Can you speak in just pure Korean?

The Koreans in the video below were first asked how well they thought they could speak Korean, their native language. They all answered pretty confidently that they could speak Korean "well" or "as well as any average Korean." However, when they were asked to answer some simple questions in Korean without using any English loan words, they had some trouble.

One of the things that surprised me about the people in the video was that none of them seemed to know the Korean word for menu. When I was in Korea, I remember seeing the word 차림표 on wall menus in more than a few Korean restaurants, so I do not know why they had trouble with that word. In fact, when I was learning Korean in Korea, I used to write down words I would see in public that I did not know, and I think 차림표 was one of the first words I wrote down.

Also, when I was in the U.S. navy stationed in Korea, one of my shipmates told me a story about another navy Korean linguist who had just arrived in Korea. He said they were in a noisy Korean bar together and needed some ice, so the new guy, wanting to practice his Korean, called the Korean waitress over and said, "얼음 주세요," but the waitress didn't understand him, so he repeated, "얼음 주세요, but she still did not understand him. Finally, after the new guy had tried a few more times, the guy telling me the story told me that he looked at the new guy and said, "Let me try." Then the veteran Korean linguist looked at the waitress and said, "아이스 주세요." He said the waitress then immediately went and brought them some ice (아이스).

What does the 결 in 물결 mean?

Answer: wave

물 is the pure Korean word for water, so 물결 literally means water (물) waves (결). Also, 소리 is the pure Korean word for sound or noise, so 소리결 means sound waves. 결 can also be added to 숨, which is the pure Korean word for breath or breathing, so 숨결 means waves of breath or simply breathing. Finally, when 결 is added to 바람, the pure Korean word for wind, the combination forms 바람결, which refers to the movement of the wind. 바람결에, for example, can be translated as on the wind or in the wind. The Korean sentence 나뭇잎이 바람결에 흔들렸다, for example, translates as "The tree leaves quivered in the wind."

Besides meaning wave, 결 can also mean grain or texture, so when 결 is added to 나무, the pure Korean word for tree or wood, it forms the word 나뭇결, which means wood grain or tree rings. 돌 is the pure Korean word for rock or stone, so 돌결 refers to the grain of stone.

결 can also be added to some parts of the body to form words. For example, 살 means flesh or skin, so 살결 means the texture of the skin or complexion. 손 means hand, so 손결 means the texture of the skin of a hand.

Finally, 결 can be added to 마음, which means mind, but instead of 마음결 being translated as mind waves or texture of the mind, it is translated as temperament, disposition, or nature. Therefore, 마음결이 좋은 means good-natured; 마음결이 나쁜 means bad-natured; and 마음결이 고운 (곱다) means sweet-natured or sweet-tempered.

Is 도둑 a pure Korean word?

Answer: No.

Pure Korean words are essentially words that Koreans were using before they started borrowing words from the Chinese. In Korean, pure Korean words are sometimes referred to as 토박이말 or 고유어 (固有語), which translates in English as indigenous language or native tongue. They are words such as  아버지 (father), 어머니 (mother), 아들 (son), 딸 (daughter), 하늘 (sky), and 땅 (earth / land /ground). They are words that usually describe family, farming, and the everyday things that were familiar to Koreans about 2000 years ago. They are Korea's oldest words, the words that were so important to Koreans that they have survived the Chinese word invasion that started a little over 1500 years ago.

Probably because pure Korean words are Korea's oldest words, Koreans seem to have more of an emotional attachment to them than they do to words borrowed from other countries, including China. In fact, Koreans usually seem to know if a word is pure Korean just from the sound of it. However, some words that many Koreans might think are pure Korean are actually words that have evolved from borrowed words. One of those words is the word 도둑, which means thief.

I have read that 도둑 evolved from the Chinese word for thief, which is 盜賊 (도적). I do not know how 도둑 evolved from 도적, but the evolution has somehow made 도둑 sound like it is pure Korean, even to a non-Korean like me.

There are other pure-Korean sounding words similar to 도둑, but I am not going to list them here because, honestly, I have other things to do and want to get this post out of the way. However, I will end the post by referring back to the Korean words for indigenous language: 토박이말 and 고유어 (固有語).

The word 고유어 (固有語) is obviously not a pure Korean word since it has Chinese characters associated with it, but even 토박이말 is not completely pure Korean since the 토 syllable in 토박이말 comes from the Chinese character for land, 土 (토). The word 토박이말 literally translates as words that are nailed to the land.

What does 고양이소 mean?

Answer: a hypocrite; a wolf in sheep's clothing

고양이소 literally means "the characteristics of a cat," which Koreans apparently believe is a selfish pretender, pretending to be nice and innocent when it really is not. 고양이 is, of course, the pure Korean word for cat, and 소 is the same 소 in 소질 (素質), which is a Sino-Korean word that translates as characteristic, nature, or temperament, so 고양이소 could also literally translate as the nature of a cat or the temperament of a cat. 고양이소 seems to come from the Chinese 猫素 (묘소). 猫 (묘) is the Chinese character for cat, and 素 (소), here again, means characteristic or nature.

고양이소 is in my medium-sized Korean-English dictionary, but I am not sure how often Koreans use it, so to avoid having people think you are talking about some kind of cow (소), you might consider saying 고양이 소질 instead of simply 고양이소.

Why does 끝내 주다 mean "wonderful" or "fantastic"?

My Korean-English dictionary, Donga's Prime (1998), says that 끝내다 means to end, to finish, or to complete. It does not have a listing for 끝내 주다, but Naver' Korean-English Dictionary says HERE that 끝내 주다 is an informal expression that means wonderful, great, fantastic, or super and gives the following example sentences:

• 맥주 맛이 끝내 준다.
  The beer tastes great.
• 끝내 주는 영화였다.
  The movie was great [sensational].
• 끝내 주는 아이디어군!
  What a wonderful [super, fantastic] idea! 
• 끝내 주는 콘서트였다.
  The concert was a blast.
• 내가 이 근처에 끝내 주는 스파게티집을 하나 알고 있다.
  I know a spaghetti place around here that is simply out of this world.

First, notice in the above examples that the subjects of the verb 끝내 주다 are things, not people. 끝내 주다 is a transitive verb that literally means to finish and give, so you need someone or something that can finish and give something. A beer can give you a headache, but it cannot finish anything, can it? A movie can end, but it does not normally end something. For example, you can say, "The movie ended" (영화가 끝났다), but what can a movie end (영화가 **을/를 끝냈다)?

As I mentioned, 끝내다 is a transitive verb, so it needs a direct object to form a sentence. However, there are no direct objects that 끝내다 can act upon in the above examples, so the sentences are ungrammatical. In the above examples, 끝내다 is being used like the intransitive verb 끝나다, which does not need a direct object. For example, "맥주 맛이 끝났다" would be a grammatical sentence since 끝나다 is an intransitive verb and only needs the subject (맥주 맛이) to form a sentence. Sure, the sentence, "The beer taste ended," is awkward, but at least it is grammatical. 

Second, notice that all the above example sentences are in the present tense (i.e. 끝내준다 / 끝내주는), which means they would be translated as "is/are ending." So, even if you changed the verb 끝내 주는 영화 (the movie that [one] is ending) to 끝나는 영화 (the movie that is ending), it would still not make sense with the past tense ending 였다 since it would be like saying "the movie that is ending yesterday."

My point is that when 끝내 주다 is used to mean wonderful or fantastic, it is being used in an ungrammatical way. Koreans seem to be using it in a way similar to how some Americans use "He is killing it" to mean he is doing something extremely well, except that instead if saying, "He is killing it," Koreans are essentially saying instead, "It is killing."

My Korean-Korean dictionary does give the following definition for 끝내다:

"운동 경기나 투기 따위에서, 완전히 승부의 마무리을 짓다"

"to clearly decide the outcome in something like a sporting event or competition"

Here is the example sentence given in my dictionary.

마지막 한 골로 시합을 끝내 주고 말았다. 

With the last goal, [I/he/she/they] ended up ending the match. 

The example sentence from my dictionary is a good, grammatical sentence because 끝내 주다 is used in the sentence with an object, the match (시합을). The sentence implies that either I, he, she, or they ended the match with a victory.

Even though the sentence "일을 끝내 줬다" literally only translates as "[I/he/she/they] finished the job," the implication is that the person or persons did a "great" job. Again, notice that 일을 끝내 줬다 has an object (i.e. 일을) and is used in the past tense, so it is a good, grammatical sentence, unlike the way many younger Koreans are using 끝내 주다 these days. Even if younger Koreans know or were to learn that expressions like 맥주 맛이 끝내 준다 are ungrammatical, I suspect that most of them would still keep using them, but I also suspect many older Koreans cringe, at least a little, every time they hear such expressions.

What does 결자해지 (結者解之) mean?

Answer: One who ties a knot must untie it./Solve the problems you yourself create.

결자해지 (結者解之) literally means "One who ties a knot (結者) unties (解) it (之)." In other words, the one who creates a problem should solve it.

結 (결) is the Chinese version of the pure Korean verb 맺다, whose first definition is to knot or to tie [a knot]. In addition, the Chinese character 結 (결) can be used to mean the noun knot (매듭). The Chinese character 解 (해) is the Chinese version of the pure Korean 풀다, which means to untie or to solve.

Besides meaning to knot or to tie, 맺다 or 結 (결) can also mean the following, according to Donga's PRIME Korean-English Dictionary:

• to bear/to produce [fruit/results]: 열매를 맺다 or 결실(結實) / 결과(結果)
• form [a relationship]: 관계를 맺다. or 결교(結交)하다
  form [a friendship]: 우정을 맺다. or 결교(結交)하다
  make [a promise]: 약속을 맺다. or 결약(結約)하다
  make [a contract}: 계약을 맺다. or 결약(結約)하다
  make {a treaty]: 조약을 맺다.
  combine: 둘 이상의 것이 서로 관계를 맺고 합쳐서 하나로 됨: 결합(結合)
• finish, end, conclude [a speech]: 연설을 맺다.
  an epilogue: 끝맺은 말 or 결문(結文)
• harbor, bear, cherish [a grudge]: 원한을 맺다 or 결원(結怨)

By the way, the Korean word for marriage is 결혼 (結婚), which literally means to form (結) a marriage (婚), so you would not say 결혼을 맺다 since the meaning for 맺다 is already in the character 結 (결) in 결혼 (結婚).  Instead, you would just say or write 결혼하다. You could, however, say 백년 가약을 맺다, which is a wedding vow that means to pledge one's eternal love. Actually, the literal meaning is to make a beautiful promise (가약 佳約) for 100 years, so it is not actually for eternity, thank Goodness.

What does "kokutaru" mean?

Answer: cocktail

In a March 1, 2018 article HERE, Bruce K. Grant, author of A Guide to Korean Characters and other Korean- and Korea-related books, writes of his 1980 meeting with General Chun Doo-hwan. This meeting was soon after the coup that year. Mr. Grant was there to "facilitate" communication between an American official and General Chun and his officials. When Mr. Grant arrived (the last to arrive), he was offered a "kokutaru," or cocktail, by a servant. Instead, Mr. Grant asked for and received an orange juice because he was a Mormon and did not drink alcohol. Mr. Grant had first come to Korea in 1960 as a Mormon missionary.

"Kakuteru" (カクテル) is supposedly the Japanese word for cocktail, so it seems Koreans were still using a form of the Japanese word even in 1980.

The combination of "gem" (옥 玉) & "ear" (이 耳) means what?

Answer: earring ( 이 珥)

When 玉 (옥) is used as part of other characters, as is the case with 珥 (이), it is usually written as 王 (왕), which is also the character for king. In other words, when 王 (왕) is used by itself, it means king, but when it is used as part of other characters, it is a variant of  玉 (옥), which means gem or jade.

What does 어언간 (於焉間) mean?

어언간 (於焉間) literally means at (於) some (焉) time (間). It is equivalent to the pure Korean expression 어느새에 (어느 사이에), which translates as in no time at all, before one knows it, or already. It implies surprise at the quick passage of time. The Korean definition for 어느새 is 어느 틈에 벌써, which literally translates as already at some interval.

• 어 (於) is the Chinese equivalent of the Korean 에, which translates as at.
• 언 (焉) is the Chinese equivalent of the Korean 어느, which besides translating as which can also translate as some.
• 간 (間) is the same character used in 시간 (時間), which is the Korean word for time. The character 間 (간) can translate as interval or time.

The adverb 어언간 (於焉間) can be reduced to 어언 (於焉) without any lose in meaning. In fact, today I came across the following sentence:

은나라가 성립된 것이 B.C. 1500년 경이니, 지금으로부터 어언 3500년 前.

 The Yin dynasty (은나라) was established at about B.C. 1500, so it has already been 3500 years.

수신제가치국평천하 (修身齊家治國平天下)?

Morally train (수 修) yourself (신 身), manage (제 齊) a household (가 家), govern (치 治) a country (국 國), [and then] pacify (평 平) the world (천하 天下).

What does 불상사 (不祥事) mean?

Answer: a scandal; a disgraceful affair

The Chinese character 祥 (상) means a good omen, so 불상 (不祥) literally means not (不) a good omen (祥). 사 (事) means affair, matter, or business, so 불상사 (不祥事) literally means an ill-omened (不祥) affair (事)."

By the way, my Korean-English dictionary, "Dong-a's PRIME" (1998), has mistakenly listed 불상 (不祥) as 불상 (不詳), mixing up the character meaning good omen (祥) with the character meaning details or in detail (詳). The word 불상 (不詳) literally means  not (不) detailed (詳), which is often translated as unclear, unknown, or unidentified.

It is not very often that I find a mistake in my Dong-a dictionary.

What does the "새" in 노새 and 버새 mean?

Answer: I'm not sure.

노새 is the Korean word for mule, a cross between a male donkey and a female horse; and 버새 is the Korean word for hinny, a cross between a female donkey and a male horse. A hinny is generally smaller than a mule, probably because a female donkey is smaller than a female horse. Anyway, the syllable 새 is in both 노새 and 버새, so I am curious about the meaning of 새, which in this case I am guessing does not mean bird. I am also curious to know the meanings of 노 and 버.

If anyone knows, has read something, or has any ideas, please let me know.

What's the difference between 나귀 and 당나귀?

Answer: One has longer ears.

Nagwi (나귀) and dang-nagwi (당나귀) both mean donkey, but 당나귀 was a longer eared donkey that was introduced to Korea from China. Nagwi (나귀) is a pure Korean word, but the dang (당) of dang-nagwi (당나귀) is the Chinese character 唐 (당), which was the character used for China's Tang (唐) Dynasty (618 - 907), a time regarded as a high point in Chinese civilization. When Koreans attach 唐 (당) to words, it usually means something like made in China, so 당나귀 could be translated as a Chinese donkey.

Here are other words I have found in my Korean dictionary that has 당 (唐) attached to them:

• 당가 (唐家) - Chinese (唐) house (家), which is another name for canopy (닫집)
• 당계 (唐鷄), 당닭 (唐닭) - a Chinese (唐) [pet] chicken (鷄), smaller than a regular one
• 당관 (唐官) - Chinese (唐) diplomats (官) sent to Korea during the Ming (明) dynasty
• 당궤 (唐机) - a Chinese (唐) desk (机)
• 당금 (唐錦) - Chinese (唐) silk (錦)
• 당금 (唐錦) 아기: a Chinese silk (唐錦) baby (아기), which means a baby as precious as Chinese silk
• 당까마귀 (唐가마뀌) - a Chinese (唐) crow (까마귀)
• 당나귀 (唐나귀) - a Chinese (唐) donkey (나귀)
• 당나발 (唐나발) > 나팔 (喇叭) - a Chinese trumpet, bigger than a regular trumpet
• 당두루마리 (唐 -) - Chinese (唐) scroll (두루마리), made from Chinese rice-paper (당지 - 唐紙)
• 당먹 (唐먹), 당묵 (唐墨) - Chinese ink
• 당면 (唐麵) - Chinese (唐) noodles (麵)
• 당멸치 (唐 멸치) - a Chinese (唐) anchovy (멸치)
• 당모시 (唐모시), 당저 (唐苧) - Chinese (唐) ramie cloth (모시)
• 당목 (唐木), 당목면 (唐木綿) - "Chinese (唐) tree (木)," but 木 refers to a cotton plant (목면 - 木棉), so 당목 (唐木) means Chinese (唐) cotton goods (木)
• 당묵 (唐墨) - Chinese (唐) ink (墨)
• 당본 (唐本), 당책 (唐冊) - Chinese (唐) book (本), a book printed in China.
• 당부악 (唐部樂) - Chinese-style (唐部) music (樂)
• 당뽕 (唐뽕) - Chinese (唐) mulberry (뽕나무)
• 당수 (唐手) - the Chinese (唐) hand (手), a Chinese-style of fighting
• 당승 (唐僧) - a Chinese (唐) monk (僧)
• 당시 (唐詩) - Tang era (唐) poetry (詩)
• 당악 (唐樂) - Tang era (唐) music (樂)
• 당악기 (唐樂器) - Tang era (唐) musical (樂) instruments (器)
• 당연 (唐硯) - Chinese (唐) inkstone (硯)
• 당옴 (唐옴) - Chinese (唐) scabies (옴), old name for "syphilis"
• 당음 (唐音) - Tang (唐) sound (音), another name for Tang era poetry
• 당의 (唐衣) - Chinese-style (唐) clothes (衣) for women during the Joseon Dynasty 
• 당재 (唐材) - Chinese (唐) medicine (약재 - 藥材), which seems to be another name for 한약 (漢藥), Chinese medicine. By the way, 漢 (한) is another character that means Chinese, as in 한자 (漢字), Chinese characters
• 당저 (唐苧) - Chinese (唐) ramie (苧)
• 당지 (唐紙) - Chinese (唐) paper (紙), or rice-paper
• 당창 (唐瘡) - Chinese (唐) boils (瘡), another name for syphilis (창병 - 瘡病)/(매독 - 梅毒)
• 당청 (唐靑) - a Chinese (唐) blue (靑) dye
• 당체 (唐體) - the Chinese (唐) handwriting style (書體 - 서체) for Chinese characters, another name for 명조체 (明朝體)--the Ming (명 - 明) Dynasty (조 - 朝) writing style (체 - 體)
• 당초문 (唐草紋) - Chinese (唐) grass (草) pattern (紋), which looks a tangle of vines
• 당추자 (唐楸子) - a Chinese (唐) walnut (楸子)
• 당콩 (唐콩) - Chinese (唐) bean (콩) or kidney bean, not a 땅콩 (peanut)
• 당태 (唐태) - Chinese (唐) cotton (태)
• 당판 (唐板) - a Chinese (唐) publication (板)
• 당포 (唐布) - Chinese (唐) hemp cloth (布)
• 당피리 (唐피리) - Chinese (唐) flute (피리)
• 당필 (唐筆) - Chinese (唐) writing brush (筆)
• 당학 (唐學) - Chinese (唐) studies (學)
• 당항라 (唐亢羅) - Chinese (唐) sheer silk (亢羅)
• 당홍 (唐紅) - Chinese (唐) red (紅) dye
• 당화 (唐劃) - Tang era (唐) painting (劃) or simply a Chinese painting
• 당황 (唐黃) - Chinese (唐) yellow (黃), which was an old word for matches

Why would a Korean woman named 말숙 probably have a sister?

The Chinese character 淑 (숙) is pronounced "sook" in Korean and means clear, pure, or virtuous. For example, 숙녀 (淑女) means a lady, and 정숙 (貞淑) means chaste or virtuous, so many Korean parents have used 淑 (숙) as one of the usually two characters used to create the names of daughters.

Han Moo-sook (한무숙 - 韓戊淑), for example, was a famous Korean female writer who lived from 1918 until 1993. She had an elder brother named Han Bok (한복 - 韓宓) and a younger sister named Han Mal-sook (한말숙 - 韓末淑), who was also a writer. The younger sister's name, 말숙 (末淑), means "the last (末) Sook (淑)," which implies the last daughter since 淑 (숙) is a common character used in the names of daughters.

If Korean parents name a daughter 말숙 (末淑), it means they want no more daughters, but it also implies the parents are disappointed they had another daughter instead of a son, which is why I would never name a daughter 말숙 (末淑).

What does 토설 (吐舌) mean?

토설 (吐舌) literally means "spit/vomit (吐) [one's] tongue (舌)," but it seems to have been the Sino-Korean equivalent of 혀를 차다, which usually translates as click one's tongue, a sign of disapproval in Korea. The sound associated with Korean tongue-clicking is 쯧쯧, which can be placed in front of 혀를 차다 in written Korean for the onomatopoeic effect.

I used to hear a lot of tongue-clicking, or teeth-sucking, in the 1980s when I would walk down the sidewalks of Korea past a group of Korean men, usually older men. The clicking or sucking was so exaggerated that I suspected it was done to show their disapproval of me, a foreigner walking down their streets. By the time I left Korea in 2010, I hardly heard any tongue-clicking, possibly because by then there were so many foreigners walking the streets of Korea that it would have been a burden to try to click at all of them, or more probably because Koreans were just more accepting of foreigners by then.

What does 명약관화 (明若觀火) mean?

명약관화 (明若觀火) is the Korean equivalent of the English expression "as clear as day," which means to be obvious. The Korean literally translates as follows:

[as] bright/clear (明) as (若) looking (觀) [at] fire (火)

What does 물경 (勿驚) mean?

勿 (물) can mean either Do not or without, and 경 (驚) means surprise or surprised, so it seems 물경 could mean either Do not be surprised or without surprise. However, according to my Korean-English dictionary, 물경 translates as surprisingly (enough) or It will surprise you (but), which somewhat confusingly suggests that 물경 should be translated as Don't be surprised. In fact, my Korean-Korean dictionary explains it more clearly:

[놀라지 말라는 뜻으로] 엄청난 것을 말할 때 앞세워 이르는 말.

[With the meaning of "Don't be surprised"], it is said before saying something that is surprising or absurd.

Even though it literally translates as "Don't be surprised, [but]," the adverb "surprisingly" seems to be a better translation these days. Here is the example sentence from my Korean-English dictionary:

쌓인 빚이 물경 100만 원이었다.

The debt went on increasing, reaching at last a surprising amount of one million won. 

I am not sure how often 물경 is used these days, but, instead, I use the adverb 놀랍게도, which seems to be the pure Korean substitute.

What is 오므라이스?

When I first went to Korea in the U.S. navy in 1977, the first food I ate outside the gate of the army base I was stationed at was something called "omu-rice" (오므라이스), which is essentially a rice omelet. I ate it at what Koreans called a Chinese restaurant, and I liked it. In fact, it became one of my favorite foods to eat in the little Korean village outside the gate.

Forty years later, after graduating with a degree in Korean Language and Literature and living many years in Korea, I learned today for the first time, I think, that the "omu" in omu-rice is actually a Korean reference to "omelet."

It is very possible that I learned the above tidbit about omu-rice sometime in the past, but I cannot remember it. What I can remember very clearly is being excited as I sat at the only window table in a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant eating my first plate of omu-rice. I was excited because it was one of my first adventures into learning about Korean culture. 

How do you translate "The Time Machine" in Korean?

Today I came across the expression 智者不失時 (지자불실시), which can literally translate as follows: 

"A wise man (智者) does not (不) lose (失) time (時)."

The Korean definition of 失時 (실시) is "때를 놓침," where 때 can mean either "시기(時機) or 기회(機會), both of which can translate as opportunity or chance. Therefore, a better translation of the above expression is probably the following:

"A wise man (智者) does not (不) miss (失) an opportunity (時)."

Notice that 시기 (時機) and 기회 (機會) both include the Chinese character 기 (機), which means machine but can also mean chance or opportunity. If someone knew 機 (기) only to mean machine, then he or she might mistranslate 시기 (時機) as time (時) machine (機).

Koreans translate H. G. Wells' 1895 novella The Time Machine as "타임머신," which is just a bland transliteration of the English title. I wonder why Koreans did not take the time to come up with their own, more interesting descriptive word or phrase for The Time Machine.

내일 또 볼 수 있다? 내일 또 볼 수 있겠다?

HERE, a KBS News report talks about a blood moon and a total lunar eclipse. One thing I find strange about the report is that it is not using -겠- where I would expect to see it, as in the following example:

개기월식을 내일 새벽 또 볼 수 있습니다.

You can see the full lunar eclipse again at dawn tomorrow.

Since the above sentence is talking about the future (at dawn tomorrow), I would expect the Korean sentence to read as follows:

개기월식을 내일 새벽 또 볼 수 있겠습니다.

You will be able to see the full lunar eclipse again at dawn tomorrow.

I left Korea eight years ago and am forgetting things, but it seems Koreans have changed their style of speech if the above sentence in the news report is correct. Here is the way I remember learning the tenses:

• 개기월식을 어제 또 볼 수 있었다.
  You were able to see the total lunar eclipse again yesterday.
• 개기월식을 오늘 또 볼 수 있다.
  You can see the total lunar eclipse again today.
• 개기월식을 내일 또 볼 수 있겠다.
  You will be able to see the total lunar eclipse again tomorrow.

From what I remember, you can use present tense to talk about future events the speaker has scheduled. For example, 내일 오후에 부산에 갑니다 (Tomorrow I am going to Busan). But in the above sentence from the KBS report, YOU, the subject, have not scheduled the event.

Am I missing something? It has been eight years since I left Korea. Does it become some kind of habit because they use 또?

The KBS news report does the same thing in the following sentences, where there are no 또's:

• 다음날 새벽 3시 24분부터 달이 지는 5시 37분까지 약 1시간 40분 동안 개기월식이 진행됩니다.
  The next day, from 3:24 a.m. until the moon sets at 5:37 a.m., about an hour and forty minutes, the total eclipse is in progress.
• 특히 31일 화성과 지구가 5,700만 km로 매우 가까워지는 화성대접근이 일어납니다.
  On the 31st, especially, the Mars Close Approach occurs when the Earth and Mars are at their closest at 57 million kilometers.
• 가장 멀 때보다 거리는 1/7로 준 대신, 크기는 7배가 커지고 16배 밝아집니다.
  From when it is farthest away, the distance is 1/7th less; it is 7 times bigger and 16 times brighter.

The KBS reporter seems to be using present tense to describe the actions and events because he or she wants to treat them as regularly occurring events. For example, "The sun rises in the east" (해가 동쪽에서 든다) is a regular occurring event, so the present tense is used instead of the future tense, but when you use words like 내일 (tomorrow), you are no longer talking about something as a regular occurring event. How can you see a total eclipse tomorrow on a regular basis? It will only occur tomorrow, not the next tomorrow.

Fortunately, the astronomer quoted in the article does use the future tense to describe the event:

 "남동쪽 하늘에서 밤 10시쯤에 관측 가능한 붉게 빛나는 천체가 화성이 되겠습니다."

"The reddish heavenly body in the southeast sky at about 10 o'clock at night will be Mars."

By the way, 개기월식 (皆旣月蝕) literally means "All (皆旣) the moon (月) has been nibbled away (蝕)."