Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mack4289]

"This means that the same goods one can buy at $100 in the U.S. can be bought at $95 in Korea. In December 2004, Korea�s price index was 84 signifying that the index rose 13 percent in just two years. The narrowing price gap between Korea and the U.S. means living costs are not much different between the two countries. This raises concerns given that Korea�s income level is less than half of the U.S. (Korea�s per-capita gross national was $18,372 in 2006)."

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2874973

My guess is it has a lot to do with the protected economy. Look at what shows up when you search for price fixing at the Joong Ang Daily (http://joongangdaily.joins.com/search/index.html?query=price+fixing). When you don't have foreign companies giving the domestic ones a kick in the as*, the domestic ones will get together and decide, "Well we could compete with each other and whoever offers the best value wins. Or we could just keep the prices all about the same and all stay rich." Same thing happened in the US car industry before it opened up.

[RACETRAITOR]

It could just be the falling American dollar.

[cangel]

The koreans would rather pay premium rates on domestic products than open their doors to cheaper and usually better products produced in other countries. As mentioned, protecting Korean industry. Funny how they are protesting FTA when they should be protesting the Koreans who are purchasing foreign products. But after living in Japan, it's no different. People may hate Wal Mart, but there's a reason it's the world's largest retailer (or was...). We are all cheap b@stardz!

[crazy_arcade]

What exactly is being called expensive? American goods.

Cost of living is more than reasonable.

[sadsac]

Personally i believe that Korea has become expensive, patricularly when buying the staples, milk, bread and veges. Also travel from here is expensive, my wife and I now do all our flights from Japan and on average we save about $500.00 per trip and we have our tickets in hands months before we leave. So much easier.

[Juregen]

[cangel]

Wow, very perceptive Juregen. Oh, did I forget to mention the "Duh!"

[ryanbonner]

While the cost of living in Korea is by no means cheap, if you consider what you could easily get by on here as a teacher, you can't really complain. I've found that prices for food and alcohol are pretty comparable to the USA and since that's all I spend money on, I can handle that. Also, the falling dollar is the best thing that's ever happened to Korea.

[Juregen]

[Qinella]

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=57290


Anyway, now that I've been in America for about a month, I realize that things aren't more expensive in Korea--it's just that I never paid attention back in the US. Sure, things are slightly more, but it's not a big deal usually. Bottle of Skyy Vodka, ~$20 US. About 24k won. Not a big difference. All other things just slightly higher, usually about 10-30%.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

A disproportionate number of teachers live in Seoul and the southern part of the country is no where near as expensive. I recently spent three days in Seoul and spend about W275,000, including the KTX to and from Daegu. I didn't even stay at hotels - I was crashing at friends' places, and didn't do much shopping, either. A weekend of eating out and partying in Daegu most likely wouldn't cost nearly as much.

[Thunndarr]

[Milwaukiedave]

Things have gotten more expensive in the last few years, especially things like fruits and vegetables. As for the open market, I tend to agree that Korea is too protectionist in certain areas.

[Alyallen]

[wylies99]