By Sara Choi, Contributing Writer

Within 40 minutes of boarding a plane at San Francisco International Airport, I had a minor panic attack. Ever so politely, the cheerful and alarmingly persistent flight attendant repeated herself loudly. For the third time. ``Five-flavor tea, orange tea or green tea?'''' The grounds for my alarm laid in the fact that her question was innocuously posed in Korean.

As I mentally flipped through the pages of vocabulary I had memorized in anticipation of moments like this, I silently cursed Harvard''s elementary Korean program. Though I could precisely describe the weather using a slew of memorized vocabulary, I could not for the life of me understand the first Korean words directed my way! And that is the reason I am in Korea today.

After completing a year''s worth of Korean classes in college, I decided that my language abilities needed a little, well, OK, quite a large boost. In the United States, I feel that, albeit subtly, my Korean appearance will always put me in a category ― a very real category ― that I have learned to accept. Any accomplishments are inevitably defined in the newspaper as accomplishments made by a first-generation ``Korean American,'''' and I always checkmark ``Asian American'''' when encountering a form necessitating ethnicity.

So, in an attempt to learn more about the language and culture I am ashamed to be largely ignorant of, and that others, Koreans and Americans, expect me to know, I decided to join the Ewha-Harvard summer school program, taking two intensive classes: one in Korean language and one in Korean History and Archeology. Coupled with this, upon completion of my summer school classes, I began work as an intern with KISTEP, the largest Korean Science and Technology think tank.

As a new member of KISTEP''s Policy and Planning Division, last week I attended the government sponsored Korea Science Festival that, as the division''s foreigner, left quite the impression.

This festival is typically held at the beginning of August, occurring this year from Aug. 4 through Aug. 8. Held at Ilsan''s Korean International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) near Seoul, the Korea Science Festival annually draws in approximately 200,000 attendees making it the largest science festival in the country. This year, in concordance with national government and collective global movements, the overarching theme was ``a green future to be developed using science and creativity.''''

The green theme was fairly evident as I took a few laps around the showroom. One booth provided an opportunity to experience climate change, in which the plush characters I kept on running into represented various elements such as fire and rain. One table was devoted to the progress made in green medicine, and yet another educated guests on the future of hydrogen-fueled automobiles.

Besides these exhibits, in the far left corner of the showroom there was an international robot Olympiad competition, and in the right corner, a viewing of ''Treasure Island'' in an HD DVD movie theater. Certainly, there was much to be seen.

Nearly every booth I visited presented attention-grabbing displays of scientific and technological feats designed to catch the eye of those barely able to read the explanatory placards. And, as if the subdued animals, mesmerizing liquids in beakers, and digital shorts on shiny LG screens were not enough, free items of the stuffed animal and puzzle variety were sure to catch any child''s interest. Even I, a native English speaker, was drawn in by a smiling spokesperson to attempt to complete a jigsaw puzzle forming the Table of Elements in Korean. For 10 minutes I struggled and eventually abandoned the project, reassuring myself that there was no way that elements written in Korean would appear on any Harvard Organic Chemistry test.

In fact, the only time I have ever encountered a comparable exhibition was at the Exploratorium in my native region, San Francisco, California. Touted by The Encyclopedia Britannica as ``the archetype of the experiential, hands-on science center,'''' the Exploratorium receives over half a million visitors annually with 650 exhibits designed to spark curiosity regardless of age or familiarity with science.

Despite the obvious differences in size and establishment (with the Exploratorium being a year-long operating museum in San Francisco''s Palace of Fine Arts), there are also the matters of funding and mission. The Korea Science Festival is a government-sponsored endeavor hosted by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST), while the Exploratorium began as the brain-child of noted physicist Dr. Frank Oppenheimer and is financially supported by a wide variety of sources.

Perhaps resulting from subconscious priming via my internship training, I felt as though the budding impact of this direct governmental support for the Korean Science Festival was on display before my eyes. Via President Lee Myung-bak''s lofty 577 Initiative developed in 2008, his administration hopes to invest 5 percent of the GDP into the seven major research and development sectors (and 7 national science and technology systems) to become one of the seven major science and technology powers in the world (hence the catchy ''577'' slogan). This amounts to government-provided support and investments in research and development totaling 16.2 trillion won (equivalent to about $135 billion) according to MEST.

Many of the showcases at the Ilsan Festival demonstrated Korea''s relatively new place as a research and development global competitor. One display provided information on Korea''s first space rocket, the KSLV-1, and another on Korea''s plan to lower CO2 emissions by 30 percent by the year 2020. While the Exploratorium''s aim seems to strictly adhere to its broad mission of ''sparking curiosity,'' the Korea Science Festival was also true to its more subtle mission: showing that Korea is not only relevant in the field of science and technology but actually near the head of the pack internationally, ranking third in science competitiveness and 14th in technology in 2009.

Judging from what I saw at the festival, the 577 initiative appears to be lofty but within grasp considering Korea''s past record of explosive growth, global engagement and new developments within and beyond the science and technology sector. With this hefty government-provided support, it seems likely that celebrations like the one in Ilsan will continue to be well-received and entertaining occurrences in the continuing wake of Korea''s scientific and technological triumphs.

And, as far as me becoming well versed in Korean culture and Korean language? Although I still have a lot to learn, thanks to my patient Korean teacher, my knowledgeable history and archeology teacher, glib friends, and supportive co-workers at KISTEP, I finally feel like I''m a true, new, Korean American.

Sara Choi is a senior studying Biological Anthropology with a minor in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. She can be reached at schoi@fas.harvard.edu.
 
from : http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2009/08/181_50383.html