Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Seoul Should Be More Welcoming to Strangers
If Koreans want to mould Seoul into a leading international city, they must not only focus on foreign investment but also welcome foreign residents and address the city's traffic problems, the OECD suggests. It urges Korea to be more accepting not only of foreign money but of foreigners themselves. It encourages the country to embrace ethnic diversity, saying that due to strict immigration rules, foreign residents account for only 0.5 percent of the total population.
Chosun Ilbo (September 30, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200509/200509300022.html

[lastat06513]

And things won't change, at least not in this or the next generation.

[Summer Wine]

Forget Seoul, tell it to the whole country. I am not an apologist, nor am I any longer an unrelenting critic, it will take a while but I have faith in my Kindergarten classes.

I have hair on my arms, oh no, thats terrible! The older generation stroke my arms like they are stroking a wild animal, it has hair? AMAZING!

The kindergarten kids stroke it, like oh, its soft. I think the future generation will have got over us as strange, well you can't blame them. They really only had Americans soldiers in the past, they are strange to a lot of us at times. They never associated much with the children or were really understood by Koreans.

I have hope for Korea, maybe not today or tomorrow, but I do have hope for the country. I have to, otherwise why waste the money to support it. The Cold War is over, the Koreans can defend their country, (according to the US military) without them.

Therefore, let them grow up on their own. The Country is really like a teenager now, we all know how that feels. So understand it, we come from more mature states, it might explain us.

[Real Reality]

OECD Rates Seoul Less Foreign Friendly
Seoul should be more inviting to foreign investors and tourists... the OECD made some recommendations to help make the capital city more competitive and convenient, particularly for foreign businessmen.... Foreign direct investment in Seoul has dropped by about 20 percent, or more than $1 billion, since 2000.

"Factors cited include restrictive regulations for foreign investors and problems with licenses, government monopolies and corporate governance," the report said. "Korea needs foreign firms and workers to help develop its economy but its strict immigration rules result in extremely low numbers of foreign residents, which account for 0.5 percent of total population."
... resolving "unacceptable levels of transport congestion and air pollution" will be another key to turning Seoul into a global city.
by Choi Kyong-ae, Korea Times (September 30, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200509/kt2005093020213911890.htm