신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Stratospheric Cost of English-Language Kindergartens

Stratospheric Cost of English-Language Kindergartens

The monthly tuition fee for English-language kindergartens is an average of W720,000, triple the cost of ordinary Korean-speaking preschools (US$1=W1,174).

Kindergartens where native English speakers teach the language to preschoolers are not officially authorized educational institutions under current law and are categorized as language institutes. English kindergartens began emerging four or five years ago in the affluent Gangnam area in southern Seoul.

According to a report submitted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to Grand National Party lawmaker Suh Sang-kee for a parliamentary audit, average monthly tuition is the highest in Seoul at W980,000. It is W650,000 in South Chungcheong Province, W600,000 in Busan and W560,000 in Gyeonggi Province.

There are 181 English kindergartens nationwide. Seoul and neighboring Gyeonggi Province are home to 131 or 72 percent. Those in Seoul's Gangnam District are the most expensive, costing W1.24 million a month. Seocho District is second with W1.18 million, followed by Yongsan with W1.05 million, Jongro with W950,000, Daejeon’s Yuseong District with W890,000 and Euijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province with W880,000.

But Seocho District is home to the nation's single most expensive English kindergarten, which costs W1.64 million a month. Suh said tuition fees at English kindergartens are more than 13 times higher than those of public Korean-speaking kindergartens, proving the widening gap between haves and have-nots for the education of preschoolers.

englishnews@chosun.com / Oct. 06, 2009 10:06 KST

via english.chosun.com

US: Ratify Children’s Treaty | Human Rights Watch

US: Ratify Children’s Treaty

On 20th anniversary, Convention on the Rights of the Child Embraced by World but Not the US

November 18, 2009

Related Materials: 

Q&A: The Convention on the Rights of the Child

Other Material: 

Big Think: What Rights Should Children Have?

The United States' failure to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child is an embarrassment. It damages the US' reputation as a human rights leader and undermines its ability to improve the lives of children around the globe.

Jo Becker, children's rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch

(New York) - The United States should ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is supported by nearly every other nation in the world, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States and Somalia are the only countries that have failed to ratify the Convention, which was adopted 20 years ago, on November 20, 1989.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child became the most widely and rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history. The United States signed the Convention in 1995, but no US president then or since has sent it to the Senate for ratification.

via www.hrw.org

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Dual Nationality to Become Legal

Dual Nationality to Become Legal

The Justice Ministry has completed a draft amendment of citizenship laws that will permit Koreans to hold dual nationality in some circumstances. Under the new law, dual nationality holders born abroad will be allowed to maintain both citizenships provided they do not exercise certain rights and privileges using their legal status of foreigners.

The ministry announced the regulations Thursday.

Those who obtain foreign citizenship by birth will be allowed to maintain it if they submit a written oath by the age of 22 not to exercise the rights and privileges of foreigners in Korea by using their second passport.

After the age of 22, men will be allowed to maintain multiple citizenship only if they complete their military service here. Under the current law, dual citizenship holders must choose one nationality by the age of 22 and submit a written pledge to give up their foreign citizenship if they choose their Korean nationality. The revision is aimed at blocking a drain on military manpower.

Those caught using their foreign passports to enter international schools or invest in Korea as foreigners will be ordered to choose a single nationality and automatically lose their Korean nationality if they fail to give up their foreign citizenship within a specified period.

The regulations also apply for other groups such as foreigners who have immigrated through marriage with Koreans; highly skilled foreigners; senior citizens living overseas; those who have regained Korean citizenship after being adopted by foreign families; and Chinese nationals who were born and have lived here for more than 20 years.

Under the current law, foreigners have to give up their foreign citizenship within six months after they obtain Korean nationality.

via english.chosun.com

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - More Japanese Feel Need to Say Sorry to 'Comfort Women'

More Japanese Feel Need to Say Sorry to 'Comfort Women'

Japanese who believe that Tokyo should apologize for drafting thousands of Asian woman as sex slaves for the Imperial Army in World War II outnumber those who think otherwise for the first time, a straw poll suggests.

The Northeast Asian History foundation commissioned Gallup Korea to poll 527 Seoul citizens, and 500 citizens each in Beijing and Tokyo from Aug. 1 to 9. In the poll released Monday, 48.9 percent of respondents in Tokyo said Japan should apologize to the "comfort women," while 30.3 percent said it does not need to. 

Some 53.6 percent of Japanese women and 57.8 percent of Japanese respondents in their 30s and 40s said Japan should apologize. Men made up 38.1 percent of those who thought Japan need not apologize, and older people 34.5 percent.

When the survey began in 2007, only 38.4 percent of Japanese said Tokyo should say sorry, with 50.4 percent against.

The poll was held right before the general election, which marked a historic shift from the rightwing Liberal Democrats to the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, some 60.3 percent of South Koreans said relations with China will improve, up from 52.3 percent in 2008. But among Chinese and Japanese the trend was the opposite, from 74.2 percent to 61 percent and from 31.6 percent to 23.3 percent respectively.

Some 44 percent of South Korean and Japanese respondents expected better ties between Seoul and Tokyo. But only 30.1 percent of Chinese respondents saw Korea-Japan ties improve.

Asked about the most urgent historical disagreements to be solved in the three countries, 23.6 percent of South Koreans cited Japan's claim to the Dokdo islets, 12.3 percent of the Chinese picked territorial issues, and 11.2 percent of the Japanese cited the need to foster a proper historical understanding.

The poll had a large margin of error of 4.4 percent and a 95-percent confidence level.

englishnews@chosun.com / Oct. 20, 2009 12:39 KST

via english.chosun.com

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Japanese Feel Friendlier Toward Koreans Than Vice Versa

Most South Koreans feel unfriendly toward Japan with 62 percent, far outnumbering those who do, a poll finds. But 50 percent of Japanese feel friendly toward Koreans, as against 41 percent who do not. The figures are down from a poll conducted in the wake of the 2002 World Cup in the two countries, the proportion of Koreans who felt friendly toward Japan was 42 percent, and that of Japanese who felt friendly toward Koreans was 77 percent. That can probably be traced to recurring disagreements over Korea's Dokdo islets, which Japan is trying to claim. "Japanese who were less interested in Korea in the past were adversely affected in the past one or two years as the media touched on the issue much more often," said Prof. Lee Won-duk at Kookmin University. "Nonetheless, about half of the Japanese, influenced by the Korean Wave or Hallyu, feel friendly toward Korea." Experts forecast better Seoul-Tokyo relations because both Koreans and Japanese in their 20s and 30s feel more than 10 percentage points more friendly than toward each other than their counterparts in their 50s or older. Asked to name the greatest strengths of the people of the other country, Koreans named technology (29 percent), diligence (15 percent), law-abidingness (13 percent) and kindness (11 percent). The Japanese named strong will (29 percent), a fighting spirit (11 percent), diligence (10 percent) and etiquette (9 percent). Only 3 percent of Koreans said they did not know, but as many as 28 percent of Japanese respondents opted for the same answer, a sign that the interest of the Japanese in Korea is lower than the other way round.

via english.chosun.com

S. Korea has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world: report

YONHAP NEWS
S. Korea has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world: report

SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Yonhap) -- A United Nations population report shows South Korea having one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, a local health and welfare federation said Wednesday.

The 2009 report by the United Nations Population Fund, claimed South Korea's total fertility rate (TFR) reached 1.22, which is the second lowest among 185 countries checked, the Planned Population Federation of Korea (PPFK)

Upcoming reading at Oak Street Cinema

I'll be reading poems at 5:15 pm at the following event:

The Minnesota Transracial Film Festival is the first festival in the Twin Cities to showcase voices from the transracial and transcultural adoption community through film, words, and music. The MNTRFF is being held at the Oak Street Cinema on Saturday, November 14th, 2009. ttp://mntrff.org/

Admission includes a *FREE* MNTRFF long-sleeved t-shirt (while supplies last).

Time	Film/Event
Feature Film
2:15 PM	Adopted The Movie
Shorts Program
4:00 PM	Homeschool
4:05 PM	Jagadamba, Mother Of The Universe
4:20 PM	Than Phat Ho Chi Minh: Saigon
4:30 PM	Running Dragon
Authors And Music Program
5:15 PM	Readings from Sun Yung Shin (15 minutes with 5 minute Q & A)
5:40 PM	Readings from Bryan Thao Worra
6:10 PM	Mayda (Accoustic Set)
Feature Film
7:00 PM	Tie A Yellow Ribbon