Stories about South Korea from March, 2006
Korea: Crime prevention
Robert in The Marmot's Hole questions whether Korea is as dangerous as the Korean National Police Agency's new crime prevention guide for foreigners makes it out to be. “The National Police Agency said it made the pamphlet because crimes against foreigners have been on the rise recently (funny, I didn’t...
Japan: Textbooks
The issue of Japanese textbooks is revisited today with new translations from Coming Anarchy and background to the controversy at The Korea Liberator.
Uzbekistan: Relations With Korea
Registan.net examines Uzbek President Islom Karimov's visit to South Korea to try to woo back investment dollars that have fled the unwelcoming investment climate in Uzbekistan.
North Korea: Official defects
Joshua from The Korea Liberator compares the recent defection of a North Korean man rumored to be a diplomat with the 2003 defection of senior North Korean weapons official Bok Ku Lee.
Korea: Navy's problems in public relations
Matt from Occidentalism posts on a new South Korean destroyer ship whose insignia, some argue, portrays missiles being fired toward Japan.
North Korea: Prison-camp musical
The Marmot Hole‘s Robert Koehler fingers North Korean apologists in the South Korean government with a look at the smash new musical Yodok Story, which portray's life in North Korea's Yodok camp for political prisoners.
South Korea: general strike
Joshua from The Korea Liberator examines the relevant labor issues leading up to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ general strike planned for next week.
South Korea: Pagan practice
“The proud new owner will set a blanket out in front of his/her new vehicle. On this blanket will be a smiling pig's head, plates of steamed pork, chopsticks, and bottles of soju. There will also be burning incense,” writes The Asia Pages, on the subject of pagan rituals in...
South Korea: Confucianism in action
The Asia Pages has a long and detailed warning to anyone considering living and working in South Korea: “Words cannot possibly describe to you what a shock the Korean way of doing things was to me. My entire first year at my current job was a harsh, harsh lesson for...
South Korea: Shamrocks and kimchi
The Asia Pages, who identifies herself as Korean-Irish-American in honor of St. Patrick's Day, makes a striking case for similarities between Irish and Korean men, particularly the inhabitants of Busan. “They'll both make a bee-line for the alcohol, swear their heads off, all the while talking in loud, obnoxious voices....
South Korea: The Confucian ideal
The Asia Pages writes a long analysis of the usefulness of Confucian values in modern East Asian societies, noting strong biases in favor of males and older people, and wondering what the sage would have said about China's current government. “An oppressive government is more to be feared than a...
Japan, S. Korea: The Tao of baseball
The Tao of baseball, proposes Japundit, lies in balancing the energies of two familiar and bitter rivals through careful study and appreciation of the Korean flag.
South Korea: The realm of the Mothers
The Asia Pages relates a long and intense debate about parental sacrifice and obligation with a Korean man on-line. In the end, she is told, she doesn't understand because she's not Korean.
North Korea: Who are you calling a threat?
OhmyNews! hosts a forum discussion between Robert Einhorn, advisor to the International Security Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based foreign policy think tank, and Peter Beck, Northeast Asia Project Director for the International Crisis Group, on the bogey men being used by various parties...
Korea: Metrosexuals, men, manicures
The Asia Pages rhapsodizes about Korean men, berating herself as a defector and a racist for doing so. “Korean guys do something that absolutely drives me nuts and it is related to their soft hands, skin and groomed nails,” she says in defense of male manicures–and her own predilections.
Asian History Carnival
Frog in a Well presents the 3rd Asian History Carnival, including discussions of Memoirs of a Geisha (Media and Popular Culture), an entire pre-modern Japanese history seminar blogging their reading, martial Buddhas and possible links to the samurai tradition, an Korean insect extermination ritual, the Soviets in Manchuria, the French...
Northeast Asia: Discussion forum
OhmyNews and the Civil Network for a Peaceful Korea are co-hosting a series of online discussion fora entitled Talk! Northeast Asia. Translated and cross-posted in Korean, Japanese, Chinese and English between Feb. 27 and March 15, the event aims to provide the means for Northeast Asian citizens to produce ideas...
Japan: OhmyNews investment
OhmyNews reports that it has secured a U.S.$11 million investment from Softbank, a Tokyo-based technology and Internet investment firm, to expand its international presence with the launch of a Japanese edition later this year. The funds will also be used to develop OhmyNews’ video journalism arm, writes Annie Koh from...
