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]
Category: Formats (page 80)
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]
North Korean jeans on sale in Sweden
North Korean jeans on sale in Sweden. A snip at $215! The brand name? “NoKo”. # http://nokojeans.com/ After being turned down by North Korea’s largest textile company, the group managed to secure a manufacturing deal with its largest mining company, Trade 4, which also happens to run a small textile operations on its site. Source: … [Read More]
Girl bands through the ages
A disappointing piece from the tabloids – Five Decades of Korean Girl Bands http://bit.ly/608Pro #. Fortunately Mark Russell over at Korea Pop Wars rectifies the situation. [Read More]
KIKOs are enforceable after all
Invest Korea Journal: Knock-in, Knock-out (KIKO) contracts may be enforceable after all, but normal suitability principles apply: http://bit.ly/zLXq3p # [Read More]
Foreigners’ Favorite Korean Souvenirs
Nail clippers – the obvious souvenir of your holiday in Korea: “In China, Korean nail clippers are regarded as luxury goods. Chinese people like gold, so they buy dozens of gold-colored nail clippers when they come to Korea,” says the Chosun Ilbo http://bit.ly/5nMSMJ # [Read More]
Honey Lee crosses over into musicals
Honey Lee on Her Love for the Gayageum – The Chosun Ilbo has a brief feature which mentions her latest outing as the Reese Witherspoon character in Legally Blonde http://bit.ly/4uTbW3 # [Read More]