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KOREA EXPOSÉ
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Interview: The Organizers of S. Korea's Spycam Rallies

There is now a huge library of articles discussing the historic anti-spycam rallies in South Korea (the fourth one just took place on Saturday, Aug. 4). But the organizers behind the movement remain largely faceless and nameless. There are around 200 of them, all women, all volunteers. Most of them

Haeryun Kang
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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

Ho Kyeong Jang
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KÉ Interview: Bookoob, the Book Sharing Service that Delivers

In South Korea, an unlikely type of startup has been slowly cementing its place in the peer economy: book sharing. Korea Exposé met Chang Woong, founder and CEO of “Bookshelf, the Social Library, (Bookoob in English)” to find out how he created what may be the world’s first sustainable

Eddie Park
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Pojangmacha: Tent Nostalgia

In Seoul’s central Jongno District lies one of the city’s last pojangmacha alleys.  Every day around late afternoon, hired workers take apart around two dozen wheeled carts lining both sides of the alley. Tents are thrown over steel frames; five-gallon oil containers filled to the brim with

Ho Kyeong Jang
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What’s in a Label: Obesity in One of the World's Thinnest Countries

I am 174 centimeters (5 feet 8 inches) tall and weigh 76 kilograms (167 lbs). That means my body mass index (BMI) is 25.1. The international standard for obesity is 30. To be labeled obese, I need to gain 15 more kilograms — roughly the weight of a large Welsh

Haeryun Kang
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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

Fitsum Areguy
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The Ocean Between Jeju’s Island Natives and Mainland Newcomers

Lee Hwan-jung wavers in his small boat, harpoon in hand. Looking back to shore, black rocks and dark waves sway under a granite sky. On this early February morning on the Jeju coast, cold water sloshes over his shoes. Lee is a self-taught fisherman from Seoul. Still robust at 43,

Ho Kyeong Jang
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Let Everyone Shine: South Korea To Abolish Decades-Long Disability Rating System

The Winter Paralympic Games, ending on Sunday, Mar. 18, have received generally positive, albeit less, fanfare than its Olympic counterpart. But outside the Paralympics, interest in the actual quality of life for disabled people is still low. Recently, the South Korean government finally proposed to remove the long-contested rating system

Shin Mijoo
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The Invisible Hands Behind South Korea's Errand Men

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

Daniel Corks
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Undocumented Workers: International Students As South Korea's Migrant Labor

One day in his elective class, Cương just couldn’t stay awake. Whenever the professor started talking, Cương’s eyelids started to feel heavy. His head dropped down to his desk, seemingly on its own. The professor noticed. After class, Cương, an international student from Vietnam, explained to her that

Ho Kyeong Jang
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The Kevin Spacey Twist in South Korea's #MeToo Campaign?

The #MeToo movement is intensifying in South Korea. But in the sexually conservative society, the waters get murkier when homosexuality gets involved. On Feb. 1, a film director went public with her experience of sexual assault. She had been assaulted in 2015 by fellow director Lee Hyun-ju and wrote about

Steven Borowiec
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IMF 20 Years On: S. Korea’s Never-ending Crisis

Near the end of the service, Pastor Huh Woon-ho asked the packed tent of congregants a question he already knew the answer to: “What happened 20 years ago?” The churchgoers instinctively knew what Huh was getting at, and responded in low-voiced unison, “The IMF crisis.” Before that, the worst financial