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.
Featured North Korea 1 February 2021 False Charge of Espionage Against a North Korean Defector Disproven The conservative Park Geun-hye administration ran campaign of fabricated charges against North Korean defectors.
Featured Business & Economy 29 January 2021 Significant Increase in Penalty for Industrial Disasters South Korea had the highest death rate from industrial accidents in the OECD for 23 years in a row.
Featured COVID-19 28 January 2021 KAIST Develops World's First Mobile Negative Pressure Clinic The entire module with four chambers can be deployed in 15 minutes.
Featured Key Players 27 January 2021 Ahn Cheol-su's Politics of Apathy Ahn continues to find political life among those who detest politics.
Featured Newsletter 25 January 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 3, January 2021 The Democratic field for the next president is shifted in favor of Lee Jae-myung although a third man may be waiting in the wings.
Featured Business & Economy 25 January 2021 Record Estate Tax Likely to Trigger Samsung Restructuring Lee Kun-hee's KRW 12t estate tax bill will likely push the founding family to sell their stakes.
Featured Society 22 January 2021 Shocking Number of Deaths for Migrant Workers Migrant farm hands perish at an alarming rate, especially during South Korea's bitter winter.
Featured Blue House 21 January 2021 Moon Jae-in's Fifth Year: Can He Stick the Landing? The president is in a better position than his predecessors, but South Korean politics is where best laid plans go to waste.
Featured Business & Economy 20 January 2021 South Korea’s Pandemic Economy: a G7 Powerhouse Optimized for the COVID Era Korea had more top 100 companies for 2020 than any other country except US and China.
Featured Newsletter 18 January 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 2, January 2021 Get to know South Korea's most important political pundit.
Featured Blue House 18 January 2021 Polls Galore: TBR's Round-Up of All the Year End 2020 Polls A look into the favored next president and Seoul/Busan mayors.
Featured Society 15 January 2021 Social Distancing Strands Runaways Yet another way in which the COVID-19 prevention measures have fallen on the socially vulnerable.
Featured Liberals 14 January 2021 Beg Your Pardon? Lee Nak-yeon Makes His Move The Democratic Party Chairman Thinks Pardoning the Conservative Presidents Could be His Signature Issue.
United States 13 January 2021 Poll: US-ROK Alliance Still Very Popular For all the talk about the strained relationship between the United States and South Korea, Koreans are still overwhelmingly in favor of the alliance.
Featured Newsletter 11 January 2021 TBR Weekly Update: Week 1, January 2021 Moon Jae-in is entering his final full year of his term. The first TBR newsletter of 2021 is supersized.
Featured Society 7 January 2021 Rich Gyeonggi-do, Poor Gyeongsang-do: Inequality by Region The area that envelops Seoul is likely to lead the political opinion, while the southeast is falling behind.
Featured COVID-19 5 January 2021 Crack in the Armor: South Korea’s Pandemic Response Slips in the Third Wave The Korean government has been walking the tightrope of fighting the virus and saving the economy. Now, it is at risk of falling off.
Featured Blue House 4 January 2021 Happy New Year: the Electoral Calendar for 2021 Yun Seok-yeol's emergence as a leading conservative presidential candidate is the trend to watch.
Featured Society 31 December 2020 2020 in Pop Culture: What was Mainstream is Now Niche The old mainstream, rather than fading away, is finding a new lease on life as a vibrant subculture.
Featured Trivia 30 December 2020 Meme of the Year: Stephen Biegun's Genuine Love for Chicken Find a person who loves you like the Deputy Secretary of State loves his chicken.
Op-Ed 29 December 2020 Make Seoul Great Again? Shifting Rationale for Capital Relocation The previous reasons for relocating the administrative capital are becoming less persuasive.
Featured National Assembly 28 December 2020 "The Foundation of Our Society is Changing": Dems Flex Their Legislative Supermajority We summarize the top 20 most important laws out of the 130+ passed in the 2020 legislative session.
Featured China 23 December 2020 Kimchi is Chinese? The Sino-Korean Struggle for Ontological Security The latest online tiff over the historical origins of food signals something more serious.
Featured Business & Economy 22 December 2020 Motorized Scooters to be Regulated, Belatedly Traffic accidents involving motorized scooters have increased 40-fold since 2017.
Featured Newsletter 21 December 2020 TBR Weekly Update: Week 3, December 2020 TBR's last newsletter of 2020 looks back on the year and previews South Korean politics in 2021.
Featured Blue House 21 December 2020 It’s the Real Estate, Stupid: the Moon Jae-in Administration at the Crossroads TBR said in August: “The real estate issue . . . may well define the course of the Moon administration’s remaining two years.” Four months later, here we are.
Featured Society 18 December 2020 Poll: Catholics and Buddhists Popular in South Korea Protestants and Muslims, not as much.
Featured United States 17 December 2020 The Two Koreas Prepare for the Biden Administration South Korea is reaching out the United States, while North Korea is biding its time.
Featured Business & Economy 16 December 2020 World's First eSports TV Station to Shut Down The rise of internet-based video platforms such as Twitch, as well as eSports content created by videogame companies themselves, crowded out OGN’s broadcasts over cable TV.
Featured Newsletter 14 December 2020 TBR Weekly Update: Week 2, December 2020 The Democratic Party passed a huge slate of laws on the last day of the National Assembly regular session, while South Korea’s vaunted COVID-19 response is showing signs of wear.
Featured Society 14 December 2020 Alternative Military Service Begins for Conscientious Objectors Until 2018, South Korea imprisoned those who refused to serve the military duty.
Featured Society 12 December 2020 Freedom to Get Pregnant: Fujita Sayuri’s Single Motherhood The celebrity's decision to having a child without getting married is making waves.
Featured Key Players 11 December 2020 Obituary: George E. Ogle, Pastor who Joined South Korea's Fight for Democracy The Methodist missionary raised international awareness on Park Chung-hee dictatorship's judicial murder.
Featured Op-Ed 10 December 2020 Bridging the Gap: LNG and Korea’s Pursuit of Carbon Neutrality Natural gas helps with South Korea's carbon footprint, but it is not enough.
Recommendations 9 December 2020 Three Cheers for the Foreign Press The foreign correspondents in South Korea are dropping the orientalist routine.
Featured Newsletter 7 December 2020 TBR Weekly Update: Week 1, December 2020 The bruising battle with Seoul's real estate market is the Moon Jae-in administration's greatest challenge.
Featured Op-Ed 7 December 2020 COVID Fatigue: Seoul Subway Data Shows Koreans are Tired of Social Distancing Pandemic fatigue is real and quantifiable.
Featured Starter Kit 5 December 2020 "We are not Machines": South Korea's Labor Movement and Progressive Politics The death of labor activist Jeon Tae-il gave birth to modern South Korea's labor movement.
Featured Blue House 4 December 2020 The Corruption Investigation Office: Ready to Launch The fight to establish has been fierce, with 29 lawmakers indicted for interfering with the legislative process.
Featured Business & Economy 3 December 2020 Korean Air in Talks to Acquire the Troubled Asiana Airlines COVID-19 pandemic has been a disaster for South Korea's second largest air carrier.
United States 2 December 2020 Poll: US Still Leading in Popularity Among Neighboring Countries Despite the recent decline, South Koreans favor the United States than any of its neighbors.
Featured Newsletter 30 November 2020 TBR Weekly Update: Week 4, November 2020 As the Biden administration gears up in the US, both North and South Korea are contemplating the next stage in the inter-Korean relations.
Featured United States 30 November 2020 "No More 'America No. 1'" That KBS, South Korea's public broadcaster, put out this report makes the harshness of the assessment more salient.
Featured Starter Kit 27 November 2020 Voting in South Korea: History and Practice South Korea's long struggle for democracy led to a convenient and secure voting procedure.
Featured Business & Economy 26 November 2020 More Litigious Business Environment Ahead Major reforms in the Commercial Act and Class Action Act will introduce large class action suits with punitive damages.
Featured Recommendations 25 November 2020 Will South Korea Make a Strategic Shift Away from the United States? The foreign policy topics that were once beyond the pale are now subjects of live debates.
Featured Breaking News 24 November 2020 Breaking News Analysis: Ministry of Justice Suspends the Supreme Prosecutor This is the first time in South Korean history that the Justice Minister suspended the Supreme Prosecutor from duty.
Featured Newsletter 23 November 2020 TBR Weekly Update: Week 3, November 2020 Celebrity single mother is pushing Koreans to re-consider the traditional nuclear family.
Featured Trivia 23 November 2020 Hiking Route for Presidential Assassins Now Open to Public North Korean terrorists used the path behind the Blue House to infiltrate Seoul 52 years ago.
