media « Korea Dispatch

All hail the idiot box

Posted on November 14, 2009 by sleepingcow

“I want to watch a moooovie…” That’s become the near-daily mantra my son repeats as soon as he wakes up and right before going to bed. Power Rangers, Little Einsteins, Caillou… in truth it could probably be anything and he’d likely turn to stone in front of the glowing screen. Which is great for me [...]

Filed under: Korean Society, North Korea, education, entertainment, media, parenting, technology | Tagged: education, entertainment, family, globalization, media, North Korea, parenting, technology | Leave a Comment »

Language of the gun

Posted on April 9, 2009 by sleepingcow

With regard to the shooting in LA, as well as an earlier rampage in New York, the following I think really goes beyond the ususal suspects of the media or simple insanity in exploring how a person – an immigrant in both these cases – becomes a cold-blooded killer. Read the full article here: Whenever [...]

Filed under: America, Headlines, immigration, language, media | Tagged: America, immigration, language, media, Suicide, US, violence | Leave a Comment »

Today in Korean history

Posted on April 5, 2009 by sleepingcow

Some intersting media related historical tid-bits. 1896 — Korea’s first Korean-language newspaper, the Dongnip Shinmun, publishes its first edition in Seoul. The four-page newspaper, funded by the government and produced by Seo Jae-pil, an official educated in Japan and the United States, was aimed at reaching the general public by publishing in the vernacular as [...]

Filed under: Korean Society, history | Tagged: history, Korea, media, Seoul | Leave a Comment »

S. Korea beats China to the punch in limiting Internet free-speech

Posted on April 2, 2009 by sleepingcow

The Washington Post cites an article in the Hankyoreh about Google’s plans to accept South Korea’s real name system for Internet users. If Google complies, it would mark the first time that the company has required visitors to its sites to enter such information, and it could set a precedent for how Google reacts in [...]

Filed under: Headlines, Korean Society, technology | Tagged: blogs, media, internet, technology | 1 Comment »

Taking Kim Yu-na’s name in vain

Posted on April 2, 2009 by sleepingcow

The Korea Herald reports that fans of Kim Yu-na are in an uproar over certain political and academic institutions trying to cash in on the Kim Yu-na name, or face in this case. Here’s an image of a member of the ruling GNP, with the caption that reads something like: following Kim Yu-na’s lead to [...]

Filed under: Headlines, Korean Society, Opinion, sports | Tagged: Identity, Korea, media, olympics, sports | Leave a Comment »

On the border

Posted on March 30, 2009 by sleepingcow

Descriptive article in the LA Times about conditions around the North Korea-China border where the two American journalists were taken some weeks back. A couple of sections that I found particulalry interesting for their graphic descritpitions of the border area: On their side of the border, North Korean soldiers stand watch, sheltered in concrete pillboxes [...]

Filed under: Headlines, Korean War, North Korea, Politics | Tagged: China, human rights, media, North Korea, Politics, pyongyang | Leave a Comment »

VOA finds voice with 2MB

Posted on March 28, 2009 by sleepingcow

An Associated Press story notes that Voice of America has been granted permission by the Lee Myung-bak administration to broadcast into North Korea from transmitters in the South for the first time in three decades. That makes the signal much clearer than VOA’s long-running shortwave broadcasts from far-flung stations in the Philippines, Thailand and the [...]

Filed under: Headlines, Korean War, North Korea, Opinion, Politics, media, religion | Tagged: America, human rights, Korean War, media, North Korea, Politics, pyongyang, religion | Leave a Comment »

Detained journalists in Pyongyang

Posted on March 24, 2009 by sleepingcow

The latest on the two American journalists being held in North Korea from the JoongAng Ilbo. As with everything on the North, speculation takes the place of certifiable intelligence, though the article does highlight the role played by South Korean intelligence in aiding Washington. The U.S. intelligence community asked South Korea for help using the [...]

Filed under: Headlines, North Korea, Opinion, Politics, media | Tagged: China, media, North Korea, Politics, pyongyang, US | Leave a Comment »

Clash with squatters reflects violent divide

Posted on January 23, 2009 by sleepingcow

The first image comes from the liberal Hankyoreh, with the headline “Police prevent families of protest victims from identifying loved ones.” The second image is from the more conservative JoongAng, which reports, “Court keeps 5 in custody for fire that took 6 lives.” The two papers have been reporting on the deadly fire that broke [...]

Filed under: Headlines, Korean Society, Opinion, Politics, Seoul, media | Tagged: candle light protests, human rights, Korea, media, Politics, protests, Seoul | 1 Comment »

Agencies use “cloned phones” to hold celebs hostage

Posted on January 21, 2009 by sleepingcow

The JoongAng has a story on an agency that cloned the phone of a top actress in order to keep tabs on her whereabouts and other private affairs. From what I gather in talking to friends here, a lot of these agencies are run by gangster types who see their clients as investments instead of [...]

Filed under: Asia, Headlines, Korean Society, Opinion, entertainment, technology | Tagged: entertainment, Korea, media, pop-culture, technology | Leave a Comment »