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Korea (Page 18)

Three nations come together in friendship to share their dumpling wrapping skills

The dumplings known in Japan as gyoza are typically filled with diced cabbage and pork. Most of the time they’re also packed with enough garlic to make them as dangerous a temptation for office workers on their lunch break as a frosty mid-day beer.

Even though China, Japan, and Korea all have distinct food cultures, being so close to one another on the map means that some things are bound to cross borders. Case in point: all three countries love gyoza, and rightly so!

But while they’re united in their love for the food is universal, it turns out each nation has its own unique way of wrapping them, as our Japanese correspondent living in Germany recently found out.

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Korean Gymnast Shin Soo-ji’s pitch has one heck of a wind-up

The ceremonial first pitch is a century-old tradition of baseball, where we get to watch notable politicians and celebrities try their hand at the great American pastime. There’s a lot of entertainment to be had to see if these outsiders can get the ball across the plate cleanly or at least avoid bouncing it.

Then, every once in a while, someone comes a long and revolutionizes the first pitch. This recently happened in South Korea when rhythmic gymnast Shin Soo-ji stunned the audience and redefined the phrase “throw like a girl”.

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Korean government plans to erect giant robot on disputed island, strongly opposed by Korean netizens

All around the world, young and middle-aged adults have fond childhood memories of giant robot cartoons. I can remember watching Autobots brawl with Decepticons over their endless hunt for energon cubes. Meanwhile, South Koreans were enjoying Robot Taekwon V.

Robot Taekwon V was such a hit that even today the Korean government uses its robot protagonist’s likeness to promote the nation’s claim to ownership of the Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo in Korea, Takeshima in Japan), a disputed island that has recently renewed some tensions between Korea and Japan. However, a recent plan to erect a statue of Taekwon V has been met with strong resistance from South Korean net users who feel that instead of being intimidating, the statue would cause Japanese citizens to laugh.

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South Korea’s nuclear power industry, ranking fifth in the world in terms of generating capacity at 20,739 megawatts, continues to be rocked by scandal and misconduct. Currently nine of the country’s 23 plants are offline, meaning the supply capacity situation is the worst the country has ever experienced. Though Japan’s power supply is also in a precarious state with only 2 of its 50 nuclear plants operating, the situation in South Korea is said to be much more severe, and many fear power outages such as those experienced in September 2011 will recur.

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Sad angel looking for career change sells Kias at motor show

The event planner representing Korean automaker, Kia, must have spent his entire budget for this unnamed auto show on hotel parties, as it’s clear from this photo that he woke up on the morning of the event in a hungover panic and put together this slapdash “angel” costume using some thrift store clothes and white spray paint.

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Proof that not all cats hate water – Korean kitty takes a dip 【Video】

Since the average domestic cat’s experience of water is limited to being shut out in the rain or being pinned down and bathed by their owner because, after one too many garden adventures, their fur is a filthy, matted mess (and that was not a fun afternoon, let me assure you), it’s little wonder that there’s a commonly held belief that all cats hate H2O. As the following video proves, however, there are some cats out there that love nothing more than a nice, long dip in the hot water.

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Korean national vows to pee on Yasukuni Shrine every time a Japanese politician offends his country

We’re actually surprised nobody had this idea before. A Korean national has uploaded a photo of him – for the squeamish let’s say, um, “micturating” – all over Yasukuni Shrine and vowed to continue to defile the sacred landmark every time a Japanese politician makes an insensitive remark.

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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

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

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.

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Battle of the Rice: Korean Rice Trumps Japanese as Koshihikari Loses Out on Top Spot

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

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.

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Food Rage: Korean Deported Over In-Flight Ramen Brawl

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

New Hyundai Concept Car Looks a Bit Like Dragon Ball Character Frieza’s Ride

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.
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Seoul’s Stunning Sky-High Urinals

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.

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Curious Super Mario Character Spotted on the Streets of Korea

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.

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“I want to kill them!” Shocking Video of Young Japanese Girl Giving Anti-Korean Speech Appears Online

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.

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Hundreds of Japanese Raise Their Middle Finger to Right-Wing Anti-Korean Protesters in Tokyo

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.

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Chinese Media Reports Korean Kimchi Promotes Weight Loss

As has been previously reported here, kimchi, the super-spicy fermented cabbage dish from Korea, appears to be one of the world’s healthiest dishes. Now, media sources in China are reporting that this fiery condiment is also beneficial for those seeking to lose a few pounds.

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Liar, Liar: Country Ranking of Fibbers Irritates Japanese TV Viewers

On the Japanese TV show Nep & Imoto’s World Rankings, they conduct surveys to rate countries by random attributes. For example, recent shows have ranked everything from how common it is to cry at graduation ceremonies to the number of shotgun weddings and frequency of cellphone checking.

Another ranking that has generated some chatter in Japan was one people’s tendency to lie, which ranked … countries in accordance to how likely they were to bend the truth.

So where do you think Japan came in? Read More

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