If you're on an expat package then you may have higher standard of living choices--Many of the newest apartment buildings have great technology. They are usually all high, high rises, views of lots of other high rises, but with large square footage. If you get a choice for a "villa" it could be quite nice. I like Korean style houses--don't know what modern ones are like. All space in Korea is at a premium. A nice feature in Korean houses or apartments are under-floor (ondol) heating! Great in winter. Busan though will be a bit warmer than other parts of Korea b/c it's on the coast. Korean language is fairly easy to learn the sound-symbol system. Only 26 characters, so if you're out and about, it's easy to study 2-3 characters a day. I learned it pretty quick and then left Korea for 3 years and it all came back when I returned! Learning honorifics, grammar and vocab is a lot harder! It's easier to learn "taxi", food and other survival type language.
I've never had sucess with Kitsune's approach. But lately I've downloaded Kindle for Ipad app and have been able to download purchases and samples from Amazon. I think this process is dependent on having a US iTunes account with a US credit card. When I had a Qatar based iTunes account the selection available was paltry!! I was told by Apple/ITunes support that I could create an account without a credit card and use ITunes credit but it never worked--and I tried several times to do this. In all cases I got error messages that Apple/ITunes help would not reslove or respond to (really!).
I lived in Korea for 4 years. Two years in Seoul (99-2000 & 2006-2007) and two years in Gwangju (2004-2006) and my daughter was born there! I visited Busan several times. It's in the south east of the country on the water and near mountains (like most of Korea). I believe the high-speed train to Seoul (KTX) is a good option to travel around and go to Seoul for the weekend. Depends on where you will be living for quality of life. Easy to get around with taxis, bus and metro...not necessary for cars unless you want to go to more remote areas for some peace and quite. Not sure about schools since I lived in Korea before my daughter was school-age, but if you don't have allowance for an international school, costs will be astronomical. Korean cities are extremely population dense, limited "Western" choices but this has changed a bit in the past 5 years. Depends on what you are interested in. Contact me off-forum for more info about life in Korea!
