Is China the Cause of South Korea's Waste Problem?
In July 2017, China threw the global recycling industry into disarray by announcing the “National Sword Policy.” In effect since January 2018, the policy banned import of 24 types of waste (now expanded to 32) and strengthened quality control, rejecting plastic scrap that wasn’t at least 99.5 percent
Expert Interview: "Spycam Isn't Just an Issue of Pornography"
Since the beginning of May, tens of thousands of women have taken to protesting monthly on the streets of Hyehwa, Seoul, demanding an end to South Korea’s pervasive problem of molka, or spycam porn. Their protests have been the largest recorded women’s rallies in South Korean
My Life Isn't Your Porn: Why South Korean Women Protest
You might have heard the stories — of cameras that look like lighters, flashes of light inside nooks and crannies at a public restroom, subway upskirting — but they might have sounded like stories of other people. On June 9, some 22,000 women gathered in South Korea to say
Korea Exposé Went to Gyeongju for MT...
…which stands for ‘membership training,’ but in South Korea often means a group retreat with ample chances to drink booze and sleep in later than usual. And no work, of course, other than weeding. Probably not a common sight in most other Korean MTs. The Korea
The First Rally Against South Korea's Spycam Porn Epidemic
It was a sight to behold: at least 12,000 women shouting at the top of their lungs in central Seoul, enraged by South Korea’s widespread spycam pornography, enraged by what they perceived to be police inaction, even discrimination. On May 19, 2018, women from different walks
Feminism is Taboo in S. Korea's Gaming Industry
The tale of Nardack’s journey to the gaming industry’s feminist blacklist began in a world that’s not typically open about feminism: K-pop. It began when Irene, a member of Red Velvet (the girl group that performed in Pyongyang recently), said in a fan meeting that she read
One April Morning
Moon Jae-in wore a blue tie for the occasion, the color of the Korean Peninsula on the unification flag. Kim Jong-un stepped over the thin strip of concrete dividing North and South Korea inside the demilitarized zone. Sand on the North Korean side, pebbles in South Korea. He stepped onto
North Korea Summit and the Elephant in the Room
Just two days remain before the two Korean heads of state meet by the inter-Korean border. North Korea’s Kim Jong-un recently announced that Pyongyang would “discontinue nuclear testing” and that no ICBMs would be tested after Apr. 21, 2018. Telephone lines were established between Kim and
CJ CGV's "Be a Foreigner": Funny April Fool's Event or Cultural Appropriation?
Are these images offensive? A blond-haired Asian man with facial hair wearing a blue turban and a red bindi dot on his forehead ready to eat a bowl of Chinese noodles A group of people from different ethnic backgrounds in traditional clothing: people in the Korean hanbok, the
Unlikely Debate: Olympics 'Garlic Girls' and Japanese Porn
A few hours before the Olympics closing ceremony, the South Korean women’s curling team finally got their cellphones back. The country’s most popular Olympics stars, who won a historic silver on Sunday, didn’t have access to the internet or TV throughout the games. Unbeknownst to
Pyeongchang Olympics' Funniest Moments: There's A Lot of Curling
There was that time a guy from Australia impersonated Kim Jong-un in front of North Korean cheerleaders. Or when P.F. Chang’s — not Pyeongchang — got massive, unintended publicity on an American TV station. Then there is an entire ecosystem of funny South Korean memes
We Need to Talk About Suicide Reporting
How do we find the optimal balance between our right to information, and the risks inherent in broad dissemination of sensitive information? Around 24 hours have passed since 27-year-old Jonghyun, a member of the popular K-pop group SHINee, took his own life. It’s already a huge story, both within