Windows down, country sound, FM on the radio; just me and you and the man on the moon, cruisin' down some old back road in Miryang, North Gyeongsang, on Aug. 11; now baby, don't you look at me that way, 'cause you know there's only so much I can take; 'cause you make me wanna...KIM JONG-HO
Hello there! In today's newsletter, we'll look at how a dream becomes a nightmare and embarking on an early morning "Odyssey."
We'll also get some insight into life in the North before it was, well, the North, taking the public's temperature on the United States and China, how ancestors haunt careers from the grave and setting for success in Azerbaijan.
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Today's top story
KOREA
'American dream' becomes nightmare as U.S. visa uncertainties unsettle Korean students
When Park first moved to New York for college from Korea, she loved the sense of open-ended possibility her education offered.
She graduated from a competitive international school in Korea where about 95 percent of her class went on to study in the United States, and she pictured a future built around career freedom and doing things on her own terms.
Three years later, the soon-to-be-junior, who is studying communications and asked to be identified only by her surname, is living in a different reality — one shaped by quiet self-censorship and mounting anxiety under the Trump administration's shifting policies toward international students.
'The Odyssey' has Korean audiences making epic journeys at dawn to experience IMAX screenings
Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the ancient Greek epic is driving sold-out dawn screenings, long-distance trips and scalping concerns as Korean audiences chase the biggest IMAX experience possible.
Majority of Koreans still see U.S. ahead of China despite strains in alliance, survey finds
Over 57 percent of respondents did not agree that China will become the global leader, but nearly half took issue with Seoul’s response to Washington’s demands.
Sins of the great-grandfathers: Celebrities face backlash over ancestors’ pro-Japanese ties
Ha Young’s case highlights how family histories linked to collaborationist activities during the colonial era still spark fierce public scrutiny in Korea, especially ahead of Liberation Day.
Volleyball twins start new chapter of career together in Azerbaijan
The sisters have not played in Korea since 2021, when allegations that they had physically and verbally assaulted their teammates in middle school surfaced online.
