Tweet of the Day: South Korea Unfriendly to Foreigners?

I go through certain daily annoyances as a half-Korean living in South Korea, and that’s because, despite 15 years in country, I’m still unrepentantly American in thought and action. I feel I understand a lot more about the culture than I did when I first arrived in the 90s, but there are still some sticking points, e.g., general rudeness when it comes to either ignoring or being mindful of your fellow man. I missed the hate-America phase back in 2002; I came back to Korea that year, but I was too late for most of the demonstrations, the bigoted restaurant signs, and anti-Western attitude problems. I’m also not a military guy, so I’ve rarely had to deal with the dirty looks and surly dispositions reserved for the US military. I also don’t frequent Itaewon or any sort of bar scene because I’m a boring asshole who doesn’t drink, so you’ll never find me involved in bar fights. Instead, I go distance-walking along the beautiful riverside and creekside bike trails, and I’m very thankful that South Korea has such a network for us walkers (shameless plug: walk blogs here and here).

Overall, I’d say there are many reasons to love my mother’s country, and I feel comfortable living here, despite minor irritations and conflicts due to cultural static. Korea has been undeniably good to me, and in general, Koreans have proven to be kind, friendly, helpful, and open. They have certain annoying characteristics, but to be fair, Koreans who live in the States have similar complaints about us Yanks. Who resides in a godlike position to judge the “objective” goodness or badness of a culture and a people? We can only judge from our own perspective. I might think the current leftist politicians in both the States and South Korea are fucking stupid, but that thinking doesn’t apply to how I view the regular folks—the ones who work hard every day and simply want to live happy lives with their friends and families. I certainly don’t hate Korea; I have a long list of complaints about the country, but most of those complaints aren’t serious, and if I lived in a different country, I’d end up with a long list of complaints about it, too. That applies to living in the States as well: there’s plenty of infuriating bullshit that comes with living in America (ever visited the local DMV?). But just because a place has faults doesn’t mean you can’t love it. More on that in a bit.

To answer John Lee’s question more directly: is SK still unfriendly to foreigners? I’d say the general answer is no, but that answer is based on my narrow, introverted perspective as a quiet dude who prefers Korea’s beautiful scenery to hanging out in bars and confining my daily travels to Itaewon. (Fortunately, there are many expats like me who actually take an interest in the culture and the landscape, and who are willing to explore more than just one district in Seoul.)

Knowing some of the language definitely helps: it makes life easier and allows for a bit more insight into the culture. I can’t understand the expats who spend ten years in country and can barely string a sentence together in Korean (I’ve heard all the excuses for not bothering to learn the language). In the publishing house where I work, I interact in Korean all the time with our in-house designer and other Korean staffers. My feeling is that learning the language is a way of saying “thank you” to the country that feeds, clothes, shelters, and pays me. Korea keeps me alive, so how can I not be grateful?

Overall, I’m very much enjoying life in Korea. I have friends and relatives here, I’m generally OK with the work I do, and the country offers a huge smorgasbord of things to explore. I’m at the point in my life, at age 50, where I have to think seriously about where I’m going to die, and my two choices are South Korea and the States (although I wouldn’t mind dying in Switzerland, to be honest). South Korea feels like home, and I love the country enough to feel I could fight and die for it if necessary, even as out of shape as I am. If war ever starts while I’m here, I won’t run. I’ll crack a few invaders’ skulls first. So I guess it’s not just a matter of “I enjoy living here,” but a matter of feeling some level of love for and loyalty to the land and its people—not that I would ever betray the country of my birth, but you get what I’m saying. Of course I’m disgusted by peninsular politics and politicians, but no country is perfect in that regard, and there’s more to life than goddamn politics.

I hope that answers John Lee’s question.

[NB: I’ve tried submitting this comment several times, but I think the spam filter hates any or all of the following: long comments, comments with links in them, and/or comments with the HTML for links, even if not in “true” link form. Here’s one last attempt.]

I go through certain daily annoyances as a half-Korean living in South Korea, and that’s because, despite 15 years in country, I’m still unrepentantly American in thought and action. I feel I understand a lot more about the culture than I did when I first arrived in the 90s, but there are still some sticking points, e.g., general rudeness when it comes to either ignoring or being mindful of your fellow man. I missed the hate-America phase back in 2002; I came back to Korea that year, but I was too late for most of the demonstrations, the bigoted restaurant signs, and anti-Western attitude problems. I’m also not a military guy, so I’ve rarely had to deal with the dirty looks and surly dispositions reserved for the US military. I also don’t frequent Itaewon or any sort of bar scene because I’m a boring asshole who doesn’t drink, so you’ll never find me involved in bar fights. Instead, I go distance-walking along the beautiful riverside and creekside bike trails, and I’m very thankful that South Korea has such a network for us walkers (shameless plug: walk blogs at [https-colon-slash-slash] kevinswalk2 [dot] blogspot [dot] com [slash] and [https-colon-slash-slash] kevinswalk3 [dot] blogspot [dot] com [slash]).

Overall, I’d say there are many reasons to love my mother’s country, and I feel comfortable living here, despite minor irritations and conflicts due to cultural static. Korea has been undeniably good to me, and in general, Koreans have proven to be kind, friendly, helpful, and open. They have certain annoying characteristics, but to be fair, Koreans who live in the States have similar complaints about us Yanks. Who resides in a godlike position to judge the “objective” goodness or badness of a culture and a people? We can only judge from our own perspective. I might think the current leftist politicians in both the States and South Korea are fucking stupid, but that thinking doesn’t apply to how I view the regular folks—the ones who work hard every day and simply want to live happy lives with their friends and families. I certainly don’t hate Korea; I have a long list of complaints about the country, but most of those complaints aren’t serious, and if I lived in a different country, I’d end up with a long list of complaints about it, too. That applies to living in the States as well: there’s plenty of infuriating bullshit that comes with living in America (ever visited the local DMV?). But just because a place has faults doesn’t mean you can’t love it. More on that in a bit.

To answer John Lee’s question more directly: is SK still unfriendly to foreigners? I’d say the general answer is no, but that answer is based on my narrow, introverted perspective as a quiet dude who prefers Korea’s beautiful scenery to hanging out in bars and confining my daily travels to Itaewon. (Fortunately, there are many expats like me who actually take an interest in the culture and the landscape, and who are willing to explore more than just one district in Seoul.)

Knowing some of the language definitely helps: it makes life easier and allows for a bit more insight into the culture. I can’t understand the expats who spend ten years in country and can barely string a sentence together in Korean (I’ve heard all the excuses for not bothering to learn the language). In the publishing house where I work, I interact in Korean all the time with our in-house designer and other Korean staffers. My feeling is that learning the language is a way of saying “thank you” to the country that feeds, clothes, shelters, and pays me. Korea keeps me alive, so how can I not be grateful?

Overall, I’m very much enjoying life in Korea. I have friends and relatives here, I’m generally OK with the work I do, and the country offers a huge smorgasbord of things to explore. I’m at the point in my life, at age 50, where I have to think seriously about where I’m going to die, and my two choices are South Korea and the States (although I wouldn’t mind dying in Switzerland, to be honest). South Korea feels like home, and I love the country enough to feel I could fight and die for it if necessary, even as out of shape as I am. If war ever starts while I’m here, I won’t run. I’ll crack a few invaders’ skulls first. So I guess it’s not just a matter of “I enjoy living here,” but a matter of feeling some level of love for and loyalty to the land and its people—not that I would ever betray the country of my birth, but you get what I’m saying. Of course I’m disgusted by peninsular politics and politicians, but no country is perfect in that regard, and there’s more to life than goddamn politics.

I hope that answers John Lee’s question.

I have visited Korea many times between March 1993 and April 2014, in trips lasting between 7 and 120 days. Some for work, some for play. I never felt South Korea was unfriendly. Koreans are “shy” around “strangers” until they know where to place them in the respect hierarchy; but generally warm once they know the relationship.

When people see I’m married to a Korean, they treat me like a local. Of course, I’m old, fat, and crippled, obviously not a threat to anything but a buffet, so there’s that…

Good points, Lee.

I love visiting Korea; but working there in the 90s was the pits. It could have been the individual leaders of the joint-venture I was with; but there were some corporate attitudes that absolutely set my teeth on edge.

I never really thought it was racism, though xenophobia was evident (usually expressed by children looking wide-eyed at me in cars as I was driven to and from the office). I just thought there was a lack of desire to take risks at all levels. For example, writing up weekly status reports and actually delivering them to the client (like they led me to believe they were doing), creating the final business and technical documentation (i.e., putting their name and reputation on the line), or accepting the contracts they signed as written.

There were definitely prejudiced against fat people in the 90s; but I got that in the States as well.