Comments on: Koreans in New Zealand

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:39:21 +0000

Hi I’m Korean living in Auckland. Found this site by accident and thought I may need to write few words here..

Yes, there are A LOT of Korean living in Auckland. and yes, they are thrill seekers and not likely to worry too much for safety matter compare to other tourists. But there’s no tour guide charing for public attractions anymore. It’s like 5 years ago.

There aren’t that many Korean tourists, anyway.
I don’t know why Air NZ lounge had only Korean newspapers and magazines when you’re there when they don’t even fly to Korea. They do provide lots of information and service for Japanese and Chinese travellers, but Not for Korean as far as I know.

What I’m trying to say is this posting sounds a bit exaggerative.

By: Grace Kim

Grace Kim — Mon, 19 May 2008 06:27:49 +0000

Good morning. As there are very few English language resources about Korea, I think there is a responsibility by websites and publications such as LKL to present a fair and balanced view. If I want to read a tabloid, there are plenty of other options. I went to the Popular Gusts website and checked the cigarette burns story which seemed to consist of a sordid litany of alleged assaults. I know nothing of your background except through what I can glean from what you’ve written.

By: James Turnbull

James Turnbull — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:04:11 +0000

Grace Kim,

That bullying occurs in British schools and may be far worse than in Korean schools doesn’t negate the facts that bullying occurs in the latter too, and that knowing that aids in our understanding of the attacks in New Zealand.

You seem to imply that one must mention things like the fact that bullying occurs in British schools too when discussing the attacks. Why? Constantly prefacing any discussion of a negative aspect of Korean society with such qualifiers is tiresome and patronising to readers’ intelligence.

I also resent the implication that I have inaccurate and/or unfair perceptions of Korea simply because I’m a Westerner, or even that I focus on the negative. If you’d bothered to read my blog for instance, rather than making blanket assumptions about me because of my background, you’d see that nothing is farther from the truth.

By: Grace Kim

Grace Kim — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:04:44 +0000

Mr. Turnbull, from what I hear, the bullying in the top British public schools is much, much worse. Western perceptions of Koreans tend to be inaccurate and unfair. Why always focus on the sordid or seedy when it comes to foreign culture? It’s like having a Korean language website for English people that focuses on the recent teen internet suicide rings in Wales. Generally, Koreans students are not known for burning each other with cigarettes, just as Brits are not known for sodomy and “fagging.”

By: Philip Gowman

Philip Gowman — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:17:36 +0000

Thanks for the link James. As usual, Popular Gusts has certainly done the legwork. I couldn’t even find the original article in the Star Times!

By: James Turnbull

James Turnbull — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:12:07 +0000

The downtown area can give a very distorted view of the numbers of Koreans and East Asians living in Auckland. There are certainly a lot of students living there in dormitories and a great many Korean restaurants on upper Queen Street (which connects to K Road), but walk a few kilometers in any direction and you’d be half-pressed to find many East Asians at all! The bulk of Taiwanese immigrants, for instance, live way out East in the Howick/Pakuranga area where I went to school, and most Korean immigrants live in a couple of suburbs north of the Harbour Bridge. I can’t remember exactly where sorry because I’ve been living in Korea for the last 8 years, although I did go back just last December, and it was fun talking to Koreans and noticing all the businesses.

K-road is more of an “alternative” area rather than an “ethnic” area (used to live there too!), and was the centre of Auckland’s gay and lesbian community back when I was still there…not the normal kind of area most Korean immigrants want to set up shop!

Finally, not adjusting well has been overwhelmingly cited as the reason for the attack by those girls, but as Popular Gusts points out in the link below, bullying like this is unfortunately all too common in Korean schools also. Ultimately, not adjusting to NZ life may have had nothing whatsover to do with it.

By: Philip Gowman

Philip Gowman — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:08:59 +0000

I was a little surprised at his comments, but when asking him about his perceptions of the differences between Japanese, Chinese and Korean tour groups I deliberately withheld my own particular interest to make sure that he was not playing to a particular audience. The comments he made were on the basis of his own specific experiences. So they may be unrepresentative, but I thought them worthwhile recording. And they tied in with what another guide told me.

By: Grace Kim

Grace Kim — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:30:04 +0000

The aforementioned kiwi travel businessman propagates unfair negative generalizations about Korean tourists. As the Dear Editor knows, Koreans are culturally extremely generous, loyal and hospitable. It’s nice to know that he keeps a Korean headcount wherever he goes, though.