Korea Deconstructed

Jun Bum Sun joins me to talk about Korea's unique energy, pungryu, its history, and the healing power of music. We cover Choi Chi Won, Tangun, the Hwarang, Shamanism, Choe Je-u, Tongdo Sogi, AI, K-pop...

28 Sep 20251h 51min

While much of the world focuses on the beauty standards of Korea's rich and famous, its K-Pop stars, actors, and influencers, we are left wondering how much of this actually applies to real life. Do r...

14 Sep 20251h 44min

Joseph Bengivenni is an artist and photographer who has spend most of the past twenty years living in and exploring South Korea. The Korean mountains and temples have captured his heart and mind, as h...

27 Aug 20251h 42min

Rob York is director for regional affairs at Pacific Forum in Honolulu, working on Korean Peninsular security and Indo-Pacific information warfare. He previously worked as production editor at the Sou...

16 Aug 20251h 23min

In this episode of Korea Deconstructed, I sit down with Ra Jong-yil, a scholar, diplomat, and influential figure in modern Korean politics. We recorded this conversation in his house in Seoul. Born in...

3 Aug 20251h 40min

Italian journalist Marianna Baroli joins me to discuss K-pop, fan culture, parasocial love, and how Korean music is reshaping global identity, especially in Italy. But at what cost? And where do we go...

14 Jul 20251h 18min

Lebanese scholar Rania Hafez joins Korea Deconstructed for a wide-ranging conversation on class, culture, and the search for meaning. Rania reflects on how media pushes culture wars over class solidar...

29 Jun 20251h 55min

My guest is Fyodor Tertitskiy, a prolific scholar, polyglot, and one of the few who reads the footnotes of history in multiple languages. His new book, Accidental Tyrant, a biography of Kim Il Sung, c...

20 Jun 20251h 57min