North Korea, as a whole, is clearly anti-American.  South Korea is less clear.  Older South Koreans are pro-America as expected, but younger generation seems to be leaning toward anti-American sentiments.  Focus of anti-American sentiments in South Korea is not based on differences in idealism, but apparent imbalances in the relationship between American and South Korea.  Whether justified or not, young South Koreans are proud of their country and America threatens that pride.

There are Korean kids who maintain detailed list of all the incidents caused by American soldiers such as rapes, beatings, and how the guilty escaped justice thanks to the mighty America.  Passed through several people, these stories gets bloated and turn real ugly.  Result is kids thinking South Korea is under the occupation of America.  Bush's actions and words nudge that kind of thoughts further along their paths.

I am not saying we'll see freedom fighters in the streets of Seoul anytime soon.  But I am concerned about the trend because there seems to be no significant counterforces.  Generation-gaps dilute influences by the older generations.  Internet actually makes the problem worse because most South Korean kids shun non-Korean sites and communicate almost exclusively among themselves, thus amplifying negative feelings.

Dave and Marc are talking about Dun Dun, chinese spicy noodles in heavy peanut sauce.  I had a lot of that at one of Dave's bloggers dinner and so did Dave.  Peanut is supposed to be good for your health, but it sure didn't taste like health food.

Speaking of spicy noodles, try Bi-Bim-Naeng-Myun, a Korean spicy noodle.  Bi-Bim means mixed.  Naeng means cold and Myun means noodle.  Put it all together and you get Mixed-Cold-Noodle.  What makes it special is what you mix the cold noodle with.  Usually its real mean spicy red pepper sauce.  My wife knows the secret receipies of Oh-Jang-Dong, a neighborhood in Seoul famous for Bi-Bim-Naeng-Myun, and it is spicy enough to put me on a week of liquid diet if I had it too often.  Now thats spicy!  Yum.

Michael Earl says Cambridge has spicy noodles. "I strongly recommend Mary Chung's Dun Dun Noodles (in Central Square, Cambridge) — heavy noodles in a hot peanut-based sauce, shredded chicken optional. The Peking Ravoli and Suan La Chow Shao soup are also fabulous. It's a favorite of the MIT comp-sci culture, interestingly." [Scripting News]

I heartily concur. In fact when I first heard Dave say 'spicey noodles' I thought of Dun Dun noodles and David Levitt – my friend who went to M.I.T. who used to take me to Mary Chung's.  I believe it's on Mass Ave.   David now has a company called "Connected TV". [Marc's Voice]

I guess it had to happen.  Korea caught the lotto craze with prize going reaching $100 million.  Unfortunately, there were too many winners and people are hopping mad.  Even if you matched 4 out of 6 numbers, you get only about $20 because there were seven hundred thousand people who matched 4 numbers.  Now that sucks.  But at least these folks were better off than those who matched only three numbers, well over three million of them, who probably got only coins.

My wife buys lotto whenever she dreams of catching pigs, swimming in or stepping on manure.  Koreans are into dream interpretations and these sort of dreams are considered to bring in fortune and luck.  Yes, there are bad dreams that will make Koreans afraid to go outside.  Its not that Koreans really believe in dreams, but more like 'why take a chance when you don't have to?'

This is one of those random topics I thought people might enjoy reading about.  Names for Korean days of the week are same are Japan.  I don't know who copied who, but I doubt it was copied from China because China uses different names for days of the week.  Meaning of the names translates perfectly to Western names for days of the week which supposedly originated from the Babylonians.

Monday is Wol-Yo-Yil.  Wol means moon.  Yo-Yil means day of week.  Eveyone knows that Monday means Day of the Moon, right?

Tuesday is Hwa-Yo-Yil.  Hwa means fire.  In Korea, planet Mars is named Hwa–Sung where Sung means Star.  Tuesday also means Day of Mars in the West.  I don't know which came first, but I am pretty sure one of the two, names for days of the week and names for the planets, came first.

Wednesday is Soo-Yo-Yil.  Soo means water.  Since Mercury is named Soo-Sung and Wednesday means Day of Mercury in the West, we have another match.

Thursday is Mok-Yo-Yil.  Mok means wood.  Jupiter is named Mok-Sung in Korea so Jupiter part matches.

Friday is Goom-Yo-Yil.  Goom means gold or metal.  Venus is named Goom-Sung, again matching Friday as Day of Venus.

Saturday is TTO-Yo-Yil.  TTO means earth.  By now, you should be able to guess that Saturn is named TTO-Sung in Korea.

Sunday is Yil-Yo-Yil.  Yil character means day or sun.

Was this post interesting?  If not, let me know.

Joi Ito's blog posts about Japan are similar to my blog posts about Korea, providing personal glimpses into Japan and Korea.  I am thinking about adding a blog category in Korean for my fellow Koreans to read, but I couldn't be too controversial because my father is not exactly anonymous in Korea.  Anyway, its comforting (?!?) to know that Korea is not any more rotten than Japan.  All I knew of Japan before were learned from their movies: samurai, yakuza, anime, and porn (^^!).  Thank you, Ito-san.

Kim Dae-Joong, the outgoing Korean President, won the Nobel Peace Prize during his term for meeting Kim Jong-Il, the head honcho of North Korea with an itch for nukes.  Korean newspapers are reporting that Korean version of CIA wired $200 million to Kim Jong-Il's henchmen in Macao one day before historic meeting.  The money was supposedly provided by one of Hyundae companies in return for some fishy bank loans.  While I wouldn't mind getting a Nobel prize, $200 million seems a little steep.

My father was born in a village called Park-Chun 75 years ago.  My grandparents are buried there and my relatives still live there although I have never met them.  So Park-Chun is sort of my ancestor's place.  What ties Park-Chun to the events unfolding now is its location: 30 minutes or so down river from Yongbyon, the most likely target of US bombers in North Korea.  I am glad our bombs are smart.

Pacific Fleet goes on alert and more bombers are moving over there.  Playing the game of chicken with Koreans is not a very smart thing to do because losing face is a bigger deal to a Korean than death.  So I am half expecting news of bombs over North Korea and artillery shells over Seoul.

I'll bet these bombers are not carrying chocolates nor blankets.

Bombers Put on Alert for Possible Deployment to North Korea

When I was twenty, I found an old army blanket.  So I asked my mother.  The blanket is from the Korean war!  My mother not only kept it all this time, but brought it along to United States when our family immigrated.  I asked her why, and she said "you never know when we'll need it again."