Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Lao Wai]

Hey,

I just read this article which 'raves' about Busan and compares it to Hong Kong. Yeah right! Okay, Seoul has a lot to offer but Busan? I lived there for two years, and visited about 5 months ago. It's nice but I hardly think you can compare it to Hong Kong. Trust me, I've lived in both places (I currently live in HK). It will take more than a few skyscrapers to give Busan a Hong Kong vibe.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200612/200612040002.html

[Benicio]

Read "The Koreans" by Michael Breen.
He worked with the local media and writes an interesting passage about Korean journalists and their optimistic view of Korean "reality".

He talks of their lofty ideas about what they want to happen for Korea- how they report things that they would like to happen as factual occurences that are happening now or will happen without a doubt.
Examples:

Korea is the "hub of Asia"- we know that it is not. They certainly would like it to be, but they have a long way to go for that.

The "Korean Wave" is taking over the world- well, of course it isn't. They certainly hope it would.

Korea has 4 distinct seasons that are more beautiful and different from all other countries- oh, really?

The Korean alphabet is very scientific and is the envy of the world- Have you ever heard a non-Korean say this?

They are constantly comparing their stuff to other famous stuff around the world: "Busan is like Hong Kong", "Kyungju is as wonderful as the Angkor Temples of Cambodia", "the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) rivals other famous festivals such as Cannes", and it keeps going.
We know that these don't even compare.

All of this is hyperbole- self promotion. Deep down they know it isn't reality, but they feel like if they promote it enough, then people will start to believe. That will help make it so.

They never seem to realize that this shameless bragging- that seems to be a national pastime- just makes them look ridiculous.

When Muhammed Ali called himself "the greatest of all time!", it was arrogant, but you had to love him because it was true. Also, because he had a great sense of humor about it all.
When the guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen labeled himself "a guitar genius", without any humor whatsoever, he just looked like a joke!

[Tantric Avenger]

I dropped a bomb in my toilet.. Said it was the greatest ever laid just cause it was fueled by good Korean Gimchee.. not any of that weak Chinese crap either..

[Tobacco Dreams]

Full confession:

I caught the Busan bug a couple of years ago.

Life in Seoul was getting me down. Not enough sunlight (in winter), too much provincialism, a lack of foreign contacts . . .

And so in the wisdom of the moment, I decided that BUSAN must be the answer!

YES, INDEED! BUSAN! OF COURSE!

It's far enough south of Seoul (I "reasoned") to be, err, almost sub-tropical?

And it's a major port city, right? Meaning that lots and lots of waegugin pass through it.

So I took a job in Busan in the summer of 2005.

But have now relocated to Seoul, after just over a year down yonder.

And I must say that Seoul is so infinitely superior to Busan that I can't exaggerate the difference.

To be sure, Seoul is a big place. It helps that I'm in Kangnam, with ready access to the Coex mall, the Yangjae Costco, and a relatively easy trip up to Itaewon, when needed.

Busan just plain sucks in comparison.

As it happens, I was back in Busan just this last weekend to pick up the last of my household effects (in storage with a friend down there) and almost had to laugh at how limited my options seemed, for a free Saturday afternoon in this great "port city": nothing much to do around Busan Station, nothing much to do around Kyeongseong Dae (where I used to live), no real point in going out to Haeundae (except to look at the seagulls) . . .

And so, thank God for Seoul!

Busan is the Los Angeles of Korea. The Marseille of Korea.

I'm running out of analogies. Busan is not it. Seoul is.

Thank you, God, once again, for a job in Seoul!



-----------------------
TOBACCO DREAMS

[VanIslander]

... ... ...

I disagree with every poster on this thread (to date). Yet I don't embrace the opposite position/attitude regarding Busan.

It's like I'm stuck saying "But..." "But..."

When I have more time I'll articulate it.

[BigBuds]

[Bulsajo]

[Wrench]

Busan = Hong Kong..

HAHAHA No

[Zoidberg]

[Hosub]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Note who said this: ""It feels like I�m in Hollywood" �This is such a fabulous city that it can compete with the world�s top class cities.� These are just some of the compliments hotel staff and public officials in Busan heard from ethnic Korean businesspeople from around the world who were in the southern port city for the Fifth World Korean Business Convention recently"

[stumptown]

UGH!!! The crap these English newspapers spew out is ridiculous. This one is almost as bad as the one that came out during the World Cup that said that soccer fans of other countries have begun chanting "Daehanminguk" all over the world. Christ, talk about living in fantasyland.

[JeJuJitsu]

[JongnoGuru]

Anyone else remember way back in... was it the mid- or early 1990s?... when the world was wondering what the ChiComs were going to do to Hong Kong after the 1997 handover? And people were fretting that the Reds just might decide to squish all free thought & free speech & free assembly & free sex going on there? And Asia would suddenly find itself one financial centre/trade entrep�t short?

Well, the rest of the world may have been fearing that turn of events, but the Koreans (some of them) were positively praying for it. Because they were going to turn... (wait for it)... Jeju-do into the "New Hong Kong". Man, they were going to let freedom and foreigners run rampant on that island. It was going to be one big free economic zone, a duty-free zone, a free-love zone, incentives for foreign financial investors, an international tax haven, a foreigner-friendly paradise where they might even consider letting us buy a mobile phone in our own name. Hey, don't laugh -- it could happen!

But no, that was one of the many plans, introduced with much fanfare and committee-making, that never really got off the drawing board, other than permits for way more love hotels & golf courses than the place can use. Busan seems only a bit more plausible.

[Ya-ta Boy]