Korean Job Discussion Forums

M-Tea · Joined: 11 Oct 2008

I'm just looking for some foreigner-relevant information about Wonju.

This would include information such as what sort of supermarkets they have there. (E-mart, Homeplus, Lotte Mart, Cosco etc.) Also anything about what sort of foreigner community exists there. It doesn't have to be specific to that. Anything constructive will help, both positive and negative. Thanks.

Underwaterbob · Joined: 08 Jan 2005 Location: In Cognito

Wonju is about 40 minutes away from where I live and about the same sized city. From this, and a minor amount of first hand knowledge, I can deduce that it's got a foreigner community of around 50 heads, a Lottemart, an E-mart and one, if not a couple, local universities. Chiaksan is a huge national park that's nearby and supposed to be one of the few places you can go in Korea to actually get away from Koreans.

neil537 · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Location: Incheon, South Korea

only been to the bus station where we changed buses, and a nearby street where we went to a gimbap house. got stared at A LOT (much more than in Incheon/Seoul) which suggests there can't be that many westerners around. The bus station was a pretty run-down affair, which didn't exactly give a good impression of the rest of the city. I saw a big army base too, thats about it.

good luck.

M-Tea · Joined: 11 Oct 2008

Thanks, that was just what I needed to know. I appreciate the help.

JabberJabber · Joined: 02 Feb 2008

it's been a while since i lived in wonju, but i will tell you what i know circa 2000-2001. wonju has traditinally always been a military town. there are two american bases and two korean bases located in or around wonju. there are LOTs of foreigners in wonju. if people stare at you it's mostly because they think you're military. there are three university campuses there, one of which is a Yonsei campus. there are quite a few hagwons and i would put the wonju foreign teacher community at 30 or so in 2000 (not including the outskirt). i'm sure it's much bigger now. yonsei alone hires a whole bunch of teachers, but they live in the outskirts.
as for shopping, there's an e-mart.

wonju was good. it was good for a year.