Category: Korea | RocketNews24

Korea

Korean Remote Controlled Turtle Project Making Slow But Steady Progress

6 days ago by Casey Baseel
0
Tweet

One year when I was in junior high school my parents gave me a radio controlled car for Christmas. It was the perfect gift for a young boy right in the middle of dealing with the most awkward, confusing psychological change that comes with puberty (no longer thinking riding a bike is cool, but still being too young to drive a car). I loved that R/C car, so much that I kept playing with it outside as it started to rain one day, eventually frying the circuits so that it never ran again.

But things would have been different if my parents had been researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, or KAIST. First, everyone would have been surprised by how two Korean scientists ended up with a Caucasian son with blond hair. And next, they could have hooked me up with a controllable water-resistant reptile, like the remote controlled turtle KAIST is currently developing. Read More

Korean High School Cafeteria Has a Bit of a Cleanup Problem

May 14, 2013 by John Stuart Translations
0

People are pretty good at returning their trays after they’ve finished eating at a self-serve cafeteria. It’s no fun task cleaning up after others, so dumping leftovers in the appropriate bin and separating utensils and trays and returning them to their designated pickup areas is highly appreciated by kitchen staff. Recent photos uploaded to the Korea-Japan Cultural Exchange (KJ Club) website, however, makes one wonder if students and teachers at one Korean high school might be in need of a manners lesson.
Read More

Vintage Travel Snaps from 1960s Korea and Japan Evoke Strong Emotions

May 13, 2013 by Oona McGee
0

This beautiful photo collection, sourced from a Korean website, takes us back to Tokyo and Seoul in the ’60s, when both cities were undergoing a period of renewal, redefining themselves after years of war. But with Japan’s reconstruction efforts beginning in 1945, after World War II, and Korea’s reconstruction starting almost a decade later, in 1953, after the Korean War, the photos depict two very different levels of progress. While equally beautiful to us, these photos have inevitably become another point of debate between net users from the two countries.

May 12, 2013 by John Stuart Translations
0

According to a May 5 report in the Chosun Ilbo, a major South Korean daily, a police officer who arrived on the scene of a reported rape in progress in Suwon, the capital of Gyeonggi-do Province, failed to help the female victim claiming he misunderstood the situation as being an act of mutual consent, even though the perpetrator, a man in his twenties, was wearing an electronic ankle monitor and had a history of sexual offense.
Read More

Green Day Vocalist Compares Psy to Herpes Infection, Psy Unsure if That’s a Good or Bad Thing

May 10, 2013 by Mike
0

Looks like Green Day’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, needs to add anger issues to his growing list of ailments requiring rehab. Armstrong was apparently infuriated by the success of Korean pop star, Psy, and his record breaking sensation, Gangnam Style, which made its rounds while Armstrong was serving a stint in a clinic for alcohol and prescription pill abuse. The rocker experienced a “flareup” of sorts at the news that Psy’s epic follow-up, Gentleman, was racking up similar praise.

May 5, 2013 by Oona McGee
0

State-sponsored textbooks issued to 870,000 first and second grade elementary school students in Korea this year have mistakenly used photos featuring Japanese people on their covers. The mishap was confirmed after much speculation about the nationality of the subjects in the photos. They were said to have different features to Koreans, namely more defined double-creased eyelids and less-defined cheekbones.

May 5, 2013 by Cara Clegg
0

Say ‘sushi’ and you automatically think ‘Japan’. But a recent taste test by the experts suggests that the perfect sushi may not be 100 percent Japanese. Read More

Hyundai Ad Uses Suicide to Promote New Car, Causes Outrage and Sadness in the UK

Apr 30, 2013 by Philip Kendall
0

As much as we might bemoan their very existence when they interrupt our favourite TV shows or appear ad nauseam prior to YouTube clips, when done well ads can be genuinely entertaining. With each shot written, debated, edited and otherwise laboured over sometimes for hundreds of hours, successful ads become pop culture in their own right and are often of higher quality than the shows whose commercial crevices they are stuffed into.

An ad recently aired in the UK, however, become a talking point for all the wrong reasons when it depicted a man trying to kill himself by breathing in the exhaust fumes produced by what transpires to be a particularly environmentally friendly type of vehicle: Hyundai’s iX35.

Apr 29, 2013 by Michelle
0

When head shots of this year’s Miss Korea entrants surfaced on the Internet, the world was shocked at how similar each girl’s features were. With the same pointed nose, slender chin, and eerily matching smile, it was easy for anyone to guess that these ladies all went to the same plastic surgeon. However, a second set of photos has surfaced, showing each girl wearing light makeup and dressed in very informal attire, confirming that this year’s Miss Korea entrants actually aren’t identical manmade clones.

Apr 28, 2013 by Michelle
0

Most Starbucks coffee houses are easily identified by their oversized green umbrellas out on the patio, a huge green and white cap-locked name sign and a twin-tailed mermaid emblem beckoning the caffeine-deprived masses in for a cup of joe. But the following Starbucks coffee houses, some with wooden signs and earth-tone color schemes, are hardly recognizable. In fact, many of these unique Starbucks stores were created in response to opposition from local residents who were concerned that the addition of a cookie-cutter corporate monstrosity would ruin the area’s original ambiance. Take a look at these surprisingly beautiful Starbucks stores throughout Asia.

Apr 26, 2013 by Oona McGee
0

Japan and Korea have never had an easygoing relationship. So it’s little surprise that Japanese netizens were up in arms when the above photo appeared online. Taken at Tokyo Dome during a concert by hot Korean boy band “2PM” (which has a related group called “2AM”), it shows an enormous audience packed with enthusiastic K-pop fans on their feet, hands in the air, giving it up for the handsome lads.

But looking closely, it’s obvious that some of these fans aren’t genuine. In fact, they’re crudely implemented digital reproductions. So how and why did this happen?

Apr 25, 2013 by Philip Kendall
0

Although at first I blamed my insular, uncultured British brain when I struggled to tell the difference between many of the entrants for this year’s Miss Korea pageant, after speaking with members of the editorial team at RocketNews24 Japan, I soon discovered that they, too, were having tremendous difficulty telling some of the girls apart.

If beauty is something that can be defined by one particular look, facial expression and hairstyle, then the entrants for Miss Korea 2013 clearly all got the exact same memo…

Apr 24, 2013 by Jessica
0

Over the weekend, a Korean businessman got into hot water when he complained about his in-flight meal on a trip to the United States. Apparently, he wasn’t satisfied with the taste of his ramen or with the service, and expressed his displeasure by assaulting one of the cabin crew. As a result, he was turned over to the FBI and prevented from entering the country.

Here’s what we know about this bizarre incident. Read More

Bill Gates’ Casual Handshake Offends South Korean Netizens

Apr 23, 2013 by Master Blaster
0

On the afternoon of 22 April, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates met with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea. However, his seemingly innocuous greeting that sent many Korean netizens into a fury.

Apr 17, 2013 by John Stuart Translations
0

South Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai revealed its new E4U single-person concept car at the recently completed Seoul Motor Show. Egg-like in shape, the mobility device measures 92cm in width while standing 123cm tall. Hyundai believes the vehicle to be suitable for narrow streets in urban centers where speeds are generally slow.
Read More

Seoul’s Stunning Sky-High Urinals

Apr 10, 2013 by Master Blaster
0

South Korea has come a long way in toilet maintenance and design to the forefront of the world. With several cites boasting pristine public washrooms and at least one city offering tours of their facilities, potties are no joke here.

One highlight of South Korean toilet related beauty is the men’s room of N Seoul Tower atop Namsan Mountain in Seoul.

Built hundreds of meters above ground, these urinals are the perfect place for an acrophobe to confront their fears and keep a clean pair of pants. For the rest of us they offer a spectacular view while you take care of business.

Apr 10, 2013 by Philip Kendall
0

Mario! Mario!! Mari- oh… For gamers and excitable kids alike, it’s a curious feeling to spot one of your fictional heroes on the street, only to realise that it’s a little more than a clever knock-off. You’re at once drawn to them and want to dive in with your phone to take a quick selfie, yet a little bit saddened that it’s not the real deal and wrestle with a sense of betrayal.

The above Super Mario clone was spotted on the streets of Myeong-dong, Korea last week. Even with the subtle, lawyer-placating aesthetic changes, however, the character was still generating a lot of excitement among passers-by.

Apr 9, 2013 by Philip Kendall
0

We’ve all seen those “before and after” images in ads popping up online or towards the back of magazines. Liposuction, bigger breasts, smaller nose, hair replacement, breast reduction, wrinkle removal, neck flaps for speed underwater; whatever the goal of the surgery more often than not the post-op photographs are shot from much more flattering angles and under softer light in an attempt to prove that the surgery was a complete success.

Although one or two of the following images are guilty of similar crimes, they are nevertheless undeniably shocking. We’d never dream of telling people what they can and can’t do with their own bodies, but you’ll have to forgive us for having gasped when we first laid eyes on these pre and post-op images. Some of them are so different that we started to wonder whether we were looking at the same people.

Apr 3, 2013 by Philip Kendall
0

In a video uploaded to YouTube yesterday, a young Japanese girl gives a harrowing speech on the streets of Tsuruhashi, Osaka, in which she openly expresses her hatred of Koreans. Amid cheers of support from members of her own group, the girl goes on to state her desire to kill the “piece of crap” Koreans living in the area, threatening a repeat of the Nanking Massacre in response to the Koreans’ “arrogance”.

The full, shocking video after the jump.

Apr 2, 2013 by Philip Kendall
0

Despite the enormous popularity of K-Pop, Korean food and beauty products, relations between Japan and South Korea have been strained for quite some time. In recent months, however, right wing groups have become increasingly vocal, with anti-Korean protests occurring more and more frequently, especially in areas where many Koreans congregate and live.

On 31 March in Shin-Ōkubo — a town situated just a couple of minutes away from Shinjuku on Tokyo’s Yamanote line and the location of a large Korean ethnic neighbourhood — hundreds of anti-Korean protesters marched through the streets carrying signs reading “Go back to Korea!” and labeling Koreans in Japan “cockroaches”. Thankfully, equally large numbers of liberally-minded Japanese also showed up to protest the protest.