Inspector O is a detective working in North Korea, solving crimes in the politically dangerous world of the DPRK.
Sounds a bit like the Sano Ichiro novels, except set in modern day Pyongyang instead of feudal Japan.
Nothing from the article I really felt worth copy/pasting, but I did check out Amazon. All 5 novels are available for Kindle or physical form. Looks like I have some reading to do…
Interesting but considering how much spy fiction set in East Berlin came out of the Cold War I’m actually a little disappointed we haven’t seen more of this. Would probably make for some good tales but I guess due to the extreme isolation it’s a bit harder to write for this setting aside from the POV of a DPRK citizen doing stuff…
I’m guessing a lot of it depends on how much of a foreign culture another culture is willing to adopt. The U.S. has been friends with Japan and Korea for about the same length of time, but the U.S. has adopted Shogun, Anime, karate, ninjas, sushi, kendo, and some seriously advanced bondage. It’s like macrame! But Tae Kwon Do, K-Dramas, Korean cuisine and K-Pop are only slowly entering the American cultural scene, and no one knows what the Korean sexuql “Advanced Techniques” are, if any.
Karaoke bars come and go in the States. If someone decides to try and open one, but outside of Hawaii, every one I’ve ever seen in the Mainland has folded within 6 months.
Still, I might have said the same about China, and now look at it. Chairman Mao is long gone, and the Chinese Economy is going strong. Sure there are problems, and some can grow into big ones, but for now…
I stopped in at a used book store. Grabbed the first of the Inspector O novels. Let’s see what they are about.
I’m thinking two things are big factors in Japanese culture outpacing Korean in global penetration.
Ever since WW2’s end Japan’s focus was on rebuilding and getting back into the game, people eventually started visiting there and having great times and would bring a little of it back with them. Korea on the other hand had another slugfest ahead with their idiot cousins to the north and even afterwards despite “the miracle on the Han” it’s never been quite the attraction Japan was due to the looming menace in the north. There’s still a huge number of people who don’t know which country people speak of when they hear “I’m going to Korea”.
Secondly of the “big 3” Korea really only excels in boredom… I mean conservatism and it seems they’re fine with that. China’s got the others beat when it comes to culture, and Japan wins in the openness and fun department. If no one has any desire to come interact with you and you’re sitting there in a big of your own self-admiration not caring then of course all the “Asian stuff” that makes its way onto the global scene will be from other countries. To top it off there’s still a huge chunk of Koreans who passionately embrace isolationist views.
I could go on and on but hey… boobies and sthuff… 😈
“Yo yo, Setnaffa, your jokes really suck
and now that ya met me, ya done run outta luck.
So now I’m gonna play, and I’ll do it competitively
as I tap on your head lightly and repetitively,” ChickenHead rapped.
Well, that’s a good start. You’ll notice “Tom” was the butt of the jokes. I had thought you’d want to play through, rather than getting stuck behind an amateur like me…
Good Luck! Do you have to go to Radiation next? And did your wife fatten you up? I lost 50 lbs during my treatment, and it was no fun at all. 195-225-175…
I hope it’s radiation next. 3rd round of chemo between now and me telling the PET/CT Scan nurses “I’m ready for my closeup now.” Still down about 20 pounds; but I could have afforded a lot more…
Thanks. I hope when it’s over and I build up my vacation time again to offer this crowd a seasonally appropriate beverage in a “safe space” like the shopping area out front of Osan AB. That might take a year or so…
Chesty Puller still wants to know where you fix the bayonet.
Anyways, it’s Fox News, so the standard Grain of Salt rule applies. Also, how do they intend to get these nuclear suicide bombers into place, and what is the amount of time from when you start spraying at the enemy and the enemy dies of cancer?
This could make for a big, expensive clean up, but the logistics of using such a weapon seem mighty high. Flame throwers have a range of an incredible 20-30 feet, so if someone were to be coming towards me with flaming death, I would think I would shoot them before they closed. I’m not the greatest shot in the world, but I think I can his a slow walking target at >30 feet.
Ah, Fatty Kim! Don’t you ever stop being a goofball. I so need my daily laugh.
There are several ships out at sea, and pier operations in several ports are refusing entry due to concerns they won’t get paid. According to the article, the South Korean company ships approximately 8% of the tonnage between the Pacific Rim countries.
This could cause quite a bit of turmoil in South Korea, since I think Hanjin ships a lot of product back and forth between Korea and China.
$400 million in European currencies on a pallet, shipped in the middle of the night on an unmarked plane?
If we were able to determine his whereabouts and he did indeed have a family, I seriously doubt the NorKs would allow his family to leave if they let him leave.
Actually, since this news has been made public, if he is really alive in the North, I wouldn’t put it past them to kill him and erase any evidence of his existence there to prevent us from finding him.
I don’t have a problem with remittances so much as I do with people sending them that aren’t supposed to be here by our laws.
Since many of those people are from Mexico, and the most cost effective way to stop them seems to be building the wall, then one way to either finance it or to use as leverage to convince Mexico to pay a lump sum directly is to put fees on all remittances to Mexico. Another idea I heard is to put fees on anyone travelling to Mexico from U.S. Raise funds and hurt their tourism industry at the same time. None of this is out of spite. These are mechanisms to persuade Mexico to do the right thing and help us to fix a problem that they have contributed to, if not caused completely, either by mistake or intentionally.
I have no doubt that if the Philippines shared a border with the U.S. that we would have similar numbers of illegal Filipino immigrants and would need to address that issue as well.
ChickenHead
8 years ago
Johnnyboy…
As of now, the US government seems much more interested in what American citizens are doing with money legally earned overseas, which may be brought into the American economy, than with money illegal aliens illegally earned in America which is taken out of the American economy.
America’s priorities have diverged from sense and reality on so many fronts.
Hopefully Trump fixes some of this.
Sidenote: Anybody who thinks Trump cannot negotiate exactly what he wants out of Mexico is a bit of a fool. America has the upper hand in almost every aspect of this issue… he has motive means, and opportunity.
Interesting little fluff piece about a fictional North Korean detective in modern day Pyongyang:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-hardboiled-fictional-cop-keeps-watch-045313964.html
Inspector O is a detective working in North Korea, solving crimes in the politically dangerous world of the DPRK.
Sounds a bit like the Sano Ichiro novels, except set in modern day Pyongyang instead of feudal Japan.
Nothing from the article I really felt worth copy/pasting, but I did check out Amazon. All 5 novels are available for Kindle or physical form. Looks like I have some reading to do…
Interesting but considering how much spy fiction set in East Berlin came out of the Cold War I’m actually a little disappointed we haven’t seen more of this. Would probably make for some good tales but I guess due to the extreme isolation it’s a bit harder to write for this setting aside from the POV of a DPRK citizen doing stuff…
I’m guessing a lot of it depends on how much of a foreign culture another culture is willing to adopt. The U.S. has been friends with Japan and Korea for about the same length of time, but the U.S. has adopted Shogun, Anime, karate, ninjas, sushi, kendo, and some seriously advanced bondage. It’s like macrame! But Tae Kwon Do, K-Dramas, Korean cuisine and K-Pop are only slowly entering the American cultural scene, and no one knows what the Korean sexuql “Advanced Techniques” are, if any.
Karaoke bars come and go in the States. If someone decides to try and open one, but outside of Hawaii, every one I’ve ever seen in the Mainland has folded within 6 months.
Preview of the first novel looks good. I may have to break down and spend money on these…
Invest Long on North Korea? Hmm… I’d have to think about that. Money tends to just vanish with a “Thanks for the Tribute. Now Pizz Off.”
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/jim-rogers-bought-north-korean-132343883.html
Still, I might have said the same about China, and now look at it. Chairman Mao is long gone, and the Chinese Economy is going strong. Sure there are problems, and some can grow into big ones, but for now…
I stopped in at a used book store. Grabbed the first of the Inspector O novels. Let’s see what they are about.
I’m thinking two things are big factors in Japanese culture outpacing Korean in global penetration.
Ever since WW2’s end Japan’s focus was on rebuilding and getting back into the game, people eventually started visiting there and having great times and would bring a little of it back with them. Korea on the other hand had another slugfest ahead with their idiot cousins to the north and even afterwards despite “the miracle on the Han” it’s never been quite the attraction Japan was due to the looming menace in the north. There’s still a huge number of people who don’t know which country people speak of when they hear “I’m going to Korea”.
Secondly of the “big 3” Korea really only excels in boredom… I mean conservatism and it seems they’re fine with that. China’s got the others beat when it comes to culture, and Japan wins in the openness and fun department. If no one has any desire to come interact with you and you’re sitting there in a big of your own self-admiration not caring then of course all the “Asian stuff” that makes its way onto the global scene will be from other countries. To top it off there’s still a huge chunk of Koreans who passionately embrace isolationist views.
I could go on and on but hey… boobies and sthuff… 😈
The lowest form of humor?
Bad URL? How about this:
http://tinyurl.com/z7ut85a
“Yo yo, Setnaffa, your jokes really suck
and now that ya met me, ya done run outta luck.
So now I’m gonna play, and I’ll do it competitively
as I tap on your head lightly and repetitively,” ChickenHead rapped.
Well, that’s a good start. You’ll notice “Tom” was the butt of the jokes. I had thought you’d want to play through, rather than getting stuck behind an amateur like me…
http://tinyurl.com/zutxqw4
There are some things in life that can affect you more than a SAC ORI in Winter: http://tinyurl.com/zktz9uf
I’ll leave you with this, as I need to start third and hopefully last chemo on Wednesday: http://tinyurl.com/j35gy5q
“While I agree CH is the King, I’m not above a royally bad joke now and again,” he said majestically…
Good Luck! Do you have to go to Radiation next? And did your wife fatten you up? I lost 50 lbs during my treatment, and it was no fun at all. 195-225-175…
I hope it’s radiation next. 3rd round of chemo between now and me telling the PET/CT Scan nurses “I’m ready for my closeup now.” Still down about 20 pounds; but I could have afforded a lot more…
Good luck, Setnaffa!
Thanks. I hope when it’s over and I build up my vacation time again to offer this crowd a seasonally appropriate beverage in a “safe space” like the shopping area out front of Osan AB. That might take a year or so…
Over 90 Million Americans out of work and Slick Willy wants to import Syrians to rebuild Detroit? http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/08/29/bill-clinton-calls-for-rebuilding-detroit-with-syrian-refugees/
Nuclear Flame Throwers?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/31/north-korea-reportedly-arms-fighters-with-nuclear-backpacks-spraying-uranium.html
<blockquote.Elite North Korean soldiers have been armed with “nuclear backpacks” to spray deadly uranium at the enemy, reports claimed today.
Chesty Puller still wants to know where you fix the bayonet.
Anyways, it’s Fox News, so the standard Grain of Salt rule applies. Also, how do they intend to get these nuclear suicide bombers into place, and what is the amount of time from when you start spraying at the enemy and the enemy dies of cancer?
This could make for a big, expensive clean up, but the logistics of using such a weapon seem mighty high. Flame throwers have a range of an incredible 20-30 feet, so if someone were to be coming towards me with flaming death, I would think I would shoot them before they closed. I’m not the greatest shot in the world, but I think I can his a slow walking target at >30 feet.
Ah, Fatty Kim! Don’t you ever stop being a goofball. I so need my daily laugh.
~Scoops McGee
Look at CNN, finally catching on…..
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/01/news/economy/mexico-peso-money-transfer-trump-remittance/index.html
What is the punishment to North Korea if they actually kidnapped an American citizen to teach English?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3769044/Vanished-student-David-Sneddon-kidnapped-Kim-Jong-lives-North-Korea-wife-kids.html
Hanjin Shipping may declare bankruptcy.
http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2016-09-01/hanjin-bankruptcy-causes-global-shipping-chaos-retail-fears
There are several ships out at sea, and pier operations in several ports are refusing entry due to concerns they won’t get paid. According to the article, the South Korean company ships approximately 8% of the tonnage between the Pacific Rim countries.
This could cause quite a bit of turmoil in South Korea, since I think Hanjin ships a lot of product back and forth between Korea and China.
~Scoops McGee
$400 million in European currencies on a pallet, shipped in the middle of the night on an unmarked plane?
If we were able to determine his whereabouts and he did indeed have a family, I seriously doubt the NorKs would allow his family to leave if they let him leave.
Actually, since this news has been made public, if he is really alive in the North, I wouldn’t put it past them to kill him and erase any evidence of his existence there to prevent us from finding him.
This is a sad story.
JB – The Philippines is the same way brother.
I don’t have a problem with remittances so much as I do with people sending them that aren’t supposed to be here by our laws.
Since many of those people are from Mexico, and the most cost effective way to stop them seems to be building the wall, then one way to either finance it or to use as leverage to convince Mexico to pay a lump sum directly is to put fees on all remittances to Mexico. Another idea I heard is to put fees on anyone travelling to Mexico from U.S. Raise funds and hurt their tourism industry at the same time. None of this is out of spite. These are mechanisms to persuade Mexico to do the right thing and help us to fix a problem that they have contributed to, if not caused completely, either by mistake or intentionally.
I have no doubt that if the Philippines shared a border with the U.S. that we would have similar numbers of illegal Filipino immigrants and would need to address that issue as well.
Johnnyboy…
As of now, the US government seems much more interested in what American citizens are doing with money legally earned overseas, which may be brought into the American economy, than with money illegal aliens illegally earned in America which is taken out of the American economy.
America’s priorities have diverged from sense and reality on so many fronts.
Hopefully Trump fixes some of this.
Sidenote: Anybody who thinks Trump cannot negotiate exactly what he wants out of Mexico is a bit of a fool. America has the upper hand in almost every aspect of this issue… he has motive means, and opportunity.