Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thoreau]

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[okayden223]

This might be a thread for a different forum, but I think it is definitely an interesting topic. I think that you have to look at the psyche that seems to permeate industrialized Asia. The success of the group is always more important that anything relating to the individual. I have only lived and worked in South Korea, as far as 1st world Asia is concerned. But I have seen and read about the employer-employee relationship often enough to know that success of the larger entity is always viewed as being more important. I believe this contributes to the appallingly high suicide rates and low birth rates. I think that at one time the group think concept was absolutely necessary for survival. The reason the Asian Tigers were so aptly named was due, in large part, to their rapid mobilization and development. This was possible because the government was able to hand down a mandate and the people followed. Some complain, like the token Korean protestors, but at the end of the day they still work 6 days a week and don't think twice about it. I feel it isn't as necessary now, but because these cultures are ancient and steeped in tradition the people are naturally slow to change.

[winterfall]

Mod - Please move this topic to general discussion.


Once of the best works I've read on Korea. Bruce Cummings, Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (W. W. Norton, 1997). Something like this occurred during Korea's industrialization and explains why student and labor protests in Korea are generally militant.

And an apologetic explanation is, quite frankly foreigners are treated differently no matter what country they're in. You deal with the reality of your situation. Go to any country in Europe and they will treat you according to stereotypes until you prove them wrong.