Most Popular AAK! Posts of 2013

Here is a quick look back at the most popular AAK! posts of 2013, by the number of page view.Most Viewed Posts of 2013 (All-Time Posts)1. Culturalism, Gladwell, and Airplane Crashes2. Lose Weight with Korean Diet3. The Ultimate Korean Looks List4. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Korean Men5. Fan Death is Real Incredibly, the dog meat post dropped out of the top five list, supplanted by yet-another...

Best of the Worst 2013

It is yet another installation of AAK!'s year-end tradition: the worst emails of the year 2013! This year has been another reaffirmation of the eternal truth that, on the Internet, the supply of stupidity is infinite. Despite seeing the examples of dumb questions from 2008, 2009, 2010 (in Parts I, II, and III), 2011 and 2012, people simply do not learn.As usual, these are all real emails that the...

Thoughts on Jang Seong-taek's Execution

Dear Korean,Now that Kim Jong Un has executed his own uncle-in-law, what do you think is in North Korea's future? What does Joo Seong-Ha think?The Second Generation Vietnamese-American College StudentFor those who do not follow North Korea-related news, this happened: Kim Jong-un, the fresh-faced third-generation dictator of North Korea, had his uncle-in-law executed. Jang Seong-taek, who joined the...

Asiana Crash and Culturalism, Again

The NTSB recently held a hearing regarding the crash-landing of Asiana Flight 214 at the San Francisco Airport earlier this year, in which a testifying expert said that Korean culture may have contributed to the crash. This, again, is giving rise to the discussion about the correlation between Korean culture and airline crashes. For example, as they did previously, CNN put out a vignette...

What Does My Korean Name Mean?

[Series Index] Dear Korean, My question concerns my Korean name. The story I have been told all my life is that I was found on a street corner by a policeman in Seoul and subsequently placed in an orphanage. I was given a name and a date of birth, one of which stuck with me (the birth date), while the other (the name) was abandoned faster than a politician’s promise when I was adopted by a military...

North Korea 2014 Calendar from NK News is Here

If blogs could be friends, Ask a Korean! would be hanging out with NK News all the time, watching KBO baseball and knocking back some Taedonggang beer (as seen in the Economist.) And when the holiday season rolls around, the two blogs would exchange gifts.Unfortunately, blogs can't be friends. So you, the Ask a Korean! reader, can receive the gift from NK News instead! NK News unveiled a gorgeous...

Who's Coming to SXSW 2014?

What is the future of international K-pop?The early stages of K-pop's foray into the international arena was dominated by idol groups, backed by strategic, long-term corporate planning and funds. The dominance was such that the term "K-pop" mistakenly come to be equated to "idol pop," despite the fact that "K-pop" plainly stands for "Korean pop music." Ignorance of the deep history and the broad range...

TK's Favorite Figures in American History

Dear Korean,This past week has included the anniversary of the assassination of JFK and also Lincoln's famous speech at Gettysburg. Both men are admired/respected and shaped our nation for the better. I wondered who in American history the Korean admired/respected (not necessarily political figures) and why.A History BuffHere is a light little post to work off the Thanksgiving turkey. :)Because the...