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Very clever! & tips about KR names

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Oct 19, 2006 10:32 am
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Puting aside all the speculations and analyses about the North Korea's nuclear test , I thought this collage is quite funny and clever.

From "When Outlaws Get the Bomb" article on Time magazine (Oct. 23, 2006) at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1546342,00.html 

I love how Hanoch Piven (for TIME) showed Kim Jongil's oh-so-famous hair with a shoeshine brush.

BTW, for the non-Korean people out there, Kim Jongil does not have a girl's name.  His last name is Kim, not his first.  Even David Letterman once said (when Mr. Kim reportedly had a secret wedding recently) Mr. IL instead of Mr. KIM.

At other occasions, like World Cup or Olympic Games, I see American broadcasting often mix up firrst and last names of Korean athletes.

A little cultural study here: Koreans put last names first.  However,  we usually put our first name first and last name last when we write our names in English.  However, for some reasons American mass media started using Last Name First basis on some prominent Korean people like presidents and (sometimes) sports players. (I guess it is the same for Chinese people, like Mao Zedong). So, the confusion begins.  

A few pointers.  If a Korean's name has Kim, Lee, Park or Choi in their names, those are 99.99% last names (and those would cover a BIG percentage of Koreans). So, there you have it.  Also, if names are hypenated, like Hye-Min, chances are it's his/her first name (Some people use hypens to avoid situations that part of their first name is regarded as a middle name).

Well, it's gotten longer than I expected, so I'll stop here.
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