The Korea Times

Is Korea still a shrimp between whales?

England is a lion. Russia is a bear. China a dragon. America an Eagle. And so on. But what about Korea? What animal best represents the people and the culture? One of my favourite stories comes from Lee Tae-woong’s fabulous KBS documentary on the 1988 Olympics. The country had to choose an official mascot for the event. Something that would be made into toys and posters and spread around the world. Suggestions ranged from ginseng and Silla crowns to Cheomseongdae, Goryeo pottery and even jangseung, those wonderfully grotesque wooden guardians posted at village entrances. If only we lived in the parallel universe where they won. Secretly, however, the design committee had hoped that a rabbit would be chosen to represent Korea. At the time, Korea’s image was very different from today. Instead of today's Gangnam glitz, international images of Korea were colored by Gwangju, political repression and nearly three decades of authoritarian rule. By using a rabbit as an Olympic mascot, the hope was that it would soften Korea’s image. Make it appear more approachable, friendlier. Cuter. Th

1d agoBy David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Why did everyone in old Korea wear white?

If you have the good fortune to spend time looking over photos and videos of Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, you will notice something quite striking: nearly everyone’s wearing white. There is a uniformity in the appearance of the people, marked by their plain, unadorned white clothing. Contrast this with the bright pinks, blues and greens we see foreigners wearing around the palaces and bursting through our screens in high definition as part of the latest K-drama, and you realize that there’s a disconnect between the past as it was and as it is imagined today. Consider the following 1920s quote: “While China and especially Japan are using so many different colors in their dresses, there is no such trend in the neighboring country, Joseon. They wear no color but white. Even when they use a color, it's an almost colorless jade. What makes everyone, regardless of gender or age, wear white? There are many countries and nations in the world, but none are like Joseon.” But why did Korean people wear white? And why were they known as "Baekui Minjok" (People in white c

Sep 12, 2026By David A. Tizzard

Why did everyone in old Korea wear white?

Opinion

How Korea was really colonized

For 35 years, the place that I inhabit today was not known as Korea, but rather it was part of Japan. While during the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty the capital was known as Hanyang, from 1910 to 1945 during the Japanese colonial period the city was officially known in Japanese as Keijō and in Korean as Gyeongseong. Only following liberation did it formally adopt the previous vernacular term of Seoul. My father-in-law, to this day, speaks Japanese very well. This is not because he was associated with the Japanese empire, but rather those that lived in this land went to school, had to face Tokyo, had to bow, had to assume Japanese names and language while in public, and then go home and speak Korean and dream of the flag and liberation and hope. In 1936, when Korean athletes competed at the Berlin Olympics, made famous by Jesse Owens for defying Hitler's terrible ideology, they did so with a Japanese flag on their chest. The most famous was Son Kee-chung, who won the marathon and became the first Korean to win an Olympic gold medal. His fellow Korean Nam Seung-yong won bronze in the same r

Sep 5, 2026By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The evolution of Taegeukgi

I recently walked around the National Museum of Korea, taking in the various sights, the objects, the stories, the pagodas, the lakes and everything else. It's a remarkable building, and one that I love spending time in. I'm also glad that Korea now has enough confidence to convey and share its history so passionately with people. At one point, I found myself standing beneath the Korean flag. This was in the section on the Korean Empire. There I was, looking at it … but it was different from normal. It wasn't the Sam-taegeuk, which features blue, red and yellow. Yet at the same time, it wasn't the regular Taegeuk we see on the flag today, with the red and blue divided into distinct halves. On this one, the red and blue swirls melted into each other. They didn't stay on their own side. Instead, they invaded. They flooded. They blended into each other, creating a very fluid and flexible image. I gazed at this flag for a long time. And as I did, I was faced with a question in my mind: Why is that flag like that? And why is it not like the flag that we see today? Now, of course, I could

Aug 29, 2026By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The lost future of 'Reply 1994'

I spent this week in a Korean hospital having surgery on a hand injury I picked up playing football. Thankfully, the surgery was a success, the nurses were kind and the food was decent. The hospital was also completely modern — every MRI scan, CT and X-ray was done with what seemed like the latest technology. My insurance then helped make sure that although still somewhat expensive considering everything I'd received, I was able to walk out without needing to sell my house. That's a joke, of course. I live in Seoul. I don't own a house. I'd brought a selection of books to keep me company: Peter Hopkirk's "The Great Game," Todd Henry's book on the city of Seoul and the famous Korean classic "A Small Dwarf Kicked a Ball." But sometimes the drugs kicked in a little too hard and I found myself unable to concentrate on the words on the page. That's when I turned to the TV in my room, hundreds of channels, countless movies and dramas at my fingertips. I pressed the button and was greeted immediately by episode one of a popular TV drama called "Reply 1994." Having not seen it, I decided to

Aug 22, 2026By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Kim Koo: Are you watching?

There is a photograph familiar to anyone who studies the Korean independence movement. It shows an elderly man in round spectacles and hanbok, or traditional Korean clothes, his face almost scholarly and his gaze soft behind the lenses. He looks like a retired professor, someone you might pass in a near-empty library. That face belonged to a man who stood 180 centimeters tall and spent his youth on the run, a rebel leader in a crushed uprising, a man who had killed a Japanese agent and fled through the freezing Korean countryside with a price on his head. His name was Kim Koo. And if you want to understand modern Korea, its soul, its divisions, its improbable cultural triumph, you must also understand him. The making of a rebel Kim Koo was born in 1876, in the final, flickering years of the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty. He came from a ruined yangban (aristocratic) family, but poverty had stripped him of privilege. Asia in his youth was a continent on fire: a cauldron of war, revolution and the boot-heel of Western imperialism. Kim was more sensitive than most to the tremors beneath his feet

Aug 15, 2026By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The first lady Korea watched die

Attitudes and conversations about Korean politics are dominated by the presidents. The generals. The dictators. The democratically elected leaders. But last week, I introduced you to Francesca Rhee. Korea's first first lady. A foreigner who wore hanboks in a nation still licking its wounds from war and colonial rule. Today, I want to continue that journey. To humanize another woman who, like Francesca, existed in the shadow of a powerful man. But while Francesca’s story is often omitted from national narratives, Yuk Young-soo is remembered positively by most in society. And her death on live television, in front of a nation watching its Liberation Day celebrations, is something unlike anything you’ll see or hear in many other countries. The woman behind the president Park Chung-hee is a complicated figure. His rule was repressive. He stifled democracy. He jailed dissidents. His economic achievements came at a steep price in human rights. And yet he helped set the country on course to where it is today. He got people building. He gave the country confidence. He promised the people th

Aug 8, 2026By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The Korean president's foreign wife

Who gets to be called Korean was the subject of one of my recent pieces. And it feels like a powerfully modern topic, with globalization, multicultural families, returning adoptees, visible North Korean defectors, and many more people from all walks of life making a claim for being part of the collective Korean identity known as “woori.” We saw the German-born Jens Castrop representing the Korean national football team at the World Cup this year, though his inclusion was largely overshadowed by the fallout that has followed the rather disastrous campaign and investigations into former coach Hong Myung-bo. But go back to the start of the Republic of Korea, 78 years ago, and the country’s first first lady was a white woman from Austria who claimed Korean citizenship and wore hanbok. It’s outrageous to think that a Korean president today might have a “foreign” wife. It simply wouldn’t be allowed, I don’t think. Even the idea of a president spending an extended time abroad might be too much for people to take. Maybe that’s why so little is known about Francesca Donner-Rhe

Aug 1, 2026By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

How NewJeans stole London's underground

I must confess, I probably couldn’t name all the members of NewJeans. And if the members were scattered amongst a sea of contemporary female K-pop idols, I probably wouldn’t be able to pick them out of a lineup. But that doesn’t really matter for me. I’ve long explored K-pop for the music. I observe the trends. Study the songwriters and producers. Delve into how everything actually gets made. I like putting respect on Kenzie and teaching my students that the K in K-pop might just as well stand for her name rather than Korea. I love uncovering Teddy Park and G-Dragon’s role in shaping the most influential generation on K-pop. How rather than being an underdog, Bang Si-hyuk actually earned his spurs as "Hitman Bang" working with JYP on the Wonder Girls and helping them become the first K-pop group on Billboard. When I listen to K-pop to understand what’s happening, I will often search for playlists and mixes rather than the catalogue of one artist. House is generally my go-to and, for that reason, recent K-pop has been pretty good to me as many of the current acts are leaning

Jul 25, 2026By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Who gets to be called 'us' in modern Korea?

I recently had to serve as the MC for an important event, placed on stage in front of a large crowd of important Korean people. As we began, everyone was asked to stand, face the Korean flag, and sing the national anthem. With hundreds of eyes on me, I was faced with a question: Do I put my hand on my heart like every other Korean in the room? Or does my foreignness exclude me from that? I had but seconds to decide. It wasn't really about etiquette. It was about whether I was expected to perform belonging or acknowledge exclusion. Korean people will often jokingly remark that I’m more Korean than them. It happens so often that I’m sure anyone with a reasonable grasp of Korean will have experienced it, too. It happens when I’m wearing my Korean football top, drinking sanghwacha, lecturing on Korean history and culture, and so on. They say it in jest but also with feeling and respect. And it’s okay because we both know that what they say is not really true. It’s like when a tourist stumbles through ordering a coffee and the owners smile and compliment them on speaking Korean s

Jul 19, 2026By David A. Tizzard

David A. Tizzard

Read more

Is Korea still a shrimp between whales?

Why did everyone in old Korea wear white?

How Korea was really colonized

The evolution of Taegeukgi

The lost future of 'Reply 1994'

Kim Koo: Are you watching?

The first lady Korea watched die

The Korean president's foreign wife

How NewJeans stole London's underground

Who gets to be called 'us' in modern Korea?

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