Koreans Head To America and A Collective Groan From The Western World

Koreans Flocking to American Universities

Let's start out with a story about higher learning, rather than a dumbing down of the world. According to an article in The Korea Times, Korean students make up the third largest source of foreign students in American Universities.

That stat doesn't surprise me at all. With the way Koreans push traveling to foreign, English-speaking countries, it's no shock that they make up such a huge chunk of the foreign students in the United States of America.

South Koreans follow only Indians and Chinese in student population.

While I was visiting my brother in New York City during my time at home, we met a bunch of Columbia University students through his roommate, Chris, who is in a graduate program there.

One of the girls I met told me that Koreans make up the largest number of foreign students at the university. That's a theory that the article would certainly suggest is true.

Dokdo Island (maybe not Takeshima?) ... Again

All those nerds driving an advertising bus across the country and taking out full page ads in major New York City newspapers must be beside themselves with joy right now.

An article in The Korea Times (not a hugely reliable source) claims that a lawmaker obtained a post-war document from a Japanese official that marks Dokdo Islands as foreign territory.


From the article:

'The document, obtained by South Korean lawmaker Park Sun-young from a Japanese official, shows the Japanese finance ministry proclaimed in Notification 654 on Aug. 15, 1946 that "Jukdo," the former name for the islets, is foreign territory. The document was compiled to settle Japanese companies' debts after Tokyo surrendered in the war.'

I'm guessing that every westerner in Korea who read this article just growned, mostly with an apathetic tone, I'm sure. We have to hear about Dokdo all the time. It's annoying as anything here.

"Do you know Dokdo?" That's one of the most common questions you'll hear from a Korean. They're all ready to tell you that the tiny rocks, inhabited by only one fisherman, his wife and some police, are an important source of resources. Maybe I don't know much about resources.


Anyway, Korea is not known for journalistic integrity in any way. The article doesn't say a thing about how the document was obtained and doesn't say which Japanese official gave away the biggest source of annoyance the Japanese have been using against the Koreans in recent years.

We'll see if anything more comes out of this. I'm actually surprised there weren't parties in the streets at the admittance that Dokdo Islands are considered foreign territory to Japan. Of course, it doesn't say who this foreign territory belongs to, does it? Oh well. I'm sure the Koreans will let us know.