Mo’ Korea covers a lot of Korean pop culture, but you can’t just understand a country through their popular entertainment alone. It helps to understand some of the history of the country as well as some current issues everyday Koreans are facing. Enter my mini-series within a series, Korean Studies. Life is more than just a K-pop video or K-drama, and the websites I’ve found can help you gain a well-rounded look at what Korea, both the bad and the good, is all about.
Independent news site Korea Exposé is one of my favorite places to visit when learning about Korea. I actually found this site when I was writing my article on the multicultural children’s choir who performed at the Winter Olympics. I’ve found Korea Exposé to be a great resource when it comes to getting an unbiased take on the issues affecting Korean citizens.
Founded in 2014, Korea Exposé provides substantive reporting of the Korean peninsula. As the staff wrote on their Facebook page:
The Korean Peninsula has been divided into two for more than six decades, with a fast-developed capitalist state and a secretive totalitarian state co-existing in uneasy armistice. That contrast has in part led to a great deal of ‘pop journalism’ with little substance when it comes to reporting on the Koreas. Are more South Korean women having plastic surgery? Have the Kims bought yet another luxury yacht?
Fascinating as such questions may be, the two Koreas are more complex beneath the surface.
Our aim at Korea Exposé is to speak to a global audience about the two Koreas in a way that goes beyond the clichés and superficial analysis. We bring together a diverse crowd of writers who see the peninsula from different points of view: South Koreans domestic and abroad, North Koreans who have left their homeland, and non-Koreans who study or live in the region.
By looking at Korea through that multi-faceted lens, we hope to transcend both the simplistic coverage that characterises much of the foreign reporting and the ideologically charged content that many Korean media outlets pass around as news.
At Korea Exposé, we practice journalism that challenges politically motivated censorship and calls on the public to pay attention to the most salient topics in today’s Korean Peninsula. We are proud of our access to sources, fluency in the Korean language, and deep familiarity with the region that enable us to carry out our work.
Much of Korea Exposé’s articles focus on the intersection between culture and politics, particularly where immigration, Korean identity, Korean history and Korean innovation are concerned. Here’s a small list of some of Korea Exposé’s most recent articles and videos:
Koryo Saram: 4th Generation Redefines Korean ‘Roots’
ké cast S2 E3: Is There Room For Conscientious Objectors in Korea?
‘Too Different to Be Chinese, Not Good Enough to Be Korean’
North Korea Reporting: Riddled With Errors, Even in Neighboring South Korea
Tyranny of South Korea’s Majority Against Refugees
My Life Isn’t Your Porn: Why South Korean Women Protest
2018 Seoul Queer Culture Festival
These aren’t articles that you’ll find on your standard CNN or New York Times, regardless of how rigorous they say the reporting is. These are articles about people who understand the on-the-ground reality of Korean life, and their articles and videos can provide those of us in the States and elsewhere who are interested in Korea valuable information we wouldn’t get otherwise.
Korea Exposé is supported through Patreon, and if you love what you’ve read from the site, make sure to support them if you’re financially able. A place like Korea Exposé needs to stick around because it’s given cultural students like us a chance to immerse ourselves from the comfort of our own computers.
