Why so many Koreans get their PhD

Koreans are crazy about their college degrees.  More than half of young adults have a college degree and you almost have to get a masters to work in a company.  A high number also get their PhD.  Since Riley is just getting his master's degree, many people ask him why he is not getting his PhD.  His fellow Korean graduate students are all getting their PhD, why not him?
We just recently discovered the answer to why Koreans almost expect everyone to get the PhD if they decide to get any graduate degree.  It lies in another aspect of Korean life.
Many of you may know that South Korea is still currently at war with North Korea.  In day to day life this fact does not affect life very much.  However, every South Korean male is required to do 2 years of military service.  This is dreaded by most of them, and from their stories it doesn't sound like much fun.  Lots of physical labor and strange tasting food.
So what does this have to do with getting your PhD?  If you get your PhD, you only have to do 4 weeks of basic training.  The mystery is solved!  Of course this doesn't apply to Riley, but I think its a subconscious aspect of life now for South Koreans.

Something I never expected

One of the most fascinating things about Korean life, is how much of it is influenced by the western world.  You really have to go to specific places to get souviners because in regular stores anything decorative can be found in America.  Most things try to look fancy by having random English writing on it.
Even though I knew about this influence, I was still very surprised by something we saw at a festival a few weeks ago: a jazz saxophone band.

They were pretty good.  Most of the Koreans just sat still, staring, but a few of the older men and women were really getting into it.  I thought the surprise of finding out Korea has saxophone bands was the end of it, and then they started to play "Play that Funky Music, White Boy."  It was awesome!

Traveling to North Korea

Last Saturday, during a visit from Laura and John, we decided to take a tour of our neighbors to the north.  For those of you who may be concerned, we went on a tour that was officially run in accordance with the Joint Security Area (the US and South Korean military run this area together).  We were fully protected by soldiers, and there are tours from both sides almost every day.  Here is some of our protection.

ROK (South Korean) soldier in a modified taekwondo position

The door behind the soldier leads to North Korea.  This guy was tensed and did not move at all the whole time we were in this room.  It was amazing!  Ok, now that you know we were safe, let me start from the beginning of our tour.
We drove about an hour north of Seoul to get to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  To even get close to the DMZ you have to first pass through a checkpoint.  We picked up a couple of US soldiers there.  They briefed us on this history of the Korean War and the area where talks are held.  Then we were able to enter the DMZ.  We had our passports checked at almost every opportunity. 
The DMZ is very beautiful.  Besides the barbed wire and the mine fields, there is not very much built up in it.  If there are still tigers in Korea, they would be there.  There is also a little villages in the DMZ.  The people there do not have to pay taxes and the men do not have to do military service.  The only stipulations are that only women can join the village from the outside.  They have a curfew and some of the fields can only be tended with an armed guard.  The people think its worth living there, and they do get about $85,000 a year tax free.
The first stop was the panmunjon area.  It is where talks are held.  This was the point we could just go over the line in a building and technically be in North Korea.  It was like being in a shark tank and waiting for the sharks to come.  Here is what it looked like:

North Korea.  We went in the blue building on the left.  You can see the line where the color of the gravel changes, and there is a North Korean soldier on the steps.

 This is where the ROK soldiers were standing for protection.  You can't see many North Korean soldiers because they are only there when there are tours on that side.

The next stop was a couple of observation towers.  It was like looking over the edge of the world.  There weren't many trees and there was a large empty town built on the other side to pretend to be just like the one on the South Korean side.  It was built to be fake, a lot of the windows and doors are painted on the buildings.  They also built the largest flag pole in the world in the fake village to be taller than the flag pole on the South Korean side.  I have pictures, but it was a foggy day so you can't see much but the giant flagpole.

Then we went to the last station in South Korea.  It is a huge, modern station that was built with donated money from hopeful South Koreans that someday it will be used to travel from South Korea all the way to Europe. 

The last stop of the tour was a tunnel that the North Koreans had dug under the border.  They never broke through the top, so you have to walk down a steep tunnel into it.  Its hard to stand up straight in it.  They had also painted coal on the walls to say that is was a coal mine, but it rubs right off.  You could walk along it (trying not to bump your head) until you get to the first of three walls built in defense.

It was all very interesting.  Especially the multiple souvenir shops where you can buy North Korean wine, DMZ t-shirts, and lego tanks.  They haven't had any incidents there for 50 years, and they never even stopped the tours for the recent unrest.  It is all very usual and normal for tours to take place at the border, and that was the strangest thing of all.

Cute ROK soldiers.