Been living in South Korea 13 years now, ask me anything!

[perchorin]

My nephew is thinking about spending some time in South Korea next year. I believe (we don't communicate that often) it's something to do with his studies at University. Where would you say he really must see, and what should he totally avoid?
Incidentally, if ethnicity is important, and if South Koreans can differentiate between white guys, he has no trace of U.S. ancestry - he's (let me calculate) 1/4 Welsh, 1/4 English, and 1/2 Flemish. He's fluent in English, his first language is Flemish / Dutch, and he speaks French and some German.

Over here, white is white. Actually I never knew how good white guys have it over here until after I got married to a Korean girl. Drunk racist men notwithstanding (see a few posts above) I almost always get the friendliest VIP service wherever I go. Just yesterday at lunch the cook came out from the kitchen to give me an extra helping of meat with my meal. This kind of thing happens all the time! Everything is big smiles and I generally am able to get anything I want, even if it's not on the menu so to speak. I always knew I had it pretty good, but it wasn't until I got married and saw the service my wife gets and her treatment by people like movers (we just moved to a new place last week) and waitresses and the like. It's basically what you guys get in your home country. That may be fine, but I don't think you'd confuse it for VIP treatment.
What your nephew sees and does will depend a great deal on where he's staying. Likely as not he'll be in Seoul which, as already covered, I have nothing but disdain for. In my opinion, one gigantic city is pretty much like the rest no matter where you go. I will say he should avoid the places where US military congregates. Those are trouble spots generally. There's really no one "must see" sight here but the food is delicious and the countryside is beautiful. I may not be the guy to ask though as it now seems quite obvious I'm not a fan of urban life. One thing I can guarantee though is he'll have no shortage of Koreans offering to take him to any number of "world famous" places once he gets here. They're inordinately proud of their peninsula and take every opportunity to show off to the foreigners. Tell him to get ready to see 1000 temples that all pretty much look the same.

Hi,as one Western expat living in Asia to another how do you regard Western armchair critics of Eastern culture,in particular the irrational (to me) revulsion re. what animals it is acceptable to eat?

Yeah I agree. Can't stand that sanctimonious bullshit either. Several years ago there was a French-based group who decided to protest the consumption of dog meat over here. Likely as not the were mostly vegans or something anyway, but why travel halfway around the world when people eat foix fucking gras in the country you're already in? Food and humor are about as culturally intransitive as you can get and really shouldn't be criticized by people outside of said culture. Also, I'm 99% sure there would be far less whale consumed in this part of the world if people in the west would just shut the f*ck up about it. It's become a nationalist issue in Japan and half the people who I know who eat it do so just as a "f*ck you" to people who say they shouldn't. All that being said, the storage and preparation of dog for consumption here is quite horrific. Imagine veal, except after they're pulled out of the tiny cage they've spent their entire lives in the dogs are beaten with a steel rod and thrown into a boiling vat still alive. All this to make the meat more tender so it's said. I say, eat what you want but don't be a cruel vicious prick about it to the animal you're about to consume.

[BigBallinStalin]

2. How do Koreans generally feel about the US presence of military there? What's there general take on US involvement with their country?

There is a very clear generation gap as regards the US military presence in Korea. If you're over 60 (and with the aging population problem over here, that's a very significant percentage) you have nothing but warm fuzzy feelings for Uncle Sam and his boys. Mi-ka-duh (MacArthur) is still revered by this group. If you're 30-60 you likely see the US military presence as an unfortunate necessity, but would be happy to see them pack up and leave someday (unless you're particularly astute and realize the dollar value of the free security services being provided). If you're under 30 you generally hate the US military presence and many go so far as to claim the US is the enemy and sole preventer of peaceful reunification with the north. Young people here are pretty fucked up! A poll a few years ago of the local youth asked "who is the Republic of Korea's 'main enemy'" and Japan came in number one, the US at number two and North Korea was a distant third.

I wonder if the young may shift their attitude as they get older, or perhaps they could be correct--in that the US military is not necessary there. Perhaps a mutual defense pact is, but that can be honored without basing US troops in Korea.

Their attitude is interesting because the general US foreign policy argument against non-interventionism is that if they pull out US forces from Korea, then the Koreans would be extremely upset. They would have 'lost' an ally (even though there's still the mutual defense agreement...).

[_sabotage_]

Hi,as one Western expat living in Asia to another how do you regard Western armchair critics of Eastern culture,in particular the irrational (to me) revulsion re. what animals it is acceptable to eat?

I've eaten some pretty weird shit, but one dinner stands out. I was part of a diving consulting firm and we were negotiating our services with an operator in Hainan. They ordered and the first course was shark fin soup. It blew our we can help sustain and develop your operation argument straight out of the water.

[Symmetry]

Last time I was in Pusan, I wandered in to a hostess bar. How can they be avoided?

[_sabotage_]

Tell them you're a volunteer for the WHO.

[Symmetry]

Tell them you're a volunteer for the WHO.

Outright lying got me out. I'm more interested in how to identify them in the first place.

[_sabotage_]

If it looks like a barbershop but no one's getting a hair cut, has a red K in karaoke, a bar that doesn't have windows, a hotel without room service that offers in room massage, or if at any point they use English to say, "You strong man so pretty, want have drink?"

[Symmetry]

If it looks like a barbershop but no one's getting a hair cut, has a red K in karaoke, a bar that doesn't have windows, a hotel without room service that offers in room massage, or if at any point they use English to say, "You strong man so pretty, want have drink?"

None of these were applicable to my experience.

[betiko]

what do koreans think of the worldwide buzz with the gangnam style, are they proud of it?

how bad is the video game addiction in korea? Is it the worsein the world? what about technology? Are koreans 24/7 on their cellphone texting?
Is a video game champion more popular than a soccer player from the national team?

is it true that public denounciator has become one of the wealthiest jobs? I saw once on TV that many people used a camera on their windshield to track any small abuse and the government pays them for it. Same thing in schools. People try to trick others and can make big bucks. And denounciators are very proud of the disgusting thing they do...

do you have japanese electronics/cars in korea? if you do would people spit on you?

what about K-pop? is western pop music still popular, or it's just about the locals now?

[perchorin]

2. How do Koreans generally feel about the US presence of military there? What's there general take on US involvement with their country?

There is a very clear generation gap as regards the US military presence in Korea. If you're over 60 (and with the aging population problem over here, that's a very significant percentage) you have nothing but warm fuzzy feelings for Uncle Sam and his boys. Mi-ka-duh (MacArthur) is still revered by this group. If you're 30-60 you likely see the US military presence as an unfortunate necessity, but would be happy to see them pack up and leave someday (unless you're particularly astute and realize the dollar value of the free security services being provided). If you're under 30 you generally hate the US military presence and many go so far as to claim the US is the enemy and sole preventer of peaceful reunification with the north. Young people here are pretty fucked up! A poll a few years ago of the local youth asked "who is the Republic of Korea's 'main enemy'" and Japan came in number one, the US at number two and North Korea was a distant third.

I wonder if the young may shift their attitude as they get older, or perhaps they could be correct--in that the US military is not necessary there. Perhaps a mutual defense pact is, but that can be honored without basing US troops in Korea.

Their attitude is interesting because the general US foreign policy argument against non-interventionism is that if they pull out US forces from Korea, then the Koreans would be extremely upset. They would have 'lost' an ally (even though there's still the mutual defense agreement...).

Some of the folks who spent their youth hating on the US will no doubt soften or even change their views as they age, but not enough that I don't see a tipping point coming where a solid majority of South Koreans just don't want the American military on their soil anymore. The Americans do themselves no favors either by sending what I've been told are the bottom of the barrel types to serve over here (apparently a good portion of the soldiers on tour in the RoK are here because someone upstairs doesn't like them, and no I'm not claiming that's all the soldiers here--just a larger portion than you'd find stationed in Europe or Japan for example). This really shows when you hear about the constant troubles caused by the bad apples when they go out on leave and get drunk. A few weeks ago, a staff sergeant, his wife (also in the army) and a corporal decided it would be cool to take air guns into Seoul and shoot them at people. then when a local police officer tried to stop them they got into a car and went on a high speed chase through the streets of Seoul til they were finally cornered. Even then the driver was about to run the cops down in the street to get away until they shot him in the shoulder. Don't even get me started on all the rapes either. It really pisses me off because that shit reflects poorly on me as well as far as the locals are concerned. Anyway it's been my opinion for many years that the US should pull out of South Korea before it gets to the point they're kicked out. The troops and resources could obviously be used in better ways (ideally not at all but that's a different topic altogether) but the fact is these troops haven't been stationed here as a Nork deterrent for almost any point in the last 50 years. They were kept here first because of the USSR and now because of China. North Korea is just a convenient bogeyman to keep an army in this part of the world and everyone knows it.

Hi,as one Western expat living in Asia to another how do you regard Western armchair critics of Eastern culture,in particular the irrational (to me) revulsion re. what animals it is acceptable to eat?

I've eaten some pretty weird shit, but one dinner stands out. I was part of a diving consulting firm and we were negotiating our services with an operator in Hainan. They ordered and the first course was shark fin soup. It blew our we can help sustain and develop your operation argument straight out of the water.

Nothing about that story surprises me mate. Shark fin soup is another one of those, like dog, that I wouldn't care about people eating if not for the method if it's 'harvesting'. When Chinese fisherman catch a shark, they haul it onboard, cut off all it's fins (the only part of an average shark with market value) and, still alive, dump the now finless shark back into the ocean. That's like pulling the wings off a fly then flicking it into a spider web, but with a much higher order of animal. It's somewhat of a cliche to say it by now, but life's pretty cheap in this part of the world sometimes and nowhere is that truer than China. Used to be in the part of China nearest North Korea you could buy a North Korean refugee/escapee woman for as little as $500 US and make her your slave, but I've read the price has gone up to almost $1k in recent years.

Last time I was in Pusan, I wandered in to a hostess bar. How can they be avoided?

Unless the last time you were here was more than 7-8 years ago I'm not sure how you managed to do that. They've really tried to crack down on prostitution since then. They've failed miserably of course (in fact there's probably more now then there was before) but what they did accomplish was pushing it off the streets and bars and into massage parlors, karaoke clubs and the internet most of all. Anyway next time you're in the area I assure you you won't "accidentally" walk into any hostess bars of the sort you're probably referring to. Also, a lot of "whiskey bars" both here and in Japan feature dimly lit rooms with sexy young girls who sit at your table and poor your drinks for you. Those girls ARE NOT prostitutes (unless you have major money to drop, but then we've all got our price right?) their job is really just to sit with the middle aged dude and talk to him. It's an East Asian thing.

If it looks like a barbershop but no one's getting a hair cut, has a red K in karaoke, a bar that doesn't have windows, a hotel without room service that offers in room massage, or if at any point they use English to say, "You strong man so pretty, want have drink?"

Most of these things are either urban legends (has a red K in karaoke) or things of the past, for the reasons stated above. Make no mistake, prostitution is alive and well in the Republic but you have to work a wee bit harder to find it than you used to.

what do koreans think of the worldwide buzz with the gangnam style, are they proud of it?

how bad is the video game addiction in korea? Is it the worsein the world? what about technology? Are koreans 24/7 on their cellphone texting?
Is a video game champion more popular than a soccer player from the national team?

is it true that public denounciator has become one of the wealthiest jobs? I saw once on TV that many people used a camera on their windshield to track any small abuse and the government pays them for it. Same thing in schools. People try to trick others and can make big bucks. And denounciators are very proud of the disgusting thing they do...

do you have japanese electronics/cars in korea? if you do would people spit on you?

what about K-pop? is western pop music still popular, or it's just about the locals now?

So many questions, I'll take them one at a time.
1. what do koreans think of the worldwide buzz with the gangnam style, are they proud of it?
Yeah they're pretty proud of that, and you can't turn in a full circle anywhere in this country without seeing Psy's face on something right now. My wife and I went to the theater to see Django the other day (just got here) and I swear of the dozen ads you have to watch before they let you see the movie Psy was in nine of them! I wish that was a joke. All I have to say is, at least this time the guy is a legitimate "world star". In the past if a guy had a 30 second part in a Hollywood movie he'd be billed back here as a "world star". By the way, are they still playing that song where you guys live?
2. how bad is the video game addiction in korea? Is it the worsein the world?
First off, "video games" to me means playstation or xbox or the like. Those things relatively uncommon over here. All the games they play are on the PC. Not sure if there's a difference there but wanted to clear that up. I can see why you would think like this. As recently as three years ago there were no fewer than three different television channels that existed almost solely for broadcasting professional Starcraft matches and Koreans are no doubt over-represented in probably every international gaming community there is. What people gotta realize is this is a tiny country with a huge population. There really isn't the space for things like baseball diamonds or football pitches like what most of the rest of you are used to. They have them of course but for example, if you want to have an hour on the shittiest dirt pitch you've ever seen you have to schedule it weeks in advance and be an official team of some sort. So naturally boys being boys they fulfill their competitive urges in the most convenient manner available to them, PC games. It also helps that South Korea is home to the fastest internet in the world (also somewhat of a byproduct of the nations small size and population density). It drives me nuts trying to do anything online when I visit my parents back home because I'm used to lightning fast internet over here. As for "addiction" though, it may relatively high here the same way addiction to chewing coca leaf is high in Bolivia--there's just so much of it some people are bound to become addicted but most people handle it just fine. South Korea does have the highest suicide rate among OECD nations though, and while there are far more serious reasons than internet addiction contributing to that I wouldn't be surprised if internet addiction and the correspondent de-humanization some people experience with that was a factor.
3. what about technology? Are koreans 24/7 on their cellphone texting?
Technology here is pretty sweet. I've got a badass Samsung phone that (at least as of last year) wasn't even available in the US. As far as texting goes, from what I can tell teenagers/young folks in every part of the world who are rich enough to own cell phones are texting 24/7, amiright?
4. Is a video game champion more popular than a soccer player from the national team?
Not at all, not even close, it's an absurd thought. Every man woman and child over the age of three knows who Ji-sung Park is. Only people who are really into gaming (basically a certain small subset of young men, like punk rockers or metal heads in a western country) could tell you who is a game champion. Let me put it to you this way--based on what you see in the media you probably think everyone who lives in Texas is a crazy rightwing gun-toting nutjob. Being a native Texan myself I can assure you that those folks are a minority there (an admittedly uncomfortably large minority, but still). If, as I suspect, you're into online gaming you probably think Koreans come out of the womb already owning half a dozen League of Legends heroes but that's also simply not true.
5. is it true that public denounciator has become one of the wealthiest jobs? I saw once on TV that many people used a camera on their windshield to track any small abuse and the government pays them for it. Same thing in schools. People try to trick others and can make big bucks. And denounciators are very proud of the disgusting thing they do...
Not sure where you got this from but it's not a real thing. If you've ever had the misfortune to drive in this part of the world though you'd appreciate anything that got some of these assholes off the road. Driving in Korea has taken 10 years off my life I've no doubt.
6. do you have japanese electronics/cars in korea? if you do would people spit on you?
My TV is a Sony and my neighbor drives a Toyota. While I must admit there's a general antipathy that sometimes veers into full-on loathing towards the Japanese here the people are mostly pragmatic and know a good product when they see it. I teach English at a local high school and our juniors just took their annual class trip to Japan for the 4th year in a row. The only "spitters" over here are the same type of ultra-nationalist assholes that every country on earth has as probably 1-2% of their population.
7. what about K-pop? is western pop music still popular, or it's just about the locals now?
K-pop is a genre and yeah it's popular amongst the younger generation (I've been known to sing a k-pop song or two at karaoke myself from time to time) but for some reason people in the west want to believe that k-pop is the only kind of music that exists over here. Korea is no different from whatever country you live in when you turn on the radio. You'll find stations playing every musical genre you can think of, including that of western artists. What k-pop really is though is an exportable commodity and public relations goldmine. Japan had Hello Kitty and now Korea has Girl's Generation. If I took a survey of one of my classes (~32 students) no more than 8-12 would claim "k-pop" as their favorite genre. Again, I'm not sure where you're from but when I was a high school student in the States there were at least a dozen different genres of music that were popular with some group of kids or another. Here is no different.

Shit I think that's the longest post I've ever written but I really am enjoying sharing my views and experiences with you guys and getting some non-bullshit information out there in the process. Keep the questions coming!

[Symmetry]

Dude, i didn't say it was a brothel. It was not. Hostess bar is the term used in Japan.

[perchorin]

Dude, i didn't say it was a brothel. It was not. Hostess bar is the term used in Japan.

Then what was the problem? You can just walk right out the way you came.

[Symmetry]

Dude, i didn't say it was a brothel. It was not. Hostess bar is the term used in Japan.

Then what was the problem? You can just walk right out the way you came.

English social awkwardness, mostly. Hence the request for help identifying the problem before I encounter it.

[perchorin]

Dude, i didn't say it was a brothel. It was not. Hostess bar is the term used in Japan.

Then what was the problem? You can just walk right out the way you came.

English social awkwardness, mostly. Hence the request for help identifying the problem before I encounter it.

Ah I see. In Japan those places are pretty easy to spot but in Korea there's no real pattern to them. You won't know until you walk in the place. I'm curious though, how'd you end up walking into random bars in Busan on your own? I'm assuming you don't speak any Korean right?

[Symmetry]

Dude, i didn't say it was a brothel. It was not. Hostess bar is the term used in Japan.

Then what was the problem? You can just walk right out the way you came.

English social awkwardness, mostly. Hence the request for help identifying the problem before I encounter it.

Ah I see. In Japan those places are pretty easy to spot but in Korea there's no real pattern to them. You won't know until you walk in the place. I'm curious though, how'd you end up walking into random bars in Busan on your own? I'm assuming you don't speak any Korean right?

i wasn't alone.

[_sabotage_]

Those "not brothels" are all fun and games until you realize your wife is sitting at home tracking the GPS on your car, then you realize someone is getting hurt...you in a couple of hours.

[Maugena]

How can I pick myself up a sweet and cute Korean girl (18+)?

[perchorin]

How can I pick myself up a sweet and cute Korean girl (18+)?

Move over here and go to a bar near a university. It's pretty simple!

[perchorin]

Just now saw this--it cracked me up!

[crispybits]

There's loads more where that came from







I could go on.... 3 is enough

[muy_thaiguy]

Those made me lol.

[notyou2]

Have you tried the rice yet?

[spurgistan]

Having been here for a whole month, I'm easily 4 times the expert on Korea - nay, Asia - that ole Perchorin is.

Living in metro Seoul, I can vouch for it being the place where the worst of Korean culture and the worst of Western culture gets together.

It's funny, I wouldn't really know about the DPRK rattling sabers except for my family / friends back home asking me whats going on. Like I'd know. SK's are extremely used to the whole deal, really hard to overstate that.

As far as Korean men go, my complaint is that they all want to talk to the white westerner to work on their English skills. I get it, BUT I DIDN'T GO TO THIS RESTAURANT TO TALK TO YOU. SORRY.

[perchorin]

Having been here for a whole month, I'm easily 4 times the expert on Korea - nay, Asia - that ole Perchorin is.

Living in metro Seoul, I can vouch for it being the place where the worst of Korean culture and the worst of Western culture gets together.

It's funny, I wouldn't really know about the DPRK rattling sabers except for my family / friends back home asking me whats going on. Like I'd know. SK's are extremely used to the whole deal, really hard to overstate that.

As far as Korean men go, my complaint is that they all want to talk to the white westerner to work on their English skills. I get it, BUT I DIDN'T GO TO THIS RESTAURANT TO TALK TO YOU. SORRY.

Oh padawan, just wait until the first time you go to the public baths. It's naked dude English practice time for all in there!

[Dukasaur]

So, the big question: is it a country worth visiting? Is any of the old culture intact, or is all of it a modern shithole that might as well be an Asian-flavoured Chicago?