So-yeon serves ramyeon and she can sing, too!

Gee, is that a certified space safety pin holding on that Korean flag? Pic from here.

When I saw this excerpt quoted on another site I thought the original poster had made them up. From yesterday's Korea Times on Yi So-yeon's space travels:

During Sunday's brief transmission to Seoul, a reporter from Yonhap news agency baffled Yi by asking her to name a TV star who she wants to travel the space with. ``None. But I wish I could have a buddy who can do experiments with me,'' she answered.

The reporter from Korea's dominant news agency then asked Yi to sing ``Fly to the moon,'' a jazz classic, which Yi reluctantly did.

Fortunately for the astronaut, the verbal torture ended as transmission went off right after the reporter's final question: ``How will you respond when an ET appears outside your window?''

Damn. I wonder if these requests would have been made had Korea's first space tourist turned out to be a man. Not that her flight is anything that warrants gravity (ha!) or overly serious treatment---more has been made of the Korean space food than of the planned experiments---because it is essentially a very expensive espioinage publicity campaign, but I would think the local media wouldn't work so hard to render her ridiculous. Strikes me as the same kind of "that a girl!" Korean journalism that made a mockery of women's achievements in golf a few years back:

What enables South Korean lady golfers to be so formidable in the U.S. LPGA Tour? It is nothing less than the Koreans' talent to make things skillfully with their hands, a trait handed down from generation to generation for thousands years. Celadon in Koryo and the Yi dynasty are world famous for blue and white china in quality, and you know that pottery involves the same skills as playing golf.

. . .

An editor golf fan of an English daily newspaper mentioned that one of the root causes for Korean ladies to play such great golf in the U.S. is closely connected to dexterity, which is also critical to preparing delicious Kimchi, a Korean side dish loved by the people around the world.

. . .

Of course, there are some other factors that make all the great achievements possible including tenacity and indomitability, two characteristics of Koreans, along with quite a lot of synergy among the South Korean golfers. But without the dexterity unique to Koreans their great success would be hard to imagine.

Now go read this. Man, do they even have journalism departments over here?