Founded in September 2020, the Blue Roof is celebrating its first full year in 2021. Here is the list of the most read stories of our website this year.
Most Read Articles of 2021
- Rise of the Incels (May 13, 2021)
South Korea's political story of 2021 was the rejuvenation of conservatives thanks to a surprising source of strength: young men motivated by grievance politics against feminism.
2. Women Don't Want to Do it, Men Have No One to Do it With (August 7, 2021)
Closely related to the incels' political rise is the social condition in which more young people are opting out of having sex. More than one-third of Seoul residents did not have sex in the past year; young men in their 20s had sex less frequently than men in their 60s and older.
3. BTS Takes Care of Retirees (August 13, 2021)
The world's greatest band is also a phenomenal investment. The National Pension Service's investment into BTS's production company returned 8.9x of the investment in less than three years.
4. Kimchi is Chinese? The Sino-Korean Struggle for Ontological Security (December 23, 2020)
The online spats between Chinese and Koreans regarding the origin of kimchi may seem silly, but they are in fact low-intensity battle involving each country's national identity: China as the "Middle Kingdom," and Korea as the historically independent nation.
5. "No More America No. 1" (November 30, 2020)
The sharp polemic by KBS News journalist Kim Won-jang 김원장 written in the final days the Donald Trump presidency - just months before the January 6 attempted coup - showed the extent to which the United States declined in the eyes of Koreans.
Most Read Newsletters of 2021
Our Week 1, April 2021 edition gave a recap of arguably the most significant political story of this year: the People Power Party's sweep of the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, the first major conservative electoral victory since 2016. The win gave a new breath of life for the conservatives who were on the ropes since the impeachment of Park Geun-hye in 2017 and the Assembly elections drubbing in 2020. The by-elections also were a coming-out party for South Korea's incel men as a significant political force.
Our Week 5, September 2021 edition featured two very popular stories: (1) a profile of Gyeonggi-do Province Governor Lee Jae-myung 이재명 경기도지사, who would go on to win the nomination for the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party 민주당, and; (2) Yun Seok-yeol 윤석열, presidential candidate for the People Power Party 국민의힘, appearing in televised debates with a Chinese character for "king" written on his palm, drawing attention to his superstitious beliefs.
That's it for 2021! Many thanks from the TBR Team for being with us this year. See you in 2022.
