The Korea Times

Like water: Lessons from Taoism in modern Korea

That things were different here in Korea first became apparent to me when I started watching the movies: "Oldboy," "JSA," "Seopyeonjae," "Memories of Murder," "Peppermint Candy," and many many more. I would get to the end of these outrageous dramatic journeys and the climax would just punch me in the face. I was used to the good guy winning, defeating evil, kissing the girl, and riding off into the sunset as the credits rolled. Here, however, the whole thing was flipped. The good guy died. The story left unresolved. And all sorts of other mental twists that didn’t make sense to me. I sat there, open-mouthed. What the hell kind of movie was this? Meanwhile, the Korean people around me in the cinema or at home, nodded silently as if to say, “Yep. That’s how it goes.” Then a friend told me that the thing I’d grown up fearing was little more than a cultural construct that didn’t really belong in East Asia. The devil, Satan, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub — whatever name you give it — wasn’t a central figure here. Yes, the culture has dokkaebi (goblins), mangtaehalabeoji (bogey

Sep 13, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Like water: Lessons from Taoism in modern Korea

Opinion

What do you tell people who have just arrived in Korea?

Another university semester begins amidst the pouring rain and scorching heat of a Korean summer that refuses to give way to autumn. Thousands of international students have made their way here: some coming with long-held dreams of studying in the land they grew up watching in K-dramas and music videos; others simply taking the opportunity to come to the other side of the world and try something new. They come from Vietnam, Mexico, France, the United States, China, Taiwan, Germany, and, recently, more and more from Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. This last group of students often have Kim as their surname and striking Korean features yet bring a distinctly different energy shaped by their post-Soviet upbringing. I teach Korean Studies and have 9 (nine!) different lectures across two universities again this semester, so I encounter hundreds of these students every day. I try to listen to their stories, learn their interests, and get a feel for where the culture is. I’m also curious as to how people see Korea after only being here for a week. Of course the answers vary

Sep 6, 2025By David A. Tizzard

What do you tell people who have just arrived in Korea?

Opinion

Growing up with IVE: A father, a daughter and a 17-minute EP

It’s been fun watching my young daughter immerse herself in IVE. From the songs, the variety show performances, the v-logs, the photocards, and everything else, the six member K-pop group are everything to her. Our car trips regularly feature "Love Dive," "Accendio," "Heya," "I Am," "Rebel Heart" and "After Like" on the stereo. My personal favourite is probably "Attitude," particularly the pre-chorus. And I really really like their recent Japanese single “Be Alright.” It has some super spicy chords, and I often play it on guitar with my daughter singing along. Our television is always blaring out the laughter and rowdiness from the television program “Earth Arcade.” Yujin might be the leader of IVE but she’s the youngest member of this particular show and my daughter loves watching her interact with Mimi, Eunji and the constantly outrageous Young-ji. It’s actually quite refreshing seeing these huge stars in minimal to no-make up and acting in a completely natural and unscripted way. I’m actually surprised there hasn’t been more mention of it in the English-language p

Aug 30, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Growing up with IVE: A father, a daughter and a 17-minute EP

Opinion

The revolution of light and weight of words: Welcome President Lee Jae Myung

Considering he took office in early June, it seemed a somewhat strange assignment to spend my mid-August evening watching his official inauguration. But that’s where I found myself, sat in a television studio in downtown Seoul, providing live analysis and commentary while the rest of the country enjoyed a late-summer vacation. In a rather astute move, President Lee had decided to use the nation’s most emotional and celebratory public holiday to announce himself as the leader chosen by the people of the country and tasked with the challenge of returning not only the light from Japanese colonization but also power from South Korea’s conservative faction. The event itself felt like a combination of an Olympics opening ceremony, a christening, and a coronation. A night of performance, song, and music to announce the arrival of the new leader and provide him with legitimacy. There was taekwondo, K-pop, long speeches, and lots of clapping. Everything you expect from an event here in modern Korea. Changing Lee I must confess, based on his 2022 election campaign, I was rather skeptical ab

Aug 16, 2025By David A. Tizzard

The revolution of light and weight of words: Welcome President Lee Jae Myung

Opinion

Korea in 10 words: (8) Gwangbeokjeol

There’s a week left until Gwangbeokjeol (Liberation Day), but countless South Korean flags already line the streets of our town. They wave in the wind. Soak up the sun, and bow to the rain. We will put one up in our apartment in a few days to demonstrate our own patriotism and avoid running the risk of local side-eye. Online, my feed is slowly becoming filled with images and AI generated videos of patriotic martyrs such as Ahn Jung-guen and Yu Gwan-sun. The people’s voice is rising. You can hear it. Feel it. The day is coming. Literally, Gwangbeok means the restoration of the light, and thus it symbolizes the day upon which the hopes and fortunes of the Korean people returned. The terms independence and liberation are both also used here but some scholars here argue that rather than being the independence of a newborn nation, such as when the United States first achieved its independence from Britain, Gwangbeok instead refers to a formerly independent nation that was temporarily deprived of its sovereignty and then regained it. Liberation (hae-bang) is also the term generally favo

Aug 9, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

How 'The Wailing' became the defining Korean horror movie

It had been just over a week since I sat and watched the film with a group of visiting students. But there I was, at 4 am, awake, staring at the corner of the room, my mind racing with images from the movie. My breath sharp. A physical sensation ran through my body. Whether I liked it or not, this movie was now part of me. Part of my subconscious. How long would the imagery haunt me? How long would I think back to those closing scenes involving the robed man looking up at the priest? Why did this film affect me so much? I don’t have the answer to any of these questions. But I do know that this Korean movie didn’t end when the credits rolled. It began. And that morning as I glanced around my room, I was very glad it’s only a movie. Korean horror "The Wailing" doesn’t feature in the recent New York Times’ movie rankings. "Parasite" topped that list, but I think "Memories of Murder" is a far better movie. Elsewhere "Train to Busan" and "The Host" are often regarded as the country’s best horror movies, yet the latter is more akin to a comedy or a family drama. The monster of the

Aug 2, 2025By David A. Tizzard

How 'The Wailing' became the defining Korean horror movie

Opinion

Why Korea is cooler than China

Okay, so let’s play a game. I say, “South Korea.” What pops into your head? Even if you’re not big on media or modern culture, you can probably come up with BTS, "Parasite," mukbang queens and bowls of fire noodles, then those glass-skinned influencers who’ve convinced half the world that toner is more important than god. Japan? Easy! Anime, Studio Ghibli, Mario, Harajuku street fashion, and just enough weirdness to keep the internet engaged. And now... “China.” Let’s be real. Most people don’t think of music, or cinema, or fashion. It’s social credit scores. Xi Jinping memes. The CCP deleting Winnie the Pooh. Covid cover-ups. Tiananmen Square tank man. And so on. There’s a canyon-sized cultural gap here, and among my students, the difference is daylight. They’ll talk your ear off about Seventeen’s latest sub-unit, break down every episode of "Return of the Blossoming Blade," and tell you why Tzuyang is better than Hamzy. They’ve cried reading Han Kang. They know NewJeans choreo. But name a Chinese pop group? A drama? A film? Nothing. Dead air. Most can’t

Jul 26, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The Greatest Acting Performance in Korean Cinema History?

Jeon Do-yeon’s performance in "Secret Sunshine" is not just acting, it’s a full body possession. It might be the best piece of acting ever put on screen in Korean cinema. In fact, it might be the best piece of acting in any cinema. Anywhere. Any time. Jeon is not performing the role, she becomes the role. And what you get isn’t some tidy little Oscar-bait sobfest. No. What you get is an emotional earthquake. A soul-level detonation. We're talking about the kind of raw, nuclear honesty you see maybe once in a generation. Like what Choi Min-sik did in "Oldboy" with a hammer and a mouth full of live octopus. Or how Song Kang-ho can take a single facial twitch and turn it into an existential crisis. But Jeon goes deeper. She goes to the kind of places that make most actors flinch and gives you everything: The guttural, animalistic cries of a mother who’s just lost her world. Silent, trembling tears that feel more violent than a scream. Eyes that are so confused, so broken, you start to question your own grip on reality. And just when you think she’s given all she can, she throws

Jul 19, 2025By David A. Tizzard

The Greatest Acting Performance in Korean Cinema History?

Opinion

In search of sansin

Cities tell you what a country builds. Mountains tell you what it believes. And so I learn more about Korea when I walk alongside it. When I lose myself in the mountains. Venturing further and further outside of Seoul. Here the mountains sensitize you. They are intense. They are spaces and places where the light feels brighter. The snow sharper. The air travels through your nose like a wire down to your lungs. It’s transformative. In the mountains, everything crackles and tingles. And, perhaps most of all, mountains are dangerous. There is rock and ice and water. Snow and sun. Bugs. Bites. Bits of things that have no name. Paths without handles. A life without a safety vest. There’s not much intrepid about a coffee shop in Namdaemun. The Yongsan department stores offer little in the way of thrill. Hongdae is alive with neons and electronica, but it lacks that very visceral, vertiginous scale of mountain life. And because mountains are alive, you have to be alive. There is a constant risk assessment taking place. Are those rocks safe? Is the heat okay? That’s not a snake, is it? Y

Jul 12, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Park Chan-wook’s forgotten masterpiece: A film about mental health and K-pop idols before the world was listening

In 2025, South Korea has developed a strange fetish for performative vulnerability. Anxiety is the new luxury handbag: everyone has one, everyone’s flaunting theirs, and if you don’t, you’re either lying or dangerously maladjusted. Pop stars weep into LED-lit ring lights. Influencers livestream their therapy sessions, sandwiched between collagen mask unboxings and affiliate codes for supplements. Mental health, once taboo, has been monetized, merchandised, and algorithmically optimized for engagement. And yet, there’s something deeply valuable about this shift. Because people, real people, are finally able to speak about the things that were once buried in silence. Trauma, anxiety, and depression aren’t just trendy terms. For many, they are lived realities. And what’s changed is that now, those experiences can be spoken aloud without immediate shame or dismissal. There’s help available. Conversations happen. People are walking into clinics, talking to professionals, and seeking treatment, not because they’re weak, but because they want to live. They want to understand

Jul 5, 2025By David A. Tizzard

David A. Tizzard

Read more

Like water: Lessons from Taoism in modern Korea

What do you tell people who have just arrived in Korea?

Growing up with IVE: A father, a daughter and a 17-minute EP

The revolution of light and weight of words: Welcome President Lee Jae Myung

Korea in 10 words: (8) Gwangbeokjeol

How 'The Wailing' became the defining Korean horror movie

Why Korea is cooler than China

The Greatest Acting Performance in Korean Cinema History?

In search of sansin

Park Chan-wook’s forgotten masterpiece: A film about mental health and K-pop idols before the world was listening

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