A group of expats is working on an ambitious project to develop a pilgrimage emulating Spain’s El Camino de Santiago.

The group hopes to establish a trail that follows the route used by the renowned Korean monk Wonhyo (617-686), who in the 7th century set off on a journey that ultimately led to his enlightenment.

The walk is part of a larger project, already six years in the making, called Footsteps of Wonhyo.

Last month, the group completed its first exploratory walk along the route, traveling more than 500 kilometers (310.7 miles) from Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, to Dangjin, South Chungcheong.

“In a way, it is a historic event because it’s never been done before – not once in 1,300 years,” Tony MacGregor, a 66-year-old Canadian who initiated and is leading the project, said in reference to the walk he and friends took from Dec. 4 to 18.

MacGregor said the first walk was useful in helping the group find paths that could potentially be developed into a walking trail.

The first walk will be documented in a book, he said, adding that they hope to do another exploratory walk this year to further map out the route.

“It is an important event, in terms of attracting people to Korea for cultural and spiritual reasons,” MacGregor said. “By following in the footsteps of a teacher who reached the ultimate level of self-understanding, participants will have a great opportunity for their own self-discovery.”   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, to include learning who Wonhyo is.

Contract position.

Must speak English at a native level. Intermediate Korean language level is preferred.

The Global U-Tourism Team of the Korea Tourism Organization has been stepping up online marketing activities and is looking for a new member to provide assistance. The successful candidate will be involved in editing and writing content for the English version of VisitKorea.or.kr. There will be various opportunities to visit Korea’s tourist destinations throughout the term of the contract.

Past editing experience, an outgoing, positive attitude and cultural sensitivity are a must. Demonstrated interest in Korea and basic understanding in tourism are highly preferred. Selected applicants will be required to demonstrate their editing skills on an editing test and successfully pass an interview in order to qualify for the position.

1. Job Description
- Editing Korea travel and news articles for Visitkorea.or.kr website (English).
- Helping to operate and plan content for the English site of Visitkorea.or.kr, and promote the site through various forms of internet marketing.
- Draft and review presentations, letter, speeches, brochures, etc.
- Replying to queries from travelers
- Occasionally writing travel articles for the website
- Managing KTO’s Social Networking Service page(Twitter, Facebook)
- Conduct market research provide updates/reports

2. Contract Conditions
- After a successful trial period of 4 weeks the candidate will be hired on a full time basis. During that period, the pay will be 15,000 won per hour.
- Full time in-house position
- One year contract: full time working hours: 5 days a week, 8 hours a day / 12 days of paid vacation
- The KTO will provide a working visa and medical insurance (available 1 month after contract begins due to government processing times). Please note: Housing cannot be provided.
- Employment will be at the main office of the KTO in Jung-gu, Seoul.
- Salary: Between 2,200,000 KRwon to 2,400,000 KRwon monthly (The payment will be adjusted depending on the applicant’s work experience)

3. Requirements 
- Must be able to read/write speak English at the level of a native speaker. (Nationality does not matter.) – Must possess a bachelor’s degree or higher.
- Intermediate Korean language level is preferred. (Specially in reading comprehension skill)

4. How to Apply: Online Application, click here!

5. Deadline: November 9, 2011 (Korean local time)

6. Inquiries: english@knto.or.kr

The Marmot’s Hole has more details about what happened, but the foreigner is an American English teacher and the bus driver pulled over at a police station to have him arrested.  Apparently a passenger told him to quiet down because he was talking too loudly and he confused “니가 여기 앉아” as a term containing the N-word due to “니가”.

I have been reading the book Unchon-ni which interestingly even back in the 1960′s black soldiers were confusing “니가” with the N-word.  So this isn’t something that is new, but regardless hopefully this person is arrested for assault and forced to make appropriate compensation for this ruckus because despite the misunderstanding his behavior is completely inappropriate.

“There is a long-term plan to reduce the number of foreign English teachers,” said Shin Jong-cheol, a member of the GPC. “In the past when English was difficult to learn, the role of foreign teachers was important. However, now students can interact with foreign teachers overseas through video, so their role here has significantly decreased.”

Dear GEPIK Teachers,

Many of you may have read the recently published news article stating that GEPIK has had their budget cut by the Gyeonggi Provincial Council and that some contracts may be terminated before their term ends. We wanted to address and clarify some of these issues:

Firstly, the news article stated that some contracts will be terminated before their full term ends and that those with current contracts may not be able to receive their salaries starting next month. There will be no early contract terminations unless you break Article 11-1 of your contract. Your schools will honor your full 365-day contract, which means your salaries, airfare reimbursements; severance pay, etc. will be paid to you as stated within your contracts.

Contrary to the news article, your salaries will still be
paid until the end of your contracts.

Secondly, due to the recent budget cuts, schools will not renew or sign new contracts starting from the month of October 2011 (1st of October).

Hiring teachers will resume next year once the budget has become more secure and stable. Once everything is set in place, schools will begin hiring on March 1st
.
Lastly, we want you to know that this sudden budget cut was a decision made by the Gyeonggi Provincial Council.

GEPIK was not aware of this unexpected decision, and GPOE is now working to resolve this issue.  We hope this clears up any confusion that has been made due to recent news in the media. As always, thank- you for your support

Who are you going to believe:  The GPOE official contacted by the Korea Times soon after they found out Gyeonggi had canned the entire foreign teacher budget – or – the official with a reason to distort or lie to calm things down?

To recap, this is what the official contacted immediately after the vote to defund the total foreign teacher budget had to say:

“The situation is ridiculous. It’s not even a half reduction or one-third reduction, but a total reduction. We feel very uncomfortable with the decision right now,” said an official from the office. “The budget should not have been taken away. If we don’t receive this, we’re not even getting what we should be getting. This has never happened before.”

However, the remaining 623 teachers whose contracts are just underway are the ones facing immediate trouble because they may not be able to receive their salaries starting next month.

“We’ll try to pay them as much as we can even if we have to use our own budget allocated for schools. We may be able to pay them for at least four to five months, but again, this is not finalized. We will try not to let go the 623 remaining teachers if possible,” the official said.

It’s a coin toss…

Do these schools and the province plan far enough in advance that they have the money on standby to finish out the contracts of teachers already working?  Do they have the authority and power to pull enough money out of other areas to feel so safe that they will be able to cover everybody until the last NSET finishes up?

Coin toss…

I think they are scrambling since Gyeonggi dropped the bomb on them and they really don’t know how this is going to play out over the next 7 months, and I guarantee they have no clear idea what is going to happen next year (which is also an election year)…

I hope those in the schools get to finish out their contracts.  Maybe they will.

But, the politicians in Gyeonggi just sent a message to all foreign teachers in the public schools:  Get ready to leave…

I’ll be interested to see if there is any political fall out from this.  Will there be an uproar from parents who are tired of hakwon fees or not?

Budgets for education are being slashed around the world.  It is not surprising there would be a downsizing of expensive foreign instructors, but to completely kill the budget for the biggest province in Korea?

Hmmm…

If Gyeonggi felt this secure to completely defund its program, does that mean other provinces and Seoul are likely to follow suit?

Hmmm…

Bottomline if you are a NSET:  Save up…

Here is the Facebook site set up by his friends to promote the fundraiser.  The link also has donation info for those interested in assisting Mike with his medical bills.  I wish all the best to Mike and hope for a speedy recovery.

However, I think Chris In South Korea has a better list of rules to follow.   I especially agree with the rule of not acting like a fool on the subway.  This rule should probably be expanded to not acting like a fool anywhere in a public area in Korea.

A police crackdown that ended early this month led to the arrest of 1,249 foreigners and 79 indictments. Most cases involved extortion and violence. And the foreign gangs are seeking to join hands with organized Korean crime. It is only a matter of time before they expand their reach into Korean society. The country needs to think twice about welcoming foreigners without proper screening. There has to be a system of background checks and records of visitors. Without it, Korea could be headed toward a dangerous future.  [Chosun Ilbo]

Like Robert Koehler, I do love the above graphic that the Chosun Ilbo included with the article.  Do these guys look like any of you ROK Heads out there?

Han Jeong-hyeon, a Korean college student studying abroad in Canada, witnessed an unpleasant scene on the Seoul subway Saturday evening. And he (or she — can’t tell from the name) told OhMyNews all about it. (HT to reader)

At around 6:30pm, he was on the Jungang Line heading from Oksu Station to Wangsimni Station with a student he was tutoring to see a movie. He heard a racket, and when he approached the source, he saw seven or eight foreigners gathered together singing boisterously. Three or four of them were sitting on the car floor like it was their living room, drinking and playing cards. There bags and stuff were on their seats. It was an evening train, so there were lots of other passengers around.  [Marmot's Hole]

You can read the rest of this sorry tale at the link.

First of all the behavior of these foreigners on the subway is totally inappropriate.  I’m sure many people who have rode the Seoul subway have seen Koreans doing stupid stuff as well, but I have never seen a group of Koreans doing something as inappropriate as this.  With that said, is this something that the KORAIL emergency number should be called for?  This isn’t an emergency and I am not surprised the Korean guy was blown off by the operator.  This group are a bunch of buffoons, but not a threat to people’s safety.  I have seen soldiers act inappropriate on the subway before and I have found that by calmly telling people to tone it down the vast majority of the time people will tone it down.

Anyway just to show that Korean netizens are equal opportunity criticizers of subway behavior does everyone remember the Korean gay subway oral sex video?

The Association for F-Class Expatriates within Korea (AFEK) has opened up its doors to all expats in Korea. The association, founded in May 2009, has grown exponentially since its inception, and now prides itself on being the largest expat support network in Korea.

With this expansion, the best components of AFEK will now be accessible to all expats living in Korea. These components include the AFEK library of over 400 documents available for download, and a directory of weblinks. Not only will all visa types be able to easily access these resources, but will be able to add to the resources already available. While the original forums will remain restricted to resident visa holders, AFEK members look forward to the growth of the new open forums, where all expats can interact, exchange experiences and grow as a community.

AFEK is a recognised entity in the Republic of Korea, and is able to legally raise funds. In addition, the legal status of the organisation has allowed them to begin formal partnership negotiations with government agencies in Korea, with the hope of providing additional (free) benefits to members.

Mike Yates, webmaster at AFEK, hopes that lifting the restrictions on who can join will allow AFEK to help more people living and working in Korea. “For a long time, I have hoped that AFEK would become more ‘inclusive’ without exposing information that could breach confidentiality. Many of our members have shared a lot of confidential information on the site, and whilst this is great for community building, it made opening the site up much harder.”

“It took a few months to develop the site in such a way that privacy was 100% guaranteed. Now the core members have their information secured, and are able to choose how much they want to share with other members,” said Yates.

In response to criticism that this only serves to highlight the elitist nature of AFEK, he had this to say:

“Allowing people to join the association regardless of visa type has never been about bringing other visa types into our existing community. Instead, it is about allowing a different community to develop based on the existing AFEK framework, and we hope this will be one which has a lot of overlap.”

Since its foundation, AFEK has grown to almost 600 verified members, and remains committed to the original idea of building a community free of politics. AFEK is not an association for advocacy of any kind, and instead remains an association of expats helping expats in a manner that avoids controversy.

Contact AFEK at www.afek.info or Mike Yates (Site Admin) mike@afek.info