Monthly Archives: March 2006

Korea a crime-ridden hellhole?

The Korean National Police have put out there first ever crime prevention guide for foreigners residing in Korea.
Unfortunately, reports NoCutNews, it has sparked controversy by making Korea look like a “paradise for criminals” (or any American city. Take your pick).
The pamphlet, which was published in English, Japanese and Chinese, gave nine tips on how [...]

Please stop writing on Canuck library desks

As readers know, I’ve spent a great deal of cyber-ink documenting incidents of Canadians acting stupid in Korea–see Stupid Foreigner Tricks. Well, Seo Sang-won wrote into OhMyNews to document a case of Koreans acting stupid in Canada. It appears Vancouver libraries have a grafffiti problem, the bulk of it contributed by Korean students [...]

This strikes me as a really dumb thing to do

A profile in human stupidity. What the hell these guys were doing on the beach in the first place, I don’t know.
But why take the Chosun’s word for it (via the Nomad) when you can go to the protesters’ homepage and watch some MUST-SEE VIDEO FOOTAGE (originally from OhMyNews TV) for yourself! Seriously, [...]

NYT on Korea’s gay clown movie

ABSOLUTELY MUST READ!!!!
Norimitsu Onishi continues to do some quality journalism on Korea, this time looking at “The King and the Clown” and the changing discussion of homosexuality in Korea. A must read, by all definitions. Particularly interesting is Onishi’s rather frank interview with Kim Gi-bok, considered the last surviving itinerant clown.
Two thumbs up [...]

On the tabloid crap front

Sports Seoul reports that Chinese netizens are in shock after a Chinese flight attendant, posting anonymously, castigated actress Zhang Ziyi for her poor in-flight behavior. According to the attendant, she’s a great big bitch. Even funnier, though, was the attendants commentary on Zhang. “Zhang’s figure is as awkward as her acting. [...]

Japanese gov’t instructs textbooks to include Dokdo as Japanese territory

And in your regularly scheduled Dokdo news, it appears the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (boy, that must be a busy place to work) has instructed publishing companies to include references to the Dokdo islets as Japanese territory in high school history, civics and geography textbooks, reports CBS.
Announcing the screening results [...]

Uyghur Pop, Yo!

MUST WATCH!
Now, you just don’t see music videos like this on MTV everyday.
More Uyghur pop videos here.
(Hat tip to Coming Anarchy)

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Andrew Scobell on KJI and the North Korean system

Dr. Andrew Scobell has released another monograph on North Korea, this time on North Korea’s political dynamics. The synopsis:
In the first decade of the 21st century, few national security challenges facing the United States is as vexing as that posed by North Korea. It is a paradox because it appears to be a very [...]

Oooo, big hair

Gong Li. ‘Nuff said.
Well, almost ’nuff said. Premiere Magazine selected her performance in “Fairwell My Concubine” as the 89th greatest film performance of all time, just beating out Jeff Bridges for his role in “The Big Lebowski.”

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No Experiments, Please — We’re Scientists

Warning — really long post ahead. I transcribed most of Robert Laughlin’s white paper on how to transform KAIST into a “world-class science university” ™ to give those interested a better idea of what Laughlin was really up to.

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Canuck ’scum’ need not apply

Well, this is certainly bizarre.
(Hat tip to Cathartidae)

You won’t have Robert Laughlin to kick around anymore

Robert Laughlin is out as KAIST president, and if you were looking for a post-mortem, head to Oranckay’s.

Who’s bright idea was this?

Warning: Non-Korea post

Look, if you were to tell me that immigration procedures need to be eased so people who want to become Americans can do so with less hassle, I’d probably agree. And frankly, I don’t see illegal immigration as that big a problem–I’ve lived in Korea long enough to appreciate the beauty of [...]

I ain’t no stinking anti-American

As you’ve probably already read, the President of the Republic of Korea would like us all to know that he’s NOT anti-American:
President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday that he would continue to pursue friendly relations with the country’s ally, the United States, particularly for the sake of its economy and security.
While recalling his early days in [...]

Damn Japanophiles

Entertaining discussion of the term “Japanophile” over at Plunge Pontificates and Japundit.
On a related-but-not-entirely note, Zack the shakuhachi player (in this case, the bamboo flute, not the skin one) of Translator’s Notes explains (in an older post) why “a Japanophile is merely someone who doesn’t really know Japan.” (note: I just learned Zack’s blog was [...]

Well, at least some people are watching ‘Yodok Story’

Who are these people?

If you answered, “Two people who probably ought to be in prison,” you’d be right. But to be more specific, they are former North Korean chief ideologue Hwang Jang-yop and former South Korean President Kim Young-sam watching the musical “Yodok Story,” which deals with life in North Korea’s Yodok political prison [...]

U.S. recognized Japanese claims on Dokdo!

It’s been revealed that the United States, when concluding its peace treaty with Japan immediately after the Korean War, unilaterally concluded that the Dokdo islets were Japanese territory, reports the Segye Ilbo. Or so the “Report of the Van Fleet Mission to the Far East,” obtained by the paper from VMI’s George C. Marshall [...]

N. Korea backs S. Korean foreign minister’s UN bid

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon apparently has North Korea’s support for a run at UN general secretary, reports Yonhap. In a phone conversation, North Korea’s vice ambassador to the UN, Han Song-nyol, said he though it would be good for Ban to become UN general secretary since he was “of the same minjok [...]

South Koreans to teach North Koreans how to work

(By guest blogger, Andy Jackson) 
One of the more insidious aspects of socialism is how it removes incentives for doing work properly.  North Korea is no exception (though one could argue that North Korea is more of a Confucian Mafia Monarchy than socialist).  So the South Koreans at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex have set up a job [...]

State Dept. researching responses to N. Korean collapse

MUST READ!!!
The March edition of the Shin Dong-A magazine reported on a recent closed-door workshop at a government-affiliated research institute in Seoul during which two Korean Peninsula experts from the United States proposed joint research on a State Department-proposed project to formulate response plans to the collapse of North Korea. Well, closed-door or not, [...]

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