The Dark Side of Seoul Podcast
Korean dark history, ghost tales, folklore, serial killers, true crime, and more. You are about to discover why Korea has the spookiest stories and darkest history.Folklorist Shawn and history buff Joe delve into Korea's gruesome stories of massacres, betrayals, and blood. It's like "Game of Thrones" in Asia. We share our passion for Korea and its struggles throughout time. If you enjoy shows like "Kingdom," this is the podcast for you. Even if you know nothing about Korea, its history will become your new addiction.Subscribe, sit back, and enjoy.
Episodes
Christmas is often framed as a moment of peace, forgiveness, and reflection. But in Korean history, Christmas Eve has repeatedly been chosen for violence, punishment, and erasure.
In Part 2 of Christmas Nightmares, we examine three chilling cases tied to the holiday. We begin with the Seokdal-ri Massacre of 1949, when South Korean soldiers burned a mountain village and executed dozens of civilians on Christmas Eve — a ...
Christmas is supposed to be a time of warmth, safety, and reunion. But history doesn’t always cooperate.
In Part 1 of our two-part Christmas Nightmares series, we explore some of Korea’s darkest stories tied to the holiday season. We begin with the Heungnam Evacuation of 1950, remembered as the Miracle of Christmas, when nearly 100,000 refugees escaped North Korea by sea. But behind the miracle were impossible choices,...
Shawn and Joe dig into Korea’s crumbling cybersecurity myth and the Coupang leak that exposed almost every user in the country. Korea sells itself as an IT powerhouse, but behind the fiber optics sit outdated servers, neglected government systems, weak regulations and a corporate culture that treats security like a box to check.
From the SK Telecom and Lotte Card breaches to the government’s own embarrassing hacks, the...
Shawn and Joe trade war stories from the front lines of Seoul’s tour scene. Influencers melting down in costume, drunk guests apologizing between vomit breaks, bathroom disappearances, oddball actors who steal the show, couples who arrive mid-argument, and reviews born from pure misunderstanding.
The episode digs into what really derails a tour, how guides survive it, and why some guests treat history like fan fiction....
This is a blog post I (Joe) wrote on ZenKimchi.com in 2012 about the extreme lengths expats in Korea would go to for creating Thanksgiving in their adopted country. I exhume this post every year to remind myself and others that giving thanks goes beyond turkey, Macy’s parades, and football.
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Korea’s modern history has plenty of villains, but Hanahoe might be the most quietly terrifying. This was the private club of military officers that spent decades pulling strings behind the scenes and building the foundation for South Korea’s authoritarian era. Chun Doo hwan and Roh Tae woo did not just show up and grab power. They were groomed for it inside this secret alumni club of Air Force cadets who treated the ...
Special Guest: Ron Chang
Korean graves do not always stay where you put them. In this episode, Ron Chang joins us to talk about what it is really like to exhume and relocate family graves in Korea. Ron recently moved the graves of his grandmother and grandfather from a remote mountain cemetery in Yangju to the special North Korean heritage cemetery near Paju.
We talk about Korean exhumation culture, pungsu, why graves g...
When a Dutch sailor shipwrecked on Jeju in 1627, he thought he’d been captured by cannibals. Instead, he became Korea’s first Westerner—and the first sign of change that would shake Joseon to its core.
This episode traces the arrival of Western guns, God, and ideas—from Jan Janse de Weltevree to the Catholic persecutions of 1801—as Korea’s Confucian order faces its first real collision with the West.
The Korean military is haunted — literally and culturally. Soldiers whisper about phantom footsteps, cold spots inside fences, and radio calls from the dead. In this episode, we look at the legends that thrive in Korea’s barracks: the White-Clad Old Man, the Combat Boot Ghost, the Ammunition Depot Spirits, and the Fog Ghost along the DMZ.
We also unpack why these stories endure. Is it trauma made visible? Shared imagin...
Here it is! Finally! Shawn Morrissey's much anticipated book of Korean supernatural encounters is released. We ask him your questions. Will he answer them?
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Korean cities love English slogans, but rarely get them right. From “Hi Seoul” to “Busan is Good,” we explore how Korea’s branding obsession created a national genre of delightful linguistic chaos.
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King Jeongjo inherited a kingdom broken by madness, murder, and factional greed. In this episode, we look at how the grandson of Yeongjo—and son of the doomed Prince Sado—tried to rebuild the dynasty. From political purges and paranoid advisors to free-market experiments and the rise of new factions, Jeongjo’s reign was a fight to heal a wounded court without losing his crown.
Kidnapping and abduction attempts are on the rise in Korea, with more than nine cases per week. We break down the numbers, the shocking cases from Seoul to Jeju, and the weak court responses that leave parents furious. From lures near schools to drug-laced drinks, we look at why this trend is growing and how authorities and families are responding.
Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeo...
We tour Korea’s “cursed landmarks,” from the Blue House to Jongno Tower, the National Assembly, Cheonggyecheon, and beyond. These sites carry dark folklore, bad feng shui, ghost stories, and political baggage. What makes a landmark “cursed,” and why do Koreans still talk about them?
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Our follow-up to Cruel Summer shows Korea’s August crimes were just as horrific. A shaman murdered her niece in a ritual. Couples turned their homes into crime scenes. Babies were abandoned for cash. Convenience store clerks were stabbed for no reason. This summer didn’t cool down. It only got darker.
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Summer in Korea sucks. This was a record-breaking year for temps. Floods were awful again. Crime was pretty damn bad, too. Big one, little details: headless body found in Taebaeksan; wearing winter clothing - so been there a while.
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K-Pop Demon Hunters looks flashy on the surface, but it hides a lot of Korean folklore inside the glitter. We talk about mudang rituals, dokkaebi, tiger and magpie tricksters, and why the movie is both a tribute to K-Pop and a satire of idol culture.
Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com
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We close out Spooky Summer with a set of chilling Korean ghost stories and urban legends. Joe shares tales of the Wailing Woman, the Red-Hatted Ghosts, and the eerie story of “Visiting the Grandparents.” Shawn brings first-hand accounts from interviews, from couples plagued by unseen forces to political hauntings at City Hall. A mix of folklore, rumor, and lived experience rounds out the series.
A chill night-walk through Korea’s darker folklore: we bring together old graves, cursed bills, haunted portraits, and digital terrors. Hear how a man’s midnight pit stop frees a trapped virgin ghost in 1930s Jeonju, why a gruesome urban legend is said to hide inside Korean currency, and how a painting and an elevator can quietly rewrite your life. Then we go online — the Red Room and the infamous cursed number remind...
Shawn and Joe guide you through 11 of Seoul’s eeriest locations—from the pressure-draining crossroads at Sejong Intersection to the ginkgo-guarded spirits of Marronnier Park. Along the way you’ll encounter singing servants of a Japanese collaborator, phantom beggars at Jongmyo Park, wailing soldiers outside the university morgue, and more. Get your map ready, because these spots are the stuff of nightmares.
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