by Cat on February 27, 2006
According to this RIA Novosti story, it’s a possibility.
Substantial progress has been made in talks on the reconstruction of the Trans-Korean Railroad, the president of Russian Railways (RZD), a railroad transportation giant, said Sunday.
“The negotiations have been difficult. Nevertheless, we have advanced considerably on the issue of rail transport with the South Korean side, especially during the latest session of the international committee on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, which took place in Seoul last fall,” Vladimir Yakunin said.
ZD has been negotiating the reconstruction of the eastern sector of the Trans-Korean Railroad and its linkup to the Trans-Siberian Railroad for the past few years. The problem was brought up in August 2002, when Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il discussed the idea of linking up the South and North Korean railroads to create an uninterrupted railroad from the Far Eastern ports to western Europe.
by Cat on February 26, 2006
Dave was in Osaka, Japan, this week getting his work visa renewed and sent some pictures. I thought this train looked neat. I’ve posted some more pics here. I’m still back in the U.S., finishing stuff for the wedding and working. I’ll try to post Korea-related news when I can. But for now, I am mostly still updating the old blog. We won’t be completely here until May, when I can come back and execute my multi-level shopping attack on Myongdong.
by Cat on February 17, 2006
From the Lost Nomad comes word that South Korea’s LG Electronic is selling an air conditioner with a filter that will destroy the bird flu virus.
It filters air through a chemical mix that includes an enzyme extracted from kimchi, which is reportedly capable of eliminating the H5N1 virus. Kimchi is a spicy fermented vegetable dish made with red peppers, radishes and a lot of garlic and ginger. Koreans eat it with almost every meal. “It is too early to tally the sales figures yet but we believe the new air-con will sell very well,” a company spokesperson said yesterday. Researchers at Seoul National University said last year that they fed an extract of kimchi to 13 chickens infected with the bird flu virus, and 11 recovered.
The kimchi is powerful as well as tasty—not to be mocked. We shouldn’t be surprised. We hear it kept SARS out of Korea as well.
by Cat on February 11, 2006
Touched down a few hours ago in Atlanta and I am trying to get my internal clock readjusted. I’ll be in the States until after our wedding in May. In the meantime, I’ll post my random thoughts on Seoul-related topics from a distance.
For now, I’ll leave you with this quick observation. Three things you hear at night in downtown Atlanta that you don’t hear in downtown Seoul:
- Gunfire in the distance
- Circling police helicopters
- Car stereos that rattle your windows three stories up.
Ah, the good life.
