Behind-the-scenes stories and research on growing up in Korean society.
54 episodes listed below
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Welcome to Growing Up in Korea – The Audio Series I’m Dr. Jiwon Yoon, a writer and former professor exploring what it means to grow up in Korean society—through the lens of education, parenting, and social pressure. Each episode features an audio version of my essays—narrated using Google’s NotebookLM, an experimental tool that turns my notes and research into a conversational voice. While the voice is AI-generated, every idea, note, and reference comes from my own research—often the parts that didn’t make it into the final written piece. Think of this as a behind-the-scenes layer: the thoughts I...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Jiwon Yoon connects Korean political history, care practices, and everyday rituals to the social forces that shaped them.
Jiwon Yoon turns Korean history and everyday life into stories about how institutions, customs, and inherited ideas settle into ordinary experience.
A January iced Americano becomes a declaration of self; your coffee order may need an alibi.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear, painful look at how war can survive inside a family.
The episode treats the Korean War as something that never really stayed at the armistice line. Through Ji Won's research notes, it moves from wartime silence to the habits of survival that followed: a father jumping at a backfire, a mother stocking rice, a family and a country…
A clear look at how collective identity shapes moral judgment and responsibility.
This episode follows uri as it moves through how collective identity shapes behavior, from the public judgment of leaders and celebrities to the idea that motive can matter more than the act itself. The argument stays grounded.
A clear look at Korean belonging as a way of finding common ground.
This episode opens a three-week look at Growing Up in Korea and The People's Mandate, Korea's Democratic Edge, with the discussion built around a book not yet translated into English.
A quiet, humane defense of the work that makes care look effortless.
This episode reads like a quiet argument for care as work, not virtue theater. It starts with a book stack and moves into Korean warmth, the pushback it drew, and the idea that warmth is cultural practice as much as feeling. That framing gives the piece its shape.
How Korean democracy emerged by pushing back against a garrison state's everyday mobilization.
The episode shows South Korea's democracy as something shaped not only in formal politics but in the daily routines of a garrison state. Sirens, shelters, civil defense drills, and readiness training are presented as part of a system that folded military authority into work,…
A clear, sober account of how outside decisions hardened Korea into two states.
The episode frames Korea's division as the basic context for understanding South Korea's democracy now, starting with the unsettling reality that the country's fate was shaped in Washington and then carried out across the 38th parallel.
An ancient Korean ideal becomes a modern argument about equality, independence, and world peace.
The piece threads Hongik-ingan from an old civic ideal into a modern moral and political lens, connecting it to independence, equality, and world peace.
A cold coffee order becomes a clear social clue.
A cold coffee order becomes a sharp window into everyday Korean life, and the piece knows how to use that object well. It begins with a recording mishap and a late delivery, then settles into a steady case for why an iced Americano can carry habit, taste, selfhood, and a quiet…
Anna Martin interviews writers and couples about the real stories behind Modern Love essays.
Knox and Jamie turn celebrity gossip, film deep dives, and streaming news into weekly comedy.
Two hosts revisit one film, show, or book a week, plus long personal tangents.
A Brazilian journalist spends years reinvestigating unsolved child disappearances in Paraná.
Cris Bartz and Juva Lauer alternate debate and interview episodes on Brazilian social issues.
Robert Wright interviews specialists on Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Taiwan, and open-source AI.
This episode explores themes of pain and stigma in Korean society through an anthropology book, discussing HIV, the Sewol ferry disaster, and marginalized workers.
Jiwon Yoon turns from law to the physical machinery of control.
Jiwon opens with an apology for the late release after a Descript glitch forced a re-recording.
Jiwon opens with gratitude.
The episode follows Hongik Ingan from an ancient ideal of benefiting all humankind into modern political language.
The episode opens as a companion to this week's newsletter about Korea's postpartum care.
The division of Korea is the starting point.
The host shares a personal update about a spring break trip and illness, then announces the podcast's ranking as #11 on a list of best Korea podcasts.
Host Jiwon explores why Korean parents struggle with 'wait and see' parenting through sociological analysis of Oh Chan-ho's book, examining how historical survival instincts transformed into modern educational anxiety, moral identity policing, and the psychological manipulation of baby expos that make inaction feel like gambling with a child's future.
The host explores the Korean concept of '부채감' (a sense of moral debt/obligation) through Yoo Si-min's book on modern Korean history.
This episode explores how South Korean dictators Park Jung-hee and Jeon Do-hwan used censorship and distraction—through banned music, state-sponsored erotica, and professional sports—to control the national culture.
This episode explores how South Korea transformed into a 'garrison state' in the late 1960s and 1970s, using real security threats from North Korea to justify sweeping controls over daily life.
The host introduces a new series featuring untranslated Korean books, starting with historian Kim Won's 'The June 1987 Uprising,' which uses oral history and composite characters to reveal the complex, multi-perspective reality behind South Korea's democracy movement.
This episode details a major update from Jiwon, the author behind the 'Understanding Korea' Substack.
This episode analyzes how post-war trauma in South Korea was manipulated to create a decades-long 'security prison' of social control, examining the legal frameworks, historical events like the 1968 Blue House Raid, and the brutal mechanism of guilt by association.
This episode analyzes how collective trauma from the Korean War created a 'survival algorithm'—a psychological blueprint of urgency, sacrifice, and ambition—that powered South Korea's rapid economic 'Miracle on the Han River.' It explores the cultural concepts of 'Ppalli-Ppalli' (hurry-hurry), 'Han' (collective sorrow), and extreme educational pressure, while also examining the modern costs of this relentless drive, including high suicide rates and 'Guarosa' (death by overwork).
This episode analyzes the hidden, intergenerational psychological trauma of the Korean War, using researcher Ji Won's notes to explore concepts like 'ambiguous loss,' the seismic 1983 'Finding Dispersed Families' TV broadcast, and how survival strategies like silence and the 'fortress family' unit shaped modern Korean society's competitive pressures and collective anxiety.
This episode examines the Korean War not just as a historical conflict but as the foundational catastrophe that forged modern Korea's psychology.
This episode explores Korean cultural resilience through the lens of Kim Taehyung's book, examining how concepts like woori (communal spirit), chansung (optimism), and unique humor styles help process historical hardship.
This episode delves into the deep cultural currents flowing from the Korean concept of 'Uri' (We), exploring how a radical human-centeredness and a demanding internal morality shape society.
This episode explores the untranslated Korean book 'In the Korean Mind, There Is We' by Kim Taehyung, introducing the core concept of 'uri' (we) as a psychological fusion and shared destiny that explains everything from massive national protests to everyday family dynamics in Korea.
This episode explores South Korea's demographic shifts and societal resilience, drawing on unpublished research and personal notes from the author of the Growing Up in Korea series.
This episode analyzes the concept of 'People's Mandate' in Korean culture, using the Netflix show K-Pop Demon Hunters as a lens to explore supernatural bureaucracy and cultural values.
Exploring the unique roots of Korean democracy through ghost stories and their appeals to government officials.
This episode explores Korean culture and philosophy through the artwork Ilwol Obongdo, linking it to modern pop culture and Korea's democratic edge.
This episode examines the intense academic pressure and math-focused private education culture in South Korea's Daeji-dong district.
This episode explores the intense early start of college preparation in South Korea, tracing its roots to Confucian traditions.
This episode explores the deep historical roots of Korea's intense focus on education, starting from the 14th-century transition from Goryeo to Joseon dynasty.