One thing that's a troubling for the long term, though, is that petty crimes and what you might call "kid crimes" seem to be on the increase. I've heard of teachers having bicycles stolen. Margaret almost lost her wallet to some kid who lifted it from her tote bag when she wasn't looking (he gave it back when he was confronted, claiming it was a joke). We also had an umbrella taken from beside the door of a cafe -- a little thing, but disappointing. And for the first time since the 1997 economic crisis, the number of violent crimes increased in 2003. At 4 percent, it wasn't a big jump, but the character of the violence seemed to get a little more senseless and random. I'm afraid this means that Korea will eventually catch up with the west in the crime department. I'll be sorry to see that happen. But for the moment, Korea is still a pretty safe place to live.

Another matter to consider: some critics say there's more assault and rape than the Korean government's statistics show, because a lot of it goes unreported. Ask your Korean friends about this, and what you should do to be safe. If you're fresh off the airplane, just act like you would in Europe. That is, don't be careless, but don't be paranoid either.

Public drunkenness. Ah, now that's another story. It's not illegal in Korea. But if you like to party, don't celebrate this too much -- just wait until you step in a puddle of vomit or urine some early Saturday morning.

Seriously, drunken men of every nation behave unpredictably, and there be dangers here.

Drinking with the boss

I wish I could just say, "stay away from the bars." But drinking is a big part of social and professional life in Korea, especially for men, and when somebody invites you to have a drink with him, it's rude to refuse. So you'll almost certainly be going to a bar with your colleagues, students, or even your boss.

You've read about those western men who get into scraps with drunken Koreans? You don't want that to happen to you? (Actually, that should be a statement: You don't want that to happen to you.)

First off let me tell you that it's not as common as the websites and blogs would lead you to believe. But in part because of some issues associated with the US military folks who are stationed in Korea (we'll go into this more later in the FAQ), there are some Korean men who may get belligerent with westerners, especially Americans, when well lubed.

The way to minimize the risk of this problem is to stay calm, and as sober as possible. Take advantage of the Korean tradition: "Never allow your friend's glass to be empty" also means "Don't fill it until it is empty." So just don't drain your glass. And when you go out, make sure at least a few Korean friends are with your party -- they're better prepared to help handle any situation that comes up.

When it's time to go home, you have to deal with possibly drunken driving. This is a major problem in Korea. Sobriety checkpoints and big penalties haven't stopped it. Your best strategy is probably to steer the group to a bar within walking distance.

As this suggests, Korea is a dangerous place for a recovering alcoholic.

Speaking of driving, as I suggested above, Koreans are some of the world's worst (and craziest) drivers. It's really weird. A major principle of Korean culture is that the good of society is at least as important as the good of the individual. But you put a Korean in a car or truck or bus and he's a completely different person. He might as well be the only driver on the road. I've never seen such aggressive driving anywhere else (well, maybe in Italy).

Then there's skill. From 2000 to 2002 the number of cars per hundred Koreans increased from 22 to 27. This means that almost 20% of those cars are driven by people with less than 2 years of driving experience. About three-quarters of the drivers have less than 10 years of experience.

The upshot of all this is a death rate of 5.5 per 10,000 vehicles, compared to 2 in the US and 1.2 in Japan (the latter is probably the better comparison, given the relative sizes of Korea and the US).

The numbers tell one story, but here's what it was like for us.

Some of the other teachers' web sites talk about wild bus rides and insane taxi drivers. You might think this happens all the time. Well, maybe we were just lucky, but we had very few that were like that.

Now, I did have one taxi driver who took some gut-wrenching risks passing on the 2-lane road to the airport. I guess he thought I was late for my flight. Several times, we saw bus drivers tailgate dangerously closely, then swing out and cut off cars that were going too slow for their tastes. I also watched one bus driver talk on his cell phone most of the way from Seoul to Kangnung -- about 3 hours! (Fortunately he was using a headset.) And both of us rode with some "civilian" drivers who drove too fast and, shall we say, not very accurately. But most of our taxi rides were no wilder than the ones we've had in Europe, for what that's worth, and most of the long distance bus rides were fairly calm. So while driving lunacy does happen, it's not as bad as it's sometimes made out to be. Wear your seat belt, and not just because Korean law requires it.