Brian in Jeollanam-do - Blogging Korea and South Jeolla

My latest is in the Joongang Ilbo today. They haven't yet run any sort of introduction to the premise, so please read how I prefaced it here and here. They also inexplicably edited the last paragraph to read:

If you don’t include North Korea, Japan is the closest foreign country to South Korea. Indeed most Koreans are far more likely to meet a Japanese person on the street than an Anglophone - bad blood between the two nations notwithstanding.

That doesn't make any sense. Here's how it read when I submitted it:

If you don’t include North Korea, Japan is the closest foreign country to South Korea, and each year citizens from both countries visit the other. Indeed most Koreans are far more likely to meaningfully use Japanese than English or other foreign languages, and with the economy being what it is, are more likely to meet a Japanese person on the street than an Anglophone. The bad blood between the two nations notwithstanding, considering the linguistic and geographic closeness, and considering the relatively poor ability of Koreans in English, perhaps we will see more interest in learning Japanese in the future.