Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Foreigners Cite Divided Country as Korea's Image
Foreigners� strongest image of Korea is that of a "divided country" while "hallyu" (Korean wave) is the one that is beheld by Koreans, according to a local survey.
By Park Chung-a, Korea Times (August 7, 2006)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200608/kt2006080717522211960.htm

[antoniothegreat]

"The Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) Monday announced that it conducted a survey on the image of Korea, and the best symbol for the country, from July 21 to Aug. 1 on 207 foreigners in Korea along with 347 Koreans who are opinion leaders in various circles of society"

not exactly a big sample... i would say their findings are meaningless, as there are what, 50 million Koreans and over 10,000 foreigners living here...

[RACETRAITOR]

Sounds right to me. Let's face it--the first question anybody asks any of us about Korea is "Is that the good one or the bad one?"

[Homer]

Wow RR...thats quite the astonishing discovery!

Korea..a country divided in two since the end of WWII is perceived as a divided nation...oh my god...this is pulitzer worthy.

[crazylemongirl]

Well to be fair the only things I knew about Korea when I jetted over was that it was divided and it was the first set of olypmics I remember.

[Hater Depot]

[jajdude]

I believe my first thought or image about Korea before setting foot in Asia was the demonstration, the large group of angry protesters all wearing red headbands with some strange message, chanting loudly about god knows what. That's what I recall seeing on the news years ago, seems like it was before North Korea managed to grab so much attention so often by being such a mess.

Another image or stereotype I've encountered a few times elsewhere in Asia is the feeling that many Koreans, especially the men, are rude. I haven't seen a lot of behavior to soften this notion.

[Qinella]

[cwemory]

[djsmnc]

[Benbby]

I saw a cartoon on the missile crisis and the cartoon showed China, Japan, the USA, and North Korea, but no image of South Korea. To the world media, "Korea" is the lunatic in North Korea. SK fades to black.

I live in Seoul, and what is the Korean wave?

I really hate that commercial on TV with the Korean woman saying "Listen up ..." then tells Koreans to be emotional. Like they need prompting by gov't propaganda.

[doggyji]

Images, yeah even mere images have been important for lots of things. More than you realize. Everyone knows. No?

[JongnoGuru]

Is a "divided country" image always and necessarily a bad image or the worst image from the ROK's perspective? Might it be better than the alternative I heard from people on three different continents this summer?

'Korea? Ha! I bet you're glad to be here instead of there! hyuk hyuk! '

Cute. I heard this and comments like it from fellow tourists, from bartenders, from passengers on planes, from a nephew who's still a little kid, from a woman bagging our grocieries, from groups of old school friends, family members. From brits, germans, chinese, portuguese, americans, etc.

You might think a waiter or a bartender wouldn't dare say that to a Korean customer, but since I don't look Korean, they'll say what they really think. Right? I was with Koreans when I heard these comments.

Once upon a time, you'd say you're living in Korea and people would tell you about their LG fridge or their Samsung monitor or their Hyundai second-car. Then they started in on the dog-eating. Now it's often... well, like this poster puts it:

[Roch]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I'll bet CICI had a list of answers to choose from. Why else would some of those even appear?