South Korea

Business, Economics and Jobs

May 11, 2017

The nuclear threat from North Korea is a big deal. But in South Korea, some Catholic leaders see a different nuclear problem, right in their own backyard. Catholic clergy are taking the lead in protests against South Korea's dependence on nuclear energy.

Lawyer, soldier, activist, president: Who is Moon Jae-in?

Agence France-Presse

May 09, 2017

Updated

05/09/2017 - 3:15pm

Left-leaning Moon Jae-in won South Korea's presidential election by a landslide.

How good is the new missile defense system the US just deployed in South Korea?

May 03, 2017

The US military says its THAAD missile defense system is now operational in South Korea. The hope is that it can shoot down North Korean missiles. But how effective is it?

Lifestyle & Belief

The biggest megachurch on Earth and South Korea's ‘crisis of evangelism’

May 01, 2017

Seoul, the capital of South Korea, has more megachurches than any other city in the world. But right now, Protestant evangelical leaders in South Korea don’t have the best reputation.

Lifestyle & Belief

In South Korea, pretty much everything is a little bit Buddhist. Including politics.

April 25, 2017

Their last president was impeached. As voters get ready to pick a new leader on May 9, Korean Buddhists say now's the time to pray for peace and national healing.

Lifestyle & Belief

In South Korea, being gay is still taboo

April 21, 2017

A watchdog group that tracks human rights in the South Korean military says the army leadership is violating its own regulations by going after soldiers suspected of homosexual activity.

Some Americans are panicking about North Korea. Here’s why South Koreans aren’t.

April 14, 2017

Saturday is a big day in North Korea: The 105th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung. It's thought that North Korea will conduct a nuclear or missile test to mark the occasion. But South Koreans aren't that worried.

If you’re young and South Korean, North Korea might not seem so scary

April 06, 2017

North Korea is developing nuclear weapons, testing missiles and threatening to show no mercy to its enemies. But in South Korea, which has never signed a peace treaty with the North, many young people just aren’t that worried.

Sports

The pace of baseball makes it perfect for its blind fans in Korea

April 03, 2017

Three baseball fans in South Korea host a popular sports podcast. But most listeners don't know its three hosts are blind.

Politics

A California statue stirs passions in South Korea and ire in Japan

January 29, 2014

The Korean American community is standing by a new statue honoring thousands of "comfort women," or sex slaves, used by Japanese soldiers during World War II. Japanese conservatives say the statue has to go. And both sides are taking the issue to the White House.

Why every Korean kid knows not to keep the fan on over night

November 04, 2014

There's a superstition that Korean parents tell their kids: If you go to sleep with an electric fan running in your room, you might die.

They came to America as adoptees but were never made US citizens

December 31, 2015

How a quirk in US law led to thousands of international adoptees becoming stateless.

Your next big, addictive TV series could be from South Korea

February 20, 2014

Primetime dramas in South Korea — known as K-Dramas — are filled with implausible story lines, complete with romantic twists and turns. They’ve been popular in Asia for years, but thanks to online streaming websites, they’re now gaining a cult-like following in the US.

In the US, I'm too skinny to be a plus size model. In Korea, I'm a fat woman.

December 30, 2015

Kim Gee-yang got tired of waiting for Korean magazines to hire her as a plus size model. So she started her own magazine, where she sometimes publishes fat-shaming comments to take away their power.

Why these older Korean men are obsessed with a K-pop girl band

May 20, 2014

It may seem a little weird to see middle-aged men in Korea dress up like their favorite K-pop girl group. But there's a reason.

A Korean adoptee meets his birth mother and winds up moving in with her

March 01, 2017

International adoption rules don't make it easy for adoptees and their biological families to search for one another. But many Korean adoptees are going abroad to find their birth families and build new ties.

K-pop’s gross double standard for women

GlobalPost

April 25, 2016

The Korean pop music empire is now perhaps the country's biggest export, yet the product it peddles is all too often incredibly sexist.