subota, 31.03.2007.
Who Stole The Cookie From the Cookie Jar
Ne znam kako sam došao do ovoga, ali je baš fora. Korejska djeca iz vrtića glume na engleskom. Preporučam, pogledajte:
Objavljeno u 10:58 • Komentari (3) • Isprintaj • #
petak, 30.03.2007.
Vijesti o Koreji
Sorry svi koji žele da pišem nešto o Hrvatskoj, a ne o Koreji. O Hrvatskoj čitajte na drugim stranicama i blogovima; na korejskom blogu čitajte o Koreji.
US says S Korea talks ‘not going well’
US and Korean negotiators were scheduled to resume free trade talks on Saturday after failing to reach an agreement Friday night. The White House had earlier warned that free trade talks with South Korea were “not going well” as negotiators for the two countries raced against the clock to seal a deal that would boost bilateral trade by as much as $20bn a year and give them preferential access to each others’ markets.
Officials in Washington raised the prospect that the talks would end in failure. A White House spokesperson said: ”The talks are not going well. Unless the negotiations show some sign of progress in the next few hours this agreement will most likely not come together.” After 10 months of intensive negotiations, the two sides had reached agreement on only three of the 17 areas under review – competition, customs and government procurement – although earlier this week they said they were ”very close” to deals on eight other chapters, including financial services, labour and the environment.
There has been no sign of any breakthrough on those areas as Kim Hyun-chong, South Korea’s trade minister, and Karan Bhatia, the deputy US trade representative, took over as lead negotiators. The deal must be agreed by the March 31 deadline to take advantage of Mr Bush’s ”fast-track” authority.
S.Korea resumes aid shipments to N.Korea
South Korean aid shipments to North Korea resumed in full swing after video reunions of separated families began on Tuesday. The government sent 60,000 blankets to North Korea on Wednesday. The shipment of blankets, part of a flood relief campaign, was halted after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test last October.
The shipment also included 11 other relief items including disinfectants for the prevention of foot-and-mouth disease. Some 15,000 tons of rice and 70,000 tons of cement will go north next month. A ship carrying 6,500 tons of fertilizer left Yeosu port for North Korea on Wednesday, part of 300,000 tons of fertilizer due to be sent to the North by late June. The provision of fertilizer will cost W108 billion (US$1=W939) including freight fees. North Korea asked the South Korean Red Cross to offer fertilizer aid on March 7.
The government will provide North Korea with some W3.5 billion of materials and W400 million in cash for the construction of a family reunion center equipped with video facilities.
S. Korea, Japan to have diplomatic talks
Diplomatic chiefs from South Korea and Japan will meet over the weekend to discuss North Korea's atomic drive, Seoul officials said Friday.Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso will fly into South Korea's resort island of Jeju Saturday to meet his South Korean counterpart, Song Min-soon.
During the two-day talks, the two ministers will also discuss ways to repair frayed bilateral ties over history rows, ministry officials said. The ministerial meeting is the first of its kind since December 2006, when Song visited Tokyo. Seoul-Tokyo ties have been at their lowest ebb since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stirred anger by saying there was no evidence that Tokyo had coerced Asian women into sex slavery during World War II. Seoul has expressed "deep regrets" over Abe's remarks.
S. Korea beats N. Korea 2-0 in football friendly match
South Korea's under-17 national football team beat their North Korean counterparts 2-0 in a friendly match in Jeju World Cup stadium on Jeju Island Friday night.
The North Korean team came to South Korea's southernmost island for the first time last Tuesday for a month-long training session. Their training session was focused on preparations for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, a world youth championship South Korea is to host from Aug. 18 to Sept. 9. The two Korean teams will have a second friendly match at Suwon World Cup stadium on Monday. Suwon is one of eight host cities for the U-17 World Cup.
Six Million Children Immunized Against Measles in DPR Korea
Six million children in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) aged six months to 15 years have been immunized in the first phase of a United Nations-backed emergency campaign targeting more than 16 million of the country's 22 million people following a recent outbreak of the sometimes deadly disease.
The huge undertaking comes in response to a recent outbreak that affected more than 3,500 people, most of them children. Two infants and two adults died and more than 1,000 people were hospitalized, according to reports. The second phase of the campaign, in which the UN World Health Organization (WHO) is also participating, is set to start on 10 April and will aim to reach an additional 10.2 million people between 16 and 45 years of age, UNICEF's Chief of Health and Nutrition in the DPRK Majeed Ezatullah said.
S Korea plans to launch first rocket in 2008
The South Korean Science Ministry said Friday that the country plans to launch the first rocket to put a satellite in orbit in late 2008. The ministry said Russia will provide help in technology to help South Korea's launch.
South Korea and Russia signed the technology safeguard agreement (TSA in October 2006. Before that, the two sides agreed on a space technology cooperation pact in September 2004. According to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, if Russia ratifies the deal, full-fledged work can begin on the construction of two-stage Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 (KSLV1), which will send a 100-kg multipurpose science satellite into a low orbit around the earth.
So far, South Korea has relied on foreign rockets to send all of its satellites into space.
South Korea to cooperate actively with Kazakhstan in education
South Korea is interested very much to cooperate actively with Kazakhstan in education, reported yesterday meeting Kazakh Prime-Minister Karim Massimov South Korean Vice Prime-Minister, Minister of Education and Human Resources Development Kim Min Il.
As Kazakh Prime-Minister press-service reported, during the meeting questions of strengthening cooperation between both countries in education and science and education of Kazakh technical students in the frames of "Bolashak" program were discussed. According to press-service, in a period of 2005-2006 in the frames of RK President international scholarship 4 Kazakh citizens were sent to study in South Korea. Besides, in present time the question of traineeships and students/teachers exchange of both countries is examined.
Microblogging in Korea
Some of us may have heard the chatter about Twitter, the strangely popular company with a simple offering: Microblogging. Small snippets of where you are sprinkled with tiny conversations for busy bloggers. Similar to that other forgotten kid: Jaiku.
Well, Korea now has its own local answer to Twitter--"Me2day". Like many beta services, the site is pretty basic for the moment and doesn't come with all the bells and whistles of its western counterparts. It allows only Web posting, but submissions via SMS and IM (like Sabifoo--Instant Possibility) are expected to trundle along anytime soon.
For the technically minded, Me2day is being built on the hot new platform, Ruby on Rails. It's all very interesting from a Web 2.0 perspective, but will the service take off? Is there room for a specific Tagged-like service for blogs that's over and above the already popular idea of "moblogging"? We'll see. It may be cool for CNET to allow me to post my missives in a somewhat simpler manner, for instance, straight from my Blackberry. The site is not very useful to a regular user as it's beta, but below's a screenshot:
Korea Beats Uzbekistan in Olympic Prelim Round
Korea beat Uzbekistan and secured its third victory in the second-round qualifier for next year's Beijing Olympics. Team Korea scored two to nothing on Han Dong-won's goals in the first and second half. The latest feat places the national team at the top of Group F which also includes Yemen, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
With two goals against Uzbekistan, Han Dong-won has scored a total of four goals in the second round. Team Korea will fly to Uzbekistan to play their fourth game of the second round on April 18.
Objavljeno u 21:34 • Komentari (0) • Isprintaj • #
četvrtak, 29.03.2007.
Najgledaniji filmovi u Koreji 2001-2006
Korejska filmska industrija je sve jača i veća. Samo 2006 godine napravljeno je više od 100 filmova za velika platna. U Koreji, filmovi se gledaju u kinu, a DVD-ovi nisu tako popularni. U kinu, pak, nisu najpopularniji hoolywoodski blockbusteri već domaći korejski filmovi koji su 2006 prodali 60% karata, a filmovi drugih zemalja tek 40%. Evo ovdje trideset (zapravo 27) najgledanijih filmova u Koreji u razdoblju od 2001. do 2006. godine. U zagradi je naznačena i država iz koje film dolazi, godina dolaska u kino te broj prodanih karata u cijeloj Južnoj Koreji. Za orijentaciju spominjem da Južna Koreja ima 47,9 milijuna stanovnika. Po tome je najgledaniji film ikad u Koreji, 'The Host' pogledao svaki četvrti Korejanac. Podaci prema koreanfilm.org
01. The Host (2006, Korea) 13,019,740
02. King and the Clown (2005, Korea) 12,302,831
03. Taegukgi (2004, Korea) 11,746,135
04. Silmido (2003, Korea) 11,074,000
05. Friend (2001, Korea) 8,134,500
06. Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005, Korea) 8,008,622
07. Tazza: The High Rollers (2006, Korea) 6,847,777
08. My Boss, My Teacher (2006, Korea) 6,105,431
09. LOTR: Return of the King (2003, NZ/US) 5,960,000
10. Mission: Impossible 3 (2006, US) 5,740,789
11. 200 Pound Beauty (2006, Korea) 5,718,700
12. Marrying the Mafia 2 (2005, Korea) 5,635,266
13. My Wife is a Gangster (2001, Korea) 5,180,900
14. Marathon (2005, Korea) 5,148,022
15. LOTR: The Two Towers (2002, NZ/US) 5,145,193
16. Memories of Murder (2003, Korea) 5,101,645
17. Marrying the Mafia (2002, Korea) 5,021,001
18. My Sassy Girl (2001, Korea) 4,852,845
19. My Tutor Friend (2003, Korea) 4,809,871
20. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (2006, US) 4,628,903
21. Night in the Museum (2006, US) 4,476,200
22. Kick the Moon (2001, Korea) 4,353,800
23. Harry Potter (2002, UK/US) 4,340,487
24. King Kong (2005, US-NZ) 4,232,430
25. Typhoon (2005, Korea) 4,094,395
26. The Way Home (2002, Korea) 4,091,000
27. Sex is Zero (2002, Korea) 4,089,900
..
Objavljeno u 13:04 • Komentari (2) • Isprintaj • #
srijeda, 28.03.2007.
Kod Korejskih bogoslova
U subotu sam bio na primanju službe lektora jednog prijatelja bogoslova iz Zagreba, nakon čega je u njegovoj bogosloviji, gdje studira 9 Korejanaca, bio održan glazbeni program. Grupe bogoslova iz različitih naroda. Nigerijanci, Argentinci, Talijani, Njemci, Korejanci i drugi izveli su pokoju glazbenu točku kako bi se predstavili. Korejski bogoslovi otpjevali su dvije pjesme, a budući da je ovo korejski blog, na linkovima ispod možete ih, ali samo njih čuti. Snimio sam ih, naime, fotoaparatom, ali budući da je kvaliteta snimke loša, ostavio sam samo zvuk.
Kliknite, nemate što izgubiti, a čuti ćete iz prve ruke kako pjevaju.
Pjesma korejskih bogoslova 1
Pjesma korejskih bogoslova 2
Objavljeno u 21:56 • Komentari (0) • Isprintaj • #
četvrtak, 22.03.2007.
Biblija na Korejskom
Ovo nisam našao slučajno nego sam oko sat vremena tražio budući da mi je trebalo. Ako je vama kad trebala Biblija na Korejskom jeziku, možete ju naći online:
Korejska Biblija
Dostupna je preko Korean Bible Society.
Objavljeno u 14:32 • Komentari (2) • Isprintaj • #
petak, 16.03.2007.
Complete Movie Catalog
Katalog, odnosno lista mojih Korejskih filmova - kompletna lista 16. 3. 2007.
0-9
100 Days with Mr. Arrogant (Slave Love; My Love Ssagajy)
2009 Lost Memories
3 – Iron
…ing
A
A big Match
A bloody Aria
A bold Family
A Dirty Carnival
A cruel Attendance (Educating Kidnappers)
A Family
A good Lawyer's wife
A Millionaires first love
A Moment to Remember
A Pirate Mateo
A tale of two sisters
A Wacky Switch
A.F.R.I.K.A.
Aachi and Ssipak
Acacia
All for Love
Almost Love
Another public enemy
Antarctic Journey
Apartment (APT)
April Snow
Arahan
Arang
Ardor (Deep Love)
Attack the gas Station
Au Revoir UFO
B
Bad Guy
Bar Legend (Three Fellas, Riverbank Legends)
Barefoot Gi Bong
Barking dogs never bite
Between Love and Hate
Bewitching Attraction
Bichunmoo
Big Swindle
Bircage Inn
Birthday Boy
Bizarre Love Triangle
Bittersweet Life
Blood Tears (Blood Rain)
Bloody Tie
Blossom again (Sarangni, Close To You)
Blue
Blue Sky
Blue Swallow
Boy goes to heaven
Bravo my life
Bungee Jumping of Their Own
Bunshinsaba
Bus Stop
Bystanders
C
Camellia Project
Cello
Champion
Christmas in August
Chukje Festival
Chulsoo and Younghee
Chungoon
Chunhyang
Cinderella
City of Violence
Classic
Clementine
Club Butterfly
Comin Out
Conduct Zero
Cracked Eggs and Noodles
Crazy First Love
Crazy Marriage
Crocodile
Cruel Winter Blues
Crying Fist
D
Daddy long legs
Daisy
Dance with the wind
Dark Forest
Dasepo Naughty Girls
Dead Friend
Desire
Die Bad
Dig or Die
Ditto
DMZ – Demilitarized zone
Do You like Spring Bear
Doggy Poo
Doll Master
Don't believe her
Don't look back
Don't tell Papa
Duelist
D-Day
E
Elysium
Emergency Act 19
Escaping from Charisma
Everybody has a little Secret
F
Face
Failan
Family Matters
Family Ties
Feather in the Wind
February 29
Fighter in the Wind
First Amendment
Five is Too Many
Flower Island
Fly Daddy Fly
Fly High
Flying Boys
Forbidden Floor
Forbidden quest
Friend
G
Gabal
Gangster High
Garden of Heaven
Ghost House
Greatest Expectations
Green Chair
Guns and Talks
H
H (2002 film)
Haan (Han Gil Su)
Hallelujah
Hammerboy
Hanbando
Hanoi Bride (Bride from Hanoi)
Happy End
Happy erotic Christmas
He was cool
Hearty Paws (Heart is…)
Hello Brother
Hi Dharma 2: Showdown in Seoul
High School Girl get Married
Holiday
Holly Daddy (Daddy falls from Heaven)
How the Lack of Love Affects two Men
How to keep my love
Hypnotized
I
I wish I have a Wife
Ice Bar
Ice rain
If the sun rises in the West
If you were me
If you were me 2
If you were me Anima Vision
Il Mare
Indian Summer
Innocent Steps
Insh Allah
Into the Mirror
J
Jeni Juno
Joint Security Area
Judgement
Jugeulrae Salrae
Jungle Juice
K
Kick the Moon
Kiss me Much
King and Clown
Korean Private Tutor 3
L
La Belle
Last Present
Last Supper
Last Witness
Last Wolf
Les Formidables
Let's play Dharma
Liar
Lies
Like a Virgin
Live Good (Mission Sex Control)
Lost in Love
Love Impossible
Love in Magic
Love Me Not
Love Phobia
Love so divine
Love Talk
Lovely Rivals
Lover
Lover's Concerto
Lump of Sugar
M
Maengbu Samcheon Jigyo
Mapado
Marathon
Marriage is a Crazy Thing
Marrying the Mafia
Marrying the Mafia 2
Marrying the Mafia 3
Marrying High School Girl
Maundy Thursday
Memories of Murderer
Mokpo Gangster's Paradise
Moms Way Long and Winding Road
Monopoly
Mr. Gams Victory
Mr. Hong (Mr. Handy)
Mr. Socrates
Mr. Wacky
Musa
Mutt Boy
My beautiful girl Mari
My Boss my Student
My Boyfriend is type B
My Captain Mr. Underground
My Brother
My Generation
My Girl and I
My little Bride
My Piano/ For Horowitz
My Sassy Girl
My scary Girl
My Teacher (To Sir with Love)
My Wife is a Gangster
My Wife is a Gangster 2
N
Nabi
Natural City
Never Belongs to Me
Never to lose
Nightmare (The Horor Game)
No blood no tears
No Comment
No Mercy for the Rude
North Korea A Day in the Life
North Korean guys
Now and forever
Nowhere to hide
O
Oasis
Oh Brothers
Oh Happy Day
Oh my God
Old Miss Diary
Oldboy
Once in a Summer
Once upon a time in Highschool
One fine spring day
Oseam
Over the rainbow
P
Perfect Match
Phantom the Submarine
Phone
Pisces
Plastic Tree
Please teach me English
Pong Pong
Presidents last Bang
Princess Aurora
Project Make Over
Project X
Public enemy
Public Toilet
Pulgasari
Puzzle
Q
Quiz King
R
R-Point
Radio Star
Raging Years
Rainbow Trout
Real Fiction
Red Eye
Resurrection of the little Match Girl
Rewind
Righteous Ties
Romantic Comedy
Rules of Dating
Running Wild
Run 2 You
S
S Diary
Sad Movie
Samaria
Saulabi
Save the green Planet
Saving my Hubby
Scent of Chrysanthemums
Scream
Secret Tears
Seducing Mr. Perfect
See you after school
Seopyeonje (A sad Song)
Seven Swords
Sex is zero
Sex of magic
Shadowless sword
Shark Bait
She is on duty
Shiri
Shit Up
Short Time
Sicily 2 km
Silk Shoes
Silmido
Singles
Sky Record
So Cute
Some
Someone Special
Sorum
South of Border
Spider Forest
Spin Kick
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
Spring Breeze
Spy Girl
Summer Time
Sunday Seoul
Sunflower
Sunk into Her
Sword in the moon
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
T
Taegukgi
Take care of my Cat
Tale of Cinema
Tazza: The High Rollers (The War of Flowers)
Tears
Tell me something
Temptation of Wolves
The Aggressives
The Anarchists
The Art of Fighting
The Art of Seduction
The Beauty and the Beast
The Big scene
The Bow
The Coast Guard
The crescent Moon
The Customer Is Always Right
The Day A Pig Fell Into The Well
The Fox Family
The Host
The Isle
The Legend of Gingko
The Legend of Gingko 2: the Gingko Bed
The Legend of Seven Cutter
The Poisoning (Addicted)
The Presidents Barber
(The Promise)
The Quiet Family
The Rainy Day
The Record
The Red shoes
The Ring Virus
The road taken
The Romance
The Romantic President
The Scarlet Letter
The Showdown (Geochilmaru)
The Silver Knife
The Snare
The Soul guardians
The sweet sex and love
The Truth Game
The Unforgiven
The Uninvited
The Way Home
The Wig
The Windmill Palm Grove
This charming Girl
Thomas Ahn Joong Keun
Three
Three Extremes
Time
Traces of Love
Tube
Turning Gate
Twentidentity
Two Guys
Typhoon
U
Untold Scandal
V
Vampire Cop Nicky
Volcano High School
W
Wanee and Junah
Wedding campaign
Welcome to Dongmakgol
Wet Dreams
Wet Dreams 2
When I was nine
When Romance meets destiny
When Spring comes
Whispering corridors
Whispering corridors 2: Memento Mori
Whispering corridors 3: Wishing stairs
Whispering corridors 4: Voice
White Valentine
Who are you
Who slept with Her? (Sexy Teacher)
Wild Animals
Windstruck
Woman is the future of man
Woman on the Beach
Wonderful Days
X
Y
Yellow Flower
Yellow Hair
Yellow Hair 2
Yeokdosan
Yesterday
You are my sunshine
Z
Objavljeno u 20:40 • Komentari (4) • Isprintaj • #
srijeda, 14.03.2007.
Valentinovo u Koreji
U Koreji se Valentinovo slavi 14. veljače. NIšta neobično, no zanimljiv je način na koji se slavi. 14. veljače je dan na koji se drugima daje puno šećera, a što se tiče zaljubljenih parova, tog dana djevojke kupuju poklone svojim dečkima. No zato na današnji dan, 14. ožujka, dan koji se zove i White Day (Bijeli dan) dečki daruju svoje djevojke. na taj dan poneki odlučuju čak i zaprositi svoju partnericu. On koji su samci, slave 14 travnja na dan koji se zove Black day: jedu crne jajong špagete s prijateljima.
Objavljeno u 12:31 • Komentari (0) • Isprintaj • #
utorak, 13.03.2007.
Korejski simboli
Osim zastave i himne, Mugunghwa (Sharonina ruža), Guksae (veliki pečat) i državni grb (logo) još su neki Korejski tradicionalni simboli.
Državni cvijet – Rose of Sharon (Mugunghwa). Vidi na slici. To je cvijet koji se spominje u korejskoj nacionalnoj himni u riječima "Mugunghwa samcheolli hwaryeo gangsan" što u prijevodi znači otprilike “Sharonina ruža, tisuću milja preljepih planina i obala rijeka!"
Veliki pečat, The Great Seal (Guksae) je pečat koji se koristi za sve važne dokumente. Tema filma Hanbando, o napetim odnosima između Japana i Koreja, traži se pravi autentični korejski pečat kako bi se dokazalo da su Japanci koristili krivotvoreni kako bi si prisvojili neke djelove Koreje. Simbolizira želju Koreje da do 2000. bude središnja nacija svijeta. Heh.
Državni grb, napravljen je, odnosno usvojen 1963. i stavlja se na sve važnije službene dokumente. Vidi OVDJE kako izgleda.
Informacije s Koreja.net.
Objavljeno u 12:24 • Komentari (1) • Isprintaj • #
ponedjeljak, 12.03.2007.
G.O.D.
GOD znači Groove Overdose - ime je to jednog korejskog benda, jednog od najpoznatijih, a koji se razišao pred kraj prošle godine nakon sedam zajednikkih albuma. Članovi grupe su Kim Tae-woo, Danny Ahn, Park Joon-hyung, Son Ho-young i Yoon Kye-sang. Razlog prekida (valjda ipak jedan od) je što moraju odslužiti vojni rok pa ne mogu pjevati, ali kasnije, kad se vrate iz vojske, tko zna.
Nekoliko njihovih pjesama slijedi: na žalost na korejskom su.
I love and remember (nekako hip-hop s lijepim refrenom)
Letter (zatvorenik osuđen na smrtnu kaznu zahvaljuje djevojci na pismu)
Path (s dugačkim uvodom)
2Love (polu-anime, polu-videospot)
Objavljeno u 12:19 • Komentari (0) • Isprintaj • #
petak, 09.03.2007.
Gdje pronaći Korejske filmove?
Važna napomena: u tekstu se daju informacije o ilegalnom skidanju filmova. Ako ne želite imati ništa s tim, nemojte čitati ovaj zapis.
Postoji više stranica i načina na koji se mogu skidati korejski filmovi preko interneta. ja spominjem 2.
1. Idols-Unlimited je stranica na kojoj se mogu skinuti korejski, japanski, kineski i tajlandski filmovi, dramske serije, anime filmovi i druge stvari. Stranica je na početku postojanja, ali raste brzo i već se može naći puno filmova. Stranicu preporučam zato što daje direktne linkove za skidanje filmova: preko megauploada te nije potreban nikakav drugi program za skidanje. Btw. ako se učlanite, nema nikakvih pop-upova.
2. ACF Forum je najveći forum svega što se gleda, a vezano je uz Istočno-azijsku kinematografiju. Tu se mogu pronaći svi mogući (zapravo 98%) filmovi koje ćete tražiti - čak i oni stariji, a i oni još stariji. Za skidanje filmova potrebno je imati instaliran program eMule (ili neki drugi koji prihvaća ed2k linkove) koji je vrlo praktičan i koristan.
Objavljeno u 13:35 • Komentari (2) • Isprintaj • #
četvrtak, 08.03.2007.
News from Korea
Ipak sam odlučio ponovno krenuti s vijestima. Svakod tjedna primam jedan Google Alert s vijestima o Koreji pa ću onda jednom tjedno nastojati kopirati najzanimljivije i najvažnije. Na engleskom jer, tko bi to prevodio, a ionako svi (?) razumiju eng.
US Talks with North Korea Move Forward
The United States and North Korea held a first round of historic talks in New York earlier this week aimed at establishing normalized, diplomatic relations between the two countries. The U.S. negotiator, Ambassador Christopher Hill, is upbeat about the nature of the discussions. He also admits the hardest part -- verifying that North Korea is dismantling its plutonium production capabilities -- is still ahead.
US says it is ‘optimistic’ that S Korea trade talks can succeed
The US is optimistic a $29 billion free-trade accord with South Korea can be concluded by the end of this month, the top US negotiator said on Thursday. “We remain optimistic this accord can be done by the end of the month,’’ assistant US trade representative Wendy Cutler said on the first of five days of talks in Seoul. Seven previous rounds of negotiations failed to reach agreement on issues including auto imports and trade penalties.
Negotiators have already missed their original goal of completing the talks by the end of 2006 and must reach agreement by the end of March to get the deal to Congress before President George W. Bush’s trade negotiating authority expires June 30. An accord could boost US exports to South Korea by $19 billion, with a $10 billion jump in shipments the other way, according to the US International Trade Commission. “Korea and the US will both be smart enough to recognize the benefit of an FTA,’’ said James Rooney, president and chief executive officer of Market Force Co. “It’s not a certainty, but we’re all looking forward with positive expectations.’’
South Korea on Thursday agreed to resume imports of US beef after rejecting three shipments since November, meeting one of the main US demands. South Korea, formerly the third-largest buyer of US beef, will still reject individual shipments if bone fragments are found during inspections, according to a statement from its agriculture ministry. Cutler said today that South Korea policy of zero tolerance for bone chips “is not based on science.’’ Among the major hurdles still remaining are tariff cuts to allow the US to send more rice to Korea, changes in US anti-dumping laws to lower tariffs on Korean goods, and changes to South Korea tax laws to allow more imports of US vehicles with larger engines.
North Korea slaughters animals after hoof-and-mouth disease outbreak
Impoverished North Korea has slaughtered hundreds of cows and pigs after an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. The outbreak occurred in January at a farm in the capital, Pyongyang, sickening 431 cows, according to a North Korean government report dated Wednesday that was posted on the website of the Paris-based animal health agency, known by the initials OIE.
Since the outbreak, quarantine officials have killed 466 cows, including the sickened ones, as well as 2,630 pigs to prevent the spread of the disease, the North's Agricultural Ministry said. Some 100,000 animals within the 70-kilometre radius of the outbreak site will be vaccinated, it added. The sickened cows were imported from Tieling, China, the report said. The communist North has been suffering from food shortages since the mid-1990s, when natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy and led to a famine estimated to have killed some two million people.
South Korea to resume fertiliser aid to North
South Korea plans to resume fertiliser shipments to the North in time for spring sowing in the next few weeks, a senior official said on Thursday, about eight months after Seoul cut off aid in response to Pyongyang's missile tests. Ties between the two Koreas, chilled by North Korea's defiant missile launch in July 2006 and its first nuclear test a few months later, have improved since Pyongyang agreed last month at six-country talks to start scrapping its nuclear arms programme. North Korea sent a formal request for 300,000 tonnes of fertiliser on Wednesday through its Red Cross society.
International aid organisations say North Korea suffers from chronic food shortages because of its mismanaged farm policy. Even in a good year, it still falls about 1 million tonnes short of what is required to feed its people. South Korea has typically sent as much as 500,000 tonnes of rice and 350,000 tonnes of fertiliser to the North a year.
Pyongyang agreed at their recent meeting to restart reunions of family members separated during the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea accuses Japan of intensifying suppression of Koreans who support Pyongyang
North Korea accused Japan of a growing effort to suppress Koreans who support Pyongyang and urged U.N. members not to support Tokyo's campaign for a seat on the U.N. Security Council. In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon circulated Wednesday, North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Pak Gil Yon said the crackdown was directed toward Chongryon, an umbrella group of pro-North organizations. Japan is creating "a horrific atmosphere of terror and plunging the human rights issues of Koreans in Japan into a grave situation," the letter said. North Korea frequently resorts to harsh words when criticizing its foes.
Tomohiko Taniguchi, deputy press secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, said the charges were groundless. The Japanese government has acted "in accordance with the law" and the North Koreans can sue the government if they are dissatisfied, he said. North Koreans in Japan have long been vilified, a sentiment that intensified following Pyongyang's Oct. 9 nuclear test that led to U.N. sanctions. Japan sees North Korea, with its secretive Stalinist regime and record of political repression, as a threat to regional security.
South Korea Drafting Robotic Laws
South Korea is promoting an ethics charter for robots. The new ethical charter will set standards for users and manufacturers of robots and will be released later in 2007. The charter is being drafted by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and a science fiction writer and will draw upon the three laws of robotics originally created by the science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov in the 1940s.
South Korea is one of the world leaders in robotics. The new ethical guidelines are seen as a natural development in a country where the government pumps millions into robotic research every year. The robotic charter comes after a recent government report forecasted that every South Korean household will have a robot by between 2015 and 2020 and that robots would routinely perform surgery by 2018.
The team of experts from Korea will have several considerations in mind when drafting the robotics ethics charter. Among other things they will have to consider ensuring continued human control over robots, preventing illegal use of robots and protecting data acquired by robots. The three robotic laws created by Asimov in his 1942 short novel "Runaround".
Robotic Laws:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
In his 1985 novel "Robots and Empire" Asimov added a fourth law (called the zero law) which stated that:
0. A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
Low Awareness of Mental Disease in Korea
Mr. Hong (Age 68, Daegu), a dementia patient, called a shaman to his house to perform an exorcism last August. The reason he did so was because he was hearing the voices of his parents who had passed away long ago, and saw visions of his daughter hanging upside down on the wall. One day he perceived his wife, who was nursing him, as a devil trying to harm him, and made a big commotion, after which he momentarily came to his senses and asked his wife for an exorcism. The exorcism, which cost several million won, was of no use. Later, at a university hospital, Mr. Hong was diagnosed with dementia caused by hydrocephalus, which is caused when water fills up in the brain, and after receiving surgery, his condition improved. Hong and his family spent millions of won on an exorcism because they were not aware of his mental disease.
The number of mental patients in Korea is around five million (based on a research conducted in 2001), but there are still a considerable number of people like Hong who do not visit a psychiatry hospital at the early stages of their disease. In such circumstances, as the recent wave of suicides has shown, Korean society finds it hard to free itself from the social loss and shock of mental disease.
In the hopes of making a healthier society, this newspaper and the Korean Neuro-Psychiatric Association conducted a mental health study of the public, the first of its kind in Korea. In March, a survey was conducted on 303 adults aged in their twenties and above who attended a health lecture at five university hospitals in Seoul and the metropolitan area. The results showed that six out of ten people were ‘mental health ignorant,’ having little knowledge on mental health. In response to the 10 questions asking about types and causes of mental disease, and ways to deal with them, 57.6% of the participants received a failing grade of lower than 40 out of 100 points. Only 5.6% of the participants scored over 70 points, which indicates that the person is well aware of mental health; there was not a single person who answered all questions correctly. 46.4% of the participants answered that depression was a disease that occurs when one is weak-hearted, and 76.2% answered that it is impossible to completely cure dementia, which is incorrect.
Professor Ryu Sung-gon of Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital’s neuropsychiatry department said, “This survey showed that the percentage of correct answers on questions regarding the causes and treatment of the disease was extremely low, which suggests that there is a problem in the way Koreans perceive mental illness.”
Cyworld fever cools
An online consultant company's statistics suggest that people are now spending less time on South Korea's top social-networking website. Tens of millions of people still frequent Cyworld, South Korea's top social-networking site, but they spend less and less time on the popular Internet site.
But their average time on the site declined after peaking at six hours and 48 minutes in July 2004. The figure tumbled to five hours and 28 minutes in July 2005, four hours and 49 minutes in June 2006 and four hours and 21 minutes last month.
"The falling length of visiting time indicates that Cyworld users spend less time at the community site. It's bad news for Cyworld," said Shim Jun-ho, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities. As a rough equivalent to MySpace of the United States, Cyworld is Korea's foremost online community that boasts of more than 20 million subscribers. Unlike a blog, short for Web log, Cyworld uniquely interconnects personal homepages, prompting users to form a network with their friends and colleagues. Cyworld became a "must have" site for young Koreans, who typically spent several hours a day decorating their homepages or scrolling through others' to forge new networks.
However, young Web junkies recently started shifting their interest to other services including video footage created by ordinary people from the time-consuming works at Cyworld. "It is really hard for Internet companies to regain support of users once they lose popularity. SK Communications can face problems in this sense," Shim said.
Objavljeno u 23:14 • Komentari (1) • Isprintaj • #
petak, 02.03.2007.
Tvoje ime na korejskom
Evo, palo mi na pamet. Ako netko želi da napišem njegovo ime na korejskom neka ostavi komentar ili pošalje mail (vidi lijevo) i rado ću to napraviti i poslati mu sliku u jpg. i gif. (s efektom) formatu. Na slici je šest primjera kako to izgleda za moje osobno ime. Posljednja slika je rađena rukom. Dakle, ako želiš imati ili vidjeti kako tvoje ime izgleda na korejskom, javi se. Možeš odabrati stil slova ili prepustiti stvar meni (altrimenti ci penso io (tal.)) Pisati hangulom, a to je korejsko pismo, smatra se umjetnošću. Znači dobit ćeš umjetnički rad. heh.
Objavljeno u 15:14 • Komentari (12) • Isprintaj • #
Korejska imena
Korejsko ime obično se sastoji od tri sloga. Prvi slog predstavlja obiteljsko ime, tj. prezime, a druga dva osobno ime. Oba imena (prezime i ime) obično se pišu rukopisom hanja (tako se u Koreji naziva kinesko pismo koje koriste), odnosno znakovima od kojih svako ima neko značenje. Zanimljivo, kad se udaje, žena ne mijenja svoje prezime. Isto tako, kršteni Korejanci dobivaju i novo, drugo ime kao Josip, Stjepan, Petar, Veronika, Marija... U cijeloj Koreji (Južnoj i Sjevernoj) koristi se tek oko 250 prezimena. Od njih, tri najraširenija prezimena (Park, Kim, Lee) nosi oko 48% (20 milijuna) Južno-Korejanaca. Vidi sliku da vidiš kako se pišu ta tri prezimena na korejskom. 1. Kim (kim); 2. Lee (i); 3. Park (pak).
što se tiče osobnog imena koje se sastoji od dva sloga, jedan slog obično označava generaciju, a drugi je indviddualan, tako da je vrlo uobičajeno da bratići i rođaci imaju jedan slog imena jednak. Npr. (oprez: bezvezni primjer) sestra se zove Mik-jong, a brat Leek-jong; ili sestra se zove Mik-jong, a brat Mik-lee. Postoji i mogućnost da se dijete nazove bilo kojom riječi iz korejskog jezika koja sadrži dva sloga. Iako je to većim dijelom zabranjeno za djevojke, voli im se dati ime kao Han-eul (što znači Nebo), A-reum (Ljepota), Ki-ppeum (Radost). Netko može, ali rijetko se događa, dobiti i ime od samo jednog ili pak tri sloga. Toliko o tome. Ako ima pitanja...
Bonus: Na stranici GraceLee, redateljica filma koja se zove Grace Lee nikad nije čula za nikoga tko bi se tako zvala živjeći u Missouriju, sve dok nije otišla izvan svog rodnog grada. Odjednom je svatko s kim je razgovarala poznavao još jednu osobu s tim imenom. To ju je potaknulo da napravi film o ljudima koji se zovu Grace Lee. Izgleda zanimljivo. Pogledaj i trailer.
Objavljeno u 14:01 • Komentari (2) • Isprintaj • #
