The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    14 injured as escalator reverses at Sunae Station in Bundang

  • 3

    JYP founder to work as guest commentator for NBA finals on Korean cable

  • 5

    Heart transplant recipients tie the knot

  • 7

    Experts skeptical about effectiveness of S. Korea's UNSC seat to rein in NK

  • 9

    S. Korea wins seat on UN Security Council for 2024-25

  • 11

    Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban

  • 13

    Yido bridges East, West via fusion cuisine in crafted ceramics

  • 15

    Ad or song?: Coca-Cola Zero ad featuring NewJeans becomes marketing blueprint

  • 17

    Apple's Vision Pro likely to accelerate Samsung's race in XR eyewear biz

  • 19

    INTERVIEWSpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul

  • 2

    RM to attend Seoul festival to mark BTS' 10th anniv.

  • 4

    BTS lifts veil on upcoming 10th anniversary event

  • 6

    Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes

  • 8

    Seoul Queer Culture Festival venue moved to Euljiro

  • 10

    Korea, Poland celebrate rollout of Warsaw's first FA-50

  • 12

    Samsung to unveil new foldable phones at Galaxy Unpacked in Seoul

  • 14

    Coupang, Baemin under pressure from radical labor groups

  • 16

    Rise in temperatures, solar radiation by 2100 inevitable: weather agency

  • 18

    Big events come in threes for Korean football

  • 20

    3 KBO players fined, ordered to do community service for drinking during WBC

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • About the past
  • Korea: deConstructed
  • Parchment Made of Sheepskins
  • Workable Words
  • Dialogues with Adoptees
  • Imbricated Chaos
Fri, June 9, 2023 | 18:10
Your favorite Korean source?
Posted : 2018-07-07 10:00
Updated : 2018-07-07 10:00
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By David Tizzard

Despite recently covering the topic of vegetarianism when much of the Peninsula celebrated Buddha's Birthday, I remain very much an omnivore: Whether a piece of meat, fish, a radish or a root, it and the accompanying sauce will be devoured with little hesitation. My appetite for food and drink is veracious. The same, incidentally, could also be said of my reading habits.

While early travelers to these shores such as William Broughton and Hendrick Hamel produced travel-logs that would remain one of the few sources available to people both inside and outside the country for some time, these days the situation is vastly different. There is almost too much to read.

However, perhaps the President's recent decision to limit the working week to 52 hours might allow people more opportunity to lose themselves in text and word. And it needn't always be as weighty a tome as Theodore de Bary's 1995 'Sources of Korean Tradition'.

South Korea in 2018 is home to not only men's trousers of questionable length, weather patterns named after Thai rain gods, and airlines struggling to feed their passengers. It also houses an excellent commenteriat on the country and its idiosyncrasies.

And thus presented here is a small collection of sources on Korean politics that I feel are worthy of merit. They are presented in no particular order, nor do they necessarily present views that I espouse or subscribe to.

However, when combined they do provide a veritable taste sensation for those looking for something a bit spicier in their sauce, and constitute much of my weekly diet.

One: sthelepress.com. The first is a blog run by North Korean expert and professor of international studies at Dongseo University, B.R. Myers. It is not updated with any great frequency but each post that does appear will take a reader some time to digest if it is to be properly understood.

Myers asks a lot of his readers and is not in the habit of spoon-feeding those who might require some catching up. Whilst his successful novels The Cleanest Race and North Korea's Juche Myth deal largely with events in the North, the work here generally centers on domestic politics and what he perceives as the undercurrents of the social scene. Myers' links and use of first-hand Korean sources, as well as his pointed but thought-provoking views, make each blog post not only worthy of reading but also of discussing.

Two: The Blue House Chronicles. A recently-launched newsletter by the Korea Expose, it features the work of science journalist Mark Zastrow as he examines the goings-on in and around Cheongwadae.

While the early editions predominantly featured links back to its own sister publications, more recent versions have provided pathways to the original Korean commentaries which are digested and disseminated in bite-size form. Pleasingly, the publication is not adverse to the use of humor, as demonstrated by its rather colourful translation of the Liberty Korea Party's banner of apology in front of which its members knelt following their trouncing in the local elections.

Three: Peter Ward ― Twitter. An individual's twitter feed might not seem like the most highbrow of sources, but Peter Ward provides invaluable information online that few others either can or do. The Russian scholar Professor Andrei Lankov describes Peter as a "rising star" and their coordination together on a whole host of matters (including Peter typing most of the manuscript for Lankov's 2015 book The Real North Korea) can only be a positive thing for the field. Peter's feed provides daily explanations on the contents of the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's leading newspaper.

In doing so, he drives straight at the material without having to go through other channels or mediums that might cherry-pick or omit certain sections. Instead, here, the headlines are covered as they appear, as are the rather more mundane and trivial elements on the inner pages.

Four: NK News Podcast. A source of audible content is always going to be welcome in this generation as people now consume information while they walk, work, and wait in-line at the store for four cans of larger and a packet of crisps, and one of the newest to emerge on the subject is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot.

While that name might sound a handful, the content is generally some of the more easily digested on what can often be difficult and esoteric topics. Recent guests have included the witty and effervescent Aiden Foster-Carter as well as the high level North Korean diplomat defector and author of the book "Cypher of the Third-Floor Secretariat", Thae Yong-ho.

Five: Andrew Salmon, Asia Times. Andrew Salmon is probably one of the more distinguished writers on the Korean Peninsula and wider Northeast Asian region that resides here in Seoul. His books on the Korean War and resulting British participation helped bring to life the valiant and tragic aspects of the conflict previously described as forgotten.

His contemporary writing however leaves no stones unturned and, in the Asia Times, he is seemingly given free rein to explore a variety of issues. Most notably he generally adheres to a journalistic tradition of providing three contrasting voices for each story and thus offers a comprehensive view of the topic at hand, including that of minority positions often lambasted or ignored elsewhere. You will also find his work appearing rather more sporadically here in the Korea Times.

The Korea Times does have a good selection of writers, some of whom I would certainly suggest reading when their work appears. No less the recent contributions of Yonsei professor Peter Paik which have intermarried the worlds of philosophy and literature to some of the many pertinent questions faced by citizens here today.

So while people around you may be eating less as the summer takes hold and thoughts of bikinis and beach bodies occupy the mind, do not forget that sauces can be replaced by sources. Use the above list to gain some intellectual weight and share your own recommendations when possible.


David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University and host of TBS eFM's cultural radio show "A Little of a Lot." The show can be heard every Sunday from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. on 101.3 FM or downloaded via online platforms such as iTunes and Podbang.?



Emailsuperfuntimehappysnack@gmail.com Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes
2Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban
3[INTERVIEW] SpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul INTERVIEWSpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul
4Billy Graham Seoul Crusade celebrates 50th anniversary Billy Graham Seoul Crusade celebrates 50th anniversary
5Dollar remittance, foreign exchange rules to be eased Dollar remittance, foreign exchange rules to be eased
6Home gardening boom inspires plant adoption, specialized care services for leafy companions Home gardening boom inspires plant adoption, specialized care services for leafy companions
7Yoon's labor reform drive sputters as umbrella union exits talks Yoon's labor reform drive sputters as umbrella union exits talks
8Korean businesses seek tougher punishments for industrial espionage Korean businesses seek tougher punishments for industrial espionage
9Yoon calls for all-out efforts to win chip war Yoon calls for all-out efforts to win chip war
10Bookstore specializing in film is haven for readers and seaside lovers alike Bookstore specializing in film is haven for readers and seaside lovers alike
Top 5 Entertainment News
1'Leaving Las Vegas' director Mike Figgis puts Korea in spotlight in new film 'Leaving Las Vegas' director Mike Figgis puts Korea in spotlight in new film
2Netflix's new original 'Bloodhounds' to deliver cathartic actionNetflix's new original 'Bloodhounds' to deliver cathartic action
3White Cube to open space in Seoul White Cube to open space in Seoul
4Music festival brings attention to DMZ Music festival brings attention to DMZ
5China's hallyu restrictions likely to continue unless Seoul-Beijing ties improve China's hallyu restrictions likely to continue unless Seoul-Beijing ties improve
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group