I moved to South Korea in August 2019, it was amazing for the first 6 months before covid hit, and honestly the restrictions were not that bad during covid. But it seemed like the less people got sick, the more they started restricting things here, apps, QR tracking codes for restaurants...etc. Total body temperature scanning devices to get into a book store.
I recently had to go back to the states to move some stuff around and one of my family members had a heart attack, so I wanted to visit as it had been more then almost 2 years since I left. Getting into the USA wasn't that big of an issue, you get a corona test and your in, the people checking largely didn't care, was normal international travel outside of a temperature check.
Getting back into Korea on the other hand... is the dumbest fucking thing I have ever witnessed in my life.
You have to get a PCR 3 days before you fly, you get checked out in the USA, but when you arrive in Korea you would think that half the worlds population has died the way they conduct themselves. You get off the plane and are greeted by people in white suits, they take your temperature, then you have to download an app that GPS tracks your location for 2 weeks... then everyone who flew had a police escort every step of the way back to our cities.
We were all given a special sticker on our right arm and then literally put into special train cars for people who travel and might have covid. Once I arrive in my city Daegu there were about 10 police all waiting for us, also masked up with special vests and orange batons to wave us to where we needed to go. They cleared out a path and we were marched like diseased patients through the train station, across the street in the rain to some tented facility. There we all took 2 covid tests, something they scratched my throat with, then shoved something up my nose damn near my brain. I felt so bad for one korean girl she kept jumping back as they jammed it up her nose, she was crying and just done with the whole process.
Oh and the APP on my phone, twice a day I have to take my temperature, I can't turn it off, it tracks me constantly and if I don't check in twice a day I could go to jail... or pay a fine.
So now, I'm quarantining at home for 2 weeks. I had a test before I got on my flight it was negative. I got my test after getting to my city it was also negative...... so why the fuck do I have to quarantine for 2 weeks? All for something you have a 99% chance of surviving if you do get it... which the chances of getting it are equally as small.
We truly live in the stupidest time in the history of the world.
China already took over South Korea. Wouldn't be surprised if your saliva and brain fluid are in a lab in China.
I’ve lived in Japan Korea and China. Korean people are more collectivist than the Chinese and like the Japanese, Koreans really dislike uncertainty. Chinese people are OK with uncertainty and tolerate some rule breaking actually.
When Chinese people enforce Covid restrictions, most of them know it’s bullshit but they just do it because it’s their job. Korean people who are in charge of restrictions, actually think they’re doing something important to protect their race from the dirty outsiders.
I agree, that's why it's so easy to take advantage of Korea. They impeached their own president because of the mainstream sentiment at the time, not hard facts. Anyone who questioned it was/is considered a traitor.