Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Foreigners Excluded From Korean Sites
Foreigners Not Invited to Internet Party
Korea is celebrating its Internet success but foreigners are not invited to the party, even the roughly 444,000 foreigners living here with a residency number. First of all, the vast majority of Korean Web sites have little or no English-language content, which restricts participation to those who can read Korean.

More problematic is that non-Korean residents are not allowed to subscribe to most Web sites, including the country's biggest portals. None of Korea's top five most popular portals -- Naver, Daum, Nate, Yahoo Korea and Paran -- provides an English-language introduction to people who want to be members. In order to subscribe to the sites, foreigners must learn Korean or enlist the help of Korean friends to fill out tons of personal information required by the portals.

Foreigners who are ready to go through the lengthy registration process, however, will be frustrated again to find that the Web portals cannot identify foreign residency numbers. "We ask the Korea Information Service to verify the numbers. But most foreign citizenship numbers are not included in the database so their identities cannot be verified," a spokeswoman for KTH, which operates Paran, said. She said foreigners can subscribe by attaching their identification card image files on its Web site or faxing a copy of the cards to KTH.

But critics point out that the policy discriminates against foreigners as Koreans don't have to go through the process. Indeed, only about 40,000 foreigners have signed up for Paran after going through the hassle while as many as 28 million Koreans are currently its members.
by Kim Tae-gyu, Korea Times (June 20, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200506/kt2005062017334312350.htm


http://photo.hankooki.com/gisaphoto/20050620/vnok200506201904541Froeigners2%20copy.jpg

[Bulsajo]

What is it exactly about the whole ID card / internet thing?
I know Mith's poll and everything...
and obviously it's a government law on internet use?
I mean, there's no way websites would require this registration unless they were absolutely required to by the govt?

Why the policy in the first place?
Has anyone ever come across an official govt explanation for this draconian policy?

Sure I can see some reasons for it, and sure I can see how it can at times be beneficial, but ALL websites where registration is required for one reason or another absolutely MUST use ID#?

BTW, anything ever come of that online petition?

[Chillin' Villain]

I don't think the companies should be obliged to provide any English on there whatsoever if they so choose (lotta extra work, and it's not an official language), but the registration number thing is annoying. It seems pretty much any site I try to get on- even just to look at some flash animations or whatever- seem to need that friggin' number. The FRC number never works, either. I don't think many protest measures are gonna make much of a difference, as the foreign-resident-Korean-site-using population is a relatively small demographic to advertisers, and thus, the portals... Still, it sure doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to include FRC numbers in the databases.

... I will now step out and humbly exclude myself from the obligatory racism/discrimination discussion that is sure to follow this topic! ^^

[Red]

Other than Bugs Music, no Korean website is worth the effort.

[Swiss James]

[itaewonguy]

wow another - WE ARE KOREANS AND WE ARE THE BEST story!
man you would think koreans invented the internet or something!!
its mine and you are not welcome!! hahahah

[little mixed girl]

for yahoo korea... #1 there's already a yahoo in english...
#2, can't u just use your own yahoo ID?

i tried that with the music link above and a message popped up asking if i wanted to copy my info to yahoo korea for future use...i said 'no', but really...if it's that easy...

my problem with bugs, etc is that there's some file that i have to download in order to listen to the songs that my university computers won't allow us to d/l. =/

[huck]

I just want to play Kart Rider....

[mindmetoo]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Why re-engineer websites? Just re-issue ARC numbers that work everywhere in Korea. It shouldn't be that hard to add a letter or something that identifies us as non-citizens. There are 400,000+ of us.

[Swiss James]

[NearlyKorean]

Yahoo-Korea is impossible to join for a foriegner?

Does that mean I should delete my Yahoo Korea account?
I also have pop3 access because I agreed to receive the emails.

I agree with other posters. Just give us a number that works.
I also agree we are a very small minority.


I have also found it almost impossible to find a bank with internet access in English. KEB being the only exception. I am sure that there are others.
There used to be a bank that gave credit cards to foreigners, but I forget which one. I don't know if they still do....

It wasn't until recently, I have a cell phone account in my name with a monthly service rate. Thank you LG Telecom.

I also agree that it we shouldn't expect things to be in English.
However, I feel if we are willing to work through the Korean forms
and use things in Korean, then we should have access to it.

I think slowly companies are waking up to the idea that foriegners, who have Korean won can spend money, too.

There are foriegner only casinos. It kind of ruin the fun of going if you can't take your Korean friends.

I applaud Korea's effort to be more global. They are not quite there, yet.
They can not have the best of both worlds. We will take you, Mr/Mrs/Ms Non-Korean, only if you have enough money. Nevermind, the restrictions and limitations we place on you. It's okay because you're not Korean and don't understand. If you make too much money, we will just take it from you, because you're not Korean. It's okay because. you're not Korean. You can stay in Korea, but you can't be a part of Korea because you're not Korean. BTW, Did we tell you you're not Korean...? When are you going back to your country?

Just so you know, I have been in Korea for 6 years, and I love living here for the most part. Like with any place, Korea has it's good and bad points.
I don't agree with everything that Korea is doing or the way they are going about it. It's not a crime.



Just my 10 won worth,
NK.

[mindmetoo]

[rok_the-boat]

The internet is for the world yet Korea restricts its own pie for itself firmly smacking its 'Asia Hub' idea in the face. They are only hurting themselves as 99.99% of the world could not care less. Of course though, that 0.01% represents us foreing goons here in Korea.

[dogbert]