It's been a while since I posted anything related to Korea, so here they are:

Jung Mong-joon – I took my wife and son to a Korean barbeque place (Nool-Bom meaning Forever Spring on Keily Ave.) in San Jose last weekend.  I met Jung Mong-joon there and had a brief talk with him.

Jung Mong-joon is a son of the founder of Hyundai, vice-chairman of FIFA, and ex-candidate for Korean Presidency.  After losing the candidacy to Roh Moo-hyun, current Korean President, he came US to do some 'research' at Stanford.  I thought he was at Hoover Institute, but apparently he is at Asian Institute or something.  Lee Hwae-chang, the Other Loser, is at Hoover Institute now.

My impression of him was a well-mannered, empty man.  Empty in a sense that there is nothing he really truely wants.  He felt like a tumbleweed blowing in the wind of desires blown by his father and those around him.  Strangely enough, he seemed content.  I felt this strange impulse to yell at him, but didn't because I didn't want to 'wake' him.

Smoking on TV – Whenever I watched Korean TV, I saw smoking almost every ten minutes.  Smoking was a generally accepted expression for stress and distress.  Recently, Korean TV companies decided together to ban smoking on TV.  Funny thing is, this was done really quickly and without any public outcry.  Is that strange or what?  Now there are these odd moments when characters would have smoked before, but now doesn't.  Weird.