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Monthly Archives: November 2006
Japanese Collaborator
November 30, 2006 – 10:32 am
You got to love a story that has sex, lies, trade secrets, and how old animosities disappear overseas or when money is involoved.
Cindy Sheehan on Daechu-ri
November 30, 2006 – 9:51 am
If you haven’t had breakfast yet, check out Cindy Sheehan’s letter on Daechu-ri. It’s a real treat, including such stuff as:
After our tour bus pulled up into the village, we were ushered into a large warehouse where the villagers were holding their 811th nightly candlelight vigil in protest of the US incursion. We joined [...]
Hard to say I’m sorry
November 30, 2006 – 9:20 am
Oh, no, the prime minister has issued another half-hearted, insincere apology lacking in any real reflection over his nation’s historical misdeeds.
Oh, wait, it’s the British.
Abiola Lapite puts it best:
Neither the British nor the Americans are capable of apologizing for something so obviously wrong and so well established, and yet it’s the Japanese, who have actually [...]
Some quality writing at the JoongAng
November 29, 2006 – 4:53 pm
Lee Jin-woo at the Korea Times is probably my favorite reporter on politics in Korea. His reports usually give enough background and in-depth coverage for them to be very useful for my political data blog.
But style points must be awarded to this piece run in the JoongAng last week by Kang Joo-an and Kim Soe-jung. They [...]
Of English teachers, women scorned and deportations
November 29, 2006 – 4:03 pm
In the latest SeoulStyle newsletter, T. Evans writes of his bizarre experience of having a girl try to get him deported for refusing her affections.
At any rate, it’s entertaining to read.
As expat urban legend would have it, bitter ex-girlfriends are the biggest reason for foreigners getting deported. In 10 years that I’ve been here, [...]
The X-mas cucumber?
November 29, 2006 – 11:26 am
Give your woman something special this Christmas? (HT to reader)
The Crazy Effect of Their Lack of Love . . .
November 29, 2006 – 9:22 am
The Crazy Effect of Their Lack of Love . . . yes, the translator went berserk — again. It is an actual movie title. Here are this weeks top movies, here in Seoul.
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Oh, Noh, not again…
November 29, 2006 – 12:17 am
Nomad’s right—President Roh needs a hug.
I thought we’d heard the last of the “I’m going to quit” nonsense out of the Commander-in-Chief, but apparently not. You’d have thought that four years into the job and several veiled threats to resign later, he’d have learned that some things are just better left unsaid.
Yes, Mr. President, [...]
Dong-A Ilbo on Korea’s modern cultural heritage
November 28, 2006 – 7:05 pm
The Dong-A Ilbo touches something close to my heart—modern cultural properties.
The paper rightly points out that something doesn’t necessarily have to date back to the Joseon period to be a “cultural property” (munhwajae). Many of Korea’s modern “firsts” may soon become registered cultural properties, too.
Starting next year, the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) will begin listing early [...]
Roh ally invokes the Nat. Security Law to support him on ‘civil war’
November 28, 2006 – 1:28 pm
In a neat little piece of political jujitsu, Uri party head Kim Geun-tae, invoked the dreaded National Security Law to defend President Roh’s statement that the Korean War was a civil war:
`The war was clearly triggered by North Korea’s invasion, but was also a civil war, as the Stalinist state is an anti-national group to [...]
Support the Norks; fail the bar?
November 28, 2006 – 11:35 am
Update: Seven of the 26 who had to take a third round failed.
Original Post: As if passing the bar were not tough enough, it seems that Korean lawyers-to-be face a loyalty test as well (Korea Times):
Twenty-six who took this year’s bar examination were nominated for “in-depth interviews” after showing pro-North Korea or anti-United States tendencies, a [...]
Yank writing style for Limeys
November 28, 2006 – 3:03 am
Are you a Brit writer having a tough time writing proper-sounding dialogue for your American characters? Ulrika has penned an essay on transatlantic writing just for you. Entertaining and informative. (HT to whump.com)
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No hard feelings
November 28, 2006 – 2:35 am
You know, if I were a taxi driver (surprise!) assaulted by two GIs aged 18 and 20, I’d be slightly more pissed off. Then again, maybe he took pity on them—they apparently have no other job options…
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OK, this is officially weird
November 28, 2006 – 2:28 am
Thank God I’m in Korea and not forced to follow this twisted and tragic tale as it unfolds. Which is not to say that papers here haven’t been covering it, of course.
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8.8 percent
November 28, 2006 – 2:05 am
The ruling Uri Party’s approval rating has hit a low of 8.8 percent, leading at least some to wonder, who are the 8.8 percent that think the party’s actually doing a good job?
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Online fun for the whole family!
November 28, 2006 – 1:58 am
Some netizens were shocked—shocked, I tell you!—to find a cache of porn videos posted at portal site Daum.
A very cold winter Sonata
November 28, 2006 – 1:55 am
Not even Yonsama can propel the Hyundai Sonata to success in Japan.
(MUST READ) North Korea ain’t our problem
November 27, 2006 – 3:36 am
Anatol Lieven of the New America Foundation discusses American overreach, the need to pick your fights carefully and why Korea shouldn’t be one of them. Hard to argue with this:
Charles de Gaulle defined the nature of statesmanship when he said that “to govern is to choose — usually between unpleasant alternatives.” This is something [...]
