The Dark Side of Seoul Podcast
1) 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’...Show More
2) 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 fi...Show More
3) 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, ...Show More
4) 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 e...Show More
5) 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...Show More
6) 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 grav...Show More
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 Jos...Show More
8) Haunted Barracks: Korea’s Military Ghost Stories
Send us a text The Korean military is haunted — literally and culturally. Soldiers whisper about phantom footsteps, cold spots inside fences, and radio calls from the dead. In this episode, we look at...Show More
9) Shawn Wrote a Spooky Book
Send us a text Here it is! Finally! Shawn Morrissey's much anticipated book of Korean supernatural encounters is released. We ask him your questions. Will he answer them? Korea's #1 ghost and dark h...Show More
10) Why Korean City Slogans Sound So Weird (and Why We Love Them Anyway)
Send us a text Korean cities love English slogans, but rarely get them right. From “Hi Seoul” to “Busan is Good,” we explore how Korea’s branding obsession created a national genre of delightful lingu...Show More