Seoul - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the relative size of the expatriate community? How would you describe overall morale among expatriates?
There is a large expat community in Seoul. If you want to go beyond the embassy/military community, I recommend joining some of the expat Facebook groups, attending classes/events hosted by the Itaewon Global Village Center, join a club, or visit the local yoga studio (The Flow Room). - Mar 2022
Huge. Morale in the general expat community is high. Morale at the embassy is bad. - Nov 2021
Very big, if you include the military down south. Even if you don't count them, there are a lot of English teachers, students, and diplomats. Morale is fine. As far as I can tell, negative morale tends to be due to the base living situation or a work situation, not Korea specific. That said, Korean culture can make it hard for westerners to date, especially women. The Metoo movement seems to have exposed a lot of sexism and young men especially have reacted poorly against women. - Feb 2020
size of the expat community is large. Morale is generally good but some people complain about everything. Those are usually the people who are afraid to venture off base and don't go anywhere. - Feb 2016
The number of foreigners in Seoul (and all of Korea) is enormous. You see expats and tourists everywhere you go. For the most part it seems people are happy. - Feb 2016
Quite large. There are many U.S. military personnel, as well as teachers from all over the world. We made lots of friends, it was great. Dinner parties in embassy housing were quite common. - Jul 2015
Huge. There are two big women's groups - SIWA and AWC - which offer a lot of activities and ways to meet others and to get to know Seoul better. The Embassy community is different than the "usual" make up of embassy cones. It makes it harder to get to know others as people generally stick to socializing with their office groups. The CLO here is great and has worked hard to plan fun outings and good community building activities. - Feb 2015
Large and generally very good. - Jan 2014
Huge. There will be tons of people and gatherings for you to find here. - Sep 2013
Very large. There are thousands of English teachers in Korea, a fair amount of business people, and a large military presence. - Jan 2011
Many, thousands with the US military and the English-teaching community. - Dec 2010
Not real sure, but korea4expats.com and globalseoul.co.kr probably have that information. It has grown considerably since we were here in 2002. - Sep 2009
Lots. - Jul 2008
Huge-thousands. - May 2008
