• Where will you work? The name / address of the school is a pre-requisite, otherwise you're teaching wherever you're told to.
• How much are you paid? Whether it's an hourly rate or a salary rate, the contract needs to tell you. If you're making a salary, there should also be a maximum number of teaching hours per work. After that, you should be making overtime at an hourly rate - make sure that rate is specified too. Note that 'preparation hours' or time spent in meetings is not usually counted as teaching hours.
• On what day will you be paid? The 15th, the 10th, the 20th, etc.? It should also state that your paycheck will be deposited into your bank account. Getting paid in cash, while not a bad thing, may indicate the school is trying to keep you 'under the table' - not usually a good sign.
  
• What is your period of employment? In other words, when is your start date and when will your contract be completed?
• Does the contract mention 'orientation' or 'training'? This should not be unpaid, although some schools won't pay your full / normal salary during this time. If there are any 'settling down' or 'settlement' allowances written in, make sure you receive these.
  
• What will your hours be? Contracts don't usually guarantee you specific hours or a specific schedule, although most will say the 'typical' hours you'll be teaching or at least when the school is in session.
  
• Beyond teaching classes, what are you expected to do? This is one section that will almost certainly feature broad brushstrokes instead of fine details. Expect to see grading, administrative work, curriculum design, other classroom activities, and attending teachers meetings at a bare minimum.
  
• What sort of deductions will there be? The contract should mention deductions for Korean income tax, the National Health Insurance program, the national pension program, and so on. While specific amounts aren't usually mentioned, any other deductions should be made perfectly clear.
  
• How do sick days work? In most cases, you'll be expected to contact the school as soon as possible, and to get a doctor's note to show the school once you're better. Since you're putting a burden on the rest of the school, try to avoid taking a sick day unless it's actually needed.
  
• How is your plane ticket being handled? Ideally, the school will pay for the ticket directly instead of reimbursing you for it at a later date, although the former is becoming less common. If you're doing a visa run to pick up a new visa, the school may pay for that instead of reimbursing you for your expense. In either case, there may be a clause that states the teacher has to pay for the plane ticket if they quit / leave within 6 months. Every contract is different - read carefully.
  
• What sort of housing are you receiving? Ideally, the contract will spell out exactly what will be in the apartment (bed, bookshelf, table / desk, fridge, microwave, gas range, washing machine, TV, etc.). While simply saying a 'furnished' apartment leaves a lot of room for interpretation, it does bring to mind most of the aforementioned items. If there's something seriously missing, however, it's worth asking about. Be sure you understand if the housing is intended for you and you alone, or if it's meant to be shared with another teacher. The latter is rare, but it does happen from time to time. An important note: if you decline the furnished housing you're usually eligible for a housing allowance, which should also be stated.
• Who pays the apartment's utilities? In most cases you'll be responsible for them. Asking about any maintenance fees is also a good thing to ask.
  
• Is there a deposit or other restrictions when it comes to the housing? It's typical to state that no one may live in the apartment except for the employee, and anyone else seeking to live with the employee must get permission first. In the case of a deposit, the employer has almost always put down key money on the apartment, and may collect something from you to cover any damages or unpaid bills you might leave behind. You'll be able to collect it once all the accounts have been settled - usually the remainder is wired to an account of your choice, with the employer paying the wiring fees. Check, don't assume.
• What holidays are considered part of the school schedule? Simply saying 'all national holidays' or 'all Korean holidays' might be sufficient, but the ideal contract will name the specific holidays (sorry, but Koreans don't get White Day off, and neither will you). Don't expect the contract to include a holiday schedule - ask about that once the job has started.
  
• What's the dress code? If you're working at a kindergarten hagwon there may not be a dress code; working with adults usually requires a 'professional' look - slacks and dress shirts.
  
• What about summer / winter camps? Working them is usually a requirement or strong recommendation - whatever the case, there should be adequate information explaining the hours and pay during those times.
  
• What sort of vacation(s) are included? It's natural for a school to give vacation during a seasonal break or other extended school break, but watch out for desk-warming (reporting for work even when the school is officially on vacation).
  
• What happens at the end of the contract? Once you've completed the full contract, you'll be eligible for a pension refund or severance pay (it is NOT a "bonus'' as many contracts claim - once you've worked one calendar year, you're eligible for it no matter what). If you keep working for the same school, the general rate is one month's pay per one year of work.
  
• Under what circumstances can you be fired on the spot? These may include breaking the laws of South Korea, teaching private lessons, showing up to work drunk / high and may also include being late / absent more than X number of times, insubordination, or telling others the details about your contract. Avoid these things unless you like spending your hard-earned savings for a flight out.
  
• For what reasons can you be fired / terminated / released from your contract? Without cause or any other reason, a 30-day notice is normal; some schools may require or give a 45- or 60-day notice.
  

( Wedding Day by summer park )

An interesting question from Curtis, a reader with a slightly unusual family in which 2 brothers from one family married 2 sisters from another. And as you will see, with logical concerns about how this might be received by Koreans:

Dear James,

Lately I’ve been seriously confused and irritated by a seeming issue with relation to Korean marriages.  I can’t figure out why it is even a problem to begin with.  I’ve never heard the term until recently, but apparently Koreans (I’m not sure if this is general or only among certain classes) seem to be against marriages that create “double in-laws,” meaning that, for example, member A of the Kim family marries member A of the Lee family.  Then Member B of the Kim family marries the sister/brother of member A of the Lee family.  The first marriage made them in-laws, but this second marriage creates what I’ve heard Koreans term “double in-laws” which seems to have some stigma.  As far as I am concerned as a westerner, the second marriage has little to no bearing on anything since it isn’t incest or intermarriage, therefore I see no problem.  In fact, my father married by mother, and soon after that, my father’s brother married my mother’s sister.  I guess that creates double in-laws in my family, but since it’s neither incest nor intermarriage, I haven’t once heard any issues being brought up about it.  Could you explain if this “double in-laws” thing is really an issue, and if so, why? All I can think of is that the families are not being spread out far enough for maximum social networking and both sides of the family may end up being in one household, but since Korean family dynamics are changing, this doesn’t have to be the case.

I’ve also heard the English term “co-in-laws” to describe this, but again, I find no reports of issues with this arrangement other than in a few Korean instances.

And an update in a second email:

[I’ve done some more thinking]…, and I thought about the collective culture that Korea is.  I thought that perhaps when a family marries another family, the WHOLE family in that household become in-laws as such, whereas in western societies, the distinctions between in-laws is limited more so to the ones who married into the family.  I, personally, would consider the sister of my brother-in-law just that, the sister of my brother-in-law, not an in-law herself since she did not marry into the family.

( The Bride by Tetsumo )

What do you think? Personally, while this is the first I’ve heard of any potential stigma, I suspected that there might be something to it when my wife instantly came up with the Korean term for people in such arrangements: gyeobsadon (겹사돈), or “a person doubly related by marriage”. Moreover, however illogical any stigma would be, there is certainly precedent too: until as late as 2005, Article 809 of the Korean Civil Code prohibited marriage between those of the same ancestral, regional clan (or local subgroup of Lees, Parks, or Kims and so on), of which the largest had over 4 million members. Or in short, somewhere between 8-15% of the Korean population were literally forbidden to marry each other, with even the children of any de-facto unions discriminated against also because their out-of-wedlock status prohibited them from receiving national health insurance, let alone complicating inheritance and property rights.

But as it turned out in this case at least, my wife knew the term not because of any stigma that she’s aware of…rather, because she remembered such arrangements from dramas!

Probably there is nothing to worry about then, but if anyone could confirm that then I’m sure Curtis will appreciate it, and I’d be interested in hearing any other unusual stories about marriage and Korean families also. If you’d rather read more yourself though, then consider this series on the uncertain role of Neo-Confucianism in the similarities between Japanese and Korean family forms, and especially how daughters-in-law are treated therein.

Update: Speaking of the importance of family names in Korea, today there was an interesting article in the New York Times about the trials and tribulations a Korean man (and subsequently his family) had due to his Japanese ancestry.