Se-Woong Koo: Grand Narratives, Journalism, and The Korea Exposé | Korea Deconstructed #018

Se-Woong Koo is founder of Korea Exposé. Before joining the media world, Koo earned his PhD from Stanford University for a dissertation examining the intersection of politics and religion in modern Korea. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France, from 2012 to 2013; and he taught at the Asian University for Women and at Yale University as Henry Hart Rice Foundation Faculty Fellow and Lecturer.

We talked about the foundation of modern Korea and the role religion as a belief system has played in the country’s development. We then discussed the South Korean domestic journalism scene, focusing on ethical problems as well as well as where various outlets sit in the political spectrum. During our discussion, Se-Woong pointed to the construction and reinforcement of ‘grand narratives’ that reify rather than challenge the status quo. The Korea Exposé was founded by Se-Woong to challenge the continued inadequacy of a lot of western reporting on the country. It also positioned itself to the left, addressing issues of social justice and inequality. On particular topics, Se-Woong shared his thoughts on anti-Chinese sentiment, freedom of speech vis-à-vis North Korea, the danger of transgressing historical norms through Korean dramas, social justice in cultural products, and economic inequality. He finished by offering his thoughts on how journalism on Korea can improve. As always, the last question we tackled was the notion of what gives life meaning.

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