The Latest in S. Korean Feminism: Zucchinis
Yes, zucchinis. On Nov. 18, 3:14 p.m. KST, South Korean actor Yoo Ah-in responded to a comment about a vegetable. The instigating tweet made a jab at Yoo’s persona: “Yoo Ah-in…he seems good to look at from 20 meters away…but it may be
KÉ Interview: A Disabled Person’s Day Is 12 Hours Long, Not 24
Hong Yunhui’s 12-year-old daughter has never been able to walk on her own, having in infancy suffered spinal cancer that left her permanently disabled. Her lack of mobility has made every day a challenge for mother and daughter. Once, while transferring through Wangsimni, a labyrinthine mega-station in Seoul with
Is South Korea Prepared For Earthquakes?
“Students felt weak tremors then came out into the hallways for evacuation. But the teachers stuffed us back in the classrooms, saying that this was not an earthquake,” tweeted the below user, whose identity could not be confirmed beyond the fact that she attends an all-girls high school in Pohang.
Naver Goes 'Water Demon' in Escalating Beef with Google
If you looked up “Naver” on Naver, South Korea’s main web portal, on Friday afternoon, the top news result was a headline about the company receiving an innovation award. If you typed the same terms into Google, you’d get an op-ed from the Kyunghyang newspaper titled, “Naver and
Dear President Trump: Postcards From Seoul
Dear President Trump… What would South Koreans say if they could talk to you, one-on-one? A few hours before Donald Trump, with First Lady Melania and his presidential entourage, landed in South Korea on Tuesday, I was talking to a group of middle school students in Seoul, huddled in
A Small Victory for South Korea's Disability Rights
On a cold winter evening in 2012, Lee Hyung-sook came out to Gwanghwamun, a historic square in central Seoul, to catch the attention of then-candidate Park Geun-hye. Lee uses a wheelchair to get around and is officially classified as “level 1,” a grade applied to the most severely handicapped
"I Think of the Mountain": History of Hiking in S. Korea
The CIA World Factbook describes South Korea as “mostly hills and mountains.” 64 percent of the country’s land is forest, according to a 2014 report by Korea Forest Service. Given this geography, hiking naturally is a popular pastime in South Korea. Or is it so natural to assume so?
Korean Adoptees Search Against the Odds and Agencies
When Fleur Pellerin became a prominent member of newly-elect Francois Hollande’s cabinet in 2012, headlines in South Korea started buzzing about how she was the “flower” that made South Korea known to the world. Pellerin was a Korean adoptee; a few days after her birth in
Young S. Korean Speaks: War with N. Korea "Extremely Unlikely"
How likely is war with North Korea? Speculation abounds. Here’s a South Korean who argues that war is “highly very extremely unlikely.” He says that all the players involved — South Korea, China, North Korea, and the U.S. — simply have too much to lose
Not Even Kim Jong-un Can Stop KBS, MBC Strikes
On the day North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test on Sep. 3, two of South Korea’s biggest public broadcasters didn’t have enough reporters to thoroughly cover the breaking story. Many of them were on strike. “We beseech the employees and the labor unions leading the strike to
Being Frugal, Not YOLO, Is South Korea's New Fad
Who knew that a podcast analyzing receipts could create such a sensation? That’s all there is to the recording: A South Korean comedian breaks down somebody’s monthly expenditures and rates the spending based on the contributor’s income and long-term financial goals. Two comedians sit
South Korea's Trolling Game
Prologue I’m glad that a**hole died. I heard that actress b**** is sleeping with that CEO. You’re a fake, and everyone sees through you. Imagine watching a trolling competition on television. The players are professors, teenagers, unemployed trolls, your regular Joe in the office trolls