October 26, 2007 – 10:29 pm
Quote of the week, by Matt Smith, GM of the second Hooters restaurant in Seoul: “We enjoy having families at the restaurant, and Hooters girls love to play with children. We have a kids’ menu too.”
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October 26, 2007 – 9:06 am
I plan to post weekly presidential election poll from Realmeter results until they get banned (which I think will be two weeks before election day).
I can’t say that Realmeter is any more accurate than the other polling outfits out there but, by using the same poll every week, we can more reliably see trends.
Anyway, here are [...]
October 25, 2007 – 2:23 pm
I’ve always felt Korea to be a really safe place to live. The safest place I’ve ever been, in fact. With the possible exception of the North Koreans dropping a nuke on my house, I’ve never felt worried that something untoward might happen to me, even at night.
In fact, the only areas I feel the [...]
October 25, 2007 – 1:09 pm
Well, this you don’t see everyday — the Seoul Office of Education is worried that there aren’t enough male teachers in Korean classrooms, and is looking to impose a quota for male teachers in Seoul-area schools.
The Ministry of Education hasn’t been too keen on this — it rejected a quota proposal from Seoul earlier this [...]
October 25, 2007 – 12:37 pm
And in what must be the best news of the year, EDaily reports that Penthouse Media Group will be entering the Korean market.
There was much rejoicing.
Penthouse apparently signed a deal with Korea’s very own N’tree Media Group in September; detailed investment and cooperation plans will be released by the end of the year.
A word of [...]
October 25, 2007 – 11:50 am
And in the latest installment of “As the Park Chul—Ok So-ri Divorce Turns,” Ok’s business partner Baek Jong-eun (who, oddly enough, claims Park at first suspected him of diddling his wife) held a press conference yesterday in which he said he was certain the couple was splitting up because Ok was banging an Italian dude. [...]
October 25, 2007 – 9:40 am
William Ryback has become the first “foreign special adviser” to the Financial Supervisory Service.
With 40 years of experience in banking supervision, the newly appointed foreign official noted that he will help Korea’s voices on global financial issues to be heard at international arenas and boost the market’s confidence in providing resolutions and sharing those views with [...]
October 25, 2007 – 9:28 am
Over at Flickr, someone has kindly posted some interesting photos taken around the DMZ and Dongducheon in the early 1970s. Give ‘em a looksie. (HT to reader)
October 25, 2007 – 9:25 am
Two ISIS experts have studied satellite imagery of the Syrian installation that was hit by the Israelis. Their conclusion is that it looks similar to the NK reactor building in Yongbyon. Here’s the imagery.
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October 25, 2007 – 9:14 am
Because suing each other isn’t the national pastime. (HT to reader)
October 25, 2007 – 9:06 am
And in today’s completely random historical tidbit, I just learned that the uniforms of the Nazi SS were produced by none other than Hugo Boss.
October 24, 2007 – 1:44 pm
It’s even worse when overseas Koreans start bad-mouthing you, too:
After her husband was killed [in the 2002 West Coast naval skirmish between North and South Korea], Kim organized a memorial society for the servicemen who died in the battle. But she was frustrated by the South Korean government’s downplaying and minimizing of the battle in [...]
October 24, 2007 – 1:19 pm
On the eve of talks between the US and the ROK regarding the Visa Waiver Program, someone has uploaded a BBC World video clip in Youtube which shows how easy it is to forge electronic passports. And with Korean subtitles to boot.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbIomqcUGD0[/youtube]
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October 24, 2007 – 12:57 pm
Shipbuilder STX has bought a 39.2% in Norwegian shipbuilder Aker Yards, one of the top four cruise ship builders, for US$830 million.
On the outside, it looks like just an another acquisition. However, Korean shipbuilding firms are looking to enter the cruise ship market in order to leapfrog Chinese competition. Other Korean shipbuilders, such as Samsung, which already has built ferries [...]
October 24, 2007 – 12:25 pm
Graves of British sailors, Geomun-do
Two weeks ago I visited Geomun-do, a historic and scenic island two-and-a-half hours off the coast of Yeosu.
In 1885, Great Britain — then in the midst of the Great Game — preemptively occupied the island (actually three islands), then called Port Hamilton, to block the Russians from making use of its [...]
October 24, 2007 – 8:50 am
Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy of Patchogue (that’s pronounced “pachawg,” BTW) was awarded a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in Afghanistan.
Hey, even the New York Times covered it this time.
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October 24, 2007 – 8:16 am
It’s a weird, weird world we live in when we got President Roh and Lee Myung-bak siding with one another against Chung Dong-young, in this case with extending the deployment of Korean troops in northern Iraq.
I have to say, at this point, I don’t even know why President Roh bothers. Nobody actually believes him when [...]
October 24, 2007 – 7:50 am
PETA’s got a new ad. With a lot of gochu. (HT to reader)
October 23, 2007 – 2:48 pm
An article in Flight International describes S. Korea’s effort to develop a 5th generation fighter, the KFX. A bit of a background. Former Pres. Kim Dae Jung during a speech during a graduation ceremony of the ROK Air Force Academy declared that Korea will design and build a fighter to replace its F-16s. Soon, fancy [...]
October 23, 2007 – 11:34 am
An unemployed man in his 20s has been arrested for trying to rob a KB branch in Suwon Station. He was apprehended by bank security guards, who promptly turned him over to the police.
The guy in question wasn’t wearing a mask during the robbery attempt, and during police questioning was quoted as saying that he attempted the robbery [...]
