Facebook group OinK (Only in Korea) And Its Controversial Ways

A few years ago, I had joined the Facebook page Only in Korea (OinK) to share in the humor of Korea but hoping that it would be balanced between cute and positive experiences and negative ones. OinK was created by Travis Hull who is on the radio in Seoul and has his own podcast. He talks about these issues and adds fuel to the fire by adding more negative stories on his Facebook page every other day. There's also light humor in the group and occasionally a positive story about Korea but not very often.

Unfortunately,  I felt that I needed to leave the group after a month because the group mainly focused on the negative situations (as mentioned earlier) and I could sense that there was bitterness and anger towards Koreans. Ironically, a lot of people in the group have been in Korea for at least five years or longer, which makes you wonder why the people stay in Korea if they hate it so much. They would argue that they love Korea but feel that the negative stories should be reported, so that this country could change for the better. That would make sense if a lot of the comments were helpful, encouraged change, beneficial to the well being of Korea, or intelligently thought out. Yet you will rarely find those comments. More often than that, people will troll the pictures and articles and make Korea the butt of their jokes.

It prompted me to begin the Facebook group Expats Who Love South Korea. My goal is not to promote my page. My goal is to let people know that if they don't want to hear the whining, moaning, and complaining about Korea on a consistent basis, they have another option to turn to.

Two months ago, I attended Barry Welsh's Seoul Book & Culture Club which hosted a live podcast featuring Korea FM.net. He hosted Robert Koehler (Marmot's Hole), Colin Marshall (LARB Korea Blog), Chance Dorland and Travis Hull (Only in Korea) to discuss recent issues they covered on a Korea FM podcast episodes. Here's a picture that I took while I was there:

Travis Hull, Robert Koehler, Colin Marshall, and Chance Dorland pictured from left to right

They answered questions from the audience. One woman in the audience asked Travis why OinK was known for being so negative and a magnet for trolls He responded that he enjoyed living in Korea, he felt that the other side of Korea had to be told, and unfortunately the negativity did draw trolls, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Barry pointed me out in the audience because my group takes a different approach than OinK. However, I didn't really want to join the discussion since I didn't want to say too many negative things about OinK. I met Robert Koehler after the discussion was over and he was disappointed that I didn't raise my hand, stand up, and share my views on Korea during the podcast. I explained why I didn't but I did tell him that one of the reasons I started my own Facebook group was because I wanted people to know that there were non-Koreans in Korea that DO sincerely love living here.

I just recently re-joined the OinK group because there is one positive aspect of the group. I'm definitely informed about what annoys people about Korea. But the problem still exists: constant jabs at Korea and subtle insults directed at Koreans. Here are some recent headlines of stories that OinK couldn't wait to add to their collection:

"Smoker slaps woman with baby for asking him to stop puffing in no smoking area"

"Baby Dead After Pregnant Woman's One Night Stand"

"Over 1,200 Koreans behind bars abroad as of end of June"

The news stories don't bother me as much as the people that love to take pictures in Seoul in order to laugh at Koreans or shame them. These kinds of pictures get the most "likes" and comments and that will tell you what kind of people are fans of the group. People post about people being drunk on the street or try to shame Koreans by how they park their cars. Other pictures are funny but the pictures below went too far in my opinion:

Pictures like this make me consider me jumping out of the group. Who knows? Maybe, I'll get kicked out if the administrator of OinK sees my blog post. On the other hand, he might be happy that he's getting more exposure over the internet. Whatever the case may be, I feel like my opinion should be heard and I know that there are many others that probably feel the same way as I do. 

Update (November 18, 2018): A year ago, I decided to jump ship. That group was breeding too much negativity. I also heard that some of the members made fun of the Expats Who Love South Korea group. I will take that as a compliment!

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy