Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thorin]

I'm filling in for Real Reality until he gets back from his vacation:

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200501/17/200501172228551609900090509051.html

[bjonothan]

Sometimes I kind of have to agree with the guys who want to bring this stuff to the attention of international news agencies to try and get Koreans to realise what they are doing to themselves and to us. Maybe a little bit of international attention might bring them down a peg or two.......

[hellofaniceguy]

So...the foreign manager of GM/Daewoo can't hold a seat on the board...what makes one think that university teachers, hakwon teachers, etc...will be treated fairly in korea also!!
As I have posted before and again; koreans are so predatory and nationalistic. They have a closed economy and a zero-sum attitude to trade. Protectionism in the early stages of an economy is not unreasonable. Dealing with koreans is like dealing with bright adolescents. They're full of energy and want to do everything yesterday. But they throw tantrums and are prone to dangerous and erratic behavior if their whims are not indulged. In most countries, intellectuals become universal. You learn that great ideas and values have no national boundaries. What is profoundly disturbing is that korean intellectuals become more xenophobic and nationalistic, and perpetuate the idea that all of korea's problems are the result of willfulness by foreigners. This is the mark of a scoundrel. Korean society makes a sharp distinction between an individual's inner circle of family, friends and business colleagues, and outsiders. Members of the inner circle must always be treated with absolute respect and courtesy, while strangers are treated with indifference. Korean society is not egalitarian: a person's status is strictly defined in relation to others. How do foreigners fit into this scheme? The simple answer is they don't.

[eamo]

It's this very close association Korea makes with it's products and it's people.

One British car critic made a scathing attack on Korean cars a few weeks ago. He really did got to town on them. He was careful of course to never mention Korea or Korean people. Just the cars. Those Koreans resident in UK made a big fuss because they took it personally. An attack on Korean cars is an attack on Korean people. That's how they see it.

Weird if you ask me.

If someone said Irish Whisky was like squashed rat-juice I wouldn't care. I'm secure in my belief that it's good and anyway, everyone can have their opinion.

Anyway, this story is another black mark against Korea's so-called global profile.

[JongnoGuru]

If the president of GM Daewoo weren't white Briton Nick Reilly but instead yellow Korean-_________ (insert favourite "white" country) Paul Kim, I'm sure they'd be prepared to overlook the rules and let a gyopo take the position. Korean universities have done as much when filling the their top posts. By the same token, though farfetched, if a white/black/brown naturalised Korean citizen were somehow to become president of GM Daewoo, I hope they'd let him in, but I'm sure they'd be very uncomfortable about it.

That is to say, I think this has little to do with what could be valid legal obstacles involving passport/nationality issues, but simple hang-ups over skin colour.

[dutchman]

[peppermint]

What actually jumped out at me in that article is that the chairman of the organization in question changes each year, rotating among the chairs of the big auto companies here. I have to wonder if it wouldn't b better for it to run as an independent entity with a stable executive anyway?

[waggo]

I wouldnt let a Briton run my car company he'd be building all the steering wheels on the passenger side.

[JongnoGuru]

[mindmetoo]

At my university the head of the Student Media Corporation (the paper and fm radio station) was the vice president of student council. This created an interesting problem because students tended to vote for a non-Canadian international student to fill the VP post. That's all well and good but CRTC regulations stated only Canadian citizens could head a broadcast media corporation. This caused endless problems for all concerned...

[Universalis]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

As I have posted before, you plagiarised this from Michael Breen's book, "The Koreans."

[Ilsanman]

In my opinion, So...the foreign manager of GM/Daewoo can't hold a seat on the board...what makes one think that university teachers, hakwon teachers, etc...will be treated fairly in korea also!!
As I have posted before and again; koreans are so predatory and nationalistic. They have a closed economy and a zero-sum attitude to trade. Protectionism in the early stages of an economy is not unreasonable. Dealing with koreans is like dealing with bright adolescents. They're full of energy and want to do everything yesterday. But they throw tantrums and are prone to dangerous and erratic behavior if their whims are not indulged. In most countries, intellectuals become universal. You learn that great ideas and values have no national boundaries. What is profoundly disturbing is that korean intellectuals become more xenophobic and nationalistic, and perpetuate the idea that all of korea's problems are the result of willfulness by foreigners. This is the mark of a scoundrel. Korean society makes a sharp distinction between an individual's inner circle of family, friends and business colleagues, and outsiders. Members of the inner circle must always be treated with absolute respect and courtesy, while strangers are treated with indifference. Korean society is not egalitarian: a person's status is strictly defined in relation to others. How do foreigners fit into this scheme? The simple answer is they don't.

[eamo]

A few of you boys are going to get big fat F's for "cunning"!!!

[JongnoGuru]