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As foreign residents are only too aware, the Korean internet is often inaccessible to them or at least very inconveniently accessible. The Chosun Ilbo recently took a short look at the issue. Hat tip to Dave from Page F30. Update: The official Chosun translation is here. 31-year-old Mario Schloesser, a German citizen who has spent 19 months in Korea working for a foreign bank, is a big movie fan. On the 15th he went on the internet to reserve tickets for the popular movie Avatar. He went to the movie reservations site and clicked the icon on the top of the screen reading "Tickets". He chose the theater location, film (Avatar in digital 3D), date and screening time, then received a message telling him to "log in". When he clicked the button on the right-hand side of the screen reading "Join" he was confronted by a slew of explanations in language difficult for even Koreans to understand. Mr. Schloesser chose "Accept" and clicked the button reading "Foreign User Registration". The site's information for foreigners was mostly written in hangul. After entering his ID, password, address, and alien registration card number, Mr. Schloesser paused at birthday. "Solar calendar? Lunar calendar? What is this?" After entering his e-mail he thought everything was finished, but his expression turned dark again. "Fax? I'm not done yet?" A sesame seed-like sentence had appeared. "After entering the missing information and completing the application please send by fax one of an identification card issued by proper authorities, driver's license, passport, or alien registration. After such paperwork is confirmed your registration will be approved." Mr. Schloesser said: "I wonder how many more hoops I will have to jump through," and gave up trying to make the reservation. He added, "I don't understand why I should send a fax containing sensitive personal information for anyone to see... It seems that ever-busy Korea forgot to take account of foreign customers." With the world's fastest internet and online shopping that knocks down buildings, and a blog and homepage for everyone... The Republic of Korea is known as an "internet heaven", but one that can only be used by Koreans. For foreigners it is pie in the sky -- out of reach. One foreign embassy worker in Korea saaid, "it is impossible to make concert reservations using a foreign credit card... It was also not possible to use my foreign registration number." Complaints from foreigners that it is difficult for them to use the Korean internet have been heard for many years, but no solution has ever been implemented. Last November the government created a website (ifriendly) but it contained little information and was so inaccurate as to be laughable. 25-year-old American Trevor Townsend, who has been living in Dongjak-gu in Seoul since entering the country as an English instructor in July, grew angry after trying to buy an iPod from a major onlne retailer on the 16th. He said, "my co-workers told me how inconvenient it is not to be able to shop online, but I didn't really undeerstand until now." Mr. Townsend used the English-language section of the onine retailer. Titles such as "Apparel and Accessories" and "Electronics" appeared in English along with prices in dollars. But that was it. The names and descriptions of items were in Korean. When he searched for iPod Touch and chose free delivery the price ranged from $100-300. One option offered "a third-generation iPod Touch 8G + urethane case + protective film + free gifts/fast shipping!" the sentences he could understand said the price was W299,000 ($266). The names of over 10 accessories such as speakers and battery packs were in Korean. When it came time to check out he had to register. He entered his name, ID, e-mail address, and 13-digit alien registration card number. But a message appeared saying the applicaion was incomplete. Mr. Townsend said, "I was properly issued an alien registration card good for one year but I'm being treated like an illegal immigrant... When you buy something, I don't know, this just makes me angry... This stinks." He spent 30 minutes on the site before putting down his laptop. He went instead to the Yongsan electronics market. 21-year-old Vishnyakan Alexandra, a Russian student at Konkuk University, said, "most sites only let you input a Korean name... There's no way to put in a name like mine.' She added, "there are a lot of international students who use the convenient method of doing a 'thief registration' by using the name of a Korean friend." When 28-year-old Shiwat Surakitbuvun, who is Thai, began his master's degree at a domestic university in 2003 he was insulted when he used the university website. When he attempted to register on the site he was absolutely required to enter his alien registration card number, domestic phone number, and credit card number. At the time Mr. Surakitbuvun was in Thailand and could not produce such things. He sent e-mails to the site administrator and the school and completed the process of proving his identity. Three days later he was registered on the site, but there had been many errors with his credit card. Mr. Surakitbuvun said, "what should have taken 30 minutes wound up taking three days... it would have been faster to do by international mail."
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one of the reasons why I love and hate Korea, it can be so fashionable and high tech but when it comes to being organized or doing things efficiently its like 20-25 years behind the US
It's all part of an elaborate plan for Korea to RULE cyber world!!!! Kneel before me pleb's!!! Feel the wrath as my index finger left clicks my mouse.....
these problems mentioned here, or rather fundamental flaws in the system are only the one side of the problem. the other i would say are the numerous sites which just dont work. i i mean neither in korean nor english. just a few days ago my coworker had to register him and me, it took him however more than a hour to figure out how to do it. or to be precise after a hour he gave up and called the host of the website. besides that im more than a bit pissed that seoul natl. univ. still doesnt have an english homepage. i mean one which you could use as student, when it come to course enrollment or checking your grades its all in korean (and that in the supposedly leading university of korea) oh and if that wouldnt be enough it was for some reason just not possible to register with that page (a problem also my coworkers couldnt fix) and the best thing is that KBS slaped us today an article in the face saying that korea is the leading internet nation. thank you for listening, im finished ranting ^^ sry ^^
i rememeber jumping through hoops just to sign up for cyworld. it was stupid as hell.
I've had problems shopping on line recently. If the purchase that I make is over 300'000won on my credit card I'm transferred to an online verification system where I have to enter in a special pin number to prove that I'm not using a stolen credit card. In order to get a pin number I had log onto the credit card website all in Korean and stumble around there for around 45 minutes with a call to the help center thrown in as well. Once it was all done I then went onto the website and tried again. After typing in all my details I then went into payment where I was again redirected to the credit card authentication site, where I was greeted with an error message stating that my browser didn't support the function. Yes, I was using firefox. So, I had to close down the browser and start the whole process again in internet explorer. This whole process took around a good 2 hours.
The next month I had to purchase some airline tickets online. Once again I used my Korean credit card. Since the tickets were more expensive than my previous purchase, my online authentication number was no longer good enough and I had to get an authentication certificate from my bank on a USB stick. Since I was too busy that day, I had to wait to the next day to go to the bank. The next day, when I went to the bank I spent over an hour there. First having to set up an online account with the bank and then using my new online account to set up an authentication certificate to put onto my USB stick. Then I took the USB stick and used it to pay for my plane tickets. Once again I had the problem with the firefox browser and had to restart the process. When I came to booking the hotels I found that my credit card had been refused. I found, upon calling the company that my limit was 1 million won, not 5 million like I had been told when I opened the credit card account. They refused to increase my credit as they said my rating was not good enough. Luckily for me I had another credit card which I was able to use to book the hotels. If I didn't I could have found myself in a spot of bother. This whole process took around 2 days which should have been a simple 30 minute job. I wish they would apply the same strictness with credit cards when making purchases offline. My friend used her husbands credit card in the department store without question and I've signed off as mickey mouse on my friends credit card for a 60'000won bar tab without question as well.
Amid all the justified negative comments, I would like to mention three companies that I think are doing a good job of blazing the trail of foreigner-friendliness in Korea: LG Telecom, Korea Exchange Bank, and gmarket.co.kr.
god korea is such a third world country in some aspects...
I won't use Korean websites until I can keep my privacy. Anyone who puts their real information on the internet is a fool.
If Korea scrapped it's real-name verification law then half these problems would disappear. Not too worried about non-English sites(this is Korea), and I do have IE. But two hours to buy a damn cinema ticket! You want to see my passport? Just take the money and give me my ipod! Gmarket(English Version) also does not let you do bank transfers(credit card and paypal only)
If your lifestyle is that of an expatriate who moves from country to country, the best thing to do is leave. There are more exotic countries. There are better cost-of-living countries. There are more accessible countries. The majority of the Korean public is completely uninterested in their foreign workers. We are all glorified domestic servants here, no matter what our position. In the end, this is a country of people that can't find anything without a GPS to tell them where to go. As long as the GPS works accurately you'll do fine but when it doesn't...
I wouldn't call that a uniquely korean problem in thier defense Charles. I remember being in McDonalds in the States one day when the POS (what an appropriate acronym) was on the fritz. I was like "I have money. You have cheeseburgers. Why won't you sell the damn things?" Technology makes things easier until we get dependent on it and it makes things next to impossible. Though with high rate of technology penetration and complete administrative chaos, Korea is a bit more vulnerable to this.
Stuart - Don't use Firefox. Period. That you used it a second time... all your fault dude. If you can't fight the urge and insist on trying FF, use the IE Tab add-on, but I hear it's not Korean-internet-proof.
It's not only hard for foreigners to shop here. The whole pointcard/discount/coupon system is made so you should spend 2 hours on what should be a 5 minute job, and this is even for Koreans! Maybe they consider online shopping fun or like a game, but I just want to order what I want fast and easy.
It would be a mistake to think that the problems that affect Korean websites are unique to online commerce. Korean websites are plagued by the same issues that plague every individual / organization interface in this country, but online, you have the advantage that you are permitted to witness the effects that these issues have instantaneously. In real life just as online, every organization is hamstrung by countless clumsy rules and regulations, an utter lack of clarity of direction and a ludicrous system of seniority where the person most capable of providing a solution is least able to provide it. Korean websites then are the inevitable flowers of these tangled, tortuous roots. Unfucking Korean websites is going to take more than a little expert coding - they're going to have to unfuck the whole freaking system.
They, companies and the government (uups, it's all the same, right), really have to get their act together. If Korea wants to be a globally recognized country and they want their brands and other goods appreciated elsewhere, then start acting like a global country or organization and stop hiding behind "it's Korean culture, it's Korean way of doing things". Well, if that's the attitude, you obviously don't need the money of foreigners and I rather spend it and invest it on my next holiday - outside Korea!
G-Market is worth the effort. I managed to register on it all by myself. But to access other sites you really need a Korean friend (yes there are some nice Koreans) and that's how I have managed. But it's strange isn't it: it's so hard to give Korean businesses your money. Please, please take my money, real money, real Won, Oh please, please...
Paul, I know who you are. But don't be frightened, it's ok, it's ok.
When I signed up for Cyworld it turns out my name was too long so I had to fax them my personal info, then get a couple phone calls to confirm. Good thing I speak Korean because I didn't have any friends around to help at the time. |
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