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제 23 호 Tipping Effect

Kicker: COVER STORY Tipping Effect By Ye-Dam Hwang, Reporter hwangyedam1108@naver.com Do you know about the tipping effect? As an economic term, it means the case when the market share of either of the two goods in a competitive relationship suddenly rises and monopolizes the market. To explain it easily, it refers to the phenomenon where many things or people are tipped in a certain part. Even though you couldn’t fully understand this term now, I’m sure that you and many other people have experienced this effect in society. In our society, it refers to the situation of following or imitating other people based on that person’s action without any check. I think this effect is seen especially clearly in the food industry. For example, “Taiwan’s big castella” spawned a national craze in Korea in 2016. At that time, many “Taiwan’s big castella” stores emerged throughout the country and lots of customers had to wait in long lines for the castella. However, the popularity gradually faded because of one television program’s misleading story with bringing the cooking oil of the castella into question, and the market for that big castella disappeared after less than a year. Similar to this, the tipping effect in the field of food has continued and is still common these days. Taiwan's big castella https://www.edaily.co.kr/News/Read?newsId=01482566632458480&mediaCodeNo=257&OutLnkChk=Y Tipping Effect in the Food Industry From the past, there were many cases of tipping effect of food industry in Korea. From 2010 to 2011, there was a craze of handmade hamburgers, and in 2014, premium gimbap with unique filling materials such as cream cheese and pork cutlet won the popularity. To capture the public fancy of cheap drinks, the market of low-cost coffee expanded on a national scale in 2015. Taiwan’s big castella gained a lot of popularity in 2016, and “myungrang-sidae rice hotdog” enjoyed explosive popularity for corn dogs with special materials like rice cake, mozzarella cheese, and potatoes in 2017. Also in 2019, Taiwan’s black sugar bubble tea and sandwich with bread, sliced ham, egg, and condensed milk rose and were popular in the food service industry of Korea. From 2019, foods with mala like malatang have been still popular with its spicy taste, and from 2023, tanghulu, a candy-coated fruit skewer has gained lots of popularity as a snack. Especially nowadays, the latest craze is yogurt ice cream, known by the franchise’s abbreviated name “yo-a-jung”, is in great demand with customizing yogurt ice cream with some toppings such as fruit, chocoballs, and honeycomb honey. Also Dubai’s chocolate which is made of kadayif, an oven baked shredded pastry with thick syrup which is enjoyed by Middle Easterners such as Turkish, is the feeding frenzy now in Korea. Like these, this kind of tipping effect brought about many franchises and had influence with the same or similar products of popular foods to the food service industry of Korea. Best menu items of "yo-a-jung" https://www.dailian.co.kr/news/view/1389494/?sc=Naver Side Effects of the Tipping Effect There can be some good effects of the tipping effect in the food industry, but I think the side effects make a bigger impact. I think there are three bad effects of the tipping effect: standardization, suffering of self-employed people, and causing overspending. First, trend business can make the standardization of the food industry. When a certain popular food appears, it monopolizes the food industry and causes uniformity with a mushrooming of identical or similar products of the popular foods. Therefore, this effect can disrupt the diversity of the food service industry. Second, when the craze is on the wane, some self-employed people of the product of the craze suffer. In other words, the majority of successful restaurant business items which take advantage of the tipping effect are only flashes in the pan. According to the National Tax Service, in 2015, individual business persons who founded a business were 1,068,000 and the people who closed a business were 739,000. Among these people, the people who shut down their shop related to the food and beverage industry were 153,000, which was 20.6% of the whole number. This kind of situation of foundation and closure has been common in the tipping effect of other popular products. Thus, time after time, many independent businesspersons suffer and get damage from the burning down of the flare, especially financially. Third, many of the popular products are not cheap. Though some products, like low-cost coffee, are inexpensive, most of them are quite expensive due to scarcity which is caused by lots of demand. Also, when celebrities talk or show about some certain products, the products can be easily going viral by people, especially by the fans. Therefore, particularly wanting to follow what the celebrities do, people follow the trend and overspend on the popular products even though they actually do not need them. This kind of spending habit can trigger excessive consumption. The fad of the food industry can make tipping effect with open-run and shortage of goods. The tipping effect of the food industry has a great power of popularity, but the side effects of it are not small. Some people say that trendy foods are the items which can easily shrink in popularity at any time. Therefore, I want people to pick over the features of the product, like rareness and continuity, before starting their business, and I hope that this tipping effect will decrease in the future. Sources: https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=2067060&cid=50305&categoryId=50305 https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=1614587&cid=50305&categoryId=50305 https://www.kpinews.kr/newsView/1065596963963919 https://www.busan.com/view/busan/view.php?code=2019111119111116145 https://www.inews24.com/view/1745269 https://www.dailian.co.kr/news/view/1389494/?sc=Naver https://www.g-enews.com/article/Global-Biz/2022/03/20220304110118496393bf579e81_1 https://www.edaily.co.kr/News/Read?newsId=01482566632458480&mediaCodeNo=257&OutLnkChk=Y https://biz.newdaily.co.kr/site/data/html/2024/08/26/2024082600081.html

• 작성일 2024-09-09
• 좋아요 Like 1

제 22 호 Temu and AliExpress Popularity in Korea - Is It Okay as It Is?

Kicker: COVERSTORY Temu and AliExpress Popularity in Korea Is It Okay as It Is? By Su-Young Kim, Reporter /kimsuyoung@gmail.com Have you ever used Temu, AliExpress? Temu is an online marketplace platform under Pinduoduo that directly connects local Chinese producers and global consumers without an intermediate distribution process and sells inexpensive products in large quantities. AliExpress is like Temu, a site specializing in B2C (Business to Customer) operated by a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, a Chinese internet company. Looking at these platforms, the types of products sold are not only clothes and accessories, but also various products such as electronics, furniture, and auto parts at very low prices. In addition, these provide a convenient and fun shopping experience through mobile apps in line with consumer trends. These Chinese overseas direct shopping malls are very popular in Korea these days. Ali and Temu ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in mobile apps with the highest number of users in Korea last year. Contrary to the view that even if Ali and Temu enter Korea in the early days, only teenagers and those in their 20s with low economic power will use them, their use is expanding across all ages. Also, these are making a big impact by entering global markets such as the United States, Russia, Brazil, India. Let's find out why Temu and AliExpress suddenly became popular in Korea, and whether there is any controversy or concern arising from these issues. Temu and AliExpress, why are they popular? There are several reasons why these platforms are popular. Firstly,price competitiveness may be the biggest reason why consumers are enthusiastic about AliExpress and Temu. You can find the same item or similar item at half the price. Based on its enormous financial power, it is investing astronomical money in subsidies and logistics to use an ultra-low-cost strategy against the global market. As their parent company and major shareholders are global big tech companies, they have excellent platform operations and supply chain management, use data-based marketing strategies, and are quickly targeting the global market. Consumers do not have high expectations for quality because it is so inexpensive, but rather, when high-quality products for the price are delivered, they continue to purchase them on the site because they feel joy as if they have found a treasure. Secondly, it maximizes the time spent on the platform by inducing consumer interest by adding an element of games or gambling to shopping. As consumers experience events such as spinning roulette and drawing gifts on mobile apps, they become interested and try to buy them cheaper. Thirdly, it is an overseas direct purchase, but it is not difficult to purchase. It's an overseas item, but it doesn't require complicated procedures for delivery, and you can sign up by e-mail and write down your address in Korean as if you were shopping in Korea. You can even pay with Kakao Pay, a simple payment method. Lastly, even though it is an overseas direct purchase, the delivery is as fast as the domestic delivery. By drastically shortening the existing delivery period, consumers with resistance to overseas direct purchases were introduced. At the same time, it provided free returns and customer service (CS), showing the same service as domestic product delivery. In fact, I've used AliExpress before, and since the price is much cheaper than when I bought it in Korea, my satisfaction was maximized when I received a decent product, and I was able to easily purchase it due to this joy and low pressure. In addition, unlike Coupang, which is famous in Korea, I thought it was better than Coupang because it can be delivered right away for free without buying things in bulk. picture1https://www.globalsources.com/knowledge/temu-vs-aliexpress-which-is-the-winner/ The Problem with Temu and AliExpress However, controversy over Temu and AliExpress, which are gaining popularity worldwide in such a groundbreaking way these days, continues. Various problems have been raised, such as intellectual property infringement due to design theft, customs clearance issues for unverified products, and safety issues due to the discovery of carcinogens. Amid growing interest in domestic fashion brands in the global market recently, there are more cases of damage suspected of preempting the trademark right of "K-brand" by stealing it without permission around the world. Recently, as Chinese e-commerce platforms have expanded their influence in Korea, cases of unauthorized theft of trademark rights and damage to design copies have become more serious. In the fashion category of the platform, it is easy to find cases of intellectual property violations using Korean designer brand trademarks such as “Yale” and “Mmlg” without permission. In addition, unlike products that have been certified as National Certification Integration Mark (KC) through official import procedures, products that entered through the Chinese platform were brought into Korea without a separate safety verification procedure, causing problems. Chinese e-commerce companies receive benefits such as exemption from customs clearance and customs duties and exemption from KC certification obligations because they are direct overseas purchases. However, carcinogens have been detected more than 270 times the standard level in children's supplies sold at AliExpress recently. In response, the government came up with a plan to make safety certification mandatory for some items. The government announced, "measures to strengthen consumer safety in response to the surge in overseas direct purchases." Children's products or large electric household items that are likely to be fire-prone will be blocked from direct purchases unless they are certified by KC. In addition, measures to prevent products containing harmful ingredients from being brought into the country even if they have been certified for safety will also be implemented. In addition, to intensify personal information protection, AI monitoring is strengthened for overseas direct purchase platforms, and a system that matches and blocks information held by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the Korea Customs Service (KCS) in real time is introduced. To sum up, Chinese shopping platforms such as Temu and AliExpress, which have won the hearts of people around the world with unconventional prices and delivery and services in the era of a high-price economy, are gaining popularity. However, controversy has recently arisen as various problems such as intellectual property infringement, lack of safety certification, and personal information infringement and contraction of domestic companies have been raised. Before we try these platforms, I think we need to know the overall situation and make sure we can consume them wisely. I think it is a smart way to consume it by using high-quality items that you need for a long time rather than buying a lot of various items because it is cheap. Sources: https://m.newspim.com/news/view/20240126000863 http://www.ktnews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=131432 http://www.apparelnews.co.kr/news/news_view/?idx=211124 https://n.news.naver.com/article/030/0003206534?sid=101

• 작성일 2024-06-04
• 좋아요 Like 0

제 21 호 Implementation of Climate Card

Kicker: COVER STORY Implementation of Climate Card - A Comparison with ‘K-Pass’ - By Yun-Seo Jung, Reporter yysj1230@naver.com How much do you usually use public transportation? Have you ever been worried about the high transportation costs you usually spend on your way to and from school? If so, please focus on this content. The government has created a transportation card that allows unlimited public transportation for 62,000 won per month. Among them, the means of transportation that can reward are subway and bus in Seoul. If you pay an additional 3,000 won to 62,000 won, you can use unlimited access to the public bicycle ‘Ttareungyi’ in Seoul. The Climate Card Purchasing and charging of Climate Card have been available since January 23th, and have been used from the 27th. This transportation card can be used indefinitely for 30 days from the start of use. The range of regions that can benefit is limited to Seoul. In the case of subways, lines 1 to 8 in the Seoul area, and Gyeongui Jungang Line, Bundang Line, Gyeongchun Line, Ui New Line, and Sillim Line are all available except for Shinbundang Line with different basic fares. As I briefly mentioned earlier, the price is 62,000 won if you only use the Seoul subway and buses, or 65,000 won if you use the Seoul subway and buses as well as the city's public bicycle, the Ttareungyi. In other words, if you pay 62,000 won, you can use the Seoul subway and bus unlimitedly every 30 days, and if you pay 65,000 won, you can use the Seoul subway and bus as well as Ttareungyi unlimitedly every 30 days. Then, where can you buy this transportation card? First, there are two types of Climate Card : mobile and physical. Mobile cards can only be issued and charged through the mobile TMoney app. The payment method is only available for account transfer, but it will be expanded to debit cards and credit cards in the future. Also, since it is only available for Android OS 12 or higher, iPhone IOS users cannot be issued a mobile card, but must be issued a physical card. For a physical card, you can purchase it at Seoul Metro (lines 1-8) customer safety rooms and convenience stores near stations. After purchasing a physical card, you can register the QR code on the back of the card on the “TMoney Card & Pay” homepage to recharge it at unmanned charger in the station. The unmanned chargers are located in the stations of the Seoul Transportation Corporation (Line 1-8), Line 9, Ui-Sinseol Line, and Sillim Line. If you do not register your card on the “TMoney Card & Pay” homepage, you will not be able to receive a refund or use the Ttareungyi. Also, unlike the mobile card, the physical card needs to be purchased separately for 3,000 won, and it can only be paid with cash. However, as the Climate Card is only available in Seoul, there is no reason to use it except for those moving within this city. In addition, since people need to use public transportation more than 43 times a month to reduce costs, even those who only travel within Seoul will not benefit from using the Climate Card if they use public transportation less than 43 times a month. Therefore, refundable transportation cards, "K-Pass" and "The Gyeonggi Pass,” will be introduced for these people. The K-Pass K-Pass is a refundable card implemented by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is scheduled to be introduced in May this year, and will be renewed to compensate for the shortcomings of the existing "Affordable Transportation Card." Public transportation such as GTX-A, city buses including wide-area buses, and subways are eligible for the benefits. And this card is compatible at the national level, except for some local governments with a population of 100,000 or less. Unlike the Climate Card, which pays a certain amount in advance and allows unlimited access to public transportation, this card can be refunded directly next month by cash, mileage, and card deductions. The refund rate is 20% for the general public, 30% for young people (ages 19-34) and 53% for low-income people. Based on the basic fare of 1,500 won for buses in Seoul, the general public can save up to 18,000 won per month, 27,000 won for young people, and 48,000 won for low-income people. When using public transportation more than 15 times a month, a certain percentage of the expenditure is refunded up to 60 times. In the case of the existing affordable transportation card, a discount was applied in proportion to the travel distance. Therefore, there was an inconvenience of pressing the start button and the arrival button on its own app to measure the distance. However, in the case of the K-Pass, the onerousness of pressing the start button and the arrival button has disappeared because the discount is applied according to the discount accumulation rate regardless of the distance traveled. In addition, the minimum conditions for using public transportation have been reduced from 21 times per month to 15 times per month. The method of getting the 'K-Pass' card is as follows. If you are an existing user of the Affordable Transportation Card, you will be able to use your existing transportation card without reissuing a new card by going through the K-Pass membership conversion process. In the case of new users, you can apply on the official K-Pass website or through a mobile application. You can select and use the transportation card products you want through the official website of 11 credit card companies. The Gyeonggi Pass The last one is "The Gyeonggi Pass" organized by the Gyeonggi Provincial Government. It will also be introduced from May this year. The Gyeonggi Pass is not much different from K-Pass, but there is a slight difference in the number and age of benefits. First, public transportation such as GTX-A, metropolitan buses, and subways are available. The applicable area is also nationwide, except for some boroughs with a population of 100,000 or less, and it is the same as the K-Pass. When using public transportation regularly more than 15 times a month, a certain percentage of the expenditure may be refunded through cash, mileage, and card deductions. However, unlike the K-Pass, which limits the number of public transportation rides to 60 times per month, the Gyeonggi Pass has a difference in that it expands the number of rides indefinitely. Besides, this card expanded the standard of youth age from 19-34 to 19-39, which does not benefit from the K-Pass project. Plus, transportation expenses are provided to children and adolescents between the ages of 6 and 18. The transportation card refund system is a great benefit for students, workers, and other people who use public transportation a lot. Although public transportation charges have increased nationwide, the economic burden has also increased, but if you use a refundable transportation card, you will be able to reduce the burden a little. In the case of Climate Cards, which are currently being implemented first, a total of 327,000 copies were sold as of the 5th of this month after the pre-sale began on the 23rd of last month. Within two weeks of launch, they had sold over half of their goal. It is a pilot project period, so the number of users is expected to increase, and the benefits are expected to be further strengthened over time. If you use public transportation a lot, compare the benefits of various refundable transportation cards such as the "Climate Card,” "The Gyeonggi Pass,” and "K-Pass,” and use the transportation card that suits you. Sources : https://biz.newdaily.co.kr/site/data/html/2024/02/08/2024020800143.html https://youtu.be/cxSvQFVPvSI?si=5hZhKTzBbAnl8_8r https://youtu.be/sFZgjOf2uOU?si=ncNH3EFVQ2vuTYrT

• 작성일 2024-02-19
• 좋아요 Like 1

제 20 호 Is Meritocracy Fair?

Kicker: COVER STORY Is Meritocracy Fair? by Si-ho Park, Reporter pnshse05@naver.com Have you ever heard about “meritocracy”? Meritocracy is the concept of evaluating and treating differently through the ability or achievement of an individual when distributing resources, and the ideas of meritocracy are becoming so popular and widespread significantly in modern society. Meritocracy has been taken for granted as a principle that justifies modern individualism. In the perspective of meritocracy, it is natural that greater rewards go to those who have greater abilities or work harder, while a smaller share will go to those who lack ability and effort, and the resulting inequalities are seen as justifiable. According to meritocracy myths, individuals believe that they are entitled to treat people differently based on their ability, and therefore they give themselves the power to act on their biases unknowingly. People are now arguing that meritocracy, which seemed to have emerged as an alternative to an unequal society, is now ironically deepening inequality. This is the background of the heated ongoing controversy over meritocracy. People are now questioning the fairness of meritocracy. So how do you think? Is meritocracy truly fair and just? People with different starting lines https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/how-meritocracy-worsens-inequality-and-makes-even-the-rich-miserable What is Meritocracy? According to the Camebridge dictionary, meritocracy is a social system, society, or organization in which people get success or power because of their abilities, not because of their money or social position. This “meritocracy” has currently become a leading social ideal. People continually return to the theme that the rewards of life—money, power, jobs, university admission—should be distributed according to skill and effort. The most common metaphor is the “even playing field” upon which players can rise to the position that fits their merit. Conceptually, meritocracy is presented as the opposite of systems such as hereditary aristocracy, in which one’s social position is determined by the lottery of birth. Under meritocracy, wealth and advantage are merit’s rightful compensation, not the fortuitous windfall of external events. Also in Korean society, meritocracy has developed a distribution system that assigns more shares to those who have better abilities or higher social values in industrialization, and a compensation system that mainly focuses on opportunity and fairness of processes and considers the difference in results obtained as justifiable. By the way, is distribution based on the merits always right and equal? Doesn't meritocracy overlook the other interventions in the outcome, such as luck or opportunity? Two Contradictions of Meritocracy: Intervention of Fortune and Deepening Inequality Although widely held, the belief that merit rather than luck determines success or failure in the world is false. Merit itself is, in large part, the result of luck. Talent and efforts depend a great deal on one’s luck. In a world where you can't be perfect, a talented person who has worked hard does not always have a good chance, and a person with good luck or position does not always outperform someone without it. Every success story even has such fortuitous circumstances. The US economist Robert Frank, in his book Success and Luck (2016), recounts the long-shots and coincidences that led to the success of his own and of Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder. Luck intervenes by granting people merit, and again by furnishing circumstances in which merit can translate into success. This is not to deny the efforts and talent of successful people. However, it does demonstrate that the link between merit and outcome is tenuous and indirect at best. Perhaps more disturbing, simply holding meritocracy as a value seems to promote discriminatory behavior. As I mentioned earlier, meritocracy gives people the power to act on their biases unknowingly. The management scholar Emilio Castilla and the sociologist Stephen Benard studied attempts to implement meritocratic practices, such as performance-based compensation in private companies. They found that the unequal treatment of prejudiced discrimination is more evident in companies that explicitly held meritocracy as a core value. The “even playing field” is intended to avoid unfair inequalities based on gender, race, and the like. Yet Castilla and Benard found that, ironically, attempts to implement meritocracy lead to just the kinds of inequalities that it aims to eliminate. The Economic Impact of Meritocracy Offering a different perspective, Professor Youli Cho from Singapore University of Social Sciences sheds light on the economic implications of meritocracy. In her view, the unfulfilled promise of meritocracy increased inequality. Meritocracy sees achievement and failure as an individual’s worth, and people gain higher tolerance for inequality, which leads to higher inequality. The relationship between economic growth and income inequality is complicated. Meritocracy bears economic inequality, economic inequality creates economic growth, and the growth draws out meritocracy again. This vicious cycle repeats itself like this. Income inequality might be justifiable when it reflects differences in skills, effort, and contributions, with meritocratic systems. In this view, rewarding individuals based on merit encourages and motivates others to work harder and develop their skills to compete for desirable positions and rewards, ultimately benefiting society as a whole. But it may also worsen income inequality. Factors such as unequal access to education, systemic biases, and differences in starting points can result in unequal outcomes, even if individuals have comparable merit. And, to go further, a focus on individual success may undermine a sense of collective responsibility and cooperation in the workplace. As such, the meritocratic system has a great influence in many ways, including economy, politics, and society. “As the meritocracy intensifies, the striving so absorbs us that our indebtedness recedes from view. In this way, even a fair meritocracy, one without cheating or bribery or special privileges for the wealthy, induces the mistaken impression that we have made it on our own.” This is a part of Michael J. Sandel's book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? (2020). Various drawbacks of meritocracy have been raised, but it is also true that there is no clear alternative to meritocracy yet in a liberal democratic society. Therefore, our society should make our own efforts to minimize the side effects of deepening inequality without overlooking them in determining success or failure. Individuals should be humble in their success, considering the effects of fortune, and in society, an appropriate baseline should be set together to mitigate gaps in different starting points, acknowledging inequality in opportunities. Now, it's your turn to reflect on these ideas and consider your perspective on the role of meritocracy in our lives. Is it really desirable to evaluate a person by ability? In society, are individuals well evaluated for their abilities? How much equality or inequality has meritocracy brought us? How should our society move forward? Through this article, I hope you will be able to correctly recognize the contradictory aspects of society, accept various opinions in earnest, and think more about a fairer way for everyone to have truly equal opportunity to compete for desirable goods and social positions. Sources: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/meritocracy https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE09319491 https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/01/the-myth-of-meritocracy-according-to-michael-sandel/ https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/how-meritocracy-worsens-inequality-and-makes-even-the-rich-miserable https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/a-belief-in-meritocracy-is-not-only-false-its-bad-for-you

• 작성일 2023-11-26
• 좋아요 Like 2

제 19 호 Zero Food Fever and Controversy

Kicker: COVER STORY Zero Food Fever and Controversy by Ji-Min Baek, Reporter pjm5875@naver.com Do you often consume zero foods? Recently, many zero foods have been released under the names of zero sugar or zero calories, starting with zero coke. It is expected that a significant number of consumers, including readers, consume zero foods as much as it has spread to other fields such as dessert exceeding existing zero soda. As a result, a new term, Zerosumer, has emerged, referring to consumers who prefer zero sugar or zero calories due to their interest in healthy eating habits. To target those who are mainly interested in healthy eating habits, companies are steadily gaining popularity by launching zero foods. In addition to this, as a way to ease the burden of high-calorie foods, new consumption habits are emerging, such as eating delicious foods as they are, but replacing sodas with zero sodas. Zero foods is loved by many people for various reasons, but some people express concerns about artificial sweeteners, so this article will cover Zero foods overall. What is Zero Food As excessive sugar intake and high-calorie foods adversely affect health, zero foods have begun to gain popularity as a good alternative to meet both health and satisfaction from existing flavors. Not all of these products called zero foods are the same, and products can be largely divided into zero sugar and zero calories. Zero sugar uses artificial sweeteners to replace sugar, and zero calories are products that do not have calories. As it has become popular and promotes zero marketing under the name of zero, consumers are confused about which is zero. As for what is the standard of zero, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has prepared detailed standards through labeling standards. Generally, zero foods refer to products that are either zero in sugar or calories. Specifically, a product can be labeled as zero sugar if it contains less than 0.5g of sugar per 100ml or per 100g of the food. A product can be labeled as zero calories if it contains less than 4kcal per 100ml of the food. However, in advertisements using zero marketing, specific ingredients and calories are displayed in small fonts, so it is difficult to grasp unless consumers directly look at the ingredient table or look for it with interest. Zero Foods Becoming Diverse Zero food, which has been popular in the range of drinks for a while, has recently become all the rage in the coffee and snack market. For instance, Zero Lotte Well Food’s first sugar-free dessert brand, introduced a variety of products such as zero chocolate chip cookies, zero cacao cakes, and zero fruit jelly, and has received positive responses from consumers since its release. Additionally, some coffee franchises are adopting alternative sugars, like stevia, and in some cafes, customers can order to add stevia to their coffee drinks. https://www.lottewellfood.com/prcenter/news/1661?page=1&searchType2=Y&searchText=%EC%A0%9C%EB%A1%9C Controversy over Artificial Sweeteners Artificial sweeteners are commonly used in zero products, including aspartame, saccharin and so on. Among them, aspartame, which has been classified as a carcinogen, is an artificial sweetener that tastes 200 times sweeter than sugar. There are studies on the risk controversy of aspartame, and there are conflicts between studies showing that aspartame intake is okay and studies showing that it is dangerous. To learn more about this controversy, I conducted an interview with Professor Kang Sang-wook of Sangmyung University’s Department of Chemical Energy Engineering. I asked the professor what foods contain aspartame that the public does not know well about other foods other than soda, the results of conflicting studies on aspartame, and his opinion on them. In addition, I asked the risk of complex toxicity that was mentioned in the professor's YouTube video on artificial sweeteners, and his thoughts on this part and the public opinion that concerns the risk of aspartame. In response to some of these questions, the professor said as follows: First of all, aspartame is famous for its use in drinks such as zero coke, but it is also used in Kimchi made in China and Makgeolli. Second, the main point of the conflicting findings on aspartame was that the incidence of cancer was high in the group that consumed it after dividing it into groups that consumed it for a long time and those that did not. These results are hard to see as a direct result that artificial sweeteners themselves cause cancer. In addition, the permitted artificial sweeteners have been tested on animals, and if it is to be dangerous to humans, it must be consumed in large quantities such as drinking dozens of cans of soda a day. Therefore, that's why the U.S. FDA also maintains its position that it is okay to consume it while complying with the usage standards. Additionally, as such, the U.S. FDA emphasizes that it is safe to comply with usage standards, all of which are based on animal testing results. However, this has seen the toxicity of artificial sweeteners themselves, and in fact, we do not eat only artificial sweeteners themselves when eating food. We eat a variety of foods, and each food has a lot of chemicals. It is not known what chemical reactions occur when each of these chemicals and artificial sweeteners are present together, and not all of the complex toxicity when they are present together has been studied. It is therefore true that there is a potential danger. Nevertheless, the amount of artificial sweeteners added is very small, so even if the risk is revealed in the future, there is no need to worry enough to say that you will never consume them. However, when you get used to it, the human brain continues to look for the corresponding sweet taste due to the compensation system. Eventually, eating habits can change to wanting stimulating food, and as a result, it is more likely to lead to an increase in meat intake and sugar intake.The research results that have the aforementioned risks also seem to be due to this change in diet. The ongoing craze for Zero Foods is expected to become more diverse and popular. This is controversial and there are many concerns about artificial sweeteners, but there is not enough data to emphasize the risk in itself. Therefore, it will be desirable to avoid excessive intake of artificial sweeteners, try not to be tamed by sweetness, and consume Zero foods moderately. Sources: http://news.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=20230712000395 http://news.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=20230707000690 https://www.mk.co.kr/news/business/10769946 https://www.nongshim.com/promotion/global_news/trend_view?groupCode=007&groupId=18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Tml1V9pPE

• 작성일 2023-08-11
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제 18 호 Meet a Living Legend: Dr. Kim and His Marvelous Life

Kicker: COVER STORY Meet a Living Legend: Dr. Kim and His Marvelous Life by Da-Hwee Kim, Editor-in-chief / Ji-Min Baek, Reporter (from the SM Herald) elfnme@naver.com/pjm5875@naver.com by Tae-Uck Kim, Editor-in-chief / Jeong-In Choi, Reporter (from the Sogang Herald) ypyitu@sogang.ac.kr/jeong02@sogang.ac.kr Celebrating the month of Patriots and Veterans in June, The Sangmyung Herald and The Sogang Herald interviewed Dr. Kim Kyung-jin, a living legend who has undergone various events in Korea, including the Korean War. This interview progressed with the introduction of Professor Samuel A. Denny, Jr., who serves as the English adviser for all of the articles at The SM Herald. We had a good opportunity to interview him and worked in cooperation with The Sogang Herald. To introduce Dr. Kim briefly, he was born in the Japanese colony of Manchuria in the city that is now known as Changchun. He and his mother returned to Korea just as Japan was surrendering in August 1945 because the Russians had invaded Manchuria. When he was in Seoul, the North Koreans occupied Seoul at the outbreak of the Korean War. Accordingly, he has memories from when he met and interacted with North Korean Soldiers. After the War, he finished his education and worked as an English teacher at a high school. He also experienced and studied various majors. Currently, Dr. Kim is taking classes with Professor Samuel Denny at Sangmyung University’s Center for Continuing Education. From now on, we will look at his story and his connection with various historical events. Picture of Dr. Kim A Brief Explanation about the Month of Patriots and Veterans 'Month of Patriots and Veterans' was designated for the first time in 1963 and is being implemented as a government-wide event. In the meantime, there have been many changes to the event's name and commemoration period. As it is the month designated by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs to commemorate June, in which Memorial Day, the beginning of the Korean War on June 25th, and the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong on June 29th all took place, it can be said that it is a month to commemorate the martyrdoms and patriotic spirits and engrave their meaning in the heart. Therefore, various events and projects are being promoted in order to create a climate that respects national merit and patriots and to cultivate the spirit of love for the country among the people. Dig into the Life of Dr. Kim Dr. Kim’s first encounter with North Korea was during the early stages of the Korean War, when the invader was making swift progress advancing southwards. He was in Seoul at the time, and because the North Korean forces were quick to capture the capital city—in a mere three days since they commenced the invasion—he, along with many others, was unable to evacuate the area in time. Dr. Kim recalls that one of the first and most obvious changes that occurred with the new leadership was school—classes no longer taught Korean, maths, science, or any other subject one may expect to be taught in school. Rather, every class of every day was devoted to making sure that students believed in the ‘correct’ values, and lectures had degenerated to propaganda. Reporters from the SM Herald and the Sogang Herald having an interview with Dr. Kim Living conditions were outstandingly poor at the time. One day, Dr. Kim, due to an unknown illness, had been lying on the streets unconscious, when a North Korean soldier woke him up. Upon realizing that the young student was in poor health, the soldier brought a pill from his base and gave it to him, whispering “This is good stuff; it’s from America.” The same people that praised Kim Il-sung and the Communist party on the one hand were secretly using and appreciating Western goods on the other, a long tradition still to live on in present-day North Korea. Nevertheless, the soldier, upon finding out that Dr. Kim had talent in music, then took him to his base, offering him a position to teach the North Korean soldiers revolutionary and propaganda songs. Having no other option, Dr. Kim accepted the role, and, to this day, he still remembers the lyrics to the “Song of the Partisans” and the “Song of General Kim Il-sung.” With the success of Operation Chromite in September 1950, Seoul would return to the hands of the Republic of Korea on September 28th. This was short-lived, however, as once China entered the war, the capital was to be lost again in January of the following year. This time, however, knowing the terror of Communist rule, people were eager to flee the city early on, amongst them being Dr. Kim. He moved to his uncle’s home in Andong, where he came across a group of US Military Police by chance. Though not fluent, he was able to speak a little English, which eventually led him to work with the US Military Police on translating road signs. Dr. Kim mentioned that the English-Japanese dictionary he had at the time came in particularly handy, as he knew Japanese relatively well. As the work progressed, he would slowly make his way back to the once-again liberated capital. The war had since fallen into a stalemate, until an armistice agreement was made. This was 70 years ago, and the country still remains divided. Picture of Dr. Kim and Professor Samuel A. Denny, Jr. War was to be no more, but during the years following the conflict, another enemy arose, this time from within. It was none other than President Syngman Rhee and his government. President Rhee, despite claiming to be a liberal democrat, was a corrupt dictator, one who would oppress anyone who was to get in his way. Though his misdeeds were plenty, perhaps the most well-known one—the final blow to his unstable leadership—was the March 1960 election fraud, which would ultimately lead to the April Revolution that brought an end to his presidency. On April 19, 1960, thousands of students who had become weary of the dictatorship and longed for a true democracy marched towards the presidential office, demanding that President Rhee step down from his position. A student of Korea University at the time, Dr. Kim had also participated in the march, and he was amongst those who were wounded by gunfire. As the demonstrations intensified, the police were authorized to shoot live rounds towards the crowd in order to keep the situation under control. In the end, Dr. Kim was one of the luckier ones to survive, as almost 200 were killed during the protests. Dr. Kim had been shot in his right arm, the wound still visible to this day. He specifically remembers the event that occurred whilst he was receiving emergency treatment at the National Medical Centre; just as he regained consciousness, he noticed intense arguing outside the room, which turned out to be between his doctor and the police who were trying to arrest him for his involvement in the protest march. He was only spared thanks to the Scandinavian doctors[1] who insisted that saving the patient’s life was a much higher priority. [1] At the time, the National Medical Center was run by Scandinavian doctors, as the facility was mostly funded by the three Scandinavian nations, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Dr. Kim having experienced and witnessed so many salient events in Korea’s recent history, it is safe to say that he is living proof of the turmoil that occurred over the years on the Korean peninsula. Through this joint article between The Sangmyung Herald and The Sogang Herald, we wish to preserve his memories, and, in doing so, allow people of the present and future to reflect upon our past and remember and commemorate those who had devoted their lives to our country. Source: https://edu.mpva.go.kr/learn/bohun/list.do (All photos are taken by Da-Hwee Kim, Ji-Min Baek and Professor Samuel A. Denny, Jr.)

• 작성일 2023-05-29
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제 17 호 Trending-: Offline Business Channels

Kicker : COVER STORY(Commerce) Trending-: Offline Business Channels Thinking Out of the Box Is Necessary for Everyone Do-Hyuk Kim, Reporter ndapple0921@gmail.com 'Retail Store' In Our Minds Often Look Like This As we all know, the smartphone has changed our entire world dramatically. It helped people to stay online regardless of their location, encouraging them to communicate more and fetch necessities conveniently in a way no one could have possibly expected previously. Buying a new item to enrich or to show off your life never felt so easy, until the appearance of the smartphone. Before these little pocket-rockets dominated the solution of accessing the internet, there was something called ‘the computer.’ Online commerce was born at that time, and never hesitated to grow up its market share since it’s first appearance. Amazon raised the bar of online commerce provider in America decades ago by selling budget-friendly books that could be accessed via online. Then in Korea, a company called Coupang completely reshaped how online commerce worked by fully utilizing smartphone’s interface and a marketing strategy to match. Everyone now believes that online is a supreme channel for purchasing goods for their daily lives and those beliefs are sturdy, because it has been reinforced for years. But interestingly, a major shift in commerce has already swung into action. Not only did the development of the smartphone and improvement of cellular technology reinforced online commerce to be the segment you should care about, but COVID-19 did too. The virus that humanity had never seen before locked down our daily lives, then led everyone to step into the world of contactless everything. Contactless shopping also turned up, rising as the most crucial shopping channel companies to consider. In fact, every month of 2022 marked an increase of the volume of online shopping compared to 2021. Popular opinion says that other shopping channels already reached their peak in terms of growth, but online shopping – which includes mobile shopping – still possesses headroom to become much more influential. That made all retail companies dive and focus on online shopping, but some people are thinking differently. Familiar Brands Are Constantly Innovating, Striving for Survival One of the most popular brands for purchasing clothes in Korea, ‘Musinsa’ recently opened an offline store that encourages customers to visit for taking a look at clothes they are going to buy and try them. Musinsa originally began as an online-only seller that spun all types of clothes, including underwear and sunglasses, and currently is the biggest shopping channel that the younger generation likes to visit. The offline store was a following act for launching their private clothing brand, ‘Musinsa Standard’, and they decided to open a place where people can experience the clothes. They knew that the biggest concern people got while shopping online is that they should confirm purchase without looking and touching the product they are going to buy. So, in the middle of the COVID-19 era when social distancing was ongoing, they launched their flagship store in the heart of Seoul, Hongdae. Foreign example brings up ‘Sephora’, which is a French company that sells cosmetic products. We are all familiar with drugstores such as ‘Olive Young’ that sell a variety of products including snacks and beauty related consumer goods. Sephora is one of them, but different in one significant point. Sephora built an offline store that does not sell any of their displayed products to customers. Those stores are only focused on experiencing their products and customers should go back home without any purchase. After people returned to their homes, they should order those products experienced via the online store Sephora has prepared. Sounds quite weird and intriguing, but Sephora’s out of the box plan succeeded. No other competitive drugstore brands marked growth during recent offline store’s downturn, but Sephora recorded growth due to this strategy. Enhancing customer satisfaction by giving a chance to customers to wear those cosmetic products and closely examining their looks worked to satisfy customers. Luxury Brands Are Also Sensitive to Latest Vogue Not only do consumer-friendly cheap brands struggle to attract customers, but luxury brands too. Chanel is constantly enticing customers by opening pop-up stores. Current pop-up store ongoing is placed in Bukchon Hanok Village located in the center of Seoul. In Chanel’s latest pop-up store, you can experience Chanel’s perfume lineup. Because perfume conveys scent, it is hard for customers to fully perceive what the perfume conveys to the user. To eradicate this problem, Chanel brought up an offline pop-up store, but in a slightly different way. The way to access this pop-up store and go through programs that they have prepared is to buy a Chanel product. Then a private invitation follows, which encourages customers to make a visit. This unique proposition shows that the purpose of pop-up stores is not simply attracting every single people that are familiar to Chanel, but to lock in their already experienced customers to constantly buy Chanel’s other products. Luxury brand’s customers tend to spend their money much more willingly and have other options to move on to different luxury brands, and it looks like Chanel penetrated their consumption habits. Emphasizing their heritage and uncompromising qualities through offline stores is one of the marketing plans that shrunk while social distancing was ongoing, and Chanel quickly took the lead by proposing these pop-up stores every single year recently. Different Tactics Always Accompany Dangers This altering plan to returning to offline stores is not unusual, but there are some significant risks that follow. The first issue is related to distribution of product. If a company sticks on online channels, the thing they only have to do is put all of their consumer goods in a single warehouse and contact delivery services to send them to customers. But opening up offline stores makes everything much more complicated, forcing companies to distribute sufficient amounts of each good at every single store. If the company sells products that are not influenced by the date going passed, that would be less problematic. Companies selling groceries or processed foods need to throw away foods that have already passed expiry date, and that is all included in costs that the company should undertake. Secondly, opening an online shopping mall is considerably cheaper than a genuine store offline. Incarnating an internet site and uploading products that are expected to sell requires way less people to be involved. All they need is a team to construct an internet site and maintain it to be hassle free for customers, but an actual shop requires more workers to bring products to the store and arranging, selling and cashier to process the entire product buying progress. Fewer people involved means a huge amount of cost saving, because when you calculate all the cost that have been spent for forming a business, labor is the most expensive one and eats up most portion in expense. Due to high expenses on providing wages for employees, some stores are bringing up robots and vending machines to avoid using people for providing services to customers. Purchasing machines might cost some money at the moment, but in the long-term, the amount that machines save is tremendous. There is a clear limitation too, where the quality of services provided by actual humans and robots differ dramatically. If the offline store is opened for improving customer satisfaction by delivering an outstanding customer experience, like the examples that this article has given previously, ensuring all those prices is essential. As we have found out, various brands worldwide are striving to improve their performance during hard times. Most people are still thinking about the pending trend that everyone talks about that focusing on online shopping channels is essential. That is true, but to become ahead of the curve requires more blue-sky thoughts. Returning to opening offline shops might be risky, but customers’ response is compensating those extra expenses. The world is changing faster than people are expecting, so I hope readers of this article practice to think outside the box. Sometimes, ostensible madness can change the world. Sources: https://kosis.kr/covid/statistics_onlineshopping.do https://www.gqkorea.co.kr/2022/12/16/%EC%83%A4%EB%84%AC%EC%9D%98-%ED%96%A5%EA%B8%B0%EB%A5%BC-%EB%A7%8C%EB%82%98%EB%8B%A4/ https://www.gqkorea.co.kr/2021/06/04/%EB%AC%B4%EC%8B%A0%EC%82%AC-%ED%94%8C%EB%9E%98%EA%B7%B8%EC%8B%AD-%EC%8A%A4%ED%86%A0%EC%96%B4-%EB%AC%B4%EC%8B%A0%EC%82%AC-%EC%8A%A4%ED%83%A0%EB%8B%A4%EB%93%9C-%ED%99%8D%EB%8C%80/ https://www.collinsdictionary.com/ko/dictionary/english/supermarket (Image)

• 작성일 2023-02-18
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제 16 호 Inflation All Around the World

Kicker: COVER STORY (Inflation) Inflation All Around the World Yeong-Jin Choi, Editor pch39067@gmail.com Are you aware of the fact that prices of every product all around the world are increasing at a steep rate because of the war between Russia and Ukraine? Some might question why some products that seems like they have nothing to do with the war, apples, and Bluetooth speakers, for instance, are also becoming much more expensive. The real problem, though, is the exchange rate. Experts are pointing out that the exchange rate between the won, the Korean currency, and the dollar in the United States will keep on rising, implying that all the prices of the products being imported from the U.S. will be more and more expensive. As a person who recently went to America for more than a month, I was able to actually feel the seriousness of inflation and high exchange rate between the won and dollar by spending much more money than I had planned firsthand. This circumstance is not only limited to the United States, as I have already mentioned above. It is seriously impacting Korea’s economy as well, resulting in critical damage to financial spending on Koreans. What is Inflation? What is inflation? Inflation is a measure of the rate of rising prices of goods and services in an economy. If inflation occurrs, leading to higher prices for basic necessities such as food, it can have a negative impact on society. It can occur in nearly any product or service, including care and utilities, as well as want expenses, such as cosmetics, automobiles, and jewelry. Once inflation becomes prevalent throughout an economy, the expectation of further inflation becomes an overriding concern in the consciousness of consumers and businesses alike. Inflation can be a concern because it makes money saved today less valuable tomorrow. It erodes a consumer’s purchasing power and can even interfere with the ability to retire. Various types of Inflation and Their Causes There are various factors that can cause inflation in an economy. Typically, inflation is caused when prices increase due to increases in production costs, such as raw materials and wages. This is called “Cost-Push Inflation”. Another factor that causes inflation is natural disasters. Hurricanes and tornadoes, for example, may destroy produce from the farm, resulting in the goods to be more expensive in the market. When strong consumer demand for a product or service, and a surge in demand for a wide breadth of goods across an economy, their prices tend to increase. This is called “Demand-Pull Inflation”. When the demand for a particular good or service increases, the available supply decreases. When fewer items are available, consumers are willing to pay more to obtain the item, resulting in a price increase on the products. Companies can also cause inflation. If consumers are willing to pay for the companies’ popular products, corporations may raise prices to gain more benefits. If enough people expect inflation to continue in the future, the price of goods and services will rise. Since people’s common expectations that the economy would not be stabilized in the near future prolongs, workers may start to demand higher wages in order to anticipate rising prices and maintain their standard of living. Ultimately, since increased wages would result in higher costs for businesses, they would try to obtain their revenues from their buyers, creating “Built-in Inflation”. How Does the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Result in Inflation Worldwide? Experts say, however, that the recent rise in inflation all around the world, especially in the United States of America and in European countries, is unusual. The recent rise in inflation is odd because it came on very quickly and sharply. International factors like bottlenecks* in global supply chains and the Russian invasion of Ukraine play an important role in driving inflation. Many already know that economic activity had been recovering as lockdown measures from the COVID-19 pandemic gradually eased. However, unlike their expectations that economies worldwide would eventually recover, inflation took the place. Russia’s Invasion on Ukraine Financial experts tend to focus on the negative effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such as inflation and hinderance of economic growth. Commodity markets are in turmoil and financial markets have been highly volatile since the start of the conflict, and this impacts on higher household spending. The real problem is that the inflation is expected to last more than several years. Experts continue to expect higher commodity prices because of the disruption to food and other exports from Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on exports from Russia. Modeling assumptions of economic experts tell us that the war between Russia and Ukraine has led to a 30 percent increase in oil prices, 90 percent increase in European gas prices, and a 17 percent increase in food prices. Naturally, higher energy prices feed into inflation, and the study tells that the war in Ukraine will add about two percent to global inflation in 2022, and one percent in 2023. To sum up, it is very likely for us to understand that the invasion of Ukraine by Russia is causing a severe price increase on three factors that causes inflation worldwide: food, transport, and energy. *Bottleneck: A place where a road becomes narrow, or a place where there is often a lot of traffic, causing the traffic to slow down or stop. Even though the negative impacts of COVID-19 are starting to fade away, we cannot deny that many people all around the world are still suffering with the aftereffect, like losing their health and some losing their jobs. To those who are struggling to make a comeback from COVID-19, inflation occurring can be a life-or-death situation. I feel that stabilizing the global economy is the utmost situation that can reduce many people’s financial stress. Therefore, I truly hope for the best and for the situation to improve for the happiness of many. Sources: https://url.kr/q6oin2 https://url.kr/ehawt7 https://url.kr/392e4j https://url.kr/n8k25x

• 작성일 2022-11-30
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제 15 호 The Best Way to Prepare Your Global Program Abroad

Kicker: COVER STORY (GLOBAL PROGRAMS) The Best Way to Prepare Your Global Program Abroad By Yeong-Jin Choi, Editor pch39067@gmail.com It is always hard for me to take the leap of faith* if the field I am willing to be part of is completely new to me. It takes a long time to adjust myself to fit in; furthermore, what is even worse is that I always feel a bit frightened of encountering a new atmosphere. What do you think when I ask you a question: Are you ready to pack up your things and ride an airplane, fly all the way to the United States, and live there for more than a month without anyone’s help? You might answer, it would be hard if you cannot get any help from anyone you know. I agree. While I was preparing to go to Stony Brook University in New York State in America this summer, the more I tried to prepare for it, the more I felt helpless and lost. I desperately needed someone’s help to prepare the whole step, but all I could get was some postings from the blog from random people. The hardest part of the entire preparation method was until I got my F-1 visa. It would have been nice if I had someone decent enough that could help me, someone who has the experience of going abroad as a Global Program student from Sangmyung University, I thought. Therefore, this article is for students who are interested in going to other countries as a student of a global program of Sangmyung University but are clueless of what to prepare. *Take the leap of faith: To go for something; to take a one’s chances on something Wolfie, a Mascot of Stony Brook University Getting a Passport To begin with, I must start from the day I started to prepare for getting a passport. Since I have never been to foreign countries before, this was my first time of making a passport. Even though we do not need the passport number right away when we register for the program, it is better to prepare it in advance of when we actually need it, and because making a passport requires quite a long time, I highly recommend making one before that. After that, I submitted my forms which were written in my own handwriting by scanning the documents and waited for further instructions. It did take some time to get to the next step because the instructor needed to keep in touch with the IEC Program manager at Stony Brook University. Questions I Secretly Had While Using the Website When the instructor informed us to visit the website of SBU and doexactly what it says, I felt kind of lost. The hard part was not that everything was written in English, but the fact that I had to skip the payment part and finish the form on the website. I thought, ‘When are we paying for the program, then?’ The only thing that the instructor told us was to wait until SBU hands us further instructions on what to do next, and I felt a bit stressful just to wait and do nothing. Hardships I Faced When Buying an Airplane Ticket I hope that you already know that the airplane tickets are less expensive when we buy it way ahead of time. The thing is, in my case, because the Intensive English Program (IEC) at Stony Brook was scheduled all of a sudden, we could not get the plane ticket ahead of time. For the convenience of the students, I believe that SBU should have informed of the pick-up schedule and to ask for the students to buy a certain ticket. That did not happen. When I personally asked to the instructor of what plane I should book, all he told me was to wait some more until they notified us. Methods I Took on Getting a F-1 Visa The next step I took was to prepare for my F-1 visa. It was my first time getting a visa, and I expected that the instructor would tell us the way about how and when to obtain a visa. Well, I guess I had too high hopes, because that did not happen this time as well. Anyway, since other students seemed to successfully get their visas, I got the feeling that I should hurry up and get one as well. Taking photos for visa was one thing but paying a lot of money for all kinds of things I should prepare in advance of getting the F-1 visa was another. Web surfing was all I could do. Naver, a web browser that all Koreans might be familiar with, showed me some blogs that explained the way how to get a F-1 visa. At first, I was doubtful with it. It said that I had to pay more than 700k won in one day, and the steps according to the blog seemed extremely complicated. I decided to give it a try and take a leap, and it was a success. Visa Interview After that, what I had to do was to print out everything and attend the visa interview. When I searched for some information about the visa interview, all I could find was that it is just a piece of cake, so I should not be worried about it. It turned out to be right, but when I was there on the spot and saw people who were standing right in front of me failing, it was a bit worrying. What the consuls* ask us is simple. They want to know when and why we are going to America. The consul that interviewed me also asked who was paying my tuition, and how long I am staying at the States. What I think is important while having an interview is to be polite to the consul and keep being passionate on answering to the questions asked. How fluent we are on English may or may not matter on obtaining a visa, but to show how desperate we are on getting a visa and taking the program at America might help a little. A Picture of a Person Having a Visa Interview with a Consul *Consul: An official chosen by a government to live in a foreign city, in order to take care of people from the official’s own country who travel or live there, and to protect the trade interests of that government Tip Related with COVID Tests The policies might change in the future, but if COVID still is out there when you are preparing for the program, please keep in mind that SBU can require you to get a PCR or Antigen* test in order to move into the dormitory. If you do not have much time or miscalculated the date and could not prepare the document on time, it is always available to take a PCR or Antigen test at the Incheon Airport. It would be better if you make a reservation before you get to the airport if you are running out of time. Plus, being polite all the time and obeying to the requests of the conductors of the immigration check is very important. If you are not following the orders properly, you might be banned to take the plane and get all kinds of disadvantages altogether. *Antigen: A substance that causes the body’s immune system to react, especially by producing antibodies Stony Brook University (SBU) is situated in Long Island, New York. Some people might be familiar with this school as one of its campuses is located in Incheon, South Korea. Since Long Island is such a beautiful place to stay, I really enjoyed being there. If possible, as a person who learned a lot of valuable lesson and had all kinds of precious experiences while doing the program, I would most strongly recommend you all to plan for going abroad to SBU as a student of Sangmyung University’s global program . Sources: https://www.stonybrook.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stony_Brook_University

• 작성일 2022-08-29
• 좋아요 Like 1