Asia

During the past few years, the United States has begun three important initiatives that alter its defense commitment to South Korea (Republic of Korea [ROK]). First, Washington started to decrease…

In October 2006, Kim Jong-il’s North Korea again seized international attention. With its claimed underground nuclear test, Pyongyang upped the ante in its confrontation with the United States and the…

This episode, Korean Kontext speaks to Phillipe Cousteau JR, chief spokesperson for the USA Pavillion at the 2012 Yeosu Exposition.  With the overall theme of the expo named “The Living…

Our latest edition of Korean Kontext focuses on the recent death of Kim Jong-il and the prospects for North Korea under the stewardship of his son, Kim Jong-un.  In this…

Ever wondered why someone might be motivated to spend their summer vacation  in the DPRK, or interested to learn about the guides that accompany visitors during a stay in North…

In this episode, Chad 0Carroll speaks with “TK” (”The Korean”), the man behind the must-read blog, “Ask a Korean”.  TK has been running his blog for five years and it…

Squid Game - the first Korean show to top Netflix’s charts - follows the country’s long cinematic tradition of examining inequality and power relations. The story focuses on a group of indebted people who accept a mysterious invitation to participate in a series of children’s games for a chance to win approximately USD 40 million.…

What Happened A report from February 2021 identified differences in people’s ability to access private education as a key reason behind differing levels of academic achievement. This achievement gap appears to have accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to remote learning. On August 27, the Mayor of Seoul began offering private online education to students to reduce disparities in academic…

What Happened The ruling Democratic Party’s presidential frontrunner, Lee Jae-myung, faced scrutiny over allegations that Seongnam city extended preferential treatment to a private asset management company during his mayorship. Meanwhile, newspapers broke the story that the same company provided the son of opposition lawmaker Kwak Sang-do with an unusually large severance payout of USD 4.2 million when he changed…

Although the South Korean government strongly advised the public to stay home during Chuseok—Korea’s Thanksgiving—it was estimated that the population movement increased by 5 percent during this year’s holiday compared to the last. As the public eagerly waits for Covid-19 to subside and travel restrictions to be lifted, popular Southeast Asian destinations including Thailand’s Phuket…