Korean Age

A day or so ago one of my co-teachers asked my age, but specifically, my Korean Age (Eastern Age). Without thinking twice I replied "Thirty Two" but after a few seconds and a glance from my other co-teacher I realised that we were in a new year and therefore I had to add one year to my age. For the rest of this coming year I will be Thirty Three years old.

“How can this be?” you might ask in amazement. “Surely that's two years to many.” Fear not for I will explain Eastern Age. When you're born you are One year old. No questions asked. It’s just the way it is. Every New Year’s Day you gain one year. Isn’t that easy?

I was born in July 1976. On the day of my birth I was One year old. On the first of January 1977 I turned Two and in 1978 I turned Three. Thirty years on and I turned, you guessed it, Thirty Three.

Normal birthdays as well as a 100th day for a baby are celebrates as per norm. New Year is just used for the expression of functional age.

There you have it. Not only have I hit the big Three Zero already, but I'm way in there already, according to Eastern count.

This system is completely contrary to Western women’s notion that somehow your age should be as low as possible, even if you have to lie about it. I would like to take this opportunity to state that this habit of many women rate a 9/10 on my stupidity scale. If your old AND beautiful ,then shout it out. If your supposedly younger and don't look it, then you need to worry.

Number of Native English Teachers Doubled

The number of native English speaking teachers has almost doubled over a year. According to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, Tuesday, 3,808 foreign nationals were teaching at elementary and secondary schools across the country as of September, 2007. It marks a nearly double-fold gain from 1,909 in 2006.

Among them, about 1,700 are teachers at elementary schools, some 1,400 at middle schools, and about 650 at high schools.

The ministry wants to hold steady the total number of foreign teachers at schools for the time being. But it will increase the number at middle schools up to 1,850 by the end of the year, further to 2,400 by 2009 and to 2,900 by 2010.

Regional schools had fewer foreign teachers than those in Seoul areas. More than half of schools in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province have secured foreign teachers, while less than 20 percent of schools in North Chungcheong Province and North Gyeongsang Province have them.

US Teachers Biggest Group

By nationalities, teachers from the United States formed the biggest group with 1,602, or 42 percent of the total. Canada came second with 1,150, followed by the United Kingdom with 336, New Zealand with 218, Australia with 207 and South Africa with 166.

In 2006, Canadians formed the biggest group with 737, Americans came next with 684, followed by New Zealand with 140, Australia with 133 and U.K. with 131.

According to the Ministry of Justice, E-2 visas have been issued to 7,022 Americans, 5,319 Canadians, 1,688 British, 683 Australians and 734 New Zealanders.

The statistics show that almost 30 percent of E-2 visa holders from Australia and New Zealand taught at schools while about 23 percent of those in the same category from the United States and Canada did so. The rest are worked at private language schools or other institutes.

"We have not analyzed the trend yet but we assume that teachers from Australia and New Zealand prefer to work at schools rather than private language institutes," ministry official Kim Han-joo said.

Native English speakers who have bachelor degrees can get E-2 visas and education offices in cities and provinces or schools hire them.

By Kang Shin-who
Korea Times Staff Reporter

*This article was copied from the Korea Times website. I copy it in order to add my own formatting and also because it's happened before that I linked to the site only to find that the page moved or removed. For the original page, try this link

Fire Tragedy

Lack of Safety Measures Blamed for Loss of 40 Lives

It is a tragedy that 40 workers were killed and 10 others injured in a fire inside a refrigerated warehouse under construction in Icheon, 80 km southeast of Seoul, Monday. Undoubtedly, it is a typical example of accidents that could be prevented if proper safety measures were taken. We express our sincere condolences for the deceased. Our hearts also go out to the bereaved family members and the survivors of the accident.

Regrettably, most of the victims were day laborers who lived from hand to mouth. What's more heart-wrenching is that 13 of the dead were ethnic Koreans from China who came here to find better-paying jobs. It is deplorable that the deadly fire shattered their Korean dream.

The tragic blaze took place one month after the nation's worst oil spill hit the pristine seas off Taean on Dec. 7. The Hong Kong-based Hebei Spirit oil tanker released about 10,000 tons of crude oil into the waters after a drifting barge crashed into it. The collision might have been avoided if the two vessels and the local maritime office took appropriate steps in advance.

Negligence of safety measures is apparently blamed not only for the oil spill but also for the warehouse fire. The two accidents show how sailors, workers, companies, and the authorities have ignored safety regulations. Many innocent people, including women and children, have fallen prey to poor safety measures over the past decades. Such ill-fated accidents included deaths from rides at amusement parks, fires at nightclubs, karaoke bars and even summer camps for children, and the collapse of buildings and bridges.

Survivors of the 1994 collapse of the Seongsu Bridge over the Han River can never forget the accident. Thirty-two were killed and 17 others injured. A much worse tragedy occurred in 1995 when the Sampoong Department Store in southern Seoul disintegrated suddenly, killing 502 people. Whenever such accidents took place, the government and related agencies vowed to enforce stricter measures to avoid a recurrence.

However, it is quite regrettable that the nation has failed to learn a valuable lesson from the previous cases. The government and regulators have come under attack for lacking the will to strictly enforce safety regulations. Corrupt ties between bureaucrats, construction firms and other business operators are also cited as one of reasons for repeated accidents.

Going back to Monday's blaze, the warehouse owner and contractor reportedly failed to properly install fire prevention equipment and ignored safety regulations. Firefighters presumed that inflammable vapor from the basement's engine room caught fire, setting off three consecutive explosions. It is as if we hear the screams of the victims when looking at the video clips of the gutted warehouse. We hope no such accident will take happen again.

*This article was copied from the Korea Times website. I copy it in order to add my own formatting and also because it's happened before that I linked to the site only to find that the page moved or removed. For the original page, try this link