Se-Woong Koo
Se-Woong Koo: On U.S.-North Korea talks for Al Jazeera
Donald Trump accepted Kim Jong-un’s invitation for talks, and agreed to meet by May. Korea Exposé publisher Se-Woong Koo commented on the surprising turn of events. “People are amazed on the ground at just how fast everything has been moving forward,” he said on Al
Se-Woong Koo: In Brazillian TV show "Pedro Pelo Mundo."
Our publisher Se-Woong Koo appeared in an episode of the Brazilian TV channel GNT’s travel show “Pedro Pelo Mundo.”
Se-Woong Koo: On PGH Ouster in NYT Op-ed
https://twitter.com/sewoongkoo/status/840544267416223744 Se-Woong Koo wrote: “[Park Geun-hye] ran this country aground in pursuit of her conservative agenda and actively undermined South Korea’s hard-won democracy and international standing. One more year in power, and the damage she inflicted would have been irreversible.” Read his
In Rumor We Trust: Proliferating Fake News in South Korea
South Koreans are used to hearing sentences that end in hadeora, a verb meaning “it is said that….” This particular way of phrasing is something of a cop-out, though. It conveys information without taking ownership of the fact. And given that Korean verbs do not require a subject, it is
Goodbye, Mr. Half
The return of former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 12 was one of the most closely watched events in recent memory, perhaps barring only the political scandal that has afflicted the impeached president Park Geun-hye. When Ban arrived, hundreds of his supporters greeted him rapturously at the airport.
Ethics Be Damned: South Korean Journalism Fails
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
The Choi Soon-sil Gate: The Saddest Political Drama Ever Told
I am quite fond of South Korean costume dramas, though my friends are skeptical of the genre’s value. Plotting royals and devious courtiers aren’t their thing, and they are even less enamored with the endless power struggles over who gets to be master of the realm. “But it’
In Defense of Feminism
A voice actress puts on a T-shirt that reads “Girls do not need a prince” and tweets the photo. That seemingly innocuous phrase prompts widespread accusations that she is a man-hater. Angry men bombards Nexon, a game company for which she did work, with complaints. The company terminates
Children of Misfortune: Child Abuse in South Korea
Over dinner one evening, a South Korean journalist friend posed what seemed like a riddle: “Let’s say there is a high school reunion. One classmate is a Samsung executive with a high-school graduate for a son. Another is a security guard whose son attends Seoul National University. Who do
Gaejeossi Must Die
Ajeossi (n.) a form of address for a male relative from one’s parents’ generation, excluding brothers of one’s father a form of address for an unmarried younger brother of one’s father a form of address for an adult male stranger the title of a 2010
South Korea's History Textbook Whitewash
Half my life was spent outside South Korea, but I still cannot forget certain history lessons from childhood in Seoul. Dokdo, rocky islets claimed by both South Korea and Japan, is an inalienable Korean territory. Hangul, the writing system credited to a 15th-century king and used by the two Koreas,
War of Words over the State of South Korea
We live in an interesting time. Some of you may know I published an opinion piece in the New York Times last month condemning the South Korean government’s move to overhaul history textbooks. I didn’t know but apparently the foreign ministry “lodged a protest against