How f*cked up is this: North Korea is giving 1 million U.S. in aid to the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar (which is a very nice place, BTW) to help the territory’s agricultural sector. Well, if Pyongyang starts dealing fake Djarums, we’ll know where they got the cloves. (HT to OFK)
As Joshua of One Free Korea points out, North and South Korean journalists found a remarkable amount of common ground in a historic first meeting between media figures from both sides of the DMZ:
The content of the joint statement sounded strange to me. It starts by saying that, “In order to carry out the duty [...]
Da Chosun ran a very interesting piece on Kim Yu-shik, the CEO of website DCInside, one of the major players in the Korean netizen world. What I didn’t know is that Kim was arrested in 1996 on suspicion of spying for North Korea. Turns out he was, in fact, dealing in sensitive material—Japanese [...]
Suwon mayor Kim Yong-seo (GNP) and a party of seven or eight other Suwon officials are getting lambasted by Suwon citizens, netizens and the Uri Party for their “disgraceful” behavior in Doha, the Qatari capital hosting the Asian Games.
According to an exclusive report by NoCut News, the party showed up at the Korean men’s basketball [...]
In one of the more interesting “stupid local tricks,” a teacher in Jeollabuk-do is being accused of sexually harassing a school mother seeking permission for her daughter to transfer to his school.
According to the complaint filed by the woman to police, she was meeting with the teacher in his classroom on Nov. 30 to discuss [...]
At another debate on eradicating prostitution, this one held yesterday at the National Assembly Library, former prostitutes spoke of the “shocking” conditions under which they had to live, reported the Munhwa Ilbo.
One ex-working girl going by the alias of “Sarang” noted that pimps would pay off high officials with free services and monetary bribes. The [...]
Seems Sony has yet to set plans to release the PS3 in Korea. Despite Korea, a bastion of PC gaming, being generally hostile to console games, the XBox 360 seems to be doing OK.
First Rummy, now UN ambassador John Bolton. I see the gloating from UN officials has already begun…
An assoicated press report from Doha on culture clashes at the 2006 Asia Games:
When Salim Al-Nabit and his friends went out to see beach volleyball for the first time, they left their wives at home.
Al-Nabit said he was willing to force himself to watch the skimpily clad women play, but that he certainly wouldn’t want [...]
OhMyNews‘ Kang Byeong-gu goes to Lake Baikal as part of his Russian travel series.
The Dong-A Ilbo has released drawings of the final design of the 2nd Lotte World Super Tower, the 112-story, 555-meter tall skyscraper to be build in Jamsil-dong.
The design of the building, which should be completed within five years of the start of construction next year, was based on the ancient Cheomseongdae Observatory in Gyeongju.
With some [...]
According to a study conducted by a Korean women’s group, Korean men have a thing for drugs and underage girls when they visit SE Asia, reports the Seoul Shinmun.
The 88-page study, conducted on the behalf of the National Assembly Committee on Gender Equality, looked at the sexual activities of Korean men in Thailand and the [...]
Here is a peice I wrote last summer for Campaigns and Elections magazine. While much of the information in it is old news for Korea watchers, you have to remember that the main audience was North American political professionals with limited knowledge of Korea. Also, I realize that I may have overstated things a bit but [...]
I just want to join Joshua at OneFreeKorea in welcoming Corporal William Wood back from North Korea. He was killed by the Chinese on November 1st, 1950 near the North Korean town of Unsan.
So I guess this is the reason cell phone use is banned on commercial airliners (NOT safe for work).
Curzon and Joe spotted a Mongolian-registered ship in Hakodate, Japan.
When they aren’t threatening a coup, the Fijian military is apparently training with the Mongolians. BTW, I’m not sure about you, but I find this all very bizarre—coup leaders don’t usually tell everyone they’re coming, do they?
This “pro-North Korean website” has to be a spoof, right?
China is considering forcing Internet users to provide real names and ID numbers when they open a blog.
Korea News via Google