First World vs Third World
South Korea has a lot of foreign workers: migrant workers from South and West Asian nations, and English teachers from first-world English-speaking nations.

The migrant workers live and work in poor conditions, and face institutional discrimination for where they're from. A lot don't work here legally, because their employers want to save money. If spotted outside their work areas, they're commonly picked up by immigration officers for detention and deportation. As a result, the most successful ones learn the Korean language, and will try to marry a local to get a marriage visa.

In 2007, a migrant detention center caught on fire, and the guards tried putting out the fire in the cells, but refused to open the cell doors for fear the migrants would escape. Ten died, 17 were injured, and I'm pretty sure most of the rest were deported. Four Mongolians apparently saved the lives of a bunch of prison guards, so they were allowed to stay in Korea.

The ESL community, who have their own homes, solid work visas, spend their weekends drinking, and get paid handsomely for simply speaking English, had a very strong reaction:

"Look how badly Koreans treat all us foreigners!"

Yeah, you're really in the same boat there, first-worlders.
(racetraitor has an alibi for, Sun 4 Mar 2012, 5:07, Reply)