Episode 48: Korean News Headlines - May 2024 (News)

06/06/24 • 68 min

This week Jun and Daniel discuss a few of the biggest headlines in Korean news during the month of May 2024: Min Hee Jin’s ongoing legal battle with HYBE, Naver being asked by the Japanese government to give up control of LINE, famous celebrities Psick Univ and Kang Hyung-wook getting canceled, and the Korean government’s attempted ban on overseas direct purchasing. Why does there appear to be such a stark contrast between how Koreans are reacting to Min Hee Jin, compared to non-Koreans? What are some common criticisms that Westerners have of Min Hee Jin, and do they resonate with Koreans? What is LINE, and why is the Japanese government pushing for Naver to give up control over the product they built? Do our hosts agree on the fairness of such a move? How does this compare to the US threatening to ban TikTok unless it’s parent company ByteDance gives up control? Or is it more similar to another decision the Korean government has made regarding a foreign digital service? How are geopolitics playing into this? What exactly is overseas direct purchasing, and why is the Korean government banning it for certain products? What is underlying this decision by the Korean government? What is a customs number, and why is it such a foreign concept for most Americans? What is Psick Univ and what caused their recent backlash? Who is Kang Hyung-wook, and what is the allegation against him? Why is cancel culture in general seemingly much stronger in Korea?
If you're interested in any of these questions, tune in to hear Daniel and Jun discuss all this and more! Also in this episode, our hosts reveal why they each prefer purchasing their Apple products in the US, as well as having a good laugh about the meaning of the Korean term for childhood friends.

Support the show

As a reminder, we record one episode a week in-person from Seoul, South Korea. We hope you enjoy listening to our conversation, and we're so excited to have you following us on this journey!
Support us on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/user?u=99211862
Follow us on socials:
https://www.instagram.com/koreanamericanpodcast/
https://twitter.com/korampodcast
https://www.tiktok.com/@koreanamericanpodcast
Questions/Comments/Feedback? Email us at: [email protected]

Support the show

Previous Episode

Episode 47: Having A Korean Field Day (Culture)

This week Jun and Daniel discuss Daniel’s recent experience attending an event at his 4-year-old’s preschool– sports day! Sports day (운동회) in Korea is a classic elementary school tradition that would evoke very fond memories to most anyone who grew up there. For Americans, imagine field day, but even bigger, more official, and standardized across all schools. What were the classic events that all Koreans would know? How were children typically divided up? What is humorous about how the score is kept? How competitive is it? How similar was Daniel’s experience to what Jun recalls from his childhood? What was traditionally the most important and memorable part of sports day that Daniel found surprising? How would this work differently had it been done in America? What about sports day is reflective of Korean society at large? And what remnants continue to be seen in modern Korean corporations and Korean American church communities alike?
If you're interested in any of these questions, tune in to hear Daniel and Jun discuss all this and more! Also in this episode, Daniel finally connects the dots with the name of a famous landmark in Seoul, Jun waxes nostalgic and makes Daniel wish he could have grown up in 1990s Daegu (at least for one magical autumn day), and both bond over a surprising shared memory of youth in the US.

Support the show

Next Episode

Episode 49: White Truck Of Doom (Media)

This week Jun and Daniel discuss a topic that is very near and dear to our American host’s heart: Korean dramas, or K-dramas for short. Daniel has been a casual viewer since his early 20s, long before Squid Game put them on the global stage, but his K-drama watching ramped up while in Covid lockdown and hasn’t slowed down since. Like many Westerners, much of his perception and understanding of Korean culture has come from watching K-dramas. How true to life are K-dramas? How do Koreans watch them differently than Americans? What is the classic K-drama template? What is one reason why K-drama plots seem to lack continuity? What are the origins of product placement in K-dramas? What are our hosts’ all-time favorite K-dramas? Why aren’t there multiple seasons to popular K-dramas, at least historically before the Netflixization of them? Is Korea a harder place to live than other countries? Why are the foreign actors in K-dramas always so bad at acting? What can we learn about Korean society from the many K-drama tropes that appear in drama after drama? Which tropes actually reflect reality, and which are equally unbelievable to Korean viewers? What is the perilla leaf controversy (깻잎논쟁) and what does it say about Korea’s level of jealousy and standard boundaries when in a dating relationship? Listen in as our hosts have a truly meandering conversation about everything K-drama related, big and small.
If you're interested in any of these questions, tune in to hear Daniel and Jun discuss all this and more! Also in this episode, Daniel reveals one of his bucket list dreams to accomplish while he is in Korea, while Jun does his best to prevent his cat from getting to the fried chicken.

Support the show