Where in the World Do YOU Want to Retire?
Jack Terwiel Tells Us About Living in Korea
Why would anyone want to live in Korea? That might be the first question that comes to mind for someone living the comfortable life of a retiree in the USA. For military retirees, that question might not be so off the wall. Military retirees are more likely to be married to a foreign-born wife, not a few of whom would be Korean. Other retirees might fondly remember the Korea club scene of their post-Korean War tour here. For the second group, let me say right off the bat that “it ain’t the same Korea that you remember.”
I’ve lived in Korea for 25 years, spending two tours at Osan AB in 1974-75 and 1978-81, retiring in September 1981. A contractor job that started in Hawaii after retirement brought me back to Korea in May 1985, and I’ve lived here ever since. Marrying a Korean in 1982 had a lot to do with returning and remaining, but a Korean wife is not the only reason. The friendly and generous Korean people made an impression on me in my first tour that has remained with me through the entire 25 years.
After my second retirement from contractor work in late 1997, I found complete retirement to be lacking. Being somewhat of a workaholic, I didn’t have a lot of hobbies to occupy the suddenly abundant free time. So in January 1998, I opened the Retiree Activities Office at Osan AB as a fulltime endeavor and have been happily workaholic-ing it ever since.
Whether your Korean tour was in 1960, 1970, 1980 or 1990, today’s Korea is not the same Korea as it was when you were here. It is a completely modern society with the highest rate of high-speed networking in the world. Cell phones abound, with even the youngest school-agers equipped for instant communication. The countryside of rice fields and scenic mountain vistas is being replaced by wall-to-wall highways trying to keep up with the traffic, worsened by the rise in multi-car families. Mountain scenery is often blocked by sky-high apartment complexes stretching across what used to be summer green or autumn gold rice fields.
Let’s say that you and your Korean spouse have decided to return to Korea. What can you expect? Commissary, exchange, medical care, postal, banking, vehicle (and maybe even schools) – these are all concerns that need to be considered and resolved. What to expect in returning to Korea depends on the status you’ll have and your visa. Unless you are coming into a job where you can obtain a permanent visa in the U.S., it’s most likely that you’ll need a tourist visa. As a U.S. citizen, you can fly in to Korea and get a 30-day transit visa. If you’re considering moving to Korea, a tourist (C-3) visa is the better option and can be obtained from any Korean Embassy or Consulate. It’s good for two or five years and you can stay in Korea up to 90 days at a time, which gives you time to evaluate all the aspects of living in Korea.
The privileges you can expect as a non-working retiree are pretty generous in Korea. Your blue ID card entitles you to a ration card allowing you and your dependent(s) to shop, with the commissary dollar limit determined by family size. The card also allows you to use the Exchange and the AAFES service station. As a visitor, you can receive a temporary card good for 30 days, and up to three temporary cards can be issued during a single visit. Once you decide to settle in Korea, you can get a resident visa. This visa requires a Korean sponsor. Your Korean-born wife can sponsor you for this visa, even if she has become a U.S. citizen. As a Korean-born U.S. citizen, she is eligible for an Overseas Korean visa giving her all the privileges that a Korean citizen has except voting.
Medical care is very good at both Yongsan (Seoul) and Osan (Pyeongtaek), but elsewhere it’s spotty. Military medical care is pretty basic now, so a lot of non-routine cases are referred to civilian medical care, requiring use of TRICARE. Only TRICARE Standard and TRICARE for Life are available for retirees. Persons without SOFA status can supplement TRICARE with the Korean health insurance for about $50 per month. That covers about 60% of costs, and TRICARE covers just about all of the remainder.
Dental care in military clinics is virtually non-existent, with some space available basic care possibly available at Osan. No dental insurance, such as the Delta Dental for retirees in the U.S., is available in Korea. However, civilian care is good and affordable at recommended clinics that the military uses in referrals for active duty and dependents. The Korean health insurance does provide some dental coverage.
At most military installations, retirees can get a mailbox. Retirees are restricted to one pound, both sending and receiving. Non-SOFA retirees are not authorized to use the DoD Community Bank. However, the USA Federal Credit Union (http://www.usafedcu.org) provides excellent service to retiree communities (including widows) throughout Korea.
Retirees are authorized to register one vehicle to drive on military installations. A November 2004 change to the USFK regulation changed vehicle access from only the local installation where the retiree resides to all USFK installations in Korea. If you plan to move to Korea, you might consider buying a Korean car after you arrive here. Shipping a non-Korean car involves import taxes based on the original purchase price and the age of the car. Older non-Korean cars pose a problem getting parts for repairs, and that is made worse by the APO mail restriction, so you can’t receive mail order parts.
If school-age children are a consideration, be aware that you will probably have to send them to a civilian private school. Although DoDDS schools offer space available access to retirees, space available seats are extremely rare. A school such as the International Christian School (Songtan school information is at http://www.ics-stn.org) costs about $7,000 per year per child.
Selecting a location to settle down will probably depend heavily on the wishes of the Korean spouse, because most likely they will want to be close to their family. The only advice in this regard is to take into consideration the drawdown of U.S. forces in Korea and the eventual consolidation into two hubs: the Pyeongtaek area (Osan AB and Camp Humphreys) and the Taegu area (Camps Henry, Walker and Carroll). Housing is not cheap. My recommendation is to make an exploratory trip to Korea, scoping out the housing availability and costs in the desired location(s), and then making a decision.
For leisure activities, being fully retired offers you the opportunity to travel around Korea during the week, when the traffic is bearable. Weekend travel is very popular in Korea and the highways become multi-lane parking lots. Added to the congestion is the designation of bus-only lanes on the expressways, which makes commercial travel more appealing. The electric train (above-ground subway) has been extended to Cheonan, south of Pyeongtaek. That makes trips to Seoul fast, clean and cheap. The high-speed train KTX, based on the French trés grande vitesse, offers fast travel to more distant locations such as Taegu and Pusan.
A great deal more information on all these topics is available at my Website at www.rao-osan.com. Check out Privileges and Visitor Info for details on ration cards, and vehicle registration and licensing. The Osan Info page has links to bus schedules and the Songtan station subway schedule. And while you’re there, check out some of the slideshows of Korea, Then and Now and What Was It Like.”And finally, to see Osan AB today, check out Current Construction Projects. There is also information on Osan’s Turumi Lodge and downtown hotels, as well as some information on the Dragon Hill Lodge at Yongsan and other Seoul lodging options.
Finally, if you make it to Osan, drop by the Retiree Activities Office in Building 936, Room 103. It’s just down the hall from where you’ll be picking up your temporary ration card for your visit, or applying for your permanent ration card if you’re moving here.
Jack Terwiel
Osan, Korea
jack@rao-osan.com
Editor's Note: Jack Terwiel, Captain, USAF, Retired, is the Director of the Osan AB Retiree Activities Office in South Korea, We asked Jack to tell us what it is like to be retired there.
South Korea is very generous in allowing the use of certain military facilities, even for short-term visitors. Be sure to check out the retiree web page at www.rao-osan.com It is packed full of useful information.
