undergrads were complaining that their schedules left them no time for anything, not even to keep up with their classes. A professor responded, in the campus newspaper, that they just needed to stop partying so much and better organize their time and prioritize their lives...

[jlb]

At the hagwon I worked at, I thought my job was crappy but it was nothing compared to the Koreans. After I left, they had to stay and make new murals for the walls, go in the van to take kids home, make phone calls to parents, endless meetings, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if any of them didn't have an ulcer or depression after a year of that! The kicker is that they got paid half of what I did.

[Naruto]

Stress is the leading caus of work related illness and injuries.

[Real Reality]

Considering culture shock and the disadvantage many foreigners have while working in Korea, should not a lot of foreigners feel sick and tired.

Work Makes Most Koreans Sick
About 27 percent said that they had resigned over health problems, with more men (29.8 percent) than women (21.7 percent) throwing in the towel.
Chosun Ilbo (July 28, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200507/200507280023.html

Foreigners Experience Difficulties in Living in Korea
Overall living conditions, including education, housing, medical care, transportation, immigration, and access to the Internet are pointed to as inconveniences. Not only inconveniences caused by different systems and customs in Korea, but also special discriminating practices,... are ubiquitous. "Even though Korea has achieved some degree of globalization in going abroad, it has still a long way to go for globalization in embracing foreigners inward," said foreigners residing in Korea. An official in the International Cooperation Division of Seoul City admitted, "The same complaints regarding visas, transportation, education, and environment are raised every year without being solved, due to the lack of cooperation from government agencies involved and their passive attitudes."
by Jae-Dong Yu and Soo-Jung Shin, Donga.com (July 4, 2004)
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004070522448

For Housing Rentals, Foreigners Easy Victims
By Byun Duk-kun, Korea Times (August 28, 2003)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200308/kt2003082818233111970.htm

"No chair for foreigner" GM Daewoo head told
by Kim Tae-jin and Lee Ho-jeong, JoongAng Daily (January 18, 2005)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200501/17/200501172228551609900090509051.html

Discrimination
Having taught English conversation, there have been too many students that have withdrawn from this writer's class simply because of the color of their instructor's skin. This Korean-American has personally experienced the deep discrimination/racism of Korea, and it is painful.
Editorials/Columns, Chosun Ilbo (December 25, 2002)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200212/200212250002.html

[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR] Giving foreigners here a hard time
by Nathan Drescher
Korea Herald (October 13, 2004)
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/10/13/200410130012.asp

[matthewwoodford]

[junkmail]

[hellofaniceguy]

[rapier]

[Gopher]

[Real Reality]

[junkmail]

OK it's interesting reading but I wonder if these people have lived in many other countries.
I find public transport here more user friendly than many of the countries I've visited partly because it exists at all here.
Obviously as an English speaker it's less convenient than English speaking countries but then so is France.

Yahoo Korea is in Korean. So what though. I use Yahoo UK or the US site even in Korea. I can't think why I'd want a Korean portal unless I spoke Korean. They should probably work on that but it's not that bad. Again, many countries simply don't have high speed internet access.

Medical care. I've had cheap experiences, but then I'm legal and have proper insurance.

I think Korea has a very long way to go, but it definitely is getting there. There are much, much harder countries from an ex-pat perspective.

[Hater Depot]

Online polls are garbage, no? The article even says they're 'unrepresentative', which is a nice way of saying they're as useful to a statistician as a spoon is to a falling turtle.