The Dark Side of Seoul Podcast
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.
Episodes
306 episodes
Why You Can't Bury Your Pet in Korea
Pet ownership in Korea is growing rapidly, but what happens when a beloved animal dies?In this episode, Joe and Shawn explore the surprising and often emotional world of pet funerals in Korea. From strict burial laws that classify animal...
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Episode 304
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1:07:29
SEAblings vs. K-netz: When K-pop Fandom Turned Into a Regional Reckoning
A minor concert rule violation at a Day6 show in Kuala Lumpur ignites a much larger confrontation between Southeast Asian K-pop fans, known online as SEAblings, and Korean netizens, or K-netz.What began as frustration over DSLR camera us...
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Episode 303
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1:43:26
Reading the Dead: What Korean Graves Tell Us
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 wan...
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Episode 302
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1:01:34
Who Should Still Be Driving in Korea?
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...
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Episode 301
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59:57
Where Have All the Soju Tents Gone? Part 2
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 ...
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Episode 300
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49:59
Where Have All the Soju Tents Gone? Part 1
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 W...
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Episode 299
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54:13
Christmas Nightmares 2: Holiday Crimes
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 chilli...
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Episode 298
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38:06
Christmas Nightmares 1: Darkest Holiday Stories
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 begi...
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Episode 297
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50:11
K-Hacked: How Coupang Exposed Korea’s Cybersecurity Mess
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 syste...
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Episode 296
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55:44
Weird Tours
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-a...
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Episode 295
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1:20:55
Short: The Expat Quest for Thanksgiving
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 myse...
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14:15
The Secret Military Club That Hijacked Korea
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 a...
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46:09
Moving Graves
Special Guest: Ron ChangKorean 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 ...
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Episode 293
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53:45
The West Comes Knocking | The Fall of Joseon, part 18 (1791-1801)
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 W...
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Episode 292
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43:49
Haunted Barracks: Korea’s Military Ghost Stories
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-Cla...
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Episode 291
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1:06:13
Shawn Wrote a Spooky Book
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?
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Episode 290
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54:23
Why Korean City Slogans Sound So Weird (and Why We Love Them Anyway)
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.
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Episode 289
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1:05:48
From Madness to Reform | The Fall of Joseon, part 17
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...
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Episode 288
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34:48
Kidnapped!
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 t...
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Episode 287
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59:07
Cursed Landmarks
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 “curse...
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Episode 286
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58:06
Cruel Summer 2: Crueler Summerer
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...
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Episode 285
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54:10
Cruel Summer
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.
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Episode 284
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49:25
K-Pop Demon Hunters: Folklore & Satire
K-Pop Demon Hunters looks flashy on the surface, but it hides a lot of Korean folklore inside the glitter. We talk about mudang rituals, dokkaebi, tiger and magpie tricksters, and why the movie is both a tribute to K-Pop and a satire o...
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Episode 283
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1:17:04
The Wailing Woman and the Red-Hatted Ghosts of Korea | Spooky Chills Summer
We close out Spooky Summer with a set of chilling Korean ghost stories and urban legends. Joe shares tales of the Wailing Woman, the Red-Hatted Ghosts, and the eerie story of “Visiting the Grandparents.” Shawn brings first-hand accounts from in...
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Episode 282
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1:08:28
Ghost Stories That Grew Up With the City | Spooky Chills Summer
A chill night-walk through Korea’s darker folklore: we bring together old graves, cursed bills, haunted portraits, and digital terrors. Hear how a man’s midnight pit stop frees a trapped virgin ghost in 1930s Jeonju, why a gruesome urban legend...
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Episode 281
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1:00:30
