Stories about South Korea from August, 2007
Korea: Korean Beef VS Non-Korean Beef
The Moon Festival, one of the biggest festivals, is coming soon in Korea. One of the customs is to send gifts to relatives or people to whom you would like to show your appreciation. The most popular and fancy gift box is beef. Not just beef… the best is Korean...
South Korea: E.Land Workers Strike
Workers from a local supermarket E.Land has been on strike for two months against the employer's termination of non-regular workers contract. Jamie from Two Koreas has some updates on the latest development.
South Korea: Lee Myung-bak Doctrine
Lee Byong-chul from Ohmynews reported on the presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak foreign policy, in particular his attitude towards North Korea and U.S.
South Korea: Inter-racial Love
Robert Koehler from the Marmot's Hole summarized a report on inter-racial love relation in one sentence: Korean men want to date foreign women because foreign women don’t view men as simply money-making machines, while Korean women want to date foreign men because it’s a good chance to learn English and...
Korea: Koreans in UTORO
There are 203 Koreans who are in a small village, Utoro in Japan. They have lived in Utoro since their ancestors were drafted for labor during the Japanese colonization period and they couldn’t afford the fare to go back to Korea. More than 60 years later, they are about to...
South Korea: A Girl's Suicide
Matt from Gust of popular feeling looked into the suicide of a 16-year-old girl, Lee Eun-ji. The cause was believed to be cyber bullying by superjunior fans. However, Matt pointed another factor: the T.V program's framing of her image in weight loss.
Korea: Relation With Islam
Robert Koehler from the Marmot's Hole looked into the historical ties between the Islamic and Korean civilizations since the Unified Silla period (668-935).
Korea and China: Olympic and Human Right
Colin Moore from Ohmynews! reported on a 444 days protest at the Seoul city center organized by Justice for North Korea (JFNK) with the aim of protesting the repatriation of North Korean refugees by Chinese authorities.
South Korea: Ideology of Ethnic Purity
Robert Koehler from Marmot's Hole introduced Lee Hun-beom's article which traces the history of migration in Korea. The article challenged the belief of ethnic Purity in Korea.
Korea: How Much Should One Ethnicity be Emphasized?
The emphasis on one ethnicity (danil minjok) in Korea society has become a problematic issue in international society. A news clip is below. A United Nations committee has urged Korea to recognize the diversity of its society and overcome its obsession with racial homogeneity. The U.N. Committee on the Elimination...
Korea: Coming Out about Academic Degrees
A hot topic in Korea now is the continual coming out of fake academic degree holders. Some of the most respected figures in many fields have been revealed to have fabricated their academic qualifications. A famous theatre actress in Korea was discovered, partly through confession and partly through expose, to...
South Korea: Aug 15
K. M. Lawson from frog in a well have written a few posts on how South Korean celebrated their independence day from Japanese colonialism in 1945: outdoor sport in City Hall; exhibition in Independence Hall; political leaflets; comfort woman protest outside Japanese embassy; opening day of Seodaemun prison where Korean...
South Korea: History of Landscape 1999 to 2006
Antti Leppänen from Hunjang posted pictures of a district, Nan'gok, in southern Seoul, which show the history of development and landscape from 1999 to 2006.
South Korea: Pop Arts in Korean painting
Antti Leppänen from Hunjang posted a painting of pop arts, robot cop, in traditional Korean painting style.
Korea: National Hero or Terrorist
What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘terrorists’? The word is at the center of a controversy over a lecture given on Korean modern history by a foreign professor. Marmot’s Hole, an American in Korea, writes about the issue. Foreign Professor Calls Kim Gu, Yun Bong-gil ‘Terrorists’: Report...
South Korea: Inter-Korean Summit Agenda Up-in-the-air
Lee Byong-chul from Ohmynews International reports on the difficulties in formulating the agenda for the inter-Korean summit.
Korea: The Second Meeting between North and South Korea
The Second North and South Korea summit will be held in the North Korean capital Pyongyang from the 28th to 30th of August. Seven years have passed since the first summit between the South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. As part of an international agreement,...
Korea: Media Entertainment, Lies, Fans, and Tragedy
Korean bloggers have been debating the use and absue of the media the latest, particulary in relation to the cases of a few celebrities. A Korean comedian who had been in hinding after lying several years ago returned to the public view this year. Previously, she had lost a tremendous...
China and South Korea: China’s pride offended
Some pet shop in Yongin City (in South Korea) had made a photoshoped version of Tiananmen gate that used a picture of a dog instead of Chairman Mao — the issue then turned into an international affair as China's pride claimed to be offended –More from R Elign, Marmot's Hole.
Korea: Netizens’ Opinions ≠ Citizens’ Opinions
As the longer Afghanistan hostage situation continues, there has been increasing divergence in treatment of these issues between main stream media and netizens. Netizens complain that their opinions are not taken as citizens’ opinions. Minoci writes, 이번 아프간 피랍사태에는 두 개의 여론이 존재한다. 대다수 저널들에서 쏟아내는, 의미없는 관습적 수사로서의 ‘국민'이...
Korea: Don't Make Me Older!
In Korea, there are two ways to calculate your age: the Korean way and the western way. Officially, the Korean method is the way to calculate your age in Korea. As soon as you are born, you are age one. No matter when you are born (like 31st of Demember),...