Is Korea held to unreasonably high standards?

I feel like every time I’m on Reddit, all I see are foreigners in Korea ranting abt how they think Korea is racist and all the other isms and how unwelcoming the country supposedly is and how they will never be accepted in Korean society.

I don’t understand the mentality of going to a foreign country and expecting people to roll out the red carpet for you?? I think a lot of these kids are raised in multicultural countries western countries like US, Canada, Australia and we are always taught to welcome and accept foreigners, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with a country wanting to be homogeneous like??They don’t have to welcome you. Plenty of Eastern European countries like Poland, Hungary resist immigration too. Is it wrong to only want to live amongst your own people? I mean it’s not what I would want personally, but it’s not like they have ever had a history of immigration. I can see how and why they might perceive foreigners as a threat.

It’s like the Paris Syndrome where people are so piped up to visit this country because of this image they have in their head but then they are disappointed after they realize….wait for it… it’s just another country…. Shocker!

Quote from 3ne

I think people are holding Korea to the standards that they've been advertised. Korea voluntarily presents itself as a place that people should want to go to, so it's natural that people expect to be welcome there.

I agree with this. But I also don’t understand why you would promote your country to foreigners if you dislike foreigners so much and your country and it’s people are not accustomed to different kinds of people. I remember at my university, there was this fair held by people from Korean universities trying to encourage students to do an exchange there. Like dude you hate us but u want us to study in ur country? Lol, where is the logic?

Quote from selfmate

I can't speak for SK but I can for China which is very similar and very homogenised

I remember going there with a friend (white white) and to the more "country/rural" areas of china where they don't see many white people - that was a shock to them lol

for a lot of the people there it's more ignorance than outright racism racism...

I mean China is pretty diverse compared to Korea no? They even have a huge Korean minority, Russians, Tibetan. Judging by my own experiences, Chinese people seem to be pretty open minded about these things. Like I think you would be more likely to find a job in China and than Korea.

Quote from superyeah

It just takes some getting used to, the key being to acknowledge that a lot of the "unpleasantness" comes from ignorance rather than hate. People who only engage with their own ethnic or racial group feel less of a need to be politically correct, so they're generally more used to being blunt with each other

I’m not saying this is inherently “hateful” per se. But the idea that you are one people one race and one distinct society is a state building myth you have to keep indoctrinating people into believing. So it’s not like there aren’t certain nationalist ideologies that cement the “Korean” at the exclusion of “the other” It’s just this whole thing of “they don’t know” is questionable. Either way, I still want to travel there regardless and see the country just as a tourist . I think too many people fantasize about starting some fantasy life there w they oppas or whatever lol. This is long but I’ll keep it short, I’m just saying u can like K-pop and Korean culture without making ur whole life about idolizing a country you know nothing abt.

Quote from Kataphract

I've seen that raised individualists have a really hard time adapting to other societies e

True, I don’t feel like I would be able to breathe in a society like that.