Following allegations of rape, Park Si-hoo had been summoned by police for questioning — and until this point, has failed to appear.

An hour before Park was set to arrive at the station for interrogation, his lawyer contacted the police to inform them Park would not show, Chosun Ilbo reports. Park has also requested that the investigation be handled by the Cheongdam-dong police precinct, which has jurisdiction over his home as well as the bar where he and his accuser had drinks. The case has been handled thus far by police in Western Seoul where the accuser resides.

In addition, the man who allegedly introduced Park to his accuser has now been charged with rape as well.

Earlier this month, Park met with the woman at a bar in the Gangnam District in Seoul, police said. The woman, a 22-year-old aspiring actress, met Park through a mutual friend. Park admits he and the woman did engage in sex, but he claims it was consensual, maintaining his innocence. Continue Reading »

Kim Jong-un wrestles military for control
Vancouver Sun

It was always unlikely that Kim Jong-un, not yet 30 years old, would be able to smoothly take control of North Korea’s Byzantine court, which he inherited when his father, Kim Jong-il, died almost a year ago.

The snippets of information that have trickled out from the secretive, Marxist hermit kingdom are beginning to form into a pattern that confirms this.

As the anniversary of his father’s death on Dec. 17 approaches, it appears Kim Jong-un is locked in a tussle for power with the military.

Boat Piloted by Princeton Man Involved in Crash
Patch.com (Princeton, N.J.)

A man from the Colonia section of Woodbridge died after his boat and another boat collided on the ocean off Long Branch, state police said on Monday morning.

Eric Kim, 31, died after his boat was struck off Long Branch by “No Surrender,” a 38-foot boat piloted by Thomas Oloughlin, 44, of Princeton, on Saturday afternoon, said Sgt. Brian Polite.

Kim’s passenger, Soo Lee, 34, of the Parlin section of Sayreville, suffered cuts, but was not seriously injured, Polite said.

NY doctor pleads guilty in $11.7M Medicare scheme
AP via San Francisco Chronicle

A Queens medical doctor who is also president of two Brooklyn medical clinics has pleaded guilty in an $11.7 million fraudulent Medicare scheme.

Federal prosecutors say 86-year-old Ho Yon Kim, of Queens, pleaded guilty on Monday. They say Kim admitted that from March 2007 to October 2011, he conspired with others to persuade Medicare beneficiaries to allow their Medicare numbers be billed for medical services that were never performed.

Danny Kim Fans the Flames in Speaker’s Lobby on Capitol Hill
National Journal

On Capitol Hill, most people consider a good day’s work to be one in which they put out fires. But for Danny Kim, the goal is quite the opposite. Kim, 36, officially works as a chamber security guard with the Office of the House Sergeant at Arms, but his unofficial job for the past six years has been to build fires in the Speaker’s Lobby on cold days when the House is in session.

Members, staff, and reporters who pack the long hall during votes have come to expect the warmth, glow, and crackle of the fires—built on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the lobby—but the hearths that host them had long sat empty. Kim said he patrolled the perimeter of the House chamber for six years before he asked a staffer if the fireplaces were functional.

“I said, ‘I think we can start a fire here,’ and I got a match out to see if the smoke would go up [the chimney],” Kim said, “And it turns out, it’s an open fireplace.”

Transgender Woman Finds Acceptance In South Korea
NPR News via KTEP

In a powerful essay that we found in The Huffington Post, Andy Marra talks about searching for and finding her birth mother in Korea and her decision to come out to her family as transgender. The essay is titled “The Beautiful Daughter: How My Korean Mother Gave Me the Courage to Transition.” And Andy Marra is with us now.

‘Top Chef’ contestant Kristen Kish from Barbara Lynch’s Stir
Boston Globe

Kristen Kish, Chef de Cuisine at Boston’s Stir demonstration kitchen, a Barbara Lynch place, has been flaunting her culinary expertise on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Seattle.” Currently five episodes deep into season 10 of the cooking competition, Kish is holding her own as more of her competitors get picked off each week. One of 21 “cheftestants” selected for the show, Kish, who we reached on Tuesday, describes watching the show back in Boston as, “Kind of surreal to a) see myself on TV and b) hear my own voice, which is the most awkward thing humanly possible.”

Jesus in India: Finding Out Who We Are with Lloyd Suh
The Brooklyn Rail

In Lloyd Suh’s Jesus in India, we are presented with a young version of Jesus, who hasn’t quite dealt with his lot in life. While the title and set up of Suh’s play might have us assume we are headed into a religious examination of Jesus and his beginnings, he instead makes a point of using such an iconic identity to explore just how lost each of us are, regardless what sort of destiny we may have been handed.

“I feel like there’s something that’s been happening over the past several years that has to do with re-examining our big cultural markers,” says Suh. “You see it in movies with these ‘reboots,’ where Batman begins, or Star Trek happens. I love these ‘prequel’ stories because they’re a way to examine not just how our heroes become themselves, [but] for us to assess what those icons mean in terms of how we live now.”

Jeremy Lin recaptures Linsanity in loss to Spurs
Yahoo Sports

On Monday night against the San Antonio Spurs, though, Lin recaptured the magic that made him such an exciting figure last season. With star teammate James Harden sitting out with a sprained right ankle, Lin took over the offense and scored 38 points on 11-of-21 shooting (including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and 12-of-12 from the line), dished out seven assists, and turned the ball over just twice. The Rockets lost 134-126 in overtime, but those are the numbers of a star. For at least one night, we saw glimpses of Linsanity once again. It was thrilling.

Talk of the Day — Do we love South Korea too much?
Focus Taiwan

Many Taiwanese envy South Korea’s economic achievements, watch its soap operas, dance to PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” and enjoy South Korean kimchi, which is why a recent article in a National Taiwan University publication, NTU Consciousness, on the dark side of South Korea has triggered widespread debate.

On The Line: Dean Kim of OC Baking Company, Part One
OC Weekly

“I kinda like being the guy who does bread, but nobody knows who I really am.”

Oh, Dean. You shouldn’t have let us into your office. It seems as though every third chef we interview name drops you. While you might not have your own restaurant, you do provide the goods to 70+ establishments in the Orange County area (plus you mentioned working with a chain on a high-end burger line). That’s enough qualification for us.

Do you only sell at the Orange Farmers Market?
I’ve been offered numerous farmers markets, but my problem is that it’s an artisan product. It should be fresh, you know? I like the whole concept of being sustainable. I see bakeries from all the way down in San Diego come to L.A.’s farmers market. That doesn’t make sense to me.

I only do the Orange Home Grown because it’s local. Secondly, they kind of give me total carte blanche as to how I want to represent my bread. One thing we do is try to educate everyone. (Someone says) “Dean, I bought one of your baguettes and it cut my mouth.” (I say) “Well, good. That’s what bread does.” We don’t use any preservatives and we make everything natural.

‘Art Takes Seoul’ Bridges Cultural Divide
Wall Street Journal

African-American artist Mira Gandy and Korean-American playwright Ahrum Claiborne journeyed from different cultures but found commonality when their paths intersected last year, leading to a collaborative exhibition called “Art Takes Seoul,” featured now at the Knox Gallery in Harlem.

Signs Emerge Of Economic Change In North Korea
NPR

An unusual parliamentary meeting is due to open Tuesday in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, amid speculation of sweeping changes ahead. In the first such confirmation from within the country, farmers told The Associated Press they would be given more control over their crops under new agricultural rules. Long seen as an economic basket case, North Korea now could be on the cusp of economic change.

Will North Korea Strike Again In NLL Area?
Wall Street Journal

For months, South Korean politicians and spectators have been speculating about what North Korea may do to influence the outcome of the December presidential election. Guesses have ranged from some type of skirmish in Yellow Sea where there’s been action before, to small-scale terrorist-like action by North Korean agents in the country to a surprise summit between Kim Jong Eun and Lee Myung-bak.

Behind North Korea’s propaganda star, a darker story
Washington Post

This summer, a 66-year-old woman surfaced at a news conference in North Korea to tell of her jubilant homecoming after six years in the “miserable” South.

As a private citizen and a defector, the woman, Pak Jong Suk, made for an unlikely national symbol. But she also had the pitch-perfect tale for an authoritarian North Korea straining for new ways to make its people love their leader and stay within the country’s borders.

S.Korea’s Park Apologizes to People Hurt by Father’s Rule
Bloomberg

South Korea ruling party presidential nominee Park Geun Hye apologized to the victims of her father Park Chung Hee’s 18-year dictatorship, saying it delayed the country’s democratic development.

“I understand that the end does not justify the means, and this should be a lasting value for democracy,” Park said today at a press conference in Seoul. “I apologize to the families of victims hurt from the dictatorial rule in this regard. I will try my very best to heal those scars.”

Korean-American confirmed by Senate as U.S. arts council member
Yonhap via The Korea Herald

The U.S. Senate has approved President Barack Obama’s nomination of a Korean-American professor to become a member of the National Council on the Arts to review the U.S. government’s policy and funding for cultural and artistic projects.

In May, Obama announced his choice of Emil J. Kang, the executive director for the arts and professor of the practice of music at the University of North Carolina, to be a member of the 14-person council.

Adoption: My parents have moved on but I’m living in the past
SBS.com.au

HeeRa Heaser was adopted at the age of two into an American family. Reconnecting with her biological parents in South Korea satisfied a yearning for her roots, but it also left many questions unanswered.

“Our life doesn’t begin at an airport,” says HeeRa Heaser, 31, a Korean American adoptee and a PhD student at the University of New South Wales.

Fall TV Lineup: 2 Shows Star Asian-American Women
NPR

Indian-American Mindy Kaling has her own show on Fox called The Mindy Project. Chinese-American Lucy Liu is Dr. Watson in a modern Sherlock Holmes story on CBS called Elementary. TV critic Eric Deggans says neither show gives any indication there might be anything culturally Indian or Chinese about their characters.

Super Sub Park Chu-young First Korean to Score in La Liga
Chosun Ilbo

Park Chu-young scored the game winner with an electrifying finish to see new club Celta Vigo down Getafe 2-1 at the club’s Balaidos Stadium in Vigo on Sunday (Korean time).

It was only Park’s second match for the Spanish La Liga outfit, and the first goal ever scored by a Korean in La Liga.

Unlikely Journey Takes Tour Rookie to Playoffs
New York Times

At the turn of the Tour Championship’s first round Thursday, John Huh was even par, seemingly as relaxed as if he were playing with the Cal State Northridge Matadors.

Wait. A problem with Huh’s high school transcript foiled his enrollment, and he never attended college, unlike nearly all the PGA Tour players who attended high school in the United States.

MLB INSIDER: Tribe likely to trade Choo before end of 2013
The Morning Journal

The question isn’t “if” the Indians will trade Shin-Soo Choo, but rather “when?”

The three most likely times are: 1. anytime during the off-season, 2. at the end of spring training next year, or 3, at the July 31 trade deadline next year.

It’s going to happen during one of those three windows, for two reasons: Choo can become a free agent after next season and his agent is Scott Boras. Reason No. 2 guarantees reason No. 1. Boras clients almost always test the free agent market.

Seoul: backwards and forwards in South Korea’s capital
The Telegraph (U.K.)

‘Do you want extra spicy, too spicy or most spicy kimchi?” asks my waiter in response to my request for the quintessential Korean dish. As I look at him in alarm he rolls his eyes and laughs, says “joking” and hands me a roll of lavatory paper to use as napkins.

I can’t help but think he is right to laugh at me. There is so much more to Korea than kimchi, and nowhere is this more obvious than in Seoul. Long underrated and overlooked by tourists in favour of Tokyo and Beijing, in the past few years the capital has been undergoing a renaissance. Old neighbourhoods are being restored and preserved, the populace is becoming less homogenous and initiatives to beautify the city and make it more eco-friendly are under way. With its ancient palaces, world-class museums, non‑stop shopping and esoteric and vibrant markets, Seoul has everything to offer but crowds.

Typhoon Bolaven Pounds South Korea, Smashes Ships; 8 dead
AP via New York Daily News

A powerful typhoon pounded South Korea with strong winds and heavy rain Tuesday as it churned up rough seas that smashed two fishing ships into rocks, killing at least five fishermen and forcing the coast guard to perform a daring rescue for the survivors. Rescuers saved 12 fishermen and were still searching for 10 missing from the Chinese ships that hit rocks off South Korea’s southern Jeju island.

Army Official Bribed with Cash, Cars, Escorts, Feds Say
Washington Examiner

A Northern Virginia businessman has been charged with bribing a U.S. Army official with cash, cars and female escorts in an ongoing investigation into one of the largest kickback schemes in federal contracting history. … Oh Sung Kwon, also known as Thomas Kwon, the founder and chief financial officer of Avenciatech in Annandale, becomes at least the 12th person charged in the long-running investigation. Eleven others have pleaded guilty.

Apple Victory Means Soul-Searching for Samsung
AP via Google News

A U.S. jury’s $1 billion verdict against Samsung for what rival Apple claimed was the illegal copying of its iPhone and iPad designs signals a turning point for the South Korean electronics giant known for its prowess in adapting the innovations of others and nimbly executing production. The verdict not only jolted the world of global gadgetry but also likely sparked some soul-searching in Suwon, South Korea, where the family-run Samsung conglomerate is based.

Jim Lee Reflects on a Life in Art — and the Art of Life
Los Angeles Times

This October, Jim Lee will reach a special moment in a very special career. The most celebrated comic book artist of his generation will mark his silver anniversary — that’s right, it’s been 25 years since “Alpha Flight” No. 51 announced the arrival of a major new force. The polish and composition confidence of Lee’s earliest work hinted that he might be the heir of “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” star John Byrne (who also created “Alpha Flight”), and over time his maturing style took on the evocative power and sinew that suggested he might also be a latter-day Neal Adams.

‘Gangnam Style’ Viral Popularity in the U.S. has Koreans Puzzled, Gratified
Wall Street Journal

Once upon a time, if you’d asked a Korean which of their uncountable legions of musical luminaries was most likely to crack the blast-hardened firewall of the American market, they’d have offered up curvaceous crooners like Lee Hyori or BoA, floppy-haired dreamboats like Rain or Kim Hyun Joong, or mega-girl groups and boy bands like Girls Generation and Super Junior.

Art Imitates Life for Comic Steve Byrne
Miami Herald via Bradenton Herald

Steve Byrne feels right at home these days. The actor and co-creator is the star of TBS comedy “Sullivan & Son.” He plays Steve Sullivan, an attorney who ditches his buttoned-up corporate life in New York to run the family bar in his native Pittsburgh. Byrne also grew up in Pittsburgh, even though the set’s in LA. Another parallel: His real mom is Korean and his dad Irish.

First Look at Jaime Chung’s Mulan on ‘Once Upon a Time’
Ace Showbiz

How Mulan will be depicted on “Once Upon a Time” has been unveiled in form of a photo, which highlights her tough side. The image, which makes its way out via TV Guide, features Jamie Chung donning an armor to portray the Chinese warrior. “I go on a journey with Prince Phillip to find his princess, Aurora,” Chung dishes on her character’s storyline. “There’s this evil spirit that’s moving and my character ends up bonding with Sleeping Beauty. And as you’ve heard, Captain Hook is joining us.”

Multibanging, Or Where I Rule All At Mario Kart
Waegook Tom (blog)

Alas my birthday was on a Monday this year, so I was stuck at work teaching for eight hours. However, I did celebrate on the Saturday before my birthday with some wonderful friends. What did I do to celebrate? Well, there was fruit flavoured soju, karaoke, and of course a whole lot of pork consumption went down at my favourite samgyeopsal place around my partner’s home.

‘Kimchi Bus’ Rolls into Montgomery: Korean Chef Tours America to Promote Authentic Cuisine
Montgomery Advertiser

One determined Korean chef has traveled through Europe and Russia promoting kimchi, a beloved staple food in his native country. When Sihyeong Yu stopped in downtown Montgomery on Monday afternoon, it was only his second stop in the United States. His first was New York.

A New Dating Site Knows Men Like Women Who Golf and University of Michigan Students are Picky
Forbes.com

Is it too late for me to start playing football? Because according to statistics compiled by Coffee Meets Bagel, a dating website launched in April, women are 21 percent more likely to be into a man who plays football.
… I got a chance to chat with Dawoon Kang and Arum Kang, two of the co-founders of CMB, and learned other keys to young love and how the site knows what it does.

Let’s Stop Calling Michelle Wie By Her Korean Name
Korea Times

When Lee Gwang-yup, a golf fan in Seoul, watched the replay of the LPGA Tour’s Canadian Women’s Open, Sunday, he was delighted to see the Korean flag alongside the name of the outright leader Ko Bo-gyung. His delight, however, soon turned to embarrassment because he found out the 15-year-old leader was a Kiwi better known as Lydia Ko her English name.

The Seoul of the Game: Why are Korean Women So Good at Golf?
Globe and Mail (Canada)

Fifteen-year-old Lydia Ko’s improbable and historic win at the CN Canadian Women’s Open in Vancouver this past weekend once again has people asking: What is it about Korean-born female golfers that makes them so ridiculously good?

My Doomed Attempt to Make Jjajangmyeon at Home
The Awl

When I was little my father used to take me and my brothers into L.A.’s Koreatown after Korean Church. We would often stop by the Joonggook jip (Korean-Chinese restaurant) for a steaming bowl of my favorite lunch, jjajangmyeon, a roasted black soybean sauce served over hand-pulled thick wheat noodles. My father would always tuck a paper napkin under my chin, since the inky sauce was liable to leave flecky dark-brown stains on my white Sunday shirt.

One Day In: Episode One, Seoul
BBC News

Seoul is the quintessential megacity; a gargantuan concrete jungle that has transformed itself from desolate poverty to hi-tech prosperity. In one day in the world’s most connected city, we meet the English teachers who just happen to be robots; the superstar athletes who make fortunes playing computer games; and discover how Seoul intends to transform itself into the world’s greenest city.

North, South Korea exchange recalls previous historic meeting
Los Angeles Times

REPORTING FROM SEOUL -– Though brief, Tuesday’s meeting between North Korean and South Korean leadership families smacked of another historic get-together more than a decade ago that led to one head of state winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Lee Hee-ho, center, and Hyun Jeong-eun, right, in Paju, South Korea, on their way to North Korea on Monday to pay respects to Kim Jong-il and meet the North's new leader, Kim Jong-un.

New North Korean Leader Meets South Koreans and Assumes Leadership of Party
New York Times

South Korea had said it would send no official mourners to Kim Jong-il’s funeral, which angered North Korea as a sign of disrespect. But Kim Jong-un’s meeting with the private delegation of mourners, which included the former first lady of South Korea and a top businesswoman, appeared to be cordial.

The South Korean visitors, Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, and the chairwoman of Hyundai Asan, Hyun Jeong-eun, which had business ties with North Korea, were the only South Koreans allowed by the government in Seoul to lead private delegations to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, to express sympathy over the death of Kim Jong-il on Dec. 17.

From Dear Leader to Marilyn Monroe, defector mocks Kim
Reuters

North Korean artist Song Byeok once proudly drew the “Dear Leader” in propaganda paintings. But he was sent to labor in one of the reclusive state’s notorious prisons after hunger forced him to try to flee.

Now a defector living in the South Korean capital, Seoul, Song has turned to mocking a ruler who led his country into famine, isolation and economic ruin.

“The day I finished this, he passed away,” Song said of his painting and the death of Kim on December 17.

Did Kim Jong-il death ruin breakthrough deal on North Korea nukes?
The Christian Science Monitor

The death of Kim Jong-il has disrupted an American plan to encourage North Korea to curb its nuclear arsenal, and the uncertainties surrounding the “dear leader’s” replacement mean US officials have little choice for now but to sit tight.

Before the announcement of Mr. Kim’s death Sunday, the US was on the verge of completing a deal to exchange humanitarian assistance for North Korean steps toward denuclearization.

But as Kim’s replacement and youngest son, Kim Jong-un, tries to establish himself in his father’s place, it will likely be months – and potentially tense and surprise-laden months – before the North Korean leadership will be ready to reengage diplomatically, many North Asian analysts say.

North Korea Presses South to Implement Economic Pact
New York Times

In its first interaction with visitors from South Korea since the death of its leader, Kim Jong-il, North Korea on Tuesday called for the implementation of the inter-Korean summit agreements, which would have brought massive South Korean investments had the South Korean leader, Lee Myung-bak, not scuttled them.

Recalling a Trip to North Korea Before the Death of Kim Jong-il
New York Times

Mun Ho-yong placed the bouquet of flowers at the foot of the towering outdoor portrait of Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea. Then he turned to the Chinese businesspeople and tourists, and to the foreign journalists. “Now please bow to our leader,” he said.

Most of us had set foot in North Korea for the first time just hours earlier. We had no idea what protocol to adopt when faced with the “Great Leader,” as North Koreans call him. So we followed Mr. Mun’s lead. We bowed.

2NE1 and SNSD ranks in SPIN’s 20 Best Pop Albums of 2011
Soompi

Girl groups 2NE1 and SNSD are receiving worldwide attention.

The two groups, who are leaders in K-pop’s Korean Wave thanks to their unique performances and refined music this year, have been favorably noticed by famous foreign magazines. SPIN, a popular music magazine in the United States, announced their 20 Best Pop Album of 2011 on December 22 (local time) and the two groups were listed.

Five arrested including two members of Hawthorne Fire Department arrested after drug investigation

The Gazette (Hawthorne, N.J.)

A month and a half-long narcotics investigation resulted in the arrest of five Hawthorne residents, two of whom are members of the Hawthorne Fire Department, on Dec. 21.

At sentencing, Choi apologizes for slaying three in a Tenafly home
North Jersey

“We have three individuals who no longer walk the earth,” said Judge Donald Venezia. “You brought havoc to three individuals and to a community. Anything less than a life sentence and I’d be condoning what you did. There’s no way you’re getting a break. You did not give Mr. [Han Il] Kim a break.”

Before being sentenced, Choi apologized via his Korean translator.

“I’m very sorry to the victims and their families,” he said. “I’m sorry to my own family.”

James Kim: Recent College Grad Feels Pain Of Uncertain Job Market
Neon Tommy

Kim, 23, is one of the “Millennials”- a group defined by a 2010 Pew Research study as 18- to 29-year-olds who are mostly newcomers to the American labor force and who, more recently, have become the last hired and the first to lose their jobs.

According to the study that surveyed 50 million Millennials nationwide, only 4 out of every 10 participants said they had full-time work, and the unemployment rate among the group was 37 percent – the highest it had been in over 30 years.

Ji Hyun Kim: New Face
The Telegraph (U.K.)

Who’s that bright and breezy young tenor playing Gastone in the current revival of La Traviata at Covent Garden?

He’s 28-year-old Ji Hyun Kim, currently a hard-working member of the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme.

Perilla, ggaennip, shiso: By any name, a fine addition to garden
L.A. Times

It’s telling that with such limited ground — not even 20 square feet — the gardeners at the Korean Resource Center have dedicated a majority of their space to the perilla plant, a member of the mint family known as ggaennip in Korea and shiso in Japan.

‘Brazen’ contracting scam: Records provide a window into audacious swindle
Washington Post

The plan was straightforward but effective: A tight team of savvy contractors and government employees allegedly inflated invoices by $20 million, approved them and split the proceeds.

And they lived large — on the taxpayers’ dollar. Porsches, real estate, flat-screen televisions and Cartier watches: The men bought it all with impunity, prosecutors say.

The Strangest Man in Ikea
Gizmodo

Taeyoon Choi isn’t at this Ikea, the second largest store location in the world, to buy a coffee table. He’s not there for delicious meatballs and lingonberry sauce, either. He’s in Ikea to create crazy-weird experimental noise machines.

7 best ski and snowboard resorts in Korea
CNN

Given that almost three-quarters of Korea is covered by mountains, it’s no wonder thousands of tourists fly in every winter to hit the slopes.

Now that it’s finally snowing, even in Seoul, here’s where to find the best snowy runs in Korea.

UNM students deface El Morro rock
Santa Fe New Mexican

Dana Choi, a Korean student at The University of New Mexico, admitted to etching the words Super Duper Dana’ into rock at El Morro National Monument in October. His graffiti covers a portion of an inscription that reads Pedro Romero 1758.’ Although officials at monument won’t talk about how they plan to erase the markings, the restoration costs have been estimated at nearly $30,000.

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