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!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

When you wish upon the Morning Star King: Daily Korea for Thursday, May 31, 2012

The ouster of the proportional representatives from the far-left (and supposedly pro-Pyongyang) United Progressive Party is still a top news story, with the ruling party and the main opposition party (story #2) coming together to demand Kim Jaeyeon (Kim Chaeyŏn, 김재연) and Lee Seokgi (Lee Sŏkki, 이석기) be kicked out of the National Assembly before they can take their seats (they have been assigned offices in the meantime).

Am I wrong to think that a vile chinboista who would support the murderous regime in Pyongyang is kinda sorta hot, at least for a politician? She may need orthodontic work, and her ears make her look like the love child of Will Smith and Shrek — Oh, snap! She's Chinbo the Flying Elephant! — but she's cute nonetheless. Just a vile chinboista. (Truth be told, I started to think the same of Christine "I'm not a witch" O'Donnell, who otherwise is a vile Republicanista.)

US Commerce Department imposes hefty duties near 71 percent on residential washing machines produced by Daewoo, with minor duties set for LG and Samsung machines (Reuters, Bloomberg, Yonhap, Korea Times)
Ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition Democratic United Party take legal steps to kick out two controversial assemblymen-elect from pro-North United Progressive Party whose elections were marred by accusations of vote-rigging in primary (Joongang Daily)
North Korea refers to itself as "nuclear-armed state" in newly revised constitution (Yonhap, Korea Times, Korea Herald, Joongang Daily)

US State Department says Washington will never accept North Korea as a nuclear state (Yonhap, Korea Times)

Online commerce rises 26.5 percent from a year earlier to 279.4 trillion won (Yonhap)
Iraq signs final contract with Hanwha Corporation for $7.75 project to build entire city (Reuters)
South Korea leads list of top 100 universities under half a century old (Bloomberg)

Kushibo: My undergraduate alma mater, University of California at Irvine, came in at #4

Spain trounces Korea Republic, 4-1, in friendly warm-up ahead of Euro 2012 (SI, Yonhap, Korea Times)
Fox News exclusive: Did Marxist wealth redistributionist Santa Claus gave up world of toy-making to run Islamofascist theocracy in Iran? (FoxNews)

...

3 comments:

AnonymousMonday, June 04, 2012 1:17:00 PM
I got a hot one for you to peruse.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/fda-bans-korean-shellfish-from-us-distribution/2012/05/17/gIQAug1cWU_story.html

Does this shellfish ban mean that Korean shellfish is potentially as unsafe?
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kushiboMonday, June 04, 2012 1:43:00 PM
Thanks for the tip, Anonymous. Actually, though, I covered this nearly three weeks ago. I even had a clever catchphrase of the day: Mad Kul Disease (kul being oysters in Korean).

ROK Drop only just now posted on it, so that post is getting a bit more traffic.
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kushiboMonday, June 04, 2012 1:44:00 PM
And in response to your question, like I said at ROK Drop, food caught in the Yellow Sea can be nasty. Even as Korea has cleaned up much of its effluent, China has stepped in to fill the void.

Anything caught in the Yellow Sea should be heavily scrutinized.
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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.