Only a few minutes after arriving in Dandong, a Chinese city that borders North Korea, my assumptions about travel to North Korea were abruptly shattered. I was told by a Chinese employee of the tour company that it would not be wise to, while in North Korea, speak Korean or let anyone know that I am half Korean.
Jeju Island is where South Koreans love to get away from it all. Hundreds of flights a day deposit mainlanders hungry for escape, relaxation and selfies. With its sea-locked isolation, black soil and relentless wind, Jeju feels almost like a different country altogether. So it’s hard to believe that
THAAD is a useful acronym to know if you’re interested in the geopolitical tensions in East Asia. The deployment of the U.S.’s Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea caused a sudden transformation of Korea’s relationship with China, its neighbor and number one
