Jason Williams, the English teacher at a Chongryun-affiliated school in Japan who penned a piece in last week’s Japan Times, kindly shot me a lengthy email further explaining his piece and answering some of the comments he read here on the blog. With his permission, I’ve posted it below. Be sure to give [...]
The Stanford impostor also fooled the Santa Clara University ROTC [SFGate]. Cool photo, too.
Are you feeling discriminated against? [Korea Times] Seems more like out-of-date laws than intentional discrimination.
Amazing what you dig up sometimes — archaeologists in Gyeongju have unearthed a 5-meter tall Buddhist rock carving — in pretty good condition — believed to be from the Unified Silla period. One researcher believes it may go down as one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries in Korea this century.
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Looking for his side of the story (someone has to do it, after all), I emailed the Australian English teacher whose purported email was recently printed in the Chosun Ilbo. Of course, in the age of the Internet, it’s hard to know whether people are who they say they are, but this is the [...]
OK, now even I have to ask.
President Bush, what the fuck are you smoking?
I’ll grant that there are probably a lot more similarities between Korea and Iraq than anyone cares to admit — like today’s Iraq, South Korea was a complete and utter basketcase between liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and 1950. Something [...]
The invaluable Dr. Andrei Lankov has published a new book on daily life in North Korea, entitled North of the Dmz: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea. From Amazon.com:
The Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea for over 60 years. Most of that period has found the country suffering under mature Stalinism characterized by [...]
Nothing makes me more upset that a healthy person spitting out a perfectly good piece of meat. (HT to reader)
Once again another shameless plug, but I had mentioned it earlier in another post (Ms. Shaw’s book review) and considering the recent ill-feelings towards English teachers and their leacherous activities, I thought some of you may find interest in the story.
In 1897 and later in 1901, Prince Eui-wha, the second son of Emperor Kojong, attended [...]
I’ve switched spam protection from Spam Karma to Askimet. This should help some commenters who report having trouble, while others might experience short-term problems while Askimet “learns.” If you have difficulty commenting, shoot an email to marmotshole@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do.
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Yonhap News TV did a cool piece on US diplomat and Korean music lover/practitioner Darrell Jenks. Mr. Jenks — who I’ve been lucky enough to meet — will unfortunately be leaving Korea soon for a posting in Iraq. Good luck, sir.
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As I look at Lee Ha-nui, Korea’s Miss Universe contestant, I’m reminded why I appreciate model Jang Yun-ju so much — Jang actually looks Korean. The winner of Miss Universe, of course, was from an island nation whose name we dare not mention. Mongolia, unfortunately, didn’t field a contestant, with Kazakhstan representin’ Central Asia.
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The Chosun Ilbo (English) contributed a true classic today, citing Korea Foreign Teacher Recruiting Association (KFTRA ) estimates that some 10 percent of the 20,000-30,000 foreign instructors in Korea have been canned for either “sexual improprieties” or because they refused to teach.
No word from the association on how many have been canned in the last [...]
As a big Wikipedia fan, I looked more into the recent Chosun created brouhaha about the Tokdo dispute on Wiki. Interestingly enough, Wiki has a page it calls “Lamest Edit Wars“. Guess who makes the list? Both Tokdo and the Sea of Japan controversy. I do like the way the dispute is summarized:
A group of [...]
So, how do you protest a planned base move to your town? Why, by pulling off the limbs of a live, 2-month old pig and beheading it in front of the Ministry of Defense, of course! [Chosun Ilbo, Korean] Needless to say, the pig wasn’t too happy about it, as his expression [Maeil Gyeongje, Korean] [...]
Three articles this past weekend struck a theme in me. As anybody who lives here tells you, one of the priorities in Korea is to promote Korea as a brand. This is a constant source of conversation, especially in the wake of the new Korean National Tourism Office’s slogan “Korea Sparkling”.
First thing to attract my [...]
A cool expat blog out of Busan. Really like the travel posts/photo work.
Banner weekend at Camp Humphreys [Lost Nomad].
Pride, ambition and Korea’s skyscraper rush [NYT].
Matt offers a couple of thoughts on the Gwangju Uprising at Gusts of Popular Feeling.
