SEOUL, South Korea — In a trendy Gangnam high-rise, a whiz-kid professor named Lee Sihan urges his classroom of 28 students not to fret. The big exam you’ve been preparing for — the one that could land you a Samsung dream job — won’t be that bad if you put the hours...

SEOUL, South Korea — In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings, three million people marched in France to defend free speech. But in South Korea — a staunch US ally — free speech is fraught, particularly for anyone caught praising the Kim Jong Un regime. American...

SEOUL, South Korea — Last month’s Sony hack was a national debacle, nearly canceling "The Interview" and denying moviegoers a fruitful two hours of butthole and gay jokes. But the uproar ended with a victory for free speech — at least if you think The Interview...

SEOUL, South Korea — Is change brewing in North Korea, one of the world’s most totalitarian nations? At first glance, it would seem unlikely. For more than two decades, the fortress-like regime has evaded predictions of collapse and chaos, surviving war, famine, and...

SEOUL, South Korea — When Korean American writer Suki Kim introduced the concept of an essay to her North Korean students, they were befuddled. That’s because an essay, Kim writes, requires setting up a thesis, and then acknowledging and refuting the arguments on the...

SEOUL, South Korea — The release of “The Interview” last week was supposed to spark a geopolitical imbroglio just in time for the holidays. Instead — after a last-minute release of the hastily canceled film to select theaters and crowds on the web — this Christmas...

SEOUL, South Korea — It’s difficult to imagine that kidnappers could get away with abducting a privileged foreign student from a French university and spiriting him thousands of miles away to his home country via a flight departing from a public airport. But that’s...

SEOUL, South Korea — The “state sponsors of terrorism” list is a fabled document in foreign policy circles: Washington’s club of designated bad regimes that support saboteurs, assassins and extremists. For more than two decades, Syria, Sudan and Iran have consistently...

SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong-un admits he’s never met an American journalist, but that doesn’t stop our frigid winter evening from being a convivial one. We clink glasses, swig a soju shot, and plunk a few slabs of pork belly on the grill. Kim Jong-un loves greasy...

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Jan. 7, 2014. Please scroll to the end of this article for a response that South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent GlobalPost on Jan. 9. 2014. GlobalPost stands by the piece in its entirety. SEOUL, South...