Commenter Gus Yates writes:
I lived in South Korea for seven years as an ESL teacher as a Caucasian Australian. The racism I encountered there and witnessed others being subjected to beggared belief. The Korean concept of ‘Volksgemeinshaft‘ is called Minjok Uishik, and it basically translates to ‘pure blooded racial community’. This racist mindset is drilled into every single Korean, and the similarities between South Korea and Nazi Germany are scary.
Granted Caucasians might be treated slightly better than other minorities, but basically all non Koreans are viewed as the enemy whether you look like Brad Pitt or Wesley Snipes. I actually learned to speak Korean, and that was a mistake. I could now understand the racist comments constantly made at my expense. If you’re not Korean and you’re dating or married to a Korean lady, then your experience will be even worse.
Koreans take racial purity very seriously, and political correctness hasn’t caught on yet. I’ve spent time in some 35 countries and lived in five, and I can tell you that there is no country on earth more racist and xenophobic than that hellish peninsula. Generalizing about nationalities is fraught with danger, but in the case of Korea it is warranted. They’re not nice people at all.
I ended up marrying a Chinese lady, spent significant time in China, and the differences between Korea and China couldn’t be more pronounced. The Chinese are warm, tolerant and friendly. In China, I was never abused or physically assaulted just for holding hands with my wife in public. Nor was she called a slut for marrying outside her race.
Even in Australia my wife was called Chunya (slut) just for being with me in public by Korean tourists! The best thing about Korea is after you leave, anywhere else on earth seems so good in comparison. Enough said.
Even seven years after I left, my Korean experience still haunts me. Not a nice place. Life is too short to waste even one minute in that country. There are so many nicer places where you won’t be treated like an animal for being foreign.
Gus’s comments seem to mirror those of commenter Jason Y exactly. Jason experienced almost the same thing as an ESL instructor in South Korea and he relates a near-identical experience.
Furthermore, though they are often bashed and called fascist for it, North Korea has exactly the same mindset in spades, maybe even worse than the South.
