Sunday, December 25, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
uhh... Really?? Send Condolences to NK for kji's Death?
I had to come on to write this. I came across this article on KyungHyang news's opinion page. The idiots at KyungHyang news called on Korean government to send condolences to North Korea. (Sorry, the source is in Korean.) Source Really?? Send condolences to a man who killed millions of people and put millions in a gulag? Please, I hope the editorial board over at KyungHyang learns some common sense, or perhaps moral sense.
***Update***
According to LAT, given the opportunity, Korean government will allow South Koreans with ties to North Korea to pay a visit, but no official delegations will travel to North Korea to pay respects. I'm not quite sure what they mean by "South Koreans with ties." Do they mean South Koreans who have families in the north? Does this mean Japan will also allow North Koreans in Japan (pro-North Zainichi) to travel to North Korea to pay respects? I will wait for more update on this.
***Update***
According to LAT, given the opportunity, Korean government will allow South Koreans with ties to North Korea to pay a visit, but no official delegations will travel to North Korea to pay respects. I'm not quite sure what they mean by "South Koreans with ties." Do they mean South Koreans who have families in the north? Does this mean Japan will also allow North Koreans in Japan (pro-North Zainichi) to travel to North Korea to pay respects? I will wait for more update on this.
kim jong-il DEAD
North Korea's Dear Leader died on December 17, 2011 according to KCNA, North Korea's news network.
In the meantime, I decided to go to different news sources and capture front page headlines regarding the death of kim jong il.
- Here is one by New York Times
- Los Angeles Times
- BBC World
I'm sure this news is going around everywhere right now and I'm sure everybody has been keeping up with it. There are a lot of thoughts going on around this by many experts in Korean peninsula. I think I will need more time to let this situation unfold further before I can say anything or predict what I think is going to happen with Korean peninsula.kim jong il , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, passed away from a great mental and physical strain at 08:30 December 17, 2011, on train during a field guidance tour.
In the meantime, I decided to go to different news sources and capture front page headlines regarding the death of kim jong il.
- Here is one by New York Times
- Los Angeles Times
- Reuters
- CNN
- BBC World
- Telegraph
- Aljazeera
- Yonhap News Korea (The South)
- The Korea Times
- And finally... Korean Central News Agency (The North)
-
Friday, December 9, 2011
Gunnie Weekly (Week of Dec. 5)
- I guess this news has been big all over Korean blogs or expat blogs. Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) is set to phase out native English teachers in public schools by 2014. (source here and here) If this deal does happen, I'm going to assume that there will be more native English teachers applying for a position at private English hagwons in Korea. Will this mean we are going to see less Gyopo (Korean-American) gangsters at private hagwons with fake degrees??? I hope so. (another source)
- Through the eyes of Zhu Feng, his view of North Korea. (TheInterpreter) I recommend reading this article if you wanted to know what China's view of North Korea is.
- This is a good news for me. Korean national football team coach, Cho Kwang-rae is fired. I never liked the guy and his style of coach. It felt like Korea's football went back to the 80s.
- This news is little old, but as I mentioned before, KORUS FTA passed in Korea after some fight and some idiot threw a tear gas during the parliamentary session. (source) But do you know what? I'm not embarrassed at all about it. This is how we get things done in Korea. Hell yeah~
- The idiot who threw a tear gas during the parliamentary session for KORUS FTA (his name is Kim Sun-dong btw), became a national hero AND he escaped punishment.
- For your pleasure of learning about Korea's past, Robert Neff, one of my favorite contributing writer at KoreaTimes wrote some interesting columns about Korea's past. You can read it here and here.
- Through the eyes of Zhu Feng, his view of North Korea. (TheInterpreter) I recommend reading this article if you wanted to know what China's view of North Korea is.
- This is a good news for me. Korean national football team coach, Cho Kwang-rae is fired. I never liked the guy and his style of coach. It felt like Korea's football went back to the 80s.
- This news is little old, but as I mentioned before, KORUS FTA passed in Korea after some fight and some idiot threw a tear gas during the parliamentary session. (source) But do you know what? I'm not embarrassed at all about it. This is how we get things done in Korea. Hell yeah~
- The idiot who threw a tear gas during the parliamentary session for KORUS FTA (his name is Kim Sun-dong btw), became a national hero AND he escaped punishment.
- For your pleasure of learning about Korea's past, Robert Neff, one of my favorite contributing writer at KoreaTimes wrote some interesting columns about Korea's past. You can read it here and here.
EBS Experiment
Found this clip on youtube. EBS or Educational Broadcasting System (http://www.ebs.co.kr/index.jsp) is the educational television in South Korea. They do a little experiment on how Koreans are willing to help out foreigners depending on their skin color.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Gunnie Weekly (Week of Nov. 14)
Mixed News for the week of November 14, 2011
- Ahn Cheol-Soo, a doctor and an entrepreneur, announced that he is going to donate nearly half of his company's share 150 billion KRW (or $133 million) to a new charity.
Hmm... What will Mr. Ahn do????
- This week, Brad Pitt visited Korea to promote his new movie "Moneyball"
- Korean government decided to build barracks for U.S. troops (or just station them there) on Baengyeong Island which is next to Yeongpyong Island, the island that was shelled by the Norks last year.
- Back in WWII, on the beach of Normandy, there were 4 Korean POWs who fought in German uniform.
- Ahn Cheol-Soo, a doctor and an entrepreneur, announced that he is going to donate nearly half of his company's share 150 billion KRW (or $133 million) to a new charity.
Now this is not a good news for Korean politicians, especially the conservatives. Mr. Ahn is very popular among younger voters in their 20s and 30s and during Seoul's mayoral election last month, he declared a full support for progressive candidate Park Won-Soon. IF Mr. Ahn declares that he is going to run for presidency next year, it is highly likely that he will run with the progressives rather than conservatives. This means conservatives, who are not very popular among young voters, will need to campaign harder. However, everything is still up in the air and nothing is sure.In making the announcement, Mr. Ahn said the money would be used to help educate the children of poor families, though he didn’t say if he would give the money to an existing charity or set up a new one.
Hmm... What will Mr. Ahn do????
- This week, Brad Pitt visited Korea to promote his new movie "Moneyball"
- Korean government decided to build barracks for U.S. troops (or just station them there) on Baengyeong Island which is next to Yeongpyong Island, the island that was shelled by the Norks last year.
The South's military will start building the new barracks, which can accommodate some 160 soldiers, from next year on Baengnyeong Island and construction will be completed by 2013, the source said on the condition of anonymity.I don't know whose idea this is, but I want to see what China and Norks have to say about this.
"As part of efforts to strengthen defense on the Yellow Sea islands, the new barracks will be used by U.S. troops during joint military drills or in case of emergency," the source said.
- Back in WWII, on the beach of Normandy, there were 4 Korean POWs who fought in German uniform.
- I believe that Kang Je-Gyu's new film, My Way is based on the story above. I can't wait till this movie comes out.These soldiers were conscripted into the Japanese Army in 1938. In battle against the Soviets in Nomonhan they were captured and turned into POW’s…for a while, the Russians then conscripted them into the Soviet army to fight the Nazi’s. In 1943 they were captured, most likely in the battle of Kharkov, where they were in turn, conscripted into the Nazi army as laborers.They ended up working on the Atlantic wall defenses, and ultimately were captured by the Allies. Kyoungjong Yang, and the other three ‘soldiers’ spent the rest of the war in a British POW camp. He ultimately moved to0 the USA, became a citizen, living near Northwestern University (just north of Chicago). (source)(source)(source)
Monday, November 14, 2011
Quietest Football Match I Will Probably Ever Watch.
Tonight (November 14, 2011) 11:00 AM PST, there will be a football (soccer) match between North Korea and Japan. The reason why I'm so excited to watch this game is because (i) the venue is Kim Il-Sung Stadium in Pyongyang; (ii) there is no diplomatic ties between North Korea and Japan; and (iii) this will be the quietest football match I will ever watch.
The last time these two teams played each other in North Korea was back in 1989 and North Korea won 2 - 0. Since then, North Korea-Japan relationship has deteriorated due to belligerent act of North Korean government. North Korean government abducted Japanese citizens during 1970s and 1980s. Through 1990s and 2000, Japanese government pressed North Korea to return its citizens who were abducted by North Korea. North Korea did return some of its citizens in 2002, however, North Korea failed to offer adequate explanations regarding the circumstance of other abductees and insisted that the issue has been resolved, while the Japanese government considered its explanation unacceptable. (source) Then North Korea began testing missiles that had the capability to reach Japan, and they test fired ballistic missiles into the East Sea. In response, Japan joined its allies, U.S. and South Korea, imposing sanctions.
Despite North Korea's past actions, it seems to me that North Korean government is trying to improve ties with its neighboring states. Just last month, North Korean government allowed Japanese medical team to travel to North Korea to treat the nuclear victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Player to watch:
Jong Tae-se: He currently plays for Vfl Bochum in Germany, and in the past, he played in J-League for Kawasaki Frontale. He is a 3rd generation Korean born in Japan and attended North Korean school in Japan, though his parents held South Korea citizenship. He later traded his South Korea citizenship for North Korean citizenship. He was the one who was crying during 2010 World Cup when North Korean national anthem came on.
Tadanari Lee: I'm not 100% sure if he is going to play because Zaccheroni does not have a set roster. Tadanari Lee is also a 3rd generation Korean who was born in Japan. In the past, he briefly joined South Korea's U-19 and U-20 team, but due to Korean politics in football and strong discrimination by Korea players, he did not play any official games and returned to Japan. Currently, he plays for Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
You can watch a documentary on these two players here.
**Update** 11/15/2011 7:45 PM
North Korea won the game 1 - 0, however, it seemed to me Zaccheroni did not put in his usual starters and Japan looked very relaxed while North Korean players were playing their best. Jong Tae-se subbed out during 1st half due to an injury and Tadanari Lee played about last 10 minutes during 2nd half. Few things I noticed during the game:
1) I noticed that there were no advertisement banners around the field. I have never watched any FIFA football game without advertisement banners around the field.
2) North Koreans cheered, till the very end of the game, every time North Korean players got the ball.
3) I guess they did not bring enough soccer balls for the game. I saw the players chase after the ball onto the track when it went out of bounds. Usually, ball boy just throws the ball to the player, but that rarely happened.
4) Japanese fans looked very bored since they were not allowed to cheer during the game.
The [Japanese] fans have been warned to behave: No sightseeing, no straying from the group. No drums, speakers, banners or Japanese flags, according to Nishitetsu Travel, which is organizing the three-day, $3,740 tour for the Japanese Football Association.
"In principle, (North Korea) is a country where we have travel restrictions, and we are only allowing this trip as an exception," Osamu Fujimura, Japan's chief cabinet spokesman, said Friday in Tokyo. "Therefore, we would like the visitors to refrain from any activity other than watching the game while in (North Korea)."
The last time these two teams played each other in North Korea was back in 1989 and North Korea won 2 - 0. Since then, North Korea-Japan relationship has deteriorated due to belligerent act of North Korean government. North Korean government abducted Japanese citizens during 1970s and 1980s. Through 1990s and 2000, Japanese government pressed North Korea to return its citizens who were abducted by North Korea. North Korea did return some of its citizens in 2002, however, North Korea failed to offer adequate explanations regarding the circumstance of other abductees and insisted that the issue has been resolved, while the Japanese government considered its explanation unacceptable. (source) Then North Korea began testing missiles that had the capability to reach Japan, and they test fired ballistic missiles into the East Sea. In response, Japan joined its allies, U.S. and South Korea, imposing sanctions.
Despite North Korea's past actions, it seems to me that North Korean government is trying to improve ties with its neighboring states. Just last month, North Korean government allowed Japanese medical team to travel to North Korea to treat the nuclear victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Player to watch:
Jong Tae-se: He currently plays for Vfl Bochum in Germany, and in the past, he played in J-League for Kawasaki Frontale. He is a 3rd generation Korean born in Japan and attended North Korean school in Japan, though his parents held South Korea citizenship. He later traded his South Korea citizenship for North Korean citizenship. He was the one who was crying during 2010 World Cup when North Korean national anthem came on.
Tadanari Lee: I'm not 100% sure if he is going to play because Zaccheroni does not have a set roster. Tadanari Lee is also a 3rd generation Korean who was born in Japan. In the past, he briefly joined South Korea's U-19 and U-20 team, but due to Korean politics in football and strong discrimination by Korea players, he did not play any official games and returned to Japan. Currently, he plays for Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
You can watch a documentary on these two players here.
**Update** 11/15/2011 7:45 PM
North Korea won the game 1 - 0, however, it seemed to me Zaccheroni did not put in his usual starters and Japan looked very relaxed while North Korean players were playing their best. Jong Tae-se subbed out during 1st half due to an injury and Tadanari Lee played about last 10 minutes during 2nd half. Few things I noticed during the game:
1) I noticed that there were no advertisement banners around the field. I have never watched any FIFA football game without advertisement banners around the field.
2) North Koreans cheered, till the very end of the game, every time North Korean players got the ball.
3) I guess they did not bring enough soccer balls for the game. I saw the players chase after the ball onto the track when it went out of bounds. Usually, ball boy just throws the ball to the player, but that rarely happened.
4) Japanese fans looked very bored since they were not allowed to cheer during the game.
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