Journal Daengbo's Journal: Korea - the good and the bad 2
I've been in Korea for just shy of five years now. Most days, I deal with it, but there are quite a few things that make me want to twist someone's head off. There are good things, too. I love teaching children, and the country gives me the opportunity to do that. They pay me well enough for what I do, and considering my housing is paid for, I end up with half my money in the bank at the end of the year. Since the won crashed, this nest egg hasn't been worth so much, but ....
I walk or bike to work, as I have for most of my life. I don't own a car, hoping that my carbon emissions are better than most people's. If I've got to travel, I take a train, bus, or taxi, with my preferences in that order. Taxis are cheap here and the city bus is regular and less than a U.S. dollar.
Korean society is homogeneous. Being a citizen of Korea is synonymous with being of Korean ancestry. With the new "problem" of farmers now importing Vietnamese, Chinese, and Filipino wives just so they've got someone to marry (shortage of women born due to aborting female fetuses, you see), the homogeneity may change in a generation or two. Right now, though, being non-Korean means being an outsider. Being obviously non-Korean -- I'm caucasion -- I don't make it into anyone's circle of friends.
And that's a big problem because Korea is all about circles. If you aren't a friend, family, or co-worker, Koreans don't give a shit about you. Normally nice people will drive full-speed right through a crosswalk full of children in a school zone and expect the children (outside their circles) to get out of the way or die, I guess. The same drivers will stop for someone they have a relationship with.
Since I'm an outsider and I walk or bike, that puts me in a dangerous position every day. I go beyond defensive walking into paranoia. Normally a sweet guy, the danger I'm in makes me upset and defensive, and I end up screaming at drivers or even kicking cars when they barely miss me in the crosswalk.
Then there's the racial problem. Goy is of Chinese decent, and she looks Korean to most Koreans (though westerners continue to tell me that she looks Thai ... sigh). She is classed as a traitor to her race .. not by everyone, but by a large enough percentage to make shit uncomfortable -- cursing is common; spitting less so. The blood purity thing really gets to me, and we are innocent victims of its wrath. It's VERY thinly veiled racism.
There's also a war mentality caused by a forty-year-old cease fire, which exposes itself in two ways. Firstly, the older generation doesn't wait for anyone, throwing elbows or shoulders and brazenly cutting in line. Older drivers don't wait for anyone, either, turning right out of the far left lane or left out of the far right. Secondly, there's a legacy of military-style management. Information is power. Nothing is disclosed until the last possible moment, and everyone jumps on whatever seems most urgent at the time. This is what I learned in school as crisis management. If you look at the link with a list of sixteen of mis-management factors, you'll get a good overview of Korean management style at the places I've worked. It drives me nuts and destroys my job motivation.
Then there's stupid shit like requiring a Korean national ID number to do anything -- purchasing online or posting in web forums. I have a number just like theirs, but my alien ID number doesn't go into the database and I'm cut out. By the way, the online registration requirement was due to an actress killing herself after being slandered (libeled?) online. Instead of using the tragedy as a teaching point that people's words are not a good reason for committing suicide, the government effectively taught people that it IS a good reason, and that you need protection from the government in the form of netiquette police and a three strikes law.
Finally, there's the nationalism. Being an American, I may not be in a position to criticize, but the constant misinformation and outright censorship in order to boost or keep the national image really bugs me. That would be true if I saw it in the U.S., too.
That's my rant.
I walk or bike to work, as I have for most of my life. I don't own a car, hoping that my carbon emissions are better than most people's. If I've got to travel, I take a train, bus, or taxi, with my preferences in that order. Taxis are cheap here and the city bus is regular and less than a U.S. dollar.
Korean society is homogeneous. Being a citizen of Korea is synonymous with being of Korean ancestry. With the new "problem" of farmers now importing Vietnamese, Chinese, and Filipino wives just so they've got someone to marry (shortage of women born due to aborting female fetuses, you see), the homogeneity may change in a generation or two. Right now, though, being non-Korean means being an outsider. Being obviously non-Korean -- I'm caucasion -- I don't make it into anyone's circle of friends.
And that's a big problem because Korea is all about circles. If you aren't a friend, family, or co-worker, Koreans don't give a shit about you. Normally nice people will drive full-speed right through a crosswalk full of children in a school zone and expect the children (outside their circles) to get out of the way or die, I guess. The same drivers will stop for someone they have a relationship with.
Since I'm an outsider and I walk or bike, that puts me in a dangerous position every day. I go beyond defensive walking into paranoia. Normally a sweet guy, the danger I'm in makes me upset and defensive, and I end up screaming at drivers or even kicking cars when they barely miss me in the crosswalk.
Then there's the racial problem. Goy is of Chinese decent, and she looks Korean to most Koreans (though westerners continue to tell me that she looks Thai
There's also a war mentality caused by a forty-year-old cease fire, which exposes itself in two ways. Firstly, the older generation doesn't wait for anyone, throwing elbows or shoulders and brazenly cutting in line. Older drivers don't wait for anyone, either, turning right out of the far left lane or left out of the far right. Secondly, there's a legacy of military-style management. Information is power. Nothing is disclosed until the last possible moment, and everyone jumps on whatever seems most urgent at the time. This is what I learned in school as crisis management. If you look at the link with a list of sixteen of mis-management factors, you'll get a good overview of Korean management style at the places I've worked. It drives me nuts and destroys my job motivation.
Then there's stupid shit like requiring a Korean national ID number to do anything -- purchasing online or posting in web forums. I have a number just like theirs, but my alien ID number doesn't go into the database and I'm cut out. By the way, the online registration requirement was due to an actress killing herself after being slandered (libeled?) online. Instead of using the tragedy as a teaching point that people's words are not a good reason for committing suicide, the government effectively taught people that it IS a good reason, and that you need protection from the government in the form of netiquette police and a three strikes law.
Finally, there's the nationalism. Being an American, I may not be in a position to criticize, but the constant misinformation and outright censorship in order to boost or keep the national image really bugs me. That would be true if I saw it in the U.S., too.
That's my rant.
Interesting (Score:2)
I presume you're in Seoul, brother Daengbo? Very interesting post. Thank you.
Normally nice people will drive full-speed right through a crosswalk full of children in a school zone and expect the children (outside their circles) to get out of the way or die, I guess. The same drivers will stop for someone they have a relationship with.
Heh. I have not yet been to Korea, though I would like to go some day. My most dangerous moments on a bicycle in Japan were dodging cars *on* the sidewalk. Perhaps I should write that up ...
The family thing has all but been obliterated in "western" society. I hope Asia resists.
Re: (Score:1)
Thanks for the comments. Actually, I've spent the whole time in rural Korea -- the first couple years in actual farm land. Small-town Korean drivers still manage to drive like big-city, New York drivers.
As I wrote in the title, the country's got good and bad. Some days, the bad seems like the lion's share, though, and today is one of those days.