Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time Podcast

Behind-the-scenes stories and research on growing up in Korean society.

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 underlined, the stories I couldn’t fit, the questions that kept me thinking. I hope you’ll find something here that sparks reflection and conversation. yoonjiwon.substack.com

  1. 1D AGO

    🎧 Warmth Rules: The Korean Logic Behind “No Ice, Please”

    Quick audio note A small behind-the-scenes update: I used to record this podcast with a clip-on mic plugged into my phone, sitting in my walk-in closet. My husband felt sorry for me and surprised me with a real microphone for my birthday in early February. So now I’m recording at my desk, like a proper adult. I’m still learning the settings, though, so you may hear a few little volume jumps or pops. Sorry if it’s distracting. I’m working on it, and I’ll keep improving the sound. ============================ Why do Koreans treat cold like it’s a force that can sneak into your body, especially when you’re sick? In this companion episode to my Substack essay, I linger in the everyday details: flu season anxiety, the reflexive “no ice, please,” and the quiet Korean belief that recovery is not just a diagnosis. It’s an environment. We talk about “cold energy” (찬기), gi-un (기운), and the logic behind the hot pack, the heated blanket, and that mysterious undershirt (내복) your Korean mom insists is non-negotiable. Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

    21 min

  2. FEB 12

    🎧 The Muscle Memory of Democracy: Gwangju, Minnesota, and the Work That Follows

    This is the companion episode to this week’s newsletter, but it goes deeper into what I couldn’t fully hold on the page. I talk about what “Gwangju” means in the Korean nervous system, why certain places become stages for power, and why democracy rarely moves forward on autopilot. I also reflect on Korea’s exhausting cycle of backsliding and accountability, and why Minnesota, right now, looks like a community refusing to normalize coercion through real civic follow-through. If you have been feeling tired, cynical, or numb lately, I made this episode with you in mind.It is also a small reminder I keep returning to: power is borrowed, not owned. Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

    21 min

  3. FEB 5

    🎧 A Voice Memo for When the News Steals Your Breath

    Editing this episode, I noticed my voice sounds a little different. Maybe it is because my sleep has been shaky lately, with panic creeping back in at night. Maybe it is because I recorded earlier than I usually do. Or maybe it is simply because this story asks for a different kind of honesty than my usual episodes. In today’s episode, I share how political despair in Korea first became physical for me during my PhD years, how I learned to live through panic, and what “healing” has looked like for me. Not as a clean before and after, but as something I still work on, even now. And somewhere inside this story, you may also understand why I stayed away from Korea for eight years, and how my husband became the one who cooks for our family. If you would like to read along, the original essay version of this episode is on Substack. It is the same story, just in written form, with a little more space to pause, reread, and sit with certain lines. Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

    23 min

  4. JAN 29

    🎧 Podcast: The Baby Expo That Sells Fear (With Free Samples)

    “Wait and see” sounds calm in English. In Korean parenting culture, it can feel like negligence. In this episode, I’m introducing a Korean book that hasn’t been translated into English: The Sociology of Marriage and Childcare by Oh Chan-ho (결혼과 육아의 사회학, gyeol-hon-gwa yuk-a-ui sa-hoe-hak). It’s part of a series I do about once a month, where I bring English-speaking listeners inside Korean books and ideas that often stay behind the language barrier. We’ll trace how Korea’s caregiving instinct evolved from survival mode (mountains, wars, and folk remedies) into something more modern and sneakier: a system that turns parental worry into measurable tasks, purchases, and performance reviews. We’ll talk about maternal love (모성애, mo-seong-ae), parenting as evaluation, and why a Korean baby expo can feel less like shopping and more like a crash course in anxiety. Companion: This episode pairs with my Substack essay, Why Korean Parents Can’t “Just Wait and See.” Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

    18 min

  5. JAN 22

    🎧 Podcast: Distance Zero: Why Korean Care is a Contact Sport

    What do you do first when your child gets sick?Check symptoms, open the patient portal, set timers, preserve bedtime routines? When my 7-year-old spiked a fever, my body did something else. It reverted to a Korean instinct I call distance zero: closing the space, staying close, and letting touch do part of the work. This episode is personal, a little funny, and unexpectedly tender. It is about the hidden “grammar” of care, and what our bodies remember even after decades in a different culture. This podcast episode was created from my Substack essay: Distance Zero: Inside Korean Caregiving When a Child Gets Sick But it is not a read-aloud. Think of the essay and the episode as a matched set.Read the piece for the clean framework and the research.Listen to the episode for the scenes, the memories, and the parts I could not fit on the page. What you will hear in this episode 1) The “geography of care” Why some cultures treat space as recovery, and others treat closeness as responsibility. 2) Touch as language In the U.S., we often coach children to describe symptoms and name feelings.In Korea, we do that too, but we also speak through our hands. 3) The practices I grew up with This is where the podcast goes more personal than the newsletter. Have you ever heard of bee venom therapy (봉침)? My mother learned it at a Korean medicine clinic, brought it to Thailand, and yes, she used it at home. Also yes, she literally kept bees on my younger brother’s balcony.If you think that sounds like a sitcom plot, you are not alone. I also share memories of su-ji-chim (Korean hand acupuncture) and how these tactile traditions shaped what my hands do automatically when my daughter is hurting. A Quick Note I am not a doctor, and I am not giving medical advice. The stories about bee venom and acupuncture are cultural reflections of my lived experience. Please consult your pediatrician for any health concerns! I would love to hear your thoughts after you listen. What is the first thing your body does automatically when your child gets sick? Is it space, or is it “Distance Zero”? Enjoy the episode, and see you next week! Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

    23 min

  6. JAN 15

    🎧 Podcast: Fever Dreams and Protest Streets | Moving Beyond Korea's Highlight Reel

    Happy New Year! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! This is my first episode of 2026, and it comes as a companion to this week’s Substack essay. It’s not a word-for-word reading. Think of it as the version I’d tell you over coffee. If you read the post and then listen, you’ll get the full picture. This year, I’m leaning into what this show was always meant to be: Understanding Korea, one story at a time. Lighter on the inbox, deeper in the long run, with the book getting its own separate space to grow. If you listen to this episode, you’ll have a clearer sense of where I’m headed and what I’m building this year. One little surprise to start 2026: FeedSpot recently ranked this podcast #2 among AI-generated podcasts and #26 on its NotebookLM-generated podcast list. I’m recording in my own voice now, but I’m genuinely glad those early experiments are still finding listeners. And the roundups include plenty of other great shows too, so take a look! Thanks for being here. If you enjoy the show, subscribing and sharing it helps more than you know. It’s one of the simplest ways to help new listeners discover the podcast. See you next week. Bye! Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

    23 min

  7. 12/18/2025

    🎧 Podcast: Two Desires, One Nation (Part 4) : After the Miracle, What Now?

    This episode is the audio “director’s commentary” to my latest Substack essay in the K-Book Uncovered series, where we have been walking through Yu Si-min’s My History of Contemporary Korea (나의 한국 현대사) together. If Korea’s modern history were a movie, 1987 would be the perfect place to roll the credits. The crowds win. The generals step back. Democracy arrives. The end. Except... Yu Si-min refuses to end the story there. In this finale, we ask the quiet, uncomfortable question that doesn’t make it into history movies: Once you finally win democracy and development, what do you actually do with them? We’ll walk through: • The “roommate situation” between Korea’s industrialization and democratization camps after 1987 • The 1997 IMF crisis, when the floor dropped out and the old promises shattered • Four new desires reshaping Korea today: fairness, safety, rest, and belonging • Why the protests keep coming—from candlelight seas to K-pop light sticks • And what “limited pride” means in a country that’s both a miracle and a mess This episode is designed to complement this week’s Substack essay. If you can, read and listen together—they complete each other like stereo sound. A Few Personal Notes: This is my last podcast of the year. Next Monday (Dec 22), I’ll publish one final bonus essay: a deep dive into Yu Si-min’s What is the State? (국가란 무엇인가), the philosophical companion to the history we just walked through. After that, I am finally going to practice something Koreans are famously bad at: rest. I’ll be taking a break until January 15 to spend unhurried time with my family. Before I go, I need to say thank you. This year, you’ve been listening from 82 countries—with the US, Indonesia, and Korea leading the way. To everyone who let me whisper into your ears while you commuted, cooked, or scrolled in bed: thank you for caring about this small peninsula and letting Korea’s story speak into your own. I’ll see you in 2026. Take care, rest if you can, and thank you for listening—and for reading. — Jiwon Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

    23 min

  8. 12/11/2025

    🎧 Podcast: The Debt That Doesn't Expire (Yu Si-min’s History Part 3)

    This podcast episode is the audio companion to my newsletter essay:“Two Desires, One Nation, Part 3: The City That Would Not Stay Silent” Read first? You’ll get the photos, timelines, and historical context.Listen first? You’ll get the feeling, the emotional core I couldn’t fit into 3,000 words. Both together? That’s the full experience. Here’s a question: Why do Koreans protest so much? No, seriously. Every few years, millions take to the streets. Light sticks. Chants. Grandmothers and college students side by side. Western media always say, “Koreans are passionate about democracy.” Sure. But why? This episode is about the why. What You’ll Learn: * 부채감 (buchae-gam): The Korean word that has no English translation, but explains everything * The photo that changed history: How one image of Lee Han-yeol became a symbol of moral debt * The “necktie troops”: Why office workers in suits joined student protesters in 1987 * Gwangju’s seven-year silence: The hidden massacre that became Korea’s original debt * Why 2024 felt like 1987 — From Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law to impeachment in days A Taste of What’s Inside: “Rage burns hot and fast. You can be furious for a week, a month, maybe a year. Then it fades. But debt? Debt doesn’t go away. It sits in your chest. It wakes you up at 3 a.m. It whispers, ‘You’re still alive. They’re not. What are you going to do about it?’” “Democracy, in Korea, has names and faces. Park Jong-chul. Lee Han-yeol. 166+ people in Gwangju. You don’t just ‘care about democracy.’ You fight for it like your life depends on it because someone else’s did.” “There’s a saying: Democracy doesn’t grow in fertile soil. It grows in blood.” Why This Episode Hits Different: This isn’t just history. It’s personal. Because 부채감 (buchae-gam) isn’t just something Koreans felt in 1987. It’s what brought millions into the streets in December 2024.It’s why the impeachment process began within days, not weeks or months.It’s why Korean democracy looks the way it does: urgent, loud, uncompromising. If you’ve ever wondered why Koreans don’t take democracy for granted, this episode will answer that question. About This Series: This is Part 3 of 4 in my deep dive into Yu Si-min’s My History of Contemporary Korea (나의 한국 현대사), a book that’s never been translated into English, but should be required reading for anyone trying to understand modern Korea. Missed the earlier episodes?→ Part 1: Twins Born in the Ruins→ Part 2: The Barracks State & The Boy Who Refused to Bow→ Part 4: Coming next week Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

    18 min
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About

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 underlined, the stories I couldn’t fit, the questions that kept me thinking. I hope you’ll find something here that sparks reflection and conversation. yoonjiwon.substack.com

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