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Korea (Page 19)

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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According to South Korea’s Far East Daily newspaper, China’s public radio broadcast an interview with a currently active Major General who spoke like many Generals do, with much aplomb and sabre rattling to be heard. Let’s see what he has to say.

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Only 4 July, Suwon, South Korea officially opened their newest attraction; “The Restroom Cultural Park” which is the world’s first toilet theme park.  To answer the question on everyone’s mind – What the…? – we should first look at a little background on Suwon city.

This city located outside of Seoul is well known for two things.  First, the great Hwaseong Fortress ranks among UNESCO’s world heritage and has ruins which run throughout the city.  Second is their recently deceased mayor who was known affectionately as Mr. Toilet.

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[Breakthrough] A Cursive Lower Case Y Looks Just Like Lupin III

Hot on the heels of the latest Higgs boson development, leading graphologists are in a frenzy to confirm a new hypothesis set forth by one Twitterer: A cursive English letter y bears a striking resemblance to anime’s favorite criminal Lupin III when you add little eyes, a nose and an ear.

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Like Spicy Food but Bummed by the Summer Heat? Try Some Frozen Kimchi

Summer seems to get hotter every year. For those of us who like spicy food it can be too burdensome to eat after working up enough of a sweat from the cooking alone.

To help this dilemma, a popular Korean Barbeque restaurant, Gyukaku, has announced that it will start selling a new style of frozen kimchi from 20 June.

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Newly Developed Memory Could Make Your Smartphone Battery Last 10 Times Longer

Good news for users of smartphones and other portable devices constantly frustrated by batteries that don’t seem to last the day.  A new type of energy saving memory has been successfully developed that can extend your battery life from 5 to 10 times.

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Breakthrough Material Can Alternate Between a Solid and a Liquid Simply by Shining a Light

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST for mercifully short) has announced the development of a new material that can be used as an adhesive product.

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Pack Your Boxes With Style: X Tape Gussies Up Plain Cardboard

In a world where all that existed to hold cardboard boxes together was normal brown packaging tape and cloth tapes, Korean designer Jeong-Min Lee saw a need and taped it up.

Lee’s snazzy “X Tape” spruces up spring cleaning and storage with eccentric designs printed on rolls of clear tape. Designs featuring metal hinges or leather straps can turn a plain cardboard box into a steamer trunk, and metal bolt and spiral notebook designs can add some fun to a gift or package. Read More

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