In the middle of the night, Rumi is woken up by a noise outside. Dozens of ‘errand men’ in blue vests and white helmets start smashing the window of her fried chicken restaurant with metal pipes. In no time, they break inside and drag her out. She resists fiercely. Meanwhile, Rumi’s mother, furious, gets into a car and charges at the men but fails to hit them. As they yank her out of the vehicle, she hits her head on the ground and loses consciousness. She dies a few hours later.
I am from South Korea, but I make it a point not to write or speak in Korean about this country. That my Korean language skills have ossified from disuse is only one reason; it is more that my brushes with South Korean media are rarely uplifting. A case in
In 2014, pop star Park Bom, of the group 2NE1 made headlines with her alleged drug usage back in October 2010. The singer had ordered 82 amphetamine pills labelled ‘gummy bears’ from the U.S. and dispatched them to her grandmother’s address in the port city of Incheon
