Environmentalist touts stylish way to an eco-friendly life
Korea Herald
Few youngsters have tried so hard to change the world as Danny Seo, who has championed eco-friendly ways of living at the tender age of 12 when he founded Earth 2000, an organization aimed at saving the planet from pollution.
By the time he was 18, Seo had turned Earth 2000 into the largest teenage activist charity in the United States.
Now at 35, this Korean-American has once again transformed himself ― albeit staying with the theme of natural biodiversity ― as an eco-stylist.
Seo was previously named one of “40 Under 40” to watch by Crain’s New York Business and also one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” in the self-described environmental activist is the author of several popular books, including “Conscious Style Home,” “Generation React” and “Heaven on Earth.”
Seo graced the cover of KoreAm way back in January 1999.
Lit Motors CEO Dan Kim aims to reinvent the motorcycle
Geek.com
The more daring among us commute by motorcycle. Granted, riding a motorcycle is a great deal of fun, and a whole lot windier. Yet, as Lit Motors CEO Dan Kim notes, there hasn’t been much progress in terms of safety with the production of motorcycles. Thrill and safety have an inverse relationship, and with that in mind, he has set out to reinvent the motorcycle with the fully enclosed C1.
It seems as if the C1 rode straight out of a science fiction film. The two-wheeler exists somewhere between motorcycle and car with the small form factor of a motorcycle and the safety of a car. Yet, with the design, one may wonder how it doesn’t tip over. That problem is dealt with by a gyroscopes that provides over 1,300lb/ft of torque. As demonstrated in the video’s animation, the C1 will manage to stay upright in the event of a collision.
Fraud Case Rocks Democratic Party
Wall Street Journal
Accusations that a campaign treasurer stole more than $1 million from Democratic candidates across California have jolted the party on the eve of the 2012 campaign season.
Kinde Durkee was arrested Sept. 2 and accused by federal authorities of stealing campaign funds and using the money to pay for an array of personal expenses, including mortgage payments, cosmetics and nursing-home care for her mother. Based in Burbank, Calif., the 58-year-old had long managed money for scores of Democratic campaigns.
“It is really a broken trust,” said Sukhee Kang, the mayor of Irvine, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives next year. Mr. Kang believes that more than $45,000 is missing from his campaign funds. He said he checked one campaign bank account earlier this week and instead of finding an expected $22,000 there, it contained $718.
Kim Yu-na Dolls to Hit Market Next Year
Chosun Ilbo
Molded figurines of skating queen Kim Yu-na and actor Ryu Si-won will be available on the domestic and export market next fall, according to Seoul. The municipal government has signed agreements with two firms to provide a subsidy of W150 million to manufacture the dolls.
Celebrity dolls are a huge industry in the U.S. and Japan, and are gradually gaining in popularity here. Dolls resembling actors Bae Yong-joon, Song Seung-hun, Lee Byung-hun and the cast of MBC’s popular TV show “Infinite Challenge” are already available.
The Different Faces of Korean Heritage at the Portrait Gallery
Smithsonian Magazine
Born in 1974 in Seoul, Korea, but raised in Maryland, artist CYJO sought to explore the lives of Koreans living abroad in her breakthrough series “The KYOPO Project,” currently on view at the National Portrait Gallery. Kyopo refers to any people of ethnic Korean ancestry who live outside Korea and is a reflection of a diverse diaspora. The work consists of a collection of pictures of more than 200 people of Korean descent posed head-on, looking directly at the camera. They are both straightforward and intimate portraits ranging across professions from bankers to students, and ages from the very old to the very young. Accompanying every photo is a short autobiography. The pieces are displayed one after another, juxtaposing a variety of subjects and a wide range of experiences, all helping to define “what it means to be Korean and a citizen of the world.”
Check out our August 2011 feature story on CYJO here.
Japan Questions 9 North Korean Defectors
AP via Time.com
Japanese authorities questioned nine suspected North Korea defectors Wednesday, considering their request to be sent to South Korea after they were found in a small wooden boat off Japan’s western coast.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura hinted that it was leaning toward honoring the group’s desire to be sent to South Korea.
North Korean Cruise Seeks Tourists, 8 to a Room
New York Times
It was billed as a cruise ship, but the creaking, nearly-40-year-old vessel that set sail from the remote North Korean town of Rajin had more of the trappings of a tramp steamer. With its cramped cabins and cut-rate cuisine and foul, water-deprived bathrooms, it was not about to compete anytime soon with Cunard or Carnival in the leisure industry.
Then again, it does not have to. As North Korea’s latest venture into the tourism business, it need not concern itself with rivals . The trick, as its operators conceded, will be to attract enough vacationers.
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Russia, NKorea to hold joint military exercises: general
AFP via Google News
Russia and North Korea will stage their first joint military exercises next year after agreeing to expand their ties during Kim Jong-Il’s visit to Russia last month, a general said on Tuesday.
The decision to stage the unprecedented search and rescue naval operations was reached during a late August visit to Pyongyang by Russia’s Eastern Military District commander Igor Muginov, Interfax reported.
S. Korean maestro meets N. Korea artists
AFP via Google News
A renowned South Korean conductor attended orchestra performances and met artists on a visit to Pyongyang aimed at promoting cultural exchanges and ease tensions, state media said Wednesday.
Chung Myung-Whun, who leads the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and also serves as as a UNICEF “goodwill ambassador,” arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with two senior Seoul orchestra officials.
