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Korea (Page 18)

Kimchi is a fermented cabbage dish from Korea that is often referred to as “Korea’s national dish.” It’s so pungent that those who enjoy eating copious amounts of kimchi have been known to purchase a separate fridge dedicated to storing it. For decades, Korean mothers have sworn by the health benefits of adding kimchi to one’s diet, but now it seems scientists agree as well. New research published in the Journal of Medicinal Food suggests that eating even a small amount of kimchi every day may help lower cholesterol, LDL (“bad cholesterol”), and fasting blood glucose levels.

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In Japan, pachinko – a game similar to pinball but with multiple balls in play and minus the flippers – has always been a big business.  “Pachinkoten” (dedicated pachinko parlors) have become about as commonplace as temples and hot springs, and it’s not uncommon to see small crowds of men waiting outside such establishments early in the morning, waiting for them to open.

A phenomenon that is particularly noticeable in recent years is that of the large numbers of Koreans coming to Japan to gamble. Up until seven years ago, Korea’s pachinko industry was booming. However, when gambling laws were introduced to combat the recent rise in addictions, many players were left out in the cold with nothing to fill the gap. But with a thriving pachinko scene just a couple of hours away on the plane, many Koreans are heading to Japan to pick up where they left off.

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It happened again! Yet another “large order” at McDonald’s has caused controversy on the Internet. This time, a group of young people in Korea gathered at their local McDonald’s restaurant and ordered an obscene amount of french fries. These kids could be described as mischievous or simply hungry, but either way the end result of their fry ordering rampage was a row of tables filled with greasy fried potatoes that cost 270,000 won (US$250) in total. After witnessing the mound of french fries in his store, a McDonald’s worker decided he had had enough of these shenanigans and told the kids, “Stop causing trouble, you brats! Get out of here!”

As it turns out, a majority of the Internet supports the McDonald’s worker’s harsh words.

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Korea’s chart-topping boyband BIGBANG has been cited in Korean high school music textbooks as an example of plagiarism.

The above image was taken by a second year high school student moments after she received the book. She then uploaded it to Twitter where it has since shocked many Korean Internet users.

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South Korea has been enacting more stringent punishments for violent sexual crimes which appear to be on the rise in the country.  As the government is recommending castration as a possible solution one citizen is doing his part to prevent these awful crimes.

His name is Hong Gwang Ui, a 43 year-old father of a four year old son, and using his knowledge as an engineer for the military he crafted a simple device which sets off an alarm if within 30 meters of a convicted sex offender.

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Emergency Ration Gummy iPhone Case From Korea Comes in 8 Delicious Flavors Including Kimchi, Garlic Cream, and Fish Lip

Do you ever get hungry during a meeting? Why not chew on your iPhone case?

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Back in high school, the best my friends and I could come up with to cause a ruckus was a little underage drinking, but kids these days can manage to bring countries to the brink of war with their shenanigans. Lawless whippersnappers!

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SoraNews24 Taste Test: Korean Feces Wine

As reported last week, SoraNews24 recently brought back two bottles of Ttongsul, or “feces wine,” from South Korea.

After running the story on our Japanese site, we received a fair bit of criticism from our Korean readers, who insisted that Ttongsul no longer existed in the country and this is just something Japan contrived to smear “mud” on Korea’s good name.

Getting our hands on the beverage was certainly no easy task, and we can tell you for certain that you won’t find bottles of it being sold on the shelves of Korean supermarkets. We imagine most Koreans today have never laid eyes nor lips on the beverage, nor would they want to.

Yet, believe it or not, here we are with two bottles of feces wine and only one thing left to do: serve a glass to the cutest girl in our office.

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LSH Pork Cutlet: It’s Finger Sucking Good!

Everyone wants a little KFC, but Asia in particular has embraced the greasy wings served up by everyone’s favorite self-made restaurateur Colonel Sanders.  In Japan, the Colonel is so beloved his statues can be found outside of nearly every franchise – often in costume.  He even enjoys the same privacy rights as other citizens.

He is also the victim of various copycats this side of the Pacific. In Korea there is said to be a knock-off restaurant operating right next to a legitimate KFC in broad daylight.  We sent Kuzo in for reconnaissance.

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Korean Feces Wine is a Real Thing and We’ve Got Two Bottles of it, Contains Cat Bones as Well

Ttongsul, or “feces wine”, is a Korean drink made by pouring soju, a distilled grain alcohol,  into a pit filled with chicken, dog, or human feces, and leaving the mixture in the pit for three to four months until it ferments. It is then extracted from the pit and drank straight, with the belief that it can cure illness and help in the aid of bone fractures.

It sounds like the stuff of urban legends, but Ttongsul is indeed a real beverage that, while by no means popular, can still be found if you know where to look.

How can we be sure? After nearly six months of extensive research, RocketNews24 was able to track down a private Ttongsul vendor in South Korea and procure a bottle of the elusive feces wine ourselves.

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When you think of France, the Eiffel Tower springs to mind. China has the Great Wall, and how about the Statue of Liberty for the USA? Even Brazil has that big Jesus statue. Now, what comes to mind when you think of South Korea?

That’s not meant to be an insult. Most countries suffer the same lack of iconic, world-renowned landmarks, like my own home of Canada. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. (Yes, I will keep telling myself that, thank you.)

But South Korea may be on the verge of breaking out of this group with the discovery of a 100 year old piece of cultural heritage – a sewer!

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Double Drink Bottles a Hit in Korea, Especially with the Hopelessly Indecisive

RocketNews’ ever faithful correspondent, Kuzo, stumbled upon a new type of drink while traveling abroad.  The bottle is divided down the middle with one side containing 100% orange juice and the other holding grape juice.

The cap has two separate spouts and lids, so if you want a sweet treat of grape juice just do that side. If you feel a cold coming on then go the other way for a vitamin C boost.

Or if you want to really take a walk on the wild side, flip them both up for a very loosely mixed orange/grape blend.

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Stereotypes; you have to love them.

Americans all own guns; every Brit has bad teeth; Asians make bad drivers; Koreans all eat Kimchi.

Usually stereotypes are utter nonsense- none of my American friends have ever held a real gun, let alone own one; a Japanese friend of mine once piloted my car along possibly the narrowest mountain road known to man when I was too freaked out to do it myself; and, as far as I can tell, my teeth are not in need of any urgent dental work.

But with 18kg (40lbs) of kimchi consumed per person in Korea each year, there might just be a grain of truth to that last  stereotype.

So when news broke earlier today that Korea now imports more of its own national dish than it makes, it’s understandable that there were a few raised eyebrows… Read More

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Korean Baby Got Back for About Twenty Bucks at the Market

South Koreans like big butts and they cannot lie, but those Japanese brothers try to deny.  That’s right. It looks like the big butt trend has finally hit this side of the Pacific.  The first nation to fall victim to a big ol’ badonkadonk: South Korea.

One of our reporters got a first-hand experience while travelling there recently, when she stumbled across a pair of padded panties designed to give you that extra junk for your trunk.

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【TGS 2012】 WeMade Entertainment Impressions: Farmville-Meets-Final Fantasy App “Hero Square,” Mobile MMO “Arc Sphere” and Social Game Clones for All!

Social and mobile games are enjoying a strong presence at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, with social game giants GREE and gloops occupying some of the largest exhibit spaces in the venue.

But it’s not just Japanese companies throwing their weight around on the mobile floorspace: Korean online game developer WeMade Entertainment, known in Asia for their popular MMO series The Legend of Mir, is showing six new Japanese-language titles for iOS and Android devices to build anticipation for their full-scale entrance into the Japanese mobile game market later this year.

Bored of the repetitive tap-based social card games, I decided to spend some time with WeMade to see if the Korean developer was bringing anything new to the table.

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The Cakes at Seoul’s Hello Kitty Cafe Are So Cute, You’ll Feel Bad Mutilating the Face of the World’s Most Beloved Cat

Just about everyone knows Hello Kitty.  The Japanese born cat of Sanrio, with her simple expression and cute little bow, has reached the far corners of the world.  Hello Kitty, known as Kitty-chan in Japan, has made appearances on lunch boxes, debit cards, $5,000 necklaces, electric guitars, and even airplanes.

The expressionless white cat’s overwhelming popularity has spread throughout the world, prompting the creation of the Hello Kitty Cafe franchise in South Korea with locations in Seoul, Incheon, and Sinchon.  One of our reporters, enamored by the cuteness that Japan’s most famous cat exudes, decided to pay a visit to Hello Kitty Cafe’s Seoul location.

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Man Frames Octopus for Murder or Vice-Versa, Trial Ongoing in South Korea

In Incheon, South Korea, a bizarre murder trial is taking place surrounding the 2010 death of a 22 year-old woman, referred to as Ms. Y.  The defendant is her boyfriend, 31 year-old Mr. K.  Prosecutors are demanding that Mr. K be sentenced to death for her murder.

With a key piece of evidence missing, he must convince the court of his side of the story: an octopus did it.

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Japan and Korea have not been on the best of terms recently, thanks mostly to a territorial dispute over literally a couple of rocks known as Takeshima to the Japanese and the Dokdo islands to Koreans.

As so, now may not be the most welcoming time to visit Korea if you’re Japanese, and vice versa.

To cite an extreme, in Korea there is even one net cafe that has gone so far as to post a sign outside reading: “No Japs Allowed.”

But if you read the fine print, you’ll notice that the management isn’t being completely unreasonable with the ban.

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Nothing brings a nation together like a common enemy and the Olympics give us an excuse to degrade every other country on the planet world without it seeming xenophobic.

It was in the midst of this festive atmosphere that Gallup Korea published their annual poll showing the country’s opinion of the rest of the world. The results? South Korea hates Japan even more than North Korea and loves America the most.

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