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Gov't refuses to amend 'discriminatory' qualification requirement for foreign teachers

The National Human Rights Commission / Yonhap The education ministry has refused to accept a recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission that it address a potentially discriminatory regulation requiring higher qualifications for foreign teachers at private learning institutions, officials said Tuesday.The human rights watchdog has recommended the ministry amend the Private Teaching Institution Act's enforcement ordinance, as it requires, at the minimum, a four-year university degree from foreigners wanting to teach at cram schools, whereas two-year degrees are required for Koreans.But the ministry did not accept the recommendation, arguing the ordinance is aimed at ensuring quality education services and protecting students by preventing the negative effects of underqualified teaching.In order to accept the dual hiring standard, the ministry must prove the existence of a discrepancy in the quality of education between foreign and domestic universities b

Mar 15, 2022

Gov't refuses to amend 'discriminatory' qualification requirement for foreign teachers

Ukrainians in Korea devastated by war-torn homeland

Kostiantyn Kozoriz, a Ukrainian resident living in Seoul from Uman, central Ukraine, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the newspaper's office, March 8. Korea Times photo by Kim Kang-minBy Lee Hyo-jin It was around midday on Feb. 24, when 23-year-old Kostiantyn Kozoriz, a Ukrainian resident in Seoul, saw on live broadcasts how Kyiv, the capital of his homeland, was being bombarded by Russian forces.Struck with horror, he immediately picked up his phone to call his family living in Uman, central Ukraine.“I told my mother to collect some documents, clothes and money and hide in a safe place. But she didn't realize what was going on at first,” said Kozoriz, who currently works as a research assistant at Korea University. “And then an hour later, my 13-year-old sister called me. She was screaming and crying with terror from the sound of rockets outside the window,” he said. “It was beyond awful.”More than two weeks have passed since then, but things have only become worse. With no end in sight after Russia launched an attack on its neig

Mar 15, 2022By Lee Hyo-jin

Ukrainians in Korea devastated by war-torn homeland

Ukrainian resident of Korea speaks out

Oleksii Omelianovych drinks beer with his mom in Kvasy, Ukraine, in January. / Courtesy of Oleksii OmelianovychBy Arlo MatiszOleksii Omelianovych comes across as very friendly and earnest, managing to convey honest humor even while his home country is under invasion. He seems more like a new friend you've made at your dormitory than the very accomplished researcher he has become, and maybe that's because he became one in so short a time. Leaving his small hometown at just 13 to attend a science high school with its own dormitory in Kyiv, he entered adulthood early, entering Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv three years later. He describes pleasant memories of home, but his early ambition becomes apparent as he explains what brought him to Korea. “There was an opportunity found by my brother (a student at KAIST at the time) to do a summer internship at Chungnam National University, and for me as an ordinary Ukrainian dude, it was an amazing chance to go abroad, especially to Korea,” he says during an interview. “It's half the world apart from Ukraine&helli

Mar 15, 2022

Ukrainians in Korea devastated by war-torn homeland

Afghan children find it hard to adapt to life in Ulsan

Students of Seoboo elementary school in Ulsan head to classes on the first day of spring semester, March. 2. Korea Times photo by Kim Kang-minSchool admission hobbled by Korean parents' protestsBy Lee Hyo-jin ULSAN ― While students of Seoboo elementary school in Ulsan headed to classes on the first day of the spring semester on March 2, 9-year-old Zainab from Afghanistan, who moved to the southeastern port city last month, had to stay at home.She asked her parents when she would be able to join her peers at school, but neither of them gave her a clear answer, which left the girl more puzzled.Her father, Gul Agha (as he prefers to identify himself), could not tell his daughter the truth: due to fierce protests from their Korean neighbors, it remains unclear when Zainab would be able to attend the public school.Zainab is not alone.In fact, she is among 28 Afghan children in Ulsan who could not make it to school on the first day after vacation. They settled in their new homes in early February after their parents found jobs at a subcontractor for shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries bas

Mar 14, 2022By Lee Hyo-jin

Afghan children find it hard to adapt to life in Ulsan

Temple Adventures Daewon Temple and the big blue dragon

A 100-meter-long dragon opens its mouth for visitors to enter at Daewon Temple in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. / Courtesy of Dale Quarrington By Dale QuarringtonDaewon Temple in northern Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, goes a long way to disrupt the naive narrative that all Korean Buddhist temples look the same. Korean Buddhist temples have subtle, and not so subtle, differences. And Daewon Temple isn't subtle about its differences, with a 100-meter-long life-sized blue dragon sidewinding its way down the hillside.Unlike in Western culture, where dragons are thought to be destructive and harmful, Korean dragons are thought to be a sign of good luck. In appearance, Korean dragons have deer antlers, a snake belly, a fish tail, claws and whiskers. Originally, when dragons first came to China and then onto the Korean Peninsula, they were Naga. Naga are half-human and half-cobra semi-divine beings that are potentially dangerous, but they are helpful and benefici

Mar 11, 2022By Jon Dunbar

[Temple Adventures] Daewon Temple and the big blue dragon

Scholar calls for better integration of Korea's Muslims

A 2018 photo of a “musalla,” or Islamic place of worship, in North Gyeongsang Province / Courtesy of Yi Soo-jeongBy Kwak Yeon-sooThe arrival of 500 Yemeni asylum seekers on Jeju Island in 2018 sparked debate over how the country handles refugees, including an online backlash, a petition for the government to take action, and anti-refugee protests on Jeju and in Seoul.Yi Soo-jeong, a senior research fellow at the Sogang Euro-MENA Institute, recalls that this event prompted her to study the mosques serving the Muslim communities of Korea.“It started with a simple question: where exactly and how do Muslims in Korea practice their faith? As I delved deeper into the matter, I grew to understand that there are around 100-150 Islamic religious facilities in Korea, many of them relatively small,” she said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. Yi's new book “Broader Perspective for Strangers” tells a story about her 2018-2019 journey of searching for mosques and Islamic centers in Korea, Muslim communities' experiences of intolerance and discrimin

Mar 9, 2022By Kwak Yeon-soo

Scholar calls for better integration of Korea's Muslims

Phillies' 25th anniversary marks milestone for HBC

David, the first owner of Phillies Pub in Seoul's Haebangchon, is behind the counter at Phillies in 2000. / Courtesy of Lance Reegan-Diehl By Jon DunbarSeoul's Haebangchon (HBC) has been crammed full of restaurants and bars for so long, that it's hard to remember when it wasn't. But as Phillies Pub marks its 25th anniversary this year, memories are bubbling to the surface among long-term community members who can recall a time when this local watering hole stood alone alongside Sinheung-ro. The owners of Phillies are celebrating the milestone, advertising 25th anniversary happy hour drink and snack specials priced at 2,500 won, with plans underway for an anniversary party on April 9. Phillies got its start as a delivery kitchen run out of the home of a U.S. military veteran who wished to be identified only as David. He started off delivering philly cheesesteak sandwiches around the area by moped, and on rainy days he'd put on a wetsuit to make deliveries. “It was a

Mar 8, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Phillies' 25th anniversary marks milestone for HBC

RAS Korea Korea travels with my pre-teen son in 1989

The author and his son at Nakhwa-am overlooking the Geum River in 1989 / Courtesy of Steven L. ShieldsBy Steven L. ShieldsMy son was born in Seoul. We moved to the U.S. when he was a few months old, so his first time to get to know Korea firsthand was the summer of his 11th birthday, in 1989. (We deliberately avoided the crowds of the 1988 Olympics). He was young enough to travel at a discount but old enough to understand and appreciate the experience. By then, he was a seasoned traveler; I'd dragged him through England, across Europe, and South Africa two years earlier.In Korea, we roamed around the essential sites in Seoul. No visit to Korea is complete without seeing a couple of palaces. We rode the cable car up Mount Nam, went up in the tower and took in the still-magnificent 360-degree vista. Namdaemun Market was an eye-opener for my son since there were many things he had never seen before.I planned a circular route for our down-country trip. Our first stop was Gongju. We wandered through the old national museum and visited King Muryeong's tomb. The tomb site was somewhat dista

Mar 1, 2022By Jon Dunbar

[RAS Korea] Korea travels with my pre-teen son in 1989

Artist presents puzzles for Korea-based audience

Kevin Nickolai / Courtesy of Kevin NickolaiBy Jon DunbarFor Kevin Nickolai, puzzles are one of the basic needs of life. “Solving puzzles is my oxygen,” he told The Korea Times. “I have happy little fireworks shoot off in my brain when I complete them. I'm a gamer through and through. And I'm always on the hunt for new fun games to play. I think we all are.” But he doesn't stop there: he also likes making puzzles of various kinds. “I have a lot more fun making puzzles because I'm just solving it in reverse with my own creative twists,” he said. “After a particularly satisfying puzzle design I don't hear the fireworks shoot off, but I do hear a voice say, 'You rascally devil!' I love that voice.”He started out at age 9 back in Saint Louis, Missouri, by making mazes, eventually contributing his mazes to his high school newspaper. “But puzzling really kicked up one day when I was staring at the Periodic Table and I was trying to make an anagram out of different elements,” he said. “I started barraging my coworkers with the

Mar 1, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Artist presents puzzles for Korea-based audience

Stand-up comedians throw farewell show

Ricky O.I., left, and Rowan Crabtree / Courtesy of Park Bo-youngBy Brad CurtinThe COVID-19 pandemic has presented difficulties for a lot of people. For stand-up comedian Rowan Crabtree and musical comedy artist Ricky O.I., it has been no different. Both have been teaching English in Korea for a number of years, while working hard on the side to develop their careers in what they love most: comedy. Now, with the pandemic hopefully in its closing stages, both are looking to go home to their home countries to further their comedy careers. But before they go, they'll pay tribute to Korea by hosting two nights of comedy this Friday and Saturday at the Funtastic Theater.Ricky, now a certified artist on Spotify, traces his musical aspirations back to high school in the U.S. when he began playing in a rock band called Brand Name Punk, performing at hundreds of shows, festivals and battle of the bands all across south Florida. However, the roots of his musical comedy style come from elsewhere. “I was really inspired by memorizing lyrics and jamming to comedy music from the likes of Adam

Mar 1, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Global Community

Global Community

Gov't refuses to amend 'discriminatory' qualification requirement for foreign teachers

Ukrainians in Korea devastated by war-torn homeland

Ukrainian resident of Korea speaks out

Afghan children find it hard to adapt to life in Ulsan

Temple Adventures Daewon Temple and the big blue dragon

Scholar calls for better integration of Korea's Muslims

Phillies' 25th anniversary marks milestone for HBC

RAS Korea Korea travels with my pre-teen son in 1989

Artist presents puzzles for Korea-based audience

Stand-up comedians throw farewell show

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