nanoomi

The Korea Times reports that the Fair Trade Commission has taken action that “bans sexualizing teen stars:”

Government officials are attempting to prevent the revealing styles of teenage pop idols as they warn against the media’s portrayal of young women as sex objects.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Friday announced a new guideline for standard contract terms between production companies and artists, which include preventing underage singers from dressing in excessively sexual clothing. Management shouldn’t deprive the boys and girls in showbiz from their educational opportunities either, the FTC said, and needs to protect them from long working hours.

Well, announcing a guideline ought to put a stop to all of this. Now entertainment companies won’t have their teen stars wear skirts so short they show off their underwear, and the media will stop portraying “young women as sex objects.”

Such as this Joongang Ilbo article which was at the top of Naver awhile ago titled “Chinese netizens go wild over Son Yeon-jae,” which gave a matter-of-fact account of what Chinese netizens were writing about the girl known in Korea as the ‘gymnastics pixie’ (much as Kim Yuna was once the ‘figure pixie’). It was mostly stuff like “A Korean girl like a dream,” “absolutely perfect,” “a Korean body you can’t help but dream about.”

Much the same thing happened when Son appeared at the ‘LG Whisen Rhythmic All Star 2011′ gala show last Sunday, with Asia Gyeongje publishing a slew of photos from the show with titles like “Son Yeon-jae’s captivating look – her ‘pixie’ image disappears,” “Son Yeon-jae’s seductive beckoning,” “Son Yeon-jae shows off her S line,” and “Son Yeon-jae’s stand out s line“:

I suppose someone could point out she just turned 17 and that headlines like that might be inappropriate, but then, she is four years older than the age of consent, so perhaps it’s all okay after all. Besides, according to this, she may have wanted to get a reaction:

“I’ve always been seen with a cute and youthful image but now I want to show a transformed me.”

Mission accomplished. One wonders if that’s something she wants – or if its more her management’s idea. At any rate, being cute and known for your ‘S-line’ will probably ultimately mean more advertising contracts. As for the performance, the training video shows some ho-hum ’sexy’ dancing, but I’m more impressed by the ‘human windmill’ thing she does at 0:55.

You can read the original post at Gusts of Popular Feeling.

On March 23, OhmyNews published a lengthy article about the new 6th grade elementary school English curriculum, of which a portion is below. One wonders if the reporter was ordered to bash the Lee Myung-bak government and got lost along the way.

Memorize 520 words without teaching how to read?
[Curriculum full of holes, Part 2] How to evaluate, when public English education involves only memorizing words?

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I find Korean Buddhism incredibly interesting. I believe there are two reasons for this. First, it is rooted in Chán Buddhism from China, which is the Zen branch and the one that I practiced martial arts under. The second, is how the religion thrived even under the Joseon Dynasty (which moved to a Confucian society).

Over the years in Korea, I have visited many temples in Seoul and other cities, but my friend Yann showed us something special on our first trip out to his neck of the woods. The temple’s name is Okcheonam (옥천암). It’s not the largest temple or the oldest, but it is home to something very special: a carved Buddha.

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This week COEX hosted the 2011 Seoul Photo show. On hand were the world’s leading manufacturers of cameras and lenses, Nikon, Canon, Sigma and Tamron as well as Olympus and Panasonic. Also in attendance: local favourite, Samsung.

One notable exception was Sony, who were conspicuous by their absence (notwithstanding the fact that they actually have a full blown store right next to the convention hall, not more than 20 meters from the front door!).

The Olympus booth (booths) had two dominant themes – their mirrorless four-thirds camera system “Pen” and the seemingly indestructible “Tough” line of water- and shock-proof point-and-shoots.

Ubiquitous to any such show in Korea (motor show, photo show, food retailer’s show I’m going to this week) are the scantly clad models – “booth babes” – that hundreds of people crowd around and take photos of. And while this might be an appropriate forum (taking photos of models at a photo show actually makes sense) I couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be a certain kind of infantilizing going on here that was… simply put… a bit odd. But I’ll let you make your mind up as the photos below show my exploration of the Seoul International Photo and Imaging Industry Show 2011.

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I was looking through 1940s-era Stars and Stripes and found some interesting articles from the time of the American military occupation (from 1945 to 1949, which I’ve written about before here and here) which point to concerns – on both sides – about the effects of American influence on Korean women.

First, this article from February 5, 1949:

Army Relaxes Ban
Korean Girls invited to Soldier ‘Shindig’

By WILLIAM MOORE
SEOUL,” Feb. 5 (AP)—If everything works out right there will be 150 Korean girls to dance with American soldiers at their Hourglass Club Feb. 13.

Brig. Gen. William L. Roberts, Redlands, Calif., who took over command here last month said Friday the plan of inviting Koreans to a soldier’s dance was tried successfully last Saturday night at a Quartermaster depot at Ascom City, 20 miles west of here.

The Army had not permitted that sort of thing in Korea since late 1947 when a Korean operated dancehall was put off limits for soldiers.

Girls from Seoul colleges and daughters of good families are being invited, Roberts told the Associated Press.

He said the guests will come and leave in Army buses and during the dance there will be no strolling from the Hourglass Club.[...]

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If 2010 was the year of the iPad, 2011 is going to be the year of the other tablets.

Overseas, if you are willing to pony up £600 in the UK or upwards of $539 in The States you can get a Motorola Xoom – the first Honeycomb / Android 3.0 tablet (Plus the cost of a data connection). As Google’s flagship Honeycomb tablet it’s pretty slick. Other manufacterers have their own iterations in the works as well, The HP slate, running Palm’s old OS and Windows among them.

Here in Korea it’s a two horse race between iPad and Samsung’s 7 inch Galaxy Tab, with a 10.1 inch already shown at The Consumer Electronics Show in January and nowrumours of an 8.9 inch version coming as early as the end of the month.

Beginning late February the Galaxy Tab was introduced by LG U+ (LG Telecom) at various rates including essentially for free if you sign up for a data / voice plan over W55000 a month. The data plans are by no means generous with 2 and 4GB monthly free or with unlimited use if you go for the W55000/mnth plan.

The LG U+ model with models

However according to this ETNews article the plans (with 2 or 3 year options) compare favourably to those offered by SK Telecom.

I’m not entirely sure, but comparing Samsung’s micro sites for the product it looks like The LG version runs CDMA 3G, which after all makes sense considering it only has a CDMA network.

The big news is KT’s offering. It seems KT and Samsung have gotten over their tiff over KT selling iPhone. (Indeed SK Telecom will start selling iPhone 4 and iPads from March 16th)  KT will be offering a Wi-Bro / Wifi version of the Galaxy Tab. Rather than having to carry around a Wi-Bro modem (Like KT’s Egg) the Wi-Bro (Mobile WIMAX) radio is built in. And although from that article it is hard to discern, (My Korean is not that good OK?) it looks like the 3G radio is dispatched altogether in favour of the Wi-Bro, meaning voice calls will be VoIP. Confirmed via Yonhap.

The KT Model with a Model.

KT is offering the Galaxy Tab at various rates with various plans and discounts etc.

It comes at an interesting time when this week KT announced that all the metropolitan areas in Korea now have Wi-Bro coverage (previously it had only been Seoul and the part of Gyeonggi down to Suwon) and that you will also have Wi-Bro coverage Along most of Korea’s main highways.

But the bigger big news is that FINALLY Samsung will reease a WiFi only version of the Galaxy Tab for those of who don’t need yet another contract with one (or more) of the Telcos listed above. And unlike the SK Telecom, KT or LG versions won’t set you back W995,000!

Instead the wifi version is set to retail at just over a third less at W600,000.

Wihch is interesting.

Considering that the 10 inch WiFi version of the current and next iPad versions will sell at W500,000.

But I do so want one. The form factor is great, my iPad is starting to really bug me when I am reading on it for long periods, and in the subway it is near unusable unless I am sitting down, holding it any other way becomes quite tiresome after about 3 or 4 stops. The Galaxy Pad is much more hand friendly and as I said in my iPad2 post the iPad is becomeing more and more content creation friendly while reading on the Galaxy Tab’s 7″ TFT display will still be a pleasant enough experience.

Add in support for Gingerbread (it’s coming, Samsung seems to have turned it’s ire towards Google after suc a promising start) and probably HoneyComb (or at least a pairded down version thereof) and the Galaxy tab makes for a better proposition. I doubt my iPad will see more than two more software updates before becoming obsolete anyway.

Samsung has promised the WiFi version by the end of 2011 Q1 (i.e. by the end of March) and preorders are being taken on it’s website (although I can’t find where) and through it’s retail stores (though the shop clerks at Samsung Digital Plaza seldom know what you are talking about and will point you towards SK Teecom if you go asking about a Galaxy Tab.

From Yonhap.

Samsung Electronics started to receive pre-orders for the WiFi-only Galaxy Tab at the price of 600,000 won (US$536) this week through its online Web site and retail shops in South Korea. It did not disclose the launch date.

So expect a review of the Galaxy Tab WiFi version sometime this month, But I can’t disclose the review date.

Postage stamps are more and more an anachronism these days. In South Korea if you go to the post office you are more likely to get an EMS barcode or a computer printed pre-paid sticker than a stamp.

But in North Korea, arguably a land of anachronisms, people still send letters, since the accessibility and reliability of electricity, let alone computers and The Dear Leader Comrade General™ Kim Jong Il’s version of the intranet, are not all that great.

Like all state published documents in dictatorships stamps fulfill an important and distinct propaganda role – after all it is stamps that are most likely to reach “the outside world” unfiltered by news agencies like Yonhap or commentators and academics.

And indeed this is the case with a set of four stamps issued by North Korea earlier this month meant to reflect The Korea Worker’s Party (KWP) annual statement of intent, known as the New Year’s Editorial. Yonhap reports:

March 2, SEOUL, South Korea — Seen here is one of the North Korean stamps recently issued to reflect the message of the communist country’s Jan. 1 New Year’s joint editorial, calling for improvement in light industry, agriculture and living standards, strengthening defense and easing inter-Korean tensions. The editorial, jointly released by North Korean papers, including the Rodong Sinmun of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, is considered a blueprint for Pyongyang’s policy goals.(KCNA-Yonhap)

And here they are:

Looking at some of the elements in each of the postage stamps, the red flag, top left indicates the stamp’s association with the New year Editorial. (공동 사설 literally means “Editorial”) Across the top “농업부문에서는 당의 종자혁명방침 두벌농사방침 감지농사혁명방침콩농사방침을 철저히 관철하자” refers tot he actually text of The Editorial (as far as I can make out) and talks about implementing agricultural policies. interestingly I translate 당의 종자혁명방침 as “Seeding party policies”. Of course I beg someone with more Korean skills to correct me, but I wonder if the pun using “seed” is actually in he Korean?

Notwithstanding the ample harvest of corn and sweet potato (which is obviously bullshit) it is ironic and perhaps a jab at donors like South Korea that there are plentiful sacks of fertilizer (비료) in the scene.

Across the well dressed, tanned and smiling farmer reads 농업전선은 인민생활문재해결의 생명선 or something about upholding the lifeline of the people etc etc. Contrast it with a recent picture of the North Korean countryside, especially the absence of shiny new tractors.

Across the bottom: 조선 (Should be familiar to readers – Chosun) 우표 (Post so together 조선우표 is Korea Post)주체 100 (The 100th year of Juchae) (2011) 30원 30 won.

The 70 won stamp reflect the ongoing military first policy of North Korea or 선군 in Korean. I have some issues with the translation of this one in that there is the North Korean use of a funky looking ㅌ, but the upshot is that the official Editorial says something along the lines of “We are badass, we are awesome, blah blah blah we will crush the American capitalist running dogs blah blah blah”

At 10 won the cheapest of the stamps depicts North Korean industry. I didn’t go as far as to try and translate the policy on this one – as it w=is probably all crap. But of interest is the prominence of CNC화. As far as I can tell, and from what I remember reading North Korea Economy Watch, CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control and is supposed to be the holy grail that will launch North Korean industry into the 21st century. Pity it sounds like (and is probably in real life) something to do with giant computers, back up tapes and punch cards.

Note also the jars of 된장 in the corner. I have a feeling that the same art assets are being used here as in some other recent propoganda pictures including one that I used as a header for this site recently.

The erstwhile North Korean worker holds a copy of the 로동신문 (Rodong Shinmun) North Korea’s state controlled newspaper. The skyscrapers and apartment blocks in the background really do look like something out of the 50s and I am a little disappointed that the recently completed Ryugyong hotel isn’t seen looming in the background.

The most expensive stamp at 112 won deals with unification of the Korean peninsula and says something along the lines of “The North and South Nations projecting overseas power, let’s open a new phase of independent reunification!” “북과 남 해외의 온 민족이 힘을 함쳐 자주통일의 새 국면을 열어나가자!”

And then the youth of the combined Korea smashing a missile with a big ‘N’ on it which I can only take to mean American nuclear arms, given along the bottom 북침전쟁연습 무력증강책동 refers to war games and maneuvers.

So next time you are at the Pyongyang post office be sure to pick up a couple of these stamps as souvenirs. (They are bound to actually be worth more than their face value).

(And a big thank you to anyone who would like to add to or correct my Korean in the comments.)

Look, when even the maker of the product says it is decrepit, washed up, bad at what it does and a giant gaping hole in computer security, it is probably time to say goodbye.

Microsoft has launched the Internet Explorer 6 Countdown, a site aimed at promoting downloads of its newest version of Internet Explorer (number 8 by all accounts) and ridding the world of IE6. Its aim is to reduce use of IE6 worldwide to just 1%.

It currently stands at 12%.

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Imagine if you will two young Korean couple, one male and very rich the other female and poor, that just happen to switch bodies. Can you see that happening?

That is exactly what happens in the recent Korean drama Secret Garden, which I happen to be watching. I haven’t finished it, but I am halfway through. I’ll be honest that I haven’t been into the K-dramas that much lately due to American ones grabbing all my attention. Plus after watching a little of Boys Before Flowers I started to grow a distaste for it. I really hate it how the female lead character ended up going from a tough-independent person to a soft-apologetic little thing. As I started to watch Secret Garden I feared that this was going to happen all over again. Thankfully, the lead female character in this story pretty much stays a tough chick (so far).