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Editors Letter

Feature

The Telecommunitys Oligopoly

The War in the Time of Marketing

The Effects of Telecommunication Competition on

Consumers

Regulators vs. Technology

SNU Society

Campus News

The Stereotypes within SNU

One School, Two Campuses

The Human Rights Center

Home Sweet Home, the Dorms of SNU

The Central Library and Center for Learning,

Right by Your Side!

MOA? MOA!

New Beginnings

A&C

The Food Diary: Sudamerica

10 Questions for SISA

A Hundred Pound Story

The Green Culture. We Mean the Other Green

Volume 43April 2013

CONTENTS

THEFOODDIARY:SUDAMERICA THEGREENCULTURE.WEMEANTHEOTHERGREEN

ONE SCHOOL, TWO CAMPUSES

The End of the AhnPhenomenon

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With all the noise from up north, I was conflicted whether to focus this issue on the

situation in the Korean peninsula. Currently on every news medium, there seems to be

an immediate update on all the moves that North Korea makes. As I write this piece,

just moments ago, the CNN headline read NK missile in firing position, now it reads

N. Korea lifts, lowers missile. Furthermore, former NBA star Dennis Rodmans visit

last month to North Korea blurred the lines of fiction and reality and the situation has

become an almost comical yet macabre circus affair. The coverage of North Korea

seems overhyped and redundant as the North Koreans act in its usual provocative

manner, however, the media seems to either trivialize or sensationalize the incredibly

complex situation. We should keep in mind on the gravity of the situation and the

consequences that may follow with a single misstep by any of the parties involved.

Without professional knowledge on the matter, it seemed logical for theQuill

to notpursue and contribute to the cesspool of information and news on the current North

Korean situation. Instead, in our Feature section, new editor Haesol Kim has decided to

tackle the recent operation suspensions on three telecommunication companies in

South Korea. Our writers have devoted much time to research to understand the

telecommunication market and its problems with surveys and an on field investigation.

In the SNU Society section, under the direction of new editor Diana Cho, we have

conducted a survey similar to one from last year on the study habits of SNU students

and the stereotypes based upon the majors. The new members of the Quillhave also

contributed to the section with coverage on the various facilities of SNU. Abhas

Maskey, the editor of the Arts and Culture section, has broached upon a taboo subject

in Korea, marijuana. In his article, Maskey explains the current sober culture in South

Korea and also the happy past. Regarding the Quills financial situation and status as

an independent student press, we have approached the administration to be recognized

as a legitimate organization and we believe that we will be hearing good news soon.

With midterm season kicking in, we sincerely hope that everyone does well.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,

YUN HWAN CHAE

FROM

THE EDITOR

April 2013. Vol. 43

THESEOULNATIONALUNIVERSITY

uill Staff

Chief Managing Director Yeun-il Jeong

Editor-in-Chief Yun Hwan Chae

Vice Managing Director Eun Hur

Feature Section

Editor Haesol Kim

Seo Kyoung Lee

Song-Ug Yoon

SNU Society Section

Editor Diana Dahyun Cho

Young Min Son

Junghyun Baek

KyeongHwan Kim

Bora Lee

Celine Jeong Hyeon Moon

Seung Hoon Bae

Arts and Culture Section

Editor Abhas Maskey

Tselmeg Chuluunbaatar

Hee Kyung Lee

Regina Hyun Jung Lee

Creative Director

Suzanne Park

PhotographerYeun-il Jeong

E-Mail snuquill@gmail.com

Website www.facebook.com/snu.quill

Advisor Professor Eli Sorensen

Professor Eui Hang Shin

Printing Late Spring (0222698030)

Design Sun Hee Kim

November 2012. Vol. 41

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April 2013. Vol. 43

While South KoreasSamsung is involved in ahuge number of lawsuitswith major global corporations abroad,there also exists much domestic unrest

in South Koreas own domestictelecom market. The top three wirelesscarriers, SK Telecom, LG U+, andKT, have waged numerous warsagainst each other to stay competitiveby increasing the number of theirsubscribers. The dense population ofthe Seoul Metropolitan area allows forsuch rapid development of LTE(Long-Term Evolution, a fast new

type of telephone service) to takeplace. South Korea has one of theworlds most activetelecommunication technologynetworks, and is noted for the

corresponding markets to be backedby government subsidies and otherforms of support. With such help, itwas able to pioneer and venture outwith its submarine cable system as wellas its maturing internet system to satethe thirst for expanding national andinternational communications. Suchdevelopments have transformed one ofthe poorest countries in the world into

a progressive, respectable technologypower-house.

Surprisingly, all of the wirelesscommunications service providers inKorea have the potential to provide

LTE services nationwide, a rarephenomenon even in todays world.Seoul is not only ideal demo-graphically, but socially as well--interms of the fact that there is thisinsatiable hunger in search of thetrendiest, newest good in the market.Just a y ear after LTE servi ce wasintroduced, KT attracted 500,000subscribers, SKT 2.2 million, and LG

U+ 1.9 million. As a result, the totalshare of the three firms grew as high as30%. It is even predicted that throughthis exponential growth, the numberof LTE subscribers will reach 14million by the end of 2013 and 45million by 2014. But many contendthat such a growth must be controlled,and despite the free South Koreanmarket, government intervention istantamount to unprecedented rapidgrowth. This is because there havebeen numerous violations and abusive

choices on part of the companies. Inthe form of an oligopoly, the threetelecom companies have been accusedof tampering with price control,engaging in technology war, andmanipulating the telecom market.They have been accused of exercisingexcessive power in the form of anoligopoly, in which a market isdominated by a small number of sellersand therefore a general lack ofcompetition with higher costs forcustomers. In most situations, thefirms in power manipulatively userestrictive trade practices to raise prices

and limit production in the same wayas a monopoly does. In the case for theKorean telecom market, competitionbetween the three companies remainfierce, with comparatively low pricesand high rates of production.

In context, last December 2012, theKCC, Korea CommunicationsCommission, made a statement thatthe three firms violated the local

telecommunications law after aninvestigation into their giving out ofillegal, excessive subsidies. In detail, thethree carriers were banned fromsigning up new customers by offeringsuch subsidies. Such a restriction isimposed to prevent the telecommarket from overheating and maintainfairness in competition. The KCCfined SK Telecom 6.89 billion won,KT 2.85 billion won, and LG U+ 2.15billion won. Despite previous businesssuspension orders in 2002 and 2004,

the three companies had stillcontinued to make these illegalviolations, and so on January 7, 2013,LG U+ was banned from runningbusiness for 24 days, SK Telecom for22 days, and KT for 20 days.According to the KCC, the subsidiesare capped at 27 Korean won in orderto limit the mobile operators fromexpanding the customer base sincethey suffer from poor performancedue to excessive marketing costs.Chun Young-man, the senior KCCofficer, commented that If thecarriers continue to [offer] illegal

subsidies despite being punished, wewill fine them again. During therelease of Apple iPhone5 for example,SK Telecom and KT offered ridiculousdiscounts to steal LGs customers. KTinsisted that U+ customers could buythe phone for 114,000, as long as KTwas the carrier, while SK Telecomoffered to sell the iPhone at 199,000won as long as the customer changed

carriers. Clearly, both companiesignored KCCs warnings despite thelarge amount offines and constantpleas not to do so.

There remain specializations anddifferences in the three companies,despite common knowledge that theyoffer similar features. SK Telecom,with its PETA technology

(Premium Quality, Excellent Speed,Total Stability, and Advanced Tech)promises to double the speed andtriple the capacity, while LG U+wants to implement a system calledFAST (First All-IP Seamless TotalNetwork) that links all LTE networksto LG Wi-Fi net works. It plans tocover 84 cities, 889 countries, nationalhighways and the KTX (Koreas highspeed railway). KT has also sought outhigher speed and focuses on voicequality while improving on existing 3Gnetwork systems. As for prices, thereare many speculations based onempirical changes that companies will

soon raise rates with the advent of thenew upgrades.

Although growth is clearly good forthe economy and technologicaldevelopments allow for a productive,well-off society, there are limitationsand laws to abide to ensure faircompetition and prevent abuse ofpower. Following are the details of thefeud and specific differences betweenthe three companies, Olleh KT, U+LTE, SK Telecom.

Feature

LTE cellphone use has been on the rise.

Interesting facts:

- South Korea has the worlds highest

number of broadband services per capita

- In 2012, over 35% of the population and

85% of households were broadband

subscribers.

- Auctions were held raising over 1.5 billion

US dollars for 10 year license agreements

- Wi-Fi investments allowed for a

reduction of pressure from the 3 telecom

services

The TelecommunitysOligopolyBY SEO KYOUNG LEE

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April 2013. Vol. 43

Feature

Someone once said that wecurrently live in an ever-growingera of Information Technology.Needless to say, that somebody hadbeen right seeing that we live in a timewhere new IT products never cease toamaze us. Among all other things, letstalk about the smartphone. Perhaps,the smartphone is the very productthat the non-professional consumerslike us can have a peak at the currentprogress of the technology. It is thelatest gizmo of the world that we gaze

at when we want to feel secure aboutwhat the human race has achieved sofar.

It is often regarded as a big challengeto choose which smartphone productin line is most suitable for ourubiquitous needs these days. As thetechnology evolves, so should theunderstanding of such products by theconsumers but now it seems that the

former is at the edge of surpassing thelatter inch-by-inch everyday. What itcomes down to is that now thereserved spot for the role of marketingis becoming bigger and bigger by day.

Such seems to be the basic mindsetof Korean cellular phone retailers thesedays. As the South Korean cellphonemarket becomes more and moresmart, so are the marketingstrategies of cellphone carriers.Nowadays, it is hard to miss cellphoneretailer shops around every corner of

Seoul (there is even one in the studentcenter of SNU) whose signs are allabout how low their smartphoneprices are. Long story short, theultimate goal of Korean cellphoneproviders seem to be luring as muchattention from potential buyers beforeactually selling the products to them.

Here are a few strategies they taketo practice what is stated above.

1. Direct marketingOf course, the easiest way to market

a product is to directly reach out to thepotential consumers by telling themwhat sort of products and also thebenefits the companies are prepared tooffer to them. Apart from constantlyadvertising new smartphone productson the air and on the net, SouthKorean cellphone retailers areinfamous for randomly selectingnumbers of potential buyers andreaching out to them by calling them

up to tell them about their newproducts. Normally, the companiescall up consumers who are currently incontract with other carriers (SKTtelemarketers call KT cellphone users,for example) but time-to-time, whatthey do is that they call up their owncustomers to introduce their new lineof products.

2. Free giftsAnother way to lure consumers to

change their cellphone carriers is togive a bunch of free gifts when theysign up for a new contract. Time totime, the gifts could be as small as theaccessories for smartphones or couldrange up to cash rebates of substantial

amount of money. (You heard it right,real money!) Often times, when wewalk by cellular phone retailer shops,you could see the scene of thismarketing scheme in the form ofstacks of ramen boxes or even kitchengadgetries to give away to cellphonebuyers.

3. SubsidiesLast, but most importantly, there is

the most controversial form ofmarketing, subsidizing of cellphoneproducts. Before going deeper into thissubject, there is a personal anecdotethat I would like to share with the

readers concerning a trip to a localcellphone store.

Just recently, as I was fairly intriguedby the usual signboards that say freephones or more honestly, cheapphones, (Lets face it, nothing thatsays free is ever free) I took my timeand stepped into one of these retailsellers to inquire about buying a newphone. As anticipated, the sales clerkintroduced me to some of the newestlines of cellphones and was suddenlydancing around the calculator toenlighten me about how cheap thelatest Galaxy can be.

At first, he started with a solidnumber of 900,000 Won but as hejuggled with the numbers, I wasinformed that the final price that Iwould be paying with a 24 monthscontract would come to be only360,000 Won in total.

At this point, the only words thatwent through my mind was Whatkind of sorcery is this?

Now, I dont know what he did, butI remember him shooting out suchwords as company subsidies, 24months contract reduction and on topof that, a certain amount of reductiongiven by himself, the retailer.

In order to talk about pricereduction, one must understand that

there are various types of ways toreduce the product price and also themechanism to reduce retail prices.There are certain layers of pricereduction. For example, with anoriginal price of 900,000 Won, theproduct gets a reduction of 160,000Won throug h ce llphone produce rsubsidy. The next, a 70,000 Wonreduction from the carrier companyand after that, numerous othersubsidies given by the middlemen andvoila, it comes down to as low as160,000 Won in total. (See picturebelow)

At this point, one could wonder, sowhat is the catch? How do they liveoff with such an absurd amount ofprice reduction? The answer is quitesimple, actually. One factor is that theoriginal pricing of cellphones alreadytake these subsidies into accountresulting them to be off the charts. i.e.

original prices do not really matter.Another factor is the 24 months

contract. Almost all the new contractsof smartphones these days obligecellphone buyers to go on a 24 monthscontract with a minimum of 54,000Won of monthly fees and the carriersget their margins from this.

With such exces sive amount ofreduction, the three major cellphoneproviders of South Korea had toundergo suspension of runningbusiness for a certain amount of timein turn by the government justrecently. However, the suspension hadnot fully played its part as the realproblem was the amount of rebates soexperts believe that the banning ofbusiness days was irrelevant to thisphenomenon. In reality, the rebate forthe Galaxy S3, one of the latestproduct in line, had gone soexcessively high resulting the finalprice of the product to go down as low

as 150,000 Won right before the ban.

With such excessive spending for

marketing, (over 2 trillion Won werespent by all the carriers in second halfof 2012) the experts also predict thatsooner or later the providers wouldhave to increase the price of theirmembership fees for the new buyers ofthe future. Before it is too late, onecould state that this manipulation ofmarketing schemes by cellphoneproviders should finally stop.

BY YEUN-IL JEONG

Manufacturing Price of900,000 Won minus...-Manufacturer Subsidies 160,000

-Carrier Corporate Subsidies 70,000

-Carrier Regional Office Subsidies

40,000

-Carrier Branch Subsidies 30,000

-Retailer Subsidies 40,000

-Additional Membership Discounts

400,000(16,000monthly)

=Final price of 160,000won

Source: Chosun Daily

Cellphone carriers are ready to give away just about anything for your purchase these days.

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April 2013. Vol. 43

Never have consumers been so baffled by the currentstate of war between SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus. Ofcourse, consumers do often profit from occasionalskirmishes between the three major mobile carriers in thecountry, yet seldom have consumers been inundated with aconstant myriad of offers from each of the rivals.Forexample, an SK Telecom outlet in Gangnam boasts that the

company is offering a new Samsung Galaxy S III for 100,000won if the customer changes carriers. Furthermore,customers who switch from KT to LG Uplus are providedwith a 72,000 won monthly plan and the new LG OptimusG Pro is ofered for just 250,000 won. The ban by the KoreanCommunications Commission was never meant to lead toadditional opportunities for the major mobile carriers in the

South Korean telecommunications market, yet as the currentsituation corroborates, it has evidently led to increasedprospects for not only the mobile carriers but also theconsumers. the latter has been bombarded by calls,advertisements and messages offering significant discountsand premiums on their current deal. Try going to a nearbymobile carrier shop, for example. In recent days, theatmosphere, far from being subdued due to the ban, hasenlivened in almost all mobile carrier shops with new eventsbeing constantly initiated. Some consumers have even tried

calling the mobile carriers or paid a visit to their local branchshops, to ask for special offers or obtain a new phone on abargain. In fact, now consumers are constantly on the lookfor what offers are available from each mobile carrier and areencouraging their close-ones to change their current deal forthe better! Indeed, this had even led to some consumersultimately swapping their mobile carrier. Yet has this uniquephenomenon ultimately benefited the consumers or is thissimply a short term ploy by the mobile carriers? To whatextent have consumers really gained or lost regarding thecurrent ban by the KCC? Despite the apparent boom, mostconsumers, however, were determined not to switch their

phones, contracts, or mobile carrier. They realized thatswitching would merely be vexatious and thought that thecarriers were simply offering good deals for their ownbenefit. The fact that they were already tied to a complicatedcontract also put them off. Consumers continued to use 3Gmobile phones. Making matters worse for the companies,most consumers did not even know about the specicificdetails of their contracts and the majority were simplyconfused by the whole phenomenon. Generally, they werenot interested about the offers being provided by the mobile

carriers and most remained loyal to their original carrier. Thissubstantiates that consumers, overall, had very little interestin their contracts and were scarcely affected by the KCCban. Some consumers did of course make a gain by using thischance to obtain better deals for themselves, however, mostdid nothing about their own contract. Instead they obtainedpoor images of the 3 carriers who were seen as attempting tosteal as many consumers as possible during a period whenthey should be repenting. Consumers were overflowed withcalls and messages which would have only irritated themfurther.

Feature

Interestingly, a lot of people still use 3G.

We asked people with which company they did their contract, some of the older

people could not answer this question

Half of the people we asked do not really understand their

contract

We asked mostly students around campus of SNU and SNU

station

The Effectsof Telecoms Competition

on ConsumersBY HAESOL KIM, SONG-UG YOON

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T

he evolution of technology hascome to a point where it is now

integrated into our daily lives.But while technology constantlyprogresses at this rate, can the law andthe regulations keep up?

The dystopian future of machinestaking over the world may not yet be aconcern, however currently, there isreal harm to consumers due to theinaptitude of the policies enacted bythe government and regulatory

agencies in response to the changingtechnology.

The smartphone market inparticular has seen a great surge in thepast few years with the Korean markettotaling up to 30 million unit sales justin the last quarter of 2012. Clearly, theconsumer demand for smartphones ispresent and as such, many companieshave taken advantage of the situation,implementing various marketingmethods that try to outsmart the

existing legal foundation to boostsales. The recent subsidy methods

undertaken by the threetelecommunications companies inSouth Korea exemplify thisphenomenon.

With the Korea CommunicationsCommission (KCC) imposingoperations suspensions to carriers inprevious years, the recent impositionof an operations bans to LG U+, SKTand KT are not a new phenomenon.

However, the imposition of both anoperation ban and a fine to each of thecarriers depicts the extent to theproblem that consumers andgovernment regulators face. Whereasprevious incidents only amounted tooperations bans, the KCC has taken amore authoritative stance to the matterthis time around in regard to carriersproviding an excessive amount ofsubsidies. The subsidy cap as enforcedby the KCC has been widely ignored

by all carriers. However, theconsiderable fine that the carriers paidlast December (11.9 billion won) palesin comparison to the highly inflatedmarketing costs that amount totrillions of won. Analysts have statedthat the fine actually serves beneficialto the carriers as it levels out theinflated marketing costs. Furthermore,the operations ban period has seengreater competition between thecarriers as they tried to make up forlost business in their respective bans.

As the carriers each receivedoperation bans at a separate time, the

KCCs ban had the negative effect ofencouraging even more aggressivemarketing campaigns to make up forlosses in their own respective banperiods. In the period of 66 days, inwhich each of the carriers were bannedin operations for around twenty days,all three companies saw an increase instock prices with SKT, LGU+ and KTrising by 20.5%, 13.7% and 1.8%

respectively, while the overall KOSPIindex saw a decrease of 0.4%.

This has prompted the KCC to takefurther action, imposing an additionalfine of a total 5.3 billion won in March14th. However, this has been criticizedwidely as a relatively weak attempt attrying to regulate the rampantoligopoly by the three carriers. TheKCC commented on the criticisms tothe paltry fine stating that theorganization had only three weeks to

respond to the competition, whereasthe previous fine was based upon a fivemonth investigation. The statementdepicts the KCCs lethargic controlover the carriers and a lack of foresightto market reactions. The heavypenalties only amounted to furthercompetition that again ignoredregulations and benefitted all threecompanies.

As for now, the fines have relativelyslowed down the competition and thecomments from the Blue Houseurging carriers to abide by theregulations, the subsidy marketing has

died down. However, the threetelecommunications companies haveinstead negotiated to lower the factoryprices of the phones by up to 10%.The price of Samsungs Galaxy Note 2,for example, went down by 90,000won. With the upcoming release of theSamsung Galaxy S4, the three carriersmay be lying low for another fiercesubsidy war campaign as it happened

previously with the Galaxy S3. TheKCC should perhaps focus more onconsumer education on carriersubsidies, instead of focusing onpenalties that do not necessarilyamount to anything.

The KCC needs to enact policiesthat will encourage healthycompetition instead of the carboncopy marketing strategies between thethree telecommunication companies.The simple slap on the wrist rules and

regulations are merely factors that thethree giants already considerbeforehand. As mentioned previously,the carriers simply consider the fines asanother expenditure. All theconsumers are presented with similarphone contracts with the determiningfactor being the subsidy offer at thetime. The KCC should implement apolicy that educates the consumers tosubscribe to a plan that does notdiscriminate based on fluctuatingsubsidy offers. According to a recentreport by Marketing Insight,consumer satisfaction in

telecommunications has plummetedfrom 56% in early 2011 to 44% in late2012. With this in mind, consumeropinion and demand must directcarrier competition and the KCCshould provide the necessaryinformation for consumers to receivethe right product package that theyneed.

Regulators

vs.TechnologyBY YUN HWANCHAE

April 2013. Vol. 43

Feature

The lucrative subsidy offers by carriers have amounted to an operations ban for 66 days in total by the KCC.

The LGU+ telecomm unications store at the student center in campus

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April 2013. Vol. 43

SNU Society

CAMPUS NEWS

BY DIANA DAHYUN CHO

College of Social SciencesThe College of Social Sciences is holding its 31st Student Presidential Reelection. This is a reelection because last semester there was no

student association, therefore this semester is considered a continuation as well as an election anew. In order to join the election, studentsfrom the College of Social Sciences who have been members of the student body for more than 730 days, approximately two years (Juniorsand Seniors with exception to leaves and military service), and who have received recommendations (through signatures of approval) from at

least 100 students from the college are eligible as candidates. Voting took place on April 9, 10 and 11. The seat of Student President has beenvacant for the past semester due to an unsuccessful election which was caused by the failure to produce enough votes. There are manyprospects for this semesters elections, and many hope for a stronger student pride in the College of Social Sciences.

College of EducationThe College of Education has already held its student elections for this year, last

semester in November 2012. It has been rather successful with the sufficient votes,and the hard work of the former members as it has been its 34th election. Because theCollege of Education is rather small, it consists of a president, vice president,executive and major representatives. There are fifteen majors within the College ofEducation, and each major has one representative to join the student association.Though the elections for the main associates were held last year, the majorrepresentatives were chosen throughout last year, November, up till March. Therecently chosen representatives were from the English Education Department and

the Geography Education Department. The college has indeed been keeping up with all of its elections and has managed to finally be

complete with all fifteen representatives at the end of March. The student association works on all student-related activities such as theCollege of Education Festival, orientation along withjangtu (literally meaning marketplace where food and drink are sold by students all dayfor a relatively cheap price). The College of Education recently held a seemingly succesful jangtuon April 1.

MiscellaneousOn April 4th, the SNU festival preparation committee, Chukhasa, organized

the Gwanak Music Syndrome Event, in which musicians such as CRYSPOTand FUZE competed to perform in the upcoming spring festival this May. Theperformances by eighteen bands and eight DJ teams were held at Beodulgol, thegrass field, behind the College of Education. Although the performances werewell received by an enthusiastic crowd, the Chukhasa was criticized for runningthe show well past midnight, disturbing students in the dormitories nearby.Despite the criticism, kudos to Chukhasa for a thrillingly, fun-filled night oncampus, a rare happening.

College of Business AdministrationThe College of Business Administration is going to be holding a special event this semester as it will be executing a slogan contest. Any

associates of the SNU college of Business Administration (students, faculty and alumni included) will be asked to create a catch phraserepresenting the mission and vision for the college. This will not only be an innovative way to create a more positive atmosphere for thedepartment, but also a beneficial way to express what the college is all about. Because this is indeed at contest, the 1st place winner will begranted a sum of 1,000,000 KRW, and two outstanding participants will be given 300,000 KRW. Also, the contest is not a group contest butan individual contest. The registration period is from March 27th to April 17th, and applications are available through bizsnu@naver.com.Hopefully, a lot of Business Administration associates applied and will apply!

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Just as in any other society, there are a few stereotypesthat go around at Seoul National University (SNU).With the campus roughly divided into two parts along aline formed by the Central Library and the AdministrationBuilding, science majors (ikwa) and non-science majors(munkwa) sparsely get opportunities to interact with eachother. Although some of the students meet people fromdifferent majors through student societies (dongari) orclasses, many wonder about the life beyond the dividingline, and imagine the life of other majors. Non-sciencemajors hear about the 301 building that many of theengineering majors sleep in and how one cannot come downthe hill once they enter the building. When it rained thisMarch, people talked about how it snowed up where the 301building is located due to higher altitude. Science majorsthink of literature majors practically living with their booksand philosophy majors discussing ideals enthusiastically. In

this issue, the SNU Quillattempts to delve into such imagesof typical science and non-science majors lives and find outwhat people think of each other and whether that imageshold to be true.

The data for the article was collected through a surveywhich asked questions regarding the study and lifestyle ofthe surveyed students and of the other majors. The purposeof the survey was to see both the similarities and differencesamong different majors and to find out if the perception heldby SNU members toward other majors is accurate. Morethan 100 people participated in the survey, half of whichwere non-science majors and the other half were sciencemajors.

Since some questions are not applicable to freshmen, answers ofthe freshmen were ignored in such cases for more accurateresults.

April 2013. Vol. 43

SNU Society

Q1. Do you come to school to study on the weekends? If so, how many times do you do so on theweekends?

Though the popular belief within the school is that the majority of science majors come to school on weekends whereasnon-science majors dont, the results were quite different. The majority of both majors answered that they come to school onweekends for their studies despite the fact that science majors come to school more frequently.

The Stereotypeswithin SNUAre They Real?

Non-science Majors Science Majors

Non-science Majors Science Majors

Q2. In general, do you think science/non-science majors come to school on weekends and if so, howoften?

74.2 percent of non-science majors and 81.1 percent of science majors answered that their counterpart would come to schoolon weekends. Also, half of the non-science majors answered that science majors would come to school on weekends morethan twice a month, which fits into the result found in the question number one (that more than half of science majors spendtheir weekends in school twice a month or more) quite well.

BY JUNGHYUN BAEK

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April 2013. Vol. 43

SNU Society

Non-science Majors Science Majors

Non-science Majors Science Majors

Non-science Majors

Q5. On which type of studying do you spend the most time?The top choice for both majors was homework. In addition, 11.1 percent of the science majors answered that they spend

the most time on experiments, whereas none of the non-science majors answered so. Also, 32.4 percent of the non-sciencemajors picked assigned reading, whereas 15.6 percent of science majors, less than half of the non-science majors choice,selected the same option.

Q4. In general, do you think science/non-science majors have heavier workload than your major? If so,how much heavier workload would they carry?

83.0 percent of the science majors answered their workload would be heavier and 87.9 percent of non-science majorsanswered that science majors workload would be heavier. In general, it seems that both the non-science majors and the sciencemajors have an accurate perception in terms of the workload.

Q3. How many hours, on average, do you spend a week for studying one major course, excluding lecturehours?

The intention behind this question was to see how the workloads differ between non-science and science majors. The resultsshow that science majors spend more time on studying a single major subject than non-science majors; hence, the workload ofthe science majors would be heavier than that of the non-science majors.

Science Majors

Non-science Majors Science Majors

Q6. In general, what kind of studying would take the largest part for science/non-science majors?The most popular choice was experiments for non-science majors with 45.9 percent of the responses, though homework

was the most time-consuming form of study for science majors. On the other hand, 62.2 percent of the science majors choseassigned reading, though homework was the most time-consuming type of study also for non-science majors. These falseexpectations are probably caused by the general image science and non-science programs carry. Also, as both majors spend themost time on homework but did not expect homework to be the type on which their counterparts spend the most time, itwould be reasonable to assume that they both expect other majors studying behavior differs from their own.

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April 2013. Vol. 43

SNU Society

Seoul National University (SNU) has two campusesthe Gwanak campus and the Yongon campus. TheGwanak campus, 3000m2 in area, is home to sixteencolleges. On the other hand, the Yongon campus houses theCollege of Medicine, Nursing and Dentistry. However,

Yongon is still fully equipped with its own library, museumand dormitories. In the case of the Yongon campus, smallerdoes not mean less. It means higher satisfaction andincreased efficiency, as a medical student mentions thefacilities are smaller than the ones in the Gwanak campus butit has everything we need.

Despite its size, the Yongon campus houses the SeoulNational University Hospital (SNUH) at heart. There is nodoubt that the Yongon campus with SNUH and numerouslaboratories built for studying medicine provides the mostoptimal academic environment for the medical students.

However, there are some conflicted opinions about studyingat Yongon. Its really nice to finally move into the Yongoncampus. It feels like home. The professors, seniors and mycolleges are finally under one roof. There is a tightcommunity here and everyone looks out for each other,

says Hee Jung Lim, a 3rd year medical student. Having ahospital in campus also means that students can easily takepractical training courses, allowing students to get more fieldexperience. However, there are some disadvantages, saysSaemi Choi, it sometimes does not feel like a University buta hospital. While the Gwanak camus is closed to the publicin general, the Yongon campus is relatively open with itsoperating hospital.

The Yongon campus may be academically oriented, but itprovides an equally rich cultural life ofDaehangno to itsstudents. Daehangno also known as University street is

One School,

Two CampusesBY YOUNG MIN SON

Other QuestionsIn the last part of the survey, three questions on logicality,

language skills and efforts made were asked. Though itwould be very difficult to prove which major is more logical,has better language skills, or puts in more efforts, the resultsare valuable as they represent the general characteristics ofeach major perceived by the SNU demographic. About 40percent of both majors answered that people in their ownmajor are more logical than the others. 45.5 percent of thenon-science majors and 54.7 percent of the science majorsanswered that there was no difference between them. Theresults are very intriguing as there is no consensus on whichmajor is more logical, but rather a pattern of evaluating theirown majors logicality higher than the others. In contrast,81.8 percent of the non-science majors and 75.5 percent ofthe science majors answered that non-science majors havebetter language skills, implying a general agreement that non-science majors are better with language. Last but not least,62.1 percent of the non-science majors and 50.9 percent ofthe science majors believed that there is no difference interms of efforts among different majors. In addition, 34.8percent of the non-science majors and 47.2 percent of thescience majors believed that science majors put in moreefforts, making it the second most popular choice.

ConclusionOverall, it seems that science majors carry heavier

workload and spend more time in school. Also, what oneexpects the other majors life to be seems to be quite accuratein general. This result is quite surprising, since, from theouter looks, it looks like there is almost no interactionbetween non-science majors and science majors with thetransparent boundary in between. However, as most of theparticipants are currently involved in one or more dongari,with only about 11 percent not involved in any, manyactually do interact with each other and get a pretty goodidea of what each others life is like.

It should always be kept in mind, however, that some ofthe expectations or stereotypes are totally incorrect and thatgeneralization is almost impossible at times. No one will fitperfectly into all the stereotypes of their majors. It would beirrational to expect a certain behavior or aspect from a personjust because one belongs to a particular major. In the samecontext, the results of the survey included in this articleshould not be used to justify an existing stereotype or tocreate a new one, but should be viewed as a generalunderstanding of what students at SNU think of each otherand how the reality is.

Science Majors

Q7. Have you ever slept within the campus area, excluding the dormitory, in order to study? If so, howmany times have you slept within the campus area?

As suggested in the beginning of this article, many non-science majors believe that many of science majors sleep at school.(66.7 percent of the non-science majors answered that they believe the science majors sleep at school.) 59.5 percent of the non-science majors answered that they have never slept within the campus area to study, whereas only 35.6 percent of the sciencemajors answered so. The results also vary among the number of times slept in school. The most significant difference is foundin the proportion of the people who have slept in school more than ten times: 20.0 percent of the science majors have slept inschool more than ten times while only 5.4 percent of the non-science majors have done so, which is only about a quarter oftheir counterpart.

Non-science Majors

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April 2013. Vol. 43SNU Society

Acenter that is open to everyone. This is whatKim Ah-Hyun, expert advisor who works forthe Human Rights Center of Seoul NationalUniversity (SNU) stressed over and over again as theinterview progressed.

The Human Rights Center was established in July of 2012to protect the rights of every member of the campuscommunity and create an environment of care and respect.Before the establishment of the center, discussion abouthuman rights in the university was narrowly focused on theissue of sexual harassment. One of the few resourcesavailable was the Sexual Assault Advice Line.

People have always had interest in human rights, butthere was never an institution to expertly deal with the issuesand report on them, said Ms. Kim. The Human RightsCenter was created to fill this need, to deal with the diverseissues that can occur in the campus.

Open for Everyone,The SNU Human

Rights Centerthe street dedicated to art and culture of Korean youth. Thestudents who study at Yongon have access to a varietyinexpensive cultural activities such as musicals and plays.Students also enjoy trying out unique cafes and restaurantsin the area. The freshmen studying in Gwanak often

complain about being far away fromDaehangno one of themost popular meeting places among university students.Interestingly enough, our Gwanak campus played a key rolein the establishment ofDaehangno. Without the Gwanakcampus, theDaehangno would not exist today.

SNU, as the first university to be ever established inKorea, mapped its first campus at Dongsung-dong(nowYongon campus) in 1946. Establishment of SNU was thefirst dedication made to Korean youth after the Korean War.Thirty years later, SNU was ready to move its main campusto Gwanak-dong; and only the College of Dentistry,Medicine, and Nursing was to stay in the Yongon campus.Across the street from the Yongon campus is theMarronnier Park that marks the center ofDaehangno. Thispark is named after the Marronnier tree that was plantedoutside the SNU College of Liberal Arts and Science early inthe 1900s. Ten years after SNU moved to the Gwanakcampus, small group of performing artists and theatresstarted to collect themselves onto the empty campusgrounds, and the old campus ground was namedDaehangnoin 1985.

Even though the two campuses are both entitled as SeoulNational University, the two campuses are relativelyindependent of each other. Most of the students who stay inthe Gwanak campus until graduation know very little about

the Yongon campus. For the medical students though,studying in both campuses at the same time can bechallenging. The freshmen nursing students mark Fridays astheir Yongon day. In order to fulfill their school credits,the students in the nursing department will take generalclasses from Mondays to Thursdays, and then take theirmajor class on Friday. The school is kind enough to providea shuttle that runs from the Gwanak campus to Yongoncampus on Fridays but this shuttle may be the onlyconsistent connection between the two campuses.

Although the students who study in the Gwanak campusmay remain oblivious to the benefits of the Gwanak campus,the benefits of the Gwanak campus are very clear to themedical students who have moved on to the Yongoncampus. Sometimes it feels claustrophobic because itbecomes difficult to socialize with people from differentmajors, says Lim. This does not only refer to general classesbut also dongari (student clubs). Although some medicalstudents are interested in continuing dongari they started in

Gwanak campus, it is difficult to make time. Meanwhile, thelimited variety ofdongari in Yongon is not entirelysatisfying. The activities are limited in Yongon compared tothe variety ofdongari that is being offered in the Gwanakcampus. The spacious Gwanak campus, unlike the Yongoncampus provides the necessary connection and the distancebetween the sixteen colleges.

The freshmen medical students often complain of a verydifferent problem than their seniors. All the seniors in mydepartment are studying in the Yongon campus so its verydifficult to have lunch or coffee with them, complains afreshman in the nursing department. For the freshmen,entering a new community with limited support from theseniors can be challenging but a worthwhile experience. Theywill soon start complaining about seeing the same faces everyday in classrooms, lounges, restaurants, libraries anddormitories.

We may be miles apart in distance, and we may oftenforget about each other as we struggle to keep up with ourlives. However, your major, your class year and your campusdoes not matter. What matters, is that we are all SNUstudents, and there is only one SNU. The name itself shouldbe enough to keep us together as one.

BYBORALEE

Kim Ah-Hyun, expert advisor for the Human Rights Center of

Seoul National University opens up about the objectives of the center,

its accomplishments to date and hopes for the future.

Kim Ah-Hyun, expert advisor on human rights in her office

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The center today deals with a broader range of humanrights issues and does so through measures beyond theordinary. Although the main objective remains as advice onsexual assault through phone or visit to the office in Room103 of the Doore Cultural Center Building (Building 67),there is another line open for other human rights issues suchas discrimination, disability and unfair treatment. In addition,the center conducts educational forums, symposiums andtraining programs. On November 27, 2012, it conducted aforum for international students to discuss issues regardingdiscrimination and academic difficulties. As a supplement tothe forum, it is currently distributing a survey to research onthe lack of English courses for international students. Ifmany people respond to the survey, the center plans to makea request to the university to increase the number of englishcourses.

The coming months are also busy with preparation forevents. On May, the center plans to hold a symposium on

the theme of Human Rights and Development. Expertsand activists from all over the world have been invited todiscuss international human rights, global organizations andfuture policy. All these efforts, Ms. Kim said, are to providean opportunity for the members of SNU to ponder abouthuman rights and discuss them freely and openly.

Considering its short time of existence, the Human RightsCenter has achieved much and has helped solidify SNU as anemerging global university. Ms. Kim also testified that theincreased publicity in the last months has brought morepeople to the doorstep, seeking advice. However the pathhas not always been smooth. Survey results published by thecenter in October of last year, reporting on human rightsviolations that graduate students receive from professorsbrought unwanted attention and exposed the university tocriticism from outside. The Human Rights Center, although

it had done its job, was surrounded in the controversy ofwhether it should allow matters of the school to be soopenly publicized, giving the opportunity for outside pressto sensationalize it. Ms. Kim was careful to talk about suchmatters, for she was employed in February and was notpresent to deal with the controversy. However she assuredthat the center was aware of the risk of misreport andexaggeration by outsiders.

If reports from the center that are meant to protectmembers of SNU are misreported, it can instead bring harmto the members. So in those matters, we are always extraattentive, stated Ms. Kim.

Rather, she was worried that such controversies and theperception that the center is a place for only those who haveexperienced human rights violation might be chasing peopleaway. Her biggest hope for the future of the center is toopen the doors wider so that everyone can come freely - notbecause they have experienced human rights violation, notbecause they need help but simply to talk.

It doesnt necessarily have to be a council on humanrights violation. Everyone faces hardships in ordinary life, soanyone can come in comfortably and talk about anything,perhaps over a cup of tea. We want to open up the conceptof human rights and provide opportunities for discussion.With a smile, she added, We want to create a campusenvironment where everyone respects each other.

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SNU Society

Basic amenities like food,clothing, and shelter arenecessary especially whenstudying in a foreign country. Tocompensate for the high expenses ofSeoul, students tend to congregate tocertain areas near campus- with fewexceptions. It would be necessary forthe school, SNU International StudentAffairs (SISA), and Office ofInternational Affairs (OIA) to explainwhere would be a recommendabledwelling for a typical student. TheSNU Quillinterviewed students from

various houses to compare andcontrast the wof some locationsnearby.

Jack Sith iphon e (Phil ippin es,Material Science, 13) ofGwanaksaBuilding 923 has explained how hisdormitory is close to the area. Whenyou want to leave the dorm just walkand turn around after fifty meters,

then shortly after theres the bus stop.The accommodation is not that goodwhen compared to other buildings, butI was satisfied with the cleanliness.Mr. Sthiphone has acknowledged thefrequently discussed problems ofliving in the oldest dorm of SNU,particularly with regards to thedesolate environment. The onlyproblem is the shared bathroom.There are only 2 bathrooms on a singlefloor, so you can imagine howimportant it is to keep yourself and thetoilets clean. The lack of dialogue

between my roommate and I does nothelp to lighten the atmosphere. Hehas explained that there was littleinteraction with neighbors orroommates but expressed having noother concerns with the dormitory interms of quality. I do enjoy theresidence for the basic necessities likethe washing machine, TV and kitchen

is provided without extra cost, but theatmosphere is not very lively. My silentroommate and I do not disturb eachother and have a similar lifestyle.

An anonymous interviewer whoresides in 919 has commented on hersatisfaction and discomfort withdormitory quality. Paying 520000KRW a month wasnt cheap but sincethe commuting was simpler thanwaking up to meet the rush hour it wasa better choice than jachu i, selfresidence. Besides, with friends andcontinuous source of food, the

dormitory has greater benefits thananywhere else for residence. She hasagreed upon the worrying trend of lowreadmission rate for older studentswho needed a home as much asfreshmen did. Its not perfect outsideof the dormitory and it reflects in here.You know about the tra gedy ofcommons? Without an overseer this

Home Sweet Home,the Dorms of SNU

BY SEUNG HOONBAE

The office of the Human Rights Center in DooreCultural Center Building

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SNU Society

Central Library

Just like its name suggests, the Central Library(CL) islocated right in the center of the campus. In fact, the CL isamong the most familiar and popular facilities of the school.It is home for many students with many purposes. The twocore functions of the CL are as follows.

ResourcesAs a library, one of its main functions is borrowing books.

The CL contains almost 3 million books, including over 1million foreign language books. This is the second largestlibrary in Korea after the National Assembly Library. Many

courses these days require numerous readings; it would costtoo much to purchase all the necessary books. Students canborrow almost any book they need, up to ten books at atime. Books can be borrowed for as long as two weeks, and ifthere is no reservation for the volume, the period can beextended. For students convenience, book returningcabinets are located throughout the campus. The CLsresources are not limited to only books. There are 165,377

non-book materials such as DVDs, CDs and 84,115periodicals. For students who are not familiar with ways tosearch useful resources, the CL runs a program on how toeffectively use library functions. Also note that the CLreceives requests from students to purchase books theyneed!

StudyingAnother core function of the CL is the Yeolamsil(Reading

Room). Countless students use Yeolamsil to work on theirpersonal studies and readings. The Yeolamsil consists of3,354 seats and is divided into six sections: 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 5, 6.Even though some students complain about its sanity, most

agree that it is being kept in a nice condition considering itssize and abundant users. One key characteristic ofYeolamsilis that room 3A is open 24/7. For students with need of aplace to study over night, room 3A of the CL is like asanctuary. I often pull an all-nighter in the CL, especiallyduring exam periods. If I stay in the CL for the night, I canconcentrate better than when Im at home, says Ahn Jaegu(Dept. of Geography, 12), who was studying in 3A at 3:00

Central Libraryand Center for Teaching

and Learning,Right by Your Side!BYKYEONGHWANKIM

place is going to be run over withunfinished laundry and chip bags. Yetthere are still applicants to even theoldest 926 dorms because alternativesare rare. State sponsored housing

programs are only for students fromspecific regions in middle of Seoul forcommuting andjachui costs too muchfor financially unstable students.Maintaining a constant level of GPAfor qualification is already a task, yetthere are no safety belts for us whenwe are ejected from the bunk andbreakfast service of SNU dormitory.

However, not all students that havebeen chosen for dormitory havedecided to live inside it. Some, likeSanjaa Otgontugs (Mongolia, Urbanplanning, 11) chose to stay inNokdu,a town near SNU famed forentertainment and service. I did live in

the dorms last semester, but movedout due to cultural differences. Manyforeign students have differing view ofprivacy that contrasts with Koreanstudents views. Foreign students infact often seek out one another to liveclose by, away from dorms filled withonly Korean students. For only twohundred thousand KRW a month, the

one-room (rented rooms with bareminimum furniture for cost efficiency)is similar to the cost of cheapestdormitory. I could have chosen theNorthern part ofNokdu because of its

cheaper cost, but that would have beentoo distant from the main road.Security is not a major concern inNokd u with many familiar facesnearby to keep watch. The nearby5516 bus for returning toNokdu and5513 bus for transportation to theSNU entrance station makes Nokdufeasible for jachui. The only problemwould be loneliness. Its ironic, butsince its a one room there is no oneelse I could openly talk to. Of course,going out to have a good time wouldbe obvious; but since there is nohelpful study facility, I would have toconcentrate harder.

There are other people who seekfamiliar faces than comfort. AnjaliSingh (India, Korean Language, PhD)still lives in Haewhwadong( an oldtown inJongno District) for two and ahalf years. Apart from the distance andthe problem of Wi-Fi connection, shehas no major qualms with her oldresidence. Its actually a separate

payment, she said, but its roughlyequal to the dormitory, so I do not seeproblems with payment. She doesblame the OIA for not contacting herearly enough to inform her about

handing in the application fordormitory.Haewhwadongfor Angaliis a good place to hang around, save formeals. Her lifestyle as a vegetarian istroubled with so many restaurantswith meat. Its a vibrant communityat Daeha kro(SNUs previouslocation), so there are many goodpeople and good shops. However Imight try to go back inside the campusbecause an hour ride to school is aproblem.

Many students who live in particularplaces choose to live outside of thedormitory for reasons of their own.Nevertheless, the dormitorys

proximity and superb facility foreducational help cannot be comparedwith that of adjacent towns likeNokdu. The administration may haveto do a better work at satisfyingcomplaints of much needed expansionand layout of the dormitory.

In the wide and vast campus of SNU, there are so many buildings that it is hard for

students to know what they all are. However there are some that students should not miss,

and among them are the Central Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning. These

two facilities aid students with their academic activities.

SNU dormitory has provided shlter for students, but there is not enough

capacity to support all undergraduates.

Naksungdae is famous for students as a residential town with plenty of bars.

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SNU Society

AM. In fact, the 24/7 Yeolamsil is so popular during theexam periods that sometimes room 3B is open as wellbecause 505 seats of 3A cannot suffice. Also, using 3Areduces the time wasted on roads (considering the longaverage commuting time of SNU students, this is not small!)and can enable students to study together through the night.

Center for Teaching and Learning

The CTL is located across Building 8 of the HumanitiesDepartment. Unlike the CL, it is much less known amongstudents. There are many students who do not even knowthe existence of the CTL. However, remarks on its programsby participants are dominantly positive. If core functions ofthe CL are mainly focused on providing necessities(resources, studying spaces, etc.) to students, the CTLs corefunction is more direct: it guides professors and students toteach and learn well by lecturing, tutoring or counseling.

WritingThe CTL puts a great emphasis on writing. To quote its

homepage, The primary goal of college education is to raiseintellectuals who are able to think creatively and critically.Writi ng plays a s ignif ican t r ole in devel oping thos eintellectual capacities. The CTL provides two programs forwriting alone: general academic writing coursework andtutoring programs. These two programs are complementaryto each other. The General academic writing coursework is abroad program while the tutoring programs focus on theindividual. The coursework is composed of lectures and

practice sessions. In the coursework, students are guided tolearn the fundamentals of writing, following the standardprocedure of writing an academic paper. On the other hand,the tutoring programs are designed to help students withtheir own work such as homework assignments. Forinstance, they can get remarks on their drafts so that if there

is an expected problem, modification can be done beforeactually writing the assignment. It is especially helpful tointernational students to whom Korean is a second language.They are likely to face difficulties with writing assignmentsdue to insufficient level of Korean. At the CTL, they can gethelp from the staffs that are fluent in both English andKorean!

CounselingAnother program the CTL offers is academic counseling.

It involves meeting with professional counselor to talk aboutstudents academic difficulties. All difficulties about studiescan be consulted: it may start from GPAs, tests andchoosing majors to external factors that might influencestudies such as mental disorder, depression, anxiety, etc.Many students who are in need of information can also get

help from accumulated database of the CTL. The counselingcan be done one on one or as a group. If face to facecounseling is unavailable or uncomfortable, the CTL alsoprovides online counseling.

The CL and CTL are two facilities that students shouldknow. There are so much more about them that can behelpful to SNU students. For more information, visit thewebsites: http://library.snu.ac.kr/ and http://ctl.snu.ac.kr/.

The first time I stepped into thecampus and walked up the hillto the Humanities building, Inoticed the red mushroom-likesculptures with white polka dots onmy left side. It was quite unique for acollege campus building and the signnext to it read, MOA. The buildinglooked quite modern with U-glassexterior and steel-framed trusses.

Everytime I passed the main gate,the red mushrooms with white polkadots were always, ALWAYS there forme to notice. Now, the main gate isall people think about when they talkabout Seoul National University. Butthis was somehow extremely weird tome, since the red mushrooms withwhite polka dots were definitely muchmore unusual and symbolic for acollege building.

Several days passed, and I finally hadthe time to let myself in through thedoor. It was then that I finally realizedthe red mushrooms with white polka

dots signified an art museum. I wasgreatly pleased to understand thatSNU had enough sense to build up anentire building for the art.

It was very easy for me to get insideand immediately start appreciating theart pieces since I had a SNU studentID card: anyone who has it can simplyhand the card in, and enjoy the art forfree.

MOA was built and opened to thepublic in 2005. The Korean fashiondesigner Andre Kim held his fashionshow at MOA to celebrate its launch.Samsung donated the budget for theconstruction, and Rem Koolhaas

designed the exterior and the interior.Renowned for his influence on thearchitect, he has won the PritzkerArchitecture Prize in 2000 (oftencalled the Nobel Prize inArchitecture) and designed manybuildings, two of which are the DutchHouse in the Netherlands andNetherlands Dance Theatre in the

MOA?

MOA!BYCELINE JEONG HYEON MOON

Room 3A at 3:00 AM in the morning Main entrance of the CTL building

The MOA building and the sign

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Hague. According to Koolhaas, thedesign from the huge structure to thedetails was meant to connect the

center to the wings on two sides andmake all grounds penetrable throughthe center space. Such a structuraldesign is rarely seen in Korea.

MOA shows diverse attempts tobring people into the world of art onadaily basis. The core focus is topromote art as a fundamental part ofeveryday life, and educate art to peoplewho may very well grow ignorant andindifferent about art. Hence, there arequite a few events that happen often atMOA.

For one thing, some of the artists ofthe on-going exhibitions are invited totalk to anyone who is interested in

knowing about the art throughdiscussions.

Another major program opened forthe public is Art & Culture Programfor Leaders (known as ACP forshort). It is a program designed for theleaders of upcoming generations tohave enough opportunities to work on

their creativity and collaboratingabilities. MOA, as do many experts,believes that the arts are about

transforming the ordinary to theextraordinary, developing thecapability to communicate withoutwords with ones organization, andthat the arts change constantly for newidentities that define the individuals.ACP is to develop such qualitieswithin the young thinkers.

There are less serious programs forchildren as well. These programschange every now and then and aremainly for children around the age ofseven to sixteen. These activitiesrequire children to be futuristic andenvironmentally sustainable, a lot ofwhich are digitalized, helping children

to grow more familiar with artscollaborated with digitals.

The latest exhibition is titled, the Japanesecontemporary Art since the 70s. theexhibition started on the 5th of Marchand ended on the 14th of April. Thefabulous red color used on the sign

is quite appealing. 112art pieces of 53 Japanese artists walkthe viewers through the 70s Monoha

movement, 80s Modernism, 90s PopArt, and the currently on-going arttrends. There are six sections in total inthis exhibition, which starts on the topfloor of MOA.

The upcoming exhibition is titled. It will open onthe 21st of May and close on the 21stof July.

Whether you need a short runawayfrom your insipid routines, or need aspace to hang out with your lovers orfriends, MOA is quite a place you canspend time at. The red mushroomswith polka dots are quite enjoyable and

an underground cafe is a nice place tosavor the spring-time leisure.

New Beginnings

As the 2013 spring semesterbegins, all students are off to afresh start- freshmen entering

a new chapter of their lives asuniversity scholars, sophomores andjuniors committing to new goals, andseniors enjoying their last campusexperiences. In accordance to thenovel atmosphere that comes alongwith this particular time of year, thecampus too has undergone newchanges and additions of its own.

One new building that definitelycannot be missed is WooJeongWon(friendship building), situated in frontof the College of BusinessAdministration and the CJ

international office. Since theconstruction that began in earlysummer of 2012, the large blue sheathcovering the construction site and theconsiderable amount of dust producedaroused the curiosity of many withinthe school. Numerous studentspassing by or waiting for the shuttlebus (which was unfortunately locateddirectly amidst the construction area)had made many predictions on whatthe purpose of the building would be.Finally after months of inquisitiveguesses and dust-inhaling, the buildingunveiled its covers this semester to bethe SNU WooJeongWon Global Social

Contribution Center funded by theCollege of Physical Education.

The ingtriguing internal structure ofthe building consists of six floorsincluding a basement parking lot. Thefirst floor contains a communityservice room along with the executiveoffices. The second is facilitated with amemorial hall and an interesting facet-volunteer work preparation room-where the opportunity for volunteerprojects within the campus to beplanned and executed under thesupervision of the College of PhysicalEducation is provided. The fourth,which is currently undergoingconstruction, is planned to be a library

for resources pertaining to communityservice and general knowledge.

Another new facility of thissemester that is gaining attention is theGamgol building adjacent to theCollege of Social Sciences. Althoughthe upper portion of the building isnot yet accessible for students, theground level is meeting possibly thehighest efficient results amongst theother newly developed buildings. Theonly vegetarian buffet on campusalong with the school food court thatwas formerly located in the College ofArts have been moved into this newfacility. Nuisances occured with this

relatively abrupt change in location notonly among the arts students whowere accustomed to eating in theirown departments, but also within thenewGamgolrestaurant where studentswere not able to make card paymentsdue to technical difficulties. Howevernow that the semester has fully started,temporary troubles have been fixedand more students are becoming awareof this new practical area that is opento a wider range of students. Doori Na(Business Administration, 11)expressed her attitude towards the newbuilding by stating, the newGamgolfood court is very useful as it is close tothe College of Business

Administration, and Im glad theschool has built a new place forstudents to spend their time oncampus.

With the newly start ing schoo lsemester and the blooming of cherryblossoms, we students look forward toanother campus life filled with pleasantsurprises, and new meetings. It is nodoubt that the visual aid of newlyestablished facilities will alsoparticipate in this wholesomephenomenon of new beginnings andprovide a more amiable atmospherefor everyone.

SNU Society

BYEUN HUR

WpoJeongWon located i n front of the College of

Business Administration

Re:Quest - Japanese contemporary Art since the 1970s

Gamgolsituated next to the College of Social

Sciences

New vegetarian buffet inside Gamgol

A&C

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Aclose friend of mine recommended Sudamerica tome, so I knew I would not be disappointed evenbefore I got there. Quite surprised that such a placeexisted, I wasnt sure why I hadnt come across it before. Asit turns out though, not many people have. Turning left intothe street before Olive Young (SNU station, Exit 2), a little

way down, there is a petite restaurant called Sudamericawhich will definitely not disappoint you.Not quite comfortable going alone, I took a friend along

with me and we took seats by the window. I noticed therestaurant itself was quite small, but not confined. The rightwall was littered with an array of photographs and maps (aparticular large one of South America) and the left wall, withshelves of miniature plants and photo frames. Themismatched stools and chairs made the place seem familiar,yet the space was not enclosed enough to feel cosy. Still, thedim-orange lighting and yellow painted walls ensured arelatively homely feel. Instrumental music was beingconstantly played in the background which was exotic andnot surprisingly, had a South American flavour to it. It wasrelaxing and quite remindful of music you may often hear ona holiday.

Only one table other than ours was occupied and wedeliberated on the menu before both of us chose theHamburguesa Uruguaya. Being the most moderatelypriced on the menu, (the prices ranged from the 6000WonHola, chica! bagel on the lunch menu to the 23000WonBistec a lo Pobre steak) it seemed like a good deal. We halfexpected to see the waiter carry our meal only to be laterdisappointed when it arrived at the table next to ours andrightly so, as those guests had arrived first. However, there is

April 2013. Vol. 43

BYREGINA HYUN JUNG LEE

The Food Diary:

Sudamerica

A&C

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nothing quite like that excitement andthen let a down!

As my eyes darted across, I couldnthelp but notice that there was a fairamount of tomato ketchup sprinkledacross the plate. Personally, I am notinto that. Seeing this, we called overthe waitress and asked if theHamburguesa Uruguaya containedketchup. She told us that it did. We

requested that one of the hamburgersbe plain, and she hurried off into thekitchen looking worried. A fewminutes later we found out why; onlyone burger arrived and the waitressexplained that my own burger wasbeing remade without sauce. Sheaccepted my apologies graciously andasked instead if I would prefer someother sauce. Feeling somewhat guilty, Iassured her that nothing else would berequired. When my own plate arrivedwe were finally able to enjoy the food.

I may be no food expert, but if yourguilty pleasure is the occasional bite offast food, consider this an upgrade. As

well as the burger (consisting of bacon,fried egg, pickles, onion, cheese and soon) there was a portion of fries and aramekin containing pickles. Not onlywas it tasty, but it was also filling. Icannot vouch for any others on themenu but if you have trouble deciding,choose the Hamburguesa Uruguaya.Youll know its a safe option.

Later, we noticed that the tallermenu standing up on the table was thealcoholic drinks menu. Therefore wecame to the realisation that Sudamericawas not only a restaurant but also abar. However, with no intentions toget drunk over a Quillarticle, we paidand left the place with our stomachsfull and souls well and truly satisfied.

To me, the best thing about

Sudamerica was the service (not tomention the delicious food!). Thefriendly waitresses and waiter made all

the difference. If, like me, ketchup isnot your thing, then you know theywill kindly remove it. Although I amaware I cannot vouch for the taste ofother food on the menu, I cancertainly vouch for the service thereand the pleasant atmosphere.

I look forward to going there againand trying something different on themenu; perhaps something more

alcoholic this time.

SISA, or SNU International Students Organization is a mammoth organizationin which all of SNU international students are accepted as members. About 8-10 executives members work together to organize various festivals and

programs and help international students smoothen out any troubles they mighthave with their campus lives. The SNUQuillmet the new SISA president, Zhang Lilifor in-depth information about her aims as well as future plans for SISA.

1. How does it feel like to be the new president of SISA?I feel nervous and excited at the same time. Being a president of SISA means new

responsibilities and work, and because I want to do the best I can, I feel pressure.Sometimes I am afraid that I will not be able to live up to standards that Ive set formyself. However, I am trying my best with all our members to make SISA into onegreat family for international students at SNU. Plans for the upcoming semester aremaking me excited as well.

2. What is SISAs prime objective?SISA was founded with the purpose of giving international students in SNU afamily atmosphere. Our objective is to bring international students in SNU togetheras one big family. Our motto, in line with our aims, is Together as One. We try toachieve this goal by helping international students adjust to SNU campus, and alsoby planning and organizing meaningful events to improve interculturalunderstanding. We hope students will feel less lonely and more at home, with thefamily they have around them at SNU.

3. As the new president, what direction do you want SISA to take?I hope that SISA will become an organization which can provide useful

information, solve problems effectively and manage and plan more interesting eventsand festivals. To achieve these goals, we have already laid out plans for 2013. First, wewant to make ourselves known to every international student in SNU through ourcommunication channels, which include a Facebook page, website, and brochures.Secondly, SISA will connect international students to school administrations like the

Human Rights Center and OIA on campus, and to Gwanak-gu Office, HealthCenter and Gwanak-gu Police Station off campus. By pooling resources with theright parties, we hope to help both students who live on campus, and off campus.Last, but not least, SISA will try to provide more efficient service for students.

4. How often do the executive members of SISA meet and what doyou discuss?

We meet every week, and if necessary more. In our meetings, we usually discussnew events, festivals for international students, brainstorming for ideas and checking

10 Questions for SISABYHEE KYUNG LEE

The new boss responds in style

Below: The table by the window.

Sudamerica has a vibrant atmosphere. The wall is decorated with an array of photographs.

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up on each others work. We also discuss how to run SISAwebsite and Facebook page well. In all, we try to givestudents better service. Although the work is demanding, wefeel the work is worthwhile since we can help internationalstudents like ourselves solve their problems. Besides thework, we also have time to enjoy ourselves.

5. Do you have anything new this semester orthis year?

SISA has a lot of plans for the upcoming semester. First inline is our SNU survival game scheduled on April 27th.Students in groups will carry out missions designed to helpstudents learn about the campus. We hope participants willmake new friends and have time to relax after the demandingmidterm exams. Food festivals and culture trips this year willbe held on May 16-18th as well. We also want to share moreuseful information with students. Through our newpublication, SISAs biweekly newsletter,students will haveaccess to information about jobs, scholarships, and Gwanak-gu services to their benefit. We have more plans stored, sothe upcoming semester should be pretty fun-packed for all.

6. We understand SISA revamped its website.What changes have you made? We hear there is a

forum as well?Yes, we now have a forum. The sections include SNUlife,(Study Board, Campus Life), Seoul Life Section (Job &Recruitment, Flea Market & Housing Transfer), and FreeBulletin Board (Free Board, Suggestion Box). Anyinternational student is welcome to join and contribute toour forum. Not many seem to know about these changes sowe hope that more international students will join in. (SISAwebpage: http://sisa.snu.ac.kr)

7. Many people that we talked to claimed SISA tobe an event manager rather than problemsolver. What do you have to say about thesecomments?

The main purpose of events and festivals is to makeinternational students feel they are not alone here, and

provide leisure in campus life. However, SISA is alsoconcerned about students problems, and we are doing ourbest to remedy a situation. Just last year, the lack of Englishcourses in SNU posed a problem for international students.So SISA brought the matter to Student Affairs officesattention. The situation has been gradually changing afterthat. Human Right Center is conducting a survey to find outwhat kind of English courses students need and will takeaction accordingly. For students who have studying

problems, SISA has been working with the school to set upacademic advisors at each college. SISA welcomes emails, soif students will send their questions to us, we will try our bestto help.

8. We understand that SISA has appointedcountry representatives. How effective has itbeen?

The country representatives main work is to spread useful

information to their country or area friends, and gatherinformation about the problems their friends might have.Having country representatives has been effective so far. Forinstance, last semester SISA worked together withInternational Students Human Right Forum and invitedcountry representatives to the meeting. Countryrepresentatives were able to provide information aboutproblems that international students have. One suchproblem was that long full names some students have werecut short on the Student ID card. The school made changes,and from this semester, students are able to print their namein full on their ID cards.

9. How is the administration working on solvingstudents problems? People we talked to express

disappointment on how the problems are handled.Some students come to us with relatively smallproblems related to housing and jobs. Our executive boardmembers cover these. For example, an exchange studentmissed the dorm application deadline, and asked us to helpher find a place to live. So we contacted dormitoryadministration office to find out if they accepted lateapplicants, and when they said no, we told her that she couldlook for a house off campus, and that if she needed morehelp, like the help of a translator, she could contact us again.But sometimes, there are problems which require others tostep in. For these, we talk with Human Right Center,Students Affair Office, Career Development Center andDormitory Administration Office. Off campus, we workwith Gwanak-gu Office, Gwanak Health Center andGwanak Police Office to provide more services for

international students. This year, we will be redoubling ourefforts, so I hope students will not hesitate to contact SISAabout problems.

10. Just out of curiosity, what do you guysusually have for Khwaja(snacks) during yourmeetings?

We have some normal Korean snacks, beverages andsometimes chicken! We have fun during our meetings!

A HundredPound Story

Losing a hundred pound is no joke.But did the society play a role in that?

BYTSELMEG CHULUUNBAATAR

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Have you lost someweight? You lookprettier is a commoncomment you will receive fromsomeone you have not seen for awhile. Would you take this as acompliment or an insult? We live in asociety where outer appearance isimportant and are sadly judged by it.

Do you think you need to loseweight? Are you overweight thanaverage? In Korea, yes would probablybe the answer. However, Korea is thethinnest nation among the OECDcountries tied with Japan, while USAhas ten times bigger amount of bodymass index [Nation Master Statistics2012]. Is it the social factor driving thepeople crazy about losing weight? Oris it really something you should dowithout the influence of society?

The Quillhad the chance to sitdown and talk to a student who hasachieved what most people could only

dream of. He had set out a goal andalthough it is still work in process, theresults are already impressive. He has,in less than seven months, lost a totalwhopping sixty kilos. Losing a kilotakes a lot of effort, imagine doingthat.

Meet Andrew Lee (Mechanical andAerospace Engineering,10), born inKorea but lived most of his life inAmerica. He came to Korea four yearsago to attend university. Our hero ofthe day (his achievement is no lessthan heroism) starts talking about howhe has been overweight all his life, butit was never a problem for him. Life in

America was a lot different than inKorea, says Andrew. Obesity is alsoa problem in the States, but morecommon than it is in Korea. Peoplereally dont look at you differently,you are more normal than you are not,compared to here. But here if you arelittle overweight, people tend to judgeyou without knowing who you are and

look at you differently. Beingoverweight has a lot of stereotypes.However it was different for him as hewas never bullied or teased in school,but instead they knew him for beinghim and not as the big Asian guy withglasses. He lived a life as he wanted. Ifthe circumstances were different, Iwould have changed my outer

appearance a lot earlier he adds.But things were different here in

Korea. He was no longer at ease atwho he was and so he started out onthis difficult track to fitness. So onSeptember 10 of last year, he decidedthat it was time to get serious.

After the long winter break, therewas a total change in how he looked.On the first day back in the university,everybody was shocked to see him andsome, he explains, didnt evenrecognize him. He was surprised tohear people telling him that he lookedgreat rather than ask about how his

vacation was or how his health was.The way people looked at him ortreated totally changed even though hewas still the same person as he wasbefore. So what was his secret?

He had none. He did not go by anyof the strict diets that he could findonline. He disciplined himself. Heworked out twice a day and cut out oncarbohydrates. It has now become alifestyle for him. The important partfor him was seeing the result as hesays, There was a visible change whenI looked myself in the mirror butsometimes it got frustrating as well.Every day was a constant battle over

the cravings for some foods or longingto stay in bed to miss a workoutsessions. To others it might seem just asimple banana but for him it wouldmean ten more minutes on thetreadmill for the next day. Coke,sweets and pizzas, which he dearlymisses, are nothing but a thing of thepast.

The biggest difference he felt wasthe response from his Korean andAmerican friends. The ones here inKorea push him to keep going until hereached the Korean average size incontrast to his friends in America whoadvise him to take it easy.Additionally, no one over there wascurious about knowing how he did it

whereas here everyone was interested.Unconsciously, he compares the twocultures he grew up within, which herealizes are so different from oneanother. If he was still in America, heprobably would not have had starteddieting. Korea was definitely aninfluence and the environment whichspurred him to take action. He says, Iwouldnt recommend this extremetype of diet to anyone because I knowwhat I have been through and I dontwant people to suffer like I did.

But despite all this, he silentlyadmires how the culture has brought

out change in him. Losing a hefty sixtykilos is no joke and that goes on toshow how much motivation,dedication and discipline he has in himto put that goal into reality. A culturethat is obsessed with how they lookand how they show themselves inpublic can be annoying at times, butfor Andrew, it was the medium forchange. He does accept the fact that tomaintain what he has already lost willtake greater responsibility but he feelsconfident that he will do so.

I feel much better now, heconcludes. The Quillacknowledgesthat.

At this grave juncture that will settle the matterof life and death in our one-on-one [struggle]with the Communist Party, the smoking ofmarijuana by the youth is something that will bring ruinto our country... You must pull up by the roots the problemof marijuana smoking and similar activities by applying themaximum penalties currently available under the law.

-Park Chung Hee, 2 February 1976.After the humiliating defeat in Vietnam, then President

Park Chung Hee set about to get a firm grasp on hisdomestic affairs. His internal policy of defending thesystem firmly stressed the need for traditional culture to beconserved as well. Unfortunately, Koreas youth were busy

imitating western hippie culture which included wearingjeans, flaunting long hair, carrying guitars, singing pop songs,expressing anti-war sentiments and smoking weed. Park hadseen enough.

So on 2 December 1975, Park decided to crackdown on ahuge number of entertainers and ban them from performingon stage calling it the marijuana crisis. The early half ofKorean 70s had witnessed a growth in young musicians, as

stated above, heavily influenced by the hippie nature of thewest. They would tend around university students and withits audience, voice out against the Vietnam War. The factthat Parks own son was also involved in the culture madethings much more personal. By condemning theseentertainers behind the bars and by broadcasting ridiculousanti-marijuana propaganda on national television, Park setout to cleanse a generation that would make the marijuana asocial taboo altogether.

The Green Culture.Wemean

the other green.

Lets talk Marijuana, shall we?

BYABHAS MASKEY

Exaggeration: A video still of the 1975 Anti-Marijuana PSA

showing the drugs effects

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Getting behind Marijuana:Marijuana is a term for the dried flowers and leaves of the

plant cannabis sativa. Also known as ganja, cannabis orsimply weed, its flowers contain concentrated amounts of

mind altering chemicals known as cannabinoids. Hashish, onthe other hand, is made by the resin extracted fromcannabinoid rich trichomes-tiny hair like structuresproduced by the plant. Different types of marijuana producedifferent amounts of mixtures of cannabinoids; these varywith the genetics of the plant, with growing practices andeven with the timing of the harvest.

So how does it feel to get high?As Harvard psychiatrist Norman Zinberg described the

sensation achieved of a particular drug to be drug, set, andsetting, high widely varies on the type of drug being used(potency of marijuana), on the particular culture or religionpeople are influenced by and on the ambience they findthemselves in while on the drug. It could also vary with otherfactors as well; alcohol and music have long thought to have

an elevated effect while on high. In a small survey done bythe SNU Quill through the internet, the participantsexpressed that they felt soothed and relaxed, had elevatedsense of humor, mood F5 (refreshed) and that they couldthink more clearly, be more creative, take thingslightly, be more receptive when under influence.

The use of science to explain high:THC, or