I'm asian american and originally from San Francisco but I moved to South Korea for work. Before I came, I thought that Korean girls would love foreigners. All I would have to do is speak English and I'm done. I found it was more true for Japan but I was wrong about Korea, especially in the clubs.

My white friends have it a bit easier... if you're tall, white, with longish hair, you got it made.
still overall, Koreans are scared to speak to foreigners, even if they knew English (unless you're at a foreigner bar). However, I like "hunting" wherever I can.

What worked for me so far, in getting numbers was playing the "dumb foreigner". I would ask a "where is ..." If she knew some English, I would then chat her up a bit and ask for her number. She could be my "tour guide" because I'm new to town. It has worked for me a good amount but...

anyone have anymore advice for picking up without knowing the language?

Do you speak any Korean?

I'm hispanic (and look it) but only speak a little bit of spanish. I recently hooked up with a girl from mexico who spoke a little bit of english but didn't use much because she was't very confident with it. ( maybe its the same situation with the korean girls?) Well, I talked to her using what little spanish I knew and kind of made a joke out of it. Once she saw how bad my spanish was, (I assume) she decided that she might as well try speaking with what english she knew. This helped open her up a bit and allowed us to continue communicating. (You may end up using a lot of body language, but its ok because it will be a joke on both ends.) Hope this helps.