South Korean president demands WWII apology from Japanese Emperor

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

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Lee Myung Bak, the President of South Korea, has called upon Japanese Emperor Akihito to atone for atrocities committed during World War II by his predecessor Emperor Hirohito, drawing a contrast with German Chancellor Willy Brandt.

“Willy Brandt touched a firm emotional chord with the whole of the Polish people, Europeans and indeed the world,” said Mr Lee.

“That was a turning point in the partnership between the countries of Europe. And the visit of the Emperor of Japan could be a similar occasion when relations between Korea and Japan can really look forward.”

Successive elected Japanese leaders have failed to make what their neighbours in Asia consider to be a genuine and heartfelt apology for the atrocities committed in the name of Emperor Hirohito, the present emperor’s father, in the early decades of the last century.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians died in Japan’s brutal conquest of China and Korea, as well as the islands of the Pacific and south-east Asia. Many were worked to death as forced labourers, women were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military while others died in the massacres of Nanking and elsewhere.

My father is from Lipa City, a town about 50 miles south of Manila in the Philippines. I could tell you some seriously hair-raising stories about the shit the Japanese did in Lipa during the war. Indeed, my father spent the first five years of his life living in a cave with the rest of his family to evade the Japanese, and suffers health problems to this day because of poor nutrition he endured as a youth. On his deathbed, my grandfather recounted how he took my father 30 miles on horseback to the nearest hospital - evading Japanese patrols the entire way - in order to seek medical assistance for my dad, who had come down with some sort of jungle illness.

If anyone could conceivably hold a grudge against the Japanese to this day, it would be my dad. Which brings me to wonder what conceivable purpose a statement of ‘atonement’ from the Japanese Emperor would serve. The whole thing strikes me as a patently facile notion. What happened, happened. An apology from Akihito would not undo the Rape of Nanking, any more than it would undo the occupation of my father’s homeland.

One more story - my family owned and operated a restaurant in Lipa before emigrating to the U.S. My mother recounted to me the time a group of Japanese tourists, visiting the Philippines to honor relatives who had died there during the war, stopped in for lunch at my grandmother’s restaurant. My dad, seeing that things could get ugly, ushered my mom out of there post-haste. The Japanese ordered lunch, ate in complete silence as everyone in the restaurant - my family included - watched them suspiciously, and then left. I think everyone there expected some sort of lynching, but in the end nothing happened. The Japanese went about their business, and so did Lipa.

South Korea’s Kimchee Deficit

Monday, October 20th, 2008 | Uncategorized with No Comments »

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Ah, delicious kimchee.  It’s such a staple in Korea that in Seoul there is a museum dedicated to it (guess where my next vacation will be?). But right now the world is demanding cheaper, Chinese-made kimchee, causing a big fat trade deficit for Korean kimchee:

Kimchee Deficit

Let’s face it: I’m a white girl. I can’t tell the difference between Korean and Chinese kimchee. Hell, according to an Internet quix I recently took, I can’t even tell the difference between Korean and Chinese people just by looking at them. But it would be nice to know that the Korean food you’re getting is actually from Korea.

Robots = Dancing Fools

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | Uncategorized with 1 Comment

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You build a super-advanced robot. What’s the first thing you teach it to do?

A. Fix your car

B. Fly a space ship

C. Operate heavy machinery

D. Bust a move

If you picked D.), you are correct!

Private Dancer

This is totally cool. Can it do the “Thriller” dance? How about the Boney Maroney?

Hey, a dancing robot is better than a fighting one. At least when the Machine Wars begin you might have a better chance of running away while it’s doing the Watutsi.

North Korean Spy Won Jeong Hwa sent to the big house

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | Uncategorized with No Comments »

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Won Jeong HwaNorth Korean spy Won Jeong Hwa, who was nabbed in July using her feminine wiles to coax state secrets out of South Korean officials, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Won, who had potentially faced life in prison, had admitted in court to her guilt. She spoke in a soft voice at hearings and asked for leniency so that she can be reunited with the 7-year-old daughter she had with a businessman in China.

But prosecutors said she is hardly the meek woman who appeared in court.

They submitted pictures showing scars they said she received in commando training in the North.

South Korean media said Won tried to assassinate a South Korean military officer in Hong Kong using an aphrodisiac laced with poison but failed.

She also tried but failed to meet and assassinate Hwang Jang-yop, former North Korean communist party ideology chief and the highest-ranking North Korean to defect, reports said.

While these details are salacious and all, I really love the comment issued by North Korean officials.

The North’s official media denounced her as a traitor for leaving the country and said: “(Won is) human scum crazy for money, vanity and swindling.”

Sounds like me…

BoA to release first U.S. album

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

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Perky asian female singers aren’t really my bag (well, unless you count Puffy Ami Yumi) - but I was pleased to hear that South Korean pop star BoA will be releasing her new album (which apparently remains untitled) in the U.S. The recording, which will contain her new single ‘Eat You Up’, will launch on iTunes on October 7th and in stores on October 17th.

Say, anyone remember when Britney Spears and BoA appeared together on that Korean T.V. special…? I do! And so does YouTube. The whole thing was a bit unnerving and contrived, which pretty much sums up Britney Spears as a whole…

Puppy Cloning Leads to Weird Stuff

Monday, August 11th, 2008 | Uncategorized with No Comments »

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Everybody loves puppies, right? Well, one woman loved her dog so much that she actually took those crazy South Korean scientists up on their offer to clone people’s dead pets for like a zillion dollars. But it turns out that her decision has unearthed a metric ton of weird shit.

Yeah, so the picture of the ecstatic lady with her freak-puppies led to some people recognizing her as a woman who once kidnapped and repeatedly raped a Mormon missionary, then escaped by pretending to be a deaf actress, then stalked the poor Mormon guy, then kind of disappeared for a while. Until now! I guess the moral of this story is, before you clone your pets, take a long hard look at your past and see if there is anything that can humiliate you.

The best part of the article is a quote from an old friend-turned-victim.

“That’s our Joy,” Stamey said from his home in Newland.

Years ago, Stamey said, McKinney was a beautiful girl worthy of the Miss Wyoming USA crown.

“She’s ugly as sin now,” he said. “But, sure enough, that’s her.”

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/10/america/NA-US-Cloned-Dogs-Mormon-Hostage.php