Korean Embassy in Britain Deters Prospective Visitors
By Kim Tae-gyu
Korea Times Correspondent
OXFORD, Britain _ A professional computer programmer in Britain wanted to study overseas. After learning that South Korea is one of the world's IT leaders, he checked the Web site of the country's embassy in London (www.koreanembassy.org.uk/engsub4_2.html).
He could easily find the merits of studying in Korea but what he saw on the Web site was distinctly unattractive. Rather, the Web site provided him with reasons not to go to Korea.
``Especially in IT and mobile communication, Korea ranks first in the world. More than 2,000 households have high-speed Internet access in their homes,'' the site reads.
``Recently, the accomplishments in bioengineering by Hwang Woo-seok and the Seoul National University research team have drawn the world's attention and admiration,'' it continues.
In fact, more than 14 million of Korea's overall 15.5 million households are hooked up to the high-speed Internet for the world's top penetration rate.
Furthermore, Hwang Woo-suk (not Woo-seok) is no longer a source of pride for Korea after he became a scientific pariah due to a scandal involving fake cloned stem cells.
In 2005, Hwang basked in the global limelight by claiming to have cloned patient-specific stem cells, then much-hailed breakthroughs that are of great medical significance.
But the exploits proved to be purported ones in 2006; Hwang had never cloned patient-specific stem cells. He is now standing trial on charges of fraud and embezzlement because of the scandal.
``Who would want to study at a country with merely thousands of broadband Internet connections nationwide? In addition, it boasts of a con artist as its national icon,'' asked a 20-something British PC programmer who declined to be named.
Last week, The Korea Times sent e-mails twice to Cho Yoon-je, the Korean ambassador to London, regarding the mistakes on the Web site but he has yet to answer them. So far, Ambassador Cho and his staff have not corrected the errors.
The erroneous and outdated information seems to be a carbon copy of an Internet site run by the National Institute for International Education Development (NIIED).
At its Internet site (www.studyinkorea.go.kr/english/), the NIIED features data identical to that of the Korean embassy in London regarding the number of household Internet connections and Hwang.
Affiliated with the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, the NIIED aims to educate Koreans abroad to strengthen their sense of Korean identity.