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Monthly Archives: April 2006
Rat Race
April 16, 2006 – 11:59 am
By HAISAN
Marmot’s Hole Guest Blogger
So, a Korean music company gives us the Bubble Sisters, and the shit hits the fan. But Japan produces Gosperats, and no one bats an eye. What gives? Why the different reaction?
Bubble Sisters:
Gospe-rats:
And, joy of joys, the Bubble Sisters are back, apparently. Mighty white of them…
Spring flowers
April 15, 2006 – 1:48 am
I guess it really is spring. Kim Hye-su, however, decided to go with black. One of her earlier dresses might have been better, frankly.
Oh, and if you wanted to see more spring flowers (like, the botanical kind), the Korea Herald advises you to take the trip to Naeso-sa Temple in Buan, Jeollabuk-do. [...]
Tora, tora, tora!
April 15, 2006 – 12:44 am
UPDATE: KBS and KBS suggests the real aim behind the Wae “maritime exploration” mission is to get a leg up on Korea prior to an international meeting in Germany in June that will discuss seabed place names. Analysts point out that should the Wae stick their names on the seabed, it could become grounds [...]
Canada: gateway to the Big Massage Parlor
April 14, 2006 – 11:03 pm
KBS reports that 13 Korean working girls were arrested in the United States after a Korean smuggling ring snook the girls into the country through, go figure, Canada.
The FBI brought a 47-year-old Ms. Ma, who apparently ran a sauna/beauty salon/house of ill-repute in LA, before a federal court on Thursday.
What was interesting was that Ma [...]
0.7% of Americans in jail? Holy shit!
April 14, 2006 – 6:27 pm
Over at Foreign Policy magazine’s new blog, Davide Berretta posts some comparative prison statistics. The results are pretty surprising. The United States locks of 2,135,901 folk, or 0.724 percent of its population. China, meanwhile, locks up only 1,548,498, or 0.118 percent of its population.
Perhaps even more odd is that Japan–Japan!–actually locks up [...]
FP Passport
April 14, 2006 – 5:26 pm
In case you haven’t seen it, Foreign Policy magazine now has its own blog.
MUST SEE!!!
Kaesong and NK human rights
April 14, 2006 – 1:27 pm
The Korea Times ran a piece on the debate over whether the Kaesong Industrial Park represents South Korean collusion in human rights abuses in North Korea. Read it on your own.
My own feelings on Kaesong are, well, mixed. Given my libertarian leanings, red flags usually go up anytime I hear people complaining about [...]
A short history of Korean overseas adoption
April 14, 2006 – 11:50 am
The Dong-A Ilbo ran a short little history of Korean trans-racial abduction overseas adoption.
The first overseas adoption took place in 1953, when four Korean infants were adopted overseas.
Throughout the 1950s, the bulk of overseas adoptions involved children of mixed-race, the offspring of Korean women and (usually) American military fathers. When such births became a [...]
The times they are a’ changin’
April 14, 2006 – 10:12 am
You know it’s no longer the Joseon Dynasty when the Dong-A Ilbo starts off a piece by quoting Chris Rock.
The Korean nurses are coming! The Korean nurses are coming!
April 14, 2006 – 9:35 am
The JoongAng Ilbo reports the Human Resource Development Service of Korea, HRS Global of the United States and New York’s St. John’s Riverside Hospital will soon sign a deal to employ 10,000 Korean nurses at 36 hospitals throughout New York state. The nurses will start at interns, making 25 U.S. dollars an hour.
So if [...]
Mike Breen on nationalist education in Korea
April 14, 2006 – 8:58 am
MUST READ!!!
Over in the Korea Times, Mike Breen discusses Korea’s nationalist education and the differences between “nationalism” and “patriotism.” Read the whole thing; here is but a snippet:
For the record, I have no argument with patriotism. Love of country is a good thing. But the education I’m taking issue with is not patriotic. It’s [...]
DPRK threatens to bolster deterrent
April 13, 2006 – 5:02 pm
God, the North Koreans are good for a laugh.
Reuters give Ulleung-do to Japan
April 13, 2006 – 4:29 pm
As if marking Dokdo as Japanese territory wasn’t bad enough, the map of South Korea over at Reuters AlertNet gives Ulleung-do to the Japanese as well!
(via Yonhap News)
A tribute to the entrepreneurial spirit
April 13, 2006 – 1:07 pm
Busan police have arrested three teenage girls for theft and blackmail after at least one of them lured an older man to a motel for a little wonjo gyojae (enjo kosai for you Japanophiles out there), in the process stealing his wallet. The girls got away with 290,000 won, but even better, they learned [...]
Damn, I should have kept teaching English/Teacher conditions better in Korea and China than Japan?
April 13, 2006 – 9:23 am
In a piece late last month, the Dong-A Ilbo took a look at the problem of illegal foreign English instructors:
An English academy is Seoul’s Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu. March 13. As an immigration official arrives at the school, which teaches TOEFL to students preparing to study abroad, Mr. C (42), a foreign instructor, furtively leaves [...]
Gong Li, you naughty girl
April 13, 2006 – 3:20 am
A Hong Kong entertainment magazine claims to have caught super-fly actress Gong Li–who is married, BTW–fooling around with some foreign dude in Tienanmen Square. In broad daylight, no less!
See, she learns English, and this is what happens. Shameless. I say, blame Miami Vice.
The magazine said the actress looked “happy like a young girl [...]
Over half of Koreans OK with international marriage, but women still prefer white dudes
April 13, 2006 – 2:26 am
With international marriage in the media spotlight (gee, thanks, Hines), a recent survey by a matchmaking company indicated that over half of Koreans were positive about international marriage:
Bien-Aller, a Seoul-based matchmaking company, conducted the survey looking at 580 single women and men about interracial marriages via the Internet on April 3-10.
In the survey, 54.2 percent [...]
