Man videotaped sex with middle school student, then tried to blackmail her with it

A man has been arrested for having sex with a middle school student, videotaping it, and then trying to blackmail her with it. Worse, two other men had sex with the teenage student, and there are even allegations that he kidnapped and raped her. There was an earlier, similar case of a man videotaping his sexual intercourse with a teenage student.

Super Junior member Kang In caught on tape brawling.

I had previously written about how a member of boy band Super Junior had been accused of being in a late-night brawl in the Seoul district of Gangnam. Now PopSeoul and the Korea Times tell us that he was caught in the act on tape. Apparently, he was goaded until he finally gave in, but nevertheless, the camera clearly shows him to be guilty. If this results in a long trial, what will the other 12 members of Super Junior do?

Sony formally complains about YG Entertainment (G-Dragon, 2NE1, Big Bang) plagiarism

According to PopSeoul and the Korea Times Sony ATV Music Publishing has sent a letter of warning to YG Entertainment. They made accusations that four songs by G-Dragon, 2NE1, and Big Bang were plagiarized from songs by Flo Rida, Oasis, Lionel Ritchie, and Joe, respectively. YG Entertainment has yet to respond to these accusations.

Seoul National University seems to only give lip service to “globalization”

Seoul National University is Korea’s most prestigious university. It has 936 international students from 65 countries. However, a lot of them seem quite dissatisfied with the university’s ability to provide help and services to them. Yavuz Selim Kacara, a 24-year-old Turk who majors in economics, has quit as president of the university’s international student association.

“Although SNU talks about globalization, the reality can’t be further from the truth. We cannot even communicate well with the only official in charge of foreign student management.”

[ snip ]

SNU President Lee Jang-moo last month visited Harvard University. Foreign students in SNU, however, think it is nothing more than propaganda.

“We have difficulties in even registering for classes as our school doesn’t offer an English Web site,” said a student from a Southeast Asian country.

A Western student complained that some departments don’t provide English classes for their compulsory courses, making it difficult for foreigners to graduate.

The university scrapped this fall semester’s “SNU Buddy” program, which was set to help foreign students acclimate themselves to Korea.

Some students from Islamic countries have requested the university to provide a prayer room, but the school rejected the proposal without any convincing reasons.

They also appealed to the school cafeterias several times for a Muslim diet but not a sign of change has been shown.

Some lecturers prove to be insensitive enough to say things derogatory about non-Korean students.

“When a lecturer was irritated with a board marker that’s not working properly, he openly said, ‘It must be made in China’,” a Chinese student said.

[ snip ]

Asked about its stance over the problems in a written inquiry by The Korea Times, SNU offered no response.

Member of boy band Super Junior booked after bar brawl

A member of the boy band Super Junior, Kang In, was booked after a bar brawl in Gangnam.

According to Gangnam Police Station, Kang, whose real name is Kim Yong-un, got into a fight with a patron, identified as a Kim, in a bar early Wednesday morning.

Kang and his friend moved outside the bar and continued to fight with Kim and his friend.

Police said that Kang was fully intoxicated.

Since Super Junior has 13 (!) members, does it really matter if he’s sidelined for a while?

Woman attacked by elephant; MySpace comments possible motive

According to the Korea Herald and Korea Times, a woman named Kim was walking in the zoo in Children’s Grand Park when she suddenly felt a pain in the back of her head. Turning around, she saw two rocks, each the size of a fist. Looking around the vicinity, she saw who she believes is the only possible culprit: an elephant. Police are investigating.

“No one else other than that elephant could have thrown those stones at me,” Kim said to the police. “The park should take responsibility for neglecting to supervise the animal.”

The police are checking CCTV tapes and questioning zoo officials, in response to this unprecedented case.

The motive for the attack is unknown. There are unsubstantiated rumors, though, that the woman wrote anti-pachyderm comments on her MySpace page.

Finally! A sensible father asks his daughter not to do “sexy dances”

Singer Jeon YeongRok has asked his daughter, Jeon BoRam, a member of the girl group T-ara, not to do “sexy dances.” Why not?

“I thought her that she should never do sexy dances. There are so many kids who do that, and they go nowhere far.”

And as Brian has pointed out, they’re not sexy, so the whole name is a misnomer.

Do you need tongue training?

Here is a video which explains, in Korean, the different kinds of kisses. Included are: bird, cross, ear, sliding, inside, tongue training, french, eating, long, air cleaning, “bitting” (probably a misspelling of “biting”), wide space, neck, and candy.

The female narrator sounds like the same Korean Air voice who instructs me as to how to properly inflate my lifejacket in the event of a landing on water. Given the unerotic nature of the video, despite the best efforts of the piano and violin players, watching this video made me feel like I do just before takeoff.

Underground economy accounted for 28% of GDP in 2005

According to a report, in 2005, Korea’s underground economy accounted for 27.6% of its GDP, the fourth-highest percentage in the OECD. So what is an underground economy?

[Friedrich] Schneider [a professor of economics at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria] defined the underground economy as all economic activities not covered by official economic statistics. It includes not only illegal activities such as drug dealing, unauthorized shops, black market trading, and tax evasion, but also bartering and exchange of labor.

And why is this bad?

“The underground economy promotes tax evasion and is therefore a deficit-causing factor,” the National Assembly Budget Office wrote. “It also disrupts even and efficient distribution of resources in the formal economy. We should prevent the illegal transaction of funds by using financial information of taxpayers and increasing the efficacy of the system that requires the reporting of transactions of large sums of cash, which will hinder attempts at tax evasion, crime, and drug dealing.”

Japanese newspaper claims North Korean propaganda is preparing for Kim Jong-un’s succession

A Japanese newspaper, the Mainichi Shimbun, claims to have obtained North Korean propaganda that is meant to prepare for the succession of Kim Jong-il’s son, Jong-un.

The documents contain slogans such as, “General Kim Jong-un has broad military insight and is matchlessly talented” and, “Revered Comrade Kim Jong-un is the successor to the peerless man who has led our military and people.”

The daily said the documents are probably being used by the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces or the Ministry of State Security and appear to have been written after May Day because they include an account of the May Day fireworks, the newspaper said.