Shockingly, Korean-Americans do not appear to be flocking to underpaid English-teaching positions in the Korean countryside. The problem? Well, you guys just don’t feel Korean enough:
Many ethnic Koreans in the United States reacted negatively to the Lee Myung-bak government’s plan to use a pool of young Korean Americans for the promotion of English education at [...]
We are in the middle of North Korea Freedom Week, a series of events in DC sponsored by (among others) the North Korea Freedom Coalition. If you are in the area, please drop in on some of the events and post a report in the comment section.
Here is a brief report on NKFW in the [...]
Today’s Washington Posts asks if the new LMB administration will really put its food aid where its mouth is and choose principle over hunger in the North.
Does President Lee withhold food aid that may prop up the government of the North or will he help avert a possible humanitarian crisis? Choices.. choices…
Whereas some may [...]
The Hankyoreh talked with Chinese students about Sunday’s ugliness, and found that while most expressed regret about the violence, they also felt they were being unfairly singled out:
Concerning the violent situation that took place during the Olympic torch relay on April 27, Chinese students and other Chinese generally expressed “regret.” But they also protested that [...]
The fallout from the Chinese student riot continues.
The Chinese ambassador to Seoul offered as close to an apology as one would expect in this situation (AP):
China’s ambassador to Seoul, Ning Fukui, said he regretted the “extreme behavior” of the Chinese protesters and offered sympathy to wounded South Koreans, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said.
If Beijing [...]
As this is of current interest, this is an interesting article from the NY Times on the thoughts and views of Chinese students abroad.
Oddly, the government has not been amused with gangs of punky young foreigners running riot in the heart of the national capital — the government has decided to deal with the rioters in stern fashion, including deportations.
In a Cabinet meeting today, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said, “As the pride of our citizens has been hurt [...]
OK, I will continue carry the banner of the Yi So-yeon around here (and don’t you naysayers try to shake it loose). Cheers to her as she came back to Korea yesterday and will soon start her new gig(Chosun).
Having earned a doctorate from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in February, Yi will now work [...]
In a series of articles back stateside, it appears that Gen-Yers and Gen-Xers are getting written up as the slacker generation, growing-up with more privileges, education and prosperity than the older generations, but having less of the discipline, drive, focus and wisdom of the past. For example, it has been people in their late 20’s [...]
Korean news photos of the torch relay are circulating on Chinese news forums and blogs. The reaction is mostly patriotic chest-thumping over the sea of red in Seoul and indignation at the pro-Tibet and NK human rights protesters for disrupting the relay. Some commenters are furious at the Korean media’s “distorted reporting.” [...]
Civic groups are accusing the Chinese embassy of organizing the Chinese protesters that ran riot in Seoul on Sunday, reports YTN.
In particular, the embassy is accused of sending text messages, letters and making phone calls to Chinese students, asking them to participate.
Chinese students who participated, however, deny this, claiming they got involved through overseas student [...]
It is nice to see that North Korea did not let politics interfere with the the spirit of the Olympics (CNN):
The relay began at the Juche Idea Tower where Kim Yong Nam, the head of North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, handed the lit torch to 72-year-old Park Tu Ik, a hero of his country’s 1966 World [...]
From One Free Korea:
Being a glass-half-full sort of guy, I look at things like this and tell myself that a billion people can’t ALL be assholes.
The Foreign Ministry gave the Chinese ambassador to Seoul as close to a dressing down as the Foreign Ministry is prepared to give the Chinese, expressing “strong regret” about Chinese youth running riot in Seoul yesterday.
The Chinese ambassador, for his part, expressed his regret and condolences over the reporter and cop that got hurt by [...]
Sorry, Joshua, I just couldn’t resist:
From Yonhap.
Oh, and if the hapless Americans/Canadians who got assaulted by the Chinese yesterday are reading this, your plight was reported in the very right-wing Korean online paper FreeZone, which, if you’re anything like the pro-Tibet people I knew in the States, is probably the last place you wanted your [...]
EastSouthWestNorth has translated a story from Mingpao on a factory in Guangzhou busted for making Free Tibet flags. The factory was outed by its own workers, who saw images of the flag on Hong Kong TV and checked the internet to confirm its identity.
I’ll keep my commentary brief: WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Sphere: Related Content
More stuff along the same lines of what Sonagi and Elgin posted — our Chinese friends got a bit rough yesterday, scaring and otherwise pissing off a good many Koreans.
First, there were the Chinese throwing water bottles, sticks and stones at activists from a North Korean refugee rights group at Olympic Park. One reporter working [...]
Police have busted six foreign English teachers employed at famous language hagwon for smoking pot.
Seoul Police announced yesterday that they’d detained a 40-year-old illegal alien from Ghana and booked (without detention) a 31-year-old Korean hagwon instructor by the name of Lee for drug law violations. They also booked six foreign teachers — including a 30-year-old [...]
The East is red according to China’s Xinhua news agency. A photo essay on the Olympic torch relay in Seoul is filled with images of flag-waving patriots and even a Sinophile laowai. Looks like the Chinese government planned ahead and shipped a container full of 五星红旗 (five star red flag) of all sizes [...]
Bad Behavior has blocked 16292 access attempts in the last 7 days.