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By David Alexander, May 13, 2013 12:13 am

In Korean news, this week:

Convenience Store market oversaturated

Is the world ending, or are people just making dire predictions about the Korean Economy?

Gord Sellar made that MBC Parody last year

Study of 1.5 million teenagers in 75 countries finds that girls are better at reading and boys are better at math

Is coverage of foreign teachers’ crimes really so much more? Yes, it turns out.

Yoon Chang-joong situation spirals out of control

“It wasn’t me”, says construction magnate accused of sex party bribes

And like a half dozen other things

CONVENIENCE STORE MARKET OVERSATURATED – ONLY HALF OF CONVENIENCE STORES ARE BREAKING EVEN

As reported in the Hankoryeh last week, over half of South Korean convenience stores average under one million won in sales a day. One-quarter of all stores have sales under 100,000 won for overnight shifts.

The data is helpfully broken down by zoning. That family-run convenience store on the corner near where you live? They’re probably losing money, if they hire staff and don’t run it themselves. Convenience stores are the most popular type of franchise for new small business owners. The government has ordered that new stores should not be allowed to open within 250 metres of each other.

Fun fact: did you know that convenience stores are required to be open 24/7? And did you know that “marts” do not have this requirement?

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BLOG POST CATALOGUES CELEBRITIES IN ADVERTISEMENTS IN MYEONGDONG. NEWS UPDATE EDITOR VOMITS.

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like Myeongdong. It was one of the first places I was told about when I came to Korea – “oh, you should go to Myeongdong in Seoul. Many foreigners go there to enjoy shopping.”

Well, I did. But I hated it. Even Itaewon is better for the soul than Myeongdong’s overpriced faux-Korean style.

Well, Maze28 (aka 한국에 가자, or “let’s go to korea”) has been collecting photos of K-Pop idols in Myeongdong, and around Seoul and businesses like Tony Moly and outside of Seoul in Busan, for some unknown reason. I presume he collects these photos to atone for some past wrongdoing, or purely as an exercise in masochism.

If you’re one of the strange people who enjoy seeing advertisements with K-Pop Idols in them, then click the link above. Otherwise, consider it a warning not to go to Myeongdong.

Aside, if you’re interested in seeing the people that middle-school girls talk about, click on through and you can pair faces with names really easily.

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ALWAYS POPULAR TO PREDICT ARMAGEDDON

For the Huffington Post, the Korean economy has a few problems – he’s predicting Korea may fall into the same trap of Japan’s “lost decades”.

He cites this as evidence:

1. an aging population and lowest fertility rate in the world.
2. too many university graduates
3. high youth unemployment
4. high private debt load
5. persistent social inequality

I have nothing meaningful to add, except that solving any of these problems may help solve the others – solving recent-graduate unemployment would create more revenue for the pension program and lower privately-held debt.

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IT TURNS OUT GORD SELLAR MADE THAT MBC PARODY LAST YEAR

The title says it all, folks. Your friend and mine Gord Sellar was the one who made the parody video last year, after MBC decided to broadcast a hit piece vilifying interracial couples.

He had distanced himself from it until he had left Korea, which has a bad reputation when it comes to understanding western humour (i.e. satire).

In fact, Saturday Night Live Korea’s Weekend Update segment is being sued by Byun Hee-jae, the Korea Communications Standards commission reprimanded Gag Concert for not using honorifics when talking about the president, and depending on how these issues play out, we could start seeing either much better comedy in Korea or much worse.

I’m no Picasso posted something a month ago on international couples, and if you’re interested in a blog about such a thing, check hers out.

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GIRLS BETTER AT READING, BOYS BETTER AT MATH

Well, not exactly. Don’t worry, it’s more nuanced than that. What they found is quoted here, at length. You can find the executive summary of the study too.

When it comes to reading, sex difference is smaller at the high end of the performance continuum. That means among those who are best at reading, or best at math, there’s a smaller difference between boys and girls. But at the bottom of the scale, quote: “in 2009, the bottom 5% of boys scored 50 points lower than the bottom 5% of girls”.

But the opposite is true in math. For those who do poorly in math, there is little difference between boys and girls. But at the high end, the difference is much greater.

From the study:

“Interventions that focus on high-achieving girls in mathematics and on low-achieving boys in reading are likely to yield the strongest educational benefits.”

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FOREIGN TEACHERS’ CRIMES GET REPORTED MORE THAN SIX TIMES KOREANS FOR THE SAME OFFENCE

Popular Gusts of Feeling has a really interesting article for those of us who wonder if the media really has it in for Foreign teachers.

Long story short, in terms of number of articles on national news, that American teacher who was wanted on a warrant he fled 8 years ago when he came to Korea got more media attention than a middle school teacher who attempted to rape one of his students, a high school teacher who repeatedly molested a student, an elementary school vice principal who molested nine children, a law school professor who was dismissed for touching a law student, and an elementary school teacher who broke into someone’s apartment and tried to rape them – the single foreign teacher who was wanted for (alleged) rape got more news coverage than all of them put together.

If you’re interested in reading more, check out Popular Gusts’ articles here, connecting the news with North Korean propaganda, and here, for his translation of a Kukmin Ilbo editorial.

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SO MUCH DRAMA IN THE CHEONGWADAE

According to the victim, immediately after the Park Geun-hye’s first meeting with Barack Obama, on May 7th Spokesman Yoon Chang-joong was drinking alone with the female intern for the Korean embassy. After drinking, he groped her. She brought a friend, which defused the situation. But later that night, Yoon summoned her to his room. She refused and he screamed insults at her over the phone. When she did finally go to his room, Yoon answered the door in his underwear. She left and called the police after talking with her friends at the embassy. Yoon packed his bags and took the first flight to Seoul. Upon hearing about all of this, the Blue House decided to fire him on the spot.

But like any of these stories, there’s two sides. Of course, Yoon claims innocence in the whole matter.

The Presidential Chief of Staff, even, has apologized deeply for these allegations, calling it very shameful and unacceptable.

I have this to say.

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CONTRACTOR ACCUSED OF SEX PARTIES AS BRIBES SAYS “IT WASN’T ME”

Note: the English Dong-a Ilbo uses the word “Contractor”, which carries connotations of manual work. Rather, he was a business-owner who bid on government construction contracts.

Construction magnate Yoon, accused of a sex-bribery scandal involving high-ranking officials and who’s who types, predictably denied everything.

Police also have testimonies from ten women who said they went to Yoon’s vacation home to provide sex for patrons.

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IN OTHER NEWS…

One-woman anti-multiculturalism protest actually stirs thoughtful debate.

New York Korean-American rapper Awkwafina raps about her vag in a new music video

Life is still not super great for gays in Korea

An article about the bittersweet, romantic story of a full passport

Sixth North American Workshop on Korean Literature deadline is July 31st

Analysts say Japan isn’t trying to devalue its currency

Popular Gusts thinks noses look like dicks

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By David Alexander, April 24, 2013 3:03 am

Two dummkopfs in Daegu firebomb a hagwon

Why is YouTube slow in Korea?

Two volunteer opportunities worth getting involved in

What do you want to know about the North and South?

The Angel of Death comes to SKorean Chaebols

Teacher beats a student, then masturbates in the hallway.

All is calm on the 38th parallel – but that doesn’t stop a mom from worrying.

Singlehood, Elderly Suicides, and Youth Unemployment on the rise

DAEGU DUMMKOPFS FIREBOMB HAGWON

On Monday, two idiots calling themselves the “anti-American, anti-fascist struggle committee” dropped off a bunch of leaflets and threw what was apparently a molotov cocktail made with a soju bottle at a kids’ hagwon in Daegu. Apparently, they mistook the hagwon for an official American cultural outreach centre, showing once again that radical South Koreans pose a greater threat to foreigners than the radical in Pyeongyang.

The police have released surveillance photos, which you can see here.

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WHY IS YOUTUBE SLOW IN KOREA? IT’S BECAUSE THEY WOULDN’T PAY PROTECTION MONEY TO SK-TEL

In South Korea, all objective measures show we’re enjoying one of the fastest Internet connection speeds in the world. The average connection is 14 Mbps. So why do Youtube videos take so long to load? The reason is they’re being forced to host their servers in Japan and China because South Korea has completely disregarded Net Neutrality.

1. YouTube tried to set up their server in South Korea.
2. Internet Service Providers pressured YouTube to pay fee since YouTube sucks up so much traffic.
3. YouTube responded with “why do I have to pay since users subscribe and pay Internet fees to watch our content?” and decided not to install their own server in South Korea.
4. As a result, YouTube in South Korea comes from servers in adjacent countries.
5. Now, Korean Internet service providers have to pay traffic fees to other foreign service providers.
6. The outcome: Korean YouTube slowed down and Korean Internet providers wind up paying lots of money to other nations.

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TWO WAYS TO HELP

The Grand Narrative brought my attention to these causes – an opportunity for volunteering and a way to involve oneself in changing Korean culture for the better.

The Korean Unwed Mothers’ Families Association is an organization that promotes the rights of children and the rights of unwed pregnant women, unwed mothers, and their children.

Based in Daegu, they have opportunities to voluteer in that city and in Seoul.

As well, May 10-11 in Seoul is the 3rd annual Single Mom’s Day Conference. They have much the same goals. Link Here.

And last, Jeju Island has a unique Korean culture all its own. History has isolated it from the peninsula, and it developed a shamanistic, shrine-based religion that is in danger of being forgotten forever as the number of believers rapidly declines.

Giuseppe Rositano is putting together a documentary that highlights and documents the Jejuan religion.

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NORTH KOREA: WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE? B.R. MYERS IS WHO YOU TALK TO

Myers is one of the foremost experts on North Korea – and Gusts of Popular Feeling has collected together some of the better interviews he’s done.

It’s really worth reading, if you want to know more about North Korea than most South Koreans do.

Meanwhile, The United States has rejected North Korea’s demand to be recognized as a nuclear power.

And as investigators deal with the mountains of evidence against the duo who bombed the Boston Marathon, North Korea felt it necessary to give the following statement: “Wasn’t us, we swear!”

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PARK GEUN-HYE MAKES GOOD ON CAMPAIGN PROMISE

The President, Park Geun-Hye, was elected late last year with support from moderates and leftists in Korea. She won their approval with her harsh rhetoric against the massive conglomerates, or Chaebols (재벌) that dominate the Korean economic landscape.

It appears she may be able to make good on her promises. The Fair Trade Commission’s Investigation Bureau is to be re-introduced after eight years of closure, bringing with it a new name: “Conglomerate Supervising Agency”.

The new agency will have the authority to examine internal company practices, investigate external dealings based on government regulations, and track down shareholding conflicts-of-interest.

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TEACHER BEATS A STUDENT, THEN MASTURBATES IN THE HALLWAY. AND HE’S NOT A FOREIGNER.

Part-Time teacher Mr. A discovered that one of his students was listening to music in class. So he beat him severely, then went out into the hallway, dropped his pants, and masturbated furiously in front of many of his students.

A spokesperson for the police commented, in part: “…the teacher does not appear to have any mental problems…”

엥 애때리다가 흥분해서 애들 앞에사 자위한 놈이 정신적으로 문제가 없어보인다고?

요즘 세상 컨셉은 돌아이인가..

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ARE YOUR PARENTS WORRIED ABOUT YOU BEING HERE? HOW DO THE FAMILIES OF SKOREAN SOLDIERS FEEL?

Even as we all know that the threat from the North is no more or less real than it is when they’re not making idle threats, the families of South Korean soldiers, especially the recent conscripts, are definitely feeling the tension more than most.

After all, for those in the military, reassurances about the complete air, ground, and naval superiority of the South’s armed forces in concert with the United States do nothing to allay the worry that’s only natural to feel for a loved one away from home in the army.

KoreaBANG has more here. Quotes from the article, that :

“My heart stops every time I hear the Jindo air sirens”

“for someone like me who has sent their only son to the military, I can’t even begin to describe my worry.”

and a couple little turds from the comments section:

“Bullshit…is it only your sons who go to the military??? Almost all of us have to go…the guys in there right now just have shitty luck.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but North Korea must be thrilled to see articles like this. They love to see South Koreans quaking in fear.”

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THE COSTS OF THE SOUTH KOREAN ECONOMY – ELDER SUICIDES AND YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT ON THE RISE

As we know, family is everything in Korea. Many of our Korean friends and romantic interests, even into their 30s, live at home with their parents. But according to the latest statistics, 1 in 4 Koreans were living alone – this is an even higher rate than in the United States and Australia. The Grand Narrative has more here, but suffice to say that most of these singles are lonely middle-class workingmen or impoverished women in their 60s and older.

Putting aside the oft-cited collectivism of Korean society (excellent disagreement here), we must acknowledge a recent quadrupling of the number of people 65 and older committing suicide, written about in the New York Times.

The Korean Pension plan that we all pay into barely affords the elderly basic living costs. And if someone was already retired in 1988 when the KPP was enacted, they get nothing. Some who kill themselves out of feelings of betrayal, when their successful children elsewhere in the country do nothing to support them.

Meanwhile, the government has approved a higher retirement age, saying it will allow experienced workers to contribute longer and reduce pressure on pension funds.

Elder suicides remain the symptom of a greater problem here – as some parents drain their savings to pay for hagwon fees and send their children abroad to become fluent in English, one in five people between 15 and 29 is unable to find work. Even doctoral degree holders and graduates of famous universities overseas are taking unpaid internships.

These remain huge problems for South Korea. It’s totally wrong-headed to pin the blame on some vague claim of “changes to Korean society”, as some have. But I know South Korea will either solve these problems soon or wait twenty or thirty years until the baby boom generation dies off.

——

This week’s bonus content: a 2006 documentary about an American deserter to North Korea. Yeah, you read that right. Some South Koreans and Americans defected to the North. This guy’s been living there for 40 years now! Youtube Here.

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By David Alexander, April 6, 2013 9:13 pm

This week: Korean XXXL (US Large) Edition

‘Extreme’ Hagwon Advertisements

Proof that North Korea isn’t being taken seriously

Flash Mobs must be registered in advance

Korean Copyright Law

Sweet and Sour Pork – the debate of the century

“Human Flesh Capsule” smuggling doubles

Consensual sex between white foreign men and korean women is a sex crime

Kim Jeong-Hoon speaks against nationalism

Park Si-hoo officially charged with “Quasi-rape”

Chinese Matchmaking Site doing mandatory Credit Checks

First:

‘EXTREME’ HAGWON ADVERTISEMENTS

We all know how important education is to Korean Culture – centuries of Confucian thought have held (rightly, I think) that education is the way to a better life.

But with differences between hagwons only being measured in things like “quality of teaching” and “personality of the director”, Hagwons are hard-pressed to make themselves stand out from the crowd.

It turns out it’s easy! Just check out these advertisements:

“Let’s make them study to death! / Only send them home to sleep!”

It’s frankly disgusting. It’s thinking like this that is why Korea ranks first in High School suicides.

But a little word of hope from a commenter:

KTNG****

내는 나주ㅇ에 저래안키운다

“I’m not gonna raise my kids like this.”
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PROOF THAT NORTH KOREA ISN’T BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY

In the “North Korea doesn’t really pose a huge threat” department…

Last time, North Korea warned that inter-Korean relations are now in a “state of warlike readiness” – the equivalent of DEFCON 4, and one step below outright war.

The response from South Korea: “We’re already at war, idiot!”

Earlier, North Korea warned Britain to evacuate its diplomats from its North Korean Embassy. The response from the UK: “No thanks, we don’t feel like they’re in danger.” Full story here.

On Thursday, North Korea warned that it had instructed its military to attack the United States with nuclear weapons, and moved its mobile missile platforms closer to the coast.

Experts agree: “what nuclear weapons?”

full story here.

What Kim Jong-Un wants most is to scare his neighbours into giving up aid in exchange for cooperation – just like his father had done multiple times.

He has the Americans’ attention – Google searches for “North Korea” have gone up like a rocket in the last month. And in newspapers, there’s been a 49 percent increase in articles about the Hermit Crab — I mean “Kingdom”.

For the last month, radio and tv news have rebroadcast every little thing Mr. Kim has said. Link here

Unfortunately for Kim, his plan of “threaten then capitulate in exchange for gifts” doesn’t seem to be working very well this time around.

Even barring South Koreans from entering Kaeseong, the joint inter-Korean exploitative factory industral complex in North Korea, doesn’t seem to have rattled South Korean leaders. North Korea has not banned South Korean workers from leaving – and Seoul has not considered telling these workers to leave.

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FLASH MOBS MUST BE REGISTERED IN ADVANCE

The Supreme Court ruled on March 31st that Flash Mobs must be registered and approved in advance under the Act of Assembly and Demonstration, Proving that the Supreme Court doesn’t understand what Flash Mob means.
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KOREAN COPYRIGHT LAW

What happens when you let a foreign country’s media conglomerates write your laws? Well, South Korea is finding out. One of the laws that Korea adopted early was the infamous “three strikes” rule.

We’re starting to feel the effects, as 408 Korean Internet users are banned from the internet as a result. Half of those suspended were involved in infringement of material that would cost less than 90 cents.

Now the Korean National Human Rights Commission is calling for a repeal of these draconian IP laws.
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SWEET AND SOUR PORK: THE DEBATE OF THE CENTURY

Sweet and Sour Pork – that delicious Chinese-Korean staple where sauce should be gently poured on the – dipped into aww hell, which is it?

This is a debate storied and centuries old.

Korean netizens jokingly bickered:

Hey retard, ke ke ke ke ke ke, why don’t you say the WW2 broke out because Hitler poured the sauce on Sweet and Sour Pork, ke ke ke.

You have to pour the sauce for the real taste, ke ke. Dippers are barbarians, mhm.

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‘HUMAN FLESH CAPSULE’ SMUGGLING DOUBLES IN 2013

Korea Customs has been inundated this year with “human flesh capsules”: pills and capsules containing dried, powdered human fetuses. According to Korean news, they are popular with the Chinese, who take them to improve their stamina. KoreaBANG has a translated article here with comments.

The amount of capsules captured has doubled since last year, with 23,898 human flesh capsules captured by Incheon Airport Customs so far.

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CONSENSUAL SEX BETWEEN WHITE FOREIGN MEN AND KOREAN WOMEN IS A SEX CRIME

Xenophobia on national TV is starting to pick up again. JTBC’s “We Are Detectives” (우리는 형사다) program had an episode about Foreign Crime on March 28th. It followed what’s becoming a usual script for these types of programs:

“We know that Chinese, Malaysians, and Filipinos are dangerous, but we need to be especially wary of Westerners because we trust them too much!”

Gusts of Popular Feeling has a 6-part (so far) series on this as it progresses. Go read it here.

After the footage and scenes of the audience gasping are shown, we’re then shown people on the street being asked what makes them uncomfortable about living in an area with lots of foreigners (there’s nothing loaded about that question!). One feels threatened when foreigners are together, a woman feels afraid walking the streets at night, a man says that if you see many foreigners getting drunk, at that time fights often break out. Another woman says that there are many sex crimes by foreigners these days. Yes, with 311 foreigners charged with rape in 2011, that’s almost one rape per day. Not quite the 48 rapes per day that Koreans committed on average in 2011, but we wouldn’t want to put any of this into context, now would we? Best to show shocking footage and ask leading questions. 잘 했다, JTBC!

Like before, the JTBC program uses the same (incorrect) Korean Institute of Criminality statistics that misrepresent foreign crime rates to be quite a bit higher than they actually are – inflating the numbers by including parking tickets and traffic violations in Foreign numbers and excluding them from Korean numbers, deciding to not count many Foreigners as living in Korea to make the crime statistic higher, and by other means.

At least the racism we face in Korea is more subtle than being verbally attacked on buses Video here of a Middle-aged Korean woman on a bus being shouted at by some asshole in a hat. “The Japanese bombed Adelaide!”, he says. The news announcer says he might have been mentally disturbed or drunk – but notices that very few on the bus were willing to stand up for the lady.

Let’s let it serve as a reminder that we should always remonstrate against behaviour like this.

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KIM JEONG-HOON SPEAKS AGAINST NATIONALISM

Kim Jeong-hoon spoke out in the Washington Post about Korean Nationalism. He was a candidate for science minister who withdrew on March 4th after conservatives challenged his loyalty to Korea.

What he criticized as “Change-resistant forces in the political and bureaucratic circles” took issue with his dual citizenship (American and Korean) — and took issue with his part in the American CIA’s External Advisory Board.

The External Advisory Board’s job is to provide the CIA with input from intelligence recipients, the public, and businesses that are impacted by the CIA’s operations.

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PARK SI-HOO OFFICIALLY CHARGED WITH “QUASI-RAPE”

Following up on the Park Si-hoo rape case, he has now been officially charged with “quasi-rape (준강간/準强姦)”.

What the hell is “quasi-rape”?

Long story short, it’s a separate category for sexual assault wherein the victim was unable to give consent.

Perhaps quasi-rape might be charged in cases of alcohol or substance abuse, but it has also been applied for the assault of the developmentally challenged…

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CHINESE MATCHMAKING SITE DOING MANDATORY CREDIT CHECKS

And, on the other side of North Korea, the Shanghai Matchmaking Association is implementing credit checks of its male users to weed out people who are lying about their income.

This was prompted by a postgrad woman from Shanghai

to meet a man who claimed to be the chairman of a company. Everything was going swimmingly until she got pregnant with his child and found out he was actually a farmer. A married farmer.

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By Martin Rehder, February 2, 2013 11:43 am

A few newsworthy items from around Korea this week:

• South Korea finally made it into the exclusive club of nations who have sent objects into space. While most countries would be pleased, a number of citizens in Korea are detracting from their success because it was done with old technology (liquid fuel) and Russian parts. This is the fifth attempt to launch a rocket: two failed launches and two abortive launches.  However, the Chosun Ilbo thinks that if this one had failed, it would have been the Russians who
  

  would have suffered a huge dent to its reputation as a leader in space development

  Because South Korea had nothing to do with it?  Congratulations to South Korea.  삼세번 (Third time’s a charm)
  .

• In what may be the beginning of a new era in fighting corporate crime, the chairman of SK Group is going to jail.  Other executives of Korean chaebols, the family owned conglomerates that control the vast bulk of the Korean economy, have gotten ceremoniously wrist-spanked for their corrupt activities. Chairman Chey (Choi?) Tae Won was busted for embezzling approximately $40 million.
• The foreign workers in South Korea can now enjoy life a little better. The minimum wage was increased by 5.76% to the stunningly low rate of 36,640 won per eight hour day.   I sincerely hope that absolutely no one is affected by this rate hike – the minimum is disgustingly low considering most of the foreign workers who are neither engineers or English teachers work the DDD jobs – dirty, dangerous and difficult. I hope they’ve all been getting far more than this rate, but given Korea’s bias towards immigrants with dark skin, I’m probably very wrong.
• And if you didn’t pay attention to my posts last year  about the very low exchange rate that had been happening over the previous 12 months, you screwed up.  I have been warning for several months that the exchange rate was far too low for the Korean exporting companies to make decent money. In December they would have had to incrase revenue by nearly 10% just to keep up with the falling exchange rate.  We’ll, it’s back up now, as predicted.   If you didn’t send your money home last month, you’re going to get a lot less this month when you do.  I sent the vast majority of my cash home at around 1070 won to the dollar, just before it took a huge leap upward.  I’m now patting myself firmly on the back for not waiting.
• Study hard in middle school and high school so you can get accepted to the good university.  Go to the good university and you can get accepted at a good company. That’s been the mantra for Koreans for decades.  But these days, 60% of Korean university graduates can’t find work here in Korea.  They don’t want the DDD jobs the foreign immigrants take – and who would at those low wages. They want the good jobs. There just aren’t that many. But never fear, young Korean – there are hagwons to take more of your more money and train you for a job overseas.
• And finally, most of last year the US government tried to impose sanctions on Iran and even impose sanctions on nations doing business with Iran. Since Iran is one of the larger petroleum producing nations, it’s not something that most countries can do without. There just isn’t a replacement source to buy that oil elsewhere.  The big players, like South Korea and Japan were granted waivers from the sanctions and continued to buy Iranian oil. However a large increase in purchasing of Iranian oil resulted in a shrug from the US.   Options exist to impose new sanctions against Korea later this year when a review in May occurs. My bet is that the US will firmly tongue lash those countries that continue to buy oil from Iran (but won’t name names) and will be forced to accept the inevitable that oil is far too valuable to give up for a political cause of an ally.

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By admin, December 26, 2012 9:15 am

With Christmas over and done with, it’s time to get back to business.  A little news from around Korea to help ease the transition:

• The massive dating event that was supposed to bring thousands of singles together for a chance to help some get through the holidays with a date turned into a massive sausage fest. With nearly 36,000 respondents for the event on facebook, around 90% who showed up were men. BBC has a few pictures of the event.
• Worried that Kakao Talk is robbing telecoms of a big portion of their traditional revenue, SK, KT and LG and combining forces to create a messaging service of their own.  The new service, called “Joyn” will compete with Kakao talk by allowing messages to be up to 5000 characters rather than the traditional 140. However, since Kakao talk is free, I find it difficult to understand why anyone would use this service at a cost of 20 won per message, which is what SK says it will charge. The other carriers, perhaps waiting to see how much SK gets publicly skewered for that trial balloon price, are holding back.  Personally, I fail to see a single aspect of their plan that would take subscribers away from a free global messaging service and move them to a pay- or even semi-pay local Korea-only service.  I predict a quick death of this one.
• For three years in a row, Ulsan is the richest city in Korea. With the highest GDP per capita, Ulsan beats #2 Seoul and #3 Busan because of the high manufacturing output.
• As if they don’t have enough CCTVs around, South Korea wants to add to the skies here with it’s own fleet of drone surveillance aircraft. the US Defense department proposed the sale, but the US Congress has yet to approve it.
• Less tests, more dreaming for middle school students in Seoul. The education ministry wants students to think more about their goals rather than take more tests but the opposition is worried less tests will reduce scholastic ability. O, Korea.
• And finally, proof that the Korean Wave is going global, Iran will hold its first Korean film festival this week in Tehran.

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By Martin Rehder, December 13, 2012 2:19 pm

In case you missed seeing these already, a few pieces of interest from around Korea:

• The Dollar is dropping relative to the Korean won like the proverbial prostitute’s panties. It just keeps going down.  Send your money back home soon as the Chaebols are likely to have their way with the Korean government. If they do, they’ll make them find a way to bring the won closer in line so exports bring home more cash.  As of this writing, a mere 1071 won buys a dollar, down over 9.5% from May of this year.
• Canadian Business has Named South Korea the “Big Winner of 2012.”  With Samsung’s Galaxy branded phones reaching stratospheric sales levels, Google’s choice of LG’s Optimus G phone as it’s flagship model and Psy’s Gangnam Style sweeping the world, the country has hit the big time. Several Korean companies are now listed in the Top 100 brands of the world the country now has the 15th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. Not bad for a country of only 50 million people and almost zero natural resources.
• While Korean companies are flying high, a few American companies in the peninsula are not doing so well. Cosmetics giant Avon is cutting almost 1,500 jobs worldwide and is pulling out of South Korea completely.  Motorola, meanwhile, has had its market share in the phone sector drop dramatically over the years. Where once children greeted foreigners in the street with the catchy Motorola phrase of “Hello Moto”, it’s now all “Olleh.” Motorola Mobility is closing its doors in Korea.
• Test scores are great.  Students don’t care. That’s the story today from the Hankyoreh. Students’ low interest and low confidence is thought to be because
  

  “the relatively small number of South Korean students who answered that they were confident or interested in their subjects is because our education system ranks students against each other and there are extremely high expectations for academic performance due to competition”

  .

• North Korea launched a rocket yesterday. South Korea yawned.

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By Carl Schreep, December 1, 2012 3:57 pm

Most of our readers are familiar with the hagwon system, if not working directly for one. The demand for English instruction is pervasive, and even extends to soccer teams. Rising Star Football Academy combines English instruction with soccer practice to develop an immersive environment for their students. The Academy partners with the Won Shot Wonders foreigner football team to provide English-language soccer instruction to Korean and non-Korean children. Coach James McAloon explains that their mission is to allow non-elite children access to the level of competitive soccer typically reserved for elite in Korea. But what I found to be the most interesting part of my visit was learning how Rising Star works to provide rehabilitation for children recovering from leukemia.
The most obvious challenge the children face in their post-recovery rehabilitation is physical. Following their treatment, the children’s bodies are severely weakened. Chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, and even the loss of organs have wreaked their damage to the children’s bodies. Some children currently playing with Rising Star are missing a kidney or a lung. They all have different stories, different combinations of chemo and operations. But the end consequence is the same, their bodies are weaker than their peers, who have been able to run and play and develop their physical fitness in the way that these children have not. Soccer lets them build physical endurance, strengthening their muscles, bones, and cardiovascular systems.
In addition to their physical recovery, the children need some psychological rehabilitation as well. As one of the parents explained to me, the children have spent so much time dealing with the disease and their course of treatment that they have been isolated from other children. Their experiences differ widely from what other children have experienced. They haven’t had the opportunities to play, to build confidence, and to develop the interpersonal skills that other children their age have had. Football, being an emphatically team-based sport, helps the children develop their social skills and re-integrate into “normal” society.
Approximately 10 children in Rising Star are recovering leukemia patients. These children play and receive free instruction, and, as I’ve witnessed, can put up quite a fight on the pitch for their peers. Childhood leukemia is tragic. Even those who survive can suffer from long term health complications, and the disease can rob them of their childhoods. Rising Star Football Academy reaches out to these children, and gives them an opportunity to just be kids again.

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By Martin Rehder, November 6, 2012 12:02 pm

While we’re all waiting on the outcome of the American election, a few news items from around Korea are worth reading.

• Two nuclear reactors were shut down at the Yeonggwang nuclear power plant on Monday. Authorities claim that parts had been supplied using falsified quality certifications.  Shutting the reactors down will mean a loss of 5% of Korea electric capacity. That may not sound like much, but the country is already on the knife-edge of capacity and the coming winter will likely mean shortages.  Economy Minister Hong SukWoo warns of “unprecedented shortages” and says that authorities must now create a “super intense power management plan.”
• With the Korean won fluttering about 1090 to the US dollar, investors are holding back, waiting for America’s election results and waiting to see what Seoul will due to shore up the exchange rate. Expect big changes after the election so exporting companies can reap bigger profits on higher exchange rates. Players in forex have long suspected Bank of Korea intervention to keep the won at at a locally acceptable level rather than let market forces drive the value.
• Google CEO Eric Schmidt fawns all over Korea with love.
• Koreans may not like American beef because of mad cow disease fears (yes, still. Ask a few Koreans) but they’re getting a small taste of that from Taiwan.  Imports of South Korean noodles have been halted due to fears that some Korean  noodles contain carcinogens.
• And finally, MSNBC has a happy article on the joys of studying for Korea’s university entrance exams. Oh, how wondrous it must be to exist as a Korean teenager where a single test on a single day can affect the entire remainder of your sad, little life.

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By Martin Rehder, October 31, 2012 4:44 pm

Happy Halloween! And a few bits of news from around Korea for your reading enjoyment:

• Last week Google made South Korea angry by labelling some rocks  in the Sea of Japan (South Koreas would likely get angry at me since they like to think of that body of water as the “East Sea”) as Liancourt Rocks rather than Dokdo.   This week, South Korea is angry at Apple because the new iOS maps label the rocks as both Dokdo and Takeshima, the name Japan uses for the same rocks, which, by the way, claim the rocks as their own.  Poor South Korea; they just can’t win the name game. Meanwhile, in New Jersey, USA, a Japanese man has been identified for defacing a monument to Korean comfort women with Dokdo/Takeshima related information.
• Korea is getting better about divorces and children.  A new laws forces parents with minor children to undergo counselling to understand better about the psychological effects on children of divorced parents. Counselling will also include help on arranging child support and visitation.  Anything would be better than the one-parent-takes-all approach that has been the norm in Korea.
• With last Friday’s cancellation of Korea’s first rocket launch (two previous attempts failed) the Science Ministry says it will try again in November. A successful launch will be great for Korea. Another failure….laughing stock of the entire planet. Last week’s cancellation is blamed on a gas leak.
• Please send pity and condolences cards to Uganda. Recently the two governments signed an agreement for South Korea to provide E-Government technology. Uganda will undoubtedly have to suffer through Internet-Explorer only websites that will require a half-dozen security downloads and cause untold cases of epilepsy from all the flashing GIF images.
• In general, things are getting slow in Korea. Manufacturing is is growing at only 1.6%, the lowest in 3 years. That’s close to zero growth in economic terms. A recent stimulus offered by the Korean government has failed to increase demand – which is to be expected since demand is created abroad in an export-driven economy.  Meanwhile, the KRW/USD rate continues to drop with the latest being 1019 KRW to the dollar.. At that level, increased demand abroad means less  money back home for Korean exporters.
• And finally, Korean labelled “Moderate” in English proficiency, scoring 21 out of 54 countries. However, a big-ass grain of salt should taken with that result – the article mentions that the poll respondents were younger and more urban than the general population. That means the score would almost certainly go down given a generic cross section of Koreans.

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By David Alexander, October 18, 2012 3:07 pm

Turnabout is Fair Play

Forty people – a healthy mix of foreigners and Koreans, including people from America, Canada, and England, sat around a number of tables at Mellocup across from the University.  Organized by a tall, handsome go-getter 22-year-old of a Korean studying at Ulsan University, the Ulsan Language Exchange Table had its second meeting last Saturday evening.

For ten thousand won, we had lemonade, snacks, and the opportunity to chat with fun, open-minded Korean students.  Ages ranged from 17 to 50+, with most being students.  It seemed, based on this writer’s experience, like the Koreans were most interested in practicing English.  We all had a great time, and many of us foreigners learned a thing or two.

At the beginning, our host called up any English speakers who knew “a little Korean” to introduce themselves for two minutes.  Your intrepid writer hastily prepared a script, and read it aloud.  While some more self-conscious might have felt that this was a little like being a circus act, the mood of the crowd did everything to alleviate that.  The whole group was encouraging and genuine – even when one at the front accidentally said “I am bulgogi” instead of “I like bulgogi”.

For the first half, from six until seven o’clock, the host demanded we all talk in English – and ONLY in English.  This went very well.  The cafe was full of cheerful, upbeat conversation, and encouragement all around for those people who were less well-versed in English.  Even when mistakes were made, the most important thing was communication.

Then, in the second half, from seven until eight, the host demanded we all talk in Korean – and ONLY in Korean.  You could feel the mood in the room change – all the Koreans present became a lot more confident, and all the foreigners equally less confident.  The native speakers returned the same cheerful encouragement and enthusiasm they’d received in the previous hour.

There were no structured activities, and I got the feeling anything like that would be entirely out of place.  After all, this wasn’t a classroom, and it definitely wasn’t a lecture.

After the second hour, the host called ALL the foreigners up to give an introduction of themselves – not just those who had stood up before.  I read the same script again, with added lines about where I work, where I live, and my family in Canada.  There were some small prizes – “best Korean teacher”, “most improved in Korean”, “best in Korean”.

If you missed this event, don’t worry!   There’s another scheduled for November 3rd at 7pm – at Alan’s place, Cima Bar.  Here’s the link – 18,000 won gets you unlimited barbeque, salad and rice, and one drink.  If Kim Yongsoo puts as much effort into it as he did the last one, it should be a great time for everyone! Here’s the link – clicky clicky