I've collected a few more articles about North Korea below. If this doesn't interest you, look away now.
This rocket thing is getting interesting and seems to suggest that Kim Jong Un is happy to continue the madness that is North Korea--although exactly how many of the shots being called up there are being called by him is a question.
If you haven't been paying attention to what's been going on....Basically, the US and NK reached an agreement last month that would send food to NK from the US while NK would halt nuclear weapons tests, missile launches, and any other activities that were deemed to be of the nuclear variety. But then about a week later, in a rather predictably shocking way, NK made the announcement that it would launch a rocket into space in mid-April. The US screamed "Hey, you just said...." only to be interrupted by NK, who retorted "But it's not a missile, it's a rocket and it's not going to carry a nuclear warhead but a satellite that will orbit the earth in a most peaceful way." Of course, no one buys this and many have tried to persuade the rogue government not to go through with the launch, but it seems that NK is giving the world the old "up yours" routine and claiming it has every right to do what it pleases.
And so here we are. South Korea has said it will consider the launch an act of war if it violates South Korean airspace. Japan has said that if it strays from the designated flight path, they will shoot it down. The US, just today, has suspended the food aid that was promised. And through it all, China has stuck its fingers in its ears and exclaimed, "La la la la".
Explanation about the whole situation and "why it matters":
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ii_GvguLMOt1mUlMmzvqz9fA6IfQ?docId=2825f228583a41778a07b7a37359f902
Seems to be saying "Why, NK? Why?":
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/mar/28/north-korea-is-on-the-verge-of-taking-an/
"No soup for you!":
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/US-Suspends-North-Korea-Food-Aid-144680865.html
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Refugee
I think we often get so wrapped up in North Korea's rhetoric and posturing that we forget that there are real people living up/over there who are living in a real hell. I'm not sure how I would react if I was one of them, but here are three stories of people who have escaped. Happy stories that point to the desperation most North Koreans are probably going through.
A short story and video about a young man who escaped:
A longer piece about a mother and her children:
And one more about a man that was born in a prison camp:
What's in the bag, sir?
Grabbed the backpack and took a walk to Emart to get some food today. There is a distinctive lack of sizable grocery stores in my area. There is a small local store that Ami and I go to called, oddly enough, Su Yeon market (Su Yeon is Ami's real name) where we go to get food stuffs. Then there is a bigger grocery store at the bottom of the Hyundai department store. It's a medium sized grocery store and has more than the Su Yeon market, but I hate going there because it's always crowded and walking around in crowded areas in Korea is not fun. For things like beer and snacks, there is a plethora of small convenience stores in the area and I think all the clerks at these places know my face.
Emart, though, is much better than all the aforementioned places for a few reasons. It's bigger and has a good selection of food. It is not only a grocery store but also a place to get things like dishes, towels, trash bags, lamps, washing machines, and lots of other things you might need around the house. It's cheaper than local grocery stores. And finally, it has imported beer. This last point is what motivated my walk today.
On the way out I decided to stop by my bank to get some cash for the week and also to take a look down the street where the Nuclear Security Summit will begin tomorrow. I'm rather curious about this whole thing--not so much because of what will happen behind the closed doors, but more because I'm curious to see how a city handles having over fifty heads of state visiting.
The police presence down there is amazing. They are everywhere. They've also, according to Ami, closed our subway station and the two on either side of it. The subway hasn't stopped, mind you; it will simply skip these three stations for a couple days (Ami will have to take a taxi to the nearest station tomorrow and Tuesday to begin her journey to her university). They are also controlling the traffic on the roads around here. All this means that when I walked down there today, there were a lot fewer people and traffic. It was rather nice.
After the bank, I walked west to the Emart, about a 20-minute walk, bought the stuff I needed and walked home under a few circling helicopters who were certainly not looking for backpacks loaded with stuff like mine.
Emart, though, is much better than all the aforementioned places for a few reasons. It's bigger and has a good selection of food. It is not only a grocery store but also a place to get things like dishes, towels, trash bags, lamps, washing machines, and lots of other things you might need around the house. It's cheaper than local grocery stores. And finally, it has imported beer. This last point is what motivated my walk today.
On the way out I decided to stop by my bank to get some cash for the week and also to take a look down the street where the Nuclear Security Summit will begin tomorrow. I'm rather curious about this whole thing--not so much because of what will happen behind the closed doors, but more because I'm curious to see how a city handles having over fifty heads of state visiting.
The police presence down there is amazing. They are everywhere. They've also, according to Ami, closed our subway station and the two on either side of it. The subway hasn't stopped, mind you; it will simply skip these three stations for a couple days (Ami will have to take a taxi to the nearest station tomorrow and Tuesday to begin her journey to her university). They are also controlling the traffic on the roads around here. All this means that when I walked down there today, there were a lot fewer people and traffic. It was rather nice.
After the bank, I walked west to the Emart, about a 20-minute walk, bought the stuff I needed and walked home under a few circling helicopters who were certainly not looking for backpacks loaded with stuff like mine.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Hermit Kingdom Hobby
For some strange reason I am fascinated by nearly all things North Korean. When I moved over here and discovered certain sites where I could download movies and tv shows, one of the first things I found was a bundle of about 15 documentaries on the country and promptly watched them all within about a month. Now I just look for news and videos on the Cold War's final frontier when I have nothing else to do. Oh, and sometimes, I get on Google Earth and simply scan the country for interesting things. Call it a hobby.
Strange article about triplets being born in NK--
A new restaurant has opened in Amsterdam (with video)--
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/pyongyang-restaurant-amsterdam_n_1364497.html
Article about Obama coming to Seoul--
I was really just trying to figure how to put video here. Thought this one might be of interest. Little old but still relevant.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Strange Days
Because there are so many streets between my apartment and my place of work, I can walk to and from work in a number of ways. I can take the major roads and go west and then north or north and then west, or I can navigate any of the smaller streets that go between the major roads. In fact, I could probably manage to take a different way everyday for about two weeks. I like to take different ways as it keeps the walk more interesting and also deters any would be stalkers from predicting my route, hiding behind a parked car, and jumping out for a picture and an autograph.
My reason for telling you all this, though, is that, as you might know if you read yesterday's post, the Nuclear Security Summit will be going on here next week and it's happening about a five-minute walk from my apartment. There are quite a number of heads of state coming out for it including one Mr. Obama. Apparently he will be here for about three days during which he will also go up to the DMZ to take a look around. Most of us can go there on a tour conducted by the USO--I haven't been yet, but it's certainly on my "to do" list--but I would imagine that the President will be getting a private tour and seeing things we lesser beings aren't allowed to. But I digress.
This morning I decided to walk by the COEX complex, a large underground mall and attached hotels and conference rooms and I have no idea what else. This is where the summit will be held and, I imagine, where all the delegates will be staying, so I just wanted to check it out. Perhaps needless to say, security is being stepped up and today when I walked to work and then home again, I saw many police officers, some walking, some on motorcycles, and others in cars, all looking rather serious. On my way home I even saw a police escort for three cars which all had a paper sized sign in the front window that had the letters ALG and a small picture of the Algerian flag on it. I don't know if this was just a practice run or if someone from the country is here, but it all felt very official. I also saw three or four groups of about twenty people each--all wearing the same blue vests with the summit logo--walking around, cleaning up the area, and even scraping gum up off the sidewalks.
Meanwhile, North Korea is still planning to go ahead with the rocket launch. I did a little reading and they've announced that they will do the launch between the hours of 7am and noon between April 12th and 16th. The rocket will fly south over the waters between China and South Korea and will drop one part of the rocket there and another part down near the Philippines. They have said that the launch is merely to put a satellite in orbit and that they have to right to do this; of course, the rest of the world thinks otherwise. It's all quite interesting and strange in this part of the world these days.
Summit website--
http://www.thenuclearsecuritysummit.org/eng_main/main.jsp
Interesting read on North Korea--
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mazarr-nkorea-nukes-20120321,0,6156972.story
Obama's Visit to the DMZ--
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Obama-to-visit-heavily-fortified-Korean-border-3421570.php
My reason for telling you all this, though, is that, as you might know if you read yesterday's post, the Nuclear Security Summit will be going on here next week and it's happening about a five-minute walk from my apartment. There are quite a number of heads of state coming out for it including one Mr. Obama. Apparently he will be here for about three days during which he will also go up to the DMZ to take a look around. Most of us can go there on a tour conducted by the USO--I haven't been yet, but it's certainly on my "to do" list--but I would imagine that the President will be getting a private tour and seeing things we lesser beings aren't allowed to. But I digress.
This morning I decided to walk by the COEX complex, a large underground mall and attached hotels and conference rooms and I have no idea what else. This is where the summit will be held and, I imagine, where all the delegates will be staying, so I just wanted to check it out. Perhaps needless to say, security is being stepped up and today when I walked to work and then home again, I saw many police officers, some walking, some on motorcycles, and others in cars, all looking rather serious. On my way home I even saw a police escort for three cars which all had a paper sized sign in the front window that had the letters ALG and a small picture of the Algerian flag on it. I don't know if this was just a practice run or if someone from the country is here, but it all felt very official. I also saw three or four groups of about twenty people each--all wearing the same blue vests with the summit logo--walking around, cleaning up the area, and even scraping gum up off the sidewalks.
Meanwhile, North Korea is still planning to go ahead with the rocket launch. I did a little reading and they've announced that they will do the launch between the hours of 7am and noon between April 12th and 16th. The rocket will fly south over the waters between China and South Korea and will drop one part of the rocket there and another part down near the Philippines. They have said that the launch is merely to put a satellite in orbit and that they have to right to do this; of course, the rest of the world thinks otherwise. It's all quite interesting and strange in this part of the world these days.
Summit website--
http://www.thenuclearsecuritysummit.org/eng_main/main.jsp
Interesting read on North Korea--
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mazarr-nkorea-nukes-20120321,0,6156972.story
Obama's Visit to the DMZ--
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Obama-to-visit-heavily-fortified-Korean-border-3421570.php
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
No Visitors Beyond This Point
Don't visit in the next week. Apparently there might be a lot of security around here. The 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit is happening about a 5-minute walk from me. Here's the announcement from the US Embassy.
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/korea/187344/ACS_Newsletter/Nuclear_Sec_Summit_MARCH2012.pdf
Another reason not to visit is that North Korea is saying it is going to launch a rocket some time soon. I thought I heard it would happen this Friday, but I'm not sure if I've got that right. The North is saying the rocket will be carrying a satellite to orbit while the South, Japan, the US and others are worried that it's a test for a nuclear weapons delivery system. But hey, they've invited a few out for the festivities, so it must be on the up and up.......right?
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/include/print.asp?newsIdx=107134
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/korea/187344/ACS_Newsletter/Nuclear_Sec_Summit_MARCH2012.pdf
Another reason not to visit is that North Korea is saying it is going to launch a rocket some time soon. I thought I heard it would happen this Friday, but I'm not sure if I've got that right. The North is saying the rocket will be carrying a satellite to orbit while the South, Japan, the US and others are worried that it's a test for a nuclear weapons delivery system. But hey, they've invited a few out for the festivities, so it must be on the up and up.......right?
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/include/print.asp?newsIdx=107134
Hey there, can I buy you a yogurt?
Here's something I bet you didn't know. In Korea, or at least in Seoul, there are ladies that walk the streets in the mornings selling yogurt for the Yakult company. They have some kind of electric motor cart that they push (or maybe it pulls them) that hold all their goods and they walk the backstreets making deliveries to businesses and residents. Apparently, you can even walk up to them and buy something. Might have to try that someday as I see at least one or two every morning when I walk to work.
 |
| I didn't take the pictures above. Found them online. But this is exactly what I see every morning. |
Friday, March 9, 2012
And Spring Moves Closer
First off, if anyone would like to see pictures from Thailand, email me and I'll send you the link. There are far too many to post here.
I think I can safely say that winter is over. The temps haven't been that bad for a couple weeks now. Today it was about 30 degrees when I walked to work, and contrary to a few months ago, 30 now feels comfortable. When I lived in California, I think the general sentiment was that once it got below a certain number, I believe most thought it was around 30, it all felt the same. Of course, in San Jose it gets down to about 30 perhaps one day a year and everyone goes around complaining how cold it is. But I am here to tell you, for those of you who don't already know, that there is a big difference between 5 degrees and 25 degrees. 25 is cold but doable. 5, however, is very cold and the only thing you want to do is get back inside some sort of insulated structure. In 25 degree weather, I can loosen the scarf, take off my gloves for a few minutes to check the cell, and my nose needs a tissue only about once or twice during my half-hour walk to work. But during the walks to work when it's just 5 degrees outside, I find myself pulling the scarf up to my ears, never checking the cell, and holding my handkerchief in my gloved hand because my nose won't stop running (why do noses run in the cold anyway?) But hey, it's getting better now.
The other piece of good news is that the winter session is over. It ended about two weeks ago and I was glad to see it done. I was teaching 6 classes a day and started the session with 102 students (and ended with about 60-70% of that), which makes for a lot of extra work outside the classroom with grading tests and evaluating speaking assessments. But this session, I have just four classes with about 10 students each, and I've taught the subjects before meaning that I don't really have to do much lesson planning. So, fewer hours teaching, less lesson planning, and fewer items to grade equals up to a pretty relaxed session for yours truly--which also means that hopefully, I'll write more here. Stay tuned.
I think I can safely say that winter is over. The temps haven't been that bad for a couple weeks now. Today it was about 30 degrees when I walked to work, and contrary to a few months ago, 30 now feels comfortable. When I lived in California, I think the general sentiment was that once it got below a certain number, I believe most thought it was around 30, it all felt the same. Of course, in San Jose it gets down to about 30 perhaps one day a year and everyone goes around complaining how cold it is. But I am here to tell you, for those of you who don't already know, that there is a big difference between 5 degrees and 25 degrees. 25 is cold but doable. 5, however, is very cold and the only thing you want to do is get back inside some sort of insulated structure. In 25 degree weather, I can loosen the scarf, take off my gloves for a few minutes to check the cell, and my nose needs a tissue only about once or twice during my half-hour walk to work. But during the walks to work when it's just 5 degrees outside, I find myself pulling the scarf up to my ears, never checking the cell, and holding my handkerchief in my gloved hand because my nose won't stop running (why do noses run in the cold anyway?) But hey, it's getting better now.
The other piece of good news is that the winter session is over. It ended about two weeks ago and I was glad to see it done. I was teaching 6 classes a day and started the session with 102 students (and ended with about 60-70% of that), which makes for a lot of extra work outside the classroom with grading tests and evaluating speaking assessments. But this session, I have just four classes with about 10 students each, and I've taught the subjects before meaning that I don't really have to do much lesson planning. So, fewer hours teaching, less lesson planning, and fewer items to grade equals up to a pretty relaxed session for yours truly--which also means that hopefully, I'll write more here. Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)