The JoongAng Ilbo (Korean) reports that authorities need to do something quick about the Japanese Foreign Ministry homepage’s section on Korea. More specifically, the “Safety” section, a travel advisory posted for the benefit of Japanese travelers going to Korea, is overly negative.
It’s so bad, in fact, that it could give Japanese tourists the impression that Korea is some Third World shit hole.
In the crime section, the website cites the 2005 Korea Police Agency white paper on crime. It posted stats (from 2004) for eight crimes, including burglery, fraud, embezzlement and rape, noting that while violent crime was decreasing, economic troubles had led to an increase in economic crimes, computer crime, and women and youth crime. Interestingly, on the pages for nations with higher crime like the United States, Great Britain and China, such statistics do not appear.
In the section on things to watch out for during your stay in Korea, it says that military facilities are quite expansive, and you need to be careful of photographing them. There’s also mention of the National Security Law. The section instills fear into the reader, noting that communist activity is considered a crime against the state and is subject to serious punishment, including death.
Nihon Sekigun, consider yourself warned.
Continuing on, the traffic section is — shockingly — full of negative content. It says that traffic congestion in urban areas is severe, and that drivers cut people off, fail to obey lights or stay in their lanes, shoot off, park illegally and drive into head-on traffic. Oh, and that the motorcycles dudes weave in and out of traffic. It also warned drivers to be careful because pedestrians sometimes ignore crosswalks and lights and pop up in the middle of traffic. Care was needed on highways because of frequent accidents, and that auto accidents were three times as great per capita than in Japan, and six times as great per car owner.
In the customs and manners section, the first thing it mentions is that with the exception of proper names such as the Chosun Ilbo and Choson Hotel, the word “Joseon” is not used, and that Japanese should avoid using it, since a) it brings to mind the unhappy past of the Japanese colonial era and b) is how North Korea refers to itself.
(Marmot’s Note: Frankly, that seems like something you’d actually want Japanese tourists to know before they arrived, lest they go around calling people chosenjin. But that’s just me.)
In the sanitation section, Japanese are advised not to drink the water due to poor water quality (Marmot’s Note: I’ve heard it’s actually safe — in fact, I believe Seoul City is trying to promote this — but fucked if I can remember seeing anyone, local or foreigner, actually drink from the tap), and that due to poor sanitation, there are cases of people getting food poisoning or hepatitis after eating at restaurants or outdoor food stalls. The section also awards separate passages for cholera, epidemic hemorrhagic fever, malaria and Japanese encephalitis, giving the impression that these are common diseases in Korea, when in fact they are not.
It also says that most pharmacists cannot speak Japanese (duh), and many Korean drugs that either very potent or have strong side effects, so you should bring household medications with you from Japan. It also notes that Korean hospital treatment and hospitalization are relatively expensive.
Despite this, the JoongAng Ilbo writes, the Korean Foreign Ministry, Korean embassy, Ministry of Culture and Korea Tourism Agency are unaware of how Korea is being described on the Japanese Foreign Ministry homepage. When asked on Monday, the Korean embassy responded by saying the man in charge of such matters was out. A Ministry of Culture official in charge of promoting Japanese tourism to Korea said he’d not seen the website, and that he’d have a look.
48 Comments
somewhere in the East Sea, Bee-man’s phone vibrates.
Japanese are on the whole sheltered, squeamish travelers. I’m surprised there are not similar entries for every foreign country. I didn’t check, but I wonder if the JoongAng did so.
I dunno, you’re gonna find travel advisories like that on a lot of countries’ pages. I’ll bet *gasp* the Joongang Ilbo played it up a little bit.
Just wait until they get their hands on what the Embassy has to say about teaching in Korea. Well, good thing everybody has already taken to the streets, it’ll save them some time.
It’s the traditional Japanese view of Koreans as people that have genetic traits toward committing large amounts of crimes.
But who cares what they think?
Aren’t there much more pressing problems and needs that need to be addressed at this time?
Koreans want to see respect, but frankly the way the Koreans have been behaving… all I can say is “you earn respect, not demand them”.
Wow, cm, you have really impressed me lately with your unexpected viewpoints.
I suppose baduk or someone will come along soon and claim you are not a “real Korean”.
The Japanese people I’ve spoken to do make the distinction between North and South Koreans. South Korea is called the land where Yonsama came from and South Koreans are called people from Yonsama’s country. Okay, just kidding.
South Korea is generally called Kan Ko Ku and South Koreans are generally Kan Ko Ku Jin. You say Chosen Jin and the strong image of North Koreans (and/or dirt poor Zanichi) does leap out in the Japanese consciousness.
Per the post, this is proof that the Korean government likes to talk in wide sweeping generalities when it comes to increasing tourism, but doesn’t have a detailed, systematic plan for tackling the issue. “Korea Sparkling” perhaps, but also having liaisons with the major tourist guide publishers and tourist ministries of rich neighboring countries is an important detail left out of the planning committee (if there was ever in fact a committee put together).
Thank goodness the won is declining in value. It appears to be the single greatest determinate in keeping Koreans (and their money) in Korea and making Korea attractive to Japanese and Chinese as a tourist destination. Competing on price basis alone. Korea have GOT to learn how to stop doing that!
Hmmm… let’s review:
Driving is bad: check (compared to Japan, Koreans drive like… well, words fails me)
Street vendor food is very bad: check (I never got food-poisoning in Japan, I got sick alongside a lot of Koreans while in Korea)
Street ‘crime’ is bad: check (compared to Japan, Korean streets are much more… dynamic at 2am)
Right on so far. I think the Japanese website might have facts than most Korean newspaper “articles”.
Someone should inform the Japanese that those Korean crimes are in fact committed by foreigners. So I’m told.
I don’t think Koreans (and foreigners residing in Korea) have any more propensity to committ crimes then Japanese (and foreigners that live in Japan, and their are a lot of ‘em). It’s just that Korea’s police is a lot more incompetant so people with criminal intent have better confidence that they will get away with it in Korea.
The traffic section is spot on!
Anyway, in regards to the water, it’s been USA-style safe to drink since 2002. The waterworks has a website, in, gasp, ENGLISH:
The Office of Waterworks, Seoul Metro. Gov.
Robert, get your knowledge on and have a cup from the tap!
USA-style safe?!
Good heavens, no one will trust it then.
Anyone here remember the not-to-long-ago days when bottled water - at that’s Korean bottled water - was illegal for domestic sale to Koreans? Could be sold to diplomats, USFK and those w/ SOFA status though.
One wonders why it took until 2002 to make such a claim of purity.
‘Street vendor food is very bad: check (I never got food-poisoning in Japan, I got sick alongside a lot of Koreans while in Korea)’
expat lies to make point. check. par for course. check.
I suppose a Gravatar of Kando is better than Christopher Paul O’Neill, however my Gravatar advises me to tell you “kkum kke!”
According to the Korean doctor I go to, who is also my friend, malaria, TB and measles ARE problems in South Korea.
And…Korea is a 3rd world country with 1st world technology.
#13 Have you ever eaten street vendor food in Korea? Obviously not. Again, according to my doctor buddy, thousands of Koreans get sick from these street foods every year, particularly in the summer months.
More shit your draft dodging ass knows nothing about #13. Why don’t you be a real Korean patriot/man. Come to Korea, join the army and get a clue about what life is like here. Until then, you aren’t even a real Korean.
Checkmate!
korea is first world country with third class westerners. sorry to burst your bubble, john. or rather, your overalls. lol!
‘kkum kke’
can you write that in korean or chinese so that i can understand it?
everything on there is pretty much true or has some merit so whats the big deal?
petty people
# 14,
It’s not Kando, but the kingdom of Balhae at its height.
All in all…
I’ll take my chances walking the streets of Seoul late at night then walking in Downtown L.A., Manhattan or London at the same time of the day.
I walk around Manhattan the same as I did Seoul at night. And the map does show the irredentist territory of Kando.
Technically it can be both as it’s a map of southern Manchuria and Kando and Balhae occupied both general regions. But the general outline of the borders is of Balhae.
Kando never claimed the Liaodong peninsula.
About the only problem that my Japanese family members have had while visiting Korea has been this need for many Koreans to discuss the their or their relatives’ experiences during the Japanese occupation.
I must admit that it’s usually not done in any sort of accusatory fashion, but it does lend itself to making for an awkward conversation.
Overall, my family has always had positive experiences while visiting here in Korea.
Seoul is almost certainly safer than London or New York as far as street crime goes, but to argue that Korean street stall food doesn’t sometimes make people sick is just as delusional as believing Korea will ever regain Kando from China.
Having said that, the avatar is an improvement on the last one. (Thank you for getting rid of that diddler’s face.) And, especially after a few beers, I’ve been known to eat the street food. (Which, truth be told, is often very tasty. Maybe three minor cases of food poisoning over the course of eleven and a half years isn’t all that bad!)
#8,
Yes, many of these things are true to a certain degree…but it seems a tad odd that they go out of their way point these ‘facts’ out and don’t do the same on their pages that feature other countries, don’t you think?
#10,
That door swings both ways. Incompetent cops, when they try to appear as if they are making themselves useful, have been known to ‘forget’ to inform a suspect of his rights, fabricate evidence, and lie to prosecutors.
#13,
Mmm, right. Food poisoning is quite common in Korea, actually. I’ve stopped counting the number of times I’ve gotten it, but once it was so severe that I had to be hospitalized. The problem is that enforcement of sanitation laws is lax.
#16,
Was that necessary?
(But, yeah, I doubt he’s ever dipped ‘oddeang’ in the communal soy sauce).
#17,
Simply racist.
map is of balhae not gando.
#25
“(They) don’t do the same on their pages that feature other countries”
Did you check that? Did you actually read the site and compare the pages?
I did.
Only difference I’m aware of is that it’s got a LIST of eight crimes or not. They do the same to other countries as well.
#27
“Interestingly, on the pages for nations with higher crime like the United States, Great Britain and China, such statistics do not appear.”
#28
Yeah, you mean just 8 lines of the list, right? Big deal!
@6. Yonsama’s people! lol!
as for the street food. I wouldn’t touch those chicken on a stick things they sell. There is a good reason that chicken is so cheap.
I also wouldn’t touch the street hamburgers they sell too. Again, there is a reason people call them “rat-burgers”.
“Interestingly, on the pages for nations with higher crime like the United States, Great Britain and China, such statistics do not appear.”
Still believe JoongAng Ilbo?
MoFA only quoted the statistics from Korean national police white paper.
And they do have same sort of stats on American cities,probably made by the local police.
Japan has always discouraged foreign travel by portraying other countries as dirty and dangerous. It’s one way in which they bolster national pride and reduce the influx of foreign ideas (to say nothing of losing money to foreign tourism competition). This is nothing new, and to a certain extent, the American media does the same thing (albeit not as specifically).
I’m really surprised that anyone would take this to be an accurate portrait of Korea. Except for maybe the driving dangers, most of these comments are way out of line. Street food? Sketchy in any country. Drinking water? Korea’s is some of the cleanest in the world. Street crime? Unless you count clumsy drunks, it’s virtually nonexistent.
Some of you expats in Korea don’t know how good you have it.
#32
We are not talking about a tourist guide here. It is a travel advisory posted for the benefit of travelers.
the US gov’s safety advisory for South Korea is pretty much the same.
I think the US State Department says something about not teaching English in Korea as well.
Hurrah to Japan for writing up the most accurate tourist based assessment on korea that i’ve ever laid me eyes upon. KUDOS!!!
#32
“Japan has always discouraged foreign travel by portraying other countries as dirty and dangerous.”
Then why does Korea,the No.１travel destination for Japanese tourist?
And I don’t want repeat again and again,but the webpage is just quoting the data from
the South Korean Police.Other posters mentioning “The Japanese prejudice on Korea”is simply revealing theirs.
I have no idea why this is even a news.
#33 - OK, fair enough. We shouldn’t be expecting a travel advisory to be all roses. Just the opposite, actually. But portraying Korea as dangerous? Come on.
#34 - Wow, that’s just not true. The website you’re talking about says that anyone who wants to teach in Korea should be wary of their contract, and approach promises skeptically. Good advice. Claiming that the US’s message is “about not teaching English in Korea” is untrue to the same level as mad cow di-
Sorry, let’s not go there.
#35 - I’ll stand by by statement about Japanese propaganda. That Korea is still a popular tourist destination is probably because they’re so close. I assume you mean no. 1 ABROAD destination, right? Do you really think more Japanese tourists visit Seoul than Kyoto or Tokyo? If that’s true, I’ll retract completely. And for what it’s worth, I admire people from any country who look past their own government’s propaganda to experience the joys of travel.
“I assume you mean no. 1 ABROAD destination, right? ”
Aren’t we talking about Japanese foreign travel?
And why would anyone want to put anti-foreign travel propaganda on MoFa website’s travel caution section,when they could find more appealing places.
Embassy of Japan in Seoul is just cautioning their own national who spend their time in Korea of POTENTIAL danger.It’s more like you and JoongAng are forcing “Sparkling Korea” propaganda on others.
#36
Didn’t you see any sarcasm in “not teaching English in Korea” at all?
Anyway, if you claim that it is a Japanese propaganda(if exists), then you REALLY need to provide us evidence to back your claim.
I say “bullshit”. It is a simple plain fact that FOR Japanese the most countries are dangerous compared Japan. It’s a fact, period.
Well, besides I’ve never been discouraged by anyone. My big brother even went Palestine.
To me, you seem to be trying to spread false anti-Japan propaganda.
Opps. I mean “#37″.
compared to
went to
Oh boy..
BTW,American imperialist also dispatch vicious propaganda warfare on South Korean tourist industry.
From State Department web pages
Travel.State.Gov:
“U.S. citizens and their families, especially young adults, are advised to exercise prudence and caution when visiting the Hongdae and Sinchon areas of Seoul. These areas, where many night clubs are located, have occasionally been the sites of bar or street fights and harassment involving Westerners.”
According to Expedia’s survey[1][2], Japanese are the world’s best tourists.
You gotta have great deal of respect to other countries to gain that kind of reputation.
“portraying other countries as dirty and dangerous”? Simply not true.
Toru,
You can’t have it both ways. You post that other countries truly are dangerous and dirty compared to Japan, then you post that Japan’s portrayal of them as such is untrue. This does not make sense. As for “evidence” of mis-portrayal of foreign countries in Japanese media, I can’t even begin to imagine what I could give you that would conclusively meet any real criteria. Alex Kerr, in his book “Dogs and Demons” makes a good case, but even his evidence is more anecdotal than statistical. All I know is, whenever I watch Japanese news, all their shots of foreign cities look awful dingy.
Aceface,
OK, we got to the “American Imperialist” phase of the argument. Please remember that I included America in my original criticism.
““evidence” of mis-portrayal of foreign countries in Japanese media, I can’t even begin to imagine what I could give you that would conclusively meet any real criteria. Alex Kerr, in his book “Dogs and Demons” makes a good case”
Well,Don’t you think “Dog and Demon” itself is one case of mis-portrayal of Japan by foreign media?
Anyway,all I can say is Koreans will never have the equivalent of Alex Kerr among their foreign expat-community,if they are so hyper-sensitive to foreign criticism.
Aceface,
Well, obviously I don’t consider Kerr’s book to be a mis-portrayal. In fact, having read the book, I believe that Kerr truly loves Japan, and that his criticism comes from a desire to make Japan better. I don’t usually say that about any critical expat, but I believe Kerr is one of the few exceptions.
But I agree with you about an equivalent Kerr for Korea. I don’t know how Japanese people view Kerr, but I don’t think mainstream Korea could handle honest criticism from a foreigner.
The only problem here is the JoongAng Ilbo taking these routine reports out of context and wrongly telling its readers that only Korea is singled out for such treatment.
Hmmmm. I seem to remember another recent example of irresponsible and inflammatory media coverage at the core of major controversy in Korea.
Speak of Japanese government,they actually promoted heavily on taking Japanese to Korea in the past few years.Ministry of Foreign Affairs had promoted Korea-Japan friendship year in 2006 and this year is Japan Korea Joint-tourism promotion year,led by Misistry of Land,Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism and they are actually organizing many events nationwide to promote travel to Korea to Japanese public.
The site JoongAng Ilbo had accused is the website of Overseas Safety Information and more than hundred countries are listed with detailed information on safety matters ranging from terrorism to healthcare.
Japanese consulate in Seoul may have slightly detailed info than others,simply,because there are more Japanese citizens visit Korea than,say Afghanistan.
And because of that,consulate has to deal with more variety of troubles related with tourists,more job for the consulate,more info for them to put on the website hoping to reduce troubles in their hands.And you get some detailed info on what’s to be avoided when you are in Korea.
I don’t see anything morally wrong with that and I don’t see any malice to Korea in that either.
JoongAng reporter simply chose to do his assignement that can be written with only two minuites of googling and a few phone calls.And as long as it is anti-Japanese,his superior will buy it and print it as “an article”.
I’m pretty sure the sorry state of Korean mainstream media is the main reasons why Korean citizens are start getting more infos from the internet,for at least internet is free and JoongAng Ilbo is not,even though the reliablity is not much different.
And Granfalloon.
I too think Alex Kerr truly loves Japan and thinks only for the better of the country,just as Paul Wolfowitz does to Iraq until recently.
But at the same time,I also think there are more awful thing in the world than seeing a ditch covered with concrete.
I just don’t want to buy a packages of social reforms coming out from the illusion of an antique dealer who has completely distanced himself from everyday life of everyman.Besides,Kerr now lives in Thailand and only comes to Japan occasionary.
One Trackback
[...] Koehler from Marmot's Hole quoted from local newspapers about Japanese foreign ministry's homepage's travel advisory on South Korea. The website gives a bad impression on South Korean society. Posted by Oiwan Lam Share [...]