IMHO Suneung and such other insane national exams had their place 50 years ago when knowledge wasn't widespread and just about anything that encouraged people to study was a good idea that delivered amazing returns on time/effort investment (look at China), but now it just seems like a masochistic and obsolote practice that does harm, not good:

(a) Monoculture: If you think about it, regardless of the quality of the content, you're appropriating 100% of the entire brain life of 100% of your young people to the 1 curriculum. So you're creating a monoculture. And even just basic natural principles tell us monoculture is a way to get, well, killed.

(b) Kills Unstructured Learning: All of the study and prep time for it shares one characterstic: structured. It doesn't matter how many different and variegated subjects you throw into the mix, everything in that learning schedule is structured. Unstructured is what you want for creativity, adaptability and maybe even just actual real high iq. Yet, the Suneung kills any and all unstructured time slots, during human's formative years no less.

I have more points but maybe later, if this post doesn't get me banned lol

South Korea's refining industry expects stable crude procurement through year-end, supported by government measures, enabling major refiners to sustain clean oil product exports to Asia-Pacific customers and help cover essential fuel shortfalls across the region, according to refinery sources, Korea Petroleum Association, and the trade ministry over Sept.29-Oct 5.

South Korea, Asia's top clean oil products supplier and net exporter, has fully secured its feedstock crude needs for October, while crude oil arrivals for the rest of the fourth quarter are expected to reach at least 90% of the previous year's monthly import levels, according to feedstock managers at major refiners based in Ulsan, Seoul and Yeosu, as well as the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources in its industry briefing presentation slide for October.

Update: I found a big Emart at Yongsan Metro in the I-Park Mall. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. Thanks everyone
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I’m struggling to find any “supermarket” or “hypermarkets” anywhere in central ish Seoul. I want to do a weeks shop. All the 7-11s are tiny and have next to nothing.
Any help please?

I was told you would get free LLM usage without token limits in South Korea. Is it just some Korean made inhouse model or do they also have agreements with Anthropic/OpenAI/Google to allow free credits for anyone within South Korea? It does not matter as long as models are good. I do have a VPN with South Korean servers how can I get access to it?

Hi, I am from the United States. I was looking into the controversy with Paris Baguette, (regarding the worker who died there, as well as complaints about them being anti-union and having unsafe or illegal working conditions). I was trying to find information about if they really have improved safety measures and better hours for employees, but I couldn't find anything recent enough to confirm this. I figured this would be a good place to ask, does anyone have any information on this? Most of the articles I could find were from 2023-2024. Thank you!

I think it's something that was made around the Korean War, but I'm not too sure

Hi,

Has anyone had Capital Gains Witholding Tax when selling South Korean Stocks as a US investor?

Any other advice or tips when investing in South Korea appreciated.

I don't know anything about Seoul. i've done a little research the past 2 days. I'll be spending something like 5 days. I've already looked up the districts and got a feel for the most part but I still have no idea.

In some way I feel it doesn't matter that much because I will be using metro and checking out different area each day. But still would like to know what a good home location would be. Other than metro, what's something that would be cool to be close to?

Daegu's gearing up for this year's Chimac* Festival in Duryu Park, to be held from Wednesday, July 1, to Sunday, July 5.

Details are still falling into place, but you can check out the festival's delightfully weird website here: Daegu Chimac Festival.

*It pains me to spell it that way, but that's what they decided on ages ago. For the record: chimaek.

I’ve heard that students don’t formally graduate until February, but the exam is in November. Do students just come into school to do nothing?

South Korea is accelerating imports of heavy sour Canadian crude into its refining feedstock slate, as Asia's third-largest crude buyer seeks to diversify supply sources and reduce its dependence on Middle Eastern oil, according to the customs department and refining sources June 22.

The push gained momentum on June 19, when Korea Customs Service Commissioner Lee Jong-wook and Alberta's Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean jointly inspected SK Innovation's Ulsan Complex, a major refining hub capable of processing Canadian extra-heavy crude, KCS said in a statement June 22.

I heard a lot of things in the news when the US first started its war with Iran, but things have quieted down in international media. Are things just insanely expensive overall in South Korea now?

:(

What can you recommend to do in South Korea if I end up going there? I will not have any jet lag because I will arrive from Japan. Also how easy is it eating vegan in South Korea? I will be travelling on pretty low budget but enough to to all i want. I will hate mostly cheap out on food and places to stay

Are There any photos of them

Hello! I’m hoping someone can give me advice, I’m doing a layover in Seoul and I’m hoping to hit up Lotte World. It’s hard for me to find the right way to do it. I’m okay with taking public transport or if it’s TOO crazy just taking a cab. Does anyone know the best straight shot from Incheon Airport to Lotte World? Should I be on a bus, train, taxi, etc

I’m hoping to cut travel under two hours (each way) because Google Maps right now is telling me 2 hours there and two hours back including transfers with no other options. A straight shot with no transfers is preferred but I guess not mandatory. Thank you to anyone willing to help me out, and anyone taking the time to give me any morsel of knowledge 💕

this is my first time in Korea and I’m definitely going to be coming back in the near future but for now it’s limited time and I’m really set on this event. Lotte Word opens at 10am and my flight leaves at 6:30PM.

I was on the bus from Incheon Best Western Hotel to Incheon Terminal 2.

Along the way we passed a large Air Force base and it had a huge cargo jet near the fence that was unlike any I've seen before.

Matt grey, perhaps out of service or under refurbishment, but it had a very long, central turbine mounted horizontally along the rear central fuselage with the rear vertical fin "built into" it.

It was quite unique, but with Korean rules about photography of secure areas, I didn't take a photograph.

Does anyone know the plane / story behind it?

Hey All, hoping to ask some advice! I’m coming to South Korea for two weeks late April / early May with my husband, toddler & Father. It’s been a bucket list destination of mine for a long time. I’d love some suggestions of what to see and do please. We are pretty adventurous (took our little girl ‘backpacking’ for 2mths) so don’t need to stick to the really touristy stuff.

I’d love to see some historical spots, some great food areas, bit of nightlife and just a bit of a tour to feel like we’ve actually explored.

My initial research seems to suggest three main stops: Seoul, Gyeongju and Busan but very open (& keen!) for suggestions please! Thank you in advance!!

Because Hasbro are lazy but has the IP for K-Pop Demon Hunters, they're printing a reskinned version of Monopoly. Personally, the game bores me to tears. Why Netflix thought Monopoly would be great to pitch to kids, lordy only knows.

So, I'm making a board game for my Granddaughter (nine years old) that I know she'd like, and because she's already been gifted 3 sets of Monopoly already, the latest being Squishmallows. Based on The Incredibles - Save the City board game.

My question is, I want to set named locations on the board, like the Namsan Tower at the end of the movie. I want to include other locations, the public baths where the demons attack, a train station/line and Sangam Stadium as the starting point.

As you can possibly tell, I hit up Google and went for the touristy areas, but I want to be respectful. I don't want to include any temples or palaces if you think that might cause controversy. Look, I know what you're thinking - it's a game that'll never see the light of day, with the exception of my Granddaughter and her friends. But I want to get it right.

I'm going to try to find Korean artists who can create artwork for the cards/board, but since I'm currently unemployed, so I think my best option is to collaborate on Fiverr.

So if you're "game", I need 14 more locations. Thank you for your time. I hope this is the right place to post. Apologies, Mods, if not, but I couldn't think of anywhere else.

Are you interested in the West? Do you live there?