Well, Lee Seunghoon's fifteen minutes of fame lasted just about fifteen minutes — the time between his rival's alchemic mistake that turned Lee's silver into gold and skating superstar Kim Yuna getting her own world record for best scored performance ever in figure skating's short program. Don't worry, Seunghoon, I'll remember you, if for no other reason than it seems South Koreans need to be named Lee in order to win Olympic gold medals in speed skating.
- South Korean golden girl Kim Yuna takes commanding lead in women's figure skating event after record-breaking performance in short program (LAT, NYT, AP via WaPo, BBC, WSJ, Yonhap, Korea Times, Joongang Daily, Chosun Ilbo)
- Broadcasts of Kim Yuna and Mao Asada cause markets to freeze in South Korea and Japan (Reuters)
- Disqualification by Dutch skating star allows Lee Seunghoon to win gold medal in men's 10,000-meter speed skating (WaPo, Monster Island post here)
- Hyundai Motors, in cautious move reflecting heightened sensitivity over Toyota's troubles, recalls 47,000 new Hyundai Sonatas over minor door latch issue (AP via WaPo, Reuters, Bloomberg, Yonhap, Korea Times, Joongang Daily)
- Does Korea Inc have to copy everything Japan Inc does?!
- Ailing Kim Jong-il said to be "increasingly reliant on inner circle" (Chosun Ilbo)
- Kia Motors sets a target of 15% increase in US sales (WSJ, Korea Times, Joongang Daily)
- South Korean consumer sentiment falls to seven-month low (Reuters via CNBC)
- Chinese President Hu Jintao meets North Korean delegation (Bloomberg)
- Michael Moore chides Kim Yuna for promoting gun violence, plans documentary about ladies' figureskating industrial complex (San Francisco Chronicle)
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At first when I saw your item #1 about the financial market activity freezing in Korea and Japan, I thought it was your usual last news item (the fake one!). But I pressed on your link and it was real! Crazy how an ice skating competition has so much impact. I was an intern in Seoul at a securities firm back in '94 and I remember they turned on the TV in all of the department floors (they had TVs hanging on the walls for important news in all departments) and EVERYBODY was glued to the TV set when Korea was playing Germany (I think) in the FIFA world cup. That was crazy...they were all cheering everytime Korea was close to scoring...nobody was even working and you were a loser if you were working it seemed.
ReplyDeleteThe odd thing is that the financial markets freezing headline was funnier than the fake headline.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's all that different from other major sporting events: see #7 of this 2006 post from the World Cup.