People apply for the company, not for the job

In United States, at least for engineering jobs, most people apply for the job. It is also employer's vested interest to hire the right person for the job. Matching the skill set with the right project is very important for both parties.

In Korea, it seems that we have a completely different culture. Most new hires don't even know which team they will work for until the day that they get assigned to a team. What's more shocking is that they don't even know to which location they will be asked ( in this case, told) to relocate until spending a significant amount of time for the company orientation program. Orientation programs are different for different companies but they usually require new hires to spend more than one week at a training center without going home.

The fact is that people in Korea apply for the company, not for the job. This is a very interesting concept (this is more true for the big companies). For a lot of people, the name value of their employers is more important than the kind of work they will be doing for them (this is also true when it comes to choosing the university) Most people here will probably choose the company with a big name than a small company even if the small company is willing you pay a bit more and willing to let you work on a project that would excite you.

The implication here is that it is very difficult for a team to ask for a new help whose skill sets match the needs. Since the HR folks without sufficient engineering background make hiring decisions based on some test scores (yes, many big companies have their own entrance exams) and appropriate them to teams, the vicious circle is inevitable. For example, it is not uncommon to see guys with electrical engineering backgrounds with maybe one semester introductory programming course assigned to a software development team.

In conclusion, you shouldn't be surprised even if your HR person can't provide you with the job description when you apply for a job in Korea. The chances are your HR person probably don't even know, because they will have to figure out which team you will be assigned to first.