By John Redmond
Contributing writer
With the advent of blogs springing up all over the planet, its no surprise that Korea is host to a wealth of blog content.
By far the most popular Korea related blog in English is the Marmots Hole at https://www.rjkoehler.com/
This blog offers some very accurate translations, and equally insightful editorials, of stories making the news in Korean language newspapers as well as stories behind the stories.
For example, a story this week about a Korean drunk driver who killed a family of five while speeding, added that although the mandatory sentence for this crime is life in jail, the reality is that these types of cases are usually resolved through compensation.
Koreans are not targeted by any stretch of the imagination.
A story concerning American forces committing mass executions during the 1950-53 Korean War, also got a full airing.
The issue was one of the killing of over 100,000 Korean soldiers rather than risk them joining approaching enemy forces. Knowledge of this reached as high as the Pentagon, according to sources.
There is also extensive coverage of local events, with the local political scene remaining a staple of all local print media.
The anti-U.S. beef rallies have received their fare share of coverage including reports of pro-U.S. beef demonstrations. According to the Hankook Ilbo newspaper, there was supposed to be a large foreigner protest in the city. This turned out to be speculative as although there was a demonstration, it was poorly attended.
Some American GIs stationed in Korea feature prominently, more for things like drunken behavior and trying to use fake IDs than deeds of charity.
All in all, the Marmots Hole tends to play a central role in keeping a watchful eye and maintaining a critical perspective on issues affecting the population of Korea.