Day 10

There aren't too many companies that have a travel insurance office, a post office and snack bar where everything is less than a dollar and all the profits go to charity. We are touring Naver, the Google equivalent in Korea. Seventy-percent of people search with Naver, and including other online users, like the Japanese, Naver is the fifth most used search engine in the world. Naver comes from the word navigate. In 2000 it merged with Hangame, an online game portal, and changed its name to NHN. (Next Human Network) Most of the employees are young, and generally work from 10am until 7pm. They are encouraged to take the steps, and when they do, they notice the painted stairwells. Bird pictures are on the walls, with the number of "hits" they've gotten on the web. The lounge area is big, and every Saturday is family day. (this stuffed animal is one of many)

The technology here is contantly evolving. The Naver public relations people tell us there's a feature where people can let the search engine hear a particular song, and it will tell them what it is. Downstairs Naver has a library. It's free and open to the public, but residents have to make reservations because it is so popular.

NHN is now developing a software institute to train potential future employees.
I spent most of the day today with Korean journalists. They just returned from the U.S. on an exchange like the one I am on.

While in the U.S. they had meetings with the State Department and the Defense Department and were kind of amazed that officials really didn't tell them anything new. They were interested in North Korea, among other things. In Denver they were suprised the Mayor was marching in a gay pride parade. In Korea it is not common to be openly gay. Tomorrow I head to the DMZ at the North Korean border.