Korea, NO. KoreaN, YES.

My cousin, VP told me about this recent public service announcement produced by Kobaco. Essentially, the PSA encourages "Korea" to be warmer and more thoughtful -- to be "KoreaN." I'm guessing that the 'n' in KoreaN stands for "New Korea."

This PSA is pretty awesome. It captures a number of my gripes about living in Seoul. It's especially heartening to see that the video was produced by a Korean organization.
Hopefully the message is better received. It's like when your mother tells you to lose weight. Only a mother can get away with calling you fat.

Anyhow, I wanted to share this video with y'all, so I asked Cyndi helped me to translate the video.

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KOREA [Scrolling shot of shiny skyscrapers that are allegedly in Seoul]
"We have changed, but..."
KOREAN [Shot of ajusshi yelling rabidly from his car. 짜증나!]
"We need to change more."

KOREA [Close-up of a woman using wi-fi to chat with her friend via webcam]
"We've advanced, but..."
KOREAN [The same woman is laughing loudly in the cafe, to the annoyance of the other patrons]
"We need to move further."

KOREA [Close up of a map, transitioning to a nice shot of Incheon airport]
"We've gotten closer, but..."
KOREAN [SHot of a Korean man rudely brushing past a foreign man on the escalator]
"We can get closer."

KOREA [Dynamic shot of sports fans cheering on Korea]
"Our hearts are warm, but..."
KOREAN [Shot of lonely foreign man waiting at a train stop]
"We have to be warmer."

"Korea 보다 더 자랑스러운 KoreaN."
Translation: KoreaN, prouder than Korea.