Often since I arrived in Korea about a year ago, I have found myself day dreaming romanticly of visiting Japan, staying at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, and tracing the plot of Lost in Translation through the streets of the city.
What stopped me from ever doing this was the knowledge that just a weekend in Toyko would probably cost me about $2,000U.S. But in the back of my mind, I thought I might one day actually pull such a stunt off.
Then I saw the Ryugyong Hotel and said to myself, “Screw the Park Hyatt Tokyo, I want to stay there for a weekend!”
While I’m not so sure that New York Times Publisher Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr. plans any additional trips to Seoul anytime soon, he has been invited by the DPRK to come to the Workers’ Paradise. Maybe he can stay at the Ryugyong Hotel if the Mayor of Incheon can scroung up the $1 billion needed to finish it in time for such a visit.
…Pyongyang has extended an invitation to New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and columnist Nicholas Kristoff. The newspaper is said to be working on a date for the visit.
“As far as I know, the reporting will cover non-political areas such as the daily activities of ordinary North Korean citizens,” said the source.
A government official commented yesterday that the invitation was an attempt to curb negative coverage of the North by international media groups.
From what I’ve read of Nicholas Kristoff, inviting him to hang out with Kim Jong-Il would be the brightest move on the part of a government since the Germans sent Lenin to Russia in a sealed train in April, 1917.
Meanwhile, I can just see Young Arthur chowing down on galbi and soju with Kim Jong-Il. “Mr. Kim, “as U.S. President George W. Bush would say, then drags the staggering Mr.Sulzberger over to The Only Noraebang in North Korea. Kim sings “You Dropped A Bomb On Me,” by The Gap Band, while Mr. Sulzeberger sings “Anymotion.”
It is somewhat amusing that the DPRK has suddenly woke up to the fact that its self-image as the “Happiest Place On Earth” this side of Disneyland and Song of the South may be under a little bit of attack.
Mr. Kim, call Lizzie Grubman, stat!
7 Comments
this was a sub-marmot-par post
this was a sub-marmot-par postI was sort of thinking the same thing (again, no offense to Shelton, who is bringing some interesting topics to Marmot’s). I find the content of some of your posts to be a little like watching Quentin Tarantino on Leno when he’s all hopped up on something: interesting to hear but painful to listen to.
I think the lack of responses speaks for its self.
I kind of like Shelton’s posts. Anyway, he’s just starting out here, so I’d appreciate it if we could cut him some slack.
Thanks.
Okay, I might have sounded harsher than I meant to. The way the PC I usually use to view Marmot’s is set up, the words saying who wrote what are very tiny, so I had no idea there was a “guest” writer or anything. But I remember thinking to myself that there was a real shift in posting style.
I’m just saying that there’s a tangible quality to the Marmot brand, is all.
Heh, silly me. I rarely read what the Marmot writes… I just like the pretty pictures and the exciting linkies.
Heh, silly me. I rarely read what the Marmot writes
And you’re probably better off that way