South Korea
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South Korea's History Textbook Whitewash
Half my life was spent outside South Korea, but I still cannot forget certain history lessons from childhood in Seoul. Dokdo, rocky islets claimed by both South Korea and Japan, is an inalienable Korean territory. Hangul, the writing system credited to a 15th-century king and used by the two Koreas,
War of Words over the State of South Korea
We live in an interesting time. Some of you may know I published an opinion piece in the New York Times last month condemning the South Korean government’s move to overhaul history textbooks. I didn’t know but apparently the foreign ministry “lodged a protest against
A South Korean in Paris, as a Refugee
“Diego” could easily pass for one of many South Korean tourists who flock to Paris for food, shopping, and that legendary ‘je ne sais quoi’ appeal of the French capital. He is actually among a rare few: South Korean asylum seekers who demand protection from foreign governments because
A Song for Ssireum: Traditional Wrestling Dies a Slow Death in South Korea
The Uiseong Middle School ssireum team at practice. (Credit: Karl Schutz) UISEONG, South Korea — Ssireum, a style of Korean wrestling some say is as old as Korea itself, has been seeing a slow and silent death in South Korea in recent decades. The sport, which feature two plus-sized competitors wrestling
When the Foreign Husband Is a Nepalese Labor Activist
Udaya Rai is a Nepalese citizen and president of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade Union (MTU), one of the most visible organizations to fight for the rights of migrant workers in South Korea. I recently profiled him for Equal Times, a publication of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). But our
Hagwon Hierarchy
IKR for Korea Exposé Typical hierarchy at South Korea’s myriad English cram schools, better known as hagwon. Of course, there should be an even bigger guy labelled “fear of watching your child fall behind in a hyper-capitalist economy” standing behind the dad, but I ran out of space.
Korea, Thy Name is Hell Joseon
One of the biggest scandals of 2010 involved Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, whose own daughter was found to have mysteriously qualified for a plum job inside the ministry, presumably with the father’s backing. This itself would not have been ordinarily such big news in South Korea, but the timing
The Fantastically Dark World of K-Lit
This essay was co-written by Charlotte Hammond, a Seoul-based American writer and copywriter. Contemporary South Korean literature has yet to take off in the way of South Korean cinema, cuisine or popular music. It hasn’t garnered global attention to the degree of the aforementioned mediums and may not have
A Confucian versus Capitalism at South Korea’s Centuries-Old Institute of Learning
Sungkyunkwan University, in the heart of Seoul, boasts a history dating back to 1398. Photo by InSapphoWeTrust On South Korea’s blue 1000-won note is a picture of Sungkyunkwan, the nation’s centuries-old bastion of Neo-Confucianism steps away from the old Changgyeong Palace in central Seoul.
Duck and Cover
IKR for Korea Exposé The confrontation between the two Koreas put residents of the peninsula on edge, but expats in South Korea are taking cover from a blast of a somewhat different kind.
The New Meaning of K-Pop
IKR for Korea Exposé K-Pop and K-dramas are not the only South Korean exports to make people weep around the world. To read more on this topic, please go to The Economist, Human Rights Monitor South Korea, and The Hankyoreh. More of IKR’s works can be found
South Korean Evangelicals' Anal Obsession
“They enter into carnal relations with multiple people several times a night, and wipe the semen, shit, blood, and lymphatic fluid from anal sex with discarded towels on the floor. Each morning the whole room is full of such towels and condoms covered in blood and feces. […] They reuse the