Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

In its ruling on the case in which Korean language-related organizations and Korean language scholars filed a compensation lawsuit against Kookmin Bank (KB) and Korea Telecommunications (KT) for causing mental damage to those who love the Korean language by writing companies' names only in English on their billboards, the Seoul Central District Court said, "Those companies broke a law stating that outdoor billboards should be written both in a foreign language and Korean, but they do not have any responsibility for compensating individuals whose pride in the Korean language is damaged because the pride is a social legal benefit."

The court also said, "KB and KT violated a law requiring that outdoor billboards be written both in a foreign language and Korean side by side in a similar size, by writing their names only in English or in both languages, but with Korean in a much smaller size than English."
Chosun Ilbo
August 12, 2004
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200408/200408120042.html

[jurassic5]

what about those HiSeoul signs...does it say "�ȳ缭��"?

[calypso]

Writing English in �ѱ� is the main reason why English is so mispronounced in Korea. so, KTF will have a sign with ijƼ����?

[Real Reality]

jurassic5,
Korean language-related organizations and Korean language scholars are preparing their cases now.

[jurassic5]

[Real Reality]

Why not?

[Hollywoodaction]

Mental damage? Ha! Don't they meen mental anguish? Besides, you'd have to be awfully insecure to have your pride hurt by something as insignificant as a few letters on a billboard. I wonder what they would say if they changed the names of the companies to a symbol, like Prince did for his name.

[jurassic5]

well damn...if these people are so mad about outside billboards...



how come it's so hard to find T-shirts written in Korean? i went to yonsei...the only thing they had written in korean in the gift shop was a bumper sticker. al their shirts and sweaters etc, had everything in English. For being so nationalistic and having great pride in korea, you would think more things here in korea would be written in korean (store signs, shirts etc).

[Real Reality]

jurassic5,
Of course, I was joking. I do not know if they will sue anyone or any city but remember it is possible to break a "law stating that outdoor billboards should be written both in a foreign language and Korean."

Remember people
You may cause "mental damage to those who love the Korean language by writing companies' names only in English."

[dogbert]

Oh! My pride's been hurt! Quick, call an ambulance!

[Real Reality]

Court rules English-only street and TV ads illegal
The Seoul city government said it will decide soon whether the companies must take down or change their ads. Kookmin Bank promotion team vice director Shin Hong-seop said, "We think that the plaintiffs' insistence that Korean companies must use Korean names is somewhat reasonable, but as a company which competes with foreign enterprises in this global age, we cannot ignore foreign customers and the necessity of English."
The Korea Herald
August 13, 2004
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/08/13/200408130029.asp

[marista99]

"outdoor billboards should be written both in a foreign language and Korean."

So...wouldn't that imply that billboards in Korean only are also illegal?

[peppermint]

[Hollywoodaction]

[chiaa]

Maybe we can sue them for "mental damage" for signs in bad English!

We would all be rich and never have to work another day in our lives...

http://www.whatthebook.com