Web site has answers to expat FAQs

Realize you left something in a taxi, but don’t know how to get it back? Don’t understand why so many shops close Mondays? Want to know more about Korea and its people?

Expatriates and prospective expatriates in Korea want to know, but until last Friday, the only way they could find out were through the Seoul Global Center run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, or Web sites run by veteran expats.

Now the Presidential Council on Nation Branding has answered that need with its new Web portal, www.koreabrand.net. The site gives answers to the most frequent questions about life here.

The FAQs range from daily life, festivals, society, history and economy to politics and inter-Korean relations. The answers are currently available in English, but the council plans to add more foreign languages.

“You have to take advantage of online media to promote the national image if you have a limited budget and manpower,” council chairman Euh Yoon-dae said. “When the Chinese and Japanese versions are completed on Feb. 22, the whole online frame of promoting Korea’s brand will be fully established.”

By Kim Mi-ju [mijukim@joongang.co.kr]