The rise of South Korean culture: From the US military to Squid Game & K-Pop

Going underground South Korea

We speak to Prof. Kyung Hyun Kim, author of ‘Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century’. He discusses the rise of South Korean culture, which has become a global phenomenon, South Korean culture mimicking US culture through the experience of the American troop presence and evolving into a culture of its own, the significance of the worldwide appeal of South Korean-produced music and film, such as ‘Squid Game’, during a crisis in capitalism, and much more. Finally, we speak to Dr. Ingrid Waldron, director of Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequalities and Community Health Project. She discusses environmental racism – a phenomenon of governments locating industrial polluters near indigenous people or minorities, progress in pushing environmental justice in Canada through Bill C230, cancer rates being disproportionately higher in Canadian communities of colour due to close proximity to industrial polluters, and much more.

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