Korean netizens and bloggers are having a grand old time comparing wildly popular “Prison Break” with life in the ROK Army [Sports Seoul, Korean]. And on another “Prison Break” note, veteran actress Kim Su-mi apparently digs Michael Scofield [Star News, Korean]… which kind of gives me the creeps.
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American companies, led by Chevron, are threatening to withdraw support for the FTA with Korea [Financial Times] unless tougher investor protections are added. (HT to reader)
To 2ID: For the love of Christ, would you please stop assaulting Korean taxi drivers [Lost Nomad]?
I kind of dig the new design of the Cultural Heritage Administration’s homepage. On more of a blog note, I really like what this Japan-based expat blogger [Ippoippo] has done with his Wordpress theme.
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In the NYT, Norimitsu Onishi writes about Incheon’s Chinatown and the odd lack of Chinese people [NYT] residing there. It’s not a bad piece, but I’m really surprised Onishi could talk about the lack of Chinese people in Incheon’s Chinatown without mentioning the Wanpaoshan Incident of 1931 [Wikipedia], in which inflammatory and factually questionable [...]
I can’t figure out what’s more disturbing—a man humping a dead deer [Marmot's Hole] or his lawyer quoting “The Princess Bride” in his motion to dismiss [The Smoking Gun]. (HT to Ledtim)
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There is an interesting review in the New York Times of Cullen Thomas’ book Brother One Cell. This book is a story of Mr. Cullen’s experiences in South Korea after he was caught mailing himself a block of hashish and was subsequently jailed for several years.
Mr. Cullen, at least has the ability to make the [...]
UPDATE: Over at the Weekly Standard’s weblog, Michael Goldfarb (who was kind enough to link this post) discusses the possible impact of China’s flattop program [Worldwide Standard.com]:
I’d still contend that, as Brookes put it, Chinese carriers would be “nuthin’ but big, fat gray targets,” but that doesn’t change the fact that an aircraft carrier would [...]
I have decided to lay off PC games this semester. To fill the gap I have joined Superpower Classic, a forum-based nationsim.
To play, you set a budget, manage relations with your neighbors and (sometimes) send your boys off to war. You can read the game’s new player guide for more information. I think the next round starts in [...]
Grand National Party lawmaker Bahk Jae-wan claimed Tuesday that there were some 70 websites recruiting Koreans to work as prostitutes in Japan between October 2006 and March 2007 [Newsis, Korean]. And of these, some 15 were recruiting men to work in so-called “host bars” in the Land of the Rising Sun.
There are currently an [...]
Oh, and speaking of my brother, Pretentious Musings now has a downloadable widget for Mac OS 10.4 or higher, and his FAQ is up.
My brother wasn’t particularly keen on John Cameron Mitchell’s controversial film “Shortbus” [Pretentious Musings]. Here’s the NOT WORK SAFE trailer [ifilm], for those who are interested.
(NOTE: I use the Korean government spelling system on place-names, which are clearly different than what the Korea Times uses.)
We have three by-elections coming up in late April in different parts of the country. The line-ups in each are a microcosm of the fractured nature of Korean politics. The Korea Times lists them.
First there is Daejeon:
The [...]
“Ampontan” has a interesting essay that compares the national flowers of Korea and Japan. It is interesting to note that the rose of sharon was referred to as far back as the Silla Kingdom (57BC - 935 AD).
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Under intense international pressure, Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe offers… another vague apology [Financial Times]. (HT to reader)
And in more news from the “most wired nation on the planet,” the Defense Security Command has asked the Minstry of Information and Communication (MIC) to block 32 pro-North Korean websites [Korea Times]. Of course, the MIC might be a bit busy with its current war against foreign porn sites [Korea Times] in the [...]
Taking a break from its usual Korean Wave-boostering, the Chosun Ilbo expresses concern that the recent “Japanese Wave” is threatening Korean pop culture [Chosun Ilbo, English]. The journalism of cultural mercantilism at its finest.
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Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura, a close aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, told Radio Japan on Sunday that there were no “embedded comfort women” during World War II [Reuters], and that while there were “comfort women,” he believed that “some parents may have sold their daughters.”
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How big is CSI in Korea? Well, now you’ve got CSI: Las Vegas-themed soju commercials [Chamiseul homepage, Korean], complete with look-alikes and imitation The Who music.
Here’s another one:
In a way, you could almost admire it.
On the other hand, there’s really nothing to admire about Hyundai Capital Prime Loan’s latest commercial [Sky Blog, Korean], which [...]
Break out the ouija boards and oracle bones, children, because President Roh has issued yet another indecipherable foreign policy pronouncement [Yonhap News, Korean].
Speaking to Koreans in Saudi Arabia, Roh said, “In the future, in order for the Republic of Korea to survive, it must be pro-North Korean. It must be pro-American and pro-North Korean… [...]
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