Who’d give their bank details to someone speaking Korean with a foreign accent anyway?..some locals or our Joseon jok must be helping out.

#12 Sonagi: Koreans = bah hah hah hah; you only have to sound official or be overly demanding and most people do what they’re told without thinking about it. it’s so easy to take advantage of people here because of exactly the lack of education about things like protecting your money, passwords, etc. education before regulation is a much better approach.

#13 Creo: i haven’t had to cough up any letters for Kookmin—yet. but i also haven’t tried to send over 2k in a long time. it’s the same documents and form and nosy flipping through my passbook, but no further inquires.

Sorry, guess typing and driving can both be dangerous when tired.

In fairness to kookmin Bank, I understand this branch manager was doing his job which is to keep deposits in the bank. However, doing a way with witch hunts for foreign companies that get the best of Koreans… a legal system that that favors the locals and… the crazy brother up North who likes to shoot off fireworks would be far more effective.

So, if it’s difficult for foreigners to get their money out of Korea, will they pause before putting it in ? You betcha. This will do nothing but discourage foreigners from investing in Korea in the first place.

Transparency : out
Barriers : in

Be careful what you wish for, Hermit Kingdom, you just might get it. I predict Korea will slip further down the GDP rankings.

“Foreigners are the source of this (all) crime(s), so the best way to prevent crime(s) is to blame the foreigners”.

Mmm, hmm. Sort of like that myth that all illegal drugs in Korea are here because of foreigners.

So, in other words, foreigners are guilty until…well…guilty.

Both Citi Bank and Kookmin (KB) now demand a letter (stating earnings) from an employer as proof that the funds you are transferring have been earned legally. Not much you can do about that as a crack down is probably long overdue in this country. However, the line of questioning that a Koomin branch manager tried to unleash on me when I last sent home a fair sum of cash home was definitely over the line.

Since this was right after the nuclear testing incident in the North, I am sure there was some apprehension foreigners may clear out their deposits with banks. That said, it has none the less been getting more difficult to get even legally earned funds out of Korea in the last year.

@#11: I think the “ethnic Chinese” are bilingual residents of Korea.