Recent Blog Posts

All Recent Posts

Colonial Korea: Singyesa Temple – 신계사 (Kosong, Kangwon-do)

Printer-friendly version


Singyesa Temple in Kosong, Kangwon-do, North Korea in 2007.

Hello Again Everyone!!

This is the first article that photographically highlights Korean Buddhist temples from the period of the Japanese colonization of Korea that lasted from 1910 to 1945. In these pictures from the colonial period in Korea’s history, you’ll get a unique look into Korea’s religious and cultural past. Also of note, you’ll get to see pictures of temples from both north and south of the DMZ before the Korean peninsula was divided by the Korean War (1950-53).

In this first article, I thought I would focus on North Korea’s Singyesa Temple in Kosong, Kangwon-do. (It should be noted that I’ll be using the North Korean style of writing Korean words in English when it comes to the North Korean temples). I was fortunate enough to visit Singyesa Temple back in March, 2007. So with my personal biased in mind, here’s a little more on the history of Singyesa Temple.

Singyesa Temple was first founded in 519 A.D. during the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.E – 935 A.D.). The temple is beautifully located in the picturesque Mt. Kumgang, and it eventually became one of the four major temples on Mt. Kumgang. During Japanese colonization, Singyesa Temple became known as Sinkei-ji Temple. And it was a popular tourist destination.

Unfortunately, the entire temple complex, and the buildings housed on its grounds, were completely destroyed in 1951 by U.S. fighter planes. It was believed that soldiers from the North Korean Army were taking up residence at Singyesa Temple. Some fifty-three years later, in 2004, and with the financial support of the Jogye Order and the Korean Buddhist Association, Singyesa Temple was reconstructed. Construction would be completed in 2006.


Singyesa Temple framed by the neighbouring Mt. Kumgang. This picture dates back to 1932.

Singyesa1 Main Hall

A better look at the main hall from 1932.

Singyesa2 Main Hall

The intricate latticework that adorned the main hall in 1932.

Singyesa3 Main Hall

And an interior look inside the main hall from 1932.


A picture of the Silla-era three tier pagoda from 1916.


A closer look at the sword bearing guardian that adorns the pagoda. This picture, as well, dates back to 1916.


The Manse-ru Pavilion at the entry of Singyesa Temple in 2007.


The Daeung-jeon main hall in 2007.


The intricate latticework that accompanied the 2004 re-build.


The only thing to remain from the 1951 U.S. bombing. The pagoda dates back to the Silla Dynasty.

Collecting on Unpaid Debts

Printer-friendly version

A few months ago, Groove started featuring Ask a Korean Lawyer.  Although the column mentions unfair dismissal, the collection process is generally similar for any judgment or debt.

Receiving Compensation for Unfair Dismissal

Andrew got fired from his hagwon for something he did not do. He wants to fight for unfair dismissal and is sure he can win. Unfortunately, his boss is about to close his hagwon and move somewhere else. It will take a few months for Andrew to get a judgment stating that the boss is liable for a certain amount of compensation. In this case, how can Andrew ensure that he receives his compensation?
Refusal to pay back a debt, a promised amount of money, or administrative (labor board or similar) compensation requires some form of enforcement—such as seizure or collection—to prevent contracts or legal judgments from becoming worthless pieces of paper. This column will provide an overview of the three steps used to enforce an administrative judgment: (1) pre-suit asset seizure, (2) suit and judgment establishing debt, and (3) collection.
People who are being or will be sued commonly try to hide or dispose of their assets. Preliminary seizure (gaapryu), which can occur before a lawsuit even starts, prohibits the defendant from withdrawing money from their bank account, selling real property (i.e., land and buildings), or otherwise transferring their ownership interests until the suit is completed.
But of course not every suit ends with the defendant losing, and the inconvenience of losing the ability to withdraw money or sell property is significant. So to protect the defendant, the person requesting the freeze must also pay the court a deposit (kongtakgeum) equal to a certain percentage of the property value. Typical values are 10 percent of the value seized for real property, 80 percent for personal possessions, and 40-50 percent for bank accounts. As these sums can be quite high, the courts also sometimes allow plaintiffs to purchase insurance in lieu of paying a cash deposit. If the defendant is successful, he may countersue and seize the deposit or insurance policy to secure his rights.
There are three main types of lawsuit for collection: civil suits, order to pay suits, and small claims suits. A small claims suit is limited to sums under 20 million won. Orders to pay involve only paper trials (i.e., they do not include testimony) and are limited to cases where liability is clear (e.g., the presence of a written contract or administrative judgment). The deposit required for a preliminary seizure is also smaller for a suit seeking an order to pay, and the market rates for attorneys are often much cheaper.
During trial, both sides present documentary evidence and (except for order to pay suits) witness testimony. Orders to pay can become normal civil suits if the court believes the matter is inappropriate for an order to pay suit (e.g., documents are lacking or witnesses are needed). In a small claims suit, the ability of attorneys to represent is limited. Otherwise, either an attorney or a person representing himself can appear in court, present evidence, and argue.
After the suit, if the defendant is found liable, he has two weeks to appeal. If property was seized beforehand, then after two weeks, this preliminary seizure becomes final and the property changes hands or goes to a forced sale. If the debtor pays, the forced sale can be cancelled upon court order after the debtor has proven there is no credit left on the property. If there is an appeal, the property remains seized but execution is held until the final court judgment.
So according to the steps described above, Andrew can have any of his boss’s assets, such as his house, car, rental deposits, or savings, legally seized. After this, Andrew can instigate a lawsuit and receive a judgment. Assuming the judgment is in Andrew’s favor, he can receive his compensation through the forced sale of the assets seized before the lawsuit.

Yuna Lee is an English-speaking Korean attorney with the firm Seowoo Minyul, located in Seoul, and blogs at She represents non-Koreans and Koreans in litigation and transactional matters and also provides pro bono legal counseling at Seoul Global Center on a regular basis. If there is an area of law you would like to see discussed, write to and include “column” in the subject line.



Follow a Korean Lawyer


Have a question? Read the disclaimer, and contact me.


Email *

Message *



Dear Korea #131

Printer-friendly version

Dear Korea #131


Jen Lee's Dear Korea

This is Jen Lee. She likes to draw.
She also likes green tea.


You can also leave comments on the comic’s Facebook Page!


Free Talking for ESL Students: Why I Hate It

Printer-friendly version

Free-Talking for ESL Students

I recently attended the Kotesol International conference 2015 in Seoul and want to talk about a presentation that I attended by Tina Zaman called, “English Conversation Workshops for Fluency.”

The gist of it is that she begins her classes by having students talk with their partner about a single open-ended question for 15 minutes. She made no mention of whether or not this question is related to anything else that her class is studying, or whether it’s stand-alone. I tried asking her, but she wasn’t open to answering questions it seemed. A few people questioned how it was possible that her students were able to do this for 15 and not move into just speaking Korean, but again, she didn’t give an answer.

I’m cool with like people doing whatever in their classes, but she kept mentioning that she recently took a CELTA course and was really influenced by it. Now, I also did the CELTA (and the next level-the DELTA) and feel like if I did this in my observed teaching sessions, my tutors would have been horrified. And, I would have failed the lesson. And failed hard. Like our tutors specifically told us not to put an aim like, “To practice speaking” in our lesson and instead replace it with, “To practice using the simple past in conversation.”

Anyway, here’s why I think free-talking for ESL students like she does is bad, bad news for our students if you actually want to them speak English fluently.

Chunks: If you really want to become fluent in speaking a language, you need to have a core of multi-word chunks that are at the level of being automatic. Chunks are things like collocations, phrasal verbs, idioms, sentence frames and discourse markers to name just a few. In order for these things to become automatic, you need targeted practice. So, targeted conversation practice that focuses on some of these things can be far more useful that just random speaking. You can see more details about this stuff in Scott Thornbury’s How to Teach Speaking, Chapter 2. His argument is pretty convincing.

It’s not a Task: Completing tasks is motivating and it’s our job as teachers to design ones that students want to complete. Harmer, in How to Teach English mentions that there are 3 reasons why students want to complete tasks: rehearsal/role-play, feedback and engagement. It’s certainly not a rehearsal for anything because when would you be expected to talk about a single question for 15 minutes. It also doesn’t lend itself to meaningful feedback, like you could give if you had students doing something far more targeted around a specific grammar or vocabulary point. Nor is it engaging as far as I can see. If I were a student, I’d have a hard time understanding how this was actually helping me.

Task-Based, Communicative Approaches? If you really want to get your students working on their fluency, wouldn’t task-based or communicative activities be a better use of class-time? They’re far more motivating in my opinion.

What the Gurus Say: Now, I’m perhaps not totally up to date on all the current research, but like I can’t say that I’ve ever seen something like this mentioned as a good thing to do to help our students. I’d welcome a correction though so please send some studies my way!

Let’s Talk CELTA: Now, just because she brought it up in her presentation, let’s talk CELTA. What she does certainly does not fit into any framework that they teach. At the beginning of a speaking lesson, you should activate prior knowledge, by doing a warm-up activity of some kind such as talking to your partner about a question for 2-3 minutes, or making a prediction based on a headline, or describing a picture, etc. Then, you get introduced to the language usually through a reading, or listening and there can be some pre-teaching before this happens. Then, there is a short presentation of the target language, which you can often do through some sort of self-discovery. After that, you do controlled practice and then less controlled practice that usually involves some degree of personalization. I just don’t see how 15 minutes of non-targeted free-talking fits anywhere into this.

Maybe my View is Tainted: I remember way back to my first year or two teaching in Korea. I had this class of middle-school students where all they wanted to do was free-talking. They’d been doing it for the previous year with the last foreign teacher. I took over the class and soldiered on with the same. Every single day for an hour. Now, if you are in an English class every single day for an hour, you think you’d be quite good after a year or two. Except they weren’t. These students made the same basic mistakes over and over and over again every single day. They had extremely limited vocabularies and grammatical range simply because they were using the 20 things they knew and not pushing themselves to use new stuff. It would have been far better for them to use a textbook of some kind an systematically incorporate new vocabulary and grammatical structures into their knowledge base and then work on these things moving to the level where they became automatic.

Your Thoughts?

How can we actually help our students get better at speaking English fluently? Do you think something like free-talking for 15 minutes at the beginning of class would be useful?

And, here’s one activity that will actually help your students speak English fluently: 3-2-1 Retell the Story. Remember, free talking for ESL students = mostly bad news.


The post Free Talking for ESL Students: Why I Hate It appeared first on ESL Speaking.

Jackie Bolen: How to Get a University Job In Korea


My Life! Teaching in a Korean University

University Jobs



The Sapaning

Printer-friendly version

Now that I’ve finished the LSAT and my job teaching English in Quinhon, I’m doing some touring around North Vietnam….with my mom!  It’s a welcome change to be experiencing different parts of this country as a tourist, and with an excellent traveling companion, no less!

Since both my mom and I have been really busy/distracted in the weeks preceding this trip, we made barely any plans. One place we did want to visit was Sapa, a small and beautiful mountain town near the border of China.

We booked the bus tickets for our trip from our hotel receptionist, a cheerful guy who referred to himself as La La.  The bus to Sapa was pretty nice. It had seats that you could lie flat, big windows, and a little bathroom in the back.  It was nonstop and quiet.

When we got to Sapa, it was pouring down rain.  Torrential downpour status. We decided to rent a luxury hotel room, so at least we could enjoy creature comforts if it rained the entire duration of our stay (2 nights, 3 days).  We found a hotel called Sapa Panorama on and reserved one room for two nights at the price of $300.

When we got to the hotel, the receptionists were totally confused, and talked to each other for a long time, and finally showed us to a small, marginally smelly room with a meager mountain view.  My mom and I were suspicious. We looked online and saw the value of the room was actually $50 USD. So, we asked the receptionists what happened and they said they were almost fully booked, and jacked the prices way up on in hopes that no one else would make reservations. Jeez, guys.  After some finagling we ended up getting some of our money back.


View from our hotel room on a misty afternoon
View from our hotel room on a misty afternoon


By the time that all got sorted out, it was around 4PM and still raining hard. My mom and I walked around the town and then had a delicious dinner at this restaurant called The Hilltop Station. So good. If you go to Sapa, go there. Amazing food, and imported beer!!!

The Hilltop Station.
The Hilltop Station.


The next day, we went to Cat Cat village, which was a total tourist trap. Going there felt kind of wrong. You basically pay to get into the village to watch impoverished people try to sell you their handmade products. Nonetheless, the countryside was absolutely beautiful.

Cat Cat Village
Cat Cat Village


So many shops. With very vocal salespeople.
So many shops. With very vocal salespeople.



Stuff for sale.
Stuff for sale.


hmong stuff


Water buffalo. As adorable as they are tasty ;)
Water buffalo. As adorable as they are tasty ;)


Dog. As adorable as it is tasty? T_T
Dog. As adorable as it is tasty? T_T


Our last day there had much better weather.  I convinced my mom to rent a motorbike with me, and we tooled around the outskirts of the city looking at the gorgeous mountains.  It was great to leave behind the touristy strip and take in the natural beauty.



Then we went to a market with lots of scary meat lying around.


Who'ssss ready for Halloween??
Who’ssss ready for Halloween??


Bye-do Fido.
Bye-do Fido.


A horse.


Then it was time to go. Mass chaos happened when we tried to leave. La La hadn’t been too specific about where we were supposed to board the bus back to Hanoi.  He told us to wait on a specific street corner at 3PM for a driver. At 3:20PM, a taxi with two other confused people finally picked us up and took us to a parking lot full of buses. We got on one that was going to Hanoi. Little did we know…

…that the bus wasn’t direct! It made a million stops along the way! And was lit with florescent lights! And blasted Vietnamese pop the entire time! And was overbooked! It was pretty amusing to see my mom’s reaction to that experience.

So, what did I think of Sapa overall? Well, its beauty is unforgettable, and the restaurants are great.  Yet, the downtown area is too touristy, and you’ll definitely get local women following you around saying things like “Shopping? You buy from me? Where you from?” So, I’d say, if you want to go to Sapa, maybe make some time to rent a motorbike get out of the main part of town. That way, you can experience the beauty of the area without all the hassle.

Oh, and be prepared for cold, rainy weather!!



Grading Participation in Korean Universities

Printer-friendly version

Grading Participation: I Refuse to Do It Grading participation in Korean universities-I did it for quite a few years but in the past 3, I’ve refused to do it. It basically has to do with the classes that I’m teaching-mostly advanced level ones for English majors. If you’re an English major, it seems like you

The post Grading Participation in Korean Universities appeared first on .

Kotesol International Conference 2015: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Printer-friendly version

The Kotesol International Conference 2015 is in the books and overall, it seemed to go quite well from my perspective-just an average attender/presenter. I’ll talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Good Location– Coex is fantastic and makes an excellent venue, far better than Sookmyeong University where you sometimes have to wander

The post Kotesol International Conference 2015: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly appeared first on .

Seoul Subway

Printer-friendly version

In my hometown, the means of public transportation around the city is by jeepney only and buses are for long distance travels. Although, I’ve also experienced riding the LRT in Manila and subway in Hong Kong, some things that one isn’t familiar with gives this scary and exciting feeling at the same time.


Seoul Subway Map in English, Japanese and Chinese ©SMRT (click to enlarge)




an empty cabin of Line 1

When I arrived in Korea, just by looking at the colorful subway map entangling each other, already made me think that I’m gonna get lost. So, I’ve made this list which I think are important tips if you want to take the Seoul subway.

  1. If you are taking the public transportation during your stay in Korea, it is advisable to get a transportation card (t-money). You can save much especially if you transfer from subway to bus or vice versa very often, a better choice than paying 1,300 every ride.
  2. Memorize as much as possible the route of where you want to go, the station where you’re heading and the next station from where you are getting in.
  3. Don’t expect to be seated at all times of the day. Rush hours could mean standing even from the starting point to the end point of your journey.
  4. Avoid those special seats allotted for elderly, pregnant women and persons with disabilities (PWD). They are located at each corner of the cabin.
  5. When it’s crowded and you’re seated, be kind enough to offer it to the elders. They would refused, but insist them to your offer.
  6. On some days, there are people sitting next to you who will be banging their sleepy heads on you.
  7. You won’t get bored on board, there’s free wifi exclusive for SK telecom users.
  8. Although there are convenience stores in every station, it’s still not advisable to eat nor drink on board. Drinks may spill all over or on to somebody and the smell of the food might disgust other passengers.
  9. If you want to catch the next ride, you’d better run.. FAST but with caution.
  10. If ever you missed your stop, just go across and take the next train back.
  11. Whether you can read Korean or not, there are romanized (rendered in the English alphabet) signs along the way.
  12. Always keep right.

Seoul Station

Don’t worry too much. With the resources available, you’ll never get lost. The quickest way to learn is to take the subway all by yourself. I couldn’t rely on Danny too much and so, I’ve decided to be an independent commuter 2 months after I arrived and now, I can go anywhere I want with my t-money card and a map.

Subway Guide Website:


My first time to board here. Can you guess which Seoul subway line this is? :)

Gwaneumam Hermitage – 관음암 (Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do)

Printer-friendly version


The main hall at Gwaneumam Hermitage at Tongdosa Temple.

Hello Again Everyone!!

Much like Biroam Hermitage, Gwaneumam Hermitage is named after a Buddhist Bodhisattva. Gwaneumam Hermitage is named after the Bodhisattva of Compassion: Gwanseeum-bosal. The hermitage is actually the newest hermitage directly associated with Tongdosa Temple. Gwaneumam Hermitage was built 30 years ago. Originally, the land where the hermitage was built was used by a married Buddhist priest and his family. But the land was bought for building the hermitage. The one key feature of this hermitage, and it stands out when you visit it, is a five storied sari stupa. Purportedly, according to the Tongdosa Temple website, the stupa at Gwaneumam Hermitage houses the partial remains of the Historical Buddha. These remains were from Myanmar (Burma). It’s a remarkable history for a hermitage that almost seems underwhelming.

As you first approach the hermitage from a dirt road, you’ll first realize that the land where the hermitage now resides must have be a former rice paddy. The only reason I say this is because the hermitage is surrounded by rice paddies in all directions. Entering through the opening in the walled off hermitage compound, and by the black dragon heads that stand on each edge of the opening, you’ll enter into a non-descript hermitage courtyard.

To the left is the compact main hall with the beautiful pagoda with the purported remains of the Buddha inside. The paintings around the main hall are Buddhist themed in nature. Stepping inside the main hall, you’ll see a large, red canopy hovering over top of the main altar. Underneath this elaborate canopy are a triad of statues. Sitting in centre is Seokgamoni-bul (The Historical Buddha). He’s joined on either side by Jijang-bosal (The Bodhisattva of the Afterlife) and Gwanseeum-bosal (The Bodhisattva of Compassion). To the right of this altar is a large guardian mural.

As for the rest of the hermitage grounds, there’s the monks’ dorms, a visitors centre, and the hermitage’s kitchen. To the right of these buildings is a unique pagoda and a monk statue, as well as a pavilion that overlooks a beautiful garden. The pagoda strangely has rounded edges, instead of the typical sharp stone lines of a more traditional Korean pagoda. Also, the hobbitesque monk statue sports a stone straw hat. To the right of this monk statue is a wooden/straw pavilion for monks to meditate as they look over the beautiful garden that lays out in front of it.

HOW TO GET THERE: Gwaneumam Hermitage is a bit tricky to find. It’s not on the Tongdosa Temple grounds; instead, it lies in the neighbouring hills and fields. With your back to the main gate at Tongdosa Temple, head straight for about 200 metres. Turn left at the first major road. This road will head straight, beside the Tongdosa Temple parking lot, for about 300 metres. By this point, you may be able to see the top of the main hall. As the road forks, head left around a curved road for about 200 metres. You’ll then see a handful of taller apartments. Head down the back alley behind one of these apartments for about 100 metres. Hang a right at the edge of these apartments for another 100 metres, by then you’ll be able to see both the hermitage sign as well as the hermitage and rice paddies that surround Gwaneumam Hermitage. Unlike all the other hermitages that take up residence on the Tongdosa Temple grounds, Gwaneumam Hermitage is free to enter.

OVERALL RATING:  2.5/10. Unless you’re a die hard temple/hermitage adventurer like me, I wouldn’t recommend visiting this hermitage. However, if it’s true that the hermitage does house the partial remains of the Buddha, then this hermitage would obviously be rated a bit higher. But at this time it doesn’t seem all that clear if they do or don’t. The highlight of this hermitage is the beautifully painted compact main hall, purported stupa that houses the partial remains of the Buddha, as well as the atypically shaped pagoda and the hobbitesque monk statue. The garden is also a nice place to take pictures and gather your breath before finding your way back to the bus stop or the Tongdosa Temple gate.


The drive up to Gwaneumam Hermitage.


The lotus field at the hermitage.


One of the hermitage’s walls with a decorative dragon adorning the entry to Gwaneumam Hermitage.


The five tier pagoda out in front of the hermitage’s main hall.


One of the aged haetae in front of the pagoda.


One of the panels of protective guardians that adorns the base of the five tier pagoda.


A look through the entry of the main hall at Gwaneumam Hermitage.


One of the murals that adorns the main hall.


The main altar inside the main hall. Seokgamoni-bul (The Historical Buddha) is joined by a standing Jijang-bosal and a standing statue of Gwanseeum-bosal.


An up close of the guardian mural that hangs inside the main hall.


A better look at the elaborate main altar inside the main hall.


The hermitage’s stone artwork and relaxing hut.

Syndicate content

Koreabridge - RSS Feeds
Features @koreabridge     Blogs  @koreablogs
Jobs @koreabridgejobs  Classifieds @kb_classifieds

Koreabridge - Facebook Group

Koreabridge - Googe+ Group