At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, the popular Korean boyband BTS was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group. When they left empty-handed, Korean fans and critics alike were outraged - not by the loss itself but by what appeared to be the Grammy’s exploitation of the group’s popularity to improve their own declining viewership. Korean online…
April 11, 2022
South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol recently announced plans to relocate the presidential residence from its current location to Yongsan, a district in Seoul best known for previously hosting a U.S. garrison. The decision has been controversial. Among speculations on Yoon’s unstated rationale, a prominent line of discourse attributes the move to longstanding rumors about the…
April 3, 2022
Working mothers in South Korea are in a battle to balance family and professional life. One of the largest barriers to achieving this balance is inflexibility in the workplace with newborn infants coupled with inconsistencies in childcare. One mother, National Assemblywoman Yong Hye-in, is challenging these inconsistencies to strike a balance. National Assemblywoman Yong, a…
February 25, 2022
Last year, popular South Korean actress Park Shin Hye made waves with the announcement of her wedding and pregnancy. In the past, this would have been detrimental to a celebrity’s career. Instead, Park received well wishes from fans and her peers in the industry. In fact, more and more celebrities have been announcing such pregnancies…