Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Does this Show the Kindness and Generosity of Koreans?

Justice Ministry Grants Refugee Status to 17 Foreigners
This brings the tally of foreigners granted this status to 31 since the nation joined the United Nations Convention on Refugees in 1992. It does not include refugees from North Korea, who are automatically granted citizenship in the South. After the government accepted its first refugee in November 2002, one person was admitted in January 2003 and 12 more later that year in September. Prior to 2001, Korea received an average of 13 applicants a year for refugee status, before the numbers skyrocketed to 83 last year and 113 between January and October of 2004.
by Ho Gyeong-eop, Chosun Ilbo (December 7, 2004)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200412/200412070029.html

17 Granted Refugee Status
By Bae Keun-min, Korea Times (December 7, 2004)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200412/kt2004120721582410230.htm

Largest World Economies
1. USA
2. Japan
3. Germany
4. United Kingdom
5. France
6. China (exc.HK)
7. Italy
8. Canada
9. Mexico
10. Spain
11. Brazil
12. India
13. Korea
14. Netherlands
15. Australia
16. Russian Federation
17. Taiwan
18. Argentina
19. Switzerland
20. Belgium
http://www.australianpolitics.com/foreign/trade/03-01-07_largest-economies.shtml

South Korea now boasts the 12th largest economy in the world,...
Will Korea Join G-10? by Cho Hyung-kwon, Korea Times (November 4, 2003)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/special/200311/kt2003110416353439750.htm

Top 20 Donors
2002 Contributions to International Refugee Aid Agencies
1. United States
2. European Commission
3. Japan
4. Netherlands
5. Australia
6. United Kingdom
7. Sweden
8. Norway
9. Germany
10. Denmark
11. Canada
12. Italy
13. Switzerland
14. France
15. Finland
16. Belgium
17. Ireland
18. Spain
19. Luxembourg
20. Saudi Arabia
http://www.refugees.org/downloads/wrs03/Table1314.pdf

South Korea
South Korea hosted more than 1,200 refugees and asylum seekers at the end of 2002, almost all North Koreans. The remainder included 72 asylum seekers from various countries whose claims were pending, 2 persons recognized as refugees by South Korea, 8 with temporary humanitarian residency (including 2 recognized as refugees by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR]), and 2 other UNHCR-recognized refugees.
http://www.refugees.org/world/articles/wrs03_easia2.cfm.htm#southkorea

The Netherlands
At the end of 2002, the Netherlands hosted an estimated 17,200 refugees and asylum seekers in need of protection. These included about 9,400 asylum seekers awaiting initial decisions on their applications, an estimated 4,200 individuals with humanitarian protection, and about 3,600 persons granted asylum.
http://www.refugees.org/world/articles/wrs03_europe3.cfm.htm#netherlands

Spain
At the end of 2002, Spain hosted about 160 refugees in need of protection. During the year, around 6,300 asylum seekers filed applications in Spain, a 32 percent decrease from 2001. The largest numbers of asylum seekers came from Nigeria (1,400), Cuba (1,200), Colombia (1,100), and Sierra Leone (270). The Spanish authorities issued decisions on 6,130 asylum applications in 2002, granting about 160 persons asylum (about 3 percent) and 70 persons humanitarian protection (about 1 percent). Spain rejected around 5,900 asylum claims (about 96 percent).
http://www.refugees.org/world/articles/wrs03_europe5.cfm.htm#spain

The United States remained the leading receiver of asylum seekers with 134,000 new applicants, followed by the United Kingdom with 111,000. Germany and France came in third and fourth with 91,500 and 51,000 cases, respectively. On a per capita basis, Austria received the largest number of asylum seekers followed by Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ireland.
2003 World Refugee Survey
http://www.refugees.org/downloads/wrs03/SSTable8.pdf

At the end of 2001, some 345,000 refugees were living in India, including as many as 144,000 from Sri Lanka, 110,000 from China (Tibet), 52,000 from Burma, 15,000 from Bhutan, 12,000 from Afghanistan, an estimated 5,000 to 20,000 from Bangladesh, and nearly 300 from other countries. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is present in India, but the government permits the agency access only to refugees living in urban centers and does not formally recognize UNHCR grants of refugee status (although it has provided "residential permits" to many Afghans and Burmese). India considers Tibetans and Sri Lankans in camps to be prima facie refugees but regards most other groups as economic migrants.
http://www.refugees.org/world/countryrpt/scasia/india.htm

[Blind Willie]

So.. do you have a job or a girlfriend or anything that could keep you more busy?

[Real Reality]

Why can't the 12th largest economy donate more to help refugees?
Why can't the 12th largest economy contribute more to the ICRC?
Contributions to the International Committee of the Red Cross (in Swiss francs)

Australia: 10,632,044
Canada: 32,004,237
Iceland: 794,166
Italy: 9,388,420
Japan: 18,808,000
Germany: 24,234,153
Greece: 816,500
New Zealand: 1,911,900
Norway: 30,474,008
Portugal: 451,450
Saudi Arabia: 541,600
South Korea: 400,530
United Kingdom: 113,685,048
United States: 221,142,398
http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/622MA6/$FILE/icrc_ar_03_Finance.pdf?OpenElement

How the International Committee of the Red Cross raises the funds to cover its activities.
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList2/About_the_ICRC:Finances_and_budget?OpenDocument

More than 60 governments voluntarily finance the humanitarian and development projects of the World Food Programme.

http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/funding/majordonors.html

WFP'S BIGGEST DONORS
http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/funding/governments.html

[Yaya]

How much do you, RR, donate to charity? Let's not point fingers when we are guilty ourselves.

[I_Am_Wrong]

they're too busy spending it on English teachers.

[Real Reality]

Yaya,
The post refers to governments and countries, not individuals.
I have donated....

[Yaya]

Wow, I guess any lame schmuck can say they did this and that. NOW you respond to my postings? Guess I must've touched a nerve.

[kangnamdragon]

[Real Reality]

South Korea overtook Mexico to become the world's 10th largest economy last year. The per-capita income level of Korea is similar to that of Bahrain (51st with $11,885) and Slovenia (47th with $13,808).
By Kim Yon-se, Korea Times (December 8, 2004)

[JongnoGuru]

[ajstew]

Yaya, Blind Willie... give the guy a break. It's just RealReality's way of starting a post and it's an interesting observation.

[hari seldon]

On the subject of Korean generosity, the Revisit Program for Korean War veterans seems pretty generous.

[just because]

I just want to know what RR does.

He sure has a lot of stats

[captain kirk]

RR's on a mission. Never hear him doing a 'vanity show on ice' showing his ability to 'articulate'. Or knocking other posters, ever. He presents info and defends his lack of chattiness. With one liners.

[mindmetoo]

I've always found the Koreans around me extremely generous and kind. It's one thing that made me want to take my little life sabbatical here. One merely has to look lost some places in Seoul and a Korean will walk you to the very place you want to go.

So Korea only admits 17 refugees. It's a new idea. It's not a nation with a 400 year history of immigration. It's a nation where people have a much more palpable sense that their nation is one big extended family. It's one thing to have a guest in your home. It's another thing for that guest to start demanding his own bedroom so he can be there for life.

It's the rare Korean that doesn't have some tragic story a generation or two removed. They've worked hard to build what they got through efforts that would make your average middle classed American balk. Pity they're initially afraid someone is going to upset things the moment they got it working pretty good.

Korea seems to be providing RR a lifestyle and a status he could never achieve back in his home town of Meat Cove, Nova Scotia. Why isn't he celebrating Korea for that? He only spews links that questionably support his nebulous theory that white 22 year olds with History BAs are underpaid and undervalued in Korea, that Koreans so hate their own nation they want out either via Incheon or throwing themselves off a bridge over the Han.