Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ardentis]

Does anyone on here get harassed on the street? I'm mostly asking this to other women, but I'm also curious if this is happening to me because I'm a woman, because I'm a foreigner, or because I'm a foreign woman.

I live in Dongdaemun, so there's half of the equation right there, heh. But in the past three months, I've been physically assaulted twice now. A few months back, an old man grabbed me from behind and then grabbed my butt once I had taken his hands off of my arm and back. When I yelled at him, he simply laughed and repeated everything I said.

This morning, walking in the rain to school, another man grabbed my upper arm, and once I took his hands off of me and punched him in the shoulder, he again just laughed and chased after me for a while yelling, 'HELLO HELLO HELLO.'

Does this happen to anyone else or am I just lucky?

[andrewchon]

Happens very frequently in big cities. Not so much in the coutryside. Next time slap the bastard with open hand. (Do not punch with fist)

[Xuanzang]

It happened to my female friends who lived on the opposite side of the river. My friend wouldn't dress provocatively either. Very austere yet she still got unwanted advances like you. Maybe if you scream "byuntae!" loud enough then they might back off. Make them become a spectacle and they should give up.

[asmith]

I really feel this bad behavior can be attributed to the future economic meltdown. People are no longer in their right frame of mind.

[UknowsI]

I've had drunk men harass me and being way to touchy for my liking on a couple of occasions. The thing is I'm a man, so I think they mean it as a friendly gesture and not harassment... but rubbing a strangers leg and hugging him very closely is still harassment in my book. Even more so when he was also pretending he would hit me at the same time...

[Manuel_the_Bandito]

Where do you people hang out? These kinds of things never seem to happen to my friends or me.

[UknowsI]

I was sitting on a bench on a square outside the subway station waiting for a friend at 5 pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon. It was actually the second drunk who came over to me in a 15 minutes period. The first one was more shy and just wanted to shake my hand... or he was asking for money, not sure.

[Tundra_Creature]

So far, nothing too creepy or weird. Just some "HELLO! WELCOME TO KOREA!" and then they sort of run away giggling or resume whatever they were doing, but other than that, I've been good.

I got a free ice cream from a guy. But he quickly ran away.

[benji]

Copious amounts of pepper spray.

[Bramble]

[Perceptioncheck]

Occasionally but not as much as you, OP. Do you smoke? I found that Korean men - especially the older ones - regarded me smoking publicly as an invitation to approach. Usually they just asked if I was Russian (read: prostitute, although I think they were being cheeky because they would often ask in English) but I don't think I've ever been physically assulted.

Except by Ajummas on the bus, but they're a whole other kettle of fish.

My friend was approached by an old man while she was waiting at a bus stop downtown. He kept asking questions but my friend couldn't understand, which made him so angry he started wacking her legs with his cane. If it had been me, I would've ripped his cane right off him - cripple or no - and chucked it in the river but my friend evidently had more self control.

This was in the boonies, BTW.

[krd]

I'm a guy and it happens. In Daegu, people are just plain nasty. Guys and girls both just like to say bad things and occasionally throw punches at foreigners.

[The Gipkik]

Yes, I'm also a guy and it happens to me, but I take it in a more playful spirit. Just the other day, a guy trying to get me into his shop grabbed my arm, kneed me in the butt and started pulling me to go into his shop. I put him into a playful headlock, kneed him back, laughed and went on my way. Just watch how the kids behave to each other and you'll see that some Koreans are regressing back into their childhood--and they can get away with it with anonymous foreigners.

[Geckoman]

[Forward Observer]