If you haven’t read the story of Renate Hong, the [East] German woman who is hoping to meet her North Korean husband for the first time in 46 years, I advise you to do so.
Chinese companies say the “Korean Wave” is receding, a KOTRA survey reveals.
Lee Myung-bak may have won the GNP nomination, but there are growing calls from within the party for Lee to reconsider his pledge to build a cross-country canal system. [Yonhap, Korean]
KTF is currently in negotiations with Apple to introduce the the iPhone in Korea. No word on when it will be introduced, only that KTF is waiting for a response from Apple on whether it will proceed or not. Apple Korea however refused to confirm the talks saying that “it is against company policy to comment on [...]
Komsomolskaya Pravda tells readers how to get ripped like Russian president and gay icon Vlad Putin.
The illegitimate daughter of late President Francois Mitterrand has sparked controversy with a novel that mirrors the “French Freezer Babies” case of last year.
Norimitsu Onishi has posted an interesting tale of hunting for ginseng, down south in Jinan, South Korea. Apparently old plants are very valuable (see the article title for just *how* valuable). Some ginseng hunters also visit a Sanshin shrine for the local mountain they were hunting in and would perform a rite, asking [...]
A very angry rightwinger in Japan has given Prime Minister Abe the finger…
I’ve gotten a couple of requests recently for a return to my old “recent comment” style on the sidebar.
Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen for the time being.
The plugin that performed that rather nifty design, Brian’s Latest Comments, eats up a ton of resources for some reason and crashes my blog.
I’m currently using this plugin, [...]
China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission.
This article in the Chosun reminded me of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mystery. Just why did the Samsung plant at Kiheung experience a sudden loss of power that brought down several production lines? One Samsung official said it was “as mysterious as a car abruptly accelerating.”
It reminds one of the fire that occurred over [...]
Once again another tummy-tempting scandal has been revealed in China. It appears that Mr. Wu, an unlicenced merchant, found a niche that no one else has thought of (or at least been caught doing): recycled chopsticks.
“A BEIJING factory recycled used chopsticks and sold up to 100,000 pairs a day without any form of disinfection…The owner, [...]
The National Human Rights Commission has recommended that military authorities perform kindler, gentler draft physicals on transexuals. It truly is a brave new world in which we live.
Typography change — I’ve switched to a sans-serif font, Helvetica, for content. Post titles and headers, meanwhile, are now in the serif font Georgia. I hope this makes online reading a bit easier. If not, please let me know.
Honey Lee, Miss Korea 2006 and a runner up to Miss Universe 2007, has done a photo spread for Tommy Hilfiger’s premium jeans brand. [Chosun Ilbo, English]
Very interesting Q&A session with “Crossing the Line” co-producer Nick Bonner at a bookshop in Beijing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu8s_zf59e4
(HT to reader)
