Korea Update

I’ve read a multitude of analyses on Korea’s defeat of Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law ambitions and the subsequent election of Lee Jae-myung—including my own, which now feels “boring” simply because I already know what’s in it. Yet across conservative, progressive, and international media, one striking absence remains: any serious engagement with the geopolitical implications. Korea’s recent democratic uprising has launched a quiet but potent anti-hegemonic struggle—yet that dimension remains largely unrecognized. By anti-hegemonic, I mean a challenge to the prevailing global economic power structure and its domestic counterparts—forces aligned to perpetuate the latest stage of global capitalism, one that destroys real productive forces while managing its contradictions through militarism and the pursuit of dominance. But make no mistake: the collapse of Yoon’s regime—culminating in his impeachment and the exposure of his thwarted martial law plot—was far more than a domestic scanda...

Hosted by the Korean Progressive Coalition of Seattle, June 14, 2025 "우리는 한마음으로 이재명 대통령을 지지하며 함께 걸어왔다" Simone Chun Dear Chairman Hwang Kyu-ho and Comrades of the Korean Progressive Coalition of Seattle, Warm greetings to you all. Today, as Israel’s airstrikes on Iran bring the world once again to the brink of war, I am reminded of how fortunate we were this past week to witness the inauguration of President Lee Jae-myung. It underscores just how crucial the role of a single leader can be. On this day, I am once again struck by the significance of the Light of Revolution and the birth of the Lee Jae-myung administration, which has prevented Yoon Suk-yeol’s reckless gamble with war. I never imagined a day like this would come—but here we are. As Chairman Hwang so aptly put it in his opening remarks, “We have supported President Lee Jae-myung with one heart and walked this path together.” I have long supported Lee Jae-myung, but to be honest, I never truly believe...

Yesterday, as reports of Israel’s airstrikes on Iran spread, one of the most devastating scenes was the bombing of an apartment building in the capital, Tehran. For Koreans, the name "Teheran" carries a familiar ring. One of Seoul’s major thoroughfares, Teheran-ro, was named in 1976 to commemorate the sister-city relationship between Seoul and the Iranian capital. News reports say many civilians—including women and children—were killed or wounded. Peaceful, ordinary families, asleep in their homes, were thrust into unspeakable horror in a single night. What was it like for those who survived? And what is it like for those far from Iran—those who still call it home—watching helplessly as the streets they once walked, the schools they once attended, the bakeries they once visited are reduced to rubble? It defies imagination. Civilian casualties—especially among children—are always tragic, whether intended or not. The suffering of families reverberates far beyond b...

Updated on June 11, 2025 The other day, while sorting through an old family album from my late mother-in-law, I came across a black-and-white photograph of my husband as a baby—barely a year old. He stood in a sea of flowers, gazing intently at a single blossom, as if the rest of the world had faded away. His quiet focus, his reverence for something small and beautiful—that was him. “This is him,” I whispered, struck by how completely the photo captured the essence of the man I love. Then came the ache of regret. I wished I had asked his mother about that moment—where it was taken, what she remembered. She passed away last September, and with her, the story behind the image was lost. I wasn’t just mourning her absence—I was grieving the disappearance of a memory I never thought to preserve. That photograph made me think of another kind of loss: the millions of Korean families torn apart by war and division. Many still hold photos of parents, siblings, or children they haven’...

Simone Chun "How many years have a beautiful mountain been desecrated for tens of thousands of years?" "Has the day to find you come today, Mt. Geumgang is calling" At a recent webinar , I was asked a seemingly simple question: “What do you think about North Korea?” It caught me off guard. The question was broad, almost too general, and though I should have had a ready answer, I found myself fumbling. My response felt disjointed, more like a murmur than a message. I began by saying this: Korea is one nation, but one that has been tragically divided for over 80 years—longer than World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War. Indeed, it has outlasted every major conflict of the 20th and 21st centuries. I belong to the post-war generation—a generation that, under Park Chung-hee, received a thorough anti-communist and anti–North Korea education—and one that has never known a unified homeland. In fact, my first speech contest in fifth grade, where I receiv...