Category: Lifestyles

How South Korea’s stringent anti-drug laws played a role in the death of “Parasite” actor Lee Sun-kyun

Jae-Ha Kim

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.

The Gatekeepers of Who Is (and Isn’t) Korean

Jae-Ha Kim

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.

“Jinny’s Kitchen” (서진이네)

Jae-Ha Kim

The concept? A group of telegenic Korean celebrities run a snack bar in Bacalar, Mexico, for one week (haha!). In its own way, it had all the elements of a fun K-drama minus any love triangles. Was there a 2nd male lead? Of course! As well as a 3rd and a 4th and so on. It shifted every few minutes, depending on who’s on screen — Park Seo-joon of “Itaewon Class,” “Parasite” actor Choi Woo-shik, BTS vocalist V, and the dimpled head of Jinny’s Kitchen, Lee Seo-jin (“Behind Every Star”).

Losing My Korean Didn’t Make Me Any More American

Jae-Ha Kim

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.