The North Koreans have agreed to return to talks, OneFreeKorea isn’t too optimistic: "North Korea will have to compromise substantially on transparency, something I doubt they’re prepared to do.". Also at 1FK, a reader’s letter indicates that the dictatorship’s film-making propaganda department may soon start to employ focus groups.:
A North Korean propaganda film about the repatriation of a spy Lee In-Mo who had languished for years in a South Korean prison may have a short shelf life, according to defectors now living in the South.
"What we could not believe in the movie was that Lee and others were conducting hunger strikes in the prison," said one defector about the movie.
"Refusing to eat was a form of resistance in the South? Boy, South Korea must be a paradise. That’s what we said among ourselves"
Deng Xiaoping will not be on the 500 yuan note - unfortunately that means, should such a bill come into existence, it will also have Mao’s murderous mug. Also from Danwei, news that China continues to use formaldehyde in beer.
Tokyo and Beijing have agreed to co-operate against the Triad and Yakuza.
After a successful soft launch, the Shanghaiist goes live tomorrow. Given that the venture is headed by Dan Washburn, and features esteemed contributors such as Running Dog and myself, expect nothing less than excellence.
Big media… well Canada’s CTV .. have started to notice Western corporate complicity in China’s internet censorship (though it’s sad that a Canadian broadcaster didn’t bother to mention Nortel (or Alcatel).:
Now, U.S. companies are providing equipment and software that
enables service providers to enter thousands of banned keywords and web
addresses for automatic blocking.
Cisco Systems Inc., which is based in San Jose, Calif., sold the
communist country routers that have the ability to block not only the
main addresses for web sites, but also specific sub-pages, while
leaving the rest of the site accessible.
Japundit continues to debunk myths about the ‘tiny archipelago ‘ although the ‘panty-pulling craze’ is a less attractive myth than two earlier debunked hoaxes.:
Two of the most famous Japan craze hoaxes are the see-through skirt hoax (neither the see-through version nor the printed-on version of this hoax is true) and the scanty bathing suit hoax.
In Malaysia, TV Smith reprints a letter to the editor that really should have been published.:
On April 29 this year, reader Donald Tan copied me a letter he sent to a major newspaper. In it, he stated his worries about a precariously perched flyover. It was being built over a busy expressway he uses daily. He also enclosed a picture (above). The letter was never published by the newspaper nor the subject investigated for reasons unknown…
This afternoon, prophetically enough, the structure collapsed onto the road below, smashed a passing car and injured several workers.
The bishops of the Philippines no longer live under the shadow of Sin (Cardinal Jaime Sin that is) and have decided to remain out of politics. A separation of Church and State in the Philippines would be amazing. Now all that’s needed is a removal of the influence of ex-presidents (While I like Ramos, I would also extend Torn&Frayed’s list to include the late Marcos).
Who says Singapore is conservative… Cowboy Caleb brings us a look at the phallic souvenirs of the Lion City.
Of course just because Singapore isn’t conservative doesn’t mean it’s entirely liberal.:
Media freedom in Singapore is constrained to such a degree that the vast majority of journalists practice self-censorship rather than risk being charged with defamation or breaking the country’s criminal laws on permissible speech.
Wannabe Lawyer points out why I couldn’t find any decent pinball games in Singapore.
