unhingedkorean - Tumblr blog

[unhingedkorean]

South Korean government has been dodging repeated information disclosure requests (akin to FOIA in USA) about how much South Korean weapons are being sold to Israel and about 43.9 million US$ worth of South Korean weapons sold to Israel between 2014-2022...

Not surprised to see my former workplace on the list (it's why I was only there for less than 2 month but ehhhhh)

Why the fuck did you ratify ATT if you're going to just ignore it and keep supplying weapons for civilian massacre

[unhingedkorean]

The embassy of Israel in Korea posted a "what if Hamas terrorized Seoul" video, and it is absolutely ridiculous. "Imagine if this happened to you." L M F A O we don't have to imagine, people who lived through Japanese colonization are still alive. We get it drilled into our head that Korean War never really ended and it could restart any time from elementary school.

And Israel IS the aggressor right now. I know the war crimes inflicted against Palestinians is no laughing matter but this video and Israel is a fucking joke.

The original video was taken down, but here is a news coverage about it. SBS (major Korean media outlet) makes sure to cover Israel's attack against Palestinians as well to show how hypocritical it is. (There's attack footage in the video)

I know Israel is trying to PR their way out of war crimes but they picked the wrong fucking audience.

Solidarity with Palestinians.

[unhingedkorean]

becoming an adult cheat sheet!

learn to coupon

what to do when you can’t afford therapy

cleaning your bathroom

what to do when you can’t pay your bills

stress management

quick fix meals

find out if you’re paying too much for your cell phone bill

resume workshop

organize your closet

how to take care of yourself when you’re sick

what you should bring to a doctor’s appointment

what’s a mortgage?

how to pick a health insurance plan

hotlines list

your first gynecology appointment

what to do if the cops pull you over

things to have in your car in case of emergency

my moving out masterpost

how to make friends as an adult (video)

how to do taxes (video)

recommended reads for surviving adulthood (video)

change a flat tire (video)

how to do laundry (video)

opening a bank account (video)

laundry cheat sheet

recipes masterpost

tricks to help you sleep more

what the fuck should you make for dinner?

where should you go for drinks?

alcohol: know your limits

easy makeup tips

find seat maps for your flight

self-defense tips

prevent hangovers

workout masterpost

how to write a check

career builder

browse careers

birth control information

financial management software & app (free)

my mental health masterpost

my college applications masterpost

how to jumpstart a car

sex ed masterpost

[unhingedkorean]

for any feminists who said "from the river to the sea" is antisemitic on this platform or elsewhere; that you 'support' Palestine,' but this slogan incites violence against Jewish people... i sincerely hope you know better now. it would have been imperative of you, to begin with, to listen to Palestinian voices and activists about the meaning behind this phrase before condemning it, considering how much American and Israeli propaganda has painted any Palestinian resistance and demand to end the Israeli occupation, as a form of terrorism.

here is a video, albeit it's about 3 minutes long, for folks who are interested in learning about its origins. it is informative and gives context behind "from the river to the sea," for anyone who would like to learn about its' history and meaning:

[unhingedkorean]

Must watch. This is what we have to be doing!

[unhingedkorean]

"Paid subscription or advertisements" dichotomy is so funny to me, like wouldn't advertisers want to advertise to people who spend money...

[unhingedkorean]

So a Korean university forcibly "deported" (in quotes because they obviously don't have the authority to deport anybody) 22 Uzbekistani students who were enrolled in their Korean language program.

The policy for the visa they had requires that they maintain 10,000,000 KRW balance in a bank account for 3 months, but the university didn't notify the students properly, so they didn't know and withdrew the money to spend.

This policy doesn't make sense to begin with. While many countries require bank statements for visa approval, that is to make sure that the applicant has enough money to afford the high initial cost of settling into a foreign country, i. e. you're expected to spend that money once you arrive. That's what the bank balance requirement is usually for. So making people keep that money sitting in the bank for three whole months (which is the duration of this language learning program) makes no sense. Whenever I studied abroad or did semi-long stays overseas, never once was I expected to re-prove I still had that money after I'd arrived in that country.

But that aside, this was obviously a mistake on the school administration's part. And the Department of Justice wouldn't even have deported the students or penalized them at all; they would have been given some grace period to restore eligibility, and it could have all worked out okay. If the school was concerned for their students and was honest about their mistake, which it obviously was not.

Instead, the school hired private security and lied to the students that they had to go to the immigration office to get Foreigner Registration Cards. Since that card is for foreigners staying over 90 days, it is unlikely that it would even be applicable to students doing a 3-month program, but I guess a lie doesn't need to make sense. Once they got on the bus, they went to the airport and threatened them into taking a flight out of the country. They literally bought tickets for the private security staff so that they can follow the students all the way to the gate to make sure they got on that plane.

The school then promptly expelled them all for "leaving without permission" (after forcing them to leave) and refused to refund the tuition unless they signed a document saying they left voluntarily. Not to mention that the students' belongings were all left in the school dorm because the school lied and didn't give them time to pack up. It is so devastating and infuriating.

This is so evil, and I really do believe that they would not have done this to students from "first world" nations.

Hanshin University still has "Progressive university ahead of the time and leading the world" slogan on their website front page.

I don't even know what to say. I'm mad and baffled.

[unhingedkorean]

i saw the trailer for the new feel-good “anti-racist” US war movie about the carpet bombing of North Korea and started writing up something for this blog, partially inspired by the absolute shit storm i got for sharing that post i made with pictures of everyday life outside pyongyang

and then i gave up, because what’s the point? westerners can’t even handle a single picture of a north korean not looking miserable without screaming propaganda

meanwhile, there are no stories about the horrors of life in the ‘hermit kingdom’ that are deemed too outlandish to be believable. i can’t remember who said it, but it’s like the entire country has taken up permanent residence in the western imaginary as some silly little cartoon villain, where the leaders of the country does evil things for no discernible reason. they’re just silly and evil like that, and the citizens, of course, are silly, too. silly and brainwashed.

i watched a video recently of a tourists visiting an auto dealership in pyongyang, and the entire time he was just gawking at the employees and costumers, shoving his phone in their face, and confidently explaining to his youtube audience that everyone he’s interacting with are actually actors.

what level of dehumanization do you have to reach for that thought to even cross your mind? to think that the people you see before you are actors? that entire cities and shops are erected with to sole purpose that you, a western, will see them and be impressed?

what frustrates me the most is the casual cruelty that seeps into any mention of north korea, no matter how small. if north koreans are not being evil, they’re being silly.

a north korean newspaper reports that a group of archeologists in pyongyang have discovered an old rock carving with the words ‘unicorn lair’ (mistranslated), and the western press reports that north koreans now believe in unicorns.

a tourist at a hotel in hamhung is told by the receptionist to be careful at the beach: the waves can get high. that day the tourists goes to the beach, and there are no waves. she retells the story to her instagram followers, explaining that the poor woman at the hotel could never have seen real waves before because north koreans are probably never allowed to travel.

she adds a little teary-eyed emoji.

one of the cities i included in the post was sariwon, a densely populated city to the south of pyongyang. below are some pictures from its “folk customs street”, which was built to showcase old korean traditions and customs

here’s all wikipedia has to say about it

Built to display an ideal picture of ancient Korea, it includes buildings in the “historical style” and a collection of ancient Korean cannons. Although it is considered an inaccurate romanticized recreation of an ancient Korean street, it is frequently used as a destination for foreigners on official government tours. Many older style Korean buildings exist in the city.

it’s just north koreans being silly again. there’s no mention of what might motivate them to build a street like that — why the preservation of old customs, culture and architecture might somehow be important for the city

could it perhaps have something to do with how the U.S. air force dropped 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,557 tons of napalm, over the korean peninsula during the war? the carpet bombings, which are now the topic of an upcoming hollywood movie about overcoming racism through warcrimes, destroyed an estimate of 85% of all buildings in north korea. some cities were entirely wiped off the map.

in sariwon they missed a few buildings, but not many — after an intense firebombing campaign the U.S. military estimated the destruction of sariwon to be at 95%.

none of this is mentioned on the wikipedia page for sariwon.

we destroyed entire cities. memory-holed the entire thing, called it the forgotten war. and now, 70 years later, we’re convincing ourselves that the people living in the ruins are actors.

and somehow the north koreans are the brainwashed ones

[unhingedkorean]

i must not get takeout. takeout is the wallet-killer. takeout is the little-death that brings total obliteration. i will face the kitchen, fridge, and pantry. i will make choices about what to cook and then execute them. when hunger is gone there will be nothing. only i will remain.

[unhingedkorean]

Jacobin having a book-volume obituary of Kissinger made and sitting on it waiting for him to die... Koreans should have done this for Chun Doo-hwan tbh but if we're gonna be out-hatered, I'm glad it was over Henry fucking Kissinger. May they both rest in distress.

[unhingedkorean]

train/bus: arriving in 10 minutes

me in Seoul: ah shit I just missed it

me in Gyeonggido/Busan: hell yea I'm right on time

me in Sacheon-si: you guys have public transportation?

[unhingedkorean]

I started a newsletter... subscribe if you want less unhinged koreaposts

[unhingedkorean]

Mathematician with a LaTeX fetish.

[unhingedkorean]

Small correction: 항문외과 isn't TCM it's colorectal surgeons

I love when conservative people's brains have been so cooked by internet overexposure that they see a cis man and a cis woman dating and go "There's something soy and possibly homosexual happening here" bc the guy isn't bench pressing a moose and the girl has a job

[unhingedkorean]

People should only be allowed to make vlogs in public if they manually cover all strangers' identifying characteristics, so like not just faces but also tattoos. Preferably their entire image. And no, you can't run strangers' faces through any kind of software that automates this process, which likely uses some form of facial recognition to do so. The alternative to that is getting a signed release form from everyone that happens to be passing by. Hope that helps.

[unhingedkorean]

Imo the loveliest part of this is that the original-ish term "officetel" is supposedly a portmanteau of office and hotel but more often than not has neither. They usually have commercial units in the lower floors and residential ones in upper floors but the businesses there are restaurants and stuff rather than what one would call an office and the residential units are no different from apartments

Korean real estate in general is very confusing, but the most frustrating thing is that nearly all forms of dwellings are named with loan words that mean wildly different things from their origins

Apartments are for people who are at least middle-class to live in (technically not wrong but what differentiates "apartment" from any other buildings with multiple residential units is that it is a condominium)

Villas are where people who can't afford apartments live (but are actually apartments)

Mansions are most likely dilapidated and cramped (and are apartments. decades ago people thought it fancy to name their buildings mansions and those are really old now. We only recently stopped naming apartments ____ Castle or _____ Palace, so...)

Condo is for expensive vacations and often owned entirely by a large hospitality corporation (it's a resort)

[unhingedkorean]

I see women quoting the photo of Zendaya posted by Tom Holland complaining that male significant others always post "bad" photos of us. (Idk, to me she doesn't even look bad, perhaps different from the image of the actress that we're used to)

And it is true in my experience as well; men really do seem to like the weird and "unflattering" pictures more. Which made me realize that I only see myself when I am intentionally taking selfies or looking at the mirror, but in fact I am seen by others in ways I wasn't even cognizant of. Once I got over the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, I came to terms with the fact that my existence as a human is seldom picture-perfect and I am perceived Like That even more so with people closest to me, and that is something I am loved for rather than in spite of.