How do I work in S. Korea?

zepher · Nov 24, 2010

I doubt it, you would have to be fluent in Korean. If you want to be an English Teacher there are plenty of jobs. Besides, why on earth would you want to work in Korea of all places.

Fiona59 · Nov 25, 2010

Are you Korean???

NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN · Nov 25, 2010

South Korea would be an interesting place to live. Maybe the person is fascinated with Korean culture, or the person is married to someone in the military and will be moving there sometime after graduation. I'm curious to hear the responses from nurses who have information about the area.

WannaBNP · Jun 3, 2011

Hi

Although I am not the original person to post this question, I have the same desire. I am a military wife and as crazy as it sounds, living in S. Korea on a military base opens amazing learning possibilities for our children. When I went back to school I promised myself that I would not allow my education to interfere with the family. So far I have managed to balance it well. I would like to continue to practice so that I have the experience that would allow me to be accepted into an NP program as I am a new graduate and require that 2 years experience (and I am an older student). Thanks for your help!!!

Trauma Columnist · Jun 3, 2011

Ok I gotta be blunt with you guys. My two yrs spent atYongsan in Seoul were horrid. We lived there from 1988-1990. I worked at the 121 evachospital.

My kids were 3 and 8 when we moved there. The pollution is horrendous, the overcrowded conditions stifling. The younger age Koreans hate the US military presence. I drove my son to school everyday because the school bus was tear gassed by Koreans.

We had to watch from inside our apt complex (Hannah Village) As students broke thru The guard shack and burned the American flag.

The Korean people potty train their kids by letting them urinate in the streets. Taxi drivers do the same thing.

I can say it was the worst overseas tour we've ever done. And don't get me started on the black market and the Korean wives clearing the shelves of peanut butter and bananas, shampoo, etc..

You would walk thru Itaewon, and insolent shoppes would be stuff from the commissary with the price tags still on them.

I've lived in Japan, Spain, Korea and the interior of Alaska so I do have something to compare it too.

dayandnight · Jun 18, 2011

Ok I gotta be blunt with you guys. My two yrs spent atYongsan in Seoul were horrid. We lived there from 1988-1990. I worked at the 121 evachospital.
My kids were 3 and 8 when we moved there. The pollution is horrendous, the overcrowded conditions stifling. The younger age Koreans hate the US military presence. I drove my son to school everyday because the school bus was tear gassed by Koreans.
We had to watch from inside our apt complex (Hannah Village) As students broke thru The guard shack and burned the American flag.
The Korean people potty train their kids by letting them urinate in the streets. Taxi drivers do the same thing.
I can say it was the worst overseas tour we've ever done. And don't get me started on the black market and the Korean wives clearing the shelves of peanut butter and bananas, shampoo, etc..
You would walk thru Itaewon, and insolent shoppes would be stuff from the commissary with the price tags still on them.
I've lived in Japan, Spain, Korea and the interior of Alaska so I do have something to compare it too.

Trauma nurse. You lived in Korea when Korea was still developing and the politics there was still pretty sketchy (a lot of riots and political fights occurred during the 70's to late 80's.). and Itaewon isn't the best place to be, even now. S.Korea has changed a lot since then, and there are no kids urinating on the streets. the cities are as crowded and developed as any US cities and even bigger. People are educated (70% of high school grads go to a post-secondary institution aka universities or colleges)

Also if you knew the history and the types of influences the US military had in Korea you would understand a bit more about why people might have looked at them badly. I'm not judging you or anything. Just saying that it's 100% different now than what you have experienced. I was born in 1990 and I've never seen anything like you have experienced in Korea when I grew up. Actually S. Korea is more developed than the US I would say in terms of technology and the types of education available for children.

dayandnight · Jun 18, 2011

I'm almost done with my RN program and then have another year left for my BSN in the states. What I really want to do when I graduate is work abroad in South Korea. Is there a way to work there with an American RN license? Please advise!!! Thanks in advance!

Back to the original poster, if you want to become a nurse in Korea, you need to know whether your BSN education there is accepted in Korea, then you can take a license exam. Usually if you were educated in english-speaking countries it might be accepted better, especially the US.

However, I believe the license exam is in Korean (even though health science classes in Korean are taught with textbooks imported from the US or other English speaking countries and most of the medical terms they use are English words). Also, your Korean language ability might be a problem when looking for jobs there even if you pass this test. It takes around 3-4 years for a foreigner to be able to communicate in a level that native Koreans can understand. Korean is an easy language to read, but it can be extremely difficult to speak Korean. Communication is important in hospitals as you would understand, so if you cannot understand orders in Korean from doctors it might be a huge problem.

If your education does not meet the requirements, you might need to go to nursing school in Korea, which is really hard since the lectures will be in Korean (although your book will probably be in English).

If you want to teach English in Korea, then they don't care about what education you had in the US and what your Korean abilities are. As long as you have a Bachelor's degree in anything you are qualified. The only thing is you are a new grad and if you go to Korea right after you graduate you might not have any healthcare related experience. If you want to come back to the US in the future that might not be the best choice

edithse7en · Jun 23, 2014

I just graduated from high school I'm really anxious to go into nursing I was thinking of the same question I would love to go to S. Korea but you can't if you finish your degree in the U.S. but for sure I'm going some day.