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, January 9, 2010

Daily Kor for January 8, 2010: It's 75°F in Orange County. How's the weather where you are?

This is my first chance in nearly a week to sit down and do a rundown of the news, and things may again be spotty until I'm back in Hawaii at the end of next week, depending on free WiFi accessibility where I'll be staying for the next week.

Bank of Korea keeps benchmark rate at record low of 2.0 percent for eleventh straight month (AP via WaPo, Bloomberg, Yonhap)

Door reportedly left open for future rate hikes (Reuters via CNBC, Korea Times)

North Koreans mark birthday of Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-un, which is now designated as a national holiday (AP via WaPo, AFP)
US Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Robert King is set to visit South Korean on fact-finding mission (AFP, Korea Herald)
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama mulls a security pact with South Korea (AFP)
China stresses closer ties to Pyongyang (UPI)
Seoul gave 48 North Korean officials a crash course in capitalism in Dalian, China (Chosun Ilbo, Korea Herald, Yonhap)
Samsung Electronics predicts fourth-quarter profits of $3.44 billion (AP via WaPo)
Two North Korean fishermen found drifting repatriated to DPRK (Korea Times)
Hannara Party (GNP) leader Chung Mongjoon calls for an end to "third-rate politics" (Korea Times); proposes Constitutional revision by 2011 (Yonhap)
Truth and Reconciliation Commission declares 1980 media closings, including TBC, illegal (Joongang Daily)

Compensation sought for victims of closings (Korea Times)

Animal behavioralists at Yongin's Everland Zoo successfully teach racism to tigers (Yonhap)

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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.

Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Daily Kor for January 8, 2010: It's 75°F in Orange County. How's the weather where you are?

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