Stories about South Korea from April, 2008
South Korea: Seoul Invaded by “The Ugly Chinese”
One free Korea described the pro-China Olympic torch protesters as invasion by “The Ugly Chinese”.
China and South Korea: Red Guards’ Gong Fu
Red Guard from tecn pointed out that the Olympic torch relay protest became an opportunity for Chinese to show off their Gong Fu. In the comment section, many commentators criticized that the Chinese protesters acted like red guards during the cultural revolution[zh].
Korean President's Visit to the U.S. and Media
The first summit between America and South Korea since the Korean Presidential Election was held in Washington in April. Current President Lee Myung Bak’s visit to the U.S. attracted the attention of netizens. Besides the contents of the conversation between the two representatives, the issue of how conventional media in...
Japan and China: Nationalistic Language Learning
Ampontan noticed the nationalistic rhetorics in Li Yang's crazy English teaching approach.
South Korea: Olympic Torch Relay Protest
R. Elgin from Marmot's Hole blog about the Olympic Torch relay protest in Seoul.
South Korea: Pro Tibet Mobilization
CINA forecasts a pro-Tibet protest during the Olympic Torch relay in Seoul the coming Sunday. According to the blogger, the extreme right to the left and the liberals will have a united front in supporting a free Tibet.
Korea: Roh Moo Hyun and Japanese Netizens
The previous Korean President, Roh Moo Hyun, as I wrote a previous post, ‘ Roh Moo Hyun Syndrome (March 30, 2008)’ has become famous even after his retirement due to his casual life style. While he generated hyeom-han gam-jeong (Japanese antipathy against Korea) during his governance, his life has been...
South Korea: 1960 Student Uprising
Matt wrote a historical review about the crackdown of student uprising against the manipulation of presidential election in April 19 in 1960.
Korea: Invincible Samsung Kingdom
Through the three-month investigation into alleged corruption at Samsung, Samsung snuck out of punishment again. Even though the special investigation team was established, and hidden bank accounts and illegal activities were found, it seems that it was not enough for categorizing it as a criminal act. Manhouse shows what the...
Hyejin Kim: A praised young novelist among GVO authors
Global Voices celebrates, this month, Hyejin Kim's first anniversary as the GVO Korean Language editor. She is also a celebrated young novelist: her debut book, 'Jia: A Novel of North Korea', has been highly praised as a very vivid and moving novel set in 1990’s North Korea. Is this story just fiction? Hyejin lets us know in this interview.
Korea: Rice Crisis in the past and at the present.
Issues related to the rice crisis are appearing everywhere. There have been serious demonstrations against opening the rice market to other countries in Korea. A netizen who participated in demonstrations for the domestic rice market talks about the past and the present. 15년전 겨울, 쌀개방 반대 선전지를 다시 읽어보며.. [68]...
Korea: Another Election and Disputes between those in their 20s and 30-40s.
The general election took place on the 9th of April. The result the absolute victory for the conservative party, the GNP that the current President Lee Myung Bak belongs to. While the majority expected the opposite result because of the continual disputes against policies of the current President, the result...
South Korea: AIDS Discrimination
Michael Solis from Ohmynews! writes about the lack of confidentiality for the treatment of AIDS, in particular for foreigners, in South Korea.
Korea: Drama Kingdom
Korean dramas have been popular outside Korea. There has been a term to refer to this popularity, Hallyu (Korean wave). Pretty girls and neat boys, and their pure love or triangular love relations…. They would be characters to represent Korean dramas. The popularity of Korean dramas has become one of...
South Korea: How the Dead are Remebered Differently?
Matt discusses about how the dead are remembered and forgotten in South Korea.
South Korea: Economic Policy
James from Two Koreas compared the economic policy of former and present South Korea President Roh and Lee.
Korea: Conflicts between Koreans in their 20s and in their 30-40s
Recently, there has been a series of demonstrations that Korean college students have led against the increase in tuition fees. Presidents of college students’ associations got together and tried to hand the letter to President, Lee Myung Bak, directly. Some students have had their heads shaved. The rapid increase, 6.5-9%...
Korea and Japan: Korea's Role in WWII
Ampontan referred to a Korean newspapers article titled Were Koreans Oppressors in the War, or its Victims? and carried on the discussion about politics and history writing.
