its funny how countries helped by the allies (korea/france etc) act more obnoxious than the ones who got their asses beat (japan/germany)…theres a theory I heard that its a debt they cant pay back, so they get an inferiority complex. bizarre. I mean we dropped a frickin nuke on japan and they are pretty damn civil towards americans
after deeper thought, there are a couple explanations for the korean “attitude”
A) most of their culture is borrowed from china
something like 30-40% of the spoken language is mandarin borrow words, this is pretty obvious when you look at words written in english like “do” for island “dao” in chinese, etc etc.
considering they are confucian/buddhist with some christians on the side basically there culture is based on a chinese model
B) they’ve were bitchslapped by japan for what, about 50 years
what is distinctly “korean”…hanboks? kim chee?
Speaking about paid sex in Korea…
I went there 9 years ago and stayed at a friends place. We had to walk thru one of Seoul’s numerous red lights neighborhoods in order to go anywhere. The only prostitutes offering their services to the foreigners (The way they would pester the locals) were old - you know like in 70 years of age.
Enjoy…
There are many hot girls in Korea, in the opinion of Western men. Reasons: 1. Like Taiwanese women, they are exotic, so look attractive to Westerners. To other Asians, most of them are ugly or average.
2. Plastic surgery is extremely common for young women in South Korea.
3. The women dress like prostitutes, which most men naturally find attractive. The first day I was in Seoul, I was so surprised by how many hookers there were. I realized later that they weren’t hookers - it was just how the average young woman dressed.
The foreign men I knew never had any problem getting sex for free. You just have to be persistent - most young women will insist that they are virgins, but that is just because the Korean men expect their wives to be virgins on the wedding night. The streets of the cities are lined with love hotels. None of them seem to be going out of business.
It’s true that the average attitude to the US is not good. The North was winning the Korean war before the UN and America entered, so I guess South Koreans really wish that they were starving to death with their Northern compatriots right now instead of wasting their time in Starbucks and McDonald’s.
I reckon most of you have never heard of or been to A-Town (American Town) in Korea?
I stayed there for a few months and thought it was great. Coming into the country, I was very receptive of their culture as one should (otherwise why even bother going). There were a couple of things which made me uncomfortable as an American and yes, it is a pretty male-oriented country, but thats just their culture. There are lots of things that the Koreans share with the Chinese, but there are also a ton of things that they have created on their own. The Korean written characteres- Hangul- is one of the simplest and easiest to learn in the world, also each character depicts the placement of your inner mouth/tongue when you pronounce the character. Also, the food is very unique and not just kimchee, you have bulgogi, bibimbap,haemul pajun to name just a few.
I think many foreigners bitch about Korea for several reasons and I have heard some from this forum as well as in Korea. The problem is that many foreigners do not seem to accept certain points about their culture especially with regarding nationalistic pride. You have to really read up on why the Koreans feel that way- there is a word called “Han” in Korean and it has a meaning of sadness which was due to all the foreign occupation from its history. If you ever go to Itaewon (the American base), it is a horrible place, quite dirty- lots of prostitutes,atmosphere sucked,stores weren’t clean, … anyways, lots of stuff going on that would make even an American like me pretty ashamed over there.
So I think if you want to go to Korea just for “fun” you’d better think twice. I think you have to expect to learn the culture even before you get there. If you just want to have fun and have the “exotic Asian trip”, come to Taiwan, oh no, better yet-- Bangkok.
Sorry, it’s a bit long…
Most of my friends who used to work in Seoul (including me) have talked nicely about Korea, beautiful Korean sceneries, temples, mountains and especially about Korean people.
The problem was rather that people were sometimes so kind, warm and smotheringly friendly that in some occasions they got a little nosy.
You can make life-long friends there.
You will be treated like a celebrity if you show slightest interest in the Korean language, Hangul or Korean culture.
Seoul is, like Taipei, quite international and foreigners feel quite comfortable living there.
If you go to smaller cities, you will sometimes get glances, mostly out of curiosity.
But in case you are walking along a street with a hot girl and you happen to look like a G. I. with short hair, some radical uni. students will give a dirty look.
The dirty look is usually more directed towards the girl. It’s a combination of hate and jealousy.
Actually, all the Americans, Hong Kongers, Singaporeans, and Taiwnese who have been there I know think Korean girls are the most beautiful.
They have egg shape faces (not round like many Taiwanese girls), clean teeth, high cheekbones, symmetric facial features, and very stylish.
As for Korean girls looking like sluts, some of them, yes. But brainy ones don’t dress like that.
The companies have dress codes like Tokyo and slutty looking ones will get dirty and unpleasant glances from people in the streets.
They don’t block sunshine with an umbrella like here, unless it’s really hot.
Korean girls’ obssession with looking beautiful and stylish is due to the influence by media, especially by beautiful stars from soap operas.
BTW, about 90 % of the soapies in Taiwan are Korean ones that are dubbed in Mandarin and many young people here take the stars’ pics to plastic surgeons to make them look like those stars.
I don’t think that the reason Korean girls are beautiful are due to cosmetic surgeries.
Korean children are I think the cutest ones I’ve ever seen. They are so adorable. They won’t need plastic surgeries.
It’s extremely hard to spot one overweight person there : most of the people there make it a rule to cook and eat home food instead of greasy fastfoods. And they know how to dress.
In Seoul, you can find interesting, cool and artistic people around Hong dae (Hongik Univ.) area, Shinchon, Insadong, etc.
There are lots of galleries, 24 hour supercool and stylish cafes, restaurants, clubs, etc.
Seoul is an interesting, ultra-modern and cosmopolitan city.
Kyongju has the eye-popping treasures and relics from 5000 years ago. A number of places there were designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.
Cheju island that’s often called small Hawaii is a popular honeymoon place, very beautiful and exotic.
Seorak mountains are stunningly beautiful with waterfalls, especially in autumn with colorful leaves and in winter with snow.
Most Koreans are crazy about hiking and mountain climbing and many
mountains have beautiful temples and humongous Buddha images.
Yong Pyong, Muju are excellent spots for skiing, much cheaper than in Japan.
Like in Taipei, PC cafes, KTVs, theaters are everywhere.
Movie industry is buzzing. Korea is considered as the second Hollywood nowadays. The Korean flicks such as “The Scandal”, “Classic”, “Acacia”, “Shilmido”, “The warrior” recently have been released at major Taiwan theaters.
It is the only country where 8 movies out of box office top 10 are local films.
If you try to learn the Korean Language, I think teaching in Seoul would be an interesting experience.
But frankly, it’s easier to save here and more convenient to eat around.
I think Taipei is the only city in the world where you don’t have to cook that much.
The following is one of the reasons why some Koreans have anti - U. S. attitude.
The feeling is towards U. S. government (military-led), not towards ordinary American people.
[u]-[b] The brutal U.S. occupation and subsequent control of Korea following the Japanese defeat in August 1945,
and the voluminous number of war crimes committed between 1950 and 1953 [/b][/u]
The Korean War itself grew out of U.S. refusal to allow a genuine self-determination process to take root.
The Korean people were exuberant in August 1945 with their new freedom after being subjected to a brutal 40-year Japanese occupation of their historically undivided Peninsula.
They immediately began creating local democratic peoples’ committees the day after Japan announced on August 14 its intentions to surrender.
By August 28, all Korean provinces had created local peoples’ offices and on September 6 delegates from throughout the Peninsula gathered in Seoul, at which time they created the Korean People’s Republic (KPR).
The United States had a different plan for Korea.
At the February 1945 Yalta conference, President Roosevelt suggested to Stalin, without consulting the Koreans, that Korea should be placed under joint trusteeship following the war before being granted her independence.
On August 11, two days after the second atomic bomb was dropped assuring Japan’s imminent surrender, and three days after Russian forces entered Manchuria and Korea to oust the Japanese as was agreed to avoid further U.S. casualties, Truman hurriedly ordered his War Department to choose a dividing line for Korea.
Two young colonels, Dean Rusk (later to be Secretary of State under President’s Kennedy and Johnson during the Vietnam War) and Charles H. Bonesteel, were given 30 minutes to resolve the matter.
The 38th parallel was quickly, and quietly, chosen, placing the historic capital city of Seoul and 70 percent, or 21 of Korea’s 30 million people in the “American” southern zone.
This was not discussed with Stalin or any other political leaders in the U.S. or among our allies. Surprisingly, Stalin agreed to this “temporary” partition that meant the Russians already present in the country would briefly occupy the territory north of the line comprising 55 percent of the peninsular land area.
On August 15, the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) was formed and on September 8, 72,000 U.S. troops began arriving to enforce the formal occupation of the south.
…
In December 1945 General John R. Hodge, commander of the U.S. occupation forces, created the Korean Constabulary, led exclusively by officers who had served the Japanese.
Along with the revived Japanese colonial police force, the Korean National Police (KNP), comprised of many former Korean collaborators, and powerful right-wing paramilitary groups like the Korean National Youth and the Northwest Youth League, the U.S.Military Government and their puppet Syngman Rhee possessed the armed instruments of a police state more than able to assure a political system that was determined to protect the old landlord class made up of rigid reactionaries and enthusiastic capitalists.
By the fall of 1946, disgruntled workers declared a strike that spread throughout South Korea.
By December the combination of the KNP, the Constabulary, and the right-wing paramilitary units, supplemented by U.S. firepower and intelligence, had contained the insurrections in all provinces.
More than 1,000 Koreans were killed with more than 30,000 jailed. Regional and local leaders of the popular movement were either dead, in jail, or driven underground.
With total U.S. support Rhee busily prepared for a politically division of Korea involuntarily imposed on the vast majority of the Korean people.
Following suppression of the October-December insurrection, the Koreans began to form guerrilla units in early 1947.
There were sporadic activities for a year or so.
However, in March 1948, on Korea’s large Island, Cheju, a demonstration objecting to Rhee’s planned separate elections scheduled for May 1948 was fired upon by the KNP.
A number of Koreans were injured and several were tortured, then killed.
This incident provoked a dramatic escalation of armed resistance to the U.S./Rhee regime.
[b]The police state went into full force, regularly guided by U.S. military advisors, and often supported by U.S. military firepower and occasional ground troops. On the Island of Cheju alone, within a year as many as 60,000 of its 300,000 residents had been murdered, while another 40,000 fled by sea to nearby Japan.
Over 230 of the Island’s 400 villages had been totally scorched with 40,000 homes burned to the ground. [/b]
As many as 100,000 people were herded into government compounds. The remainder, it has been reported, became collaborators in order to survive.
On the mainland guerrilla activities escalated in most of the provinces. The Rhee/U.S. forces conducted a ruthless campaign of cleansing the south of all dissidents, usually identifying them as “communists,” though in fact most popular leaders in the south were socialists unaffiliated with outside “communist” organizations.
Anyone who was openly or quietly opposed to the Rhee regime was considered suspect.
[b]Therefore massive numbers of villagers and farmers were systematically rounded up, tortured, then shot and dropped into mass graves.
Estimates of murdered civilians range anywhere from 200,000 to 800,000 by the time the hot war broke out in June 1950. [/b]
The hot war allegedly began at Ongjin about 3 or 4 A.M. (Korean time) June 25, 1950.
Just how the fighting started on that day depends on one’s source of information.
It is mostly irrelevant, since a civil and revolutionary war had been raging for a couple of years, with military incursions routinely moving back and forth across the 38th parallel.
Hey, I’m all in favor of the US military leaving South Korea. Then the South Koreans could be united by their northern compatriots and they could all live in a Korean paradise.
What are they saying about Itaewon? good tailors, many bars!
I smell a troll or someone fishing for trouble. Reads like taken out of a Pyongyang brochure if you ask me - total bullshit and rubbish.
Taiwan doesn’t get as much anti-U.S. sentiment, because a whole generation has passed since our military last used Taiwan for a whorehouse. Also, while xenophobia is possible in Taiwan, nationalism is a lot harder since the Taiwanese can’t agree among themselves as to what kind of nation to be nationalistic for.
Koreans seem physically larger than most Taiwanese, and the men learn tae kwon do or something in the army. This means they’re more likely to fight. They’re also more likely to get drunk, I think. In combination with the anti-Americanism…well, this could occasionally have an impact upon you, so to speak.
I don’t know why you wouldn’t be able to find a girlfriend in Korea. One difference would be that your Korean girlfriend will have to put up with rude comments from others who, observing the two of you in mixed-race bliss, wish to protest this dilution of the purity of Korean womanhood.
You may also want to know that Korean employers routinely cheat foreign English-teachers, whereas Taiwanese ones do so only sporadically.
I bet globaltrekker is a Korean. I think I have learned what Korean national pride is now! :yinyang:
Korea hardly seemed like an occupied country when I was there - but that was in 1995.
The funny thing is that they seem to hate their saviors - I mean that the US has hardly done them any harm. However, globaltrekker would prefer to live in the north, be patriotic and eat one meal per day.
Funny that I was speculated as a Korean, hahaha 
.
My name is Ryan Ng and I am a Singaporean.
I am a PhD student in Modern Korean History at Seoul National University.
At the moment, I am taking an advanced Mandarin course at Taiwan Normal University and teaching at a couple of universities in Taipei as a part-timer.
Since Korea and Koreans were generally bashed a lot and terribly misunderstood in this thread, I wanted to write differently.
I lived in Korea for five years and am fluent in Korean. I wanted to give genuine tips on where to visit Korea.
No offense to any folks here.
Sorry if you had an unpleasant experience in Korea.
Personally, I had a wonderful time living, studying and teaching in Korea.
I was not interested in chasing after dumb girls at clubs or bars (they just DO NOT turn me on!!) and I already had a long term American girlfriend.
However, while being busy with my work and searching for my soul,etc., quite a few girls showed interest in me and it took a little will power.
Some of my best friends are Koreans all of whom are incredible.
globaltrekker…
I don’t think anyone took offense at your post… and I hope you didn’t take any offense at others’ posts.
Having spent the time in Korea, you should be well aware that while the info you provided is likely true, it is also true that many Koreans (often younger) are not happy with the US military presence in Korea and that many Americans are somewhat perturbed by that resentment… after all, we did lose 37,000 US soldiers keeping SK from the fate suffered by their relatives in NK.
Despite the (bad) acts of some (a very few) US soldiers in Korea, it would be nice if the Koreans would acknowledge our contribution to their present relative level of comfort and freedom.
And if they cannot find it in them to appreciate our efforts, I would fully support a complete US withdrawal from Korea. Then, they can deal with and spend their own money on their defense.
The recent reasons for demonstrations were
encroachment on Kroean farmlands, dissatisfaction with the current Status of Forces Agreement, U.S. military contamination of the environment especially in Kunsan.
Based on my experience, not all the young Koreans are resentful of the U. S. military presence.
Though many Koreans blame America for the cause of tjhe division of two Koreas and the 1950 Korean War in the past,
at this situation of on and off nuclear threats from tricky Kim Jung ill, most of them seem to appreciate their presence.
Although anti-American protests in S. Korea have received most of the media attention, demonstrations in support of U.S. troops have been also growing.
Recently, about 30,000 South Koreans demonstrated in support of the U.S. military presence. I saw it on CNN and read about it from yahoo.
The sad fact is that lots of Koreans still have their brothers, sisters or parents in the North and some of them cannot sleep well every night, worrying about the well-being of their family members.
What Koreans want is a peaceful unification utilizing so-called “Sunshine Policy”.
South Korea is economically powerful nowadays (it’s considered as cool among my pals to own that chic Samsung Digit-All multi-shot navy blue cell phone of which the ads you see all over Taipei Main Station corridors)
and they are willing to sacrifice economically in case of unification.
Also, North Korea is rich in natural resources.
Another fact is that radical demonstrating students (about 10 to 15 % of the whole student population) have been blamed by the rest of the students and their parents for the fact that they habitually cut class and take to the streets for rallies.
As for getting dirty looks in the streets, it usually happens in smaller cities in case you look like a G. I. and a girl next to you looks like a sl*t.
They speculate…either that you are using her for sexual purpose (believe it or not, most Korean guys still want virgins for their wives)
or that the girl’s keen on marrying an American and getting a green card.
As a matter of fact, girls who dress like prostitutes openly get mean and cruel remarks from Korean men and women in the streets unlike in Singapore.
[quote=“globaltrekker”]
As a matter of fact, girls who dress like prostitutes openly get mean and cruel remarks from Korean men and women in the streets unlike in Singapore.[/quote]
Don’t believe all the horseshit LKY or the Straits Times tells you. The environment at the Straits Times was very racist indeed, I often heard anti-foreign comments such as “they come here, get paid 2X as much, and take our jobs.” Furthermore, my girlfriends in Singapore often got dirty looks from the locals and I could often hear people mutter SPG (Sarong Party Girl) under their breath. As cosmopolitan as the government would like you to think the country is, there is a lot of “nativist” and “heartlander” sentiment among large segments of the population.
Chewy
Daft statement. That doesn’t excuse anything. Korea is a rich enough place to have ditched all their superstitious chauvinism. They haven’t. That makes it a boorish place to live and work, especially for women.
And quite right, too. Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. And it also gets in the way of clear thinking and better relations. I daresay that most of the bad feeling created between Korea and “foreigners” is largely down to this nationalistic attitude.
Why then does China not have a similar attitude? The Chinese people I know are far more accepting of foreign influence. Has Taiwan also not had a history of occupation? This is no excuse, either.
Itaewon is not half as bad as you paint it. Great casual french Bistro there and plenty of non-seedy nightlife. The fact that most ambassadorial residences are just off the main street should give people an idea of the place and the available variety of decent restaurants and the odd half-decent deli/wine bar. And of course you forget that the only thing that distinguishes Itaewon from other (far more) seedy parts of town is the foreign influence!! where that influence is barred, Koreans have managed to fashion their own far seedier areas.
Finally, we agree on something.
[quote]Why then does China not have a similar attitude? The Chinese people I know are far more accepting of foreign influence. Has Taiwan also not had a history of occupation? This is no excuse, either.
[/quote]
If you know about Chinese history, you will know that China had dominated Asia for most of the two to three thousand years. Sorry to say but, China was the dominant power, no “Han” there. The Taiwanese do feel this way, and many feel they have no identity. From my parents, my relatives, and my gf’s point of view, they all believe Taiwan has lost its identity many many years ago- to the Japanese, and to the KMT government. Many native Taiwanese feel much bitterness towards the KMT especially the old generation- my grandparents as well.
[quote]Itaewon is not half as bad as you paint it. Great casual french Bistro there and plenty of non-seedy nightlife. The fact that most ambassadorial residences are just off the main street should give people an idea of the place and the available variety of decent restaurants and the odd half-decent deli/wine bar. And of course you forget that the only thing that distinguishes Itaewon from other (far more) seedy parts of town is the foreign influence!! where that influence is barred, Koreans have managed to fashion their own far seedier areas.
[/quote]
Actually the last time I went, maybe you haven’t noticed, but there are a lot of prostitutes in that area. The people who work in that area could give a rats ass about customer service too. There aren’t any nice places to eat or even department stores the last time I went. Ummm, maybe you were thinking of City Hall, or near Kangnam. The restaurants were also the dirtiest I’ve seen, compared to places like Dongdaemun, Shinchon, and Kangnam. If that place was nice, I don’t think so many locals would detest it. Even my American friends I hung out with said it sucked.
Your opinion of Korea being boorish sound like most countries in the world anyways where males are still primarily the dominant sex in power. Also you haven’t seen nationalistic pride until you’ve been to France or heck even America. Most Americans who travel abroad, especially to countries other than Europe are very condescending to locals. They have this mentality that everything is relative to themselves. So I would not judge Korea just because of their nationalistic pride. I don’t know about you, but that actually makes me want to learn their culture even more.
Horseshit. I’m American and I’m so condescending to Europeans I wouldn’t even give them the pleasure of knowing I am spending their money.
South Korea’s national pride sure didn’t make me want to learn about their culture more, it caused me to decide to travel to countries devoid of their brand of nationalist BS. My house is full of South Korean appliances–now how many S. Korean families have I fed and why don’t I deserve to be treated with a little respect when I travel there? You bet it is relative to myself, especially when I am plunking down money on a trip. Depends on what you look for in a vacation, I guess.
I guess that goes for all the Asian vacationers in America who get treated like horseshit too. Go figure.