This photo, provided by Dewey McLean, a U.S. veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War and currently geology professor emeritus at Virginia Tech and taken during the war, shows an elderly merchant walking a trail on the slope of Mount Nam in Seoul. McLean served as a corporal for a transport unit of the U.S. 8th Army when he was stationed here from 1952-53. (Yonhap)

I put this story in the category of unverifiable rumor, so who knows how true it is:

North Korean diplomats, fearful of reprisals from the state for their children’s positive remarks on life outside the country, are sending their sons and daughters to mental hospitals to protect them from state surveillance.

A source in Dandong, China who is familiar with the situation in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Wednesday that parents use bribes to cajole psychiatrists for admission into hospitals under false pretenses.

Cases of North Korean foreign service officers using mental health clinics as a refuge for their children are on the rise, according to the source.

“[Diplomats] with children who know the truth about the outside world are afraid of punishment and are sending them to mental hospitals [as a preventive measure],” the source said.

North Koreans in the foreign service are typically elites who are well cared for by the state, and take residence in Pyongyang, where the standard of living is significantly higher than in many parts of the state.  [UPI]

You can read the rest at the link.

Via the Sawon website they are collecting a list of the most inappropriate business emails in Korea.  Some of them are quite funny like ilovemyself@company.com and penismight@company.com.  Can anyone think of other funny emails they have seen?:

It’s an epidemic!

Ok maybe that language is a bit strong but it is certainly a trend that needs addressing. Korean workers are guilty of choosing very odd and sometimes inappropriate work email handles. Clearly Korean companies first mistake is that they give their workers a choice of email handle, but I am very appreciative that they have given workers the freedom to make their own mistakes.

Those who have been involved with Korea before at a business or even academic level would have come across this

What’s more surprising is that Korean corporate culture is itself very structured and governed by a very formal set of perceived rules and etiquette, whether it be introductions, exchanging business cards or even having a drink together there is a raft of small but very important etiquette to be observed for Korean business people.

Picture the scenario of exchanging a business card in a Korean business context- you bow and shake hands with your left hand under your right to show respect, you then receive a business card with both hands again to show respect and scan the card politely, in this instance you look down to the email and see something like “ilovemyself@company.com” (by the way that is a REAL example).  [The Sawon via Reddit]

You can read more at the link.

https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/615834727929499648

This photo, provided by Dewey McLean, a U.S. veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War and currently geology professor emeritus at Virginia Tech and taken during the war, shows a Japanese-style shrine (in circle, upper right) on Mount Nam in Seoul and a stairway (lower) to the shrine. McLean served as a corporal for a transport unit of the U.S. 8th Army when he was stationed here from 1952-53. (Yonhap)

Via Gusts of Popular Feeling comes a Korean news report about a foreign hagwon teacher who is driving a scooter and reacts angrily to being cut off by a Korean driver.  He later pulls in front of the car to stop the driver and then punches him in the face.

Video of the incident can be seen at this link.  Not that it is a good thing to try in the first place, but considering all the cameras in Korea it would be hard for a foreigner especially to get away with an assault like this.

This should come as no surprise that the man who slashed US Ambassador Mark Lippert was a radical leftist inspired by North Korean propaganda:

The South Korean man who slashed the top U.S. envoy to Seoul earlier this year committed the crime after being influenced by North Korea’s propaganda, police said Tuesday.

Kim Ki-jong attacked Mark Lippert with a knife at a breakfast function at a cultural center in central Seoul on March 5, leaving the US ambassador with deep gashes on his face and arm that needed more than 80 stitches to close.

Prosecutors have charged Kim with attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction.

On Tuesday, police brought an additional charge of violating South Korea’s National Security Law that prohibits citizens from supporting or praising North Korea.

Police said Kim’s alleged attempt to kill Lippert was inspired by North Korea’s propaganda that incited the killing of the U.S. envoy.

North Korea has hailed Kim as a hero, comparing him to Ahn Joong-keun, a renowned anti-Japanese independence fighter revered in both Koreas. Still, North Korea has disavowed its involvement in the attack, which South Korean officials called “an act of terrorism.”

Police also said books and other materials confiscated from Kim’s home support North Korea’s strategy of communizing South Korea.

In April, he told the first session of his pretrial at a court that he did not try to murder the ambassador and that he was proud he reduced the annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises by one day.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

140 Samsung unit workers arrested after protesting merger http://t.co/bpoSsk59G4 #Samsung #Hanhwa #Techwin pic.twitter.com/Y43YVWJjk4

— The Korea Observer (@koreaobserver) June 29, 2015

This photo, provided by Dewey McLean, a U.S. veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War and currently a geology professor emeritus at Virginia Tech and taken during the war, shows an elderly man walking along a devastated street in Seoul. McLean served as a corporal for a transport unit of the U.S. 8th Army when he was stationed here from 1952-53. (Yonhap)

It is going to be interesting to see if the hydrogen fuel cell cars ever catch on because right now I don’t see how someone can buy one when there are so few fueling stations:

Hyundai Motor Co. said Monday it believes hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the future for eco-friendly cars despite challenges of limited infrastructure and slow sales.

South Korea’s largest automaker has sold or leased 273 Tucson fuel cell SUVs since beginning production in 2013, lower than its 1,000 target, mostly in Europe and California.

Kim Sae Hoon, general manager at Hyundai’s fuel cell engineering design team, said fuel cell cars represent a bigger opportunity than electric cars because competition is less fierce. Hydrogen-powered cars also give more flexibility to designers, he said. They can be scaled to big vehicles such as buses as well as small cars.

They can also be refueled as quickly as gasoline cars while traveling more miles than electric vehicles. The Tucson’s Europe model, called ix35 Fuel Cell, can travel up to 594 kilometers (369 miles) while its U.S. model travels up to 265 miles (426 kilometers) on one charge. It emits water vapor and no greenhouse gases.

High prices and the dearth of fueling stations are barriers to sales of fuel cell vehicles. Hyundai said it will be another 10 years before hydrogen cars start gaining wider acceptance. In the meantime, sales of eco-friendly cars are dominated by hybrid models such as Toyota’s Prius and electric vehicles such as Nissan’s Leaf, which are more affordable than fuel cell cars.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link.