Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe speaks to syndicated columnist Jae-Ha Kim about the scandal that led to the death of beloved South Korean actor Lee Sun-Kyun. Note: This conversation has mentions of self-harm.
Following Lee Sun-kyun’s death, you are going to read a lot on social media and in newspapers about how South Korea has the highest overall suicide rate of all countries. And while someone will surely write a think piece about South Koreans being predisposed to dying by suicide, it’s important to remember how South Korea came to be an economic powerhouse and how its citizens’ well being was secondary to the country’s greatness.
A reminder that it’s really gross to tell people that their identity is determined by what language they speak — or what language they choose to sing in. Part 2 of my coverage of that problematic NYT K-pop podcast.
The thesis of the New York Times’ podcast questions whether K-pop is still K-pop if sung in English. It also questions whether Korean artists should even be singing in English, since there are so many Western artists who already sing in, you know, English…
I’m not an influencer by any means and I’m not a celebrity. But I have dealt with trolls, starting from the days when they had to mail their vitriol through the USPS — all the way through present day, when haters can harangue you nonstop on social media.
Last week I wrote an article about an incident that occurred to my family when we were new immigrants in the United States. Who knew that such an innocuous essay would stir up the emotions of haters, who deemed us as getting what we deserved for deciding to move here. Of course, they all tapped away anonymously on their keyboards from their homes in the … United States.
To them it may have been smelly and weird. To us, it was a taste of home.
Back in my era, the teachers encouraged immigrants to only speak English at home so that we wouldn’t fall behind. But what they didn’t know at the time — or perhaps they didn’t really care about — was that in the rush to make us understand English, many of us lost our ability to converse in our birth language.
To many misguided editors, one Asian is enough. Two Asians is overkill. Three Asians will get you called in to the office to be reprimanded. And also… Epik High is not a boy band. But they wouldn’t know that, would they?
Do Koreans swear? You betcha! You’ve probably heard them plenty of times in your favorite K-dramas, but they weren’t subtitled as such.