korea

ROTTERDAM - South Korea's Ki-Chun Wang retained his -73kg title at the world judo championships on Thursday while Japan's Misato Nakamura clinched the women's -52kg crown.

Olympic Games silver medallist Wang was the favourite going into the tournament having won the Paris and Moscow Grand Slam titles this season and claimed his victory over North Korea's Kim Choi Su.

"Once you are fighting, the nationality of your rival is of no importance," said Wang of an opponent who has now won North Korea's third world medal after 10 years of failure.

Wang, just 20, had lost to Elnur Mammadli in the Olympic final last year, but the Azerbaijan judoka was missing from the tournament which cleared the way for the Korean star who had also been first in Tokyo and in the World University Games in 2009.

Wang, who two years ago became the second youngest-ever world champion, reached the semi-final by defeating Sezer Huysuz of Turkey.

Endthekoreanwar.org - July 27th is the 56th anniversary of when the United States signed a temporary armistice with North Korea to halt the fighting of the Korean War. Across the United States, five cities—Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland, and Washington, DC—held candlelight vigils to commemorate the signing of the armistice.

The armistice wasn't something to be celebrated because it only provided a stopgap measure to stop the fighting. The Korean War didn't end with a permanent resolution, without a peace treaty.

But it was significant at the time in 1953 because within three years, two million soldiers, including 37,000 U.S. troops, died. Three million Korean civilians were killed (1 in 10), and the entire Korean peninsula was decimated.

Koreanet - Thanks to the Korean wave, or "Hallyu" boom, movie lovers can see more Korean movie stars in Hollywood films these days.

Most recently on July 29, a group of Japanese fans flocked to Seoul to see Korean actor Lee Byung-hun at a press conference to mark the launch of his latest movie “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” with his co-stars Sienna Miller and Channing Tatum and the director Stephen Sommers (who made "The Mummy 3" (2008)).

Lee Byung-hun captured the hearts of Asian fans on the popular SBS drama "All In" (2003) co-starring Song Hye-gyo, and also his movies including "A Bittersweet Life" (2005) and "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" (2008). Lee's filmography has attracted the attention of other Hollywood film directors like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron.

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has issued a "special pardon" to two American journalists convicted of sneaking into the country illegally, and he ordered them released during a visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, North Korean media reported early Wednesday.
The release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee was a sign of North Korea's "humanitarian and peaceloving policy," the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Clinton, who arrived in North Korea Tuesday on an unannounced visit, met with the reclusive and ailing Kim — his first meeting with a prominent Western figure since his reported stroke nearly a year ago.
North Korea accused Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, of sneaking into the country illegally in March and engaging in "hostile acts," and the nation's top court sentenced them in June to 12 years of hard labor.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

CHICAGO – Most people are familiar with the popular catchphrase, “youth are the future.” Youth coined in this saying are dubbed to become the next generation of educated leaders in their communities and their country. Young people who graduate from high school and go onto college are likely to fit this wishful description.

Yet some 65,000 undocumented high school graduates nationwide are forced to opt out of attending college every year. Most cannot attend college, or if they do, receive no financial support from the U.S. government. These are students who have grown up in the U.S. their whole lives, brought here by their hard working immigrant parents so that they can receive a better education. However the reality of going to college if you are undocumented is limited. Many argue it’s due to a broken immigration system that continues to deny basic human rights to the estimated 12 million immigrants living and paying taxes in the U.S. today.

Joongang - A large portion of Koreans born in the United States, Canada and some other countries with sizable time differences with Korea have two different birth dates on their passports and social security numbers.

That’s because Korean law mandates that Koreans born abroad have their births registered in Korean time, not local time. For example, when a Korean couple gives birth to a baby in New York at 1 p.m. on July 10, it translates to 2 a.m. on July 11 here.

The baby will have July 10 as a birth date on his or her U.S. passport and Social Security card, while the baby’s residence registration certificate and Korean passport will have the later date. And in extreme cases, a person born on the last day of the year can have even the year of birth extended due to the time gap.

Double nationality holders complain they are at time mistaken for being illegal immigrants. Sometimes, they can even be black-listed by overseas immigration offices.

New Jersey - "We wanted to do something more," said Se Ri Pak, the tour's best-known Korean player and winner of five major championships. "We want to do something for the community, and for Americans."

The LPGA Tour long has been considered one of the most ethnically diverse professional sports organizations on the planet. Once dominated by Americans and Europeans, nearly a quarter of its exempt players are now from South Korea.

Last year, three of the women's four majors, including the U.S. Open, were won by Asian players (the fourth was won by Mexican Lorena Ochoa). And of the 24 top players on the Rolex World Ranking list of female pros, half are Korean -- and only five are American.

Starting Thursday, golfers from 21 countries, including the United States and Puerto Rico, teed it up for the first three rounds of the 64th U.S. Women's Open in Bethlehem, Pa. Eight of the top 16 players going into Sunday's final round were Korean.

AA E-Zine - One of the dumbest things you can do is pay to be insulted, yet many Asians and Asian Americans do it on a regular basis. Both Asians and Asian Americans indiscriminately pay to see movies. Movies that constantly depict them in stereotypical roles, martial arts masters, accented untrustworthy foreigners, sneaky dragon ladies, terrorists, or evil gangsters, exotic, submissive sex objects, asexual, or chauvinistic Asian men and Asian women who exclusively date White/Black men (as depicted in media), or who are oppressed.

BBC - Two US journalists arrested by North Korea near its border with China are to face trial, North Korea's state media has reported.

Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, who work for Current TV, who is the sister of famous Journalist Lisa Ling were detained on 17 March.

The North said it had decided to charge the women after completing an inquiry into their "crimes" - although the precise charges remain unclear. The North says the two women illegally crossed the border from China.

"Our related agency has decided to turn the US reporters over for trial based on findings of their crimes," KCNA reported.