Feb 10, 2014 | Writing
SEOUL, South Korea — Weddings here are not just huge American-style parties. They’re lavish, anxiety-inducing celebrations. They’re even sometimes used for nefarious purposes, such as influence peddling. Families take the events very seriously. Their honor is at stake...
Feb 7, 2014 | Writing
SEOUL — Dennis Rodman’s birthday serenade for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and his drunken defense of the spectacle on CNN, drew no shortage of virulent mud-slingers. It also stirred conversation among North Korea watchers. They asked, can Western executives and...
Jan 27, 2014 | Writing
SEOUL, South Korea — On Sunday, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that “all relatives of Jang [Song Taek]” — including children and the ambassadors to Cuba and Malaysia — have been put to death at the orders of the generalissimo. Jang Song Taek, you may...
Jan 17, 2014 | Writing
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — In the Canadia Industrial Park, factories are mostly back in operation, bustling to fulfill orders for major Western labels. There are few signs of the brutal crackdown that recently afflicted this complex on the Cambodian capital’s southern...
Jan 9, 2014 | Writing
SEOUL, South Korea — In a country dominated by sprawling conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai, young graduates typically covet a ticket to corporate power and affluence. From day one, Korean schoolchildren cram late into the night, preparing for rigorous exams in...
Jan 7, 2014 | Writing
SEOUL, South Korea — Read South Korea’s 1948 National Security Act and you can glean a picture of the perilous era during which it was written. The, which law bans communism and “anti-state activities,” was passed in the tense two years leading to an invasion by the...
