The Sadness
This is the story of a man. Not a smart man, it is freely conceded. A simple man. A man who likes Korea.
No, not likes. This man loves Korea. Not just likes, loves… To the extent that he wrote his MA thesis on Korean issues. To the extent that he pursued the dream of, and succeeded in becoming, the first western foreigner to live and work on Ulleungdo. To the extent that he went to Dokdo. Twice. To the extent that he is the editor of a major North Korean information and democratization website, a task he undertakes for no notable remuneration. To the extent that he is, in short, a poster child for the feeling that Korea is, indeed, sparkling. Or he would be, if they made posters for that sort of thing.
Although it’s probably best that they don’t.
In any case, now this man is moving his love up a step. This man, you see, is hoping to do a PhD. He has received interest from Cambridge University, among others. Yes indeed, he is going to thrust forth and do what Korea really seems to like seeing non-Koreans do; STUDY KOREA! YAY!
Or do they?
You see, our man has a problem. You see, he wants to take the Korean Language Proficiency Test this April. We shall call it the KLPT, for that is its name. He registers, keenly, upon noticing a poster advertising the latest round, which is on April 19th. It isn’t hard, despite the abject lunacy of a foreign language test registration system for which the business end is only provided in the target language. No matter, he doesn’t much care; his Korean is plenty good enough in any case. He moves on, and tries to pay by credit card. That doesn’t work out so well. Korean payment system, no love for our friend’s web browser. Bit of a mess. Enough said, move on.
Our man is not disturbed though, and is not dissuaded. Next he tries to pay by check card, and seems to all intents and purposes to have been successful. He certainly doesn’t get any negativity from his browser on that score. He walks away, thinking all is well, and sets about studying hard. A happy man with a happy plan.
Great! A nice story! A happy ending!
Not so much. Only the ghosts in the machine really know the truth, and they are not telling.
For today this man checks his registration. Payments just closed the previous day, apparently. Without our man’s contribution, obviously.
But all is not lost. Surely a late payment is going to make everything ok for him, right? No doubt; every time our friend runs a marathon in Korea he runs the risk of such errors, and he always solves them by a happy phone call and a swift chat with the powers that be. So, buoyed by such experiences, he calls the people at the KLPT.
He begs, pleads, and notifies them of his intent to do what Korea really seems to like seeing non-Korean do; STUDY KOREA! YAY!
But no. No love whatsoever. No movement at all. No acceptance that a website in Korean for people who study Korean might not be a wise idea. No recognition that mistakes with payment might be made, by both customer and website. No interest in the fact that many browsers get along very poorly with Korean websites. And absolutely no interest in the fact that this test could be the difference between our good friend starting a PhD in Korean Studies and, well, not starting a PhD in Korean Studies.
Makes you think about how much Korea really wants people to study her, after all…
