Photo via RT.com

The United States said it has suspended the planned food aid package to North Korea in light of an upcoming missile launch, according to news reports.

Peter Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, told the House Armed Services Committee that the rocket test — which North Korea insists is for scientific purposes only — is a violation of the accord reached in February which would send food aid to North Korea in exchange for agreeing to halt missile tests and nuclear activities, according to BBC News.

“We have been forced to suspend our activities to provide nutritional assistance to North Korea largely because we have now no confidence that the monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the food assistance goes to the starving people and not the regime elite,” Lavoy said, according to Continue Reading »

Photo via CTV (Canada)

North Korea Reaffirms Plan to Launch Satellite
New York Times

North Korea intends to press ahead with its plan to launch a satellite into orbit next month, according to a government statement issued Tuesday, rebuffing President Obama and other world leaders who have told the country to cancel the launching or face the loss of food aid and additional sanctions.

The North’s announcement came shortly after Mr. Obama and other leaders at a nuclear security summit meeting in Seoul condemned the planned launching — given the possibility that it is a cover for developing missile technology — as a provocation and violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution, as well as a waste of millions of dollars that could be used to buy food.

Obama Has Made a Mess of the World Bank Succession
Bloomberg

Barack Obama’s decision to nominate Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim to head the World Bank has been well received.

The prevailing view is that Kim is a smart solution to a tricky little problem: How to maintain a strong U.S. role in the bank while bowing to the growing economic might of developing nations such as China.

World Bank Chief Nominee to Visit Korea
Chosun Ilbo

Korean-born Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim, or Kim Yong, who was nominated by President Barack Obama as the next World Bank president will visit Korea as part of a seven-nation tour to drum up support for his candidacy.

Kim was scheduled to start his tour on Tuesday and also visits Ethiopia, India, China, Japan, Brazil and Mexico. The World Bank’s 25-member executive board meets in April to select its new leader.

S.F. suspect charged with 5 counts of murder
San Francisco Chronicle

The suspect in the bloody slayings of five people in a San Francisco home was charged Tuesday with five counts of murder with special circumstances, making him eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted.

Prosecutors say Binh Thai Luc, 35, of San Francisco murdered four members of a family and an unrelated woman in a row house at 16 Howth St. near City College of San Francisco. The special circumstances allegation is that Luc committed multiple murders, said Omid Talai, a spokesman for District Attorney George Gascón.

Fighter pilot donates bone marrow
Korea Herald

Air Force Major Lee Myeong-woo of the First Fighter Wing has donated bone marrow to a leukemia patient, the Air Force announced Wednesday.

According to the Ari Force, Lee registered with the Korea Marrow Donor Program as a potential donor after the story of Brian Bauman was made known in 1996. At the time Lee was studying at the Air Force Academy, and has since been serving as a fighter pilot.

Bauman is a Korean-American who was adopted by American parents. He suffered from chronic myelogenous leukemia but had difficulty in finding a bone marrow donor.

Lee was contacted by the Korea Marrow Donor Program at the end of last year.

“I wanted to donate as soon as the call came, but I was not able to answer immediately as I am a fighter pilot,” Lee said.

Hana to cater to Asian customers in US
Korea Times

Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tae said Wednesday that the nation’s second-largest financial group will cater to Asian immigrants in the U.S. as part of its global business strategy.

The 60-year-old lifelong banker said that the group will offer retail financial services for Asian-American individuals by employing employees from their home countries.

“We will broaden our business to reach all Asian immigrants in America to expand our markets,” said Kim during his first press meeting since he took the helm of the holding company last week.

Hana is expanding its presence in the U.S. to find new revenue sources in the world’s biggest market. It bought a controlling stake in Los Angeles-based financial holding company Saehan Bancorp last month, whose main customers are Korean immigrants in the city.

10 Best Korean BBQ Restaurants in Los Angeles
LA Weekly

Los Angeles’ Koreatown probably doesn’t need another BBQ place — well, at least not another Korean one. There seems to be a restaurant with tabletop grills in every plaza, strip mall and food court, cannibalizing another one’s business two doors down or across the street. Let’s be blunt: Entrepreneurial first-generation Koreans are noted more for their work ethic and competitive streak than for their originality. Still, we love Korean BBQ and can’t complain about having so many specialty restaurants to choose from. Turn the page for our picks for the 10 best Korean BBQ places in town.

K-Pop Tycoon Opens Innovative New York Restaurant
Chosun Ilbo

The pop music tycoon Park Jin-young has opened a Korean restaurant named Kristalbelli in Manhattan, New York. At a press conference in New York, Park said, “I think the image of Korean food is as important as its popularity. To give foreigners the impression that Korean food is fine cuisine, we need to target trend-setters.”

Located on 36th Street near Koreatown, the 600 sq. m restaurant is as luxuriously decorated as any fancy bar.

The pièce de résistance is convex mirror-shaped crystal grill developed by Park himself. Park said people in his management agency JYP Entertainment opposed the plan, warning him against stepping into a field he is not familiar with, “so I made drawings for the grill myself. I invested W30 million (US$1=W1,135) of my own money, and had them broil meat on the grill and eat it. Then they agreed to the plan.”

Korean traditions challenged as mixed marriages soar
UPI.com

Jinseng Park recently opened the doors of his Seoul psychotherapy clinic to foreigners.

“Korean society has been the same for 5,000 years,” he said in a phone interview. “Many of us aren’t used to seeing any color. When I visited the U.S., I was confused because there were so many people of different ethnicities. But it’s certainly changing here.”

And with diversity, it seems, comes acceptance.

Over the last five years, Park has seen more multicultural couples in his clinic. Expatriates, whether from China, Vietnam, Canada, or the United States, are becoming part of Korean families and a once-strict adherence to “minjok” (pure blood lineage) is losing its grip.

There were 35,098 marriages between foreigners and Koreans in 2010. That’s up from 12,300 reported 10 years prior.

Spouses share their tales of life wedded to Koreans
Korea Herald

“His mother was very approving but his father was not. He didn’t say we shouldn’t get married ― he said we wouldn’t,” Christine recalled at a panel discussion on intercultural marriage in Seoul last week.

“His father was not open to the idea at all. He had never traveled outside of Korea and he had never had friends who were expats or from other places.”

However the frosty patriarch eventually thawed when she became his caregiver while he was ill with cancer in the States.

“In the end he said: ‘Yes, you can marry this girl.’” Christine said.

From then on, married life with a Korean has been enjoyable and interesting, she said ― though her husband now knows far too many of the Kimeru insults she used when they bickered early on in their relationship.

Jeremy Lin had lunch with the since-fired editor who inadvertently referenced his heritage
Yahoo Sports

In February, a few eagle-eyed NBA fans spotted what turned out to be an inadvertently racially insensitive headline penned by an editor on ESPN’s mobile site. The cliché “chink in the armor” was used to describe Asian-American New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin’s turnover-prone growing pains, but because the first word in the headline can also be used as a racial epithet to describe Asians, the editor was eventually fired. Anthony Federico, the editor, claimed that his use of the phrase, while distressing, was unintentional. And we believed him.

On Tuesday, Lin had lunch with the editor, in an attempt to show that there were no hard feelings. Outside of ESPN re-hiring Federico, this is as good as these stories usually end.

Chef Beverly Kim on ABC7 News at 11 a.m.
ABC News

It was a rollercoaster ride for Aria chef Beverly Kim on Top Chef: Texas. The Chicago chef was eliminated in Episode 11 when chefs had to prepare a dish, inspired by an upcoming gothic film adaptation of Snow White.

However, Kim won the “Last Chance Kitchen” to return to the main competition. Kim was eliminated again just one episode later. Kim was one of six Chicago chef contestants on Season 9 of the popular Bravo show. Chef Beverly Kim is back at work as Chef de Cuisine at Aria Restaurant at Fairmont Chicago. Kim prepares one of her signature dishes Kimchi.

Obama and Hu to co-ordinate on North Korea rocket launch
BBC News

China and the US have agreed to co-ordinate their response to any “potential provocation” if North Korea goes ahead with a planned rocket launch, the White House says.

S.Korea May Need U.S. Help to Shoot Down N.Korean Rocket
Chosun Ilbo

The government plans to shoot down a North Korean rocket scheduled for launch in the middle of next month if it strays off course, causing the first stage booster to fall on South Korean territory, the Defense Ministry said Monday.

But experts point out that the missiles in South Korea’s arsenal are unequal to the task of engaging intercontinental ballistic missiles, which many believe is really what the North is testing, and will have to rely on the U.S. to shoot it down.

‘Hallyu’ back: Obama catches the ‘Korean Wave’
Los Angeles Times

On his third visit to South Korea, President Obama seems to have caught the “Korean Wave.”

The term for the surge and spread of Korean pop culture — “hallyu” in Korean — popped up in the president’s speech on Monday, along with a sprinkle of other in-the-know references intended to show he could hang with the kids of Hankuk University, the audience for his otherwise policy-heavy speech.

Before launching into a review of his nuclear weapons policy, Obama name-checked South Korea’s hugely popular social networking sites — Me2Day and Kakao Talk, the latter claiming to transmit 1 billion messages daily. He praised the young Koreans’ optimism and promise — and tech savvy.

“It’s no wonder so many people around the world have caught the Korean Wave — hallyu,” Obama said, in one of his biggest applause lines.

US World Bank pick launches global charm offensive
AFP via Google News

The Korean American physician tapped by US President Barack Obama to lead the World Bank will embark on an 11 day global charm offensive Tuesday, the Treasury Department said.

Amid anger that the United States and Europe appear poised to stitch up leadership of the bank for at least another five years, South Korea-born Jim Yong Kim will try to win over skeptics in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Christie calls Kwon vote ‘awfully unfair’
Statehouse Bureau (N.J.)

Governor Christie criticized Senate Democrats who rejected his Supreme Court nominee last week on a monthly call-in radio show Monday night.

On Thursday, First Assistant Attorney General Phillip Kwon was voted down by the Senate Judiciary Committee 6-7, with all the “no” votes coming from Democrats. It was the first time in modern history a governor’s nominee was voted down by the panel of lawmakers.

“It was awfully unfair. It was a terrible disservice to the state for them to just play politics,” Christie said on NJ 101.5’s “Ask the Governor,” an hour-long segment for callers to ask Christie questions each month.

Exclusive: Goldman Sachs losing private equity exec
Fortune

Gene Yoon is leaving Goldman Sachs (GS) to manage a new $500 million private equity fund, Fortune has learned. Sources say that the new effort will officially launch in May, and that it will be bankrolled by a European family office.

Yoon has spent more than four years running private equity for Goldman’s Americas Special Situations Group, which focuses on growth equity and mid-market private equity investing. According to CapitalIQ, his current portfolio company board seats include LifeLock, Picis, Amber Road and Northface University.

In North Korea, a brutal choice
CNN.com

During a sleepless night, Song Ee Han agonized over a decision: Was she willing to leave her youngest child behind while she and her daughters escaped North Korea?

The next morning, Han knelt beside her only surviving son, 5-year-old BoKum, searching for the right words. The boy looked half his age, his distended belly protruding awkwardly from his tiny frame. He was weakened and fatigued from their journey. They had stopped at a friend’s house less than halfway to the border, and Han and her daughters were too small or weak to carry him.

“Why are you taking my sisters, but not me?” he wailed.

Places Obama should visit in Seoul
CNNGo

Siwhadam
The shortest dinner at this new VVIP-only Korean restaurant in Itaewon is a three-hour, 19-course fete.

Korean American community praises professor’s new textbook
San Francisco State News

SF State Professor of Asian American Studies Grace Yoo has released a book on Korean American history and culture that leaders in the community are praising as the new standard for Korean American Studies courses nationwide.

Restaurateur exploited immigrants
Winnipeg Sun (Canada)

A Winnipeg restaurateur busted for staffing his popular sushi spots on trendy Corydon Avenue with illegal foreign workers is facing a stiff fine after admitting he broke Canada’s immigration-protection laws.

Jung Won Choi, owner of Kenko Sushi and now-closed sister eatery Kenko Niwa, pleaded guilty in provincial court Monday to breaching a provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

DREAMer and Sunday school teacher detained, facing imminent deportation
Change.org

Currently, 26-year old DREAMer and Sunday school teacher, Ueen Joung Chang (Cindy Chang), from San Jose, California is detained in Eloy, Arizona with the threat of imminent deportation to South Korea.

She has not committed a crime, and has in fact been an upstanding member of her community serving the homeless as well as a lay deacon and Sunday school teacher with her church.

She came to the United States when she was seven years old and was not aware of her immigration status until she was stopped at an immigration checkpoint in Arizona on her way to a friend’s wedding in Phoenix. She is now ordered deported despite her family having followed the steps to attain green cards, but were foiled by bureaucratic errors. With no family in South Korea, her deportation would tear her away from her family and community which depend on her.

Park Chan-ho to Raise Awareness of Language Barriers
Chosun Ilbo

Hanwha Eagles’ pitcher Park Chan-ho was on Monday appointed promotional ambassador for BBB Korea, non-profit organization that provides interpretation services.

The organization has nearly 4,000 volunteers who interpret for tourists and members of multicultural family.

It said it picked Park because he is a renowned sportsman, has been at the forefront of charitable activities, and is married to Park Ri-hye, a third-generation Korean-Japanese.

Kamala Films Acquires ‘Lone Wolf And Cub’ With ‘Fast Five’s Justin Lin Attached
Deadline Hollywood

Kamala Films has acquired film rights to the Kazuo Koike-created 1970s Japanese manga Lone Wolf and Cub, attaching David & Janet Peoples to write the script. Fast Five‘s Justin Lin had already been attached to direct.

Asian Heritage Month Celebration Brings Singer-Songwriter David Choi to Rochester
Univ. of Rochester

The University of Rochester celebrates Asian Heritage Month with a performance by David Choi, a Korean-American singer and songwriter, whose tracks have been featured on international television shows and commercials.

Beverly Kim’s Beet Salad recipe
ABC Chicago

Keep an eye out for our profile of Beverly in the upcoming April 2012 issue of KoreAm.

Storylines, players to watch at Nabisco
ESPN.com

2. Na Yeon Choi
If you are asking “Who is Na Yeon Choi?” the answer is “the best player in the world you have not heard of.” The 24-year-old South Korean, a five-time LPGA winner, moved past Norway’s Suzann Pettersen into the world No. 2 spot a few weeks ago. She’s known as a serious contender with lots of game. This year, she has two runner-up finishes and is coming off an 18th-place finish Sunday in the Kia. Choi won the LPGA money title in 2010 and was third last year. In the past 11 LPGA majors, she has six top-10 finishes, including a second at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open.

North Korea Warns It Will Not Tolerate Criticism at Nuclear Forum
New York Times

As global leaders prepared to travel to Seoul for a nuclear security summit meeting, North Korea warned on Wednesday that any criticism of its nuclear weapons program would be considered a “declaration of war.”

“If there is any provocative act such as the issuance of a so-called statement concerning ‘the North’s nuclear issue’ at the Seoul conference, it would constitute an extreme insult,” said the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency. “Any provocative act would be considered as a declaration of war against us, and its consequences would serve as great obstacles to talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Kim Jong-un’s Barbaric Purge of ‘Unsound’ Military Brass
Chosun Ilbo

A bloody purge in North Korea following the sudden death of leader Kim Jong-il late last year saw barbaric methods including mortar rounds used to execute high-ranking military officials, a South Korean government source said Wednesday.

“When Kim Jong-un became North Korean leader following the mourning period for his father in late December, high-ranking military officers started disappearing,” the source said. “From information compiled over the last month, we have concluded that dozens of military officers were purged.” The source added Kim Jong-un ordered loyal officials to “get rid of” anyone caught misbehaving during the mourning period for Kim Jong-il.

But contrary to reports that an assistant chief of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces was put in front of a firing squad for being drunk during the mourning period, he was executed using a mortar round in line with Kim’s orders to leave “no trace of him behind, down to his hair.”

Not the same old North Korea?
Los Angeles Times via Bellingham Herald

Pyongyang has us right where it wants us, in a sense, which shows again the bankruptcy of a policy designed to bargain for nuclear and missile concessions that the North is never going to provide. The nuclear agreement was never likely to get Pyongyang to halt nuclear or missile research. But it could offer a gateway to a new strategy, one that transfers our main emphasis to using dramatic economic and social changes underway in the North to promote long-term U.S. and allied interests.

Playing Pyongyang’s Games
Wall Street Journal (subscription req’d)

North Korea is testing how much the Obama administration will give to maintain the fiction of diplomatic progress.

Asians are fastest-growing race group in US, Census Bureau says
MSNBC.com

The Asian population grew faster than any other racial group in the U.S. over the last decade, increasing by sizable margins in nearly every state, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

American Doctor Gains Korean Citizenship
Chosun Ilbo

Dr. John Linton of Yonsei University’s Severance Hospital in Seoul became a naturalized Korean citizen on Wednesday. Also known by his adopted Korean name In Yo-han, the 53-year-old waved the Korean flag as he was granted citizenship at a ceremony held at the Justice Ministry in Gwacheon, south of Seoul.

“I am now a real Korean! I am really happy. Let’s live happily together!” he said in Korean with a typical southern dialect. Linton, who comes from a prominent family of missionaries, was born in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, and was raised in Korea.

Korean college students plead guilty to defacing El Morro National Monument
Las Cruces Sun-News (New Mexico)

During separate hearings in federal court this afternoon, Dana Choi, 22, and Seung Hoon Oh, 23, entered guilty pleas to misdemeanor information charging them with disturbing an archeological site, the El Morro National Monument, on Oct. 13, 2011.

At the time, Choi and Oh were foreign exchange students from South Korea who were studying at the University of New Mexico on student visas.

Choi and Oh entered their guilty pleas under plea agreements that required them to pay $29,782 to the National Park Service (NPS) to cover the costs of repairing the damage they caused to the monument. Immediately after Choi and Oh entered their guilty pleas, the court sentenced them to no prison time and no fines, and enforced the restitution payment required by the plea agreements. Choi and Oh tendered the $29,782 payment to the NPS during today’s hearings.

According to court filings, on Oct. 13, 2011, NPS employees at the El Morro National Monument discovered two names — “Super Duper Dana” and “Gabriel” — illegally carved into the sandstone cliffs of Inscription Rock, the monument’s most prominent historical feature which includes engravings dating back to 1758. After ascertaining that the monument register for Oct. 13, 2011, included an entry by a visitor who identified herself as Dana Choi from South Korea, a NPS ranger initiated an investigation. Through Facebook, the NPS ranger was able to identify the defendants, who subsequently were arrested.

Surveillance released in Oxford Circle home invasion
ABC News (Philadelphia)

Video of the Korean American couple who was attacked and robbed over the weekend was released by police in the hopes someone will recognize the perps.

The surveillance video is chilling.

‘Idol”s Heejun Han: Steven Tyler Schools The Class Clown
Hollywood.com

The episode saw American designer Tommy Hilfiger and world-famous producer Diddy advising the contestants in the fashion and music realms, respectively. Most contestants listened and took these considerations into account—even those who respectfully chose to ignore some pointers when hitting the stage, Phil Phillips—but Heejun seemed to take it all with a grain of salt. When it came time to get style pointers from Hilfiger, Han joked around with the fashion legend, saying he wanted to dress like Madonna and Michael Bolton. He’s been a lovable presence on the series, but that level of disrespect was off-putting.

Phillip, Heejun ignore ‘American Idol’ mentors’ advice and rock the show
Today.com via MSN

Heejun Han also lived dangerously by keeping the comedy act going for another week, even if it’s becoming obvious that the “Idol” influences are getting tired of the act. He asked Diddy for advice on dealing with criticism and just wasted Hilfiger’s time with inane comments.

“I don’t know if he’s an actor, a con man … I don’t even know if he’s Asian. He might be black,” Diddy said.

In culturally homogeneous South Korea, tentative steps toward multiculturalism
Public Radio International

South Korea has long been known for its lack of cultural diversity. Even today, the country is more than 99 percent ethnic Koreans. But things are slowly shifting, with more foreigners moving to the country and having ethnically mixed children — which has presented new challenges for the government and the Korean people.

Author Interview: Catherine Chung of Forgotten Country
Color Magazine

Catherine Chung has been enchanted by writing ever since she first put a #2 pencil to paper in elementary school. As the daughter of Korean immigrants, she has a unique relationship with English: it’s not the language of her family, but it’s not quite a second language. Add into the mix a degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago and a MFA in creative writing from Cornell University, and the result is a style of writing akin to a mathematical proof – concentrated, clean and elegant.

Forgotten Country – her debut novel about a Korean-American family’s struggles with relationships, isolation and loss – is a striking display of her storytelling ability, mature voice and refined style. Chung has earned numerous recognitions for her prior writing and is active in several artist’s communities, including serving as an advisory board member of the Paris Press. We spoke to her about her literary journey, next book and the grade-school haiku that started it all.

Where do you think your passion for writing came from?
I think it’s always been my relationship with language. English wasn’t my first language, Korean was. I actually learned how to read and write faster than how to communicate orally in English, and I think there was something in that that felt really freeing. I always loved writing for that reason.

Samsung Develops Low-Cost “Eye Mouse”
Wall Street Journal

A group of engineers at Samsung Electronics have come up with a low-cost eye-controlled computer mouse that they hope will enable a wider number of severely disabled people to use computers.

Guide to pojangmacha: Why Koreans love drinking in tents
CNNGo

Korea’s beloved street stalls are turning into pick-up bars and franchise chains.

Accordionists who gave Internet an A-ha moment challenge preconceptions about North Koreans
AP via Washington Post

The three young men and two women perform with gusto, swaying to the music, tapping their accordions and clapping their hands overhead. Their catchy cover, recorded in December, became a sensation as it challenged the world’s preconceptions about North Koreans.

After taking their arrangement to Norway to perform at an Arctic arts festival, lead player Choe Hyang Hwa and fellow band members gave The Associated Press a peek into their lives at the Kumsong school in Pyongyang.

China Warns on North Korea
Wall Street Journal

China again expressed its “concerns and worries” over rocket-launch plans announced by North Korea ahead of an international nuclear summit in Seoul, as Beijing seeks to portray itself as a peacemaker amid rising pressure on Pyongyang from the U.S. and its allies.

But North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator warned during a visit to Beijing against any attempt to interfere with the launch, a day after Japan’s defense minister said he would consider shooting down a North Korean missile if it poses a danger to that country.

More Certain North Korea Has More Uranium
Wall Street Journal

The American scientist to whom North Korea decided in 2010 to reveal its uranium enrichment program, Siegfried Hecker, says he’s become more persuaded since that time that he didn’t see all of it.

Mr. Hecker, the former director of the Los Alamos Laboratory who is now a professor at Stanford University, is in South Korea this week for a series of conferences leading up to next week’s Nuclear Security Summit. During a panel on the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs at the Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference in Busan on Tuesday, he described the research he’s done on North Korea since his last visit there in November 2010.

Mom realizes dream to dance in Follies
Orange County Register

At rehearsal, a mother’s heart dances. At home, her daugher’s heart dances and she spins around the room until her wheelchair seems to disappear. Such is the magic of CHOC Children’s Hospital Follies where music and motion for 15 years have raised funds to help kids.

I’m sitting in Anna and Eugene Kim’s dining room in Brea to learn why a busy mom who works part-time as a county health nurse would battle rush-hour traffic for months to make it to Follies’ rehearsals.

Teenager Sentenced for Killing Grades-Obsessed Mother
Wall Street Journal

A Seoul court on Tuesday sentenced an 18-year old boy to three years and six months in prison for killing his mother, a crime he said he was driven to by the physical and mental abuse he sustained because of her obsession with his school grades.

The case came to light late last year after the boy’s father, who lived apart from his family, visited home after a year and found a bedroom door tightly sealed and his son acting suspiciously.

Indictment: Shop owner hid $1.2 million from IRS
Baltimore Sun

The owner of a Northeast Baltimore liquor store was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on suspicion of making strategic cash deposits totaling more than $1 million in order to avoid paying taxes, prosecutors said.

For more than two years, Kwang Sik Kim, 56, of Clarksville made more than 100 deposits at local banks in amounts less than $10,000 in order to avoid a federal reporting requirement, according to a statement Tuesday from Maryland’s U.S. Attorney’s Office. Kim is the owner of Limetree Liquors, in the 1700 block of E. Northern Parkway in Baltimore.

Life Coaches Help Kids Deal With Challenges
DNAinfo.com

As overworked and stressed adults look for somebody to help organize their chaotic lives, Upper East Side kids are now mixing traditional after-school activities, such as drama and art, with consultation sessions with their coaches.

“It’s about bringing out their full potential,” said Helen Kim, an instructor who opened the 91st Street Academy, which offers coaching among other, more typical, after-school activities such as drama and art.

The academy now coaches 12 kids. Prices start at $199 a month for a weekly three-hour session that includes supervised homework time, a consultation with a coach and an additional class. A half-hour, one-off coaching session costs $30.

Eden: SXSW Review
Hollywood Reporter

Winner of SXSW’s Audience Award for narrative feature, the picture takes a non-exploitative approach to lurid material. Jamie Chung plays Hyun Jae, a New Mexico teen who gets into a stranger’s car and winds up deep in the desert, imprisoned in a self-storage facility where dozens of girls are forced to work as call girls by a team whose boss (Beau Bridges) is a corrupt Federal Marshall.

After unsuccessful attempts at escape, the girl (nicknamed Eden) adapts, accepting her plight to such an extent that she helps drug-addled captor Vaughan (Matt O’Leary, more convincing here than in his other fest entry, Fat Kid Rules the World) recapture other escapees in order to curry favor.

North Korean National Symphony Orchestra Coming To The U.S.
Huffington Post

An Atlanta-based nonprofit is planning to bring North Korea’s national orchestra to the U.S. for a tour that would start in Atlanta, according to the group’s president.

The North Korean National Symphony Orchestra is planning a concert in Atlanta this spring followed by a tour of several other cities, said Robert Springs, the president of Global Resource Services, a humanitarian group that works in North Korea.

He said he hopes the visit will take place in the spring but that the details are still being worked out and the visit is still awaiting government approval. Springs’ group has sent three musical groups to North Korea over the last 14 years, including Christian rock group Casting Crowns.

Daniel Kim accused of punching infant son hard enough to crack his skull
Denver Westword

According to a police affidavit obtained by KRDO-TV, Kim’s stories were initially inconsistent. But he eventually told investigators that after being awakened by Ezra’s cries and failing to quiet him, he “snapped.”

What’s that mean? Kim allegedly said he slugged Ezra with “basically everything I could throw.”

Christopher Mintz-Plasse Reveals John Cho Is in GET A JOB, Tweets First Set Photos
Collider.com

Director Dylan Kidd (Roger Dodger) started shooting Get a Job this week, and Mintz-Plasse has tweeted a couple revelations from the set. First, John Cho is yet another great addition to the cast. (I was shocked to learn that Cho will turn 40 this year, which adds a significant bump to the average age of the cast.) Second, he posted two amusing photos from the set to Instagram.

South Korea to push ecotourism near tense border with North
Mother Nature Network

Untouched by developers for six decades due to the military standoff, the scenic areas surrounding the world’s last Cold War frontier have paradoxically become a peaceful haven for wildlife.

The 155-mile-long borderline which bisects the peninsula was fixed when the 1950-53 war ended with an armistice. A Demilitarized Zone extending for two kilometres each side of the line was designated as a buffer zone.

Thousands of tourists who visit the truce village of Panmunjom within the DMZ each year get a grim reminder of the peninsula’s tragic past.

Now Seoul is trying to put a more positive spin on the border region, by promoting its ecological value and opening trekking routes which will also give visitors a glimpse of the secretive North.

Swimmer of the Year: Leo Lim, Tenafly
Bergen County Record (N.J.)

In four seasons, Lim never lost an individual race in a dual or county meet.

“It was a fun ride. It’s been a great four years,” Lim said. “Swimming was different before high school started. It was just little kids swimming, but swimming in high school with Jin [Roh], Alex [Liulakis], Greg [Spiropoulos], Marcus [Lee] and Parker [Huguley] made swimming fun for all of us.”

This is the third time Lin has earned The Record Boys Swimmer of the Year award.

Benson Henderson Is No ‘Prima-Donna’ Champion
Fightline

Whether or not you thought that Benson Henderson deserved to win a unanimous decision over Frankie Edgar — and, subsequently, the UFC lightweight title — or not, the fact can’t be denied that The Smooth One is championship material.

With the ending of their bout controversial in the eyes of many and Edgar’s history of doling out rematches as champion, Henderson was sympathetic to Edgar’s plight and went on record saying The Answer deserved an immediate second-go at the title. The rematch was eventually set up, despite UFC president Dana White’s repeated urgings for Edgar to drop to featherweight to free up the 155lbs division.

Adoptee looks to represent Korean cricket
Korea Times

For 15 years, he was Sazal Mahamud, a citizen of Bangladesh. Then in November 2010, he was adopted by a Korean family and looked forward to a new chapter in his life.

And the 17-year-old, now known as Kim Dae-yeon, encountered unexpected joy here, when he found he could resume his national youth team pedigree in cricket and furthermore represent his new country at the upcoming Asian Games.

YouTube Star of the Week: Sherry Kim
Mochi Mag

Sherry Kim, also known as Fantasiex3 on YouTube, is a Korean American pianist known for her beautiful and unique choices in piano covers. Raised in Las Vegas, she is currently studying piano performance at Northwestern University. We had the opportunity to interview the self-proclaimed “cheesy romantic” in between her busy schedule, and we’re enchanted by her confidence—something we hope that all Mochi readers can learn from. Read on to learn how she got started, her eclectic taste in music, and the huge project she has been working on.

Jessica Hyejin Lee Coming Out for the Undocumented Community
DreamActivist Pennsylvania via YouTube

Jessica Hyejin Lee and Tania Chairez, two undocumented youth from Pennsylvania, were arrested by the Philadelphia Police today after blocking the street in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Field Office. Before their arrest, Jessica and Tania had entered the ICE Philadelphia Field Office building and declared their undocumented status. Unafraid of deportation, they acted to confront the unjust immigration system, reclaim their human rights, and call attention to the deportations that are tearing apart their communities. To learn more about the action and their cause, check here: http://dreamactivistpa.org/

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