LATENIGHT - KOREA

Friday, May 31, 2002

An upset from the onset- France defeated by Senegal!

The open ceremonies were fantastic and everywhere you go in Korea, television sets are covering the World Cup. We had our sets tuned at school and on the way home, even the soju tents had televisions hooked up via extension cord. The LG 25 convenience store, where I stopped for bottled water, had a big screen sitting outside near the tables for people to watch as they sat and grabbed a quick bottle of soju or ramien noodles. It was quite a show and I really felt impressed by Korea and truly happy that they have had the opportunity to host this event.

Senegal 1 -- France 0
Then came the first suprise. I already mentionned that Korea did alright last weekend against France but tonight's opening game was a true upset. Senegal, ranked 42 (2 spots behind Korea) defeated number 1 ranked France, 1 to nothing. Papa Bouba Diop scored Senegal's point and that was all they needed to become World Cup 2002's first winning team and first big surprise.

Today's the day... The opening ceremonies are less than 5 hours away. I am not going anywhere near a bar tonight (which is actually quite difficult if you stop to think about it since bars are stationed about 10 feet apart here). I have also decided I am going to root for Korea since as far as I know, Canada's not here-- and I don't feel like getting into a fight with my students. As far as world rankings go, Canada is at 92, ahead of Lebanon and fast on the heels of such soccer magnates as Albania and Syria-- although we did beat Korea at the last Gold Cup. Korea, by the way, is ranked at 40 while it's competing co-host, Japan, is at 32. Still, Korea has a good shot. The Korean team, the Red Devils[Note: Korea is not actually scheduled to play any riot inducing games against Japan], have played exceptionally well in three exhibition matches held over the last couple of weeks. First they had a 4-1 victory over Scotland, followed by a 1-1 draw against England. Last weekend was the biggest coup however. They played France and only lost 3-2. France is the number one team in the world right now. Many Koreans feel they could have at least tied the game, had they been given a last minute penalty kick after one of their players was allegedly fouled. I can hear the ghost of the short track raising its ugly head. Controversy already? Church groups have already mobilized opposition to the name 'Red Devils' and the idea of 'copyright' is finally becoming an issue.

Thursday, May 30, 2002

Tomorrow is the big day. The official opening of World Cup 2002 will be held here in Seoul at 7pm tomorrow night. I've already noticed a difficulty in securing a cab... streams of them went past me on my way home tonight, full of early celebrants. I am going to try to cover it as best I can but I don't have tickets to any of the games and I can't even watch them on TV since they mostly start around 7pm and I don't finish until 10pm. Something to note, on days like tomorrow or whenever the Korean team is playing in Seoul, traffic is being cut down to only cars with even numbered license plates (or odd, depending on the day). Tomorrow will be the first instance of this. The next time will be on June 12th and 13th. June 13th is of course the national election day so with traffic cut down and everyone at the soccer game-- I have to wonder who is going to actually vote. Either way, when Koreans wake up on June 14th, Nobel Peace Prize winner Kim Dae Jung will be gone and they will have a new president.

Now, as the opening ceremony of the games is down to an hourly countdown, I have one last comment. I posted this originally on Nov.6th of 2001, but I am wondering if there was ever a resolution to this troubling situation as reported by the Korea Herald.

Monday, May 27, 2002

Gamma radiation sensors have detected a frozen sea

They found a lot of water on Mars.

The presence of such a vast amount of ice - if it were to melt it could cover the planet in an ocean at least 500 metres deep (1,640 feet) - will change profoundly the direction of future exploration.

Sunday, May 26, 2002

I was planning to go for a bit of a walk this evening when all of a sudden-- POW! A huge thunderstorm began crashing down. The sky is a orangish shade of brown and people are scattering below my window. It's just at that time of day when the sun has disappeared and all you see is the glare of it reflecting off shiny surfaces on high buildings. I took a picture and if it turns out, I'll post it. Today's shot is another from my trip to Changdukgung. I have been watching a video backlog sent from Canada today and just finished cleaning Molly's cage. I found a new advertising book hanging on my door on Friday and I have already tried out one of the donggas restaurants in it. I think I will leaf through it again for supper now that I am going to alter my plans about going out.

Last night I signed up for and adapted a new discussion board for Sci-Fi Dot CA so I am going to make a request that everyone who reads this post, follows this link, signs up, and writes at least one post. You could write a comment on one of the news stories I posted or even just a note on what your favourite Canadian Sci-Fi is (Outer Limits, Lexx, first five seasons of the X-Files,... whatever). I am also looking for ideas since the site is still under construction. Anything to start generating life and discussion. Specifically, I'd like to find writers willing to contribute stories or poems (I can provide linkable profile pages of prolific writers, hosted on the site). I am also in the seeking affiliate programs with various Canadian companies flogging Sci Fi (such as Chapters) and I'd love to know of any stores with similar programs that I might miss. Send me you favourite links. If you are adept at Photoshop, please submit wallpapers or screensaver designs for the download page. Help me. *grin*

Saturday, May 25, 2002

Congratulations to Ben and Bertie on the new arrival of Phoebe Louise Waymark! She was born May 21st, and weighed 9lbs. 12 ounces (while Ben is likely to gain 40 ounces himself soon too *smirk*). I guess this is one more family member I have yet to meet since Ben moved to England and started nesting. I wish all the best and am truly happy that I can blog some fabulous news today.

All is well on the eastern front. As it turned out, I had no 3:30 class. One student showed up, I guess, and the manager asked me if I taught him a class-- but since he was 70 minutes late for an 80 minute class and didn't bother to check in with me when he got there-- I think it's understandable that I didn't notice his quiet arrival. Next week I am getting confirmation that the class is on before I go in. As it is, I ended up sitting around for 3 hours surfing the web for the third week in a row, waiting for my other classes to begin.

Lastly, I have a world cup story to pass on. The BBC has reported that soccer players dislike the World Cup's balls. The new ball is light and players complain that they have no control over it-- especially goaltenders who say the ball doesn't go straight and that they have no chance of stopping it. On a plus side, it's apparently, "rounder than any other round ball in the history of round things," according to BBC.

Friday, May 24, 2002

"Hello,This is a very funny website
I wish you would enjoy it."

I woke up to about 8 potential email viruses in my inbox today. They are easy enough to identify and delete, but nothing can be done about the wierdness of language and grammar errors that make me suspect international origins. To begin the story, a friend of mine complained to me last night that someone had sent her a virus from a hotmail account. Being vindictive as she is, she asked me how she could find out who had sent her the virus. Basically, I said, "Good luck," and "chalk it up to experience," but the email address was legit. I found it on a simple search. That took me to an ICQ member search form that showed New Brunswick ICQers. The page had changed since Yahoo cached it so I did another search on the ICQ site. I found his name, his age, and where he lived. Going back to Yahoo, I was able to find a reference to him on a family tree page. My friend and I found a few names on the page that confirmed his identity and some simple detective work led us to the infected computer. It turns out that this virus masks it's source by stealing names from your address book. This guy that we found hadn't actually sent the virus (his brother's ex-girlfriend had). Since then, all of these email viruses I have received, I can reasonably trace to the address book on the same computer-- since surnames are the same and/or I know their dating history.

Most included multiple attachments. One of the emails was about a game that my friend supposedly coded (she is just learning to make websites now and is far from becoming a game designer)-- I was to be the first player. The majority of the messages however, we blank letters that had two attachements. The first was an .exe file by various names (one actually was name.exe) and the second was an .html copy of a webpage-- in some cases, one of MY webpages. They're gone of my computer but beware.

In other news...
I am hoping that my 3:30 class is cancelled again lately. No one seems to know what is up. The kids just stopped coming en masse (was it something I said?) Heck... even the attendance roll has disappeared. Aside from that, today is finally an easy day with only two other classes back-to-back. I will be finished by 8 o'clock.

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

First of all, I want to say Happy Birthday to Donna.

Secondly, the World Cup exhibition matches are underway. Last week, Korea played Scotland and won 4-1. Last night they tied 1-1 with England. The teams have mostly arrived now I think. There were a lot of videos of their arrivals on TV on the weekend. Now the only thing that worries me is the new talk of terrorist attacks on the way, I am wondering if World Cup will be a target. It would be logical to assume that someone in the White House leaked the FBI and CIA documents to the press since the memos were destined for the president's eyes only. Not many people have access to those documents. Give the media a small bone like that, let them fester over it for a couple weeks, then diffuse it before they dig too deep-- with new terrorism warnings that have already replaced the headlines. So where will the next target be? I would assume that it will be an international target, to help secure support for an international coalition. World Cup is certainly a candidate, especially because this year it has provided a strong link to Asia in addition to the usual European interest (and many operations are already underway in Indonesia and the Phillipines), If an attack is planned for World Cup-- where?

Korea? The U.S. likes the idea of using mysterious North Korea as a nuclear bogeyman. it's possible that something in Korea could solidfy action against North Korea, if indeed that is in the cards. REMEMBER that there is a national election coming up in South Korea on June 13th which makes this a prime time to switch policies and trash the Sunshine Policy of President Kim. Of course his Millenium Democratic Party successor (Roh Moo Hyun) claims he will continue the policy, but a terrorist event at World Cup, blamed on North Korea during election time, would make a change to a hawkish policy politically viable. The U.S. certainly has boosted its military involvement with South Korea lately, with the F-X program going to Boeing (at a new bargain basement price) and also a pending deal on new shipboard systems for the Korean Navy (I believe it's the new (7th gen) version of Lockheed Martin's AEGIS system). Also, the U.S. and South Korea began significant joint wargames on March 20th-- the largest wargames to date.

Japan? One of the sticky points during the last joint anti-terrorism action was that Japan is consitutionally bound to ONLY create a military for its own defence. An attack on Japanese soil would be the crux that could justify constitutional change and exportation of Japan's military in the name of homeland defence. Also, with Japan's shaky economy still not improving significantly, there is still the chance that they could fall and take the world's money markets with them. Retooling Japanese factories to make up for the production shortfall of U.S. Defence contractors could be an effective bailout. One of the problems with Bush's delayed war on Iraq is the lack of bombs left over after Afghanistan. Japan could pick up the pace of rearming the U.S. to fight another day. This situation still begs the question that if the U.S. spent all of its bombs blowing up a country as primitive as Afghanistan-- how many bombs will it take to destroy a country that actually has buildings?

But wait! Japan and Korea are cohosting the World Cup. Would someone dare to kill two birds with one stone? And how? Maybe we could take this to my discussion board.

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

Just found the reason why Star Wars: Episode II is not opening right away in Korea. It seems that although it open in 79 countries world wide, Lucas opted to skip the major Asian market until after the World Cup finishes next month.

Sunday, May 19, 2002

Some of my newer photos are now scanned in. Though I took a couple score of shots, many of them would be redundant to the uninitiated so I scanned in half a dozen tonight for use here and this is the first one. I really like this one actually. This was taken in a bit of a walking space between buildings at Changdukgung Palace.

I misreported on this earlier, due to a misunderstanding watching TV, but today (Sunday) is actually Buddha's birthday and will be a cause for celebration throughout Korea. I have no concrete plans for things to do although a few ideas have been tossed around. If I decide to venture out, I will post about it as soon as I get back. I know I am still behind on blog posts as it is and to tell you the truth, it has me a bit worried. It can't be a good sign when you are recording events in your own life-- and you suddenly develop writer's block!

Wednesday, May 15, 2002

A few minutes left to blog-- today was Teachers Day *grin* Thank you to all my students who wrote me letters, or who gave me a card or gift. Going to watch some downloaded TV shows tonight and then try to ge more web work done. I am fastly becoming useless, as this short, pictureless blog post may illustrate.

Sunday, May 12, 2002

North Korean asylum seekers, last week.

I wanted to add a story which is not being covered by most of the western media so far as I can see. Let me know if anyone ever picks it up. Last Friday started a recent surge in defectors from North Korea, making bids for freedom by escaping into China and seeking asylum in foreign embassies. A video on the news Friday showed the viciousness with which Chinese police removed 5 such defectors from the Japanese embassy, including an elderly lady and a pregnant woman with a 2 year old child. The fate of these people lies now in negotiations between Japan and China who are each citing international conventions on embassies to support their actions.

Today however, 2 North Koreans have entered the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. Korean TV news, such as MBC, is covering it but I could find no photos and only this short AP story on the incident which is developing.

Signage for singage over one of the many singing rooms in Seoul

I've taken a break this week from blogging. Most of my time at the computer has been spent working on www.sci-fi.ca, doing images and trying to create content.

Yesterday, we went for a shopping trip to Dongdaemun and managed to catch the new Spiderman movie (finally). We really enjoyed it. No news on StarWars Episode II though... none of the advertising in the theatre seems to show it which means that next week will not be the official opening in Korea as far as I know. It's supposed to be opening on Thursday in 19 languages and in 60 countries- but this isn't one of them.

I think I am going to pull another late night tonight and keep up with my web work.

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

A preview of Sci-Fi Dot CA

I don't know if this counts as a blog photo. Rest assured that I just picked up about 40 new pictures from the photography store and will start posting them as soon as I get them scanned in. The above image however, is what I spent about 6 hours doing tonight, from scratch, on PhotoShop. Last night I managed to find a program that lets me blog news from home which means I now have an efficient means of publishing news, with archives, to Sci-Fi Dot CA. With that in hand, I am building graphics right now and hope to unveil the site within a week or so. But... my modem is losing power and so am I. I was working by candlelight and the candle got tipped over as I struggled to adjust the power cord for the modem. I got covered in hot wax. My shorts got covered in hot wax. The floor got covered in hot wax. I just finished cleaning it up and I think that's the cue for bedtime (what with it being a quarter to 7am). Hope this picture is to your liking. It's the first example of Sci Fi Dot CA's new look.

NOTE: I am looking for contributers to this site-- especially writers who would be interested in publishing short fiction or poetry. If that's you-- or if you know someone who fits that category-- please email me!

Sunday, May 05, 2002

A little closer to home-- Apartments and a school in Nowon

This happens to be around the corner from the area where I work. This photo shows one of the local schools and a few apartment buildings in the background. Nowon is mostly apartments. Located in the northeast of Seoul, it's a relatively quiet part of town except for nights like tonight when motorcycles are racing on the street below my window-- blasting crazed musical horns as they tear along.

Today did not go as planned. I was corrected on MSN that we were actually going to the Samsung Theatre in Jongno for 2pm and not the Freyatown MMX in Dongdaemun. So I dutifully grabbed a cab and arrived to find that the Samsung Theatre does not exist yet. It's under construction. I walked for two blocks until I found another movie theatre. the Seoul Cinemas, and assumed that I was finally at the right place. I also noticed that Spiderman wasn't playing until 3:40 and I realized that something was amiss. Yeji sometimes misquotes times on purpose to get me out of bed earlier (assuming I am going to be late anyway) and I assumed that this was the case. As it turned out, I was right; but I didn't know how right. She booked tickets for 7:30pm-- and she booked them in Dongdaemun. It would seem that we had a lot of time to kill and Jongno just happens to have a lot of nice jewellry stores to browse.

After doing our shopping, we headed off to some of the area's palaces and I snapped off two whole rolls of film. The weather was perfect and the historical sites we visited were beautiful. We had a wonderful walk around and then, quite tiredly, we made out way by cab to Dongdaemun.

When we got to the Freyatown theatre, I got in the line for an armload of popcorn, choclate bars, and roasted squid, while Yeji went to pick up the tickets she reserved. Problem. The girl at the counter couldn't find Yeji's name on the list. Since I had already bought the snacks and we had come all that way, we were forced to go to the only other English movie playing around that time-- which was Blade II. All I can say is that Blade II lived up to all my expectations... which were pretty low to begin with. Spiderman is sold out across the city all weekend so I guess you'll have to wait until next weekend for my review. Home now, it's time to rest my feet and probably go to bed early.

Friday, May 03, 2002

I know I haven't blogged much this week but I've just had this feeling that the week has flown by like lightning. Tomorrow is already Friday and it only feels like it's been a couple days since last weekend. This weekend however, Yeji aleady booked the tickets to see Spiderman. The good news is that she booked the tickets so we'll have no problem getting. The bad news is that she booked them for 2pm (out of spite) which is usually around the time I get up. Looks like I'm getting up early to start the trek to meet her across town where the multiplex is.

The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (travel) has released an online guide for soccer fans venturing to Korea or Japan for the World Cup.

KOREA -- JAPAN WORLD CUP 2002 MEDIA WATCH

Today's Korea Herald featured an editorial piece that mentionned how the Association of Dog Meat Restaurant Owners plan to set up dog meat taste testing booths at World Cup. The story was also reported by Ananova but I guess I haven't got my personal email system configured properly because instead of automatically receiving Ananova's report on dog meat at World Cup, my inbox was filled with stories such as the U.S. government ordering NASA not to search for life on Mars (if and when they go there).

Here is some background information. Around the time of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Korean government placed a ban on the torturing of dogs for sale as dog meat. Apparently, the law extended to prohibiting the sale of any food that might be controversial when foreign visitors descended on the country. (I wonder if the law was extended to cover Bundeggi which are stir fried silk worm larvae?)

In the end, and 14 years later, this law has not been enforced. At the time, dog restaurants were told to pack up or move to back alleys. In preparation for the World Cup matches, FIFA (in November) asked that dog eating be again swept under the carpet until the visitors leave. In an article by the BBC, it is claimed that dogs are now more humanely electrocuted, however FIFA doesn't believe this and neither would anyone who has ever lived in Korea. As I have said before, torturing of the dog prior to killing it is integral to the recipe. Dogs are eaten to increase male sexual stamina and in order for the dog meat to have this mystical power, it is believed that the dog must be beaten to the edge of it's life in order to get the endorphins flowing through its system, and then killed. It is estimated that 92% of Korean men over the age of 20, have tried dog meat. Furthermore, it is estimated that over 1 million dogs are killed annually in Korea, and that 84% of dogs are raised for food. [Sources: Hindustan Times (Jan. 12, 2002) and BBC (Jan.27, 2002)

The government was willing to make token legislative changes in 1988 but this time, it is different. Even if they wished to, they face a growing pro-dog meat (anti-dog?) movement domestically. Over 150 owners of dog meat restaurants banded together last January to form the Association of Dog Meat Restaurant Owners, never mind that it's still illegal to sell dog meat. Stars such as Brigette Bardot, whose animal rights organisation has campaigned heavily against the practice, have only succeeded in infuriating Koreans who feel unfairly targetted by Western Media. When Jay Leno of the Tonight Show made a joke about short track skater Kim Dong Sung being so angry about losing his medal to Apolo Anton Ohno, that he, "went home, kicked the dog, and then ate him," Leno rapidly shot to become Korea's public enemy number one and the victim a threatened lawsuits by the country.

NOTE: I have already mentionned in past postings the state of Korea's internet conenctivity and the passion for Koreans to further political campaigns by engaging in forms of internet terrorism [previously linked to Hindustan Times article]. Just a couple weeks ago, I suggested to a coworker that Korea may find it self shut off from the internet and I believe that my prediction may come true. Shortly after I made my comment, I was reading the Korean Herald and came across this article. On the surface, it states that Korea's lax internet security is encouraging hackers worldwide to use Korean servers as bounce sites for electronic attacks throughout the world ( a reason for the government handout of 90 Billion Won that I also reported on earlier). The article also stated that some companies were actively blocking Korea IP addresses in an effort to cut down on such attacks. I only mention this now as I think I have found a good example to illustrate my theory. If you are reading this post from outside Korea, please conduct an experiment for me: As I already said, NBC has come under fire from Koreans because of Leno's remarks. Try to connect to the NBC profile page for Kim Dong Sung. If you are successful, let me know because I am getting an authorization error when I try it from my Korean IP.

Yesterday, Korea held it's big D30 celebrations, to mark the start of the 30 day count down to World Cup. The debate over dog meat is going to grow also, as the event comes closer. Koreans are eager to show the world their culture and that includes the eating of dogs. I doubt however, that the preparation of the animal will be displayed so openly and that is the issue. There IS worldwide support for Koreans having the freedom to eat dog meat. Ananova has conducted polls in Britain, for instance, that seem to show that consumption is not the issue. (You can view some comments by Britons here and here). Of course, the British have some pretty appauling recipes themselves and as Koreans point out, the French eat snails and horses... and the Chinese eat monkey brains! Why should anyone pick on Korea when the world is full of disgusting recipes? The answer of course, lies in the torturing of the animal about to be eaten-- to which Koreans fail to see the connection.

Why? Throughout it's 5000 year history, Korea has been kicked around by the Chinese, the Mongols, the Japanese, and now the Americans. There is a nationwide paranoia that has developed to infuse Koreans with the belief that the world is against their country. At the same time, Korea has rapidly risen to become one of the world's largest economies-- and correspondingly, Korea is demanding more respect and recognition. That is one factor.

The other factor is that Koreans have very little experience respecting animals. As I mentionned before, pets are a commodity here. They are disposeable. They are meant to be cute little status symbols that you can carry around in your purse or backpack and nothing more. The idea of the Dog Cafe is a very Korean invention. (a dog cafe is like a normal coffee shop, but offers the perk that you can "rent" a pet while you enjoy your coffee). By extension, wild animals are virtually extinct in Korea.

Combined, Koreans are more apt to see a problem with the world's perception of Korea-- than to feel sympathy or shock on account of an animal that is only going to end up on the dinner table anyway. Speaking from personal experience, Koreans tend to pass the blame onto the foreigner, who they often view as an ignorant intruder to their culture. That is why the Association of Dog Meat Restaurant Owners, instead of reviewing it's own membership and voluntarily trying to comply with the law that bans torture-- is much quicker to suggest that free samples of dog meat to World Cup visitors will magically open the minds of foreigners and (provided the torture of the dogs is kept hidden from view) it will enlighten them to see how civilized, cultured and faultless Korea really is.

Wednesday, May 01, 2002

"The door's open-- come in if you dare." -- Molly at home.

Confronting a moody rabbit in her cage has given me greater appreciation for Mormon doorknockers.

Happy May Day everyone! The rain of the last couple days has stopped and the warm weather is back.

My apartment looks like it has been attacked by octopi. To explain, Yeji has found a new way to organise things on walls-- by using suction cups. There are now suction cups EVERYWHERE! In the kitchen, spice racks are suspended carelessly over the gas range with suction cups-- as is the paper towel. Another rack holds spoons and spatchelas via suction cups. In the bathroom, suction cups hold aloft the toilet paper, the clothes washing mat, and toothbrushes. My comb clings to the wall beside the shower on the back of a flat, green, plastic fish-- it's body encrusted with tiny suction cups. Two more of the strange fish's schoolmates swim nearby, holding up shower gel and shampoo. Random things like cups are also adhering to the walls. Plastic things that I have no idea what they are for-- greet me at eye level when I walk into a room. Everything is perfectly organised except for in the middle of the night when you hear a huge crash and realize that suction cups are no good for holding up things like coats.

More mail came yesterday. My folks sent a new pair of sandals (finding shoes sized 300mm/size 11 is almost impossible in Korea) and my property on the moon came, but I haven't opened it. I am going to do that now. Also, at work, my business cards finally arrived.