Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun... Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Korea news links for October 24, 2009: Secret summit?

President Lee Myungbak is still on his overseas trip (if it's still Asia, does it count as overseas?), from which we might see agreement on a North-South summit. Not sure if that's good or bad news. Kia has followed its sister company and posted major profits, while the US seems to be following Joshua Stanton's policy of squeezing North Korea's banks.

Kia Motors posts record-high profit in third quarter thanks to stimulus packages in South Korea, the US, and China as well as weakened won (Bloomberg, WSJ)
UN Special Rapporteur for North Korea describes food situation in DPRK as desperate, particularly for women (BBC, CNN)
Media reports say that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has secretly invited ROK President Lee Myungbak to a summit meeting in Pyongyang (BBC, Chosun Ilbo, Times Online, Korea Times, Joongang Daily, Korea Herald)
US freezes assets of North Korean bank it has designated a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction (AFP, Yonhap, Reuters, AP via WaPo)
ROK Defense Minister says South Korean military is readying to take on "any request" from the government for a possible Afghanistan mission (Yonhap, Korea Herald)
ROK Finance Minister says Seoul will take steps to deal with "distortions in the exchange rate" that are feared to hurt exports (Yonhap)
General Motors buys all $413 million worth of new shares issued for GM Daewoo (Reuters)
Hynix posts $207 million third-quarter profit, its first in two years, as industry-wide cut in chip production helped ease glut (Bloomberg)
National Health Insurance Report says one-third of South Korean adults are overweight or obese (Korea Times, Korea Herald)
ROK Foreign Ministry urges China not to repatriate refugees (Donga Ilbo)
South Korean apartment prices rise for twentieth straight week (Reuters via CNBC)
KOTESOL forum kicks off today at Sookmyung Women's University (Korea Herald)
Korea's "punk squirrels" (Pteromys volans, Cultural Property #574) inducted into Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame (Reuters)

1 comment:

DouglasSaturday, October 24, 2009 8:00:00 PM
I love those squirrels. I call them the 'Don King' Squirrel.
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Ask Kushibo.

My Google/Blogspot data shows that a lot of the 2 million people who have landed on my site (yes, that's the real number) are looking for cultural information on Korea (e.g., “When did Syngman Rhee die?” “What did the Indians bring to the first Chusŏk?’ etc., etc.), as well as practical or historical stuff.

That got me thinking that, hey, I have a master’s degree in Korean studies and a minor in Japanese studies, I’ve lived in Seoul far longer than most foreans my age (whether they're kyopo or non-kyopo), I teach introductory courses on Korea and its cultural trappings and history, so why not offer a free service where I attempt to answer people’s questions, point them in the direction of where they can get them answered, and/or offer my regulars (that’s you!) a chance to take a stab at some of this stuff, too.

So if there’s something you’d like to know from a “contrarian scourge,” click on ASK KUSHIBO and just ask a succinct question in the comments section below.

Oh, and play nice. Please don’t make me regret this.

九十五大怪獣란? 쿠시보의 몬스터 아일랜드란?

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans" ("foreigners" in Korea be they kyopo or non-kyopo), Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County, and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

* Monster Island (actually a peninsula)

The name of this blog comes from a line in "Lisa on Ice," a beloved episode of The Simpsons, perhaps my all-time favorite television show (even though for several seasons there, it really did suck). Lisa is imagining being sworn in as president, but at the last minute, it is discovered that she failed P.E. (physical education) and she is thus "sentenced to a lifetime of horror" on Monster Island. "Don't worry," the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court confides in her, "It's just a name."

Fast forward to Lisa and other prisoners running in panic through a tropical jungle, chased by Godzilla-like creatures, including a monster turtle and a monster firefly.

"He said it was just a name!" Lisa screams to the man next to her. While he, too, runs for his life, the unidentified man calmly says, "What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."

Anyway, I thought in some ways that punchline summed up modern-day Korea in a nutshell. For many people—foreigners and Koreans—the ups and downs and everyday travails of the Republic of Korea make it as precarious as a Monster Island would be (and with the DMZ being the only land border, it really is like an island). But it actually is a peninsula. Okay, it made sense in my head.

So as you can see, despite the hits I get from people looking for Japanese tentacle porn, it has nothing to do with anything salacious as that.