I flew home last week, or what I thought was home. As soon as I stepped out of the airport everything appeared as if through a fog, vaguely familiar but somehow different, even foreign. After having spent the past couple of years complaining about, lashing out against and ultimately adjusting to life here in Korea, [...]
Filed under: America, Asia, Daily life, Identity, Opinion | Tagged: America, Identity, immigration, Korea, travel, US | Leave a Comment »
An article on the life and work of photographer Kim Young-gap, who spent the last ten years of his life submerging himself into the hidden beauty of Korea’s southern island. Kim died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2005. I visited a gallery set up in his name on the island in 2006. His love of [...]
Filed under: Korean Society, Photography | Tagged: Jeju, Korea, Photography, travel | Leave a Comment »
Went to the local E-mart a few nights ago. Standing around with my son while my wife finished the shopping we both got sucked into staring at a nearby flat-panel TV screen showing Madagascar 2. “Wow, look at that quality, and the price… but what the hell is a Haier?” The sales woman told us [...]
Filed under: Asia, economy | Tagged: America, China, economy, globalization, Korea, trade | Leave a Comment »
An editorial in the Korea Times bemoans the country’s lack of fire prevention and overall safety standards, echoing President Lee Myung-bak’s statements that the fire that claimed 10 lives, including seven Japanese tourists, at a Busan shooting range diminished South Korea’s reputation. A breakdown of tragic fires in South Korea over the past decade: Eight [...]
Filed under: Headlines | Tagged: Korea, Seoul | Leave a Comment »
Walking to work this morning I passed an elderly Catholic nun who I often see strolling along the street outside my home. Bracing against the cold and thinking about how hard it’s going to be to kick my coffee habit at the onset of winter my mind turned to the ubiquity of religion in South [...]
Filed under: Korean Society, buddhism, history, religion | Tagged: buddhism, history, Korea, religion, spirituality | Leave a Comment »
Via Reuters comes an analysis of the success that South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have had in recent months, particulalry in comparison to their Japanese rivals. Hyundai has also struck gold with big operations in India and China — two of the fastest-growing markets. And ingenious marketing such as an offer to allow buyers [...]
Filed under: Asia, economy | Tagged: FTA, globalization, Japan, Korea | Leave a Comment »
On a recent trip to North Korea, John Linton remarked after viewing that country’s athletic blitzkrieg known as the Arirang Games, which closed on Oct. 20, that a third of the performance was in praise of China. The son of missionary parents raised in rural South Jeolla Province and current head of Yonsei’s College of [...]
Filed under: North Korea, Politics | Tagged: China, Korea, North Korea, Politics, pyongyang | Leave a Comment »
My boss used on occasion to ask me why Americans preferred football to soccer. I’d reply tongue-in-cheek that Americans were just a more violent breed and preferred a bit more bone-crunching when it came to their sports interests. But according to Randolph Roth’s “American Homicide” it’s true. The violence part at least. By looking at [...]
Filed under: America, Politics | Tagged: Afghanistan, Korea, Politics, war | Leave a Comment »
A report from Yonhap suggests that S. Korea’s top brass may move to allow females to serve as rank and file soldiers in the country’s military. Currently women are allowed to serve as officers, though they are barred from the kind of activities that men perform as part of their mandatory two-year service. Though a [...]
Filed under: Headlines, Korean War | Tagged: gender equality, Korea, military | Leave a Comment »
Excellent piece in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh on securing (or not) Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in the face of increasing attacks by the Taliban and radicalization of the nation’s military. A senior Pakistani official who has close ties to Zardari exploded with anger during an interview when the subject turned to the American demands [...]
Filed under: America, Asia, Headlines, North Korea, Politics | Tagged: America, China, Japan, Korea, North Korea, Obama, Politics | Leave a Comment »
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