Page 63 - Other Facts

Any North Koreans who escape to South Korea are awarded free citizenship.

In short, the South Korean government considers both North and South Koreans to be recognized as South Korean nationals. Basically, if someone from North Korea manages to get into South Korea, an evaluation can take place to award citizenship.

While North Koreans don’t necessarily have automatic protection, as criminals are not allowed to be naturalized, the bulk of North Koreans that can prove their North Korean citizenship can still be accepted. People can also become South Korean nationals by being born to a Korean parent (if the Korean parent is the mother, the person must have been born after June 13, 1998).

Being abandoned as a child within South Korea is also grounds for citizenship. People can also simply apply for naturalization.

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There's a band called Previously On Lost that recaps each episode in song!

The words “previously on lost” are shown at the beginning of every episode, just like many other shows, but have you ever heard of a band that decided they liked a TV show so much they needed to recap each episode in song?

Previously On Lost was founded after a group who believes themselves to be musically talented decided the best way to honor their favorite show was to create a band named after the show and sing songs related to it. Jeff Curtin, the co-founder of Previously on Lost said, “We’ve watched every episode of the show multiple times and felt that we were qualified to musically recap every episode.”

Members of the band all focus on music as a means of livelihood. Once member studies the saxophone at NYU while another does sound work for a living.

They say that for each song they like to recap the show so people are able to follow it even if they missed an episode. Some of their lyrics are, “What do you recall about the crash. The plane split in half. There was an Oceanic panic. We grabbed our life rafts. She sank like The Titanic. And why are you so fat?”

They prefer episodes where there are specifically defined themes because it’s easier to write lyrics. Beyond their interest in Lost they hope to expand their song descriptions to events such as marathons by singing a roughly three and a half minute summary of how the runners did. Do you think they have a good idea? Tell us your thoughts about Previously On Lost!

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There’s an empty city in North Korea built to be propaganda!

It’s called Kijŏng-dong, and it is a village in P'yŏnghwa-ri, North Korea. Known in North Korea as “Peace Village,” it is widely referred to as “Propaganda Village.” It is one of the only two villages that has been permitted to remain in the four-kilometer wide DMZ, or Demilitarized zone, between North and South Korea established in 1953.

However, the village isn’t actually populated. North Korea officially maintains that the village contains a 200 family farm, yet all reports from the area say otherwise. Outsiders believe the town was established as a propaganda tool of the North Korean government to give off the image that the country is strong and hospitable.

There are several brightly painted building and apartments, even wired with electricity, which was an amazing level of luxury for the 1950’s in either North or South Korea.

To the naked eye it appears to be a healthy, fully functioning village. However, modern telescopes have found that the buildings are simply concrete shells without window glass or even actual rooms inside and that a skeleton crew is hired to routinely clean the place to give off the appearance of activity!

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During a 1990 flight, a pilot was sucked halfway out through the windshield and only got pulled back in once the plane landed!

June 10th, 1990 was not Tim Lancaster’s lucky day. The pilot took off on Flight 5390 with British Airways from Birmingham Airport in England. They were destined for Malaga, Spain, located in the south of Spain along the Mediterranean Sea. During flight, an improperly installed panel of the windshield on the plane failed.

Lancaster was pulled halfway out of the cockpit with his body firmly pressed against the window frame of the plane. Flight attendant Nigel Ogden quickly grabbed onto Lancaster’s belt and held on. The first officer somehow managed to perform an emergency landing in Southampton, England. Lancaster wasn’t pulled back to safety until the plane landed an entire twenty minutes after the whole nightmare began.

Lancaster was taken to the Southampton General Hospital where he was found to suffer from frostbite, bruising, shock, and fractures to his right arm, left thumb, and wrist. Ogden suffered a dislocated shoulder, a frostbitten face, and a badly frostbitten eye. He retired in 2001 due to stress.

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The most expensive photo ever sold was photoshopped.

It’s called Rhein II, and was made by German visual artist Andreas Gursky in 1999. Last year, one of the prints was sold for $4.3 million, making the most expensive photograph ever sold. It is the second of a set of six photos of the River Rhine.

Gursky took the photo and removed details like buildings and people walking dogs. While that might make the price seem silly, or the photo not authentic, it seems to work for the betterment of the photo.

Gurksy justified it himself, saying "Paradoxically, this view of the Rhine cannot be obtained in situ, a fictitious construction was required to provide an accurate image of a modern river."

The image, which you can see on the right, has been described by arts writer Florence Waters as a "vibrant, beautiful and memorable – I should say unforgettable – contemporary twist on the romantic landscape.” Does it resonate with you at all?

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