Category: Korea-General Topics

This does seem like a really young age to begin studying a foreign language:

Korean mothers have their children start learning English before they turn five on average, an age some admit is probably too early, a survey showed Tuesday.

Yoon’s English School, a company that runs a chain of English language schools across the country, asked 466 members of an online mothers’ community between May 25-29 and found that their children started learning English at an average age of 4.8.

The survey said 24.9 percent started at age 6, 21.7 percent at age 5 and 14.8 percent at age 4. It also said 5.8 percent of the mothers started teaching English to their children, when they were still in the womb.

When asked if the chosen age was appropriate, 68.5 percent said it was, but 28.1 percent thought it was too early. The survey found that the largest group of 21.7 percent said about 8 years old, the age children normally start primary school, is the right time to start English education. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Maybe this is the sign that the English language learning fervor in South Korea is beginning to decrease a bit:

Gyeonggi English Village, the first residential English camp in Korea located at Paju and Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi, is closing down after a decade of operation.

Gyeonggi English Village, which opened in April 2006, was created to give the public a place to experience English-speaking culture and learn the language in the context of everyday life.

The village has struggled with low attendance. Last year, approximately 22,000 people visited the English Village, or about 610 visitors per day. The village lent out ten of its 17 buildings to other organizations to augment its revenues. With the boom in private language academies and more students travelling abroad for language study, demand for the village’s more carefree classes was undercut.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/736135386162860033

Rapeseed flowers everywhere in the countryside of Korea. Not the best name but definitely beautiful flowers! pic.twitter.com/LT2TATN76o

— KTO Los Angeles (@koreatourism) May 24, 2016

iPhone snap of terraced rice paddies at sunrise, Myodo, Yeosu. Photo by Robert Koehler of SEOUL. https://t.co/8KwvZTA0Tb

— Seoul Selection (@SeoulSelection) May 14, 2016

Here is something to think about for anyone thinking of living long term and raising a family in South Korea:

The number of South Korean babies with birth defects has increased significantly since the early 1990s, likely due to traffic-related air pollutants and endocrine disruptors, a study showed Monday.  The report, by Inha University’s Social and Preventive Medicine department, researched the national health insurance data of 403,250 infants aged 0-1 living in Korea’s seven metropolitan areas between 2009 and 2010. It found that 5.5 percent of all infants researched during the period had birth defects, an increase from the 3.3 percent of those born between 1993 and 1994.

Among all birth defects reported in the period of 2009-2010, hypospadias — a birth defect of the urethra where the urinary opening is not on the head of the male genital — had the highest increase rate of all birth defects from 1993-2010. The prevalence rate of the abnormality increased from 0.7 per 10,000 in 1993-1994 to 9.9 per 10,000 in 2009-2010. Meanwhile, the number of cases of cryptorchidism, the absence of one or both testes from the scrotum, also increased significantly from 2.6 per 10,000 to 29.1 per 10,000.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but I always wondered what long term exposure to the yellow dust polluted with heavy metals from China would do to people over the long term.

I would have to think that alcohol probably had something to do with this tragic accident:

A couple fell to their death while kissing on a rooftop in Itaewon on Sunday.

According to the Yongsan police, at around 2 a.m., a 31-year-old man from the United States and a 26-year-old woman from South Africa accidentally fell from a three-story building while kissing precariously close to the banister.

Witnesses have reported that the woman fell first and the man, while attempting to catch her, fell after her.

The two were taken to the hospital but did not survive due to head injuries.  [Korea Herald]

Shouldn’t a Chinatown have Chinese that live and work in it?  This sounds more like a Chinese themed shopping district than a Chinatown:

South Korea will build a new Chinatown near Seoul to serve as an international shopping and tourism hub, the operator of a free economic zone said Wednesday.

 

The Chinatown, expected to be over 2.3 million square meters in size, will be built in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone (YSFEZ) authority.  The YSFEZ is one the country’s several free economic zones (FEZs) located near the capital area.   The project, proposed by a special purpose company (SPC) established with major investment from Chinese firm Legions Group, has been reviewed by the related bodies as of March and is waiting official approval from the authorities.

 

The company, capitalized at 50 billion won (US$43 million), is 50-percent owned by Legions, 20 percent by Chinese individuals and 20 percent by South Korean private investors.  The plan is to build hotels, recreation and convention centers, as well as large-scale shopping facilities with duty-free shops in the newly envisioned town, named China Castle. The company said it will also establish medical centers, an international school and apartments in the area.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Image via KBS World Radio. 

What strikes out at me in regards to President Park’s visit to Iran is that she is wearing a veil.  What made this jump out at me was that I remembered that she did not wear a veil when she visited Saudi Arabia last year:

President Park Geun-hye (left) meets with Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the king of Saudi Arabia, during a bilateral summit. They discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations across a range of sectors. [Korea.net]

She is not only wearing a veil, but one that is covering not only her hair, but her entire neck.  According to this Korea Times article President Park was trying to show respect for Iranian customs and culture.  How about the Iranian government show respect to her and understand she is a head of state of one of the world’s great country’s and should not be subjugated to Iranian customs.  If Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ever visits South Korea does anyone think we will see them dressed up in a hanbok in respect to Korean culture?

Maybe while President Park is in Tehran she can tell the ayatollahs to stop selling missile and nuclear technology that is being used to threaten the existence of her country:

South Korean President Park Geun-hye left for Tehran on Sunday on a historic trip meant to boost political and economic relations between the two countries.

Park is set to meet with her Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, on Monday in the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1962.

The summit will set the tone for relations at a time when the Islamic Republic has emerged as a promising market following the lifting of international sanctions earlier this year.

“We expect the trip to serve as an occasion to take a new leap forward in bilateral ties, which have been stalled due to the international sanctions,” said Kim Kyou-hyun, a senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs.

The U.N. has lifted sanctions on Iran in a follow-up to a nuclear deal reached with the United States and five world powers over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.