“Economics is Fun!”

“We have come to learn about the market economy.”

The first class in “Lectures in Market Economy for Teenagers,” a series of lectures planned by Dong-a Ilbo and the Korean Chamber of Commerce in commemoration of the 85th anniversary of Dong-a Ilbo, was a huge success, having been attended by 600 teenagers and their parents.

The lecture held at the main lecture hall on the 21st floor of the Dong-a Media Center, located at Sejong-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, in the afternoon of February 19, was filled with students from Seoul, Inchon, Gyeonggi-do, and areas such as Cheonan of South Chungcheong province.

The 300 chairs prepared before the lecture were filled early into the session, and the 200 additional floor cushions were also taken, leaving a number of students to attend the lecture standing up.

The participants that filled the hall listened attentively to the first lecture on “The Basics of Economics” by Kim Kyung-hwan, a professor of economics from Sogang University. Several students even gathered around Professor Kim after the lecture and asked questions.

Seo Ji-hae (17, junior, Cheonan Bokja Girl’s High School) asserted, “I’m normally interested in economics, but I didn’t know enough to understand newspapers or books on it. Today’s lecture was helpful in that it dealt with real-life examples,” and that “It was worth taking the railway on the weekend to attend the lectures.”

Hong Sung-mi (43, Haahn-dong, Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi-do), a housewife who attended with her teenage children, along with four other housewives in her neighborhood, said “I was dissatisfied because there aren’t any classes at school that teach issues on the market economy,” and that “since I didn’t have the chance to learn economics either, as a parent, I worried about teaching my kids about the subject, which is why I welcomed this opportunity to sit with my kids and learn the subject.”

Professor Kim’s lecture will be covered in detail in Dong-a Ilbo on February 22. VOD services will also be provided on www.donga.com that day.

The second lecture on the market economy for teenagers will be held at 3:00 p.m. on February 26th at the same location. Song Byung-rak, professor emeritus of Seoul National University, is scheduled to give a lecture titled, “Why the Market Economy?”

Joong-Hyun Park sanjuck@donga.com bae2150@donga.com