Korean Job Discussion Forums

[NSMatt]

I have been hired by a school in Geumcheon-gu, which is in western Seoul.

I can't seem to find much information about this area on the web, I have done the traditional Google search which yields very little and the wikipedia page doesn't go into much detail either

Any members here live in or been to that area? I'm in the dark so any info is greatly appreciated.

[oldtactics]

Full extent of my knowledge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBfy_HVoSM

[ciccone_youth]

you'll be kickin' it in Geumchon!!

it's not very far from Seoul as far as i know.

[Straphanger]

I've been up to Geumcheon, and I can tell you that it's not really all that close to Seoul. It's not very large either. However, if I had to be that close to the armpit of Asia, I would choose Geumcheon over Suwon or Ansan, due to its size and "out-of-the-way-ness"

[dharma bum]

i've been there as well, and to be honest, it is not in western seoul - it is to the west of seoul (about 45 minutes out from sinchon i think). just from the time i spent there, i found it to just be pretty lifeless and didn't find much interesting to do there - although i guess you could check out some of the places from the above video. all in all, i wasn't too impreseed - but i didn't live there so maybe i was just missing something.

[NSMatt]

I am very depressed after reading these responses

Should I try to find a different contract? I already mailed out my docs for my visa so it will be very difficult to switch now.

[Straphanger]

[oldtactics]

Zing!

Life in Korea is what you make of it. Every town has pros and cons, and you're close enough to Seoul that you can escape on weekends if you really hate it. Enjoy your year

[the ireland]

all smaller korean cities look the same, they all come with dunkin donuts, tous le jours, paris baguette, adidas, nike, mr pizza, random fried chicken resturants (nay nay chicken etc) kimbap shop, and a kosa mart attached.

Be happy, you are close enough to seoul to get there easily and far enough away to not be bothered by the pollution all the time.

[jkamphof]

Geumcheon is alright, it is actaully north-west of Seoul and straddles the DMZ with the North. I live in Gyoha which is a newer suberb of Paju and is nearer to the Han river.

Paju is an older city and covers a lot of area but is smaller in population, it formerly was purely military and rice fields/small towns during the post-war years but has opened up a lot since the late 90's. Now it is the newly planned booming silicon valley of metro/northern Seoul with LG and the like opening huge LCD plants in town. Geumcheon is the older, original Paju city but surrounding it is a massive booming contruction project of thousands of new apartments and parks.

On the whole it is ok, has all the places everywhere in korea has but can be rather far from the action of Seoul (hour and a half to get to by bus or so). Nearby is Ilsan which is great (say 20min) and Uijeonbu.

ANyway, to sum up, it is not so bad....not Seoul, but not so bad.

[NSMatt]

[oldtactics]

Some of us are definitely talking about another place.

I've never even heard of Geumcheon-gu but it has a wikipedia page so it must exist. It does have a subway station on the blue line, labeled as "Geumcheon-gu Office", whatever that means.

You're in Seoul proper though, so wherever you're living will be close to whatever you could ever need.

[Xuanzang]

Geumchon gu is in Seoul. There`s a Homeplus and Lottemart not too far from Doksan or Guro digital complex station. You can catch the bus to Costco in Mokdong. Line 2 will take you to Gangnam or Hongdae/Sinchon. A bit of an industrial part of the city. Not a shabby place to live.

[oldtactics]

Flickr found 3 photos - you have a stream somewhere in your district! Wooo!

http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&w=all&q=geumcheon-gu&m=text

[jkamphof]

Mmmm, maybe there's two Geumchons...

Geumcheon that is more well known (the youtube video location) is part of Paju and is not in Metro-Seoul but is technically just on the outskirts and has amjor trainline into Seoul station. Paju it self covers a vast area and includes lots of independant towns like Gyoha, Munsan, Geumchon, and others. They all are part of what is known as Paju-si. Like Ilsan, Hwajeong, Wondang, Old Ilsan, Tahnyeon etc. are all part of a greater city called Goyang City which also covers a huge wide area of various smaller metropolis'.

The map you sent is Geumchon-gu which is part of metro-Seoul I guess and is not anything to do with the one above...If you scroll on the map link up till you find Paju, that location is the Geumchon I am referring too.

Very confusing...

Maybe check which one it is, the metro-Seoul district, or the centre of Paju...