Photos by Ahn Sehong capture “comfort women” in Korea. Most are poor, broke, and even embarrassed. The ones that photographer Ahn Sehong photographs are still living in China, the place they were sent and subsequently “left” after World War 2. It’s a sad tale that has no resolve. (NY Times – Korean Comfort Women)

“Comfort Women” will be on view at the Korea Press Center, 7 Broad Avenue, Palisades Park, N.J., through April 18.

Korean clothing company, Coevel caught Uniqlo in the act of copying their “Navajo” socks. It’s a pretty blatant rip-off, and while Navajo inspired designs aren’t particularly unique, the Uniqlo design looks like a direct pull from Coevel’s. The Southwest decor craze of the late 70s, and the pastel version of the late 80s, seems to be on the rise again. Even Shepard Fairey’s  Obey Clothing came out with a series of “Navajo” clothes and accessories.

Uniqlo issued a public apology on their Korean website, but there’s been no official statement about how the issue will be resolved, and the CEO of Coevel is readying her legal team. Too bad there aren’t any royalties for the Navajo Nation.

Here are the socks in question:

No mention of it on the You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice But We Did blog, but there are plenty of rip-offs to go around these days.

The Korea Times reports that SM Entertainment, home to some of today’s most popular idol groups, are seriously considering investing in holographic theatres that would offer “concerts” of their top acts. As their story points out, they had  to use a hologram Tupac at Coachella, because he’s DEAD.

According to The Korea Times, SM Entertainment  has been wanting to do this for a while, and after they pulled off a successful holographic  Girls Generation concert, their passion for 1980s futurism was re-ignited.

Just imagine how AWESOME it would be to be able to pay to go to a holographic concert, watch the whole thing through your Galaxy s3 screen (wriggling through the crowd of people in front of you with their giant phones blocking your view) while you record the show to post on your tumblr on the subway ride back home to your parents house.

The future is bright for groups like Girls Generation and steady hitter, BoA. At least they get to have boyfriends and be “themselves” in real life, unlike their J-pop counterparts, AKB48.  GR Familia, Anne Ishii wrote a brilliant piece about the weirdness of AKB48′s idol reality.

It’s like K-pop is Jem and the Holograms, and J-pop is the Misfits – seriously, like with the evil manager, and the orphanage, and the holograms, and the Misfits always having hard times but better outfits… Everything we thought was only a cartoon futuristic techno fantasy is our now.

Another Mr. Yoo approved of waterboarding back in 2001. John Yoo, of the Department of Justice during the Bush Administration, was one of the authors of the “Torture Memos” giving the green light for waterboarding and more at Guantanamo. Not all Asian Americans in government are awesome.

Big hugs to Korean kids who get half-drowned by bad dads, and to the detainees at Guantanamo. These guys are giving the Yoo Clan a bad name.

Like Japan, the Korean people chose a conservative candidate to guide them through these recent troubled economic times, convinced they are the key to recovery. Unlike Japan, South Korean voters came out in droves on election day.

Now South Koreans are lining up outside Park’s “Center for Proposals for the People’s Happiness”. As she transitions into power, downsizing government, chopping budgets, and hiring and firing, she has established this center (open until February 8th) to hear what the people want. Citizens are lining up (and camping out) to get their submissions in. Five officials will review the suggestions as they come in, and present the cream of the crop to the transition committee. It’s promised that some of the ideas presented will be put into action.

Maybe someone will step up and request a South Korean Death Star, so the Republic can gain some street cred in the space race. That would make North Korea SO mad.

So far the suggestions have been echoes of the requests made during the election, and campaign promises made by Park to make life better for the poor, the elderly and small businesses. There have also been less lofty requests to do things like shake her hand. There was also a request to make sex offenders wear giant, identifying barcodes at all times. Maybe a QR code would be more useful, and just imagine the fabric pattern possibilities!

The “official” story is that he’s accompanying former New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, on a humanitarian mission to negotiate the release of a Korean American hostage. CEOs are the new influential world leaders, so I suppose it’s possible, but somehow I think Schmidt lacks that Clinton charm that helped to free Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

Some believe that Schmidt is there to urge Kim Jong Un to ease restrictions on internet and data access. Others believe there’s a different agenda. North Korea is a new frontier when it comes to Google style information sharing. Schmidt will likely learn at least a tiny bit about the future of digital media in the new regime, and he may be looking for a foothold. Five years of Google in communist China didn’t pan out quite the way everyone had hoped though. How will North Korea handle the world’s largest search engine? Will Google+ and its Google Hangouts help re-unite the peninsula? All I know is that if any of the Kim boys want to add me to their circles, I’m SO adding them back.

“They changed my name to Domiko in Japanese. The other women were kidnapped from various parts of Korea and their names were changed to Japanese. ”

Linsanity may have died down, but one fan still remembers. Earlier this year we wrote about the song writer for K-Pop groups Girl’s Generation and Chocolat, Jenny Hyun. To bring you back up to speed, boxer Floyd Mayweather dismissed Lin’s achievements with what some perceived as racist. Ms. Hyun decided to up the ante with a racist diatribe against Mayweather of her own. Eventually, she dropped off the online stratosphere, claimingthat she was being admitted to a hospital for schizophrenia when the backlash proved too much.

Regardless of what happened, it looks like she’s back on the map. Her website, blog, twitter, and other social networking accounts are online. And from the looks of things, she hasn’t quite learned her lesson either.

The Korean educational system is an intense one. Everything builds up to Suneung, when the die are cast. Will your life be worth living? Is your future bright? Will you be doomed to live a life of blue collar mediocrity, or will you rise to corporate greatness? These are questions that are asked in Junior High, and prepared for in grade school with extra-curriculars and tutoring that make a kid’s work day about as long (sometimes longer) as that of their parents.

On Suneung, parents, younger students and empathetic citizens rally in support of the students taking the test. Juniors, second year students who are soon to face the same fate, line up outside the testing centers before dawn to get a good spot to yell rallying cheers, and offer snacks and juice to the students heading in for the test. Parents pray outside the testing centers. They pray in Christian churches and at Buddhist temples. In Jeju, the airport avoids takeoffs and landings during the listening portion of the test.

I’m not sure if today is any easier for the kids that tested yesterday. I want to believe they slept well last night, with the hurdle of Suneung completed, but it’s not over yet.  Their test results will be released in December. The admissions process continues for those with scores they can live with. For everyone else… it’ll be ok. Relax, and try to take it easy while you get ready for November 2013. Don’t do anything crazy, and don’t let your parents get you down. You can do it!

FIGHTING!

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If a gun like this can exist, we’re all doomed. Super Aegis 2 is a non human robot gun that can take someone out from nearly 2 miles away, even in the dark. Gyroscope and lasers can keep the gun steady even in the wind. (Gizmodo – Supergun)

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“In 2012, Korean women forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during WWII are still waiting for a heartfelt apology from Japan.”  (Asiancorrespondent – Times Square)