Woman told Seoul school will not hire Irish people because of their ‘alcoholism’ – a major problem in the Asian country

Katie Mulrennan comes from a country that has produced some of the world’s finest authors, poets and raconteurs. But it was her compatriots’ supposed prodigious drinking and not their love of the English language which determined the outcome of her application for a teaching job in Seoul.

Mulrennan, 26, from County Kerry in Ireland, had applied for a teaching job in the South Korean capital, where she has lived for two years. She seemed the perfect candidate for the job, which was advertised by a recruitment agency on Craigslist in September, having spent more than three years teaching English in Barcelona, Oxford, Abu Dhabi and then Seoul.

But weeks after filing her application, she was stunned to discover why she was not even considered for an interview. A reply from the recruiter read: “Hello Katie, I am sorry to inform you that my client does not hire Irish people due to the alcoholism [sic] nature of your kind.”

The sender, who was not named, ended the message by wishing her “the best of luck in the future”.

Mulrennan told BBC News: “It was disappointing because these employers did not even get to see me. They never spoke to me and didn’t get a chance to hear what I sounded like.”

She does not know the name of the recruiter as its name did not appear on Craigslist, but has reported the job posting to the classified ads website.

Mulrennan initially thought the response was a joke: “Usually when you apply for a job and they don’t want you, they don’t send a reply. Or they tell you they would prefer someone from North America, because some schools prefer the accent.

“But this reply was a first. When I got the email, it was so abrupt and short. I actually laughed when I read it initially. But then I wanted to write back a really angry response.”

The incident has again drawn attention to xenophobic attitudes among South Koreans, many of whom consider themselves ethnically homogeneous.

A 2013 survey by the Washington Post found that South Korea was one of the least racially tolerant countries in the world, with one in three people saying they did not want someone of a different race as a neighbour.

The newspaper said in its analysis: “This may have to do with Korea’s particular view of its own racial-national identity as unique and with the influx of south-east Asian neighbours and the nation’s long-held tensions with Japan.” Mulrennan, who replied to the recruiter’s message but has not heard back, has since found another job. She said: “I was annoyed about it. But I can also see it was a little bit hilarious as well. I still love the country and being in Seoul.”

But the bigotry that lies behind the agent’s response is at odds with official statistics. Average per capita alcohol consumption among South Koreans aged 15 and over was 12.3 litres from 2008 to 2010, according to the World Health Organisation. This compared with 11.9 litres in Ireland.

Alcohol abuse is a widespread problem among South Koreans – the biggest drinkers in Asia – and public intoxication is largely tolerated. Their perceived tolerance for alcohol prompted the US satirist PJ O’Rourke to describe Koreans as “the Irish of Asia” in his 1989 book Holidays in Hell.

South Koreans collectively drink 9.5m bottles of beer and almost 9m bottles of the fiery spirit soju a day, according to the country’s alcohol and liquor industry association.

Concern over alcohol-fuelled crime prompted the health and welfare ministry to launch a responsible drinking campaign in 2011, urging people not to mix their drinks and to go home before 9pm.