Today is the 17th anniversary of the Los Angeles Ri...

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Korean Hangouts in LA

Dear Korean,I’m planning an event in L.A. with hip, cool young adult Koreans in mind and was wondering if you can recommend any hot spots/areas that are favorites among them.Jennifer G.Dear Jennifer,While the Korean misses Los Angeles with all his heart, he has been living in New York for the last six years. Therefore, any recommendation by the Korean for Korean hot spots in L.A. would be very dated....

If you are an illegal immigrant, your child is taken away from y...

Ask a Korean! News: Overheard in New York

Chaperone to a Group of HS Students: "Hey look! We must be in Chinatown!"- 32nd St. & 6th Ave.Overheard by: The Korean GirlfriendFor those who do not live in New York, here is a picture of 32nd St. and 6th Ave.:Yeah.By the way, the Korean heartily recommends the real Overheard in New York site -- it is fantastic.Got a question...

Ask a Korean! News: A Look into Imperial Japan’s Rule over Korea

The Korean promises that he really tried. He really tried not to give any attention to Shintaro Ishihara, governor of Tokyo, who said “I heard from President Park Chung-Hee [former military dictator in Korea during 1960s-70s] that compared to European countries’ colonial rule over Asia, Japan’s rule was softer and fairer.”To be sure, this post is not really about that statement. But the Korean will...

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Surfin' ROK

Dear Korean, I recently got a question from my former philosophy professor about surfing in Korea - he's planning a surfing trip around the world and has the impression that there's not much surfing in Korea, but wants me to let him know if he's wrong. So, are there any major surfing destinations in Korea? Is surfing popular anywhere in the country, around Jeju-do, maybe? Are there any big, surf-ready...

Military Service Series: Part III – Korean Military and Korean Society

See previous parts of the series here: Part I Part IIThrough Part I and II, we surveyed how Korean men serve their military duty, and what happens during the years spent serving. The next question is – how does this experience, common to most Korean men, affect the shaping of Korean society?Part II left off at the life lessons...

Koreans are the thinnest among all the people in OECD countries. Fattest people? Take a guess.In all seriousness, allow the Korean to put it this way. The Korean Father is about 5'10", and used to weigh around 180 pounds. When the Korean was growing up, the Korean Father was BY FAR the fattest person the Korean has ever seen in his life (excluding some people on television.) Then the Korean Family...

You know what's stupid? Turning away highly educated people who want to work and pay taxes for America. That's stup...

And for this week's news of racism, we have Ms. Betty Brown, Representative in the Texas state legislature, who kindly suggested that Asian Americans should change their names so as not to confuse the poll workers. Hey, it's working for Lucy Liu. (The parts she play often has completely Anglo names for some reason -- e.g. Nola Lyons, Mia Mason.)Thank you to the good folks at Korea Beat for the ...

Ask a Korean! News: The Best Commentary on the North Korean Missile Launch

One of the Korean’s favorite blogs is Nambukstory, written by Mr. Joo Seong-Ha, reporter for Dong-A Ilbo, which is one of the largest dailies in Korea. Mr. Joo writes about many things, but his specialty is North Korea. If you know how to read Korean and care even a little bit about North Korea, please read his blog. His...

Military Service Series: Part II - Life in the Korean Military

See Part I here Dear Korean,I have a friend who ended up having to go back to Korea to serve in the military because he couldn't get citizenship here in the US, even though he's been here since he was 8. Is it okay to send food to people in the Korean military? I wanted to send him cookies and other things, but I don't know...