I know this is more nitpicking than anything but why would a Korean women, in Korea, bribe another Korean woman for $100,000 DOLLARS? That is not the currency. Korean currency is the won. It would be like me bribing another American for $100,000 yen. Just a thought...

probably to make it easier for the audience to get...
if she said won, there would be all sorts of posts...
probably a simple way to move the story forward...

I agree, I am sure Sun said 'won' in Korean, but if TPTB didn't translate, there would a hundred different posts about what a 'won' is and if there is any deep significance to it.

I agree, I am sure Sun said 'won' in Korean, but if TPTB didn't translate, there would a hundred different posts about what a 'won' is and if there is any deep significance to it.

Good point, they were translating. Somebody will have to watch again and see what is spoken.

Unless she specifically wanted American Dollars, which are stronger. Paik, being a bigtime tycoon, could perhaps have a stack of American currency lying around.

But my bet would be it was a translation.

I agree that they were putting it in numerical terms that an American audience would understand. 1 US dollar is worth roughly 930 South Korean Won.

In the interest of stirring the pot, and further complicating the issue...

If the word "won" was translated as "dollars", then was the amount of 100,000 exchanged? Did she literally ask for 100,000 wons, or the won equivilent of 100,000 dollars?

I think this is a very important point, and in fact, I am certain that this is the game changer that we have heard so much about.

I will even go so far as to say this: The $100,000 is Jacob!

ETA: I just converted $100,000 in to won, and it comes out to 4,815,162,342 won!!!

I wondered the same thing. If they had said $100,000 won, the audience would have taken it in context and realized "Oh, she's asking for a lot of money." Tthere would be posts about how much a won is, but there are posts now (this being an example of one) because they chose to say dollars.

MacTown brings up a good point, she could have wanted American dollars. If she had told Sun to bring her American dollars, I would have taken it to mean they were worth more or she was going to travel to the United States or something. But, I don't know if the rest of the Audience would have assumed that.

I want to rewatch the episode to see what Mr. Paik pulls out of the safe - see what the currency looked like.

i recall looking intently at the money being removed from the safe and you dont get much of a look but it didnt seem to be dollars. Still, after some thought, I agree that having this woman bribe her in wons would have made it difficult for an American audience to absorb. Suggesting "dollars" just moves the story along without incident. Its jsut a thing that caught my attention...

lol @ $100,000 yen. pick one currency will you ;)

Paik gave Sun Korean currency. I wondered too why they translated it as dollars, but it makes sense to say that without knowing the currency rate of exchange, we wouldn't know what 93,000,000 won are equal too. It sounds like a lot but it almost sounds like a ridiculous amount if you're thinking in terms of dollars. We needed to know that the equivalent was $100,000 to know that yes it was a large amount of money, but not an impossible amount for someone like Paik.

Paik gave Sun Korean currency. I wondered too why they translated it as dollars, but it makes sense to say that without knowing the currency rate of exchange, we wouldn't know what 93,000,000 won are equal too. It sounds like a lot but it almost sounds like a ridiculous amount if you're thinking in terms of dollars. We needed to know that the equivalent was $100,000 to know that yes it was a large amount of money, but not an impossible amount for someone like Paik.

Good call. When I used to live in South America all the English units from the American tv shows would be converted into metric units in the subtitles. I guess they make those cultural translations as well as the literal ones.

In the interest of stirring the pot, and further complicating the issue...

If the word "won" was translated as "dollars", then was the amount of 100,000 exchanged? Did she literally ask for 100,000 wons, or the won equivilent of 100,000 dollars?

I think this is a very important point, and in fact, I am certain that this is the game changer that we have heard so much about.

I will even go so far as to say this: The $100,000 is Jacob!

ETA: I just converted $100,000 in to won, and it comes out to 4,815,162,342 won!!!

I don't know what a won looks like but the currency that Paik was putting into the envelope did not look to be the USD. And I don't think 4,815,162,342 would fit into that envelope. Unless the won is printed in very very large notes.

I don't know what a won looks like but the currency that Paik was putting into the envelope did not look to be the USD. And I don't think 4,815,162,342 would fit into that envelope. Unless the won is printed in very very large notes.

Current South Korean Won banknotes are in 1000, 5000, and 10,000 denominations, with different colors for each denomination (for the 2002 series 1000 were purple, 5000 were orange, and 10,000 were green).

Also, back in 2004 the exchange rate was around 1200 Won to 1 USD (the current rate is 930 Won to 1 USD). So 100,000 USD was about 120 million Won in 2004.

she was a prostitute.. all she knew was American dollars

lol
kidding
i dont really have an answer

I know this is more nitpicking than anything but why would a Korean women, in Korea, bribe another Korean woman for $100,000 DOLLARS? That is not the currency. Korean currency is the won. It would be like me bribing another American for $100,000 yen. Just a thought...

Good observation.. BUT.. the bigger question I THINK is..
Why did Sun's father have EXACTLY 100,000 dollars in his safe?

Good observation.. BUT.. the bigger question I THINK is..
Why did Sun's father have EXACTLY 100,000 dollars in his safe?

because it said so in the script {as Napolean Dynamite} geesh dont you know anything.

Actually that was funny. You're right, thats also a good question. It seemed a little to practiced but in the interest of moving the scene along I am sure the producers didnt want him to spread the money out on his desk and count it out. In the interest of time I would assume that the director just had the character reach in and grab whatever bundle of money was there.

because it said so in the script {as Napolean Dynamite} geesh dont you know anything.

Actually that was funny. You're right, thats also a good question. It seemed a little to practiced but in the interest of moving the scene along I am sure the producers didnt want him to spread the money out on his desk and count it out. In the interest of time I would assume that the director just had the character reach in and grab whatever bundle of money was there.

Or, Jin's "Mother" talked to Sun's dad beforehand, layed out the story and told him that Sun was going to come to him..
I mean, its not that hard to throw a few extra bundles of money in a safe, and then have Mr. Kwon pull out the 4 stacks, leaving more in the safe.. that would have been more believable.
But the fact that he pulled out EXACTLY 100,000, and that was ALL of the money in the safe, kind of strikes me as odd.

BTW, I have a pretty strong feeling we haven't seen the last of Jin's mother... :undecide:

BTW, I have a pretty strong feeling we haven't seen the last of Jin's mother... :undecide:

Neither has the entire male population of Korea from the sound of it.