Concerned For Those That Hate Korea (Eng/Kor)

Posted: 2005/02/06  By: santaria (Views:3810)

I'm Korean-American (US Citizen)... I use to look at this site while back when I thought about
teaching English in Korea for the summer and haven't been on this site for about 2 years... I
see it's still the same'ole complaints about the same damn thing and some of you are the same
people from two years ago....

I think we can all agree that no society is perfect... They all have the good and the bad...
Some of you say you faced racism in Korea, and i faced the same in US, maybe even worse... I
remember many of you describing glances Korean people give you as racism, but I've actually
been punched for being Asian (despite being American citizen) in South where i lived (maybe
some have same experience)... You guys say Korean men are immature, rude, and treats women like
second-class citizens and trust me, i've seen enough blacks/whites that are immature, rude, and
treat women like crap in the states to make the same claim and women here would probably
describe their counterparts the same way (any comparison is subjective).  You guys say Korean
women are whores, wanting to date white guys to "get free English lesson", money, or just to
use them to have a fling and i've known enough American women that do exactly the same (many
not the free English lesson part)... You guys say Korean kids are the worst as they curse at
you, give you the finger and etc and i have sympathy for you, but as a graduate of US public
education system, i know American kids curse and give fingers too... and sometimes its more as
some teachers in my school received death threats and physical violence...

But here's the difference between you and me (and most intelligent people)... You see all
this negativity that Korea has and you've developed this myopic view of the korean culture,
when in reality the functionality of Korean society is not too much different than those of
where you've came from; whether its Canada, Austrialia, New Zealand, England, or US...  This
shortsightedness to view the array of differences that exist in Korea and Korean people have
made you develope a singular concept of all things Korea, which in your case is that Korea is
bad... I have seen the same in US that you saw in Korea, yet i didn't come to that conclusion,
rather i've developed a love-hate relationship with the country... Maybe this is because US is
my home. And I'm sure you guys have same relationship with your homeland as well.  But I've
also traveled to other countries... I've been to Ontario, Canada for three days and i've met
more assholes there than i have elsewhere in any three day period... I've been to Paris and my
friends and i were rip-off about $150 as we were targeted tourist and drunk Frenchmen tried to
start a fight with us (the Americans)... I've been to Amsterdam and was approached by more drug
dealers and saw more prostitutes than rest of my life combined and also two white men (non
local) try to start a fight with me 'cause i was Asian and smaller than them, and I was robbed
about $25 by a English Kid who hung around us, the only English person i met the whole Euro
trip... I've been to Germany where during the train ride from Paris, German guards came in and
checked ID and bags of myself, my Indian friend, and four Northern Africans besides us, while
rest of train's people (all whites) were not checked.... All these negative experiences
happened to me in those and other countries when I was a PAYING VISITOR and sure I am guilty of
saying "Paris sucks" or "i hate Canada"... But I understand that things that happened to me can
easily happen in New York for instance and never did i believe those countries were "bad"
because of few unpleasent experiences...

What I'm trying to say is that the negative experience you have in Korea is not unique to any
country.  When you live in certain place, you will face both the good and the bad, especially
as a minority.  I'm sure everyone was full of excitment when they were first coming to Korea,
eager to spend couple years in "exotic" land different from your own and while at it, makes
some money, since in your homeland your skill is very little needed nor valued.  But as you
live there, you realize bad things happen to you and these negativities are intensified because
they are unexpected, while if they were to happen at home, it's one of those things that
happen.  Also, the shock of being a minority is a first time for most of you, and with the lack
of experience of being a minority, you seem to grasp every comment and stare to heart when
experiences will tell you that you should shrug off some of them.  Remember, you are not a
paying visitor to Korea... Rather, you are there to drain Korea's resources as an outsider, so
none of you deserve special treatment.  You are a resident there for a time being and you'll
face the good and the bad that any resident will face in any country they reside (seriously,
every bad thing you say about Korea happens in your country as well... are you gonna post about
that when you go back home?) If you are gonna spend your experience in Korea dwelling on the
negatives, you'll come up with nothing but negatives, so why stay when you have perfect world
back home??  Try to take in Korea with the good and the bad because that's the only way you'll
survive in any country.