We’re deep in summer and all the kids are off to summer school. Learning never ends and so we thought of starting up a simple Korean word of the day. We’ll do our best to update it daily but more importantly, we’ll try to find different online resources to help you in your Korean language skills. We’ll try to keep it diverse so that we can even surprise the 1.5 generation of Korean-Americans. Yeah, you FOBs don’t know every single Korean word out there
Korean-American Mike Kim was the featured guest on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. He is the author of “Escaping North Korea: Defiance and Hope in the World’s Most Repressive Country” in which he offers a compelling yet heartbreaking account of the North Korean refugees. Mike Kim is also co-founder of Crossing Borders, an NGO providing humanitarian assistance to North Korean refugees.
In 2003, he left his financial planning business in Chicago, took with him two duffle bags, and left for China on a one-way ticket. He lived near the North Korean border and operated as an undercover student of taekwondo training under the masters from Pyongyang and eventually receiving a second-degree blackbelt. During his time in China, he learned of hundreds of thousands of North Koreans fleeing to China through a 6,000 mile underground railroad. He helped refugees for four years and now travels to bring awareness to the dire situation.
He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and has appeared on CNN Anderson Cooper 360. His work exceptional and inspirational to us all. Close to the N. Korea both as a country and with its people, we really value Mike Kim’s insight and thoughts on the missile crisis and the two journalists captured.
Interview with Mike Kim before his appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart by June Kim.
- We are deeply concerned for Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two journalists in N. Korea. They had supposedly commiited a “grave crime” against the nation for their illegal border crossing. Can you please explain the gravity of the situation?
It is of course a very serious situation. While details of their capture are still unclear, the fact remains that they are detained in North Korea, the most repressive country in the world. The North Korean regime is very unpredictable and it is oftentimes very difficult to understand what they might be up to. While they could potentially continue to keep the journalists for some political motive, my hope is that the regime will want to use them as a bargaining chip so that they can in the end be released.
- They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea. Can you please elaborate what “12 years of hard labor” may entail?
I titled chapter 6 of Escaping North Korea “Gulags” and in that chapter I describe some of what goes on inside the walls of North Korean prisons. North Korean prison camp survivors that I’ve interviewed go into horrific detail about the beatings, starvation, torture, and inhumane treatment they endured. The country is known to have the most political prisoners of any country in the world. In that chapter, I also have a small section titled “Forced Labor” where I mention the regime’s dependence on this type of labor for industries such as sawing, construction, and mining. The day begins early at 6am and ends late at 11pm with very few breaks for food and rest with a lot of difficult labor. One woman told me that her primary work was to saw wood. They were organized in groups and had to saw wood all day counting “1, 2, 3″ and were beat if they slowed down or stopped. But some have commented that even if Ling and Lee were sent to prison, they wouldn’t be sent to certain high security, more harsh areas because North Korea would not want to reveal certain information to the US and international community upon their release.
- What may be the possible next steps in ameliorating the stiuation if any at all?
The next step is to create international pressure for their release (which has been done through means such as vigils and Facebook), but the problem is that no one really knows how North Korea responds to international pressure and how helpful this will be in the end. Still, that is the best we can do and to hope and pray for a speedy release. Now it’s really in the hands of the two governments to work out an agreement for their release, and in a sense we have to wait until the North Korean regime is ready for this next step because nothing can be done until they’ve decided that they are ready to talk and negotiate.
– Would you say that N. Korea is playing games (in either the nuclear test situation or set an example for the journalists)?
I can only speak from my experience as I don’t have any experience with diplomacy or these types of situations. The lessons I drew from living among North Koreans for four years and buliding relationships with North Korean businessmen, government officials, and associations, is that they tend to be very calculating. I’ve encountered the “what can I get for this” mindset numerous times. We had to negotiate the release of one of our Chinese staff who was detained in North Korea for three months. Initially they said that they would release him if he helped with drug trafficking, but when he said no they asked for an absurd ransom amount. In the end, we agreed on a smaller amount and he was released upon payment.
- Do you have any comments or thoughts you’d like to offer regarding either situation or overall? Please feel free to share any comments.
I traveled to the China-North Korea border anywhere from 2-4 times a month on average. The first time I heard about the journalists, I remember being in shock and quickly said a prayer for their release. The second thought that came to mind was, “That could have been me.” It’s an awful situation to be in and Lisa Ling in her Larry King interview commented on how scared her sister sounded when she talked to her on the phone. The two journalists need the support of this nation at this time.
The Far East Movement will be kicking off July with a bang at the Roxy in Los Angeles. Come out July 1st starting at 8:30pm to hear and groove to Far East Movement. They are the real deal. But before you check them out, read up on their latest interview with the Examiner>
Guess what folks?! Another Korean woman just won another US golf title: Jennifer Song won the 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship at the Red Tail Golf Club near Boston on Sunday. And she beat another Korean-American – Kimberly Kim – in the finals to take the title. What are we feeding Korean woman to win all these golf tournaments? Oh and btw, in the professional ranks, Jiyai Shin won the Wegman’s LPGA Championship this past weekend. What is it with Korean women? So the Public Links Championship seems to be a feeder system for Korean women golfers.
Korean-American Pearl Sinn grabbed the title two consecutive years in 1988 and 1989, and Michelle Wie rose to stardom in 2003 by becoming the youngest champion ever at the age of 14. Lee Eun-jung, then a student at the Daewon Foreign Language High School, was a surprise winner in 2005, and Korean-American Tiffany Joh claimed the title twice in 2006 and 2008.
Michelle Wie is the most heralded female golfer in the world but she’s not the best: that honor goes to Lorena Ochoa of Mexico. However, behind Ochoa are dozens of Korean players who have the talent to win on tour, as evident with Jiyai Shin’s win this past weekend at the Wegmans LPGA Championship. Of the 122 international players on the LPGA tour, 47 are of South Korean descent. When we traveled a month ago to New Jersey for the Sybase Classic, we were given special access to cover the tournament. What we discovered quickly when we first walked into the dining area was the obvious prominence of Korean players. Many of the players had families members accompany them. The challenge for these ladies is to master the English language and better engage sponsors. Their performance is definitely not in question. So what separates the Korean players apart? Here’s an interesting response from Jiyai Shin over the weekend.
“We want to boost the image of Korea,” Jiyai Shin said in Korean. “Even though we might not always be physically competitive with players from other countries, we want to overcome that with will power. That’s the mind-set I try to have.”
It’s not always easy just because you’re Korean, female and a professional golfer. Below is an interview with Jeehae Lee from a month ago. She’s a LPGA rookie and she shares a little bit about what it’s like playing professional golf.
Megan Fox of the Transformers movie franchise is in a bit of a rut because she can’t get a response from South Korean singer Rain. This according to Anything Hollywood. At least Megan is coming off a big weekend at the box office with Transformers 2 raking in millions at theaters worldwide.
Megan had her agent try to set up a meeting between her and Rain, and even publicly announced that she was attracted to him – thinking he’d hear about it and try to contact her, according to the insider.
“But he hasn’t called, e-mailed or even responded to Megan’s pushy advances,” said the insider. “He totally rejected her.”
“It’s a tough pill for Megan to swallow that she’s getting blown off by a guy most Americans have never heard of,” maintained the insider. “Her ego is bruised.” Megan isn’t ready to throw in the towel, though. “She loves the chase,” said the insider.
A lot of guys just loved that last line about the girl chasing the guy. lol
It’s really happening, the Wonder Girls are hooking up with the Jonas Brothers. This past weekend, they were introduced at the Jonas Brother’s concert in Portland.
Kollaboration New York was a great success. This past Saturday night at the NYU Skirball Center, a packed house saw some of the best emerging artists and singers from the New York city area. It was also the most diverse Kollaboration show – which happened to be the 30th show in its franchise. The duo of Roy Choi and PK, who birthed Kollaboration nearly a decade ago, were on hand to celebrate the artists. We were fortunate to have met PK and Roy back in February and they are two of the coolest cats you’ll ever meet.
There was a diverse group of acts from dance troupes to singers. In the end, it was the all-female dance/drum troupe “Cobu” that won the grand prize. They were pretty amazing as they pounded Japanese drums with power and grace. They also should’ve won the prize for best hairdos. We were able to interview a ton of folks and meet with a lot of the emerging artists. We’re still recovering so we’ll have all the pictures and videos up later this week. More to come!
“It’s in Koreatown. And these amazingly strong Korean women, scrub you down.” Eva Mendes was on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and she revealed one of her favorite spots to go in LA and that’s to a spa in Koreatown. Really?! The way Eva described it was so heavenly to her and very cleansing. Perhaps even cathartic. It was obvious that Ms. Mendes loves this place because she couldn’t stop talking about it with Conan O’Brien. Where is this place in Koreatown? If anyone knows, please send us the info so we can take the staff down to Koreatown for a nice scrub down.
Harold Koh is now the highest ranking Korean-American in the U.S. government. Harold Koh is currently the dean of Yale Law School, but after last week’s 62-35 vote in the senate, Mr. Koh will be stepping aside at Yale to step into his new post at the State Department. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more brilliant mind of the law than Harold Koh. However, Mr. Koh isn’t the closest to President Obama – that distinction goes to twentysomething Eugene Kang, the President’s assistant. Eugene Kang did play golf with the President this past weekend.
We all have buddies we go play golf with on the weekends. So who’s the golf buddy for President Obama? None other than Korean-American Eugene Kang. Thanks to our friend Deb Price at the Detroit News, she notified us today that Eugene Kang was at Camp David, playing some golf with the most powerful man in the free world: President Obama. He was also last spotted playing with the President back in December during a Hawaiian vacation of then President-elect Obama. No matter how good or bad Eugene may be in golf, it’s pretty damn cool to be so close to the President and be his golfing buddy.
Eugene Kang, confidential assistant to the president and a native of Ann Arbor, is golfing with his boss today at Andrews Air Force Base.
Kang is something of a mini celebrity in the Korean American community because of his closeness to Barack Obama. Kang sets up phone calls and plans events, such as the health care town hall earlier in the year in Dearborn.
Kang played golf in December with Obama in Hawaii. Kang says Obama has a “really good golf swing.”
Check out the interview with Eugene Kang at the Detroit News. Korean Beacon gets a nice mention.
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