Archive for July, 2008
City street vendors, known as “Daegu’s specialty,” are visited by almost one million people everyday, but a new government reconstruction plan requires that they pack up their stalls.
According to Daegu’s Central office, the city will be undergoing a new public design project on the road from Daegu Department Store to Daegu Station. The renovation will impact some 150 vendors, who must abandon their stalls and shops until the construction is complete.
For the past 50 years, the vendors have earned a meager income by selling watches, hats, street food and cellphone accessories to the crowds that pass through each day. Deprived of access to the area and its heavy human traffic, many worry they will be unable to make do while they wait to return.
“How we can survive the rest of time?” seemed to be the universal question from most vendors.
Many are concerned they lack the job skills to find employment elsewhere, like watch seller Mr. Kim.
“I have been selling for 30 years, what should I do if I am kicked out from here? I don’t have any plan for living,” he said.
Others have even demanded the government step in and replace their lost livelihood.
“You should give us another place for selling goods or an alternative way of living,” a hat vendor said.
So far, no such reimbursement has been announced, though the Central Office said it will relocate 30 of the vendors to an area near Cellphone Street, about 1 km from Dongseongno.
“I heard we must go away from here until the project begins. We are discussing this problem,” a representative of the vendor’s said, responding to the announcement.
The Central Office will invest three million dollars on the project. The planned renovations include planting trees and adding some benches to Dongseongno, remaking Daegu’s ancient castle and changing store signboards to look smaller and more attractive. The project will start next month and is scheduled for completion in January, 2009.
“The vendors must finish selling by the end of this month and after the project, it’ll be hard to do again,” Daegu central city project chief Sung Nak-Joon said.
According to the Central Office, the decision was only reached after much discussion by a committee, which included university professors.
Source:Hankyoreh
Translated by Jeon Jiyoon
Proofed and edited by Frank Johnson
Arguably, the best thing to munch on while making a mad dash from one air-con environment to the next.
As the vacation season begins, the staff of the tourism headquarters of Gyeongsangbuk-do are promoting the province by distributing tour maps, containing info about good places to eat and folding fans to the staff of Daegu’s City Hall. The provincial staff will personally visit 41 organizations including Daegu Bank and Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education in effort to further promote the beautiful territory.
Source: Maeil
Translated by Yelim Kim
Proofed and edited by Craig White
While most of the franchise restaurants are dominated by foreign multinational companies, Korean franchises are now hitting back. Equipped with affordable prices, fast chain networks, and thorough knowledge of Korean tastes, many Korean franchises are destroying the fortress of foreign companies. Surprisingly, it is the mid or small sized companies that are leading the assault, instead of the big companies with their large capitals and name recognition.
Starbucks and Coffee Bean’s weak performance in Daegu
Da Vinci, Sleepless in Seattle, Coffee Myungga, Han’s Coffee, and Ahn Espresso were all franchises started in Daegu and so far they have gained significant popularity. They own about 120 coffee shops, representing 70% of all the coffee shops in Daegu.
Starbucks currently has only 8 stores in Daegu; Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, only one.
The reasons for the popularity of these Korean coffee brands are affordable prices and high quality products. These coffee shops offer such things as Caffe Latte and Americano 30% cheaper than their foreign competitors do. Da Vinci Coffee strictly limits the expiration date of its coffee beans to 10 days after the beans have been roasted, and Coffee Myungga serves coffee made from beans that president of the company, Mr.Baristein, purchased directly from thirty different countries.
Caffe Bene, which opened up this April, donates part of its profits to the community instead of paying loyalty to its headquarters. As a result the company differentiates itself by having values such as unique taste and atmosphere, as well as social contribution.
Chain Store system has advantages in expansion.
Started in August, 1985 and advertising with the slogan ‘fun in exploring delightful tastes’, Baskin Robbins currently is the No.1 brand in the ice cream market. It occupies 65% of ice cream market and has approximately 700 chain stores.
Caffe Ti-amo, a Korean ice cream brand which started 3 years ago, challenged the ice cream giant. It offers easy requirements for the new business owners to open up a franchise location and now it has over 200 stores. The company added an “edge” by making ice cream in each store instead of receiving deliveries from headquarters.
Some critics say that chain store system is good for expansion, but lacks uniformity and service compared with direct management system used by foreign companies.
Na Se-Chul, the market manager for Bonjook, says that the Korean franchises are trying to improve their weaknesses by having regular training sessions for employees and quality-maintenance officers.
In the fast food market, Korean franchises are stepping up against McDonalds and KFC.
A chicken and burger restaurant named Mom’s Touch advertises with an image of mom’s hearty meal and operates in over 200 restaurants across the country. Concerned with Korean customers’ need for healthy food, Mom’s Touch is also taking charge in managing its food ingredients.
Kraze burger, although has only 25 restaurants so far, operates a made-to-order system and is getting a positive response for its successful differentiation from other foreign burger restaurants.
In contrast to the success of new Korean franchises, McDonalds and KFC have been decreasing the number of restaurants they operate. McDonalds went down from nearly 300 to 231 stores; KFC, from 200 to 173. Kang Byung-Ho, the chief of FC foundation Korea, says that there were about 2200 Korean franchises by the end of year 2005, and through many failures and success, the franchises have been gaining skills and popularity to compete against foreign franchises.
Source: Dong-A
Translated by Lee Joon-Yeob
Proofed and edited by: Michelle Van Balkom-Nicholson
In the buildup and aftermath of the recent Language Exchange event that we helped organize in Daegu, we hear occasional feedback that Koreans are starting to read this blog, in addition to foreigners, so in order to appeal to both sides, we’ve been toying with the idea to add some more content catered to this evolving blog demographic. An early thought is to have a Language Lab series, where both English and Korean language learners might benefit from some posts. We’ll give it a go for now and see if we can grow this into a habit.
Recently found on the Daejeon Ilbo:
You look young for your age.
(당신은 나이에 비해 어려 보여요)Jane : I met your wife the other day at the supermarket.
며칠 전에 슈퍼마켓에서 당신의 부인을 만났어요.Sam : I know she said that to me.
알아요. 아내가 말하더군요.Jane : Oh, what did she say?
뭐라 그러세요?Sam : She was pretty shocked when you asked for her age.
당신이 나이를 물어봐서 놀랬다고 하더군요.Jane : I thought she was much older than you, because you look young for your age.
전 부인이 당신보다 훨씬 나이가 든 줄 알았어요. 당신은 어려 보이잖아요.Sam : It’s because she wasn’t wearing makeup on that day.
아내가 그날은 화장을 안 했기 때문이에요.이번 시간엔 사람의 외모에 대해 말하는 표현을 살펴볼까요? 남자에게는 ‘He’s handsome’, 여자에게는 ‘She’s pretty’ 라는 표현을 쓰지만, good-looking이라는 표현은 남녀 모두에게 쓰일 수 있고, 더 자주 쓰이기도 하죠. 친구들끼리의 편한 자리에서는 ‘She’s a knockout’(저 여자 끝내준다), ‘She blew me away’(그녀는 정신이 나갈 정도로 예뻤다), ‘He’s a hunk’(매력적인 남자다) 등의 표현을 써 보는 것도 재미있겠네요. 본문 마지막 문장에서와 같이 ‘화장을 하다’ 는 wear makeup이라는 표현을 쓸 수 있고, 좀 무례하긴 하지만 ‘Her makeup is caked on’(그녀의 화장이 떡이 졌다), ‘It’s too thick’(너무 두껍다), ‘She put on too much makeup’(그녀는 화장을 너무 진하게 했다) 등으로 화장에 대해 언급할 수가 있습니다.
Just noticed that the following English (w/ Korean subtitles) movies are playing at Dongseong Art Hall, this week.
2008 Ddegul-Ddegul Art Exhibition (until Sep 28th)
The Hoban Gallery at Suseong Artpia is hosting an educational exhibition for children. It will show children the various ways and methods on how to experience art. (Tel:053-666-3266)
’Five Fools 2’ an English play for kids (July 25th -27th 1PM-4PM)
At Dong-gu Culture & Athletic Center, visitors can take in a humorous children’s play about a man who bought a team of circus performers, but unexpected follies begin to ensue when a clown disappears and another falls in love and can’t focus on his performance. (tel:02-560-0999)
Opera Chunhyang by Royal Opera (July 25th-27th, 7:30pm)
At the main hall of the Civic Center, Royal Opera will perform composer Jae Myoung Hyun’s 1949 original piece.(Tel 053-656-4732)
2008 world wide well known Ballerina Sujin Kang & her friends(July 26th, 7pm)
At Yongji Hall of Suseong Artpia, is a gala show which combines ballet and music, performed by Sujin Kang (German Stuttgart’s lead ballerina) and her friends (international top artists).
The 5th Daegu Horror Art Festival(July 29th –Aug 3rd)
Daegu Stadium hosts the yearly horror fest, where participants from a total of 9 teams from Korea and abroad don all sorts of creepy attire and vie for awards. ( Tel 053-606-6343)
2008 Bejing Olympic Commemorative/Kang Wewon photo exhibition (July 23rd-28th)
Located at Debec Plaza Gallery and the Green Hall on the 11th floor of Daegu Department Store you can find a photo display from Kang Wewon, who had been in China for a year prior to the Bejing Olympics and took all these photos during his stay, featuring 2 different themes of “Bejing Report” and “The life and culture of minorities in China”.(053-420-8015-6)
Source article: Maeil
Translated by Haeyoung Shim
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Former Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men’s basketball player Chris Daniels has been drafted by the Daegu Orions of the Korean Basketball League.
Daniels was drafted by the Orions with the 15th pick after the completion of the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in which he played in two games for the Houston Rockets. The 7’0” center finished his career as the Islanders all-time leading scorer with 1,402 points and was the 2007 Southland Conference Player of the Year after the Islanders swept the regular season and tournament titles in their first season of the world.
“I am really excited,” said Daniels, who will report to the team on Sept. 1 for the start of training camp. “It gives me a chance to continue my career and work on my game. It takes me to another side of the world that I would never been able to see.”
Each of the 10 teams in the league are allowed to bring in two foreign players.
Source: KBMT12
In the Jung-gu district at the heart of Daegu, a historically and culturally focused facility is soon to be developed. The Daegu Urban Development Corporation is due to buy the Korea Development Bank building next to Gyeongsang-gamyoung Park in Pojeong-dong, Jung-gu. The move is intended to commemorate the building’s long history from its origin in 1931, no mean feat in the ever changing and developing city of Daegu. The plans show a remodeling of the building to transform it in to an accessible and interesting exhibition gallery and donate the property to the city and its residents.
The building was built in a 1649.6m² area, with a total working space of 2077.5m². It has 2 stories at the street level and 1 story underground. The building itself has been designated as tangible cultural property No.49 in recognition of its Renaissance style, beautiful architecture and historical value. The building has also been well maintained throughout its past, thus the cost of remodeling will be comparatively low. The city of Daegu will be able to utilize this building, which will act as a site of interest in itself, as an art gallery or history museum. An official commented; “The building is going to become the cultural center of the city, as the lawn in the park will also serve as an outdoor exhibition gallery”.
The nearby Herb Exhibition Hall is also due to be redecorated as a Traditional Korean Medicine Wellbeing Experience Hall scheduled to be opened in 2009. In the Hall, visitors will be able to experience traditional Korean medicines and drink traditional tea. Lee Jin Hun, the Chief of the Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism suggested that an area such as Jung-gu, which is not known for its abundance of tourist attractions, will prosper from the development as it will create an enjoyable and fascinating tour stop for domestic and international visitors alike.
These future redevelopment projects, together with the existing local cultural spaces will revitalize interest in the area’s cultural history and will draw tourists to the area, continuing to establish Daegu as the dynamic city it has become.
Daegu city also has plans to erect a Memorial Hall of 3 stories at street level with one underground level in Gukchaebosang Memorial Park in honor of the National Loan Compensation Movement. It will display the relics of 서상돈 김광제 who led the independence movement during the Japanese colonial period, and will introduce various education programs to the local community. The total space of the project will be roughly 1585m² and 6.7 billion won is to be invested to complete the project, ready to open its doors to the public in May 2009.
Daegu city has also decided to show the old houses belonging to famous citizens, 서상돈 and 이상화, to the public in May. The restoration is to be funded by the Military Mutual Aid Association. In 이상화’s old house his works and relics will be displayed and in 서상돈’s old house, National Loan Compensation Movement related materials will be available for viewing.
Source: Dong-A Ilbo
Translated by Aesook Shin
Proofread and edited byJoanne Fairgrieve
Still attracting droves is Kraze Burger in the east side of the downtown core. Something magical must be going on if the cooks can find the right recipe that attracts both foreigners and Koreans, without having to stray into any funky fusion to appease the taste buds of everyone.
