Feedback contains information on updates and some background information that might be of interest to some readers. It also has comments from web site readers that might have wider interest than just to me. To that end, and to possibly prevent having to respond to the same questions and comments again and again, this page provides responses that answer some of your questions, even some you've not yet asked. Be forewarned that I write for enjoyment as well as for enlightenment, and hope that you'll appreciate my humor. If not, then send me a comment and maybe I'll post it here. Or maybe not.

As with other areas where I post items of interest, I'll include dates and have the newest first so you don't have to go scrolling through a lot of "old news" (is that an oxymoron?). To speed up page loading, entries have been divided by year, with larger years' entries split.

Jack Terwiel     

2002	2003	2004	2005: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec
2006: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec	2007: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec	2008: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec	2009: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec
2010: Jan-Jun   Jul-Dec	2011: Jan-Jun   Jul-Dec	2012: Jan-Jun

January 2, 2012 – Another E-Mail Newsletter Problem
Yesterday morning, I uploaded the newsletter to the web site newsletter mailing program. I started the sending process at 7am. Each hour thereafter, I re-started the sending program (the normal process) and continued until 4pm. It was only then that I realized that I had not been notified by my computer that the newsletter had been received. I then tried the test sending option to myself and that also did not work. I contacted a retiree and asked if he had received the newsletter. He also had not received it.

The strange part is that when the send process completed, it sent me an e-mail notifying me that the newsletter had been successfully sent to all subscribers. I have no idea where this problem exists. Everything at my end operated as normal, including the final notification e-mail. I will continue checking and will also visit the software developer's user forum to see if anyone else has experienced this problem and, if so, what corrective action needs to be taken.

In the meantime, the newsletter is available from the home page and in all three formats from the Newsletter Index.

January 1, 2012 – Photos Around Osan and Songtan
Osan Air Base had its Christmas tree lighting ceremony in early December. On Dec 21, I took my camera to record the lighting in front of the base theater and especially the Christmas tree. Approaching the theater at night, the scene looks like this. And here's a closer look at the beautifully-lighted Christmas tree.

However, looking at the Christmas tree in the harsh light of day reveals this reality. This view makes me think of what is being said about the 2012 defense budget.

After taking the photos of the new club construction, I checked out the Commissary parking to see how busy it is on a New Years Eve payday weekend. Here's the view of the parking at the side. And here the parking in front of the commissary. The parking garage first level was about 3/4 full but it's hard to judge how much was commissary business and how much is 'permanent' parking.

Finally, I wanted to record the parking situation outside the gate that normally occurs on the weekend and is especially prevalent on a holiday weekend. Here's a view looking back towards the main gate. And this is the view from the same spot looking toward the overpass. One of the common sights – this in front of the Pizza Club restaurant – is the car that that parks halfway onto the sidewalk. I'm not sure if this is done in the hope of avoiding a ticket (No, officer, I'm not parked 'on the road'), but it's common. The other cars front and back are only a bit onto the sidewalk. I expect to see even more of this during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday 22-24 January.

November 11, 2011 – New Korean Visa Category F-6 Explained
In case you missed it, the Korea Times ran this article on 10/26/2011. Below is the article in its entirety:

A new visa reserved for foreigners living in the country after marrying South Koreans will be introduced as part of efforts to guarantee their stable stay and better deal with their growing numbers, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday.

Under the legal revisions to the immigration control law, the so-called "marriage immigrants" will be given an exclusive F-6 visa, which allows them to legally stay in the country even if their marital life ends due to unexpected events such as their Korean spouses' death or disappearance.

The marriage immigrants currently receive F-2 residency permits, which are also issued to other long-term foreigners. This often causes trouble for the government in effectively handling the steady inflow of those immigrants, according to the ministry.

"The introduction of the new visa is expected to allow the government to devise proper measures that would help the marriage immigrants better adapt themselves to Korean society," Kim Se-jin from the ministry said.

The number of foreigners in the country married to a South Korean stood at 141,654 in 2010, up 13.2 percent from the previous year and 25 percent from 2006, according to government data.

The new revisions also include a provision that allows more foreign investors to earn the F-2 residency visa, a move aimed at encouraging inbound investment by foreigners to strengthen national competitiveness, the ministry said.

The revised law stipulates that the F-2 residency visa be given to foreigners who have invested more than US$500,000 in South Korea while staying here for over three years, and those who have made over $300,000 in investments while hiring more than two Koreans. Currently, the residency permit is available only for those from corporations that invest more than $500,000 in the country.

The new immigration law will take effect as early as the end of this year, according to the ministry. (Yonhap) (Source: http://www.fvisasearchkorea.com/2011/10/f-visa-explained/)

Jack's Comment: This is a change for the good. I had to deal with a retiree last year whose wife died. He was not allowed to renew his F-2 visa because he no longer had a 'sponsor' and was devastated by the need to move at his advanced age. This article refers only to the F-2 visa being replaced, so I don't know if retirees who have the F-1 visa (married to a Korea-born U.S. citizen who has the F-4 Overseas Korean visa) would also qualify for the F-6 visa.

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