Korea Information Blog

Sun Mi leaves Wonder Girls?

2010-01-26T17:26:00.002-05:00

I don't like to begin my first 2010 post with a very depressing news, but it is reported that Sun Mi will leave Wonder Girls.

On their official English website, www.wondergirlsworld.com, an official statement from JYPE is up.

Sun Mi had a truly amazing experience in the U.S. with opening guests for the Jonas Brothers as well as performing their hit single 'Nobody' on So You Think You Can Dance. However, she often thought about pursuing her academic career. (Those of you don't know, Sun Mi quit from her high school to come over to the U.S..) After a lengthy discussion with her family, JYP, Wonder Girls members and herself, she will return to Korea and prepare to go to university.

JYPE commented that they will support her with vocal and dancing lessons when she wants to come back to perform, but it is unlikely that she will return as a member of Wonder Girls.

Honestly, I am very upset about all of this. I respect Sun Mi's decision because hey, I am same age as her and can totally understand her wish to pursue her academic studies. However, I hate the fact that JYP replaced Sun Mi's position with a new member named Lim. How is it possible? When I first read the news, I was just thinking that Sun Mi would return to Wonder Girls after a year or so, but replacing her permanently?! I simply couldn't take the fact.

I'm sure I'm not the one who's feeling like this. C'mon, Wonder Girls cannot be the same Wonder Girls without any of the 5 members - Sun Ye, Ye Eun, Yoo Bin, So Hee and Sun Mi. No offence to Lim, 'the new member', but this is the truth.

The new member 'Lim'

Wonder Girls' Korean fan club is very shocked about all of this event, and posted what they will demand from JYPE regarding Sun Mi's leave. One of them is that when Sun Mi returns, she will talk to her fans directly and explain exactly why she is leaving. Many fans are suspicious that she might be forced to leave Wonder Girls because similar events have happened before in JYPE: Hyun Ah and Jay Park's leaves.

If Sun Mi's really leaving, I just hope that she explains to us the real reason of the leave.

What to Pack to Korea? Watch this Video!

2009-09-07T00:10:00.004-04:00

If you are a foreigner who is wondering what to pack to Korea, this video is perfect!
In a previous post, I introduced a great Youtube channel that is run by a Canadian couple : Simon and Martina. Well, they made this very informative video of 'What You Should Pack to Korea'. If you watch this video, you will get at least a glimpse of ideas to pack your stuff.

To summarize their video, they suggest to pack these items:
(1) Clothes (if you are big)
(2) Deodorants (because they are expensive to buy in Korea)
(3) Magazines (because they are expensive to buy in Korea and they are usually months old)
(4) Ranch sauce...(if you like)
(5) Bed Sheets
(6) etc.

Thanks to Simon and Martina who have created this awesome video!

Enjoy and learn!

Where is Korea?

2009-09-04T00:43:00.005-04:00

Few months ago, I learned that many foreigners do not have any idea where Korea is located. I am writing this post to show the location and surroundings of Korea.

Credit: http://www.koreaaward.com/kor/282

So, here is the map of Korea. As many of you know, Korea peninsula is divided into North Korea and South Korea. North Korea is a communist country and South Korea is a democratic country. North Korea's capital and the largest city is Pyeongyang. South Korea's capital and also the largest city is Seoul.

Koreas are surrounded by Yellow Sea, East Sea and South Sea. As for countries, North Korea borders with Russia and China while South Korea is close to Japan (across the sea).

I hope you know now where North Korea and South Korea are located on earth.

Pre-order Wonder Girls US Debut CD!

2009-09-02T12:46:00.002-04:00

(The image above is not the final cover design of the CD)

Finally, fans can now pre-order Wonder Girls US debut album.
Initially, the first 1000 people who pre-order the CD get free laptop cases, but that event is over. However, all people who pre-order it will get an autographed CD!

CLICK HERE and become a very lucky person to get WONDER GIRLS' autographed CD!

Support the Wonder Girls and their first US debut album!

What I learned from doing 'Korea Week'

2009-08-31T22:02:00.004-04:00

Korean 1 to 10! It was interesting to watch my friends try to say numbers in Korean

One of my friends was writing someone named Danny in Korean. This was really popular and many people even teachers liked to see their English names in Korean.

Korean Snacks Exhibition.

My french teacher and I made this wall with stuff that I've got from VANK. Thanks VANK!

Okay, so the pictures above basically show how the Korea week ran through in my school (located in London, Ontario, Canada).
We had 3 events organized: Korean snack exhibition, teaching Korean and watching the movie 'Host' (Gwoemul). The first two events were quite successful. Many Canadian friends enjoyed learning Korean and eating various and delicious Korean snacks. However, the movie did not work out as expected. Only few people showed up to watch it and due to lack in time, we could not finish the movie.

Despite this, I believe these Korea week events went through better than I expected, considering it was the first time I've organized something huge. After all, a lot of people in my school got to know at least something about Korea and its culture.

There were a few sad things that I've learned from Korea Week.
First of all, a considerable number of students did not know the difference between North Korea and South Korea.
Next, many of them thought Samsung, LG and Hyundai were Japanese companies.
Finally, majority of them did not have any clue where Korea was located.

As a Korean, I was shocked by these FACTS. But, I am glad I found out that Canadians knew very little about Korea. Now, I have a mission to make every Canadian know about Korea. It may take a very long time to be achieved, but if no one starts, it will never be done. I need to start this mission.

Dokdo is a Korean territory! I♥Korea

2009-08-30T23:57:00.008-04:00

I have created this blog about 2 years ago.
When I first started this blog, my goal was to share my knowledge to anyone who is interested in anything about Korea. I tried to write some current Korean news, put up a music playlist, and spread out how great Korea is-its people, culture, basically everything.

Unfortunately, my passion had not last long. I quit posting on this blog for a while. During the hiatus, I prepared for my high school admission.

During Summer in 2008, I went to Korea for two months. There was a great event that filled up my passion to re-start this blog; I became one of the 300 people to 'advertise' Korea from VANK (Voluntary Agency Network of Korea). When I signed up for it, I did not expect it to be this meaningful and powerful. However, after I went to celebrate the inception of this organization, my love for Korea was fathomless.

To promise what I got to do, I organized 'Korea Week' events in my school. It was a great success. Many people enjoyed the music video of 'Nobody' by the Wonder Girls, liked the tastes of various Korean snacks, and learned a little about Korean.

There is someone I respect. He is a singer, but works harder to improve the international status of Korea. Recently, he wrote that Wall Street Journal finally started to inscribe both East Sea and sea of Japan on their articles. Prior to this, he and Seo Kyung-Duk, an expert in advertising Korea, published an ad that titled "To WSJ Journalists" and asked to fix the error of labeling sea of japan instead of East Sea.

He is Kim Jang-Hoon. I first saw him face to face at the inception. The inception was more like a mini-concert. He sang about 9 songs and I enjoyed a lot and started to admire him for his passion and effort to promote Korea.

Seo Kyung-Duk and Kim Jang-Hoon

Credit: Yonhap News

I will try my best to be like Kim Jang-Hoon, even though what I can do is little.

Dokdo is a Korean territory.
It's not sea of Japan, it is East Sea.
I LOVE MY COUNTRY, KOREA.

Great YouTube Channel & Blog for Foreigners in Korea

2009-08-30T17:51:00.007-04:00

If you are thinking of teaching in Korea, or even living for a while, but you have no background, you should definitely check out this YouTube channel.

LINK: Simon and Martina's Channel

This channel is run by a Canadian couple teaching English in Bucheon, Korea.
They even have a blog called 'Eat Your Kimchi'.
On this blog, they answer questions about working in Korea and others. They also have some teaching material to share with other English teachers in Korea.

Simon and Martina created this channel & blog to show what daily life is like in Korea. They have created over 90 videos and this is one of my favorites.

How to Dance K-Pop Style

This was created in 2008, so the songs are a little outdated, but it is still awesome!

Other than this video, they have uploaded videos that they find funny or interesting (such as transportation system, or crazy karaoke culture).

If you want to know about Korea by the real foreigners who are living there, these Youtube channel and blog are probably the best source that you can get.

Videos that prove Dokdo is Korean Territory

2009-08-28T01:18:00.004-04:00

Credit: From Daum

Instead of me writing why Dokdo is Korean territory, I decided to put up videos which I believe are more believable and convincing. The image above is an advertisement that has been on Washington Post last year. This was funded by about 100,000 internet users in Korea.

Credit: ryuanee on Youtube

[Download] Do you wanna learn Korean?

2009-08-27T03:09:00.001-04:00

This E-Book is for people who want to learn Korean or even would like to do pen-pal.
It was created by VANK(Voluntary Agency Network of Korea) and has basic conversation phrases and a variety of vocabularies.

There are 3 main sections:

(1)Brief introduction to Korean (Han-geul)
(2)Basic vocabulary and expressions
(3)Essential information about Korea (location, geography, culture, food, currency, etc)

I am 100% positive that once you finish this book, you'll be able to write, read and speak Korean and make some good Korean friends!

CLICK TO LEARN KOREAN

[Experience in Korea #2] Naksansa

2009-08-27T01:53:00.008-04:00

Last summer, I went to Naksansa with my family.
Naksansa is a korean Buddhist temple which is located in Yangyang, Gawngwon Province.

Unfortunately, most of the temple has been burned out in April, 2005. The construction to restore the temple buildings is still in process, and it looks like 1 more year would be needed to complete it.

Beside the sad mishap, the temple is located near the East Sea (not Sea of Japan!), which creates a composure of wind, and a beautiful view.

Here are some of the pictures that I have take from the trip.

Image of the burned Naksansa site (depressing)

Great place to see the fantastic sea!

Buddhist statue of Haesugwaneumsang : goddess Gwanseum-Bosal.

I am proud of this picture (personally of course! :))

Pictures of Temple

a temple that's being reconstructed...

This picture shows how the restoration has been going on

Beautiful and mysterious pattern & design

Basic Korean Phrases

2009-08-22T22:53:00.003-04:00

(CLICK TO ENLARGE THE CHART)

This is the list that I made for the Korean Week in my school.
Hope you find it useful. ^^

Who are the WONDER GIRLS?

2009-08-22T22:09:00.008-04:00

The Wonder Girls are a really popular female group in South Korea. There are 5 members and they are:

Yoobin

Yenny (Ye Eun)

Mimi (Sun Mi)

Sun (Sun Ye)

So Hee

So far, they have released 4 albums and three songs have been enormously popular.
First of all, the most successful song is 'Tell Me' in 2007.

'Tell Me' Music Video:

This song was sampled from Stacey Q's Two of Hearts. During the time when they performed 'Tell Me', there was a big wave of UCC (User Created Contents). Thousands of people put up videos of themselves dancing to 'Tell Me' choreography. Some of them got really popular and actually performed on various TV stations. This video below is one of my favorites.

Policemen Dancing to 'Tell Me'

After this hit song 'Tell Me', they came out with another hit song 'So Hot' in Summer 2008.

'So Hot' Music Video

With this song, they achieved another astonishing success.

In September of the same year, they approached to South Korean people with the mega-hit song, 'Nobody'.

'Nobody' Korean Version Music Video:

With this song, they won many awards such as 'Song of the Year', 'Best Music Video' and 'Best Female Group'. In addition, they received 'Artist of the Year' at the 18th Seoul Music Awards.

In 2009, they have been very busy.
At first, from February to March, they had concerts in Thailand, U.S.A., and South Korea. Afterward, they have been touring with Jonas Brothers as opening guests.

They plan to release their full-length English album in November (maybe later).

Their first US single "Nobody" Music Video: (Released on June 26, 2009)

BEST OF LUCK TO THE WONDER GIRLS!

These are their various websites/pages

Wonder Girls MySpace: CLICK
Wonder Girls YouTube Channel: CLICK
Wonder Girls Facebook Fan Page: CLICK
Wonder Girls English Website: CLICK

South Korea is in a panic over Swine Flu

2009-08-22T00:34:00.002-04:00

Until a few weeks ago, South Korea seemed to have no problem with issues of swine flu. It barely made a headline on news and people cared no less.

However, the whole scene has changed. Since the deaths of two people due to swine flu, people started to worry and run to public health centers to examine themselves.

For the past couple of days, the number of infected people per day has doubled up, making the total infected population close to 3,000. This is a significant increase in a short amount of period.

To prevent further infection, the government is running their health public centers at full capacity to take care of potientially infected people and has assigned drugstores all over the country to enable the availability to purchase the antiviral drugs (Tamiflu & Relenza) among its people. In addition, it will start to vaccinate about 13 million or more people from November.

Idol Groups in Korea

2009-08-19T22:58:00.005-04:00

(More information will be added shortly as well as new idol groups)
If you click the names of the artists, you'll go to the Wikipedia pages.

1. DBSK(Dong Bang Shin Ki) / TVXQ / Tohoshinki

2. Super Junior

3. Big Bang

4. Wonder Girls

5. SNSD(So Nyuh Shi Dae)/Girl's Generation

6. Kara

7. 2NE1

8. F.T. Island

9. 4Minute

10. 2PM

11. 2AM

Korea's Naro has delayed again

2009-08-19T22:40:00.005-04:00

The launch of Naro-1, Korea's first carrier rocket, has delayed again due to technical difficulties.

The cast off was timed to happen at 5:00 PM on August 19, but before 7 minutes 42 seconds, an order came through to stop its launch.

The problem seemed to be some kind of technological flaw in the rocket.

Including this failure, there have been 7 attempts to take off the Naro-1.

Now people start to wonder whether there will be a launch of this rocket.

Yang Y. E. takes PGA Championship over Tiger Woods

2009-08-18T22:09:00.007-04:00

An unexpected event has happened at the PGA Championship on August 16, 2009.
A Korean named Yang Yong-Eun, has beat Tiger Woods and become the first Asian male golfer to win in the major championships.

This shocking event has spread out around the world and apparently, this is the 3rd most shocking event in sports' history.

After the tournament, his rank jumped up from 110th to 34th and he became a well-known sports celebrity.

Congratulations Yang Yong-Eun!

(This is the video of showing some of the highlights and Yang Yong-Eun winning the PGA championship over Tiger Woods)

WG Sunye gets a b-cake from Jonas Bros.

2009-08-15T21:46:00.003-04:00

On Sunye (Sun)'s birthday, Jonas Brothers brought a gorgeous cake and wished her a very happy birthday! I am so happy for Sunye!

What is Korea Sparkling?

2009-08-15T19:36:00.004-04:00

Korea Sparkling.

Some may know, but many people have no clue what Korea Sparkling is about (other than the fact it is related to Korea).

According to the 'Official Site of Korea Tourism'
Korea Sparkling was chosen as a slogan which symbolizes the lively energy that Korean people and culture have.

While Dynamic Korea will act as a national brand, Korea Sparkling will focus on the tourism purposes only.

If you go to Korea Sparkling Website, this page will show up.

You'll be amazed by how much information this site holds: sightseeing, transportation, food, entertainment, accommodation, events, shopping, etc.

This is a promotion video for Korea, Sparkling.
Watch this video

Personally, I think Korea Sparkling is doing a great job. In 2009 June, I went to Korean Festival in Toronto, Canada. There were lots of people and booths. I was walking by and saw Korea Sparkling booth (at the time, I did not know about it). Being curious, I went to the booth and when I got out, I had a bunch of Korean information brochures, a taekwondo poster and a buchae.

Pictures are below

Taekwondo Poster

I love this buchae!

Happy Gwangbokjeol (Liberation Day)! [8/15]

2009-08-14T20:33:00.005-04:00

Today is 64th Liberation Day / Gwangbokjeol in Korea.
It celebrates the independence of Korea from Japan's authority since August 15, 1945. This day is the same day as the Victory over Japan Day(V-J).

On this day, many Korean families put Korean flag up high to express their thankfulness for those who suffered their life to free Korea, and also happiness for the independence of Korea. Many ceremonies are held in various places to celebrate this holiday.

Happy Gwangbokjeol!

Watch BoA's Energetic M/V

2009-08-14T10:55:00.006-04:00

Check BoA's awesome Energetic video out!
Energetic was written by Sean Garrett, a famous musician who has worked with Usher and Chris Brown. It has a nice beat and is very suitable to hear in clubs.
In addition, the choreography brings up the success rate high.

Despite her amazing talent and singing skills, BoA has not become popular in the U.S. yet. I know it takes time (even BoA said she understood it would take time to achieve her goal). However, this song seems to appeal to American audience. As an evidence, Bill Lamb has written an article about BoA on Bill's Top 40. Read it HERE

Best Luck BoA!

[Experience in Korea] #1. Insadong

2009-08-14T10:15:00.007-04:00

Insandong is an area where one can buy souvenirs and experience unique Korean cultures (mostly traditional).
Geogrphically, Insandong is located in the Jongno-gu district in Seoul.

Last year, I visited this place with my mom to take a look how it was organized.
It was more like a long street with many pathways along.
At the time of the visit, I saw many Japanese people due to currency fluctuation and some other various races.

There were many traditional restaurants and souvenir shops.
Starbucks and other foreign stores were located there as well.

Here are some pictures that I have taken from the visit.

Overall: I think Insandong could be improved in conformity with its fame. What I meant to say is that the street was rather dirty and empty. I can see a little disappointment in foreigner's eyes when he/she arrives there with huge expectations.
In addition, there could be more events to attract visitors.

Nonetheless, it is an awesome place to experience Korean culture!

If you want to know more about Insandong, check these links out!

VirtualTourist

Official Korea Tourism Guide Site

Hanok - Korean Traditional House

2009-08-14T09:20:00.000-04:00

Hanok is Korean traditional house or architecture. It is nature-friendly. There are different Hanoks.

1. a tile-roofed house

2. a thatched cottage

3. a shingle-roofed house

4. a log cabin

And there are many more types.

The most interesting and best part of Han Ok is Ondol. Ondol is a Korean heating system, which it was originated from the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo (37 B.C. ~ A.D. 668). It works bascially like this: a large stone under a living space. So, smoke from a fire is trapped under the stone and goes to the other side.

Ondol system has a distinct advantage, which is that even if you remove the direct source of heat, there still remains the heat for a quite long time.

However, one pretty dangerous disadvantage is that if an underfloor cracks so there is a gap, the smoke can rise up and cause 'carbon monoxide poisoning'. In addition, it takes a long time to heat up the floor to stay up a night.

Nontheless, this Ondol system is proven to has high thermal efficiency and therefore an economical way to heat the house. Nowadays, this system has been modified to modern housing by spreading pipes under floors and circulating heated water through the pipes reducing dangerous essences that could happen in the past.

(Help from www.prkorea.com - Be a Friend of Korea!)

Wonder Girls with Miss J at Teen Choice Awards

2009-08-13T09:37:00.007-04:00

This was their first time walking on the red carpet in the U.S.!
Good job the Wonder Girls and you can check more pictures at HERE

Wonder Girls added on IHeartRadio

2009-08-13T09:25:00.005-04:00

Another great news for the Wonder Girls: they are added on "IHeartRadio.com"!
Addition to that, they have been selected as Clear Channel's Artist to Watch.
It's so great to hear them getting recognized from many radio stations.

If you go to this website, you can see their biography and listen to their first US single, Nobody.

GDragon's Solo Album Concept Pics

2009-08-13T09:02:00.003-04:00

What do you think of these pictures?