SARAH LOHMANN WRITES – Romance and coming-of-age stories are comforting for many. Their familiar storylines are a space for viewers to revisit the excitements and struggles of youth with a healthy degree of separation, a safety cushion. For this reason, such films can risk being devoid of complexity. However, Korean…
Full Article MOVIE REVIEW: THE MANY COLORS OF YOUTH IN 20TH CENTURY GIRL (2022) – GROWING PAINS
WRITES MOON CHUNG-IN, chairman of the Sejong Institute -South Koreans were long forced to remain silent about the tragic Jeju April 3 Incident. Over 30,000 residents of Jeju Island were killed by the police, the military and paramilitary groups such as the Northwest Youth Association during the incident, which began…
Full Article SEOUL-WASHINGTON ALLIANCE: LET’S GET TRUTHFUL ABOUT THE JEJU APRIL 3 MASSACRE
SARAH LOHMANN WRITES — In this age of scrolling feeds and images, what are we, if not our faces, our best days posted, and our reputations on display for the world to see? The photos we take of our bodies make up the mask we show to the world, so…
Full Article MOVIE REVIEW: PHOTOCOPIER (2022) — SECRETS OF THE SELF AND SELF-IMAGE
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – In times of darkness, when all seems hopeless and lackluster, South Korean author Baek-Sehee’s mind often conjures up countless questions to inspire faith: What about the people that love you? What about the millions of possibilities where things can get better? And perhaps…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI (2022) BY BAEK SEHEE – ONE KOREAN WRITER’S HONEST DEPICTION OF MENTAL HEALTH
TRISTIN CLINT WRITES – On November 8 the SSG Landers, of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), put the final stamp on its incredible season, winning the Korean Series by defeating the Kiwoom Heroes in six games. This marked the fifth championship in franchise history for the Landers, and the first…
Full Article SOUTH KOREAN BASEBALL WRAPUP: A HOME RUN FOR THE SSG LANDERS
TRISTIN CLINT WRITES – October is the culmination of a long baseball season, with the potential for team jubilance at winning the championship or the despair of final defeat. Look towards either side of the Pacific Ocean and you will see the glorious moments of postseason baseball that both fans…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: BASEBALL GOLD
SARAH LOHMANN WRITES – “Does it hurt?” When we hear this question, it is often with an urgent or melancholic tone. Korean author Jungeun Hwang frames the question differently when it is asked of thirteen-year-old Nana by her childhood friend Naghi after he strikes her across the cheek. She confirms it does…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: I’LL GO ON (2018) – DAY WILL BREAK BEFORE LONG
This piece originally appeared on September 2, 2022, in The Korea Daily. SPENCER H. KIM WRITES – President Yoon Suk-yeol has presented an “audacious” plan in which South Korea will “significantly improve North Korea’s economy and its people’s livelihoods in stages if the North ceases the development of its nuclear…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: FIVE YEAR PLAN IN A 40 YEAR WORLD… ARE NO PLANS AT ALL. HOW TO MAKE A 40 YEAR PLAN
This article originally appeared on August 30, 2022 in China Daily. CHUNG-IN MOON WRITES – The Republic of Korea and China are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic relations this year. The relations between the two countries have witnessed a sea change over the past three decades. People-to-people exchanges…
Full Article CHINA-ROK RELATIONS: CHINA AND THE ROK SHOULD AVOID SACRIFICING THEIR LONG-TERM, COMMON INTERESTS FOR SHORT-TERM, PAROCHIAL ONES
This column originally appeared in on August 23, 2022 in the South China Morning Post. CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – A media system can filter your world-view not unlike the narrowest religion claiming to know what’s best about everything. Truly professional media platforms, especially if print-based, will aim to…
Full Article US-KOREAN RELATIONS: US MEDIA MUST LAY GROUNDWORK FOR PEACE OFFENSIVE ON KOREAN PENINSULA
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Government corruption. Political scandals. Contract killers. Disappearances. Set in contemporary Seoul, South Korea, the world within Kim Un-Su’s novel, The Plotters (2018), focuses on the deaths of random political figures as well as who is pulling the trigger. The shadowy figures responsible for…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE PLOTTERS (2018) BY KIM UN-SU – WHO PULLS THE TRIGGER FOR POLITICANS?
Aerial Concave Without Cloud – 113 pages – $16.95 – Nightboat Books, New York, NY ANGELINE KEK WRITES — Grief is a lonely process as much as it is all-encompassing. Like all pain, it takes away, gives back wisdom, and breaks people open. Aerial Concave Without Cloud (2022) by Sueyeun…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: AERIAL CONCAVE WITHOUT CLOUD (2022) BY SUEYEUN JULIETTE LEE — STUDYING LIGHT AND GRIEF
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES — South Korea, often referred to as the ‘plastic surgery capital of the world,’ is a place where it’s not only typical but expected for young women to have double eyelid surgery before they hit thirty. Jaw slimming, skin lasering, destructive dieting – these radical approaches…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: IF I HAD YOUR FACE (2020) BY FRANCES CHA – BEAUTY AND WOMANHOOD IN SOUTH KOREA
Violets – The Feminist Press at CUNY – 222 pages — $22.03 BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – “Violets, Violin, Violence, Violator,” chants the main character, San, as she reads from a dictionary. In just a few short lines, a beautiful purple flower morphs into “one who breaks rules,…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: VIOLETS (2022) BY KYUNG-SOOK SHIN – A LONE SOUL IN SEOUL.
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Beauty is a weapon. In South Korea, widely known as the plastic surgery capital of the world, one finds themselves needing to be armed to the teeth at all times. “Korea is a place where you can’t leave the house without makeup if…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: PAVANE FOR A DEAD PRINCESS (2014) BY PARK MIN-GYU – TO BE “UGLY” IN A WORLD MADE FOR THE BEAUTIFUL
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Hornclaw is a sixty-five-year-old woman who refers to herself as a “disease control specialist.” The so-called ‘vermin’ she spends her time exterminating for a high price are humans with a certain rodent-like disposition. Never mind her age and perceived frailty –that is how…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE (2022) BY GU BYEONG-MO – AN ELDERLY WOMAN ASSASSIN FINDS LOVE AND HOPE