Category: Korea (Page 3)

Korea

RocketNews24 Taste Test: Korean Feces Wine

Nov 13, 2012 by Steven
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As reported last week, RocketNews24 recently brought back two bottles of Ttongsul, or “feces wine,” from South Korea.

After running the story on our Japanese site, we received a fair bit of criticism from our Korean readers, who insisted that Ttongsul no longer existed in the country and this is just something Japan contrived to smear “mud” on Korea’s good name.

Getting our hands on the beverage was certainly no easy task, and we can tell you for certain that you won’t find bottles of it being sold on the shelves of Korean supermarkets. We imagine most Koreans today have never laid eyes nor lips on the beverage, nor would they want to.

Yet, believe it or not, here we are with two bottles of feces wine and only one thing left to do: serve a glass to the cutest girl in our office.

Nov 9, 2012 by Master Blaster
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Everyone wants a little KFC, but Asia in particular has embraced the greasy wings served up by everyone’s favorite self-made restaurateur Colonel Sanders. In Japan, the Colonel is so beloved his statues can be found outside of nearly every franchise – often in costume. He even enjoys the same privacy rights as other citizens.

He is also the victim of various copycats this side of the Pacific. In Korea there is said to be a knock-off restaurant operating right next to a legitimate KFC in broad daylight. We sent Kuzo in for reconnaissance.

Nov 9, 2012 by Steven
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Ttongsul, or “feces wine”, is a Korean drink made by pouring soju, a distilled grain alcohol, into a pit filled with chicken, dog, or human feces, and leaving the mixture in the pit for three to four months until it ferments. It is then extracted from the pit and drank straight, with the belief that it can cure illness and help in the aid of bone fractures.

It sounds like the stuff of urban legends, but Ttongsul is indeed a real beverage that, while by no means popular, can still be found if you know where to look.

How can we be sure? After nearly six months of extensive research, RocketNews24 was able to track down a private Ttongsul vendor in South Korea and procure a bottle of the elusive feces wine ourselves.

Nov 1, 2012 by Master Blaster
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When you think of France, the Eiffel Tower springs to mind. China has the Great Wall, and how about the Statue of Liberty for the USA? Even Brazil has that big Jesus statue. Now, what comes to mind when you think of South Korea?

That’s not meant to be an insult. Most countries suffer the same lack of iconic, world-renowned landmarks, like my own home of Canada. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. (Yes, I will keep telling myself that, thank you.)

But South Korea may be on the verge of breaking out of this group with the discovery of a 100 year old piece of cultural heritage – a sewer!

Oct 27, 2012 by Master Blaster
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RocketNews’ ever faithful correspondent, Kuzo, stumbled upon a new type of drink while traveling abroad. The bottle is divided down the middle with one side containing 100% orange juice and the other holding grape juice.

The cap has two separate spouts and lids, so if you want a sweet treat of grape juice just do that side. If you feel a cold coming on then go the other way for a vitamin C boost.

Or if you want to really take a walk on the wild side, flip them both up for a very loosely mixed orange/grape blend.

Oct 21, 2012 by Karen Bremer Masuda
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Ultra-rightist movements in Japan are visible through men who cover their faces with black bandannas, sun glasses and helmets. They drive around in what is as close to an armored van as a Japanese civilian can get and spew military music and political rhetoric from loudhailers fixed to the top of the vehicle. You can hear them coming from miles away and are reminded that the nationalism that led Japan into World War II is still alive to some extent, albeit among a small minority of people.

It is hard to believe, quite shocking in fact, that young Japanese women who don’t appear to have a provocative thought in their head are becoming politically active on the rightist’s side. Read More

Sexy Dance Performance at Korean All-Boys High School Results in Hormonal Chaos 【Long Version】

Oct 11, 2012 by Steven
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Some of you may be familiar with South Korean female dance team Waveya from their sexy dance rendition of international K-Pop hit “Gangnam Style” (see below).

While unable to match the raw sexual energy that made PSY’s original music video so successful, the video has gotten over 40 million views on YouTube and has helped the five-piece unit make a name for themselves domestically.

Last month, for example, Waveya was asked to perform at an all-boys high school in Korea. The girls took the stage and began working their sexiest, most seductive moves on stafe in front of the crowd of adolescent males and, as you might imagine, it wasn’t long before every guy in the room found himself standing erect with excitement.

You know, to see Waveya. Because they’re famous now… Pervert.

Oct 10, 2012 by Philip Kendall
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Stereotypes; you have to love them.

Americans all own guns; every Brit has bad teeth; Asians make bad drivers; Koreans all eat Kimchi.

Usually stereotypes are utter nonsense- none of my American friends have ever held a real gun, let alone own one; a Japanese friend of mine once piloted my car along possibly the narrowest mountain road known to man when I was too freaked out to do it myself; and, as far as I can tell, my teeth are not in need of any urgent dental work.

But with 18kg (40lbs) of kimchi consumed per person in Korea each year, there might just be a grain of truth to that last stereotype.

So when news broke earlier today that Korea now imports more of its own national dish than it makes, it’s understandable that there were a few raised eyebrows… Read More

Turning Dull Life into Exciting Manga, iPhone App Sees Two Million Downloads in Just 18 Days

Oct 4, 2012 by Philip Kendall
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Tokyo-based smart-phone application developer SuperSoftware has announced that, after just 18 days, its free app. Manga Camera has been downloaded an incredible two million times.

Launched on September 11, the app. soon became popular among Japanese iPhone users who were thrilled to be able to turn snaps of everyday sights into images that look like they could have been lifted straight from a comic-book.

The application was downloaded one million times within the first 24 hours of its release, and has seen consistently high download rates ever since, popular in China and Korea as well as its homeland. Read More

Walking, Talking Works of Art at South Korean Body Painting Festival

Sep 27, 2012 by Jessica
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The International Body Painting Festival was held earlier this month in Daegu, South Korea. Artists used models as their canvas and covered them head to toe in paint, feathers and other shiny things to create one-of-a-kind works of art that will have you staring for more than one reason. Read More

Korean Baby Got Back for About Twenty Bucks at the Market

Sep 25, 2012 by Master Blaster
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South Koreans like big butts and they cannot lie, but those Japanese brothers try to deny. That’s right. It looks like the big butt trend has finally hit this side of the Pacific. The first nation to fall victim to a big ol’ badonkadonk: South Korea.

One of our reporters got a first-hand experience while travelling there recently, when she stumbled across a pair of padded panties designed to give you that extra junk for your trunk.

Sep 25, 2012 by Steven
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In the United States, some prisons have looked to yoga over the past few years as a way to help lower the country’s incredibly high recidivism rate—67% within three years as of 2006—and thus alleviate overcrowding.

The idea is that yoga and meditation can provide inmates with the emotional tools to stay calm and rational in stressful situations, hopefully preventing them from doing something that will land them back in the pen.

One South Korean man, who had been practicing yoga during 23 years of detention, gave support to the assertion that yoga really can help get inmates out of prison when he slipped through a 15-centimeter-high, 45-centimeter-wide (6 x 18 inches) food slot in the bars of his detention cell last week.

Sep 22, 2012 by Steven
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Social and mobile games are enjoying a strong presence at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, with social game giants GREE and gloops occupying some of the largest exhibit spaces in the venue.

But it’s not just Japanese companies throwing their weight around on the mobile floorspace: Korean online game developer WeMade Entertainment, known in Asia for their popular MMO series The Legend of Mir, is showing six new Japanese-language titles for iOS and Android devices to build anticipation for their full-scale entrance into the Japanese mobile game market later this year.

Bored of the repetitive tap-based social card games, I decided to spend some time with WeMade to see if the Korean developer was bringing anything new to the table.

Sep 16, 2012 by Michelle
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Just about everyone knows Hello Kitty. The Japanese born cat of Sanrio, with her simple expression and cute little bow, has reached the far corners of the world. Hello Kitty, known as Kitty-chan in Japan, has made appearances on lunch boxes, debit cards, $5,000 necklaces, electric guitars, and even airplanes.

The expressionless white cat’s overwhelming popularity has spread throughout the world, prompting the creation of the Hello Kitty Cafe franchise in South Korea with locations in Seoul, Incheon, and Sinchon. One of our reporters, enamored by the cuteness that Japan’s most famous cat exudes, decided to pay a visit to Hello Kitty Cafe’s Seoul location.

Sep 9, 2012 by Master Blaster
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In Incheon, South Korea, a bizarre murder trial is taking place surrounding the 2010 death of a 22 year-old woman, referred to as Ms. Y. The defendant is her boyfriend, 31 year-old Mr. K. Prosecutors are demanding that Mr. K be sentenced to death for her murder.

With a key piece of evidence missing, he must convince the court of his side of the story: an octopus did it.

Sep 7, 2012 by Master Blaster
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Member from the ruling Saenuri Party of the South Korean National Assembly, Insuk Park, wants to send a message sure to frighten violent sex offenders across the country. In fact it’s chilling enough to make non-offenders squirm.

Anyone convicted of a sexual offence may be subjected to castration – and not the gentle chemical kind either – the hack and slash kind.

Aug 31, 2012 by Steven
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Typhoon Bolaven, the largest storm to hit the Korean Peninsula in a decade, tore through the southern part of South Korea late Tuesday, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its path.

While some people in China wandered out with camera in hand to photograph the typhoon as it was nearing its end, one South Korean reporter has gained national recognition for doing a live story during the peak of the storm with a rope tied around his body to keep him from being swept into the sea.

Aug 30, 2012 by Steven
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Typhoon Bolaven tore through the southern part of the Korean Peninsula on late Tuesday, then crossing over to the Shangdong province in East China on early Wednesday before calling it a day.

The storm was the strongest to hit the region in over a decade, leaving a trail of destruction and at least 8 dead in its wake.

Despite being aware (supposedly) of how dangerous the storm was, some Chinese residents of the coastal city of Qingdao gathered at a park near the coastline to watch the typhoon waves come in and do what it is Asians do best: take pictures.

Aug 21, 2012 by Steven
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Japan and Korea have not been on the best of terms recently, thanks mostly to a territorial dispute over literally a couple of rocks known as Takeshima to the Japanese and the Dokdo islands to Koreans.

As so, now may not be the most welcoming time to visit Korea if you’re Japanese, and vice versa.

To cite an extreme, in Korea there is even one net cafe that has gone so far as to post a sign outside reading: “No Japs Allowed.”

But if you read the fine print, you’ll notice that the management isn’t being completely unreasonable with the ban.

Aug 18, 2012 by Steven
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A Korean man protesting at the infamous Yasukuni Shrine was assaulted by a group of Japanese men on August 15, the 67th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.