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Sun, June 4, 2023 | 00:50

About the past - Robert Neff

Bernadou's travels in Korea in 1884 Part 4 - Gaeseong's passive defiance

In the late 19th century, the people of Gaeseong were somewhat unlike the residents of other parts of the peninsula. When John Baptiste Bernadou, a 24-year-old ensign in the United States Navy temporarily assigned to the legation in Seoul, visited the city in early July 1884, h...

Bernadou's travels in Korea in 1884 Part 3: Gaeseong, the old capital

John Baptiste Bernadou, a 24-year-old ensign in the United States Navy temporarily assigned to the legation in Seoul, may have been one of the earliest Western pathfinders between Seoul and two former Korean capitals (Gaeseong and Pyongyang) but his narrative was often lacking....

Bernadou's travels in Korea in 1884 Part 2: Goyang and Beyond

Seoul, in the summer of 1884, was filled with rivalries among the small handful of young Western men. Each of these men (naval officers, diplomats and anthropological collectors) sought to be the “first” to visit or witness various locations and events on the Korean Peninsula. ...

Korea: deConstructed - David Tizzard

Pyongyang as lived experience: existentialism and identity in North Korea

Concepts such as decolonization, orientalism, lived experiences and multiple truths are becoming more widespread in both academia and mainstream media.

Korean culture as the solution

Many people know about Korea's low birthrate. It's one of the lowest in the world, and it's falling.

Now is the time of monsters

Antonio Gramsci's life saw him continually challenging the status quo and picturing a society that championed justice and equality. exploring cultural hegemony, Gramsci reshaped our understanding of power dynamics and the ways in which ruling classes maintain dominance.

Parchment Made of Sheepskins - Scott Shepherd

Entry prohibited for foreigners

“Oegugin churip geumji,” said the doorman. Entry prohibited for foreigners. This article was nearly a very angry one. After I was denied entry to a bar two weeks ago for not being Korean, I was fulminating internally over the piece that I would write.

Yoon's Japan plan: compromise or betrayal?

This week has been a busy one in Korean politics. While everyone was still debating the rights and wrongs of President Yoon's diplomatic trip last week to Japan, main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was indicted Tuesday on charges of corruption and bribery. My attention has yo-...

Conformity and courage

For about five months now, two lines of Rudyard Kipling's poem “If” have been going around my head: “If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, / But make allowance for their doubting too.” The climax of the poem states that if you can indeed do this (and a dozen other t...

Workable Words - Casey Lartigue Jr.

Reasons to talk about North Korea

I occasionally give lectures to foreign travelers as a Freedom Speakers International (FSI) Keynote Speaker. The topics are mainly "The Reality of North Korea" or "The Lives of North Koreans."

Escape from North Korea's starvation and oppression

My mom gave me two lives. First, when she gave birth to me in 1993. Second, when she rescued me from North Korea in 2011. If there's a hero in my story, it's her. North Korea might be the worst place on earth to raise a child, but North Korean mothers are brave and they will do...

The chooser becomes the chosen

In my career over the past 25 years in the USA and South Korea, there have been many times that I have been “chosen” by influential people, at other times I have chosen others to mentor or assist, and there have even been cases that I chose mentors.

Dialogues with adoptees

Dutch Korean artist's project: The Mother Mountain Institute of Sara Sejin Chang

Korean adoptee artists have garnered attention in the western countries where they live, but their works remain relatively unfamiliar to people in their country of origin. This obscurity isn't due to a lack of effort on the part of the adoptees. Despite their attempts to engage...

Adoptee's journey tracing her mother, origin and heritage

I feel the weight of knowing that I represent one out of hundreds of thousands of Koreans who were sent overseas through international adoption. I'm an independent film director and I have spent most of my adult life trying to find my way back to Korea to look for profound answ...

Today's inter-country adoption system is not fit for purpose

I will first comment on where we are today in terms of inter-country adoption (ICA) practice at the global level, then consider our experience of the outcomes of a suspension of ICAs, and finally - in all modesty as an outsider - offer some thoughts on what the path forward for...

Imbricated Chaos - Emanuel Pastreich

In defense of Donald John Trump

The lawyers employed by Donald Trump have amassed an impressive pile of arguments to defend him against charges that he incited a mob of his supporters to stage an armed insurrection in the Capitol and to murder people in an effort to stop the selection of his democratically el...

The nightmare born when technology took the place of science

Even small children are starting to sense that we live in an age when literally none of the information provided is reliable or believable. Information on a global scale is subject increasingly to Gresham's Law: low-quality information spreads everywhere and the truth is hoarde...

'Silhak' tradition as a solution to the current geopolitical crisis

South Koreans are having tremendous trouble grasping how familiar political and academic institutions in the United States have ceased to function as they once did. Koreans are confused to see Harvard professors promote nonsensical arguments about COVID-19 or to see politicians...

Top 10 Stories

1	Roland Garros 2023

2	Airlines fiercely compete to acquire additional aircraft

3	Seoul imposes sanctions on North Korean hacking group for role in space launch

4	KAERI distances itself from Oxford professor's claim on Fukushima water

5	Luxury brands continue hiking prices in Korea

6	LG Chem joins Korean firms strengthening ties with Japan

7	More banks offer daily interest payments on deposits

8	POSCO, GM expand joint EV battery materials investment in North America

9	HMM tasked with preventing sale of Hyundai LNG to foreign firm

10	Indo-Pacific region highlighted as important for Korean economy's future

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