You hear a lot about the problems of “foreign spouses” in the Korean press, but as Michael Stevens points out in the Korea Times, we’re usually talking about foreign women married to Korean husbands. Foreign men married to Korean women, however, have their own set of problems that require addressing:
Sure, foreign men generally do not have to face the abuse and hardships that plague foreign women in the rural areas of Korea. However, we do face some of the same barriers, such as not being accepted into Korean society as equals. Also we face the same problems with language and cultural differences as our female counterparts. One of the biggest is the fear that our children will be treated differently or not accepted by their peers in school or the local community.
An example of problems we must deal with are in the banking system in which foreigners are looked upon as being a flight risk, as if we were criminals looking to steal the bank’s money. Because of this fact, foreign husbands are usually unable to get adequate bank loans in order to purchase homes or even a car in this country.
For most it is also nearly impossible to receive a Korean credit card; even though many of us have a good credit rating in our home country and make the same or even more money than the average Korean husband. Korea is very unfair to foreign men that have to support and raise a Korean family in this country. Most of us want to be good husbands and fathers, yet the government does nothing to help us provide adequate credit and housing for our families.
Stevens should count himself lucky. At least his Korean wife can get a bank loan. Try being married to another foreigner.
Read the rest on your own.
42 Comments
Let’s not forget the general harrassment delved out by Koreans…mostly verbal and mostly by the men.
My ex is Japanese and let me tell ya, Koreans don’t know how to tell the difference.
According to ten or so Korean men the ex was a whore, a slut, a traitor etc… The look on their faces when they found out she was Japanese!
And Koreans wonder why I’d never marry a Korean.
I wish someone would marry me.
Equality, huh? Some might argue that having the goal of equality with Koreans is aiming too low. Sometimes you just have to create your own reality.
When my (Korean) wife and I borrowed some money, the bank clerk salivated at my yearly income, agreed for the loan, and then got kicked in the jollies by his boss for giving a loan to a foreigner. The loan was canceled, and my wife had to apply again, on her own. And since her salary alone wasn’t enough, she had to get a co-guarantor. Which turned out to be…. *me*. So they made out a loan to *her* only, but with me as a guarantor! The logic of it — lack thereof really — was dumbfounding.
So living as a foreigner in a homogeneous country with 5000 years of history (give or take) ain’t so easy. no kidding… So much for equality.
His Korean wife can get a bank loan if she’s employed. If not, too bad. Get your facts straight.
Those bastards! Not giving loans to unemployed people??? The nerve…
I agree that as a long term foreigner in this country I should not have a problem getting a loan from a bank. I would even be willing to pay a small premium on the interest rate if as a foreigner I am deemed a flight risk, but that is not even an option.
I also fail to see where the risk is for the bank when providing a loan for 천세 when the money is automatically transferred to the landlord - If I skip town the bank gets the money back. If I buy a house and skip town, the bank then gets to repo the house and make a premium on the house.
However when I walk into a bank with my wife the first thing I was told was no. they didn’t even try to find an alternate solution. Very sparkling - anyhow I’m outta this country in a couple of years and don’t really care anymore.
It goes to even lower levels than this. My wife is Korean, I have an F2, yet I couldn’t even get a cell phone plan. I can begin to see the issues with loans (there’s a chance I could skip town with a significant amount of money), but a cell phone plan? How much money could I possibly end up owing on that?
They turn down millions in profit from foreign customers because of the chance of losing a small percentage of it. That’s called “cutting off your nose to spite your face.”
Although I did quite enjoy buying my car. The salesman informed me that there was no way I could get finance on it (not that I had asked), so I enjoyed telling him I’d be paying cash. I was tempted to hand over the guy’s height in 만원.
#7
when the husband is employed and pays taxes, it does take something special to say “your wife must apply”, then deny her because she’s unemployed.
#10
same problem here, but I’m F5, been here 12 years, no bad credit or debt, yet still can’t get a cell phone.
And Robert did say that his Korean wife could get a loan… Just saying that isn’t always the case.
Speaking of mobile phones, there was a time when a foreigner could get a mobile phone without any discrimination. My first phone was of the PCS variety, when that system came out — 016 numbers, was it late 1996? — then moved to 017, around 1998. Kept the same contract until I left in late 2004. I was a bit dismayed when I tried to reapply in 2006, and I was told that foreigners were not allowed, and never were… I had to laugh at that one. Instead asked mother in law to apply for me. It’s inconvenient in the sense that any time I want to ask something I need her with me. Not that I don’t like her…
Teacha781 — I meant his Korean wife wasn’t prevented from getting a loan due to her nationality. My bad. Perhaps I should have put that, “At least his Korean wife can get a loan, assuming she’s employed, has a decent credit rating, is not on the FBI terrorism watch list or subject to UN financial sanctions, or has some other black mark that might scare off a potential lender.”
Here we go again,……another boo-hoo session. So you married a Korean girl, okay, we all make mistakes, then you cry, complain, and shout in righteous indignation about how unfair Korean society is. Well, guess what, I agree.
However, don’t you guys get it? They don’t want us here, and they never will. I’m tempted to go on, but, I’ll spare you all. Just keep this in mind…..
KOREA IS NOT READY FOR POLITE SOCIETY.
Take your little K-thing back to a civilized country, teach her how to eat with a fork, how to chew with her mouth closed etc. , and get on with your lives.
In the end, you guys really come off as being more foolish than Koreans,…..and that AIN’T easy !
ehhh,…….good luck
I’ve had two phones since 2004 with no co-signing and I’m on a D-8. If you get denied, you probably need to go to a different store.
If all else fails, go to the Seoul Global Center at the Press Center (3F) where an absolute hottie–last I checked, anyway–will sport you an LG Telecom phone if you ask nicely.
Wedge — I am not long enough in Seoul every month to scour shops. ’sides, as I said, my mother in law sorted it out for me
As for LG and things foreigners can’t have easily, there used to be this unbelievable stunner at an LG Card office, on Chongno. Maybe it’s a trend
“Take your little K-thing back to a civilized country, teach her how to eat with a fork, how to chew with her mouth closed etc. , and get on with your lives.”
been shot down much?
blah blah need to speak out blah blah change won’t happen without effort blah blah blah
This is one of the aspects of living here that sucks hard: limited access to basic financial and business services based solely on my nationality /skin color. Because of this I buy imported as often as possible, do my banking with KEB and HSBC, etc.
And thanks Robert. Just pointing out it can be worse for couples where wifey isn’t listed in the workforce.
boo fucking hoo.
I’ve been married to my Korean wife for five years. There is a whole host of problems that I deal with. But guess what? If I was “back home” I’d be dealing with a different host.
Don’t believe me?
Go home.
Incidentally, I posted just as 17 was posting. I buy what he’s sellin’.
“So living as a foreigner in a homogeneous country with 5000 years of history (give or take) ain’t so easy.”
You’re so right!
The Mongolians, Chinese, and Japanese didn’t actually occupy and/or inter-marry with Koreans. They were just tourists!
Not a single one of them actually lived here or had a family. Rather, they would — en masse — go back to their respective countries each night, sleep with their respective wives or husbands, and make respective offspring. Yup. Pure Korean blood. Not the least bit tainted.
I’ve had a full phone plan in my name (no Korean sponsor when I lived there) I also got an ATM card that is usable overseas (although I had to speak to the manager) Haven’t tried a loan..and as perhaps my income was one that the bank clerk salivated at so I didn’t need one in the first place.
In 2002 when I got my first phone plan here, got my own plan, without too much trouble (and no sponsor). They just wanted a credit card, though I was a little disconcerted that had I not had a c.c. they (kt telecom) absolutely would not have done that.
Why do you people insist on SK and KTF?
LG Telecom and Samsung Card.
That is all you need.
My response above has had a juicy bits edited out.
I never realised this blog was so strictly moderated.
Also now my last sentence in the post which has been edited #21 is out of context and makes me look arrogant (rather than dda).
It isn’t. The insults directed at another commenter were removed, while trying to keep the informative part in.
#18 - So true (sigh).
Ok thanks for explaining.
I’ll keep the ‘insults’ to myself. But I’ve read a lot worse insults among some of our blogging posters on this site.
…and when you do finally land a credit card (E-1 visa), you’ll be stumped all to hell with the bank’s website as it’s only in Korean (KBCard) and you’ve barely a clue when it comes to that sect of the language… and all of the links are either in Flash or graphic files so your Haansoft Dictionary is worthless.
One of these days I’ll find my statement…
Max…you are in Korea not an English speaking country. Learn the langauge or get a credit card from your home country.
Some banks (KEB) have a foreigner (or premium) credit card, with basic English web support and English phone support but fees are high and have to be earning a over a certain annual wage. But you get a lot of freebies and endless discount vouchers.
I also have a perfect credit in my home country and run USD200K/year salary. It still took me a year and half before I get a credit card here. After a year of on-time full payment history, the bank refused to increase my credit from $3,000 o $4,000. I am still a credit risk to them.
Am I another example of a Western expat executive frustrated in Korea? Well, no, I am a Korean expat executive frustrated in California.
Now THAT’s funny.
BTW, Oxy, at 200K per year, you must be getting, what, about $150 an hour to teach Korean over there? Pretty good scratch for singing nursury rhymes to American schoolchidren.
LOL. I forgot that the only skill of some of the commenters here is “speaking English”.
For your reference Linkd, there are such things called “real job” which pays you 100K+ if your brain actually functions. 200K/yr is not that rare.
Well noted oxy and I assume a good portion of users to this website have moved on to real jobs.
I’m not American..but they seem to be giving out home loans to enough sub prime borrowers which has contributed to the unsettled market conditions we are seeing today.
Lucky for you there are Korean banks in California.
Oxy “It still took me a year and half before I get a credit card here. After a year of on-time full payment history, the bank refused to increase my credit from $3,000 o $4,000. I am still a credit risk to them.”
Welcome to the real world. If you don’t like it, retreat to the horrid conditions of Seoul.
Oxy: “I forgot that the only skill of some of the commenters here is “speaking English”.”
That’s not a skill. It’s something everyone in the world seems to do except of course Koreans.
Baekduboy/ I happen to live in the epicenter of the subprime mess(a.k.a Irvine). Current financial crisis in US actually is a lot bigger than mere subprime. The next wave of financial crisis, meltdown of prime loan, is just around the corner. Combined with housing bubble popping and soaring commodity price, next few years are not going to be fun for US and unfortunately for rest of the world. Korean banks in California? No one has gone bankrupt yet but there will be some for sure. They are not immune nor exception.
Mizar5/
“Welcome to the real world. If you don’t like it, retreat to the horrid conditions of Seoul.”
Now, why do you complain so much about Korea if you knew about the real world?
“That’s not a skill. It’s something everyone in the world seems to do except of course Koreans.”
Well, isn’t it ironic that you would go starve if it were not for Koreans then? Get a job, son.
Waiting for the next Bear Sterns..
My advice to all is not to get a credit card in the first place no matter what country you are in.
Get a debit card with credit facility..that way you are not spending money you don’t have and earning intertest rather than paying it.
Oxymoron: “Now, why do you complain so much about Korea if you knew about the real world?”
Because I had the ill fortune of having to relocate back to Seoul for 4 years from 2002-2006. I’m pleased to be back in the country of my choice, the US, instead of the country of my birth.
“Well, isn’t it ironic that you would go starve if it were not for Koreans then? Get a job, son.”
Well it would be ironic if it were true. But the fact of the matter is that I have a career, not a job, and it does neither involves English teaching nor depends on Koreans.
However, I very much doubt anyone would starve it it were not for Koreans. Korea quite simply doesn’t wield that kind of economic influence.
As for English teachers in Korea, I find that they are definately not in Korea for the money, as the pay scale is substandard. My observation is that they are here for other reasons, including the desire to immerse themselves in other cultures, and the idealism of wanting to help improve the lives of Koreans. To dismiss them as you do, based on certain problems inherent to Korean education and culture is quite off the mark and remarkably arrogant.
Baek du Boy: “I’m not American..but they seem to be giving out home loans to enough sub prime borrowers which has contributed to the unsettled market conditions we are seeing today. Lucky for you there are Korean banks in California.”
May I remind you that the sub-prime issue is nothing compared to the Korean banking and credit debacle that required an IMF bailout.
Mizar5/
“To dismiss them as you do, based on certain problems inherent to Korean education and culture is quite off the mark and remarkably arrogant.”
Yes, it would have been the case if it were not a response to your “That’s not a skill. It’s something everyone in the world seems to do except of course Koreans.”
What do you think of your own words? true? fair? smart and witty? It is riduculous that you are calling me “arrogant”. *sigh*
Born, raised and educated in Korea, I do see the weaknesses of Korean education system. Having said that, American education system is not perfect, either. They are just different and structured to cope with the situation the country is in.
I do respect US education system as it is great for brilliant 10% of the students. Interacting with those 10% on daily basis, I do know how powerful it can be. Your comments so far gave me an impression that you are not that 10%.
Dammit, Mizar5! You jinxed the entire American economy!