Korean Job Discussion Forums

[xox]

I was just wondering what would be better to bring American or Canadian to be deposited into banks.
As well gifts, considering that people can get almost anything overseas what would make a stand out gift to your co-workers and such?

[Hapkido-In]

Both Canadian and US dollars are accepted at KB bank here in Korea. KBs are everywhere, too, so you won't have a hard time finding one.

I've brought both with me, and have had no problems exchanging either of them for Korea Won in Korea. You might even want to just bring Won with you to Korea, if you are planning to stay for a while.

As for gifts, chocolate bars work pretty well as Korea really only has Snickers, Twix, Kitkat, and Mr. Big. Oh yeah, they also have those Cadburries Milk Chocolate (and a few others in that series) as well as Tobolerone (Uhh, the triangle thing...No idea how to spell it right). So any of Reese's Peanutbutter stuff, Crunchies, Coffee Crisp, ect are always welcome. Doritos are also not readily available here, either, so they also go over really well.

Also, basically everyone here has a cell phone, and people love to tie weird crap to it. So if you can find stuff back home that would be cool to tie to a phone, that'd go over well too. I guess they are sort of like key chains to Koreans.

Anyways, hope my reply helps.

[WorldWide]

DO NOT USE AMERICAN DOLLARS AS A RESERVE CURRENCY!!!!!

[dreaming_saturn]

Hi, I am leaving for Korea after my holiday in August and was wondering the same thing, only I'm considering taking Euros.

[Missile Command Kid]

[jaderedux]

[djsmnc]

Bring a boatload of chronic, hell bring a fleet of boats. Infiltrate this country with the green currency that God and nature originally intended on being traded.

[ttompatz]

[Missile Command Kid]

[djsmnc]

Watch the exchange rates and decide for yourself when you get paid. I think that's what just about everyone here does for the most part. If that's a finer point of finance, then I'm Donald Trump.

[Natalia]

[KittyLover]

Can't really say for the money. All I can tell you about that is that I was in for a bit of a shock when I found out my Visa check card didn't work at many atms. After a long look, I found a spot that took it.

As for gifts, a lot of foreign brand names are available, but expensive here, such as stuff from Lacoste, The Body Shop, Levis, Calvin Klein, etc. Gold is expensive too. So if you bring any of this over, it will look like you spent more on a gift than you actually did.

On a side note, I noticed bed sheets are overpriced here. I'd bring some from home.

[huffdaddy]

[bnrockin]

is there anything equivelent to the U.S. FDIC in Korea to protect my money in the bank if for some reason the bank closes down?

[RACETRAITOR]

I always laugh when I see someone trying to use US currency here. It just looks dumb. Usually when they get desperate, I trade them their money for some Korean won at an extortionate rate (7000 won for $10 US).