A Match Made by the Gods
Have you encountered the 卍 symbol gracing what looks like not a Buddhist temple but a shop or private home while wandering down an alley? It marks the house of a Korean shaman. Not everyone believes media accounts that there are one million shamans in contemporary South Korea, but shamanism
ké cast S2 E5: The Mixed Legacy of the U.S. Military Base in Seoul
The American military is gradually leaving Yongsan, a major garrison located in the heart of Seoul. How are the dynamics of military spatial reorganization playing out beyond the metropolis? In this conversation, Bridget Martin, a contributor to Korea Exposé and a researcher at the University of California at Berkley joins
ké cast S2 E4: Being Ethnic Korean in China
With a unique cultural and geographical history going back centuries, Joseonjok are considered too different to be fully Chinese in China while simultaneously “not good enough” as Koreans to fit in in South Korea. In this conversation, writer Eddie Park joins host Andre Goulet to discuss his recent
ké cast S2 E3: Is There Room For Conscientious Objectors in Korea?
Is there room for freedom of conscience in the South Korean military? Amnesty International says that there are more than 230 conscientious objectors currently incarcerated in the country. But a Constitutional Court ruling this summer, a ruling that states that the government must provide alternative civilian roles for those who
ké cast S2 E2: Jeju's Yemeni Asylum Seekers
South Korean society has long been intolerant of outsiders, but the outrage sparked this summer by a thousand Yemeni asylum seekers on Jeju Island illustrates the depth of the country’s xenophobia. On this episode of ké cast, Korea Exposé publisher Se-Woong Koo joins host André Goulet to discuss why,
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
ké cast S2 E1: Reporter's Notebook of Spycam Rallies
This summer, South Korea’s spycam ‘molka’ culture is bringing tens of thousands of women together in Seoul’s Daehakro neighborhood for the largest recorded women’s protests in South Korean history. On the first episode of a new season of ké cast, Korea
2018 Seoul Queer Culture Festival
Despite the 33-degree celsius weather, boisterous counter-protests by Evangelical Christians and a petition to the government with nearly 220,000 signatures against the event, South Korea’s persecuted LGBT community came together today in downtown Seoul to celebrate diversity. Some foreign embassies sent staff to show support for LGBT
The K-pop DNA
“I became a BTS fan on Jan. 6, 2017,” said Siti Mariam Sulaiman, a 38-year-old government official from Malaysia. That’s an oddly specific date, but she says every ARMY, an acronym for fans of the K-pop boy group, remembers the exact date of one’s induction into BTS fandom.
Event Trailer: Divas of South Korea's Game Industry
Why is feminism so taboo in South Korea’s game industry? Meet these divas, the brave souls who call themselves feminist gamers in an industry notorious for misogyny. Event hosted by Korea Exposé on May 26, powered by Google Korea. Guests: Young-own and Anna of Famerz, South Korea’
A Primer: Online Shopping for English-speakers in S. Korea
South Korea isn’t the most accessible country when you’re looking for halal ingredients. That’s a struggle Shirin Zaman has had to endure since coming to South Korea in 2014. She’s a PhD student hailing from Bangladesh; she practices Islam and tries to
Feminism Reboot: "We Are Alive, Right Here"
This is Korea Exposé’s first short documentary, created by video director Youjin Do and published on the eve of the two-year-anniversary of the Gangnam murder on May 17, 2016. Two years ago in South Korea, a woman was murdered in Gangnam. It was a senseless death that