The Knives Are Out for South Korea’s Robber Barons
June 23, 2017
Business clans have dominated the country’s economy for decades – but their time may finally be up.
By Geoffrey Cain
Foreign Policy
Jun 23, 2017
Business clans have dominated the country’s economy for decades – but their time may finally be up.
By Geoffrey Cain
Foreign Policy
Jun 23, 2017
Combustible smartphones are a symptom of deeper management problems at the Korean company.
By Geoffrey Cain
The Wall Street Journal
Oct 12, 2016
IN FEBRUARY 1951, New York Times correspondent George Barrett, traveling with an American armored column, stumbled on the ghostly remains of a Korean hamlet that had been bombed out by US aircraft.
By Geoffrey Cain
Los Angeles Review of Books
May 11, 2015
The Korean version of this essay appeared in the Kyunghyang Shinmun on 12 February 2015. The English version here has been published with the permission of the newspaper and the author.
By Geoffrey Cain
Kyunghyang Shinmun
Mar 31, 2015
SEOUL, South Korea — For many North Korean defectors, the escape to freedom in the South is, sadly, the start of another lifelong struggle.
By Geoffrey Cain
USA TODAY
Mar 26, 2015
SEOUL, South Korea — Until a few years ago, legions of food-loving Americans had never heard of bulgogi or kimchi, those Korean staples that are now available in most cities and towns across the country.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Mar 22, 2015
SEOUL, South Korea — If all goes according to plan, about 10,000 North Koreans will get to endure an hour of toilet humor from Seth Rogen and James Franco. And then watch a rocket-propelled grenade incinerate their supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Mar 19, 2015
SEOUL, South Korea — There is a glamorous nouveau riche neighborhood in Seoul called Gangnam. You may have heard the song. Gangnam is renowned for its culture of beauty and style. And its plastic surgery.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Mar 13, 2015
Just about every corner watering hole whips up dazzling barbecues, stews and pickled vegetables. It’s spicy, and that’s a good thing.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Mar 10, 2015
SEOUL, South Korea — Wearing traditional garb and wielding a 10-inch fruit knife, the assailant stood up and shouted for the unification of the two Koreas before slashing his supposed enemy: the guest of honor, US Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Mar 5, 2015
What to read next:
Geoffrey Cain on Investigative Journalism, Authoritarian Power, and The Perfect Police State | In a wide-ranging conversation with Jennifer Grossman, CEO of The Atlas Society, investigative journalist Geoffrey Cain reflects on years spent reporting inside some of the world’s most restrictive regimes — and on the research behind his book The Perfect Police State: An Undercover Odyssey into China’s Terrifying Surveillance Dystopia of the Future.
For years, Tim Cook insisted Apple could change China from the inside. Instead, China changed Apple.
The latest evidence? Apple spent billions developing cutting-edge electric vehicle battery technology with Chinese automaker BYD, only to watch its innovations become the cornerstone of BYD’s rise to global electric vehicle dominance. Apple walked away with nothing. China walked away with everything.
This isn’t just another story about corporate research and development gone wrong. It’s a cautionary tale about how even America’s most valuable company has become trapped in China’s web of technological control — and how that web is about to tighten even further.