Korean Job Discussion Forums

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Anyone out there ever work in Wonju? I'd like to know about the universities out there (Yonsei, in particular), and the transporation time and convenience from Seoul. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

Jellybean · Joined: 17 Jan 2006

Hi

I hopeyou receive more positive feedback than mine but I have to be honest.

Wonju is a HOLE. I was told by the school I was to teach at taht it was 1 hour from Seoul but that was a lie like many things they told me. On a GOOD day it's at least 4 hours by bus. I know because I was forced to do a Midnight Run from there but that's another story that I've outlined in detail if you care to search by username.

The fact you're going there for University may be differen from going there to teach so that could be in your favour. Just be prepared for hardly anybody knowing english (unlike larger cities, like Seoul for example). This affected me more than I realised.

Also it's not a lovely countryside, clean city like I was told. It's grungy and dirty and ugly.

Hope your experience is more enjoyable than mine.

JB

jaganath69 · Joined: 17 Jul 2003

Wouldn't the train be a better option from there than the bus?

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Keep it coming, good or bad. Yes, I'd like to hear about how to make the trip from Seoul via train. Imagine that you'd leave from Seoul Station. How long? Inconvenient once you get there?

Thiuda · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:34 am Post subject:

I've been living in Wonju for two years now with my family and enjoy it tremendously. In comparison to Busan, Daejon and Andong, where I've also worked, Wonju is clean and quiet, and a good deal less conservative than Andong. I don't often go to Seoul, but from either one of the bus terminals it takes between 50 minutes (to Dong-Seoul) to 90 minutes (Kangnam) to get there, depending on traffic of course.

Other reasons I like Wonju: great mountain biking, E-Mart stocks up on European beers (as well as some other western goods), the proximity of Chiak-san and Sorak-san, the generally very friendly people in this area, and the great mountain biking.

I don't work at Yonsei, but I've been on the very pleasant campus often enough. Unfortunately, the campus lies about 8 km from the centre of Wonju, which makes going out a bit of a chore. Colleagues working at Yonsei have described working there using both positive and negative adjectives, negative ones outweighing the positive ones. From what I understand, the turn-around is quite high, in part because of an incompetent administration, the teaching load is heavy, 24 hours a week, and pay is rather low given that you also teach a summer/winter camp, W2.3 million. If you have university teaching experience and a MA there are definitely better jobs out there, but as a starter university it looks pretty good.