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For those who have been in Korea for a while and have spent time in a PC cafe the thing you will notice right away is how Koreans are fascinated and addicted to online games. Young Koreans will sit in dark and smoky internet cafes for hours playing their games and stopping only momentarily to order ramen noodles from the cafe clerk to eat or to take a drag from a cigarette. The one game they play the most in particular is Starcraft. Why this game is so popular continues to allude me because I have played the game before and it is a fun game but not fun enough to play for 24 hours at a time. There are many newer games that are much better real time strategy games (RTS) than Starcraft.

For whatever reason no other game seems to resound with Koreans quite like Starcraft. They even have professional Starcraft leagues here, with top players receiving salaries similar to baseball players. On my Korean cable TV service, I receive two 24 hour online games channels that features Starcraft games 70% of the time. Starcraft has become as much of a cultural trait of Korea as kimchi.

The Korea Times has an interesting take on the Starcraft phenomenom. The paper believes Starcraft may be so popular due to Korea’s capitalist culture:

A new book, “When Games Talks to You (Keimi Marul Kolool Ttae),” claims that no computer game has exerted such an impact on people as the online game, which mirrors aspects of contemporary culture.

The authors point out its speedy movement of units and relatively short game duration as major traits appealing to quick-tempered Koreans.

The idea of the capitalist culture causing people to play Starcraft never occurred to me. However, short games that are appealing to quick tempered Koreans I found interesting because that seems like such a stereotype being thrown out there about Koreans. But incidents like the outrage and protests over the latest “Great Dokto Crisis of March 2005” only serves to feed these stereotypes. I just don’t buy that Starcraft is so popular because of “quick tempered Koreans.” Does anyone else got any better theories why Koreans are so addicted to Starcraft?

According to the Asahi Shimbun the US will now actively stop North Korean counterfeit money and drug smuggling operations.

The Bush administration intends to squeeze North Korea on drug trafficking and counterfeit money operations, activities that are suspected of funding Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear ambitions and which often involve the reclusive state’s diplomats, says a high-ranking U.S. official.

Rice, who arrived in Tokyo Friday for a two-day visit, will ask the leaders of those countries for support in smashing North Korea’s illicit money-making ventures.

Drug smugglers and counterfeiters are usually low life criminals while in North Korea they tend to be the priviledged regime higher ups that are making a load of money selling drugs:

How much Pyongyang is actually earning from drug trafficking, counterfeit dollars and other illegal activities is not known, say U.S. officials.

In June last year, two diplomats with the North Korean Embassy in Cairo were caught trying to smuggle 150,000 tranquilizer tablets. By putting the squeeze on such illegal fund sources, Washington hopes to encourage Pyongyang to rejoin the six-nation framework.

I can’t help but have this picture in my mind of North Korean diplomats peddling drugs in the hallways of the UN. I have wondered at times what those suits at the UN were smoking. Now I know.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is reported to have a secret mistress and daughter living in Japan according to the Chosun.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has a mistress and a daughter named Mieko in Tokyo, the Monthly Chosun reports. The magazine said Mieko buys gifts for her father and visits North Korea on Kim’s birthday every year.
Quoting Korean and Japanese intelligence sources and a Japanese business partner of Kim’s son, Kim Jong-nam, the monthly made the revelation in its April edition published Friday.

Now in her late 20s and living in Tokyo, Mieko is “pretty and well-dressed, though not as beautiful as her mother, and looks affluent,” the magazine said quoting a Korean-Japanese businessman. He described her as amiable and said she got on well with her half-brother Kim Jong-nam. The two are said to be exchanging emails.

How many mistresses does this guy have?

I thought this article about a French photographer in Seoul was kind of interesting

Having devoted himself to taking aerial pictures for the last 10 years, he said, ?I am taking pictures that are not beautiful but ones that makes people think.? Among pictures displayed are eight photographs of Seoul also taken from the sky on February 18 and 19. About those pictures, he said, ?It was difficult to take pictures in Seoul due to dust and fog and there were also not many magnificent views to take.?

It seems like he could of found some nice shots around Pukhansan or the Korean palaces but then again he was taking pictures in February which is when I think Korea looks its ugliest because everything is gray and brown. The pollution however must be from all those USFK vehicle polluting the air again.

According to Dr. Andrei Lankov Christianity is spreading in North Korea and may influence eventual reunification with South Korea.

However, there are signs of a genuine Christian revival in North Korea. From the mid-1990s an increasing number of South Korean missionaries have been going to northeastern China, adjacent to the almost uncontrolled border with the DPRK. These missionaries are overwhelmingly Protestant, of various denominations. They preach among the refugees, and their mission is remarkably successful. This is understandable: Christian organizations are among the few organizations that take note of the refugees and work hard to help them – much to the annoyance of the North Korean authorities. Newly converted North Koreans often go back to their country, taking Bibles and religious literature there. The North Korean authorities take the problem very seriously. As mentioned above, defectors extradited from China and then interrogated by North Korean political police are always asked whether they have been in contact with Christian missionaries.

There are reports about the growing Christian underground. Alas, these reports cannot be verified. Still, it seems that some sort of catacomb church is fast developing in North Korea – a development that has nothing to do with the elaborate performances staged by the authorities in the officially approved churches.

Who would of thought that Bible toting ajummas could be used as a secret weapon against the Norks. Interesting reading worth checking out.

Apparently President Roh thinks that the US should not be in command of ROK Army forces if war should break out on the Korean peninsula.

Roh further appealed to a long-standing South Korean irritation, which is U.S. command of South Korean forces in combat. “Within 10 years,” he said, “we should be able to develop our military into one with full command of operations.” That would include, he said, “the capability for planning independent operations.”

The newspaper said Seoul and Washington had not agreed to revise the security treaty. The editorial concluded: “We thus ask Mr. Roh to study the issue in earnest and enhance mutual trust between the two countries rather than just mentioning it openly.” That was a polite way of saying maybe Roh should have kept quiet.

The US-ROK Alliance states that the USFK commander who currently is General LaPorte would be the single commander of all ROK and US forces if hostilities should break out on the peninsula. One could make a strong arguement that a ROK Army general should be in charge since initially the overwhelming majority of troops on the peninsula are ROK Army troops. The US has about 20,000 troops here now compared to the ROK Army’s 800,000 soldiers.

However, the problems of having a ROK Army general in charge is that a ROK Army general is not trained in the hi tech modern warfare that the US is able to employ on an enemy with cruise missiles, stealth bombers, electronic warfare, Patriot missiles, submarines, aircraft carriers, Aegis destroyers, etc. etc. A US general is needed to ensure all these elements of modern warfare are implemented and coordinated effectively without causing fratricide and maximum destruction to the enemy. The ROK Army is highly proficient in infantry and artillery skills and will lead the fight on the ground. I can’t imagine the USFK commander would intefer with the ROK Army war plans without close consultation with the ROK Army chain of command.

I guess the simple solution if President Roh really wants to have the ROK Army in charge is to withdraw all the American forces out of Korea. He apparently may already be thinking about this:

In a little noticed speech, President Roh Moo Hyun of South Korea has once again disparaged his nation’s alliance with the United States and cast doubt on whether this partnership should continue. Roh told graduating cadets at the Korean Air Force Academy that South Korea was fully capable of defending itself against North Korea, thus undermining the reason for posting American combat forces in his country.

With the current down sizing of USFK forces going on now, President Bush may be in more of hurrry to remove US troops from Korea than President Roh is.

North Korea is threatening South Korea with war because of the annual US/ROK RSOI exercise.

The arrival of the USS Kitty Hawk and other U.S. military assets has North Korea warning that joint military exercises this week by the United States and South Korea could lead to “actual war.”

Thousand of U.S. troops from bases both on and off the peninsula are participating.

So if the Norks drop an artillery barrage on you because of our little sim exercise I sincerely apologize.

Korea is going to have to pay up because the US Army cannot even afford to dump the trash at Yongsan anymore.

Still millions of dollars apart, U.S. and South Korean negotiators will meet Tuesday for the fifth round of talks aimed at cementing how much South Korea will contribute this year to support U.S. troops stationed here.

Under the Special Measures Agreement covering the 2002-04 period, South Korean government support equaled some 40 percent of the non-personnel costs of stationing U.S. forces in South Korea, Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, U.S. Forces Korea commander, said last week.

So Korea pays 40% of the cost of USFK. That doesn’t sound like such a bad price considering the security that brings to the country. They could always try to go with an independent defense of the country and see how much that costs them.

This here is actually a pretty good idea. The Warrior Replacement Center at Camp Mobile near Camp Casey has had it’s name changed to the Warrior Readiness Center and it focusing more on educating soldiers on Korean culture.

The division recently announced that its newcomers’ orientation now will include more on Korean culture and an extra two days of briefings at the facility, formerly known as the Warrior Replacement Center. Last week, for example, dozens of new 2nd ID soldiers ended their five-day orientation with a tour of northern Gyeonggi Province, where 2nd ID is based. Starting at Camp Mobile, it included lunch at a South Korean restaurant, shopping at the Home Plus department store in Uijongbu and visits to the Gyeonggi provincial government’s northern headquarters and the Odusa Unification Observatory near the Demilitarized Zone.

Before all the WRC did for soldiers was provide assistance to fix pay problems, give you your field gear, and send you on your way. Now they are educating soldiers about Korea. I find it amazing how many soldiers know little or nothing about the Korean War, don’t know who Kim Jong Il is, or even spot Korea on a map. Well hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

Something the article did not point out was that leaders who are inprocessing (NCO’s and Officers) will actually spend two weeks at the WRC learning convoy safety, risk assessments, touring the entertainment establishments where soldiers get in trouble, and looking at the off limits area along with a host of other safety classes. This should be really informative for new comers. Serving in Korea is unlike any other duty assignment with all the weird stuff that goes on around here and hopefully the new comer training will get new leaders up to speed quicker and also keep them out of trouble because a lot of officers and NCOs get in trouble too for stupid stuff here. So overall a great idea from BG Anderson.

This article in the Korea Times I just found odd.

Microsoft, the U.S.-headquartered software giant, is accused of discriminating against Korean customers in operating its Hotmail e-mail service.

Microsoft Korea refused to reveal the number of Hotmail users by nations but experts point out at least Australia and possibly Canada and Spain would trail Korea in both subscriber numbers and the size of the online ads market.

I’m sure there is a logical reason for leaving Korea off the list for now because Microsoft is not racist against Koreans. Microsoft is about making money just like any business here in Korea and they probably don’t have the memory storage capacity right now to store accounts for Korea but I’m sure once they build the infrastructure to store more memory, Koreans will be able to upgrade their mailboxes to 250mb also.

Then the article adds this:

This is not the first time Microsoft has been suspected of discriminating against Korean customers.

The state-backed PDMC also found Microsoft?s Office software, an office automation package including a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tools, is retailed at $557.33 in Korea against $499 in the United States.

If Microsoft is discriminating against Koreans for selling software at higher prices to Koreans than Samsung is racist too because I can buy a Samsung TV much cheaper in the states than I can at Home Plus here. Does this make Samsung or Home Plus racist against Koreans?

For whatever reason the countries they chose for the email offering were going to make Microsoft the most money for the memory they had available to offer the public. If you notice China and India were also left off the list and they have much larger populations than Korea. Some of these Korean netizens need to chill out and realize not everything is about the big bad US trying to bash Koreans. It is actually about supply and demand.