Claim OwnershipThe Dark Side of Seoul Podcast
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Korean dark history, ghost tales, folklore, serial killers, true crime, and more. You are about to discover why Korea has the spookiest stories and darkest history.Folklorist Shawn and history buff Joe delve into Korea's gruesome stories of massacres, betrayals, and blood. It's like "Game of Thrones" in Asia. We share our passion for Korea and its struggles throughout time. If you enjoy shows like "Kingdom," this is the podcast for you. Even if you know nothing about Korea, its history will become your new addiction.Subscribe, sit back, and enjoy.
304 Episodes
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Send us a text Winter is cemetery season in Korea. With the grass dead, snakes gone, and sightlines open, this is when Korea’s hillside cemeteries quietly reveal their stories. In this episode, Joe and Shawn talk about what they see every year while wandering through Korean burial grounds: traditional mounds and stone guardians, Christian symbols mixed with Confucian motifs, rare Western-style graves, pet burials, collective graves, and the occasional unsettling sign of vandalism. This isn’t ...
Send us a text South Korea became a super-aged society in 2025. The effects are showing up everywhere, but nowhere more visibly than on the roads. In this episode, Joe and Shawn talk about the sharp rise in accidents involving elderly drivers, including several deadly incidents in Seoul and beyond. They dig into the numbers, the government’s largely ineffective license return programs, and why simply telling seniors to stop driving ignores deeper issues like poverty, work necessity, and isola...
Send us a text Our 300th episode! Pojangmacha didn’t disappear by accident. In Part 2 of Where Have All the Soju Tents Gone, Joe and Shawn trace how Seoul’s soju tents went from survival spaces to cultural nuisances, then to nostalgic props. From Olympic-era crackdowns and hired enforcers to violent evictions, gentrification, and sanitized “sensibility pocha streets,” this episode looks at how modernization erased a vital part of everyday life. This isn’t a story about food. It’s about power,...
Send us a text There is no Waffle House in Korea. For decades, the pojangmacha was the last line of defense against going home hungry, broke, or blackout drunk. It was cheap, social, messy, and human. And then it slowly disappeared. In Part 1 of Where Have All the Soju Tents Gone, we trace the origins of the pojangmacha from Japanese yatai and Joseon-era taverns to its explosion after the Korean War. We talk about why these tents mattered, who ran them, what people ate there, and why they bec...
Send us a text Christmas is often framed as a moment of peace, forgiveness, and reflection. But in Korean history, Christmas Eve has repeatedly been chosen for violence, punishment, and erasure. In Part 2 of Christmas Nightmares, we examine three chilling cases tied to the holiday. We begin with the Seokdal-ri Massacre of 1949, when South Korean soldiers burned a mountain village and executed dozens of civilians on Christmas Eve — a crime buried by the state for decades. We then move to the e...
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’s darkest stories tied to the holiday season. We begin with the Heungnam Evacuation of 1950, remembered as the Miracle of Christmas, when nearly 100,000 refugees escaped North Korea by sea. But behind the miracle were impossible choices, brutal exclusions, and families torn apart in the freezing ...
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 fiber optics sit outdated servers, neglected government systems, weak regulations and a corporate culture that treats security like a box to check. From the SK Telecom and Lotte Card breaches to the government’s own embarrassing hacks, the episode breaks down why Korea keeps getting hit, why compan...
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, oddball actors who steal the show, couples who arrive mid-argument, and reviews born from pure misunderstanding. The episode digs into what really derails a tour, how guides survive it, and why some guests treat history like fan fiction. Add a little wildlife drama, a clown fight, a Kenny G buske...
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 every year to remind myself and others that giving thanks goes beyond turkey, Macy’s parades, and football. 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://d...
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 the scenes and building the foundation for South Korea’s authoritarian era. Chun Doo hwan and Roh Tae woo did not just show up and grab power. They were groomed for it inside this secret alumni club of Air Force cadets who treated the nation like their future inheritance. We get into the shadow ...
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 graves in Korea. Ron recently moved the graves of his grandmother and grandfather from a remote mountain cemetery in Yangju to the special North Korean heritage cemetery near Paju. We talk about Korean exhumation culture, pungsu, why graves get moved, and what actually happens on the day a burial mou...
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 Joseon to its core. This episode traces the arrival of Western guns, God, and ideas—from Jan Janse de Weltevree to the Catholic persecutions of 1801—as Korea’s Confucian order faces its first real collision with the West. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul...
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 the legends that thrive in Korea’s barracks: the White-Clad Old Man, the Combat Boot Ghost, the Ammunition Depot Spirits, and the Fog Ghost along the DMZ. We also unpack why these stories endure. Is it trauma made visible? Shared imagination? Or proof that some soldiers never stopped serving? Me...
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 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...
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 linguistic chaos. 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....
Send us a text King Jeongjo inherited a kingdom broken by madness, murder, and factional greed. In this episode, we look at how the grandson of Yeongjo—and son of the doomed Prince Sado—tried to rebuild the dynasty. From political purges and paranoid advisors to free-market experiments and the rise of new factions, Jeongjo’s reign was a fight to heal a wounded court without losing his crown. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at Dar...
Send us a text Kidnapping and abduction attempts are on the rise in Korea, with more than nine cases per week. We break down the numbers, the shocking cases from Seoul to Jeju, and the weak court responses that leave parents furious. From lures near schools to drug-laced drinks, we look at why this trend is growing and how authorities and families are responding. Korea's #1 ghost and dark history walking tour. Book at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Get your comic at DarkSideOfSeoul.com Support t...
Send us a text We tour Korea’s “cursed landmarks,” from the Blue House to Jongno Tower, the National Assembly, Cheonggyecheon, and beyond. These sites carry dark folklore, bad feng shui, ghost stories, and political baggage. What makes a landmark “cursed,” and why do Koreans still talk about them? 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.c...
Send us a text Our follow-up to Cruel Summer shows Korea’s August crimes were just as horrific. A shaman murdered her niece in a ritual. Couples turned their homes into crime scenes. Babies were abandoned for cash. Convenience store clerks were stabbed for no reason. This summer didn’t cool down. It only got darker. 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...
Send us a text Summer in Korea sucks. This was a record-breaking year for temps. Floods were awful again. Crime was pretty damn bad, too. Big one, little details: headless body found in Taebaeksan; wearing winter clothing - so been there a while. 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 Gho...
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I couldn't understand the word which you used at the part you were talking about teaching english experiences😅 what is it?