Korean Job Discussion Forums

[PatrickGHBusan]

[myenglishisno]

[Chris.Quigley]

[Chris.Quigley]

Solutions?

So, we have been discussing the problem for years... What is the solution then? What are we going to do about all the xenophobia and racism in Korea? (I am not patronizing you guys).

My feelings about the racism are that it is real, Korea isn't doing anything about it, and it makes foreigner's lives difficult or uncomfortable. (I was brutally assaulted and ended up in hospital because of it - so I am not a Korea apologist - I am not telling the story again so please don't ask, it's too long to talk about here.)

But, if it isn't going to go away we need a strategy to deal with it in a mature fashion.

My recommendation is:

Leave Korea - why stay in a place that treats you like crap? what is keeping you here? Is money the only thing that matters to you?

Try to focus on what you like about Korea and Koreans - this doesn't mean you ignore the problems, just give the problems a share of your thought-life that is proportional to the size of the problem. I find that people magnify problems and ignore the good things. If the problems are as bad as you think - Leave Korea.

Your thought life can be your worst enemy in Korea - it is extremely important that you try and balance the bad with the good. It is unlikely that more than 50% of your experiences in Korea are negative - so why do more than 50% of your thoughts about Korea end with "Koreans are racists." Maybe I am projecting a bit, because I struggle with the same thing.

There is nothing keeping you here - unless you are married and have children. You need to start making an exit plan. Korea isn't going to change because of a few foreigners. It will take decades before Koreans start to combat the racism themselves. When this happens it will change.

edit: I should add that I do not live in Korea myself - how I was treated is definitely a consideration that would enter my mind if I decided to return

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Mix1]

[highstreet]

But being a English teacher isn't a great job.

I mean how many people would come to teach if housing wasn't provided?

[crescent]

Tonight, according to the adjumma club of 4, sitting at the next table in my local Indian joint:

1. Foreigners can't tell the age of Asian women, and are simply too interested in Asian women to the point of not caring about age or looks. This is true because a friend of one of the adjummas, who is older than said adjumma, is dating a foreigner.
2. If they went to another country to have an affair, all they would have to do is sit in a bar and wait, and a foreign guy would approach them for sex.
3. Foreign men always pour on the romance at the beginning of the relationship until they have sex with the woman for the first time.

The women were seriously talking about wanting to have affairs, and deemed the only way to carry one out without getting caught, was to go abroad.

[Chris.Quigley]

I 100% agree with the above. I know many people who like living in Korea. So, for those people my advice isn't very useful.

I was referring more to those who hate living in Korea and for whatever reason notice a lot more racism than other people do. (Again, I am not one to deny the existence of racism in Korea - although I do think it is magnified by some.)

If you hate living in Korea - leave! If you stay in Korea yet claim you hate Korea, and have nothing keeping you here - then you are an idiot.

edit: I think that the situation of an English teacher is a little bit different to a Korean immigrant in the US. Most of us don't expect to stay forever. For most of us it is a temporary experiment. Like I said, if a person is married and is tied to the country "Just leave" doesn't really work. So I agree with you.

[rainism]

[benji1422]

[rainism]

[crescent]

[elculbr]

benji,

Since you know the common opinions of Koreans on foreign men, what do the Koreans say about foreign women? Is "foreign women are whores" a common opinion?

[rainism]