Living abroad? Think about your (future) wife!

Ask yourself this: What things would you consider if you had an opportunity to work abroad? For many top executives and engineers, its not only the job they are thinking about. The main challenge is usually their free time, wife (or husband) and family. Ask yourself the question: if I will work in this country how will my wife and family been taken care of by the company in… Continue reading... | 6 Comments

Video-conference with a former president

15th Korean president and Nobel peace prize winner Kim Dae-Jung visited us at the Korean Development Institute today. Amazing, what a circus! Our university is already surrounded by a 4 meter wall, and security posts. Today I noticed FBI style security guards on rooftops and entrances! The event was well organized, interesting approach on the day was that not all participants of the event were actually inside our school. With the help of video-conferencing, students… Continue reading... | 2 Comments

Learn to read and pronounce Korean Hangul in 2 days

You don’t need a black belt in Taekwondo to master the Korean language, actually… reading Hangul (Korean writing) is surprisingly easy!

That’s the main point I am trying to make in this post. While the Korean characters seem complex at first, they are easy to read within one week. Skip the touristic English metro maps, and start learning the way the correct way!

Truth is that this information applies for… Continue reading... | 15 Comments

Comparing Korean gas, wine and other prices with Europe

It’s cheaper to live in New York, Hong Kong, Copenhagen or Paris then in Seoul. But not everything is expensive, taking a cab here four blocks further costs about 2 Euros, the same distance in Copenhagen or Paris would cost a lot more. Korean food is generally cheap, so are a lot of other things. The greatest price differences can be found in western and mainly European products that… Continue reading... | 2 Comments

What can you leave to your descendant?

I visited a Korean art expo on Saturday the 23rd, and met a fascinating artist named Hae do Park. He dedicated his life to learn a new skill, and aims to inspire younger artists with his work. The combination of using silver and his apply his technique create objects that almost seem real.
The bird on the picture is so detailed and beautiful that it just attracted me, like most shiny… Continue reading... | 1 Comment

Meanwhile, at the blind-Korean-GPS-marketed-witch-doctor’s house

I visited a very special practitioner on Friday the 22nd. A blind chiropractor called Mr Ahn, with a special approach. – for his diagnose, he touches certain body points, after which he gives lifestyle advice or prescribes natural medicines. The man has gained popularity, and people from all corners of Korea are lining up in front of his house. Interesting part of his popularity is the relation with GPS technology… Continue reading...

If you like the web, I bet you love South Korea too

This is the conclusion of my web series about the internet in South Korea, published on ReadWriteWeb and TheNextWeb.org two weeks ago; I put it on my blog for completeness of the serie.

That is, if you like to be connected to the Internet all day, while enjoying the fastest connections in the world! Enter the hyper connected society, with an astounding 90 percent of the country

Conclusion of the South Korean web profile serie

Enter the hyper connected society, Korea has an astounding 90 percent connected to the Internet with 3G and a nation wide coverage of a South Korean version of Wimax. What websites are popular over there, and does Korea have a web 2.0 scene?

To find that out, follow my first publised article on thenextweb.org.

 … Continue reading... | 2 Comments

Search engine Empas.com is ready for a comeback in Korea

Empas.com is a South Korean web portal dating back as far as 1998. They became big with their cocky slogan: “If Yahoo can’t find it, Empas can.” Empas ranks five out of five on our list of (most visited) Korean web companies, However, Empas has lost ground against competitors as Naver and Daum, it seems that their strategy was unsuccessful. Currently, Empas is bought by another company, together they… Continue reading...

Daum: boring, but innovative in user generated content

Daum communications is huge, they are the biggest operator of Korean websites and they also operate in China with 365ren.com, and in the U.S. with the acquired Lycos portal. The word ‘Daum’ is Korean for ‘next’, but at first sight, they might come over as another boring web portal aiming for sensational celebrity news, or is it?

Okay, Browsing to Daum.net feels like browsing through time at first. Don’t be surprised to see a banner in the middle of the screen, offering you a Daum car insurance, or other income streams in in-house finance or shopping products. However, Daum.net scores (40 million active users) with UCG (user generated content) and sensational news. Continue reading...