Film, football and Facebook Live from the North’s border: for all things Korea, this is your man
Steve Chung Lok-wai has spent his whole career studying, immersed in and admiring the two Koreas and their culture. He tells City Weekend why he’s fascinated with the subject, and why Hongkongers should be too
University lecturer Steve Chung Lok-wai is a diehard fan of Korean culture, and not many people, including his family and friends, understand why he is so mesmerised by it.
The 35-year-old academic has spent many years studying the two Koreas, ever since his high school days. He began by watching South Korean movies and then went on to study the language. He was previously a research fellow at Kyungnam University in Changwon.
His love for the culture has even seen him explore the South’s sister nation. Chung has travelled to the hermit kingdom of North Korea twice.
“My family and friends don’t really understand why I am so fascinated by the two Koreas,” he said.
In his office at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where Chung works as an assistant lecturer for the faculty of social science, a few posters featuring Korean actors and actresses are up on one of the walls. But on the other side of the room is a small photo sitting on a bookshelf of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Chung last visited the North just a few months ago. At the North Korea-China border on his way in, he did a Facebook Live video.