Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time

Dr. Jiwon Yoon is a writer and former professor who has built this podcast around a specific lens: what does it actually mean to grow up in Korean society? Each episode started as a research essay on her Substack newsletter, then gets turned into audio. Since late 2025 Dr. Yoon has been recording the episodes in her own voice, and there are now more than 30 episodes up that way, with weekly releases continuing into 2026. The topics focus heavily on education, parenting, and the social pressures that shape Korean life from childhood onward. Episodes have examined Korea's postpartum care traditions (sanhujori), the cultural expectations placed on mothers, how educational pressure creates specific patterns of anxiety in Korean students, and the political dimensions of care work. Dr. Yoon also covers Korean democracy movements, contemporary politics, and books about Korea that have not been translated into English yet -- a niche that almost no other English-language podcast touches. The show holds a 5.0-star rating (from a small review count) and reads like the kind of podcast a Korean Studies graduate student would create if they had a platform and something urgent to say about their society. It is personal, academic, and occasionally uncomfortable in the best way.