(This is the second in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea) ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Is this the face of modern-day feminism in Seoul? If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha’s debut novel (Ballantine Books), tells the story of four young women struggling to succeed in…
Full Article KOREA: NEW WAVE LITERATURE AS WOMEN’S LIBERATION (PART TWO)
Project Bridge was established in 1993 after the Los Angeles Riots (SAIGU) took place by the Los Angeles based Pacific Century Institute in conjunction with New York based the Korea Society. The cross-cultural program selects 16 students (eight from Los Angeles and eight from New York) each year to participate…
Full Article REFLECTIONS ON BEING KOREAN-AMERICAN: A MASTERCLASS
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – (This is the first in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea). It was big news in 2016 when the novel Kim Ji-young, 1982, by author Cho Nam-Joo, awakened a semi-somnolent women’s movement in South Korea. The book sold one million copies—only the second novel in the…
Full Article KOREA: NEW WAVE LITERATURE AS WOMEN’S LIBERATION
JAEWON LEE WRITES – It is undoubtedly clear that the COVID-19 outbreak led to nothing but a series of unfortunate events that stripped away my fantasies of life after the Air Force. Just as my mandatory military service was nearing its end, my discharge ceremony was canceled, I could not…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES: MURPHY’S LAW SAYS …
TOM PLATE WRITES (VIA THE KOREA TIMES OF SEOUL) — As horrible as the coronavirus spread looks right now, it may not be the worst that faces us. My worry is that even after the epidemic begins its remission, what happens is that everything returns to normal. And that’s the…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS ASIA: THE POTENTIAL PLAGUE OF COMPLACENCY
LILLY WEBBER WRITES – After sweeping the Oscars and finishing the night with four different awards, including Best Picture, the South Korean dark comedy thriller film Parasite by director Bong Joon-ho has surprised international audiences and film connoisseurs alike with its success. Parasite’s victory is unprecedented in the Oscars’ history…
Full Article SOUTH KOREAN CINEMA: ‘PARASITE’ THRIVES IN AMERICA DESPITE XENOPHOBIA
ASIAMEDIA WRITES — Whatever the actual degree of utility of the medical mask, there is no doubt in Asia of their current ubiquity. These sample shots below, in order, come from the world-famous Shanghai Ballet; a recent wedding in Seoul, South Korea; yet another anti-government protest in Hong Kong; and…
Full Article FROM ASIA: A MASK PARADE
DANICA CREAHAN WRITES– To the nearly half a million people who follow @studiobysol on instagram, the fact that most tattooing is illegal in South Korea might come as a shock. Located in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, Studio by Sol is comprised of 29 tattoo artists, each with individual follower counts…
Full Article SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: FEWER TABOOS FOR TATTOOS?
(The following is the most recent analysis of the North Korean impasse by the special advisor on this issue to the president of South Korea) MOON CHUNG-IN WRITES — A Dec. 31 deadline passed without Pyongyang delivering to the United States its threatened “Christmas gift” if Washington didn’t alter its…
Full Article North Korea: WHY CHAIRMAN KIM THINKS THE WAY HE DOES
TOM PLATE WRITES — There’s often little more than a thin line between admirable principle and annoying stubbornness, and that line is not always easy to identify. Lost in the miasma of mutually exclusive righteousness, each side says the other is wrong or evil or both. The tragic consequence is that…
Full Article Hong Kong: WHEN THE ‘PRINCIPLE’ OF THE THING IS THE PROBLEM OF THE THING
DANIELA GUEVARA WRITES – In an unusual case this month, South Korea has deported two North Koreans back to their home country. The ruling came after discovering that the two North Korean defectors had killed 16 fishermen on the boat they were working on as fishermen. The deportations of…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: THE DEPORT OF LAST RESORT
TALIN DEROHANESSIANS WRITES — It’s no surprise that women in Japan are held to strict beauty and dress standards. Now they have been banned from wearing glasses to work. Working women already must follow a strict dress code, including high heels, which sparked the #KuToo movement. According to the Vision Council…
Full Article WITH OR WITHOUT GLASSES, ASIA’S WOMEN HAVE THEIR OWN VISION
DANIELA GUEVARA WRITES — Known as an ultra-competitive and highly technologically advanced society, South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in developed nations. And this month the even higher stresses in the country’s profitable K-pop industry took their toll on a K-pop star. After hearing the tragic news that Sulli,…
Full Article South Korea: REMEMBERING SULLI AND WHAT SHE STOOD FOR
JOANNE PANG WRITES — It used to be the case that becoming a singer or an actress was a chance of a lifetime: you either got it or you didn’t, and then you moved on; but with K-pop on the rise, every boy and girl in South Korea wants to become an…
Full Article K-POP INSIDER: HOW STALKER SASAENGS MAKE LIFE MISERABLE
TIA CARR WRITES– In recent times, the frequency of interstate armed conflicts has greatly decreased. However, we are seeing the rapid creation of alternative means of enforcing political will, most notably, the weaponization of trade. Ever since the waning of liberal orthodoxy in the global political economy, governments have been…
Full Article TRADE TANTRUMS: JAPAN AND South Korea, SUCH GOOD FRIENDS …