TOEFL Scores No Longer Decisive in College Entrance

TOEFL, TOEIC and other English test scores will not be used as major elements in the process of admitting students to universities under the admissions officer system announced by the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE) yesterday.
I think this is a good news since Koreans have been spending a lot on these English proficiency exams.

"The steps are in line with the government's move to reduce private tutoring costs and reinvigorate the public school system"

To that extent, each university will give more weight to academic records from high schools and recommendations from teachers as well as leadership activities.

The university presidents, through the KCUE, pledged to introduce a "Korean-style" admissions officer system. The Lee Myung-bak administration believes that this system will reduce soaring private education costs burdening many parents. It has expanded government subsidies to universities hiring admissions officers to 35 billion won ($31 million) this year from 23.6 billion won in 2009 and 15.7 billion won in 2008.

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TOEFL Scores No Longer Decisive in College Entrance

by Kang Shin-who (kswho@koreatimes.co.kr)

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/04/117_63827.html

Cram Schools vs the Korean Government

As part of Korean government's project to cut the "extra" spending on education among Korean families, many private cram schools were affected and will be affected.

Of the 28,000 private education institutes for primary and secondary school students, registered this year, a recent survey has found that 2,600 hagwon or 9.3 percent have closed. Nearly half of these were located in the affluent Gangnam area in southeastern Seoul. Gangnam is the hub of private cram schools in Seoul. Most of my friends went there when they were high schools, most of them are still going there for English and most of them also go there to teach part-time.

The project started last year.

"First, each city and provincial education office last year started to crack down on hagwon that ran beyond designated hours and overcharged parents. In addition, the authorities introduced financial reward programs for ordinary citizens who report hagwon that break the law or regulations. Tipsters on overcharging, violation of hagwon operation hours and unregistered tutors receive cash rewards of up to 2 million won. About 3 billion won was allotted to finance the project last year."

Let us see what will be the result of closing down these hagwons. I think there will still be many Koreans who would still consider going to hagwons especially the high school students who wanna get admission from prestigious universities.

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Private Cram Schools Suffer Slump on Government Measures

by Kang Shin-who

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/04/117_63744.html

"Massive" Inflow of Foreigners in Korea

"In 2006, Statistics Korea projected that the nation's population would reach 48.74 million in 2009, up 609,000 from 2005. But it increased by 1.1 million to 49.3 million during the five-year period, due largely to the arrival of more foreigners."

I am not quite sure what these figures would imply to the aging population problem of Korea but this would probably give us some ideas. Will the continuous inflow of foreigners in Korea be the answer to the problem? I really don't know but we'll see...^^

Wherever you go in Seoul, you could see many foreigners as tourists, residents, students or for whatever purpose. Of course I am not comparing this situation to other countries. South korea was not like this 10 or 5 years ago. With currently more than 1 million foreigners from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds now residing in Korea, I think this is something.

The article also added that a growing number of women from China and Southeast Asian countries have come here over the past decade to marry Korean men and settle down for a better quality of life, constituting a large segment of the non-Korean community.

Due to this phenomenon, even if the population shrink was widely expected to begin in 2019, with more foreigners coming into the country, the population decline will likely be delayed by as many as 10 years, the article emphasized.

The statistical office forecast in 2006 that the population would peak at 49.34 million in 2018 before decreasing.But the figure now could exceed 50 million in mid-2020 on the back of a larger influx of foreigners, pushing back the year when the population will start shrinking by as much as 10 years.

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Korea Faces Massive Inflow of Foreigners

by Lee Hyo-sik

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2010/04/123_63681.html

No more TVXQ

Sad to say but to all TVXQ fans out there, the group has been officially disbanded.

Korean pop group TVXQ or Tohoshinki, troubled by legal disputes, announced on Saturday that it will discontinue its activities in Japan, signaling the eventual disbanding of the group.
According to Avex, the group's Japanese agency, the band said that it will no longer continue under the name of the group, according to its official homepage and fan club, Bigeast.The five members have not appeared together in Korea since three members ― Xiah, Micky and Hero ― took legal action against SM Entertainment over their contract in July last year. However, despite the legal dispute, the group had continued performing together in Japan until last December and recently released two albums that have topped the Oricon Chart.
Avex said that although the group will no longer be active, it will support other individual, member activities for the five who have extraordinary talent and potential.Xiah is now starring in the musical "Mozart!" and will release a solo album on May 26, while U-Know participated in the commemoration concert for the late Michael Jackson last month after appearing in the drama "Heading on Ground" last September. Hero has been cast in the Japanese television drama, "Hard to Say I Love You" and featured in the film "Heaven's Postman" which will be released in Japan on May 29.Max is now shooting the drama ``Paradise Ranch'' on Jeju Island, while Micky is preparing for his future apart from the group.

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TVXQ to Stop Group Activities in Japan

by Chung Ah-young (chungay@koreatimes.co.kr)

To Fingerprint Foreign Suspects From Aug.

I guess this move from the Seoul government is also part of Korea's action towards the increasing number of crimes that involve foreigners here in Korea,

"Foreigners suspected of attempting to enter the country on false documents, who were previously deported after being convicted of crimes here, will have to undergo fingerprint checks at international airports and harbors from as early as August"

According to the news, this is also to tighten security for the upcoming G-20 summit in November in Seoul.

"This is a move we have come up with following a number of foreigners using fake passports or fabricated information trying to gain entry into the country," according to Ahn Kyu-seok who is a spokesman for the Immigration Service.

The action is prior to the recent incidents that happened. Two Pakistani men, who are suspected of being members of the Taliban, were arrested last month for faking passports. Another incident was that there were three Iranians who were also arrested for using cloned passports of people with similar looks.

They added that "Suspicious foreigners will undergo questioning and be required to provide their fingerprints to be compared with the database."

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Seoul Plans to Fingerprint Foreign Suspects From Aug.

by Park Si-soo (pss@koreatimes.co.kr )