'It's not easy to live in Korea as foreigners'

A group of foreign student volunteers carry charcoal briquettes for impoverished residents in Busan, in this Jan. 13, 2016 photo. Korea Times file

Korea's residents of foreign nationality see disparities between Korea's image, reality

By Bahk Eun-ji

Merita, an Iranian national working at a Korean company here, has been in Korea for 10 years. Although she speaks Korean quite well and has adapted to Korean culture, she feels she is still regarded as an outsider.

"Being fluent in Korean helps me to be closer, but at some point it stops, and I have never been close or intimate with Koreans," she told The Korea Times.

"Koreans don't accept us, they see us as 'aliens,' no matter if you speak Korean or if you marry a Korean," Merita said. "(Despite my 10 years of stay), I don't feel a real connection (with Korean nationals) and none are categorized as my best friends."

Merita is one of many foreign residents here who has experienced the downsides of living and working in Korea despite her best efforts to assimilate.

A recent survey by InterNations, the world's largest online expat community, claimed Korea is not a country where foreign residents can settle, feel at home and make friends easily.

In an index based on a survey of the favorability of general living environment and conditions, Korea ranked 47th out of 59 countries.

Korea ranked almost last in the "Ease of Settling in" category, with those responding about Korea giving poor evaluations in the subcategories of, "feeling at home" and "friendliness." More than 50 percent said they had difficulties in making friends with locals here.

Residents with foreign nationalities are tested at a COVID-19 testing station in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, in this May 6 photo. Some local governments, including Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, faced strong protests from foreign national residents earlier this year as they ordered mandatory testing of all foreign workers, which was called discriminatory. Yonhap

The surveyed people also complained of long working hours and poor work-life balance in the country.

"Working hours are crazy here. They're so demanding and so crazy," Merita said. "I don't have time to do my own thing."

Jorge Mattheou, an American professor at Nam Seoul University, said he thinks Korea remains very much a "closed society" when it comes to residents with other nationalities making friends, networking and generally being integrated into society.

"Many expats come to Korea and feel resentment at the situation of being perpetually a 'foreigner' and always judged thusly. I do not mind it, but I know that it's alienating for some expats," he said.

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Mattheou said there is also disparity between the image of Korea portrayed in other countries and the reality, and it is different from what foreigners may have been told by Korean media, job recruiters or academic departments.

"I assume the disparity between this image of Korea abroad and the reality is probably much greater among expats from Southeast Asia who have grown up on K-dramas and come to Korea and seen a much darker view of Korean society than privileged business professionals, English teachers or foreign students," he said.

Multicultural family members participate in a flower-planting event hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in Mallidong Square, May 9. Yonhap

Language problems are another problem for many foreign residents.

A Filipina worker named Becky said that foreign nationals have difficulties settling here mainly due to the language barrier.

"Often times we are discriminated against because we can't speak or understand their language (in order to deal with issues such our) house rent deposit and salary. We can't really express our thoughts (fully)," she said.

Becky said that the high living costs also make life here hard.

"The cost of living here is really high. For example, basic goods are so expensive that you will just look for cheaper ones because they're the only things that you can afford. We tend to save as much as possible because we also have families to support in the Philippines."

But foreign national residents also find that not everything about living here is unfavorable to them.

In the InterNations survey, the participants assessed highly the quality of Korea's medical services and the affordability of medical fees, as well as the transportation infrastructure.

"Korea is a generally safe society with a number of world-class conveniences, many of which I've had the privilege of taking advantage of ― whether it be healthcare or transportation. Many of these conveniences are in fact even more useful for expats than they are for Koreans, in my experience," Mattheou said.

Becky also said, "The transportation here in Korea is awesome, and the response to COVID-19 has been generally very good, because it is not really easy. They implement the rules for the benefit of everyone, even if there are some (negative) effects on the economy… still they've done a good job compared to other countries."

Neighbors, not outsiders

Lee Yong-geun, executive director of Big Family ASIA, a human rights activist group for immigrants from Asian countries, said Koreans still have a long way to go in terms of changing their perceptions and accepting residents with foreign nationalities as their close neighbors, rather than considering them outsiders.

"If they (foreign national residents) experience discrimination and alienation rather than a warm welcome in the process of settling in this country, they will have a hard time fulfilling their role as members of our society," Lee said.

Kwak Seung-ji, a former professor of Yanbian University of Science and Technology who also wrote a book about ethnic Koreans living in China, said that in the past, most migrant workers simply came here, made money and then tried to return to their country.

"However, this trend has changed and many foreign nationals want to settle in the country. We need to change our perception to accept them as members of our community to live with," Kwak said.

Jon Dunbar, copy editor of The Korea Times, contributed to this article.