I’m guessing that Douglas Anderson from the US House of Representatives has now reported back to base following his visit to Kaesong. Jay Lefkowitz, the US envoy for NK human rights has condemned the low wages and poor conditions there, to the understandable irritation of the South. I’m also guessing that the messages taken back … [Read More]
Category: News and Current Affairs (page 47)
Korea and foreign investment
Standard Chartered Bank chairman Brian Sanderson, in a recent meeting with Roh Moo-hyun, said SCB’s experience in Korea had been positive so far. It will be remembered that SCB bought Korea First Bank, South Korea’s eight-largest lender, from US private equity firm Newbridge Capital and the Korean government for around $3.2bn a year ago, sneaking … [Read More]
North-themed update
The Xinhua newsagency reports the cordial meeting between Kim Jong-Il’s brother-in-law Jang Song Taek and a member of the Chinese politbureau, as the DPRK’s tour of Chinese economic zones draws to a close. Meanwhile, Yoduk story, the musical based in a North Korean concentration camp, is a sell-out success. The BBC is now featuring the … [Read More]
Korean protests baffle Belgians
I can’t put it better than the Chosun Ilbo’s own headline. One of the more peculiar stories. In fact today’s Chosun is packed with entertaining stories: Britney Spears’s songwriters accuse Lee Hyo-lee of plagiarism; and a sex survey by pharmaceutical company Bayer finds Korean men the most selfish in bed. [Read More]
Koreans and sport #1
They’re doing very well in some baseball tournament or other, of which the highlight was beating Japan. The Korean team’s leading player is the star Park Chan-ho. Must feel good to beat the old rivals across the East Sea. Meanwhile, not only the prime minister but now the vice-minister for education have been forced to … [Read More]
Life in the concentration camp – in a musical
I was a bit slow in spotting this, but for politically controversial stage shows, Yoduk Story must take some beating – a musical about human rights abuses in one of North Korea’s concentration camps, written, directed and acted by defectors. See article in the Chosun Ilbo. Other Links: Musical brings Korean horrors home, Charles Scanlon, … [Read More]
62% of Koreans can’t use chopsticks
According to the Chosun Ilbo, “only 38 percent of [Korean] adults, split almost evenly between male and female, [are] able to use chopsticks in the correct manner.” The problem could threaten Korea’s future intellectual prowess. Professor Kim Phil-soo at Daelim College who conducted a survey of 252 Korean adults said: “chopsticks require a person to … [Read More]
Fourth most ideal rear belongs to transgender star
Sorry to be a bit tabloid, but I just had to preserve this article from the Chosun Ilbo, which illustrates the Korean obsession with plastic surgery. Visitors to a plastic surgeon’s website were asked whose bum they would most like to have. The preferred posterior profiles were owned by the following celebs, in order: Jeon … [Read More]