Analysis

Around the time of Kim Jong-il’s death (and Kim Jong-un’s succession), there was a flood of articles on North Korea that couldn’t help but poke fun at the country and its regime. It was obvious that people – journalists included – often did not understand the difference between that which is Korean and that which is North Korean. 

Fake crying

Korea is both a destination and source for human trafficking. The Korea Women’s Development Institute said in a 2007 study that the sex trade industry was worth 14 trillion won ($12.4 billion) and consisted of 269,000 Korean prostitutes. And dbanews.com even claimed that hundreds of thousands more Chinese women were involved in prostitution in Korea. 

Although those numbers are alarmingly high, they are significant improvements from when experts said they peaked over a decade ago...

This monthly column is a best-of from a blog Sean Smith started at the beginning of his plan to move back to Canada after living in Korea since 1997. You can read it in its entirety at http://repatriate.me. This month’s column is a combination of a post written Oct. 9, 2009 about what he suspected he would miss about living in Korea. The Second was written two years later, on Sept. 26, 2011 on five things he liked about living in Toronto. — Ed....

Tens of thousands of man-hours are spent annually churning out content for the English-language media market in Korea. We’re talking about thousands of stories a year worth billions of won in daily newspapers, monthly magazines and on radio stations. It’s big business. 

It’s just a shame that very little of what’s produced is for the consumption of Korea’s growing foreign population. Blame the money. There’s more won to be had in chasing Korean readers than there is finding...