I should be clear that I'm definitely not trying to invalidate your experiences, because I don't really have any that compare, not having visited Korea just yet

I should be clear that I'm definitely not trying to invalidate your experiences, because I don't really have any that compare, not having visited Korea just yet. I live in Germany, and the Koreans I meet here (we have a decently-sized local ethnicity, a multi-story culture center (http://www.kulturkorea.org/de/ http://www.kulturkorea.org/de/) and a significant Korean expat community (http://berlinreport.com/) http://berlinreport.com/)) are more likely to be attuned to and interested in dealing with Westerners, I guess. And any Korean acquaintances I've made online (IRC, Hello Talk, etc.) are in connection with language learning activities, so they're probably similar. The pronunication theory is based on my own experiences learning the language though (I e.g. found distinguishing and correctly producing some of the tense consonants vs. the basic versions quite tricky initially) and from Koreans admitting that it can be really hard to understand Westerners trying to pronounce their language. I think the above sort of hints at something though: If you're a Westerner curious about Asia, it's probably a good idea to try and make contact with natives who similarly have an appetite for relating to those foreign to them. No doubt there are Koreans not interested in dealing with Westerners; there are people like that everywhere. Doesn't mean you can't find your tribe somewhere in a 50 million people population, though. It's not like you like everyone back home either, probably. Gotta expect the same anywhere you go.