Author Archives: WangKon936

More on the Korean Kamikaze Pilot

The whole story was a little weird in the first place. It just got weirder. There actually appears to be some history behind it and the story is a bit more complex then one would think off hand.
It turns out that Tak Kyung-hyun’s Japanese name is Fumihiro Mitsuyama and he’s the subject of [...]

The Won Bites the Dust Yet Again…

Here we go again. The won has hit a new low against the dollar, falling to its weakest point in the past 30 months to 1,049.6 won to a dollar, a fact that has to be disconcerting to anyone getting their paychecks in the Korean currency and doing the mental calculation in another currency (i.e. [...]

Controversy Over a Memorial for a Korean Kamikaze Pilot

For those of you who don’t know, yes there were in fact Korean Kamikaze pilots during WWII. There were in fact 18 confirmed and probably more.
The actress Fukumi Kuroda is leading the charge (and footing most of the bill) to set-up a monument to Kamikaze pilot Tak Kyung-hyun in his hometown of Sacheon. It’s actually been built, it [...]

Stephen Colbert Has His Day in the Rain…

Stephen Colbert and Rain finally had their dance off.  According to yesterday’s Korea Times:
Top Korean singer Rain met his match during his visit to Los Angeles for the promotion of his movie, “Speed Racer.” The 25-year-old singer appeared on top comedian Stephen Colbert’s show “The Colbert Report.”
Video here.  Dialogue obviously kept to a minimum to [...]

Korean War Refugee Tracks Down U.S. Soldier

Okay, here’s a little break from bird flu and beef.  No NSFW pics, but we’ll have to make due with a more heart warming story for the time being.
According to a local Daytona Beach, FL paper, a Korean American immigrant tracked down a veteran of the 24th Infantry Division who had took him under his [...]

Warren Buffet: South Korea a Better Investment Bet then the U.S.

Ignoring the advice of legions of bitter waegookin, Warren Buffet has actually decided that South Korea isn’t such a bad place after all. After decades of sound financial decisions guiding Berkshire Hathaway into one of the most successful investment holding companies in the known universe, 77 year old Warren Buffet thinks that for 2008, South [...]

Bill Gates and Chung Mong-Koo Shake Hands on a Strategy for World Conquest

Okay, not really, but the picture is deserving of some kind of (attempt at a) witty remark.  It’s not every day you get a image of the two greatest living oligopolists of their respective countries conspiring with each other.
Anyways, looks like Bill Gates came to Korea on Tuesday to meet with LMB, business leaders and [...]

FAN DEATH! It’s What’s for Dinner…

As reported in two Chosun Ilbo articles, Koreans may be “going overboard” with mad cow disease. “PD Diary”, the famous MBC current affairs program, has claimed that 94 percent of Koreans have a “special” gene that makes them more susceptible to getting Mad Cow Disease vs. regular Americans or Britons (Canucks, Kiwis and Aussies were, [...]

Motorola is Scared of Korea?

So says today’s BusinessWeek Asia. With Samsung leaping past Motorola last year as the 2nd largest cellphone manufacturer and LG recently leaping past Sony Ericsson to take the #4 spot, consulting group Strategy Analytics says that Motorola is “…in real danger of being overtaken… by… [LG].”
It seems ever since they came up with the RAZR, [...]

Putting the Food Aid Where the Mouth is

Today’s Washington Posts asks if the new LMB administration will really put its food aid where its mouth is and choose principle over hunger in the North.
Does President Lee withhold food aid that may prop up the government of the North or will he help avert a possible humanitarian crisis? Choices.. choices…
Whereas some may [...]

On the Home Front: “All ya 20 and 30-somethings are a bunch of slackers!”

In a series of articles back stateside, it appears that Gen-Yers and Gen-Xers are getting written up as the slacker generation, growing-up with more privileges, education and prosperity than the older generations, but having less of the discipline, drive, focus and wisdom of the past. For example, it has been people in their late 20’s [...]

N. Korean / Syrian Video Made Public

Robert wanted to see it on Youtube, well how about Veoh?  The video shown to Congress has been made public.  Check out the chummy picture in 5:40.
Update
The Washington Post has published an interesting article theorizing why the administration has made public, seven months after Israeli jets destroyed the site, the findings.  It also introduces an [...]

Korea’s 40 Wealthiest

With the sub-prime tremors cooling down and with nothing else better to do on a slow news day, Forbes has compiled a list of Korea’s richest 40 people.  I know the gallery is not as interesting as the race girls or Djamilya scrubbing away dirt and body oil, but I sort of think that #4, Lee [...]

Qaddafi: “Say, that’s a nice tank you got there…”

This one slipped through the cracks, but apparently an 11 man Libyan military delegation came to town on March 20th and inquired about South Korean weaponry. Per a government source:
“The Libyan delegation apparently sought cooperation with Korea in the defense industry. I understand that since it normalized relations with the U.S., Libya has been [...]

To Graft or not to Graft

As you may all know, Lee Kun-hee has publicly resigned as Samsung Group’s Chairman.  Or has he?  According to today’s Washington Post, Lee’s power and influence may stay long after his announced resignation.  The tentacle-like arms of the Lee family are long and far reaching and the press conference yesterday may merely be a rehearsal [...]

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