The Korea Now Podcast

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Robert Winstanley-Chesters. They speak about the plagiarism scandal that surrounded Charles Armstrong and his book ‘Tyranny of the Weak’, the nature of the plagiarism and academic corruption involved, the extraordinarily immoral response from much of the Korean Studies community who chose to defend Armstrong and publicly attack the people ...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Brad Glosserman. They speak about Russia’s war in Ukraine and its short-to-long term effects for the East Asian region.

Brad Glosserman is both the Deputy Director of, and Visiting Professor at, the Tama University Center for Rule Making Strategies, as well as a Senior Advisor for the Pacific Forum. Brad was also the Executive Director of ...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Meredith Shaw. They speak about Meredith’s new article Godzilla vs Pulgasari: Anti-Japanism and Anti-Communism as Dueling Antagonisms in South Korean Politics Godzilla vs Pulgasari: Anti-Japanism and Anti-Communism as Dueling Antagonisms in South Korean Politics | Journal of East Asian Studies | Cambridge Core.

Meredith Shaw is an Associa...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Balázs Szalontai. They speak about China’s controversial role in North Korea’s economic transformation, Chinese involvement in planning for a potential second Korean war (1965-1967), Chinese attitudes toward confrontational acts by North Korea, and how North Korea has managed to exploit conflicts between China, Japan, and South Korea, whil...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Vladimir Tikhonov. They speak about the counter-hegemonic role that socialism has played in South Korea, the history of socialism across the Korean peninsula, the often quiet impact that socialism has had on mainstream politics and policies in South Korea, and how this impact is still poorly understood today.

Vladimir Tikhonov is a Profess...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Terence Roehrig. They speak about the issues and challenges that South Korea faces as a maritime nation.

Terence Roehrig is a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, the author of ‘From Deterrence to Engagement: The U.S. Defense Commitment to South Korea’, ‘Korean Dispute over the Northern Limit Line: Security...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with David Tizzard. They speak about the Netflix series Squid Game.

David Tizzard has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online, and a columnist at the Korea Times, amongst much more.

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Stephen Nagy. They speak about the challenges and implications of the rise of China, the need to counter this with Indo-Pacific strategic planning, the geopolitical issues surrounding trade and sovereignty in the South China Sea, how middle powers should deal with difficult issues such as the status of Taiwan and Hong Kong, Chinese regiona...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Youngju Ryu. They speak about how modern Korean literature has dealt with the nation’s difficult legacy of authoritarian violence and suppression, how torture and the morality/immorality attached to it is written and described, the challenges of post-authoritarian accountability, the life and significance of the poet Kim Chiha, his lioniza...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Chizuko Allen. They speak about the life of Choe Nam-son, the difficulties of publishing during the Japanese colonial era, the youth magazines that he managed to launch and distribute at this time, the special branch of globalized nationalism he championed, the language nationalism that he pioneered through his magazines, and his legacy to...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Ksenia Chizhova. They speak about the practice of calligraphy in late Choson Korea, the highly aestheticized craft and the social importance attached to it, the differences between traditionally male and female calligraphy, the meticulous training processes involved, the different moral and character insights that the practice was said to ...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Michael Kim. They speak about the history of the Christian Publishing Company (Changmunsa), the difficulties of operating during the Japanese colonial period, the complexities of the colonial publishing market, the movement among Korean Christians to achieve more cultural autonomy from Western missionaries, and the unique insights that can...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Sixiang Wang. They speak about the exchanges between Choson Korea (1392-1910) and Ming China (1368-1644), the Korean envoys and interpreters who mediated between the two dynasties, the need of these interpreters to master spoken Chinese, the extensive body of language materials that were created for this purpose, and the invention of the H...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Daniel Pieper. They speak about James Scarth Gale and the significance of his translation work, the extraordinary upheaval and change that he witnessed as a missionary in late-Choson Korea, how he saw the changing face of Korea and the importance of Korean literature, the accusations that Gale was a pro-Japanese sympathiser during the colo...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Ross King. They speak about the landscape of pre-modern Korean literature, the complex ecology of spoken and written language that existed, the broader East Asian cultural formation of which Korea was a part, the problems with descriptors such as ‘diglossia’ and ‘Chinese’ that are often used in Korean literary research today, why the phras...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Ross King. They speak about the life of James Scarth Gale, the significance of Gale’s translation work and how it fit-in with his missionary duties, the libraries of Korean literature that he amassed, how he saw the changing face of Korea and Korean literature, Gale’s legacy today both inside and outside of Korea, and importantly the extra...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Hyunhee Park. They speak about Hyunhee’s book Soju: A Global History, the Eurasian roots of distilled liquors with arak and shaojiu, the Mongol origins of soju and the technology transfers to Koryo-Korea, how soju was distilled and the early role it played in Koryo, the increased popularity of soju during the Choson dynasty and the rise of...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Ben Young. They speak about Ben’s new book Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World, how and why North Korea sought allies around the Third World during the Cold War period, what these alliances looked like and consisted of, how the changing internal politics of North Korea affected these partnerships, how Nor...

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Donald Baker. They speak about the history of Korean Confucianism, the rise of Confucianism and the ‘privatization’ of Buddhism in the Chosŏn dynasty, what differentiates Korean from Chinese Confucianism, the metaphysical debates between the Toegye and Yulgok factions and how this division defined the course of Korean Confucianism, the eme...