Religion, economy and ICT in Korea

The morning began with a lecture from the charismatic Dr Hyondo Park at Ewha University. Religion plays a big part of modern day Korea, with 55% of Koreans affiliating with a religion. Dr Park discussed the influence of China and United States and the different stages of their religious history. Christianity and Budhism is strong and influences political and economic policies including helping with the democracy demonstrations in the 1980s and influencing education and health policies today.

The next lecture by, Dr Sei-Wan Kim, explained the Korean economy. Korea is the 11th biggest economy in the world and specialises in manufacturing and services. It's amazing to think of Korea's progression from recipient to donor country in such a short time period.

Afterwards a delicious box lunch was provided by Ewha University. 

Next we visited an English bookstore and explored the area surrounding the Australian embassy. Close by in front of the U.S. Embassy two protestors were being watched by twenty police officers. A few members from the New Zealand contingent visited the History Museum with fascinating models of Seoul city and artefacts.

Our last official activity for the day was a lecture from Dr Heejin from Yonsei University who discussed the development of ICT in Korea. The government has and continues to play a major role in the research and develop of ICT infrastructure and Korea is a leading country of mobile phones and other such goods.

Returning back to the hotel, a few went shopping in the night market and the others showcased their talents at karaoke.

Olivia

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