south korean news
50,000 Won for Loose Dogs, Public Smoking, and Death Threats
On Aug. 10, a South Korean broadcast jockey (BJ) live-streamed his quest to track down and “kill” a female YouTuber. But he’s not the only one being criticized online — netizens are just as angry and taken aback by the police who handled the case, by fining the jockey a
While Politics Swings Left, MBC Reporters Feel Pushed Further Right
One of South Korea’s biggest public broadcasters, MBC, is being criticized by its own reporters for biased reporting on the Moon administration. Last week, on Aug. 7, the economics desk at MBC News released a statement about reporting practices and hierarchical structures within the outlet. It claimed that since
Fried Chicken Tests Take Wing in South Korea
South Koreans love their fried chicken. So much so, in fact, that they’ve used it (cheekily) as a determinant of political party affiliation, labeled the country chimaek (chicken and maekju, or beer) republic, and consume 800 million chickens annually, in a country of 51 million people. Now, they’ve
Park Geun-hye's Forgotten Blue House Documents
It seems the Blue House and Park Geun-hye just can’t seem to part. While the presidential office is still trying to figure out what to do with her leftover beds, it is now embroiled in the latest string of ties to the former president — thousands of potentially game-changing documents
South Korea Migrant Workers Publicize Dire Work Conditions
In a viral video posted by Facebook page “Khmer people in Korea,” a migrant worker is violently beaten and abused by a man assumed to be his South Korean boss. It has reached more than 2 million views since July 13. The video shows the worker being forcefully dragged around,
ké cast, Season One: Korea Exposé Behind the Scenes
We understand reading off a phone screen isn’t always the best way to consume news during a long commute, so Korea Exposé has launched “ké cast” with journalist Bruce Harrison to bring you some of Korea Exposé’s biggest and most interesting stories. Think of
What's With South Korea's Fuss About the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
The so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution is rapidly emerging as South Korea’s latest fashionable concept. With the country recently labeled “2017’s most innovative country” by Bloomberg, the government appears to be trying its best to live up to expectations — by issuing certificates. On Mar. 28, the Ministry
For Better or Worse, All Roads Lead to Namuwiki in South Korea, Not Wikipedia
“All roads lead to Namuwiki,” a popular saying goes. Type any search term into Google Korea. Chances are, you’ll be taken to Namuwiki, not Wikipedia. Namuwiki is South Korea’s indigenous open-source encyclopedia, which started out as a half-baked collection of pages deep in the bowels of Korean cyberspace.
Public Wedding Ad Angers Young South Koreans
A beaming young bride and groom step through a door into a sunlit future, accompanied by the strings of Wagner’s Wedding March… only to be confronted by a daunting row of hurdles. So begins a public-service advertisement from Kobaco (Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation) released on
153 Forgotten Days at Seoul National University
The student sit-in at Seoul National University lasted 153 days, before being disbanded just a day after president Park Geun-hye was ousted from office. Their long-drawn protest, like many news stories, has been subsumed by the Park Geun-hye scandal. What’s going on in the country’s
Former Spy Claims NIS Spied on Constitutional Court
An unnamed former agent claimed that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) secretly interviewed officials from the Constitutional Court, reported the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS). These claims come as the Constitutional Court prepares to deliver its final verdict on Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, most likely
Weekly Brief: Oct. 3rd - 9th
NHRCK decides that it’s anti-HIV/AIDS discrimination The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has finally recommended that the Ministry of Justice end the practice of requiring HIV tests for E-2 visa recipients, after the UN’s CERD called for the same in May last year. As described