Korea, whose students dominate international exams, also is the least satisfied with its educational system within Asia. Only 56 percent of Koreans responded that they were satisfied with their educational system. The approval ratings were similarly low for other high-achieving nations like Japan (61%) or Taiwan (74%). Interestingly, over 95 percent of Singaporeans were satisfied with their educational...

AAK! PSA: Things to do at the Incheon Airport

Are you planning to be at the Incheon Airport soon? Do you need to kill some time? The good folks at Incheon Airport sent this blog a schedule of concerts and cultural events to be held throughout the summer.(Click to enlarge the program.)Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.c...

Quick advisory for everyone who lives in Seoul:In the Umyeonsan area where there had been a mudslide, there used to be a military base that was surrounded by land mines. Authorities say they recovered almost all of them, but a little more than 10 mines are still out there. Simple advice: do NOT go near the mudslide ar...

Ask a Korean! Wiki: ESL Certificate Programs?

Dear Korean,I really want to teach ESL in Korea (crazy, yeah, I know). I've been following a couple of blogs and whatnot, but recently I found out about certificate programs for teaching ESL. I'm graduating soon and I'm wondering if I should enroll in one of these programs before making my way to find myself a job. The one that has especially piqued my interest is the certificate program offered through...

Are Vaccinations Safe?

Dear Korean,My name is Roy, and I am reaching out to you on behalf of the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health (LADPH). LADPH just launched a public awareness campaign that urges people to protect themselves and their loved ones from preventable disease through proper vaccination. I work with SAESHE, a marketing agency...

The researchers at TestYourVocab.com are gathering data on how many words people know. Take a short test, and the site will tell you approximately how many words you know.According to the researchers' blog, average 30-year-old native speaker of English knows approximately 27,808 words. The Korean's vocab size was estimated to be 30,400. Not too shabby for a guy who picked up most of...

Ask a Korean! News: How LG Made the World's First 3D SmartPhone

Here is an interesting report on the development of LG's Optimus 3D, the world's first 3D SmartPhone, which provides a nice caricature of how Korean companies not only come up with a new idea, but stick to it until a new product is born.*             *            ...

Just a little bit more rant on airlines...

While checking in for the returning flight, the KAL employee at the desk had a bit of an issue with the Korean's passport for some reason. She took the passport, went to another desk to talk to a superior, called a number, and then returned and checked in the Korean. The entire sequence took perhaps 10 minutes.Then the KAL employee apologized profusely for the 10-minute delay and "upgraded" the Korean...

Uh, No. Arirang Belongs to Korea. Thanks.

[Note: This is a reaction to Roboseyo's post, titled Nobody Owns Arirang.]I remember the first time when I saw my family's jokbo when I was a child growing up in Korea. Jokbo means "lineage book," and it shows the flow chart of everyone who is related to me starting from the very first Korean person who shared my last name, who was born in 69 B.C.E. It was, and still is, an awe-inspiring...

The Email that Made the Korean Instantly Lose All Respect for BBC

The Korean swears upon his family's life that the email copy/pasted here is absolutely real, and not one word in it was altered except for the name, phone number and email address of the person, which are withheld. Below is the email that the Korean received Friday morning:from [NAME WITHHELD] [NAME.NAME]@bbc.co.ukto askakorean@gmail.comdate Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 9:42 AMsubject BBC radio requestmailed-by...

Ask a Korean! News: TV & Radio Producers Arrested for Taking Bribes from Singers

Say it ain't so! Translation below:The police arrested 29 people, including the head of a cable television and a local radio producer who received bribes from emerging pop singers for doctoring the pop song chart, arranging for TV appearances and introducing other producers. On the 21st, Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency arrested four TV producers, including the head of a cable television station...

Here is Ms. Alyssa Donovan from Maine, second-place winner of Korean Speech Contest held by U.S. National Association of Korean Schools. (The video is from the qualifying regional round in New England.) A high school sophomore, Ms. Donovan is the first-ever award-recipient in the contest history who is not of Korean descent. More about Ms. Donovan here.Very well done, Ms. Donovan.(Via KoreAm maga...

The Korean is finding the blog Circles and Squares, written by Prof. Emanuel Pastreich of Kyung Hee University, to be quite insightful and interesting. Here is a nice bit of advice from Prof. Pastreich about living in Korea as a foreigner:I find Korea more difficult than Japan on a day to day basis. Things just don’t work the way I want them to. But when I sit down and think about it, in fact I have...

IMF Bailout of Korea During East Asian Financial Crisis (Part II)

[Series Index]It has been very long -- more than a year in fact. But after much badgering of the guest blogger Wangkon936, the IMF Bailout of Korea series is back. And just in time -- the Financial Times cited Part I of the series as an illustrative example of national bailouts. Below is Part II of the series.*              *            ...

AAK! PSA: Korean Art Show in Santa Monica

Below is the message from Lois Lambert Gallery in Santa Monica, CA.*              *               *Dear Korean,We will be having two exhibits opening on Saturday July 16th at our gallery located at Bergamot Station. The first is a solo show by Sik Chang and the other is a three-person exhibit featuring the work of David Jang, Chaa...

Quick Recap of the Korean's Visit to the Motherland

It has been about five years between the Korean's last trip to Korea and this one. A quick summary of some of the Korean's impressions are below.Things about Korea that changed the most since the last visit:- Coffee is still expensive in Korea, but good coffee is now widely available. At some locations, the coffee was as good as any.- Golf is no longer a very rich person's sport. Even the Korean Grandmother's...

KAL v. United

Not too much time for blogging, but just had to get this off the Korean's chest --Korean Air Lines from Washington D.C. to Seoul, for the Korean and the Korean Wife:- 8 inches of knee room (for a 6' 1" man) and a seat that actually reclines to a comfortable degree.- Free checked bags.- Two in-flight meals that actually taste good, with a surprisingly decent Merlot.- Periodic drinks and snacks, which...