“Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables was required reading in Korean schools, as was Alphonse Daudet’s short story, “La Dernière Classe,” for both my parents’ and my generation. Set in the Alsace in 1870 or 1871, around the time of the Franco-Prussian… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“Psy will go down in history as the first real twenty-first-century entertainer: who else could combine Confucianism and farting?” — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“Samsung still needed to refashion its brand image. There was a worrisome phrase floating around the business world in the 1990s, the “Korea discount.” This term, more politely called the “emerging market discount,” meant either that Korean companies were undervalued on the stock exchange or that Korean commercial goods had to be sold at a cut rate in order to… — Euny Hong Copy Share
“When I asked why StarCraft 2 in particular was so popular in Korea, he said, “The game ends quickly, so you can start a… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“Korea has no natural resources and very little arable land. Compounding the problem is that labor costs have risen so dramatically in the last… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“The South Korean economy is a paradox: it is utterly capitalist, yet at the same time it is in some ways still a command… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“According to Kim, 1998 was the turning point for Korean films entering the international arena. “In the fifty years up to 1997,” said Kim,… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“Kim Jong-il also invented the hamburger. Almost touchingly, North Koreans have a lot of pride in their heritage, though it’s for absurd reasons. The… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“The no-foreign-school-supplies rule was enforced by way of surprise inspections, heralded by the teacher suddenly yelling midlecture: “Everyone, put your hands on the top… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“Psy is the paradigm shift within the paradigm shift. And his life and bewildering rise to fame are an embodiment of the changes in… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“The Chosun Dynasty adopted Confucianism in all walks of civil and personal life at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The nation’s kings were… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“Lee believes, as do the vast majority of South Koreans, that North Koreans are not so stupid that they fail to see the likelihood… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
“In recent decades, the biggest enemies of shamanism have been Korea’s many fervent Christians. Which, said Mason, is highly ironic, since Korean Christianity is… — Euny Hong Copy Share Image
