Yesterday I linked to nostalgic Korean tunes from the 70’s. The third one I linked was Cho Yong-Pil’s “Come Back to Pusan Port.” While I was looking for some more video material on Korea, I found the following, which is certainly a different performance of that song:

Yes, that is an African-American expatriate (”Jero”) in Japan, dressed [...]

Since things are a bit slow right now, I hope Richardson will let me indulge in a bit of nostalgia for the bygone K-pop music.
I wrote earlier of a famous song called “That Person of That Time” (”그때 그사람”) by Shim Soo-Bong (심수봉). The link in the original entry disappeared, so I found the song [...]

This week I had the humbling (and somewhat mind-numbing) experience of taking the Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) for Korean. I’d planned on taking the test later this year as I’ll be in Korea this fall for three weeks to visit family, but circumstances dictated that the test occur sooner; I had to cram and [...]

This site offers a tool that allows you to write Hangul (and many other alphabets) from any computer, using buttons that form the text, which can then be copied into an email, document, etc. Very handy for use from work or while traveling.

Update: Dr. Petrov notes in comments, per input from Ruediger Frank on the Korean Studies Mailing List, that there are at least two other common forms of address for Kim Jong-il, which have been added as the last two rows of the table below.
Original post: Today while (finally) reading Andrei Lankov’s, “North of the [...]

Mi-yeok-guk (미역국), or seaweed soup, can be eaten anytime, but is also a traditional food for new Korean mothers. As some of you may remember, our home welcomed a new addition in July (eight weeks ago today, in fact!), and as my Mother-in-law was unable to make the trip, I became fairly proficient at making [...]

Hangŭl: 국가안전보위부
Romanization: Guk-ga-an-jŏn-bo-wi-bu
English: State Security Protection Agency
Hangŭl: 최고인민회의
Romanization: Cheo-go-in-min-heo-ŭi
English: Supreme People’s Assembly
Hangŭl: 국방위원회
Romanization: Guk-bang wi-wŏn-heo
English: National Defense Commission
Source: Page 6 of, “North Korea: A Case to Answer – A Call to Act” (PDF), a 116 page report on human rights abuses in North Korea produced in 2007 by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an NGO focusing [...]

Hangŭl: 관리소
Romanization: Kwan-ri-so
English: Political prison camp
Hangŭl: 혁명화대상구역
Romanization: Hyŏk-myŏng-hwa-dae-sang-gu-yŏk
English: Revolutionizing re-education zone
Hangŭl: 특별독재대상구역
Romanization: T’ŭk-byŏl dok-jae-dae-sang-gu-yŏk
English: Absolute control zone
Source: Page 6 of, “North Korea: A Case to Answer – A Call to Act” (PDF), a 116 page report on human rights abuses in North Korea produced in 2007 by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an NGO focusing on religious [...]

Hangŭl: 집결소
Romanization: Jip-kŏl-so
English: Detention center
Hangŭl: 노동단련대
Romanization: No-dong dan-ryŏn-dae
English: Forced labor facility
Hangŭl: 교화소
Romanization: Kyo-hwa-so
English: Re-education prison
Source: Page 6 of, “North Korea: A Case to Answer – A Call to Act” (PDF), a 116 page report on human rights abuses in North Korea produced in 2007 by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an NGO focusing on religious freedom for [...]

Hangŭl: 대미쳐
Romanization: Dae-mi-ch’yŏ
English: Right away
South Korean version: 곧바로 (즉시) (kod-pa-ro (j ŭk-shi))
Hangŭl: 정무원
Romanization: Jŏng-mu-won
English: A government worker
South Korean version: 공무원 (kong-mu-won)
Hangŭl: 말공부
Romanization: Mal-kong-bu
English: Empty talk
South Korean version: 공염불 (kong-yŏm-bul)
Source: Comparison of South and North Korean vocabulary (Galbijim)
For some useless but entertaining phrases in Korean, head over to the Uncylopedia, a mockery of Wikipedia, which has [...]