Why do these people act like this? Is it only to foreigners?
Korea was traditionally known as the Hermit kingdom- Despite making some amazing scientific advances in navigation, they rarely ever made diplomatic missions to other nations. And in the past, whn other countries made contact with them it was unfriendly, re: China and Japan. Up until the mid-1980's, it was a military doctatorship. Korea advanced from a borderline 3rd world agrarian economy to a .5 world nation in about 25 years. It's unbelivable. As a result, the culture is still catching up with the progress. Koreans are incredibly, stubbornly, wonderfully proud of their culture, of their nationality, of their heritage. To have that suddenly challenged by an influx of foreign workers, of foreign cultures, of foreign foods and ideas is a huge shock to the Korean system.
Korea is not in any way a multi-cultural society. Younger kids- college aged and younger- are way more open minded, but even people in their early 30's think all blacks are spear chucking tribesman. I've had Koreans tell me to my face "Korea has no gay people". Korean celebrities have committed suicide over being
accused of being gay. It's a startlingly homogeneous society where stepping off the party line is akin to rejecting the culture entirely.
I always like to said it's a 1492, Columbus racism as opposed to a 1952, lynching tree racism. They're just new to this and kind of backwards about it and it's very disorienting to Western people from diverse, multi-cultural upbringings.
