After an extended time away from blogging, Sperwer’s Log is back!

John McCain’s pick for vice-president, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, doesn’t have a clear record on North Korea policy that I can find. However, as GI Korea points out, she is well aware of South Korea-U.S. ties having proclaimed Korea-Alaska Friendship Day.
As governor, Palin is the head of the state’s National Guard and has been [...]

There is the “song room” (노래방), the “video room” (비디오방), and now the “kiss room” (키스방).
Yes, that’s right – you can pay for a young lady to kiss you in a private room (Korean). Apparently, it’s becoming a popular method for female college students to earn some cash for tuition. Additional services do [...]

In a previous post on Pyongyang Soju being imported to the U.S., I used pics from a bottle I have, which was purchased in South Korea. Jason Perlow of Off the Broiler sampled some Pyongyang Soju at a Korean restaurant in New Jersey and has photos of the updated labels (looks like it was $5.99 [...]

OFK has a telling post (w/video) on Joe Biden’s North Korea policy. It’s hard to do much of a related post on Obama since he hasn’t even completed one term in the senate and so has a thin record. See all Election 2008 posts.

Otherwise known as “food.” From BBC News:
North Korean scientists have developed a new kind of noodle that delays feelings of hunger, a Japan-based pro-Pyongyang newspaper has reported.
[…]
They left people feeling fuller longer and represented a technological breakthrough, the newspaper said.
[…]
“When you consume ordinary noodles (made from wheat or corn), you may soon feel your [...]

The Combined Forces Command (CFC) Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL) exercise is no more; it has been replaced by the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise, which started on 18 August and ends on 22 August. The change is more than just the name as this year the South Korean military took the lead role as [...]

15 August is the 63rd anniversary of Victory over Japan (V-J) Day, or Liberation Day in North and South Korea. It’s hard to imagine how the North Koreans could explain the significance of the day without mentioning the U.S. doing the heavy lifting, but they still manage to do so.

North Korean Economy Watch has released version 11 of his layer/bookmarks for North Korea in Google Earth - easily the most authoritative map of North Korea on the web.

Andrei Lankov’s latest at the Korea Times deals with the introduction of beer to Korea, which, “only began at earnest in the 1890s, when Japanese merchants introduced the Sapporo brand to Korea.” (h/t Zen Kimchi)