Hollywood Has Harvey Weinstein. South Korea Faces Its Own Demons.
Hollywood is still reeling after the New York Times found that Harvey Weinstein, one of the industry’s most powerful figures, had sexually harassed and assaulted actresses for decades. Then there is South Korea, where a similar debate is unfolding over how its own film industry is treating women. Back
The Few, The Quirky: S. Korea's War Preppers
Seated at a downtown coffee shop dressed in business casual, Woo Seung-yep looked more like an office worker than a war prepper as he calmly explained how he became the best-known South Korean engaged in guerrilla efforts to prepare for the possibility of war on the Korean peninsula, which has
Se-Woong Koo: On South Korea Between Pyongyang and Trump in the NYT
Our publisher Se-Woong Koo wrote on the mood in South Korea as the war-of-words intensifies between North Korea and Washington under President Donald Trump. Read in the New York Times.
It Was Just Our Body. It Was Just Underwear
Editor’s Note: In July, online media outlet Dotface uploaded an interview with an elementary school teacher, titled “My Teacher is a Feminist.” In the interview, the teacher said, “Have you seen the schoolyards at elementary schools? They don’t belong to girls. Those that play soccer and run are
When Murder Investigation Becomes a Spectator Sport
The scene opens with a police officer shrouded under a dust mask and baseball cap. He brings a doll the size of a pubescent girl into a nondescript building on a rainy day. He carries the doll under his arm, the doll’s pink legs bobbing lifelessly as he passes
Tropical Getaway: S. Korean Couple, Car-Locked Children, Guam Courthouse
It took only three minutes for a South Korean judge-lawyer couple’s tropical getaway to turn into a shameful fiasco. Or maybe it was 45 minutes. The story starts with a heartrending tale that comes up every summer: children left unattended in a stifling car by negligent or forgetful parents.
Was Chuseok Ever Fun?
Between Sep. 29 and Oct. 9, more than two million passengers used Incheon Airport, South Korea’s main international travel hub. It set a record for the normally busy facility. What made the traffic all the more special is that it coincided with Chuseok, one of the country&
Insadong: Breathing Its Last
Every South Korean used to need a seal for conducting legal affairs, and I was fourteen when I had my first seal carved. We could have gone to any seal shop in the neighborhood, but my father insisted that we go to Insadong and make a family outing out
Nothing Says Chuseok Quite Like Spam
Half a century ago, most South Koreans would never have imagined that in the 21st century, canned meat from the U.S. — not exactly seen as a culinary delicacy in its motherland — would be the most popular gift for Chuseok, the Korean holiday marking the harvest season. Back
The Other Side of K-pop and Korean Music: Labor Abuse
Korean music is synonymous with glamorous K-pop stars like PSY, Big Bang, Girls’ Generation and Super Junior. But they are a lucky few that can earn tens of thousands of dollars or more with each performance. They are a very small part of the music industry in South Korea. Earlier
Lee Myung-bak: One More President to Face the Past
Former president Lee Myung-bak has enjoyed a comfortable retirement until now, thanks to having a fellow conservative succeed him. But now that Park Geun-hye has been replaced by Moon Jae-in, from the center-left Minjoo Party, Lee faces growing scrutiny over his term, from 2008 to 2013. A reform committee within
Haeryun Kang: On "North Korea Coverage - U.S. vs S. Korea" for Al Jazeera's Listening Post
Managing editor Haeryun Kang was interviewed by Listening Post, an Al Jazeera show that critiques media reporting around the world. For this episode, Listening Post discusses media reporting on North Korea. “I think there’s a huge double standard when it comes to threats that are