Sung Kim Confirmed as Next U.S. Ambassador to S.Korea
Chosun Ilbo
The U.S. Senate passed the stalled confirmation of Sung Kim as the new U.S. ambassador to South Korea on Thursday, just minutes before President Lee Myung-bak made a rare address to a joint session of Congress during his six-day state visit to the country.
Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona had held up the confirmation, to the dismay of many U.S. and South Korean officials, due to concerns that the U.S. would continue to hold one-on-one meetings with North Korea.
However, State Department officials were able to convince the senator to approve Kim in conjunction with Lee’s state visit. Kim becomes the first Korean-American ambassador to South Korea.
Gail Kim: I’ll never go back to WWE
The Sun (U.K.)
FORMER WWE Diva Gail Kim has vowed that she will never return after enduring an unhappy second spell with the wrestling giant.
Kim asked for her release from the company on August 5 after being chronically under-utilised, but WWE refused to let her go, and instead made her sit out her contract, which concluded at the end of September. Kim is now a free agent, and is understandably vehement that wherever her wrestling career from now on takes her, it will not be back to WWE.
In her first free-to-air interview anywhere since she left, she exclusively told SunSport: “I’ve experienced WWE twice now, and I know that I do not enjoy that place. “The second time I really had optimistic hopes and dreams, but I know I would never go back there.”
Fairfax police seek fresh leads in 2010 slaying
Washington Post
Police think a businessman who was slain inside his upscale Fairfax Station home in October 2010 was the victim of a targeted robbery.
One year after the killing of Yong Suk Yun, 61, Fairfax County police detectives released new details Thursday to try to generate fresh leads.
Two more ID thieves plead guilty in ‘crime superstore’
Cliffview Pilot (N.J.)
A former Ridgefield resident today admitted his role in a “crime superstore” that stole identities from people in Asia to get credit cards and bank loans they then used to buy fancy cars, fine whiskey and designer shoes, among other luxuries.
Min-Soo “Chris” Son, 26, now of Fairfax, Va., was one of 53 people arrested in a massive fraud ring that bilked banks and other financial establishments by stealing the identities of Asian immigrants who worked in Guam and other American territories.
One of those charged, Kang Hyok Choi, was already in custody — awaiting trial for a triple murder in Tenafly.
Another member of the scheme, In-Suk Joo, 61, of Clark, N.J., pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to purchase a Social Security card to commit fraud. U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden scheduled sentencing for both for Jan. 30, 2012.
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Korean Woodstock upsets Leonia residents
Leonia Life (N.J.)
After a Korean festival sponsored by the Korean Produce Association of New York was moved from New York City to the Ridgefield Park section of Overpeck Park, Leonia Mayor Mary Heveran said she received over 50 voice mails and emails from residents complaining of concert noise on Oct 8 and Oct 9.
Approximately 50,000 attendees descended upon the park, putting county and municipal police to the test, as they attempted to maintain traffic control.
Heveran, who lives in the north end of town, said she heard the noise in her house, but it was not music she heard – it was the constant reverberation of the bass speakers blaring out above the crowd and into the surrounding towns.
“This is not only an assault on one’s hearing, but on one’s religious observance,” said Heveran, referring to Yom Kippur, the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. “Most importantly, it is an assault on our quality of life.”
Hines Ward: ‘Lot of football left in me’
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Even with his two touchdown-day against Tennessee, it’s clear Hines Ward is nearing the end of his great career. The question is: Does he know it? Ward was on with Jim Rome and said, among other things, “I’ll walk away from the game when I know I can’t play anymore. There’s still a lot of football left in me.”
5 hot murse trends
CNNGo
Not too long ago, murses were pretty much nonexistent.
“Men on average just used to stick stuff in their pockets,” says photographer and yourboyhood.com fashion journalist Hong Suk-woo, 28. But that changed around three years ago, which was when men “really started carrying bags.”
Hong is referring to the “man bag,” a broad category of purses, backpacks and other satchels tailored specially for guys.
JYP to Open Upscale Korean Restaurant in New York
soompi
JYP Entertainment’s CEO, Park Jin Young, has just announced that he is opening an upscale Korean restaurant in Manhattan, New York.
Called “Kristalbelli,” it is coined as the next hot Korean restaurant. Park Jin Young created the menu in collaboration with renowned Korean American chef David Shim. David Shim is a chef from the French restaurant, “L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon,” located at the Manhattan Four Seasons Hotel. “Kristalbelli” will also incorporate JYP’s personally-developed unique barbecue grill.
