A poll of 312 expatriates by KOTRA revealed that foreigners working in Korea are most dissatisfied with education, housing and reckless driving.
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
It also mentions parking. That is a huge hassle with the neighbors or people always trying to park in front of my house.
Somehow I don’t find 312 to be a representative sample for a scientificly conducted survey, but I more or less agree with the gripes.
Well, first of all, the KOTRA survey was not, as the Chosun points out, simply directed toward ‘foreigners’ but instead to foreign executives of foreign-invested companies. Therefore, although 312 does not represent a large number of foreigners, 312 is not necessarily a small number of foreign executives. It goes without saying, however, the sample size could have and should have been larger.
It should also be stated that the same day the story in the Chosun was published, a more thoroughly written report on the results of the same survey entitled “Satisfaction runs high for foreign executives” appeared in the Joongang Daily. The link is provided below.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2894644
The brighter points of the survey contained in the Joongang story aside, Korea’s FDI environment is not by any means at the level it should or needs to be, as has been discussed ad nauseum on this blog.
Putting aside for a moment the inherent inability of many a survey to accurately portray the opinions of the individuals being polled, it is also necessary to remember that there are usually two sides to every story, and although Korea’s efforts to attract FDI leave a lot to be desired at times, there are numerous FDI companies which are rather happily and profitably operating in Korea.
Well, I guess it’s good that they asked someone but there are a lot more than 312 foreigners living in Korea and I am tired of being one of the great ignored.
“So leave!”
C’mon. I dare ya.
So do you mean the propensity of the average Kim Sajangnim to regard a piece of the public street as his personal property or that you’ve assimilated that lovely attitude yourself and think the patch in front of your little piece of Dogpatch is yours?
That’s the problem. In Rome, do as the Romans, but not
all of the Romans agree what their own policy is. However,
someone also dumped a car there and the landlord had to call
the city to pick up the abandoned vehicle. It took two weeks for
them to remove it. Whatever, the rules only go as far as it
agrees with the amount of male sense of entitlement of the
participants.
There was such a lack of parking in my neighborhood that the city actually built a public parking lot (Paved!)to relieve the problem. I would actually have to walk over half a kilometer to get back to my house. For those of you that have health problems with your legs, I know you understand. I can’t carry groceries that far or liters of water like that. Yelling at my pregnant wife when she goes outside and scaring her (in excess of 15 minutes) is uncalled for. Some people protect their parking spots and some don’t. The city now makes people turn old ju-tek houses into “villa” style places with 3-4 parking spaces at ground level. Actually, my car has been hit 5 times and never has anyone came to admit what they did, so my neighbors’ feelings usually don’t mean too much. One neighbor was nice enough to tell us that she saw our car get hit and remember the color of the car but not caring enough to note down a licence plate despite having time. I wouldn’t ask her to confront someone at all, especially because they said the guy was drunk.
I think most people have a negative story or memory of Korea, so I don’t like going over the same territory again. Some things just go too far like when a delivery boy on his scooter (who I had never met before) deliberately spat on me as he passed when I had my hands full. I went inside to wash my shirt. When I came back out, he had spat on my car on the way back. Anyway, I am looking to move out of my neighbor asap. I’ve been in Korea over four years and never had these kinds of difficulties.
Many of the daily problems encountered locally and personally can really be smoothed out if one has an “adjuma” helping them. God help them though if they have a problem with an evil-minded neighborhood street-General adjuma though; that can be hellish because even though people may know the woman is wrong and mean, they are very reluctant to contradict such. There should really be a WOW character like this
Sounds like you need to “cowboy up” pardn’r. Job 1: stop whingeing.
horrible traffic and driving etiquette, substandard schools, no parking places, oppressively priced housing… sounds like things Koreans complain about everyday too. moving on.
Sperwer, after you asked the question I tried to give a complete answer. My first comment was to only agree with the execs in the article. My comment that you are talking about was an observation. I am assertive in my dealings with neighbors, but I am not always around to watch these people to make sure they don’t bother my wife when she is walking down the street.
Sorry, I didn’t catch that.
I guess I’ve got it good; my wife doesn’t take any shit either. My neighbor, who is a VERY rich Korean living in a 400 pyung house on an 800 pyung lot, with the proceeds of his take as the owner of a golf course in Korea and an unidentified business (Pachinko? = gangpay?) in Japan, like to give garden parties that go late into the night. Generally, I don’t fuss about it, since I do too; but my guests and I don’t talk at the top of our lungs and belt out My Way offkey at 2 am, so when that happened recently, I started out of bed and down the stairs. My wife, who knew what was likely to result, bounded ahead of me, out the door and shouted that they should “shut the fish mouth” or else. It worked, and yesterday the mook himself showed up at our door with his manservant in tow hauling KRW500,000 Won of Hanu steaks to make amends. My wife wasn’t home, so my daughter who answered the door asked if he wanted to see me. When she called out for me in English, he cottoned to the fact that I’m a round-eye and fled. I’ve got mixed feelings about that. I’m pretty sure that he won’t be any trouble from here on out. But, on the other hand, if we had met I’d be certain of of it.
I’m fairly certain FDI is fleeing Korea because of militant labor unions, forced marriages with domestic companies to do business here, inconsistent regulation, witchhunts for foreign investors who dare to make a profit on their investments, etc. etc., and not because parking space is scarce.
I’m imagining a similar headline in a major newspaper here in the US: “Immigrants, foreigners, aliens unhappy with healthcare, education, and housing.”
I’m trying to guess what the response of the “average, red-blooded American” would be to that. Can anyone help me out here? What do you think the response would be?
Spewer, you should have thrown the Hanu steaks back and said you only eat 미국산. The look on his face would have been priceless…
who the fuck cares?
““Immigrants, foreigners, aliens unhappy with healthcare, education, and housing.””
And if Korea didn’t have such a racist double standard these people would be permanent residents and citizens and able to start to effect change. Instead Korea clings to its stone-age notions of race and keeps foreigners in a permanent limbo.
The education and reckless driving complaints are quite valid. However, the “difficulty in finding a parking spot” has nothing to do with Korea or Korean culture and everything to with a megapolis of 22M people.
Try finding a parking spot in Manhattan.
As it is, many/most expats have never lived in a megapolis like Seoul, so it’s as much “big city” shock as it is Korean cultural shock.
Motorcycles are charming, whether they are pulling into a courtyard or cutting off a bus. You come all this way to see something, non? Racist double standards are something white people can overcome anyway. We’ve pretty much accomplished everything else!
I can find plenty of parking places in Manhattan — what I can’t find is free parking.
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