OMG Korea Part 1: Do Koreans really want more business?

Oh my bi-weekly and sometimes 3 times a week jog, I was running on a familiar trail (or should I say “street trail”) on the way home. I’ve passed by this street which is the home of a couple large agencies or government funded (it appears) bodies which support local industry. Also, a cool cafe my friend Leona and I go to once in a while is on this little path in Centum.

So, I was thinking I would do a little pre-Business Development and drop by these organizations and see if I could at least get some contact information for talking to decision makers later on. Well, the smaller of the 3 was the most receptive, but basically, I got a “Huh? Why do you just want our business card?” look. At least he didn’t frown.

However, the second reaction was what really propelled me to write today’s post. I dropped by the “Busan IT Promotion Agency” and tried to ask the guy on the first floor since I wasn’t planning on going up each floor to find someone. Also, the big sign (ALL of it in Korean!) said in Korean, from what I could tell, it was on the first floor. The layout in the building though was hard to figure out and definitely not welcoming. The (security) guy’s first question was “What are you doing here?” in Korea. Directly translated, it’s like “What’s your purpose in coming today?” Come on, but am I going to give them my REAL purpose? No, I just want to know what the website name/url is. He can’t figure out what I’m saying. He doesn’t know any English at all.

There’s another guy from the agency who acts like he can’t understand and that he’s not a part of the organization. He walks away while I’m struggling to talk to the security officer. The officer finally tells me after I point to “In English” the “Busan IT Promotion Agency” sign on the outside of the door to go to the office the other guy ran away to. Nobody’s in the office (because they’re probably all out for lunch – another interesting phenomena in Korea) and so I ask “Anyone here?” The guy who ran away comes up and says “What’s your purpose here?” I ask can I have the website name? The idiot (yes, I’m going to call him a bad name because he was incredibly unhelpful and very judgemental) says you can search for it online. He could of easily just spelled it out orally: busanit.or.kr or wrote it down for me, but gave me a hard time. I said what if it doesn’t come up? He said it would come up…

OK, so I go home and I try it. Guess what? I type in the Korean version “부산정보산업흥원” and what’s the first result? It’s the Daegu Digital Industry Promotion Agency On the entire page of results, there isn’t a single page leading to the website. Well, if I’m somewhat savvy, I would know that Naver.com’s the best search engine in Korea and so, I type it in there. Guess what again? Even in Naver, I get this stupid little article as the only result.

Fortunately, I remember the English name for the organization: “busan it promotion agency” And fortunately, for them, it comes up first in Google.

Well, my second organization isn’t much friendlier. The Busan Design Center just about a block + away from this IT Promotion Agency is beautiful to say the least. However, as designers know, the smallest of errors or flaws in a design can ruin the entire design: including the English part to it. When English readers (all 1.8 billion of them) are looking at a Korean design and it says something like “Busan Dejine” we know the confusion in the English may potentially ruin the entire design. Awkward usage of the language can also befuddle the onlooker.

Well, fortunately, the security officers are off taking a smoking break or getting a little sun. I go straight into the elevator and bypass the front (which basically doesn’t exist due to “design”, I guess) and find fortunately, the rest of the building is in English. Not perfect, but not bad at all either.

I go to the 5th floor called the “Computer Information Center” where I’m hoping there’s at least a receptionist, but nope. I have to interrupt a bunch of people having lunch. Of course, they’re not thrilled that I’m bothering them. However, just trying to get a stupid website address is like pulling teeth in the country. They’re like type it in. I ask “What if it doesn’t come up?” They say “It will.” I press and fortunately get a little booklet.

I end up being right. I type in “Busan Design Center” in Google and what do I get? I definitely didn’t get their website. I even change the words around like their organization name orders it: “design center busan” and again, nothing. They don’t realize FIRST, Google dominates the world and not naver.com And Google says to people ever day, “Look at this website: World Business Center Busan, Korea” whenever you type in the queries from above in trying to find the Design Center. Kudos to the World Business Center though.

Fortunately, due to my persistence, I found the website url & even though the guy basically growled at me, he gave me the booklet that he’ll never use.

Lastly, just a quick note, but maybe a LARGE reason why they did this to me is because I just came from a run a bit sweaty and not in a suit. Image is HUGE in Korea. I’ll report back next time wearing a suit and seeing if there’s a difference.

OMG Korea is a series of rants by Principal Brandon criticizing or identifying opportunity for Korea to improve it’s business practices. Brandon believes if these things are changed, there’s a high liklihood Korea will continue to do as well as it has in the past. Otherwise, Brandon worries Korea will fall by the waist side since it fails to have no more than it’s ingenuity and hard work. The natural resources are lacking in the country and so Brandon’s making every effort with Real English Consulting “helping Koreans become #1.”