February 2010 Events - Happy New Year!
So, how are those New Year resolutions coming along? Have you been doing more in Korea? Getting outside a bit more? Pursuing the job you want? Following the 30-day shred religiously? Never fear, February won’t be blah if you choose at least three things to do from this list of goodness.
If you need tickets or further information about the goods you’ll find below, ask us at TheYeogiyo.com, or ask others on TheYeogiyo.com forum (we heard the groundhog never sees his shadow on it). By all means if you have something to share, let us know – we’re waiting for you…but not in a creepy, outside-your-window kind of way. view events...
Income Taxes
(TheYeogiyo.com recommends, before you begin, downloading The Easy Guide for Foreigners' Year-end Tax Settlement from the National Tax Service: Year-end Tax Settlement)
Author's note: I am not a professional tax preparer, accountant, or IRS worker. While I've spent hours researching this post from official government sources, seek the professional help if you need it. Also consider using a program like TurboTax to submit the paperwork electronically (but see below for an important detail!)
The good news on filing taxes in Korea is that it's probably easier than in your home country, and your school is doing a lot of the work on your behalf. If you've looked at your paycheck, you've noticed Korean tax being taken out of your paycheck, but your home country may want some taxes as well. Why? For the privilege of calling it your home country, of course. ...
Learning Korean with Rob Julien
Make Learning Korean Significantly Easier By Learning How To Read And Write Easily And Accurately
(Note: this page is the exact page from the online class, that's why it might seem like it's written as if you've already signed up for it)
Hey,
Congrats on making the decision to learn the native language of the country you're living in. I promise you, you'll never have a single regret for doing so - after 6 years of being here, the regret concerning the language I've heard is for NOT doing so - so you're now already ahead of most. ...
North Korea relaxes free market restrictions
Increasing social unrest has led North Korea to ease restrictions on private markets, say reports.
The move follows a recent currency revaluation which wiped out many cash savings in the country.
The revaluation appears to have been an attempt by North Korea's leaders to reassert control over the economy.
But correspondents in South Korea say allowing markets to operate more freely may be the only way for many in the North to feed themselves.
A spokesman for South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said signs of an easing of restrictions had been detected "in various places". ...
Haiti: A Firsthand Account
This piece was passed along to us from a friend of TheYeogiyo.com. Although incredibly graphic in nature, we came away with a better picture of the crisis in Haiti after reading it. Please consider donating to the people and animals of Haiti via a charity of your choice, or by participating in the numerous fundraisers being organized throughout Korea.
DISCLAIMER: This is graphic, just a warning. If you feel like passing this on to friends/media feel free. People should know how horrible it is in Haiti.
There were seven of us who traveled to Haiti, mainly doing electrical work, painting, health surveys and roofing repairs in a small rural community called Jeanette on the southern peninsula. Two of us, Drew Eschweiler and I, had been before and the five others, including my current roommate/business partner, Andrew Lee, had not. ...
Billions Worth of Samsung Chip Technology Stolen
Prosecutors have arrested the vice president of a U.S. firm and an employee of its Korean arm on suspicion of leaking 95 chip-making technologies from Samsung Electronics and selling 13 of them to Hynix.
The Seoul Dongbu Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday it arrested the vice president of AMAT and a staffer of Korean arm AMK and booked eight others without detention. The world's largest semiconductor equipment maker, AMAT supplies parts to both Samsung Electronics and Hynix.
The theft includes 40 core technologies, including for the world's first 30-nano DRAM chips developed by Samsung, prosecutors said. ...
Japan, Korea set for East Asian Champs
TOKYO — Japan and South Korea's domestic players will have a chance to push their World Cup selection hopes when the East Asian Championship begins here Saturday.
The Feb. 6-14 tournament is a chance for Japan coach Takeshi Okada and South Korean coach Huh Jung-moo to decide which domestic-based players will make their respective squads in South Africa for the World Cup finals.
China and Hong Kong are the other two competing nations. ...
Korea Ranked 8th 'Most Sinful Country'
Korea spends more money on pornography than any other country, according to BBC magazine Focus. The magazine analyzed 35 countries in the world based on the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. The top 10 countries in the respective fields were listed.
The level of lust was calculated based on the amount of money spent on pornography per capita. What it means by pornography, and what kind of data was used for the analysis remain unclear. Korea was followed by Japan, Australia and Finland.
Korea ranked sixth in gluttony, which was topped by the United States, followed by Canada, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. "We gauged excessive sexual thoughts for each nation using the average annual income per capita from the porn industry, divided by the price of a Big Mac hamburger -- a measure of the cost of living in that nation. This gives an indication of the amount spent on porn per person," the magazine wrote. ...
U.S. Military Committed to 'Strategic Flexibility'
The U.S. Defense Department in its Quadrennial Defense Review on Tuesday expressed commitment to "strategic flexibility" that would allow troops stationed in South Korea to be deployed in trouble spots elsewhere.
The report said Korea was in the process of shifting from "forward-deployed to forward-stationed with family members," jargon meaning that the U.S. military is trying to get personnel to stay in Korea longer by allowing their families to accompany them. "When fully implemented, this change will enable forces to deploy from Korea, helping to expand the pool of available forces for global contingencies."
From 2013, when three-year tours accompanied by families are to become more common in the U.S. Forces Korea, soldiers here may be sent to neighboring regions for months at a time, as is already the case for U.S. troops in Germany. ...
Crackdown on Illegal Tutoring Ineffective
Many students take private English lessons for writing and speaking to prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and TOEFL test for admission to U.S. universities. But many of those teaching are doing so illegally.
The education authorities have no immediate measures planned to crack down on illegal private tutoring by foreigners.
"It is hard to control tutoring due to privacy matters, especially when it comes to foreigners. Moreover, many of those who seek out such tutoring are well connected, leaving little room for authorities to uncover their illegal transactions," said Kim Chul-woon, director of the Private Institute Monitoring Team at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. ...
N Korea's economic woes spark food riots
There are reports that angry North Koreans have rioted over food shortages, attacking security agents in the closed and impoverished nation.
Unrest is rare in the totalitarian state, where dissent is often punishable by death.
A report by a news website hostile to the North Korean regime says the unrest erupted in Pyongsong in the country's west.
Quoting a group of defectors, the Daily NK says angry North Koreans attacked security agents in the city's market. ...
More Korean Food Primed for Space Travel
More Korean dishes have been adapted to suit the weightless environment of outer space.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on Tuesday said a team led by Dr. Lee Joo-woon at the Jeongeup Radiation Science Institute of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has won certification for ready-to-eat seaweed soup, bulgogi (sliced and seasoned barbecued beef), Jeonju bibimbap (rice with mixed vegetables), and mulberry juice for consumption in space ships.
The four products have been sterilized by radiation. They won certification from the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation in January. As a result, Korea now has a total of 14 space food products. ...
History Loses Place in School Curriculum
A survey by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security last year found that 56.6 percent of people in their 20s didn't know what year the Korean War broke out.
Another study by Korea University found that only 62.9 percent of 218 respondents were able to clearly elaborate on why Dokdo ― or Takeshima as maintained by Japan ― was Korean territory.
These "embarrassing" survey results may stem from education policies consistently de-emphasizing national history, especially in high school.
Scholars and history teachers are increasingly voicing their concerns toward policymakers' lack of consideration for history education in high schools. ...
South Korea pyramid scheme suspect arrested
A key suspect in South Korea's largest ever fraud case has been arrested, according to police.
The man, identified only as Kim, is alleged to have been an executive manager of Lib Inc, a company accused of running a massive pyramid scheme.
The company is suspected of conning up to 50,000 people out of four trillion won ($3.4bn: £2.15bn), South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
Lib's owner is thought to have fled to China in 2008, said Yonhap. ...
New Web site aimed at foreign investors
It just got easier for foreigners to find information about investment opportunities in Korea.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy today is launching an online system providing detailed information in English about investment opportunities in the country’s major industrial sites.
The ministry said the system highlights 300 business areas located in major industrial sites across Korea that could provide some of the most lucrative opportunities if invested in over the next year. The system includes general characteristics of the sites as well as land prices, average wages of workers and some other information. ...
Fundraiser to Help Haiti Orphans
Berlin restaurant in Itaewon is holding a fundraiser on Feb. 18 to help orphaned children in earthquake-stricken Haiti. The ``Haiti Children Earthquake @ Berlin Fundraiser'' will raise money to directly benefit two orphanages in the impoverished nation.
Stream Lee, one of the organizers, said proceeds from the event will directly go to two Haitian orphanages: Wilner's Orphanages ― Bell Fountain, and Jimmy's Orphanages ― Delmar 33.
Organizers are in contact with these two orphanages, where the children are in immediate need of food, clothes, medicine, shelter and water. The orphanages collapsed after Haiti was hit by a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12. The earthquake devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince, and left over 270,000 dead. ...
Application for Korean Citizenship Simplified
Korea will adopt a host of new measures to simplify applications for naturalization and visas by foreigners.
Expatriates in Korea will have more chances to apply for naturalization interviews, while corporations can apply for visas online when they recruit from abroad starting this month.
The Ministry of Justice said Sunday it will hold naturalization interviews at 17 immigration offices nationwide from February. These were previously only offered at the citizenship test center in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.
The ministry will also provide written test and interview samples on the Immigration Service's Web site at immigration.go.kr and e-government site at hikorea.go.kr. ...
Korean Expats Get PINs to Join Domestic Websites
Korean nationals overseas whose residence registration in the country has been canceled are now able to make their way past the barriers many Korean websites put up in requiring real-name registration. As of Friday they can subscribe without the registration numbers.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said it is giving 1.2 million Korean nationals overseas whose residence registration has been canceled personal ID numbers, the so-called I.PIN, which make it possible to identify them based on the information on their passports. With the I.PIN, they can subscribe to about 400 private websites, such as portals or Internet shopping or game websites as well as about 3,000 public agency websites. ...
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