The Knives Are Out for South Korea’s Robber Barons

Jun 23, 2017 | Writing

Business clans have dominated the country’s economy for decades — but their time may finally be up.   “I was a god,” the scion proclaimed to me over dinner, reminiscing about the glory before his downfall. “Now I’m a man.” For decades, he’d been...

Scorched Earth Doctrine

May 11, 2015 | Writing

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. “The inhabitants throughout the village and in the fields were caught...

How I Became an Ajumma

Mar 31, 2015 | Writing

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. I have lived in many countries, but the ajumma character seems rather unique to...

This North Korean is getting rich off capitalism

Mar 26, 2015 | Writing

SEOUL, South Korea — For many North Korean defectors, the escape to freedom in the South is, sadly, the start of another lifelong struggle. Since the 1990s, thousands of refugees have crossed the river into China, staking out invisible lives as farmers and...

Korea is pulling out all the stops to popularize its cuisine

Mar 22, 2015 | Writing

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. Sushi is so 1980. Thai went the way of the American Chinese fast...