Loose change for April 17, 2010

 Economic and business news 

• A bunch of countries, including South Korea, are close to reaching a deal on reducing piracy.
• South Korea is going to study the feasibility of free trade with China.
• Gasoline is hitting 1800 won per liter for the first time in almost two years.

 North Korea news and stuff 

• Finally breaking silence on the sinking of the Chonan, North Korea reportedly has called the sinking a plot against the North, manipulated by the South in order to maintain tension on the peninsula. 
• The Chosun Ilbo asks why there are so many space-themed names for cell phones.

 Other Korea-related stuff 

• Former president Kim Daejung will posthumously receive the Hanshin Award for his role in South Korea's democratization.

 Americana and miscellany 

• "Lost" is wrapping up production this weekend, which means my chance of running into its stars at Safeway again will be dramatically reduced. The whole thing with Jorge Garcia (who plays Hugo "Hurley" Reyes) showing his favorite Lost-related places deserves an entire post on its own.
• Daryl Gates, the former Los Angeles Chief of Police who botched the response to the L.A. riots and once famously said that Blacks were dying while in choke holds because they're physiology is different from "normal" people, has died at the age of eighty-three.