Odds and Ends 28/12/09

by Robert Koehler on December 28, 2009

The government will take measures to attract foreign talent and address issues related to the increasing expatriate population from next year, reports the KT. For instance, if your “potential and present contributions are deemed essential,” foreign professionals will be given advantages in gaining permanent residency.
Saw “Sherlock Holmes” last night. Considering how bad Ritchie’s last film was, I was more than pleasantly surprised. Besides, who doesn’t enjoy “The Rocky Road to Dublin“?
Well, look who just landed a US$20 billion deal to build nuke plants in the UAE.
The government has been ordered to pay a woman 6.8 billion won for falsely imprisoning her for 20 years on charges of helping a North Korean spy.
Kuroda Katsuhiro, Seoul bureau chief of the Sankei Shimbun, has his doubts about the globalization potential of the bibimbap. He’s apparently not much into the whole “mixing” thing. To each his own, I guess — personally, I don’t find Japanese cuisine to be particularly appealing, but that’s just me.

{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }

1 JW December 28, 2009 at 1:24 pm: personally, I don’t find Japanese cuisine to be particularly appealing, but that’s just me.

I recently enjoyed a fabulous free concert provided by the Times Square Church choir (wow can these guys sing) after which the lot of us friends headed over to nearby Sapparo for some original japanese ramen. Pretty damn good I must say, but they wanted us to *pay* for kimchi! The bastards!!!
2 WangKon936 December 28, 2009 at 1:42 pm: Yes, the Japanese are working in pay-for-your-own banchan into their food culture and it’s seeping outside their borders!

You better watch out… I heard Chinese-style Korean food is also pay for your own banchan. Well, at least they are starting out by charging you for banchan. If you think about it, giving more than a token amount of side dishes for free is quite unique to Korea. So much so that Japanified and Sinofied Korean food have taken out free banchan all together.
3 JW December 28, 2009 at 1:48 pm: I think I’m gonna buy me some shares of KEP

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=KEP
4 thekorean December 28, 2009 at 1:49 pm: The day any “Korean restaurant” near me starts charging for banchan is the day I become a serial arsonist. I swear.
5 JW December 28, 2009 at 1:57 pm: Wow…i hate the fact that I can’t figure out how the stock price charts work on finance.yahoo.co.kr

They make things so complicated.
6 JW December 28, 2009 at 3:01 pm: A long Economist piece on how immigration will make America stronger — with Korean-Americans introduced front and center. Boo-ya!!

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15108634&source=most_commented
7 Sperwer December 28, 2009 at 3:40 pm: To each his own, I guess — personally, I don’t find Japanese cuisine to be particularly appealing, but that’s just me.

Yeah, but then they aren’t trying to convince the rest of the world it is, either.
8 robert neff December 28, 2009 at 4:50 pm: I like the “old Korea” when the empty panchan dishes was refilled without asking and there were still free refills at McDonalds……alas…..
9 michael December 28, 2009 at 11:01 pm: “…measures to attract foreign talent…” Has there been some decline in Russian bar hostesses?

Apparently Japanese cuisine is HUGE in Korea now, look at all the izakayas that have sprouted up in Seoul. OK, maybe most of them are Koreanized and they’re basically sake bars, but some are really good.
10 WangKon936 December 29, 2009 at 1:21 am: Has Kuroda been to Japan (particularly Tokyo and Osaka) recently?

I’m surprised he would make such comments considering how much kimuchi, yakiniku, shochu, chijim and “bibimba” Japanese restaurants serve nowadays.
11 The Artful Dodger December 29, 2009 at 7:39 pm: (a.k.a. Extra! Korea)

@ JW

I have to disagree with this part:

He wanted to pop out to the corner shop, but realised he would have to put on a smart shirt and trousers, despite the intense humidity. What would the neighbours think if they saw him in shorts and flip-flops?

On numerous occasions, I have seen Koreans in, or going to, a convenience store dressed exactly as above.