Does the word "waeguk" bother you?

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No disrespect to Korean people, but sometimes I find it irritating when I am the only foreigner and I hear Koreans talking to each other in Korean saying the word "waeguk" and start giggling, sometimes even pointing at me. I know enough Korean language to understand that they saying things directly about me. I find it quite rude. Has anyone else experienced this? Does it bother you?

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Yeah, I experience that daily and it bothers me. I'm a white guy that has lived in Korea for most of the past 15 years. I speak Korean fluently, better than most Koreans.

However, I have put it into perspective. Some of the propaganda to which Koreans have been subjected makes them believe that they are a homogeneous race, despite the fact that nearly all Koreans are born with Mongolian birthmarks (bruising) and the long history of Koreans being occupied by everyone in East Asia.

As a result, Koreans have taught their students to be increasingly Xenophobic. The idea that someone could be "Korean" and be racially different is completely rejected in Korea, even among the highly educated.

A new genetic study underway in Ilsan Korea is quickly dispelling the "racial purity" myth, and as a result the Ministry of Education has required a revision of textbooks to remove the myth from schools, but I think the myth is so ubiquitous here in Korea that I don't see any real change coming any time soon. Source(s): White dude living a long, long time in Korea.
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No, but I dont like the word MOIST. I hate that word!
Nope, but the word PBJ does.
I agree with a lot of Big Blair said..
I am a white woman living in Seoul.
My daughter ice skates at a local rink, where she is clearly the only blond/blue eyed 6 year old who has been around for awhile. Some of the other kids will stop dead in their tracks to point out the "mee-****", (American), which is a term I hear much more than Way-****.
It must drive the non-Americans crazy that most assume anyone who looks western is probably American.

Me-**** or Way-**** stopped bothering me a long time ago. No matter what the education system is teaching them about the "purity" of the Korean bloodlines, you still have to understand that they simply do not have a lot of experience with foreigners and most who are talking about you have not been out of Asia. (or possibly, out of Korea)
Very rarely will they be saying hateful things about you. It is more a curiousity factor.
In general, Koreans are very hospitable and generous.
And if you are a younger man, and it is a gaggle of girls doing this, you should be flattered.
you dont have to **** it.. its not a curse. it just means youre a person from america. and of course they're gonna stop and stare if youre different from the other 48 million people living in korea
to one of the responders: 'wehgook' refers to all foreigners, not just Americans. anyway, I also find it rude when people do that too. I'm Korean, but I don't really look Korean, so sometimes other Korean people tend to talk about me behind my back or right in front of my face thinking that I won't understand them. whether it's good or bad, most of time unecessary, I hate it when strangers talk about me, period! Sometimes it's just not Korean people, when I'm somewhere where I'm the only Korean person, people (Chinese!!!) talk about me & I notice it. from now on, I plan on confronting anyone who does that because it's wrong.