Writing
Why was an American jailed in North Korea?
Editor’s update: The US government on Monday urged North Korea to free US citizen Kenneth Bae on “humanitarian grounds” as it sought to pin down the charges against him.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 29, 2013
S. Korea to remove remaining workers from joint N. Korea factory
SEOUL, South Korea — The few remaining South Korean workers will be removed from the Kaesong industrial complex, a joint venture with the North, ending hope the standoff between the two sides will be resolved.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 26, 2013
K-pop’s dirty secret
SEOUL, South Korea — This week, a famous K-pop star in South Korea got all teary-eyed on television, talking about the 11 years she spent preparing for her career.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 25, 2013
South Korea’s household debt-to-income ratio hits 9-year high
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s household debt-to-income ratio hit a nine-year high in 2012, according to Bank of Korea data released Wednesday.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 24, 2013
Can you solve North Korean math?
SEOUL, South Korea — I’m now reading an advance copy of Andrei Lankov’s upcoming book, “The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia,” due out from Oxford University Press on May 8.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 24, 2013
North Korea: Possible missile launch?
SEOUL, South Korea — April 25 is something of a holy day for the North Korean leadership. It marks the founding of the guerrilla army in 1932 that they — often romantically — claim valiantly fought off Japanese colonials and saved the Korean race from slavery. (In reality, the army played a minor role.)
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 24, 2013
Artisan coffee comes to North Korea
Curious coffee lovers now have a reason to visit North Korea. Pyongyang is home to a hip new coffeeshop serving “third wave” coffee — a buzzword that marks a recent generation of specialty and artisanal brews.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 23, 2013
South Korea and China’s so-called honeymoon
SEOUL, South Korea — China has uncomfortably backed North Korea since the 1950s, at times treating South Korea as a direct enemy and, more recently, a wary and reserved trading partner.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 19, 2013
Should we trust the Pentagon on North Korea?
SEOUL, South Korea — Last month, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) — the Pentagon’s intelligence arm — reported “with moderate confidence” in an intelligence assessment that North Korea had mastered a startling technology: the ability to shrink a nuclear warhead and place it on a crude missile.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 18, 2013
South Korean fringe website: Let’s use Boston to bomb North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — Some Americans are speculating on Twitter that North Korea masterminded the bombings in Boston, pointing out its timing after two months of militant rhetoric. Of course, all five South Koreans interviewed by GlobalPost over the past day expressed shock over the news and thought such a scenario was incredibly unlikely.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Apr 17, 2013