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
BRIANNA HIRAMI WRITES – Falling in love is already hard enough as it is without the constant fear of being outcasted for who you love. When your and your loved ones’ identity is not socially acceptable in society, it makes the thought of falling in love absolutely terrifying. One becomes incessantly…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: LOVE IN THE BIG CITY (2021) BY SANG YOUNG PARK: LOVE AGAINST ALL ODDS
BENJAMIN BARRETT WRITES — Like other travel documentaries, Midnight Asia: Eat. Dance. Dream. captures the food, art and culture of various Asian cities, but what makes this documentary series different is that it is solely focused on nightlife. The Netflix original, which premiered in 2022 and was directed and produced…
Full Article TV REVIEW: MIDNIGHT ASIA: EAT. DANCE. DREAM.
BRIANNA HIRAMI WRITES – If you thought that your long-distance relationship was difficult, just imagine being on opposite sides of the universe and the only form of communication with your significant other are letters that fail to deliver 90% of the time. Kim Bo-Young writes four short tales in I’m…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: I’M WAITING FOR YOU AND OTHER STORIES BY KIM BO-YOUNG
AUDIE LAYARDA WRITES — Seoul will invest $1.7 billion through 2022 to become one of the world’s top five technology start-up hubs. Seoul Mayor Park Won Soon said, “I will improve the structure of Seoul economy and make a “miracle of startup.” Seoul, now one of the top 20 startup…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: WILL TECH START UPS SMACK DOWN SILICON VALLEY?
RYAN FRAZEE WRITES — South Korea is on a path to revolutionize artificial intelligence (AI) in the music industry. Supertone, a company based in Seoul, recently developed a cutting edge hologram concert of a Korean folk artist who died in 1996 from an apparent suicide. Despite his tragic and untimely…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS MUSIC TO OUR EARS
KATHLEEN STEPHENS WRITES — It was only a couple of Saturdays ago that I was walking, masked of course, on a gorgeous autumn day along a Washington street lined with gingko trees aflame in gold, four days after the Nov. 3 general election, when I heard the news that Joe…
Full Article US-SOUTH KOREA RELATIONS: BUILD BACK BETTER
WILLIAM LIGHTHART WRITES — For almost every elementary school, secondary school, and institution of higher learning around the world, the last 4 months have been comprised of exclusively online instruction. Schools at all levels of education are attempting to create systems so that students can return for at least partial…
Full Article BEIJING AND SEOUL: OPENING UP SCHOOLS DURING A PANDEMIC
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — (This is the third in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea.) Why, for the past fifteen years, has literary icon Bae Suah — author of at least twelve sensationally popular surrealist novels, several short story collections, winner of two Korean literary prizes…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: IS WORLD-FAMOUS AUTHOR BAE SUAH “UN-KOREAN?”
FASSA SAR WRITES – “Black Panther” tops box offices, at this point running ahead of “Avatar,” the Star Wars franchise, “Jumanji” and countless other titles in sales. There is an old standing conception that mass audiences do not want to see black narratives with a majority black cast. In order…
Full Article FILM: BLACK PANTHER GRASPS HEARTS IN ASIA
SABRINA VERDUZCO WRITES – South Korea’s technologically advanced capital, Seoul, is about to gain even more popularity as the metropolitan government recently announced its decision to install free WiFi throughout the city by 2017. According to the Pew Research Center, South Koreans are the most abundant Smartphone users in the…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: SEOUL GETS HIGH ON WI-FIIn what is being called the largest diplomatic gathering in history, the nuclear security summit held in Seoul this past Monday and Tuesday, with leaders of nearly 60 nations and international organizations in attendance, has led to the release of a sweeping agreement known as the “Seoul Communique.” Initially the…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: A Brief Look at the Nuclear Security SummitThe International Media Center in Seoul will open on Sunday to fully support more than 10,000 journalists from abroad and at home covering the hotly anticipated two-day Nuclear Security Summit that begins on Monday. A senior official at the Preparatory Secretariat for the summit reports that: “The International Media Center…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: Media Given Whatever They Need for Nuclear Security Summit