Are Korean dive shops as bad as they say?

[dhkim030203]

Scuba diving in Korea

Scuba diving in Korea

www.waygook.org

This is a somewhat well-known Korea-related forum. Many complaints about Korean dive shops being too dangerous and costly. I wonder how true this is.

 

[coralreefer_1]

Scuba diving in Korea

Scuba diving in Korea

www.waygook.org

This is a somewhat well-known Korea-related forum. Many complaints about Korean dive shops being too dangerous and costly. I wonder how true this is.

I think this really depends on the dive shop. I have seen some super professional and safety conscious shops that follow the book in terms of safety, and then others that were down right dangerous and had me fearful for me safety.

One in particular was a flat bottom boat with NO way to secure tanks/gear or anything to hang on to going out to sea is rough waves while several guys had 3-pronged spears moving all over the place! I never have been back to that dive resort.

Most divers here do not carry a high level of certification (in my opinion) and therefore never really got to a point of training like (Rescue) where one typically learns to be far more safety conscious that lower levels.

This is just a guess, but unlike other places where when an accident happens if the dive shop is found negligent in some way, the injured can likely win retirement level money, Korea does not have just a legal system. For example if I were stabbed in the face and lost an eye due to random divers with spears on a flat bottom boat ( this nearly happened) my compensation would likely be very little even if he had insurance. First of all its completely illegal to harvest from the ocean wearing scuba gear so the captain should not allow this. I'm sure the boat is in some type of violation operating as a rec scuba tour operator but no handles/way to secure tanks or even yourself from falling over, more than likely several other violations as well. Despite what most of us would consider "negligence" all around the board, payout for be small to perhaps even nothing! THIS is why I think so many places are lax on safety...because there is no painful recourse in the event of an accident due to their negligence.

As far as cost, it seems fair to me though I'm not sure why the cost varies by region. In Pohang where I frequent boat dives are 40,000 each (this included air tank/weights/boat). Up in Gangwondo despite most operators getting some subsidies from the government in terms of opening specific areas for dive tourist by scuttling ships or aqua habitats, they charge upwards of 60-70,000 per dive. They are getting more divers but also 50% more expensive despite their operating costs being the same as Pohang.

English speaking guides however can practically rape you on cost. There are a few facebook groups that can be searched that have English speaking staff and can instruct/certify but also occasionally do random tours to various places. I joined one of these tours a few years ago with an outfit out of Busan. We went diving in Uljin but I drove myself there and have all of my own gear. The fee to him was 120,000won I believe. He got 60,000 from me by doing absolutely nothing for me other than someone I went diving with. The other 60 was the cost from the resort for the 2 air tanks/boat dives.

There are good and bad places. This may be one reason why so many divers typically dive with the same operator over and over.

 

[scuba_divo]

So, this summer, I dived exclusively with Korean dive centres and groups for the first time. I had heard the rumours and the stories, but, honestly, I was pleasantly surprised at how careful and safety conscious they were. We did group safety checks before each dive, and there were pre-dive briefings on each site about potential dangers. Basically, all the things I would expect at premier international dive destination. This summer I dived with a guide (K26), several instructors with a large national chain, a club with guides (instructors, dive masters) and even a team of freelance instructors with a lot of international experience running a tour. I would not hesitate to dive with any of them again as each of them was a good experience and I'm quite safety conscious.

Now, I know that some of the stories are about when Korean divers go overseas. I can't comment on that as I've never done an international trip with a Korean group or even come across one for that matter. I'm also not sure that international Korean divers are necessarily the same group as those that dive here, by which I mean I think there are a ton of Korean divers who complete their OW here, then go abroad for warm water diving with almost zero experience. The experienced cold water divers I met here tended to have their act together, and honestly are more skilled than I am in many areas. I'm not sure these experienced divers are the ones causing the stories.

I'm beginning to suspect that the rumours may be out of date and that the industry has had to correct course due to outside criticism due to the death rate here. The one thing that was cited frequently was that local conditions (cold water, low visibility) made diving Korea more challenging than some destinations with crystal clear, warm water. As a result, most of the outfits I dove with conducted check dives before taking new divers to any of the more advanced sites, just to make sure they weren't going to cause problems.

Regarding cost. This is where shopping around is important. You find many Korean divers settling into clubs because that is one way to keep costs down. They share rooms and pensions and may have a special deal with the dive centre they operate out of. Trying to go solo and dive a weekend here and a weekend there is probably the most expensive way to do it.

The post the OP shared also addressed training, which is an important issue. Most of the info from the post is out of date at this point. The "aquatic frontier Korea" English instructor didn't seem to be active as of 2019 when I tried to contact him/her. I did some English training (Rescue & Wreck) with an outfit out of Busan, but their English instructor is back in the states pursuing a master's degree (most likely through 2023), and I don't know if they replaced him. I did the PADI Deep Specialty this summer by doing the eLearning online in English and then completing the dives with a very competent and safety conscious Korean instructor. I would not hesitate to do that again as the experience was really positive. That being said, I speak Korean, and there's less lecture-type teaching in the specialties.

 

[scuba_divo]

This is just a guess, but unlike other places where when an accident happens if the dive shop is found negligent in some way, the injured can likely win retirement level money, Korea does not have just a legal system. For example if I were stabbed in the face and lost an eye due to random divers with spears on a flat bottom boat ( this nearly happened) my compensation would likely be very little even if he had insurance. First of all its completely illegal to harvest from the ocean wearing scuba gear so the captain should not allow this. I'm sure the boat is in some type of violation operating as a rec scuba tour operator but no handles/way to secure tanks or even yourself from falling over, more than likely several other violations as well. Despite what most of us would consider "negligence" all around the board, payout for be small to perhaps even nothing! THIS is why I think so many places are lax on safety...because there is no painful recourse in the event of an accident due to their negligence.

I don't have personal experience with this, but what I've heard seems to conflict with this assessment to some degree. Under the Korean Civil Law code, what are known as the criminal law (charges) and civil law (financial penalties) divisions in Common Law countries (most of the English speaking world), are far more closely entwined. It's my understanding that in Korea rather than charges being brought immediately in the case of injury through negligence, the family of the injured is generally given first crack at redress through demanding a financial settlement. If their loved one dies, the demands for a financial payout can be intense. This is often mistakenly referred to as 'blood money', but is more accurately just how a Civil Law system works, with charges and financial penalties being more closely linked. The motivation to meet the payout demand is that if a financial settlement is reached, charges may be dropped altogether. Obviously, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm guessing that if you had lost an eye to a speargun on a nightmare boat ride, you'd have been able to go after both the boat operator and the person that brought the speargun onboard due to negligence. This summer, one of the reasons operators cited for the "must dive with a professional rule" was concern over their liability if anything went wrong.

This all may be subject to recent changes as on January 8, 2021, the Korean National Assembly passed the Serious Accident Punishment Act (“SAPA”) which designates penalties for business that fail to execute proper care and due diligence in the operation of their business, including transportation.

 

[coralreefer_1]

I don't have personal experience with this, but what I've heard seems to conflict with this assessment to some degree. Under the Korean Civil Law code, what are known as the criminal law (charges) and civil law (financial penalties) divisions in Common Law countries (most of the English speaking world), are far more closely entwined. It's my understanding that in Korea rather than charges being brought immediately in the case of injury through negligence, the family of the injured is generally given first crack at redress through demanding a financial settlement. If their loved one dies, the demands for a financial payout can be intense. This is often mistakenly referred to as 'blood money', but is more accurately just how a Civil Law system works, with charges and financial penalties being more closely linked. The motivation to meet the payout demand is that if a financial settlement is reached, charges may be dropped altogether. Obviously, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm guessing that if you had lost an eye to a speargun on a nightmare boat ride, you'd have been able to go after both the boat operator and the person that brought the speargun onboard due to negligence. This summer, one of the reasons operators cited for the "must dive with a professional rule" was concern over their liability if anything went wrong.

This all may be subject to recent changes as on January 8, 2021, the Korean National Assembly passed the Serious Accident Punishment Act (“SAPA”) which designates penalties for business that fail to execute proper care and due diligence in the operation of their business, including transportation.

Yes. My point was these settlements are not the millions of dollars as they are in the US or Europe. Even the families of children killed by people running red lights are lucky to see more than 10,000 USD.

 

[scuba_divo]

Yes. My point was these settlements are not the millions of dollars as they are in the US or Europe. Even the families of children killed by people running red lights are lucky to see more than 10,000 USD.

Oh, I see. More a difference in degree. Got it.