Books: Q&A with Daniel Tudor, author of A Geek in Korea
Tudor is the co-author of the forthcoming book, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors
Ten years ago, Oxford University graduate Daniel Tudor moved to Seoul, preferring the warmth of Korean society to "cold" Britain. The 31-year-old has since written two books on his adopted home and has several other volumes in the pipeline. He speaks to about Korea The Impossible Country , which accounts for South Korea's transformation into an economic juggernaut, and his latest title, A Geek in Korea , due out in June.
It's a bit like Korea The Impossible Country in that it's telling about South Korea now, but it's aimed at a younger audience. Consider it a gateway to Korea for those people who maybe like K-pop or TV shows from Korea, but don't know anything about the country.
My first visit was when I was 19 and it was for the World Cup, in 2002. My best friend at university was Korean. I didn't know anything about Korea; I'd never been to Asia; I'd never left the West. [The event] was the best thing ever: there was a carnival atmosphere, drunkenness, a sense of anything goes but nobody's doing anyone any harm. There's something in Korean culture that's about sharing and kindness and I felt that at the World Cup, so I thought I'd like to go back and see that.