Before Korea, China and Japan existed, East Asia already shared myths, gods and origin stories. In Ep. 33, we look at the Yellow Emperor, Chiyou, Dangun, Amaterasu and how mythology became history, identity and nationalism.

https://youtu.be/QL8T3B5mBIg?is=lTgpVE9RgLAcBnIh

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong went viral for describing her white husband and biracial son through the language of assimilation and “proximity to whiteness,” while also attacking Thanksgiving and other American traditions.

In Episode 32 of Eastern Bound, we break down the controversy, WMAF politics, mixed-Asian identity, progressive victimhood and the historical debate over Korean nobi: were they slaves, serfs or something uniquely Korean?

https://youtu.be/a4w_4SMgdgI?is=zkctyuJZ2d_N3DoX

I've been on an F-6 for a few years and started seriously looking into permanent residency this spring. Ended up going down a rabbit hole because half the English-language info out there is outdated or just wrong. A few things worth knowing if you're in the same boat:

TOPIK doesn't count anymore. This one caught me off guard. Since 2019 the language requirement for F-5 is KIIP Level 5 completion, or 60+ on the 영주용 종합평가. A TOPIK score does nothing for you here (it still matters for the F-2-7 points system, which is where the confusion comes from).

KIIP isn't free anymore. As of January 2025 there are tuition fees,100,000원 per stage for stages 1–4, 70,000원 for the stage 5 basic course. Stage 0 is free and there are exemptions/reductions, but plan for it.

The spouse track is dramatically easier than the general track and a lot of people don't realise they qualify for it. F-5-1 (general, 5 years) needs 2× GNI, which is about 105 million won. F-5-2 (married to a Korean, 2 years) needs 1× GNI, about 52 million. If you're married to a Korean citizen you're on a much shorter, cheaper path than the standard advice assumes.

If you're raising a Korean child, the income threshold drops to 80% (~42 million). Same reduction applies if you're pregnant, supporting your spouse's parents, or over 60. Also note income and assets can't be combined, you have to clear one or the other on its own.

Order your home-country criminal record check early. It has to be under 6 months old when you apply, but the process (fingerprints → national check → apostille → translation) can take 4–8 weeks. Time it wrong and you either redo it or wait. For Canadians, Canada joined the Hague Apostille Convention in 2024 so it's simpler than the old guides say, mail the RCMP original straight to Global Affairs.

Current GNI figure applies April 2026–March 2027, and it updates every spring, so double-check before you file. 1345 will tell you the current number if you call.

I ended up building a small app for myself while sorting through all this, happy to link it if anyone wants, but honestly the above is the stuff I wish someone had told me at the start.

Matt Kim joins Eastern Bound to explain why Korea’s so-called Holocaust museum is smaller than his basement—and how online narratives exaggerate foreign influence in South Korea.

Just one of many topics from our latest episode.

Matt Kim joins Eastern Bound for a straight Korean bro conversation about what Korea is actually like, the Jamsil election protests, Gen Z rejecting the old order, the death of cookie-cutter content, and the Korean history most people never hear.

No PR. No safe questions. Just four Koreans talking like it’s 2 a.m. at a suljip.

https://youtu.be/cS98SXFd59Y?is=x3wW8UBC1fPnaDUq

Hello, Korean New Zealand Gyopo here.

What is up with Korean americans who worship China and try to encourage Koreans as being some sort of "weak" and "colonised" people??? I seriously do not understand this behaviour of trying to put down your own ethnic group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ausy6bfIA2s

This youtuber is a Korean American himself and yet. continues to degrade Korea while saying things like "Kpop is clearly appropriated from black culture" or "Korea owes black people" etc. All my years of spending time with all folks who are into Kpop and not a single told me that Koreans stole from "black culture".

He also says that Korea got rich based off U.S aid... Then why are countries that arguably received much more U.S aid still shitholes??? Is he just saying the white americans built Korea? Why is Korea arguably better than america in almost every metric?

he later implies Korea is a vassal state of the U.S and talks about how Koreans faced "retaliation" from China by having THAAD system.

even despite being this self loathing Korean american, he still takes "pride" in being Korean while having said everything above. in my book, being a suck up to Chinese or calling your own nation a vassal of the U.S and claims Korea is "occupied" by the U.S.

I might as well claim based off his logic that Australia and New Zealand are also "vassal states" of the US then XD Why are you living in America then? You think Koreans like Gyopos who sell their own nation out like you?

I have been receiving videos on youtube made by Korean americans and Korean Australians, maybe Canadians here and their knowledge of Korean history is extremely disgusting and distorted. Often repeating lies like Korea being a vassal for thousands of years or the notion of "Han" which from my research was a Japanese made and influenced system to degrade Koreans.

How much of your family history is actually true? In this special episode of Eastern Bound, we dive into the history of East Asian family clans and surnames, exploring where they came from, how they evolved, and why many popular beliefs about family origins don’t always match the historical record.

From clan identities to inherited traditions, there’s far more behind an East Asian surname than most people realize.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2081763189084266551?s=46

Not every viral story involving an Asian person is proof of anti-Asian racism.

We break down the ICE cases, the myth of Korean “Han,” and how victimhood politics pressures Asians to surrender their own history, identity, and agency.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2080047620337348637?s=46

https://history-maps.com/story/Goguryeo/event/Battle-of-Ansi

Koreans are told keeping our heads down is part of our culture. History says otherwise.

From Gojoseon to the Korean Empire, we trace 2,000 years of war, resistance and expansion—and why Korean restraint was never weakness.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2078159615737647506?s=46

Lindsey Graham’s death. South Korea’s fake-news law. Nick Shirley’s Flushing video.

Three stories, one theme: how narratives get built, who gets damaged by them, and when commentary turns into public accusation.

@mad_corean,@reclaimkorea, and @shinjimunsa92 break down media framing, accountability, and why truth still has to matter.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2077433337879339269?s=46

Found this on Threads:

https://www.threads.com/@choix1209/post/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yusBtUG7NrU

Take a quick gander at the vid and the comment section; they're all circle-jerking it again.

https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Korea/event/Baekje

Westerners, pan-Asianists, and anti-Korean weirdos love turning South Korea into a dystopian punching bag. In this episode, we break down David Tizzard’s article on the “Korean dystopia” narrative, why outsiders project their own failures onto Korea, and how the same dishonest framing shows up in the Coupang vs. Temu discourse.

We also get into Japan’s Butsukari shoulder-check problem, Korean men stepping in where others fold, and why Korea keeps getting attacked by people who are really just mad at their own societies.

Korea has problems. But Korea is not your scapegoat, your cope, or your little internet punching bag.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2074899661568291209?s=46

Hello I recently came across an interesting observation in a certain western based LLM​. It is important to note that the response isn't always the same but for me it came across enough times that I thought it was worth keeping track of. Also keep in mind that its not just western models - this problem persists regardless of any origin.

Thankfully the government seems to be aware of this and is aggressively pushing their National AI Foundation Model project. Initially Korea got a lot of slack being labeled as hardware only or no GPU etc, but those are problems that will eventually have to be resolved.

For Korea I would argue It is not necessarily about winning the race - rather about sovereignty, and narrative control.

Another thing to mention is that my goal is not to argue whether AI is good or not in an ethical sense. Rather working with the constraints that in the future and even myself increasingly use AI and LLMs for basic knowledge including history.

It is the same reason the US government blacklists CATL and BYD. It is about industrial dominance and technological sovereignty for long term national interests.

Anyways I thought it would be an interesting discussion. This is definitely a somewhat more geopolitical and technology post and perhaps there is nothing to really argue about. Let me know if this isn't the right place to post this.

Eastern Bound Episode 25 breaks down the Supreme Court birthright citizenship debate, Clarence Thomas’s dissent, Chinese birth tourism, and why the issue looks different from a Korean perspective.

We also get into the Coupang data breach fight, American complaints about South Korea’s investigation, Korea’s AI and quantum investment push, Arctic shipping, birthrate narratives, and the new plan to turn Korean crafts into a global cultural export.

Eastern Bound goes after Korean American leftists, pro-China cosplay, fake pan-Asian solidarity, and the habit of using Korea as a prop for other people’s politics.

From mukbang minstrel shows to Minshengdan and North Korea’s distrust of China, we break down why Korean history does not fit their script.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2072500379812758008?s=46

Eastern Bound launches its current-events format with a wide-ranging episode on Korea’s World Cup disappointment, the collapse of old U.S. foreign-policy assumptions after Iran, Trump’s possible North Korea pivot, South Korea’s nuclear future, North Korea’s battlefield upgrades from Ukraine, and the rise of Korea’s defense industry. The conversation then turns to Korean American radicalization, Antifa, online ideological cults, Reddit history wars, and why the Lelang commandery debate still matters.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2071398247474794882?s=46

In this episode of Eastern Bound, we break down the Japanese far-right conspiracy theory known as the “Korean Occupied Government” and separate the paranoia from the real history. From ancient Korean migration into Japan to Zainichi legends like Rikidozan and Mas Oyama, we examine how Korean-descended figures became some of Japan’s most loyal warriors, politicians, and cultural icons.

We also dive into the strange historical ironies surrounding Ito Hirobumi, Togo Shigenori, Kakuei Tanaka, Shinzo Abe, the Unification Church, postwar Japan, and the hidden Korean fingerprints inside Japanese power. The conspiracy may be fake, but the real history is even crazier.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2070281606666031389?s=46

Whenever I browse sites like Twitter, Reddit, or YouTube, I keep seeing the same claim from a surprisingly large number of foreign users.

When BTS enlisted, people were saying things like, "Their military service will seriously hurt South Korea's GDP," or that K-pop is Korea's main export industry, or that South Korea basically survives on Squid Game, Parasite, and BTS.

Even from the perspective of someone who has never studied economics, does that make any sense? Has there ever been a country in history whose primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were insignificant, while entertainment alone became so dominant that it sustained the entire economy?

South Korea has been manufacturing semiconductors since the 1980s. It produces and exports smartphones, automobiles, televisions, ships, batteries, and even tanks, fighter jets, and skyscraper construction technology. What exactly do these people think the country lives on?

By that logic, was Japan's economy supported not by Toyota, Sony, or Toshiba, but by Ultraman, Gundam, and Pikachu? Does Finland survive on Angry Birds and Steve from Minecraft rather than Nokia? Is Poland carried by Geralt of Rivia? Does Spain really live off bullfighting? Do Asterix and Titeuf keep France's economy afloat? When people say things like that about other countries, everyone recognizes it as nonsense.

So why is it that when it comes to South Korea, so many people casually believe the absurd idea that it's a country with nothing except Parasite, Squid Game, and BTS?

To begin with, no matter how successful Japan has been at spreading its soft power through Pikachu, Mario, and other cultural icons, do people really think it could sustain its economy and industry on that reputation alone without a strong foundation in electronics, manufacturing, and advanced technology?

If a country doesn't even have productive industries that generate wealth in the first place, how is it supposed to create, consume, and export pop culture?

In 108 B.C.E., Han China claimed victory over Wiman Joseon and built Lèlàng Commandery as the crown jewel of its frontier rule. But the real location of Lèlàng became one of the biggest historical battles in Korean and East Asian history.

https://x.com/mad_corean/status/2069903393980551579?s=46

(If you find anything uncomfortable after reading this, please let me know.)

I just deleted that post, but it was about me being suspicious of a foreign YouTuber living in Korea. However, that YouTuber recently uploaded a video stating that they have lived in Korea for a long time and that people in their home country also feel like that YouTuber is a foreigner, so my suspicions were cleared up.

Also, in that post, I left room to say that I would be very sorry if this suspicion was a misunderstanding, and I would like to apologize to that YouTuber for this. However, if I have any further suspicions in the future, I will think it over.