Monday Koreafarts

I'm back this evening from my lesson with Min-sung, my nutty 9-year old. It was our first lesson since before Christmas, and it was as though nothing had changed. Min-sung shares my scatological sense of humor, so much of the hour was spent saying "DUNG!" loudly. Min-sung's English is better than that of many of my SWU students; not only is he a natural at picking up the language, but he's also not afraid to make mistakes-- a virtue I didn't possess in the early years of my French language career.

My SWU students appear to be reshuffling themselves: my first and third hours have grown in number (one class went well over the maximum of 15 today), while my second and fourth have dwindled. Same faces, different places. One pretty student, someone I didn't know, caught me in the hallway and asked whether I was teaching a 2PM class; I had to tell her that I wasn't. It's nice to know that people still want to sign up for the course. Maybe my reputation is spreading thanks to the circulation of those digital pics.

Today's survey of Koreablogs must-- MUST-- begin with Kevin of IA, who gets his rant on and lets Korean society have it yet again for its immaturity. I thought that was an interesting strategy, showing the shameful parallel between the behavior of the Norkbot cheerleaders and the crybabies who infest the South Korean National Assembly.

The Marmot reports on something we've all been watching with morbid fascination: pro-remilitarization rumblings in Japan. In this case, the specific issue is preemptive strikes against-- you guessed it-- North Korea. I can't say I blame Japan for thinking this way. It's like the Infidel has warned repeatedly: pressure needs to be on South Korea to help solve this crisis. The Japanese hawks are only thinking the obvious: "If they won't solve the problem, we need to be ready to solve it ourselves."

The Vulture proudly displays a national treasure.

Mike of SEB gets a great snapshot of me at work.

If preemptive strike talk is pissing off North Korea, NK is planning to piss off Japan by issuing stamps that show the disputed island of Tokdo as a Korean territory. (via Oranckay)

Budae Chigae and Infidel on force realignment.

The Yangban has the goods on OOP (Yeollin Uri Dang, Our Open Party) and thinks that the upcoming election might not be an OOP cakewalk.

Owen Rathbone provides some meta-commentary about the upcoming election.

I think we Koreabloggers take turns with this. Today it's Kirk's turn to plot North Korea's mood swings. Kirk, are you ever going to put up that graphic I made for you?

Nelly, ho-ddeok, and komdo over at Andi's place.

Polymath is back in the States and dealing with a whole new pile of bureaucratic bullshit from-- where else?-- the DMV.

I learned something new:

Strip clubs are pretty much standard destinations for any Korean adult male visiting the U.S.

I obviously hang with all the wrong Koreans.

Goldbrick: grudging defender of the guilty!

Kathreb surveys the current state of East Asian politics. She also bemoans Australia's choice to vote "no," alongside the US, regarding the UN High Commission for Human Rights Special Resolution condemning Israel (surprise, surprise) for continued human rights violations, including the recent "tragic" (yep, that's what the resolution says) assassination of Sheik Yassin. Kathreb sees Australia's move as little more than politically motivated "arse-kissing" of the US. Maybe; maybe not. Whatever the Aussie motives for such a vote, I think the US stance is principled. Are there human rights violations being perpetrated by Israel? Undoubtedly. But why haven't we seen an equal number of UN condemnations of suicide attacks in Israeli buses, restaurants, and shops? I'm beginning to think that the crazies might be right: the UN does have an anti-Israel agenda.

The Party Pooper will live to poop another day as he, too, prepares to leap from Blog Shitty into Farts Unknown.

Somehow, in all the election-related hubbub, I think this got missed.

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