According to the city’s plan, the Haechi will be used for diverse Seoul souvenirs like T-shirts and key chains, and be painted on city buses and taxis.

The city’s ambitious plan quickly came under criticism, however, as some pointed out that the city failed to collect public opinion on the symbol.

There was a pubic hearing held on the emblem on April 21, but it was not announced to the media and only 80 people attended. In a survey of 500 respondents, the Haechi was not even included in 27 proposed symbols.

So…what about that statement in the original post, where the final choice was made based on public opinion?

Never let it be said that I didn’t do anything for ya.

Also, fan death is believed by the Japanese as well, oddly enough

That’s a stylized haetae done with all circles and arcs. A traditional haetae wouldn’t look so bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Haetaea.jpg

http://blog.chosun.com/web_fil.....haitai.jpg

I hope the picture above is just one of the many renditions they are using.

Eeewww…

It works both ways. Ever wonder why Korea is the last modern country afraid of American meat and death by fan? Japan is laughing. And I must admit that they have done a good job at convincing the rest of the modern world to laugh at Korea. Because now sadly it is fact.

If that is so, why does Japan have much stricter rules in regards to U.S. beef than does Korea? From next month Korea will allow boned beef from U.S. cattles that are over 30 months, whereas Japan only allows boneless beef from cattles that are under 20 months.

It’s not just that Koreans don’t want U.S. beef because they hate the U.S. They are demanding the same safety standards that other countries such as Japan, Britain and Singapore (all US allies) have implemented to protect their citizens.