Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Who's Your Daddy?]

When I arrived here, four score and seven years ago, I had to travel all the way to HaeUnDae in Busan to get some (overpriced) Indian food. Nowadays my little city has all sorts of foreign restaurants.

The influx of foreigners has really made this country an easier place to live. Better food, better beers (Vietnam, China). I wonder what it'll look like in another 10 years.

I remember when I first arrived TV was lucky if you had CNN, now there's all sorts of stuff. Hardly feel I'm in Korea sometimes.

[AsiaESLbound]

I too am noticing new Indian, Thai, Indonesian, and Vietnamese food choices popping up during my time here in small marts and restaurants. Korea is taking on many Asian foreign women due to many Korean men opting for a wife from other Asian countries. There still is so very little catering to Westerners as we are rarely included in the demographics as a market segment of the economy despite there being many thousands of us walking around with pocketfuls of money. Anything you see available for sale is almost always intended for Koreans and Asian foreigners; not Westerners other than special places like Itaewon and stores like Red Door, Haddon House, and Hannam mart. Despite it being intended for their Asian foreigners, we too can buy it, because we are here as consumers. I wish Korea would acknowledge the presence of Western foreigners as valuable customers, but they just don't understand what we want and how we want it.

[Steelrails]

[SinclairLondon]

[northway]

[cheolsu]

Westerners truly are a drop in the bucket. Despite the fact that many people assume that 'foreign' means Western in Korea, no more than 10% of the foreigners in Korea are Western.

Here's the breakdown:

57% Chinese
21% Southeast Asia
5% American
4% South Asia
2% Taiwan and Mongolia (not sure why they're grouped)
2% Central Asia

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/08/06/2009080600243.html

Also, a newsflash for Chosun Ilbo: a naturalized Korean citizen is NOT a foreigner. They're a Korean.

[metalhead]

I would much rather have the option of going to a restaurant (in this case, a 'foreign' restaurant) in Korea than McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks, Taco Bell and the rest of that American garbage that gets shoved down our throats worldwide by it's mere presence everywhere.

[sojusucks]

[red_devil]

[metalhead]

Actually if you want to open a bar/restaurant in Asia then China is your best bet, essentially all you need is capital and the backing of a Chinese partner. Good location, good food and prices, and you can make an absolute killing in cities like Suzhou or Nanjing.

It's a LOT harder trying to open up a bar or restaurant in Korea if you're a foreigner, otherwise we'd be seeing a lot more places being run by foreigners.

[Skippy]

[sojusucks]

[northway]