Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dev]

Gagnam! Gagnam! It's a part of Seoul which is so highly praised that you think they'd be talking about a place that looks like Beverly Hills or San Francisco. But go there and you will see that it doesn't look any prettier than the rest of Seoul.

So, what's the deal? What makes Koreans want to pay a fortune to live there? The answer I have heard is that their kids have access to the best schools. But is there more to it than that?

Thanks.

[IncognitoHFX]

Maybe because of the shopping?

Who knows. I was there on the holiday for a few hours and didn't see anything special about it. I'd never live there, its way too busy with too much traffic and too much emphasis on spending money.

[Dev]

[Paji eh Wong]

In a word, education. Gangnam has a reputation for having the best school districts in Korea.

[IncognitoHFX]

[Atavistic]

[billybrobby]

Other than the temples and stuff, what part of seoul is really attractive? It's just not a visually appealing city for the most part. Kangnam is nicer than most parts of town, and there's the shopping and nightlife, restaurants, high-class hagwons, companies, etc. But does any of this really explain it? Not totally... I suppose it's just the cachet. I think Koreans are especially susceptible to the illusion of prestige. Not that americans aren't, but it seems like the designer bags, ivy league schools, all the status symbols and badges of success are a little more important here.

If you drew a line down the middle of an empty rowboat and called one half the "grand deluxe vip seating" and the other half the "semi deluxe seating", the boat would tip over if it was boarded by koreans because everybody would crowd to one side.

[DanielP]

I was talking with a Korean friend who is relatively rich (a millionaire by US standards) and she tells me that the real rich either live overseas or at least away from the city.

I think that only the middle class/upper middle class want to live in Gangnam for the same reason that they want to drive a Mercedes/BMW and wear Armani. It's just a status symbol that they are paying out of their asses to have. Heh, it's just another example of the classical rat race. Living in Gangnam, in my opinion, is just another reason to rack up the credit card debt or mortgages.

I agree with the OP. Gangnam is nothing special in my eyes. I mean, everything is more expensive there, and the area, I'm sorry to say sure as hell ain't Times square or Oxford street.

Atavistic, I don't think that the Rich are the true Snobs who think the way you described "get away from the scary minorities". I think that the real snobs are the Upper middle class who think they're rich when in reality, they just have a higher income and higher expenses >>> same cashflow and more debt.
DanielP

[Dev]

Maybe Gagnam doesn't have those Bongo fruit trucks with the loudspeakers.
I would imagine that no self-respecting Gagnam resident would be caught dead buying her vegetables from a pick-up truck.

But then again, in Korea, my assumptions have often been wrong.

[hugo_danner]

Why do people want to live in Manhatten?!?

[DanielP]

Can you say "Status Symbol"?

The real smart rich and business-savvy are looking for the next Manhattan, and putting their capital into that. Hmm...maybe in China?

DanielP

[Atavistic]

[Beej]

[DanielP]

[mateomiguel]

20 years ago Gangnam was a bunch of rice fields. Then the Korean government forced the best schools in the country to move to that area, and it quickly became the #1 living destination for all those highly motivated Korean parents who want to make sure that their little Kim Soos get the highest quality sleep deprivation permissible by law.

There's also some shady rumors that the president at the time got his buddies to buy all the land before they set the plan in motion so that they got a ton of profit off of the elevated property prices.

It may not be the real truth, but from all the people I've talked to it seems to be the perceived truth. And hey, that's more important here in the land of relative reality.