Michael Phelps had just beat Park Taehwan in the Men’s 200m Freestyle and I think my Korean friends were getting a little tired of me rubbing it in. Finally, after I just completed a 30 second USA chant, one of them asked me “how many people does...

Korea Beat has translated a new story discussing the disturbing rise in the suicide rate in Korea. It reminded me of a few months ago when Japan underwent a suicide wave of sorts. For a few weeks there were a scattering of news stories about Japanese...

The battle rages on for possession of the neutrally named Liancourt Rocks, situated halfway between mainland Korea and Japan. Depending on who you talk to the rocks go by different names. Ask a Korean person and they call it Dokdo, and they swear...

A few months ago the new Korean administration discussed plans to fully integrate English Education into its curriculum. This would include teaching subjects such as math and science in English. At the time it was a huge issue in the political and...

The beef protests are a subject I’ve generally tried to avoid. They’ve been covered enough by people much more capable and knowledgeable than I. What unique viewpoint can I really add? However, today’s announcement that the Korean government...

South Korea doesn’t keep statistics on its gay community so it’s difficult to officially tell if it’s growing or shrinking. History seems to suggest that it’s neither. Instead it is simply “coming out,” for lack of a better term. Korea...

I can’t say exactly how the joke went, something about male teachers and how they either proved or disproved the existence of gay people in Korea. The translation broke down somewhere between the words “teacher” and “gay.” As a male teacher...