North Korea says it won’t warn South Korea before an attack
CNN

North Korea has upped the temperature on its neighbors, warning in a new threat that it would not give any advance notice before attacking South Korea.

“Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now,” Pyongyang said in a statement published Tuesday by its official news agency, KCNA.

North Korea said it was responding to what it called insults from the “puppet authorities” in the South, claiming that there had been a rally against North Korea in Seoul. It called the rally a “monstrous criminal act.”

In ‘ultimatum,’ N. Korea vows blitz attack on S. Korea
Yonhap News

North Korea’s military on Tuesday issued an “ultimatum” saying it would launch retaliation against South Korea without warning if “anti-North Korean” activities continue in the South.

“The supreme command of the Korean People’s Army Tuesday issued an ultimatum to the South Korean puppet group,” Pyongyang’s official news agency, KCNA, said in an English-version article.

It specifically took issue with an anti-North Korean rally in downtown Seoul by conservative groups, in which they burned a portrait of the North’s late leader, Kim Jong-il, father of the current ruler, Kim Jong-un.

U.S. military chopper crashes near N. Korean border
Yonhap News

A U.S. military helicopter crashed while landing at a front-line Army unit close to North Korea on Tuesday, but all 21 U.S. soldiers on board escaped unscathed, police and U.S. military officials said.

Sikorsky’s CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed onto a military shooting range in Cherwon, 88 kilometers north of Seoul, while landing after completing a three-hour training exercise along with five other helicopters, according to military officials.

After all the American soldiers had escaped to safety, the helicopter caught fire, with most of the aircraft damaged in the blaze, they noted. The soldiers were medevacked to a hospital in Yongsan Garrison in Seoul after the incident.

Dennis Rodman to return to North Korea in August for ‘fun’ with Kim Jong Un
New York Daily News

Dennis Rodman’s bizarre bromance with erratic North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un isn’t over.

Even as sabre-rattling by Un has the region on edge, the former NBA star is saying he’ll take another trip back to the totalitarian nation in August to “have some fun” with his new friend.

“I’m going back August 1,” Rodman told Gossip Extra at a charity gala in Miami Beach.

BBC Filming on North Korea Trip Sparks Anger
Voice of America

Students at the London School of Economics say the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) used a university trip to North Korea as cover for filming an undercover documentary on the reclusive country.

While the students say they’re angry about the incident, others have expressed support for the British broadcaster, which said the program is in the national interest at a time when North Korea is threatening nuclear war.

Three BBC journalists entered North Korea, posing as students on a university trip organized by the London School of Economics. In secretly filmed footage, BBC reporter John Sweeney is seen walking in the countryside close to the capital, Pyongyang. There are no government minders present. Other excerpts show beggars on the street and hundreds of military officers applauding at a circus performance.

Ex-City Council candidate Kevin Kim hints he may join crowded 19th District race
New York Daily News

The ever-shifting landscape of the 19th District City Council race got another jolt last week when former Democratic City Council candidate Kevin Kim admitted he is mulling a comeback.

The seat is currently held by Republican Councilman Dan Halloran, who was arrested earlier this month on bribery charges.

His arrest, as part of the larger corruption scandal involving a scheme to get Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith on the Republican mayoral ballot, has cast a long shadow on his reelection bid.

Dumbfoundead: A Rising Star In A Genre In Transition
NPR

Say “rapper” and many people often envision a scowling, surly guy who prowls the stage jabbing a finger at his audience. Jay-Z with his Scary Mask on. Ice Cube snarling.

Jonathan Park is different. He’s an energetic 27 year-old with a sapling waist and an impish grin topped by a sketchy moustache that still hasn’t come into its own. And his work tends to be like him—playful, cheeky and smart.

Park’s known onstage as Dumbfoundead—or Dumb, for short. It’s a high school handle that came from the glazed expression friends say he wore in class. Put Dumbfoundead in YouTube’s search bar and you get scores of videos. Like “24KTOWN,” where he ponders the responsibility of repping his Koreatown neighborhood, near downtown LA.

Aziatix details record-breaking contract with U.S. mega label
Yonhap News

When veteran music producer Jae Chong — a former member of the ’90s K-pop group Solid — got a phone call last June in the middle of the night, he didn’t know that it would be the most important call of his career.

Chong’s latest and most ambitious music project to date had been producing Aziatix, the three-member Korean-American R&B/hip-hop group. While Aziatix had racked up an impressive track record since their debut in 2011 — winning Best New Asian Artist at M.net Asian Music Awards in 2011 and reaching No. 4 on U.S. iTunes R&B/Soul album chart — the group still remained relatively under the radar in South Korea despite being based in Seoul.

The late-night phone call was on behalf of Cash Money Records, the hip-hop/R&B music label that had U.S. mega stars Nicki Minaj, Drake and Lil Wayne attached to its name.

Review: Mosquito by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Rolling Stone

Ten years in since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ debut LP, frontwoman Karen O is a primal institution – the hipster next door lurching from one emo spectacle to another on bigger stages than anyone expected; she’s the Lena Dunham of art punk. Mosquito feels nostalgic for when the YYYs were New York’s most thrilling underdogs, and not just because one song begins, “I lost you on the subway car/Got caught without my metro card,” and builds a groove on what sounds like the grind of a missed L train.

Psy reaches 100 million views for “Gentleman”
allkpop

Ladies and Gentlemen, Psy has reached 100 million views on YouTube.

It wasn’t surprising to see Psy’s new “Gentleman” music video amass so many views in such a short time and breaking records.

Psy’s Agency, Family, Get Boost From ‘Gentleman’ Release
Wall Street Journal

Psy’s new single “Gentleman” has been viewed more than 81 million times since its debut Friday—but the number of YouTube hits isn’t the only thing that’s going up, up and up.

Shares in Korean entertainment companies that could benefit from another fit of global hallyu (Korean wave) frenzy have been on the rise, too. JYP Entertainment Co. Ltd., home to artists such as Wonder Girls, 2AM and 2PM, has gained 5.1% from their Thursday close S.M. Entertainment Co. 041510.KQ -1.31% Ltd, whose acts include Girls’ Generation, SHINee and Super Junior, is up 5.1%, despite taking a 1.3% plunge Tuesday.

True Stories: The Only Thing That Remains by E. Tammy Kim
Gawker

My mother’s mother fell ill six years later, in 1978. Mom scrambled for cash and days off but failed to land in time for anything but the funeral.

I uncover a picture taken three years earlier, of my mom, with hers, at Disneyland. They stand at the edge of a manmade river flowing beneath an imitation steamboat, the “Mark Twain,” and a Tom Sawyeresque raft. My mother and grandmother face each other, rapt and smiling; a short-lived reunion. They seem oblivious to all else, even the small child—hat, right arm, Mickey Mouse toy-behind Mom’s profile.

BBCN Bancorp Announces Acquisition of Chicago-Based Foster Bankshares
Business Wire via Yahoo Finance

Los Angeles-based BBCN Bancorp, Inc. (BBCN) and Chicago-based Foster Bankshares, Inc. today jointly announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which Foster Bankshares will merge with and into BBCN. The transaction positions BBCN as the leading Korean-American bank in Chicago and provides an entry to the Korean-American community in the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

Inbee Park jumps to No. 1
AP via ESPN

Inbee Park took over the top spot in the women’s golf ranking Monday, ending Stacy Lewis’ four-week run at No. 1.

Park moved ahead of Lewis eight days after winning the Kraft Nabisco Championship for her second major title and second victory of the year. The 24-year-old South Korean player also won the LPGA Thailand in February.

“This is a very big day in my golf career,” Park said Monday at the LPGA Lotte Championship in Hawaii. “I’m so happy to share it with my family, who are here in Hawaii with me. It’s nice to reach this goal, but I know a lot of players are close to No. 1. It gives me something else to play for every week.”

Hot N Sweet Chicken: New Korean-American Fusion Restaurant Opens in Arcadia
Patch.com (Arcadia, Calif.)

Hungry for pizza, fried chicken, tacos or cheesesteaks?

A new restaurant in downtown Arcadia aims to provide classic American fare with “Korean-inspired twists.” Hot N Sweet Chicken opened a few weeks ago at 48 Huntington Drive.

“Specializing in k-cuisine, we fully appreciate people’s love for the classic flavors of Korean fried chicken and Korean pizza, which is why we’re bringing the best Korean Pizza and best Korean Fried Chicken to Arcadia,” the restaurant’s website states.

The Secret to U.S. Growth in the 21st Century: More Asians
The Atlantic

East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia together have over half the world’s population, but Asians make up only 5% of the United States. If our ethnic makeup was a portfolio of stocks, we would be severely underweight Asia.

Asia is important not just because it is huge, but because it is growing rapidly. Trade with these countries will be incredibly important to the American economy this century. One way to facilitate trade and investment is ethnic ties — witness the way the Chinese diaspora has invested in China, or the way Indian-American entrepreneurs have forged links between Silicon Valley and India. We need much more of this.

South Korea: Asia’s Other Rising Naval Power
The Diplomat

With the world’s attention focused on a potential confrontation between China and Japan in the East China Sea, a third player has built what may be the most powerful ship-for-ship fleet in Northeast Asia. Over the past fifteen years, the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) has expanded dramatically, acquiring a substantial fleet of modern, powerful warships. While the ROKN continues to prepare for the contingency of conflict with North Korea, it has become a force capable of significant foreign deployment. If Seoul maintains its commitment to the Navy, the ROKN could become one of the world’s premier middle power navies.

Senior who police say threatened to light himself on fire attended Assembly candidate’s event
Times-Ledger (Queens, N.Y.)

The Bayside man who threatened to set himself on fire in a Flushing garden last week is the latest associate of a Flushing state Assembly candidate to have a run-in with authorities, according to the NYPD.

San Ok Kim is part of the Korean-American Senior Citizens Society of Greater New York, which has long overseen operations at the public garden in Kissena Corridor Park.

But when the city decided to hand over control to a commission of community leaders in the area, Kim went on a hunger strike to protest.

That strike culminated Sept. 25, when Kim stood in a garden shed beside two containers of gasoline with a lighter in his hand and threatened self-immolation, according to police.

Cornell Student Arrested After Allegedly Breaking Into 312 College Ave. Apartments
Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell Univ.)

A Cornell junior has been accused of breaking into the apartments of multiple female students at 312 College Ave., according to a statement released Tuesday by the Ithaca Police Department.

Jinsoo Kim ’14 was arrested by the Ithaca Police Department Monday in connection with the alleged incidents, which reportedly date back as far as April.

On April 1, IPD responded to a call for trespassing at 312 College Ave. The suspect, described as an Asian male, fled when confronted by a resident of the apartment he was attempting to enter, according to IPD.

A South Korean Star, and the Horse He Rode In On
New York Times

Not everyone is buying into the adoration, however.

Arwa Mahdawi, a commentator writing in The Guardian, said “the last time the West laughed so uproariously at a Korean singer was when an animated Kim Jong-il bewailed how ‘ronery’ he was in the film ‘Team America,’ and how nobody took him ‘serirousry.’ The puppet had a point: Popular Western media doesn’t tend to take east Asian men seriously — even when they’re brutal dictators.

“The stereotype of a portly, non-threatening Charlie Chan-type who speaks ‘comical’ English is still very much alive, apparent in everything from hungry Kim Jong-un memes to Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirts,” Ms. Mahdawi said.

“And it’s hard to escape the uncomfortable feeling that this stereotype is contributing something to the laughter around ‘Gangnam Style.’ ”

Jeremy Lin a leader for Rockets
ESPN.com

Jeremy Lin became a Broadway sensation, a coveted free agent and a merchandising magnet in Asia, all in less than a year.

In Houston, Lin will return to a role he used to enjoy at Harvard — team leader.

The rebuilt Rockets met with the media on Monday before heading south to begin training camp, and they’ll turn to their charismatic new point guard for leadership and direction.

K-Town: Jabbing Asian Stereotypes In The Face
Neon Tommy

[Executive producer Eddie] Kim said the second season of K-Town will aim to transition to television [following season 2]. Kim beams with pride as he digresses on how fans have told him that 10 episodes of 20 minutes each were not enough. Fans will only need to wait until November to see the cast members some more, including Violet’s life as a single Korean mom.

A handful of New York Asian restaurants score big with Michelin
Reuters

Michelin again awarded Soto and David Chang’s Momofuku Ko restaurant two stars and gave one star to Cafe China, Hakkasan, Lan Sheng, 15 East and Jungkin this year, along with 11 other Asian restaurants that kept their one-star ratings.

[Michael Ellis, international director of the Michelin Guides] said the success of chef Chang helped raise the standards and popularity of Asian restaurants.

“He is a Korean American who decided to do new takes on Korean food and hit the ball out of the park,” said Ellis, a native New Yorker who now lives in France. “He’s been a role model for a lot of chefs.”

Fair contestants get creative with meatloaf
Winston-Salem Journal (N.C.)

Roberta Turner’s first-place meatloaf borrowed from her family heritage to create a very flavorful meatloaf using Korean seasonings.

Turner, a Korean-American, is a PhD candidate in microbiology and immunology at Wake Forest University.

Her mother is Korean, and her father was an American serving in the U.S. military. “I lived in Korea till I was 13, then I lived mostly in Europe,” she said.

30 Delicious Korean Foods You’ve Never Heard Of
Seoulistic

Korean food is globalizing quickly, and most menus at Korean restaurants outside of Korea are usually filled with galbi, naengmyun, bibimbap, kimchi jjigae and the same dozen other options that everyone knows. Of course they’re delicious, but Korean food has so much more than that. Here’s a list of Korean foods that most people have never heard about but should definitely try!

Note 1: Of course everyone’s knowledge of Korean food is different. This post is meant for those whose Korean food experience is limited to the all stars of Korean food cuisine (galbi, bulgogi, naengmyun, bibimbap, tteokbokki, etc.). Although those are the most popular for a reason, we want to highlight a few not-as-popular, but just-as-delicious Korean foods you have to try when you come visit Korea.

Dumbfoundead: “Korean Jesus” (Video)
Prefix Mag

West coast Korean hip hop artist Dumbfoundead just dropped another dope track from his upcoming sophomore album Take The Stares. In this next cut, “Korean Jesus” from the record has Dumbfoundead dropping some sick verses about well, everything you need to know about the Korean Jesus and the life of the enlightened one in showing off that swag in Koreatown. And compared to the last track he released in “Growing Young,” the bass and beats hits you much harder showing an amazing level of versatility.

Check out the video on YouTube here.

Their Names Are Not All Lee or Wong
Theater Mania

Kelvin Moon Loh and I are fellow citizens of Twitterland; I first discovered his blog where he jots down his experience being an Asian American Idiot on tour of Green Day’s punk rock musical. “I was hoping you’d see this.” He said during our “twitversation.” We met in person by the end of January in Boston. First impression? I didn’t see an Asian, nor an American, I see a young rocker with a blonde Mohawk and a lot to express, which is quite proper considering the nature of the musical: the rage and love of our generation.

“A lot of people don’t think that way. When they see me, they just see an Asian.” Kelvin is not satisfied with the automatic stereotypes. In a recent tweet he called out to writers: “you don’t have to name all Asian American characters Lee or Wong. Sometimes Mike or Joe will do.” Sad but true, for most Asian American characters we see have painfully stereotypical names, of which I remember thinking “wow, aren’t those names so 1920s?”

Man found guilty in ’03 Miracle Mile triple murder
Los Angeles Times

Robin Kyu Cho, 53, could face the death penalty for the 2003 killings, to which he was connected through DNA evidence six years after the victims were found shot and killed in the bathroom of the family’s apartment. Cho lived three floors below the victims, on the ground floor of the apartment complex.

Three Asian-American families share a slice of life
CNN.com

The Pew Research Center recently released a comprehensive study profiling Asian-Americans in the United States and found them to be more highly educated and well-paid than any other immigrant group in the country.

Asians are also now coming to the United States in greater numbers than Hispanics and make up about 6% of the population.

The study is overwhelmingly positive – most Asian-Americans have at least a college degree and consider themselves hard-working – but it also showed immense diversity among the group. There are more than 17 million Asian-Americans, and each has a unique story. Here, three immigrant families in the Atlanta area share a slice of their lives.

UT student admits to secretly stalking, recording women
KVUE.com (Austin, Tex.)

Investigators say he used his cellphone to record a woman walking seven blocks, nearly half a mile, to her dorm room. Once they arrived at Roberts Hall, police say Choi admits he grabbed the woman’s backside. He told police he did it because the woman, “looked so good.”

Michelle Rhee: ‘Witchfinder general’ of America’s classrooms flies in to give Gove her gospel
The Independent (U.K.)

“Michelle points out in everything she does that what they [children] need is the most effective teacher who demands the highest standards and is relentless about that,” Mr Gove said.

“If we are ever going to achieve something like social justice we need to transform those [disadvantaged] schools.

Korean temple cuisine reaches New York as a new kind of vegetarian fare
Yonhap News Agency

In the midst of such growing interest in the U.S., Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism, an affiliate of the Jogye Order, came to New York during the week of June 11th to introduce Korean Buddhism through a tasting of its celebrated temple cuisine.

After the first visit in 2010, when over 40 kinds of temple dishes were offered to 300 people in attendance, the setting at Astor Center in Manhattan was more intimate and serene this time, focusing on individual guests as well as each food offered for tasting.

Mission Serves Free Beer, Spicy Pork, Good Will: Review
Bloomberg

Mission Chinese is proof that an excellent restaurant can keep things affordable even while coddling the customer a bit. It offers those once familiar vestiges of a bygone era: Bar stools with lumbar support, superb service, the Smashing Pumpkins playing at reasonable levels and the acceptance of plastic, including the American Express card.

There’s even air conditioning. Mission keeps you cool while pickled carrots scorch your interior.

The chef is a philanthropic kind of guy. Born in South Korea and adopted by Oklahomans, Danny Bowien opened his first Mission Chinese in San Francisco in 2010, where he’s raised more than $124,000 for that city’s Food Bank.

Rob Refsnyder, Yankees draft pick from Arizona, tweets that South Carolina doesn’t ‘accept Asians playing baseball’
New York Daily News

The fifth-round pick of the Bronx Bombers, who was born in South Korea, says he was being heckled by South Carolina fans during College World Series which prompted his Twitter comments.

Long journey a memorable one for Refsnyders
Fox Sports Arizona

It’s been sports, sports and more sports — or at least has felt that way — for the Refsnyder family since they officially adopted their son, then a 3-month-old from Seoul, Korea.

Clint said his son, the Wildcats’ starting right fielder and arguably one of their best hitters, showed promise and potential as a 5-year-old when he’d emulate athletes on television.

Matching wits with Michelle Wie in Waterloo
CBC Sports (Canada)

I was psyched to see I was paired with Michelle. Even though I was the local girl, I knew, deep down, the crowds were there to watch her. But I feel like I won the crowd over with my play on the back nine. I fed off the crowd. I took it all in and embraced the crowd. The fans seemed to cheer equally for everyone in our group.

Michelle is used to attracting big crowds, so I think she is numb to it. But I definitely was not. I feed off the fans, especially Canadians! I get pumped up and it gets the adrenaline going.

Documentary reveals divided lives
The Korea Herald

The film that Ahn directed along with Eugene Chung focuses on Korean families who are now living in the U.S., divided from their North Korean relatives by the Korean War.

The narrative follows the diverse stories of five Koreans who emigrated to the U.S., leaving loved ones behind in North Korea.

N. Korea honours girl who died saving Kim portraits
AFP via Google News

North Korea has bestowed a posthumous award on a 14-year-old schoolgirl who drowned in a flash flood while trying to save portraits of the communist dynasty’s late rulers, official media said.
Han Hyon-Gyong’s heroism earned her the Kim Jong-Il Youth Honour Award, and her school will be renamed after her, the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said Tuesday.

World’s 10 most innovative airlines
CNNGo

Korean Air topped the list for sourcing its own organic farm on Jeju Island for in-flight meals, and for its “attentive service amenities,” including a female-only lounge at Incheon Airport, female-only bathrooms on aircraft and the world’s first onboard duty-free store. (They should have also included those face air-mist things they stock in the bathrooms … we’re so addicted.)

7 Places for Must Eat Spicy Rice Cakes (Tteokbokki) in Seoul
Seoulistic

Tteokbokki, ddukbokki, dukbokki – one of the hardest to spell Korean street foods is also one of the most popular. But walk the streets, and you’ll find everyone and their grandma’s selling the stuff. Don’t worry, we’ve compiled a go-to list for the most famous places to eat spicy rice cake in Seoul by tapping Korean bloggers.

100 Favorite Dishes: 84 – Mool Naeng Myun at Yu Chic Naeng Myun
LA Weekly

The season for cold noodles is upon us. A metal bowl filled with a heap of pitch-black arrowroot noodles, the kind you slurp loudly and chewy profusely, is one of the most invigorating things you’ll find in town. Even at the finest Koreatown spas, the ones where old dudes sit in saunas until their skin is as red as clay, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to order a bowl of naneng myun before someone hands you a towel.

“Loves Gonna Getcha” Ft. Dynamic Duo, Kero One and Dumbfoundead
While on tour in the US, Dynamic Duo and Kero One all worked on the track “Love’s Gonna Getcha.” The guys stopped in L.A. for a minute to record the track and they’re offering it free for download online.

Queens woman stabbed to death, boyfriend critical after suicide attempt: officials
New York Post

Queens firefighters responding to a blaze Wednesday found a stabbed woman who later died and her boyfriend trying to hang himself, authorities said.

The unidentified 57-year-old victim was on the bed in a basement apartment on 214th Place in Bayside at about 7:30 p.m.

Her body crushed, but not her spirit
The Daily Pilot (Southern California)

In 2007 Un Joo Kang was in college and working as a makeup artist when a drunken driver crashed into her, crushing the lower half of her body.

But five years later, at Orange Coast College she found Extended Opportunities, Programs and Services (EOPS), which provided her with the help she needed to go in a new direction: architecture.

Asian Americans hit hardest by long-term unemployment
Reuters

Asian Americans have the highest rate of long-term joblessness of any ethnicity in the United States, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank in Washington.

Last year marked the second year in a row that Asian Americans had the largest share of unemployed workers who were unemployed long term (i.e., for six months or more). In 2011, 50.1 percent of the Asian American unemployed were unemployed long term, up from 48.7 percent in 2010. In both of these years, the Asian American share slightly exceeded the African American share.

Ground Shifts in U.S. Aid Stance to NK
Wall Street Journal

In the two months since North Korea’s announcement of a missile launch scuttled a U.S. plan to offer humanitarian aid, there are signs that Washington may come under pressure to reconsider.

And those signs aren’t just coming from North Korea and the aid groups who have an interest in delivering the food.

South Korea less fixated on North Korea
Politico.com

By all accounts, diplomatic relations between the United States and South Korea are as warm and close as they have ever been. But that’s about to change. When Korean voters go to the polls late this year, the nation’s young people plan to take their revenge. And the U.S. is likely to feel the sting.

As college student Seungwon Choi put it in an interview, “After all these years, we are still under the U.S. We can’t make decisions ourselves. We have to reassume operational control and sovereignty.” In that view, she is far from alone.

Republicans Back Kim For State Senate Seat
Queens Tribune

If State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing) wins her primary battle against John Messer, she will no longer run unopposed. Queens Republicans are backing Jung Dong “J.D.” Kim, a Korean-American attorney, to take on Stavisky, the incumbent who has held the seat since 1999.

Face to face with John Kim, The Kim Law Firm
Biz Journal (subscription req’d)

Houston trial lawyer John Kim grew up a Korean in 1960s Lubbock, and he remembers well the first time he was judged for being different.

“Partially because of my parents’ example and largely due to the community in Lubbock, I never experienced prejudice until I became a lawyer,” he said.

Whose Islands are they? South Korea tries branding in its dispute with Japan
Christian Science Monitor

While both Korea and Japan point to historical documents to back up their respective claims, South Korea has occupied Dokdo/Takeshima for more than half a century. And it remains a key rallying symbol for lingering resentment over Japan’s colonial occupation of the then unified Korean Peninsula in the first half of the 20th century.

Four-Year-Old Modern Family Star Is On Twitter
All Twitter (blog)

The youngest character on the show, Lily, is four-year-old Aubrey Anderson-Emmons. Aubrey joined the Modern Family cast in the show’s third season and launched her Twitter account, @AubreyLily, in October of last year.

Surely a four-year-old having a Twitter account is a TOS violation, you say? Nope. Aubrey doesn’t actually tweet from the account (as you probably guessed because most four-year-olds aren’t reading and writing!), her mom does. Mom uses the account to share photos from public appearances and other kid-style observations.

Business traveler’s guide to surviving a Korean drinking session
CNNGo

In Korea, it’s said that the success of your business roughly correlates to how well you can drink … and how respectful you are to your companions while downing bomb shots by the bucketful.

Most companies in Korea have hoesik (literally, dinner with coworkers; figuratively, official eating/drinking fests involving multiple rounds at multiple venues) at least once a month and sometimes every week.

Choo shining in role as Indians’ leading man
MLB.com

Shin-Soo Choo is tired of being asked how moving to the leadoff spot in the batting order has caused him to hit better.

He doesn’t believe the switch is the reason why his batting average has improved approximately 40 points since moving up. The way he sees it, he was beginning to hit better before the change was made.

Check out the video highlight of the monster home run Choo hit on Thursday night here.

Shin-Soo Choo takes the lead and runs with it: Cleveland Indians Insider
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo has taken to the leadoff spot in the Cleveland lineup since he was moved there May 14. He’s hitting .394 (13-for-33), with four doubles, one homer, three RBI, five walks and six runs in eight games.

Video Subtitling Site Viki Puts K-Pop Content in Spotlight
Chosun Ilbo

Now Viki will work as an advance guard for spreading K-pop by signing a deal with LOEN Entertainment, a major music distributor in Korea. Netizens from around the world will be able to watch music videos, interview clips and performances from concerts of idol star IU, girl band Brown Eyed Girls, hip-hop artist Drunken Tiger and more, translated into up to 150 languages including Romanian, Tagalog and Arabic.

SK Takes New Step To Prevent Kidnappings
Wall Street Journal

The Code Adam system is implemented if a child is reported missing in multipurpose facilities. When it happens, all entrances and exits will be closed for 10 minutes as employees search for missing child.

Criminal experts consider the initial reaction, roughly the first ten minutes, critical to finding the child. But most multipurpose facilities in South Korea do not have such guidelines. Under the current law, there is no legal ground to force facilities to actively search for children by closing exits or making announcement.

Love for the Bible behind South Koreans’ interest in Israel
JTA.org

While official estimates are hard to come by, South Korea’s ambassador to Israel, Ilsoo Kim, estimates that there are about 800 Koreans in about 300 families living in Israel. The number, he said, has been growing in recent years. They mainly reside around the French Hill and Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhoods in the Jerusalem area.

“Many have lived here quite a long time,” Kim said. “This reflects their feelings.”

S. Korean man sentenced to death for drug smuggling in China: Seoul official
Yonhap News

A South Korean man has been sentenced to death for drug trafficking in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, a senior official at Seoul’s foreign ministry said Friday.

The 53-year-old convict, who is only identified by his surname Jang, was found guilty of smuggling 11.9 kilograms of methamphetamine into China and selling it, the ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

Nikon cancels comfort women photo exhibit without explanation
The Hankyoreh

In an interview with the Hankyoreh on Thursday, 41-year-old photographer Ahn Se-hong, said “I still can’t accept it at all. I will carry on preparing for the exhibition as normal.” Ahn was informed by Nikon Salon on May 22 that his photo exhibition had been cancelled. Ahn photographs of South Korean comfort women were scheduled to be shown from June 26 to July 29 in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Jay Park tears up New York for ‘Verizon APAHM Tour’
allkpop

Fresh after kicking the tour off the night before at the Fillmore in Maryland, Jay Park was welcomed by a packed house at the Best Buy Theater, located next to Times Square in the heart of Manhattan. The East Coast leg of the tour also showcased opening acts Viennie V and Dumbfoundead.

You Know How We Do by Jay Park x dumbfoundead
Channel APA

Rappers Jay Park x dumbfoundead collaborate on the track “You Know How We Do”. For the video, the pair use footage from the 2012 APAHM Tour in Washington DC and New York. (If you were at the concert, see if you can spot yourself.) Listen to what motivates the duo with DFD and Jay Park on the mics. This is how they do. You can download the single FREE here. This track contains explicit lyrics.

Activist targeting U.S. schools, backed by big bucks
Reuters via Chicago Tribune

Rhee has emerged as the leader of an unlikely coalition of politicians, philanthropists, financiers and entrepreneurs who believe the nation’s $500 billion-a-year public education system needs a massive overhaul. She has vowed to raise $1 billion for her national advocacy group, StudentsFirst, and forever break the hold of teachers unions on education policy.

Michelle Rhee, ‘Parent Trigger’ Supporters Are Behind Huge L.A. Lawsuit to Strip Teachers of Job Protection
LA Weekly

California’s teachers have long been protected by a series of state laws — lobbied into existence by powerful teachers unions — that make the ineffective ones almost impossible to fire.

Now, in the largest state lawsuit of kind, a new organization called Students Matter, advised by the key players behind the controversial “Parent Trigger” law, alleges in L.A. Superior Court that strict tenure and seniority rules are ruining the K-12 system:

Q & A With Roy Choi: Slinging Tacos at Midnight, Calling Out Jamie Oliver + Choi’s Vegetable Moment
LA Weekly

Squid Ink: So I hear you’ve become a vegetarian?

Roy Choi: Let’s go back to my post, because it was really just a diary entry. I didn’t realize that people cared that much. I’ve been doing Kogi for three years now and a lot of shit has blown up — but food has been my voice. And people have been responding to it. I’ve just been myself. Everything you eat is everything I say and everything I am. So I feel like I’ve been talking to the public for a long time, even though I haven’t been using words. I didn’t know that it was going to get picked up, or that people even cared that much. But if you look at the post, I never used the word “vegetarian.” And I never said I was quitting cooking. And those seem to have been the two focal points.

North Korea’s Gulag: New evidence reveals a vast, cruel network of prison camps.
Wall Street Journal (subscription req’d)

A new report by South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission provides further vindication. It documents the suffering of Pyongyang’s roughly 200,000 political prisoners, held in a network of labor camps across the country.

Woman To Testify Against Cousin in Dentist Murder Trial
Patch (Glen Burnie, Md.)

In opening statements, prosecutors said Hickman will testify that she hired her cousin, 25-year-old Dante A. Jeter, and two other unnamed men to kill dentist Albert Ro to cover up the fact that she was embezzling funds from the business, WBAL reported.

Guilty plea entered in slot machine scheme
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Danny Ahn pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson to three charges: trafficking in, production and use of counterfeit access devices; fraudulent transactions with access devices; and conspiracy to commit access device fraud. Dawson set an Aug. 22 sentencing date.

‘Korean Zombie’ turns in Fight of the Year candidate at UFC on FUEL TV 3
Las Vegas Sun

In two UFC wins last year, “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung arguably pulled off both the Submission of the Year and the Knockout of the Year.

Jung may have proven victorious in 2012’s Fight of the Year Tuesday night in Fairfax, Va. Jung submitted heavily favored Dustin Poirier with a d’arce choke at 1:07 of the fourth round in the main event of UFC on FUEL TV 3.

Asian Art Museum exhibits ‘Phantoms of Asia’
San Francisco Examiner

Among the show’s most notable pieces is Choi Jeong Hwa’s large 30-by-24-foot Breathing Flower sculpture in the Civic Center Plaza; its motorized, bright-red fabric leaves simulate the movement of a live lotus, an important symbol in Asian cosmology. Growing in muddy water, the lotus rises and blooms during daytime, closes at night and rises again at dawn. Similarly, Choi’s lotus emerges from the cityscape, seemingly out of nowhere.

Korean-American TV Host Yul Kwon Charts Success in Autobiography
Chosun Ilbo

Yul Kwon’s autobiography charts the personal struggles and rise to fame of the 37-year-old Korean American who became the first Asian winner of CBS’s reality TV show “Survivor: Cook Islands” in 2006 before going on to become a TV host in the U.S.

TV host seeks bigger Asian presence in US media
The Korea Times

But Kwon, host of recent public television miniseries “America Revealed” ­ which explored the infrastructure powering the world’s top economy – seems proudest of a more modest development: being seen as a regular guy.

“I got a lot of positive feedback,” the 37-year-old said of the show in an interview in Seoul, Tuesday. “What was great was that they didn’t mention that I was Korean or Asian. They just said ‘you’re a great host.’

Yul Kwon, From Bullying Target To Reality TV Star
NPR

Kwon’s early life involved a host of challenges. He was born in 1975 in New York to South Korean immigrants. He tells Tell Me More host Michel Martin he had a severe lisp as a kid, so many people assumed he was a foreigner who could not speak English properly. Kwon says he grew increasingly quiet to avoid being teased or beaten up.

Move of the Day: Choo leads off
ESPN

Choo was followed by second baseman Jason Kipnis in his usual slot, then Asdrubal Cabrera, then Carlos Santana. If that sounds to you like every good Indians batter, stacked up in a row, you’d be right. But with Choo’s .362 OBP (pre-game) up front, it gave manager Manny Acta some big-inning potential, and when Minnesota’s Jason Marquis got into trouble in the fifth, there was no easier out for him to get, and they cranked a trio of home runs before Ron Gardenhire could get him off the mound.

From Kimchi to Infinity
Hyphen Magazine

It all st arted with the kimchi dispute of 1996. Distressed by the increasing popularity of Japanese-made kimchi, the Korean government launched a protectionist campaign to create an international standard for authentic kimchi. Since then, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has waged an international campaign of “gastrodiplomacy,” with the aim of propelling Korean cuisine to epicurean heights around the world.

BMW Eyes Korea’s Fledgling Electric Car Market
The Wall Street Journal

BMW will be entering the local electric car market around the same time as Hyundai, which plans to sell an Elantra-sized compact electric car from 2014. Kia Motors aims to introduce an electric version of its Ray mini car in 2013, depending on Korea’s progress in building charging stations for electric vehicles.

K-Town Girl by dumbfoundead x Breezy Lovejoy
Channel APA

Rappers dumbfoundead x Breezy Lovejoy join forces once again for music video. This time it’s for the single “K-Town Girl”. The video takes you to some of the local Los Angeles K-Town establishments. From drinking to partying, it’s got it all for the K-Town girls. They come real with their description of the girls of K-Town. The late night partying affords them drink and dancing in the streets.

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