Open Thread #134

by Robert Koehler on January 23, 2010

Well, it’s looking rather nice this weekend. Good photo weather.

{ 87 comments… read them below or add one }

1 WangKon936 January 23, 2010 at 10:11 am
2 thekorean January 23, 2010 at 10:15 am

Right now, Joo Seong-Ha at Nambuk Story is running an incredible series about a woman who used to be a part of Kim Jong-Il’s harem. Go check it out.

3 JW January 23, 2010 at 10:19 am

Yes yes yes, I cannot wait for the next parts of the series. Mr. Joo deserves a medal for being able to get this woman to talk.

4 Mark January 23, 2010 at 10:27 am

Korea leads the world in pornography industry revenue per capita. Does this mean it’s more expensive in Korea, or just that there’s more of it?

5 Sonagi January 23, 2010 at 10:29 am

I like the new simplified “like/dislike” and riddance of the somewhat redundant star rating.

6 thekorean January 23, 2010 at 10:37 am

You spoke to soon, Sonagi. I will give you five stars anyway.

7 pawikirogii January 23, 2010 at 10:57 am

‘Does this mean it’s more expensive in Korea, or just that there’s more of it? ‘

wiki page says the graph is unreliable. looks like it was made up. 25 billion for porn? i smell a korea basher.

8 WeikuBoy January 23, 2010 at 11:05 am

With last week’s election of a 41st GOP senator, and Senate Dems indicating they plan to do nothing to stop the GOP’s abuse of filibusters in order to block “progressive” (= slightly less regressive corporatist) legislation, the end of the Year of Hope that Things Might be Different in the U.S. ought to be noticed.

“The major point of democracy is that the majority of the people shall rule. We also stick in some rights for minority voices so that they are not constantly abused and ignored when they voice legitimate complaints.” — Lollabrats from a different thread

I can haz democracy?

Sincerely,
We the Majority of the American People who want national health care (and gun control, reproductive freedom, legalized marijuana, etc.).

9 theotherkorean January 23, 2010 at 11:29 am

Pics supposedly showing North Korean multiple rocket launchers, self propelled guns, and their shelters. Assuming that the pics are real, the shelters look a bit flimsy. Kind of makes you wonder.

http://bemil.chosun.com/nbrd/gallery/view.html?b_bbs_id=10044&pn=10&num=130508

The guy who posted the pics was also kind to throw in some uhm…bonus pics.

10 theotherkorean January 23, 2010 at 11:43 am

A month old article, but it looks like Korea is thinking about buying F-35Bs for operations from the amphibious assault ship Dokdo.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/12/205_40483.html

More info regarding the Dokdo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokdo_class_amphibious_assault_ship

11 pawikirogii January 23, 2010 at 11:53 am

for those who have netflix, might i make a suggestion for instant wiew? the korean ghost story ‘arang’ would be a good way to spend 2 hours. yes, it’s a ‘ring’ like story with the long haired lady ghost looking for revenge, but since this is a ghost story wrapped up in a police procedural, it will appeal to the fellas. With some scary moments, high production values, and a fast-moving, linear storyline, i think those who decide to watch will like what they see.

ps don’t take the first sight of the ghost as an indication of the films quality. you see it within 3 mins of the movie. i thought the blood tears looked fake but that must have been a glitch because the technical quality is high throughout. on a related note, i think hollywood bought the rights to this one.

12 Granfalloon January 23, 2010 at 1:15 pm

Found this interesting little tidbit about some of the mega-skyscrapers that were started in the past decade, and where they stand now:
http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2010/01/Building-Worlds-Tallest-Skyscraper/
Intriguing that within the next few years, four of the world’s top ten skyscrapers could be right here in the ROK.

13 WangKon936 January 23, 2010 at 1:20 pm

Mark,

Maybe they don’t download it for free as much? Maybe they have to rely on more expensive, imported Japanese porn?

14 WangKon936 January 23, 2010 at 1:25 pm

@ # 9,

Do they hitch plows on those things during the harvest season?

15 Diggie January 23, 2010 at 5:02 pm

(Sorry I’m shouting this one from the rooftops – shouldn’t this be on the cover the KT?)

Shania Twain can’t get enough of that 한국 남자 엉덩이 and 섹시한 입술… John Park, the American Idol heartthrob. Even the youtube comments go on and on about how hot Korean guys are…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lVpxu8lUhA

16 mazef January 23, 2010 at 5:32 pm

For `earthy’ lovers only, check out http://lostonjeju.blogspot.com/
for the newest statuaries as well as nice wrap-up on links under the entry ddongchim.

17 ❧❦ღ☃。.◦*இ January 23, 2010 at 10:52 pm

Hmmm, Yuhakseng‘s photos seem to be a big issue. Know it?
Anyway, how do u think of the comments here, http://www.flickr.com/photos/40797877@N00/166854142/in/pool-1095994@N20 ?
All the three parties, the Korean girl, her boyfriend and Brendan and the commenters are quite new and strange to me. I’m just learning. Well, u know, I was born and raised in a quite isolated environment and learned everything from writings.

18 The Artful Dodger January 24, 2010 at 12:03 am

(a.k.a. Extra! Korea)

@ #15/Diggie

(Sorry I’m shouting this one from the rooftops – shouldn’t this be on the cover the KT?)

Well, the Korea Herald wrote about it yesterday and I blogged about it the day before.

19 RECYCLE January 24, 2010 at 7:13 am

Direct Foreign Investment in to Korea is still low. Why is this? Well, the answer is simple. Korea’s brand value is still too low. This means that Korea is still not to the level where people have great interest in. And why is Korea’s brand value low and Korean people don’t care? The answer is the mentality of Korean people are very inward. They don’t market their own food, culture, etc. When Koreans emigrate, they have their own Korean festivals, but they don’t show it to the public. They are usually are “hidden” and not advertised in English and only in Hangul. Korea’s biggest asset to get into the world’s spotlight is their food. Koreans don’t care or work on branding their food into top star ratings like the French, Italian, Japanese, etc. do. Korea is also always wasting their time on always comparing with the Japanese. Who cares about the Japanese. I’m an ethnic Korean from the U.S. (Korean-American) and I don’t give a shit or care about the Japanese. My family or I don’t even own any type of Japanese product or car. We all purchase mostly Korean or some American goods. Koreans need to wake up and only work on making their country cool and well known. Koreans need to get more capital into their country to develop the country into a cleaner, greener, efficient and high-tech country. The food industry is another asset that can probably really boost Korea’s GDP. If Korea was a fully developed, 1st world country, then their wouldn’t be a wave of high emigration still. When there is high scale emigration, it means their country sucks. Koreans also need to be educated on being sanitary. Too many Koreans of all ages litter. It’s still quite dirty in Korea in many places. It’s not everywhere, but in many places where foreigners can go, the trash is there and it leaves a bad image of Korea as a backward country. Koreans need to be more outward and start localization when they do business overseas. I hope Koreans can brand their country and make their country clean.

20 RECYCLE January 24, 2010 at 7:18 am

One more topic I have to add about Korea is the topic of SEX. I have some female Korean friends. They are not Korean-Americans, but Koreans from Korea. They told me that talking about sex even among friends is a taboo. When I heard this, I thought this was so weird considering the fact that Korea has a huge sex industry. There are red light districts, barber salons for “special” services, coffee girls and so on. If people can talk about sex with their friends or have sex education, then Koreans can control their population and not be so overpopulated. The size of Korea is too small for the population they currently have. Also, Korea is still known as the country that throws away their babies. If Koreans were educated about sex, birth control, contraceptive use and family planning, then Korea will be more developed. Koreans should also have easy access to contraceptives as well. These are just my ideas in helping Korea become a 1st world country.

21 gangpehmoderniste January 24, 2010 at 7:50 am

Korea has a life expectancy higher than the Uk and one of the lowest birthrates in the world and it is considered by everybody with something vaguely resembling a brain (emphasis on vaguely) a first world country, the same cannot really be said anymore about a few Oecd members (what Iceland is still doing there ? Hungary ??? Spain ????????)

But anyway, somehow i smell a troll here

And sex, i really don’t know what you’re talking about it seems to me on the favourite topics of Koreans, like it is for pretty much everybody else

22 gangpehmoderniste January 24, 2010 at 8:02 am

recycle pray tell from what paradise of sanitation and civic sense you come from ?

PS

Maybe some more effective sex education could be used by white American&British teens too considering they reproduce at African rates

23 Minjokjuuija January 24, 2010 at 9:12 am

gangpehmoderniste,

Even if Korea managed to score at or near the top on all those various measures typically used to determine “1st world” status, you would still be hearing from both fake Korean trolls like “RECYCLE” and Western opinion makers and leaders about how Korea must do this and that if it wants to be part of the “1st world” and join the club.

It’s a tool used to try to manipulate and influence Korea (and other nations). Many often point out that Korea itself is obsessed with appearing as “1st world” as possible, and I agree that this is the case. It is a big part of the problem. It makes us vulnerable to these influences, which we generally don’t really understand and fail to see as often contrary and downright hostile to our interests.

At this point, it’s not about improving on different material measures in Korea, where they’re high enough. Korea would have to implement a massive social engineering project and gives all kinds of rights to homosexuals, break down restrictions on those with HIV/AIDS from entering the country, open the borders to huge numbers of immigrants from poor and dysfunctional countries, give up national sovereignty on a whole host of things, and on and on in order to appease the Western arbiters of “1st world” status. And this wouldn’t be enough. Even if we managed to do all these things (i.e. destroy Korea) there would be something new that had to be done. We would always be on the cusp of “1st world” status.

24 aaronm January 24, 2010 at 10:12 am

Anyone ever heard of a Korean firm called Future Green Human (FGH Group)? Apparently they have the rights to run a goldmine in Southeast Sulawesi. A cursory google search revealed nothing. Anyhow, it’s just the latest of a number of Korean investments here in Indonesia and Sulawesi looks like it’s particularly favored by SK companies for agribusiness and extractive ventures.

25 aaronm January 24, 2010 at 10:18 am

And while I’m on the subject of Indonesian-Korean relations right now, here’s one that flew right under the radar (pardon the pun) in August.

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/1249919172/pt-di-to-deliver-four-cn-235-planes-to-south-korea

Indonesia selling military surveillance aircraft to South Korea, who would have guessed it?

26 AliceInWonderland January 24, 2010 at 10:30 am

#22
I agree.
I hail from a dysfunctional third-world country myself (the place wan’t always such a mess though) and lived in a first-world country in Europe for a brief while, where I experienced ignorance and stupidity (blatant) and discrimination (not so blatant, but savage nonetheless) on a scale which I thought existed only in Africa.
Korea should ignore all these people screaming about first world values. In the so-called 1st world these values seldom exist anywhere other than on paper anyway.

27 Sonagi January 24, 2010 at 10:54 am

They are not Korean-Americans, but Koreans from Korea. They told me that talking about sex even among friends is a taboo.

Bwahahaha. Even married thirty-something Christian friends would occasionally talk about their sexcapades with their husbands, and don’t get me started on the raging hormones of middle school girls.

28 Sonagi January 24, 2010 at 10:56 am

Oh, the secrets and Korean slang I learned by snatching notes passed back and forth between friends in class, hehehe.

29 NetizenKim January 24, 2010 at 11:09 am

Any Kiwi’s here? Thinking about visiting New Zealand sometime this year.

30 NetizenKim January 24, 2010 at 11:19 am

Chinese authorities announcement of tightening monetary policy and Obama’s proposal to castrate the big banks have caused the stock markets to fall last week. I should have waited for an opporunity like this before I bought APWR, NEP, and JST. Making the same stupid rookie mistakes I did 10 years ago. BTW, if you enjoy hair-raising volatility and insomnia, I highly recommend buying Chinese stocks!

31 inkevitch January 24, 2010 at 11:21 am

Aaronm,

Future Green Human and they are doing goldmining? Most gold mines process the ore on sight and they use cyanide to leach the gold. Now while I don’t know for certain the industrial practices of foreign companies in Indonesia nor do I know for certain how a Korean companies behave themselves in vulnerable markets I would assume that this would lead to some significant environmental degradation at the processing site. Most of the worst abuses of the environment in mining has occurred through gold ore processing accidents. There was an Australian company that did bad bad things in Eastern Europe.

32 pawikirogii January 24, 2010 at 11:29 am

‘But anyway, somehow i smell a troll here’

yep, i thought so too as i read it. english seems to improve with 2nd post.

****
warning: the source of that link on korean porn is a source for malware. tried to download in my comp. within 20 seconds. 25 billion for a country where there are some 23 million males? i knew it was suspicious.

*****
just started watching ‘the return of iljjimae’ , a fusion saguk from mbc. fantastic! much better than ‘damo’ which was the studios first attempt at such a genre. korean televison just gets better and better every year that passes. not bad for a country always trying to be a 1st one.

gangpe, do you watch k-tv?

33 NetizenKim January 24, 2010 at 11:48 am

My parents went on a cruise recently. They met the owner of the highly successful Minado sushi buffet chain and his wife. My mom says to me: “guess how they make the kimbop?” I said: “they trained Mexican workers to make kimbop?” My mom says: : “No. They use robotics.”

34 Arghaeri January 24, 2010 at 11:52 am

“do this and that if it wants to be part of the “1st world” and join the club.”

I’m not so sure, it seems to me I often see articles on Korean ministers in the like making these kinds of statements, funniest were in relation to investment status, even after they were upgraded to first world by the London Stock Exchange

35 Darth Babaganoosh January 24, 2010 at 1:09 pm

They are not Korean-Americans, but Koreans from Korea. They told me that talking about sex even among friends is a taboo.

Complete, utter nonsense.

36 aaronm January 24, 2010 at 1:36 pm

#30, SE Sulawesi already has pollution issues due to illegal/traditional gold mining where small operators are using mercury and the runoff is affecting rivers. At least through government channels FGH will have to apply environmental standards, as loose as they may be.

37 Diggie January 24, 2010 at 2:13 pm

@17

Thank you so much for the info!!! Justice is done, justice is done. Finally. Well, I will rest easier tonight (beside my Korean gf), knowing that somewhere out there white girls are waking up to the incredible sexiness, and overall manliness that makes Asian guys in general, but Korean guys in particular, such a good mate for the fun short time roll in the hay or for life.

And please God, please, don’t make John Park turn out to be gay. I saw the hugs with the a cappella set after the audition and my heart sank a little. But I’m certain John is straight as a Hwarang’s arrow.

38 abcdefg January 24, 2010 at 5:35 pm

I’m making this week Kim Ki-Deok week, apparently.

I just got done watching 3 Iron. Loved it, again. I’m fascinated by it and appreciate its tension between its notions of ‘place’ – dream vs reality, life and death, love and loneliness, crime and punishment, luck and misfortune, silence and speech- and how all these threads somehow tie in together in with the notion of ‘ghost’, of not being real and yet being real, of being a stranger in no one’s home, and yet finding no escape outside of it. Stylistically, 3 Iron is minimalist Kim Ki-Deok, yet it works. Visually, it’s probably his coziest film.

I think I’m going to watch “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…” next.

39 abcdefg January 24, 2010 at 5:47 pm

@17,

Can Park become the next American Idol?

… Dear God, no!

His voice is mediocre at best and he’s not, in any conventional sense, the comeliest Asian mofo in the world. He does have a modest, Americanized appeal to him, though.

When I watched the episode, I was like “Hooyeah! Shania has Yellow Fever — my kind of girl!” But I am, smartly, leaving it at that. Park ain’t going nowhere.

40 WeikuBoy January 24, 2010 at 7:09 pm

Hate to burst your bubble, but man you all are naive.
Nothing that happens in U.S. corporate media is real.
Don’t you watch ‘Mad Men’? (or ‘The War on Terra’?)
American Idol is trying to appeal to a new demographic. This is a good thing. Unless you think William Hung advanced the image of Asians in America. Accept it for what it is, and be pleased.

41 dry January 24, 2010 at 7:13 pm

#36: Post your thoughts after you do see it. Granted, I’m not sure where to peg myself in terms of liking his films (and I haven’t seen many), but I felt Kim Ki-Duk was a little sloppy with that one, and noticeably because a lot of the scenes had great potential with some fine tuning.

42 Ladron January 24, 2010 at 9:43 pm

I’ve read about this John Park guy (never watch the show), and I see 2 outcomes-

1) He wins and then I have to spend the next year hearing about how Koreans are the greatest singers in the world, apparently because of their pure blood genetics (which somehow succumb to sleeping with a fan on);

or

2) He loses at some point, at which time I have to spend the next year hearing about how the judges on the show, and Americans in general, are racists and would never let him win despite his superior singing abilities due to his pure blood genes.

43 madar January 24, 2010 at 11:23 pm

Just turned on the TV and saw a scene from Bosuk Bibimbap, episode 42. It had their white main character in a club, dancing with some hotties. He proceeded to beat the stuffing out of a Korean gangster type, who was pummeling someone else, to general applause. It made me thing of the whole Sexy Mong controversy based on the story that had a foreigner raping Korean women in clubs. I think this episode proves the Korean television establishment does not have a raciest slant, (at least in regards to light skin foreigners; although I just recently watched a comedy based on try outs to become a top New York Gangster, where black characters where presented favorable, except for being gangsters!) Therefore, I now completely support Korean writers who produce scripts with foreign villains, as long as their stories don’t suck!

44 JW January 24, 2010 at 11:35 pm

Dude, the white guy in the Bosuk drama is about to get involved in a love triangle with the hottest looking girl in the show. There is absolutely NO racism whatsoever directed against that guy by the writer of the show. For christ sakes, more than a few times the guy makes fun of the korean characters for not being able to speak ENGLISH!! (I almost stopped watching cuz of that) His real name is “Michael Blunck” by the way. Although, I will admit, the exceedingly pro-whiteguy perspective might have more to do with the fact that it was written by an ajumma rather than ajeoshi.

45 JW January 24, 2010 at 11:44 pm

Possible counterpoint to above claim — Horace Allen is one of the main characters of the historical drama 제중원 that’s playing right now, and he’s portrayed as the nicest most righteous foreigner who can even speak Korean within 2 weeks of arriving on korean soil, but the guy is played by a guy named Sean Richard who looks more asian rather than white.

46 WeikuBoy January 25, 2010 at 1:21 am

Pretty hilarious.

I just reviewed this thread to see which posts received positive reviews (Sonagi leads at +3, no doubt because of the gyopo shiksa factor) and negative reviews (almost everyone else, though I’m proud to say I lead at -5 on my post noting the end of the Year of Hope that came (and went with nothing accomplished) with Obama + Dems in the U.S.

I think I see where The Marmot’s readership is coming from these days and why Telling The Truth about Korea (or the U.S.) is no longer favored.

47 Diggie January 25, 2010 at 2:28 am

@38

“. . . he’s not, in any conventional sense, the comeliest Asian mofo in the world. He does have a modest, Americanized appeal to him, though.”

You are right, of course, there a millions of better looking Asian dudes out there (and with better voices), but I do hope that his “modest, Americanized appeal” carries him at least as far as the not-so-comely white chicks & dicks on popular Korean tv get to travel on their particular brand of modest, Koreanized appeal. Well, actually further . . . now that I think about it.

Are there really any non-gyopo foreign residents/citizens in Korea that have ever made the pop entertainment big time?

There’s 이참 and his tv/film stuff, and recently what’s his face from Tamla the Island, Hwang Chan Bin (Pierre Deporte) . . . And I don’t think so-called “mixed” Koreans count like Kim In-soon. I’m talking “pure” foreign local talent.

48 DLBarch January 25, 2010 at 3:19 am

Hot Damn! Susumu Inamine just won the mayorship of Nago City on Okinawa. It’s time for Hatoyama to get off the fence and finally close Futenma, and for the U.S. to move it to Guam, where it belongs.

DLB

49 Sonagi January 25, 2010 at 3:52 am

Just watched John Park. Looks and voice are okay, nothing special. I didn’t get a good look at his backside, but if he is endowed with a round, juicy bottom like many of his ethnic brethren, then I can understand why a white woman in her mid-forties might gush.

50 WangKon936 January 25, 2010 at 4:02 am

Sonagi… you’re making me (us?) feel like a piece of meat!

51 CactusMcHarris January 25, 2010 at 4:13 am

#48,

I’m glad you speak out for the sensual wants of the distaff side of the TMH, but tell me you don’t consistently watch that garbage? I had heard that it rots your brain, so I figured since you don’t show any sign of going off of the deep end, your viewing was simply an ethnographic investigation of another sign of the coming Apocalypse.

And before you say so, I know taste in television, like almost anything else, cannot be accounted for, and yes, I did like Avatar.

52 Won Joon Choe January 25, 2010 at 4:24 am

Indeed. Check out the Korean’s link at #2:

If nothing else, read it for a hilarious description of Kim Jong-il’s “혁명적” 방귀! :)

53 JW January 25, 2010 at 4:46 am

I was talking to the associate pastor at our church today who’s also a fan of Joo Seong Ha, and according to him some idiot fucking guy who kept on harassing Joo online by branding him as 빨갱이 was caught and prosecuted or something to that effect, and they made him write a longass 반성문. LOL You can see it right here:

http://114.200.199.234/gnuboard4/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sasi1&wr_id=999563

54 thekorean January 25, 2010 at 5:28 am

That 반성문 is on Nambuk Story as well. It’s a freakin’ classic.

55 Sonagi January 25, 2010 at 5:28 am

@Cactus *48:

I own a television but do not have cable or satellite and only ever use my TV for watching an occasional DVD. Not having cable or satellite and a DVD collection comprised mostly of Asian films is an effective means of discouraging visiting relatives from overstaying their welcome.

56 JW January 25, 2010 at 9:47 am

Oh wow, Korean, that one 반성문 post didn’t show up on Google Reader…strange.

57 hoju_saram January 25, 2010 at 11:12 am

Hi people!

I’ve put together an 18-minute doco on a pilot in the Korean War, and I’ve been asked to make a 1-hour doco of stories of the Korean War. I’m actually looking around for some ex-korean /chinese vets to interview. Anyone have any ideas?

58 Sperwer January 25, 2010 at 11:29 am

Ask Andy Salmon

59 pawikirogii January 25, 2010 at 11:35 am
60 hoju_saram January 25, 2010 at 11:39 am

Andy Salmon?

61 JW January 25, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Per the 기쁨조 woman introduced in Nambukstory:

“아마 김정일은 특히 자기 별장과 아지트 이야기 하는 것 가장 싫어할 겁니다.”

“Probably one thing that KJI hates the most is other people talking about his countryside mansions and hideouts”

And then she agrees to talk about one such secret underground location. Is it just me or does Joo Seong Ha seem to be seriously risking his safety here? Just wow.

62 WangKon936 January 25, 2010 at 12:11 pm

Early Heian court reenactors in what appears to be Korean style dress and hair style.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mboogiedown/2056148221/

63 JW January 25, 2010 at 12:16 pm

I wonder what it’s like to uh, spend a night with a woman who has her face made up like a 귀신 straight out of 전설의 고향. I bet lots of guys would go for an experience like that. But not me, I swear.

64 pawikirogii January 25, 2010 at 12:52 pm

well, according to many japanese and their otakus, korean clothing is just a fabrication of korean televsion.

kudara myoshin?

65 WangKon936 January 25, 2010 at 1:05 pm

I’m having an online conversation with a buddy on Korean Three Kingdom’s history. I’ll share a few links.

Pawi, you shouldn’t listen to otakus… ;)

Silla heavy cavalry armor appears to have been similar to Goguryeo’s.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2907709

66 pawikirogii January 25, 2010 at 1:14 pm

i’m trying but one seems to have taken a hating to my blog. thank god i decided to moderate comments.

67 WangKon936 January 25, 2010 at 1:42 pm

KBS documentary on Goguryeo and Turkish relations with English subs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rauc7lkX43o

68 WangKon936 January 25, 2010 at 1:56 pm

Pawi,

Kudara is the Japanese name for the Kingdom of Baekje. Refugees from the Baekje royal family adopted Kudara as their family name.

Possible theories to the etymology of Kudara and why it’s so different than the Korean and Chinese names (Pai-Chi) for Baekje are explored well here:

http://www.corea.it/kudara_1.htm

69 pawikirogii January 25, 2010 at 3:10 pm

wangkon, thanks for the links and info but just a small note: i’ve known about the name ‘kudara’ for a long time now. :-)

70 WangKon936 January 25, 2010 at 4:14 pm

I’m sure you have… but do you know why? There are several theories. Koreans favor the theory that it’s old Korean for Kun-Nara or “Big Country” or “Big Village.” I don’t perscribe to that view. I think it’s more related to the old Korean term for nation of the bear totem. Hey, but I could be wrong too.

Also, did you know that Baekje contributed at least one word to the Japanese lexicon? It’s “Kudaranai” which means trifling and meaningless or literally “not of Baekje.” The theory is that all the good stuff from the peninsula was from Baekje (be it Buddhism, Chinese texts, arts, metallurgy, statecraft, bureaucratic methods, etc.) so if it was not from Baekje, then it was “meaningless” and not worth anything. The theory is expanded upon here:

http://kitombo.com/e/mikami/0709.html

71 WangKon936 January 25, 2010 at 4:18 pm

Interesting how Baekje people are. They claimed to be refugees from the Korean Manchurian Kingdom of Buyeo to the Mahan chieftains and thus adopted Buyeo as their family name and then in Japan, refugees once again, they adopted Kudara as their family name…

72 8675309 January 25, 2010 at 5:26 pm

I’m actually looking around for some ex-korean /chinese vets to interview. Anyone have any ideas?

Your whole spiel reminds me of Andrew Salmon’s gusto in putting together his masterpiece about the Gloster Regiment’s last stand on Hill 235/Gloster Hill during the Battle of the Imjin River, which was a part of the biggest battle of the Korean War, the Chinese Spring Offensive .

After the book came out, Andrew made some comments that Korea has every right to be — and should be — proud of its military history and traditions in the same way that other allied nations are who participated in the Korean War are, and that Korea should even take a cue from Britain in celebrating its military past and in creating military traditions of its own.

Now while I can totally see where Andrew is coming from, I don’t think Andrew fully realizes how Koreans feel about the Korean War and war in general. While celebrating martial traditions, studying military history and playing armchair general are time-worn traditions, legitimate fields of research and the grog of pop culture in western society — especially in English-speaking, i.e., ‘victor’ nations — in the Asian mindset, war has little to do with heroics, bravery, courage or even making history.

I think what Andrew and others like him fail to realize is that not only do Koreans, Vietnamese, and Japanese, Chinese and other Asians of the post-war generation have no interest in things like the Korean or Vietnam wars, the older generations who fought those wars — especially in Korea and Vietnam — would rather just forget about it and are extremely reticent to say anything about it.

It’s an interesting dichotomy don’t you think? In occidental cultures, war still equals bravery, courage, making history, whereas in oriental cultures, people prefer to forget about it and act as if it never happened.

Any reasons as to why?

73 Sperwer January 25, 2010 at 6:28 pm

Hoju Saram at #59:

See: http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57854 for some contact info for Andy Salmon, author of a book about the Glosters @ the Imjin (i.e., not the Andy Salmon who is the current commandant of The Royal Marines).

74 Brendon Carr January 25, 2010 at 7:45 pm

News today of “mystery bidders” at Treasury bond auctions frightens the Dickens out of me. Although it’s cited as positive news, in that the mystery bidders are thought to be domestic US investment funds, what if the Fed and Treasury Department are lying to us? What if the Fed is buying all those T-bills with money it’s printing up to cover the hole in the auctions because nobody sensible wants to buy notes from the US government any more?

Market confidence seems to be slipping away after the Massachusetts Miracle unmasked the utter political impotence of the flim-flam man in the White House, and cast the public opposition to him in high relief. Our numbnuts President can’t address a room full of sixth-graders without his full TelePrompTer set up, for Christ’s sake! He’s the “smart guy”?!? Three more years of him? We’re fucked.

75 seouldout January 25, 2010 at 8:41 pm

Golly, they both had whirling dances. Well that just screams affinity at ya, doesn’t it?

No dispute that kings look for allies. But the dripping crotches for the Turks since 2002 seem a bit contrived.

That wanting for a chum?

76 JW January 26, 2010 at 1:03 am

I’ve always thought korea’s labor inflexibility was entirely bad for the economy — western experts are always saying this, but it has to mean that it’s bad for *their* business mostly — , but doesn’t it function as a hugely influential incentive to maintain a relatively high GDP growth rate? If labor inflexibility means higher frequency of destabilizing protests and greater risk of unemployment, you better damn well have a GDP that’s growing at a faster rate than other countries. Risk of social instability is always brought up as the main reason why Chinese government claims a GDP growth rate of 8 or 9 percent is absolutely necessary, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be similar in Korea’s case. But then there’s some research that shows labor being inflexible acts as a barrier to entrepreneurship, which can also drive GDP growth. So the question is, so you want inflexible labor + growth or flexible labor + growth? If I was the average Korean, I’d definitely go with the former option.

77 DLBarch January 26, 2010 at 2:37 am

JW,

Good grab. Labor inflexibility is not always a bad thing…Korea is Exhibit A. But it also helps if you have an aggressive industrial policy that promotes rapid growth and protects homegrown industries. Korea has and continues to do both. In a sense, you could argue (ahem) that by protecting key industries from meaningful foreign competition, Korea is effectively exporting unemployment.

DLB

78 WangKon936 January 26, 2010 at 3:44 am

Korean aid to Haiti now $15M!

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2010/01/25/98/0301000000AEN20100125004600315F.HTML

That’s probably less that some corporations or groups of actors, but at least it’s not $1M any more!

79 seouldout January 26, 2010 at 10:06 am

Marmots, the bloodthirsty killers on the mountains
.

Don’t show that recipe to the missus.

80 JW January 26, 2010 at 10:57 am

“中, 개고기 먹으면 처벌 추진”
“China to punish dogmeat consumption”

http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/01/26/2010012600574.html?Dep0=chosunmain&Dep1=news&Dep2=headline2&Dep3=h2_03

Whaaaat? Why? The heck is wrong with these people?

81 WangKon936 January 26, 2010 at 3:20 pm

I’m watching The Legend of Chun Li on Cinemax and and it’s cute to watch Kristin Kreuk try to speak Mandarin.

82 Granfalloon January 26, 2010 at 4:43 pm

I’ve never really been crazy about 떡, but this looks damn good:
http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/post/349211619/fried-rice-n-beef-wraps-rice-cakes-wrapped-in

83 cmm January 27, 2010 at 11:43 am

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35079187/ns/world_news-europe/?GT1=43001

The former pope (not the hirohito pope, the catholic one) whipping himself with a belt makes him a saint? …or perhaps something else.

84 pawikirogii January 27, 2010 at 12:53 pm

‘The former pope (not the hirohito pope, the catholic one)’ cmm

lol!

85 Iceberg January 27, 2010 at 1:08 pm

@cmm, There’s a street vendor near my house who sells those. They are damn good…after you remove the dduk.

86 Iceberg January 27, 2010 at 1:10 pm

Oops…previous comment was @Granfalloon…

87 JW January 27, 2010 at 1:31 pm

Fascinating article about how widespread are DDOS attacks and cyber bullies that extort “protection money” from companies with high value web sites.

http://www.csoonline.com/article/print/220336

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