Haeryun Kang

Haeryun Kang

Haeryun Kang is a freelance journalist based in Seoul and contributing editor at Korea Exposé.

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to 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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

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