New year, new address

Read the article on Korea Times regarding the “Must-have Information for New Year” to learn about new laws and amendment to laws that might affect your life. One thing that really caught my attention is about the discount that multi-cultural families could benefit from when sending packages to their hometowns. Great idea ;p

Multicultural-marriage families will get discounts when they send mail or parcels to their home countries through express mail service (EMS), which is offered by the state-run Korea Post.
The discounts will be between 10 percent and 15 percent. Those eligible for the benefits can get the discounts by visiting nearby post offices with foreign registration cards or Korean citizenship cards.
Yet, it depends when the services will start because they are set to begin after the Korea Post sign contracts with regional governments of the country.
The Korea Post provides the EMS via an alliance of public postal administrations in more than 140 countries. It emerges as a major threat to private powerhouses such as DHL, UPS or FedEx.

Also, support for pre-natal check-up will increase in April to 400,000 won from the previous 200,000 won. Apparently, this is not only for those who are Koreans or those who are married to Koreans. Wendy of My Rocking Cradle also received this allowance when she was pregnant and her husband is not Korean at all ;p

By the way, we have a new address. The government sent information regarding the change of address in November last year. It is now simpler and uses the much more convenient street address. I prefer the old method though since I’m quite familiar with Seoul’s geography. You can find the New Address Information through their website.