No Daily Kor today for today, either. And no, the Census Bureau story is not a cover for a trip to Shanghai.

But I think it would be rather cool to be in Shanghai, where there is speculation that Dear Leader Kim Jong-il will show up.

Personally, though, I think he's headed back to Guangzhou.

No Daily Kor today

And you can thank the Federal government for that. Plus all those unpatriotic Americans with no sense of civic duty.

I will leave you with this thought: I think Americans can be divided into those whose world view is either Capraesque or Kafkaesque. Guess which ones don't turn in Census Bureau forms and then angrily shoo you away when you drop by. At least no one is shooting at me, or trying to eat my liver with fava beans and chianti.

Cheers!

Piracy in Japan versus piracy in Korea

In my daily news troll, I ran across this article in the Los Angeles Times that suggests South Korea gets movies like Iron Man 2 in theaters ahead of Japan because of an effort to earn money before pirated copies take hold online and ruin the opportunity to make money off eyeballs:

As Moore noted, one of the countries that has the least amount of piracy is Japan. "There is a very low social acceptability in Japan for stealing copyrighted work -- you just don't see movies showing up online right away there," he said. So with that in mind, Paramount is holding back the release of "Iron Man 2" in Japan for several weeks, having little fear about the country being swamped with bootleg copies of the film.

However, when it comes to Korea, it's a different story. "For better or worse, there are certain countries -- notably like Korea -- where it's culturally acceptable to download movies online pretty much right away," said Moore. "By the third week of a movie's release, you're starting to see a large part of the audience who will start consuming the film online. It's why Korea has almost no home video business anymore."

So Paramount knew it couldn't afford to wait. It released "Iron Man 2" in Korea this weekend -- and is hoping for the best.

An interesting theory, one that seems to be uncritically accepted over at The Marmot's Hole, which also highlighted the article.

An interesting theory except that it may not be true. Or at least it's misleading.

I'm sitting right next to "M," a fellow public health student who hails from Kansai, to whom I asked, "Do people in Japan download movies illegally?" To which she answered, "Yeah, a lot of them do," and then she told me about sharing services like Cabos. That the movies may not pop up there immediately may have less to do with "social unacceptability" of viewing illegal downloads than the drive to be the first to get it online.

Given the often months-long lag between the US release and the Japanese release, a lack of publicity in Japan for a given film may also dampen demand for it to be seen online: You're not going to look for something which you don't know exists.

In fact, "M" and I had been discussing just a few weeks ago not why Korea gets movies so quickly, but why Japan gets them so late, often long after their North American, Korean, or European release dates. There's your question.

I also am a little disinclined to believe the boo-hooing of media companies that make grand claims of losses supposedly over piracy. A loss as they define it is full ticket or rental price for a movie viewed illegally. To me, a loss is the money they would have earned in a venue the movie would have been watched if the illegal download did not exist.

Those are a very different set of numbers. For starters, when something is "free," people experiment by viewing things they would not necessarily plop down money for. I have a legitimate Netflix membership that allows me to view many of their movies on line, and I'll tell you I "try out" far more movies than I would have if I had to pay for each one or can get them for free but have to wait to receive them by mail. People might also "re-view" something they had paid to see, or even check out something ahead of time that they plan to see.

Furthermore, the movie-going experience in Korea is incompatible with downloads, legal or otherwise. People in Korea are avid cinema-goers who like to watch movies for dating purposes or as group activities, and it's doubtful that that can be replaced by downloading. So the notion that they have to get the movie out quickly before the pirates take over is, well, highly suspect. As with many things involving Korea, I think we're looking at a facile interpretation for something that requires a far more complex explanation.

Daily Kor for May 4, 2010: Planes, trains, and automobiles

Memo to North Korea's elite: Have a coup. You know you want to.

1. North Korean leader arrives in China with his good arm in a begging pose (Reuters via WaPo, AP via CNBC, WaPo, BBC, WSJ, AFP, LAT, Yonhap, Korea Times, The Times, Donga Ilbo, Joongang Daily, Chosun Ilbo, Korea Herald, Monster Island)
• Dear Leader seeks lifeline (Reuters)
• Limping seen as sign of Kim Jong-il's declining health (Bloomberg)
2. Kia Motors' April sales up 49 percent from previous year (Reuters, Reuters via CNBC, Bloomberg)
• Hyundai up 28 percent (Reuters)
3. South Korea to review security after Chonan sinking (AP via WaPo, Yonhap)
4. Incumbent Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon wins ruling Hannara Party nomination (Korea Times, Joongang Daily, Korea Herald)
5. Ochoa's retirement puts Jiyai Shin at #1 in women's golf rankings (AP via WaPo, Yonhap)
6. Hyundai Sonata breaks into top-ten rankings of car models sold in US (Yonhap)
7. South Korean climber Oh Eunsun defends claim of being first woman to reach peak of all mountains over 8000 meters (AFP)
8. Inspired by his love of Hollywood and Seoul gangster films, Kim Jong-il tells his handlers to let him do a perp walk on arrival in Beijing (UPI)

Kim jong-il rumored to be in China — again

People who we guess should know believe that North Korea's Dear Leader Kim Jong-il arrived in Dandong, China, on his way to Beijing. He picked the day Chang Tonggŭn and Ko Soyŏng held the wedding of the century so nobody would notice.

Anyway, this is sort of a repeat, so I'll just direct you here.

Kushibo joins the Census Bureau

My nation called, and I answered.

It is one of the oldest traditions of government we have, the counting of everyone in the entire country. It goes back to 1790, and it's something I learned about and admired since grade school, not only because I wondered how they did it, but also because I have pored over and used oh-so-much Census Bureau data in my work and studies over the years.

And now I thought I'd give something back. They needed Korean speakers and they paid reasonably well (enough to justify putting other work on hold for a couple months), and so I joined the US Census Bureau.

The experience has taught me many things, not least among them is how mucked up government service can be, and how surly regular citizens can be about something that should be seen as their civic, if not patriotic, duty.

My experiences echo one of the themes of this post from DokdoIsOurs — that those who come to Korea for their first real post-college job often have no clue that the workplace problems they encounter (e.g., supervisors who don't know anything but demand respect, impromptu meetings with people who are utterly clueless, wasted time, putting the wrong people into the wrong positions, etc.) are universal and not a sign of how effed-up Korea is.

In short, this is a refresher course in something I had gotten a taste of back in college: how mucked up a company can be (this is something I learned all too clearly back at UCI when I worked for a certain famous company that does a certain famous thing).

I have also learned what a-holes some people in this country can be. Seriously, there are people who are trying to prevent you from doing your job to fulfill a major requirement of our Constitution that also has the added benefit of seeing Federal funds fairly and even divvied out to local governments, and they are shooing you away, yelling at you, or engaging in other matter of confrontation or avoidance just to fu¢k with you or the government. (Some of them are also worried you're at their door as part of a sophisticated scam.)

On the plus side, though, I've worked out what could be a very interesting comedy out of the whole thing: Census Training Day™ or The Enumerator™ (please note the trademark).

And this, kiddies, is why I've missed two Daily Kors in a row and while Daily Kor was about all I was doing this past week (hastily typed out during my lunch break at McDonald's via their WiFi service).

UPDATE (June 2010):
The experience was less than stellar (see here and here).

UPDATE (December 2010):
And here.

"How come at these immigration rallies, people are carrying flags of every nation except the USA?"

One of the memes I find annoying is when people disparage immigrants as being more loyal to their "old" country instead of their new one (i.e., the United States, or Los Estados Unidos, if you prefer). It's not hard to find remarks in the comments section of conservative sites (and mainstream ones), or even mainstream newspapers like the Orange County Register, where people ask "How come I see the flags of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, etc., at these rallies, but never the flag of the US of A?!"

Well, maybe it's because you're not actually looking and you're only repeating a talking point that sounded good to you at the time.

Exhibit A:

Here's the source (and here's the source for the picture at top). Of course, it's the New York Times, that liberal rag, so maybe they picked the one single spot where people had their American flags out. Or maybe they handed out the Stars & Stripes just so they could prove the yahoos wrong. Could be it. They're that evil.

While we're at it, Exhibit B:

Here's the source for this one. These were easy enough to find. All I did was a Google image search of "immigrant rally." I didn't even have to add "American flag" to get these results. KushiFact labels this one blatant lie.

There are more after the jump...

No Daily Kor today either, but I leave you with this...

Halliburton, not content to merely jack up our economy with their money pit of a war in Iraq, has now set their sights on the ecology: Is Halliburton responsible for the shoddy work that caused the massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana that may prove to be an even worse disaster than the Exxon-Valdez spill of 1989?

But wait! No need to worry that corporate mishandling by a shadow government has brought us to this woeful state, because there is evidence and speculation (mostly speculation) that the entire problem was caused by ... wait for it ... the North Koreans! Yep:

While some say environmental extremists, who have committed acts of terror in the past are responsible, the dominant theory that has emerged is that a North Korean sub torpedoed the rig. The Deepwater Horizon oil platform was owned by Transocean, the largest offshore drilling contractor in the world. It was also built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., which leads many to think about a North Korean attack.

North Korea has been increasingly aggressive since announcing it has developed nuclear weapons last May. It has waged a heavy cyberwar against the United States, arrested and later released two American journalist it accused of espionage, and has been caught shipping military cargo to rogue African nations. North Korea has also become the clear suspect in the March sinking of a South Korean battleship.

For the record, yours truly did note the South Korean connection to the BP rig ten days ago (it's the very bottom story), but I never made the North Korea connection because, well, I can tell the two Koreas apart.

UPDATE:
Joshua at One Free Korea has picked up on more conspiracy theorists espousing this idea.

[above: Louisiana fishermen Lance Melerine and David Hebert are distraught and perplexed as they ponder whether to blame their plight on Dick Cheney or Kim Jong-il.]

Korea and transportation safety

After a few too many high-profile rail accidents, the Los Angeles area is opting for some cutting-edge safe trains:

Among the key defenses incorporated into the shiny, stainless-steel double-decker cars will be collapsible nose cones in front of engineers and riders on so-called cab cars, the passenger vehicles that lead the trains half the time as they run in reverse, heading inbound toward the Los Angeles Union Station hub. Current cab cars have little in front of the driver's control booth and the passenger compartment except a flat, thin car wall. ...

Other new safety features include piston-like, push-back car frames and couplers that transfer crash energy around passengers to the rear of the train. Redesigned seating, tables that crush on impact, improved escape and rescue access, fire-retardant materials and anti-derailment technology also represent a "material step forward," said Grady Cothen, a top Federal Railroad Administration safety official.

Federal studies have found that such improvements can dramatically reduce deaths and incursions into passenger space in many accidents.

And the relevance? These are the same Korea-manufactured Rotem cars that will be put together in the SoCal community of Colton.

Hmm... I wonder if we're back to a situation where other countries are getting better Korea-made goods than Korea does.

Ugly Koreans, Ugly Americans

John Glionna of the Los Angeles Times has discovered Min Byoung-chul. Or at least his readership now has.

I've heard a few too many Americans go on and on about the inherent bigotry of Min's observations — some of them Americans who make similarly inherently bigoted statements about Koreans — but I give Mr Min a pass because he's an equal opportunity social critic and his intent is to build bridges of understanding (yeah, I realized how corny that sounded as I typed it).

As in any social or sociological observation, there's always a danger in making broad statements about a group of people, but recognizing them as common (even if not predominant) archetypes may make it more palatable.

No Daily Kor today

Sorry. I do have a life outside of this blog (hence only one item each day for most days this past week). Hard to believe.

Daily Kor for May 1, 2010

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the summit between ROK President Lee Myungbak and PRC President Hu Jintao as they discussed the sinking of the Chonan [aka Cheonan]. I would have loved to watch Hu try to say with a straight face that we don't really know who is behind it and that as long as L'il Kim denies it, who knows what to believe?

At some point, Hu or whoever is in charge of China is going to have to do a David Kaczynski and realize that maybe all that stuff you're afraid that crazy brother Ted is doing really is happening. And then you make a deal brings him down with as little trouble as possible. Seriously, President Lee, offer Hu a deal that if China pulls the plug, there will be no US forces in former DPRK territory and all Chinese contracts with Pyongyang will be honored. You might have to throw in an agreement that Seoul won't raise a stink about keeping Kim Jong-il and his cohorts in exile, but that's a small price to pay for how much future suffering we'll prevent.

Anyway, I also want to draw attention to the subheading in story #2, about two ruling party candidates who are naturalized Koreans. They aren't the first, even if they're part of a very small group, and one reason I point them out is that some naysayers about Korea's drive toward acceptance of other groups (let's paraphrase the Chinese and call it "multiculturalism with Korean characteristics") insist that this kind of thing has not, could not, and perhaps will not happen. Even though it already does.

1. WHO Director-General, returning from Pyongyang, says North Korea has no shortage of doctors and nurses (Reuters, WHO press conference)
2. Na Kyung-won to run against incumbent Oh Sehoon in ruling Hannara Party primary for Seoul mayorship (Korea Herald)
• Two naturalized Koreans, one from Japan and one from the Philippines, to run in local elections as ruling party candidates (Yonhap, Korea Times)
3. North Korea expels most of remaining South Korean staff at Kŭmgangsan (Reuters, Korea Times)
4. Reeling from domestic criticism, Zimbabwe says North Korea visit for World Cup preparation "not finalized" (BBC)
5. North Korean denial of Chonan sinking clouds Lee-Hu summit in Shanghai (Bloomberg, Yonhap, Korea Herald)
• Chinese president offers condolences (Korea Times)
• Special probe seeks suspicious fragments at site of sinking (Yonhap, Korea Times)
• Government to launch audit of military's handling of incident (Yonhap)
6. American imprisoned in North Korea allowed to contact family (links here)
• US calls on Pyongyang to release Gomes on humanitarian grounds (Yonhap)
7. South Korean factory output increases for ninth month (Bloomberg)
8. Seoul to terminate extra currency swap line with Tokyo (Yonhap)
9. A pleasantly surprised President Obama is shocked to find that non-Hispanic White babies are still being born in America (USA Today)

North Korea allows Aijalon Mahli Gomes to contact his family?

I will address this more later, but fir now here's an update on Aijalon Mahli Gomes. Could this mean his release is not too far off? Pyongyang sure could use the brownie points.

From AP, via MSNBC:

SEOUL, South Korea — An American imprisoned in North Korea was allowed to speak to his family by telephone Friday, state media said in a report with few details and no clues whether he would be released.

North Korea's highest court sentenced Aijalon Mahli Gomes to eight years of hard labor and fined him $700,000 on April 6 for entering the country illegally and for an unspecified "hostile act."

Gomes, from Boston, was the fourth American detained by North Korea for illegal entry in less than a year. He had been teaching English in South Korea before being arrested in the North on Jan. 25.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Gomes spoke with family on Friday. The call was allowed after he asked "for a phone contact with his family for his health and other reasons," the report said.

The brief dispatch from North Korea's capital Pyongyang provided no further details on the call.

Thaleia Schlesinger, a spokeswoman in Boston for Gomes' family, was trying to confirm the North Korean report with family members.

Gomes' imprisonment comes amid increasing uncertainty on the Korean peninsula.

Tensions between North and South are running high amid a dispute over joint economic projects and the mysterious March sinking of a South Korean warship near their western sea border in which 46 southern sailors died.

Meanwhile, international negotiations aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons remain stalled. The United States is a participant in those talks.

KCNA also said Gomes had contact in prison with a Swedish Embassy official to whom he handed a "written petition." The report said that happened before the phone call but wasn't specific.

The U.S. and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations, and Sweden handles U.S. interests in the North.

"We have continuous contacts with the detained American citizen on behalf of the U.S.," Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Camilla Akesson Lindblom said in Stockholm. "Right now we cannot get into any more details."

Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were held for five months before North Korea released them last August, and activist Robert Park was expelled some 40 days after crossing into North Korea last Christmas.

Gomes' motivation for entering North Korea remains unclear, though he attended rallies in Seoul in support of Park, a fellow Christian who deliberately crossed the North's border to call attention to the nation's human rights record, which has been criticized by the United Nations and U.S. as dismal.

Park was released in February without charge after the regime said he showed "sincere repentance of his wrong doings."

Ling and Lee, who work for former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts" after their arrest in March 2009 near the Chinese border.

They were freed in August after former President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang to negotiate their release. Clinton met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during the visit.