Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SoylaMBPolymath]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/world/asia/tired-of-being-abused-by-drunks-south-korean-police-start-to-push-back.html?_r=1&hp

[Adventurer]

I think it's ridiculous that Korea went from having a police force that's feared to what seems like a big joke. They need to be somewhere in the middle. People do need to be afraid of disturbing the order and facing some negative consequences for it. If I were a cop, I wouldn't want to tolerate abuse. I once saw a high ranking officer who really wanted to lay a hand on someone who was being offensive, but his colleague told him not to and restrained him. Personally, I think the guy would have had it coming to him since he was being so disrespectful to a career police officer of some note.

[nora]

The thing is, the cops ARE pushovers - by law.

Old days the cops would detain and torture people. They were brutal oppressors, part of the military government.

Once those governments collapsed, the system was changed. The reason you rarely see police putting hands on a person here is because they can be (and frequently are) charged with brutality. If a person, innocent or guilty, is injured by the police while being apprehended, the cops are liable.

It's not that the cops want to be pushed around, or that they aren't tough (those riot cops can really lay down the law when need be) but some drunk guy pushes you, is it worth your career, possibly everything you own, to "teach" him some respect?

Agree with adventurer about something in the middle. It's time that the police were given some protection so that they could actually protect the public.

[viciousdinosaur]

This happened outside my building.

An enraged guy is pissed at someone inside of a grocery store. They locked the doors so he can't get in. He pretty much destroys everything outside the front door, picks up produce and crates and hurls them at the glass doors.

Cops show up. He ignores them. They calmly talk to him for five minutes and let him go.


I like how relaxed the police are, but come on.

[some waygug-in]

If you scroll down the article and read the part about drinking in Korean

society, you'll find this:



Many South Koreans, who work some of the longest hours in the world, believe that one of the quickest ways of building friendship and office camaraderie is to get drunk together. �He who drinks more works better� is a common saying here, and the working person�s drink of choice is often �the bomb,� a shot glass of soju, the local grain liquor, added to a glass of beer. The concoction is then downed in unison by all around the table to shouts of �One shot!� or �Bottoms up!�
*******************************************

I think police realize that drinking is probably one of the few ways Koreans have of trying to relieve stress. I don't agree that it's a good
way or a productive way, but it is accepted as a necessary way of stress
relief.

I do wish the police had more teeth and I wish there were less of a tolerance amongst Korean society for public drunkeness. But it's
their country. If change is to come, it has to come from within.

[wylies99]