KoreanClass101.com Blog

Visa regulations. Ever changing and always with controversy it seems. I should point out that to apply for a visa to go to Korea, one must go through their local Korean consulate. The three most common reasons to visit Korea are for traveling (tourist), teaching (English), and business (international). For this blog entry, we will focus on the first one. Next week will focus on the E-2 teaching visa. Visa application information changes somewhat frequently so it's important to check with official online resources prior to making plans. This post is intended to provide an overview from a strikingly handsome American citizen's point of view. Below is a breakdown of the tourist (C-3 90-day) visa. Information was pulled from the... Show more

Hi, 현우 here. Did you all have a nice weekend? 모두 주말 잘 보내셨어요? I went to 경복궁 (Gyeongbok Palace)  with Michael, also a listener to KoreanClass101, who was with visiting from New Zealand for a few days before he starts studying in Korea next year, and also some other friends of mine. We went to 용산 in the morning to see what's new at the electronics market and then went to 경복궁 where we were supposed to meet up with my other friends. And we were REALLY lukcy - not only had the rain stopped just a few minutes before we entered the palace, but also this fantastic re-enactment of the wedding of 숙종임금 (King Sukjong: 1661 ~ 1720) and 인현왕후 (Queen Inhyeon: 1667 ~ 1701). And here's the video! (It might be better if you watched it... Show more

By now, we should all know that the Korean culture emphasizes the group over the individual. One of the ways we can see this is in the occurrence of MT: Membership Training. Don't let the name fool you, there really isn't any "training" involved. Let me explain... Often, groups of people will go somewhere together overnight or for a weekend to get to know each other better. Usually this involves lots of games, food, alcohol, and bonding time, but lacks in sleep. ^^ This phenomenon is called MT (for whatever reason), and many groups of people will go: work groups, students, people who are going to be together for any length of time.. I am by no means an expert on this subject, but I have had the opportunity to attend two of these... Show more

Not music related, but today I wanted to talk about somethng else: MapleStory! MapleStory is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) created by South Korean gaming company Wizet back in 2003. Free to download and totally free to play (though you can spend real-life cash to get special items to alter your appearance and to enhance gameplay), MapleStory soon expanded, creating versions for players of other countries - typically, IP address forces you to play a specific version of MapleStory, although it seems the only restriction on KoreaMS is having a KSSN. So if you live in Japan you can't play GlobalMS, and if you live in America you can't play EuropeMS, etc. Each version has certain things that are exclusive to it, be... Show more

Copyright infringement. Intellectual property rights. In a sentence? They don't exist. Koreans have historically done an exceptional job at innovation. Throughout the well-documented portion of Korea's ancient history lies a common theme: Koreans can do it, and they can do it better than you. Let's take a look at the first portion of that theme. This train of thought can be likened to America's "inalienable rights" creed. We feel that things like religion and self-expression are rights that no one entity owns - therefore we take personal ownership of our own religion and thoughts. I feel that it is one aspect that makes Americans so individualistic. This "nobody owns that right" thought can be applied to innovation for Koreans.... Show more