I'm looking for some advice for my daughter.. she wants to send money home from Korea, but doesn't know the best way. Her friends over there either wire it (expensive) or send cash (risky). There has to be a better way. I sent her traveller's express gift checks once, but since the bank filled them out incorrectly, they had to be returned to the US and the bank wired money at their expense. Any ideas would be appreciated. She's been to her bank there, but they don't seem too helpful.

Maybe you should both get PayPal accounts. How expensive is Western Union?

I don't know if it can be set up in Korea but in the US I set up an xe.com account which I can use to send money from my bank account to bank accounts around most of the world - have done it to France and Japan.....at a rate much cheaper than wiring....

Cheapest would probably be for her to purchase us dollar travelers checks and send them. Use them just like regular checks. Sign in both places to validate them and fill in the pay to the order of blank. Another option would be money order in dollars purchased from a local bank. Bank transfers are very expensive and western union even moreso.