Taxi Driver Kim Seong-Ho, Welcome to Korea

Taxi Driver Kim Seong-ho, “Welcome to Korea”

Hello? You’re here now? OK. I’ll be right there. Oh, it’s chilly.
It’s cold and dark outside. Around 4 a.m., a light flicks on in a house located in Mangwu-dong, Seoul. A man steps out of the house.
Get some rest, okay? How was work today? Good? Alright. Bye now!
A taxi is waiting for the man at the end of an alley. Without hesitation, he gets into the driver’s seat of the cab.
OK. The day has just begun. As always, I’ll try my best today.
The man wears stylish glasses and his hair is neatly combed. But he looks into the mirror and carefully re-adjusts his clothes and hair.
Before I worked as a taxi driver, I thought taxi drivers were dirty. Some even gave me an unpleasant feeling. And I didn’t hesitate to advise them to keep themselves clean and wash their cars as well. Of course, they didn’t like my admonishments.
He shakes the last remaining dust off his shoulders, and starts the engine. Taxi driver Kim Seong-ho says most of his customers are foreigners and he has to be well prepared for a day on the job. The morning mist is slowly lifting as the 53-year-old puts the taxi in drive and takes off.
Kim drives for about ten minutes with a clear destination in mind.
I usually go to a hotel first because I can find foreign customers there easily. I often pick up customers who book a taxi in advance. And I also stop to grab a bite at mealtime when time permits.
It turns out Kim’s taxi has already been booked. He pulls into the driveway of a first-class hotel in downtown Seoul.
Kim receives some information about his customer from a hotel employee, then waits around in the lobby of the hotel, murmuring the customer’s name. To our surprise, his English pronunciation is almost perfect. Here’s one of the hotel employees.
I got Kim’s taxi for a foreigner the other day, and I was surprised to see him speaking English so well. When it comes to English, he’s completely different from other cab drivers. I heard later that he had been an English teacher.
Kim just smiles at the compliments of the hotel employee, folding his hands behind his back.
I can say simple greetings in six or seven foreign languages. I’d say I can speak two and a half languages—English, Spanish and Japanese—because my Japanese isn’t very good.
Kim now approaches a few foreign tourists in the lobby and greets them with a smile. When the foreigners hear Kim speaking fluent English, their eyes become wide with amazement. Now we realize he’s no ordinary taxi driver.
While carrying my customers to their destinations, I try to speak to them in their languages in order to make them feel comfortable, as if they are in their own countries. This is the best service I can offer to foreign visitors. I believe my service will, in some way, help boost Korea’s tourism industry.
Last November, Kim took a test offered by SeoulCity to recruit drivers of taxis for the exclusive use of foreign nationals. He passed with flying colors, scoring the highest out of 235 drivers who made the cut.
From the time I first sat behind the steering wheel, I decided to treat foreign customers kindly and help them enjoy convenient taxi services. And I’ve always tried to do so ever since I drove a cab.
After three months of test operations, the foreigners-only taxi service will officially be launched in April. But Kim is already excited and well prepared to provide outstanding service to foreign visitors. He begins to reminisce about his past.
I hurt my nose while receiving flight training, just six months ahead of my appointment as a pilot. After I was evaluated as unfit for the job, I concluded it wasn’t the right job for me. I had to find something new and, somehow, I was admitted to the English Department.
But Kim says it wasn’t his unexpected curriculum change that really helped him sharpen his English skills.
Actually, I learned English in my own way. For example, if I found a foreign movie interesting and useful for English studies, I first read its subtitles at the cinema. I watched the same movie again, but the second time, I tried to follow the overall flow of the story and understand what the actors and actresses were saying, not reading the subtitles. In that way, I watched the movie again and again. Only when the last screening ended, around 11 p.m., did I leave the cinema. Later, I would recall the pronunciations and expressions shown in the movie and practice them alone.
Kim never hesitates to approach foreigners and speak with them. In fact, he has always been exposed to English-related activities, previously working as a salesman of English audio tapes and as a detective in the foreign affairs section at a local police station. These experiences have built up his confidence with the language.
During the 1988 Seoul Olympics, I worked at a help center for foreigners. It was designed to help foreigners deal with various problems, like retrieving articles lost in taxis and finding addresses. There were fifteen telephones at the center. It was hard to answer one or two phones because most conversations were conducted in English. Just imagine; I handled all the phone inquiries over all 15 telephones.
After retirement, Kim began to run a private English-learning institute. But business wasn’t very good, and he became frustrated because he needed money to support his two children studying abroad.
I took good care of my kids until they were high school students. But I couldn’t support them adequately when they were attending college because my business didn’t proceed well at the time. One day, my son suggested I work as a cab driver because I was good at English. He said to me, “Don’t worry about other people, Dad. Just do your best.”
Without the understanding and warm support of his two children, he wouldn’t have even thought about driving a taxi. Their encouragement gave him great strength. It’s been about a year since he became a cab driver, and customers find his taxi very unique.
I often use such expressions as “Oh, great,” “Wonderful” and “What a surprise!” Foreign passengers are pleased to hear them, since most taxi drivers they’ve met weren’t very good at English. Some customers are very surprised to hear me speaking in English and wonder why I work as a taxi driver. But when I realize they look at me in surprise, I think that’s a problem, too.
Kim says he empathizes with foreign passengers who are surprised by his English skills. He believes taxi drivers have a great responsibility.
For many foreigners, taxi drivers are the first people they can meet and talk to after arriving in Korea. We, taxi drivers, should function as specialists to help the foreign visitors learn more about Korea and ultimately contribute to attracting more tourists. We need to provide them with high-quality services as professional drivers.
Kim has just dropped his customer at the airport safely. The driver looks his watch and quickly makes a phone call. He says he has to talk to his son who serves as a pastor in the United States.
Hi, it’s Dad. I love you, son. How’s your wife? Her due date is May 1, right? It’s okay whether it is a boy or girl.
It looks like he may begin to cry at any moment at the thought of his beloved children overseas. But before long, he’s driving again cheerfully and even singing.
Of course, I miss my children so much. But I always try to accept my reality. I have enough strength to control myself. The most important thing in my life is to live happily and have comfort and peace of mind. Only when I control my mind can I overcome loneliness and difficulty.
Not many people are familiar with Seoul’s relatively new foreigners-only taxi service. Kim asks his fellow hotel doormen to call him anytime his service is needed. It’s lunchtime now, and Kim drives home for a quick bite to eat.
I can explain more about Korea to foreign visitors who know little about the nation. As a taxi driver serving foreign passengers, I’ll be happy if they have a good impression of Korea after meeting me and if they decide to visit Korea again.
He finishes his lunch quickly. In a little while, he appears again, playing a guitar. When the song ends, he’ll be back at the wheel again. But at least for this moment, he enjoys amusing himself, moving his shoulders up and down.
Having lived more than fifty years, I’ve realized money is necessary, but not very important. I mean, I need money to sustain my life, but what more do I need? It’s more important to be rich and comfortable in mind. Of course it’s easier said than done. But we should try to change our minds in a positive way.
Kim’s dream is to be a tour expert, using his English proficiency to share Korea’s gifts with foreign passengers every day. He is just one example of Seoul’s ongoing efforts to open the city, and the country, to the world.