Benjamin A. Engel
@benjaminaengel
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Husband; Dad; Research Professor @IIASNU ; Ph.D from @SeoulNatlUni
Seoul
Joined March 2010
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11 calls telling the police what happened was going to happen. 11 times people’s calls for crowd control were ignored. One call at 8:53 specifically stated they were being crushed to death by the crowd.
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Korean govt has decided to use the word "accident" (사고) rather than "disaster" (참사) or "crush" (압사) because Itaewon is a popular tourist site and they don't want to give it a bad reputation.
This is as stupid as it is insulting.
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Unbelievably heartbreaking. I'm supposed to teach tomorrow to a group young adults in their early twenties, some of whom were in Itaewon on Saturday. Honestly I'm not sure how to deal with this.
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Forgive me one last self-congratulatory tweet about finishing my PhD. Just so cool to actually hold it.
It is undoubtedly full of shortcomings but the best dissertation is a finished dissertation.
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I mean everywhere is horrible, but here is a collection of pics of Seoul National University. Campus is on the side of Gwanak Mountain so a lot of water flows down the mountain and through campus. Utter destruction.
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Hi. I’m an American living in South Korea. My freedoms have in no way been curtailed by the Korean government’s response to
#COVID19
. If anything, effective and prompt government action has protected my unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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Tip from Americans who dealt with Trump for 4 years for Koreans upset with Yoon’s election: don’t waste time talking about Shamanism and his wife’s scandals, etc. It happened already and people voted for him anyway… Instead… (1)
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Poking around documents on Unification Church (for obvious reasons) and ran across this tidbit. Unification Church was financing activities of Jean Marie Le Pen (father of Marine Le Pen).
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@mrjeffu
Funny that at that age he still makes that same face we all did as kids when we hit something with a ball and broke it
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Extremely disturbing. Far right candidate and supporters are going around Korea and interrogating foreigners. They conduct “citizens arrests” by forcefully detaining people after checking their IDs. 1/
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Welcome to the world 지오~ My second baby boy. Mom is doing well. Big brother 태오 will be quite surprised when he wakes up in the morning .
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prepare your critiques about how his policies hurt people. Put women in danger. Make the rich richer and poor poorer. Bad for the environment. Whatever it is. Focus on the problems to come. Not the past…(2)
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This is going to get ugly politically fast if more such comments are made. We’ve seen it before, but this admin seems to have a serious aversion to accepting responsibility for their actions.
South Korea's Minister of Interior and Safety: "We understand this was not a problem that could have been solved by deploying the police or firefighters in advance."
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Deeply impressed by the care my students are displaying for one another after Itaewon. Their displays of concern and words of affirmation for one another while discussing the tragedy today were uplifting in an otherwise demoralizing situation.
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Especially since Yoon can’t stand for re-election. You’ll never defeat him by re-litigating his past. But you will have to defeat what he stands for again in the future. Move away from what this past campaign focused on—scandals—and start focusing on policy and solutions. End
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Just no words. As an educator at SNU, we are furiously trying to check in with our students this morning after hearing the news. My condolences to the families and friends impacted by this tragedy.
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Yonsei law school graduates standing up for protesting school maintenance staff by representing them pro bono. Current Yonsei students who are suing the maintenance staff now have to go head-to-head with their 선배 in court.
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Not meeting Pelosi was bad. Spending time with a former Sec of State a week later makes it look worse.
President Yoon met with Pompeo yesterday, who came Korea to attend a Unification Church-affiliated event alongside Newt Gingrich earlier that day.
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Dear foreign scammers writing in Korea: If you open your email with "여보세요" you're not going to have much success. May I suggest an "안녕하십니까?" At the least we may be tricked into reading past the first sentence.
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Kookmin University professors vote not to re-review Korean First Lady’s very blatantly plagiarized PhD dissertation. Can’t imagine how those whose work she stole feel. I’d be pretty livid.
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I'm very happy to officially announce that I am starting my first post-PhD position at the Institute of International Affairs at the Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University as a Research Professor on April 1.
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I worry the Yoon admin is learning the wrong lesson. If anything, the conflict in Israel shows that military preparedness alone cannot forestall such attacks. Preventing tensions from boiling over should be the priority.
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Thinking about this article again today and how over the top early reactions to the Korean Coronavirus response were in the American media before transitioning to the worse authoritarian, Confucian, obedient Asian takes.
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At the rate these Olympics are going, South Korea will be part of the Quad by the end of the month.
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If anybody ever doubted that Moon really despised Trump and played him like a fiddle into summits with North Korea, well here is proof. “America is back” is not something you say after a respected counterpart leaves office
.
@JoeBiden
, congratulations on your inauguration. America is back. America’s new beginning will make democracy even greater. Together with the Korean people, I stand by your journey toward ‘America United’.
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What a waste of a giant and important symbol in US-NK relations. This could have meant so much if done at the right time. Now history will remember it as a cheap sideshow arranged by a criminal US president to keep the bottom from falling out of his corrupt administration.
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Well I think it’s official now. I have successfully defended my dissertation. At the end of February I will be Dr. Ben Engel.
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Korean people: (Do something cool and remarkable)
World: Wow! That's amazing. So cool. Good for you. Hope we can do something like that.
Korean govt: (Eyes light up. Talks amongst itself about soft power and middle power diplomacy.) We shall call it K-_____.
World: 🙄😑
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Another thing: the Korean government doesn't make it easy for students to work (restrictions and paperwork) and complains about students coming on student visas and ditching classes to make money. But now it wants to funnel them into low-paying jobs to subsidize making babies?
I'm speechless. President Yoon Suk Yeol has said that foreign students and spouses in South Korea should be allowed to work as babysitters and housekeepers without minimum wage protections as a solution to the low birthrate issue and ease childcare burden.
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Well, I think its official now (unless visa nonsense or other regulations derail things):
I'll be lecturing at SNU's Graduate School of International Studies next semester in an official capacity. My first go at solo teaching an entire university course.
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Upset about some recent American accounts about the
#COVID19
situation in Korea which described the situation here as apocalyptic, I wrote in to my hometown paper.
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This message has been brought to you by the many stupid f***king Americans who know nothing about the rest of the world and moronically cling to American exceptionalism and “freedom”.
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Only 27.5% of South Korean women in their 20s view marriage favorably. Down from about 50% in 2008.
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Shout out to all the journalists working on Korea. On top of the tragedy in Itaewon now you have to deal with unprecedented North Korean provocations and unprecedented South Korean responses. Y'all must be exhausted. Thanks for all your hard work and take care!
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Korea: Foreigners shouldn't get loans. Foreigners shouldn't have permanent residency.
Also Korea: Why did the foreigner set up his company that produces YouTube videos on Korea in the UK? You should be paying us taxes because the videos are about Korea.
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While this isn't "news" to those who know the history of US-South Korea relations, its important that this story reaches wider audiences. And I think it important to note that this whole scheme was known at the top levels of the US govt 1)
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Parents' worst nightmare when sending kids to study abroad becomes reality for this family. I cannot imagine what they are going through.
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Korean politics really has gone upside down. Conservative Hong Jun-pyo polling at 71.9% among those in their 20s in a head-to-head with Dem Party frontrunner Lee Jae-myeong.
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Damn Korean socialized medicine providing us with choices in masks at a reasonable price. Where do I protest? This is not the capitalism that wants me dead I was raised to believe in.
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When something is premised on “non-Korean observers” or “only people who can speak Korean know this” etc., be wary. You are often being gaslighted.
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There is a running joke in my office that I’m the only weirdo to order 비빔국수 at this locally famous 수제비 집. Today I ordered 수제비 and the 사장님 couldn’t believe it. My boss said he had to take a picture. It was really good though and perfect for the freezing weather
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Living in the US would obviously be a vast improvement for many people around the world. But for many others, including myself here in South Korea, moving to the US would result in a grave decrease in my quality of life.
For all its very real problems, one shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the contemporary United States of America is one of the best places to live in all of human history and there’s a reason tons of people of all kinds from all around the world clamor to move here.
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Its good to see that some universities are offering counseling to their students, but it is invigorating my disappointment that SNU has not done or said anything about the tragedy.
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This is just horrible. The only thing worse than Trump's lies is watching Biden being unable to capitalize on them. For some reason Biden's team prepared him as if this would be a traditional presidential debate when it was never going to be one.
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This was a cool thread until I got here and just…no. Most of the “books” in this picture are fake. And just out of frame is a Starbucks. It is barely a library and certainly not beautiful.
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Studied Korean 12 years. I still do this...😢
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Americans are learning the wrong lesson from Korea. Drive thru is cool. Lots of tests is important. But the crucial thing is tests are *free*! And getting sick won’t bankrupt you. Zero hesitation to seek help and medical attention. Think all Americans can say the same?
Amazing! What South Korea is doing is really bending their
#Covid19
epidemic curve. Only 131 new cases today, versus 909 on Feb. 29.
It's not just China. This clearly can be done.
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Minister of the Interior expresses regret for his statement that more police would not have prevented the Itaewon tragedy. Says he will focus on handling the situation. Obviously keeping his mouth shut would have been best, but its good the Yoon admin took this step.
이태원사고 관련 긴급 브리핑 시 발언에 대한 행안부 장관의 입장을 알려드립니다. 이번 사고로 돌아가신 분들의 명복을 빕니다. 정확한 사고원인을 파악하는 것이 무엇보다 중요합니다만, 국민들께서 염려하실 수도 있는 발언을 해 유감스럽게 생각합니다. 앞으로 더욱 사고수습에 전념하겠습니다.
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Reading US documents from May 1980 regarding Gwangju and... geez its bad. Like I'm moving from the "US was ignorant or negligent" camp to "this was down right criminal" camp.
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The sky is the bluest I’ve seen it in Seoul in a long time. What a perfect day.
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Glad to know that if the academic job market in Korea doesn’t pan out I can find sub-minimum wage work as a nanny. That should be effective at feeding my two children.
I'm speechless. President Yoon Suk Yeol has said that foreign students and spouses in South Korea should be allowed to work as babysitters and housekeepers without minimum wage protections as a solution to the low birthrate issue and ease childcare burden.
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At the same time they are pissed. The anger was palpable. And this was from mostly foreign exchange students. I would assume the mood among Korean undergrads who have been failed twice by their gov't is even more severe.
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Hard to believe something like this would have been reported by the NYT 2-3 years ago. The influx of foreign media into Seoul after the death of democracy in Hong Kong is going to put South Korean politicians under the microscope.
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I encourage anyone concerned about the bullying toward An San and the ridiculous 🤏 controversy to read this informative thread. These “men” are punching above their weight and need to be brought down to size (pun intended 🤏)
S. Korean men are demanding the Korean Archery Association to take back the gold medals from Olympic record-breaking archer An San, alleging that “she's a short-haired feminist.”
And it's only the most recent episode in a barrage of mounting anti-feminist backlash here.
Thread.
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So in conclusion, at 6:32 the Seoul govt transmit ominous warning to take shelter and 19 minutes later says it was a false warning.
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Map of district results based on exit polls of the three major broadcasters. If these results pan out after votes are counted the PPP and conservatives will have been completely decimated.
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@JVeeBee
Alas we are not allowed to carry firearms. We console ourselves with the knowledge that children are not being shot at school.
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I have no horse in this race but I gotta say the distortion to this graph is pretty funny.
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My dissertation goes heavily into Koreagate--the illegal ROK govt lobbying in the US in the 1970s. During this research I brushed up against the Unification Church. In light of recent events, I thought I'd share a thread about UC deception in the US during that time (1/18)
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Kind of weird isn't it? How hard is it? "We are saddened by this terrible news and hope former Prime Minister Abe recovers quickly. We condemn political violence in the strongest terms." Done.
South Korea's presidential office is also declining to comment.
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Shameless self-promotion: if you want to read about how the Park Chung Hee government collaborated with academics in the 1970s to promote a positive image of their human rights-abusing regime, check out my article published last year.
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There was some recent flip-flopping by the Yoon administration when it comes to the human rights abuses in Xinjiang lately that may have understandably gone unnoticed due to the disaster in Itaewon. 1)
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I think we need more reminders than ever right now of what happened in May 1980 in Gwangju with the competing visions of Roh Tae Woo pour out. This account by James Young in his book "Eye on Korea" is particularly gut-wrenching to me.
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The PPP's solution to the falling birth rate seems to be to invite foreign workers to the country to live shitty lives. Low pay for nannies, removing funding for foreign worker support centers, and now doing away with provisions to protect equal pay for equal work.
President Yoon Suk Yeol has suggested South Korea should withdraw from an
@ilo
provision that dictates that foreign workers should be paid the same as locals.
Didn't know you could cherry pick which clause you liked.
Either way, shocking.
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Obviously a lot of legal questions here about which I am not an expert. But regardless of whether the arrests are legal, the manner of the arrest as shown in this video seems to violate human rights. The person being apprehended here can clearly be seen having trouble breathing
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Over 600,000 people have died in the US from Covid-19. This guy is either a sociopath or a complete idiot for thinking the US is an example to be emulated in pandemic management.
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This editorial title calls them the "Korean-style skinheads" in reference to neo-Nazi skinhead groups in Europe and North America.
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Probably shouldn't say this because if you find typos its on me, but I had the pleasure of editing many of the chapters of this book and there is a great deal of excellent analysis.
Delighted to share the cover of 'The Oxford Handbook of South Korean Politics', coming out in a few weeks. Analysing and critically evaluating contemporary South Korea in the areas of politics, society, economics, culture and foreign policy. More here:
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Rarely snows this much in Seoul. Quite beautiful but quite the ordeal as well. Some buses not operating normally, particularly inside our mountainous campus.
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Just got an email from the Office of International Affairs at SNU about the mandatory testing for foreigners. Expected it to be nuts and bolts details, but was pleasantly surprised 1/
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I'm not sure when this went online, but SAIS is putting together an easy to access collection of US documents on Korea. Collections on the democratization movement, Gwangju, and the Jeju Uprising are already open. Very cool.
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Reporters' facial expressions when listening to the presidential office's explanation of Yoon's hot mic swearing.
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Can we get the embassies to do the anti-discrimination law now? Address elderly poverty? Get rid of 수능? What else do we want?
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Woo boy. Busan's 128th confirmed patient came into contact with almost 1,000 people after experiencing his first symptoms 9 days before testing positive for
#COVID19
.
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People who argued against building a school for children with developmental disabilities in Seoul have filed an injunction against the screening of a documentary which covers the difficulties the parents and children experienced on their road to having the school built.
서울 강서구에 위치한 공립 특수학교 ‘서진학교’의 개교 과정을 담은 영화 ‘학교 가는 길’이 상영금지 가처분 신청��� 당했습니다. 정치권에선 소송 취하를 호소하는 목소리가 이어지고 있습니다.
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Gimpo airport, the smaller and older Seoul airport, has closed its international terminal (domestic one still open). No flights. Last one was on March 9.
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Welp. Graduation is in the books and I’m officially a PhD.
I guess that also means I’m officially unemployed too. 😬😖
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The bit about South Koreans being scared in 2017 is a joke. Those of us living here in 2017 weren’t scared because NK tested a nuke (again), we were scared because a Trump was acting like a moron hellbent on starting a war that would kill thousands if not millions.
It's here: full transcript of Andrew Kim's much-anticipated first public speech on
#NorthKorea
#denuclearization
is now published on our site:
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Guess I should note that this is from the CIA. Can be found in their “Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act” collection along with a document noting Sasakawa Ryoichi’s connect to the UC.
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Farewell Moon Jae-in. Lots of potential that wasn’t realized. Still, this piece was a fun one to write back in 2018 and it cannot be said enough: Moon helped avoid a Trump-made disaster early in his presidency.
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"We are pleased to notify you that the editorial board has decided to conditionally accept your submitted manuscript provided that the revisions suggested by the three anonymous reviewers are made."
😁
I really liked this paper and I'm glad the reviewers did too.
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Just got offered 1 million won/page to write someone’s UN employment written exam for them. What is wrong with people…
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Part of the South Korean govt's rationale for the deal with Japan is moving the relationship forward based on "shared universal values." In my book, not compensating victims of massacres and forced labor are not "universal values."
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In this video they've somehow dragged a man from Tanzania outdoors without shoes in late February (must have been very cold judging from the coat he is wearing) and have called the police. Basically they are filming themselves committing hate crimes.
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I think the story that Reagan told Carter ahead of Reagan's inauguration that he was jealous of Park Chung Hee's ability to use the military to deal with student protests is well known. What I didn't know was that Reagan had gotten to see it first hand in 1971.
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My son can pronounce tomato and 토마토 differently and knows that one is English and the other Korean for the same thing. I honestly had no idea before becoming a parent how intelligent toddlers are.
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The videos are interesting. The Saudi video is about the world. The Korean video is all about itself.
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Somebody has too much time on their hands. Go do something useful with your time.
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By far the straightest line on a map while flying to the US I’ve seen.
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In the above YouTube short, candidate Park Jin-jae claims the man is both an illegal alien AND a Muslim, as if both were crimes. And again, how they got the guy outside without a coat and no shoes is extremely concerning.
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Does anybody else get nervous while they write? I dread people reading my writing because I'm scared people will think I'm an idiot. In a way I feel like my writing is more about me trying to prove I'm not stupid than trying to prove some point. Imposter syndrome sucks
#phdlife
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“The government has notified US Forces Korea (USFK) that it will be paying the wages of the furloughed workers for the time being and that it means to use its eventual cost-sharing contribution to compensate itself for that cost.”
Bold position for ROK
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On the right is me and my buddy Jong-hyeok not long after I first got to Korea in 2010 (we first met in 2008). On the left is him and I after we finished our 10K run today in Seoul. Not so young anymore but still very much good friends.
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Its sad this is going to get lost in the American culture wars because Yeonmi Park's grifting has real implications for the thousands of NK refugees just trying to make it in the world.
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