Featured Starter Kit 3 April 2021 Get to Know Busan, South Korea's Second City The discerning watcher of South Korean politics should pay close attention to South Korea’s second largest city, long the bellwether of Korean politics.
Business & Economy 2 April 2021 SK Hynix Close Acquiring Intel's NAND Memory Division Memory chip maker won a key US regulatory approval.
Featured Blue House 1 April 2021 One Year Away: Presidential Election 2022 Viewer's Guide Five story lines to watch for the next year.
Society 31 March 2021 South Korea Last in OECD Glass Ceiling Index South Korea came last or second-to-last in majority of the categories of gender gap.
Featured Newsletter 29 March 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 4, March 2021 A look at the invisible hands of South Korean politics. Seoul and Busan mayoral elections are nine days away.
Society 29 March 2021 Flagging Flag Sales Blamed on Conservatives As the taegeukgi took on political implications, fewer people are buying them.
Featured Key Players 26 March 2021 Obituary: Staff Sergeant Byeon Hee-su, a Pioneer of Transgender Rights Byeon was South Korea’s first publicly known transgender soldier who fought for her right to serve in the military.
Featured Blue House 25 March 2021 Poll: How Every Korean President Fared Over Five (or Less) Years South Korean politics is a brutal landscape for any president.
Featured Business & Economy 24 March 2021 EV Popularity Leaves Workers and Parts Suppliers Shaking Electric vehicles are supposed to be the wave of the future, but they also threaten to displace a major industry.
Featured Newsletter 22 March 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 3, March 2021 High-ranking Biden administration officials visited Seoul and left confusion in their wake. TBR presents a political overview of Busan, South Korea’s prosperous second city.
Featured Conservatives 22 March 2021 LH Scandal Upends the Seoul Mayor Race as O Se-hun Surges Democrat Park Yeong-seon appeared to be sailing into the City Hall until the real estate scandal derailed her campaign.
Courts 20 March 2021 Criminal "Defamation-by-Facts" Law Held Constitutional The crime of defamation-by-facts has been criticized for potentially infringing upon freedom of speech, and for being used as a tool to silence whistleblowers.
COVID-19 19 March 2021 LDS Syringes a Crucial Link in COVID-19 Vaccination Medium-sized South Korean companies are coming up big in syringes that squeeze the vaccine's last drop.
Featured Liberals 18 March 2021 The Decline and Degradation of the Justice Party What was once a broad alliance of labor unions, farmers' organizations and young idealists is now the party of the urban hipsters.
Featured History 17 March 2021 55th Anniversary of the Tay Vinh Massacre in the Vietnam War One of the worst atrocities committed by South Korea's military.
Featured Liberals 16 March 2021 Poll: Democratic Party the Most Progressive Supporters of the main liberal party identified themselves as more progress than minor leftist parties.
Featured Newsletter 15 March 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 2, March 2021 The Seoul mayoral election is in turmoil with the latest real estate scandal. The presidential election is less than one year away.
Featured Business & Economy 15 March 2021 Basic Income: the Next Step in the Pandemic Economy? The COVID-19 pandemic and the leading presidential candidate is making the once-outlandish idea mainstream.
Featured Liberals 13 March 2021 Poll: What Young South Korean Liberals Want Young liberals want social democratic economy, loose unification with North Korea, and no part of China.
Featured Business & Economy 12 March 2021 South Korea and Taiwan: the "New OPEC" of Semiconductors Dominance of South Korea and Taiwan in semiconductors has geopolitical implications.
Key Players 11 March 2021 Obituary: Baek Gi-wan, a Lifelong Fighter for Democracy and Unification Baek was one of South Korea's first civic activists for democracy.
Featured COVID-19 10 March 2021 Vaccine Politics Threaten to Derail South Korea's COVID-19 Response South Korea succeeded in combating the pandemic despite fractious politics rather than thanks to sheep-like conformity.
Featured Newsletter 8 March 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 1, March 2021 The major parties set their tickets for the Seoul and Busan mayor by-elections, now just one month away. Also, a look at how Moon Jae-in has fared compared to other presidents at the same point in their terms, and remembering the pioneer of transgender rights in military.
Featured COVID-19 8 March 2021 Doctors Threaten to Boycott COVID-19 Vaccination to Prevent Losing License After Committing Felony The doctors find it intolerable that they may lose their license after committing murder or sexual assault.
Featured National Security 6 March 2021 Recognizing South Korea as a Military Power South Korea's superior conventional weaponry may act as a hindrance to denuclearizing North Korea.
Business & Economy 5 March 2021 LG Chem Defeats SK Innovation in the EV Battery Duel in the US Court The two South Korean giants of EV batteries have been litigating each other in the United States.
Featured Key Players 4 March 2021 Moon Chung-in: South Korean Liberals’ Most Important Pyongyangologist Moon advised all three of South Korea's liberal presidents and is likely to continue should there be a fourth one.
Featured Liberals 3 March 2021 Poll: Park Yeong-seon Leading in the Seoul Mayor Race Ahn Cheol-su's lead in the Seoul mayor race is no more.
Featured Newsletter 1 March 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 4, February 2021 South Korean politicos debated the merits of a universal basic income, while the Justice Party started losing its bearings.
Featured Society 1 March 2021 If You Build It: Seoul Mayors’ Infrastructure Projects Seoul landscape changes constantly with its mayor's political ambition.
Featured Conservatives 26 February 2021 Conservatives’ Aimless Attack on ‘Nuclear Zero’ Nuclear power is not exactly a populist issue, but the conservatives are trying to make it into one.
Featured Conservatives 25 February 2021 About Face: Conservatives Now in Favor of the New Airport in Busan While Some Continue to Hold Out Support for liberals in the Busan area has been surging since they proposed the new airport.
Featured Starter Kit 24 February 2021 Starter Kit: a Brief History of Primaries in South Korea The inter-party election to select the candidates who would run in the final election is a recent feature in Korean politics, and is localized in a peculiar way.
Featured Newsletter 22 February 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 3, February 2021 Politics are threatening to derail the COVID-19 vaccination program, and what young liberal voters want.
Society 22 February 2021 First Government Recommendation in Favor of Transgender Right in the Military Staff Sergeant Byeon Hee-su 변희수 was discharged after undergoing a gender transition procedure.
Featured Society 20 February 2021 “Outsourcing Death”: the Plight of the Workers in the Pandemic Tech Era Sorting boxes in the subscription economy comes at the cost of lives.
Featured National Assembly 19 February 2021 Justice Party in Disarray The minor leftist party is mired in sexual harassment and illegal termination scandals.
Featured Liberals 18 February 2021 Let Busan Fly: the Democrats' Southeastern Strategy The liberals' relentless pursuit of Busan voters is dividing the conservatives.
Featured Newsletter 16 February 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 2, February 2021 Happy Lunar New Year! Our look at Seoul's infrastructure projects, and the profile of Moon Chung-in.
Business & Economy 16 February 2021 Poll: South Korean Public Divided on Samsung Heir Prison Term Sympathy for Lee Jae-yong was split along the partisan line.
Featured Liberals 15 February 2021 Is Lee Jae-myung the New Favorite to be the Next President? The Gyeonggi-do Province Governor is building a strong lead in the polls, but don't sleep on the third option.
Featured Key Players 12 February 2021 Poll: Jeong Se-gyun Rising as the Liberals' Third Option for the President The liberal voters may still be searching for options beyond the two leaders.
Featured Key Players 11 February 2021 Kang Kyung-wha's Valedictorian Departure The trailblazing Foreign Minister exits the stage.
Featured Business & Economy 10 February 2021 LG Looking to Quit the Smartphone Business An ignominious end for the company that once led the cellphone trend as recently as mid-2000s.
Featured Newsletter 8 February 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 1, February 2021 Conservatives' obsession with nuclear power, and the wild world of South Korean style primary elections.
History 8 February 2021 The Torture Death that Sparked South Korea’s Democratization Park Jong-cheol was 22 when he perished in Seoul's black site.
Featured Conservatives 5 February 2021 Supreme Court Finalizes 22 Years in Prison for Park Geun-hye President Moon Jae-in rejected the call for pardoning Park.
Featured Key Players 4 February 2021 Kim Eo-jun: South Korea's Most Important Political Pundit The bushy haired podcaster has been the leader of young Koreans who abandoned the traditional media.
Featured COVID-19 3 February 2021 Celltrion on Its Way to Coronavirus Cure Celltrion is the largest South Korean pharmaceutical company by market cap.
Featured Newsletter 1 February 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 4, January 2021 Liberals suddenly started making headway in the Busan mayoral election with their promise for a new international airport that is dividing the conservatives. TBR examines the new tech underclass: the overworked logistics workers who are exposed to death and injury.
