Congratulations!!!

Deadline is now July 25th! @textvulture.bsky.social @jennargibson.bsky.social @edwardgoldring.bsky.social

"Into the New World", a tribute to the people of South Korea who took to the streets a few months ago (and before).
Directed by Nakwon with many other artists.
>> www.catsuka.com/breves/2025-...

We are excited to keep pushing forward discussion of soft power as a theoretical concept. We also had a great time digging into our novel dataset of more than 100,000 YouTube comments, finding patterns in how BTS fans enthusiastically responded to the UN visit, expressing both love and pride.

As a lot of good research does, this started from a pet peeve. Often discussion on Hallyu & soft power states that because K-culture is popular overseas, Korea therefore has strong soft power. In this paper we complicate that, arguing popularity & attractive power are linked but are not the same.

Excited to announce that my paper with Felicia Istad is now online!
We use an analysis of audience responses to former President Moon & BTS' trip to the UN in 2021 to discuss the potential - and limitations - of trying to equate popularity with soft power.
online.ucpress.edu/as/article/d...

An NBR essay by @jennargibson.bsky.social outlines four considerations for thinking about when and how to implement a strategy to cultivate #softpower and argues that policymakers should address concerns over soft power at the outset alongside hard-power conversations. nbr.org/publication/...

ProPublica Guild to management: Stop blocking stewards and resisting proposals for accountability — ProPublica Guild ProPublica Guild members signed this letter to ProPublica's President Robin Sparkman and Editor in Chief Steve Engelberg on May 1st 2025. Dear Steve and Robin, Since we unionized in 2023, we have w...

We at the @propublicaguild.bsky.social prepared this open letter to management. They have refused to allow stewards in performance-related meetings that could lead to discipline. This is in stark contrast from our other fellow unionized newsrooms. www.propublicaguild.org/updates/prop...

Was very excited to participate in NBR's newly published
Roundtable for Congressional Affairs!

I wrote about the role of soft power in U.S.-Korea relations, trying to take a practical approach acknowledging potential benefits & opportunities but also major limitations.
www.nbr.org/publication/...

Scientific breakthroughs we might not have had without NSF funding:

The Internet
Smartphones
DNA analysis
MRIs
Doppler radar
Bar codes

And this is just the tiniest tip of the iceburg.

I love this, and need the sequel about photo cards

Those who stood ground throughout the night are being called “chocolate kisses” after wrapping themselves in silver thermal blankets to weather the cold as sweet protectors of democracy, looking similar to a Hersey’s Kiss. The holdout has been dubbed the “Protest of Kisses”

According to the Ganzhi system, 2025 is the Year of the Blue Snake, symbolizing new beginnings, thoughtful transformation, and growth and progress. May the new year bring greater wisdom, perseverance, and liberation to all who strive and fight for love and freedom.

Political uncertainty to persist after Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law gamble South Korea faces uncharted waters: Yoon‘s Fate, potential Cabinet Collapse, snap presidential election and challenges to 1987 Constitutional Order Political uncertainty looms over the new year, drive...

Happy New Year everyone! Here in Korea we've been through a decade's worth of trouble in a month: martial law, impeachment, and then a tragic plane crash. Below is an overview of what is to come politically in Korea in the first half of 2025.

www.koreaherald.com/article/1038...

In the woman’s restroom near the protests many women have left snacks, masks, and sanitary pads to help others. Protests in Korea since the authoritarian era have been very communal events. Some who cannot make it to the protest have been paying for coffee and hot packs for hands

I really hope so but probably constrained by availability and logistics...since the tour is so soon there's probably only so much they can do

PASSED impeachment motion against President Yoon

Voting results
- 204 yes
- 85 no
- 3 abstained
- 8 invalid

Graphic below:
🟡Voting Turnout & What's Next?

Resources:
🟢 Timeline of events: shorturl.at/ReGnA
🟣 Koreanists 🇰🇷 to follow: go.bsky.app/U3Nm5FX

#MartialLaw #SouthKorea #Impeachment Repost🫡

For Chicago it was 14k+ for a similar size venue..........

If I may submit my top song of the year even though it's a bside.......Baekhyun - Cold Heart
Also Jaehyun (all)
WAIT ALSO SVT SPELL

How do impeachments work in South Korea?

Ahead of tomorrow's 2nd impeachment vote at 4:00 PM, here are two useful graphics, one by BBC and another by @afpnews.bsky.social

A very large number of South Korean broadcasters are wearing black in protest of Yoon's martial law decree, which attempted to place all media under control of the military.
v.daum.net/v/2024121312...

EDAM entertainment confirms #IU has pay in advance for meals and hot packs for protesters at Saturday's Yoon impeachment rallies in Seoul outside the National Assembly.

Source: www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR2024...

Voted!

So, as promised, some background on the 2024 Korean trend of Funeral Wreaths As Protest, which first rose to prominence in K-pop and now target Yoon's admin following the martial law attempt and coming amid the protests calling for Yoon's impeachment...

Opposition DP members are no longer calling Yoon "president (대통령)" and only addressing him as "Yoon Suk Yeol-ssi (윤석열씨)" -- an honorific used for someone on equal status.

This grim, but impactful, messaging began earlier this year en masse with a variety of K-Pop issues earlier this year, now we get it in politics.

One thing that stood out to me at the impeachment protests this week in Seoul is how many young women came out. They are one of the main driving forces behind the movement against Yoon.

(Filmed on Sunday evening by me)

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024 The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024 was awarded to Han Kang "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life"

Han Kang's Nobel lecture is now online.

Please note that this was filmed *before* the events of 12/3 and only *released* now.

윤석열 대통령: 계엄령 이후 시국선언하고 광장으로 나온 여성들 - BBC News 코리아 윤석열 대통령의 12·3 비상계엄 선포 이후 여성계도 광장으로 나서고 있다. 계엄령을 비롯해 윤 대통령 펼친 정책들이 구조적 성차별 개선에 도움이 되지 않았다는 문제 의식 때문이다.

www.bbc.com/korean/artic...