Bits and Pieces

According to the Korea Herald and Yonhap, the "English craze" is alive and well in North Korea:

But news reports say that North Korea recently requested that a Canadian relief agency send English teachers. The Mennonite Central Committee will select two English teachers and send them to North Korea to teach from September this year until July 2012.

The agency said that this is the first time North Korea has requested English teachers and believes the move is meant to enhance the English-speaking ability of students.

Another agency in New Zealand has posted a notice on its website recently, saying they are raising funds to send a voluntary teacher to teach for three months in 2011 in Pyongyang, according to the Radio Free Asia report Tuesday. The NZ-DPRK Society sent the first westerner to teach English in a North Korean school in 2006. Tim Kearn, a former school teacher in Christchurch, had spent two years in North Korea, teaching English at three secondary schools in Pyongyang.

The Korea Herald also reported that

A small county on Korea’s southeast coast is waiting for confirmation that a clay pot it completed last year will be recognized as the biggest pot in the world.

According to Ulju County officials, the onggi, or earthenware pot, passed the Guinness World Records application, and is waiting for a representative to arrive next month and confirm the claim in person.

Officials also believe that since the publication will have to create a new category ― largest earthenware pot ― the pot’s chances of receiving the title are good.

I guess that's one way to win a contest - simply have a new category be set up in which you are the only contestant!

Another interesting report:

The Ahn Jung-geun Peace Foundation Youth Academy said on Friday that Japanese living in Fukuoka and Saga Prefectures would erect the Ahn Jung-geun memorial at the entrance of a temple in Saga, Japan, on March 25 to mark the 101st anniversary of his death.

If I had to make a guess, I would imagine the article left out the "Korean-" before the word "Japanese."

In the wake of a 45-year-old Korean man being arrested on suspicion of murdering his 25-year-old Cambodian wife about a year ago to cash in on insurance policies, the Korea Times looked at "defenseless" migrant wives. Another article looked at migrant workers - in particular the Migrants Trade Union - calling for fairer treatment, as well as looking at the challenges faced by a Bangladeshi woman married to a Korean.


The Joongang Ilbo looked at groups dedicated to finding missing children - founded by parents haunted by their own children who have never been found.