You might recall that someone stole actress Choi Jin-shil’s ashes. The thief has been arrested. The man, only identified as Park, turned himself in to police. So why did he do it?
“Choi appeared in my dream one day and begged me to take her out of the urn and move her to a grave.”
And this was very surprising to me.
The National Scientific, Criminal and Investigation Laboratory will conduct a DNA test on the ashes to prove its authenticity.
They can do DNA tests on ashes?
You might remember Hwang Woo-suk. Prosecutors are seeking a four-year jail sentence for alleged embezzlement and bioethics law violations.
Pak Bom, of the group 2NE1, likes health food. In a recent interview, she reveals one that I had never heard of before.
Bom [Park Bom]: Ah, I talked about health foods too much…. truthfully, I do take care to eat them well. My parents ordered deer umbilici for me. I think it’s good for the body. (Laughs.) I like stuff like red ginseng and wild ginseng. I recommend and even feed them to others.
Dara [Sandara Park]: It’s really bitter. It’s tortuous to eat it, but Bom eats it well while smiling.
Rain is about to debut a television channel that will be devoted to him, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unlike the movie The Truman Show, however, it will not just show him in his daily life in real time. Part of the time will be dedicated to old footage, dramas (such as Full House), concerts, music videos, his fashion line, and some of the trainees of his company, J. Tune Entertainment.
In the first couple of seconds of this new version of the Lollipop TV commercial (Hat Tip), singer G-Dragon (of the group Big Bang) makes a gesture that, unbeknownst to him, is an allusion to oral sex. (Here is a repeating loop of the gesture in question. (Hat Tip)) It’s not the first time that he’s made such a mistake. He once wore, at an awards show, a t-shirt that said, “I *heart* sex,” “69,” and “F**k you, too.”)
At about 2:45 of this video (possibly the weirdest one you’ll see this week*) Hyun-ah of 4Minute and a couple members of 2PM (JYP Entertainment evidently loves number/times of day combinations) go to one side of the room and start doing pelvic thrusts at the guests. Then they run over to the other side and start doing pelvic thrusts at the host. Do they even know what they’re doing? I would guess not.
* Why does almost every episode of almost every Korean comedy show have to show men dancing around in women’s clothes? Doesn’t this joke eventually get old after a while?
In a backstage interview with the Jonas Brothers (Hat Tip), Chosun News told them, “You have a lot of fans in Korea.” What a big, fat lie. When it was announced that the Jonas Brothers would take the Wonder Girls on tour with them, many Korean fans said, “Yay! They’re going on tour with the Jonas Brothers! Yay! … Who are the Jonas Brothers?” Almost nobody had heard of them in Korea up until that point. If the Jonas Brothers came to Korea, they’d be lucky to sell out a Starbucks coffee shop. The big Korean music companies (JYP/SM/YG Entertainment, etc.) and TV channels* have effectively shut foreign music out of Korea. Only very recently have I heard anyone listening to the Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow, and why? Because 2NE1’s Minji performed a dance to it.
* KBS, SBS, and MBC broadcast Music Bank, Inkigayo, and Show! Music Core, respectively.
In today’s Korea Times is an article about some of the foreign English teachers who were hired by EPIK (English Program In Korea) and have just arrived in Korea. In the text is proof that the writer has no clue about teaching.
Unlike in private English-teaching institutions, teachers at EPIK are not required to stick to a rigid curriculum, but must work in a more proactive setting and provide ideas.
Teachers in hogwons (private institutes) have to stick to a rigid curriculum?! Bwa ha ha ha ha!* And by the way, what’s wrong with having a curriculum and sticking to it? Many people, including a lot of so-called “teachers” seem to think that the only purpose of a curriculum is to be an unnecessary inconvenience. They are, among other things, to help plan lessons, prepare students, and have teachers be accountable.
* I refuse to use the irredeemably idiotic “Lol.”
Are you thinking about getting married in Korea? Then, you might kiss your savings goodbye, because apparently, weddings cost about 55 million won.
Compare that to the fact that, in Korea, six million won is considered to be a “huge” student debt.
According to the National Police Agency, the number of suicides is down from last year, but the number of suicides among women in their 20s is up, and has nearly doubled in the last four years.
Do you remember Huh Kyung-young? He claims to have an I.Q. of 430, be able to see the future, to heal arthritis by touch, and to have been chosen to lead Korea by its mythical founder, Dangun. If elected, he promised to give couples 100 million won for getting married, move the U.N. headquarters to Panmunjom, and unite with Mongolia and, later, China.
He’s just finished an 18-month stint in jail for breaking election laws by spreading false information, such as the notion that after the campaign, he would marry Park Geun-hye. No sooner was he out of the clink than he resumed his eccentric behavior by claiming that the spirit of Michael Jackson visited him in prison, his body pierced with nails like Christ.
Now, Mr. Huh has released his first rap song. I’m not kidding. Thanks to Indieful ROK we can listen to this masterpiece, “Call Me.” Mad props also go out to Nude Viking for translating some of the lyrics:
Look in my eyes/
You will be happy/
Call “Huh Kyung-young”/
You will be healthy/
If you shout “Huh Kyung-young,” you’ll pass your tests/
Look in my eyes/
You’ll lose weight
I know that you will join me in waiting on pins and needles for his follow-up song, “Light of the East (Dongbangui Deungbul).”
Extra! Korea 
