https://www.scmp.com/rss/294989/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com For North Korea’s ethnic Chinese minority, the Lunar New Year is an especially important time of year. Over the annual holiday period, many members of the small minority travel back to China to visit family and to purchase goods that they can resell in North Korea for a profit. Ethnic Chinese in North Korea, called hwagyo in Korean, have for decades led tenuous lives as an ethnic minority in a decidedly homogeneous country. As such, hwagyo, who are estimated to number anywhere between 4,000 and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3047226/why-north-korea-clamping-down-ethnic-chinese-over-lunar?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3047226/why-north-korea-clamping-down-ethnic-chinese-over-lunar?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Jan 2020 00:15:14 +0000 The fictitious Seoul neighbourhood depicted in the hit South Korean film Parasite has plenty in common with the city’s real Changsin neighbourhood, where, just like in the movie, the narrow streets are lined with dilapidated commercial and residential buildings. Changsin is a world away from the ritz of Gangnam in the city’s south, and is one of the capital’s poorer areas. Parasite, which this week became the first South Korean movie to win a Golden Globe award for best foreign language film, is... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3045179/going-underground-real-life-korean-poverty-behind-bong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3045179/going-underground-real-life-korean-poverty-behind-bong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Jan 2020 18:00:20 +0000 The most-viewed music video by South Korean hip-hop duo XXX is a black and white animated story of a commercial plane ride gone horribly wrong. In deadpan images, and to the soundtrack of the group’s jagged, thumping beats, a comely flight attendant turns into a monster and a typical airline meal suddenly becomes overrun with vermin. The video contains no bright lights, flashy costumes or even any images of the group. As such, it is a fitting introduction to XXX, a group that is making waves in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3001823/south-koreas-samey-music-industry-rap-duo-dares-be-different?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3001823/south-koreas-samey-music-industry-rap-duo-dares-be-different?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Mar 2019 10:00:08 +0000 The family at the centre of The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale , the latest horror film to have caught the South Korean public’s imagination, are down on their luck. The garage and service station they operate makes little money, so they resort to ripping off visitors from out of town. But when a zombie appears in their countryside village, rather than fear for their lives, they find what could be the solution to their financial troubles. In a twist to the usual zombie formula, the first person... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3001871/odd-family-train-busan-2-korean-zombie-movies-come-back-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3001871/odd-family-train-busan-2-korean-zombie-movies-come-back-life?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Mar 2019 07:15:04 +0000 In the waters of Subic Bay, industrial vessels lumber alongside smaller boats taking tourists on diving and fishing trips. On one side of the bay is a massive shipyard operated by Hanjin Philippines, while on the other is a sandy beach lined with hotels. The bay, on the western coast of Luzon – the Philippines’ largest and most populous island – has long held strategic military and commercial importance. Now, it is becoming a flashpoint in Manila’s ongoing conflict with Beijing over control of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/2185270/why-some-filipinos-fear-chinese-military-takeover-bankrupt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/2185270/why-some-filipinos-fear-chinese-military-takeover-bankrupt?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Feb 2019 06:15:45 +0000 Kim Ji-young is a young married mother in South Korea with an infant daughter and a lonely life. She spends most days alone with her child. Her parents live hours away and her husband puts in long days at the office. As she settles into life as a full-time mum, Kim, a kind of South Korean everywoman, is gradually overcome by the stress caused by the expectations society has of her. She resents her mother-in-law’s assumption that she will spend holidays cooking for relatives instead of relaxing.... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2184672/south-korean-hit-novel-about-young-mother-kim-ji-young-strikes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2184672/south-korean-hit-novel-about-young-mother-kim-ji-young-strikes?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Feb 2019 06:00:30 +0000 It all started when a four-year-old boy went home from day care and told his family he was upset. He had been pushed over by a member of staff while on a field trip to a water park, he said. All he had wanted to do was get the woman’s attention. One of the boy’s relatives in Seoul was a member of an online chat group for mothers and wrote about the incident. In South Korea, these are called “mom cafes”. In the post titled “A deeply shocking scene from the local swimming pool”, the relative... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2181827/moms-word-south-korea-militant-mothers-are-mobilising-online?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2181827/moms-word-south-korea-militant-mothers-are-mobilising-online?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Jan 2019 13:30:37 +0000 The altar in central Seoul has all the features typically found at memorials in South Korea: a portrait of the deceased; burning candles; and long-stemmed chrysanthemums. It also has one unconventional item – a cup of instant ramen noodles. The budget food item may seem out of place in a setting meant as a solemn memorial to a life cut short, but its inclusion provides a hint to the circumstances surrounding the passing of Kim Yong-kyun, a 24-year-old who was killed last month in an accident at... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2181347/how-instant-ramen-became-shrine-workers-rights-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2181347/how-instant-ramen-became-shrine-workers-rights-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Jan 2019 07:00:45 +0000 Each of the dozens of pine trees has a label attached, stating the name of the person who planted it, their hometown in North Korea, and the relatives they left behind in the North. At the centre of this park – which, when viewed from above, is shaped like the Korean peninsula – is a monument with a poem, the first line of which translates as “Our wish is unification”. The park was built in 2012 and is the most conspicuous sign of what makes this otherwise typical community of flat blocks and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2178587/south-korea-resentment-refugees-north?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2178587/south-korea-resentment-refugees-north?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Dec 2018 05:30:15 +0000 Ko Wan-soon’s most vivid childhood memory is of her village in flames. It was 1949, she was nine years old, and soldiers barged through her front door and dragged her out of her home along with her mother and younger brother. Once outside, she saw the neighbouring thatched-roof houses ablaze and heard the crackle of gunfire. Her brother wailed in fright until a soldier hit him over the head with a club to silence him. In the chaos, she managed to flee, staying low to the ground to avoid being... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2161716/why-south-koreas-jeju-wants-show-you-where-communist-bodies-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2161716/why-south-koreas-jeju-wants-show-you-where-communist-bodies-are?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Sep 2018 01:45:15 +0000 From the outside, the past few months have been one long winning streak for South Korean President Moon Jae-in. After presiding over the successful Winter Olympics, Moon made international headlines by holding a historic summit with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un. He has deftly managed to balance loyalties to both South Korea’s main ally, the United States, and North Korea, helping to salvage the planned summit between Washington and Pyongyang just as it was looking like a lost... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2149709/one-mans-fate-rides-trump-kim-summit-and-its-not-trump-or-kim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2149709/one-mans-fate-rides-trump-kim-summit-and-its-not-trump-or-kim?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Jun 2018 00:30:15 +0000 In the video, a North Korean man identified as Heo Kang-il, his faced pixelated to protect his identity, makes an admission that has stunned the Korean peninsula. Heo says he defected from his country, along with 12 young women, while running a North Korean state-owned restaurant in China. What sets his story aside from the many defections over the years is that the women say they didn’t know about the plan, but South Korea’s main spy agency did. And that has seemingly confirmed a long-held... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2148683/13-more-problems-trump-kim-summit-north-korean-defectors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2148683/13-more-problems-trump-kim-summit-north-korean-defectors?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Jun 2018 02:00:15 +0000 Upon entering the chat room on the instant messaging app Kakao Talk, the first thing users see is a message promising that anyone who provides evidence of illegal acts by a certain airline may remain anonymous and won’t be publicly identified in any way. The chat room has been set up by the tax office in the South Korean city of Incheon, the location of the country’s main airport, as part of an investigation into allegations of illegal smuggling of duty-free goods by the family that founded... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2144999/how-turbulence-korean-air-became-rallying-call-equality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2144999/how-turbulence-korean-air-became-rallying-call-equality?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 May 2018 00:00:30 +0000 In honour of a historic summit between the leaders of South and North Korea, the government in Seoul turned the main square in the city centre into ground zero for a celebration of the diplomatic detente. Countless white flowers were planted on the main lawn in front of City Hall in the shape of a unified Korean peninsula, and throughout the square were exhibits, with photos and written explanations, detailing the history of inter-Korean division, interspersed with aspirational slogans, such as... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2143851/korea-summit-euphoria-now-kim-jong-uns-real-test-come-donald?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2143851/korea-summit-euphoria-now-kim-jong-uns-real-test-come-donald?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Apr 2018 12:32:12 +0000 WHEN LEE KA-YEON RECALLS growing up in North Korea in the 1990s, she remembers meals of wild grasses and tree bark that her mother would boil to make thin soups. At the time, she believed her hardship would be temporary, and that it was caused by North Korea’s outside enemies.  The conditions of her life were starkly at odds with the propaganda stories she read in school, which depicted North Korea as a land of abundance that was the envy of the world. Lee grew up at a time of economic crisis in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2142690/one-thing-wont-be-discussed-korea-summit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2142690/one-thing-wont-be-discussed-korea-summit?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Apr 2018 01:18:18 +0000 Easter, called Holy Week in the Philippines, is a time for family and religious observance in this largely Catholic country, and a fleeting period when Manila’s gridlocked traffic eases as people flee the big city for the countryside. It’s this trend of “faith tourism” – people travelling specifically to visit holy sites – that has Philippine tourism officials looking to capitalise on the country’s religious monuments.  Earlier this year, the Philippine Department of Tourism announced plans to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2140669/dear-god-please-send-philippines-some-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2140669/dear-god-please-send-philippines-some-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Apr 2018 04:02:49 +0000 Along the narrow alleyways that make up what was once a bustling red light district outside of Seoul’s Cheongnyangni Station, the ground is now covered in rubble and broken glass from the ongoing demolition of dozens of brothels that sit broken down and abandoned. While a cluster of three brothels remains open for business, illuminated by dull pink light bulbs, on the sidewalk right in front of them is a wooden signboard with the spray-painted message: “Prostitution is illegal and carries fines... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2085705/seouls-red-light-districts-first-losers-winter-olympics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2085705/seouls-red-light-districts-first-losers-winter-olympics?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Apr 2017 03:30:15 +0000 North Korea may have made some disconcerting strides in developing missiles and nuclear weapons, but for many South Koreans, that is the least of their problems. The economy is slowing and the nation is in the grip of a political scandal involving the president and a shady confidante. So what better time to invest in a big-budget film partially set in the North, with a plot in which the estranged neighbours find a way to work together? That’s just what director Kim Sung-hoon has done with... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2069926/what-film-featuring-k-pop-star-reveals-about-north-koreas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2069926/what-film-featuring-k-pop-star-reveals-about-north-koreas?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Feb 2017 11:32:17 +0000 Early one Saturday morning in November of last year, farmer Baek Nam-gi left his home in the rural south of South Korea, and with dozens of fellow farmers, boarded a bus bound for Gwanghwamun Square, a public space in the heart of the capital, Seoul, and a frequent venue for protests. On that day, Gwanghwamun was the site of an exceptionally tense demonstration against the conservative government of President Park Geun-hye. Baek and his colleagues were pushing for intervention in the rice... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2024095/why-death-one-rice-farmer-has-captivated-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2024095/why-death-one-rice-farmer-has-captivated-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Oct 2016 08:00:17 +0000 Though its overall economy has slowed, South Korea has one sector experiencing rapid growth: firms that are called in to clean up when someone dies alone. In a country where the unravelling of Confucian traditions means that many elderly people are no longer cared for by family, more South Koreans are dying in solitude, after either taking their own lives or wasting away from neglect. Small companies provide services such as cleaning and sterilising a room where someone died and decomposed... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1144019/coming-clean-growing-number-lonely-deaths-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1144019/coming-clean-growing-number-lonely-deaths-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000