Korea And The World

To the surprise of many, Swiss and Swedish forces are tasked with monitoring the military buildup on the inter-Korean border. Their officers are stationed in Panmunjeom, at the heart of the DMZ's Joint Security Area, where they carry out inspections and review operations. We had the honor of interviewing Major General Urs Gerber about his work there, life in the DMZ, and his dealings with North Korea on a daily basis.

South Korea did not only experience rapid economic development, it is also the first country to successfully transition from development aid recipient to major aid donor. How the country handles this new role and provides support to developing countries was the focus of our interview with Professor Iain Watson.

In our fifth episode we talk to Karl Friedhoff of the ASAN Institute about what the South Korean public sentiment is towards North Korea, China and Japan, and about the public opinion about the foreign policies of the South Korean government.

The portrayal of women in Korea's media and entertainment industry provides the backdrop for our fourth episode. Together with media specialist and acclaimed blogger James Turnbull we explored gender politics in the Korean society and its depiction in Korean pop culture.

Our third episode led us to Busan where we met with Professor Robert Kelly of Pusan National University. In our interview we talked about the American role in East Asia, and the ways in which nationalism and territorial disputes complicate the international relations in the region.

In our second episode we talked to Daniel Tudor, a British journalist and the author of two books on South Korea. He discusses with us the appeal of the country to foreign audiences – and where the limitations of this appeal might lie.

For our first episode we sat down with Andrei Lankov, one of the world’s foremost experts on the society of North Korea. As he argues, the real North Korea is different from the one we know through the media – and important changes are happening there at this moment.