South Korea
Analysis and data stories about South Korea
Charting the Korean War's Missing Troops
I wrote recently about the effort to get North Korea to return some of the remains of United States troops who are still unaccounted for since the Korean War. More...
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Who's Competing at Pyeongchang? A Breakdown By Sports, Nations, Genders
More than 2,900 athletes from 92 nations and territories are competing in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The event has 15 different sports (and many events within each)....
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Which Countries Sent the Most Athletes to Pyeongchang?
Because I live in Seoul and work as a journalist, I'm paying close attention to the Winter Olympics as they open tonight in Pyeongchang, South Korea. I don't know much...
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Visualizing Income Equality in Major World Economies
Years after a global crisis, the world's largest economies are again growing, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Every major economy on earth is expanding at once, a...
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The Curious Case of South Korea's Vanishing Washing Machine Exports
The Trump administration last week announced that it planned to impose higher fees, known as tariffs, to countries that export washing machines and solar panels the United States. The tariffs,...
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Mapping the United States' Korean Population
I've often felt fortunate that I get to write about South Korea for the Los Angeles Times, a newspaper that's still interested in stories related to life, politics and culture...
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Visualizing More Than a Decade of North Korean Defections
Another North Korean soldier defected at the Demilitarized Zone on Thursday, causing a brief skirmish along the highly fortified border. He was the fourth solder to defect this year, including...
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Testing ai2html on a North Korean Defector
A few weeks ago I wrote about the daring defection — and eventual rescue — of a North Korean soldier who barreled across the Demilitarized Zone in a truck and...
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Visualizing North Korean 'Provocations': A Timeline
Until the recent incident involving a defecting soldier, tensions between the United States and North Korea had cool slightly, largely because the communist regime hasn't committed any so-called "provocations" — ballistic...
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Common Ground Between North and South Korea: Aging and Shrinking Populations
The birth rate in South Korea, where I live and work, hit a record low this year, leading to concern about the impact an aging (and, eventually, shrinking) population might...
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Visualizing South Korea's Assailed Trade Relationship With The U.S.
President Trump isn't happy with the United States' bilateral trade agreement with South Korea. His main concern, it seems, is that the United States has suffered a "trade deficit". That...
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Visualizing North Korea's Missile Launches
Despite international objections, North Korea has launched four ballistic missiles in the last week, including one that flew over Japan, raising regional tensions about the rogue state's weapons development even...
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Charting North Korean Provocations. A Case of 'The Mondays'?
As a newspaper reporter living in South Korea, I'm always aware that a "provocation" by our friends in the North — a missile launch, a nuclear test, or some other incident...
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Charting South Korean Attitudes About Park Geun-hye's Impeachment
It's been a busy few days of reporting in South Korea. The scandal-plagued president, Park Geun-hye, was removed from office on Friday over a corruption scandal that has roiled politics...
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A Day in North Korean Airspace
While looking for some North Korean flight data, I stumbled upon this visualization of the isolated country's national airspace. It shows hundreds of flights in and around South Korea and...
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Mapping South Korea's Total and Foreign Populations — by Municipal District
South Korea, my adopted home for almost two years, has about 50 million residents as of the last census, in 2015. Most of them are settled in the country's urban...
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Visualizing World Alcohol Consumption: What Beverages Do Countries Prefer?
I posted recently about how countries consume different amounts of alcohol — and how some have wider gender gaps when it comes to booze. The previous posts relied on two...
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Visualizing World Alcohol Consumption: How Much Does Each Country Drink?
A few weeks ago I posted about gender gaps in alcohol consumption around the world. In some countries — South Korea, for example — men and women consume quite different amounts...
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South Korea's (Residential) Rise: How Building Heights, Home Sizes Vary
Note: I followed my wife, a foreign correspondent for NPR News, to Seoul last year. This is one of a series of posts exploring our adopted country's demographics, politics and...
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Seoul's Steamy Summer (Updated)
Note: I followed my wife, a foreign correspondent for NPR News, to Seoul last year. This is one of a series of posts exploring our adopted country's demographics, politics and...
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Is South Korea's National Assembly More Liberal Than South Koreans?
Members of South Korea's legislative branch, known as the National Assembly, recently took a poll to determine where they land on the ideological spectrum. The group as a whole appears...
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Air Quality in Seoul, China, U.S.
[caption id="attachment_2325" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] The view from our apartment in Seoul. Some days are better than others.[/caption] The air quality in Seoul — a mega city home to 70,000 taxis and...
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South Korean Women (Especially Young Women) Fear Crime More Than Men
The recent murder of a young woman in Seoul's Gangnam district has prompted discussion about the treatment of women in South Korean society, including lingering gender inequality, harassment and even physical violence....
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Murder Rates in the U.S., Korea
Note: My family last year relocated to Seoul, where my wife is working as a foreign correspondent for NPR. This post is part of an occasional series profiling the peninsula’s demographics and...
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Mapping South Korea's Foreigners
Note: My family last year relocated to Seoul, where my wife is working as a foreign correspondent for NPR. This post is part of an occasional series profiling the peninsula’s demographics and...
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South Korea's Foreigners, Over Time
Note: My family last year relocated to Seoul, where my wife is working as a foreign correspondent for NPR. This post is part of an occasional series profiling the peninsula’s demographics and...
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Where are Korea's Foreigners From?
[caption id="attachment_2119" align="aligncenter" width="610"] Separating foreigners from the locals at a recent street festival celebrating Buddha's birthday.[/caption] Note: My family last year relocated to Seoul, where my wife is working as...
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Someday I'll Say Goodbye to Seoul. I Might Miss the Weather.
Note: I followed my wife, a foreign correspondent for NPR News, to Seoul last year. This is one of a series of posts exploring our adopted country's demographics, politics and...
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Dramatic Coastline Changes Around Korea's Main Airport
Note: My family last year relocated to Seoul, where my wife is working as a foreign correspondent for NPR. This post is the first in an occasional series profiling the peninsula’s...
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Charting a Sky-High Electricity Bill
What of the biggest surprises about moving to Seoul, South Korea — aside from the impenetrable language and other cultural adjustments — was the pricey cost of electricity. The monthly power bills...
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DC, Seoul Share Similar Climate — Until The Summer Rains Come
As I noted yesterday, we can expect similar weather here in Seoul as we experienced in Washington, D.C., where we lived until earlier this month. The two capital cities are...
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The Toddler Is An Outlier
In preparation for her new school, our 30-month-old daughter had her first doctor's appointment in Korea this morning. Fortunately, the checkup went well. The pediatrician also offered something I hadn't...
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How's The Weather In Seoul? Pretty Temperate. (Sorry, Austin Friends)
How's the weather in our new home, Seoul? Turns out it's not much different than our former home, Washington, D.C. High/low temperatures charted...
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Korean Emigration At New Low; Where Do Expatriates Live?
Note: My family recently relocated to Seoul, where my wife is working as a foreign correspondent for NPR. This post is the first in an occasional series profiling the peninsula's...
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