Guide for foreigners wishing to use Korea-based Web sites

Korea has launched an interactive guide for foreigners wishing to use South Korea-based Web sites more easily. The Korea Communications Commission said the Internet guide was created to help people who do not have Korean resident registration numbers.
While it is good that the KCC has taken the effort to launch this website, it is totally unimpressive and full of mistakes (I mean in English). The least they can do is to get their English websites properly proofread by a native speaker!

Interview: Mr. Kjell Örtengren, President & Managing Director, Scania Korea Ltd.

Scania is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. A growing proportion of the company’s operations consist of products and services in the financial and service sectors, assuring customers of cost-effective transport solutions and maximum uptime.
Founded in 1891 in Södertälje, Sweden ,Scania AB, is a global automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles - specifically heavy trucks buses, and diesel engines for motive power of heavy vehicles, marine, and general industrial applications. The company has production facilities in Sweden, France, Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, and Russia. In addition, there are assembly plants in ten countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.
In Korea, Scania vehicles were available in the local market from the 1960’s, through direct import, but it was only in 1986 Asia Motors was appointed the official importer.
As noted by Mr. Kjell Örtengren, President & Managing Director, Scania Korea Ltd., when the Asian financial crisis became acute in late summer 1997, the company’s sales ground to an abrupt halt - from a position in which sales for the first six months of the year were indicating an all-time high of about 1,000 units for the full year. Kia’s imminent liquidation quickly complicated the situation for Asia Motors, whose freedom of action was rapidly curtailed and made the company the subject of a wave of takeover rumors.
Following this, Scania initiated truck sales by its wholly-owned subsidiary Scania Korea Ltd. and started gaining back market share. Since then the company has become the most successful company among foreign commercial vehicle makers operating in Korea.
Mr. Örtengren who has spent more than 25 years in the company, was asked to head the Korea operations in October 2007. He has managed to consolidate the company’s dominant position and today, the number of Scania trucks on the roads matches the number of trucks produced by all other foreign firms combined.
He noted that before coming to Korea (which incidentally is his first Asian posting), he spent many years managing the Scania operations in Eastern Europe.
“I joined Scania as a trainee, and contrary to my expectations, continue to work in the company as was fully satisfied with the business environment and career growth prospects. In the end-eighties as the former USSR started disintegrating and many of the Central and Eastern European countries started joining mainstream Europe, many new and interesting markets opened up. It was around this time that I was posted in Eastern Europe to develop these markets for Scania’s operations,” he said.
Speaking on his impressions of the country, he said that while Europeans are more open, Koreans tend to be a closed society. It might well be because of the country’s turbulent past, when it was frequently conquered by neighboring countries. With big economies like Japan, China and Russia in such close proximity, it is not surprising that Koreans are more nationalistic and closed.
This is one of the reasons why local companies continue to have a dominate share of the market. In recent years, however, the situation has changed and the products of foreign companies are being accepted.
In Korea, he noted, Scania has played a major role in advancing the local heavy trucks market by setting exemplary standards in business management and advanced service system technology.
There are many reasons for the success of Scania in the country. First and foremost is the fact that it was an early mover and was the first foreign commercial vehicle company to enter the market when many other were skeptical.
“Also, our product quality, good service network has boosted growth of Scania truck sales. The second is that we have a very good service network and a large warehouse. So we can provide much higher uptime. All the spare parts are always in stock, unlike our competitors who take weeks to ship their spare parts. No one likes their customers trucks to break down, but if they do, they should not have to wait indefinitely for repairs”
The company has introduced an innovation in the Korean truck market and started offering customers maintenance contracts. This gave its service workshops a uniform workload while guaranteeing the truck customers maximum availability. At present, Scania has 22 authorized service workshops in Korea.
The company provides competitive maintenance services coupled with a solid warranty program. The company emphasizes that clients can seek the convenience of a one-stop service that features maintenance and buying parts, in addition to receiving consultation, just like all the Scania operations in other parts of the world.
Speaking on the differences between the businesses of imported cars and imported commercial vehicles, he said that because trucks are industrial equipment linked to a business's profits, foreign truck brands have been able to avoid some of the biases.
The sales process of a passenger car and a truck is completely different. A passenger car is a consumer good and the marketing is based on boosting brand image. In the case of trucks however, the consumers are companies. It is industrial equipment and so all the customers are experts with technical knowledge. So with businessmen you need to show them how efficient a truck is and how much income will be generated through the vehicle.
Like all modes of transport, fuel economy and environmental concerns have long been top priorities for truck manufacturers. The advantages that Scania provides its customers are enhanced fuel efficiency, comforts for the driver and after sales service.
Speaking at length on the regulatory environment in the country, he said that truck makers in Korea have been less protected than passenger carmakers and have been exposed to market forces for longer. They also encounter lesser regulation.

The few barriers that exist have been taken care of in the EU-Korea FTA negotiations. So once the FTA is implemented foreign commercial vehicle manufacturers should see their market share rapidly expand.
Whenever the emission standards are tightened, European companies have a distinctive advantage over local manufacturers, because they are ready with the products that have been running for years on European roads, he said.
“The customs duties in Korea are not very high and it was never a barrier to selling trucks here. A bigger problem is that Korea has in many aspects regulations that differ from most of other countries in the world. This leads to a lot of extra administration and paper work.”
There is of course one recent regulation that has upset all heavy duty truck manufacturers and that has to do with the Dump Quota System for construction vehicles.
The system entered into force on August 1st, 2009 and now all the dump truck registrations are controlled by the Ministry of Land Transport & Maritime Affairs. Those vehicles contracted before 16th June 2009 shall be allowed for the registration with 3 months grace period.
“This regulation is putting unnecessary restrictions and will hamper the construction activity, especially when the government is trying to boost the economy,” he said.

100 Indians to be recruited as assistant English teachers

As I told you before the Korea-India FTA is going to see a flood of Indian English Teachers. Now comes news that starting in the fall semester next year, around 100 teachers from India will be teaching English at elementary, middle and high schools nationwide. The ministry of education has recently confirmed a plan to “improve the system for assistant native teachers of English,” including hiring English-speaking Indians.
As this news report suggests:

The ministry will recruit around 100 Indians early next year and if the trial is successful, it could raise the number to 300. The source said there is a high chance that those teachers will be dispatched to regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area where there is a shortage of native English teachers.

Korean schools introduced the so-called English Program in Korea project in 1995 for “globalized education” and set the goal of allocating one native English teacher for conversation with students for every class. Currently, there are 7,088 assistant native English teachers employed but they are from seven English-speaking countries - the United States, Australia, Britain, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Their monthly salary ranges between 2 million won ($1,700) and 2.5 million won.

The ministry has spent more than 300 million won a year on hiring and training those teachers but experienced difficulty gaining sufficient “qualified” teachers, given that only 13 percent of them have official teaching certificates.

“A large number of Indians are already teaching mathematics and English in the United States and Britain. I think we can expect much from those teachers,” the ministry official said.

Regarding concerns that some Indians who are fluent in English speak with local pronunciation and intonation, which has led to the term “Inglish,” the ministry will pick only those with teaching certificates of English and scrutinize the screening process through written and oral exams.

Park Jun-eon, a professor of English language and literature at Soongsil University, said competition for jobs will intensify if the Korean government brings in native speakers of English from Asian countries such as India and the Philippines who might better understand Asian cultures.

Better understand Asian cultures? I don't think it has anything to do with the Indians coming here. For them the relative salary levels are better, and so will be the quality of life.

Foreigner's culture shock in Korea

I somehow thought this video was an interesting way to show the cultural shock that foreigners experience here. Although some veteran bloggers may think this is misguided tourism promotion , the fact is that many foreigners do act like the 'dumbass white folk' seen here in the video. The culture shock can be too much. I have lived here for 6 years now, and come across plenty of 'white foreigners' who are still grappling with the cultural differences, even after staying here for more than 2 years. They may 'generally make buffoons out of themselves', but that's the reality!