Korean Job Discussion Forums

veronique9753 · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Location: Washington, USA

I am about to go to South Korea to teach esl for one year. But my family here in the US is very concerned about safety and the general political climate towards americans at the moment, especially after the big rally the other day. Are there any american teachers there right now who could reassure me that it is a perfectly safe thing for me to be doing? I'm not too worried myself, but it would be nice to have a better idea of what its like there.

Thanks guys! Smile

RACETRAITOR · Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

Big rally? General political climate?

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

There was a wave of anti-Americanism 4 years ago, but it quickly died down. Even at its peak it didn't affect too many of us. Koreans are 99% good at separating their feelings about the US government and the regular American people they know.

The demonstration last weekend was about the free trade deal being negotiated. The demostration was smaller than they used to be.

You have nothing particular to worry about in terms of anti-Americanism from Koreans. I might recommend you leave any "I Love Bush" buttons at home, however.

kat2 · Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Busan, South Korea

Its fine here. You should be worrying about finding a good job more than anti-americanism.

bellum99 · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: don't need to know

They are lying...they work for THEM. We are hunted in the streets after nightfall for sport. Many of us teach from bamboo cages while they poke us and say " Speakee good Englishee". They force feed us this rotten cabbage called Kimchi with plain rice and every day is the same food. Often they torture us with crude copies of American music to show us how they have taken over our countries.
Dear God don't come here.....oh no..they are coming to get me...they will be here soon....

------ Me same teacheree as before...you come Korea..all is well...

seoulsucker · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:17 pm Post subject:

Coming to Korea is a perfectly safe thing to do. I've had more people (especially the older generation) show admiration towards the US than animosity since I've been here.

jennateacher · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:43 pm Post subject:

Here you will be pretty safe. There are very few petty crimes here. You can leave you bag in the cart and go look at the produce, no one will touch it. Children walk home (ALONE!!) from lessons at 11pm or later almost every night. You may get a few drunk guys bothering you. Just keep walking and they soon get lost. Taxi drivers might take the long route. Yes N korea thows fits and shows off to get attention. But daily life is no big deal.

PGF · Joined: 27 Nov 2006

Sooooo funny. I almost peed myself. Maybe it's just one AM funny, but funny, good job.

RACETRAITOR · Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

passport220 · Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Location: Gyeongsangbuk-do province

Your biggest �at risk� is the hazard of new acquaintances trying to buy you dinner and drinks and otherwise socialize with you because they are interested in learning English from you and/or have a general interest in Western cultures.

When they find out you are from America they will want to know what city you are from so they can determine how close it is to where their classmate, aunt, uncle, cousin or other relative lives or went to school.

Demonicat · Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Location: Suwon

yeah, speaking as an Ex-government employee American, I can say with almost 99% certainty that you will have no problem. Heck, I am obviously American, Wear an American flag tie alot, and never lie about where I am from- 2 years, never had an issue. The Fair trade protests are not Anti-American, hell we have the same protests. That said, it would be wise not to walk into the middle of a protest, lest the police think you are part of it.
Oh, and depending on where you go, there is almost no violent crime (bike thefts, etc are common though). In fact, in all of the greater Seoul area, I'd only worry about walking around some parts of Ansan late at night.

endofthewor1d · Joined: 01 Apr 2003 Location: the end of the wor1d.

yeah. you'll be fine. i've been here for over five years, and the worst i've ever gotten from a korean was a 'bushee bad-uh'. the worst bits i usually get are from other foreigners like the type you can find on the current events forum, whose lives seem to involve little else but sitting in front of computers looking up articles on what is wrong with the states, and then going to bars and waiting for some poor yank to walk in and say 'hello'. but even those guys seem to be pretty few and far between.
naturally, stay away from demonstrations and don't be a jackass, and you'll be okay.

veronique9753 · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Location: Washington, USA

Wow, that was a quick response. Thanks so much to everyone who posted a response...even the bamboo guy. That helps a lot.

Lostone7 · Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Location: SE Asia

hellofaniceguy · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: On your computer screen!

The younger generation....mostly don't care for Americans or westerners...(they sure like the to attend the schools though and get a degree from the west).......the older folks...no problems. They appreciate what the west has tried to do for their country and have memories of bad times.
I think that most of the younger ones as a whole....under 35....say they like westerners...but most of the koreans are two faced it seems.
If you have spent enough time in korea and KNOW the language and understand it...you'd really be surprised what koreans say about westerners when they think you don't hear them or understand. Especially when you get a group of koreans together.