Thanks go to 
Shoonwho told us all about this on the 
flash chat.  Thanks, Shoon!
Before you begin, beware that this is a work-around, not a solution.  If you don't feel comfortable following this guide, please wait for an official patch.
First, open the Control Panel.  You can easily do this by going to Start Menu > Run, and typing "Control Panel" (Without quotes).  Press enter to open the Control Panel.
Once the Control Panel is open, open the Regional Settings dialog.
This can be found under:
Classic View
Regional and Language Options
Category View
Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options > 
Regional and Language Options
Once you have the dialog open, proceed to the second tab, call 
Languages and verify that 
Install files for East Asian Languages is checked.  Note:  If it is 
not checked, you will need to get your Windows installation disk and then check the box.  If it 
is checked, skip ahead to the blue section.
 
You may need to restart your computer.
Once you have installed the East Asiand Languages package (or if it is already installed) proceed to tab three, 
Advanced.  Here, you will need to select 
Korean from the drop-down list and then click Apply.
 
You will need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect, but once you do you should be able to run Silkroad 1.023