editor's choice

810130

Seohoi Stephanie Park
Members Free to read

Revisiting: My Political Coming of Age

Almost every Saturday for the last twenty weeks or so, my friends and I took a stroll down to Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul to join the protesters. We were young, awkward, and clueless. It didn’t take us long to realize that it was the first time, too, for

Bryan Betts
Members Free to read

The Few, The Quirky: S. Korea's War Preppers

Seated at a downtown coffee shop dressed in business casual, Woo Seung-yep looked more like an office worker than a war prepper as he calmly explained how he became the best-known South Korean engaged in guerrilla efforts to prepare for the possibility of war on the Korean peninsula, which has

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

More Than Fat

In one comedy sketch, an overweight woman wearing sparkling jewelry and a comely black dress scarfs down food. A man acting as her manager yells, “Min-kyoung, wake up! How many times have I told you to lose that weight? How can you call yourself a woman and not make the

Ben Jackson
Members Free to read

Father, Son and Holy Mess: Family Succession in Megachurches

Seen from the back of a high balcony, pastor Kim Sam-hwan cuts a small figure. “Amen!” he calls into two microphones suspended on long wires from the ceiling above. “Allelujah!” responds his flock of five thousand. “Allelujah!” he counters. “Amen!” they roar. If Kim appears tiny, it’s only

Daniel Corks
Members Free to read

"Damunhwa" Is No Multiculturalism: A Congolese Refugee Reflects on Life in South Korea

Meet Yiombi Thona, one of South Korea’s highest-profile refugees. He came to South Korea in 2002 after fleeing his native Congo under fear of arrest. As a member of the Congo intelligence service, he had leaked documents revealing government corruption and was in turn accused of trying to lead

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

Sim Sang-jung: A Superwoman Without Superpower

She calls herself the maid to Park Geun-hye’s princess. She’s the fringe to Park Geun-hye’s mainstream status. Park grew up in a castle: the president’s official residence that her father occupied for 18 years until his assassination in 1979, to which she returned many years later

Katelyn Hemmeke
Members Free to read

Beyond Infantilizing Portraits: South Korean Adoptees Speak Out

Perhaps the world’s best-known Korean adoptee today is Adam Crapser. After living in the U.S. for almost four decades, Crapser was deported to South Korea late last year because his adoptive parents had never filed for his American citizenship.  The twists and turns of

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

Impeach the Impeachment: Older Conservatives "Defend Democracy"

They call their gatherings the “Taegeukgi Rally,” after the South Korean flag. They say their flags represent a growing fire, the true fire of patriotism and democracy, countering the supposedly ill-conceived fire of the candlelight rallies. They say most of the anti-Park protesters are disruptive communists, or naive young people

KOREA EXPOSÉ
Members Free to read

[Updated] Guide to South Korea's Presidential Election

The National Assembly impeached her. The Constitutional Court stripped her of presidency. Prosecutors have summoned her for questioning. She is now holed up in her house in Gangnam, not seen after moving out of the presidential Blue House on Mar. 12. Since the Choi Soon-sil gate broke

Ken Eom
Members Free to read

A Candlelight Effect: Kim Jong-un Bows to His People

This concern [to improve the lives of the citizens] was in my heart, but I lacked the ability to see these dreams to fruition and spent the last year in regret and guilt. If I ask you to guess who the quote above is from, what name comes to

Haeryun Kang
Members Free to read

Sulli and K-Pop's Lolita Hypocrisy

Sulli is an interesting figure in the K-pop world. She entered the world of South Korean celebrity at the ripe age of 11, debuted as a member of girl group f(x) four years later in 2009, and rose to stardom under the strict guidance of SM Entertainment, a mega-agency

Se-Woong Koo
Members Free to read

Ethics Be Damned: South Korean Journalism Fails

I am from South Korea, but I make it a point not to write or speak in Korean about this country. That my Korean language skills have ossified from disuse is only one reason; it is more that my brushes with South Korean media are rarely uplifting. A case in