<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0">Dear List-comrades,<BR>
<BR>
Another question. I'm new to the world of Korean blogs.<BR>
Amid all the rant and dross, which ones are any good?<BR>
<BR>
I only really began to explore these thanks to NKZone,<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><A HREF="http://nkzone.typepad.com/nkzone/">http://nkzone.typepad.com/nkzone</A></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0">which calls itself a blog - much too modestly, for what is<BR>
in fact an indispensable scholarly resource on current events<BR>
in and pertaining to North Korea.<BR>
<BR>
Rebecca MacKinnon, NKZone's onlie begetter, helpfully<BR>
provides a list of Korea bloggers (right sidebar of front page,<BR>
in among many other NK-related links). One of those thus linked to<BR>
is itself a very long list of Korea blogs in English: see<BR>
http://korea.banoffeepie.com/<BR>
<BR>
Trouble is, it takes forever to wade through all this.<BR>
Worse, too much of it is trivial, ephemeral, narcissistic, angry,<BR>
prejudiced, axe-grinding, vulgar, polemical, and generally wearying.<BR>
(I suppose that people who have the time and urge to indulge in this<BR>
sort of thing may not always be motivated by sweet reason alone.)<BR>
<BR>
Though I'm not averse to a bit of polemic myself, even the better blogs<BR>
often emit more heat than light. Enough of sound and fury, already!<BR>
Too many are written by white male North American expats, who sound<BR>
as if they've had it up to here with Korea and need to get it off their chests.<BR>
<BR>
Conversely: among the famously Web-savvy but largely inward-focussed<BR>
South Korean netizenry, are there not any who see the value of keeping a blog<BR>
to explain the Korean viewpoint(s) better to the world, in the global language?<BR>
<BR>
In principle, blogs can be a valuable and vital resource. Could anyone<BR>
who has dug deeper kindly recommend any that are really good?<BR>
- whether as resources, or in maintaining scholarly standards of debate.<BR>
<BR>
Here's one, to start the ball rolling. (Thanks to Anne Berkeley for the link.)<BR>
Antti Leppänen is a Finnish cultural anthropologist. His blogsite not only<BR>
contains valuable information on Korean society and social policy, but <BR>
also patiently debates with the likes of the Hankyore and other "progressives"<BR>
on issues such as the true meaning of social democracy. See:<BR>
http://hunjang.blogspot.com/<BR>
<BR>
Kind regards to one and all,<BR>
Aidan FC<BR>
<BR>
AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER<BR>
Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University <BR>
17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK <BR>
tel: +44(0) 1274 588586 mobile: +44(0) 7970 741307 <BR>
fax: +44(0) 1274 773663 ISDN: +44(0) 1274 589280<BR>
Email: afostercarter@aol.com website: www.aidanfc.net<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0"><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
I mean: are of academic interest, use scholarly</FONT></HTML>