The number of foreigners who stayed in Korea for 90 days or longer stood at 536,000 last year, increasing 3.6-fold from the year 2000. Foreigners now account for more than 1 percent of the population.
The Korea Consumer Protection Board said its survey showed that some 42 percent of the expatriates found that they were not satisfied with sales and service practices in Korea.
"Many foreigners new to Korea said they have been overcharged (for products or services)," said Kim Hyun-joo, a CPB researcher who authored the report. "Some were forced to buy things that turned out to be different from what they heard and such cases happen mainly because of a disregard for foreigners."
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Japanese people were the least satisfied with 2.42 points while North and South Americans gave the highest 2.86 points.
The language barrier (35.9 percent) was the No. 1 reason for dissatisfaction, followed by the lack of consideration for foreigners (28.3 percent), lack of finances (22 percent), and cultural differences (16.6 percent).
Many foreigners seem to have felt a "lack of consideration" because Koreans often express adverse feelings towards them and the country lacks social systems that support them, according to the CPB.
Some 41 percent of the 554 foreigners surveyed said they have had unsatisfactory purchasing experiences. Mobile phone service (48.7 percent) was the biggest troublemaker, followed by clothing and shoes (26.3 percent), medical service (15 percent), electronics (14.5 percent), public transportation (12.7 percent), food (12.7 percent), credit card service (12.3 percent), internet service (11.8 percent) and real estate service (9.5 percent).
Lack of information on products and services (42.1 percent) including insufficient guidelines in English or other foreign languages was the major cause of unsatisfactory purchasing experiences. Product quality, reliability problems (37 percent) and higher prices (33 percent) came next.
Expatriates often have to borrow friends' names or deposit money when purchasing mobile phones. Some complained that they are required to deposit money to get a credit card here and cards issued abroad can't be used to make online reservations for movie tickets.
As for medical services, foreigners pointed out that language problems can lead to accidents and they are often not informed about fees before receiving medical treatment.
Alien registration numbers don't always work in online shopping malls, they said.
Only 15.3 percent of the respondents said they were fluent in Korean. Some 37.5 percent said they can handle simple conversations while the rest said they can't. The expats wished public officers, taxi drivers, and bank and medical staff spoke better English.
When problems or damages occurred, more than half of the foreigners didn't take any action. Some 33.3 percent requested resolution from the company or salesperson while only 11.3 percent filed a complaint to consumer protection organizations or administrative agencies that support foreigners. More than 40 percent of those who did nothing didn't know where to file a complaint. 26 percent weren't sure if the problem could be solved while 22.8 percent picked the language barrier as the reason for the difficulty.
(sophie@heraldm.com)
By Kim So-hyun
-http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2007/01/30/200701300005.asp
Because K is a foreigner, a clerk at the mobile phone company demanded that he either subscribe to the service under the name of a Korean national or pay a W200,000 (US$1=W941) deposit. He had a similar experience trying to subscribe to an Internet service. In the end, K paid the W200,000 deposit to the phone company and he found a Korean friend willing to sign him up for the Internet. But the episodes soured life in Korea for K. "There seem to be too many complicated procedures that foreigners have to go through to live here," he said.
Even the most basic of daily interactions can be stressful for foreigners. Some non-Koreans have reported food shop owners who browbeat them into buying dishes after they sampled a free snack. A visit to a Korean hospital can be a terrifying experience for foreigners who fear for their safety when medical staff don't understand their language.
Currently there are more than 530,000 foreign residents in Korea, more than three times the number in 2000. But many Koreans are still inconsiderate of their foreign guests.
According to a study on the daily lives of foreign consumers from the Korea Consumer Protection Board, 41.7 percent of 545 respondents said that they're "dissatisfied" with their life as consumers in Korea. When asked what the biggest problem is, 35.9 percent pointed to communication difficulties. Other reasons for unhappiness include a lack of consideration for foreigners on the part of Koreans, financial difficulties, a lack of public information, and cultural differences.
When it comes to consumer goods, 48.7 percent of those foreigners expressed dissatisfaction with their mobile phone companies. Other sources of frustration were credit cards, the Internet, and real estate transactions.
"D", a 36-year-old English teacher from Canada, recounted his difficulties in signing a lease for a residential officetel in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul. The landlord demanded an advance of W9 million, a full year's rent, claiming that he might have a hard time tracking down D if he skipped out on his rent. D decided to try a boarding house in the neighborhood instead. But even some boarding houses don't accept foreigners, and it took D several tries before he found one willing to take him in.
A 34-year-old American expat called "J" said that credit cards presented undue stress in Korea. "I have never had a problem using my credit card in any other country. But here in Korea, merchants rarely accept it. And just because I'm a foreigner, it's impossible to apply for a cash card to withdraw my deposits."
Kim Hyun-joo, a senior researcher at the Korea Consumer Protection Board, said that with the number of foreigners visiting Korea on the rise as a result of globalization and the open-door policy, how the Korean people treat them is becoming an important criterion for national competitiveness. "We need to work out a variety of support programs that assist foreigners in their daily life as consumers," Kim said. For more information or counseling, foreigners are advised to call (02) 3460-3393.
- http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200701/200701300016.html
Why Are Foreign Investors Turning Away From Korea? - From Chosun Ilbo  |
| According to statistics from the Bank of Korea Wednesday, net inflow of foreign direct investment last year was US$3.6 billion, down nearly a half from the previous year. Net foreign capital inflow has declined for two years running since 2004 when it amounted to $9.2 billion.
In contrast, domestic enterprises are investing more and more overseas. Last year, the balance of domestic and foreign investments, tracking the flow of cross-border investment, ran into the red for the first time in four years with a deficit of $3.5 billion. Why are foreign investors turning away from Korea? The answer may lie in a list of grievances filed by foreign companies with the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).
◆ Regulations are Unfriendly for Foreign R&D, Logistics A European liquid cargo freighter complained to KOTRA's grievance management team that it was surprised to find that it could not unload its cargo at night at some Korean ports. Freighters save money when they can unload quickly, but if they arrive at Korean ports in the evening they are forced to wait until morning to do so. An official from the freighter said that all the ports in the other 40 countries to which it calls operate around the clock. It is also difficult for foreign enterprises to build research and development centers in Korea. Local laws prohibit independent R&D corporations, stipulating that foreign firms must establish their R&D centers as corporate affiliates. Normally R&D centers need just research personnel, but in Korea foreign R&D centers must be set up as stock-holding companies with a representative director or CEO and a board of directors. A Japanese chemical equipment manufacturer also complained to KOTRA. This company is exempt from custom duties when it imports components and facilities because it has a special high-tech designation. But when it imported substitute items for products that did not fit its facilities, it was levied duties because the substitute components did not come under so-called "Harmonized System Codes." ◆ Forced to Surrender Drivers Licenses and Buy Medical Insurance Foreigners who stay in Korea for an extended period are required to obtain Korean driver licenses because international driver licenses are good for only one year. Once they obtain Korean driver licenses, their original licenses are held at the local driving test centers. This can be problematic for businessmen who travel overseas frequently, because they are forced to drop by the driving centers to retrieve their licenses. Medical insurance regulations are another source of irritation. Regardless of their insurance status back home, foreign businesspeople are required to subscribe to the Korean health insurance plan, meaning some people are forced to pay twice for medical coverage. ◆ Wages in Seoul are Higher than in Japan Ozaki Eiji, the president of the Seoul branch of Mitsui, a Japanese trading company, complained to KOTRA's grievance management team about the rising cost of labor in Seoul. "This year, the wages of some employees with college degrees at our Seoul branch outdistanced those of employees at our main office in Japan," he said. Officials from many Japanese companies expressed similar grievances. The Korean CEO of another Japanese company in Seoul said, "Japanese workers' wages increase an average of one percent a year. But in Korea, wages increase by almost 10 percent a year. The Korean won is still appreciating. This is a real burden on us." ◆ Safety Rules Written Only in Korean Foreign companies also faulted Korea's port authorities for neglecting to post safety rules in English. Foreign ship captains sometimes must navigate their vessels into Korean harbors without any English-language guides. When administrative regulations and decrees are revised, they are published in Korean in official gazettes, meaning some foreign companies are forced to hire interpreters to translate the regulations. This compares unfavorably with Singapore where all official documents are written in English. - http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200702/200702010013.html |
"President Roh Moo-hyun looks on wearily as the Korea Meteorological Administration comes running over the hill crying wolf about another blizzard. “You’ll end up like me…” he thinks.
The president’s repeated vows to rein in apartment prices and speculative real estate investment have all come to naught, rather like the KMA’s frequent unwarranted forecasts of heavy snow and cold snaps. " - <Graze On> by Chosun Ilbo
