Korean

SEOUL, Aug. 8 (UPI) — Washington has noted “with interest” a recent statement by the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un suggesting a willingness to resume dialogue with the United States under certain conditions, a U.S. State Department official said.

Seth Bailey, acting deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the remark at a public event Thursday in reference to comments made last week by Kim Yo Jong.

In a published statement, Kim dismissed the notion of resuming denuclearization talks with Washington but appeared to leave open the possibility of a new approach to negotiations.

“The recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state … should be a prerequisite,” Kim said. “It would be advisable to seek another way of contact on the basis of such new thinking.”

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

She added that her brother’s relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump was “not bad.”

“We have seen high-level statements from the DPRK leadership, including recent statements from Kim Yo Jong, which we note with interest,” Bailey said at an event in Arlington, Va., held by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency for family members of missing troops from the Korean War.

Bailey said that the Trump administration remains committed to the principles outlined in a joint statement from his 2018 Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un.

“Since the beginning of President Trump’s second term, he has made clear his willingness to engage in negotiations with North Korea to achieve these policy goals,” Bailey said. “The president has offered to engage Chairman Kim Jong Un on multiple occasions.”

Bailey also noted the efforts by the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to improve relations with the North.

“The new ROK administration has demonstrated a willingness to engage with North Korea, taking meaningful steps to reduce tensions across the Korean Peninsula,” Bailey said, using the official acronym for South Korea.

Earlier this week, the South Korean military removed loudspeakers that had been installed along the DMZ to blast anti-Pyongyang messages across the border. Seoul also recently repatriated six North Koreans and has made multiple public calls for the North to resume inter-Korean communications.

On Thursday, the United States and South Korea announced details of their upcoming large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise. Roughly half of their 40 planned field training exercises will be postponed until next month, both militaries said, citing factors such as an ongoing heat wave. However, speculation has swirled that the move was made in an effort to avoid provoking Pyongyang, which frequently condemns the drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry on Friday echoed Bailey’s calls for the resumption of diplomacy with North Korea.

“South Korea and the United States share the position that they are open to dialogue with North Korea for peace on the Korean Peninsula and a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue,” ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong said at a press briefing when asked about Bailey’s remarks.

“The government has also repeatedly expressed its active support for the resumption of North Korea-U.S. talks,” she said.

Chang added that the Unification Ministry is working on proposals for cooperation between Seoul and Washington on North Korean issues ahead of an expected summit between Presidents Lee and Trump later this month.

“In preparation for the South Korea-U.S. summit, we are in close consultation with relevant organizations regarding peace on the Korean Peninsula and the restoration of inter-Korean relations,” she said.

SEOUL, Aug. 1 (UPI) — The top diplomats of the United States and South Korea reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea and the enforcement of international sanctions against Pyongyang during a meeting in Washington on Thursday, both governments said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun held their first talks since the election of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung last month. Their meeting took place one day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a tariff deal with Seoul and said that he would host a summit with Lee at the White House within two weeks.

The two diplomats “reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization of the DPRK [and] the full implementation of international sanctions,” State Dept. spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a readout Thursday.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

They also “expressed serious concerns about North Korea’s increasing military cooperation with Russia,” Bruce said.

North Korea has deployed troops, artillery and weapons to Russia to aid in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, and is believed to be receiving much-needed financial support and advanced military technology for its own weapons programs in return.

The diplomats “both welcomed the announcement of a full and complete trade deal and the forthcoming visit of ROK President Lee Jae Myung to Washington,” Bruce added, using the official acronym for South Korea.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a readout of the meeting on Friday, saying Rubio and Cho “agreed to maintain a robust combined defense posture and firmly uphold the goal of North Korea’s complete denuclearization.”

Cho also revisited President Lee’s invitation for Trump to attend the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will be held in Gyeongju from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1. Rubio said Washington “is well aware of this and will actively consider it,” according to the ministry.

On Tuesday, North Korea dismissed the notion of engaging in nuclear negotiations with President Trump.

“Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state … will be thoroughly rejected,” Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement carried by official media.

“The recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state … should be a prerequisite for predicting and thinking everything in the future,” she said

July 24 (UPI) — Arizona resident Christina Chapman must serve 102 months in prison for her role in a $17 million scheme to help North Koreans obtain remote positions with U.S. tech firms.

U.S District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Randolph Moss on Thursday sentenced Chapman, 50, after she entered a guilty plea in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments on behalf of the government of North Korea.

Chapman participated in a “fraudulent scheme that assisted North Korean workers — posing as U.S. citizens and residents — in obtaining and working in remote [Internet technology] positions at more than 300 U.S.companies,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti announced in a news release.

“North Korea is not just a threat to the homeland from afar,” Pirro said. “It is perpetrating fraud on American citizens, American companies and American banks.”

She said it’s important for U.S. corporations and businesses to verify the identities of remote workers to thwart such fraud.

“If this happened to these big banks, to these Fortune 500, brand-name, quintessential American companies, it can or is happening to your company,” Pirro added.

In addition to the prison term, Moss also ordered Chapman to forfeit $284,555.92 that was intended for North Koreans and to pay a $176,850 fine.

She also must serve three years of supervised release after completing her prison term.

Chapman was part of what the Justice Department says is one of the largest North Korean IT worker fraud schemes.

It involved the theft of identities from 68 U.S. citizens and residents and affected 309 U.S. businesses and two international businesses.

Chapman is a U.S. citizen and participated in the scheme from October 2020 to October 2023 by using stolen and purchased identities of U.S. nationals to help North Korean operatives to obtain remote work as U.S. firms, including many Fortune 500 companies.

The DOJ says Chapman operated a “laptop farm” at her home, where she received and operated at least 90 laptops to fool U.S. employers into thinking the North Korean operatives were located in the United States.

She also shipped 49 laptops and other devices that U.S. employers provided and that she shipped overseas.

Chapman sent several to a city in China that is located along the border with North Korea.

The companies affected include a top-five television network, a Silicon Valley tech company, an aerospace manufacturer, a U.S. carmaker, a luxury retail store and a U.S. media and entertainment company.

The North Korean operatives also tried to gain remote employment with two U.S. government agencies.

Court documents indicate North Korea has deployed thousands of highly skilled IT workers around the world to use false, stolen or borrowed identities of people in the United States and elsewhere to obtain remote positions.

The scheme relies on the assistance of U.S. citizens and legal residents when tried in the United States and enables North Korea to defraud respective employers of millions of dollars, the DOJ says.

The illicit funds often are used to help fund North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The Department of State in July sanctioned North Korean hacker Song Kum Hyok for similar alleged criminal activities

The DOJ in August also accused Matthew Isaac Knoot, 39, of Nashville, of allegedly operating a laptop farm to benefit North Korea’s nuclear arms program.

July 21 (UPI) — The following account was presented by Jihyang Kim at a recent forum of the North Korean Young Leaders’ Assembly held at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C. The assembly is an annual event gathering young North Korean escapees to engage with the U.S. executive and congressional branches, think tanks and NGOs.

My name is Jihyang Kim. I escaped from North Korea in the spring of 2012, when I was 19 years old. Today, I stand before you not only as a Fulbright scholar pursuing my master’s degree in the United States, but also as a survivor — and a witness — of the brutal realities of life under a communist regime. I want to share with you how the ideology of communism stripped me and millions of others of our basic rights, dignity, and dreams.

1: North Korea – A life determined by the state

Growing up under North Korea’s totalitarian rule, I was taught that the state came before the individual, that loyalty to the regime was more important than personal dreams and that questioning the system was dangerous.

As a young girl, I dreamed of becoming a novelist. I was fascinated by literature and wanted to study Japanese to read detective novels in their original language. Despite being the top student in my class, I couldn’t apply for the language school because my family couldn’t afford the required bribe. In North Korea, merit is meaningless without political loyalty or financial backing.

This was my first clear experience of how the system worked — not for the people, but against them. The promise of equality under communism was a lie. Instead, I saw corruption, oppression and injustice. That cognitive dissonance planted the seed of rebellion in me. I began to question the system I had been raised to worship.

The second turning point came in 2009, when the North Korean regime implemented a disastrous currency reform. Overnight, our savings became worthless. I still remember seeing the old bills scattered in the market like trash. Inflation soared and food vanished. My family starved. I lie on the cold floor, too weak to move, and decided to risk everything for a chance at life. I realized if I stayed, I would die, anyway, not with dignity, but in silence.

2: China – Escaping the regime, entering another cage

Crossing the border into China did not mean freedom. It meant becoming stateless — an invisible person with no rights, no protection and no home. I was no longer hungry, but I was no longer human, either. The Chinese government does not recognize North Korean defectors as refugees, so we are hunted like criminals, deported if caught. I became one of the many North Korean women sold into forced marriages, treated as property and silenced through violence.

At 19, I watched university students — my peers– walk past me in the streets. I didn’t envy their clothes or phones. I envied their freedom to dream. I heard villagers joke about “buying” North Korean brides and brag about beating them if they tried to escape. I lived in fear, not only for myself, but for my baby. I became a mother in China, but I could not offer my son legal protection, education or safety. I was a mother in name, but powerless in reality.

3: Still trapped in the system’s shadows

Today, I’m grateful. I am studying in the United States, supported by countless people who believe in me. But I have not forgotten the millions still trapped under the same system that nearly destroyed me. North Korea’s regime continues to control every aspect of its citizens’ lives: movement, thoughts, speech, even love.

In China, over 10,000 North Korean women remain trapped in forced relationships, their human rights violated daily (North Korea Human Rights Information Center, 2023). In 2017, South Korean news media reported that 20% of these women are forced into online sexual exploitation. Worse still, around 10,000 children born to these undocumented women have no legal identity. They cannot go to school, receive medical care or even prove their existence. These are not isolated tragedies. These are the long shadows cast by communist authoritarianism.

4: Why this matters

People often ask me why I risked my life to escape. My answer is simple: because I wanted to live with dignity. Under communism, I was denied that right. The ideology promised equality, but delivered only fear, hunger and silence. It punished ambition, crushed individuality and destroyed families.

What I experienced is not just a personal story — it is a warning. Communism, when weaponized by dictatorship, erases the human spirit. It uses beautiful words like “justice” and “equality” to hide systems of control and cruelty.

I am no longer a voiceless girl hiding in a dark room. I am here to speak for those who still cannot. I am here to tell you that the victims of communism are not just numbers in a textbook. They are children who starve, women who are sold and dreamers who are silenced.

I survived. And now, I speak — not because I am brave, but because silence is complicity.

Thank you.

Jihyang Kim, a North Korean escapee and Fulbright scholar, was born in Hyesan, Ryanggang Province. She escaped from North Korea in 2012, driven by the famine and skyrocketing inflation that followed the country’s disastrous currency reform. After fleeing to China, where she lived as a non-person and suffered exploitation for several years, she managed to reach South Korea in 2016. Despite only having an elementary education, Jihyang excelled academically in South Korea, earning numerous awards. In college, she championed social integration between South Koreans and North Korean escapees. Jihyang is passionate about education, which she believes is the foundation for personal and community transformation. She is preparing for the opportunity to empower North Korean youth with high-quality, democratic education after reunification.

July 7 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Monday informed 13 nations, including Japan and South Korea, that new tariffs of at least 25% will be imposed starting Aug. 1 on most goods sent to the United States.

Trump sent letters to Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung informing them of a 25% duty. He shared the letters on Truth Social on Monday afternoon.

He then sent letters to five other nations’ leaders, raising tariffs 25% for Malaysia and Kazakhstan, 30% for South Africa, and 40% for Myanmar and Laos.

In another batch, he imposed 36% on Cambodia and Thailand, 35% on Serbia, 32% on Indonesia, 30% on Bosnia and 25% on Tunisia. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said more letters will be sent.

After the announcement, American stocks tumbled and stayed in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 422.17 points, or 0.94%, to 44,406.36, the S&P 500 slumped 49.37 points, or 0.79%, to 6,229.98, and the tech-dominant Nasdaq Composite was down 188.59 points, or 0.9%, to 20,412.52. Setting record highs Thursday were the S&P at 6,279,35 and Nasdaq at 20,624.51. DJIA that day reached 44,828.53, below the record 45,014.04 on Dec. 4.

U.S.-listed Japanese automakers dropped significantly: Toyota 4.02%, Nissan 7.16% and Honda 3.86%. Korea’s Kia was half a percent down and Hyundai was up about 2.82% with their cars mostly made in the United States. American companies also produce cars from other countries and import parts, so tariffs will be tacked onto them.

“Markets are tilting to a risk-off posture as participants brace for the chance of Trump tariff-sparked turbulence in the coming hours and days,” Jose Torres, a senior economist at Interactive Brokers, wrote in a note obtained by Business Insider.

“At 25%, it is possible, but challenging, to trade with Japan and Korea,” Barry Appleton, co-director of the Center for International Law at New York Law School, told CBS MoneyWatch. “This rate was carefully set at the higher side of the spectrum. In essence, trade with the U.S. now is a pay-to-play proposition for Japan, Korea and likely others to come.”

Besides Japan and South Korea, other nations are bracing for higher tariffs, including the 27 countries in the European Union. USA Today reported as many as 100 letters could go out to nations.

The U.S. president had imposed a Wednesday deadline for nations to negotiate better trade deals. On April 2 on “Liberation Day,” he announced 10% across-the-board baseline tariffs on 90 trading partners and harsher ones for the worst offenders. Stocks and bond prices slumped.

One week later, he pushed the deadline back until July 9 for the reciprocal duties.

Leavitt said Trump will sign an executive order to delay the deadline to Aug. 1, when the new ones will be implemented. Also, new trade deals with some nations will be signed by the deadline, she said.

The original reciprocal tariffs were 24% for Japan; 25% for South Korea and Malaysia; 48% for Laos; 45% for Mayanmar; 27% for Kazakhstan; and 31% for South Africa.

The letters state that the 25% tariffs are separate from sector-specific duties on key product categories.

“Goods transshipped to evade a higher Tariff will be subject to that higher Tariff,” Trump said. That refers to moving goods to an interim country before their final shipment to the United States.

The letters say that the higher tariffs are necessary because the other nations are taking advantage of the United States.

“Please understand this 25% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with your Country,” Trump wrote to countries.

“These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country. You will never be disappointed with the United States of America.”

In 2024, the U.S. had a $68.5 billion goods deficit with Japan and a $66 billion with South Korea, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

Trump also warned that the rates could be higher if they impose retaliatory duties.

“As you aware, there will be no Tariff if Korea, or companies within your Country, decide to build or manufacture product within the United States and, in fact, we will do everything possible to get approvals quickly, professionally, and routinely — in other words, in a matter of weeks,” Trump wrote to South Korea’s president.

Trump on Monday threatened nations that support BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — would be slapped with an additional 10% tariff. India is facing a 26% reciprocal tariff with Brazil at 10%. No new tariffs have been imposed on Russia though they already are high.

Deals have been announced with Great Britain, China and Vietnam.

For Britain, there is a 10% baseline tariff on most goods but an exemption for 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum on most other countries. Instead, it is 25%. Britain was originally to be imposed only the 10% rate. U.S. tariffs on British car imports and auto parts will be reduced to 10% for 100,000 cars.

In China, there is a 30% tariff on most Chinese imports, with exceptions on smartphones and computers. Originally the tariff on most goods was to be 134%.

In Vietnam, imports are subject to a 10% tariff with products originating from third countries shipped to the United States in Vietnamese ports increased to 40%. The original reciprocal was 46%.

Trump has wanted to boost the American manufacturing sector, but economists fear this strategy will lead to product shortages and inflation.

SEOUL, July 4 (UPI) — A North Korean man who identified himself as a civilian crossed the heavily fortified military demarcation line between the two Koreas and was taken into custody, the South’s military said Friday.

The individual was picked up by the South Korean military on Thursday night, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters. No motive was immediately given for his crossing.

“The military identified the individual in the MDL area, tracked and monitored him, conducted a normal induction operation and secured the individual,” the JCS said. “The relevant organizations will investigate the details of the southward movement.”

“There have been no unusual movements by the North Korean military as of now,” the message added.

In a background briefing with reporters, a JCS official said the North Korean man was first detected by a military monitoring device on the South Korean side of the border around 3 a.m. Thursday.

The operation to secure and guide the individual out of the demilitarized zone took 20 hours total, the official said.

The two Koreas are separated by the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ, which is one of the most heavily fortified and mined borders on earth.

A North Korean soldier defected across the DMZ in August, but direct land crossings have been historically rare. Most escapees traverse the northern border with China.

Over 34,000 North Koreans have fled to the South to escape dire economic conditions and the country’s brutally repressive regime. However, arrivals plummeted after Pyongyang sealed its borders and ramped up security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of North Korean defectors who arrived in South Korea reached 236 in 2024, up 20% from the previous year, according to data from the South’s Unification Ministry.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was briefed on the crossing, spokesperson Kang Yu-jun told reporters Friday. Lee has moved to lower tensions in the border area during his first month in office and recently ordered the suspension of propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ.

The unarmed man was found in the central-west border section before being led to safety by South Korean troops.

A North Korean man has crossed the heavily fortified land border with South Korea and is now being held in custody, the South Korean military has confirmed.

The unarmed individual was located on Thursday in the central-west section of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), before being guided by South Korean troops to safety, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Seoul’s army carried out “a standard guiding operation to secure custody”, a process that involved a considerable number of soldiers, it said.

After the North Korean was detected early on Thursday morning, the task of bringing him to safety took about 20 hours to complete, the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.

He was mainly still during the day, with South Korean soldiers approaching him at night, it noted.

Seoul has not commented on whether it viewed the border crossing as a defection attempt.

There were no immediate signs of unusual military activity in North Korea, the South Korean army said.

Crossing between the two Koreas is relatively rare and extremely risky, as the border area is strewn with mines.

It is more common for defectors to first travel across North Korea’s border with China, before heading on to South Korea.

Last August, a North Korean soldier reportedly defected to the South and was taken into custody in the northeastern county of Goseong.

And then in April, South Korean troops fired warning shots after roughly 10 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the military demarcation line. Pyongyang’s officers returned to their own territory without returning fire, Seoul said.

The crossing on Thursday comes a month after the liberal politician Lee Jae-myung was elected as the new South Korean president, following months of political chaos, which began with the conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived attempt to impose martial law in December.

Lee has taken a different stance from his predecessor on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, promising to “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation”.

“Politics and diplomacy must be handled without emotion and approached with reason and logic,” he said on Thursday. “Completely cutting off dialogue is really a foolish thing to do.”

As part of his attempt to rebuild trust with his neighbour, Lee has banned loudspeaker broadcasts at the border and attempted to stop activists flying balloons with propaganda into North Korea.

However, it remains to be seen whether Kim will cooperate.

In response to Yoon’s decision to strengthen military alliances with Washington, DC, and Tokyo, Kim called South Korea his country’s “principal enemy” last January.

Diplomatic efforts have stalled on the Korean Peninsula since the collapse of denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang in 2019 during the first US President Donald Trump administration, after a series of Trump-Kim summits, globally watched spectacles that bore little concrete progress.

SEOUL — It’s a worldwide shift that has taken political scientists and sociologists by surprise: the growing ideological divide between young men and women.

In the recent U.S. presidential election, President Trump won 56% of the vote among men ages 18 to 29, according to an analysis from Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

In Germany, young men are twice as likely as young women to support the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, according to the Pew Research Center. Last year’s European Parliament elections showed a similar trend. According to the European Policy Center, in Portugal, Denmark and Croatia, more than four young men voted for far-right candidates for every young woman who did the same.

But few countries exemplify the trend more than South Korea, where a recent presidential election showed just how polarized its youth has become.

In South Korea, 74.1% of men in their 20s and 60.3% of men in their 30s voted for one of the two conservative candidates compared with 35.6% and 40.5% of their female counterparts, respectively.

Experts say the so-called 2030 male (men in their 20s and 30s) phenomenon, which emerged alongside the mainstreaming of gender equality discourse in South Korea over the last decade, has defied traditional left-right taxonomies.

The “2030 men are difficult to define under standard electoral theory frameworks,” said Kim Yeun-sook, a political scientist at Seoul National University’s Institute of Korean Political Studies.

Having come of age in a world with radically different social contracts than those of their parents, right-leaning 2030 male voters are less likely to focus on North Korea — a defining preoccupation for older conservatives — than on feminism, which for them has become a dirty word that conjures “freeloading” women trying to take more than they are owed.

The men have taken umbrage with visual symbols or hand gestures — such as a pinched forefinger and thumb — that they argue are anti-male dog whistles used by feminists, in some cases succeeding in getting companies to discontinue marketing campaigns featuring such offending content.

South Korean women supporting the #MeToo movement stage a rally to mark the upcoming International Women’s Day in Seoul on March 4, 2018.

(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

In the 2022 presidential election, it was men in their 20s and 30s who helped Yoon Suk Yeol — the conservative candidate who claimed that structural sexism no longer existed — clinch a razor-thin victory over his liberal opponent, Lee Jae-myung, who was elected president in June.

This perception that men — not women — are the true victims of gender discrimination in contemporary society is a defining belief for many young South Korean men, says Chun Gwan-yul, a data journalist and the author of “20-something Male,” a book about the phenomenon that draws on extensive original polling of young South Koreans.

Although male backlash to contemporary feminism is the most visible aspect of the phenomenon, Kim Chang-hwan, a sociologist at the University of Kansas, says that its roots go back to socioeconomic changes that began much earlier.

Among them was a series of government policies three decades earlier that led to a surge in both male and female college enrollment, which soared from around 30% of the general population in 1990 to 75% in 2024. Add to that the increasingly long-term participation of women in the workforce, Kim said, and “the supply of educated labor has ended up outpacing economic growth.”

“The young men of today are now feeling like they are having to compete five times harder than the previous generation,” he said.

(Despite the fact that gender inequality in South Korea’s job market is among the worst in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with women making on average around 65% of their male counterparts and far more likely to be precariously employed, such wage gaps tend to be less prominent for earners in their 20s.)

And although most research has shown that the negative effect of South Korea’s male-only compulsory military service — which lasts up to 21 months — on wages and employment is minimal, anxieties about getting a later start than women in a hypercompetitive job market have also contributed to young South Korean men feeling that they are getting a raw deal.

Chun, the data journalist, points out that the mass entry of women into higher education also led to another tectonic shift being felt by the current crop of young men: the rapid collapse of traditional marriage dynamics.

“Women have been doing the math and are increasingly concluding marriage is a net loss for them,” he said. “South Korea transformed from a society where marriage was universal into a marriage-is-optional one in an incredibly short time frame, especially compared to many Western countries where those changes played out over 60 or 70 years.”

In 2000, just 19% of South Koreans between the ages of 30 and 34 were unmarried, but today that number is 56%, according to government data. Over a third of women between 25 and 49 years old now say they don’t ever want to get married, compared with 13% of men, according to a government survey last year. One in 4 men will now remain unmarried in their 40s.

South Korean women take part in a rally to mark International Women’s Day in downtown Seoul on March 8, 2024.

(Jung Yeon-je/ AFP/Getty Images)

Chun notes that the mismatch in the marriage landscape has bred in many the misogynistic resentment associated with incels, a term for men who identify as involuntarily celibate. A common refrain among young conservative men is the swearing-off of South Korean women, who are often cast as “kimchi women” — gold diggers who are unwilling to pull their weight while demanding too much of men.

“Do you need to only date Korean women just because you’re Korean? No,” said Chul Gu, an online personality popular among young men in a recent stream. “There are Thai women, Russian women, women of all nationalities. There is no need to suffer the stress of dating a Korean kimchi woman.”

Resentment toward South Korean women, Chun says, is inseparable from the generational animus that feeds it.

“In the worldview of young South Korean men, they aren’t just fighting women, they are fighting the older generation that is siding with those women,” he said. “It’s essentially an anti-establishment ethos.”

The “586 generation,” as they are commonly called, are South Koreans in their 50s or 60s who came of age during the high-growth, authoritarian period of the 1980s. Associated with the pro-democracy movements of the time, the 586 generation is one of the most liberal and pro-gender equality demographics in South Korea — and one whose members built much of their wealth through cheap real estate, an avenue no longer available for the majority of young South Koreans accustomed to seeing housing prices in Seoul double in as little as four years.

“Young South Koreans are seeing those homes become worth millions,” Chun said. “Meanwhile, South Korea’s birth rate is falling and life expectancy is rising to 80 or 90, so many young voters are thinking, ‘We’re going to have to be responsible for them for the next 40 to 50 years.’”

Among the candidates in last month’s presidential election, it was Lee Jun-seok, a 40-year-old third-party conservative candidate, who most aggressively targeted these tensions.

During his campaign, Lee promised to segregate South Korea’s fast-depleting national pension by age, a move he said would relieve younger South Koreans of the burden of subsidizing the older generation’s retirement.

Although he finished with just 8% of the total vote, he won the largest share — 37.2% — of the 20-something male vote, and 25.8% from men in their 30s.

“South Korea is very much locked into a two-party system where it is generally rare to see a third party candidate make much of a difference,” Kim, the political scientist, said. “I think there’s a lot of negative polarization at play — an expression of defeatism or disenfranchisement at the fact that status quo politicians aren’t addressing young men’s problems.”

Data show that disillusionment with democracy too runs deep.

According to a recent survey of 1,514 South Koreans by the East Asia Institute, a Seoul-based think tank, just 62.6% of South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 29 believe that democracy is the best political system — the lowest percentage in any age and gender group — with nearly a quarter believing that a dictatorship can sometimes be more preferable.

Whether the rightward drift of young South Korean men is a temporary deviation or a more serious forecast for South Korea’s democracy is still an open question, according to Kim.

“But now is the time to act,” she said. “There absolutely needs to be a political response to the younger generations’ frustrations.”

After a raucous night out in my 20s, the real afterparty was always at BCD Tofu House — hunched over bubbling Korean tofu stew and a sizzling-hot stone bowl of steamed rice. After I’d scooped most of it out, a server would pour warm tea into the bowl, loosening the rice clinging stubbornly to the bottom. Scraping up those crispy-chewy bits of scorched rice, known in Korean as nurungji, quickly became my favorite part of the meal.

Long before electric rice cookers, Koreans traditionally cooked rice over an open flame in an iron cauldron called a gamasot. As it steamed, the bottom layer would crisp up against the hot metal, forming golden-brown nurungji.

“Today, nurungji simply means the crispy layer of rice that forms at the bottom of any pot or cooking appliance,” says Sarah Ahn, who co-wrote the Korean cookbook “Umma” with her mother, Nam Soon Ahn. “Personally, and within Korean culture, I see nurungji as a deeply nostalgic food, especially for Koreans of my mom’s generation.”

Chef and cookbook author Debbie Lee adds, “Sometimes it’s intentional, sometimes it’s from overcooking — what I call a great culinary accident.”

Korea isn’t alone in its love for scorched rice. Persian tahdig is the crust that forms at the bottom of the pot, flipped and served with the crispy layer on top. Chinese guoba is crispy rice paired with saucy stir-fries to soak up every bit of flavor. In West Africa, kanzo refers to the caramelized layer left behind after cooking, often found in dishes like jollof rice. Spain’s socarrat forms the base of well-executed paella.

And in Korea, nurungji is endlessly versatile — enjoyed on its own, steeped in hot water or tea as sungnyung (thought to be a soothing palate cleanser and digestive aid), or transformed into nurungji-tang, where the rice becomes the crunchy base for a light broth with seafood or vegetables.

With its nutty, toasted flavor that highlights the grain’s natural aroma, nurungji is comfort food born out of practicality. “Like so much of Korean food, it represents our resourcefulness — nothing goes to waste! — and our ability to find flavor in humble things,” says Sarah. Rather than discarding it, Koreans embraced the crunchy layer as a snack or meal.

“My parents are from Pyongyang and fled during the war,” says Lee. “My mother told me that they’d find an abandoned house to rest in, and nine times out of 10, there was rice. They lived off porridge, steamed rice, and ultimately nurungji as a snack.”

SeongHee Jeong, chef and co-owner of Koreatown’s Borit Gogae, remembers eating it sprinkled with sugar — a delicious treat when sweets were scarce. While there’s no single way to make it today, Sarah and her mom swear by the traditional method. “Nothing compares to the flavor of rice cooked in a gamasot over a wood fire,” Sarah says. “That taste is so iconic, you’ll even find packaged snacks trying to replicate it.”

In L.A., some restaurants keep it old-school by serving nurungji simply steeped in tea or hot water, while others are getting creative with it. Think: nurungji risotto at Jilli, an iced nurungji crema at Bodega Park or a fried chicken and nurungi dish at Fanny’s. At her Joseon pop-up last year, Lee even spun it into a nurungji crème brûlée.

“It’s truly amazing how humble ingredients born from hardship always find their way back,” says Sarah.

Here are 13 of the best restaurants in L.A. serving nurungji in both traditional and unexpected ways.

SEOUL, June 25 (UPI) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for establishing lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula Wednesday as the country commemorated the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

“Creating a country that will never experience war again is the right way to respond to the sacrifices and dedication of so many people,” Lee wrote in a Facebook post.

“The most certain form of security is a state where there is no need to fight — in other words, creating peace,” he wrote. “The era of relying solely on military power to protect the country is over. What matters more than winning a war is preventing one.”

The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops invaded South Korea across the 38th parallel — a story that UPI Seoul bureau manager Jack James was the first in the world to report.

The United States and 20 other countries fought on the side of South Korea under the U.S.-led United Nations Command. The conflict ended in a ceasefire three years later and left millions dead, including more than 36,000 U.S. soldiers.

Lee paid respects to fallen soldiers and veterans in his statement, saying that modern South Korea’s transformation into a global economic powerhouse would have been impossible without their sacrifices.

“Today’s Republic of Korea was not created on its own,” he wrote, using the official name of South Korea. “It was made possible through the sacrifices and dedication of the soldiers who defended the battlefield, the veterans and their families, and all our citizens who endured the scars of war.”

“I pledge to firmly establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula so that the economy can be stabilized and the people can live secure and safe lives,” he added.

Lee, who won a snap election on June 3 to replace impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol, campaigned on improving frayed inter-Korean relations. He has vowed to restore a military pact aimed at defusing military tensions along the border and reestablish a communications hotline with Seoul’s recalcitrant neighbor.

Earlier this month, Lee ordered the suspension of propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts across the DMZ to North Korea in a bid to reduce tensions with Pyongyang.

Anyone who is a fan of the Indiana Pacers or just a basketball enthusiast in general (minus those with a rooting interest in the Oklahoma City Thunder) has probably already watched Tyrese Haliburton‘s latest miracle shot from Thursday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals many, many times.

Get ready to watch it many, many more times.

The NBA has posted video to social media of Haliburton’s game-winning jumper from South Korea’s broadcast of the game on SPOTV, and the announcers’ call of the magical moment is insane.

Simply put, they lose their minds.

Check it out. Don’t worry if you don’t speak the language — the unbridled enthusiasm coming from what sounds like a two-man broadcast booth requires no translation.

Seriously, the only other person who has ever screamed in such a manner was the Who’s Roger Daltry in the epic climax to the 1971 classic “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

The NBA also posted a clip of the clutch shot from ABC/ESPN’s coverage of the game. Play-by-play announcer Mike Breen captured the excitement of the moment as well, although with a slightly less epic delivery than his South Korean counterparts.

The Pacers hadn’t led the entire game and trailed the heavily favored Thunder by nine points after Oklahoma City star and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a pair of free throws with 2:52 remaining in the fourth quarter. But Indiana clawed back behind five points by Andrew Nembhard down the stretch to set up Haliburton’s shot that lifted his team to a 111-110 win.

It was the fourth time during these playoffs that Haliburton hit a shot in the final two seconds of regulation to either win the game or send it into overtime.

“This group never gives up,” Haliburton said after Game 1. “We never believe that the game is over until it hits zero, and that’s just the God’s honest truth. That’s just the confidence that we have as a group, and I think that’s a big reason why this is going on.”

June 5 (UPI) — The Justice Department has seized more than $7.74 million dollars related to an illegal employment and cryptocurrency scheme operated by North Korea, officials announced Thursday.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District court in Washington, alleges that IT workers were illegally hired and collected cryptocurrency for the North Korean government as a way to avoid sanctions imposed by the United States.

“This forfeiture action highlights, once again, the North Korean government’s exploitation of the cryptocurrency ecosystem to fund its illicit priorities,” Matthew R. Galeoti, director of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a release. “The department will use every legal tool at its disposal to safeguard the cryptocurrency ecosystems and deny North Korea all its ill-gotten gains in violation of U.S. sanctions.”

The Justice Department said North Korean workers used false identities to obtain employment with U.S.-based companies, often remotely, as a way to avoid sanctions and illegally obtained cryptocurrency, which they then sent back to North Korea.

“Those IT workers have generated revenue for North Korea via their jobs at, among other places, blockchain development companies,” the Justice Department release continued.

To send the cryptocurrency to North Korea, the IT workers allegedly laundered it by setting up accounts with fictitious names, sending funds in small amounts, converting funds or moving them to other blockchains or converting them to other forms of currency. They also allegedly commingled their funds with other money to hide their origins.

Earlier this year, the FBI issued guidelines on how to recognize extortion and theft of sensitive company data, and offered rules on how to address it.

SEOUL, June 4 (UPI) — Lee Jae-myung was sworn in as South Korea’s president on Wednesday, just hours after his victory was certified in a snap election that brought an end to months of political turmoil in the country.

Lee’s term officially began at 6:21 a.m. when the National Election Commission certified his victory over challenger Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party.

The new president received 49.42% of the vote, while Kim garnered 41.15%, the NEC confirmed. Minor conservative Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok finished with 8.34%.

In a speech during a scaled-down ceremony at the National Assembly, Lee pledged to unify a country that saw its political divisions grow deeper in the aftermath of former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law attempt in December.

“Regardless of who you supported in this presidential election, I will become a president of all who embraces and serves all the people,” Lee said.

During his campaign, Lee framed the election as an existential choice for the future of South Korean democracy, and he echoed that theme in his remarks.

“I will become a president who ends the politics of division,” he said. “I will overcome the crisis by using national unity as my driving force. I will restore what was lost and destroyed by the insurrection.”

South Korea “has become a clear example for people around the world who are looking for a new way forward for democracy in crisis,” he added.

Lee inherits a raft of challenges as president, with economic concerns at the top of the list. South Korea saw its economy shrink in the first quarter of the year, and the export-driven country is facing tariff negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump, who doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50% on Wednesday.

In his remarks, Lee said the election was a “turning point of great change” and vowed to stimulate economic growth.

“It is time to revive the people’s livelihoods that have been driven to the brink, restore growth and create a tomorrow where everyone is happy,” he said.

Lee, who rose to fame as a progressive firebrand during his tenure as mayor of Seongam and then governor of Gyeonggi Province, recast himself as a centrist during the campaign.

On Wednesday, Lee said his administration “will be a pragmatic market-oriented government.” He reiterated campaign pledges to invest heavily in science and technology, with a heavy focus on developing one of the world’s top artificial intelligence industries.

Lee also vowed to take a pragmatic approach toward healing the country’s deep political divides.

“Let’s send old ideologies to the museum of history,” he said. “From now on, there will be no problems for progressives. From now on, there will be no problems for conservatives. There will only be problems of the people and of the Republic of Korea.”

The 60-year-old briefly touched on pressing geopolitical concerns during his remarks, including an increasingly dangerous nuclear-armed North Korea.

Lee said he would continue to strengthen cooperation with the United States and Japan — a trilateral alliance that Yoon championed — but said Seoul would “approach relations with neighboring countries from the perspective of national interests and practicality.”

While Yoon and the PPP’s Kim took a hardline approach toward Pyongyang, Lee pledged during his campaign to reopen communications with Seoul’s recalcitrant neighbor.

“We will prepare for North Korea’s nuclear weapons and military provocations, while opening channels of communication with North Korea and establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and cooperation,” Lee said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Lee on his election victory Wednesday and affirmed the strong ties between the allies.

“The United States and the Republic of Korea share an ironclad commitment to the alliance grounded in our Mutual Defense Treaty, shared values and deep economic ties,” Rubio said in a statement.

“We will also continue to deepen U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation to bolster regional security, enhance economic resilience and defend our shared democratic principles,” he said.

Lee began assembling his cabinet on Wednesday, nominating one of his top campaign aides, Democratic Party Rep. Kim Min-seok, as his candidate for prime minister. He also tapped former Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok to head the National Intelligence Service, the nation’s top spy agency.

Both nominees must undergo confirmation hearings. Lee’s chief of staff will be Democratic Party Rep. Kang Hoon-sik.

SEOUL, June 4 (UPI) — Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung was on track to win the South Korean presidential election by a landslide after almost all votes had been counted early Wednesday morning, bringing an end to months of political turmoil spurred by the botched martial law decree and impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Lee was leading his main opponent, Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party, by 48.44% to 42.59% with 90% of votes counted, according to the National Election Commission. By late Tuesday evening, local broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS had projected a certain win for Lee in the snap election triggered by the ouster of Yoon.

In a speech near the National Assembly delivered at 1:15 a.m., Lee thanked his supporters and promised to accept the responsibility the voters have given him.

“I will not forget for a moment the mission you have expected and entrusted to me, and I will definitely fulfill it without fail,” he told a raucous crowd the Democratic Party estimated at 5,000 people.

Kim Moon-soo conceded shortly afterward at PPP headquarters in western Seoul.

Humbly accepting the results of the 21st presidential election, Kim said, “Nothing can take precedence over the will of the people.”

Some 35.24 million voters cast a ballot, representing a turnout of 79.4% — the highest mark since an 80.7% turnout in 1997. Excitement around the snap election was high, as many voters appeared eager to send a message of repudiation to the former Yoon regime and his People Power Party.

After voting ended at 8 p.m., ballot boxes from 14,295 polling stations nationwide were transferred to 254 counting stations. Some 70,000 poll workers will be counting throughout the night before officially certifying the result.

Lee’s inauguration will be held on Wednesday, without the typical two-month transition period due to Yoon’s removal from office in April.

He will face a host of challenges almost immediately, including an economic downturn and tariff negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump, who last week announced plans to double tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50%. The presidential vacuum over the past several months has made it difficult for South Korea, an export-driven country, to craft a trade package ahead of the July deadline for Trump’s 90-day pause on so-called “reciprocal” tariffs.

Geopolitical concerns, including an increasingly dangerous North Korea, and a looming demographic crisis caused by the world’s lowest birth rate are key issues facing South Korea.

On this election day, however, the mood for Lee’s supporters was a mix of jubilation and relief. Many described casting their votes as a part of an existential battle for South Korean democracy in the wake of Yoon’s shocking Dec. 3 martial law attempt.

Exactly six months after that attempt, Lee said his first duty was to “restore democracy.”

“The first mission you have entrusted to me is to overcome the insurrection and prevent another military coup that threatens the people with the guns and swords entrusted to them by the people,” Lee said in his speech.

He also pledged to revive the economy and work toward peace on the Korean Peninsula before ending with a call for unity after the deepest political turmoil the country has seen in decades.

“The responsibility of the president is to unite the people,” Lee said. “This temporary difficulty that we are experiencing can be overcome by the combined strength of our great citizens. Will you join hands with your neighbors with hope and confidence? Now is the time to do it.”

June 1 (UPI) — Ahead of South Korea’s snap presidential elections on Tuesday, the nation’s diplomatic relations with North Korea and China have risen to the fore — and officials are investigating voting irregularities.

“The relations between South Korea and China have become the worst ever,” Lee Jae-myung, the left-leaning presidential candidate leading public opinion polls, said in remarks to The New York Times. “I will stabilize and manage the relations.”

The already historically low diplomatic relations between South Korea and North Korea, as well as its relations with China, further soured after then-South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was removed from office over imposing martial law in April, a move that was short-lived.

The bellicose North Korea has distance itself from South Korea following the failed 2019 Hanoi summit between Korean Korean Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, which continued during Yoon’s conservative administration.

Pyongyang last year ended its founding goal of reunification and named South Korea its “principal enemy.”

The Yoon administration also shook a delicate diplomatic balance between Washington and Beijing. China was South Korea’s biggest post-Cold War trading partner, but the United States was its main military ally.

Early voter turnout was strong, but poll watchers expressed concern over irregularities. In past elections, the National Election Commission dismissed the irregularities as “simple mistakes” or “minor mistakes.”

The NEC has pushed back on claims of polling irregularities.

South Korean independent presidential candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn said on Sunday he is withdrawing from the race to support People Power Party’s Kim Moon-soo, local media reported.

“I will withdraw my efforts to supporting Kim Moon-soo to protect the government,” he said. My final task is to prevent election fraud. Fortunately, Kim has pledged to address election irregularities.”

Polling places are scheduled to receive ballots from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, which is a holiday because of the election.

“We are at a critical juncture,” Lee said on social media Sunday, “and it is in the hands of each and every one of you that we can return this country to its people, halt the retreat of democracy, and create a truly great Korea.

June 1 (UPI) — Ahead of South Korea’s snap presidential elections on Tuesday, the nation’s diplomatic relations with North Korea and China have risen to the fore — and officials are investigating voting irregularities.

“The relations between South Korea and China have become the worst ever,” Lee Jae-myung, the left-leaning presidential candidate leading public opinion polls, said in remarks to The New York Times. “I will stabilize and manage the relations.”

The already historically low diplomatic relations between South Korea and North Korea, as well as its relations with China, further soured after then-South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was removed from office over imposing martial law in April, a move that was short-lived.

The bellicose North Korea has distance itself from South Korea following the failed 2019 Hanoi summit between Korean Korean Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, which continued during Yoon’s conservative administration.

Pyongyang last year ended its founding goal of reunification and named South Korea its “principal enemy.”

The Yoon administration also shook a delicate diplomatic balance between Washington and Beijing. China was South Korea’s biggest post-Cold War trading partner, but the United States was its main military ally.

Early voter turnout was strong, but poll watchers expressed concern over irregularities. In past elections, the National Election Commission dismissed the irregularities as “simple mistakes” or “minor mistakes.”

The NEC has pushed back on claims of polling irregularities.

Independent candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn withdrew from the race Sunday, saying he was shifting his efforts to supporting People Power Party’s Kim Moon-soo.

South Korean independent presidential candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn said on Sunday that he is withdrawing from the race to support People Power Party’s Kim Moon-soo, local media reported.

“I will withdraw my efforts to supporting Kim Moon-soo to protect the government,” he said. My final task is to prevent election fraud. Fortunately, Kim has pledged to address election irregularities.”

Polling places are scheduled to receive ballots from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, which is a holiday because of the election.

“We are at a critical juncture,” Lee said on social media Sunday, “and it is in the hands of each and every one of you that we can return this country to its people, halt the retreat of democracy, and create a truly great Korea.

At the end of a nearly two-week trip to Melbourne, Australia, early last month, I drove with a friend 50 miles outside the city to a rural town with the amazing name of Cockatoo.

A once-in-a-lifetime Korean meal in Australia

She teetered her pickup truck at the edge of a steep driveway, double-checking the address to make sure we were in the right place. She inched her way down to park and we walked the short path to a house nestled in the woods. Yoora Yoon greeted us at the door and welcomed us inside. We had made it to our Saturday lunch destination: Chae, a six-seat restaurant centered on the talents of Jung Eun Chae, to whom Yoon is married.

Yoon stood at the crook of the L-shaped counter where the diners had settled and introduced Chae as she quietly glided between tasks in the open kitchen we sat facing. Then he left the room. Chae placed pots of ginseng tea on burners in front of us. We were in her hands.

A plate of jeok and jeon (Korean meat or vegetable fritters) at Chae, a six-seat restaurant run by Jung Eun Chae in Cockatoo, Victoria, Australia.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

A trio of bites comprised the first of seven courses. Sanjeok can refer to skewered meats and vegetables; Chae reconceived the dish as minced chicken marinated in ganjang (the Korean version of soy sauce that Chae makes herself) and pan-fried. She hid a lightly candied walnut half in its center for crunch. It was flanked by two jeon, or fritters. One was a loose ball of shrimp and julienned king oyster mushrooms nipped with spring onion and chile, flattened where it had browned in the skillet. The other was a zucchini coin cooked in translucent egg batter.

Each was a microcosm of mixed textures and savory flavors. I looked over with “ok, wow” raised eyebrows at the friend next to me, Besha Rodell. Longtime food-obsessed Angelenos will remember Besha as the last food critic for L.A. Weekly, from 2012 to 2017. She’s currently the chief restaurant critic for the Age and Good Weekend in Melbourne, and this month her memoir “Hunger Like A Thirst” was published.

We’ve been close for 20 years and shared many exceptional meals. Chae was shaping up to be one of them.

Jung Eun Chae at her six-seat restaurant Chae in Cockatoo, Victoria, Australia.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

A stone bowl filled with more diverse tastes arrived next. Pyeonyuk, striated pork meat and fat pressed into square slices for satisfying chew. Yukhoe, a tangle of chopped raw beef glossed with just-made sesame oil. The dish often includes Asian pear; Chae spritzed it instead with a fermented apple extract she had concocted. Cilantro leaves dressed in nutty perilla oil acted as mulchy contrast against poached octopus and a ojingeo-jeot, squiggly fermented squid.

In the center of the plate, to season and balance the tastes, was a dense pool of cho-gochujang, a vinegared variation on the ubiquitous Korean chile paste. Chae had made this, too, from the very building blocks of Korean cuisine: She ferments her own meju, the bricks of crushed soybeans also used to craft ganjang and doenjang, the paste analogous to miso.

A platter of meat, seafood and vegetables that’s part of a multi-course meal at Chae, the six-seat restaurant run by chef Jung Eun Chae in Cockatoo, Victoria, Australia.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

I’m generally a fast eater. This collage of small dishes, where every element felt so considered, managed to slow me way down.

Something beautifully simple followed: chicken noodle soup, its poultry-intense broth sharpened only by thin triangles of radish kimchi.

Chae, who was born in Seoul, had been working in Melbourne fine dining when she injured her ankle in a motorcycle accident, forcing her to step away from the extreme demands of kitchen work. She was considering her next move when she watched the season-three episode of “Chef’s Table” on Netflix about Buddhist nun-chef Jeong Kwan, who lives and teaches at the Baegyangsa temple in South Korea. Moved by the clarity of her philosophy and relationship to nature, Chae went to study with her. It set the path for her tiny home-based restaurant, where she would make her own jangs — as she remembered her mother doing in her childhood — and serve meals only two days a week.

What we have (and don’t have) in Los Angeles

I read up on all this after my meal with Besha, but aspects of the cooking registered as familiar even in the moment.

Kwang Uh, the chef and co-owner of extraordinary Baroo in Los Angeles, also studied with Jeong Kwan; he met his wife and business partner Mina Park at the temple. With a couple of day’s notice, Uh will make a vegetarian or vegan version of Baroo’s set menu. When I think of its bowls of wondrous, seaweed-seasoned rice and banchan of seasonal vegetables, and treasures like dried acorn jelly with the thick chew of cavatelli, I can trace the through-line of Jeong Kwan’s influence to both chefs. I’m remembering Chae’s finale of rice crowned with spinach and mushrooms and sides of kimchi and spicy radish salad; she served it alongside jeongol (hot pot) of mushrooms and croquettes of minced beef and tofu.

Los Angeles, we all know, is blessed with one of the world’s great Korean dining cultures. If I’m hungry for jeon of many shapes, I can head to HanEuem in Koreatown. For soup that seemingly heals all ills, we have Hangari Kalguksu. For chefs that turn the essence of Korean cuisine into personal, meditative tasting menus, we have Uh at Baroo and Ki Kim at his new Restaurant Ki.

And still: How rich to have a meal, on the opposite side of the world, that expressed another side of the culinary Korean diaspora unlike anything I’ve experienced. The economics of a small operation like Chae‘s must sometimes feel precarious. But the impressive structure and flow of the meal, balanced with a forested home environment in a room full of honeycomb-colored woods, was singular. Would a chef anywhere in the Los Angeles area be able to age meju, produce their own jangs and serve meditative meals to a tiny number of people?

Unlikely, but if nothing else, it reminds me that the Korean dining possibilities here are inexhaustible.

A centered shot of ginseng tea at six-seat restaurant Chae in Cockatoo, Victoria, Australia.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

Curtis Stone’s Malibu work retreat

I’ll be writing more in detail about my time eating in and around Melbourne in the coming months. Australia is on our minds at the Food section this weekend since the Times and Tourism Australia will present the 2nd Annual Great Australian Bite on Saturday, featuring chefs Curtis Stone of Gwen and Pie Room and Clare Falzon visiting from Staġuni above Adelaide in South Australia. The event has sold out, but food reporter Stephanie Breijo wrote about the Malibu property where Stone will host the event — and where he’s building a new lifestyle empire.

Chef Curtis Stone examines new growth in his vineyard at Four Stones Farm.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Also …

May 31 (UPI) — With three days until the presidential election in South Korea, the candidates are making their final push to replace impeached President Yoon Sook-yeol with more than a third already casting their votes.

The two days of early voting ended at 6 p.m. Friday. Of the 44.3 million eligible South Korean voters, 34.74% have voted, according to the National Election Commission.

This is the second highest turnout since nationwide early voting was introduced in 2014, according to the NEC. It was 36.93% for the 2022 presidential election.

Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung and People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo encouraged people to go to the polls early.

In the latest poll, Lee led with 42.9% support followed by Kim with 36.8%, according to Yonhap. Lee Jun-seo, of the minor conservative New Reform Party, came in third with 10.3%.

“The morale at the Democratic Camp is much more energetic, especially after the historic impeachment trial,” David Lee, a Seoul-based journalist, told Al Jazeera. “PPP supporters, on the other hand, are navigating murkier waters.”

South Korean police said this week they had apprehended at least 690 people over related incidents, according to Yonhap.

Lee attended a rally in Pyeongtaek, around 37 miles south of Seoul, on Saturday.

Lee said he has been wearing a bulletproof vest and installed bulletproof glass at campaign rallies after threats on his life.

He called alleged opinion rigging by a far-right group as an “act of rebellion” that must be held accountable.

“How can they be manipulating comments, making fake news in this day and age, and systematically making preparations to ruin the election results,” he asked. “Can this be forgiven? We must root it out.”

On Friday, Lee visited Chuncheon and Wonju in Gangwon Province before heading to Chungju in North Chungcheong Province for his campaign rallies. This marks his first visit to Gangwon during the campaign period.

Kim launched a 90-hour nonstop overnight campaign tour across the country.

Kim, during a rally in the eastern Gangwon Province, called for the “banishing” Lee from politics.

“Lee has been found guilty of lying,” he said. “What would happen [to the country] if he becomes president?”

Kim said he would be a “clean” president if elected.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court sent Lee’s case back to the Seoul High Court for a retrial. They decided the lower court’s decision to acquit Lee of false statements during the previous presidential race in 2021.

Lee, appearing on cable broadcaster JTBC’s YouTube channel, called for a special counsel probe to fully hold accountable those involved in Yoon’s martial law bid.

“To bring the insurrection to a complete end, all those responsible or complicit must be identified and held accountable,” he said.

SEOUL, May 26 (UPI) — Conservative South Korean presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo would ”proactively support” a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if elected, a key policy adviser said Monday.

Kim Hyung-suk, co-chair of the Unification and Foreign Affairs Committee of the candidate’s People Power Party, made the remark during a briefing with foreign media in downtown Seoul. South Korea’s presidential election will be held on June 3, with Kim trailing liberal frontrunner Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party in polls.

“If Mr. Trump seeks to re-engage with Kim Jong Un on talks of denuclearization [and] addressing peace and prosperity issues on the Korean Peninsula … [Kim Moon-soo] will proactively support the communication between the two,” Kim said.

“We [would] respect and highly approve of their communications,” he added.

The White House has not prioritized North Korea in its foreign policy agenda since Trump returned to office, but there has been speculation that the president may look to revive nuclear negotiations with Kim Jong Un.

During Trump’s first term, the two leaders held a pair of high-profile summits and met briefly a third time at the DMZ. The diplomatic outreach failed to result in a nuclear deal, however, and Pyongyang has accelerated the development of its weapons programs in the intervening years.

At the beginning of April, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that there has been communication with North Korea and that the two sides would “probably do something at some point.”

“I have a very good relationship with [Kim],” Trump said. “I think it’s very important. He’s a big nuclear nation and he’s a very smart guy.”

Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated dramatically in recent years, with Pyongyang officially designating the South a “hostile state” in a 2024 constitutional revision.

On Monday, Kim Hyung-suk said that a Kim Moon-soo administration would aim to “normalize inter-Korean relations” while maintaining Washington and Seoul’s longtime stance calling for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

“The Kim Moon-soo administration will consistently strive for a phased and actionable solution for the complete denuclearization of North Korea in close cooperation with the Trump administration,” he said.

The policy adviser added that Kim is eager to engage with North Korea and is making outreach plans with or without involvement from the Trump administration.

“As we know, President Trump is very busy these days due to a long list of different engagements internationally,” Kim said. “I don’t think we can wait years and years for the two to meet. In order to bring North Korea to the table, we are going to actively pursue communication, whether it be three-party or two-party.”

Kim’s opponent in the election, Lee Jae-myung, also voiced his support for engaging with North Korea while on the campaign trail Monday, but called the prospect of his own summit with Kim Jong Un “very difficult.”

Lee announced a campaign pledge on Monday to improve inter-Korean communications, including restoring a military hotline that North Korea has not responded to since 2023, but said that a face-to-face meeting with Kim would pose a challenge.

“It is something that should obviously be done, but I am not sure if it would be possible,” he told reporters at Ajou University in Suwon, south of Seoul. “It would be very difficult in the current situation.”

May 21 (UPI) — Activists, officials and defectors highlighted North Korean human rights violations at a high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, with many directly tying Pyongyang’s systemic abuses to its growing nuclear weapons and missile programs.

The meeting on the North’s human rights violations, the first of its kind held at the General Assembly, featured testimonies by two escapees who shared harrowing stories of oppression and implored the world to hold North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accountable.

“Silence is complicity,” said Kim Eun-joo, who was 11 years old when she fled with her mother and sister in 1999 to escape starvation in rural North Korea.

After crossing the Tumen River into China, Kim and her family faced years of human trafficking before finally making it to South Korea.

She pointed to North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia, particularly its deployment of troops to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine, as a “new kind of modern-day slavery.”

“[The soldiers] have no idea where they are, whom they are fighting against or why,” she said. “Their lives have become a means for the Kim Jong Un regime to make money.”

Pyongyang has deployed around 15,000 troops to Russia, Seoul’s spy agency said last month. Some 600 of the soldiers have been killed and another 4,100 injured, the National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in a briefing.

Seoul and Washington also accused North Korea of supplying artillery and missiles to Russia. In exchange, Pyongyang is believed to be receiving much-needed financial support and advanced military technology for its own weapons programs.

Participants in the U.N. meeting highlighted the close link between North Korea’s human rights abuses and the regime’s growing arsenal.

“The regime preserves itself through producing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles,” Greg Scarlatoiu, president and CEO of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said.

“North Korea is no longer just a Korean Peninsula threat. The DPRK is no longer just a Northeast Asian threat,” Scarlatoiu said.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

“The DPRK is exporting instability to the Middle East and to Europe,” Scarlatoiu said. “And the root cause of this is the human rights violations that the DPRK perpetrates.”

North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song condemned the meeting, calling it a “burlesque of intrigue and fabrication” staged by “hostile forces” including the United States.

Kim also slammed the invitation of the North Korean escapees, calling them “the scum of the earth who don’t even care about their parents and families.”

Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, told the General Assembly that North Korea has diverted resources toward militarization at the expense of human rights and basic necessities such as food, healthcare and sanitation.

“As the DPRK expands its extreme militarization policies, it exacerbates the extensive reliance on forced labor and quota systems, showing how peace, security and human rights are strongly interrelated,” Salmon said.

She added that North Korea’s border closures at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020 worsened its human rights situation, as Pyongyang used the isolation to enact brutal new laws restricting access to information from the outside world.

A 2014 landmark U.N. Commission of Inquiry report documented North Korean crimes against humanity, including torture, rape, execution, deliberate starvation and forced labor, that were “without parallel in the contemporary world.”

South Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Hwang Joon-kook echoed calls to more closely tie North Korea’s human rights violations to its nuclear ambitions, which he said were “deeply interconnected.”

“For far too long the DPRK’s human rights violations have been overshadowed by its nuclear threats,” he said. “Their nuclear program is sustained by systemic repression, forced labor, diverted national resources and total control of its people.”

Hwang called North Korea “a real-life version of George Orwell‘s novel 1984.”

“However, the DPRK’s horrendous crimes do not stop at the border,” he said. “If human rights violations are stopped, nuclear weapons development will also stop.”