North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Marshal of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, First chairman of the National Defense Commission, First secretary of the Workers’ Party, Chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission, and Supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, didn’t show up at the huge ceremony commemorating the 69th anniversary of North Korea’s only political party, which he heads, like his daddy and granddaddy before him. In fact, Mr. Kim hasn’t been seen in public since September 3rd. What’s up with that?
Korean novelty pop star Psy (Park Jae-sang) hosts LA’s Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus, Jr.) on a binge-drinking tour of Seoul in a new music video. The hard part must have been convincing Snoop to forgo his customary herb for Korea’s potent soju(소주) distilled spirits, the best-selling booze in the world.
Across the International Date Line, Santa was sighted over Asian rooftops. NORAD continues to track Santa’s flight, and you can monitor it here. Google even shows you Santa’s Dashboard.
Related:
“Why Did NORAD Start Tracking Santa?” Matt Soniak, Mental Floss
“Santa’s journey differs on Google, Microsoft trackers,” Craig Timberg and Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post
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Sun Myung Moon, Korean minister and head of a global business empire which includes seafood giant True World Foods, has died in South Korea’s Cheongshim Hospital, owned by the Unification Church he founded. Reverend Moon was either 92 or 93 years old (reports differ). His secretive but vast business interests sell “cars, guns, newspapers and sushi” around the world, according to Businessweek.
“Moon has purchased and controlled a number of seafood companies around the world, including True World Foods, a wholesaler that distributes sushi and other seafood to more than 8,000 Japanese restaurants around the U.S. Moon has also claimed holdings of seafood and shipbuilding companies in Alabama and Alaska…..”
— “Sein Reich war von dieser Welt [“His kingdom was of this world”],” Patrick Zoll, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center detected a 4.7 magnitude seismic event in North Korea last week:
While the USGS cannot positively identify the seismic event as a nuclear test, it was shallow and located in the vicinity of the 9 October 2006 North Korean nuclear test.
What other type of powerful process could it have been, buried slightly underground? That’s the traditional way to store Korean pickled vegetables, and a magnitude of 4.7 is considered “mild” by kimchi aficionados.
The USGS event report is here; scientific formulae on the Korean pickle here.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.