Hey bro !

I have the same project and I just find this topic
I m french, but I live in Canada
I want to go in South Korea during the spring for doing that

for Alien Card, you cant have this one if you are tourist: Its for international students or working visa

in France we have a program for young people 18-35, the working holiday visa, you can try to see if this program exist in USA
you need to go to the korean embassy in Paris, I dont know where is it in USA

A lot of bank in Korea speak in english, I will choose HSBC because international transfer are totally free and the website is in english
I have a south korean friend and a recommodation letter so its gonna be easy
Now Im looking for the accomodation, if your are interesting, we can share a airbnb or something like that
you can send me a pm , I will give you my facebook

have a nice day