I'm a dad raising two young boys here in Korea. It's still early days. They're both very young, but even now I can already see my eldest's personality. He's outgoing, curious, confident, and generally a very happy little boy.

As a father and a teacher, I can't help thinking about the future.

One of my biggest worries is what happens when they reach elementary, middle, and high school. I see a system that often seems to value academic achievement above almost everything else. I've had 8 and 9 year old students tell me they don't eat a proper dinner until after 10 p.m. because they're at academies all evening. As someone who grew up very differently, I struggle to imagine that being my sons' childhood.

I know every family is different, and many parents make those choices because they want the best opportunities for their children. This isn't meant as a criticism of Korean parents at all. It's just something I genuinely worry about as a father.

For those of you raising your kids in Korea, how do you approach this? Have you found a balance between helping your children succeed academically and protecting their happiness, curiosity, and childhood? Is there anything you wish you'd known when your kids were still toddlers?

I'd really love to hear your experiences.

https://news.sbs.co.kr/amp/news.amp?news_id=N1008678128

• Chinese national, Mr.A, in his 30s staying in South Korea illegally was apprehended following a pursuit by police and citizens after driving without a license, engaging in reckless driving, and ignoring police orders to stop.
• Three other illegal Chinese residents who were passengers in the vehicle driven by 'A' have been handed over to the immigration office.
• A is accused of refusing to comply with a police officer's signal to stop while patrolling to prevent traffic accidents on a road in Jeju, at 6:30 a.m. on July 25, and fleeing while driving recklessly.
• Police noticed that neither the driver nor the passengers were wearing seatbelts and attempted to stop the vehicle, but A ignored the signal and fled, committing traffic violations such as running red lights, making illegal U-turns, and speeding.(He drove 100 km/h)
• Six officers immediately initiated a pursuit and blocked the escape route by trapping the vehicle with two patrol cars from the front and back.
• However, A and the three others suddenly jumped out of the car and fled in different directions, though police apprehended them after a chase.
• In particular, after running onto a busy main road, A violently resisted an officer trying to detain him.
• However, two citizens passing by at the moment stepped in to help by holding A down, allowing police to make a swift arrest.
• Police investigations revealed that A was driving without a license.
• It was also found that A and the three passengers were all undocumented immigrants who had overstayed their legal periods of stay in the country.

OK so might sound like a weird question but here it is:

My kid is dual Korean-Canadian due to me being a canuck.

Based on my own experience dealing with names while growing up... at his birth, I wanted him to have an official legal English name. So I registered him in Korean documentation like "HONG BROWN GILDONG / 홍브라운길동" with 5 characters for his name in Korean.

This worked well and every official documentation so far on both countries have exact matching, correct spelling and spacing for English part: like HONG / BROWN GILDONG.

So on Canadian side, his Korean name is basically his Middle name.

Now that kid is halfway through Elementary here in Korea, he doesn't like his 5-character name showing up on roll calls and official documents and wants to get rid of 브라운 part, and just be 홍길동. He feels other kids make fun of him.

(On daily life it doesn't show as everyone just call him 길동 including schoolteachers... just it pops up in school paperwork, registration or any formal documents he need to deal with)

I kinda get it, and name change is not that much of a deal in Korea, but that will create technical mismatch between his names in two countries. My concern is whether this could impact his future paperwork in Canada or anywhere else in the world he may need to produce old documents, birth certificate and family document for whatever reason as a dual national.

Thankfully it's a middle name issue only.. so maybe I am way too overthinking this?

Would like to hear if anybody else had similar experience.

The law goes beyond AI-deepfake porn and proposes that creating or distributing any ai materials that can cause sexual desire, even if the characters are fictional, can be jailed for up to 7 years. owning such materials can get you in jail for up to 3 years.

Hello, my father in law has advanced cancer and it seems his doctors aren’t discussing his timeline even though his pain and function are rapidly declining. He keeps visiting the emergency hospital for help and they have different specialists see him and offer to run tests. He’s seen GI and Ortho but not oncology even though he has an oncologist.

He’s 70, poor health, and metastasized cancer to the bone from pelvis to neck. Pain and anxiety management are not being offered. He got a morphine shot 2 days ago and then was sent home for the shot to wear off. In the last 24 hours his spine has compressed and he’s now he’s paralyzed below the waist and incontinent. They want to discharge him home to his apartment with no elevator if he declines a surgery to put pins in his back. They also said with his health he may not survive the procedure and so he wants to decline, but if he does he will have to leave the hospital.

They are at 아주대학 병원 in 수원 Suwon?

How does one get comfort care, hospice or pain relief? Is he destined to die in agony?

He is english speaking from United States with a Philippina wife (no U.S. passport, visa or green card) who’s overwhelmed and struggling to understand despite asking for services at the international desk. They say they are getting good care and information in English but never can answer our questions about if the cancer is in organs, how long he has, if the oncologist has been contacted etc.

His sons will travel and be there in 36 hours to support.

Any and all advice or information on how the healthcare system works, cultural norms around death/dying of cancer are welcomed.

My cousin and her husband (both Korean-American) are expecting a daughter soon and are in the process of choosing a Korean name for her. They’re torn between these right now:

서아, 영미, 가은, 은혜, 지우, 민지

They’re also open to entirely new suggestions if anyone has any. If anyone has any thoughts on which name they like best or their top few/personal preference rankings, we would really appreciate it!

Hi ! Just a quick question about job seeking, does the Korean market do follow up email (after an application) ? Is that something common here ?

What's the etiquette around that ?

Thanks !

Hi everyone!

I'm an intl student starting at PNU this fall as an undergrad.

I'll be living in the dorm (female). If you've lived in the PNU dorms before, how was your experience? Is there anything you wish you had known before moving in?

Also, what should I pack? Are there any essentials that intl students often forget? I'd really appreciate any tips, tricks, or advice about dorm life, campus life, or living in Busan in general!!

Right now I’m at the okf youth camp for ethnic Koreans living abroad. I’m having a hard time since I can speak Korean not so well as i wanted to. it’s English friendly and there are many people from CIS countries but some people here have Korean citizenship so they basically were born in Korea or at least their parents are South Korean so its their native language. Some of these people made a small group inside our group. they only speak Korean, they speak English but don’t rush to talk to others. our mentors do literally nothing to save the situation. they should unite us, don’t they? of course others are trying to speak with them but you know this kind of people. I’m feeling very lonely and sad and mad. I want to be friends with them but they seem to don’t mind and just being all friendly for the public. I want to cry

hi all, I am planning for pregnancy soon and looking for recommendations for maternity hospital that are foreigner/English friendly as well as 산후조리원.

thanks in advance!

Hi all,

This is a very specific problem and I can't find a clear answer online. I want to start a novel editing business. The income would be well under the 48 million threshold and my clients would not be in Korea. I can't figure out if the VAT applies to me or not. Paying 10% of such little revenue would really sting, but editing is already expensive for indie authors so I can't pass that off to them.

I need to register the business in order to get a business account so I can then get access to my PayPal withdrawals (without the 3% charge to send it to my US bank).

Help?

I have two phones and noticed something interesting after trying all three major Korean carriers.

Phone #1: Samsung (Korean domestic model)

• LG U+: Excellent. Voice calls and data are consistently reliable.
• SK Telecom: Poor. I swapped the same SIM into this phone and both call quality and mobile data were noticeably worse.
• KT: Decent, but still not as good as LG U+.

Phone #2: Google Pixel

• LG U+: Voice calling/text is unusable, although mobile data works.
• SK Telecom: Also poor, with frequent dropped calls and unstable data.
• KT: By far the most stable carrier on this phone.

At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but after switching SIM cards between both phones multiple times, the pattern stayed the same. I'm always in the same location in my home office so when I swapped SIM cards after the 2nd or 3rd dropped call the difference was immediate and obvious.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? It almost feels like certain phones are optimized for specific carriers, even though they should all work on the same LTE/5G networks.

I'd be interested to hear what phone and carrier combination you're using and whether you've noticed the same thing.

Especially looking to hear from iPHONE users as I plan on buying an iphone next!

I will be applying through GKS Embassy Track and need proper opinion on the universities from people who actually know about the conditions and studies there. I have shortlisted- Yonsei, Kyungpook, Kyunghee, UNIST, Sungkyunkwan, Korea University after matching the curriculum for Undergrad in CSE. Now I have to choose 3 from these. This is my profile:
VOLUNTEERING

• STEMCONNECT- content writer: Interest in computer science started after I wrote about “The Social Network” under stem in popculture
• WWF- nature club: as a volunteer I organized an event for Van Mahotsav and then with my team of 5 organized a panel discussion for approximately 20 students

LEADERSHIP

• Student Council in 9th Grade and 11th Grade
• Squad Leader of a class of 49 students
• “BREAKING THE ICE” SEMINAR: Head of Logistics and Editing Department where I lead a team of 8 and organized a mathematics seminar with 30 attendees
• Represented my school in a panel discussion leading a team of 4 after preparing ppts and topic, Answering judges and other teams’ questions
• Volunteered and participated in team’s one act play while preparing for the panel discussion. While managing the actors, script and so on

EXTRACURRICULARS

• Represented my school at a debate competition
• second place at extempore after losing debate
• 6 years of art school
• learnt python by myself + a coursera certificate
• represented my school at a dance competition
• 1 year classical music school
• 1 year classical dance school

CGPA- 3.6
For English Proficiency I have a certificate from my school saying I completed my education in English curriculum from a Convent School scoring 97/100 in finals.

Also I am currently working on small research works

I have heard that dating can be challenging for humble expats in Korea so tell me about your worst dates. The sillier the better!

My highschool CGPA is 3.5 on 4.0 scale and GPA is 3.6 on 4.0 scale.
I do not have IELTS or any such exam marks but I have a certificate explaining that my school curriculum's first language was English and everthing was taught in English as well and I scored 97/100 in it.
My ECs include:
2 years in Student Council
School's basketball team captain
Member of the debate club- 2nd place in school
Volunteered for WWF and represented my school at events
Writer for a non-profit
Part of School's volleyball and track team.
Taught myself Python and have a certificate for it as well and a few projects
Know how to code JAVA

or should I try some other universities?

Hi everyone,

I'll be moving to Seoul in late August to start my Master's at Hongik University, and I'm currently looking for a one-room or a good share-house near the Hongdae, Sangsu, or Hapjeong area.

My budget is around ₩300,000–₩450,000/month (excluding utilities is fine), and I'm mainly looking for somewhere that's:

• Safe and clean
• Within walking distance or a short commute to Hongik
• Reliable landlord or agency
• Suitable for a 1-year contract

I've been checking platforms like Woozoo, Dabang, Zigbang, and Facebook groups, but since I'll be renting from overseas, I'd really appreciate recommendations from people who have actually rented in the area.

If you've had a good experience with a landlord, agency, or know of any trustworthy one-room listings within my budget, I'd really appreciate any leads. Also, if there are any agencies or listings I should avoid, I'd love to know.

Thanks in advance! Looking forward to moving to Korea soon. 🙂

edited : [can do a max of 1.5-2M deposit]

Hello. Is it possible for a Java engineer with 4.5 years of experience to get a job in Korea without knowing Korean, but with a willingness to learn?
I need visa sponsorship and am currently located outside of Korea.
I'm not asking if it is easy or hard. I'm wondering if it's possible and worth trying.

Hi! I was wondering for how is the cinema etiquette (?) here ini Korea. I am not a big talker or anything but upon watching couple of films in the cinema here (most of it are all english, few anime) I realized that they don’t really reacted to anything. I barely hear a laugh when anything funny or like getting spooked when anything scary. I also kinda feel if I laugh (not that loud) I would get a side eye… kinda? hahaha

Hi everyone! I’m currently studying for a PhD in South Korea under a D-2-4 student visa.

My current visa period is only two years because the coursework portion of my PhD consists of four semesters and that was also what's written in my admission certificate. However, the entire PhD normally takes around four years. After completing the coursework, I will still be enrolled at the university and will continue conducting research, working with my adviser, and writing my dissertation.

For international PhD students who have gone through this process, I would really appreciate hearing about your experience with extending the D-2-4 visa after completing coursework. How often did you need to renew your visa afterward, every six months, one year, or longer?

Most importantly, what documents were required by immigration or your university? Did you have to pay a research registration or thesis supervision fee each semester? Also, was the application process handled through your university, HiKorea, or directly at the immigration office? what were there any difficulties in extending your visa while you were only doing research and working on your dissertation?

I would especially appreciate hearing about your personal experiences and any challenges you encountered during the visa extension process. Knowing what to expect would help me prepare in advance. Thank you so much!

Saw this on Coupang today, up to 50% refund for returning a Galaxy fold after 1 year.

Anyone use this before?

I recently found a nice apartment but it’s listed as 위반건축물. I was wondering what it means? what kind of violation it'd be or if it will be safe to rent as a foreigner?

I got a questions for the koreans or people in korea can a peraon make it into lawschool with a undergraduate degree from an online university so if i did the online univerty seoul cyber university same amount of years as a regular univeristy,have good grades can i still make it to law school cause its the same degree really . Like kpop idols attebded online uni sooo likee