December Link Dump

- Perfect timing. Just as I email Charles over at Korean Modern Literature in Translation for a request, he publishes this excellent newbie's guide to Korean literature. Read. Absorb.

- Psst. Knock it off already.

- Ah the Gapsin Coup. Always an interesting topic.

- Learned a lot about the Tokyo Rose the other day.

Happy Holidays. Miss you, Korea. Here's a laugh for you.

October Link Dump

- This is just stupid. Don't they teach you to ignore gossip in Stanford?

- Henry Savenije in the Korea Times. Well deserved.

- What is going on in Seoul these days? Stop the madness, people. Violence here and here. (Update: there's more to the G.I. slash 노인 fight than originally thought. hint hint - he wasn't a G.I.)

- North Korea's future dictator and I are 동갑? Really?

- Hey goober. Where's the meat kimchi?

- And just in time for the blog pressings, an Orlando 한국학교's total lapse in judgement - in song version. A genuine must-see.

September Link Dump

- It's been said, but I still think it pertinent laughable to post that North Korea now has facebook, twitter and youtube accounts.

- LiNK posted a new documentary titled "Hiding" about North Koreans trying to defect to China.

- The Grand Narrative is one of my favorite blogs. Two of James' most recent posts highlight his proficient sense of research and presentation. As always, well done.

- Cao Cao's tomb is fake. How about that?

- She's making rounds again. The grandma who tried 960 times to get her driving license.

- U.S. says thanks but no thanks to the sale of leftover rifles left over from the Korean War. Keep in mind these were to be sold to private collectors. Still, am I the only one who was surprised that "...87,310 M1 Garands and 770,160 M1 Carbines..." were left behind? That seems like quite a cache to leave behind.

- Not that it should be considered news but an increasing number of men in Korea are getting plastic surgery.

- Near and dear to my heart - Texas and Korea together at last. Too bad I was fifty plus years too late.

- Lastly, two new blogs/forums came across my radar: Korea's Information Society and the Korean Sentry.

Apologies for the light posting. New job and a move back to the states has hampered my free time. Hope to get back to reading regularly. In the meantime, here's a delightfully random article on ten lost technologies.

August Link Dump

- Obviously the month's biggest news comes from the Japanese Prime Minister's apology to South Korea for forced colonization. This is one the most recent of a sporadic series of carefully worded apologies by Japan. AAK has commentary. Highlight of the article can be found in a recent correction:

Correction: August 15, 2010

An article Wednesday about Japan’s apology to South Korea for its colonial rule contained information from The Associated Press that incorrectly stated that officials in Seoul had accepted the apology. The South Korean Foreign Ministry said that the government had ‘‘paid attention’’ to the apology.

- ROKDrop has a wonderfully concise writeup on the Korean DMZ. Nicely done.

- Bone up on your history of fake Asian cinema and delve into Yellowface.

- A 7000 year old wooden oar was found in 경상남도.

- Part one of a promising story on Mt. Halla's first foreign climber.

- Statues older than the terracotta warriors discovered in Hunan province.

July Link Dump

- the U.S. Capital Building is deteriorating. Anyone have 216 million to spare?

- Coinciding with reading a great memoir, here's the Underwood house that was bombed.

- A great piece on Namdaemoon's reconstruction.

- Treason? Interpretors? Frogs stuck in wells? Count me in.

- AAK's got a guest post about the 1997 IMF Crisis. I attempted the same subject a while back.

- Nixon wasn't the only one thinking about nuking North Korea apparently. Remember how tense it was back in 1994?

- So, let me get this straight: laughably low salary and tragically high suicide rate? why on earth would anyone want to be a Korean celebrity is beyond me.

- The news in Korea this month is depressing as all get out. Proof in English here and here and here.

- Japan might be doing something to compensate Korean forced laborers. Might.

- Floodwaters got you down? Song dynasty China fixed that problem a while back.

- Korea's Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has closed the book on the 노근리 incident it seems. I think we can all agree regardless of who is to be blamed, it was a tragedy.

June Link Dump

- Complicated Currents: Media Flows, soft Power and East Asia (edited by Daniel Black, Stephen Epstein and Alison Tokita) is online for free. Good reading.

- Michael's Breen walks us through the 13-month-long Second Republic. A great writeup.

- How does one exactly talk about a non-traditional family in Korean? Asadal Thought candidly shares his experiences.

- What gives? I'm still waiting for a part four of ROK Drop's fascinating look at Korea's ghost airports. To be fair though, a fourth installment was never actually promised....but still... Read Parts I, II, III on your own or to get an idea of what's going on, BBC has a short video about the curiously abandoned airports.

- Laura and Lisa Ling's book is out.

- In more important news, AAK has an excellent primer for what's going on with this whole sinking of the ROKS Cheonan.

- Matt over at Gusts has some good stuff about Korea during the Japanese protectorate period.

- China unearths more Terracotta Army soldiers. Any luck of getting inside Qin Shi Huang's tomb anytime soon?

- Hye Cho's travel journal is going on display.

- China admits North Korea started the Korean War. Am I wrong in thinking that 이승만 was preparing to invade?

- The Colosseum is opening up the gladiator's waiting pit for the first time for the public. Good to know seeing as how the outside is falling apart.

- A well preserved shoe older than Stonehenge was found buried in sheep poo in Armenia. Great archeological find with a great photo.

- Amelia Earhart might have survived for months on a desert island.

May Link Dump

This won't always be a feature so don't fret if link dumps aren't your thing.  Relax and click away:

Ask A Korean has a word or two about the recent announcement of Korean and Japanese scholars issuing a joint statement on history. His English translation is well worth reading. (read more)

Respected, if not occasionally controversial, journalist Michael Breen getting sued by Samsung for an apparent libel Christmas joke. (read more)

Thoughts on ActiveX the Joseon Dynasty (read more)

Korean economy is good in Q2 (read more)

I'm pretty sure I'd fail this test (read more)

Some young Korean woman like foreign men. In other news, water is wet. (read more)