Via Korea Noodles comes this news:

Star Trek 3 will be filmed in Seoul, Mayor Park Won-soon said Monday.

“Today I met with Jeffrey Chernov, producer of Star Track 3, at the Paramount Pictures Studio and agreed to film a portion of the upcoming movie in Seoul,” Park said in his Facebook post.

Assuming they go forward with the plan to shoot in Seoul, this is significant as it will be the first Star Trek film to do any shooting outside of United States.

TrekMovie has already reported that the upcoming Star Trek film will not be Earth focused, so it appears that the Korean location will be standing in for some kind of alien location, or possibly a (non-Earth) Starfleet location. [Korea Noodles]

You can read more at the link.

Growth of NK tourism continues: New air routes delivering Chinese tourists to Pyongyang confirmed http://t.co/mWelrhFCeG

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) October 1, 2014

So would these same people not stand for the Chinese national anthem as well since they killed more Koreans during the Korean War than the Japanese ever did during the colonial occupation:

Etiquette is a pivotal part of sports.

By this standard, the ongoing Asian Games leave a lot to be desired.

At the kickoff of the Korea-Japan quarterfinal soccer match, few Korean fans bothered to stand up when the opposing team’s national anthem was played.

A plea was repeatedly made through the public announcement system for the fans to stand up when the anthems were played at Munhak Stadium.

The fans’ behavior reflected the bitter memories of Japan’s 36-year occupation, but it is worth thinking what effects the Korean fans’ standing up in respect could have had on their image as the hosts of the Games.

It also marked a contrast to a group of Japanese fans remaining on their feet while the Korean national anthem was played after theirs was over.

“It is disrespectful to stay seated while other countries’ anthem is played,” said Na Kyung-im, a fan from Incheon. “If some foreigners sit and do that while Korea’s anthem is being played, do you think that makes you feel good?”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

This was a pretty good ploy by this guys to smuggle themselves into the country:

Immigration officers are on the hunt for 77 Indian Hindus who illegally came to Korea in July by disguising themselves as pastors of Christian churches, local media reported Monday.

Eighty two Indians reportedly arrived in Korea early July by falsely claiming that they were church leaders invited to attend the “World Religious Leaders Forum,” which was held in Busan by the International Youth Fellowship (IYF).

“We arrested and deported five of them, who were illegally working for an auto parts factory in Busan,” a spokesman for the Korea Immigration Service said.

“Seventy seven of them are still missing.”  [Korea Observer]

You can read more at the link.

It seems like if you were a Japanese athlete that committing theft in South Korea at such a highly visible event such as the Asian Games would be the last thing you would want to do:

A Japanese swimmer suspected of stealing a camera at the Asian Games has been summarily indicted by local authorities and remains in South Korea awaiting a decision on his case, games organizers said Wednesday.

Naoya Tomita, who won a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games, has been fined 1 million Korean won ($950) for stealing the camera from a photojournalist after failing to win a medal in any of his events in Incheon. He was caught on a venue surveillance video taking the camera and putting it in his bag.

Japanese team officials say Tomita admitted to taking the camera and apologized.

He has been expelled from the Japanese team, the first time that has ever happened for a swimmer, and has been kicked out of the athletes’ village. [Asian Correspondent]

"Is it you comrade?" – North Korea issues a guide to mobile phone etiquette. #NewsFromElsewhere http://t.co/1pMuRaYpiz via @BBCMonitoring

— Groove Korea (@groovekorea) October 1, 2014

Shown is a file photo of Jessica, a member of the girl group Girls’ Generation. SM Entertainment said on Sept. 30, 2014, that Jessica will soon depart the nine-member girl group launched in 2007 to do personal business and engage in solo activities. (Yonhap)

According to this Marmot’s Hole posting Jessica Jung says she was forced out.

This is horrible news because this was the best part of the Busan International Film Festival:

Organizers of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) have decided to act as fashion police to deter actresses from “over-exposing” themselves. The fete will kick off its 10-day run tomorrow.

BIFF, the nation’s biggest international film fete, has drawn the media’s attention for the daring display of a skimpy wardrobe by female actresses, some of whom have become overnight celebrities.

“We’ve decided to switch the atmosphere in order to shift the spotlight to the directors, actors and actresses instead of some female celebrities who are new and receive more attention because of their revealing dresses,” BIFF public relations manager Kim Jung-yoon said.

To enforce this rebalancing act, the organizers have called off the troublesome “Blue Carpet” affair, the venue for photo-ops under the sponsorship of talent agencies, which are suspected of doing what it may take to promote their proteges.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but Oh In-hye has my vote for favorite BIFF dress.

I am not sure how this is considered opening the rice market when you put a 513% tariff on imports:

South Korea has notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it will open its rice market in January next year with a 513 percent tariff rate.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Tuesday submitted to the WTO secretariat its plan to revise the country’s tariff rate on rice imports.  [KBS World]

You can read more at the link.