The Dark Side of Seoul Podcast

This week kicks off our summer rerun series, digging up the best tourism episodes from the archive while we take a break from new true crime deep dives. First up: 141, Tourists from Hell.

Years of running walking tours and food tours in Seoul means years of collecting the worst behavior tourism has to offer. Hand holders who never read their confirmation emails. Tour-splainers who think they know the history better than the guide telling it. The no-show who ghosted, left a one-star review, then demanded a refund anyway. A hotel concierge (the irony) who wanted a private tour at group rates, only ate at Michelin-level places, and ended the day eating bread from a bakery because nothing else met his standards.

Plus, why Joe stopped taking media fixer gigs after some genuinely great experiences with names like Bourdain and Zimmern, and a stack of tourist horror movie recommendations to close things out.

If you've ever worked in hospitality, this one's for you. If you've ever been that guest, you might recognize yourself.

Topics Discussed

Introducing the "Tourist Season" summer replay series

The most memorable difficult guests from years of leading tours

"Hand holders" who never read booking information

Tourists who showed up at the wrong location and demanded refunds

Guests who tried to explain Korean history to the guides

No-shows and last-minute cancellations

Refund requests after missed tours

Hecklers and guests with personal agendas

The infamous "Touché!" guest

Drunk guests and disruptive tour behavior

Guests distracted by phones and Pokémon Go

Problems unique to hiking tours

Food tour horror stories

Vegetarians booking Korean BBQ tours

The worst guest ever: a hotel concierge with impossible expectations

Working as media fixers for international television productions

Positive experiences with Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, National Geographic, and Milk Street

Horror film recommendations for travelers

Mentioned During the Episode

ZenKimchi Experiences

The Dark Side of Seoul Tour

Korean BBQ Experience

Anthony Bourdain

Andrew Zimmern

National Geographic

Milk Street

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About The Dark Side of Seoul

The Dark Side of Seoul explores Korea's hidden history, folklore, true crime, urban legends, supernatural traditions, and the overlooked stories that shaped the peninsula. Alongside deep dives into Korea's darker past, the podcast also explores life in modern Korea through travel, culture, and the often hilarious realities of working as professional tour guides.

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Episode Summary

A father and his four children were found dead in their home in Ulsan after months of severe financial hardship. While the case was ruled a murder-suicide, the discussion quickly expands beyond the crime itself into the failures of Korea's welfare system, the stigma surrounding mental health, and the bureaucratic obstacles that can leave vulnerable families without meaningful support.
Joe and Shawn examine how the family had already been identified as a high-risk household and had been visited by schools, welfare officials, police, and child protection workers. Despite multiple warning signs, no agency ever developed a complete picture of the family's crisis. The episode explores whether this tragedy represents an isolated incident or a broader failure of institutions designed to protect children and families.

Topics Discussed

The Ulsan family murder-suicide

Carbon monoxide deaths using charcoal briquettes

Poverty and financial collapse

Single fathers in Korea

Mental health stigma

Child welfare investigations

Bureaucratic barriers to assistance

In-kind support versus direct cash assistance

Coordination failures between government agencies

Korea's suicide rate

Proposed welfare reforms

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction
02:00 The Ulsan case

06:00 Financial hardship and the family's circumstances

12:00 Welfare assistance and why it wasn't enough

19:00 Single fathers and asking for help

24:00 Child protection and looking for the wrong warning signs

31:00 Mental health, stigma, and caregiver burnout

37:00 Bureaucracy and agency coordination failures

43:00 Possible reforms and remaining concerns

Mentioned During the Episode

Korea's Basic Livelihood Security Program

Korea's child protection system

Previous Dark Side of Seoul episodes on K-Poverty, child abuse, Yoo Young-chul, and the WaWo Apartment collapse

Shawn's book on ghost encounters in Korea

Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk

Listen & Follow

Website: https://darksideofseoul.com
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dark-side-of-seoul-podcast/id1504623984

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1lZBXNX79kwH2NXcJWNcb8 Patreon: https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@darksideofseoul

Instagram: https://instagram.com/darksideofseoul

Facebook: https://facebook.com/darksideofseoul

Contact: info@darksideofseoul.com

About The Dark Side of Seoul

The Dark Side of Seoul explores Korea's darker history, folklore, true crime, urban legends, supernatural traditions, forgotten places, and the cultural stories that don't usually appear in guidebooks. New episodes include deep historical dives alongside our "Fun Sized" discussions of current events, controversies, and unusual aspects of life in Korea.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dark Side of Seoul Podcast

Episode 316

The Weird Science Behind Korean Food Nationalism  

Episode Description

A 2023 paper published in the Journal of Ethnic Foods argues that Korean cuisine developed in isolation, authentic Korean food isn't spicy, and even that royal court cuisine isn't truly Korean. In this episode, we examine the paper's historical, linguistic, archaeological, and scientific claims to see where the evidence supports the authors and where nationalism appears to outweigh scholarship.
Topics Discussed

Why Korean food doesn't need exaggerated origin stories

The concept of food nationalism

The "Hermit Kingdom" myth

Did Korean cuisine really develop in isolation?

Is banchan unique to Korea?

Claims that Korean food has no sugar or oil

Korean language and the outdated Ural-Altaic theory

Ancient DNA and whether genetics can explain cuisine

The debate over chili peppers and Korean food history

Why the paper argues royal court cuisine isn't Korean

How academic papers should distinguish evidence from advocacy

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction
03:12 Why this paper caught our attention
08:45 "Correcting" Korean food history
15:20 Korea as an isolated civilization
22:08 Is banchan unique?
28:41 The claims about sugar, oil, and Korean cooking
35:15 Pottery, archaeology, and food history
42:10 Genetics, language, and extraordinary conclusions
49:55 The chili pepper controversy
56:30 Royal court cuisine and cultural identity
1:02:45 Final thoughts
Mentioned During the Episode

Science and Philosophy of Korea Traditional Foods (K-food) (Journal of Ethnic Foods, 2023)

Traditional Korean cuisine

Kimchi

Banchan

Joseon royal cuisine

Korean food history

The Columbian Exchange

Ural-Altaic language theory

Listen & Follow

Website: https://darksideofseoul.com
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dark-side-of-seoul-podcast/id1504623984

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1lZBXNX79kwH2NXcJWNcb8 Patreon: https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@darksideofseoul

Instagram: https://instagram.com/darksideofseoul

Facebook: https://facebook.com/darksideofseoul

Contact: info@darksideofseoul.com

About The Dark Side of Seoul

The Dark Side of Seoul explores Korea's darker history, folklore, true crime, urban legends, supernatural traditions, forgotten places, and the cultural stories that don't usually appear in guidebooks. New episodes include deep historical dives alongside our "Fun Sized" discussions of current events, controversies, and unusual aspects of life in Korea.
 

Notes

Science and philosophy of Korea traditional foods (K-food)

Dae Young Kwon, 

Kim Soon-Hee, 

Kyung Rhan Chung, 

James W. Daily & 

Sunmin Park 

 
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42779-023-00194-3

Introduction

Why This Paper Matters

On the surface, this looks like an ordinary academic paper.
It was published in 2023 in the Journal of Ethnic Foods, an open-access journal published by BioMed Central. It has multiple authors, references dozens of sources, and presents itself as a scientific examination of Korean food history and philosophy.

But once you start reading it closely, something becomes obvious.

The paper repeatedly makes sweeping historical, linguistic, archaeological, genetic, and anthropological claims that either go well beyond the available evidence or directly contradict mainstream scholarship. Rather than weighing competing explanations, it almost always arrives at the same conclusion: Korean food is uniquely independent, uniquely original, and fundamentally separate from neighboring cultures.

That is what makes this paper interesting.

Not because it's simply "wrong." Plenty of academic papers contain mistakes.

It's interesting because it reflects a broader pattern that occasionally appears in Korean public discourse, media, and even academia: the desire to demonstrate Korean exceptionalism through scientific language.

The Bigger Pattern

Much of the paper revolves around proving things don't merely exist in Korea.
They must be:

older than everyone else's

more original than everyone else's

scientifically superior

impossible to have borrowed from neighboring cultures

It's the same pattern behind claims that:

Korean is uniquely logical.

Korean relationships are deeper because of speech levels.

Metal chopsticks create better surgeons.

Koreans excel at archery because of chopsticks.

Kimchi predates chili peppers.

Everything distinctive must have originated in Korea.

Some of these are harmless internet folklore.
Others find their way into books, museums, newspapers, documentaries, and occasionally academic publications.

Why This Happens

None of this appeared in a vacuum.
Modern Korea emerged from colonization, war, dictatorship, and decades of being culturally overshadowed by larger neighbors. Building a strong national identity was an understandable project.

The problem comes when pride begins driving the research instead of the research informing the pride.

Good scholarship starts with evidence and follows wherever it leads.

Nationalistic scholarship often starts with the conclusion and works backwards.

That doesn't make every conclusion false.

It does make readers ask a very different question:

"Is this trying to discover the truth?"

Or

"Is this trying to prove something?"

This paper often feels like the latter.

1. The Authors Set Themselves Up as the Correctors of History

Page 1
"Nevertheless, until now, the history of food on the Korean Peninsula has been mainly studied by history scholars who can read Chinese characters rather than by natural scientists, resulting in errors and distortions in our understanding of the identity, history, and originality of Korean food.

In this paper, we aim to correct these errors and distortions and to present scientifically validated research... Furthermore, we also aim to provide scientific truths..."

Problems

The paper begins by declaring that historians have distorted Korean food history while positioning the authors as the ones who possess the "scientific truths."

Throughout the paper they continue using historical texts whenever those texts support their conclusions while dismissing them when they do not.

It's an unusual way to frame an academic paper. Most research begins with questions, not with a declaration that previous scholarship is fundamentally wrong.

2. Korea Developed in Isolation

Page 2
"The early Korean population developed their characteristic foods in relative isolation from other regions of Asia due to the oceans and rugged mountains surrounding the country.

Therefore, we must be very careful when discussing the culture and history of Korean food through Chinese books...

Korea has historically been geographically isolated... it was also so historically resistant to outside influences and interactions that it was commonly called the 'Hermit Kingdom.'"

Problems

This compresses thousands of years of Korean history into an isolation narrative.

Korea maintained continuous contact with China, Japan, Jurchens, Mongols, and others through diplomacy, trade, religion, migration, and warfare.

"Hermit Kingdom" describes a particular period of late Joseon diplomacy, not Korea's entire historical development.

3. Banchan Exists Nowhere Else

Page 2
"Another distinctive feature of Korean cuisine is the unique presentation of bap and banchan...

We call this banchan culture, and it is a food culture that does not exist in any other country in the world."

Problems

Korea's version is distinctive.

The concept of eating a staple grain with multiple shared side dishes exists throughout East and Southeast Asia.

The paper turns a distinctive tradition into an absolute claim.

4. Korea Had No Sugar or Oil

Pages 2-3
"Not only do we have a different ethnic root than China, but we also do not have oil or sugar as elements to make food delicious agriculturally."

...

"In an environment where livestock and dairy products did not exist, where sugar to provide a sweet taste was unavailable, and where there was no oil to enhance the flavor..."

Problems

Traditional Korean cooking uses sesame oil, perilla oil, honey, rice syrup (조청), and malt syrup.

Traditional desserts like yakgwa depend on both oil and sweeteners.

The paper repeatedly describes Korea as lacking ingredients that are well documented in Korean culinary history.

5. Tasteless Vegetables Are the Soul of Korean Food

Page 3
"As with all vegetables and herbs, they have less flavor when they do not contain salt, fat, or protein.

The essence of Korean cuisine lies in the spirit and wisdom of Korean ancestors on how to eat these tasteless vegetables deliciously, which can be said to be the soul of Korean food."

Problems

This is philosophy rather than food science.

It's a perfectly reasonable cultural reflection.

It should not be presented as scientific evidence.

6. Pottery Alone Proves Independent Food Culture

Page 4
"The earthenware vessels found in Korea during the ancient times were... mostly different from that of China.

From this alone, we can tell that the food culture of ancient times in Korea was independently formed from that of China."

Problems

"From this alone" is an enormous leap.

Archaeologists do not infer entire culinary traditions from pottery styles alone.

Different pottery demonstrates different pottery.

7. Korean and Chinese Are Completely Different Peoples

Pages 4-5
"The Korean and Chinese peoples are ethnologically different nations."

...

"Korea has continued to develop independently thereby developing and preserving its own culture and history without being culturally absorbed by the country of China."

Problems

Korean civilization certainly developed its own identity.

But history also documents centuries of exchange in religion, administration, philosophy, literature, technology and cuisine.

The paper repeatedly frames influence as something that either happened completely or not at all.

8. Korean Is Related to Hungarian and Finnish

Page 5
"Korean is classified as Ural-Altaic (Trans-Eurasian), which is completely different from the Chinese language system (India-Europe).

Korean belongs to the same linguistic family as Manchurian, Mongolian, Japanese, Hungarian, and Finnish."

Problems

Chinese is not Indo-European.

The Ural-Altaic hypothesis has largely been abandoned by historical linguists.

This entire linguistic discussion has little bearing on culinary history.

9. Ancient DNA Proves Korean Food Didn't Come from China

Pages 5-6
"The rapid decline in male genetic diversity... suggests that during the war, the invaders slaughtered men and humiliated women."

...

"Therefore, it is a false claim that Korean food came from either China or Japan through men's communication.

Wars have not advanced the development of food.

Had mothers' languages not changed after the war, their food would not have changed either."

Problems

This is probably the biggest logical leap in the paper.

Population genetics cannot determine where recipes originated.

The authors move directly from Bronze Age Y-chromosome bottlenecks to twentieth-century arguments about Korean cuisine.

10. Korea Had No Livestock, Dairy, Sugar or Oil

Page 6
"In an environment where livestock and dairy products did not exist... where sugar... was unavailable... and where there was no oil to enhance the flavor..."

Problems

This repeats and expands an earlier claim.

Historically Korea had livestock.

It had oils.

It had traditional sweeteners.

The statement is presented far more absolutely than the historical record supports.

11. Korean Food Is Never Spicy

Page 16
"Foreigners who do not understand this come to believe that Korean food is very spicy.

In reality, authentic Korean food is never hot because chili pepper varieties cultivated in Korea are not hot."

Problems

Korean peppers are generally milder than many Southeast Asian varieties.

That does not make Korean food "never hot."

This swings from one extreme myth to the opposite extreme.

12. Royal Court Cuisine Isn't Korean

Page 16
"Royal court cuisine and jongka cuisine are not Korean food; they are based on Chinese food."

Problems

One of the paper's most extraordinary conclusions.

Royal cuisine developed inside Korean courts, by Korean cooks, over centuries.

Cultural influence does not erase cultural identity.

13. The Paper Contradicts Itself About Foreign Influence

Pages 16-17
The paper argues wars and foreign influence did not shape Korean food.

Then later it writes:

"Inexpensive wheat flour from the USA replaced the more expensive rice with flour, which has greatly contributed to the development of pajeon, tteokbokki, and kuksu."

Problems

This is exactly the kind of foreign influence the paper spends earlier chapters minimizing.

It acknowledges that American food aid transformed important Korean dishes after the Korean War.

Structural Problems

Heavy self-citation

Many of the paper's key citations are previous publications by the lead author. The article often cites earlier books and papers by Kwon to support Kwon's current arguments.
Personal communications as evidence

One of the key claims about ancient Korean chili peppers relies on an unpublished personal communication rather than peer-reviewed evidence.
Conclusions precede the evidence

Throughout the paper, the conclusion remains remarkably consistent:

Korean food is uniquely independent.

Korean food is uniquely original.

Korean food is uniquely healthy.

Korean food is fundamentally separate from neighboring cuisines.

The evidence is then selected and interpreted to support those conclusions.
Closing

Korean cuisine is extraordinary.
It doesn't need exaggerated origin stories.

It doesn't become less Korean because chili peppers came from the Americas.

It doesn't become less Korean because Buddhism came through China.

It doesn't become less Korean because dumplings arrived with the Mongols.

Every great cuisine is built through centuries of borrowing, adapting, refining, and making ideas its own.

Ironically, that's exactly what makes Korean food so interesting.

The strongest case for Korean cuisine isn't that it developed in complete isolation.

It's that Korea took influences from around the world and transformed them into something unmistakably Korean. That story is both more believable and far more impressive.

 

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After the release of his book Supernatural Encounters in South Korea, one of the comments Shawn received surprised him.

Several readers expected a book about ghosts to be written by a true believer. Instead, they found a surprisingly skeptical approach to paranormal claims. One reviewer described the book as "a rather clever turn," while another called Shawn "a more discerning Peter Underwood."

In this episode, Joe and Shawn discuss why skepticism is essential when researching ghost encounters, supernatural folklore, shamanism, and alleged hauntings. They explore pareidolia, memorates, social media ghost hunters, fraudulent psychics, and why cultural traditions should never be treated as automatic evidence for the supernatural.

Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com

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Join our Patreon to get more stuff

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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

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South Korea just held its 9th nationwide local elections on June 3, 2026, and what should have been a routine referendum on President Lee Jae-myung's first year turned into a genuine mess. Polling stations in Seoul started running out of ballot paper mid-day. Voters waited hours. Some gave up and left. In Songpa and Gangnam, people were still voting at 10 p.m. And then the protesters showed up to block the ballot boxes.
Joe and Shawn break down what actually happened, why the National Election Commission's explanation is both accurate and embarrassing, and why "we ran out of paper" is such a uniquely devastating failure for an institution that was already under scrutiny. They also take a longer look at Korea's post-1987 democratic history, a list of election fiascos that includes vote-buying rice bags, NIS agents running smear campaigns online, COVID ballot chaos, and a 2022 election where the main controversy was that ballots were being transported in plastic baskets you'd buy at Daiso.
Korea's democracy is real. It's also messy, loudly contested, and occasionally embarrassing. This episode is about both of those things being true at the same time.
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

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