106 - Stowing Away on The Korean Wave

We address several excellent questions and comments from a listener (u/joshuaism) about Korean culture, partially through the lens of the currently extremely popular Korean streaming series Squid Game. The nature of Korean entertainment on the global stage. The country's complex relationship with gambling. Debt. Wealth inequality. Economic and social mobility. Loan sharks. Organized crime and its portrayal in popular fiction. Christianity and religion or lack thereof more broadly. North Koreans defecting to the South. Immigration and migrant labor.

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General Recommendations

• JD'S Recommendation: Dasha Plesen
• JNM's Recommendation: The Housemaid 

Further Reading, Viewing, Listening

• BTS and EXO: The soft power roots of K-pop
• South Korea’s Complex Relationship with Gambling
• Household debt posing major threat to Korean economy amid pandemic
• From loan sharks to drug fortune: S Korean reaps virus rewards
• South Korea: Nature and extent of loan-sharking; protection available for victims of loan sharks
• Organized Crime in South Korea
• Kkangpae
• Christianity in Korea
• The Global Social Mobility Report 2020 Equality, Opportunity and a New Economic Imperative 
• Generational Divides and the Future of South Korean Democracy
• 'Parasite' reflects deepening social divide in South Korea
• ‘Squid Game’ is No. 1 on Netflix and South Koreans are using the survival drama to talk about inequality
• North Korean defectors: What happens when they get to the South?
• Crossing Divides: Two Koreas divided by a fractured language

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