For the “March 1 Independence Movement” anniversary, the Chosun is running a series of photographs (which was previewed was back when) documenting the horrors of Japanese colonialism. Now, I make no secret that I’m somewhat of a Japanophile, and just as the captions accompanying the photographs are important, so are many of the things [...]
Finally, a Korea blog that concentrates on what’s really important on the Korean Peninsula — South Korean tabloid crap! As the man who diligently reads the Chosun Sports every morning (in the john, when I have the hardcopy handy) looking for only the highest quality material to put up over at the English edition [...]
The six party talks have ended, which is great for me, because now I don’t have to bother with blog posts like this, i.e. posts I really don’t want to make because I could hardly care less about negotiations with the North Koreans, but because of the international focus on the talks I feel obliged [...]
A reader sent me this MSMBC piece with some video footage from a North Korean prison camp that was supposedly smuggled out of the country and shown on Japanese TV. Here’s how Reuter’s describes the video:
The footage on Japan’s Fuji Television Network, said to have been smuggled out of the communist state, showed poorly [...]
Yes, Kevin, I think this works, but my wife (who, being Mongolian, knows a marmot when she sees one) still thinks it looks too much like a squirrel. She also points out that Mongolian marmots live in holes in the ground, kind of like in Caddyshack.
Brian over at Cathartidae and Scott over at hardyandtiny in seoul comment on this Chosun Ilbo piece on the “Hot Patriotic Wind” that is sweeping Korea in the wake of two blockbuster films and the Lee Seung-yeon travesty. Frankly, I found it a little disturbing, because the Chosun has been running quite a few [...]
I should have linked to this earlier, but Antti posted some very interesting photographs taken during the Korean War that OhMyNews was able to find during a recent field trip to the Great Satan’s National Archive. Do yourself a favor and check them out.
Forget the nukes — nothing worse than the North Koreans dropping a big fat salami on our punk Miguk asses. Courtesy Reuters:
Russia quoted the North as saying it was willing to stop its “military” nuclear programs, but not “peaceful” ones.
Yonhap news agency said the move was designed to be able to extract compensation [...]
Yonhap News (Korean) reports that a previously classified American document has been released that confirms that extreme right-wing paramilitaries carried out what we’ll generously call “extra-legal killings” on the island of Ganghwa-do, located at the mouth of the Han River. It seems a certain Mr. Choe and about 20 local youths formed what they [...]
On a related, but much less humorous note, police in Pusan have requested arrest warrants for seven individuals, including a North Korean defector, fire department official, and university student on charges related to sexual assault and child prostitution. The North Korean defector, 36 year old Mr. Lim, is charged with luring two runaway [...]
Courtesy the Gyeongyang Shinmun:
‘Dance-jjang’ Seduces 8 Men into Paid Sex
Police have caught a divorced woman in her 30s who, after introducing herself as the “dance-jjang” on Internet chat sites, took money in return for sex.
Police in Gangnam, Seoul arrested (without confinement) 37 year old Ms. Lim on charges of violating anti-prostitution laws. From mid-January [...]
The Flying Yangban writes today:
I have a confession to make. I’m bored with the Norks. They’ve been stoking the “sea of fire” rhetoric for so long it doesn’t really phase me any more. Of course, since we are going to be talking with them again in the next round of the six-party talks, I guess [...]
In a report that I’m sure caused President Roh to blow his load, Kyodo News said that a North Korean official met with IAEA officials in Vienna and “unofficially” agreed to renewed inspections of Yongbyon. Undoubtedly the first step in North Korea’s eventual complete dismantling of its nuclear facilities, if you ask me. [...]
This cartoon (and the analysis that follows) over at IA may be all you need to read. Just a snippet:
Ask yourself one simple question with regard to potential progress. What on god’s green earth leads you to believe that actual, real verification can ever occur? What signal, what clue, what development of [...]
One day a head of the second round of six-party talks in Beijing, and the North (through the Chosun Shinbo, mouthpiece of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) goes out of its way to save the face of its soon-to-be negotiating partner and assuage American pride:
“At this point, the stern reality is [...]
Courtesy Mainichi Interactive:
Ex. N. Korean soldier nabbed after escaping during sex trial
UTSUNOMIYA — A former North Korean soldier escaped from custody Monday while on trial for allegedly molesting a Japanese high school girl, but he was recaptured soon afterwards following a police search.
A prison detention center in Utunomiya alerted police at about 10:10 a.m. on [...]
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi apparently told a Japanese official that North Korea is prepared to “freeze its nuclear weapons programs and eventually dismantle them altogether in return for a package of incentives.” According to the KT:
Pyongyang has expressed a willingness to freeze its nuclear weapons programs and eventually dismantle them altogether in return [...]
This report in the Drudge Report on Washington Times Pentagon reporter Rowan Scarborough’s new book Rumsfeld’s War obviously got someone’s attention at the Chosun, because it’s not everyday that I see a piece that starts off like this:
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The NYT ran a piece today on the ever increasing cultural exchanges taking place between South Korea and Japan — definitely worth reading, even if you don’t consider Yuko Fueki (Korean: Yu Min) a cultural bellwether. Here’s a snippet to whet your appetite:
In recent years, especially since Japan and South Korea were co-hosts of [...]
The Chosun Ilbo’s English edition, due to the tireless efforts of ‘The Apprentice,’ has translated the report from that big Playboy bash at the KOEX on Friday. Apparently, video footage from the party will be linked to the piece tomorrow morning — be sure to look.
BTW, while we already knew that Marky Mark-types [...]
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