It looks like an island on the west coast of Korea was bombarded with something like 50 shells. Some hit the island and some landed in the sea so I’m not exactly sure what the damage is or what the provocation was. I’m going to keep an eye on the news to see what it’s all about …
UPDATE: Here’s a link
Source: Reddit (comments here / article here)
I’m very interested to see what they are going to do about having conclusive proof that North Korea sunk the Cheonan.
For those who don’t know what happened last year at the Seoul National University (SNU) student elections, there was apparently some foul play including wiretapping (yes, you heard that right; wiretapping during a university student body election). For at least the past week there’s been a lot of posters put up and now flyers being passed out for the upcoming re-elections.
I had heard that Korea over the past while has been privitizing the state-operated companies, but I had no earthly idea that this included SNU. Here’s an article that covers the whole privitization aspect. There’s been a bunch of banners around campus talking about rejecting the ‘법인화’ which I have recently found out means privitization. Here’s a video (in Korean) for those interested.
EDIT:
Here’s some documents sent to me (sorry, Hangeul format) directly from SNU regarding the transition:
Dean’s Message
Privitization Vs. Public
Privitization Brochure
Two days ago there was even an organized protest on campus in front of the administration building by a labor union. The big banner says that the board of trustees is closed and un-democratic and should be dissolved. The signs say things like ‘do professors eat 10 bowls of rice in one meal,’ ‘Presidential election: 1 person 1 vote,’ and ‘Board of Trustees’s equality: professors 100%, workers 10%, students 0%.’ Here’s an article (in Korean) for those interested on the subject. Here’s a pic:
You go Doctor Kim!
SEOUL — A North Korean embassy official in Ethiopia has defected to South Korea through Seoul’s diplomatic mission in the African country, a report said Tuesday.
YTN cable news network in Seoul said the 40-year-old medical doctor, identified only as Kim, fled to the South Korean embassy in Addis Ababa and asked for political asylum last October.
It said the defection prompted the North Korean ambassador in Ethiopia to make a protest call to his South Korean counterpart.
North Korean officials used cars to stage protests outside the embassy where Kim stayed for up to three weeks, YTN said.
South Korean foreign ministry officials escorted him to Seoul in early November, it said.
The South’s foreign ministry declined to comment. “We do not confirm or deny any reports of that kind,” a spokesman told AFP.
Almost 17,000 North Koreans have arrived in the South since the end of the Korean War, with virtually all fleeing via China. North Korean officials and diplomats defect relatively seldom.
In case you haven’t heard, there’s been a lot of talk about some comments David Lee has made about how ridiculous the Korean actors portrayed Koreans when “Infinite Challenge” was filmed in New York. Here’s some of the more interesting things he said (original article):
While watching, I felt like dying from embarrassment … They were ignored like dogs on the streets by New Yorkers, for mumbling gibberish … They were treated like retards at the pizza place by being thrown a random slice to eat … Am I the only one who thinks this, or did those white boys make him into a complete fool? I wonder what those white boys were thinking. Perhaps they thought, ‘WHAT ARE THESE F–KING RETARDS DOING?’ … Keep the low-grade comedy in Korea … Of course, this episode is perfect for Koreans who think this low-grade comedy is oh-so-funny … Why don’t you get rid of the ‘food’ and just tell those New Yorkers with you gibberish that Dokdo is our land?
He then followed up trying to clear up his rant (same article):
… In America, Asians get worse treatment than black or latino people …
More recently, after deleting his Cyworld minihome, he has sent out an apology (follow-up article featuring his apology):
… I thought that I was just an ordinary commoner, so I posted on my personal mini-homepage, not knowing how big of an impact it would bring. I didn’t intend on targeting anyone specific, but I seemed to have hurt many people … What I wrote of these people, like a rant with no basis, I did it without thinking, and I take full responsibility… I used severe expressions. For that, I give my apology …
What do y’all think? If there’s anything I’ve learned after years of studying Korea, it’s that Korean netizens hath hell’s fury. I have to say, after watching the video I think he was analyzing it way too much. Throwing pizza like he was throwing pizza to a dog? Freak, they guy just gave them some pizza. Infinite Challenge is a comedy show and I think everything they did was for a laugh. The fact that they couldn’t speak English was half of the joke. They probably could have had a translator, but would that have been funny? Maybe some people have a different sense of humor, but I think if I was Korean I would find this episode pretty funny. Degrading? Maybe, but comedians use that to bring out laughs. I don’t think I blame David though. Each of us come from different backgrounds and because of that we take some things really seriously. Maybe he’s had enough experiences in his life dealing with the stereotype of Asians and with racism that this kind of humor just doesn’t float his boat.
