Mike discusses Korean women and foreign men, why the ladies love the Scots, why Korean men are being dissed, and how it’s all the government’s fault. A sample:
Now, if all western men in Korea were from Scotland, the answer to our question would be simple. Research shows that the Scots speak the clearest English. We look like Sean Connery, our lifestyle of running after sheep and tossing cabers gives us chiseled shoulders and muscular thighs. We can play the bagpipes and do the sword dance. We have deep hearts because our country is mountainous and we have four seasons and we have been oppressed by foreigners.
But not all aliens are Scots. There are men here from America, India, New Zealand, Belgium, Wales, Pakistan, Egypt ― the whole world in fact. Korean women even go out with men from Canada, a country that is covered in snow and has three time zones.
(HT to readers)
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
I generally like Breen’s stuff, but this one is all over the place. A shame too, because the subject matter is ripe for comedy gold.
“One young North American lady once told me that she and her single Western friends in Seoul felt they were `living in a gay bar.’ Neither Korean nor non-Korean men, they complained, seemed interested in them.”
What alternate universe are those misudas living in?
Oh, and by the way, that’s all well and good about Scots being so irresistible; but when did one ever win Wimbledon?
I guess that North American lady didn’t count the numerous questions of “Are you Russian?” as guys being interested in them, eh?
Oh man I realize what I just typed is so cliched and dead-horse smelling. I just tried to think of something new and invigorating to add to this eternal discussion but before I could think of it I was distracted by planning for what to do with my Korean girl and her friend tonight down in Itaewon… so i’ll let the cliche stay.
I agree with ihbb.. I think Breen was into the Scotch when he wrote this one, and just didn’t deliver.
I expect M. Breen will soon be joining Gary Rector, wheresoever that may be.
This one is way better:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/03/170_40763.html
I’m pretty sure Canada has 6 timezones.
What a load of tripe. I can’t see how this would be good for Breen’s business. I wonder if the lovely office ladies vetted this piece?
I’d like to be able to say that I’ve come across a lot of single Korean women.
Michael Breen must be getting senile. I once respect the man too.
@9 funny.
youtube link, please
I think I’ll watch this one from home. It seems interesting.
Oh no, now look what I’ve started.
A mass honeymoon? I just hope there is a happy ending for all comers.
Did the chairman of a communications consultancy just troll the Korea Times… and us? O_o …that was awesome.
And maybe this speaks more to my deteriorating attention span than anything else, but I think this piece was quite succinct and well reasoned albeit at the expense of being oversimplified.
“I’d like to be able to say that I’ve come across a lot of single…women.”
Well, actually, the general idea is to come on or in them.
What’s an old stuffed suit type like Breen doing writing about something that seems better suited for one of those glossy air-headed ladies magazines? Oh yeah, that’s right, he’s probably being “ironic”. If I were him, I’d be very embarrassed.
I notice this tends to be the second favorite hobby of the disgruntled expat: indulging in narcissistic masturbatory navel-gazing self-aggrandizement with regards to Korean women, right after Korea bashing. Possibly to compensate for feeling like ignored losers back in their home countries.
As I have mentioned before it can all be summed up in two words: obnoxious douchebaggery.
Oh yeah, that’s right, he’s probably being “ironic”.
I didn’t get it.
Based on my own and other Western women’s experiences in Seoul, slender to slightly plump women below the age of 40 can find Korean male companions if they look actively. Women over thirty usually play cougar and see younger men on the sly although I did know three middle-aged American women who married ajosshis. All three marriages ended in divorce.
For Westerners, the playing field in Korea is not level for two reasons:
1. Korean women are more willing to date plain, overweight Western men than Korean men are willing to date plain, overweight Western women.
2. Open dating and marriage between a younger woman and older man is possible. Open dating and marriage between a younger man and older woman is virtually impossible unless one is a well-known entertainer.
Hold on, let me fix that for you…
There we go.
For once, Colontos, I actually agree with you although I’d add the qualifier that Koreans seem to place a higher value on appearance overall and that Korea has a wider gender gap in spending on appearance than the US. In plain English, Korean men expect women to wear make-up and dress up a bit while American men will check out a pony-tailed, bare-faced woman in a t-shirt and sweatpants if she’s got flat abs and Michelle Obamaish arms.
I’m probably going to regret stepping into this one, but doesn’t it also seem that a lot of Western guys in Seoul are dating really homely looking Korean gals who most Korean guys wouldn’t look twice at?
I mean, I get the whole dating dynamic that “Sonagi,” et al. are referring to, but the last time I was in Seoul, it seemed to me that the days of average-looking Westerners dating hot Korean gals are long gone.
Now it’s the flabby dating the flabby.
Waiting for a deluge of criticism,
DLB
RJK, a little unsolicited advice:
Maybe it’s time to reconsider your man-crush on Breen, no?
The piece is just not very good.
Indeed, had the exact same piece been penned by someone else, you’d probably be slamming the shit out of it. Or at the very least, not lauding its humor. And god help us, if Jon Huer had penned this bar napkin stuff…
Of course, in the midst of infatuation, we don’t always see things so clearly, which is why we need friends to tell us, “dude, wake up, s/he ain’t all that.” (See commenters above.)
Well, I’m way beyond flabby but I’ve done alright with the skinny Korean gals. I guess I’m so damn sweet (or lucky) that it compensates somehow for my unattractiveness. I’m also a hypocrite because despite being a fat old f**K I wouldn’t want to date someone similarly unattractive. At least I’m honest about it though.
I had to laugh about Scots speaking good English. I’ve got a Scottish friend and even after 2 years I only understand about half of what he says.
No different from what you do.
Sonagi (#19), I see your point. I wouldn’t imagine that marriages between Western women over the age of 30 and older Korean men would be much fun or very successful. But that does not mean that Korean men are not extremely interested in Western women – which was the original comment. And I used the term “misuda” quite deliberately. The Western women on that show, for the most part, are not, in my opinion, very attractive. Korean men are of a very different opinion.
(cont. from #26) I think we are all a bit too critical of the attractiveness (or lack thereof) of members of own race. Meanwhile, we are very generous and forgiving when it comes to judging the beauty of those we see as different and exotic. Generations of happy marriages between Westerners and Asians have been helped tremendously by that fortunate quirk of human nature.
One final point: let’s never forget that couples we see in public might not be “couples”. There have been many times you might have seen me, for example, in the company of an attractive young Korean woman. But in each instance it was someone who just wanted to test her English with native speaker, and who had no interest in a second meeting, much less a romance. I think we tend to assume that other people are having the fun that we are not having – an unfortunate quirk of human nature.
#22,
“I’m probably going to regret stepping into this one, but doesn’t it also seem that a lot of Western guys in Seoul are dating really homely looking Korean gals who most Korean guys wouldn’t look twice at?”
Right, my wife is so homely that guys nearly half her age hit on her.
…then again, I don’t live in Seoul.
…Actually, Korean guys have been saying this for years, even when it was not an uncommon sight to see a freaky looking Westerner with a drop dead gorgeous beauty at his arm (sure, she may have been a hooker, but I didn’t stop them to ask).
“Right, my wife is so homely that guys nearly half her age hit on her.”
I’ll second that, and I do live in Seoul.
Although the difference in view is a factor.
I know some drop dead gorgeous friends who I know wouldn’t get a second glance from a korean, both since not “korean style” and the “oh my god she’s over 30″ factor
#31,
I never got ‘Korean style’.
“I never got ‘Korean style’.”
Me neither, but then I guess that’s the point I’m making.
#34,
This is a bit of an aside, but if you think Korean starlets look too Michael Jacksonish for your own tastes, don’t ever get a large screen HDTV. HDTV doesn’t hide surgical scars and the outlines of implants like analog TV does. All that bad cosmetic surgery is really distracting.
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