Sunny Lee has a good article in the Korea Times: Fake NK Paintings in Wide Circulation. 9:44 AM Jan 7th. Philip: Good article. Did you get to meet Sun Woo-young when writing it? He was in London a couple of years ago. I assume the paintings on show in London were authentic, as he was … [Read More]
Category: Asides (page 78)
Foreigners find iPhones hard to get
First it was credit cards, now it’s iPhones: Foreigners in Korea are denied those necessities in life (HT: Marmot) http://bit.ly/4CT9Gh. 10:40 PM Jan 4th from bit.ly [Read More]
Younee wins best songwriter at Musicaid awards
Congratulations to @youneelondon: Best Songwriter & nominated for best female solo artist in Musicaid 2009 Song Contest http://bit.ly/5azmbo. 9:14 PM Jan 4th from bit.ly [Read More]
Wonder Girls One to Watch
The Wonder Girls have been picked as ‘Ones to Watch’ for 2010, by advertising agency JWT. First Koreans to make it into US Billboard charts top 100. # The “girl group has conquered Asia and has its sights on the rest of the world,” JWT said. Source: Chosun Ilbo [Read More]
ROK Drop’s stories of 2009
Top 10 ROK Drop Stories of 2009 http://bit.ly/7KiEV6 and ROK Drop’s pick of the decade http://bit.ly/7aYjGm. Good memory refreshers both. | 10:28 AM Jan 3rd from bit.ly Update – both links are now dead. ROK Drop (now rokdrop.net rather than rokdrop.com) seems to have deleted archive stories other than those released directly to the US … [Read More]
Suicides soar among NY Koreans
Suicides soar among New York Koreans – more depressing stories for 2009: Money troubles have been the leading force behind the sharp rise, say Korean civic leaders and officials, who are alarmed by the trend. Failure to get into top colleges, perform well at school or climb the economic ladder can cause deep shame and … [Read More]
How Chaebol bosses get out of jail
How Chaebol bosses get out of jail: the Marmot on Lee Kun-hee’s release to spearhead the Pyeongchang 2018 campaign. http://bit.ly/6GlQ9l. | 3:56 PM Dec 30th, 2009 from bit.ly. Some extracts from the comment section: Jaekoo: Indeed it was an interesting news to me as well. Don’t know why business professors and some media use jargons … [Read More]
Quiz of the Year 2009 cancelled
There won’t be an LKL quiz of the year this year – too depressing. Most of the questions would have been about suicide. I agree with the Korea Times: good riddance to 2009. [Read More]
Festive illuminations in Boseong
Today’s Photo: December 11, 2009 – Christmas lights illuminate the Boseong tea slopes, South Jeolla province. Beautiful. Source: Chosun Ilbo. # [Read More]
Good Riddance to 2009, says Korea Times
Top 10 Reasons We Can’t Wait to Close 2009: A gloomy look at the past 12 months in the Korea Times http://bit.ly/7kctSh. 6:44 PM Dec 22nd from bit.ly. The reasons include Poor industrial relations at Ssangyong Motor Disgraceful behaviour in the National Assembly Too many suicides Threats to Jongmyo’s UNESCO status [Read More]
Haeundae – a rather disappointing disaster movie
Just watched Haeundae on Region 2 DVD. What was the fuss about? Dull, dull, dull. Maybe the domestic cut was better (17 mins longer). Maybe the international cut just focused on the things which might appeal to an international audience, and so they edited out anything that might be remotely interesting. I was wondering how … [Read More]
Song Il-gon, Los Coreanos and the Dance of Time
Song Il-gon, always poetic, documents Los Coreanos – the Korean diaspora in Cuba – in his first feature documentary, Dance of Time. Let’s hope it makes it to subtitled DVD soon. http://bit.ly/85zV2A. 10:08 PM Dec 16th from bit.ly [Read More]
Sardine Santa at the COEX Aquarium
Joongang Ilbo picture of the day — Sardine Santa at the COEX Aquarium: a diver in a Santa Claus costume plays with a swarm of sardines during an underwater feeding show at the aquarium in southern Seoul. The show is held four times a day until just after Christmas. Source: JoongAng Daily. # [Read More]
Piles of Piles in Pusan
Piles of Piles in Pusan: Korea’s most common operation (more common than plastic surgery?). The southern city is the haemorrhoid capital of Korea according to the National Health Insurance Corporation of Korea, as reported in the Chosun Daily http://bit.ly/7x1zc7. 11:12 PM Dec 15th from bit.ly [Read More]
Day trading in Derivatives, ajumma-style
South Korea boasts the world’s largest market for equity derivatives by number of contracts traded, with 2.7bn stock index options contracts traded in 2008, according to the World Federation of Exchanges. This compares with 514m traded on Eurex, the next biggest market on that measure. Private traders, encouraged by high leverage gains and low trading … [Read More]
The Chaebolization of the Korean music industry
The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Mark Russell on how Vietnam is following Korea’s example in how to produce pop stars http://bit.ly/68KLpD #, while in a related series of articles Richard Stansfield talks about The Chaebolization of the Korean Music Industry http://bit.ly/8W37mD #. [Read More]