Ask a Korean! News: the Korean's Thoughts on Prof. Gates Saga

Enough has been said about the Henry Louis Gates Jr. debacle, so the Korean does not have much to add, except one personal impression --The Korean realizes that this is unreasonable, but he cannot believe that the officer did not recognize Prof. Gates. Gates is America's foremost scholar when it comes to race relations, and his books are as much of a classic in race relations as Brief History of Time...

Ask a Korean! News: Seo Taiji - Morning Snow

Morning SnowIn the old stories tears will also disappearLies I will also learnWill we meet again tomorrowNow I only wish not to abandon againMy dulled heart as a lieAfter all the white snow melts, after time passes byOn the day the first rain comes, on that rainy dayMy yellow umbrella I will open upAnd as this pretty flower will cry just onceMorning snow that will soon disappear came down dancing...

Welcome to North Korean rhetoric, Secretary Clinton:“We cannot but regard Mrs. Clinton as a funny lady as she likes to utter suchrhetoric, unaware of the elementary etiquette in the international community,”the North Korean statement said. “Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirland sometimes a pensioner going shopping.”Clinton Trades Gibes with North Korea (New York Tim...

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Downloading Korean Music

Dear Korean, How can I get K-pop mp3s online without stealing? Do you have any sites to recommend? I can't make heads or tails out of Naver's music section, I can find the music I want, but I can't figure out how to buy it (I'm a begining 한국어 핵생, so I can read some, but not well enough to be comfortable that I'm inputting my credit card info in the right spots!). I'm happy to pay for them, but I don't...

Stop Your Damn Worrying

Dear Korean,I'm curious to know how Hispanics are viewed in Korea. I am Dominican, but was raised and live in the US, and I look like I'm Indian/Arabic/Middle Eastern. Just thought I'd get an idea of what the Korean people's reaction to me, and people like me (tan, almond eyed, dark wavy/curly haired) would be like, and how to go about interacting with them.GraceDear Korean,I just wanted to have your...

You don't want to mess with Korean Americans -- especially not the kind who says things like: "I held him in a chokehold and told him I'd kill him before the police arrive if he didn't stop struggling and clawing at my eye...

Barack Obama sure loves Korea. At a news conference afterward, Mr. Obama said that when his father came to the United States, his home country of Kenya had an economy as large as that of South Korea per capita. Today, he noted, Kenya remains impoverished and politically unstable, while South Korea has become an economic powerhouse. “There had been some talk about the legacies of colonialism and other...

Wow. Dong-A Ilbo is reporting that Kim Jong-Un, the newly appointed heir to Kim Jong-Il, is behind the DDoS cyberterrorism that paralyzed the websites of the Blue House and other South Korean government organizations as well as certain banks and newspapers. The attack also targeted the websites of the White House, the Pentagon, New York Stock Exchange and other institutions. The attack is believed...

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Novels by Korean Americans

Dear Korean,Do you have any recommendations of novels written by Korean Americans? Preferably 1.5 or 2nd generation? I've already read Native Speaker, Free Food for Millionaires, and one more that escape my mind right now.AmyDear Amy,In most cases, the novels that the Korean reads are the ones that are at least 50 years old -- namely, the classics that every educated person should read. That precludes...

What's Up, My Oriental?

Dear Korean,I cringe with embarrassment when I hear my mother or a friend refer to an Asian person as “oriental”. I realize that the term "oriental" is considered derogatory, but I'm unable to give an informed reason why to offending parties. From my understanding, rugs can be considered "oriental" but not people. However,...