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Monthly Archives: March 2007
So, I take it beer doesn’t get better with age…
March 25, 2007 – 8:27 pm
Police have busted a ring that was distributing some 33,000 cases of imported beer that was delivered to U.S. military installations [Yonhap News, Korean] but later slated for disposal after its expiration date passed.
Seoul police announced Sunday it had arrested two people, including a Mr. Yu, who was in charge of waste disposal for USFK’s [...]
Korea is Not #1
March 25, 2007 – 2:24 pm
Korea is Not #1. Damn, it’s not even #2! — in spam-sending. It might not even be #3, the article (Yahoo News) doesn’t say who is. But in the reported situation that almost 70% of all e-mail originating in Asia is spam, at least Philippines and China are ahead of South Korea. Come on, where is the [...]
The Korean-style “Gas Face”
March 24, 2007 – 12:53 am
Oddly enough, sometimes one thing leads to something else and then another and so on. Today, the Chosun Ilbo ran a small but interesting article entitled China Snatches Natural Gas From Under Korea’s Nose. The Chosun writes:
The government’s mid and long-term plan to diversify energy import sources has met an unexpected obstacle since [...]
Seoul Motor Show to cut down on models
March 23, 2007 – 9:49 pm
The Seoul Motor Show wants you to look at the cars, not the women [Reuters]. Bummer. (HT to reader)
Yellow face diplomacy
March 23, 2007 – 8:50 pm
So, does this [Reuters] mean I can forget about applying for a job at the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Middle East desk?
Book Reading: Tariq Hussain
March 23, 2007 – 10:53 am
For those who are interested, Tariq Hussain will be holding a reading [Seoul Selection] of his new book Diamond Dilemma [Seoul Selection] at Seoul Selection bookshop tomorrow at 4:00 pm.
Ban gets a scare
March 23, 2007 – 10:22 am
Also on the Youtube front, here’s UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon getting a bit of a scare in Iraq [Youtube]. Took it rather well, I thought, although not quite as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who disturbingly didn’t even flinch. [HT to seouldout]
I won’t help you find them
March 23, 2007 – 9:12 am
Some folks want to know about North Korean centrifuges. MSN News wants to know where Lee Hyo-ree’s pants are.
Youtube video on dogmeat
March 23, 2007 – 9:09 am
A Japanese netizen has caught the JoongAng Ilbo’s attention [JoongAng Ilbo, Korean] by uploading a Youtube video (actually produced by an American) describing Koreans as “savages who eat dogs.” 594 comments and counting!
Whither the Uranium?
March 23, 2007 – 2:30 am
In the wake of Andrei Lankov’s primer on “How to Topple Kim Jong-Il,” Foreign Policy has followed up with a skeptic’s run-down of what we know, what we don’t know, what we need to know, and what we thought we knew but now doubt about claims surrounding North Korea’s uranium enrichment program. Where purchases [...]
We need Ronnie more than ever (at least I do).
March 22, 2007 – 10:53 pm
On behalf of all the unpaid staff here at the Marmot’s Hole, I want to give a big welcome to the 5,500 sailors and marines aboard the USS Ronald Reagan who arrive in Busan today.
RAS Lecture on Korean Green Tea Master Hyodang-seunim this Tues Eve
March 22, 2007 – 9:17 pm
The Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society will hold its second semi-monthly Lecture-Meeting of March this Tuesday the 27th, at 7:30 pm, in the 2nd-floor Resident’s Lounge of the Somerset Palace Residence (downtown, near Anguk Station, west of Exit #6; north of Jogye-sa Temple). All in English, for free and open to the public, as [...]
First Aviator in Korea
March 22, 2007 – 3:45 pm
Korean historians claim that Lieutenant Narahara of the Japanese navy in the summer of 1913 was the first to fly in Korea when he tested his airplane over the fields near Yongsan, Seoul. It is nearly impossible to dispute or prove “firsts” because new information has a wonderful way of being uncovered.
I have included [...]
Dead deer sex
March 22, 2007 – 12:19 pm
Now, for something completely different, a man in Wisconsin has been sentenced to probation for having sex with a dead deer [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]. Said the judge in the case, “The type of behavior is disturbing. It’s disturbing to the public. It’s disturbing to the court.” (HT to seoulmilk)
Six-party talk extension
March 22, 2007 – 11:14 am
North Korea has agreed to an extension of the six-party talks, reports the WaPo. (HT to reader)
Marriage South Korean Style
March 22, 2007 – 10:52 am
Norimitsu Onishi has an interesting article on the unique challenges of getting married in South Korea. Getting married involves much more than two people saying “I do” rather, it includes the prospective in-laws who often become involved in a negotiation of who gets what and how much:
. . . choosing the right wedding gifts for [...]
Sharp Hindsight or Faulty Forecasting?
March 22, 2007 – 12:40 am
One of the most ardent advocates of confronting North Korea in its nuclear proliferation — Robert Joseph — is leaving his post in the Bush administration.
Mr. Joseph favored pressing North Korea economically, through its banking interests, as Mr. Joseph observed in the New York Times:
Mr. Joseph has declined to talk publicly about why he left, [...]
Even if GNP wins, U.S. should pull troops out: Bandow
March 21, 2007 – 11:45 pm
The Cato Institute’s Doug Bandow reminds us that even if the relatively pro-American Grand National Party takes the next presidential election—and that looks like a very good possibility—the United States needs to overhaul its antiquated military alliance with South Korea:
FAR MORE IMPORTANT, HOWEVER, is the fact that no ROK government, whatever its ideological complexion, can [...]
The kind Korean tourist and the ladyboy
March 21, 2007 – 11:26 pm
In Pattaya, a Korean tourist and his five friends made a citizens’ arrest [Pattaya City News] after a ladyboy made off with some 3,000 baht stolen from the Korean’s hotelroom following some unspecified latenight services. The kind-hearted tourist didn’t press charges. (HT to reader)