US House and Senate to Vote on KORUS FTA Wednesday
Arirang News
The long-awaited ratification of the Korea-United States free trade agreement is making progress in Washington.
US congressional leaders say the House of Representatives and the Senate will vote Wednesday on the pending deals with Korea, Columbia and Panama which will be one day before Korean President Lee Myung-bak is set to visit the White House for talks with US President Barack Obama.
Man arrested in Greenport was wanted for murder in South Korea
Suffolk Times (Long Island, N.Y.)
A South Korean man who was wanted for murder in his native country was arrested after he began throwing fish back in the water when he was seen fishing by Southold Town Bay Constables at Clark’s Beach in Greenport Sunday morning, according to police reports.
Police said the Bay Constables, while on patrol just after 11:30 a.m., saw Byungsoo Kim, 57, who currently lives in Long Island City, fishing on the beach.
When the constables approached, Mr. Kim began throwing the fish he had caught back into the Sound, despite the fact that officers told him not to throw away the fish. While the officers were writing him a summons for dumping finfish, Mr. Kim fled on foot.
Not long after, the officers discovered that Mr. Kim was wanted by Interpol for murder in South Korea.
Passing the past along at Korean Festival
Baltimore Sun
She was born in South Korea, loves her homeland’s traditions with a passion and has officially served the burgeoning Korean-American community in Maryland for more than six years now. But Michelle Kim still insists that as a cultural ambassador, she sets something of “a poor example.”
Kim, an official with the Korean Society of Maryland, helped organize the 34th Korean Festival in West Friendship on Saturday, an event that drew thousands of people on a brilliantly sunny afternoon.
But as Korean pop music throbbed in the background, the aromas of traditional foods like songpyeon (steamed rice cakes) and bulgogi (barbecued beef) filled the air, and a group of children tried their hands at yut nori, an ancient stick-tossing game, she still seemed a little preoccupied.
Korean festival merges tradition, modernity in Ridgefield Park
Bergen County Record (N.J.)
From the traditional bowls of bibimbap to the new global allure of K-Pop, the Korean harvest festival at Overpeck County Park seemed to have something for everyone on Saturday.
The Korean Produce Association of New York held the annual festival in New Jersey this year, a first in the event’s 29-year history. Thousands of attendees from as far as Cape Cod and as close as Teaneck and Englewood descended on the park for the start of the two-day event featuring Korean food, entertainment and wares.
The shift to New Jersey created some challenges for visitors, many of whom showed up at the Leonia section of Overpeck instead of the Ridgefield Park section where it was held off Challenger Road. But once there, crowds sampled tasty dishes while vendors peddled magazines, handmade soaps, candies and other goods.
Noise level at Korean festival triggers complaints
Bergen County Record
The noise generated by rock and pop music at a Korean festival at Overpeck County Park over the weekend brought a cacophony of complaints from residents of neighboring towns.
Residents e-mailed county officials and the media and called the police and politicians. Leonia Mayor Mary Heveran said she received an unusual number of complaints from residents who live some distance away.
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North Korea suspected in poison-needle attacks
Los Angeles Times
On a Sunday evening in August, a middle-aged South Korean pastor collapsed suddenly near a taxi stand in Dandong, a Chinese city on the Yalu River overlooking North Korea.
The 46-year-old, who used the name Patrick Kim, had a discolored complexion, spots on his fingers and limbs, flecks of foam on his mouth. He was dead by the time he reached the hospital.
The pastor was a human rights activist who secretly helped people slip out of North Korea into China. And his family and South Korean diplomats believe he was killed by North Korean agents in retaliation. The weapon of choice: most likely a poisoned needle.
N.J. school petitioned over textbooks
Japan Times
A Korean-American has filed a petition against a Japanese school in New Jersey requesting it stop using a textbook that allegedly describes South Korea’s control of the Takeshima islets, which Japan lays claim to, as illegal.
The unpalatable appetites of Kim Jong-il
The Telegraph (U.K.)
While his people are left to subsist on boiled grass and ground tree bark, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il indulges shamelessly in only the world’s finest food and wines.
Korean WWII Film Promises Big Action, Bigger Drama
The Hollywood Reporter
A new World War II action drama with an Asian perspective promises never before-seen battle scenes rife with humanist messages.
After holding a large-scale press junket at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the makers of My Way held the first Asian media showcase in Busan on Saturday. Footages of the 28 billion-won Korea-China co-production were revealed during the event, featuring exquisite period details of 1930s Seoul to bloody battle sequences on European battlegrounds.
Showing My Face in Support of the DREAM Act
La Prensa San Diego
By David Cho
For three years as a UCLA undergraduate student, I was the drum major conducting the 250-member UCLA marching band with great fanfare in front of 75,000 people at the Rose Bowl. I became the first Korean American drum major in UCLA history. Majoring in international economics and Korean, I maintained a 3.6 grade point average and graduated a quarter early. This Fall, I will become a double Bruin attending the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs to obtain my Master’s in Public Policy (M.P.P.). I hope to analyze and implement public policies that will improve the welfare of our Los Angeles community. My parents brought me to California from South Korea at the age of 9. It seems like I’m the picture of the American immigrant success story. But it is more complicated than that. I’m facing the very real possibility of deportation.I didn’t know that I was undocumented until I was accepted into UCLA. That was when my father showed me a letter saying the family’s visa wasn’t valid. I stared at that letter feeling as if my world had turned upside down.
MSU music faculty member to perform Oct. 13 at White House State Dinner
Montana State Univ. News Service
A member of the Montana State University music faculty will play Oct. 13 at the White House at a state dinner for the presidents and first ladies of both the United States and South Korea.
Angella Ahn, who teaches violin at MSU, will perform at the White House with her two sisters, Maria and Lucia. The three compose the celebrated Ahn Trio.
“We’ve been fortunate to play in many wonderful venues throughout the world, but never before have we played at anything like this,” Ahn said. “As musicians, what an honor it is, to say the least.”
Fan club for NK leader’s grandson opened on Facebook
Dong-A Ilbo
A fan club for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s eldest grandson Kim Han Sol has been opened on the social networking service Facebook.
The person who opened the Facebook page did not disclose his or her nationality and name. Considering most messages were posted in either Korean or English and the year of birth was recorded as 1995, the person is assumed to be a Korean teenage girl.
Mr Kim sings praises of taekwondo
Northern District Times (New South Wales, Australia)
IF you ask West Ryde resident Myung-Man Kim the secret behind his fit and youthful appearance, he’ll happily credit his lifelong devotion to the Korean martial art of taekwondo.
Mr Kim is 61 but he could pass for a man at least a decade younger. He has been practising taekwondo, the most popular form of martial arts in Korea, for more than 50 years and has achieved the highest rank of 9th Dan Black Belt, known as Grandmaster.
Film Tells Stories of Divided Korean Families Hoping to Reunite
infoZine
A film by Jason Ahn and Eugene Chung tells the story of some of these families. The film, “Divided Families,” was screened Tuesday on Capitol Hill for an audience that included Korean Americans.
Pak Se-ri disqualified for signing wrong score
Yonhap
Pak Se-ri has been disqualified from the ongoing LPGA Tour event in South Korea for signing a wrong score, tournament organizers said Saturday.
Officials at the LPGA Hana Bank Championship, being held at Sky72 Golf Club in Incheon, west of Seoul, said Pak had written down a 3 for her score on the par-3 17th during the first round Friday, after she had actually scored a bogey 4. Her first round score on the leader board was a four-over 76.
Violinist Sarah Chang to perform at St. Cecilia Music Center Great Artist Gala
The Grand Rapids Press (Mich.)
Born in Philadelphia and raised in New Jersey, the daughter of two professional musicians, Chang was just 8 years old when she made her debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1989. Three years later, she became the youngest musician ever awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
In 1994, Chang was hailed as Newcomer of the Year at the Classical Music Awards.
