Presentation to the companies

How do you summarize two months of research between 10 people into an hour presentation? It isn’t easy, as you can imagine. Thanks to a lot of teamwork, guidance from our spirited leader and good contact with our clients, we were able to design and deliver 50-minute power point presentations. Each group (SK Energy and [...]

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Blue House

Korea’s Executive wing is located in the Blue House. We were fortunate enough to be granted a tour of the grounds, and didn’t even need to pretend that we were on the guest list for a state dinner! Most of the information came to us through headsets, so we were a bit limited in our [...]

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Policy from the top

At the Korean National Assembly, we met with one of the top lawmakers, Park Jin, who is head of the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee. After our meeting, we were given a tour of the impressive building. Although the Assembly is a unicameral legislature, unlike the bicameral one of the U.S., policy has historically [...]

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Korean Baseball

Thanks to the generosity of a GW alum whom I met at the dinner reception, I was able to attend a Korean baseball game with one classmate. The Sunday game between the LG Twins (a Seoul team) and the Lotte Giants (from Busan) was sold out, but we were treated to some VIP tickets right behind [...]

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The hard hike

Sunday morning, we headed out for a hike on Mt. Bukhan in Korea. We weren’t told how difficult or how long the hike would be, but that it would be a “real hike,” and not a Sunday walk in the park. For those who had enjoyed the finer points of the Seoul nightlife on Saturday [...]

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Flexible lunch

Before our tour of the Secret Garden (Changdeokgung) we sat down for a traditional Korean lunch. I emphasize the sitting aspect of this lunch, however, as we sat cross-legged on a pillow. Finding a comfortable position eluded some of us, myself included. Along with the traditional Korean food, we were able to enjoy bottled Coke, which [...]

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Seoul in pictures

Because I’ve been derelict in my pictorial posting duty, I give you these:

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Techno-savvy

SK Energy’s R&D institute oozes of technological innovation. I felt smarter just by touring the grounds. As one of the biggest Korean business conglomerates, SK Group has devoted plenty of resources to research and development of new technologies and business ventures. At the company’s institute in Daejeon, we were able to see the production and [...]

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Speed train

Amtrak eat your heart out. Korean trains are fast, efficiently operated and clean. Basically 1/Amtrak. We experienced the wonder that is the Korean speed train Friday on our trip from Seoul to Daejeon, an industrial city in the south of the country. Our train cracked 300 km/hour, although you’d be hard pressed to know it without [...]

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Fast fashion in Korea

After our in-depth analysis of apparel company Zara in one of our classes this spring, those of us in the Korean IRP were well equipped for our visit to MCM, the luxury brand now headquartered in Seoul. Our fearless leader, Professor Leipziger, through his long career at the World Bank, has made many great contacts, one [...]

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