NorKo News This Week
Miss Korea lookalike contest
Hyundai apologizes for unapproved ad
Sarah Graydon, in Gwangju, needs help
FOR “CRIMES” – NORKO NEWS THIS WEEK
This week, tension between North and South Korea was kicked up a bit more – on the 27th, South Korea ordered its workers home from the Kaesong Industrial complex, after the North refused diplomatic talks. Voice of America Bureau Chief Steve Herman is live-tweeting their return. At press time (midnight Monday, April 29th) the DPRK had not yet granted approval for their exit. Meanwhile, the North has taken one hostage already: a Korean-American named Bae Jun-ho (or Kenneth Bae) who was arrested “for crimes”.
A few weeks ago, Anonymous Korea released the names of all the members of North Korea’s Uriminjokkiri mailing list, prompting a national witch-hunt by conservative netizens. The national police have officially started investigating members of this mailing list.
It is worth bearing in mind that despite being completely out of North Korea’s league in the “totalitarian fascist” category, South Korea remains a country where you can be arrested for as little as retweeting a North Korean site, even for laughs.
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WERE THEY ALL BORN WITH IT, OR IS IT GANGNAM?: THE STORY OF MISS KOREA
This year’s Miss Korea (Daegu Branch) is being mocked both by foreigners and Koreans alike for the uncanny similarity between all the girls’ publicity photos. Stories of the judges having to ask girls again and again for their contestant number, and being unable to make a decision have started to leak out.
Although many commenters immediately jumped on the “plastic surgery horrors!” bandwagon, the pre-makeup photos revealed that the cause wasn’t quite as serious – a combination of an overzealous makeup artist and overzealous photoshop artist.
Last year, after Miss Korea 2012′s high school photos were leaked, she was torn down by korean netizens for her totally changed appearance.
Korea leads the world in plastic surgery, for both women and men.
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HYUNDAI APPROVES AD FEATURING FAILED SUICIDE
Boy, this concept will sell a lot of cars, eh?
A middle-aged man tapes his car window closed, and feeds a hose from his tailpipe to the window. He turns on his car, leans back in his seat, closes his eyes…
…and much later opens his garage door and trudges back into his house, defeated. The reason? He was trying to kill himself using a Hyundai ix35.
needless to say, that kind of ad received many complaints, including one particularly personal open letter. Hyundai has tried to distance itself from the ad, saying
“The video was created by an affiliate advertising agency, Innocean Europe, without Hyundai’s request or approval.”
– yet felt the need to admit it
“deeply and sincerely apologises for the offensive viral video”
.
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SARAH GRAYDON COULD USE SOME HELP
Sarah Graydon, who fell ill with Ulcerative Colitis, was knocked off of Korea’s national healthcare insurance after being fired for being absent 30 days. Expats have set up a charity where generous persons can donate money and blood. So far about 3.5 million won has been raised, though they estimate the total cost will be 15 million won. You can find the charity pages here
Gwangju-based Sarah Graydon fell ill with Ulcerative Colitis, after leaving her husband and four-year-old son behind in Columbia. She is the sole supporter of her family.
If you can spare to donate anything then you can transfer it to her bank account:———
Sarah Graydon
Nong Hyup Bank
352-0398-4806-83
