This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Slide over, members of the Académie Française. Make room on the buttoned-down language bench for South Korean purists. A rant in the magazine Korea Focus came down hard on the use of both foreign words and the Roman alphabet here in Seoul both in violation of the Korean government’s Basic Act on the Korean Language, which requires that proper Korean words be used in all public documents. Originally aimed at breaking Korean dependence on Chinese characters, the ranter wants to deploy it to rid street signage of English. Invoking the spirit of King Sejong, credited with the creation of the Korean alphabet over 500 years ago, he calls for words such as “sinkhole” to be replaced by ddang ggeojim, ground collapse and for slang terms such as “cool biz” to be replaced by siwon charim or cool outfit. Cool biz? Huh? Before replacing English words with Korean ones, let’s be sure they really are English!

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.