The Korea File

On a celebratory 100th episode host Andre Goulet welcomes Harbinger Media Network podcast pals Paris Marx of leftist tech worldview critique show Tech Won't Save Us and Evan MacDonald of socialist film review show Kino Lefter to explore the historical parallels and context of Squid Game, examine the show's cultural capitalist critique, regret impulsive investments in crypto currency and try to explain why we can't help but hate those notorious VIPs.

Hear Paris' popular tech critique show Tech Won't Save Us at https://techwontsave.us/ and support his work at https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus

Subscribe to hear 128 episodes of Evan's excellent, long-running Kino Lefter series at https://www.buzzsprout.com/226175 and get access to more than 100 bonus episodes by supporting the show at https://www.patreon.com/kinolefter

Hear Andre's political panel show Harbinger Society Presents at https://www.spreaker.com/show/harbinger-society-presents

Find out more about our work building a politically progressive podcast community at https://harbingermedianetwork.com/

This conversation was recorded on November 1st, 2021.

On the 99th episode of The Korea File podcast diplomatic studies scholar Jeffrey Robertson joins host Andre Goulet to argue that foreign policy options previously considered extreme – like abandoning the US alliance, acceding to China’s dominance and even of securing a nuclear weapons capacity – are entering strategic debate in South Korea.

Follow Robertson on Twitter @Junotane and read his piece at
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/coming-soon-neutral-south-korea

Find out more about his work at
https://www.junotane.com

Follow Andre at @andremarrgoulet and listen to his other broadcasting work on left politics and society at https://www.harbingermedianetwork.com and subscribe to The Harbinger Spotlight wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe to the excellent Blue Roof Politics newsletter at https://www.blueroofpolitics.com/tag/newsletter/

This conversation was recorded on January 30th, 2021.

Armed with theory set out in the "Korean Revolution Manifesto" and practical experience drawn from the March 1st Independence Movement, in 1925 worker and citizen organizations including the Daegu League of Truth and Fraternity, the Changwon Black Friend League and the Jeju Island Mutual Aid group began to organize on the peninsula. In the summer of 1929 Anarchists formed an administration representing more than 2 million Koreans in the Manchurian province of Shinmin, but by the summer of 1931 Stalinist pressure in the North, Japanese pressure in the South and a series of targeted political assassinations ended a distinctly Korean experiment with an extraordinary ideology.

On episode 98 of The Korea File journalist, filmmaker and screenwriter Abdul Malik joins host Andre Goulet to explore the history of this fascinating and largely forgotten era. Plus: details about our work amplifying new Left discourse at the Harbinger Media Network and what to expect from Abdul's deeply researched new sports, society and politics podcast 'Offcourt', launching in early January as a network exclusive.

Find out more and get access to premium supporter-only Harbinger podcasts for as little as $3/month at https://harbingermedianetwork.com/

Historical information on this episode is sourced from Ha Ki-Rak's 'A History of the Korean Anarchist Movement', published in 1986 by the Korean Anarchist Federation.

Read the entirety of Hwang Dong-yun's 'Anarchism in Korea: Independence, Transnationalism and the Question of National Development from 1919 to 1984' at
https://libcom.org/files/Anarchism%20in%20Korea_%20Independenc%20-%20Dongyoun%20Hwang.pdf

Read a concise summary of Anarchism in Korea by the late Irish historian Alan MacSimoin at http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/ANARCHIST_ARCHIVES/worldwidemovements/koreahis.html

To read about Anarchism under the Park Chung-hee regime go to https://libcom.org/book/export/html/33946

Subscribe to the excellent Blue Roof Politics newsletter at https://www.blueroofpolitics.com/tag/newsletter/

This conversation was recorded on December 22nd, 2020.

What is alternative education in Korea? To answer this question, Contemporary Rebellions welcomes Tae Wook Ha, an activist and professor of Alternative Education at Asia Life University in the city of Daejeon and Minyeong Kim, a graduate of one of the first wave of accredited Korean alternative high schools and a current staff member at the NGO World Without War.

In these conversations they discuss the Law on Alternative Education Institutions that's currently in front of the National Assembly, the relationship between un-accredited alternative schools and the government, and the future of alternative education in South Korean society.

The Contemporary Rebellions podcast is produced by a non-hierarchical volunteer collective based in Seoul with connections across the country. The collective is a group of long-term, bilingual English and Korean speaking international residents in Korea, with involvement in various progressive social movements. Contemporary Rebellions is open to all Korean and foreign members who share our core values, have a background in social activism and would like to join the project.

This podcast is intended to be a tool for educators, activists and anyone interested in South Korean social movements. To get in touch or get involved reach out on Facebook, on Twitter @ContemporaryRe3 or via email at [email protected].

You can find the transcript for this episode at: docs.google.com/document/d/1nntumexOq-LUPHEtmzAHQVUzMGV0j1GmYMSQWysS5lA/edit?usp=sharing

People’s Solidarity of Alternative Education: www.psae.or.kr

Korean Association of Alternative Education Institutions: kaaei.hompee.org

Independent artists you heard in this episode:
Kevin MacLeod (Intro): www.incompetech.com

Oreum Education Space student album: www.orumedu.org/notice/56790

Seon Mun Bakk Hakyo: smbschool.kr

Contemporary Rebellions is on:
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/contemporaryrebellions

Look for episode 98 of The Korea File in late December.

On a very special Halloween episode of The Korea File hear a haunting and horrific conversation between guest Joe McPherson (The Wall Street Journal, The Korea Herald, National Geographic, Zen Kimchi) and host Andre Goulet as they explore his 'The Dark Side of Seoul' walking tour, podcast and comic book and share some seasonally terrifying tales of terror in the shadowy and wind-swept hallways of the abandoned Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital.

Listen to the podcast at https://darksideofseoul.com/podcast/
And find out more about the tour and Joe's sprawling Zen Kimchi empire at https://darksideofseoul.com/ and https://zenkimchi.com/

This episode was produced in collaboration with the Royal Asiatic Society- Korea Branch. To find out more about the RASKB, and to see a schedule of upcoming lectures and events, follow them on Facebook or go to http://raskb.com/

You can watch previous RASKB lectures at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRwQTNTB7yHlZwW0VchAJ5Y-IVM7TirrU

This conversation was recorded on October 20th, 2020.

Since the end of the nineteenth century, Korea has faced waves of foreign domination, authoritarian regimes and divided development and, throughout these turbulent times, “queer” Koreans have been ignored, minimized and erased in historical narrative. But a new collection of academic writing is challenging this marginalization through critical analysis of non-normative sexuality and gender variance. On episode 96 of The Korea File academic Todd Henry, editor of ‘Queer Korea’ and an authority on Colonial Era Seoul, joins host Andre Goulet to explore a pathbreaking work of scholarship that brings Korean queerness fully into the mainstream of Korean and East Asian studies.

Find out more about the book at
https://www.dukeupress.edu/queer-korea

Read 'Queer Korea', courtesy of Duke University Press at https://www.dukeupress.edu/Assets/PubMaterials/978-1-4780-0290-1_601.pdf

Order Todd's 2014 book 'Assimilating Seoul: Japanese Rule and the Politics of Public Space in Colonial Korea, 1910–1945’ at
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520293151/assimilating-seoul

This episode was produced in collaboration with the Royal Asiatic Society- Korea Branch. To find out more about the RASKB, and to see a schedule of upcoming lectures and events, follow them on Facebook or go to http://raskb.com/

You can watch previous RASKB lectures at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRwQTNTB7yHlZwW0VchAJ5Y-IVM7TirrU

This conversation was recorded on September 25th, 2020.

In the charged political climate of '80s South Korea, university freshman Kim Hyun-sook finds refuge in the comfort of literature as the youngest member of a Banned Book Club, the title of the acclaimed 2019 graphic novel from Kim, co-author Ryan Estrada and artist Ko Hyung-ju.

On episode 95 of The Korea File, Estrada joins host Andre Goulet to discuss censorship, sequential art and what Kim's powerful story of repression and dissent has to tell us about contemporary Korean politics, illiberalism and the erosion of democratic norms around the world.

Find Ryan’s work at http://www.ryanestrada.com/ and buy the book at https://ironcircus.com/?product=banned-book-club

This conversation was recorded on August 14th, 2020.

Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/thekoreafile

How has K-pop evolved and changed over the last decade? Is right-wing political paranoia about Tiktok teens and BTS Army activism exaggerated? And is the so-called 'dark side' of the industry just a reflection of broader South Korean society?

On episode 94 of The Korea File K-pop authority Dr. CedarBough Saeji educates host Andre Goulet on the history, impact and world-wide popularity of the country's most influential cultural export.

This episode was produced in collaboration with the Royal Asiatic Society- Korea Branch. To find out more about the RASKB, and to see a schedule of upcoming lectures and events, follow them on Facebook or go to http://raskb.com/

You can watch previous RASKB lectures at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRwQTNTB7yHlZwW0VchAJ5Y-IVM7TirrU

This conversation was recorded on July 25th, 2020.

Support the show at patreon.com/thekoreafile

Introducing a special presentation of the March episode of Contemporary Rebellions:
Yonsan. Never again everyone said. Yet in February, 2020 hired thugs attacked the Noryangjin Fish Market workers. The latest episode of the show explores how displacement and state sanctioned violence, as well as resistance to redevelopment and forced evictions, continue.

The Contemporary Rebellions podcast is produced by a non-hierarchical volunteer collective based in Seoul with connections across the country. The collective is a group of long-term, bilingual English and Korean speaking international residents in Korea, with involvement in various progressive social movements. Contemporary Rebellions is open to all Korean and foreign members who share our core values, have a background in social activism and would like to join the project.

This podcast is intended to be a tool for educators, activists and anyone interested in South Korean social movements. To get in touch or get involved reach out on Facebook, on Twitter @ContemporaryRe3 or via email at [email protected].

Look for episode 94 of The Korea File in late July.

A powerful new memoir ‘Witnessing Gwangju’ was released this month to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising. The book’s author, former American Peace Corps volunteer Paul Courtright, was one of only a handful of foreign witnesses to this pivotal event in modern South Korean history. On episode 93 of The Korea File, he joins host Andre Goulet to explore how his simple rural life of living and treating patients in the South Jeolla leprosy village of Hohyewan in May, 1980 collided with the Korean people’s struggle against dictatorship.

Find the book at https://www.hollym.com/product/witnessing-gwangju/

Listen to ‘A March of the Beloved: The May 18 Democratization Revolution Song’
at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=droIt4Gam_4

Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/thekoreafile

This conversation was recorded on May 22nd, 2020.