Exclusive: North Korea’s nuclear test ready “soon”
Reuters via Yahoo News

North Korea has almost completed preparations for a third nuclear test, a senior source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing told Reuters, which will draw further international condemnation following a failed rocket launch if it goes ahead.

The isolated and impoverished state sacrificed the chance of closer ties with the United States when it launched the long-range rocket on April 13 and was censured by the U.N. Security Council, including the North’s sole major ally, China.

Classes Resume at Scene of Shootings in Oakland
The New York Times

n the makeshift memorial in front of Oikos University, around a table on which seven framed portraits were lined up, most of the flowers had withered and many of the handwritten notes had curled. But as classes began to resume on Monday morning after a gunman fatally shot six students and an administrator three weeks ago, the shooting’s effects remained raw among the students, teachers and even passers-by.

L.A. Riots 20 Years Later: New Twitter Account Revisits Pivotal Moments in Real Time
LAist

Where were you 20 years ago this week? For those of us who were in Los Angeles, we might remember tense times as the jury began deliberations in the controversial Rodney King beating trial. On April 29, 1992, shortly after the verdict was read, the city erupted in riots bred from anger and frustration.

Whether you were in L.A. and have your own firsthand memories of the turbulent times, or now call this still-healing city home, the riots of 1992 still resonate in 2012. Those were days long before this thing called Twitter could bear testament to an event. But now a Twitter account run by a local news station is taking us through the paces of this week 20 years ago, Tweet by Tweet in real time, sometimes down to the minute.

Saigu, on April 29, is a landmark date for many of LA’s Korean-Americans
Southern California Public Radio

Ask most people to recall an image of the 1992 riots, and they will bring up the endless video loop of LAPD officers beating Rodney King or the smoke that lingered above the city for days.

They will also bring up the sound and images of gunfire from Korean shop owners as they defended their Koreatown stores from looters. To many in the Korean community, seeing that footage on TV over and over again was a humiliating experience. And to many young Korean-Americans, it was mostly confusing.

Kim Jong-un launches venomous verbal assault on South Korean president
The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Like father, like son.

Following the embarrassingly public failure of its latest long-range missile firing – posing as a satellite launch to strut North Korea as space-faring nation – the young, still-untested North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un resorted to his father’s and grandfather’s favored tactic.

Marion Barry Says ‘Dirty [Asian] Shops’ Comment Was ‘Not Racial’
ABC News

Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry doubled down on comments he made earlier this month that the “dirty shops” owned by Asians in his Southeast city council district “ought to go.”

“That’s not racial,” Barry, now a city councilman representing the majority-African-American Ward 8, told Reason TV. “The fact is that 95 percent of the carry-outs in Ward 8 are owned or managed by Asians. So I’m finished with that.”

Gavin Kim’s on the move again, joins NQ Mobile after leaving Windows Phone
Engadget

NQ Mobile Inc. NQ -1.27% , a leading global provider of mobile Internet services focusing on security, privacy and productivity, today announced that it has hired Gavin Kim to the newly created position of Chief Product Officer. Gavin will lead NQ Mobile’s product, solutions and strategic partnerships, providing new opportunities for customer and business growth in the US and global markets.

Gavin joins NQ Mobile from Microsoft, where he served as the General Manager for Windows Phone Product Marketing. As General Manager, Gavin led Microsoft’s product marketing and platform planning teams as well as Windows Phone application and developer ecosystem efforts.

The Stalking of Korean Hip Hop Superstar Daniel Lee
Wired

Within weeks forum members began to piece together their own elaborate theory. A man named Dan Lee may have graduated from Stanford, but many questioned whether Tablo was that same Dan Lee. They argued that it was possible that Tablo had taken over Dan Lee’s identity to parlay a Stanford credential into fame and fortune. “People pay a lot of money to study overseas, and they work day and night,” one forum member told a Korean TV crew, which blurred his face during the broadcast. “Tablo didn’t study: He just did hip hop and became famous in Korea.”

Pop-up Surprise: Korean Food Re-imagined
The Wall Street Journal

The “pop-up” restaurant trend – in which restaurant owners let their establishments be taken over by amateur chefs and/or foodies for a night – that has been thriving in the U.S. and Europe for a couple of years reached Seoul this past weekend, when two expat food bloggers crafted a “Korean Food Reimagined” menu for their readers.

Joe McPherson of ZenKimchi and Sarah Lee of Seoul in the City spent about six weeks planning the event and hashing out the menu. 10 Magazine, which also covers the Korean food scene in English, helped publicize the event.

One in five women in Seoul have gone under the knife as South Korea tops global list of plastic surgery procedures
Daily Mail (U.K.)

Plastic surgery has long been big business in the U.S., but now the trend is sweeping across Asia.
Figures released by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), suggest that when population is taken into account, South Korea is now the world’s largest market for cosmetic procedures. In a bid to change their looks, 20 per cent of women between the ages of 19 and 49 in Seoul, the country’s capital city, admitted they had gone under the knife.

Kim recounts Korean refugee work
The Dartmouth

Although North Korea is notorious for its repressive political system, there is relatively little U.S. and global awareness about human rights violations in the region, human rights activist Mike Kim said in a lecture at the Rockefeller Center on Monday. Kim spent four years in North Korea helping refugees use a “modern day Underground Railroad” to escape to South Korea and now works to raise awareness about North Korean human rights violations and sex trafficking.

Look East: Korean Film Fest launches in Hollywood
Variety

The first ever Look East: Korean Film Festival will launch June 23 and 24 in Hollywood with a weekend of notable Korean film talent. Headed by producer Martha Chang, fest will take advantage of the fact that Los Angeles has the largest population of people of Korean descent outside Korea.

As part of the celebration, stars from Korea including actors Byung-hun Lee (“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) and Sung-ki Ahn will cast their hand and footprints at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, where screenings will also be held.

Hannah Yun Celebrates Comeback with Charity Drive
Chosun Ilbo

Twenty-year-old Korean-American golfer Hannah Yun, who made her debut on the U.S. LPGA Tour this year, signed a charity agreement with Cheil General Hospital in Seoul on April 5 to help low-income infertile couples. Every time Yun hits a birdie, Cheil will donate W100,000 (US$1=W1,140) to the cause.

A stunning trash-formation
Langley Times (Canada)

Dahye Lim carefully applies drops of glue to a small shard of glass before carefully placing it onto a growing mass.

As the broken pieces of automobile windshield are transformed into a drop of frozen water, its beautiful blue-green hue is only slightly marred by a few specks of blood, where the young artist has nicked her fingers — suffering for her art, one could say.

The piece, titled Frozen in Time, is among the works making up a student exhibit in the Mary Pratt Gallery at Langley Fine Arts School, which opened on Thursday night. It is held each year to mark Earth Day, which was officially observed on Sunday, April 22.

David Chang On Growing Up Korean-American
Big Think via YouTube

North Korea Threatens Seoul With Military Action
New York Times

North Korea on Monday accused South Korea’s government and news media of slandering its leadership and threatened “special actions” by the military, a sharp escalation of the bellicose statements that have accompanied the rise of Kim Jong-un, the North’s new and still unproven leader.

Oakland: Oikos University reopens today, three weeks after deadly shooting spree
Oakland Tribune

The Oikos University campus was subdued Monday morning, as students and faculty resumed classes three weeks after a gunman killed seven and injured three in a shooting rampage.

English teacher Lucas Garcia was the first instructor to arrive at the campus on Edgewater Drive. Garcia had been in the building during the April 2 shootings and said he was emotional about returning.

Remembering the moment the LA Riots began, at Florence and Normandie
Southern California Public Radio

April 29, 1992

3:15 p.m.: The not-guilty verdict, delivered by an all-white jury in Simi Valley, is delivered.

4:30 p.m.: The first distress call comes from the Korean-American owner of Tom’s Liquor at Florence and Normandie in South Central.

In a Rowdy Democracy, a Dictator’s Daughter With an Unsoiled Aura
New York Times

Even in South Korea’s feisty and competitive brand of democracy, which has produced its share of strong personalities and charismatic leaders, [Park Geun-hye] holds a special status. The strong-willed daughter of a slain dictator, an unmarried woman seeking power in a firmly patriarchal society, a critic of social inequality in a party beholden to big business, Ms. Park, 60, can often seem larger than life despite her small stature and quiet demeanor.

Are North Koreans really three inches shorter than South Koreans?
BBC News Magazine

It’s often been reported that North Koreans are a few inches shorter than their counterparts south of the border. Is that true?

Mystery grows in death of Michael Lin, 27-year-old clubgoer who died early Saturday
New York Daily News

NEW DETAILS emerged Sunday about what happened to a 27-year-old Queens man who suffered fatal injuries while at a midtown club early Saturday.

Michael Lin appeared to have had a broken jaw and bruises on his body when cops found him outside Koreatown hotspot District 36 about 3 a.m. Saturday, police said previously. He died at Bellevue Medical Center an hour later.

South Korea’s Yeosu transforms for international expo
AFP via Yahoo News

A former port terminal in Yeosu, a small city on South Korea’s south coast, has undergone a $10 billion transformation as it prepares to host a major international expo.

“Expo 2012 Yeosu” aims to attract 11 million local and foreign visitors — especially from China — as it showcases 105 nations during the event running from May to August, and many more afterwards.

S. Korea Christians protest over Lady Gaga concert
AFP via Google News

SEOUL — Scores of conservative South Korean Christians will pray together on Sunday against Lady Gaga’s Seoul concert, organisers said, accusing the US pop star of advocating homosexuality and pornography. The pop diva arrived in South Korea on Friday, a week before her Seoul performance which kicks off her “Born This Way Ball Global Tour.”

Nation Rapt by Teens’ Voices
Wall Street Journal

One of South Korea’s biggest TV shows, SBS-TV’s K-POP star, is reaching the end of the season – and the final showdown is shaping up to be the duel that viewers from the outset could see coming. Sunday’s episode produced two finalists — Lee Ha-e and Park Ji-min — the two teenage girls who have long seemed the most talented and strongest contestants.

Jessica Alba Seen Partying in Gangnam
Chosun Ilbo

Hollywood star Jessica Alba paid a surprise visit to Korea over the weekend and was spotted by fans at a club in Gangnam, southern Seoul.

One clubgoer uploaded a picture of himself, his friends and Alba at a club in Nonhyeon-dong on his Twitter account on Sunday morning, which prompted a number of testimonies from others who had also spotted the star.

Former NFL star Hines Ward selling 2009 Aston Martin and 2010 Mercedes-Benz on eBay
Torque News

Want to own the former ride of a Super Bowl MVP? Well, here’s your chance. Ex-Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receiver Hines Ward is selling a pair of ultra-luxurious cars on Ebay. The 14-year NFL veteran is currently trying to move his 2009 Aston Martin DBS and 2010 Mercedes-Benz S-Class S550. There is currently 1 day left to bid on the 2010 Mercedes-Benz, which is up to $72,875 and 4 days left on the 2009 Aston Martin, currently sitting at $152,500.00.

Asian American Video About Deported Cambodians Rejected by Obama’s White House
LA Weekly

A White House contest asking people to create the best video about the Asian American experience might have been rigged.

An entry about Cambodian deportees appeared to have received the most views, now more than 18,000, but a half-dozen other video makers were invited to the White House. Though “My Asian Americana” made a list of 11 finalists, it didn’t make that final cut.

Here’s probably why:

Is Kim Jong Un Preparing to Become North Korea’s Economic Reformer?
Time

When young Kim Jong Un stood before the assembled throngs in Pyongyang on April 15, insisting that come hell or high water he would persist with his father’s “military first” policies — even in the wake of a humiliating failed missile launch — the young dictator uttered one sentence that was mostly ignored in the speech’s aftermath: “It is the party’s steadfast determination to ensure that the people will never have to tighten their belt again, and make sure they enjoy the riches and affluence of socialism to their heart’s content.”

Talking about “the affluence of socialism” in today’s North Korea is, of course, ludicrous. The economy “Lil’ Kim” inherited from his father is a disaster. Marcus Noland, the deputy director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C., and a close North Korea watcher, estimates that per capita income today is “lower than it was 20 years ago and by some reckonings is only now attaining the level it achieved in the 1970s.” He further notes that since a disastrous currency reform three years ago, inflation for basic goods like rice and coal has been running at about 100%, and on the black market, the North Korean currency has fallen by about the same amount. Aping his father’s economic policies, in other words, would be about the stupidest thing Kim could do.

Kim Jong-il calls for peace with South Korea in ‘will’
The Telegraph (U.K.)

Extracts from Mr Kim’s final testament have reportedly been obtained by two think tanks in South Korea, highlighting his requested future legacy for the state as his son Kim Jong-un takes over at the helm.

The late Mr Kim requests North Korea to renounce war with its longstanding opponent South Korea, according to extracts obtained and made public by the Sejong Institute, a South Korean think-tank. However, the alleged will also urges North Korea to wait in its pursuit of peace until a new leader comes to power in Seoul, with a reunification deemed impossible under the current regime of President Lee Myung-bak.

The gulag behind the goose-steps
The Economist

Looking down on members of a 1.1m-strong army that applauded his every remark, Kim Jong Un giggled with delight during the centenary on April 15th of the birth of his late grandfather, Kim Il Sung. The contrast with his unsmiling father, Kim Jong Il, who died in December, could not have been clearer.

Unlike his father, the mop-haired Mr Kim spoke directly to the nation, in a resonant voice that masked the monotony of his message. His regime invited international television crews to film the festivities. Unexpectedly, it admitted that a mission to put a satellite into orbit in honour of his grandfather had failed. It all made for good television, and some commentators claimed to detect signals from the young ruler of a new openness in the regime.

In South Dallas, Blacks and Koreans Are at it Again, and a Girl’s Scholarship is in the Crossfire
Dallas Observer

Korean American and African American community groups were at it again in Dallas, this time over  a squabble in connection with a local scholarship.

Dorothy Nam Never Runs Out of Energy
Chosun Ilbo

Dorothy Nam, host of the EBS radio talk show “Star English,” helps listeners learn English with appearances of English-speaking celebrities, telling their life stories and sharing tips for improving English. Her outgoing and cheerful character makes the show both fun and easy to approach.

Her professional credentials are backed by the many English education programs she has hosted. She already demonstrated her skills with her previous music show on Arirang FM “Evening Groove,” which she hosted live for six years. “I started hosting ‘Star English’ last summer,” Nam said. “The timing was perfect for me. I’m in my early 40s now and I have a lot of experiences that I’d like to share.” She said she finds guests for her current show by tapping into her long list of contacts.

Councilmember Valerie Ervin Recognizes Korean American Day
Patch.com (Takoma Park, Md.)

Montgomery County Councilmember Valerie Ervin (D-District 5) will join leaders of the Korean community and Maryland State Delegate Susan Lee Friday to officially celebrate the passage of a key amendment to Montgomery’s Special Days of Commemoration law.

It is an amendment that has officially designated Jan. 13 as Korean American Day. It’s reflective of the first Korean immigrants who arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1903.

The Walking Dead Panel Teases Season 3; Steven Yeun on Post-Apocalyptic Preparedness
AMC TV

Comic Book Resources reports that Steven Yeun isn’t sure how well he’d do in a real zombie apocalypse: “I was raised on the rough and tumble streets of Troy, Michigan… I know how to order a really solid plate of spaghetti — I think I’d be… helpful.”

Korea Gets Two Shots at Palme d’Or
The Wall Street Journal

South Korea scored big at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, with two films chosen to compete for the famed Palme d’Or at next month’s 65th annual celebration on the French Riviera. But compared with recent years, Asia was largely underrepresented in the official selection, which features a strong American presence.

On Thursday the festival announced its lineup, which includes director Hong Sang-soo’s “In Another Country” and “The Taste of Money” from director Im Sang-soo. Mr. Hong’s feature “Hahaha” won the Prix Un Certain Regard at Cannes two years ago.

Into the Next Stage: Korean Americans 20 Years After the Riots
The Rafu Shimpo

With the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots almost upon us, I’ve done several interviews with various outlets interested in hearing my recollections of the time and perspective on how Korean Americans were impacted by it (a documentary, directed by Christine Choy of “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” fame, is scheduled to air April 29 on the Korean Broadcasting System).

It’s ironic: The “last straw” that made me vow to form MANAA (Media Action Network for Asian Americans) in 1991 was the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I had been incensed that, rather than shedding any new light on the subject, the media had mostly rehashed old news, opened up old wounds, and renewed racial animosity toward Japan and therefore, Japanese Americans. By doing these new interviews, I was risking inflaming racial tensions once again between Asian Americans and African Americans.

But as an outsider, I believe I gave support to Korean Americans and spoke about issues that still plague Asian Americans in general like being misunderstood, being stereotyped, and not speaking up for ourselves.

Meeting Harold: A Q&A with John Cho
Yale Daily News

Q. Can you describe your experiences as an Asian-American actor in the entertainment industry, where Asian-Americans are typically underrepresented?

A. It’s really a change. Asians are looking to conquer the entertainment industry in a way that Asians have excelled in so many of the other professions. And now I notice them a lot. And you know Asians are over-represented on the studio side and executive side. So it’s really progressed a lot in the last 15 years since I started acting, but I’m very encouraged by it, and I hope the trend continues upward.

South Korea’s Favorite Wedding Rumor Resurfaces
The Wall Street Journal

For years, rumors occasionally surfaced in South Korea and Russia about a romance between a South Korean man and the daughter of Russian President-turned-Prime-Minister-turned-back-to-President Vladimir Putin. On Friday, they hit a fever pitch when a news agency reported the couple would be married next month. The news became the top story on South Korean web sites during the afternoon.

Korean Man Denies He Is to Wed Putin’s Daughter
Chosun Ilbo

A Korean man said to be about to marry Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s daughter on Friday denied the reports. “I’ve known Katya [Putin] for more than 10 years, but I have no marriage plans. I’m only 26 so it’s a bit too early for me to be thinking about marriage,” the man, whose surname is Yoon, told the Chosun Ilbo.

“Reports of an impending marriage are false.”

Q&A with Anthony Kim: Using data to help teachers make better decisions
The Hechinger Report

Anthony Kim is the CEO of Education Elements Inc., a California-based for-profit technology company that helps schools shop for and use educational software. He’s a behind-the-scenes leader in the blended-learning movement, where students learn from both computers and teachers. Before founding Education Elements at the end of 2010, Kim started the online virtual school, Provost Systems, which he ultimately sold to EdisonLearning.

Salt Lake Bees: Hank Conger says jump from high school to minors a difficult one
Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Ut.)

Life in the minors: a seemingly tangled web of league transactions, long road trips, and the goal of making it to the big leagues.

It’s a boy’s childhood dream, and though exciting, it’s a life that not many truly understand. Salt Lake Bees’ Hank Conger said the journey can be “grinding and monotonous.” Especially when you are young, on the road, and playing every single day. The 24-year old, who went 3-for-4 at bat and scored one run in Wednesday’s 6-4 victory over Las Vegas, is well aware of both the hardships and thrills that accompany the following of those boyhood dreams.

From fans to food to free time: foreign K-League players adapt to Korean life on and off the field
Yonhap News Agency

When Bas van den Brink arrived in South Korea last year to join the K-League, the Dutchman was still recovering slowly from an ankle injury. His new club, Busan IPark, wanted to show him to the fans quickly. The defender, who came from the more laid-back environs of the Australian league, apparently returned to action too soon and did not impress. Soon, his contract was canceled and he returned down under.

It was a sharp lesson in adapting to a new culture, one quite different in Korea, according to foreign players.

Since becoming a K-League player, Derek Asamoah, 30, a Ghanaian international now with K-league’s Pohang Steelers, trains harder and more often than ever before. He acknowledges that he is prepared to train and play even when he is not at his optimal condition because in Korea, players often go that extra yard for the team.

‘Chocolate Rain’ the song for Kang
Montgomery Advertiser (Alabama)

Biscuits outfielder Kyeong Kang quickly took the lead for unusual intro music this season when he strolled to the plate to the tune of a viral internet video. “Chocolate Rain,” a 5-year-old song that has almost 79 million views on YouTube, isn’t one of Kang’s favorites. He doesn’t like it at all.

“I don’t know who picked it,” Kang said. “Somebody else did.”

The song first introduced Kang last year at high-Class A Charlotte, Biscuits first baseman Mike Sheridan said. Kang’s teammates substitute “Kyeong Kang” every time the song uses “chocolate rain.”

“We’re all big fans of it,” said Sheridan, who said he’s innocent of putting it on this year’s list. “I think it relaxes him at the plate and makes him hit better.”

Kang stuck with it — blame baseball superstition — after getting a hit and an RBI in his first start with it.

World-renowned pianist set to perform at church in Harding Township
Observer-Tribune (Chester, N.J.)

World-renowned concert pianist, and Harding Township resident Min Kwon, will give area residents a taste of her impressive piano-playing skills.

“A Rising Star Concert,” a piano recital, will be presented by Kwon and her graduate students at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, in the Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church of New Vernon, 2 Lee’s Hill Rd.

Kwon is a concert pianist and associate professor of music at Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts. She is also a member of the church.

Son’s Parties and Privilege Aggravate Fall of Elite Chinese Family
New York Times

Although Communist Party insiders say it was Bo Xilai’s populist reign in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing that ultimately brought him down, Bo Guagua’s high living clearly irritated party leaders, who named the son, a 24-year-old student at Harvard, in the official statement describing the reasons for his father’s fall from power.

One former government employee with party ties said the leadership tolerated a certain level of corruption among top officials or their relatives as long as it was kept out of public view. He said Mr. Bo’s collegiate antics, splashed across the Internet, were emblematic of an ambitious, cocksure family who often ignored the party’s conservative standards of public behavior.

South Korean bullfighting is for bulls only
Reuters via Yahoo News

There is no blood, nor much gore. No matador, either, or even his colorful cloak. In South Korea, bull fights bull.

Oikos classes to resume Monday, some in building where students were slain
San Jose Mercury News

Oikos University will resume classes Monday, three weeks after a gunman killed seven people there.

Most classes will be held in the same Oakland building where police say former nursing student One L. Goh, 43, killed six former classmates and a receptionist. But nursing students likely will be spared the additional trauma of returning to the scene of the massacre, said the school’s president, Jongin Kim.

Seoul boasts of missile able to hit anywhere in North Korea
Reuters

South Korea has added to its arsenal a cruise missile that can hit anywhere in the North, the Defence Ministry announced on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang said it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation over its failed rocket launch.

Panetta: ‘We’re within an inch of war almost every day’
CNN.com

The United States is prepared for “any contingency” when it comes to dealing with North Korea, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told CNN.

“We’re within an inch of war almost every day in that part of the world, and we just have to be very careful about what we say and what we do,” Panetta said Wednesday on “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”

Kim Jong Un Runs North Korea on the Cheap
The Atlantic

Say what you will about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, the kid knows how to pinch a penny. Since coming to power in December, the 28-year-old leader has had big (platform) shoes to fill. But he’s already on track for a banner year of fiscal austerity. Just look at his track record this week:

Recollections of the riots, 20 years later
Southern California Public Radio

As the evening continued and audience members got up to speak, an older black woman who remembered the Watts riots of 1965 remembered being at the gym when she heard the verdict and going home right away, sensing something bad was about to happen. A Korean American woman talked about how she felt that twenty years after the riots, there’s still a lack of sympathy for the Korean immigrant business owners who lost livelihoods in the fires and looting.

Jesus Henry Christ: Filmmaker Dennis Lee Redefines Normal
Huffington Post

If you are going to make an entrance at a film event, take some pointers from filmmaker Dennis Lee. On the red carpet for Jesus Henry Christ at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Lee was accompanied by the executive producer of his film, Hollywood megastar Julia Roberts. The scene at the premiere was a cacophony of flashlights going off, journalists screaming Roberts’ name and camera operators elbowing one another to get a prized shot of the numerous celebrities — which included Mike Nichols and wife Diane Sawyer — strolling into the Tribeca PAC theater.

But beyond the headlines from that night, and the star power conveyed by leading lady Toni Collette, who plays Henry’s mother in the film, Jesus Henry Christ is that rare cinematic combination of great story, touching performances and beautifully shot cinematography. The latter, incidentally, the work of Roberts’ husband Danny Moder.

Word of Mouth: South Korea’s ‘My Way’ tries to find a way in U.S.
Los Angeles Times

‘My Way’ is billed as the most expensive South Korean film ever. CJ Entertainment America is seeking an art house crowd for it, but reviews haven’t been great.

Ravitch: I don’t understand Michelle Rhee
Washington Post

I am troubled that Rhee thinks that teachers are the biggest problem facing American education. Attacking teachers seems to be her hallmark.

searching for community in columbia’s asian american student groups
Columbia Daily Spectator (Columbia Univ.)

“I don’t know how to befriend Asian Americans,” Julie Ahn says.

Ironically, I first met Julie, who is Korean-American, about three weeks ago as I was coming back from the opening ceremony of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. We struck up a conversation about the Asian American clubs on campus, and her reaction was immediate: “I feel awkward around them. Most Asians here integrate or cluster—and I just feel uncomfortable.”

The British Voice of Kim Il Sung
NKNews.org

When walking around Kim Il Sung’s mausoleum at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, visitors are given special headsets to listen to a recorded guide of the facility. In a sometimes emotionally charged recording, the narrator talks the visitor through the multi-room Palace and describes what the visitors are seeing as they walk. To the surprise of many, the voice featured on the English language version of the recording is British. With the DPRK usually employing local English speaking Koreans for its TV and Film productions, it is somewhat interesting that a native English speaker was chosen for the Kumsusan Memorial Palace recording – Paul White. We caught up with Paul to find out more about how he got involved in the project…

1. How did you first become interested in North Korea?

China Halts Repatriation of N.Korean Defectors
Chosun Ilbo

The Chinese government has halted the repatriation of North Korean defectors, apparently in response to South Korean requests and because it is angry that the North went ahead with its rocket launch.

Harnessing K-Pop for tourism
CNNGo

As K-Pop lures more and more foreign travelers to Korea, the government and local entertainment companies are jumping on the bandwagon.

SM Entertainment, one of the country’s largest entertainment companies with acts such as Girls Generation and Super Junior under its label, announced last week that it had acquired BT&I, one of the largest travel agencies in Korea, as a move to increase its global content offerings.

America Revealed: Nation on the Move
PBS

Full-length episodes of Yul Kwon’s new PBS show can be viewed online here.

‘No Church In The Wild’ ASL Video: Mark Nakhla, Greg Faxon And Sam Choi Sign To Kanye West, Jay-Z
Huffington Post

Mark Nakhla, along with his two friends, Greg Faxon and Sam Choi, filmed themselves signing — and dancing — along to the Watch The Throne track. Choi, who takes on Frank Ocean’s middle verse, combines sign with dance.

This Time, a Less Predictable Pyongyang [News Analysis]
New York Times

Pyongyang’s recent sequence of decisions struck many outside analysts as baffling, even by North Korean standards. The government first made a deal with Washington in February to suspend long-range missile tests and then went ahead with a rocket launching last week, something it knew was regarded by the Americans as tantamount to a missile launch. It then invited foreign journalists for the launching but ended up not showing it to them.

Unlike the case with its last two failed satellite launches, which it insisted were successful, this time it admitted to its people that the rocket failed.

One people, two very different Koreas [OP-ED]
Los Angeles Times

What is incredible is that the two ‘halves’ of the Korean peninsula have fostered such disparate systems when they’re populated by people of the same ethnic origins.

US: No progress in North Korea missile program
Associated Press via Google News

North Korea’s recent failed rocket launch shows that the communist country has made little progress in its spaceflight program, the head of the U.S. missile defense program said Wednesday.

The assessment by Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly raises questions about the immediate threat to the United States from a North Korean long-range missile and the billions that the U.S. spends to counter it.

North Korea Spent a Whole $15 Making Its Website
Wired.com

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has a Flash-heavy official webpage in English, to instruct the curious about the peculiar ways of its homebrewed “Juche” ideology (“…the masters of the revolution and construction are the masses of the people and that they are also the motive force of the revolution and construction…”). Not a bad look — functional, elegant — and certainly a step up from the GeoCities-esque design of its official news agency.

But, as it turns out, it’s an amateurish look. North Korea’s using a webpage template that costs $15.

Take a look at the source code. A keyword search for “envatowebdesign” will turn up a prompt comment from the site’s theme seller telling the person who bought it how to customize. Only whomever built the thing for Pyongyang didn’t bother. It’s a bit like leaving the plastic overlay on your fancy new TV telling you about the screen size. A quick check on the source code of the IgniteThemes “Blender” template confirms that it’s what North Korea built. Price check? $15.

Sudden Discussion on Race Grips South Korea
The Wall Street Journal

“While outrage at a brutal murder is natural, it is shameful to allow this to descend into racism and xenophobia,” Hankyoreh said. It said that the name-calling and criticisms were “irrational” and pointed out that Americans did not resort to sweeping generalizations against Koreans in the wake of shooting incidents that involved Korean-Americans.

Chosun Ilbo sees a double standard in the pride that Koreans are taking in the appointment of Korean-born American Jim Yong Kim to head of the World Bank with the knee-jerk, xenophobic criticism of Ms. Lee and other immigrants.

“It does not befit the world’s 15th-largest exporting country to get excited about the achievements of an American who comes from Korea but on the other hand to react with hostility to an immigrant who achieves something here,” a Chosun columnist wrote. “Such double standards are unacceptable.”

‘East Sea’ Spat Moves to White House Website
Chosun Ilbo

Koreans and Japanese are clashing on the White House website over the name of the body of water separating the two countries. After the Korean community in the U.S. filed an online petition with the White House demanding the publishers of public school textbooks there refer to it not only as the “Sea of Japan” but also the “East Sea,” Japanese Internet users began to fight back, claiming that “Sea of Japan” is the historical name.

As of Tuesday morning, 27,700 people had signed the petition submitted by the Korean community in Virginia. It urged 1,300 leaders of local Korean communities in America to take part in the petition. If more than 25,000 people sign the petition within 30 days, the White House reviews it and states its position or holds a hearing to determine the validity of the claim and hands the matter over to the relevant agency.

UC RIVERSIDE: Korean-American center sponsors competition
The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.)

UC Riverside’s Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies is holding a Quiz Bowl to test middle-school students’ knowledge of the center’s namesake.

The competition Thursday at Young Oak Kim Academy in Los Angeles is for students in Los Angeles who read “Unsung Hero: The Story of Col. Young O. Kim.” The book about the highly decorated U.S. Army World War II and Korean War veteran and humanitarian activist was translated into English last year by Edward Chang, the director of the center and professor of ethnic studies at UCR.

Using science to bring together enemies
CNN

While tensions remain high between the United States and North Korea, the relationship is more cordial between their scientists.

Scientists from both nations are collaborating via nongovernmental organizations and universities on projects ranging from tuberculosis research and deforestation issues to digital information technology.

The idea behind science diplomacy is to build bridges and relationships through research and academics despite political tensions. This month, a delegation of North Korean economic experts visited Silicon Valley to see various American businesses and academic institutions such as Stanford University. It may seem like a bizarre concept that two countries, at odds with each other, would share scientific knowledge.

Nine teenagers nabbed for murdering and burying friend
Yonhap News

Nine teenagers have been detained on suspicion of beating a teenage girl to death and burying her body in a park, police said Wednesday.

The nine, including six high school students, are accused of brutally beating to death the 18-year-old with blunt weapons in an apartment in Goyang, north of Seoul, on April 5, for supposedly badmouthing them to others and refusing to heed their instructions, the Ilsan Police Station said.

The teenagers are also suspected of burying the victim’s body in a neighborhood park the following morning, the police said.

John Cho, Clark Duke Join ‘Identity Thief’
The Hollywood Reporter

John Cho and Clark Duke have joined the cast of The Identity Thief, a Universal comedy being toplined by Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.

Stills of Lee Byung-hun Whet Appetite for ‘G.I. Joe’ Sequel
Chosun Ilbo

New stills from “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” a sequel to a 2009 blockbuster “G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra,” have been released on U.S. websites, heightening fans’ excitement about the soon-to-be-released film.

Some of the images feature close-up poses of Storm Shadow, the role played by Korean actor Lee Byung-hun.

In Melbourne, New York’s David Chang talks microbiology
SmartPlanet.com

Microbiology is not something that we might associate with food, but according to New York chef David Chang, it’s the unsung hero of flavor.

The Michelin chef, who recently visited Australia for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, spoke in detail about his personal discovery of microbes — invisible organisms which play an influential role in cooking.

Windows Phone exec exits five months after being poached from Samsung
Engadget

Microsoft’s Gavin Kim was a high-profile capture for Redmond, as it poached the former Samsung and Motorola exec to bolster its Windows Phone marketing team. Now, just five months into the job, he’s departing after marshaling the “Smoked by Windows Phone” campaign into the world. The company wouldn’t go into specifics beyond saying that it was a personal decision to leave and Microsoft bears him no ill will — but then that’s what they always say.

JeongMee Yoon Explores Color And Gender In “Pink And Blue Project”
The Huffington Post

South Korean artist JeongMee Yoon first embarked on “The Pink and Blue Project” when her five-year-old daughter couldn’t get enough candy-colored possessions. She photographed her daughter Seowoo amongst her sea of pink things, from dolls to dresses to stuffed animals. She then began photographing little boys and girls amongst their color-coded belongings in a quest to better understand how gender shapes our lives from such a young age.

Yoon’s project is both adorable and unsettling. As toddlers, girls are already surrounded by primping and domestic products while boys are more interested in science, weapons and violence. The ready-made molds of femininity and masculinity are strongly present in the girls’ tutus and Easy Bake ovens and the boys’ Superman outfits and swords.

Just like dad, Kim Jong-un a boss at sports
ESPN

Kim Jong-il was probably the greatest athlete who ever lived. As has been widely documented, he shot five holes-in-one in his first try at golf and he once bowled a 300. Considering he could change the weather based on his moods, he was probably a boss at Ultimate Frisbee.

But what about his son, North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong-un? It’s been reported that he’s a huge basketball fan, but little has been revealed about his godlike athletic prowess.

Though we lost several interns in the process, Fandom’s sources have been able to penetrate the mysterious regime and uncover some incredible details about the Supreme Commander’s physical super-abilities. And to say the least, he’s a chip off the ol’ block.

– While Kim Jong-Il famously traveled everywhere by train, his rotund successor travels exclusively via somersault. It is said that he can cover up to a thousand miles of terrain per day. Glorious.

– Kim Jong-un is taller than Wilt Chamberlain and is twice as good with women.

AP PHOTOS: Flower show celebrates N. Korea founder
AP via Google News

North Korea’s failed rocket has reappeared in a new form — at an annual flower show that combines floral extravaganza with high praise for the country’s founding father Kim Il Sung.

To mark what would have been Kim’s 100th birthday, thousands came to central Pyongyang to view elaborate displays, mostly of the violet orchid Kimilsungia named in his honor and the red begonia Kimjongilia named for his son and successor, Kim Jong Il.

Nameless Gangster: Rules of Time [REVIEW]
Variety

Largely set in 1980s Busan, “Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time” is a rags-to-rogues crimer whose finely chiseled portraits of greed, self-preservation and depravity are buttressed by powerhouse perfs. Methodically chronicling the volatile alliance between a corrupt official and the city’s top mafioso, helmer-scribe Yoon Jong-bin (“Unforgiven,” “Beastie Boys”) achieves a down-and-dirty realism, but falls short of the Scorsese-style gangland epics to which it aspires, and likewise lacks the satirical punch of Ryoo Seung-wan’s political thriller “The Unjust.” Local B.O. recorded a satisfactory $32 million-plus; offshore, pic won’t languish in anonymity, either.

I uploaded a @YouTube video http://t.co/givLyeNS Smtown tvxq

Jackie Chan Retiring From Action Films http://t.co/VzrmWbOn

May Issue: Kim Il-sung: The Centennial -- Photo essay of North Korea's 100th anniversary of the nation’s late founder http://t.co/54ZJmsZu

Momofuku Restaurant Plans To Introduce Mold & Bacteria To Its Menu http://t.co/UzlX647s via @psfk

Video Roundup: LEGO World Record, 2PM Delivers Pizzas, Jessica’s Pitch http://t.co/JCAlKaMN