It all depends but lots of people have very positive experiences in Korea but like any country there can negative experiences too. Some blogs to check out are Charly https://www.youtube.com/user/charlycheer
and Dom and Hyo http://domandhyo.com/

makes sense. :/ The USSR looked bad. we didn’t want them to control our politics/life/way of thinking and doing things. I recently watched a video made by a group of russian guys showing ‘typical’ russian apartments from buildings dating back to the 60’s. on the outside, and a bit on the inside, they looked IDENTICAL to many buildings around bucharest. and i dont even feel like joking. apparently they were cheap and easy to build. no wonder there.

TELL me about it. Things seem to have really reached a critical mass of awful-ness in the US lately. And some people are so quick to judge, probably due to their own ingrained prejudices (that they may be unaware of), but wear rose colored glasses when looking at themselves. Btw, very interesting video (obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t be spamming your comment section.)

the perception might be because of the cold war. the US
tried hard to make USSR look bad, which worked…
and korea gets a lot of ideas of foreign countries through american media.

Oh, wow, thank you for your reply and insight. sounds a bit scary, to be honest. nastiest part is that it seems that many people from everywhere seem to have a poorer opinion on Eastern Europeans [where i’m from] ;-; i guess, “this is what it is” and we only have to prove them wrong. haha

Koreans absolutely have an inferiority complex toward white people, and look up to them in a way. But they also have a superiority complex at the same time. It’s complicated. For example, many Koreans think Koreans have “pure” blood, and hesitate to “mix” their blood with white foreigners. I think this is probably common in most countries though (for example, many white Americans in the USA probably hesitate to “mix” their blood with blacks or Arabs or Asians).

But overall, Koreans look down on black people, as a whole, which I have witnessed firsthand. Koreans in general don’t look up to black people the way they look up to white people.

Koreans also look down on dark-skinned Asians. Of course, individuals will vary in their outlook.

In general, white men are favorably regarded in Korea, but only if you are from a “rich” country. For example if they find out you are a white man from South Africa or Eastern Europe, you would be held in lesser esteem than a white man from the USA. But most Koreans automatically assume a white man in Korea to be American or British. One caveat is that white male English teachers are held in fairly low regard overall. Many Koreans will automatically assume a young white male to be an English teacher unless he is wearing a suit or owns a car.

White females are seen as “exotic” and will oftentimes receive many compliments on their looks, especially if they have nordic features (blonde hair, small face, pointy upturned nose). However, the fact that there are so few white females in Korea compared to males, and that many white females who do end up in Korea are good-looking “entertainers” from Russia, a common assumption is that a white female is a Russian dancer or entertainer, especially if she is attractive.

So overall, a white man in Korea will be seen in a slightly more favorable light than a white woman. I think it’s mainly because there is a relatively small amount of white women in Korea compared to white men, and many of them do happen to be entertainers.

Things are not always so cut and dry in Korea. I’m American (by nationality) and Korean (by ethnicity). There have been times where I could not enter a bar in Seoul because they only let in Americans (that’s right, native Koreans were not allowed to set foot in a Korean establishment)… and even though I WAS an American, they would not let me in because I LOOKED Korean. They also have casinos in Seoul where native Koreans are not allowed to enter.

So it’s not always racism against non-Koreans, although of course that does happen as well. A lot of policies are geared toward maximizing business.

Korea can be a strange place.

Imagine the reverse in the USA. Imagine they only let in, say, foreign Asians or Arabs in a club in downtown Los Angeles, but if you were caucasian, they assumed you were American and would not let you even enter the building. And this in the heart of Los Angeles.

That’s right.. so much stuff going on in the USA, so it’s ridiculous when people accuse other countries before taking a good look at their own.