Those who are watching the world news are likely discomfited by the action North Korea took today, or, rather, as it is now 24 Nov., yesterday afternoon on Korean time. I’m finding it harder right now to get a bead on the mood here than at any point during the last eight years. During my evening class, essentially nothing class-related got done: we got together, talked about the situation, and students got calls from their mothers and friends who were trying to hash out plans for the night. Since a number of my students are from Incheon (the coastal city …
Tag: Korean politics
Interlude: Reading Chamiseul, and Revisiting Gin Lane
So I was in the cinema waiting for a movie to start, and I saw this advertisement for 참이슬 soju. I found it both interesting and depressing. If you watch it, I’ll be you can see why: Basically, the ad suggests that all human social interactions that aren’t lubricated by alcohol suck. Alcohol is, of course, what prevents dates from being boring and timid: … and we all know office work is a true drudgery… … though with one’s little invisible ethanolic friends to entertain one… … it’s not so bad after all: (Is this an argument for drinking on …
Shut the !&%# Up, Citizen, This Tinnitus is Democracy in Action
Today is (municipal) election day in Korea. For the last two months, the campaign law has been in effect, and this law, according to the Korea Times, forbids just about anything like politics: Prohibited activities, beginning April 3, two months prior to the June 2 election, include conducting surveys with the names of certain parties and candidates, and political activities of incumbents that would affect the outcome of the elections. Incumbents are also banned from promoting their party’s platforms, participating in events organized by their party except ceremonies for foundations, mergers and reorganization during the official campaign period. It’s baffling …
Says South Korea’s Minister of National Defense: “In Africa, Only Ig’nunt Negros(*) Are Running Around!”
UPDATE 2: Thanks to the comment by Sonagi, here’s the video of his remarks. He does indeed stumble on what sounds like the first syllable of the word “깜둥이” which, indeed, is the infamous N-word. (Note added: Actually, as Sonagi notes in the comments, it’s 껌둥이, but this is just a variant pronunciation of (as far as either of us know) equivalent meaning.) Also, the video seems not to be loading on my Firefox, but in case it works in IE I;’ve leave it embedded here. Here’s a link for those who cannot view it.) And as per Sonagi’s comment, …