N. Korea wants peace, envoy tells China official
AFP via Google News

A special envoy from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un told one of China’s top officials Thursday that Pyongyang wants peace and is willing to pursue dialogue with key countries, state media reported.

Envoy Choe Ryong-Hae met Liu Yunshan, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s highest ranking body the Politburo Standing Committee, state television reported on its evening newscast.

China is the North’s sole major ally and key economic benefactor. But relations have taken a downturn in recent months in the face of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula after Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests, which saw international sanctions tightened.

Juliana Redding Murder Update: Accused killer Kelly Soo Park, out on bail, called “flight risk” by prosecutors
CBS News

As jury deliberations began in the trial of accused murderer Kelly Soo Park, prosecutors surprised the court Wednesday requesting that the judge remand Park into custody to await the verdict in jail, calling her a “flight risk.”

While most Los Angeles County criminal defendants accused of murder remain in custody before and during trial, Park – a woman standing 5 feet, ten inches tall, with jet-black, long hair and delicate features – is anything but the typical murder suspect. She made bail for $3.5 million in Nov. 2010 and has been free ever since wearing a security ankle bracelet.

Park is charged with beating and strangling aspiring Hollywood model Juliana Redding in her Santa Monica apartment on March 15, 2008. She faces a sentence of 25 years to life if convicted of first-degree murder. Her trial began May 15 and a jury was sent to begin deliberations following closing arguments Wednesday.

Assistant District Attorney Stacey Okun-Weise revealed that days ago Park had visited a hospital seeking treatment and inquiring if her ankle bracelet could be removed. Okun-Weise suggested this was simply an effort on Park’s behalf to test her ability to evade monitoring because when the request to remove the security bracelet was denied, she said, Park left the hospital without getting any medical tests.

The World Bank: Stand up for “Doing Business”
The Economist

A YEAR ago, when Jim Yong Kim was appointed president of the World Bank, this newspaper had doubts about the choice. Mr Kim, then head of Dartmouth College, was a health expert who had run innovative AIDS projects in poor countries, but had no background in economics or finance. He once wrote that the “quest for growth in GDP” had “worsened the lives of millions of women and men”. For the boss of the world’s premier development bank, this was a curiously sceptical view of what economic growth might do for the poor.

UCF Instructor Reinstated Following Suspension Over ‘Killing Spree’ Comment
University Herald

The University Of Central Florida’s Rosen College Of Hospitality Management has allowed Hyung-il Jung, an accounting instructor, who was placed on paid administrative leave for three weeks, to teach a class this summer.

Last month, Jung was embroiled in a controversy after making a ‘killing spree’ remark to around 25 students in his optional review class on accounting in the hospitality industry.

“The student who reported the comment to us interpreted it as a threat to her class, and we will always take any reported threat very seriously,” Chad Binette, a university spokesman said.”This is not an acceptable topic to joke about, particularly in light of recent events around the country and on our campus.”

Christian prayer house proposed at site of Pen Argyl Korean exchange dorm
Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)

The embattled owner of a shuttered Korean exchange program in Pen Argyl wants to convert his building to a Christian prayer house, but he’ll have to overcome the opposition of Borough Council.

This week, council sued to block Min Taek Kim’s proposal, saying it shouldn’t be permitted under Pen Argyl’s zoning code. The Northampton County Court lawsuit comes after the borough’s Zoning Hearing Board in March granted Kim approval for a prayer house and retreat at 21 N. Lobb Ave.

There, Kim’s family used to run ACE Academy, a dormitory for South Korean students attending Pius X High School, but it closed last year after revelations that Kim’s son had repeatedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old student who lived at the dorm. Richard Kim, 35, a tutor in his parents’ academy, is serving five to 10 years in state prison after admitting to assaults that escalated from kissing to fondling to oral sex.

Whitestone Resident Rachel Kim Prepares For Graduation From West Point
CBS New York

A Queens woman will be among those becoming a second lieutenant at United States Military Academy graduation ceremony this Saturday.

It’s been a difficult four years at West Point, but, for Rachel Kim, now the real work begins.

“It’s kind of daunting to really see how much we’ve gone through but yet so much to do in the future and so in that sense it’s kind of maybe a bit intimidating as well,” Kim told WCBS 880 reporter Peter Haskell.

David vs. Goliath
Fortune (subscription req’d)

Red Mango vs. TCBY (Mrs. Fields Famous Brands)
The challenge: Finding a niche in the increasingly crowded frozen-yogurt field.
What he did: A former investment banker at J.P. Morgan Chase, Dan Kim ditched finance to study photography and ended up a wedding photographer. Worn out by the stress — “Dealing with brides took years off my life,” he says — he opened a yogurt shop, which he called Red Mango, near Facebook’s Silicon Valley offices in 2007. Fittingly enough, Kim attracted customers through Facebook and other social media and kept them by being what he calls a “quality freak” and offering great flavors (mojito and pomegranate, to name two). Kim, 37, also used his finance know-how, raising $12 million in funding. Red Mango’s all-natural, probiotic-spiked yogurt generated some $68 million in revenues last year, and today the chain, now based in Dallas, has 229 stores.

Learning the words for love in ‘The Language Archive’
Seattle Times

“Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”

Gustave Flaubert wrote that, in his classic novel “Madame Bovary.” But the same line would slide neatly into Julia Cho’s “The Language Archive.”

Cho’s diverting Off Broadway play, now having its local debut in an agreeable, articulate staging by Shana Bestock at Seattle Public Theater, reflects on the beauty and limits of words, and the nature of love.

Choo’s stock rising with play for Reds in contract year
MLB.com

A revelation who has already exceeded high expectations, center fielder Shin-Soo Choo has been everything and more than the win-now Reds had hoped he’d be from the leadoff spot this season.

At the same time, Choo provides Reds fans with mixed emotions. While there is enjoyment and excitement about the present, there is also angst and concern for what might happen beyond the 2013 season. That’s when Choo can become a free agent.

“I get asked the question a lot: ‘Choo, where do you want to go and where do you want to play?’” said Choo, who was acquired by Cincinnati from the Indians in a three-team trade last offseason.

Choo the man of the hour at Citi Field
MLB.com

Reds center fielder Shin-Soo Choo has been warmly welcomed at Citi Field throughout this week’s three-game series vs. the Mets. New York has the nation’s second-largest Korean population, with many living near the stadium in the Flushing section on Queens.

Choo hails from Pusan, South Korea. Before games, he has spent time on the top step of the visiting dugout signing a lot of autographs. Some fans were hurling multiple baseballs at once for him to sign.

“It’s amazing,” Choo said of his reception. “Even when I didn’t play [Tuesday], they still came into the stands and were cheering for me and calling my name. It’s special.”

Mountaineer Dies After Scaling Everest Without Oxygen
Chosun Ilbo

Mountaineer Seo Sung-ho died during an attempt to scale all 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 m without oxygen. Seo, a member of a team led by Kim Chang-ho, died on Tuesday while taking a break on their descent from Everest.

The team left their camp at 7,950 m above sea level on the South Col of Everest at 9 p.m. on Sunday and reached the 8,848-m top 13 hours later.

Seo started the descent and returned to the camp at around 8 p.m. on Monday but was found dead at 5 a.m. the next morning.

Albin Choi goes pro after prestigious career
The Technician (North Carolina State Univ.)

As a student at N.C. State, you’ve likely heard of Mike Glennon, C.J. Leslie, Trea Turner and other athletes who have recently made their mark on the Wolfpack athletic program. Go back a few years and you’ll encounter names such as Julius Hodge and Philip Rivers.

But until now, you may not have heard of Albin Choi.

Choi, a junior studying sport management, is making a name for himself as one of the best golfers to ever set foot in Raleigh. The Toronto, Ontario, native has won eight tournaments since he started his career at State, including four this season, and he is currently ranked eighth in the nation among amateur golfers. This year alone, he has failed to finish in the top six in just one of his 10 events.

He was named the 2013 ACC Golfer of the Year and named one of 10 semifinalists for the prestigious Ben Hogan Award, which honors the nation’s top collegiate golfer.

An apartment building in Busan, South Korea.

A young girl was killed after a man intent on committing suicide struck her as he fell from the 11th floor of the apartment building she was walking out of with her parents, according to news reports.

The girl, 5, was killed on Wednesday in the port city of Busan, CNN reported.

The 38-year-old man who died at the scene had reportedly been receiving treatment for depression at a local hospital. The girl was taken to the hospital where she was later declared dead of a skull fracture. Her parents were not hurt. Continue Reading »

Park speaks at a luncheon in Los Angeles on May 9, 2013.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye accepted the resignation of her press secretary, the “latest humiliation” in a rocky first few months for the nation’s first female president.

Lee Nam-ki was not involved in the sexual assault scandal surrounding former presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung, who is being investigated for allegedly touching the buttocks of a young female Korean American intern during Park’s recent visit to the United States. However, as Lee was Yoon’s direct superior, he had offered to resign due to the major distraction to what had been deemed a successful diplomatic trip.

South Korea is not conducting its own investigation of the incident as it awaits the completion of an investigation by Washington, D.C., police, according to the Wall Street Journal. Continue Reading »

A set of photos released by North Korea’s state-run media shows Kim Jong-un touring a camp for children, who are so moved by the leader’s visit they are emotionally overcome.

Kim reportedly visited Myohyangsan Children’s Camp in North Phyongan Province with his wife, Ri Sol-ju, last Sunday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Construction of the camp, the KCNA reported, fulfilled the “lifelong desire of the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il who did everything for the children as their tender-hearted father all their lives.” Continue Reading »

After 3 years, Korean-American still fighting espionage charges in the US
The Hankyoreh

The ongoing controversy in the US over the seizure of Associated Press phone records by federal prosecutors is drawing renewed attention to the 2010 prosecution of Stephen Jin-woo Kim for violating the Espionage Act.

Evidence confirming that US investigators examined the phone records of a Fox News reporter who was in contact with Kim suggests that the recent press freedom violations were not the first.

Kim, a 46-year-old former North Korean nuclear expert with the US Department of State, is still locked in a solitary legal battle with federal prosecutors

How the World’s Dullest Story Became the Target of a Massive Leak Investigation
Mother Jones

The Justice Department immediately launched a leak investigation, which culminated in charges against Rosen’s source, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, an analyst at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who had been detailed to the State Department. As part of this investigation, DOJ tracked Rosen’s movements and subpoenaed his phone records.

North Korean Leader Sends Envoy to China
New York Times

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, sent his first special envoy to China on Wednesday amid signs that Mr. Kim’s government was trying to mend strained ties with Beijing and seeking breaches in the tightening ring of economic and diplomatic pressure over its nuclear weapons development.

The envoy, Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, who serves as director of the general political bureau of the North Korean People’s Army, met in Beijing with Wang Jiarui, the head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party, said Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, in a report that gave no details of the talks.

His trip is North Korea’s first serious dabbling in diplomacy after months of bellicose pronouncements, including threats to launch nuclear strikes at the United States and its allies. It also comes as Japanese officials set off fears of a policy discord with allies by signaling a willingness to open a greater dialogue, including possible summit talks, with North Korea.

Second Democrat considers 2014 run for 5th District
New Jersey Herald

A second Democrat is emerging as a possible challenger to Republican Congressman Scott Garrett of Wantage.

Roy Cho, 32, of Hackensack, filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, a step also taken by former Congressman Andrew Maguire, as he considers getting into the race.

“I’m exploring this right now very seriously, considering it. I want to see where the fundraising is taking me,” Cho, who works as a corporate attorney in Manhattan with one of the world’s largest law firms, said in an interview Tuesday.

Janice Min: The Hollywood Reporter’s Editor
LA Weekly

You can divide the timeline of L.A.’s venerable industry rag The Hollywood Reporter into two distinct epochs: pre– and post–Janice Min. The Reporter pre-Min was a dry, highly specialized daily that was being read by fewer and fewer people. In the 2½ post-Min years, it has evolved into a slick, glossy, thoroughly modern magazine-style weekly. “The only thing we kept was the name,” Min says.

She was helming Us Weekly when Prometheus Global Media then-CEO Richard Beckman reached out to her about revamping The Hollywood Reporter, which he’d recently purchased. She was intrigued. “Creating something is interesting,” she says. “You can focus-group it to death. Or you can deliver things to people they didn’t even know they needed or wanted.”

She saw in her head how it might work. Min wanted stronger graphics. She wanted to break news, “not just cut and paste press releases into another form of paper.” She wanted a fun, smart and informed publication about how entertainment is made in America.

Wolfgang Puck, David Chang and Roy Choi Team Up For Chefs Dinner at Hotel Bel-Air
LA Weekly

We contacted Roy Choi about the dinner, who had this to say: “Dave is a friend and a mentor even though the f-cker is younger than me. Wolf you just can’t say no to. He told me, not asked me.”

Kimchi- from Seoul to Chicago’s bellyQ
ABC News Chicago

Chef Bill Kim draws on his heritage to make homemade kimchi at bellyQ in Chicago’s West Loop.

Chefs can use spices and herbs to help add flavor to dishes and butter or cream to add richness. To add a note of salty, briny, spiciness, they often turn to kimchi, which is beloved in Korea.

ABC7′s Hungry Hound discovered how kimchi is made in Seoul, then found a chef in Chicago who puts his own spin on it.

Rookie K-Pop Boys B.A.P. Add Manhattan Stop to U.S. Tour
Chosun Ilbo

Rookie boy band B.A.P.’s concert in New York on Friday went off with a bang and an ocean of glow sticks, with fans lining up early just to catch a glimpse of the six-member boy group.

The band, which only debuted a year ago, began their U.S. tour on May 7 in Los Angeles and followed up with concerts at San Francisco and Washington D.C. Tickets for the latest gig at the Best Buy Theater were all gone within 10 minutes of being made available.

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