Gangjin's Sunghwa College, Suncheon's Myungshin University "lousy schools", may close this fall.

Last month we learned about corruption and embezzlement at two small post-secondary schools in Jeollanam-do, Sunghwa College and Myungshin University. This month we read in the Korea JoongAng Daily that they're likely to close.

In line with its no-tolerance policy for lousy schools, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology ordered two universities in South Jeolla to shut down if they don’t make immediate changes the ministry has demanded.

The two schools, Myungshin University and Sunghwa College, are expected to close as both of the schools have been accused of corrupt practices such as giving grades and attendance records to thousands of students who never bothered going to classes, trying to boost their reputations.

“We expect the schools’ closings to be finished by early next year,” said Kim Dae-sung, an official at the Education Ministry.

Myungshin University has until September 27th to repay the embezzled funds, while Sunghwa College's deadline is October 1st.

The Korea Times writes that government subsidies to these 43 "lousy" schools will end "as part of a set of measures to weed out poorly-managed higher education establishments."

The government will also restrict loans for students attending 17 of the 43 schools. Loans to students at the worst four schools — Kundong University in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province; Myungshin University in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province; Holy People University in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province; and Sunghwa College in Gangjin, South Jeolla Province — will be limited to only 30 percent of tuition fees next year.

At least Sunghwa College has a neat campus.

The Korea JoongAng Daily embedded a list of the 43 "lousy" schools, typed after the jump:

Big trouble at small Gangjin college.

A good edition of "Korea Finder" might start with this:



A better edition wouldn't give it away in the title, though.

The JoongAng Daily writes of the troubles surrounding Gangjin county's Sunghwa College (성화대학), located in a small village northwest of the county seat:

Education authorities said the former president of Sunghwa College in South Jeolla embezzled billions of won from the school, explaining why the college paid just 130,000 won ($124) a month to its professors.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced yesterday that the former president and school founder, surnamed Lee, embezzled a total of 6.5 billion won since 2005, including 5.2 billion won that he transferred from the college’s coffers to a company that he owns.

. . .

According to the ministry, Lee appointed his wife, high school classmates and hometown friends to the college’s board as well as naming his 31-year-old daughter as his executive assistant.

Lee’s second daughter, 27, was appointed as the head of the accounting unit.

On a similar topic in the neighborhood, two weeks ago the JoongAng Daily also wrote that Myungshin University (명신대학교), between Boseong county and Suncheon,

was dealt a heavy blow by the educational authorities who cited it for corrupt management, including embezzling 6.5 billion won ($6.1 million).

The paper called it, in an editorial the same day,

a typical example of the mismanaged private universities that have degenerated into a profitable business by selling diplomas.

It's been a slow news year for Jeollanam-do, and the reason this story caught my eye is not simply because it talks about an untenable business model close to "home", but because I've worked in the area and visited the school a couple times. When I worked in Gangjin county I taught in Seongjeon-myeon each Friday at a small elementary school a block from the college. Basically the only post-secondary institution in the county, its campus was distinctive for a couple reasons: for the caged deer it kept across from the administration building, and for the four airplanes it kept on campus.

Satellite view from Naver Maps. The big green thing on the left is a driving range on campus.

Daum's Road View gives us a look at smaller model by the entrance:

From May 16, 2010.

Taken March 29, 2007, outside the school's main building:



From Road View:



For more pictures, click the first blog link---a bike trip from Mokpo to Seongjeon-myeon--- from this Naver search. As is often the case with Naver Cafe posts, I can't link to it directly, because for many, making entries inaccessible is just as much fun as writing them.

Gangjin's "Heart Strawberries."

The heart-shaped strawberries (하트딸기) they grow in Gangjin county's Gudong-myeon make the news every once in a while---and made this blog in June 2009---this time because of White Day on March 15th. You can order yours from the official Naver cafe "하트딸기카페" (http://cafe.naver.com/icigo), with a url for some reason containing the Japanese word for strawberry.


From 2009.

They call it *smack* the "Love Very," and a box of six costs 25,000 won.

People still care about Twinkies?

The exchange program between sister cities Gangjin and Snoqualmie, Washington, has gotten a relatively good bit of press the past couple years. This month a Gangjin middle schooler's trip over winter break made the local paper, the SnoValley Star.

Fresh off the airplane after a grueling trip from Korea, teenager Eun Seong confessed to one big objective for his monthlong trip to Snoqualmie.

“I want to eat a Twinkie,” he said during a reception at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, sister city of Seong’s hometown of Gangjin.

Big snow means everyone in Gangjin pitches in. From a series of photographs from the Gangjin Ilbo after a foot of snow through the 31st.

Sisters of Charity mark 50 years of work in Korea, Jeollanam-do.

From the official 사랑의씨튼수녀회 site.

"News" from last month with a Gangjin and Pittsburgh connection, as several Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill (사랑의씨튼수녀회) returned to South Korea to celebrate the group's 50th anniversary of work there. The Sisters came to Jeollanam-do in 1960 from western Pennsylvania to found a girls' school, and with their domestic colleagues still operate community centers in Gwangju and St. Joseph's Girls' High School in Gangjin county. The official site has an overview of their work in Korea, and East Asia:

Today, 205 Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill serve in the Korean Province and in 11 dioceses there. Several American sisters are members of the Korean Province, but the majority of its members are native Korean women. Each year, at least one American Sister of Charity volunteers to serve in Korea teaching English as a second language to both sisters and students.

Our ministries in the Korean Province are varied and include a school for children who are blind, another school for children with physical disabilities, and a bakery that teaches vocational skills to young adults with physical disabilities.

The Pittsburgh Press has an article from June 25th, 1960 about the first mission.

When the freighter "California Bear" pulls out of San Francisco Sept. 22 and heads for the Far East, probably the most unusual cargo she ever carried will be stowed away in the hold.
It will be the makings of a foreign mission to the southwestern tip of Korea. In the ship's cabins will be four nuns who have been chosen to start the first foreign mission of the Sisters of Charity at Seton Hill Greensburg.

. . .

Out of the community of more than 800 religious, these four were selected from the many who volunteered when Bishop Harold W. Henry invited the sisters to open a school in the Vicariate of Kwangju, Korea.

The Press has another article four years later when one woman's mother visited the mission in Jeollanam-do. Several articles and mentions appeared in Pittsburgh papers after that---in 1970, 1972, and 1983---interestingly repeating a typographical error in 1964: "Kang Tjin."


Sisters in Gangjin, from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea messageboard.


An early English class.

I was lucky enough to meet one of these women in 2006 through a mutual friend, one of several expatriates in South Korea with a western Pennsylvania connection. And, in an interesting coincidence, I learned last Easter that my mother's aunt's cousin, one of the women who attended the commemoration, lived and taught in Gangjin a couple of years before I arrived.

Reader questions: Gangnam public schools, English-speaking real estate agents, and Gangjin Foreign Language Town.

From time to time I get questions on topics such as conditions at a certain school, visa procedures, or Korean internet issues, and really unless the questions have to do with regional tourism it can be quite difficult to track down answers halfway across the world. It's easier to turn the questions over to readers and assemble a collection of answers via comments. Today there are a few questions from two readers: about finding housing while working for a Gangnam public school, and about taking a job with the Gangjin Foreign Language Town.

The first question comes via email regarding public school positions in Gangnam, inspired by a post last fall "More bullshit from Seoul public schools: Gangnam changes contract, won't provide housing anymore":

I just applied for a public middle school teaching job in Gangnam, and the academic coordinator is interested in my application. For the longest time I've thought Gangnam is the place to teach/ live. But after reading about this on your blog and the Chosun Bimbo, I've been second guessing its hype, especially since they don't offer housing anymore. I want to take this job, but I really don't have the Key money to put down on an apt.

I'm wondering:
Does the Gangnam DOE offer Key money?

And, I read here: http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-bullshit-from-seoul-public-schools.html that you had some info on real estate agents. Could you fill me in on English speaking real estate agents?

Searching through the post I don't see any information about English-speaking real estate agents, but will offer Seoul's Craigslist as one possible solution.

The second question comes as a comment to a March 2008 post, "Gangjin Foreign Language Town will finally open." I had written about it a few times since I signed a contract to work there but was platooned in a local elementary school for a month, then two months, then finally for a whole year as the opening was delayed for 18 months. emcat writes:

so i was just offered this job for March 2011. I live in Gwangju at the moment. I am just wondering if you know of how that school is progressing as of now. This post scares me a little, I will be honest.

let me know.
yoemcat@gmail.com

I don't have many updates on the Town or the post, other than to report that there's finally an official website for the 강진외국어타운. The three foreign instructors listed can be Facebooked for contact information.

You can judge for yourselves how scary the post is, and can discuss---as we did a little here---the wisdom of these rural English islands that aim to provide more "practical" and situational English instruction (see the dialogues and scenarios previewed here) in lieu of weekly or biweekly meetings with NSETs, but the lack of planning isn't unusual. I will say that since 2007, and since March 2008, there have been a couple of changes in the area to which emcat might be able to attest. The first is that a bunch more English-speakers have passed through the area to live and work, exposing not only more students to native speaker English teachers, but collecting more information on the region for potential signees. As I mentioned many times before, before I moved to Gangjin I never saw a picture of it and didn't know a thing about it. Like I just said you can browse Facebook and contact teachers currently or formerly with the school, a luxury not available to people who passed through rural Jeollanam-do just a couple of years ago.

Secondly, the local expatriate community in Jeollanam-do is more connected and more active, so that while a contract in rural Gangjin could be extremely lonely a few years ago, there are more options available for teachers who want to interact not only with other English-speaking teachers, but with foreigners from different countries and local Korean residents. Facebook is full of local groups and meet-ups, and the Gwangju International Center is bigger and more active than ever before. Those things won't account for the shitty planning you'll find at English programs throughout the country, but they'll make rural Korea a more pleasant and satisfying experience.

Please add any answers or updates you have as a comment.

A report by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, according to the Korea Herald, says the most-expensive 30-pyeong apartment in the country is in Gangnam's Gaepo-gu, 75-times the cheapest of that size in Gangjin county's Byeongyeong-myeon. From the 매일경제 on the 4th:

이 중 가장 비싼 아파트는 서울시 강남구 개포동 주공아파트2단지로 80.15㎡ 면적에 공시지가 12억8000만원에 달했다. 반면 제일 싼 아파트는 전라남도 강진군 병영면 성남리 상우아파트로 84.87㎡ 면적에 공시지가 1700만원을 기록했다.

2010 Gangjin Celadon Culture Festival (강진청자문화축제): August 7th - 15th.

Gangjin county's most famous product has a festival each year---the Gangjin Celadon Culture Festival (강진청자문화축제) with 2010's being from August 7th through the 15th.


White people looking at lanterns in Gangjin. From Newsis.

The fesival received small mention in the Korea Herald earlier, in a piece called "Promoting Korea everyone's responsibility," a tiresome focus on branding to a global audience an interesting but nonetheless small corner of the country.

A lot could be said about Gangjin, all good of course, but one important feature that is missing is a brand that will propel the city into the hearts and minds of locals and international tourists alike.

Sure Gangjin is famous for its celadon, sure they make great tea, sure they have beaches, delicious seafood and interesting museums, but that one branding image for the area is missing.

Without going overboard, though, and without having to look too hard through the archives here, it's possible to find a number of things to do to make a weekend in Gangjin county worthwhile:

+ Visit Maryang-myeon, the scenic coastal township at the southern tip of the county.

+ Stop at two unique temples: Nammireuksa, with the biggest Buddha in Korea; and Omcheonsa, which has thousands of loose-stone pagodas.




+ See what carries the awkward English name "Byeongyeong Sacred Site," or Byeongyeong Fortress, the barracks---and now museum---where Dutch explorer Hendrick Hamel was held captive for years in the 17th century.

+ Hike Mandeoksan between Baekryeonsa---one of the better-known temples in the county---and Dasan Chodang, a site made famous when yet another outsider was exiled to Gangjin.



+ Get the best view of the county seat atop Boeunsan, a fairly short hike from the bus terminal in Gangjin-eup.



+ Just spend time wandering around rural South Korea, likely a truly foreign experience for many expatriates and Koreans.

Biggest Buddha in Korea.

Last month we read about the huge Catholic church and complex they're building in Mokpo. That isn't the only big worship site in the area: Jeollanam-do also has the biggest Buddha in Korea.



You'll find this 36-meter, 670-kilogram statue at Nammireuksa (남미륵사) in Gangjin county's Gundong-myeon. You'll also see it on the highway if you're driving from Gangjin to points eastward. It went up in 2006---construction photos here---and cost 10 billion won.





I first wrote about the temple and the statue in December 2007, and visited the following February in order to take some photos for a March 2008 Gwangju News article. The temple is comprised of two sections: one has a variety of new shrines, stupa, and statues; the other has the large statue of Amitabha (아미타) and accessories.



Everything was brand new, almost creepily so, except for the lot that connects the two halves.



The temple's in the middle of nowhere



but buses do run somewhat regularly to the vicinity. A bus from the terminal in Gangjin-eup, the county seat, bound for villages to the east will drop you off some 700 meters from the entrance.

April and May festivals in and around Jeollanam-do, 2010 edition.

Because of time constraints I didn't do a large post in March previewing upcoming spring festivals in Jeollanam-do, as I've done in years past. There have already been a few---the Jindo Sea-Parting Festival, the Gwangyang Apricot Festival, the Yudalsan Flower Festival, and several others---and others like the Cheongsan-do Slow Walking Festival, the Shinan Tulip Festival, and Gwangju World Photonics Expo are underway and have already been blogged, but there are plenty of other big ones over the next few weeks. Here's a look at what's coming up. Please post questions, reviews, or additions as a comment below.




Namwon Love Love Festival (남원춘향축제)
* April 23rd - April 26th
* Official site
Actually held in North Jeolla province, the small city of Namwon has several sites devoted to Chunhyang, a character in a well-known folktale, which

tells the story of love between Chunhyang, the daughter of a kisaeng entertainer, and Yi Mongryong, the son of a magistrate. After the two are illegally married, Mongryong goes to Seoul and a corrupt local magistrate attempts to force Chunhyang to be his concubine. She refuses and is faced with death, but is rescued at the last minute by Mongryong returning in his new role as a secret royal inspector.

I don't know why they've decided to call it the "Love Love Festival" this time, but Namwon calls itself the "City of Love" based on its association with Chunhyang. Gwanghallu Garden (광한루) is located about 1.2 kilometers southwest of the express bus terminal, and should be your first stop. The Namwon city page says:

This is the country's classic traditional garden built as a symbol of the universe. Nearby, the garden offers Ojak Bridge, as well as a lake with three mountain deities symbolizing Yeongju (Mt. Halla), Bongnae (Mt. Geumgang) and Bangjang (Mt. Jiri). According to legend, on every July 7th of the lunar calendar, thousands of crows come together and make the Ojak Bridge to allow the Altair and the Weaver to meet each other, and then Chunhyang and her fiance Lee Mong-ryong have a romantic rendezvous on the bridge, thus completing its construction (historical relic No. 303)

But, anyway, it's pretty. Across the river, to the southeast, is what's called the Chunhyang Theme Park. Both sites make for a nice visit, and as far as the festival goes, a daily schedule here, and a further listing of events here and along that sidebar. It's a pretty town on the other side of Jirisan from Jeollanam-do, and is worth a visit if not during the festival, then when you've got a free weekend. Buses run to Namwon a few times an hour from Gwangju, sometimes before heading to another city, and it takes upwards of 70 minutes to make the trip.


Hampyeong Butterfly Festival (함평나비대축제)
* April 23rd - May 9th
* Official site
One of the better-known festivals in the province. It takes place in Hampyeong county. You'll find various schedules buried here, in Korean, and a map of the festival grounds here. I went to the festival twice---in 2008 and 2009---and found the grounds scenic and the flowers pretty, but there actually aren't very many butterflies. They're kept inside one building, surrounded by prohibitively long lines. Visiting the buttefly festival without visiting the butterflies makes for a pleasant enough afternoon, basically a stroll through a huge park. Take a look at last year's post and the accompanying Flickr gallery for more.




Yeongrang Culture Festival (영랑문화제)
* April 23rd - 25th.
* Profile from Gangjin county site
Held in honor of one of the county's most famous products, the poet Kim Yun-sik (penname Yeongrang). His birthplace is a short stroll from the bus terminal in Gangjin-eup. It's a nice little area, especially in spring, and is worth a visit if you live in Gangjin, but there's no reason to make the trip especially for the festival.




Jeonju International Film Festival (전주국제영화제)
* April 29th - May 7th
* Official site
The second-biggest international film festival in the country, held in Jeonju, the capital of North Jeolla province. You can browse through the schedule here, in English, and join the Facebook group for updates.



Damyang Bamboo Festival (담양대나무축제)
* May 1st - May 5th
* Official site
Damyang, a rural county best known for its popular bamboo forest. If you've never been it's worth a trip, but you have to decide for yourself if it's an experience made better through the thousands of Koreans you'll find during the festival. Besides walking through the forest you can purchase lots of bamboo arts and crafts, and can get a look at small-town Korea if you've never seen it, though again maybe festival week isn't very representative of rural Jeollanam-do. This year they've made an English-language site, which provides a program and some background information. It does, unfortunately, start talking about

Damyang is a city rich with green resources and moral culture. Including green bamboo grove, there are antetype of ecosystem remaining in its natural status with healthy breathing, and cultural heritages such as lyrics literature handed down by ancestors are glorious. Therefore, Damyang is the world of {scenery} that is more beautiful than any other place.

Damyang is just outside of Gwangju, and all kinds of buses run back and forth. You can get another bus from the Damyang bus terminal to the forest. When I visited in 2006 it was bus 303 running that route, but that could have changed, and the website provides no further information. Google will be your friend for more information about the area, and Naver will show you pictures from bamboo festivals of years past.




Boseong Green Tea Festival (보성대향제)
* May 1st - May 5th
* Official site
One of the province's representative festivals at one of its representative sites, this takes place at the largest of Boseong's famous green tea fields. They're at their greenest in the spring, and last May is when I took the picture that serves as this blog's header. I took scores of other photographs that day, of performances, arts and crafts, green tea ice cream, and even green tea samgyeopsal, but I lost my camera at Home Plus a few days later, and basically gave away hundreds of pictures to some Suncheon cretin. Anyway, the fields are pretty, and the festival is as fine a time as any to visit them. Buses run regularly to Boseong from Suncheon and Gwangju, and when you arrive at the bus terminal in Boseong you'll find signs in English helping you use the vending machine to get your tickets for the bus to the tea fields.


Jinnamje Memorial Festival (진남제)
* May 3rd - May 5th
* Official site
Held at various sites in Yeosu, the 44th annual Jinnamje Memorial Festival is one of two Turtle Ship festivals in the city that week. There's a program here, in Korean, and somewhat of a map of festival sites here.


Yeosu Turtle Ship Festival (여수거북선대축제)
* May 3rd - May 6th
* Official site (not working)
Yeosu has quite a few sites devoted to national hero Admiral Yi Sun-shin and his boat, and this is another Turtle Ship festival. It was originally scheduled to run from the 5th through the 8th. and will be held at the "new harbor" near the bridge to Odong-do, and the site of the 2012 Expo. I went last year, sort of, because the Yeosu Tall Ships Festival was going on right next door. Aside from a couple parades and a solar-powered turtle ship going around spitting fire, there wasn't a whole lot to it.


Jangseong Hong Gildong Festival (장성홍길동축제)
* May 7th - 9th
* Profile from Jangseong county site
A festival in honor of the folk hero you might think of as a Robin Hood. Jangseong county is very proud of Hong Gil-dong, and you can read more about him, sort of, on the Jangseong county page, which devotes most of its space to him and to strange English like

we will be the leader of 21st century
with brighter and wider eyes

The Jangseong county page also takes for granted that readers believe Hong Gildong and his crew governed Okinawa for a time. You'll find a program for the festival here, in Korean, you'll find the festival at Jangseong's Hong Gildong Theme Park (홍길동테마파크), and you'll need to remember 테마파크 isn't like a theme park in English but is actually a park built around a theme (like Hong Gildong or Chunhyang).


Wando Jang Bogo Festival (완도장보고축제)
* May 7th - May 9th
Held in Wando county in celebration of Jang Bogo, a man who basically set up his own little kingdom on a tiny Wando island and kept the seas safe from pirates in the 9th century. One of the aims of the 2009 festival was, according to the Wando county site:

Increase the Changpogo brand image by consistent strengthening of the Changpogo theme in order to take place as a competitive international festival, even though the Changpogo brand has been settled as the region’s major brand through drama set projects, Jangdo historic site restoring project, Changpogo Memorial Hall, Changpogo Monument project, etc.

Yeah, okay. It's held at various locations throughout the county. Though the drama sets and the reconstructed historical sites look really interesting---ROK Drop has a nice post up on them---it might be challenging to attend this festival unless you live in Wando already. You might keep the sites in mind if you're attending the Cheongsan-do Slow Walking Festival, admittedly held on a different island together.



Dasan Festival (다산제)
* May 7th - May 9th
* Profile from Gangjin county page
Held in Gangjin county in honor of the famous scholar Jeong Yak-yong exiled there for twenty years. It will be held at and around Dasan Chodang, in Doam-myeon, the home where he spent most of his years while exiled to the southern coast. I lived in Gangjin for a year and took an interest in local history and points of interest, and have written a lot about the sites associated with Dasan and other famous Gangjin residents. The area is definitely worth a visit, but perhaps not during this busy weekend. If you do decide to go, that weekend or whenever, you'll want to hike from Dasan Chodang to Baekryeonsa, considered the most famous temple in Gangjin.




Nagan Folk Culture Festival (낙안민속문화축제)
* May 7th - May 9th
* Folk village official site
Held at one of my favorite spots in Suncheon, the Nagan Folk Village, about 25 kilometers outside the city. I've visited the village several times---I've written about my visits here and here---and went to last spring's festival but didn't blog it. It's considered the country's best preserved folk village, and some 200+ people live there and operate minbak and restaurants in the old homes. I consider it a must-visit for people in the area, and I like how a now-defunct blogger described it, quoted from my 2008 post:

This place impressed me on several levels. Part museum, part artists' colony, and part time machine, this historic, inhabited fortress town is an ideal destination for those of us who adore travel but are easily bored by museums and standard touristy fare.

The Korean counterpart to Western Renaissance Fairs, folk villages are communities dedicated to preserving and perpetuating traditional customs and craftsmanship. The village at Nagan is exceptional in that it is housed inside a Chosun-era walled fortress, which in itself is a formidable historic landmark.

If you're interested in visiting the folk village, during one of the year's two big festivals is the time to do it. The attractions aren't overwhelming---they include arts and crafts, food, folk games---but the village is nice to look at, and it's the sort of festival augmented by crowds of people. It's accessible via Suncheon city buses 63 and 68, and is part of the Suncheon bus tour. When you get off the bus in Nagan-myeon, check the poster on the convenience store door to find out when the buses head back to Suncheon.






A few photographs from May 2009.

Gangjin has the second-highest rate of smoking in the province.

According to the results of a study by Chonnam National University on residents 19 and over, Gangjin county has the second-highest rate of smoking in Jeollanam-do. Jindo county's at the top with 29.6%, and Gangjin's second with 28.4%. The lowest is Shinan county with 20.7%, followed by Damyang county with 21.6% and Gwangyang with 21.9%. Jeollanam-do did have the lowest rate among the sixteen cities and provinces. This isn't exactly news---the numbers came out March 24th---so clearly I have to reevaluate the personnel at the Brian in Jeollanam-do Gangjin bureau.

Rugby tournament opens in Gangjin.

A spring rugby tournament (2010년도 전국춘계럭비리그전) opened on Monday in Gangjin county, with Daegu's Sangwon High School (대구상원고등학교) beating Gyeongsan's eponymous high school (경산고등학교) 12-8.



Seven middle school and fourteen high school teams will play from the 15th through the 27th, the A group for the university level will play from April 3rd through 11th, and the B group goes from March 27th through the 31st. This article says Cheongju Boys' Middle School and Chungbuk High School were last year's winners. The middle school, high school, and the A group play in Gangjin, while group B plays in Seoul (서울럭비구장). The Korea Rugby Union website doesn't provide information about these matches, but if you'd like to watch a couple you might try emailing the address given on the English-language pop-up (nathallemans@yahoo.ca) for details.



But given the difficulty I've had trying to track down the most basic information, I think maybe it's supposed to be a secret. The article says the matches in Gangjin take place at the 공설운동장. That's not really the name of the public fields out at 강진종합경기장, but if I had to take a guess I'd say the matches are there, on fields built a couple years ago next to a large facility about a 25 minute walk northeast of the bus terminal in Gangjin-eup, the county seat (map in Korean here). Gangjin is roughly two hours south of Gwangju by bus.

Gangjin county to lose analog television broadcasts next year.

Gangjin county, where I lived for twelve months in 2006 and 2007, will be one of three counties in South Korea to lose analog television next year. From the Korea Times:

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said Thursday analog TV services in Danyang, North Chungcheong Province, Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, and Gangjin, South Jeolla Province, will be stopped from the latter half of 2010.

They will also be ended on Jeju Island from 2011, a KCC spokesman said.

The regulator plans to financially support households in the areas to install converter boxes for over-the-air viewers to continue watching digital programming.

But the households who have already bought digital television sets or paid for cable TV or Internet-based TV will be excluded from the subsidy programs.

. . .

The digital TV transition will mark the end of analog television broadcasting that had been in use for more than 50 years. After 2013, all TV stations in South Korea will broadcast digital signals.

Under the digital TV system, many viewers are expected to find an improvement in picture and sound quality, as well as the ability to pick up additional channels that offer programming such as local weather and classic TV shows.

Original plans were to make the complete switch to digital in 2012. The US made the switch in June, and Japan will do it in 2011.

Gambling bust in Jindo, crop circle in Gangjin, rain in Suncheon, and other local news.

I was going to give a few local news stories posts of their own, until I found a few more. Keep in mind there are scores and scores of newspapers in Jeollanam-do, all with, well, lots of news about Jeollanam-do. This is just some of what I found last night.

** On Thursday Jindo police busted six in a Jindo-eup motel room for gambling. They got about 36 million won and among the six include a local newspaper reporter, laborers, and farmers.

** A husband and wife drowned yesterday in Gurye county when their car went off a bridge and into the Seomjin River. Video report here. Perhaps it's wrong to point it out here, but I've noticed that different articles on the same topic will differ quite a bit. In this case the location of the accident is different in two articles, as are the ages of the deceased.

** A 38-year-old man was found dead in a Damyang reservoir yesterday.

** After eight years this murder was finally solved in Goheung county. And the suspect got to play reenactor, too.

** Ooooh, Gangjin got something new!



** Speaking of new things in Gangjin, they're constructing a new baseball facility there, a complex that will have four outdoor fields, an indoor practice facility, an outdoor pool, dorms, and a hotel, among other features. It'll be in Doam-myeon, a small rural township southwest of the county seat, Gangjin-eup. Official site here. You can book a field, 200,000 won per game.



** Gwangju will host the Home Run Derby on Saturday. It is hosting the All Star Game, too, and as the article points out the Derby takes place in the middle of the game.

** I thought it was common knowledge---I've mentioned it several times---but Yeongam county will have Formula One racing from next year. They're working on the track now.

** Jeollanam-do plans to have 437 kilometers of bicycle roads constructed by 2013. I've written before that there are plans to tear up all the unused train tracks in Suncheon and turn that into a bike path. That comes from the Suncheon city website, and though it does have some interesting bits of information once in a while, the "English" really makes no sense at all.

** Ben of Jeonnam Life has some good pictures of the effect the rainy season has had on Suncheon's Dongcheon.

** And here's a reservoir in Gangjin.

** I have no idea what this is in Mokpo, but it looks cool.

** There's going to be an English Pop Song Contest (click on "Notice") at the Muan White Lotus Festival. If you want to apply, do so by July 31st, says GFN. Also from GFN, they're looking for a "foreigner broadcast monitor" for the English-language station. The job ad is in Korean.

** This is a month old, but still good. Mark of the excellent The Jeonnam Hub blog had a little write-up about him and his site in the Jeonbuk Ilbo. Once I get a cute kid I'm so phoning up the Jeonnam Ilbo.

2009 Gangjin Celadon Festival (강진청자축제): August 8th - 16th.

I originally had this post-dated for late next week, but with commercials airing and with ads already on the sides of buses, I figured I'd push it up. The Gangjin Celadon Festival is coming next month, and is considered one of the top festivals in the area. Gangjin is well-known for its celadon (청자) pottery, with 80% of Korea's celadon treasures being produced here, and indeed masterpieces produced in Gangjin routinely tour the world. I attended the festival in 2006 and enjoyed myself, even though I find pottery boring. There are all the things you typically find at festivals---food and old people music, mostly---though there are lots of pieces of celadon on display, some done by reknowned craftsmen, others done by area students. And last year they had some cool lanterns out.



It's held in Daegu-myeon at the Gangjin Celadon Museum. Buses regularly run there from the terminal in Gangjin-eup. It's the biggest thing to happen in the county all year, so you should have no problem finding where to go if you just follow the hordes of people. If you'd like to spend the night, there are about a dozen love motels in Gangjin-eup, and are, with the exception of a couple high-rises, the tallest buildings in town and thus easy to find.

The festival used to be held in the fall---when I went it was in October---although it's been bumped up to summer in recent years. If the heat isn't too much, I'd recommend seeing some of Gangjin's other sites. Maryang is a pretty little town of a couple hundred on the southern tip of the county. Go, eat some fish, look at the islands, and spend the night at one of the three motels if you'd like. There's also Dasan Chodang, where the scholar Jeong Yak-yong spent 20 years in exile, and nearby Baekryeonsa temple. Or, visit Nammireuksa and see the tallest Buddha statue in South Korea. Please see "Gangjin: Its people and their places" and "Gangjin's temples, part 1" for more information on regional attractions (also because they took me forever to write).

Hell, you might just want to wander around Gangjin-eup---the county seat and the town at which you first arrive---especially if you're a city slicker and have never spent any time in a small Korean town. If the heat isn't too oppressive, take a walk to Yeongryang's Birthplace a couple blocks away, or wander around some of the rice paddies to the south. There's some decent, leisurely hiking on Boeunsan, which abuts the town, and the view of the town from above became one of the things I liked best about living there.



Would you like to see some pictures from the 2006 festival? Well, you have no choice.











More in my flickr set. Looking at these reminded me of another attraction of the festival: the 5K run. My head teacher at the time thought it would be a good idea for me to participate in this. At the time I was a pack-a-day smoker, and although I ran 10 kilometers each night in my junior and senior years of high school, all kinds of shin splints and stress fractures made that impossible by my 25th year. Well, as you've probabably learned by now it's hard to say no to your boss, so I did the race. I ran the whole thing and finished without injuring or embarrassing myself. Funny how these pictures jogged my memory. *cough*