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I'd rate my experiences as good to great. My wife is from Korea and we have been married 36 years now.
My 1st two tours were about 7 months each with a Marine unit living in several tents on mountains overlooking the DMZ and North Korea.
The next trip was for 6 weeks in a joint exercise in Pusan.
My last tour of 2 years included my wife and baby and we lived in a high rise overlooking the Han River on one side and the city on the other. I worked aboard Camp Yongsan in Seoul.
My last visit I guess was about 25 years ago. I suppose if I generalize it seems that the older generation appreciates the American presence and the younger thinks we are an impediment to re unification. I mostly found the people to be friendly and outgoing. My wife's family worked hard and played harder.
dude you're a visitor that no one asked for. they have no reason to be nice to you. and the fact that you expect that is ignorant. they don't just "bow" at everyone. there's different levels of respect that you earn with age and other relationship
dynamics. koreans are very patriotic and they owe it to no one. they don't always welcome foreigners. Americans especially are viewed as "better off" and it remind them of the struggles they've been through to get where they are. country had nothing in the 80s. so many tragedies. and now here we are with korean entertainment and commodities dominating the market place. they're proud of that and owe it to no one. so you expecting them to reciprocate whatever form of "respect" you gave them is.... naive. disrespectful. learn the history and culture. or just mind your own damn business when you're traveling abroad. and crying about it on here? talk about "emotionally unhealthy people".
I'm just a tourist in Seoul for a few soul crushing weeks. In that time I've had so many abusive, rude and inhumane things happen that I am compelled to warn others who often get a politically correct and sanitized view of other cultures from travelers and expats with stockholm syndrome. I'm an American and I've been to Mexico, France, Austria, Ukraine, Bulgaria, UAE, Vietnam and many more countries. All countries I've traveled to have been charming to visit because of basic hospitality and basic human appreciation and fellowship among men that I have taken for granted until now. Korea is a radically toxic culture and I suspect Koreans have high self awareness about the criticisms of their culture but are proud of and embrace it's hostility nonetheless. I have had several experiences where i enter a store and say hello in Korean while bowing or nodding my head slightly then later saying thank you in Korean while the worker says nothing to me, makes no eye contact and no physical gesture to acknowledge me. In years of traveling i can't recall this ever happening - anywhere! It's an immutable feature of healthy human psychology to respond to others. To be trained to deny that even to a very polite person is uniquely Korean. I was walking toward a restaurant i frequent in itaewon, the international neighborhood, and two guys were walking near me who appeared to be looking for the entrance to the same restaurant. I said hello are you looking for such and such restaurant? They said zero, did zero to acknowledge me and walked past me. This is very common, any benign and friendly attempt at public interaction is ignored. I haven't seen anyone smile in weeks. I think they are proud of being difficult, unemotional and standoffish. This culture views it as a strength and, kindness... Even politeness, as weakness. It's often -10c now in mid December and no more than 10% of people wear hats - especially beanies - because they don't want to disrupt their hair. A level of superficiality in the face of extreme weather that would be embarrassing in a healthy society that places health and comfort - at least somewhere, among vanity and status. I walked into an elevator and by the way I always yield to the locals who seem to always be Jockeying for first in line, and I'm 98% sure the 4 people in the elevator were laughing at me out loud in Korean. I said nothing and did nothing to provoke it. I'm surprised tourism is allowed here. It has wrecked my impression of the culture and the ethnocentric people and I can't ever imagine buying Korean products like Samsung, LG etc. They hate and disrespect others so acutely why would I? This is a uniquely hostile and antihuman society of emotionally unhealthy people.
this hasn't been my experience in seoul. in fact, being white has certain privileges in SK, and many parts of asia, not for merit based reasons however.
curious, what ethnicity are you?
It's not even close to the same level. Some of my South Korean friends place an inordinate emphasis on physical appearance, more so than I've seen from even the most vain of Americans. There is no equivalent to the Korean eye surgery thing, here in the U.S. Show me any street in America where you can walk two blocks and pass up to a dozen cosmetics stores, like you can in Myeongdong in Seoul.
That said, my experiences with visiting Korea were 180 degrees opposite from that of the OP. The service I received at hotels and shops was mostly excellent, and never less than good. I received nothing but courtesy from the people there, and in fact I made two friends that I'm still in touch with, three years later. I haven't lived the life of the OP, so I cannot dispute his own experiences. But I loved Korea, and the Koreans that I interacted with, and I would gladly go there again.
pretty much this. i won't go as far as to say that koreans are outgoing and friendly towards strangers and foreigners. at the very worst, the treatment I got was indifference, but far from rude.
koreans indeed focus a great deal on outward appearance when compared to other cultures. but that is their culture and I am not one to pass judgement.
That has been my experience with Koreans here in North America as well. I lived in Koreatown Los Angeles for a while. Never met such angry and rude people in my life.
Sadly, same here. I’ve lived in SoCal 30+ years, mostly in Asian communities. I’ve yet to meet one Korean I have something nice to say about. Rudest people I’ve ever met. I’m not proud of my statements, but it’s the truth.
"These lowly Koreans aren't bowing down to me; therefore, they have the worst culture I've ever experienced."
Many Western tourists seem to have this kind of attitude. They also make comments like "Why can't these Koreans speak to me in English?" Like they couldn't be bothered to learn Korean.
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