Category: Uncategorized

Now these are the type of Santa’s little helpers that I can appreciate!

Bikini clad models promote Christmas at Everland.

I can’t say I have ever seen a Dress Cafe before but apparently they are the newest fad in Seoul:

The so-called dress cafes, especially, are becoming very popular. Customers are given a choice of costume–wedding dress, cocktail dress, you name it–and are given a quick makeup session, after which they are all set for a cell- phone photo shoot. They can even enjoy a cup of coffee while they wait.

One such cafe, said to be the first of its kind in Seoul, is located near the prestigious Ewha Women’s University.

I wonder if they got drinky girl outfits?

Now here is a better idea then exporting stem cell technology to put Korea on the map:

South Korea’s government unveiled a five-year plan to develop and commercialize fuel cell-powered and hybrid-engined cars by 2010.

The ministry suggested South Korea could produce more than 4,000 hybrid-engined vehicles by 2008.

I am a big advocate for alternative energy for cars and there is a huge market there for those who are willing to think outside the box. The Japanese have already jumped on this market and currently dominate the hybrid car market while US automobile companies continued to focus on making SUV’s and are now suffering huge losses because of it.

If a company makes a fuel efficient car that looks and performs like a traditional gasoline powered car people will be willing to pay a bit extra to buy it because they understand the amount of money they will be saving at the pump. Now if the government would offer tax breaks for people buying fuel efficient cars than the market would really take off.

Just think about the trickle down effect buying less gasoline would have. Yes, it would improve air quality, but most importantly it would improve national security because less oil money going to autocratic Middle Eastern regimes means they have to liberalize their economies to order to survive in today’s globalized world which means their citizens would actually have to work for a living instead of living off the oil wealth which allows them to hang out at the nearest madrassa all day and learn how to properly behead infidels.

However, one word of caution for Korean automakers; don’t make the fuel cell version of the Rodius. That would be disastrous.

I would like to know what the heck these bank robbers in Ulsan were thinking?:

A pair of robbers armed with air rifles took 70 million won ($68,900) in cash and checks from an Ulsan branch of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation yesterday morning in what appears to have been an elaborate plot gone wrong.
Lee Yong-cheol, the manager of the Bonggye branch of the agricultural bank, said two men entered the bank wearing mountain-climbing hats and sunglasses. They ordered the six employees and four customers there at the time to lie face down on the floor. As one of the pair guarded the door, the other ordered a staff member to transfer 950 million won to an account at another bank in a Japanese name. The employee stalled for time, saying the branch would have to get its headquarters’ approval before transferring that large a sum.

About 30 minutes after the robbery took place, three men were arrested in Kimhae, south of Ulsan, while attempting to withdraw money from the bank account named by the Ulsan robbers. Police are questioning them about the Ulsan incident.
The white Hyundai Accent getaway car was found about an hour after the robbery at a village 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the bank. It had been set afire.

I think it is safe to say these two are idiots.

Activists (AKA-criminals) is blaming the Korean riot police for the death of one protester:

Junnong, an umbrella group representing farmers, and civic organizations held a candlelight vigil yesterday while designating December 20 as a day against excessive violence by the police. They demanded an official apology by President Roh Moo-hyun and the firing of the head of the police agency over the death of Hong Deok-pyo, who died while undergoing treatment for neck wounds he suffered during a violent street rally last month. It’s regrettable that his death was caused by the excessive use of force by police. That Mr. Hong is a small time farmer with two sons and two daughters makes this an even sadder story.

Let me get this straight, these your riot police draftees doing their mandatory service for their country are supposed to stand there and get the crap beaten out of them by out of control rioters wielding bamboo sticks, metal pipes, and motlov cocktails?

I got to give the Joong Ang Ilbo some credit though because they have publically come out and condemned the protesters for their actions:

Violent protests happen because of a lack of determined action by the public authorities towards illegal protests. Even when clubs and bamboo sticks are used, fights between protesters and the police are just accepted. Thus the violence keeps escalating. There needs to be a determined will to deal sternly with violent protests. If necessary, tear gas should be used so that violent protests disappear.

These lawless protests are now crossing international borders. Exporting methods used in Seoul, 11 Koreans have been charged with engaging in violent protests by the authorities in Hong Kong. This shows how little law-abiding consciousness there is among Korean protesters. The protest culture, which uses violence as a means to express one’s will, should not be allowed anymore. To turn a blind eye towards violence only results in more violent protests. Peaceful protests should be encouraged to ensure such unhappy incidents become a thing of the past.

Now how come no one was coming out and condemning the rioters that were bashing in the heads of riot police outside of Camp Humphreys, Braveheart style this summer? The condemnation of these protesters has come to little to late.

The fact that Korean professors are indoctrinating their students with this garbage is not surprising considering the anti-Americanism and pro-communism stances they teach as well:

At the start of his course, Prof. Lee Hee-su of Hanyang University’s Dept. of Cultural Anthropology, one of the best known Islam specialists in Korea, asks his students to write down what comes to mind when they hear the words “Islam” and “Iran.” About 70 percent of the Iran associations are negatively charged, including “axis of evil,” terrorists, revolution, Khomeini and oppression of women. Prof. Lee says he does not understand his students’ and many Koreans’ bias given that Iran has never done Korea any harm and has if anything been on an “axis of good” where Korea is concerned.

Where do I start on this one? First of all, what did Iran do during the Korean War and it’s aftermath for Korea? Nothing. One of the world’s poorest countries, Ethiopia has done more for Korea’s freedom than Iran ever has with Ethiopia’s deployment of thousands of soldiers during the Korean War.

Secondly, Iran is the world’s biggest supporter of terrorism. How many Koreans have died in terrorist attacks over the years? I know some were killed during 9/11 for example and the Korean contractor in Iraq was beheaded by Zarqawi’s Al Qaida in Iraq terrorist group which Zarqawi has strong ties with Iran. Than Iran is one of the biggest importers of North Korean No Dong Missiles providing large sums of money back to the North Korean military to allow them to continue to threaten South Korea with.

You have also Iran’s nuclear ambitions. How does a nuclearized Iran serve Korea’s interests? It will only encourage North Korea to build more nukes plus if Iran does build nuclear weapons it will probably cause yet another war in the Middle East that will in turn create more instability and higher oil prices harming Korea’s export driven economy.

Where do I begin on the oppression of women? According to the professor the oppression of women is no big deal:

They also agree that polygamy and the oppression of women in Islamic countries have been exaggerated, while terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. The so-called “honor killings” where male relatives kill women and girls they believe guilty of sexual transgression are a chronic problem in the Middle East and far beyond and have no basis in Islam.

This guy is obviously an idiot because anyone that has been to the Middle East especially Saudi Arabia and Iraq can tell you women are treated like property. If the professor thinks that the fact that women are treated equal to dogs is an exaggeration than so be it.

This is just another example of how intellectually bankrupt the Korean educational establishment is. Than again we should not be surprised by their embrace of Iran considering their adoration of Kim Jong Il whose human rights violations and oppression of his people make Iran’s own fault pale in comparison.

President Bush will be arriving in Korea shortly to attend the APEC meeting in Pusan. USA Today has a run down of his Asian trip itinerary. The paper believes President Bush may run into protests similar to his South American trip:

There is broad opposition to the Iraq war in South Korea, and Roh says he will propose ways to address the “social injustice” that results from globalization. Those factors could prompt protests like those that marred Bush’s visit to Argentina this month.

I seriously doubt you will see violent protests in Pusan similar to what happened in Argentina. The Korean government is very image concious and will do everything to crush any protests before they begin in order to maintain the focus of the APEC meeting on Korea instead of violent protesters

However, something else I noticed was that President Bush intends to tour Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju. Beautiful temple by the way for those who haven’t been there. I think it is good that the President is getting out and seeing something other than the customary trip to Seoul and photo-op with the troops at the JSA and back to America that most past presidents have done. All he needs to do next to improve his image in Korea is say Korean kimchee is better than Chinese kimchee and every ajumma in Korea will be chanting long live Bush.

I think this argument is mute because I don’t think anyone in their right minds would want to re-elect President Roh Moo-hyun anyway:

The ruling Uri Party’s think tank proposed on Monday that the nation introduce a U.S.-style presidential system by installing a vice president and enabling the president to seek re-election.

The system of a president sharing power with a vice president will help ease regionalism-based politics in the nation, the foundation said in the first issue of its quarterly, “Open Future.’’

Does the Uri Party really think the fact that Korea has a one term and your out system is the reason why President Roh is a lame duck with a less than 30% approval rating? I guess they have to find something to deflect the truth and they think this is it.

Korea has a one term system because of the memory of past military dictatorships that ruled the country. The one term system does not allow a president enough time in office in order to consolidate enough power in order to wield dictatorial might. With Korea’s history of authoritism this is probably a good thing and not something that should be changed on a whim like the Uri Party types want to do.

The Korean government’s recent decision to explore abolishing the death penalty in the country got me thinking if this sudden change in policy was in anyway related to the recent controversy surrounding the execution of Crips gang founder and quadruple murderer “Tookie” Williams.

The death penalty has been part of Korean law since the founding of the Republic of Korea in 1948. According to Amnesty International, Korea has executed approximately 900 people since 1948; most by hanging. Executions in Korea have been suspended since 1997 by then President Kim Dae Jung who was once sentenced to death himself in 1980 for his political opposition to the then military dictatorship. This hasn’t stopped the legal system from sentencing people to death anyway because six people were sentenced to death last year alone.

South Korea for it’s part is exploring the banning of the death penalty due to human rights concerns:

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is expected to make recommendations for the national action plan (NAP) on human rights which contain controversial issues such as abolishing the death penalty and the National Security Law.

The commission has drafted a 130-page in-house report on the action plan to better protect human rights in South Korea.

I find it interesting that South Korean liberals want to abolish the death penalty for human rights concerns in, but could care less about the state sponsored mass slaughter currently happening just 35 miles North of Seoul in North Korea, but that is a whole other topic.

I think the banning of the death penalty is just a natural progression for South Korea from it’s suspension of the death penalty in 1997. The Williams controversy may have just acted as a stimulant for a movement that has long been in the works.

My opinion on this is that I think the death penalty should be banned. For those that have read my blog for while now, they know I am no bleeding heart liberal and trust me I am not shedding any tears for “Tookie” Williams. He deserved what he got because he was an unrepentant quadruple murderer that the media and Hollywood turned into a celebrity, which was a slap in the face of the families of his murdered victims:

“Tookie” Williams, put to death by lethal injection last week in California, was a “legend” who underwent “a meaningful martyrdom that sent a lasting message to the world,” according to old-time leftist Tom Hayden, formerly Mr. Jane Fonda.

Opposing the death penalty, of course, means speaking out even for people like Williams. Still, the campaign for him has been wretched excess. His book editor and friend Barbara Becnel compared him to Rosa Parks. She plans a massive funeral as well as a memorial to him in South Africa. Several people nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize (anybody can nominate anybody, by the way).

Also keep in mind he was only convicted of the four murders that could be proven. He probably committed many murders before the four he got convicted for not to mention other crimes as the leader of the notorious Crips gang.

For those who think he was “railroaded” in court keep in mind that the most liberal appeals court in America the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco looked at the evidence and found no reason to overturn the conviction or the death sentence. That was the clincher for me because these are the same judges who have banned the Pledge of Allegiance in schools and over turned other death sentence cases. However, in this case, which was being advocated by many famous liberals, the judges still could not find any reason to over turn the decision.

“Tookie” is guilty yet he never would admit to it. This doesn’t sound like redemption to me like many liberals would like you to believe. However, I still don’t approve of the death penalty because I think there are better deterrents to preventing crimes while meeting international human rights standards.

I think that creating prisons in let’s say North Dakota or Alaska where inmates are not given cable TV and other creature comforts but instead given hard labor in cold remote setting would do more to deter crime than the death penalty where criminals know it will be at least 20 years before they are executed and stand a good chance of getting off on an appeal while in the mean time they chill out lifting weights and watching cable TV. Just think if a criminal is quickly convicted and immediately put into a remote, hard labor facility; how much this would relieve the stress put on the courts by all these appeal cases and serve as a deterant to crime.

Plus the US could meet international human rights standards which would set a better example for the US in regards to criticizing human rights violations in countries like Cuba, North Korea, and China. Like I said before I’m no bleeding heart liberal and I am not shedding any tears for “Tookie”, but I am a realist and I don’t believe the death penalty is meeting US interests anymore just as much as it is not meeting Korean interests in today’s world.

For more on the “Tookie” Williams case from a K-Blog perspective I encourage everyone to read Jodi’s “Tookie” related post at the Asia Pages.

If I had to choose between the Korean kimchi cure for the avian flu virus or the Japanese antidote I think I would definitely prefer the Japanese remedy:

I kid you not! The Kirin Brewery has apparently discovered or developed avian flu antibodies to protect humans from the flu…

The antibody proved effective in fighting avian influenza, including H5N1 strains, according to Gemini Science Inc., a U.S. unit of Kirin, which reported the findings at a meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington. The antibody proved effective in experiments with mice, the company said.

Why can’t beer cure all viruses?

Hat Tip: Asiapundit