Get psyched! South Korea is preparing for a "live fire drill" on Yeonpyeong Island, near its border with North Korea.

North Korea says it will pummel the South under "a merciless shower of fire" unless the "arch-criminal" U.S. and South Korea call off war games scheduled for today in disputed waters off the west coast of the peninsula. [WaPo]

One South Korean soldier is reportedly dead, and 13 injured after North Korea shot dozens of artillery shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong. South Korean military is on high alert, while everyone else tries not to freak out.

[The Underwater Hanbok fashion show was under way today in Seoul, South Korea, showcasing designer Park Sul-nyeo's latest creation and promoting a new department store. Image via AP]

As though increased tensions with North Korea weren't enough, South Korea has found itself dealing with a crisis within its own borders: Embittered old people, demanding seats on the subway!

The North Korean military has threatened to annihilate the South Korean capital Seoul if they don't turn the damn music down. The South has been blaring music along the border in response to the North's alleged sinking of a warship.

A South Korean couple let their baby die of malnutrition because they were addicted to online games. Now the government will offer rehabilitation centers for those who always need just one more hit.

A Korean man named Lee Jin-gyu has fallen in love with and married a body pillow. And not one of those pillows that's all busted; this one's way soft. We should be outraged, but that pillow is too damn sexy.

Oh dear. Last week we told you about that actor who killed himself in Korea partly in response to some homophobic online attacks. And now, when looking at a larger trend of suicide in that country, it appears that Korea may have a dangerous internet bullying problem on their hands. The International Herald Tribune reported yesterday about the death of Choi Jin Sil, a Korean actress who committed suicide after a series of vicious internet attacks:

Twitter cofounder Biz Stone posted a chart showing the frequency of political keywords during Friday night's McCain/Obama debate. "Iraq" hit the highest rate of tweeting at a given moment during the event, followed by "tax" and then "Korean" after John McCain deemed North Korea "a huge gulag" that stunts its citizens' growth by three inches. But the trick to reading a chart like this is to look not at the height of the lines, but the surface area under them — that's how you measure the total number of tweets for that keyword. Iraq and taxes look to be the biggest. But Stone's chart shows Iran and Russia, not Koreans, are what everyone's tweeting about.

We hate to interrupt the Apple lovefest with a tiresome observation about currency markets. But for anyone still outside the reality distortion field, here's some required reading: A Wall Street Journal article about the rise in value of the South Korean won (reg. required). Here's why this is bad news for the iPhone.What's an iPhone? Mostly a metal and plastic package for a flash-memory chip and an LCD screen. And where do those come from? Largely from South Korea, home to Samsung, LG, and countless other parts-makers. Those poor souls get paid in dollars, which are worth less as the won gets more valuable. Apple, whose profits have been supercharged by rapidly falling component prices over the past year, will have a tough time negotiating lower prices. If the won appreciates further, forget hopes of an iPhone cheaper than its current $499 price tag.