I know what you mean. Koreans have hot tempers and can suddenly explode with rage over minor issues. Just last night I heard two Koreans screaming at and cursing each other. I heard "shibal" and "gaesekkiya' (swear words) multiple times. This went on for at least 10 - 15 minutes and I could hear everything from my 5th floor apartment because they were so loud. Nothing out of the ordinary for Koreans though.Yohan wrote:I would be careful and not do that as a Western foreigner in any Asian country.Traveler wrote: ...there were 4 young Koreans ahead of us. One guy was off to the side smoking and spitting all over the sidewalk while his friends ordered.
I hate that. The spitting thing is, in my opinion, disgusting and absolutely unnecessary. One inhale, one exhale, one spit.
I stepped up to dude and told him to stop, it was ignorant. No one else was doing it and it showed a total lack of respect for the culture of the country. He said something in Korean that certainly sounded disrespectful to me. I shoved him in the chest really hard and he fell on his butt. Then I challenged him, Get up punk. I dare ya. You can't go running to the cops ...
There are cases known where Western foreigners were provoking and attacking Asian locals out of whatever reason and where those locals responded in a very violent counter-attack, not only alone but in a group, not only with glass-bottles and metal-bars, but also with knives (Thai) and even guns (Filipinos).
About Koreans you also should be careful, they are known to accept/tolerate some violence against their own person from parents, teachers, police, class-mates, co-workers - violence is a part of daily life in Korea.
However if a Korean - all of them, men, women and children - feel 'too much is too much', he or she might change suddenly from tolerating/passive to an extremely aggressive/violent mood from one moment to the other. This violent reaction 'irascibility out of nothing' of Koreans is well-known in Japan too and makes them differently from Japanese people. Do not start a fight with Korean people, just a warning!
I'd be most concerned about the legal repercussions if I got into a fight here. Korean cops don't have a reputation of being fair to foreigners. I read about a Canadian teacher who got into a few fights in Korea. He was fined about $8,000. He tried to leave Korea, but they told him at the airport that he had to pay the fine first. He said he didn't have the money so they told him he had to go to jail. He spent about five months in jail before he was allowed to leave the country.
"The Korean judicial system is racist and classist, according to David Tz who was imprisoned for five months for an 8 million Won ($8,000) debt. David Tz was jailed at a rate of 50,000 won per day until the debt was paid off, which amounted to 160 days."
http://www.koreaobserver.com/convict-sa ... ison-25440
