Photo via Straits Times.

South Korea’s suicide rate is the highest among nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development, according to recent OECD data.

Data culled by Statistics Korea  showed that more than 15,000 Koreans committed suicide in 2010, which is a 50 percent increase from 2006. This means there have been 33.5 suicides per 100,000 people, which make South Korea’s suicide rate the highest in the OECD for the eighth year running.

“There’s an increase of elderly population and single households,” a Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare official told the Munhwa Ilbo. “When you add that to Korea’s socioeconomic issues, it explains the reason behind the increase of suicide rate.” Continue Reading »

Photo via CNN

Bullying in South Korean schools is becoming a greater concern as more cases of students who commit suicide are reported. In December 2011, Lim Seung-min became one of the many young students who could not endure the suffering any longer.

Lim, 13, committed suicide last December  by jumping from the seventh floor of the apartment where he, along with his brother and parents, lived.

Continue Reading »

Trial to start in alleged hazing, death of Asian-American soldier
Reuters

The men, all Chen’s superiors, are accused of subjecting him to weeks of disparaging taunts and physical mistreatment. The allegations include tying sandbags to his arms, throwing rocks and water bottles at him, making him speak Chinese instead of English and calling him names such as “gook,” “slants,” “chink” and “egg roll.”

The case has galvanized the Asian-American community in Chen’s hometown of New York and elsewhere. A few dozen supporters are traveling by plane or van to accompany his parents to the military trial starting on Tuesday at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

Gun range owner haunted by recent suicide on premises
WTVR CBS 6 (Va.)

The owner of The Smoking Gun pistol range didn’t want to appear on TV, but he did want to set the record straight about the suicide inside his business five days ago.

It’s a death that he says has made it hard to sleep at night.

It began with the sound of gunshots inside a shooting range. It’s safe to say it’s common to hear that sound there, but a shot last week still haunts the range owner. “I yelled, ‘Lieutenant!” he said. “’You have five minutes,’ but he didn’t acknowledge me.”

Ellicott City Woman Pleads Guilty to $680,000 Wire Fraud
Arbutus Patch (Md.)

According to the FBI, Kim was the owner and chief operating officer of EK Settlements in Ellicott City, and a title agent at an insurance company from 2005 to 2008. As part of her job, she was required to maintain an escrow account for real estate settlement funds from buyers and to pay off mortgage lenders.

In 2006, according to the plea, Kim started stealing money from that escrow account to pay for personal bills, including tuition for her kids’ private school, tax bills and to pay for previous loans that she had not yet settled.

New Printer Inkjet Nozzle Inspired By Human Eye
LiveScience

University of Missouri engineering professor Jae Wan Kwon says he’s solved a “historic printer nozzle problem” with his anti-clog nozzle, which spreads a thin layer of silicone oil over the opening of the print nozzle. This keeps the ink from drying out for months (the team tested for twelve weeks without any sign of problems) without the use of anti-evaporation additives that drive up the price of ink. If the ink can’t dry out, it can’t clog, and if it doesn’t clog, there’s no need to blast the clog free with a burst of ink (also wasteful).

Kwon says an obvious solution to preventing ink clots is to cover the nozzle head with a plate. But the nozzles are so small–usually about 1/5th the diameter of a human hair–that moving a tiny plate is very difficult. The surface tension of the ink itself would hold the tiny plate in place and require a huge force to move it.

So instead, Kwon turned to the human eye.

Industry Players Reveal Their Favorite Finds in L.A.’s Koreatown
Hollywood Reporter

Up-all-night, anything-goes Koreatown, where Los Angeles laws always seem a little looser, is ready for its zeitgeist-tapping close-up. On July 11, Electus chairman Ben Silverman’s just-launched YouTube channel Loud debuted K-Town, a Jersey Shore-inspired series that follows a party-hardy group of eight Korean-Americans (yes, there’s drink-throwing) in the glitzy, sometimes-gritty neighborhood between Hancock Park and downtown. The show’s producers include former MTV executives Liz Gateley and Tony DiSanto, as well as Tyrese Gibson. “It’s a really cool subculture that we haven’t seen in mainstream media,” says Silverman. Adds Gateley of the program, “Now you get to be a fly on the wall.”

The 24/7 sensory overload of today’s Koreatown — from spas to clubs, barbecue to bibimbap — has ramped up steadily during the past two decades, since the L.A. riots of 1992. But it began when South Koreans immigrated to the area in the 1970s during the reign of military strongman Park Chung-hee.

Hines Ward talks ‘Dark Knight Rises,’ work
ESPN

“The producer, Thomas Tull of Legendary Pictures, asked me if I wanted to do the cameo and I was excited. It was a big honor. I grew up watching the Batman cartoons and have seen the Batman movies. As far as my scene goes, it was surreal, and I think I did pretty well. I had a blast doing it.”

What Would Your Portrait Look Like, As A Blueprint?
Co.Design

“10 years ago I came across an architectural floor plan on the web and found the complicated lines and signs just beautiful and compelling…this was a kind of clicking moment” Ahn tells Co.Design. “All the elements such as dots, lines and signs written on it were neither merely decorative nor auxiliary, but each of them carried important information. I think the impression of the blueprint was quite deep.”

Her work follows suit, somehow finding a balance between both the clinical and the sentimental at the same time. In The Power of a Kiss, she breaks down her mother’s kiss before school each day as a physics equation, driven by musculature like the orbicularis oris. But you can also see a stream of love, hearts entering the small child while her arms flap with uncontrollable joy.

N. Korea angry at S. Korean journalists for covering practice
Yonhap News

North Korean table tennis officials here on Monday reacted angrily to South Korean journalists who attempted to take pictures of their practice ahead of the upcoming London Olympics, in the latest display of strained ties between the two countries.

North Korean table tennis players had practice at ExCeL South Arena, which will also serve as the venue for the Olympic competitions from July 28 to Aug. 2. As South Korean photographers began to capture the players in action, an official threw a towel toward them and yelled, “Don’t shoot.”

Stunning Photographs Document Korea’s Rapid Modernization
koreaBANG

The following set of photos were uploaded on popular postings website Ilbe, by a netizen who reflects upon a Seoul that once was. They show how Korea’s landscape was still very much a poor one in the years following the Korean War, while also serving as an interesting comparison to those pictures we brought to you of pre-war Seoul.

It is also worth noting that the series was posted one day after presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye re-iterated her father’s coup d’etat “was the best choice in an unavoidable situation.” Many in Korea, especially those of the older generation, still hail President Park Chung-hee‘s rapid economic developement policies as having brought Korea from rags to riches. Perhaps were these photos uploaded to remind fellow younger (Ilbe-user) voters who the obvious choice is this autumn?

Korea Has Invented Something Much Worse Than The Shake Weight
BuzzFeed

From Korea, for those who like to ride horses in front of their TV and in the comfort of their own home. For all family members, this home mechanical equestrian system will meet all the family’s needs. It helps to “fitness” you up! And reach health goals! Live longer for now! Be your Ace Power!!

Photo via USA Today

Christina Kim of the Ladies Professional Golf Association revealed her two-year struggle with depression on her personal blog on Wednesday, going into depth about her internal battles both on and off the golf course.

“I guess one of the main catalysts to my feelings of worthlessness would be the decline of my golf game, though it’s hard to say which came first, or which affected the other more,” she wrote. “It’s the whole chicken vs. the egg story. I play like crap, I feel bad. I feel like a@$, I play like $&!#. And the vicious cycle goes on.”

Continue Reading »

A 10-year-old girl in South Korea’s Gangwon Province reportedly committed suicide on July 3 and left a note saying life was “too tough” for her, according to the Korea Herald.

Her mother found the girl dead in the garden of the family’s apartment. A teacher had informed her of her daughter’s absence in school earlier that morning.

“After I received a call from her teacher that she did not come to school, I scolded her on the phone since it was a test day,” said the girl’s 37-year-old mother, whose name was withheld, to police. “She did not answer the phone when I called her again. I felt strange and went home to find her.” Continue Reading »

JOIN KOREAM