The Dark Side of Seoul Podcast

ZenKimchi
  • 4.5 (43)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Korean dark history, ghost tales, folklore, serial killers, true crime, and more. You are about to discover why Korea has the spookiest stories and darkest history.Folklorist Shawn and history buff Joe delve into Korea's gruesome stories of massacres, betrayals, and blood. It's like "Game of Thrones" in Asia. We share our passion for Korea and its struggles throughout time. If you enjoy shows like "Kingdom," this is the podcast for you. Even if you know nothing about Korea, its history will become your new addiction.Subscribe, sit back, and enjoy.

  1. Christmas Nightmares 2: Holiday Crimes

    9H AGO

    Christmas Nightmares 2: Holiday Crimes

    Send us a text Christmas is often framed as a moment of peace, forgiveness, and reflection. But in Korean history, Christmas Eve has repeatedly been chosen for violence, punishment, and erasure. In Part 2 of Christmas Nightmares, we examine three chilling cases tied to the holiday. We begin with the Seokdal-ri Massacre of 1949, when South Korean soldiers burned a mountain village and executed dozens of civilians on Christmas Eve — a crime buried by the state for decades. We then move to the execution of Park Heung-suk, remembered as “Mudeungsan Tarzan,” hanged on Christmas Eve in 1980 after a violent confrontation born from forced eviction and extreme poverty. Finally, we revisit the Daejeon bank robbery and murder of 2001, a Christmas-season killing that remained unsolved for over twenty years. These stories expose how Christmas, rather than symbolizing mercy, was repeatedly used as a moment of finality — when the state acted, and history tried to move on. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Support the show Join our Patreon to get more stuff https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com Pitch your idea here. https://www.darksideofseoul.com/expats-of-the-wild-east/ Credits Produced by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey Music by Soraksan Top tier Patrons Angel Earl Joel Bonomini Devon Hiphner Gabi Palomino Steve Marsh Eva Sikora Ron Chang Mackenzie Moore Hunter Winter Cecilia Löfgren Dumas Josephine Rydberg Devin Buchanan Ashley Wright George Irion Facebook Page | Instagram

    38 min
  2. Christmas Nightmares 1: Darkest Holiday Stories

    DEC 17

    Christmas Nightmares 1: Darkest Holiday Stories

    Send us a text Christmas is supposed to be a time of warmth, safety, and reunion. But history doesn’t always cooperate. In Part 1 of our two-part Christmas Nightmares series, we explore some of Korea’s darkest stories tied to the holiday season. We begin with the Heungnam Evacuation of 1950, remembered as the Miracle of Christmas, when nearly 100,000 refugees escaped North Korea by sea. But behind the miracle were impossible choices, brutal exclusions, and families torn apart in the freezing cold. From there, we move to modern tragedies. A massive Christmas Eve pile-up on the Cheonan–Nonsan Expressway that turned fog and black ice into chaos. A chilling Christmas Day murder rooted in online obsession and jealousy. And a violent armed robbery that shattered the illusion of holiday safety. These are stories where celebration collided with fear, and survival mattered more than tradition. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Support the show Join our Patreon to get more stuff https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com Pitch your idea here. https://www.darksideofseoul.com/expats-of-the-wild-east/ Credits Produced by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey Music by Soraksan Top tier Patrons Angel Earl Joel Bonomini Devon Hiphner Gabi Palomino Steve Marsh Eva Sikora Ron Chang Mackenzie Moore Hunter Winter Cecilia Löfgren Dumas Josephine Rydberg Devin Buchanan Ashley Wright George Irion Facebook Page | Instagram

    50 min
  3. K-Hacked: How Coupang Exposed Korea’s Cybersecurity Mess

    DEC 10

    K-Hacked: How Coupang Exposed Korea’s Cybersecurity Mess

    Send us a text Shawn and Joe dig into Korea’s crumbling cybersecurity myth and the Coupang leak that exposed almost every user in the country. Korea sells itself as an IT powerhouse, but behind the fiber optics sit outdated servers, neglected government systems, weak regulations and a corporate culture that treats security like a box to check. From the SK Telecom and Lotte Card breaches to the government’s own embarrassing hacks, the episode breaks down why Korea keeps getting hit, why companies keep failing upward and how a single leak at Coupang nearly shut down parts of the small business economy. Plus, a side tour through xenophobic blame games, delivery driver exploitation and the weird reality that the country with the fastest internet once clung to ActiveX like a family heirloom. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Support the show Join our Patreon to get more stuff https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com Pitch your idea here. https://www.darksideofseoul.com/expats-of-the-wild-east/ Credits Produced by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey Music by Soraksan Top tier Patrons Angel Earl Joel Bonomini Devon Hiphner Gabi Palomino Steve Marsh Eva Sikora Ron Chang Mackenzie Moore Hunter Winter Cecilia Löfgren Dumas Josephine Rydberg Devin Buchanan Ashley Wright George Irion Facebook Page | Instagram

    56 min
  4. Weird Tours

    DEC 2

    Weird Tours

    Send us a text Shawn and Joe trade war stories from the front lines of Seoul’s tour scene. Influencers melting down in costume, drunk guests apologizing between vomit breaks, bathroom disappearances, oddball actors who steal the show, couples who arrive mid-argument, and reviews born from pure misunderstanding. The episode digs into what really derails a tour, how guides survive it, and why some guests treat history like fan fiction. Add a little wildlife drama, a clown fight, a Kenny G busker and a heron named Bob, and you get a solid snapshot of what it means to guide people through this city. It is messy, funny, awkward, exhausting and sometimes unexpectedly sweet. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Prison Pen Pal PodcastHear real stories from prison inmates, their free-world pen pals, family, and friends.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show Join our Patreon to get more stuff https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com Pitch your idea here. https://www.darksideofseoul.com/expats-of-the-wild-east/ Credits Produced by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey Music by Soraksan Top tier Patrons Angel Earl Joel Bonomini Devon Hiphner Gabi Palomino Steve Marsh Eva Sikora Ron Chang Mackenzie Moore Hunter Winter Cecilia Löfgren Dumas Josephine Rydberg Devin Buchanan Ashley Wright George Irion Facebook Page | Instagram

    1h 22m
  5. Short: The Expat Quest for Thanksgiving

    NOV 24

    Short: The Expat Quest for Thanksgiving

    Send us a text This is a blog post I (Joe) wrote on ZenKimchi.com in 2012 about the extreme lengths expats in Korea would go to for creating Thanksgiving in their adopted country. I exhume this post every year to remind myself and others that giving thanks goes beyond turkey, Macy’s parades, and football. Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Support the show Join our Patreon to get more stuff https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com Pitch your idea here. https://www.darksideofseoul.com/expats-of-the-wild-east/ Credits Produced by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey Music by Soraksan Top tier Patrons Angel Earl Joel Bonomini Devon Hiphner Gabi Palomino Steve Marsh Eva Sikora Ron Chang Mackenzie Moore Hunter Winter Cecilia Löfgren Dumas Josephine Rydberg Devin Buchanan Ashley Wright George Irion Facebook Page | Instagram

    14 min
  6. The Secret Military Club That Hijacked Korea

    NOV 19

    The Secret Military Club That Hijacked Korea

    Send us a text Korea’s modern history has plenty of villains, but Hanahoe might be the most quietly terrifying. This was the private club of military officers that spent decades pulling strings behind the scenes and building the foundation for South Korea’s authoritarian era. Chun Doo hwan and Roh Tae woo did not just show up and grab power. They were groomed for it inside this secret alumni club of Air Force cadets who treated the nation like their future inheritance. We get into the shadow world of coups, purges, favoritism, region based politics and the strange afterlife of Hanahoe’s legacy in Korean society. If you want to understand why Korean democracy took so long to take root, this is the rot at the center. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Support the show Join our Patreon to get more stuff https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com Pitch your idea here. https://www.darksideofseoul.com/expats-of-the-wild-east/ Credits Produced by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey Music by Soraksan Top tier Patrons Angel Earl Joel Bonomini Devon Hiphner Gabi Palomino Steve Marsh Eva Sikora Ron Chang Mackenzie Moore Hunter Winter Cecilia Löfgren Dumas Josephine Rydberg Devin Buchanan Ashley Wright George Irion Facebook Page | Instagram

    46 min
  7. Moving Graves

    NOV 15

    Moving Graves

    Send us a text Special Guest: Ron Chang Korean graves do not always stay where you put them. In this episode, Ron Chang joins us to talk about what it is really like to exhume and relocate family graves in Korea. Ron recently moved the graves of his grandmother and grandfather from a remote mountain cemetery in Yangju to the special North Korean heritage cemetery near Paju. We talk about Korean exhumation culture, pungsu, why graves get moved, and what actually happens on the day a burial mound is opened. Ron walks us through the whole thing: the paperwork, the tools, the shock of what you find underground, and the strange mix of duty, sadness, sweat and family logistics that define Korean memorial life. If you have ever wondered how Korea handles the dead, this is your backstage pass. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Support the show Join our Patreon to get more stuff https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com Pitch your idea here. https://www.darksideofseoul.com/expats-of-the-wild-east/ Credits Produced by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey Music by Soraksan Top tier Patrons Angel Earl Joel Bonomini Devon Hiphner Gabi Palomino Steve Marsh Eva Sikora Ron Chang Mackenzie Moore Hunter Winter Cecilia Löfgren Dumas Josephine Rydberg Devin Buchanan Ashley Wright George Irion Facebook Page | Instagram

    54 min
  8. The West Comes Knocking | The Fall of Joseon, part 18 (1791-1801)

    NOV 7

    The West Comes Knocking | The Fall of Joseon, part 18 (1791-1801)

    Send us a text When a Dutch sailor shipwrecked on Jeju in 1627, he thought he’d been captured by cannibals. Instead, he became Korea’s first Westerner—and the first sign of change that would shake Joseon to its core. This episode traces the arrival of Western guns, God, and ideas—from Jan Janse de Weltevree to the Catholic persecutions of 1801—as Korea’s Confucian order faces its first real collision with the West.  Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Support the show Join our Patreon to get more stuff https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com Pitch your idea here. https://www.darksideofseoul.com/expats-of-the-wild-east/ Credits Produced by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey Music by Soraksan Top tier Patrons Angel Earl Joel Bonomini Devon Hiphner Gabi Palomino Steve Marsh Eva Sikora Ron Chang Mackenzie Moore Hunter Winter Cecilia Löfgren Dumas Josephine Rydberg Devin Buchanan Ashley Wright George Irion Facebook Page | Instagram

    44 min
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4.5
out of 5
43 Ratings

About

Korean dark history, ghost tales, folklore, serial killers, true crime, and more. You are about to discover why Korea has the spookiest stories and darkest history.Folklorist Shawn and history buff Joe delve into Korea's gruesome stories of massacres, betrayals, and blood. It's like "Game of Thrones" in Asia. We share our passion for Korea and its struggles throughout time. If you enjoy shows like "Kingdom," this is the podcast for you. Even if you know nothing about Korea, its history will become your new addiction.Subscribe, sit back, and enjoy.

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