Writing
It looks like Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin are becoming BFFs
SEOUL, South Korea — Is the sun setting on the brotherly bond between North Korea and its biggest patron, China?
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Feb 10, 2015
Freewheeling, prosperous Korea is a remarkably tough place for Western companies
SEOUL, South Korea — Of course, China is renowned as a tough place to do business. But world’s biggest brand names have a long history of investing major bucks in booming South Korea — only to whiff.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Feb 2, 2015
The Islamic State beheadings are firing up Japan’s hawks
SEOUL, South Korea — A wave of national mourning has swept Japan after a gruesome video released over the weekend, apparently showed the Islamic State beheading celebrated journalist Kenji Goto.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Feb 2, 2015
In the Republic of Samsung, here’s the ticket to the good life
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 in.
By Geoffrey Cain
USA TODAY
Jan 26, 2015
South Korea has a free speech problem
SEOUL, South Korea — In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings, three million people marched in France to defend free speech.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Jan 19, 2015
After Sony attack, hackers obliterate a Kim Jong Un video game
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.
By Geoffrey Cain
USA TODAY
Jan 15, 2015
Could North Korea finally be enacting Chinese-style economic reforms?
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 economic ruin. It has mystified the world with its ability to stay put — despite its nuclear brinkmanship and naval skirmishes with neighbors.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Jan 8, 2015
The art of essay writing for the brainwashed
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 other side.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Dec 29, 2014
Actually, North Korea might not be guilty in the Sony hack
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 turned out like any other, and we were allowed to watch Kim Jong Un’s head explode in peace.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Dec 29, 2014
Political kidnappings, North Korean style
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.
By Geoffrey Cain
USA TODAY
Dec 26, 2014