Can I Bring My Video Games to South Korea?

Someone asked if they can bring their XBOX 360 to South Korea and I also own and play an XBOX 360 and I did some google searches and failed to find a website with a clear guide to this problem.  I managed to figure it out with by experimentation after I arrived in Korea.  So, I will try and do my best to pass on what I have learned.

I came to Korea with my XBOX 360.  I did so with out knowing how electronics outside of North America differ.  I currently have with me a variety of electronics made in (or rather made for) the United States: a Gateway laptop, a WD external hardrive, a Nikon camera, a Nokia cell phone, and a Sony mp3 player.  All of these electronics have worked fine when I just use a common prong adapter.  However, certain electronics cannot be used anywhere in the world.  Video games systems are one of these unfortunate exceptions.  So if you have a Microsoft XBOX 360, Sony Playstation 3, or Nintendo Wii, this applies to you if you want to bring your consoles to South Korea.

MC Mong Caught Pulling Teeth to Avoid Military Service

A South Korean hip hop artist, Mc Mong (MC 몽) is in deep trouble.  

The story found here:

Entertainer and singer MC Mong delayed serving in the military for seven years and pulled out his own teeth to obtain an exemption from compulsory military service in 2007, the Seoul police said Friday.

The Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Metro Police Agency said the singer postponed joining the military on seven occasions between 1999 and 2006. His reasons included overseas traveling and preparing for civil service exams. But, according to police, he used the time for filming a movie and releasing a new music record.

The police also confirmed that the singer extracted healthy teeth to be exempted from military duty. In 1998, when the singer had his first physical examination for military service, his dental condition was marked as “normal.” When he was officially exempted for poor dental health in 2007, the record showed that he had 12 teeth missing. 

Although the singer claimed that all of the 12 teeth had decayed, the police said four of the extracted teeth were perfectly healthy, and were pulled out without a valid reason. Police plan to arrest the singer without detention. 

I have been told that Koreans do not fluoridate their water.  As a result there is a lot of tooth decay in the country.  I have met some Koreans with some very poor sets of teeth, but having twelve teeth pulled is pretty extreme.  I guess I am also unclear why missing this many teeth would give someone an exemption from military service anyways...

On Thursday, police also arrested 11 B-boys who purposely injured their shoulders by over-training to dodge their military duty. 

Meanwhile, "One Night, Two Days,'" of which MC Mong is a cast member, decided to edit the scenes in which he appeared. The show which is to be aired in the evening today will be broadcast 15 minutes shorter than the original version which lasts 80 minutes.

Production crew of the show said whether Mong remains for the show will be decided after further discussions.

However, the "Haha-Mong" show was broadcast on Sunday morning with scenes in which MC Mong appears unedited. It triggered fierce criticism by many viewers, which eventually led to the shutdown of its website.

MC Mong is not the first male celebrity to resist and delay Korea's mandatory two year military service for men.  He will not be the last either.  I checked out some of his videos and for a "hip hop" artist he looks like a really friendly and nice guy.  This decisions to avoid the draft might have led to the end of his career.

Here is his iceream song that came out a couple years ago:

Chinese Millionaires Favor Korean Shopping

Every time I read the Korean Times I have to sort of translate their bad English to understand what they are trying to say... but this was amusing.

A group of millionaire Chinese, who are members of a department store in the Chinese city of Changchun, are currently visiting Korea to fill their shopping bags and also lift their beauty, according to Money Today Saturday.

These tourists are known as “SVIP” by the Chinese department store. It means “Special VIP.” To qualify as an SVIP, one has to spend approximately over 100 million won during a six-month period. 

They are top shoppers in China and are mostly known to be in their 40s and 50s and are spouses of China’s top wealthy people, it said.

SVIP is even a higher level concept than “VVIP,” which means “Very Very Important Person,” it said.

I feel as though the label of "VIP" becomes meaningless if there are also labels for people who are "SVIP" or "VVIP".  Why doesn't the Chinese department store just make their regular "VIPs" into "Ps".  I am guessing any rich Chinese person who goes there and spends money is by default given the title "VIP".  That makes them just people... not anything special.  "SVIPs" would then just become "IPs" or "important people".  Finally, the ridiculous title of "VVIP" could just be "VIP".  Is this in English?  Or do they actually do this nonsense in Chinese and this is a translation?

Their visit is part of an “incentive tour,” arranged by the Chinese department store, which has taken the 12 tourists to Korea for a medical tour, while shopping is a natural part.

These special shoppers normally receive their medical care abroad, the report said. “They used to go to the U.S. and Europe. But recently, Singapore and Japan have joined the competition,” the report said.

Now, Korea is among their destinations as well. 

Korea is a favored medical-tour destination because it has the state-of-the-art medical facilities, while the price is competitive, compared to those in other countries. In recent years, South Korea has particularly become a Mecca for the worlds’ cosmetic surgery, even drawing people from Japan, which was previously preferred.

The Chinese department store plans to send more SVIP customers to Korea in the future, if the feedback from the tour this time turns out to be satisfactory, it said.

According to government data, last year a total of 60,210 foreigners visited South Korea to receive medical service. 

I am not sure, but does Korea want to start bragging that it has become the Mecca of cosmetic surgery?  How can you say "Our people are born so naturally ugly, we have perfected the cosmetic science of making them more tolerable to look at."

It also makes sense that if the socialized medical care advancements in China continue to be slowed down their massive levels of impoverished people, their wealthy will choose to travel abroad for surgeries and treatments.  Korea is a much shorter plane flight than Europe or the United States.  I have also heard that the out of pocket expenses for surgeries such as lasik eye surgery are very reasonable. 

After Nine Years, More Than 900 9/11 Responders Dead

This is how I choose to recognize the anniversary of September 11th.  I am outraged by the lack of action by the government to help 9/11 responders and their families who have died or developed debilitating illnesses as a direct result from working in the rubble of the World Trade Center.

The government (EPA) less than two weeks after the attacks told these people that the air down there was safe to breath.  They guaranteed the responders and the clean up crews that it was safe to work down there.  They were wrong big time and have not been held accountable for this fatal mistake.  More than 70,000 responders worked around the clock for more than ten months cleaning up the rubble from the World Trade Center.  Now large numbers of these people are developing cancer and dying as a result of the bad information the government gave them.

The United States Congress has repeatedly failed to pass legislation to help these heroes and their families.  A bill to finally help them made it to the floor of the House last month, but was voted down for political reasons.  Democrats wanted it to just barely fail so they could scold Republicans on the campaign trail for not passing it.  And Republicans wanted to amend the bill so that illegal immigrants (maybe even Muslim Americans) could not claim any of the benefits.  Republicans also just do not give a shit about these people and think the money to pay for their medical bills is better spent as tax breaks for international corportations that avoid paying taxes.  Republicans failed for seven years in a row under President Bush to pass any kind of legislation to help these people.  Why Americans are so upset about and protesting an Islamic community center and not this legitimate outrage is a credit to the failure of corporate media.

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show actually looks like he has lost all hope because of this political insanity.  I share his outrage and indignation.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
I Give Up - 9/11 Responders Bill
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

KPOP Korral - [Super Junior] - Bonamana

Super Junior (슈퍼주니어) has to be my favorite boy band in Korea.  Their numbers were as high as thirteen members last year, but they have lately been slimmed down to an even ten for this video.  Their members include Leeteuk, Heechul, Han Geng, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum, and Kyuhyun.

The song is "Bonamana" (미인아) and it has a similar sound and style to their last big hits, "Sorry Sorry" and "Super Girl" (슈퍼걸).  When I first heard this song in public, I was very confused because it is so similar to their others... but it is still a good song and a slick video.  The video was released on May 12th and received more than one million hits on youtube in a single day (very impressive).  They are also apparently the most popular idol group in the Arab World according to one online poll... random...

Super Junior has another more recent video, but I was less enthusiastic with it, though it is a popular song and I hear in public all the time.  It is titled "No Other" (너 같은 사람 또 없어).

International Burn a Korean Day

I saw this picture and that is what I mind saw at first.  Then I looked twice and was like... oooooo

Perhaps it should be correctly spelled "Qu'ran", but I guess their phonetic spelling is not too offensive... you know... considering they plan on organizing a book burning.

Seriously?  Who burns books?  These people are nuts.  This Saturday is the 9th anniversary of September 11th.  Why has this church never organized this before?  If Islam is so evil, why have they done nothing about it until now?

It is because these racist people have been watching too much Fox News.  The amount of hate that has been recently promoted towards the Muslim world by the conservative media establishment is the cause of this and is just a ploy to distract the American people from economic problems.  Fox News and conservative blogs just wanted to score some fast political points before the upcoming election by demonizing Muslim Americans.  This ridiculous book burning is the result of their endless hate speech against Islam.  This probably will result in the deaths of more Americans around the world in the near future, but this guy and Republican leaders do not seem to care.

Asian Correspondent has a compilation of clips from various media outlets concerning the event.

Japanese Synchronized Walking

This is impressive... and a little terrifying.  Watching things like this makes me wonder how fast Japan could militarize if they felt adequately threatened.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

It reminds me of a video I saw last year of the college students from Jeju who made a Human Jumbotron.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Ask a Waygook - What to Pack for a Year in South Korea

I have been contacted by a couple people who have taken a job to teach English in South Korea over the last several months and have asked me what I think they should consider buying or packing for their move.  I have compiled this list from several different sources including facebook groups, recruiter websites, and other blogs.  These are my recommendations of special items to bring.

To begin, this post is assuming that you have already successfully gone through the hiring process and have your work visa and plane ticket to come over here.  Congratulations, you are a rock star and your life will never be the same!

Ask a Waygook - Top Ten Reasons to Teach in South Korea

Numerous people have contacted me through e-mail and asked me something to the effect of why did I choose to come to South Korea over other ESL teaching destinations.  In the future I will just send this list I have made to anyone who contacts me about this.

This is purely what I think.  I am sure that I am missing many other great reasons, but this is I feel a solid list why I think South Korea should be the top ESL teaching destination in the world.

I am also not a recruiter.  I am not trying to sell anyone on anything for a commission. This is all the truth as I belief it to be so.  It also should go without saying that before you consider teaching abroad you should enjoy working with children and be interested in adapting to a foreign culture.

Kim Jong-il Born in Russia?

I saw this video clip on RT and thought the idea was interesting...

If this is true, I do not think it should be anything to hide or lie about.  Kim Jong-il's father, Kim Il-sun was a communist guerrilla fighter resisting the Japanese occupation.  It is known that he was residing in the Soviet Union in 1942 when Kim Jong-il was born.  What's wrong with that story?  I guess being born on a sacred mountain in a secret military camp with the appearance of a double rainbow and a new star in the heavens is a bit more romantic.

I cannot talk about Kim Jong-il without thinking about Team America.  This song is hilarious...