Media Studies

The Controversies of Jongpyeon World

By | November 19, 2013

South Korea appears to have a rich and varied mediasphere. However, over the last two years there has been conflict over the role of “jongpyeon” media companies TV Chosun, Channel-A, JTBC and MBN. The connection to inter-Korean relations is worth noting. Christopher Green explains.

The “Myth” of the Kill, Kill, Kill Chain

By | October 27, 2013

One of the most common South Korean military buzzwords of recent months is “Kill Chain.” It sounds scary and pregnant with deterrence capability, but does it work? Hankyoreh and Professor Choi Jong-kun of Yonsei University think not. Christopher Green summarizes the argument.

History, Textbooks, and “Truth” in South Korea

By | October 25, 2013

National histories are far too contentious as it is, without entrusting their construction to the forces of state authority. In South Korea, where ideological and intellectual freedom are highly contingent, the latest episode in a recurrent controversy over school textbooks makes the point.

Defector Testimonies in a Polarized Society: From Implausible Story to Political Controversy

By and | October 15, 2013

Nothing looms larger in the rear view mirror of South Korea’s democratic legacy than the South Jeolla Province city of Gwangju and the events that took place there in May 1980. That same democratization narrative was again abused in May 2013, this time along with some defector testimony of a most curious disposition.

Benoit Symposium: Capitalist Dreams in the Communist Utopia: North Korea’s The Schoolgirl’s Diary

By | September 30, 2013

Engaging with a contemporary North Korean film, Sherri Ter Molen unpacks the usage of symbols derived from foreign–and what are often seen as hostile–sources within a distinctly North Korean cultural product.