Korean Job Discussion Forums

[justin moffatt]

After one year in Korea, I have realized the vast importance of knowledge and information necessary for survival here. However, misinformation, non-credible accounts and stories, and errorenous advice has occasionally permeated these websites and banter among other foreigners here. Therefore, in a futile attempt, I would invite a collobaration of those serious in debunking or validating urban myths in South Korea.

1) Numerous stories of foreigners getting in a physical confrontation with Koreans, resulting in deportation, gang violence, or heavy bribery fee payments. For example, many individuals have claimed that if you engage in a physical encounter with a Korean, even in self defense, often the Korean will request a fee payment (depending on the severity of his injuries) to prevent police involvement or action.

2) Married Korean women engaged in sexual relations with foreigners (who may be even unaware she is married). The Korean husband becomes aware of their actions, and imprisons both his Korean wife and the foreigner. (I recognize that adultery is a criminal action, however what actually happens to these foreigners?).

3) Korean ex-girlfriends going on a vindicative rampage of revenge on their foreigner ex-boyfriend from engaging in stalking behavior, making false allegations to police, providing errorenous information to immigration (sometimes leading to deportation) to persuading Korean males to physically inflict violence upon the foreigner. For example, a common story that I have heard is a foreigner who had smoked marijuana in his home country, came back to Korea, broke up with his girlfriend, she called the police about his previous behavior, he was detained and deported.

4) Blatant lies and deceipt spawned by Korean males and the media that all foreigners have AIDS and sexual diseases. Therefore, Korean women should not have relations with them.

5) Many accounts of former employers blacklisting previous employees at immigration AND sending damaging letters to PROSPECTIVE employers, even so far as creating slanderous gossip and rumours about their previous employees.

6) Korean individuals with high positions of power and authority are sometimes given amnesty when accused of commiting various crimes. Numerous stories of high ranking officials who use their influence to help their foreigner colleagues out of minor (and sometimes major) criminal infractions or allegations.

7) English teachers being detained by immigration in a holding facility for extended periods of time for doing privates or part time employment on a holiday visa with fines up to 10,000,000 won for release.

Please feel free to respond to these stories, and add some of your own with some form of corroborative evidence if possible.

[Ilsanman]

Number 5 is true, and it happened to my friend.

He was fired at the 9th hour for refusing to sing a new contract with a whole bunch of new clauses that made him work more and to make it more justifiable to fire him.

Anyways, to make a long story short, he was working somewhere else 6 months later, and one day his supervisor asked him why he was flagged by immigration as a 'risk'.

[Jack_Sarang]

[Pak Yu Man]

#2 is sort of true. I knew of three guys this happened to at my first hagwon. Yes they were different women. Here's the best story.

I was teaching my ajjuma class. The head ajuma asked if I would be offended if the new teacher (who was arriving the next week) could teach them for fun.
So the guy taught them on a Thurs and he was invited to visit the mom's family while they were staying ay Harundae beach. The guy gets there and it's only the mom.

"I had to fu%k her! She already paid for the room for the weekend"

The guy had been in the country for 3 days. That's been the record for a long time.

[Pyongshin Sangja]