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 regular Korean citizens face the same scrutiny around weight, fashion, surgery, and tattoos? I brought 4 Korean adults together to talk about these ideas and also to reveal some things about their own lives.

Today’s Guests

Sage https://www.instagram.com/twopercensage/

Jeoung https://www.instagram.com/jjong___s2/

Nuri https://www.instagram.com/nurichoii/

AJohn https://www.instagram.com/ft.ajohn/  / https://www.youtube.com/@ftajohn

Discussion Outline

0:00 Nail culture

7:40 Pretty Privilege in Korea

18:00 Showing Skin

24:45 Does K-Pop Affect People?

37:40 Fashion Turnoffs

42:05 What’s Hot?

46:25 Weight and Fitness

57:10 Men's Hair

1:03:05 Skin Color / Being White

1:08:35 Tattoos

1:16:28 Plastic Surgery

1:25:00 K-Beauty and Cosmetics

1:30:22 A Message about Beauty

1:36:20 Recommendations

David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/vIbpLfWJoZM?si=srRVQ1vRkLvCV076

Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos

Thanks to Patreon members: Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell

Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Music by Jocelyn Clark

Connect with us:

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed

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 he obsessively searches for scenic areas to photograph and auspicious places to practice Dharma.

You can follow his journey

on Instagram: @oxherder_photography

The history of Korean Buddhism: koreanbuddhism.wordpress.com.

Photos: https://oxherder.smugmug.com/

Discussion

0:00 Introduction to Buddhism

34:00 Seosan, Korea

45:48 Meditation and Hwadu

1:01:20 Gyeongheo

1:19:20 An Ox with No Nostrils

1:27:48 Daehaeng Kun Sunim

1:38:00 Recommendations

David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/vIbpLfWJoZM?si=srRVQ1vRkLvCV076

Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos

Thanks to Patreon members: Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell

Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Music by Jocelyn Clark

Connect with us: 

▶ Get in touch: [email protected]

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed

Listen to Korea Deconstructed

▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128

▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE

▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com

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 South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and as editor of NK News from 2013 to 2016. He earned his PhD in Korean history in 2023. Pacific Forum: https://pacforum.org/ Discussion Outline

0:00 Lee Jae Myung

17:50 Trump and Korea

39:00 North Korea

43:10 Communism

47:55 China in the 21st Century

1:10:00 Korea and Japan

1:15:50 The International Order David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected]. Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/vIbpLfWJoZM?si=srRVQ1vRkLvCV076 Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos Thanks to Patreon members: Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Music by Jocelyn Clark

Connect with us: 

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed Listen to Korea Deconstructed

▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128

▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE

▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com

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 1940 during the Japanese occupation of Korea, Ra Jong-yil has lived through some of the country’s most defining historical moments. And, in many cases, helped shape them. We talk about his father's role in the Provisional Government in Shanghai alongside Syngman Rhee, Kim Ku, and Ahn Chang Ho. Ra also reflects on his mentorship of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, two presidents who helped usher in Korea’s democratic era, and with whom he later served in high positions as well as in the role of Ambassador of the ROK in the United Kingdom (2001 - 2003) and Ambassador of the ROK in Japan (2004-2007)

The Baekbong Political Culture Research Institute: http://bbi.or.kr/

Inside North Korea's Theocracy (book): https://www.amazon.com/Inside-North-Koreas-Theocracy-Song-thaek/dp/1438473729

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra_Jong-yil

Thank you to Han Jong-chul for helping me record on location: https://www.instagram.com/the_story_from_you/

Discussion Outline

0:00 Korea Under Occupation

9:10 Baekbong Na Yong-kyun (Jong-Yil's father)

22:30 Liberal Democracy in Korea

44:18 On Kim Dae-jung

1:07:17 On Roh Moo-hyun

1:27:05 On Compassion, Books, and Myths

David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos

Thanks to Patreon members: Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell

Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Music by Jocelyn Clark

Connect with us:

▶ Get in touch: [email protected]

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed Listen to Korea Deconstructed

▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128

▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE

▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com

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 next?

Find Marianna online

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/countingstars/

Panorama: https://www.panorama.it/author/mariannabaroli

Discussion Outline

0:00 Introductions

4:55 Fan girling 2PM

7:35 Why K-pop Beat the West?

9:25 The Current State of K-pop

14:20 GOT7

17:50 Girl Groups

20:25 Italian Reactions to K-pop

25:00 Airbnb and SEVENTEEN

28:35 Toxicity in K-pop Online

32:00 Parasocial Relationships

36:00 Objectivity in Music Reviews

40:00 The Producers of K-pop

43:30 Jay Park

45:40 DPR IAN

48:22 How Big Is Hallyu in Italy?

53:46 K-Beauty 57:00 Being in Korea

1:01:40 Italian and Korean Culture

1:04:10 Where Is the Modern World Going?

1:14:40 Recommendations

David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/vIbpLfWJoZM?si=srRVQ1vRkLvCV076

Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos

Thanks to Patreon members: Hee Ji Jacobs, Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell

Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Music by Jocelyn Clark 

Connect with us: 

▶ Get in touch: [email protected]

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed 

▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128

▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE

▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com 

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 solidarity, the importance of leadership in academia, and how she discovered Korean dramas during the Covid pandemic. Her love for Crash Landing on You and Hometown Cha Cha Cha helped her find beauty and purpose again, calling Korea her "Narnia."

A deeply personal and philosophical episode about rediscovery, passion, and why Korea speaks to so many hearts around the world. She also reflects on her experiences as a Muslim in Korea and how she is able to navigate these spaces.

Rania: https://www.instagram.com/the_lebanese_londoner/

David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/vIbpLfWJoZM

Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos

Thanks to Patreon members: Hee Ji Jacobs, Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell

Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Discussion Outline

0:00 Korea Deconstructed

2:45 Meaning in modern life

31:00 The importance of class

1:01:20 The struggles of capitalism

1:08:30 K-dramas and the love of the country

1:26:40 Being a Muslim in Korea

1:37:00 How to foster connection

1:46:45 Recommendations

Music by Jocelyn Clark 

Connect with us: 

▶ Get in touch: [email protected]

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed

Listen to Korea Deconstructed 

▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128

▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE

▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com 

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, challenges the official state mythology and unearths the improbable rise of a guerrilla fighter turned dynastic dictator.

This is how Kim Il Sung outwitted imperialists, communists, comrades, and colonels alike, turning chance into legacy, failure into foundation. But the question remains: what does this all mean for those of us living in a world still shaped by the ghosts of his decisions? 

Buy Fyodor's latest book here: https://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Tyrant-Life-Kim-sung/dp/0197800882

David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/vIbpLfWJoZM

Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos

Thanks to Patreon members: Hee Ji Jacobs, Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Discussion Outline

0:00 Who was Kim Il Sung?

9:00 Japanese colonization of Korea

13:40 Kim Il Sung's early life

22:30 What is communism?

27:30 Kim Il Sung the anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter

35:15 How the Soviet Union created North Korea

44:10 Why was Kim Il Sung chosen to lead?

52:40 Planning the Korean War

58:30 Who was Mun Il?

1:05:10 Chairman Mao

1:15:20 Kim Il Sung's economic policies

1:22:40 The succession policies of North Korea

1:41:50 How people misunderstand Juche

1:54:00 Recommendations

Music by Jocelyn Clark

Connect with us:

▶ Get in touch: [email protected]

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed Listen to Korea Deconstructed

▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128

▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE

▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com 

In this episode of Korea Deconstructed, I’m joined by four university students: young people who voted, watched, and waited as South Korea held its most recent presidential election and elected Lee Jae-myung. We discuss what the election felt like to them. What it felt like to cast a vote. What they saw among their friends. And what was never said. We’ll explore the hopes and contradictions of a generation caught between economic uncertainty, cultural shifts, and a political system that doesn’t always seem built for them. Korea Deconstructed #105 Big thank you to these wonderful people: Yunseo (https://www.instagram.com/y_jeon_s/) Jennie (https://www.instagram.com/isojeong512/) Andrew (https://www.instagram.com/andrew__ko/) Ray 한종철 (https://www.instagram.com/the_story_from_you/) David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected]. Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/vIbpLfWJoZM Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos Thanks to Patreon members: Hee Ji Jacobs, Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873 Discussion Outline 0:00 What did election day feel like? 8:15 Analyzing the candidates 15:40 Can you talk about politics in Korea? 23:50 What matters to you in politics? 27:15 Gender and military service 32:00 Japan, America, China, and North Korea 43:35 Produce (Politics) 101 46:40 Young people's politics 57:35 Kwon Young-guk 1:05:40 The future of Korea 1:18:30 Message to the new president 1:21:55 Recommendations Music by Jocelyn Clark Connect with us: ▶ Get in touch: [email protected] ▶ David's Insta: @datizzard ▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed Questions or Topic Suggestions? Write in the Comments Below! #KoreaDeconstructed #korea #koreanculture #southkorea Listen to Korea Deconstructed ▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128 ▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE ▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com

A recent viral YouTube video claimed that Korea would soon be extinct. The country transformed negatively by one of the world's lowest birthrates. Change, it suggested, was too late. Four young adults come together to discuss the future of Korea, assessing its birthrate issues, education, culture of perfection, and the deep spiritual crisis that seems to have gripped the nation. Is Korea really over? Not necessarily...

We hear from 4 young people all living here: a young Korean man interested in Jungian psychology, a woman balancing study and modeling, an ethnic Korean from Uzbekistan (Koryosaram), and someone just embarking on their college life. 

Big thank you to these wonderful people:

Celine (@celinesoyoon)

Marina (@marina_tens)

Susan

Ray

한종철

Watch the original video from @Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell https://youtu.be/Ufmu1WD2TSk?si=0RuYZzEe5cr4pQ7p

David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/QJ66Ew2FsOI?si=bSVFz590fd1xQPsM

Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos

Thanks to Patreon members: Hee Ji Jacobs, Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell

Support Korea Deconstructed: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Discussion Outline

0:00 Reactions to the video

9:43 A spiritual crisis

16:50 Gender conversations

23:40 The popularity of Korean grief

34:20 Generation gaps and the elderly

43:20 Korean education

51:55 Do young Korean people want children?

1:04:10 Is the future bright?

1:20:55 Recommendations

Music by Jocelyn Clark and Radical Gary

Connect with us:

▶ Get in touch: [email protected]

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed

Questions or Topic Suggestions? Write in the Comments!

#KoreaDeconstructed #korea #koreanculture #kurzgesagt #southkorea

Listen to Korea Deconstructed

▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128

▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE

▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com 

Kornel Chang on U.S. Power, Korean Resistance, and the Birth of Division

What if Korea’s true revolution was never allowed to happen? In this episode, I talk with historian Kornel Chang, author of A Fractured Liberation, to explore a moment in Korean history that most people never learn about. A moment when ordinary Koreans believed they were on the brink of something new. In 1945 Japanese colonial rule had ended and, across the peninsula, people were filled with hope. Workers seized factories, farmers reclaimed land, and women demanded rights. It was Korea’s “Asian Spring”...an explosion of grassroots energy and possibility. But it didn’t last. 

Instead of freedom, Koreans faced a new occupying force: the U.S. military government in the South. Kornel walks us through how the American-led administration, fearful of leftist movements and obsessed with anti-communism, sidelined local efforts toward democracy, reinstalled collaborators from the colonial regime, and helped lay the groundwork for division, war, and decades of authoritarian rule. This is a story about who gets to decide the future when the dust of war settles. And it's more important than ever. 

Buy A Fractured Liberation: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674258433

Kornel Chang is the author of Pacific Connections: The Making of the U.S.-Canadian Borderlands, winner of the Association for Asian American Studies Book Prize in History. He is Associate Professor of History and American Studies and Chair of the History Department at Rutgers University–Newark.

About David A. Tizzard 

David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/QJ66Ew2FsOI?si=bSVFz590fd1xQPsM

Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos

Thanks to Patreon members: Hee Ji Jacobs, Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell

Join Patreon: Support Korea Deconstructed: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873

Discussion Outline  

0:00 From Pyongyang to New York

9:49 The Paths Not Taken

27:48 Why Was Korea Divided?

41:36 Who Could Lead Korea?

52:42 Collaboration with the Japanese

1:04:35 The Lived Experiences of 1945-1948

1:17:14 Using Literature to Centre Ordinary Koreans

1:26:23 On Korean Studies and its Factions

1:37:00 Recommendations

Music by Jocelyn Clark

Connect with us:

▶ Get in touch: [email protected]

▶ David's Insta: @datizzard

▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed

Questions or Topic Suggestions? Write in the Comments Below!

#KoreaDeconstructed #korea #koreanhistory #koreanculture

Listen to Korea Deconstructed 

▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128

▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE

▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com