By John Cha

I have the dubious distinction of having lived under North Korean rule for about three months during the Korean War in 1950. I was four years and seven months old at the time, and the North Korean soldiers, then occupiers of Seoul, taught me how to sing a song praising the Great General Kim Il-sung. My mother tells me that I used to run around and sing it all the time, much to her consternation. She says that I would sing louder and longer, whenever she scolded me for singing the song. Apparently, it was a catchy tune. I don’t remember the words or the melody now. It has been 59 years, after all, since my last contact with North Korean soldiers.

On the other hand, folks in North Korea didn’t forget that song. Their devotion to Kim Il-sung, even 15 years after his death, has not cooled. In fact, there are over 80,000 statues and monuments there dedicated to the Great Leader, according to KJ Sohn, an expert on North Korea. Kim Jong-il is credited with installing them all over the country in honor of his father, who passed in 1994. Now Kim Jong-il is reported to be experiencing serious health problems, and many people are asking what will happen when he dies.

Kim Jong-un (pronounced woon), Kim Jong-il’s 26-year-old third son, is slated to take over the helm, but his young age calls into question, in the minds of some experts, whether the transition of power will go smoothly. Kim Jong-il certainly has proven himself a brilliant strategist and is sure to arrange an iron-clad system to facilitate the transition of power. However, leaving behind a can of worms for his son—food problems, an energy shortage, United Nations sanctions, rising dissatisfaction among the population—hardly seems like a fatherly thing to do.

If successful, the Kim family then will have ruled the country for three generations, planting the seed for an irrevocable monarch, a system long considered a thing of the past. The program is moving ahead with the help of the many capable knights serving on the royal court. Recently, the kingmakers composed a song for Kim Jong-un, hailing him as “the new generation of revolutionary,” and North Korean children are reportedly seen singing the song as they march through the streets of Pyongyang.

Here are some of the knights—the elite circle of power behind Kim Jong-il—who will be crucial in Kim Jong-un’s bid for the crown.

Jo Myung-rok is the Director of the General Political Bureau of the People’s Armed Forces, meaning he’s the head ideology guy for the military. The ex-pilot is known to be a hard worker, but also hot-tempered. In 1993, as an Air Force commander, he vowed to sink the United States’ Seventh Fleet in reaction to then-U.S. Defense Minister William Perry’s remark about bombing the Yongbyeon nuclear reactor.

Kim Young-choon has served as the Minister of the Defense Department since 1995. Before that, he was a full general of the People’s Army, chief of the Munitions Department and Commander of the 6th Army. A hunting partner of Kim Jong-il, Kim Young-choon is known to be impatient and strong-willed.

Oh Geuk-ryul is the Chief Strategy Officer for the Central Committee of the Workers Party. A brilliant analyst, well versed in English, Russian and Chinese, he is very close to Kim Jong-il. The former Air Force lieutenant is a proponent of reforming the military to reduce the political component. He also established MiRim Military University, dedicated to electronic warfare.

Chun Byung-ho is the Secretary of Military Industry of the Central Committee of the Party, managing the military industry for over 20 years. He is the brains behind the nation’s nuclear weapons development. He is one of the few civilians who sit in on the meetings for the Military Commission of the Party Central, known as the nerve center for NK’s military planning and operation.

Kim Il-chol is the First Vice Director of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces. A graduate of USSR Naval University, he devoted his career to modernizing the naval fleet, which included the building of 2,000-ton submarines and underwater base facilities. He participated in the historic meeting of the defense ministers of the North and South in 2000. He is known to be quiet, ambitious and creative in solving problems.

Ri Myung-su is the Army’s Chief Strategy Officer. Together with Jo Myung-rok and Kim Young-choon, he ranks in the top three or four in the military hierarchy. He receives instructions directly from Kim Jong-il and accompanies Kim on all the visits to military facilitie.

Kim Young-nam is President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, which is supposed to be the “official” top governing body and policy maker, according to the constitution. Kim Jong-il picks the members of the presidium, so basically it is his puppet organ. Kim Young-nam represents the North when he goes on state visits, and receives state visitors from abroad as its CEO. He is meticulous, with an excellent memory. He was devoted to Kim Il-sung and now Kim Jong-il.

Jang Sung-taek is the right arm of Kim Jong-il, as well as the husband of Kim Kyung-hee, Kim Jong-il’s sister. He has the Dear Leader’s complete trust and is one of the most powerful members in the Korean Workers Party. Jang, incidentally an accomplished accordionist, is very influential in matters of personnel and the Workers Party organization.

Gang Sang-choon is the Chief Secretary for Kim Jong-il and Vice Director of the Central Party Committee’s Organizational Guidance Department, a powerful organ managing all personnel matters. He manages all personal items for Kim and reviews documents for him, as well as coordinates security matters. He has been Kim’s shadow for 20 years.

Choi Ik-gyu is the Vice Director of the Information Department of the Central Committee of the Party, charged with disseminating propaganda to the public. He formerly managed the nation’s film productions, He fell into disfavor with Kim Jong-il and got sacked after the escape of the kidnapped South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee and her film director husband Shin Sang-ok. But Kim reinstated Choi in 1999.

Gang Seok-ju is First Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Bureau. He participated in the 1994 meeting between former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, and that same year led talks for the U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Treaty in 1994. Relatively open-minded, he underwent a month-long indoctrination after handling an event on his own without reporting it in the early 1990s. He recovered Kim Jong-il’s trust and is now a member of the dictator’s secret party.

Kim Ki-nam is the Secretariat for the Party Information Department (also known as the propaganda bureau) and the secretary in charge of revolutionary history. A former editor in chief of The Laborer magazine, he writes and edits speeches for Kim Jong-il. He was part of the North’s delegation that attended former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s funeral in Seoul last month.

By David Yi

It’s a humid mid-August evening and Amerie (pronounced Ay-ma-ree) and I are sitting in a restaurant at the London Hotel in New York’s Midtown for her last interview of the night. Despite the day’s back-to-back Q&As, starting from the early morning, the singer of Korean and black descent is as energetic and happy-go-lucky as ever, especially when she expresses her delight in frequenting—in the buff—jjimjil bangs (Korean saunas) in Los Angeles and New York.

“You go there too?” Amerie asks, chuckling, her caramel skin glowing in the light. She’s sitting attentively, leaning a little forward, eyes engaged while crossing her long, lean, purportedly $2 million-insured legs. “No one notices me when I go, they’re kinda older ajummas and stuff. I was thinking of going there today, actually.”

Amerie, who is 29, is a fashionista in her own right and tonight she looks impeccable. Her petite frame dons a royal purple dress, accessorized by a Pamela Love rosary necklace, a scintillating body chain that wraps around her back, and black Givenchy pumps (they’re her favorite, she says).

As the summer comes to a close, she’ll continue her press rounds for her fourth album, In Love & War (dropping November 3), a 12-track, Def Jam-produced work heavily influenced by 60s-70s era rock, soul, funk and her signature hip-hop roots. All the while, she’ll attempt to boost her career—what could be her last shot—far past the stratosphere, and finally prove that she’s not just another pretty face who happens to sing, dance and produce her own songs, but an artist who has lasting potential to stay fresh in the game.

If you haven’t heard of her yet, here she is. Reintroducing, Amerie.

***

On a late morning in July, Amerie (born Amerie Rogers), tardy by 30 minutes, walks into the hotel restaurant wearing her signature vintage sunglasses—the same that the debonair and cocky Kanye West once admitted were more stylish than his. Looking sharp and poised, hiding the fact that she is completely exhausted (she had just modeled for a photo shoot wearing metallic-studded jackets and shoes by The Blonds, all the while being cloaked in a body stocking that left a lasting gray residue), she greets me at my table—toothy grin and all.

It’s only Tuesday, but it’s already been an intense week that will only get busier. Amerie, who just wrapped up multiple photo shoots, two tapings of BET’s 106 and Park, which she guest-hosted, and meetings with her new record label, Def Jam, will continue with press junkets in Los Angeles, where she currently resides. Adding to the chaos is the fact that it’s been impossible for her to get any kind of sleep lately.

“I don’t know,” she says, wincing. “I can see why people get on sleeping pills. I can see why people would need it. I don’t know what to do. I was having fits. I tried everything. I’m anti-pills but I see how it starts. I’m gonna need a pill to go to sleep and then I’m gonna need a pill to get up. I just saw it unfolding in my head because I was wide awake!”

Ironically, most people believe Amerie’s been doing just that–sleeping for the past four years. Having seemed to have virtually disappeared since 2005, when her sophomore album’s “1 Thing” was labeled a certified platinum hit, catapulting the songstress from relative R&B unknown to overnight sensation, she’s become, for the most part, musically irrelevant.

Dubbed the “second Mary J. Blige” after the release of her debut album, 2002’s All I Have, which contained her summer hit, “Why Don’t We Fall In Love,” and having tasted success in 2005 when garnering the Club Banger of the Year honor at the Vibe Awards and the Aretha Franklin Award at the 10th Annual Lady of Soul Train Awards, Amerie was well on her way to becoming a household name. Adding fuel to the fire were rappers who dedicated lines to Amerie’s sex appeal and alluded to her never-ending long legs, talk show hosts like Tyra Banks and Jimmy Kimmel who booked her left and right, and magazines, like the now defunct Vibe, that cemented her on their covers.

But the flame was prematurely extinguished when her 2007 UK-released album, Because I Love It, failed to release in the United States through her former label, Columbia. After five years at the label, with no active push for her music career in sight, the blow was, at the least, another disappointment.

“I didn’t feel like it was working at Sony (the umbrella that Columbia is under),” she admits. “It wasn’t a stable situation on an executive end. You’re making plans and then nothing’s really set because it’s like a revolving door with all of them.”

She’d been thinking for a long while about leaving the label, starting fresh somewhere else. Time was ticking. If she wanted to continue her career—or salvage it—she knew she would have to make a drastic change.

She needed a breakup.

***

Breakups to Makeups was the original title of Amerie’s current album, and buzz began building earlier this year about the singer’s triumphant return. But after much thought, the singer changed the name to In Love & War, possibly more befitting of most of her experiences in the past few years.

Starting in 2007, there was rampant speculation over whether Amerie would leave Columbia. Then, the next summer, it was announced that the well-mannered vocalist would, indeed, carve her own path, and would officially become the newest artist on Def Jam, the same company that revived the careers of the likes of Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson.

“It ended up being a really good thing so far,” she says of her decision. “I’m really, really happy.”

Today, Amerie’s first single, “Why R U?” (released in June), has already made it to the Top 10 countdown on 106 & Park and was praised by Funkmaster Flex on New York’s Hot 97. The album is “really just about growing pains and the relationships I’ve been through myself in the past,” Amerie says.

“Why R U?” is a heavily hip-hop-influenced song, sampled from a callous old-school beat by The Ultramagnetic MC’s “Ego Trippin.” Her second single, “Heard Em All,” is a very reggae-sounding track with an Amazonian chant looping in the background.

“I actually wrote [“WHY R U?”] in New York while riding through the rain,” says Amerie. “It’s about being in a relationship that you shouldn’t be in, but [how] your heart can’t let go. I think everyone’s been there before.

“People ask why artists always write about love and such and I’m like, ‘that’s all there is.’ Love is all there is, actually. It’s the driving force of everything that we do. You can write it a million ways. For this album, I wanted each song to tell a story.”

Amerie’s singing voice is glassy and thin but soulful and raspy, and sounds best when in falsetto. Her sound quality is eerily reminiscent of the late Michael Jackson during his pre-pubescent Jackson 5 era—saccharinely sweet, but executed with fearless integrity. “Yeah, a lot of people say that,” Amerie says. “Pharell even told me that once.”

But her music is unmistakably her own.

“My music is very rooted in its sound,” she says. “It’s very hip-hop, it’s very soul and I feel like it’s always had a rock sound to it even though it was like, funk and heavy percussion. It’d be nice for many people to listen to my music.”

Her record label agrees, and has been pushing her to do more appearances. “It’s not my thing to go out,” she says unenthusiastically, her voice dropping in a decrescendo. “They’re always like, ‘you gotta do this, you gotta go out,’ because I don’t normally do that.”

By Michelle Woo

Let’s face it—things have changed.
When we were their age, books were read on paper, Pluto was considered a planet, and tweets were sounds that birds made. Tack on the latest language barrier—TMI, SWAK, STBU*, huh?—and it can seem that today’s college students aren’t just from a different generation, but from an entirely different species.
But when it comes to the big stuff, their identity and values, their goals and fears, what attitudes have we passed down? What unique challenges and opportunities have they inherited?
As the bell to a new school year rings, we rounded up six college students from across the country to get the real deal on everything from relationships to racism to what it means to be Korean American, all from the comfort of—where else?–a chat room.

Sarah Kim, 21, is a senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder, majoring in molecular, cellular and developmental biology. She has been a resident advisor for three years. She enjoys church, sports, writing music and playing instruments.
Last book she read: The Shack, William P. Young.
On her iPod: Starfield, Daft Punk, Earth Wind and Fire, Michael Buble, Bob Marley, Big Mama and Kim Gun Mo. “There’s barely any space left!”
Where she’ll be in 10 years: Married with kids. “I have many other career goals, but I just want to make sure that I am fully satisfied and happy as an adult.”

Eric Bartram, 21, is a senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He’s studying business  and is interested in pursuing corporate law. He loves martial arts, playing music and his beautiful girlfriend of five years.
Last book he read: Wizard and Glass, Stephen King.
On his iPod: Breaking Benjamin, John Mayer, Hieroglyphics, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nickel Creek, Sung Si Kyung. “And the list goes on.”
Where he’ll be in 10 years: Either in corporate law or on the business side of higher education.

Sunkyung Park, 21, is a senior at Northeastern University in Boston, majoring in international business, finance and Spanish. She enjoys meeting new people, blogging and learning languages. She was recently in Korea for five months and learned how to play the gayageum, a traditional string instrument.
Last book she read: The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell.
On her iPod: “Inspirational speeches, India.Arie, Common, Sarah Bareilles.”
Where she’ll be in 10 years: “Happy, healthy and traveling with my family. Preferably in our own jet!”

Yihwan Kim, 17, is a freshman at Stanford University, studying humanities. In high school, he played the cello in the school’s symphony orchestra, was a member of the varsity tennis team and was heavily involved with Key Club International.
Last book he read: Hunger, Lan Samantha Chang.
On his iPod: “Pop, rock, rap, hip-hop, songs in Spanish and Korean I can barely understand, TV/movie soundtracks and stuff that’s borderline elevator music.”
Where he’ll be in 10 years: It’s undecided. “I can only hope that I’ll be doing something I love while impacting the people around me.”

Philip Kim, 21, is a senior at CUNY LaGuardia Community College in New York. As a community organizer and the co-director of the Korean American Advocacy Network, he has been featured on television, the radio and in newspapers.
Last book he read: Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Brains Behind the Remarkable Political Triumph of George W. Bush, Lou Dubose.
On his iPod: Biggie, Tupac, Big L, Aziatic, Jay-Z, Map The Soul/Epik High, 50 Cent, Talib Kweli. “But I won’t lie, I still got some Big Bang, 2NE1, and some 2PM in there.”
Where he’ll be in 10 years: “Either running for office or working as a partner at a mid-sized law firm.”

*Decoder: TMI = too much information, SWAK = sealed with a kiss, STBU = sucks to be you. Got that?

KoreAm: Tell me about your parents.
Joan: Mine have the typical immigrant story. They moved to the U.S. with about $100 in their pockets. The importance of education was carved into my head. Whenever I brought home bad grades, my dad would sit me down and give me the “this is a white man’s world” talk and lecture me on how I had to work twice as hard to succeed in America since I was Korean.
Eric: My [adoptive] parents gave me the same “bad grades will get you nowhere” lecture and they are both white.

KoreAm: Did you assume you would go to college?
Joan: Yes. I never even thought of NOT going to college.
Sunkyung: College was actually optional for me (yes, my parents are Korean). My dad sat me down when I was a senior in high school and asked me “SK, why do you want to go to college? You know you have options… You don’t have to go right away. I want you to know why you’re going and know what you want.”
Philip: Wow, you’re lucky Sunkyung. Let’s trade parents right now.
Sunkyung: Hahaha.
Philip: I never was really motivated to go to college. I failed throughout high school. It was not until about a year ago I got myself motivated. I’m so terribly afraid that I won’t amount to something in the future. I don’t want to disappoint my parents.
Joan: During my sophomore year, I went through a huge identity crisis because I didn’t know what to declare as my major. I thought about dropping out of school and the only thing that worried me was how I was going to tell my folks.
KoreAm: What made you stay?
Joan: I took a course called Comparative Education, which really opened my eyes. I declared my major as education and have loved college ever since. :)

KoreAm: So what motivates you to succeed today? Is it an “honor my family” thing or more of an internal thing?
Eric: Both. Although my adoptive parents expect me to do well in whatever I choose to do, a large part of my motivation comes from my one meeting with my birth family in 2002. The last thing my birth mom said to me before we left Korea was to do well in school and succeed. She said she was already proud of me. So, I have myself and my two families to strive to do well for.
Sunkyung: Wow, that’s amazing Eric!
Eric: Thank you.

KoreAm: Whom do you typically hang out with? Mostly Asians or those of different racial backgrounds?
Sarah: I have a church community, work community, and then a group of childhood friends. I’m surrounded by a diverse group.
Joan: I could name 80% of the Koreans at Emory but very few non-Asians. I had a diverse group of friends in high school, but once I got into college, I mainly spent my time with the Korean Student Association on campus. Now that I’m winding down my college career, I’ve realized that I’ve been so caught up promoting diversity by
promoting Korean culture that I haven’t really experienced different cultures myself.
Sunkyung: Well, sometimes other Korean Americans just…“get it.” Joan, in promoting multiculturalism, did you feel as if you were expected to be really “Korean” and represent a certain demographic?
Joan: I often felt the pressure to “act Korean,” as in hang out predominantly with Koreans. When Koreans go to frat parties or hang out with a bunch of white people, they’re labeled “twinkies.”
Sunkyung: Haha. “Twinkie” has a different meaning everywhere. You know we would be considered “twinkies” by “fobs” because we only speak in English to one another?
Joan: At Emory, there’s slight pressure to either hang out with the “fobs” or the “twinkies.” Very few Koreans hang out with both.
Sunkyung: Same with Northeastern. But I really want to hang out with both :(
Eric: I would too. A bunch of my adopted friends and I feel separate from the “real Koreans.” With most of us growing up in primarily white communities, we kind of feel intimidated around other Koreans who have more traditional families and can speak the language.
Philip: Eric, I know Koreans who grew up in traditional families that can’t speak a word of Korean. Never feel left out. It’s about your own personal relationship with your ethnicity. Not how others view you.
Eric: I try, but I often feel that I will not fully see myself as Korean (nor will my family in Korea). Maybe it’s my own personal insecurity?
Sarah: Do you all identify as Korean Americans? What does that mean to you?
Joan: I identify as Korean American because I feel that both words describe me. One part alone would not suffice :)
Eric: Joan, I totally and fully agree.

KoreAm: Is race a factor in whom you decide to date?
Yihwan: It’s a minor factor.
Philip: Yes, right now I can only date a Korean.
Joan: Well, I’m definitely attracted to a diverse group of men, but I feel the obligation to only date Korean men because of my mom’s expectations. She would come home with stories about her coworkers’ daughters-in-law doing outrageous taboo things that a Korean girl would never do and then she’d start dropping statistics about how interracial marriages have a higher divorce rate.
Philip: LOL Joan!!! My mom says the same thing! But she always remembers to add, “Jesus this, Jesus that.”
Sarah: Race used to be a huge factor in whom I wanted to date. But now that I’m more comfortable with my own identity, race no longer plays a role at all. However, I would really want my boyfriend to communicate with my grandmother.
Eric: Race has never mattered to me, but I find myself mostly with white girls. I’ve dated my girlfriend Corrie for 5 years now, and although she’s white, I sometimes believe she’s way more Asian. She oftentimes has more motivation to know about Asian culture than me.
Sunkyung: I asked my parents what they would say if I brought home someone non-Korean and said I wanted to marry him. My dad said that as long as he could sit down with him, drink soju (liquor), eat some sort of jjigae (stew), and knew he had a good head on his shoulders, that he’d be okay.

KoreAm: Let’s talk current events. What are your thoughts on North Korea?
Sunkyung: The DPRK is such a touchy subject. I can’t help but start talking about China, and then Japan, and then the U.S. all at once.
Yihwan: Besides the political conflict that surrounds their nuclear program, the humanitarian issue is more pressing.
Eric: I am concerned for the security of South Korea because of the recent missile tests. I feel that imminent change will occur upon the transfer of power from Kim Jong-il to his son.
Philip: I’m sorry for saying this, but I am not 100% sure I am comfortable with a united Korea.
Joan: It’s a controversial issue. Many experts think it would be the economic downfall of SK.

KoreAm: Another topic: the election of President Obama.
Sunkyung: Barack wins: HURRAY! I can relate to our government for the first time in my life.
Philip: I am upset by the election. I don’t believe in big government.
Joan: I was torn.

KoreAm: In your communities, do Korean Americans care about politics?
Joan: Korean Americans are much too nonchalant when it comes to politics.
Sarah: They love to talk about what’s on the news and even complain from time to time. However, they DO NOT ACT!
Philip: That is not true!
Sarah: In my small town, it’s really difficult to see action.
Joan: Let me tell you about Duluth, Ga. When they were having elections for the new mayor, the winner won by a little more than 100 votes. In Duluth, there are over 300 registered Korean American voters, yet a tiny percentage of them actually voted in this specific election. If more Korean American voters were active, they could have decided who the mayor of Duluth was. It really irks me…

KoreAm: There was a recent study, reported by the New York Times, that found that students who roomed with someone of a different race became more open-minded about race and ethnicity. Except those who roomed with Asian Americans. Those who roomed with Asians became more prejudiced themselves. Your thoughts?
Joan: Honestly, I think Asians are pretty prejudiced and elitist. Unfortunately I see it in myself a lot.
Philip: I concur!
Joan: The perception of Asians as the “model minority” pulls more Asians to be elitist among other minorities. Most first generation Koreans are elitist as well. It rubs off on the second generation without us realizing it.
Sarah: As a resident advisor on campus, I can see how that poll could be legitimized.
Sunkyung: But maybe it’s the mindset of the people who end up getting paired with the Asian Americans in the first place. A lot of people think Asians are inferior and “soooo culturally different.”

KoreAm: Have you ever experienced racism at school?
Joan: In high school, yes. Not in college though. That would be way too taboo.
Philip: By teachers, I think. But not by students.
Yihwan: Not against Koreans, no.
Eric: I had one particularly rude classmate in high school that spent every year calling me “Chinaman.” He tried to pick fights with me, called me out in the hallways…you name it.
Sunkyung: I’ve faced racism from people who don’t know they’re being racist.
Joan: Racism is still racism. You have to deal with the consequences just the same. When I went to the DMV to get my license when I was 16, the first thing they asked from me was my immigration papers.
Sunkyung: OMG
Joan: I calmly replied, “I’m a citizen.”
Sunkyung: When I transferred to school in LA, they totally made me take [a language test] because I wrote that I was fluent in Korean and English! It’s as if being bilingual was a handicap.

KoreAm: Let’s go back to the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. When we found out that the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, was Korean, some KA students felt nervous on their college campuses. Anyone have similar anxieties?
Sunkyung: I didn’t have any fears, but who knows if people started fearing me?
Philip: Same, no fears. I didn’t believe anyone would take that single incident and blame me, or my race, for it. I’m not going to lie though…I wished he wasn’t Korean.
Sarah: When I heard that he was Korean, I felt my stomach drop.
Joan: At first I had absolutely no fears at all. And then I got a call from my parents telling me not to walk alone at night.
Sunkyung: I wish the media wasn’t so racial about it. Korean this, Korean that. I feel like the media was trying to fulfill the “angry Korean” prophecy.
Philip: Yea!! When Columbine happened, they didn’t blame the NRA or white people.
Philip: But at the same time, we deserve that. When we want to take credit for something, we always say, OHH KOREANS!!!

KoreAm: What else frustrates you about Korean culture?
Yihwan: The obsession with academia.
Joan: 1) Lack of civic involvement, 2) obsession with reputation, 3) being so exclusive! You can’t live in your little KA bubble forever! Eventually, the generations will have to assimilate. And 4) having to have all the best labels (Ivy League school, designer purses).
Philip: The superficialness of it. How you have to be skinny and have that new V-shaped face or whatever. So ridiculous.

KoreAm: What misconceptions might people have about your generation?
Joan: That we have no morals.
Sunkyung: That we don’t know how to give a proper handshake because all we do is tweet.
Yihwan: Haha. That we’re apathetic.
Philip: I’ve always heard that 2nd generation Koreans are trying too hard to be white.
Joan: I’ve never heard that.

KoreAm: What causes you to stress out?
Sunkyung: I feel a significant financial burden. I’ve been on my own ever since I came to Boston for school.
Sarah: I totally agree. Especially in these times.
Philip: I agree, financials.
Joan: I agree.

KoreAm: For soon-to-be graduates, as you are about to embark on a new chapter of your lives, what is one word that describes how you’re feeling at this moment?
Sunkyung: Two words: daring and hopeful.
Joan: I’m … contemplating?
Philip: Renewed.
Sarah: Bittersweet.
Eric: Daunted. Many have asked me where I’m going to take my life. But my life is an experience to be lived and shouldn’t be approached as a task to be accomplished.

KoreAm: Wise words. And with that, we’ll go ahead and wrap it up. Thanks to all of you for sharing your views.
Philip: Thanks for the opportunity.
Yihwan: It was nice getting to talk with all of you.
Joan: :)
Sarah: Thank you! Have an awesome day and keep in touch!
Eric: Take care, everybody.
Sunkyung: Facebook me!

We got to hang with Daniel Henney on the Hollywood set of CBS’ new medical drama Three Rivers. Here’s what he had to say:

By Soomi Rho

If Gramps lives in Los Angeles Koreatown, it’s likely he frequents a bench outside McDonald’s on the bustling corner of 7th and Western. Or rather, he did—until the fast-food franchise recently took that bench away. Why take away an old man’s chair? “The city was requiring more parking spaces so that’s why we removed it,” explained Paola Gianacpulos, the site’s manager.

During its zenith of popularity, Korean elders would gather at the bench to eat, drink, converse, play games—and of course, bust each other’s chops. It wasn’t always an idyllic scene. Fights, chain-smoking and gambling flourished. According to witnesses, it was quite the raucous crowd. Yet even with the bench now gone, Korean elders still venture there like moths to a flame. They just don’t have a place to actually sit. Recently, KoreAm visited McDonald’s to ask how they felt about the now-defunct seats. Here’s what they had to say:

“There were all kinds of people who used to sit at the bench: people who drank, who played chan-gi (Korean board game) while gambling. People were always fighting at the bench. There was one particular troublemaker who would dress up like a gangster and behave inappropriately. This place isn’t some sort of fighting room; it’s a place to drink coffee.”
—Mr. Rhee

“Now that the bench is gone, elderly people, especially those that don’t have cars, are having a hard time. They don’t have anywhere to go. Many of them would come here because they could not go far. Now, the McDonald’s is not as lively as it was before. We need a place for the elderly people to hang out. We’re in Koreatown, so Korean people have a right to ask for such things.”
—Shin Han Chul

“Now that the bench is gone, the situation is very uncomfortable. Of course, the people at McDonald’s won’t provide another bench. They’re not Korean.”
—Steve Yang

“It’s very good that the bench is gone. When it was still here, there would always be drinking and fighting. It was very noisy. The police would often come. Since, they’ve planted some trees in its place. That was a better choice.”
—Steve Lee

“It’s a good thing they took the bench away. It created a bad image for the Korean community. The problem now is that there are no more spots. Just like how young people need a place to hang out, elders also need a place to gather and socialize.”
—Yoo Chul Hee

“Usually, there’d be 10 to 15 people at the bench. They were a bit messy.”
—Jung Sook

“The bench people now meet at the back of the McDonald’s building, and there are cigarette butts everywhere. But the people clean after they’re done, so there’s not much to worry about. For now.”
—Kim Heng Yoon

No evidence North Korean leader is dead http://t.co/Wl42cfFN via @CNN

RT @originalspin: Jeremy 10 pts 3 asts. Kobe 6pts 0 asts. Maybe Kobe knows who @JLin7 is now? #saymyname #linsanity

Video Roundup: Jeremy Lin Rap, Hoekstra Ad Parodied, Daniel Radcliffe Speaks Korean http://t.co/oZy9okXn

Believing the Unbelievable: Why Kim Jong Un Death Rumors Won't Die - The Atlantic http://t.co/u3ZxS2bK via @AddThis

Three S. Korean women kidnapped in Egypt's Sinai - Yahoo! News http://t.co/BbJgk4tJ via @YahooNews