SEOUL, South Korea — The ironically named de-militarized zone (DMZ) is a 160-mile long buffer of landmines, guard posts, and barbed wire between North and South Korea. It is a potent symbol of division and suffering for citizens on both sides of the peninsula.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Jan 1, 2011
SEOUL, South Korea — The democratic half of the Korean peninsula is having an increasingly hard time with the whole freedom of speech thing.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Jan 1, 2011
SEOUL, South Korea — For years, crystal meth has been the intoxicant of choice for North Korean drug users. They take the stimulant recreationally, or occasionally to work long hours or suppress unsatisfied appetites in the impoverished countryside.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Jan 1, 2011
In the late 1950s, thousands of Chinese farmers starved to death while toiling on massive irrigation projects, under orders to meet Mao Zedong’s outlandish expectations for growth. Most laborers didn’t speak up because they feared the authorities would label them rightists.
By Geoffrey Cain
The Christian Science Monitor
Nov 2, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — Heinz Insu Fenkl, a literature professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, has cracked one secret to understanding the bizarre regime of North Korea: by reading its comic books.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Oct 25, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — Koh Seok-hyun walks on stage wearing a red and white race-car uniform. He sits under glimmering orange lights, and contemplates the strategy he’s been preparing for weeks.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Jun 23, 2010
DANANG, Vietnam — “Attention passengers. This is your captain speaking. We’re starting our descent into Danang, with heavy winds and rain. Things could get bumpy. As always, we thank you for flying with us.”
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
May 30, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — When I told my friends I would visit a Korean shaman, or mudang, their responses weren’t exactly reassuring. One Korean university student explained to me that evil spirits would hijack my body, prompting me to slit my wrists and drink my own blood until I became a minion of Satan. “Are you nuts? They’re evil!” another friend exclaimed.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
May 30, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — In his bag, Park Jae Dong always carries a fine-point ink brush. The mellow, aging artist speaks in few words, preferring to communicate through Korean cartoons, or manhwa, which have gained such popularity across Asia in recent years.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
May 30, 2010
DANANG, Vietnam — At 46, each year of misery seems to have etched new wrinkles around Tran Thanh Dung’s angry gaze. When he was child in the early 1970s, Tran says he witnessed U.S. soldiers shoot his parents — both of whom were communist Viet Cong soldiers during the Vietnam War. Bent on revenge, he joined the guerrilla group within hours.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
May 30, 2010
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Geoffrey Cain is an award-winning author of bestselling books on leadership, business, technology, and finance.
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