illegal immigrants in Korea

           These days, the growing number of foreigners who come into Korea is a big issue to us. Because, Korea had been consisted of Korean ‘Han’ race in the majority, and we’ve never treated foreign people as the same nationals even if they have citizenship or permenent residency in Korea.

 Furthermore, especially, illegal immigrants are a big problem to Korea. They have been working in Korea industries without legal consent, and this illegal thing is not good for both of Koreans and illegal immigrants. Because of illegal immigrants, the number of available jobs in Korea industries is getting less. And it can cause the shortage of work place for Koreans. Also, the government has not been able to collect taxes from illegal immigrants and can’t count them all. On the other hand, to illegal immigrants, if they work as the same as other workers, they can’t expect to get the same payment as others’ from the company. And also, they are not guaranteed at all even they get hurt in line of duty because they can’t have industrial accident compensation insurance.

           Then, how should Koreans and the government deal with such people? It would be solved if the government expel them from Korea? I don’t think so. I think it would be better to the government, the owners of companies, and even illegal immigrants, if we make the illegal immigrants work legally. Because if so, illegal immigrants can make a living, and the government can collect more taxes, and moreover, the companies can operate continuously. To do so, the government should make the process of vise extension easier and let the illegal immigrants extend the visa in Korea.

ODA - foreign aids

           These days, many developed countries give foreign aids to a lot of poorer nations. And some developed countries have sent money to developing countries in the shape of foreign aids in order to stimulate the economies of developing countries. However, this kind of donation has some problems. For example, in many underdeveloped countries, this money is used ineffectively because of corrupted officials. And developing countries can be dependent on the donated money. So, some people say that giving foreign aid isn’t really helpful to developing countries. In the same context, President Lee Myung Bak administration is skeptical of the policy to give North Korea an immense amount of food and fertilizer a year.

           Nevertheless, I think developed countries have to provide foreign aids to poorer nations. Because, Korea is a good example which got over the hardship and became another donor country owing to the foreign aids. On top of that, many poorer nations were colonized by developed countries and exploited for laborers and natural resources. So, developed countries have a kind of obligation duty to restore developing countries.

           But the thing is how to help developing nations. It is true that it is really hard and takes a lot of charge for donor countries to monitor how the money is used in developing countries. So providing others instead of money can be a solution. For instance, if donor countries build infrastructure like schools and hospitals not just give money, it will be more effective to help people. Also, making recipient countries report how the foreign aids are being used is a good way. Or how about hearing the voices of the people who got the grant?

NEAT

   The NEAT is short for ‘National English Ability Test’, which is a new test evaluating English speaking, listening, writing, reading skills. It has been considered to be a new standard to assess English skills instead of TOEIC and TOEFL of ETS given currently. Also, it will be a substitution for the English section of the current Korean scholastic aptitude test from 2015. And, since it can be a replacement of TOEIC and TOEFL, it is expected for many companies to use the NEAT for another standard to estimate job applicants’ English skills.

   However, when we regard the NEAT as a national authorized test for high school seniors and adults in Korea, there will be some drawbacks to it. First of all, it is possible to foster the private educations. Specifically, the NEAT is made up of 4 sections as I mentioned. And it would take more charges for students to take private classes for each section than now. So, this increase can cause that a lot of parents have a difficulty supporting their children’s education fees. On top of that, the students can suffer from stress of studying increased English sections. So far, Korean students are used to studying reading and listening of multiple choices. However, if the NEAT is the substitution for the current test, many students would have troubles studying unfamiliar things.

   But, although some people are worried like this, there will be many advantages. Most of all, it will be possible for Koreans to improve their practical English skills. That’s because, there are many shortcomings in the current English course from elementary school to high school. Every student has been taken English classes for about 10 years, most of them cannot speak English so well. Compared to the educational system of Finland, where English isn’t the official language, Korean system is much more ineffective. However, with the NEAT, we can improve the educational system of English fundamentally. So, I think it is better to innovate the compulsory educational system by replacing the current English section of Korean SAT by the NEAT completely.

2018 Pyeong Chang Olympic

When I journeyed on the way to Venice, I was sleeping on the couchette. And one train conductor tapped me up informing the arrival to the destination. As he gave me my passport, he said, "Congratulations! Korea won the bid to host the 2018 winter Olympic. " That was a really good news on the journey. And I was surprised. Because Pyeong Chang has lost its bidding for the winter games twice by Canada's Vancouver and Russia's Sochi. And I thought Yuna Kim made it at last!

I am expecting that the Olympic will give us a lot of benefits. Some people say that the economic effects from the Olympic will be more than 60 trillion won. I cannot explain exactly what would make the profits so much, but I am sure about that it will be more convenient for everyone including Koreans and foreigners to access Gangwon-do. Furthermore, if KTX is built, it will be possible to commute from Gangwon to Seoul and vice versa. Also, people will choose Gangwon-do as a summer or winter resorts more and more. And it will stimulate the economy of Gangwon and whole Korea. Moreover it will be a good chance to soar Korea’s national prestige.

However, some people say that if alpine ski slope is made on the Gariwang Mountain, Gariwang Mt will be terribly hurt losing recreational forests which have been protected since the Joesun dynasty era. But I think the spirit of the Olympic games coexists with environmental preservation. So we can make a ‘green Olympic’ with everyone’s attentions and efforts.

Evalution of Mr. Ahn

Last month, I read the article that announced Mr. Ahn Cheol Su would run for mayor of Seoul. I was really surprised by the news. Because he was known as a scholar and entrepreneur who had refused political offers so many times. At that time I could not believe my eyes.

After the announcement, many people advocated him greatly. The popularity rating for Mr. Ahn increased by about 50 percent only two days after he announced to consider his candidacy for the mayor of Seoul. Then, why is he loved by many citizen so much?

Most of all, individual ethics, business ethics, and social ethics as well. Also, he has wonderful communication skill and empathy for other people. So, he has constantly given lectures to Korean young adults who suffer from seeking jobs, making money, etc. And as one of the specialist of IT field, he has sufficient later thinking ability. With this ability, he performed his business very effectively and creatively.

But if somebody asks me that Mr. Ahn is the right person to be a mayor of Seoul or President of Korea, I would say "No. " That's because he doesn't have lots of political experiences. Making a policy or decisions is not only by economical rationality but also by political support. Therefore, Mr. Ahn is at disadvantage because of lack base of political support.

Audition Boom in Korea

           Starting with ‘Super Star K’ in 2009, many kinds of audition programs have been loved by a lot of Korean in these days. Especially, although Super Star K series have been broadcast on the cable channel, the program displayed viewer ratings of from 8 percent to 22 percent. Then, how this kind of program could arrest the attention of viewers so quickly? Some critics say that such auditions describe ‘fair society’ where people can be evaluated openly and participate in the evaluation. And, actually, any Koreans had craved for such impartial appraisals. Meanwhile, Super Star K appeared and swept the viewer along.

           Moreover, audition programs have other strengths. By attending an audition, applicants can be evaluated by many experts from each field. And if winning the audition, the applicant can win the jackpot and gain in popularity. When it comes to the viewers, they can get vicarious satisfaction watching the way someone poor but talented achieved success. And they can enjoy it truly because open auditions are based on real life.

           However, such programs also have drawbacks. It is likely to expose applicants’ privacy in public. Furthermore, some netizens attack the applicants malevolently. Besides, making people try to pass auditions can cause fierce competition in the fields.

           As a viewer, I think audition programs are exciting and voted for some applicants I liked. But recently, too many competitions in TV programs regardless of field. Sometimes when I change the channel, I am about sick of contests. I think it’s time to make another good grogram creatively.

F1 was held in Korea

 In last class, I saw a presentation which is connected to F1. Actually, before i saw this presentation i never knew about that area and i did not have any interest about that at all. However after watching this presentation i could get interestes to F1 very much. And F1 is very famous sports than i thought. And this famous sports was held in Korea. First of all, when i heard about that, i thought it could give some advantages to korea because in F1 events many kinds of foreigners came to Korea and they may increased our economics. Most of all, many people could be hired from this events so high unemployment rate also could be decreased i guess in temporary. However, in conclusion F1 events was failed in Korea. Then we need to discuss why this was happened.

 First of all, 전라남도 of korea was very undeveloped city. Specifically, in 영암 there were not enough places to stay and there were not anythings that can attract people`s interests. So many poeple probably did not want to come to korea only to see the F1 sports. Therefore it was very difficult to make benifits from this events.

 On top of that, there were not any korean players. So even korean did not have interests in this F1 events. and additionally mass media did not treat any information of F1 events so much. So F1 events probably failed to make benifits.

 So these are the reasons why the F1 events was failed in last year especially in ecnomic areas.

After I listend this failure i was very sorry and deplorable. And I thought that korean government should help many things to succeed the F1 events. Specifically they might give some subsides and many volunteers more actively. Finally, if events like this will be held in korea, i want the events will be more successful.