MILES WHITTINGHAM WRITES — Baseball, widely regarded as America’s favorite pastime, has seen a definite upswing in several Asian countries over the years. First brought to Japan by Horace Wilson- an English teacher at the Kaisei Academy in Tokyo in 1873- a couple of other Asian countries have shown great…
Full Article ASIAN SPORTS: BASEBALL’S TURN AT BAT ON THE CONTINENT
YOLANDA NOSAKHARE WRITES — At a time when hate crimes against Asian Americans are soaring across the US, the arrival of director Lee Isaac Chung’s film “Minari” hit theaters in the nick of time. The film’s storyline follows a first-generation Korean-American family’s experience moving to Arkansas in the 1980s. They…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: “MINARI,” A PRO-ASIAN WORK OF ART
*For the protection of all parties involved (as well as a request from the interviewee herself), all names and identifiable information have been redacted. The interview was conducted virtually via FaceTime to comply with CDC and CDPH Health Guidelines for COVID-19. **Trigger Warning: This article recounts the interviewee’s experiences of…
Full Article INTERVIEW: MADAM VIOLET, A STORY OF SURVIVAL AND TRIUMPH OVER SOUTH KOREA’S SEX TRAFFICKING EPIDEMIC
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — “Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being.” So wrote cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, at least a half-century prior to the release of “Minari,” awarded “Best Foreign Film” by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: ‘MINARI’, THE MOVIE THAT SHOWS GRANDMA KNOWS BEST
YOLANDA NOSAKHARE WRITES — Have you ever wondered what your favorite John Hughes film would look like if it took place at a summer camp in South Korea? This is just what Korean-American filmmaker and writer Benson Lee channeled when he melded John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club” to his 2015…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: ‘SEOUL-SEARCHING’ MEETS ‘THE BREAKFAST CLUB’
MOON CHUNG-IN WRITES — While it doesn’t appear that the Joe Biden administration has completed its review of North Korea policy yet, the outlines of that policy seem to be slowly taking shape. Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said on Feb. 12 that the North Korean…
Full Article KOREAN PENINSULA: HOPES AND FEARS ABOUT BIDEN’S NORTH KOREAN POLICY
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
MATEO VALLES QUINTANA WRITES — In the previous article SOUTH KOREA: WHY KOREAN WOMEN DOMINATE THE LPGA, I explained how the cultural and structural aspects of South Korean society have created a national junior golf system that produces professional players (gets results). However, their golf system is not perfect and…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: HOW GOLF BECOMES A PRESSURE COOKER — PART II
MATEO VALLES QUINTANA WRITES — Since the early 2000’s South Korean female professional golfers have been a dominant force on the LPGA tour and are repeatedly found at the top of the money list. In 2017, South Korean nationals Sung Hyun Park and So Yeon Ryu were first and second…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: WHY KOREAN WOMEN DOMINATE THE LPGA — PART I
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
DR. MOON CHUNG-IN, Special Advisor to South Korean President Moon Jae-in for Foreign Affairs and National Security. He is also a Distinguished University Professor of Yonsei University, Krause Distinguished Fellow, School of Policy and Global Strategy, University of California, San Diego, and co-Convener of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL ADVISOR ON FOREIGN POLICY ALLIANCE UNDER BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
SARA ALTUWAIJRI WRITES — The flu season is fast approaching. The South Korean medical establishment took steps to prevent a severe epidemic by giving out flu vaccines, but this took a tragic turn when more than 1500 elderly people died seven days after receiving it last year. This year there have been…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: CAN THE FLU VACCINE KILL YOU?
TOM PLATE WRITES — A re-released photo of Joe Biden, then U.S. vice-president, on the North-South Korean border, is being touted by some as evidence of embedded American imperial complacency. Yet it’s almost a required photo stop for American politicians who, as if some mountain-climbing Edmund Hilary, can never be happy…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: A SUCCESSFUL BIDEN PRESIDENCY NEEDS TO HEAL BILATERAL TIES AND RESPECT ALLIES
Ella Kelleher is a current senior at Loyola Marymount University, where she majors in English and specializes in multi-ethnic literature. During her college experience, she studied abroad in Japan and contributed to the exchanging of cultures. She has also volunteered at the Honorary Consulate of Kazakhstan in Los Angeles, where…
Full Article JAPAN: HISTORICAL PERCEPTION OF CHINA AND THE WAR
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — This year, the best-selling North Korean novel Friend was translated into English and approved for publication in the US by the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea – a first in that nation’s history. Immanuel Kim, 42, professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies at George…
Full Article KOREA: ARE WOMEN’S RIGHTS, NORTH AND SOUTH, AN OPEN BOOK ON THE LITERARY LANDSCAPE?
(This is the fourth in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea whose work has started to reach English language readers via superb translations.) ANDREA PLATE WRITES — “Fitting into middle class society is getting harder and harder for the younger generation.” So says Kim Sagwa, author…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: A SOUTH KOREAN AUTHOR TELLS A UNIVERSAL TALE