The Korea Times

Saja boys, shaman pop, and the ethics of self-sacrifice

I wasn’t going to watch KPop Demon Hunters. In fact, when a few friends messaged me asking for my thoughts on it, I sidestepped the conversation. I had subconsciously written it off as yet another piece of overproduced bubblegum aimed at a global audience hungry for surface-level K‑vibes. That was definitely my own prejudice speaking. But then I watched it with my daughter. We were planning a movie night anyway, so why not give it a shot? By the time the credits rolled, I was quietly stunned. KPop Demon Hunters isn’t just good: it’s outrageously good. It’s everything I had expected it not to be. It’s not a shallow cash grab. It’s not derivative. It’s not K‑pop karaoke dressed up in Marvel cosplay. It is, somehow, all of those things, of course … and yet much more. The premise is absurd in the most delicious way: three girls, Rumi, Mira and Zoey, form a K‑pop idol group named Huntrix. But they don’t just perform on stage. They’re also demon hunters. Their concerts generate “Honmoon,” a shimmering barrier between the human and demon realms. It’s a traditio

Jun 28, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Saja boys, shaman pop, and the ethics of self-sacrifice

Opinion

Narrating Korean Life - Part 4: Along With the Mountain Gods

There are days in Korea when the city feels like it’s trying to eat you whole. Horns, neon, motorcycles, students rushing to private academies, and every surface coated in a coffee-fueled barrage of efficiency. But just north of all this, silently, patiently, the mountain waits. Bukhansan is sprawling. Ancient. Unmoved by the frantic tick of modern Seoul. You can walk for hours and forget about capitalism, politics, and convenience stores. It’s also where I found myself last week, hiking toward Baegundae Peak. I took the hard way up. Because, well, I don’t really know why. Maybe some vague memory of Nietzsche. Maybe something to do with masculinity. Or maybe just poor planning. Setting off around 3 p.m., the June sun was still brutal. Thankfully, however, the crowds were sparse. Everyone I did see was heading in the opposite direction. For much of the hike, I was accompanied by no one but the sound of cicadas and the distant laughter of streams trying to hide themselves behind rocks and trees. The air smelled of stillness. The mountain was letting me in gently, as a guest rather

Jun 21, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Narrating Korean Life - Part 4: Along With the Mountain Gods

Opinion

Korea in Ten Words: (7) Minsim

In Korea, the people’s opinion is often described as the voice of heaven: the heart of the nation. Even under the rigid hierarchy of the Joseon Dynasty, "minsim," the collective will or sentiment of the people, was seen as a vital element of governance. Though the monarchy was absolute in theory, kings were still advised by Confucian scholars and civil officials who cited minsim to sway royal decisions. If the hearts of the people turned cold, it was believed that the ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven (cheonmyeong). Effective Korean politics can therefore only be achieved by properly understanding what the people think and acknowledging what they hold in their hearts. It was this understanding that brought the Confucian philosopher Yulgok to say that minsim is the will of heaven. In Confucian tradition, rulers were expected to rule with virtue. We see early traces of this in the Donghak Peasant Movement of 1894, which arose from deep dissatisfaction with corrupt officials and growing foreign intrusion. That rebellion, while ultimately suppressed, has since been interpreted as a r

Jun 14, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Notes from the demographic apocalypse

“Okay,” I said. “How many of you think you might have kids in the future?” It was a blind poll, with students not knowing how their classmates and friends would vote. There were 38 of us in the lecture hall that day. Some suggested that around 30 percent to 50 percent of those in the room would choose ‘yes’. When the results came in, however, you should’ve seen their faces: 32 out of 38 young adults said they would have children in the future. Where were all the radical theorists and cultural critics we so often hear about said to be dismantling the traditional family? Where were the quiet quitters who had given up on life and just wanted a dodgy Netflix subscription and some flavoured vapes? Where was the apathetic generation the media tells us so much about? The answer to that might be in the messages that we provide to people. If you go around telling young people the world is screwed, of course they are going to reply negatively about the future. However, if you tell them about children, about meaning, about hope, about the tenacity and resilience of humans to continu

Jun 7, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Humanity restored: Dark Souls reflections on Korean society

The world of Dark Souls is bleak. Cryptic. It’s oppressive, and merciless. Paradoxically, it has also become one of the most beloved video game franchises of the 21st century. People embark on no-hit runs. Caveman challenges. And all other sorts of craziness. Lore videos on YouTube, hours in length, rack up tens of thousands of views in days. Dark Souls isn’t a hard game. People don’t play it because they are masochistic. Rather because it dares us to persevere. To die. And to try again. Again. And again. Until finally we do it. We "git gud." Something Korea knows all about. Modern Seoul is not for the faint-hearted. It is a sprawling metropolis of challenges and hierarchies. Labyrinthine, glittering, and faintly haunted. Not entirely unlike Lordran. It thrums with a kind of desperate vitality, the energy of a city that refuses to sleep for fear of losing ground. But that energy, like the undead curse, exacts a toll. The citizens burn themselves to stay lit. Economists and nationalists might say that the flame has long been linked. But at what cost? And how often must it be rekin

May 24, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Humanity restored: Dark Souls reflections on Korean society

Opinion

Selective morality of plagiarism: Korea’s cancel culture masquerading as justice

Let us begin with a simple truth: plagiarism is wrong. It undermines the academic process, devalues genuine achievement, and betrays the idea of scholarship as a search for knowledge rather than a hunt for status. We should call it out. We should stop it. And we should absolutely not tolerate it in our universities, our government, or our culture. But the truth doesn't end there. What’s increasingly clear in Korea is that the battle against academic dishonesty isn’t always fought in good faith. Instead, plagiarism has become a cudgel. It’s wielded not to uphold integrity but to punish selected individuals after they've fallen from grace. It’s not an ethical standard. It’s a political strategy. Less about righting wrongs and more about ritual purification through public shaming. Like a society tossing virgins into volcanoes, sacrificing one to cleanse the sins of the many. And as expected, the vultures circle. Take the case of Kim Keon Hee, wife of the now-impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol. With his calamitous attempt at martial law and subsequent fall from power, Kim ha

May 17, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Selective morality of plagiarism: Korea’s cancel culture masquerading as justice

Opinion

Contradictions of Korean masculinity

Modern Korean masculinity is caught in a weird tension between pride and pressure. It’s what we might call a double stereotype. Internationally, they are seen by some as ideal partners: loyal, sensitive, stylish, and, of course, ridiculously good looking. At the same time, domestically they are criticized as patriarchal, entitled, emotionally repressed, or worse. The gap between these two exaggerated images is wide, and growing. Many men therefore seem to struggle to locate themselves within it. One student recently told me, “We’re expected to be strong, but also soft. To compete, but also be kind. The modern Korean man is some kind of fantasy.” Understanding Korean masculinity today requires examining how it has changed over time and adapted to the different political and economic systems of war, dictatorship, democracy, and neoliberalism. In each epoch, Masculinity has been shaped by history, class, and evolving cultural expectations throughout. Never fixed. The hegemony of the unheard Raewyn Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity helps highlight these evolving demands.

May 10, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Why (Some) Koreans Want to Kill People

I’ve always believed that the strength of a society is measured not by how it treats the best of us, but how it treats the worst. In the Europe where I was raised, a dominant idea was that people, even the most broken, damaged, or dangerous, can be rehabilitated. That we are all products of our environments, and that punishment should serve a greater societal goal: something along the lines of reform, reintegration and responsibility. So when I first heard my young, educated Korean friends, liberal in politics, worldly in tastes, and progressive in many areas, casually suggesting that certain criminals should be executed, I was somewhat surprised. Not shocked, exactly. Just … confused. But why is the death penalty still socially and emotionally acceptable in South Korea? Why does a country that has built its modern reputation on technological advancement, cultural export, and progressive education still lean so readily on the logic of elimination? The answer isn’t simple. History of terror In the latter half of the 20th century, South Korea found itself under the rule of authoritar

May 3, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The quiet fire of Lee Chang-dong

Korea has no shortage of celebrated literary voices: Kim Young-ha, Hwang Sok-young, Shin Kyung-sook and Pyun Hye-young among them. Few have garnered as much international recognition as Han Kang, rightly praised for her emotional scalpel, dissecting the body and soul of both the nation and the Korean female in books like "The Vegetarian." However, for those of you like me who found her recent exploration of tragedies in Jeju and Vietnam underwhelming, ambiguous and missing the meaty bite of earlier works, another writer offers a more compelling vision of Korea’s post-authoritarian psyche. Lee Chang-dong’s reputation rests largely on his acclaimed films, most notably “Peppermint Candy” (1999), “Secret Sunshine” (2007) and “Burning” (2018). However, his recently released English-language version of “Snowy Day” offers stark, unflinching visions of society that linger in the mind, unsettle the heart and ask difficult questions. And like his films, his writing refuses to give you the comfort of answers. His work probes the wounds left by military dictatorship yet doesn

Apr 26, 2025By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Jeju, Jeong and Tangerines: Drama that will break you, then put you back together

There are some television shows that entertain us. Some that challenge us. Many simply bore us or repeat tired tropes of the past. But then there are those rare stories that hold a mirror to our soul, to our lives, and quietly whisper, "This is you." It’s an unmistakable voice. Scary at first. Uncomfortable. But over time, you come to realize it’s importance. “When Life Gives You Tangerines” is a voice like this. Not just a Korean drama, but a meditation on life, death, love, and everything in between. A healing ritual disguised as entertainment. The story, spread across three generations, is reminiscent of the struggles of “Pachinko,” the magic of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and Mo Yan’s breathtaking “Red Sorghum.” Tales of generational fate, the push and pull of time, and how personal lives are woven into the larger universe of nature, economy, and history. It plays out first in the rugged, wind-swept beauty of Jeju Island and later in the concrete, pop-music filled, political streets of Seoul. And although it’s very much set in time, with some perhaps ri

Apr 19, 2025By David A. Tizzard

David A. Tizzard

Read more

Saja boys, shaman pop, and the ethics of self-sacrifice

Narrating Korean Life - Part 4: Along With the Mountain Gods

Korea in Ten Words: (7) Minsim

Notes from the demographic apocalypse

Humanity restored: Dark Souls reflections on Korean society

Selective morality of plagiarism: Korea’s cancel culture masquerading as justice

Contradictions of Korean masculinity

Why (Some) Koreans Want to Kill People

The quiet fire of Lee Chang-dong

Jeju, Jeong and Tangerines: Drama that will break you, then put you back together

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