Dancing like it's 1989

Thursday night, my colleagues called me to join them for dinner, drinks, then noraebang 노래방. We wrapped up after 2 a.m.

I pulled out some of my favorite dance moves from yesteryear...

one of my colleagues was mesmerized, after a few more beers he decided to give it a try...

I was casually dressed in a t-shirt, shorts, sandals. Still, I pulled off some of the dance moves.

I don't know if he was wearing his tie when he started dancing, it seemed that he was moving too fast for it to keep up with him. It was agreed that he didn't come close to doing the dance as well as I did. It has been 20 years so I could do them in my sleep.

At about 2:30 a.m. in the morning, as we were waiting for a driver to pick him up and take him home, he continued trying the dance in a parking lot nearby, asking me to do it again so he could follow my lead.

He thought the dance moves were so hip. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the dances are at least 20 years old. If the Running Man suddenly is big in Korea then I'm taking credit for it...

CJL

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube

Does a flower turn to the sun?

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By Casey Lartigue, Jr. As interesting as Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov’s writings are, there is nothing quite like attending one of his lectures. He can barely restrain himself behind the podium, often pointing and waving his arms. I also enjoy his unscripted speeches, but his answers in Q&A sessions are like the difference between watching Michael Jordan shoot baskets in warm-ups and an actual game. I have finally discovered the secret behind Lankov’s consistently solid analysis about North Korea: Use common sense. At an Asan Institute conference last summer, he argued that North Korea watchers should try to understand North Korea from its perspective. Don’t most people know that you must understand the mindset of others you are dealing with? Yet, common sense in theory gets ignored politically. From the North Korean perspective, nuclear weapons are the best thing they’ve got going. They will NOT give them up easily, even if President Obama ...

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Yesterday morning I stopped by to buy some kimbab 김밥 at one of the places that sells rolls for 1,000 won (about $.80, depending on how much the Korean or U.S. government have screwed up their respective currencies). I stop by there often so of course the woman there recognizes me. Of course, they probably recognized me from the first time I went there... Yesterday, she asked in Korean if I liked tan mu gi 단무지. I said yes, that I loved it. As I was trying to pay, she hurriedly cut some up right then, then fed it to me, like I was a 6 year old child... I could see everyone in the shop watching... then, I said, "맛있어요!" delicious! I could see everyone smiling. I'm surprised they didn't start applauding. * * * Friendly fights Saw a funny fight the other day. Two guys in a restaurant were wrestling with each other, knocking over at least one table. I watched, not really interested in getting involved. They could be two friends fighting over a woman or for some other reason,...

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