Korea isn't expensive to live in.......except for real-estate. Specifically areas where US military people reside and all of Seoul. Korean land lords actually quite like renting to US contractors because often times their company pays a years rent in a one-time payment. Will your employer be providing any housing allowance? If not, you will want to have some expectations management for the size and quality of housing you can afford depending on your salary. Outside of that buying groceries was often cheaper in the Korean markets but just be aware that your options are going to be very different than a Western market/grocery store. Public transportation is very cheap, reliable and easy to use. I found eating out and drinks to be cheaper than in the US. A huge bonus is how cheap it is to fly from Korea to other Asian countries. Vietnam was $200 round trip, Japan was $150, Thailand $400 etc. Hotels are cheaper in Korea and they have what they call a "Pension House" which can be a rented room or an entire house that are cheap but you may need a Korean speaker to help make reservations. I did a lot of weekend trips and stayed in perfectly decent hotels/pension houses for $35-75 a night. Thankfully Koreans are very accustomed to confused Americans that don't speak much of the language roaming about their country. They usually are helpful. I will say that gas is a lot more expensive but if you have base access you can get it much cheaper. Every base will have lots of cheap vehicles for sale. I bought 2001 Optima for $1.5K and drove it all over Korea for almost two years. When I left I sold it for scrap for $350. It required very little maintenance and even when I did have work done on it, it was cheap. FYI, Korean parking is much more narrow than in the US so if you plan on shipping your vehicle, I would think twice about sending over a big truck or SUV.
