Author Archives: R. Elgin

Psst, want to buy some used marble cheap?

A Fearful Bit of Trolling — Chinese Style

John Kennedy of Globalvoicesonline.org has posted interesting look at a Chinese exchange troll, allegedly living here in Korea, who claims that Koreans are now persecuting Chinese students — the same ones who were only trying to protect the “sacred flame” (sure). While this poster’s grasp on reality is blatantly distorted, some of the Chinese [...]

Park Kyung-ni(ree), 1926-2008

Park Kyung-ni(ree), one of the most important Korean novelists has passed. Her masterwork entitled “The Land” (toji) is believed to be the summation of modern Korean literature. The first two sections have been translated into English and can be found here.

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What Chinese Students Abroad Think . . .

As this is of current interest, this is an interesting article from the NY Times on the thoughts and views of Chinese students abroad.

The Olympic Rock Throwing Competition Winner: China

photo: Yonhap News Agency
The Olympic torch has come and gone through South Korea but not without surprises. The trip through Japan was marked with some outcry from groups that are critical of China’s policies in Tibet but Seoul was an entirely different matter since the most criticism against China’s human rights violations stems from [...]

A Heaven for The Best ?

Photo: Seokyong Lee for The New York Times
Sam Dillon of the NY Times posts a portrait of two of the most demanding schools in Korea for those students seeking entrance to an Ivy League school in the U.S. and it is all work, with some play. Read the article and see the slide show [...]

Quiet Diplomacy or Just Fear?

It seems that the Olympic Torch will be coming to South Korea on or around April 26 but the odd thing is that the only mention of this is by the JoongAng Ilbo article on “Athletes selected to carry the torch in North Korea“. Naturally the North Koreans will cheer for the torch (which [...]

Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold . . .

So not only was Kim DJ in the US during LMB’s visit but now it seems that “A former South Korean intelligence agent granted asylum in the United States said Monday he will disclose what he knows about the suspicions surrounding former President Kim Dae-jung’s Nobel Peace Prize at a news conference this weekend.” — [...]

Kim Hye-Jin, Author Interviewed

There is an interesting interview with Global Voices contributor, Kim Hye-Jin, a Korean contributor to Global Voices, who has written a novel called Jia — A Novel of North Korea. The interview is here.
Kim Hye-Jin also “works as a development adviser for the Singapore Korean School and as a technical interpreter facilitating [...]

And You Thought Samul Nori Was Loud . . .

Orchestras in the EU now need to consider how loud their orchestras are and if orchestra members should wear earplugs . . . believe it or not.

Open Thread #47

For the weekend; melt-down to your hearts content.

“History is linked to legitimacy”

The NYTimes has an timely article on China’s construction of a new museum dedicated to the official history of Tibet™. As per the article:
History is often interpreted to meet the political objectives of whichever government is doing the interpreting. The historical relationship between Tibet and China is replete with claims, disputes and caveats. But [...]

Wheel Chair Season . . .

The special prosecutor has indicted Lee Kun-hee for tax evasion and breach of trust. The Bloomberg link is here.

MySpace in Korea

Chris DeWolfe of MySpace was just in Korea (Yonsei U.) to announce the Korean version of MySpace.com and it is already looking better than Cyworld since U.S. Cyworld users can not send messages to Cyworld users in Korea or access their account through the Korean portal (infranet!?).

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Beauty and Learning: Korean Painted Screens: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

An exhibit of painted screens (ch’aek-kori) from Korea are on display as part of an exhibit entitled “Beauty and Learning: Korean Painted Screens“.
. . . Organized by Soyoung Lee, assistant curator of the department of Asian art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s tightly focused exhibition “Beauty and Learning: Korean Painted Screens” places four marvelous examples [...]

Chinese Paramilitary Coming to Seoul?

I did not think this would really be the case but it seems the Chinese guys in blue (see here) are actually Chinese Paramilitary and they will be coming to Seoul, with the Olympic torch, after all. Apparently even the chairman of the London 2012 Olympic games described these guys as “thugs”. Wonderful [...]

Guess Who’s Coming to Seoul?

British Police and Chinese Guards surround the torch — Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
The Olympic Torch relay has moved through England and through much protest, lasting throughout the entire route through England. Due to concerns over the protests, at one point “the flame was rushed onto a double-decker bus decked out with the slogan “Light the [...]

The Cognitive Dissonance of the Olympics — It’s More Than Just Han

Here is a thought to consider:
Gary Hall Jr., who is trying to reach his fourth Olympics in swimming, said the U.S.O.C. (United States Olympic Committee) would send subtle messages about avoiding controversial subjects during athlete media and cultural training for the Games (in China). “It’s discouraged, that’s clearly understood, . . . “The Olympic Games [...]

The Drummer Did It . . .

This wonderful little video is of a Korean song but the guitarist looks Japanese and the drummer is absolutely wild. A Wild Korean Band

A Dynamic Korea

Norimitsu Onishi has posted (NY Times) a nice article on Vietnamese women married to Koreans.

A BBC Special on the Rise of The Korean Missionary

BBC Radio 4’s Crossing Continents has a report on Korean missionary work in Asia (March 31, 2030 GMT). As per the article on such, some of the more interesting quotes run as such:
. . . many church members in South Korea go a step further, signing up for visits to Korean missions abroad - [...]

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