- Just how f*cking cold was it this morning? It dropped to -1.1 degrees in Seoul, that’s how.
- A Research Plus survey has President Lee Myung-bak’s approval rating at a robust 45.7%.
- More from the racism and multiculturalism front — the Korea Times reports that discrimination against multicultural families still exists. Money quote, from Han Kuk-yom of the Korea Women Migrants Human Rights Center: “Married migrated women are Korean citizens. When they are respected not as Koreanized citizens but as citizens who have an identity of dual culture and seek harmony in diversity, the way for a multicultural and multiethnic society will be paved.” Where’s my barf bag?
- You know, I’ve always wondered about the legality of watching TV behind the wheel.
- Check out the interview with Korean designer Hyojae, whose shop is just across the street from Gilsangsa Temple in Seongbuk-dong, BTW.
- Most Koreans with dual citizenship apparently use their foreign passport — and in particular, their American ones — when entering and leaving Korea.
- I don’t think they’re natural blondes.
- The kimchi doesn’t appear to be working.
- The Supreme Court looks like it will issue guidelines that will tighten sentences on drunk criminals. Thank God.
- Cool little piece in the JoongAng Ilbo on the country’s best highway rest stops.
- Now THAT’s a photo of the Nodongdangsa!
Odds and Ends
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I really wish 이하늬 picked a better name for herself and for her country.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/ww.....54668.html
Ha ha ha. So they had to do ’scientific research’ on whether watching TV whilst driving was a bit dangerous! ‘Dangerous?’ No shit Sherlock, of course it’s bloody dangerous!
Just moved here a few weeks ago. Woke up this morning and walked outside. Almost started crying at the thought of waiting for the bus to work. And this is only the beginning!?!?!?!
So, what advantage is there to be gained by using a foreign passport while entering Korea? Does this also mean these Koreans went to the trouble of paying for visas and reentry permits for their foreign passport in order to spend time in Korea without revealing that they are Korean citizens? That doesn’t make much sense.
Or is it simply that they want to demonstrate how special they are to Custom’s official with the foreign passport, while also flashing the Korean passport in order to avoid penalties for overstaying.
Regarding the Nodongdangsa photo. Looks like ISO 100 b/w film set for very very long exposure time. The rotation of the earth causes the stars to streak like that.
That passport routine story does seem strange and hard to believe. I suspect the usual Korean journalistic standards are at work (It’s bullshit). When my kids got their passports, we were told to use the U.S. one going to the states and the Korean one coming into Korea. We show them both passports leaving Korea and they take note of the Korean one.
I’ve often wondered about the TV watching, too. But making it illegal wouldn’t actually solve anything is the law is unenforced, as many laws are for taxi drivers. According to the law, they’re not allowed to drink, yet taxis are just waved through breathalyzer checkpoints. According to the law, cars must have operable seat belts, but only about half of the taxis in my city actually do*. So making something like “watching TV while driving,” (which kinda should be a no-brainer, but, whatever) illegal would only be effective as a law if it were enforced. I’m not confident that it would be.
* I was curious about this, so I actually carried around a small notebook for a few weeks and kept count of how many taxis had working seatbelts for rear seat passengers. Only about half of them did. I admit, it’s not exactly a scientific sample, but still.
Regarding watching TV while driving. I wanted to get that for my car, but my dealer assured me that was illegal in the states.
Apparently the Genesis sedan sold in the states has the option of viewing DVDs in the front seats but ONLY when the car is in the parked gear…
JW,
이하늬 is fawking hot! She can use whatever damn name she wants!
이하늬 plastic surgery? Enquiring minds (Sonagi) wanna know!
http://spn.chosun.com/site/dat.....0751_0.jpg
Chin bone shaving?
I think not… I just think Lee starved herself during the Ms. Universe competitions, which thinned out her face.
Look at her when she eats normally…
http://c.ask.nate.com/imgs/qrs.....%8A%AC.jpg
Yeah, she’s hot, I’ll give you that, but you know, she’s representing an entire country and stuff, and honey lee just sounds…too much like a porn star. Sorta like…..Honey Wilder!!
21°C here, down from 28° yesterday. Pretty cold indeed!
Regarding the passport thing, there’s an interesting parallel to be made with Hong Kong. Many of my friends/acquaintances have a second passport (Canada, US, UK – either a real UK passport or a B&O one – etc), but they all enter/leave HK with their HK ID card — eChannel automated immigration thingy — and go to China with their 回鄕證, the card that give Hongkies and Macanites unrestricted, visa-less access to the Mainland. By doing so they are de facto admitting they are Chinese citizen – which is why they are treated as such when arrested in China.
I’m not sure whether a HK citizen entering China with a Canadian/US/etc passport would really be treated as a foreigner — China tends to be like Korea on the citizenship thing: once a native, always a native…
Allowing taxi-drivers, and even worse other drivers, to watch TV on their dashboards is fucktarded at best.
This just appeared on the front page of BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asi.....339680.stm
I hope that the shame of this deserved bad international press motivates TV-watching in view of the drivers to be outlawed, though as granfalloon says, enforcement is another issue. Since one scarecly sees cars patrolling the streets here, I can’t imagine effective enforcement of an anti-TV watching law. I wonder if the navigation unit manufacturer assholes who irresponsibly and retardedly equipped their products with DMB capabilities had this in mind when they designed their products.
I remember that before DMB the old VCD players etc in the front of korean cars were wired so they only showed a blank screen if the car was moving. i.e You could watch at rest stops or the like.
It surely must be pretty easy to outlaw and DMB or similar device in the front of a car that is not so wired as it is elsewhere in the world.
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