A brief comparison with Thailand.
As an opening statement, I'll say that it is easy to see why the West haters and most loser TEFLers don't like or don't get on in Korea. I'll tell you why I think so later
I haven't worked in South Korea, and have no intention of (although one uni and one company opportunity have been distantly waved in front of me) so two weeks living a normal lifestyle hanging out with longterm Korean friends rather than purely tourism activities will have to serve for comparison purposes.
Things that seem better than Thailand
- The whole place feels fairly wealthy, with no stray dogs and beggars lying in the gutter, and average salaries for Koreans are, or at least seem many times that of the average Thai
- The infrastructure is that of the developed world, with excellent safe and cheap public transport etc
- It doesn't feel like living in one big tourist trap, and other Westerners are a rarity
- The place has seasons, and spending all day outside pursuing strenuous sports is possible for most if not all of the year
- The people are not afraid to show their feelings or speak their mind, hence they seem more "normal" and honest, and less 2 faced and comatozed.
- Korean students aren't expected to financially repay their parents for their education, just offer them support in later life.
- Upon marrying, men aren't expected to buy their future wife from her parents (or hand over his next five years whoring fund as proof as his intended fidelity, depending on whether you are cynical or extremely cynical of sin sot)
- Bars are cheap and very fun (have had some great nights out here with groups of Koreans and foreigners, but drinking "charm" can cause hangovers!). None of this paying twice or three times the price rubbish in indoor aircon places
- The countryside is green, clean, and mountainous, much like on the road from Kanchanaburi to Sangkhlaburi (apart from the clean bit!)
- possible to sleep without year round climate control!
Things that aren't as good as Thailand
- Quite a few months of cold (but usually sunny) weather
- The women don't throw themselves at Westerners, so getting a girlfriend (or multiple girlfriends ) would actually take some effort here
- The women aren't generally as noticeable
- I don't imagine that watersports are as fun as in Thailand, for climatic reasons
At the end of the day, I have absolutely no reason to even consider coming to live here, simply because it is fairly similar to the UK, but with few advantages and a number of downsides (job restrictions, language etc).
This leads me to why the West haters and TEFLers don't like it here. Simply because it is too much like the West they hate and ran away from, plus they won't earn many times the average local salary (and be able to lord it over the locals) and like the West they are expected to put effort into working. Plus, no cheap whores as an entertainment base / marriage material.