An Interview with TEDxSNU

On January 21, members of Journalism Club 5th batch gathered at Seoul National University (SNU) to interview the TEDxSNU club. TEDxSNU club is composed of SNU students who wish to follow the main motto of TED, “Idea worth spreading.” Below is the interview with TEDxSNU.

Kim Dan: What is TEDx, and how TEDx came into the world?

TEDxSNU: First of all, TED is short for ‘Technology Entertainment Design’ which was closed conference at the beginning, but after Chris Anderson took over TED, it became worldwide and spread into the media and the ‘Idea worth spreading’ became the motto. TEDx means independently organized TED event. TED gives permissions to areas where people want to organize and open a TEDx event. You can think like a mini event.

Jung Hyun-Jung: What is TEDx license, and how can we register it? 

TEDxSNU: To open a local event, we(TEDxSNU) need TED’s approval. TED has its own strict regulations, so we have to sign or do something that shows we will follow those rules. Through these strict inspection processes, TED will be able to know that we are ready to open this event. After signing, sometimes we have an interview, or they give instructions to correct a certain part. These steps go on for 8 weeks, then we get TED’s approval so we can make the local event. Anyone can register for the license on the internet. I think this is the attraction of the TEDxSNU.

Lee Yu-Won: What is TEDxSNU and how did it make?

TEDxSNU: TEDxSNU is the one of many TEDx events. The word behind the TEDx is symbolizes the region which is the base for that event. Therefore, TEDxSNU is the event that foothold at Seoul National University. It held the first TEDxSNU speech on March, 2011. To follow the motto of TED, “ Idea worth spreading, students of Seoul national university gathered together and organize an association.

Lim Ji-Heon: Can you explain about teams of TEDxSNU?

TEDxSNU: There are 5 teams in TEDxSNU. First one is a sponsor team that cooperates with companies to make a TEDx conference. Second, there is a design team that designs logos and posters of TEDx conference. Third one is the editing team that creates ideas with speakers and makes the ideas to speeches. Fourth team is a promotion team that advertises us. The last team is strategy team which gets advices from outside and gives ideas to us.

Kim Jung-Hyun: How does the topic of TEDxSNU selected?

TEDxSNU: At first, all organizers put their opinion about the topic, considering their interest or social issue. After we gather all opinions, we have a discussion to select one which we think the most appropriate.

Kim Min-Ji: What was the most interesting topic that you had on TEDxSNU?

TEDxSNU: This year, we had TEDxSNU with the topic named ‘Link’. And in that event, we had lots of people doing different things and jobs for the speakers with some help from others. So, as a result, we could hear lots of important and subjective opinion from lots of different people. So I think the topic named ‘Link’ was the most interesting topic that I had on TEDxSNU.

Kim Dan: What is the most important part when you are organizing TEDx events?

TEDxSNU: I think that not only for TEDx events, for all group activities, it is important to listen to other people’ opinion and voices. In TEDxSNU, there are like 30 people working and organizing together. If people only speak their own opinion and thoughts, we could not make a good event. So it is very important for TEDx organizers to listen to all opinions and to make the best conclusion by compromising and make a synergy effect.

Cho Yeong-Seo: Out of all the guest orators you had, who was the most significant person, and why?

TEDxSNU: When we had a lecture with the topic “Link”, Mr. Gun Gu-Ik came as our guest, and gave a speech. I personally think he was very memorable. Now I’ve got to introduce him to you, don’t I? Well, I’m not sure if you know this, but Mr. Gu-Ik is the MC for the show “Attentive Listening” on EBS channel. He had an issue that definitely grief-struck him, and it’s a very sad story. Mr. Gu-Ik’s son died because of school bullying. He gave people, including us, a truthful lecture about this. It was very moving, and many people cried, even people who already have heard this speech once. It probably tugged everyone’s heart. His words were good enough to be remembered for a long time.

Lee You-Won: What is the most hard or difficult activity from organizing TEDxSNU?

TEDxSNU: There is spon- team which gets in touch with companies and organizations for help. As a student, the chance to contact with companies or groups for asking fund is not common things. It is a good opportunity to undergo those experiences. However, to talk about events what we are going to plan, and asking for financial help without come fact to face is not that easy thing. It is hard to appeal and attract them about our project. Also, if they reject our suggestion, it is a commonplace affair, but always feels upset. Therefore, asking for helps to business and waiting for their response is the most difficult thing.

Song Ji-Min: While you liaise for speakers, what was the most memorable episode?

TEDxSNU: Usually, we send mails when we liaise like “We host a ceremony with this topic, so can you speak for us?” Then almost of them reply, and it can be refusal answer or more. Always that moment makes our heart palpitated because we can’t know what kind of answer will be in. But when there is reply with an agreement like ‘Oh, you guys are doing really good thing. I want to join it.’ It can be the happiest moment. And it is the most memorable moment.

Kim Min-Ji: Is there personal knowhow for organizing TEDX SNU? If there is, what is it?

TEDxSNU: It is hard to say that it is a knowhow but as you know, TEDX SNU is run by someone who wants to do it. So I try to get rid of things that disturb us from running TEDX SNU and I help other organizers to think wider and deeper.

Cho Yeong-Seo: How does it feel to work in TEDxSNU?

TEDxSNU: First of all, we are doing this club because we want to, and there are many feelings mixed up while doing it. However, one thing is for sure. I am positive all people in Tedx clubs have experienced heart fluttering. Before we do the lessons, we feel kind of eager, but a little worried too. It’s like a school field trip. You have a schedule, but you might not follow it, so it’s very unpredictable. It’s pretty nervous, but I think it’s still worth it.

Cho Yeong-Seo: What kind of ability is helpful while doing TEDxSNU? 

TEDxSNU: There are many of them actually, but I say the most important is to be cooperative. It’s hard to be alone, so you have to sustain good relationships with friends, and that requires social abilities. Also, you should have a strong mind and perseverance too. When we try to bring in guests, most of the time they give us rejection letters, and when you get that, you feel very empty, hurt, and in vain. However, you can’t just give up right? So you need a mind that tries to look things up brightly and is firm. There are of course many more, but in reality, I think not one person have all of these abilities. That’s why there is a thing called a team. People with little parts of good things come together as one team, and it’s really important. You have to share your good parts. That’s when all these abilities come together.

Song Ji-Min: What can be TEDxSNU’s special advantages?

TEDxSNU: I think our organizer’s composition is our best advantages. Because I think our organizer have more sense of responsibilities and protean career that lead our team than other TEDx organizations. So I think it can be our big advantages

Jung Hyun-Jung: After doing the TEDxSNU activity, do you have any changes in personal visions or in life?

TEDxSNU: Now, when I meet a person, I keep thinking about how to make this into a lecture. If I hear a funny story, I think that if we make a topic and do it like this, it will be a great lecture. It’s a bit scary, but I feel like this a lot. Even though it doesn’t show on the outside, if we meet the speaker, he/she has many precious and amazing stories in the inside. ‘What story will this person have”, “What thought will this person have” thinking about these questions made me feel a lot.

Kim Dan: Lastly, do you have a word for the readers’ of Smart&Story?

TEDxSNU: First of all, thanks for the interests and attentions for TEDxSNU. We hope that our interview could help Smart&Story’s readers in any ways. Also we would be thankful if the readers keep having interests on us.

journalismclub@chungdahm.com

BY Lim Ji-Heon Galmoe Middle School

     Kim Dan Daemo Elementary School

Jung Hyun-Jung Seocheon Middle School

Cho Yeong-Seo Mogun Elementary School

Lee You-Won Sangil Middle School

Kim Jung-Hyun Bansong Middle School

Song Ji-Min Hansan Elementary School

Kim Min-Ji Bonghyun Elementary School

Diary of Brandon Finch

Dear Diary,

Today, I was roaming around one of the most desolated places of Barrytown, Ireland. The main objective of visiting Barrytown was to check on the progression of a new building of mine, but I ended up wandering random cites near the construction center.

During the day’s progression, a boy caught my eyes. The first impression of the boy was caught by surprise. A young boy no older than 10 was hanging around with fire in a heavy state of severe depression. The boy’s appearance was also a quite shock towards my common sense. He wore trousers, but it was blatant that his he grew out of them. However, they were fastened in safety clips. For a modern fashion star like me, this was unacceptable. Full of curiosity, I consecutively approached towards the boy. Even though I wasn’t distant enough for the boy to not acknowledge the presence of me, it took a considerable amount of time for the boy became aware of the presence of me.

The boy’s stunned face after sighting me is still incarcerating my mind. He was surprised of the presence of an adult. His face was full of rage and fear, which inevitably forced him to hide himself to a nearby trench. However hard the boy had tried, it was only a matter of time for the boy’s location to be veiled. I then inquired a boy about his name. Full of fear, he replied, “My name is Ian, Ian Armstrong.” After I told him my name, we had a short formal conversation. But we soon ran out of contents to negotiate about. As a keepsake to discharge the false charge of the boy of acknowledging me as a blatant bully, I handed him a bar of chocolate. Then they boy insisted me to come over to the fire place that he was sitting beside to when first sightseeing me.

He then finally opened his mind to me. He told me his pals were outraged against him because his pals were bullies, and Ian had underestimated the importance of the hierarchy of the gang. After he’d gone through a fight between him and the gang’s leader, Liam, the gang had strictly turned their backs against him. He’d told me the details and it was only a matter of time for me to realize that he was fallen into the abyss of the dark side. However, despite the circumstances, he was a very positive and passionate boy, and all he needed was proper guidance to lead him to the road not taken.

I was determined to start to change his life, well at least by little bit. I knew that a day couldn’t really change much, but well begun is half done. The outer appearance of Barrytown wasn’t all so attractive but my past experience had notified me of the importance of thinking positively by gathering up past memories about the place. Whether good or bad the memory is, reminding oneself again on the place develops and helps oneself to compromise up positive feelings about the place.

This is how I implemented my personal experience into real life. I have asked Ian to help me look around the town. As we went through tall skyscrapers to even places like trenches, I begged Ian to tell me about his memories about the place. At first he tried to skip some places, and I really could tell he was hiding something. However as I got through the progress I could tell that he was being comfortable with the presence of me. Somewhere in my mind told me how courageous it was to tell someone about the things you’ve never planned to tell. I listened to him and he followed me. His doubts and concerns that seemed to resolute me seemed to be clarified due to my answers.

Time had passed so quickly. Ian and I walked around the town twice, because that was how much time had allowed us to spend. I could learn a lot, and according to Ian, his thoughts also have influenced a lot due to the conversation. I doubt that my advices have been any good, or even cause a mere effect on Ian’s whole career. However, one-day implementation has been pretty positive.

We promised to meet again the next time I come. On my way home I muttered, “Tomorrow is another day.”

awesomepercy@naver.com

 

BY Choi Yun-Seo

Wolchon Elementary School

Traveling

 

BY Kim Bo-Eun

Soungnae Elementary School

boeunkimpuka@naver.com

Let’s Explore! Traveling Adventure

 

BY Kim Dan

Daemo Elementary School

dilia030513@gmail.com

Is it right for LCC airlines to continue developing?

 

BY Bae Soo-Hyun

Hwasu Middle school

 

 

One of the leading Korean LCC companies, Jeju airport has reached 500 billion won profit. Like this, LCC companies, which were thought as a useless idea at first, have overcome the slump and is rapidly developing. One of the best advantages of LCC is “Low price” which even cuts down to 90% of the original price. However, this amazing price is not a free chance. It can threaten your life.

Why is LCC so cheap? One reason LCC planes are inexpensive is because of its tight schedule. Companies try to make more money by flying as much as they can. According to Money Today News, the average time LCC plane flies was 324 hours a month in 2011. However, this rate had increased up to 370 hours a month in 2014. The problem with this is that if the company keeps on boosting plane’s operating ratio, the safety inspection becomes negligent, which leads to deteriorations of planes and safety problems. “I plan my flight to save even 10 minutes because if my plane just stays still, it doesn’t make money,” answered a LCC worker.

Another reason LCC planes are low-priced is because of its ‘Saving Plan.’ For example, companies unify planes’ models, because if the type is same, repairing cost decreases. They also use old planes. The average age of airplanes affiliated to LCC companies are 13 years old, while FSC(Full Service Carrier) are nine years old in accordance to Gukmin Ilbo.

Korea Airport Corporation showed that the number of aviation accidents or incidents happened with Korean LCC companies is 0.63 cases per a thousand flights. This may sound small, but it is almost four times higher than that of Korean FSC, which is 0.17. The main factors of these accidents are “pilot’s mistake”(53%), and “mechanical error”(21%).

The flaw of the LCC workers, pilots and crew members, is based on the policy. To be hired, FSC requires minimum of 1,000 hours of flight experiences, but LCC only requires 250 hours. Also, to be put into actual work, FSC requires over one year, but LCC needs 4~6 months. Plus, the number of the crew members in the airplane are four for LCC and eight for FSC per 150 passengers. “There are even some situations that LCC (which experiences more hardships when recruiting pilots than FSC) recklessly hire low-experienced second-pilots,” an aviation worker replied.

On December 28, 2014, Airasia(LCC)’s airplane heading Singapore crashed into Java Sea. There were 162 people including three Koreans, but nobody was rescued. The cause of this incident is believed to be pilot’s mistake and errors with the machinary. LCC is causing a lot of life-threatening problems. Let’s be aware.

soo_bae@naver.com

Is it right for LCC airlines to continue developing?

 

BY Lee Eun-Gyul

Sukchun Elementary School

 

 

These days many people choose services considering the price. During traveling, the most important standard in making a decision is also price. Although using small amount of money is crucial in trip, do we need to choose low quality services which can deal our life and death? Is saving money little bit more is really necessary? If low-price services can threat our safety, would you still use them?

Recently questions like these are often asked and discussed, because of ‘LCC’. LCC is an abbreviated name of ‘Low Cost Carrier’ and contains the meaning of airlines with low price, providing only basic services and safety programs. There are now five LCC companies in Korea, the air of Jin, Jeju, Busan, Eastar, and Tway. There were controversies over those LCC companies since they were founded. It was always mentioned with safety problems. Of course there are many positive aspects in ‘LCC’ airlines, but the fact that passengers’ safety can be violated is fatal.

According to E-daily, within one thousand flights, LCC airlines were responsible for 0.63 accidents, which is three times more frequent than major airlines such as Asiana Air and Korean Air. Old airplanes and little amount of kept aircrafts are main causes of these accidents. However, fundamental reason is because of money. The LCC companies’ goal is to transport passengers with cheapest price, so they naturally uses old machines and doesn’t retain many airplanes to save money and time.

Another problem is the captain and crews’ ability of risk management. While large airlines strictly hire crew members with minimum of 1,000 flight experience hours, LCC hires airplane crew with only 250 flight experience hours. Moreover, after they are hired in LCC, they undergo only 4 to 6 months of education time compared to major contractors those who need to get more than 1 year of education time. Captains and crew has their responsibility to transport passengers safely, and undergoing training is very helpful. LCC companies investing money in education is desperate.

Do you remember the Sewol ferry’s tragedy? It was a total disaster and we should never forget this incident. This happened because we failed to take action quickly only to save money. If we were less greedy or if we cared about passengers’ safety first, would this have happened? Before we regret again, we should not try to save money too much which are related to our lives. LCC companies are overlooking the factors that can threat passengers’ safety just because of money problems. We should never forget people’s lives are priceless and precious than any other things such as money. By using LCC we can save our money, but at the same time, we are risking our valuable lives.

aliece333@naver.com

Is it right for LCC airlines to continue developing?

 

BY Lee Seung-Ho

Jamsil Middle school

 

 

Two years ago, my family traveled to Jeju using Jin Air.  It was a small carrier and I felt comfortable at first. However, the flight was suffering from turbulence for one hour and the flight attendants who wore jeans looked very nervous, rather than professional. It was a short experience to use an LCC but the next time my family traveled, we decided not to use an LCC because of dangers, inconvenience and dissatisfaction.  That’s why I can say LCC looks so low-costing but it turns out to be high-costing in the end.

To begin with, LCC is operated without a long break. LCC airlines don’t have many carriers so they move very frequently without enough care and clean up for the quick service. According to the news article, LCC is compared to a baseball team consisting of only 10 main players with no substitute players. That implies LCC can be very dangerous as the number of flights increases. After the flights, all the carriers need detailed care with “repair team.” The flights without enough care can cause more serious and dangerous accidents in the end.

Next, it’s very difficult to change and cancel flight tickets with LCC. Sometimes it’s known to be impossible to cancel the tickets. According to my aunt, it even costs extra charge for a reservation too high in case of foreign LCC airlines.

Lastly, LCC is not satisfactory to some people having high expectations to seek pleasurable moments during flights, considering the aim of travel is for pleasurable convenience. Flight attendants are now well aware of the service. Low cost makes very few services to the passengers aboard. People travel in order to get out of the everyday tiredness, and in order to seek more satisfactory and pleasurable moments. When we get enough service from the flight attendants, we tend to get more service in the other places by spending more. In turn, we tend to consume more money as a result.

Even if LCC began operating in 1990s in America, Korea has just started operating LCC airlines. Some people are satisfied with UCC because of reasonable prices, but LCC needs more improvement by providing safe care of the flights, more convenient service and more pleasant services. LCC is one of the flights with “Welcome Aboard.” By doing so, LCC airlines help people say “LCC is definitely Lucky Customer Carriers.”

sngho411@naver.com

Is it right for LCC airlines to continue developing?

 

BY Kim Young-Mok

Aju Middle School

 

 

These days, low cost carriers, in other words cheap airlines, are thriving. They are usually smaller airlines compared to major ones, and have low costs. Some say that the overall price of tickets has decreased thanks to them, and others say that the travel industry had benefited from them. However, others question safety problems and the financial stability of those companies.

The safety problems of LCC travels are continuously being questioned. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korean low cost carriers had 0.63 accidents per 10,000 flights, which is approximately three times higher than major airlines. Those airlines usually have a small number of planes, and they run a crammed schedule in order to remain surplus. Because of this, safety inspections or renovations of old components are not conducted frequently enough, which directly leads to a more dangerous flight. Also, financial problems of low cost carriers make the company be negligent in keeping those rules. Many terrible disasters happen because safety measures are ignored or not kept strictly. Following safety rules in such fields is very important because otherwise it may lead to a catastrophe.

Another drawback is that they have many additional fees and unsatisfying customer service. For example, passengers might have to pay a huge fee for extra baggage. Also, refunds may not be available when you have to cancel the flight, and rescheduling would lead to bigger costs. Those additional fees are a huge drawback; since the sole advantage of those flights is having a low cost. Poor service is one disadvantage, too. Usually those low-fare flights are scheduled in the early morning or midnight, and they have simplified customer service because of the low fare.

kimyoungmoc@hanmail.net

Is it right for LCC airlines to continue developing?

 

BY Kang Seo-Eun

Myeongsun Elementary School

 

 

LCC(Low Cost Carrier), the developing low-cost airline is rising current of air. LCC industry is keep on rising and bringing advantages for four different groups of people: citizens, government, travel agencies and the airlines. All these people have had great benefits by managing the LCC. The LCC have been established 10 years ago, and it is still giving a big success and bigger improvements. The LCC industry is expanding the option to change the travel patterns of the customers and it will be a great foundation which can raise the basic steps of the domestic aviation(flight) market. All these LCC industry developments will lead to travel development and finally will lead to society’s, and Korea’s development. For this, low-cost airline LCC industry should be developed. I have three reasons to support it.

First, the both citizens and the government have better advantages, and this will give better opportunities to develop Korea. Imagine you want to visit Paris. However, you are lack of money to pay the ticket. But luckily, you have found a cheap ticket from an LCC airline. Would you buy a ticket which costs thousand-hundred dollars, or a ticket which costs few hundred dollars? Most of the customers would choose LCC airlines, since it is cheaper. This is human’s desire, and this is people’s obligate reality. And there are no reasons to keep off from their want, and there are no negative effects which will make Korea worsen by their choice to buy the tickets from LCC airline. By this, many customers would be able to ride an airplane, at least once in their life with cheap price. As the citizens are able to ride an airplane with cheap price, there will be much more airplanes required for the  passengers. Then, the LCC company will need to manufacture more of the planes in order to take more passengers. This will lead to better chances for the companies to develop since they have more chances to make an airplane, and more citizens will be able to ride an airplane: this is a situation  known as killing two birds with one stone. Not only this, the government will also have better advantages and this advantages will provide the citizens advanced materials and sooner or later lead to country’s development. Because of the cheap ticket, citizen’s tax will rise, but this is a good status quo. Since the tax is rising, the government will have better opportunities to make changes which need some alternation, since they have bigger gain. To explain this as a word, this is a circulation. By this, Koreans will have wider range of advantages. At the same time, the government will be able develop Korea, meaningfully.

Second, the travel agencies and the airlines can earn more profits. Some people might say, it does not matter how the LCC industrial company earn much money. However, their profits lead to develop tourism and globalization of Korea. According to Halla-ilbo, there is a great advantage which Korea could be well known; the number of the airline passengers increased nationally. In Korea, there are total seven national carriers which is a route for Korea and the world(Five LCC companies). Of the competitive effects, the options were widen and there were more passengers riding Korea’s plane. By this, the number of the travelers using the national carrier have increased a lot. In 2005, the population who used the flight was 35,611,971 and in 2014, it was 60,188,157 people. By such statistics, we can recognize that it has increased about twice, and this shows high rate of the growth of the LCC industry. This surely developed Korea’s travel industry, and also helped Korea’s traveling agencies and airlines to grow. In the past, two of the FSC airlines have limited competitions and they held the initiative of the traveling section. However, LCC entry has led to full competition and has competed in fare reductions and other kinds of services the passengers have been looking for. This changed all the structures and later developed about 50% than before. Also, the international line, Jeju Air has increased about 11.5%. Those statistics show the development possibility of LCC industry, and in other word “hidden potential in Korea.” By this, Korea can prove our quick development in LCC. Travel agencies and airlines’ developments lead to citizen’s and government’s development and later will lead to Korea’s development.

Third, as the opposite as what the experts say, there are great solutions to solve the problems which are occurred from LCC, for instance safety issues. Some experts claim the serious safety problems from LCC industry. However, there are great alternatives to solve those issue; balancing the flight pay and tilt the side of safety more than service. To elaborate it more, the LCC industry should put more efforts in safety. Since much more people are interested in safety than other kinds of servicing portions, it is better to have a heavier balance in safe, majorly. For people who desperately need LCC tickets would not put on much attention for bad services since they are paying less money for the ticket. Also, they should consider the less quality because they are paying much less money on traveling on plane. Thus, the people who need better quality of the plane should ride another planes which are not hosted by LCC industry. So this can be a good alternative for the rich and the poor in Korea, and the other states’ tourists who need to ride a plane, with less or much money. This will help Korea’s developed industry in travel.

LCC industry is giving the customers, the government, the travel agencies and the airlines great profits and advantages. Also, LCC industry’s main issues can be solved by balancing the two different categories, safety and services. Later on, the LCC industry will going to lead Korea’s travel industry, and lead to Korea’s development, globally throughout the world. For these reasons, I strongly claim Korea’s LCC industry should be developed.

sekang0702@naver.com

Is it right for LCC airlines to continue developing?

 

BY Kim Dan

Daemo Elementary School

 

 

LCC, which is acronym for low cost carriers, are airlines like Jeju Air, Jin Air which is 20~30% cheaper than major airlines like Korean Air. Throughout the past 10 years, LCCs developed a lot and now, many people use them. However, as the cost goes down, there are risks of safety and unsatisfying services compared to services by major airlines. However, LCC still has more benefits to many people.

First of all, many people ride planes thank to LCCs’ cheap price. According to Naver news, from 2004, when the LCCs first came out, the passengers has increased from 45,823,588 people to 81,426,297 people, which mean that it has risen by 77.7% in the past 10 years. Many people riding planes contributed to the activation of the local airports. LCCs tried to pioneer ways in other areas in Korea where major airlines didn’t. Gwangju, Daegu and Muan airport’s domestic flight passengers increased a lot. T-way airlines opened airlines like Gwangju-Jeju line, or Daegu-Jeju line. Not only domestic flight, but also international flight’s passengers at Cheongju and Yangyang had doubled and increased a lot. This statistic was possible because of LCC’s opened airline ways for Southeast Asia and China at local airports. LCCs help not only passengers but also local airports and countries to develop by many visitors.

Also, it is a good choice for people who travel a lot in a short distance. According to the Mail economy, for people who travel many countries in one continent, it is effective to use LCCs for saving money and time. Furthermore, there are many people who want to use little money on the airlines and use that money at other things while traveling these days.

Even though some services might not be as good as those from other major airlines, LCCs have more benefits like cheaper price. So LCCs have to develop more and benefit citizens, societies, and countries.

dilia030513@gmail.com

 

Is it right for LCC airlines to continue developing?

 

BY Kwon Hyuk-Soo

Sanui Elementary School

 

 

Imagine that you are planning to travel to Tokyo, Japan. You are comparing airline prices, and you see a shocking price. Korean Air demands 308 dollars for a one way ticket. On the other hand, Jeju Air, LCC (Low cost carrier) airline, demands only 74 dollars, including tax for both airlines. If this trend continues, 45 dollar airline is not a dream now. LCC airlines also prompt people to use more airlines, making development of Korean airline. However, some experts say that “safety” is a big problem of LCC airline, but is that true? And how can LCC help the development of Korean airline?

The opponents of LCC airline claim that there is a problem of “safety”. They insist that if they keep their low prices and get into competition, the safety problem can be neglected from their priority. Also, they argue that servicing and examining of the airplane is careless and the planes are too old. However, this is not always true, according to the Aju News. The examination of the LCC airplanes is composed in A, B (daily inspection), C, D checks. Especially, check C is carried out in foreign countries so this is getting criticism of “safety.” Though, check C is just like people undergoing endoscopy, not related with emergency situation. One LCC employee demonstrated that “Airplane service is important whether ‘where’ it is carried in, but the investment and mind about safety cost.”

On the other hand, some opponents say that “To reduce the price of the airline, safety investment would also reduce.” However, about the safety of airline, LCC is following the laws, too. ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) examines the safety of each LCC airline based on USOAP (Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program). Also, IATA (International Air Transport Association) operates IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) certification, which is a global standard certification. To get IOSA certification, each airplane needs to get almost 1,000 contents of examination. Korean LCC airlines, Jin Air and Jeju Airline got IOSA certification. Jeju Air employee emphasized that “It is a bias to think that LCC is careless in safety investment because of its cheap price,” and also added that “Safety investment is 10% of the total operation cost, which is twice or triple of original airline.”

Since LCC came into Korea in 2006, it contributed a lot in the development in Korean airline. LCC is shown as cheap airplane, leading more people to travel in planes. According to MOLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport), 2014 August LCC airline’s users were 50.2% of the total, showing the mass user of LCC. Especially 29.2% of Korea-Japan route users use LCC airline, until 2014 January to May. On the other hand, original airlines such as Korean air and Japanese air decreased 14% each year from 2012 to 2014. Jeju Air employee says that “Both countries’ LCC cost competitions -composed with Jeju Air and Jin Air, Peach Air and Vanilla Air and etc. – contributed in airline market extend,” adding that “There is an obvious decrease in Korea-Japan airline profit, but the growth of LCC is also obvious, causing clear distinct between airline users traveling for short or long.”

tnwlskos540@naver.com

Two sides of the coin; group tour and independent tour

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world left this quote. This quote is related with ‘group tour.’ Group tour is traveling with at least 10 people. Group tour is rising as a type of marketing in which the travelers can get a discount in airplane and tourism fees. What else could be the advantages of group tour? On the other hand, many people think that this is a great privilege with nearly no disadvantages, but could it be true? Let’s listen to proponent Jeju and opponent Hawaii‘s conversation.

Lower price‭, ‬but is it valuable‭?‬

Jeju: As people go traveling in groups, airline companies and corporations give some privileges to them, which is “price discount.” Most of the airlines give 10% to 20% discount of the original price. Tourism companies give more services also with lower price, such as finding good and not expensive hotel. Many people prefer group tour because of the lower price, lower than independent travel’s. For example, one blogger said, “I usually prefer independent tour, because I think it is more important and interesting to know and watch the natives’ life and finding good restaurants. However, the reason I chose group tour is nothing but because of its crazy price. I traveled to Europe for 9 days, paying 1,500 dollars and it was a very pleasurable trip. It leaves no room for doubt, huh?”

Hawaii: Hmm, but following the quote “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get,” do you think that it is valuable enough? Of course, there will be a financial loss in the airlines and the agency. Unfortunately, it would be necessary to reduce the quality of the service. For example, they will try to find cheaper restaurants as possible and thus, the quality of the taste may decrease. Plus, additional price may be added to the original price, also called as ‘option.’ You could think ‘Then, just don’t buy the option,’ but the main events of the travel are mostly these “options.” As a result, it will be more expensive than necessary price, sometimes even more expensive than independent travel’s price.

Comfort vs‭. ‬Freedom

Jeju: Okay, then how about this one? Group tour provides more comfort when traveling. There is a guide who has a lot of knowledge of the designated area and the geography of the place. People could earn more knowledge while touring, also feeling comfortable during the tour. Especially, for people who want to relax during the tour would better prefer group tour. It is comfortable in several ways. Firstly, people don’t have to choose the place to travel, and the guide would take them to the famous places. Furthermore, people could learn more during the tour. From the origin of the artifacts, they could learn the life or culture of that country. Lastly, it could be comfortable. The restaurants are chosen, people don’t have to drive to each place. What a paradise it is!

Hawaii: Wait! It is true that group tour is comfortable enough for relaxing, but the freedom of traveling is limited. People could stay long at the place where they dislike, or they might have no chance to visit the place they wanted to visit. Independent travel has an advantage in which people can choose the place they want to go, the restaurant they want to dine in. If they want to stay in some place longer, they can, and if they want to rest in the hotel for an hour, they can rest freely. However, in group tour, people need to move at the same time with no variables.

This was a conversation of Jeju and Hawaii. To conclude, group tour and independent travel both have their own characteristics, like a coin with two sides. Also, if you are unfamiliar with travel, it would be better with group tour, and if you want to have your own free time, independent travel is for you.

tnwlskos540@naver.com

 

BY Kwon Hyuk-Soo

Sanui Elementary School

Learning about West Africa and Japan’s current issues

Are you having a pleasant trip riding our convenient train, ‘The Journalism Express?’ Starting from the first stop, we have decided to have a serious talk about the issues traveling to several countries, and some important alternatives to solve those issues. Today is a special trip: we have a long way to go, traveling to two different states’ issues. Since the company Journalism Corporation chose to talk about these places, the passengers riding our train will have great opportunities to learn about their issues and disadvantages. Especially for today’s trip, the employees and I have decided to introduce West Africa’s global issues and Japan’s radioactivity issues, which are related to today’s trip. Please listen carefully to the precautions which will make your trip safer and more enjoyable.

The first stop, West Africa, and about its deadly virus: Ebola

Our first stop is West Africa, and this region is one of the most dangerous places throughout the world, currently. West Africa’s infectious disease, ‘Ebola hemorrhagic fever’ or Ebola virus is taking a big portion of decreasing “sightseeing money” from the sightseers. Ebola virus’ fatality rate has a high death possibility. For instance, to make your understanding easier of how serious and deadly this virus is, when one person is affected, at least, half of the citizens in Korea will possibly die. But the most horrifying information about this disease is that it does not have a precaution to cure. Ebola spread in many other countries in a short moment because of easy infection; silently. For this, many countries started to keep a distance with West Africa such as banning West Africans from coming into their countries or forbidding their citizens to travel to the region.

Ebola, the deadly virus, hasn’t only given inconvenience and discrimination to West Africans. It harmed other states and the sightseers from various countries. For instance, Australia’s government had forbidden West Africa’s tourists coming to their country to prevent the virus entering in 2014. This would probably help Australians from the virus spreading, but this is a radical manner for the innocent West African tourists. Not only this, but the families who are separated also won’t be able to meet each other frequently. The serious discrimination was shown by nations club, which was held by Confederation of African Football (CAF). This football club had blocked Morocco, which is an Ebola-sensitive country, from participating in the game. All this wariness brought up some serious problem, related to the trip. Sightseers who have visited West Africa would most likely to look down on West Africa because of the disease, and would not come back to the regions of the risk getting infected. Moreover, not only the West Africans but also many countries with Ebola infection-risk are experiencing inequality and harm from others. As a result, West Africa’s sightseeing money has decreased with less visitors, and the country may, sooner or later, be corrupted. There are two precautions to decrease the issue: one for ordinary citizens, and one for scholars, doctors and scientists. For the latter, they should continue studying for a new expellant to cure patients who are infected by Ebola. For us, the ordinary citizens should understand one fact clearly: It’s not just their own issue, it’s the world’s issue.

The second stop Japan, and its radioactivity’s harmful issues

After the gloomy news in the first stop West Africa, we are heading to Japan, the second stop. Since Japan has several astonishing facts about their increasing travelers during the serious issue; radioactivity. We will discuss more about it, alternatives for it and its great outcome. It is unfavorable news, because radioactivity is giving Japan and the other neighboring countries big trouble. Radioactivity peels off skin when reached nearby, and it also pollutes the environment and harms the land so it doesn’t grow well. As a result of this, much land in Japan is damaged. Examples include Fukushima (already polluted- high rate of radioactivity) and Tokyo (seems to have high danger). However, a strange case has occurred: A surge of foreigners visiting Japan. The main reason is decreased amount of money to travel.

Since Japan’s government decided to lower the price and expenses, many tourists began visiting Japan. Because of the decreased expense, many visitors, particularly Koreans have been hopping over next door. According to the Chosun news, in the ordinary weeks, the visitors’ number of people has increased about 11.54%, and around the special holidays such as New Years, the number of the visitor increased about 45.3% than last year’s visitors’ number. This statistic shows highly increased number of the visitors after decreasing the expense used in the trip. Also, we can understand people are more sensitive toward price of travel radioactivity’s seriousness. Thus, Japan’s issue could be solved stably because of the great alternative: decreasing price for sight-seeing money. However, people should not forget to care about their health and keep a distance from radioactivity-sensitive areas.

By traveling different stops, ‘The Journalism Express’ hopes that all passengers would be able to understand West Africa’s unresolved issue and Japan’s great alternative to solve the radioactivity issue. Before traveling, make sure you are aware of these.

sekang0702@naver.com

 

BY Kang Seo-Eun

Myeongsun Elementary School

Increasing travel, decreasing price of oil: Is this good?

The decreasing price of oil has affected many Korean customers as it has been decreasing for almost 200 days. Currently, the oil price is about 1,400 won per liter. The diminution has benefited many Korean customers, but it also brought another effect; a surge in travel.

Oil price plays an important role when making decisions about traveling. Riding an airplane includes bunker adjustment factor or BAF, which is determined by the price of oil. As the oil price goes down, BAF price automatically becomes much more affordable. For instance, travelers had to pay about 300 dollars for BAF to fly to the U.S., but now they only pay 30 dollars. The same pattern can be seen in South Asian flights with BAF fee from 116 dollars to 12 dollars, and Japan trip with BAF for six dollars now. BAF price surely changes quite often depending on the oil price. However, in general, it has decreased 90% in average.

According to the research by Hana Tour, a travel agency, travelers to Japan increased 71%, America 37%, South Asia 13% than the past. This January, Hana Tour had 256,000 travelers, Modu Tour had 133,000, which was almost 30% higher than last year.

During the Korea’s traditional holiday such as Lunar New Year or Seolnal, the number of travelers is expected to be around 700,000 because the holiday falls on Wednesday through Friday. This gives a longer weekend and thus a better chance to go overseas with friends and family.

Many people think going on a trip abroad is good for the economy, but it is still a controversial issue. One of the benefits is that the economy can grow because traveling abroad lets airline companies to earn more profits temporarily. In addition to this, travel agencies also benefit. These conditions encourage money to flow and move within the society, which in turn help the economy grow. For example, last year Asiana Air profited thirty billion won in the fourth term, but this year the figure rose to one-hundred billion won.

However, increase in travel trend also has a dark side. As more people go shopping overseas, such as in Japan, China, and the U.S., this can decrease Korea’s entire amount of profit in tourism. The reason is mainly because Koreans spend more money in other countries than we earned by our tour industry.

Oil decrease provides us with several benefits but there also exists drawbacks. Experts criticize that this can lessen the profit made by Chinese and Japanese tourists entering Korea, because more money or too much it is being used by Koreans overseas.

veeni0502@naver.com

 

BY Han Eun-Bin

Naebalsan Elementary School

Ryu Sung-Yong: professional traveler

Traveling is described in countless ways by many people. Some people call it an adventure; some people call it an escape from the tiring reality. Most people think that traveling is when you have plenty of leisure time and enough finance. They often think that you cannot travel for a living. There is Ryu Sung-Yong, a professional traveler and travel writer whose life you can truly call a traveler’s. So far, he published several books based on his journey, and he also directed numbers of traveling programs.

The book “Professional Traveler” is where Ryu got the nickname and since then has gained quite some popularity among people who want to travel. “Professional Traveler” consists of two chapters with similar topics but different contents. One chapter covers a story of a man who couldn’t settle down so traveling has become his daily life. It’s actually about his own story of traveling after he had lost people around him. It is gloomy on one hand after all since he did not have much choice but to travel around. Another chapter is ‘The World’s Loneliest Travel Story.’ This is about the writer traveling around countries from China, Tibet, Nepal to Pakistan. This became a lighthouse for those who travel often and an inspiration for those who could not travel freely.

Ryu was born in 1971 and graduated from Yonsei University. He was a columnist in the Hankyoreh newspaper. After finishing school, he entangled himself into several events such as joining crab fishing. He spent three years as a Korean subject teacher in high school. When he was 29, he went to southern part of Jiri Mountain, and spent 4 years doing nothing but selling teas and writing. This was when he published the book “Love of Things that are Nothing.” Then he started traveling around Asian countries from India to Pakistan for one and a half year, and published the “Professional Traveler.” Later, he directed several traveling television programs such as EBS’ ‘World Theme Tour’ where he introduced countries like Mexico, Peru, Iran and many more.

Ryu inspired many people with his stories and ideas. Writer Bob Chang who watched Ryu taking part in EBS’ ‘World Theme Tour’ was inspired by how he can easily blend in with the locals and new environment, no matter which country he visits. On the interview in the Kyunghyang newspaper, he made some important criticisms about traveling. He said, “People take their traveling experience to show off to others. People try to travel on their own will and their own choice only.” He also gave some suggestions such as “Traveling is a great opportunity to be somebody else. It is difficult to not be ourselves in daily lives. Also, we learn the importance of will and decision but we do not have enough opportunities to learn that there are views and places we cannot reach with just will and decision. We need some space to walk around with our presence reduced, letting few things go as we walk along.”

Perhaps, the true meaning of traveling is not in our ideals of good traveling we see on TV. Just like Ryu has found his own style of traveling and gained the nickname of “professional traveler,” we should keep his advice in mind and try to blend in rather than shining alone and seek for our true meaning of traveling.

shimhg5@naver.com

 

BY Shim Hyun-Gyun

Bangi Middle school

Richard Branson: an unsuccessful space travel pioneer

The human race has been curious about the universe for thousands of years. They wondered what would be in the outer space, and longed to visit the place. In the last few decades, space technology has greatly improved, and now we can send people to space easily. However, only a few astronauts have been to space; not ordinary people. Now, Richard Branson, the president of Virgin Group, announced that he would run a space travel program. His aim is to send non-astronauts to space as tourists.

In order to achieve the goal, he founded Virgin Galactic, a commercial spaceflight company within Virgin Group. It purchased spacecrafts, built “Spaceports,” and started promoting their program internationally. One of their spaceships, SpaceShipTwo(SS2), was unveiled at the Mojave Spaceport in December 2009, and it had completed several test flights attached to another spacecraft, named WhiteKnightTwo. They have made great progress toward space travel, but there have been several adversaries. In April 2013, the SS2 achieved a speed of 1.2 Mach and 1.44 Mach in its supersonic flights, but it fell far short of the 3.28 Mach for 70 seconds required in flying to space. Also, in September 2014, it failed to reach the required altitude needed to get the Federal Aviation Administration licence to carry passengers.

On top of that, a tragedy happened recently. On October 31, 2014, VSS Enterprise, one of the spacecrafts, broke apart during a test flight. As a result, the pilot died and the co-pilot was seriously injured. It crashed shortly after it was released from the mothership. Investigations showed that the air braking system appeared to have malfunctioned. After this accident, many people condemned this program and some customers started to demand refund.

Branson’s space travel program is quite questionable about its possibility to succeed. Technical problems remain unsolved, and its high cost-$250,000 per person-is a pullback. Also, the public opinion is not positive about it. However, this program might not be completely meaningless as it is a process of customizing space travel for everyone in the future.

kimyoungmoc@hanmail.net

 

BY Kim Young-Mok

Aju Middle School

Cha Baek-Seong: biker, traveling around the world

Do you enjoy riding bikes? If yes, try traveling around the world with your bike. Bikes are known to be a humane tool even if technologies have improved dramatically in recent years. Here, I would like to introduce an adventurer who travels around the world with bikes. Cha Baek-Seong, a 63-year-old biker, has traveled around the world for 14 years.

Cha succeeded in crossing the American continent and Hawaii. He also made it from Kyushu to Hokkaido in Japan, which measures about 5,000 kilometers. New Zealand and China became parts of his bike travel history, too. The 2006 German World Cup was another special memory for Cha because he rode 2,006 kilometers from Turkey to Frankfurt, in order to deliver the news of victory to Korean soccer team players. He also published two travel review books “America Road” and “Japan Road,” which helped him became a bike promotion ambassador by the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Why Cha is remarkable is that he quit his job of holding a high position in a major company and pursued his dream. When asked why he started biking at the age of 49, he answered that the timing couldn’t be more perfect. He was ready to bike, mentally and physically. His father, a former university professor passed away in an accident when Cha was only six years old. It was a big shock to him then and Cha began to ponder about “dying well.” After earning and saving enough money, he finally decided to move on to the second stage of his life.

Cha is one of my role models because I dream to travel through the world with a bike. When I ride a bike, I feel free and fresh. Traveling is another form of freedom and expression. My own voyage will be the one with bike riding. I can test my own limits, like Cha did. Surely, if you’re one of the bike lovers, you could purchase his travel review books and practice riding bikes more vigorously.

sngho411@naver.com

 

BY Lee Seung-Ho

Jamsil Middle school

Amelia Earhart: the first lady of flight

It was July 2, 1937. The American Coast Guard patrol craft got an urgent telegraph. “We’re running out of gas. We can’t see land.” And this was the last contact with Amelia Earhart, “queen of the air.”

Her childhood

Earhart was born in 1897 to a poor family in Kansas, United States. However, she was unaffected by the family circumstances and became a very bright and ambitious girl. She preferred playing tennis or swimming to playing house or playing with dolls like usual girls. Later, this sort of outgoing and adventurous character helped her become a legendary female pilot.

The 10 minutes that changed her life

When Earhart was in university, the whole world was in a dismal mood. The reason was because of the WWI. Earhart went to Canada as a wartime volunteer to nurse the injured, and was determined to study medicine. To study medicine, she came back to the U.S., but it was not easy to study medicine due to the lack of financial support from her family. However, on December 8, 1920, Earhart got to experience the 10 minutes that changed her life in airfield in Long Beach, California. She got a chance to board a plane as a passenger. After 10 minutes that Earhart flew, she realized that becoming a pilot is her fate. Since then, she saved money tenaciously to take flying lessons. She had a talent on flying, and became the first woman to fly at a height of 14,000 feet on October 22, 1922. Finally on May 15, 1923, Earhart attained a pilot certificate by International Union of Aviation Insurers. She was the 16^th woman pilot in the world.

The first lady of flight

The time has come when she became the first woman who crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Although the pilot was a male and Earhart was just an assistant, the 20-hour-and-40-minute flight was successful and soon Earhart earned fame. People started calling her “the first lady of flight.” However, despite the fame and honor she received, Earhart felt a sense of shame because she was not the main pilot and felt as if she did not do much. People at that time commented that Earhart showed that women can also do great, and that men and women are equal in knowledge and bravery. She became the president of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots in 1929. Four years after her first transatlantic flight, Earhart finally crossed the Atlantic with a solo flight. The result was 16 hours and 56 minutes. It was a new world record.

After her solo flight, she succeeded a transpacific flight and non-stop crossing America, and consecutively made a new record. In 1935, the dean of Purdue University asked Earhart to teach female students about flight. At the same time, she applied a new idea to the plane, which was the gift from the dean, and remodeled it to fit her better. Earhart gained confidence from it, and started to plan an around-the-world flight. What she didn’t know was that it was her last flight. At first, everything was going smoothly. She passed South America, Africa, the Malay Archipelago and Australia during one month. However, on July 2, 20 minutes after Earhart and her assistant navigator Fred Noonan left Lae, New Guinea, which is the interim landing zone, they disappeared forever.

Her legacy

Earhart was a strong woman, both mentally and physically. She successfully performed pilot training that many males found difficult and strenuous, and showed that females can do what males do, perhaps even better. Earhart’s flight record and a dignified appearance gave hope, courage and self-esteem to many women, and brought a result in which more than 1,000 women pilots from Women Air Force Service Pilots played an active part as transport plane pilots in the WWII.

George Putnam, husband of Earhart, said, when reminiscing his wife. “Amelia will be remembered as making people fearless of flight.”

okidoki0822@naver.com

 

BY Kim Jung-Hyun

Bansong Middle School

Han Bi-Ya: a traveler, an author and a relief worker

Han Bi-ya is a remote area traveler and an author of Korea. She was born in 1958 in Seoul and graduated from Hongik University and the University of Utah. She worked for World Vision until 2009 but retired.

Han was first known to the public through her traveling journals. When quitting her job at the age of 35 to travel around the world, she had her own rules of not traveling in luxury, and it had continued for seven years. She traveled on foot and stayed in local homes. Her writings on interesting experiences soon attracted numerous readers and her books became best sellers. She preferred staying at the local residents’ homes rather than hotels because she thought that it was the best way to experience their lives. The journey changed her life dramatically. Now she says that traveling no longer makes her heart flutter but working as a relief worker in places that suffered from disasters and wars does.

In an interview with Korean Herald, she replied that the happiest person is someone who does the work he or she really wants and that courage is made when someone doesn’t get fearful for trying something new. Also, she insisted that she is living her life with timeline that cannot be compared to that of others.

Currently, she is one of the most respected people by teenagers and university students in Korea. Using the word “global home” instead of “global village,” she emphasizes that foreigners are also one part of our society and that we should help one another. Many backpack travelers are motivated by her books and learn many lessons and tips.

She was awarded ‘Korean YMCA, young leader awards of 2004’ and ‘100 people who made the world brighter selected by an environmental organizations 2005’. “Daughter of the Wind, Stood up on Our Land” (1999), “Daughter of the Wind, Around the Earth Three and a Half Times on Foot” (2000), “March Out of the Map” (2005), and “It was Love” (2005) are some of her well-known books.

1406sunny@naver.com

 

BY Kim Chae-Hyun

Seokcheon Middle School

Tire company provides colorful guides

In France, there is a famous series of annual guidebooks that introduce restaurants, hotels, museums and tourist attractions of various countries and rate restaurants around the world. These guidebooks are highly respected and they can cause great effects on restaurants’ success and failure. Just receiving one star from this guidebook can guarantee the restaurant’s success. If a chef received three stars, that chef can become a famous star chef, and that restaurant will become a tourist attraction. One star refers to “A very good restaurant in its category.” Two stars – “Excellent cooking, worth a detour.” Three stars – “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.” Food lovers travel the world to visit restaurants with stars just because this guidebook recommended. To them, it is like the Bible, and that’s what ‘Michelin Guide’ is.

Since ‘Michelin Guide’ is mainly about restaurants, you might think it could be created by great chefs or restaurants. Actually, it was made by a tire company, Michelin. In the 20^th century, people didn’t utilize the automobiles as much as today and sales of tires weren’t bright. As a result, the two Michelin brothers made a book that provided information of hotels, restaurants and gas stations and gave it to the customers of tire. Then, as more people started to travel by car and the Michelin income rose, the guidebook also faced the same fate. It eventually became the best and most trusted guidebook.

Michelin reviewers or “inspectors” are anonymous and they never identify who they are, and the meals and expenses are paid by the company, not by the restaurants. There are two types of Michelin Guide. One is ‘Red guide’ and the other is ‘Green guide’. ‘Red guide’ provides information of hotels and restaurants. Short summaries of 2 to 3 lines have been included to improve the descriptions and help better understanding. They are written in the language of the country which published it but all use the same star symbols.

The Green one is like additional book to the Michelin Guide. There is a Green Guide for not only France as a whole but also each of 10 different regions in France. Other Green Guides introduce many other countries and are translated into several languages. They contain background information describing point of interests. Similar to the Red Guide, the three-star-system is applied from “worth a trip” to “worth a detour,” and “interesting.” So, by reading Michelin Guide, people can know where hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions are.

At first, people became to travel by car and now, people travel the world because of Michelin Guide. As the most powerful guidebook, Michelin guide will be a good advisor of travel for you.

jeff427@naver.com

 

BY Lim Ji-Heon

Galmoe Middle School

Differences between first class seats and economy seats

The incident of the former vice president of Korean Air demanding the plane to fly back because of  macadamia nuts served “inappropriately” has stirred anger among many Koreans. The nut service is just one of the many services offered in the first class. These services are the reason why a ticket for a first class seat is as five times more expensive than a ticket for an economy seat.

The services for a first class seat start even before the flight. Many airlines provide concierge services to first class passengers. They guide you through the whole process from check in to the lounge. The first class has a separate gate, so first class passengers don’t have to wait in line like economy class passengers. Their baggages get wrapped with plastic bags so expensive bags would be handled extra carefully and not be damaged during transportation. The first and business classes also have separate lounges for the passengers to relax while they wait for the departure.

However, the economy class does not get concierge services and has to use the same gate as almost 300 more people who are using the economy class. Their baggage gets sent without wrapping no matter how expensive it is, and there is no lounge. Just the ground service differs this much.

Once on a plane, a first class passenger gets a seat that is at least six times bigger than the economy class seat. The first class seats can be bended back 180 degrees and are possible to make into a bed. The personal TVs provided to first class seats are twice as big as the ones provided to economy class seats. The meals also vary. First class users get a full course meal and more various food choices. They also get wine of high quality and they can determine when they would have their meals. Economy classes get the meals served on one dish and have less on the menus. Also some planes have an in-flight lounge that first class users could relax in. The amenity differs as well. Economy classes are provided slippers, blankets, toothbrush and toothpaste. First classes get premium cosmetics, sleepwear, wool blankets, slippers, and bedding made of duck down is provided.

Like this, the differences between first class and economy class are great. Maybe you could be one of the lucky people who ride on first class seats and enjoy these services.

greenrna@naver.com

BY Tak Yu-Na

Seongdeok Girls’ Middle School

Unique movie tours

According to Korean National Statistical Office, 13.3% of the adolescents replied to have experienced overseas trips in 2013, which is 2.3% higher than the rate in 2011. As we can see, the number has increased. For these young people, visiting common places and sites is great, but this kind of journey sometimes doesn’t satisfy their boredom. Instead of following-the-guidebook style of traveling and following large groups of people, how about experiencing more fascinating and unique movie tours? Viewing the places in real life will give you a different kind of joy. Here are some suggestions.

Hunger Games Tour: Atlanta

Currently, movie tourism industry is growing in Atlanta, the place the famous movie, “Hunger Games” was filmed. You can see familiar structures shown in the movie, and hence some of the “Hunger Games” fans have already visited the location. The founder of the tour, Carrie Sagel Burns said, “Film and television tourism in Georgia has exploded in the past five years, and we would like to think we have had a hand in that.” He also added, “Bringing the tourism aspect to what the state and production companies are doing makes it more ‘real’ to people.” If you are a fan of Hunger Games, this will be a marvelous journey for you.

Chinese Martial Arts Films Tour: Hong Kong

Hong Kong is known as the birthplace of Chinese martial arts films, and this tour offers some butt-kicking activities and scenic attractions for Kung fu fans. Specifically, you can learn free Kung fu lessons, take a selfie with the famous actor, Bruce Lee’s statue, and even retrace his steps! Not only will you be able to “Enter the Dragon” with Bruce Lee, but you can also enjoy “Rush Hour” with Jackie Chan. You can also visit the movie locations and feel like you’re actually in the movie. This tour will be a great chance for Kung fu lovers.

Harry Potter Tour: UK

As the movie earned incredible popularity worldwide, there are various kinds of Harry Potter tours. For example, there’s a Walking Tour, which is a two-hour-tour walking through the movie locations in London, and Studio Tour at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. You can experience real film sets and costumes of the movies. It’s considered one of the most famous tours along with some others like London Bus Tour. Through these courses, travelers can also learn about London’s tradition and culture, too. After the tour, you might start calling yourself a “muggle!”

soo_bae@naver.com

 

BY Bae Soo-Hyun

Hwasu Middle school

Watch out for better travel

According to Korean Statistical Information Service, about 11,000,000 foreign travelers are visiting Korea and approximately 14,000,000 Koreans are traveling overseas every year. Also, 38.9% of Koreans answered that they have experienced overseas trip during 2013 to a survey held by Korean Statistical Information Service.

As the number of public traveling is increasing, travels by airway or sea are increasing as well as travels by land route. Especially, airplane became a common transportation used by the majority of people which once had low frequency of utilization. Then, for a healthier and happier trip, let’s take a close look at some of the typical diseases that can happen on board.

Aerotitis

The symptoms of aerotitis are ache in the ear and congestion and expansion of eardrum. Aerotitis patients usually have cold or swollen tonsils in most cases. This disease occurs when eustachian tubes that control the pressure of the middle air and the nasopharynx are blocked. Such condition can lead to the pressure difference between the outside and inside of ear which can finally cause aerotitis. Eustachian tube is more likely to show abnormality of its function when landing than take-off. Therefore, it’s easy to complain pain during landing and if goes bad, it can bring damage of eardrum or even rapture. To prevent, chew gum or candy before landing because swallowing narrows the pressure difference. If this doesn’t work, block your nose with thumb and index finger and collect air in the mouth. Then, push in the air behind the nose only using cheek and mouth.

Hypoxia

Ordinarily, people suffer from lack of oxygen at the altitude of 10,000 feet. However, an airplane has pressure control system in order to prevent hypoxia. It can maintain the same atmospheric pressure of 6,000~8,000 feet even when the plane is in higher altitude. Thus, healthy people have no problem, but people who have brain, heart, or lung diseases can complain of hypoxia even in this oxygen density. In this case, they have to ask an aircrew for extra oxygen. Extra oxygen is usually provided by an oxygen mask which comes down from above the passenger seats.

Sinusitis and intestine expansion

Gas always exists in paranasal sinuses-a group of four paired air-filled spaces that surround the nasal cavity, behind the ethmoids, above the eyes and between the eyes-and intestine. However, the volume of gas increases due to the fact that the atmospheric pressure becomes lower with higher altitude. This leads to various kinds of symptoms. If the air inside of paranasal sinuses expands, sinusitis can occur. This disease causes pain in the interocular, forehead and below the eyes. At high altitudes, intestinal gas expands and this can cause more frequent burps or farts. People who usually emit large amount of gas or people whose intestines are partly blocked can have terrible stomachache. For that reason, diarrhea and enteritis patients should delay airplane travel. Furthermore, it’s good to refrain from food which produces high amount of intestinal gas such as bean, apple, cabbage, onion, white radish and garlic.

Dehydration and leg swelling

The humidity inside an airplane is usually 10% which is much less than normal humidity of 80~90%. This is why it’s easy to get dry skin and thirsty. Thus, water is important on board and beverages causing dehydration like coffee, tea and alcohol should be avoided. Leg swelling is a common condition that usually occurs when flying long distances. It’s a state of disorder due to circulatory disturbance which causes pain, pressure, or tightness in the chest area and trouble breathing. Often leg exercise is the best and the most useful way to prevent it.

Above these, any other situations can happen during airplane travel. Therefore, it’s important to keep health practice on board and be careful not to be in emergency situation. To enjoy better travel, there is nothing more important than health.

chenny70@naver.com

 

BY Lee Chae-Yeon

Youngdong Middle School

A new trend of camping: Glamping

In the old days, many people went on trips to other countries to have a better vacation. The reason why they didn’t go somewhere in their country but went to a foreign country is because at that time some countries that are now beautiful and attractive were still developing or some people preferred international traveling to staying near their houses. However, these days for various reasons, many prefer enjoying their trip or vacation in their own countries. One of the major causes for this change is primarily money-related issues.

Camping has attracted quite a number of people. It is an outdoor recreational activity which originated from the Native Indians. Although some claim that camping equipment can be more expensive than an airline’s ticket, generally speaking, camping is cheaper than getting in the airplane. In addition, for those who were and are worried about the cost of camping, here’s good news. Nowadays, people can enjoy camping without owning any personal camping gear and equipment. It might sound ridiculous, but it’s true. A new type of camping called “glamping” is on the go. The term is derived from a combination of two words, glamorous and camping. Thus, all we need to do is arrive at the camping site and enjoy glamorous camping because everything is provided. No need to set up a tent, carry a sleeping bag, find dry wood to make camp fire, and cook with kitchen utensils. Yes, book the site and you can say that the price is much cheaper than getting your own camping equipments or flying in an airplane.

However, still many campers choose to go camping rather than glamping. Many people who usually go glamping ask the people who go camping why they go to these cold places or hot places with extra money. To this question, campers respond they like to be with the nature. It is not that you can’t feel or see the nature at glamping. It’s just because glamping has some restrictions because the entire site or location is not owned by the camper. However, normal camping usually takes place out in the wild such as in the mountain or deep forests where a camper can be truly free.

Like this, a great number of people enjoy their vacation or trips with their family in nature. Whether it is the traditional syle of camping or glamping, both are better than riding a plane and going to another country for hours. You can touch the nature, enjoy the nature, and most importantly, you can feel the nature. So why don’t you pack your bag and give a shot for camping or glamping?

eddyroxrox8036@gmail.com

 

BY Chang Jin-Young

Hyoja Elementary School

Travel: following the trend of TV programs

TV shows about traveling are very common. However, there wasn’t a big and remarkable effect on traveling from travel programs until recently. Travel shows have started to affect travel business positively. They contribute heavily in making people set out on a trip.

In 2013 and 2014, TV program ‘Grandpa Over Flowers’ was broadcasted. It was about grandpa celebrities’ trip to other countries. This show recorded a high view rate, and many people liked it. ‘Sister Over Flowers’ and ‘Youth Over Flowers’ were also broadcasted and brought fame as well. According to the Ministry of Tourism of Croatia, the number of Korean tourists has increased rapidly, after Croatia was broadcasted in ‘Sister Over Flowers’. In 2013, Korean travelers to Croatia were about 70,000 people. However, after the show, 250,000 people traveled to Croatia. Also, there was a surge in Korean travelers to Taiwan after Taiwan was broadcasted in a TV program. It recorded 61.2% of growth rate.

TV shows also induce people to go on a travel. According to Korean Tourism Organization, 64.7% of travelers to foreign countries said they were influenced by traveling shows on television. Also, they predict the number will rise as more TV programs are focusing on journeys abroad.

As the popularity of countries from TV shows increases, travel businesses and government of each country try to keep the popularity and expand profits from travelers. Minister of Croatian Ministry of tourism said, they would introduce attraction of Croatia to prevent diminution of Korean travelers. He said they would establish tourism bureau of Croatia in Seoul to continue the fever of tourism of Croatia.

Moreover, travel businesses are busy to follow trend that TV programs showed. An administrator of Europe travel agency said that they have started to sell various packages of tour that were influenced from “Over Flowers” series.

One of the administrators of Korean travel agency said that a ripple effect of reality travel TV show will be considerable, and it will bring a huge impact in the business field. If the business and travel TV shows continue to be creative and suitable for tourists, they can get sizable profits and positive effects. At the same time, priceless experience can also be attained.

minvely02@naver.com

 

BY Kim Min-Jung

Tanchun Elementary School

Traveling outer space; the new era of traveling

Recently, the massive boom of the movie, “Interstellar” has tackled one of the most anticipated truths left for the mankind to discover, space. Being the CNN selected, “The most likely place to die”, the outer space has kept its unrivaled placement for being immeasurable and infinite. The prejudice that only professional astronauts are the ones who can attempt to visit the outer space has captivated people’s minds for decades. However, as more and more non-astronaut civilians become interested and attempt to step out to the outer space, space traveling has opened the new era of traveling.

After Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon in the year of 1969, space traveling has been attempted to vitalize for many times. However, nobody has ended up with a thorough result. The long-term silence broke in the year of 2001 by an American billionaire, Dennis Tito. Though he was over the age of sixty while he was traveling the outer space, Tito had succeeded to stay in the outer space for 7 days and 22 hours, riding a Russian spaceship. Tito’s flight has caught up a lot of people’s attention on non-astronaut civilian’s space traveling. Billionaires around the world have put themselves in the new era of traveling.

However, many post-flights failed to guarantee that space traveling will catch on as a reassuring merchandise. In the year of 2013, a new model called ‘Spaceship 2’ has made its grand debut to the civilians. The newest implementation caught many people’s attention. Celebrities such as Justin Bieber, and physicists such as Stephen Hawking registered for a ride in the ‘Spaceship 2’. However, during its mock flight, it failed to reassure the appliers due to its explosion in the midair.

In order to apply for space traveling, the only complement isn’t being a billionaire. People who wish to apply for space traveling should be admitted to special schools that teach the ways of being a civilian astronaut. Accomplishing much better than its expectation, these schools have gained their dignity which inevitably led to a high competition rate to attend.

After breaking through the high application rate, from the day the astronaut steps in, he or she is subjected to a training called, “G-Lock”. “G-Lock” puts you into a condition where you are captivated in a cell, sustaining 6 times the usual gravity. This training can force the lack of air in the trainer’s brain. Some people even suffer from side effects such as having their eyelids turned over, or had even turned temporary blind. However, the managers of the school argue that this is a daily-life matter destined for the civilian astronauts.

Mastering learning how to breathe in the tense gravity encompasses the pre-astronauts into their next training, “Phoenix”. “Phoenix” is a 15-meter machine, looking like a hammer. As the trainee steps in, the machine spins in an incomprehensible speed, enabling the trainer to experience as much gravity as 12 times the usual gravity.

The long track of the training leads the astronauts to a model spaceship, “Dark night two”. The model spaceship can contain as much as 6 people, and gives the trainees the real experience of space traveling. After being aboard, it is only a matter of time for the spaceship to rise vertically, and to rise up. The model space shuttle doesn’t go as tense or as high as the real space travels, but the experiences that people get from them are vital.

Space traveling is indeed opening a new gate of the era of traveling. Behind the wonders and curiosity, many people oppose the idea due to the stability and the harsh experiences while training. However, many physicists are still working hard to improve the conditions of space traveling. The founder of the United States Academy of Rockets, Edd Light, commented that, “Through multiple tests, we have concluded that our tests and trainings could enable the majority of the civilians into space traveling”.

awesomepercy@naver.com

 

BY Choi Yun-Seo

Wolchon Elementary School

Finding the true pleasure in life

As Mr. Sen wrote out the check, he apologized on behalf of Mrs. Sen. He said she was resting, though when Eliot had gone to the bathroom, he’d heard her crying.

Mrs. Sen was, indeed crying. She felt stunned, shocked and most of all, frustrated with herself. She couldn’t let Eliot go so easily. One single, subtle mistake, and now she’d never be able to see Eliot again. Eliot had been the one and only presence of life here in America. Her memories of Eliot passed through her mind like a panorama.

Mrs. Sen said nothing, and stared at the picture hung on her bedroom wall, a picture of her and Eliot smiling on the beach of Kill Devil Hills- one of her few positive memories after immigrating to North Carolina form Calcutta, India.

It took a while for the realization to sink in – Eliot was truly gone.

“Eliot is gone”, Mrs. Sen mourned with a sigh. Everything was done. More than the car crash, more than the cut in her lips, the notation that left her in pain was the absence of Eliot.

For the next few days, her psyche was overwhelmed and defeated. Trembling into the endless abyss of sorrow and grief, she couldn’t see even the slightest chance of recovering. Several “formal” and contrived conversations between Mr. and Mrs. Sen occurred from time to time, but other than that, the only sounds heard in the house were made from men from the insurance company.

Changes were needed, and came faster than expected. Whether Mrs. Sen was wanted them or not, changes were inevitable. Just like any other day, Mrs. Sen lay in bed, depressed, with memories of the accident ailing her. Before the accident she used to wonder if life could be any worse. Life in the United States was too harsh for her to adjust. She now knew she had been wrong.

Mrs. Sen barely dreamed. Occasionally she did, but this night it was different. She was a ‘Ba’, a floating invisible substance that resembles one’s spirit. It was only a matter of seconds before Mrs. Sen realized that she was in her backyard, though a completely different backyard from what she used to see out her bedroom window. It wasn’t the dark garden full of shadows that she used to see. It was bright, full of wild flowers, birds chirping, and deer roaming.

Then, she felt another strong force pushing her to a different location. She realized she was standing on the main street. People were smiling, and waving at her. Mrs. Sen wasn’t used to this. It has been so long since she really felt the pleasure of life. She had been convinced that she could never be happy in America. However, her prejudice against American life slipped away in a matter of seconds. She wanted to be in that moment forever.

She opened her eyes, and it took her a moment, but she realized the whole event was merely a dream, not reality. However, realization dawned on Mrs. Sen that her dream could become her reality. It was not Kill Devil Hills that offered no pleasure in life; it was she who didn’t realize the pleasure of life in Kill Devil Hills. Mrs. Sen rose from her bed. She opened her bedroom window, and let the fresh air blow into the room. She breathed in the cool air, and exhaled. Though it took her some time, she finally realized she could be happy in America. Better late than never.

Things immediately started to change. She walked the streets, made new friends, and was overwhelmingly pleased by her life. Reliving the memories of the terrible accident had done nothing to lift Mrs. Sen out of her depression. Yet she remained thankful to Eliot for showing her the true pleasure in life. Mrs. Sen had finally pulled herself out of the deep abyss of sorrow and grief. In fact, she still enjoys the beautiful flowers and chirping birds, here Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

awesomepercy@naver.com

 

BY Choi Yun-Seo

Wolchon Elementary School

Change

 

BY Cho Yeong-Seo

Mogun Elementary School

 

dabin468@naver.com

Career Discovery–Life as a program director

One of the most vital parts of the Korean Wave is its programming industry. In the past few decades, Korea has become well-known as one of the pioneering countries in producing unique and creative television programs. Standing behind the scenes in shows is the production crew.

Because of today’s technology, viewers now challenge themselves to inquire how programs are made. Therefore, life as a Program Director, or PD, is much less veiled to the public’s eye than it used to be.

Program Directors can be categorized into two groups: radio and television. Radio PDs are usually composed of three or fewer directors, while television programs require a much larger number.

PDs are in charge of essentially everything associated with their program. Two of their important tasks include choosing the perfect cast and planning out the schedule for the program. With these already-difficult tasks to complete, they also need to make sure their budget allows for each difficult decision they make. One minor error in judgment can prove deadly to a show, just as one incredible episode could attract the world’s attention.

This is an imaginary interview with a famous Korean producer, Na Young Seok.

Hi. It’s a great honor to interview you! Can you briefly introduce yourself to the Smart & Story readers?

Hello. My name is Na Young Seok. I am a producer who currently works for TVN. Most people remember me for directing the show “1 Night 2 Days.”

What do producers think of viewers nowadays?

Viewers nowadays want to know everything. A couple of decades ago, the end result was the only thing viewers cared about. They just wanted to watch the program and that was it. However, these days, the audience tends to be more inquisitive about how the program was created.

What is the biggest obstacle that you have to overcome, being a Program Director?

The biggest obstacle is that we always have to make new programs that exceed viewers’ expectations. What matters most is viewers’ perception of the show. We always have to be on our toes, creating new and unique ideas.

What differentiates a good producer from a bad producer?

The main factors that distinguish a good PD from a bad one is the efficiency with which a program is made. Good producers can think of creative ideas and work them effortlessly into the program. Of course, they also have to have the spark of creativity.

What is the most helpful trait to have as a producer?

Like I mentioned before, creativity is of the utmost importance. However, beyond that, a PD must have excellent leadership skills, because he or she has to direct the crew. The PD has to lead negotiations among the different members of the crew, which can be a daunting task.

Do you have anything else to tell the Smart & Story readers?

If production is something you are passionate about, and you want to take part in spreading the Korean Wave around the world, you should look into becoming a Program Manager!

awesomepercy@naver.com

 

BY Choi Yun-Seo

Wolchon Elementary School

Is the spread of the Korean Wave advantageous for Korea?

 

BY Cho Sung-Yeop

Yokgok Middle school

 

 

These days, Korean pop culture is spreading like wildfire. Korean dramas and K-Pop idols gain more popularity around the world with each passing day. China, especially, has developed a high interest level in Korean culture. Unfortunately, the expansion of the Korean Wave has started to benefit China at Korea’s expense, revealing the dark side of the Korean Wave.

China’s entertainment industry is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Its movies and television programs are one of the driving forces of the industry. However, the majority of its popular movies and programs come from foreign sources, Korea being one of them. In fact, it was recently estimated that profits from ten imported foreign films in China were responsible for about 70% of the entertainment market.

As a result, many members of Korea’s entertainment industry have started to enter into China’s industry. China has started making films, dramas, and other programs with Korean producers and directors. The famous Korean TV program called “Dad, Where Are We Going?” has been adapted into a Chinese version of the program and even a Chinese mobile game, both of which have earned over 200 billion won so far.

Korea is losing many opportunities by giving up the rights to our original and one-of-a-kind television programs. If we want to stay relevant in today’s market, we must slow down and control the Korean Wave.

 alexangel82@naver.com