Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Koreabound2004]

Instead of the best city in Asia, how about the best city in Korea to live and work in. Thoughts? Comments?

[Zed]

I almost moved to Busan a year back but my connections to jobs were all around Seoul as were my friends. I hear good things from the vast majority of people who've worked there. I may try it out sometime.

[Mr. Pink]

Around the Seoul area, I'd say Sungnam City: Pundang Gu

In all of Korea, the place I most wanted to live was a tie between Cheju City and Sokcho.

Anyone live in those cities?

[Howard Roark]

I think the obvious answer for most people is Seoul. It is the most interesting and convenient in terms of things to do, places to go, western products, ethnic restaurants, nightlife, public transportation, etc. It would take you a very long time to run out of things to do in Seoul.
Pusan is also a large city. It is rather nice too, if you want sandy beaches in summer it's the place to go. The only reason I would choose Seoul over Pusan is that it seems to me even though Pusan is a large city, it is still very Korean. Seoul has a much more international flavor to it.
Seoul is not all fun and adventure either. It's very crowded and noisy. The total population of the Seoul metropolitan area is about 20 000 000! A lot of people couldn't hack that crowd for long.
So you really have to think about what kind of place you want to wake up in every day.
There's lots of small and medium-sized cities in between those two (geographically). Daegu has about 3 000 000 people, has a subway, lots of western shopping options, good but crowded downtown area. It's inland though, so no sea, I don't like that.
You have to think about what you want to do here. If you want to write a book and meditate every night, go for a small town. If you want to party every weekend, go to Seoul. It doesn't really matter where you live. Korea is very small and the train can take you from one end to the other in about 6 hrs. So wherever you live, it will always be easy to visit different places and have a taste of all parts of Korea.

[matthews_world]

Make this a poll. Ha ha!

They are pretty much all the same. Cookie-cutter apartments, dongs, etc lining crooked streets and thoroughfares.

I would say anything with culture would be good. Subway or train helps. Nice shopping and things to see.

Seoul ranks #1, or should anyway.

Nice cities I've seen: Mokpo, Ichon(sp), Daejon, Wonju, Seokcho, Gwanju
Nice cities I wanna see: Pohang, Andong, Busan, Jeju, Ilsan, Daegu

Depends on what your looking for.

[Holyjoe]

I quite liked Seogwipo when I visited, it really seemed quite unlike most other places in Korea.

Steven Hawking suggested in 'A Brief History Of Time' that the Universe looks the same in all directions no matter where you're standing - in terms of most Korean cities, this might well be true!

[schwa]

Sokcho does seem to have a different flavor. Its setting is special which draws lots of seasonal tourists so it's relatively prosperous with a fair variety of diversions. Feels more citylike than pop 90,000 would suggest but also has some small-town end-of-the-road charms. (Seogwipo might be comparable?) I'm coming up 5 happy years here but thinking about a change.

[indytrucks]

For visiting, Buyeo, Yeosu, and Gyeongju.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Bundang, because it's a government-planned city. Things are kept clean, there are two beautiful parks, lots of space, its close to Seoul, there are tons of pretty girls crowded around Seohyeon and Sunae station, and I live there.

I live there.

Makes ya wanna get here a fast as possible, huh?

Sparkles*_* (aka The King of Sperm-dong)

[just because]

Changwon for the same reason above. It is a planned city with lots of nice parks and gardens. My point is illustrated everytime I go to Masan and just see how dirty and foul that place is copmpared to here. Its nice and spread out, a lot of it is still concrete kingdom though

[kangnam mafioso]

Seoul ... end of story. Like someone else mentioned, they are all basically the same. I never had a desire for the country town experience.

[ratslash]

any city out of korea is the best.

[sid]

This probably belongs on the 'Seoul Superiority' thread but I am always a bit sceptical when people say they live in Seoul because it is more 'cultural', 'metropolitan', 'international' etc. Perhaps there are a few foreigners who spend their weekends going to fashion shows/art galleries and eating in interesting little ethnic restaurants, but the rest seem to concentrate on drinking in Itaewon and Hongdae.

[rapier]

I thought Seoul was the only city in korea. The rest are outlying, boring, forgotten backwaters... aren't they?

[Arthur Fonzerelli]

Any city in Manitoba is better than any city in korea...

Canada is the center of the world.