Does anybody remember the news back in September 2006 about the Samsung phone breakage video? The video, once posted on YouTube, featured a young woman breaking a new thin Samsung Ultra in two pieces. The real stir came up when it removed since the origin seemed to be Samsung’s competitor Motorola.
At the time Samsung [...]
No, this entry is not dedicated to anyone named “Park” but rather to those who were alarmed by the idea of developing the Yongsan area, i.e., underground mall, etc. The National Assembly has voted to turn control of this area back to Seoul City for use as a national park. This comes with some idea [...]
In Slate, Michelle Tsai looks at how the media arrived at the name “Cho Seung-Hui” rather than “Seung-Hui Cho.” (HT to iheartblueballs)
OK, this time I really promise—tonight, I will post the travelogue from last weekend’s trip to some of Korea’s historic Catholic churches. The photos have already been posted at Flickr, although I still need to title/caption them.
Expat Jane has a great post on collective Korean sorrow, guilt and (possibly) projection over at “Where the Hell Am I?” The Gypsy Scholar also has a post on shame vs. guilt.
I just got this in the email: Friday, April 18, is Hokie Day. People wishing to express support and sympathy for those in mourning are asked to wear maroon and gold, the school colors. If you haven’t gotten dressed yet today (it’s Friday in Korea) and you’re reading this, wear your maroon and gold.
US Internet radio may be priced out of existence due to royalty fees. I wonder how long it will take for this to get to Korea?
OK, now NYT’s Mike Nizza is drawing connections between “Oldboy” and yesterday’s shooting. See also here [Korea Pop Wars].
Media Today (Korean) takes a good look at Thursday morning’s papers coverage of the Virginia Tech incident. I don’t have time to translate it, but to borrow its summary, unlike Wednesday’s papers, which focused on the shooter’s Korean identity, Thursday’s papers were fairly united in stressing that the killer’s crimes and his nationality [...]
I think we all need an awwwwwwww break, and nothing says awwwwwwww like cute little babies getting their shots (the Hanky).
I fail to see how public acts of guilt-by-ethnic-association contrition [Seattle Post-Intelligencer, HT to Seoulmilk] help:
State Sen. Paull Shin, D-Edmonds, apologized to fellow lawmakers and legislative staff members, first at a private prayer meeting, then in Senate chambers.
“It hurts me deeply, knowing what happened to Korea and how much the U.S. helped,” said Shin, an [...]
Oddly enough, the mayor of Nagasaki has been gunned down by a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza gang, which has ties to extreme right-wing nationalists in Japan. (courtesy of Japanprobe.com)
Umm, I hate to bring this up, but I think it’s kind of relevant – why isn’t the Korean media talking about Woo Bum-kon (우범근), a Korean national (and police officer) who holds the world record for deaths by gun shooting spree? There were actually more references to this (here and here) on the Western Internet [...]
MARMOT’S NOTE: Just in case I haven’t made this perfectly clear—and I believe I have down below, but just in case—the fact that the shooter is Korean is, ultimately, irrelevant. He was a sick kid. Period. You can talk try to read into this tragedy cultural factors all you like (and I’m [...]
The JoongAng Ilbo has a piece on the increase in wine sales in Korea, and with that a concurrent decrease in the amount of Whiskey sales. Now while there could be many factors related and unrelated to the changing statistics, such never stops a JoongAng reporter:
Wine, once enjoyed by a few rich connoisseurs here, has [...]
One Korean student was among the injured in a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech University (Korea Times):
Park Chang-min, a student in the civil engineering doctorate program, was in class when he was hit in the arm by the shooter’s bullet, Yonhap News confirmed the Korean injured, from association president Lee Seung-woo. Park is studying in [...]
GI Korea pointedly asks who is calling whom an “abnormal country.” [ROK Drop]
Chinese-American and Mongolian-American youth slug it out in Oakland [Mercury News] as Mongolian immigration to the United States rises. (HT to BK)
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