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Porn queen parley builds an appetite

Published: 23 Feb. 2006, 21:38

I’ve always wondered what’s it’s like to work for a tabloid newspaper. Entertainment reporters have a notorious reputation for being sly and rude.
I’ve heard rumors of them lurking around police stations to gather news about the petty crimes of the stars. They are known as sensationalists, provokers and liars.
It seems like a tough job. I don’t envy them.
Recently I had a chance to feel like a tabloid reporter while I was covering an American Playboy magazine playmate who visited Korea last week.
The interview was held in a chic bar in southern Seoul. There were about six of us sitting around the table, and I was the only female reporter from a non-sports/entertainment newspaper.
As they got ready for the interview, they opened a bottle of whiskey. A glass of whiskey during an interview? It wasn’t in my handbook of journalism. But it certainly seemed integral to the world of entertainment reporters.
As the interview went on, I discovered more about them than the playmate.
Many were older than I had thought. Conservatively dressed, they looked surprisingly serious even when they asked questions like, “How many time have you gotten your breasts done” or “what do you think about Korean men?”
“Korean men are cute,” the playmate responded to the latter question.
That made the headline at one paper ― “Playboy model says Korean men are cute.”
But they were a bunch of hard-working people.
I was the only one who didn’t bring a laptop.
Throughout the interview, they vigorously transcribed everything the interpreter said.
Afterwards, we all went out for dinner.
One guy who went on about his next assignment to cover the graduation ceremony of a local teen actress. He said it made him resent his job. He told his mother that he couldn’t attend his niece’s graduation ― he was going to the actress’ instead.
Most of us, though, quietly ate our food. One guy was even working on his article until it arrived.
Clearly, they were all just doing their jobs, and I could tell that they had worked hard by the way they desperately gnawed meat from the bones that came in our galbitang or beef soup.
We all pay a price to bring home the beef.

How to Cook

Galbitang

Ingredients: 600g of beef ribs, 200g of radish, 100g of thin noodles (dangmyeon), 1 green onion, 1 egg, a little bit of salt and pepper, 5 cups of water. For sauce: 4 teaspoons of red pepper, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, 3 teaspoons of diced green onion, crushed garlic, sesame seeds and sesame oil.
1. Trim the fat from the ribs.
2. Put the ribs into a pot with water. Boil for about an hour on medium heat.
3. Chop the radish in 3 cm pieces. Add to the pot.
4. Add salt and pepper.
5. Soak the dried noodles for about an hour.
6. Just before serving, add egg and noodle.
7. Serve with the sauce in a separate bowl.
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by Park Soo-mee