Looking at the situation at Egypt is rather reminiscent of the way America handled Korea. The U.S. is reluctant to do anything too radical with Egyptian president/dictator Hosni Mubarak, because he is an important ally in a war against terror. (Apparently Joe Biden does not consider Mubarak to be a dictator, although it is hard to figure out what else to call a leader who has been ruling for 30 years...

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 37. Lee Sora

[Read more reviews from the Korean from the Library Mixer. To join, click here.] [Series Index]37.  Lee Sora [이소라]Years of Activity:  1995-presentDiscography:Vol. 1 (1995)Like in a Movie [영화에서처럼] (1996)About Sorrow and Rage [슬픔과 분노에 관한] (1998)Flower [꽃] (2000)Sora's Diary (2002)Eyelash Moon [눈썹달] (2004)Winter, Lonely and Warm Songs [겨울, 외롭고 따뜻한 노래] (2008)Representative Song:  The...

"We're not South Korea, we never will be! Why don't you love us for us?"The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cState of the Union 2011 - Night of Too Many Promiseswww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire Blog</a>The Daily Show on Faceb...

Ask a Korean! News: North Korean Riot in 1998

It has been a while since the Korean translated from Nambuk Story, a North Korean blog run by Mr. Joo Seong-Ha, a Kim Il-Sung University graduate who defected from North Korea. The Korean has been translating his incredible stories and invaluable insight partly because they are informative, and partly because of a sense of duty that the world needs to know what has happened in Korea, and what is happening...

Fitness legend Jack LaLanne passed away this week at 96 years old. NPR's in memoriam of LaLanne had this interesting quote from LaLanne:You know, for me, you know, I usually hit the gym around five or six in the morning. To leave a hot bed, leave a hot woman, go into a cold gym takes a lot of discipline, boy, I'll tell you. But the wonderful thing - I hate it, I've never liked to exercise, but I like...

Like a Viiiiiirgin...

Dear Korean,I've been dating a sexy 22 year old Korean for a little while now. Do young Korean men expect their wives to be virgins?MelanieWell Melanie, if you have to ask, that ship must have sailed already right? ;)Do young Korean men expect their wife to be a virgin? It obviously depends on the person, but the best possible...

Now Tiger Mom has its own Internet meme. Check it out. And here is another one. A selection of the Korean's favorites:"Practice more. Suck less.""Western moms say 'Let it be.' I say 'Make it A.'""Doogie was a doctor at 16. What have you done with your life?""Wait, did you just clench your fist? You're lucky I'm not Korea...

Did You Ever Have This Conversation?

Just a wee bit of background. About a month ago, the Korean's friends visited from New York. The Korean's friends wanted to have dinner together with another one of their friends. (He is not Korean. Let's call him "V".) That other friend brought a friend, who was a Korean. (Let's call her "M".) The Korean drove and picked up everyone. As we were chatting in the car, an interesting thing happened. Here...

Ask a Korean! News: Testing Makes You Smarter

Suck it, haters:Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques....One of those methods — repeatedly studying the material — is familiar to legions of students who cram before exams. The other — having students draw detailed diagrams documenting...

On one hand, some Americans are feeding organic food that they cooked for their dogs and cats. On the other hand, 16,000 children around the world die from hunger-related issues every day. This isn't norm...

Prof. Chua's daughter Sophia wrote an article for the New York Post, styled as a letter to her mother:Dear Tiger Mom,You’ve been criticized a lot since you published your memoir, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” One problem is that some people don’t get your humor. They think you’re serious about all this, and they assume Lulu and I are oppressed by our evil mother. That is so not true. Every other...

Tiger Mothers are Superior. Here is Why.

I really wanted to let this one pass until later, because I was in the middle of researching for and writing a big series on education in Korea, which would nicely lead into Korean American educational philosophy. But alas, the world does not turn the way I want. Professor Chua’s story about “Chinese” mothers did not blow over -- it blew up instead. Even in the news cycle that included the most important...

Ask a Korean! News: Picture from 1992 LA Riot

Los Angeles Times recently ran a story about the new and improved LAPD. But what attracted the Korean's eyes was this photo accompanying the article.These are Korean men who were trying to defend Koreatown during the 1992 LA riot. The article said:Among the most durable and dispiriting images of that era, however, were those...

Ask a Korean! News: Assorted North Korean News

There are a lot of news about North Korea recently that suggest the country is rotting to its core. Consider:- There are reports that in order to allay the hunger from not receiving enough food, North Korean soldiers are eating salt as a snack. (Yes, salt. You read that correctly.) North Korea is collecting food for the military directly from civilian, which has happened only twice in the last 20...

Very, very interesting article that chronicles the history of Korean American grocers in New York. A sample:In the small space on 79th and York, the Kims sold fruit, vegetables, candy, cigarettes, “anything you could squeeze in,” Ron recalls. To compete with the Upper East Side’s other retail options, they sold their goods 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Seo Jun and Sunhee covered almost the entire...

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 38. Yoo Jae-Ha

[Read more reviews from the Korean from the Library Mixer. To join, click here.] [Series Index]38.  Yoo Jae-Ha [유재하]Years of Activity: 1987Discography:Because I Love [사랑하기 때문에] (1987)Representative Song:  You in My Arms [그대 내 품에] from Because I Love그대 내 품에You in My Arms별 헤는 밤이면 들려오는 그대의 음성 Your voice heard in star-counting nights하얗게 부서지는 꽃가루 되어 그대 꽃위에 앉고 싶어라 To be a crackling white...

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Korean would particularly like remind Asian American readers: please take a moment today to think about the Civil Rights Movement, and think about the debt that we all owe to Dr. King. It is thanks to his courage that we all live in current day America, the least racist country in the wor...

AAK! Wiki: Non-Teaching Jobs in Korea?

Dear Korean,I am extremely interested in living and working in Korea but the only type of job listings I can find are teaching positions. Teaching wouldn't necessarily be a terrible occupation but I am wondering if it is possible to secure a job in any other field. WrennDear Korean, I see you've discussed jobs as an English teacher many times, but I was wondering, could you possibly enlighten me on...

According to a survey by Mastercard, the most favored out-of-country travel destination for Koreans was Japan: 36 percent of Koreans who were planning a travel abroad in the next six months wanted to visit Japan. Australia was next at 28 percent, then the U.S. at 22 percent.The reverse was true also -- 31 percent of Japanese who were planning a travel abroad in the next six months wanted to visit...

America lost a hero. Major Dick Winters passed away on Jan. 2 at age 92. He was a legendary World War II leader of the Easy Company, a paratrooper company that landed on Normandy, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, rescued people from the Dachau concentration camp and took Hitler's mountain retreat in Austria, the Eagle's Nest.His WWII heroics was chronicled in the HBO series Band of Brothers, which...

Interesting New York Times article about Korea's relatively smooth sailing over the current financial crisis:When the global financial crisis struck more than two years ago, customers disappeared from the Dongdaemun market, a cramped maze of clothing and fabric shops in the shadow of a medieval city gate. But in contrast to the economic conditions in the United States and Europe, business quickly...

Are Chinese Mothers Superior?

There is a lot of buzz about the provocatively-titled Wall Street Journal article, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," written by Professor Amy Chua of Yale Law School. But despite the outrage expressed in the ever-growing comment section of the article, what the Korean found interesting is this: in a poll accompanying the article asking the readers to choose between "permissive Western" versus...