How to Create an Alter Ego (the Korean Way)
Creating a 'second character'—bukae in Korean—has become something of a fashion. What does it mean for the digital future we are heading into?
Organ Harvesting in Korea: Myth or Reality
People pledging organs as collaterals for loans. Does that happen for real in Korea?
Netflix's Squid Game Is a Tale of a Debt Society
A story of Koreans risking their lives for a financial jackpot isn't so far-fetched when thinking about the Korean economy today.
Pleasures of Seoul
Demonstrations are a routine occurrence in downtown Seoul, but I don’t mind it in the least. Angry chanting is a familiar soundtrack to life in South Korea; when slogans reverberate at the capital’s most symbolic locations, you know the country is well. Democracy lives. I am fortunate to
Entering Korea as a Foreigner During COVID-19 Crisis
The first sign that my visit to Seoul would be different this time came at the Frankfurt airport check-in counter. After seeing my passport and ensuring that I had a valid visa, the Asiana Airlines employee showed me a laminated sheet of paper with two QR codes: one for android
End of 2019, End of Candlelight Revolution's Hope
As 2020 begins, the optimism that permeated South Korea in late 2016 and early 2017 seems but a distant memory. Three years ago, hundreds of thousands were holding peaceful weekly demonstrations—popularly dubbed the “Candlelight Revolution” for the candle-carrying participants—against corruption on the part of then-president Park Geun-hye and
Where Elders Are Denture-Clacking Vermin
Teul-ttak-chung. Over the last five years, I have heard many Korean neologisms for insulting different demographic groups, but this one seems to top all the others. It means more or less how it sounds: denture-wearing elderly people clacking away their artificial teeth as they spew rage at myriad perceived injustices.
Tyranny of South Korea's Majority Against Refugees
From a distance, it had the feeling of a summer evening street party. A young man stood on a modified truck bed and belted out tunes to entertain a growing crowd. People—some seated on plastic chairs and others standing around—held up electric candles. Many were young hipsters. Parents
The Singapore Summit Gives Hope that Peace Is Still Possible
It was truly a historic day, no doubt about that. North Korea and the United States held their first-ever summit on Jun. 12 in Singapore. On the agenda: denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Despite some skeptics calling it just a photo-op for Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, the day ended
A Small Scandal, A Big Blow to Moon Jae-in's Credibility
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is usually not the most visible part of the South Korean government. As the country’s main inspector of financial institutions, it appears in the news usually for two reasons: Either the market is in serious trouble, or the office itself is suspected of corruption
Watching North Koreans Watch South Koreans
I still remember the death of the previous North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in December 2011, for the simple reason that media outlets played ad nauseum footage, procured from North Korea’s state news agency KCNA, of Pyongyang citizens weeping with abandon. It seemed as though North Koreans were so
Foreign Media in South Korea: Arbiters of Truth, and Players in Their Own Right
On the evening of Mar. 18 the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker sent out a tweet that reverberated through South Korean cyberspace. Dear Korean press, please translate my articles fairly. My piece on the political gamble of talks with North Korea does not say President Moon is