Caty Szeto is a woman with a dream: to become a K-Pop superstar. The 23-year-old Asian American is traveling from her home in LA to South Korea’s capital Seoul to attend a K-Pop academy. There she’ll do hardcore training in singing, dancing and styling. All this is to prepare for make-or-break auditions for K-Pop entertainment agencies. If she makes it, Caty could be like all those chart-topping idols who travel the world, perform to legions of fans and make millions. But this quest has its challenges. Caty finds out about ageism in the industry, where many new idols are in their teens. Then she comes face-to-face with incredibly specific K-beauty standards while navigating being a foreigner in K-Pop. Over just three months, our host journalist Haeryun Kang follows Caty to see if she can overcome these obstacles and reach K-Pop stardom.

Listen to Mission K-Pop on all platforms or wherever you get your podcasts.

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EPISODE 1: It Started as a Love Story

*Some names and details have been changed to conceal the identities of those who wish to remain anonymous.

When Brittani Ard matches with Kanon on Hinge sparks fly. Their first date revealed an instant connection and chemistry. Kanon is devastatingly handsome with a charm that disarmed even the most guarded heart—plus he is surprisingly emotionally available for a man in his forties. It’s as if the universe has conspired to bring them together, two soulmates destined to find each other. The couple spends the next five months diving fast into a whirlwind romance. Their connection so intense and their bond so deep that it seems like Brittani’s fairytale has finally found its happy ending. Until one weekend that changed her life forever.

Executive Producer Brittani Ard

Follow Brittani @Brittani.Ardon all platforms

This episode contains mentions of suicide. If you are having thoughts of suicide, please reach out to the resources below:

Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or Text 988

More info at https//www.988lifeline.org

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The Burden: Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? 

Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent years trying to untangle this dark intrigue. Then one day, his phone rang. It was the protege. The Burden: Empire on Blood is one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. But someone’s gotta pay.

The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic Empire on Blood, which reached #1 on the charts when it was released half a dozen years ago.

Empire on Blood is a production of Orbit Media in association with Signal Co. No1

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In 1967, a German student named Benno Ohnesorg was shot and killed. Twenty years later, a disgraced politician named Uwe Barschel was found dead in a bathtub. They have at least one thing in common: their suspicious deaths may have been orchestrated by the German Secret Police, otherwise known as the Stasi.

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Marc sits down with Gerald Posner, author of "God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican."

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We speak with a few people close to Anthony Raimondi, who might hold the key to who he really is...

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Anthony Raimondi sits down for his final interview and is forced to confront his past.

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Marc talks to a journalist and expert on The Vatican from Rome... to check out Anthony’s story about the death of Pope John Paul I.

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After returning home, Anthony gets a phone call from The Vatican. His cousin, a Cardinal, wants help selling counterfeit stocks.

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Anthony gets in trouble with the law. Then he trades a long prison sentence to join a squad of highly trained assassins and fight in Vietnam.

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