Internet Real Name System

     Online privacy and freedom of speech are still controversial. I don’t agree with internet real name service. People who agree with it assert that real name system helps to create a sound online environment. It means that people are reluctant to post malicious comments on websites. I think internet bullying problems could be prevented by applying a system which censors or filters some bad words when people write a comment on a website.

     One serious problem that internet real name system causes is data spill, leaking personal information. This problem has already happened several times. Korean tends not to take data spill serious, but it is a really serious thing. I think the Korean internet environment is quiet unique. We are required to provide excessive personal information when we join a website. Some people think there’s nothing wrong because they get used to it for a long time. However, as websites have personal information, it is more likely to be target by hackers. The result is what we’ve seen so far, Nonghyup and Nate problems.

     Furthermore, internet real name system infringes freedom of speech and freedom of expression. One major characteristic of the internet is anonymity. Compared to other countries like Libya, China, or North Korea, South Korea is really safe and don’t have many serious social problems. So Korean don’t realize the importance of internet anonymity. But in many countries, internet is playing important role to practicing social justice. And to do this, anonymity is really important to protect people.

     So, I think accept some run by government or banks, websites shouldn’t apply internet real name system.

Social Commerce

I’m an everyday user of social commerce. I like it because I can buy a ticket of a wide range of products or services from cosmetics to restaurants at an inexpensive price. However, social commerce makes me have a personal problem. Social commerce is also a kind of shopping, so it is addictive. I check and visit social commerce site every day to see which new deals come out. And they send me a daily email catalogue and keep me informed. Therefore, it is problem that if there are some good deals which I’ve wanted to have or been interested in, I buy a ticket on impulse although I really don’t need to have that now, which is definitely unplanned shopping. On the surface, it seems that I save money, but actually I overspend, and plus, I’ll even spend money in the future because sometimes I should pay extra money when I use a ticket.

Social commerce has both of advantage and disadvantage, and I see that it depends a lot on a type of the products or services or who a ticket seller is. People could buy things at a discounted price, but on the other hand, sometimes that discounted price turns out not to have any merits. In addition, some restaurants offer great services and a great food, but some don’t. I’ve heard many complaints about this problem. Of course, social commerce should pay more attention when they make partners and provide a good deal to consumers. But at the same time, consumers also should make a good choice and spend money wisely for themselves.

We can see this ‘social commerce trend’ from the viewpoint of corporations, sellers. For sellers, social commerce is a marketing strategy. They want to build consumer awareness about their products, but is it really working? When I use my ticket, sometimes a seller whines that it is a losing business. And they are not sure that there are potential buyers who make a purchase in the future. It’s because a seller provides really good products or services, consumers wait a better, cheaper deal coming out. In other words, similar products and services keep coming out on social commerce, so consumers don’t need to buy things at the normal price. There are already gloomy pictures of social commerce. I really wonder how long this trend goes and how it is going to be developed in the future.

Marihuana

     In the presentation, Marijuana is better than cigarette at all aspects. Presenters said Marijuana doesn’t damage people’s health and doesn’t lead people to death. However, in many countries, Marijuana is classified as a drug and I think there must be reasons for it. So, I searched internet myself and found some problems of Marijuana easily.

     As far as I learned from the internet, Marihuana should be banned for several reasons. One criterion for classifying whether something is drug or not, is that it is a habit-forming or anaclitic. A habit-forming is psychiatric problem and anaclitic is about our withdrawal symptoms. Cigarette is a habit-forming, so it is not a drug. One of typical drug is delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol(THC), and Marijuana contains it. Although a person takes a really small amount of it, it causes hallucination. Presenters said Marihuana has no hallucination, I think it’s wrong information. It causes serious effects on brain. And there are so many kinds of Marihuana so that it’s hard for me to tell one by one and get right information.

     Marihuana causes memory loss, hallucination, depression, and committing suicide. In addition, I think people who take Marihuana once will want to take a harder one as time goes by. Marihuana definitely has harmful effects on our body. And if it is legal, it will cause many serious social problems. For example, smoking isn’t allowed for teenagers under 19, but so many young students smoke. If Marihuana becomes legal, young students want to try it. So, I think Marihuana should be banned in Korea.

The wedding custom in Korea

Everyone dream a fairy-tale wedding. As the old saying goes, marriage is definitely a major life event. I think although modern people put their work and success before marriage, once they make up their mind to get married, they turn to be really serious and thoughtful in this matter. I don’t know that is the reason, but for some reasons, wedding custom in Korea has been twisted in the wrong way. A few days ago, I saw news saying that almost couples in the middle class get a loan(big big money) to prepare their marriage. (A house, wedding ceremony, etc) Unhappy marriage starts here. After finishing wedding ceremony, a married couple struggle for paying money back to the bank, and unfortunately a loan rate goes up and their life become worse because they can’t save money at all. A woman in news said she and her husband can’t imagine having a baby and they can’t afford to handle childcare expenses. What causes this problem?

It is really complicated to explain with only one reason and it goes with many social issues together. I just want to mention one of my thought. Presenters said an average age of people getting married has gone up. I believe one reason is the high expectations about a marriage and to meet that expectation, both men and women have to work and save money for a long time. The thing is even though people really try to save money for ten years, it is impossible to buy a house in Seoul. Some women expect that their future husband have an apartment in Seoul, not a lease and not a small one. And, the closer it is to Kangnam-gu, the better. In Korea, usually a man prepares a house to live, so I’m so sorry to them. Then, are women happy? No, they also should have a lot of money for home furnishings and wedding presents to the bridegroom’s family, which cost almost 1,500 to 3,000 dollars. Are these things really needed for their happy marriage?

Of course, it would be good to have a fabulous wedding ceremony and prepare a luxurious house and home furnishing for the rich or some people who have enough money to meet their expectation. But, in reality, in most of case, it is impossible and there is a big gap between reality and ideals. I take an extreme case, but I didn’t mean that whole Korean wedding custom is wrong and a couple should start a marriage without getting a loan. I just meant that do not cross the line, and I thought it is pity that people follow the same steps just because others do and just because they don’t want to lose their face. I think it is wise to rid oneself of greed and deeply think what are really needed for one’s happy and successful marriage because a marriage is a really big event in life.     

English Enducation

     The matter of English education is a never ending story here in Korea. Our society’s made English so important. And although some people are against English education system, in reality, not many people are brave enough to let their children no to learn English.

     I’m going to write about a question covered in class during the presentation. It’s hard to deny the effectiveness of learning English in one’s early childhood. And I’ve seen so many babies and kids who speak English very fluently by learning English in an English kindergarten. They never seem to be embarrassed and get nervous when they talk in English. However, is it only because they learn English in their early childhood? Although that’s an important factor, I don’t think so. I think no matter how old we are and no matter we start learning English in our 20s, 30s, or over 40s.  we could master English enough if we really want and enjoy learning it. Definitely, if we learn English in our childhood, our English pronunciation is like an English native. But as a global language, pronunciation is not an important factor when determining how well someone speaks it.

     In addition, most of the parents many think their job is just to let their children be with an English native and may think that is the best way to teach their children English. However, for some kids, it doesn’t seem to work. I also saw some kids under 7 years old who learned English from an English native teacher. But some of them were confused and felt nervous and insecure about learning and speaking English. They didn’t enjoy learning it at all. Then, how can we say early education is effective to all children? Parents should consider that their kids really want to learn in addition to their kids’ personality, ability, and aptitude.

     Many people live happily and succeed in their career without English proficiency. Some people may think English is a golden ticket to success, but it’s just one option. So I hope people find their own option and don’t waste their time in doing something that is not useful for them.  

Student's Human Right.

     Student’s human right has been issue for a long time especially in the matters of freedom of students’ hair and clothing. When I was a high school student, I also had a kind of resistance to the rule itself. But now, as a grown up, I just don’t get it what is good and bad. In some school. Students have already had the freedom of hair and it is easy to find students with long, wavy, and dyed hair in school uniform. Not even their hair, mid and high students wear heavier make up than university students, so it’s hard to tell who is a student. In this situation, I think this students’ freedom turn out to something which threaten the security of them. Appropriate appearance and behavior as a student could let others perceive that she or he is a student and they should be protected by adults and society.

     Also, I think the biggest problem here is the matter of banning punishment. After prohibiting punishment, some side effects’ raised up. Now, students started punishing teachers. Students misunderstood this law and thought they get a right to disobey teacher. Students’ human right is guaranteed, but how about teacher’s human right? I know there have been unqualified teachers who cross the line and not all teachers deserve to be respected. Anyway, the first role of school and teacher is to teach students what is good and wrong in our lives rather than to protect them. Protecting students is parents’ job, I think. And teaching involves appropriate punishment. Without this, teachers may have limits to control their students. So, before prohibiting punishment, I think we should reconsider about what is the right level of punishment and prepare a sort of system which teachers are controlled and learn the right level of punishment from. I heard from one of my table members that there is a special teacher who is only in charge of punishment at a school in America. I think it can be a possible solution in Korea too. Anyway, I hope a school become a happy place for both of students and teachers.

Minimum Wage System

     Anything related to money is always sensitive. After listening the presentation, I thought minimum wage issue is also applied to us(university students) because minimum wage system is usually applied to young and poor people who don't have certain skills. Many university students on the minimum wage do part-time jobs during school vacations. But although they work for 8 hours a day, they get around 900,000 won a month. But they should take some money for transportation fee and lunch money from it, they couldn't do anything with it. It is ridiculous to save money for tuition or travel. Not only for students, minimum wage is really serious for the poor. Minimum wage system is for workers, but workers can't even have BigMac with minimum wage. I feel it is a bit unfair because Japanese and Australian get almost eight or ten dollars per hour for their work and BigMac in Japan and Aus still cost six dollars!

     I heard that the management said that if the minimum wage goes up, products price also goes up. But it is also possible that the more money people earn, the more money they will spend. And the problem is that the rate of increase in the minimum wage never keep up with inflation rate in Korea.

 

     The minimum wage in 2012 is 4580 won. But some people are insisting that it should be negated. I hope it'll be settled well for both.

The Jeju naval base project

     When I prepared the Jeju naval base presentation, I understood it is complicated problem which is up a tree. I think both of government's position and Kangjung residents' position are understandable and reasonable. We can't give up both of national security and our environment. Even so, we should settle this problem for everyone.

 

     Reasons claimed by government for the Jeju naval base are realistic. At present, The South Korean navy doesn't have an appropriate naval station for accommodating all task forces. In addition, Korea has been constantly threatened by foreign counties, especially North Korea while so many people think we are in peace. Anyway it is true that the one who keep Korea safe is Korea. Korea need to be strong for its security. Not only for improving our military forces, constructing the Jeju naval base is still reasonable for national interests. Also everyone knows preserving our environment is really important matter especially these days. But we can't deny that without having our own land, Korea, we don't have its nature.

 

     At the same time, Kangjung residents is working hard to protect their village. Protecting environment is the matter for them because it's directly related to their living. Also the progress in inviting the naval base to Kangjung was not clear. Government should allay suspicions to have the legitimacy of constructing the base.

 

     Also, I want to mention the online poll conducted by Jejusori in last August, The question was 'what is the best solution for building the Jeju base' and almost 30,000 people voted. The result was that 75% of public thought that the Jeju base should be constructed without delaying. And 24% of them thought this project should be canceled. If this poll is not fabricated. although all Korean didn't participated in the survey, I wonder it is okay to ignore the major opinion. I think we need to consider about this.

 

     Actually I couldn't deal with everything about the base at the presentation because some sensitive matters like EEZ(exclusive economic zone), china, US and Ieodo etc. So, if possible, it would be good to look it up on the internet by yourself. At last, Jeju island is not for only Jeju residents. It is for all Korean. so I hope you are concerned about this matter.

Tear Down Houses Where Government Owns

Few months ago, I had a flick through the channels and I came across Guryong village issue just for a second. The scene I saw was a kind of black-and-white photo of Guryong village. In the photo, there were luxurious apartment buildings and shanty houses stood behind them on the brink of collapse. But I didn’t have any other thoughts about it before I got the information from the presentation.

The photo I saw on the TV and Guryong village presentation made me feel pity for Guyrong village residents at first. But on the objective view, we shouldn’t solve this problem with sympathy just because village residents are poor and pitiful. In the world, there are countless people who are in extreme poverty but still keep on the right side of the law.

I’d like to talk about questions which we discussed during the presentation. For the matter of redevelopment of the cities and some caused sacrifices, I’m positive about redevelopment. Also I’ll say we can’t deny that some sacrifices are necessary for the public good. Conflicts exist everywhere because no matter what problem it is, people have their own interests and they consider only their benefit. So government can’t satisfy everyone all the time and the public good is the top priority for government. The thing is that government should try to minimize sacrifices and prepare appropriate and realizable solutions. I read several articles about Guryong village and found out some residents have money and land. But they insist their right about illegal house because they know that they could get any kind of compensation from government in the near future. We can’t give a sympathy vote for them.

           About the last question; possible solution for this problem, I think, thorough research should be conducted in property and income of villagers first. And then offer rented apartment or shelters. I know government and cities have many policies to offer house for lower-income group. So I hope government and villagers reach the best possible middle ground in the near future.