The following was written as an entry in the contest mentioned on this site, which was announced to me via a trackback to my own site. However, if I understand correctly, it seems that I need to create an account over at Koreanblog to get my entry included, and I’m not about to do that. I’m disapppointed that it’s not going to count as an entry over there, but I’m still going to post this here. It seems I was wrong, and my post actually has been entered into that contest. Cool. I’m just glad to have a chance to …

The other day, when I caught a cab, the taxi driver gave me the same rigamarole about how good my Korean is—it really isn’t, though. Anyway, I asked him if he meets many foreigners, and whether they can speak Korean well. He said that he meets a lot of Japanese and Filipina women, who are married to Korean men. The Japanese apparently don’t speak Korean well, usually, while the Filipinas do. I shouldn’t have been surprised. As I see from The Marmot’s page, The Chosun Ilbo has an article up about The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s release of the …

Dear Korea: Thanks to Oranckay, I see you share another trait with Canada. You’re thinking far too much about America. It won’t do you any good. Trust me, I know.

I ran across a post on a Korean film discussion website which says a lot of what I’ve been thinking about the much-manipulated issue of Korean Comfort Women under Japan. Here’s a taste: To Adrien, Umm… without really going into details… Comfort Women issue requires a lot more level-headed reexamination. Just saying something against the prevalent Japanese-soldiers-as-devils view risks being branded as a “traitor,” since I am ethnically Korean myself, too, but Comfort Women issue has been, IMHO (and I am already stepping into dangerous waters here), abused by all sides: by Japanese right-wingers, by Korean nationalists, by North Koreans, …

Via Dogstew, Gary Leupp’s A Pop Quiz on Korea, which I’ll try next week when I can print it out and circle the answers.