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Asia

The Korea Times

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Wed, July 24, 2024 | 03:24

About the past - Robert Neff

Ginseng, 'the great panacea for all ills'

In the early 1900s, Charles M. Root, an aptly named American, wrote, “When China thinks about [Korea] it is not about its political status, its queer customs or its [strategic] importance to China, but the ginseng that comes from [Korean] mountains.” He added, “This root is the...

Photographs and memories: The Lay family

Family albums and scrapbooks are treasure chests filled with memories — good and bad. Old photographs, their edges curled with age and humidity, inspire curiosity, but unfortunately the questions as to the identities of the people in the pictures and their locations are o...

Busan in 1884: A tourist hotspot (Part 3 - Not for the fastidious)

“The great heat of summer will soon be upon you,” declared Chesney Duncan in late spring 1884, 'and many [of the expat community in China] will be casting about for some place that will afford both change of climate and of scenery to spend the hot months in!”

Korea: deConstructed - David Tizzard

Bong Joon-ho and abyss in Korean cinema

A few days ago I told my students that the difference between Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho is that while the former tells his stories through themes and symbolism, Bong’s movies are far more direct and focused on pushing the plot forward through action. Though we might want ...

Korea in ten words: (5) Jeong

Korean summers are brutally humid. You sweat just looking out the windows. Nevertheless, we had broken down a large wardrobe and had to now carry these large planks of wood outside to a recycling area familiar to anyone who lives in Korean apartments. Illuminated, slightly remo...

Oldboy: revisited

It’s fascinating to me just how much and how little my international students know about Korea and its culture. Many of them will talk passionately with me about each member of NCT, recount the various releases of Seventeen, and provide opinions about the ongoing saga between B...

Parchment Made of Sheepskins - Scott Shepherd

Jjajangmyeon nationalism

Among many Koreans with whom I have spoken there is an unfortunate misconception: that, apart from fish and chips, British cuisine doesn’t exist. This illusion persists even among the very wisest and most unimpeachable members of society, namely my wife.

Disappearing towns

Every so often, the Korea Times publishes an article about the destruction of one historic neighborhood or another, usually in a poor district of Seoul. Each piece brings for me a nostalgic pang for the Korea of yesteryear. The intricate alleys and passageways of the city’s old...

Squat, Lee and Linton: Names and identity in today's Korea

At the beginning of my first Spanish class in my London secondary school, our teacher set about giving us Spanish names. If I remember correctly, she dubbed me Miguel. I felt then, aged circa 11-13 years old, and I still feel now that this was a waste of time: I am not Spanish ...

Workable Words - Casey Lartigue Jr.

Sharon Jang: from voiceless in North Korea to author in South Korea

Two weeks ago, I briefly told the story of my birthday gift battle with North Korean refugee Sharon Jang. She started it by sending almost $200 to me to celebrate my birthday a few years ago. When it was her birthday a few months later, I sent her almost $200. We have been send...

Reciprocal relationships with North Korean refugees

I will start by issuing a warning that there could be numerous heart attacks at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club as a result of this blog post.

'From awareness to action: advocating for North Korean human rights'

Freedom Speakers International co-founder Casey Lartigue recently created an online petition calling on Western countries to open their doors to North Koreans who have escaped from China. His action reminded me that we can all do something to make a difference about the things ...

Dialogues with adoptees

3 principles for receiving countries regarding investigations into inter-country adoption abuses

In March 2023, I met a delegation from the Swedish government at my office. They were an investigation committee on inter-country adoption abuses, and we had met a year earlier in Europe for an intensive consultation shortly after they began their work.

Adoptees' reality is different from script written by society

What everyone has been led to believe about international adoption is fundamentally wrong. On the surface, my life followed the Korean adoption script as it was written. I had an adoptive family, health and an identity in the United States thanks to benevolent intervention that...

Adoptees return in search of lives not lived

For many adoptees, Korea is a vexing site of return. It’s simultaneously home and not home. We’re too loud. Too foreign. Our mannerisms signal our lack of cultural capital, even as the “han” (internalized sorrow or grief) of adoption and separation courses through our veins.

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	N. Korea says it does not care about Trump's boasting of friendship with Kim

2	Fewer foreign residents in Korea wire money back to family

3	Kakao faces gloomy outlook following founder's arrest

4	INTERVIEWSenior models in Korea redefine age and beauty

5	Kim Jong-un anticipates Donald Trump's reelection: experts

6	Gov't ups limit on meal prices under anti-graft law to 50,000 won

7	Jamsu Bridge closed due to rising river levels

8	Korean wine importers struggle with falling sales

9	'Chaebols, NPS drive Korea discount': London-based proxy adviser

10	Kakao founder arrested over alleged stock manipulation

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