Stories from Quick Reads and Korean
South Korea: Game Mocking the Airplane Nuts Fiasco
Korean Air Lines vice president has made numerous headlines, both locally and internationally, for her arrogant behavior on a recent flight out. She randomly accused a crew member of serving macadamia nuts ‘incorrectly’ and even she ordered a plane back to the gate to remove the crew member out of the plane. No wonder this sensational story has...
South Korea: Subway Crash, in the Wake of Ferry Disaster
In South Korean capital Seoul, two subway trains collided last week, injuring over 200 passengers, mostly minor injuries. The accident occurred in the wake of the Sewol ferry disaster, and the timing of the event and passengers’ immediate responses to the crash have further fueled discussion. Noticeably, most of subway...
South Korea: Stunning Sand Animation Video about Ferry Disaster
Various artists have joined in paying tribute to the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster which cost over 260 lives, most of them high school students. This stunning sand animation video commemorating the victims and their families uses nothing but sand on a flat surface and artist's fingers to arrange...
South Korea: Samsung Sues Newspaper Over Negative Report
South Korean tech giant Samsung has launched a lawsuit against a local IT newspaper for publishing an unfavorable report. Marmot's Hole blog wrote about how things developed and the repercussion of Samsung's response to negative press coverage. Some of the highlights read; I’d caution Samsung that in terms of PR, lawsuits...
South Korea: Royal Gate Restoration, Corruption and Suicide
In recent months, particularly murky allegations over the royal gate restoration have unfolded in South Korea. The project's ‘chief carpenter’ is accused not only of using substandard wood, but stealing donated wood. Moreover, several government officials involved in the project were also indicted on charges of bribery [ko], and a civilian investigator who...
Korea: English, Borrowed Words, Konglish
Words adopted from another language, or ‘borrowed words’ permeate the Korean language. R. Elgin wrote an informative post about how borrowed English words are being used in Korea compared to loanwords in other countries; many English words are, instead of being completely or partially naturalized, phonetically rendered into Korean, often...
South Korea: 6th Grader's ‘Frozen’ Tribute Video
Disney's Oscar-winning animated film ‘Frozen’ is immensely popular in South Korea; it has become the second most-watched foreign film as of last weekend by crossing 10 million admissions. Korean fans have posted lots of parody images, as well as Korean artists who have chimed in by singing the movie's catchy hit song...
NASA's New Photo of North Korea
Any international readers interested in North Korea would probably come across at least once this famous photo of Korean peninsula from NASA demonstrating a stark difference in the light emission of two Koreas at nighttime. NASA finally updated a new satellite image and it is ‘even more dramatic than the monochrome NASA satellite image of...
PHOTO: South Korean Labor and Civic Groups Stage Strike
Timed with the start of President Park Geun-hye's second year in office, about 40 thousand South Koreans (police estimate 15 thousand) held protests across the country. The demonstration, spearheaded by Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, calls halt to a clampdown on labor groups, the government's move towards privatization of public...
Not All Bad, Talking Korean Plastic Surgery from Biz Perspective
There have been mounting criticisms on both local and international media's coverage of rampant plastic surgeries in South Korea; many reports are highly sensational, describing how reckless and ignorant plastic surgery patients are (focused on females ones rather than male) and have successfully generated numerous crass jokes and harsh comments...
Ethnic North Korean Schools in Japan Face Ever-Hostile Situation
‘Koreans living in Japan‘ is a vague word glueing very different groups together under the same umbrella term. Based on their affiliation to North/South Korea and the timing of diaspora (whether it happened before/after the Japanese imperial rule during the World War 2 ear), each sub-group goes by a different name,...
VIDEO: UN Report on Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea
Horrible stories about North Korea is nothing new. But this may be one of the most extensive reports worth-reading on the country's abysmal human rights condition. A new report by a UN Commission of Inquiry reveals unspeakable crimes against humanity carried out by the North Korean regime against its own...
South Korea: Being Native English Teacher and Reverse Racism
Geoffrey Fattig of Jeollamite blog shares his brutally honest opinion on reverse and latent racism in South Korea, urging fellow native English teachers who under-appreciate a fairly good working condition to stop whining. Some of the highlights of his post are: On the whole, though, Korea is a pretty easy place...
South Korea: ‘Less is More’, Net Users Turn Sour on Typical Movie Poster
A massive Disney hit movie, Frozen is rapidly gaining traction also in South Korea. However, more young Koreans are turning sour on typical Korean-style movie poster, which has long been criticized for being either too confusing or overly interrupted [ko] by extra-bold text dropping names or media/net users’ reviews ridden with cliche [ko]....
South Korea: I Would Rather Sell My Personal Info
Personal information of about 20 million people, which amounts to two fifth of the entire South Korean population, has been compromised in the country's worst identity theft. Customers of the affected three major credit card firms gasped at the sheer extensiveness of the breach; it is not just the user's real name,...
South Korea: Political Revenge on Whistleblower?
Kwon Eun-hee, a policewoman and ex-chief investigator at Seoul Suseo Police station, revealed last summer that her team had received pressures and ‘unreasonable orders’ from superiors to reduce the scope of an investigation into the spy agency election manipulation scandal. Although net users lauded Kwon, her bold act seems to...
South Korean Lawmaker Proposes Bill Denying Right to Counsel for Anti-State Criminals
A ruling party lawmaker, Kim Jin-tae proposed a bill [ko] that either denies or greatly limits the right to counsel for criminals who are accused of committing ‘anti-state activities’. It has already drawn harsh criticism from civil rights lawyers who call it ‘utterly unconstitutional idea’ [ko] and sparked heated debates in major...
South Korean Pres. Vows Pre-emptive Strikes on Social Media Rumors
Is South Korea government gearing up toward social media censorship? The latest official remark by President Park (full transcript [ko]) had Korean net users worried. Park, addressing “those rumors spreading via social media”, said “if the government let these things happen, it will bring chaos nationwide” and added “bear in mind that...
South Korea: Reason Behind Movie ‘The Attorney's Box Office Smash
South Korean movie ‘The Attorney’ which depicts the early life of ex-President Roh who started as a civil rights lawyer resisting against dictatorial regimes, has drawn over 4 million admissions in just ten days of screening. Movie critics even comment [ko] that its popularity in Korea is more explosive than that...
South Korean Election Scandal Brings Three Religions Together
Opposition against the current administration's election manipulation scandal grows stronger every day, even enough to inspire conservative Protestant Christian groups to join the protest movement [ko] following the trails of Catholic leaders and Buddhist monks. On Christmas, this rare scene took place: in front of a Christmas tree which stood in...
South Korean Military Bans ‘Arirang’, Country's Iconic and Beloved Song
South Korean Military is infamous for banning books, films and songs which they find ‘controversial’ or ‘subversive’ and their recent decision to ban the nation's most beloved and historically important songs, ‘Arirang’ (which even has the famed nickname of ‘unofficial national anthem of Korea‘) met with fierce backlash. The military explains it...
