The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk

Category: Podcast

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 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 execution of Park Heung-suk, remembered as “Mudeungsan Tarzan,” hanged on Christmas Eve in 1980 after a violent confrontation born from forced eviction and extreme poverty. Finally, we revisit the Daejeon bank robbery and murder of 2001, a Christmas-season killing that remained unsolved for over twenty years.
These stories expose how Christmas, rather than symbolizing mercy, was repeatedly used as a moment of finality — when the state acted, and history tried to move on.

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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
Christmas is supposed to mark the end of the year with reflection and compassion. In Korea’s modern history, however, Christmas Eve has often been a chosen moment for violence, silence, and punishment.
Part 2 of Christmas Nightmares focuses on three cases that reveal how deeply trauma can be tied to the calendar.
The Seokdal-ri Massacre, also known as the Mungyeong Civilian Massacre, took place on December 24, 1949 — before the Korean War officially began. In a mountainous village in present-day Mungyeong, South Korean troops surrounded Seokdal-ri under anti-guerrilla orders. Without individual investigations or trials, the village was collectively labeled a supporter base for leftist fighters.
Soldiers set homes on fire in broad daylight. Villagers fleeing the flames were driven into rice paddies and shot. Others were intercepted on nearby paths, including schoolchildren walking home and young men returning from neighboring villages. Eighty-six residents — mostly women, children, and the elderly — were killed. Twenty-four houses were burned.
For decades, survivors were forced into silence, stigmatized as “reds’ families.” The massacre disappeared from public memory until democratization allowed journalists and local activists to push for truth. In 2007, South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded the killings were an illegal mass execution of civilians and recommended an official apology and reparations.
Each year, a mudang performs a gut ritual at the site, asking the dead not to bring misfortune and offering what many families feel the state never fully gave them: acknowledgment. For Seokdal-ri, shamanic ritual became a parallel space of truth when official history failed.
Christmas Eve violence resurfaced decades later in a different form. Park Heung-suk, born into extreme poverty, lived with his family in an illegal shantytown on the slopes of Mudeungsan in Gwangju. In 1977, as the city prepared for the National Sports Festival and a presidential visit, demolition teams burned his family’s shack during forced evictions. No compensation. No relocation.
In a rage, Park attacked demolition workers, killing four. The press branded him “Mudeungsan Tarzan,” portraying him as a wild criminal rather than a product of violent redevelopment policies. Despite petitions from intellectuals citing his youth and circumstances, he was executed by hanging on December 24, 1980. His death became known simply as the Christmas Eve Execution.
Finally, the episode revisits the Daejeon Kookmin Bank robbery and murder of December 2001. Two men ambushed a cash delivery van, killing a bank manager who resisted. The case went cold for over two decades until DNA evidence finally identified the suspects. In 2023, one received a life sentence, the other twenty years. Justice arrived, but far too late for the victim.
Together, these stories show how Christmas Eve has repeatedly been used as a moment to close cases, erase people, and move on — even when the wounds remain open.
December 25, 2025
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 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 cold.
From there, we move to modern tragedies. A massive Christmas Eve pile-up on the Cheonan–Nonsan Expressway that turned fog and black ice into chaos. A chilling Christmas Day murder rooted in online obsession and jealousy. And a violent armed robbery that shattered the illusion of holiday safety.
These are stories where celebration collided with fear, and survival mattered more than tradition.

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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
Christmas is often framed as a season of miracles. In Korea, history tells a more complicated story.
Part 1 of Christmas Nightmares looks at moments when the holiday became a backdrop for fear, loss, and impossible decisions, stretching from the Korean War to the present day.
The Heungnam Evacuation of 1950 is remembered as one of the greatest humanitarian operations of the war. As UN forces retreated after Chinese intervention, the port city of Heungnam became the final escape route. Over ten days in December, nearly 100,000 troops, thousands of vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of tons of equipment were evacuated by sea.
What’s often emphasized is the rescue of roughly 100,000 North Korean civilians. Families of anti-communist officials, Christians, and those fearing retribution crowded the docks in freezing weather, desperate for passage. The SS Meredith Victory became legendary for carrying over 14,000 refugees despite being designed for only a fraction of that number. All survived. Ships departed on Christmas Eve and arrived in Busan and Geoje on Christmas Day.
But the miracle had a darker side. About half of those seeking escape were turned away. Screening for infiltrators was chaotic and inconsistent. Connections to churches, the government, or the military often determined who lived and who stayed. Able-bodied adults pushed through crowds while the sick, elderly, and families with small children were left behind. Many of those abandoned were later executed, imprisoned, or disappeared. Families were split in moments that still haunt Korean memory. In this Christmas story, the living boarded, and the dead stayed.
Fast forward to December 24, 2011. Thick fog and black ice along the Cheonan–Nonsan Expressway triggered one of Korea’s largest multi-vehicle accidents. Over 100 vehicles, including buses and an oil tanker, crashed across several kilometers. Miraculously, there were no fatalities, but dozens were injured. Responsibility became a public argument, with officials blaming weather, drivers, and road maintenance in equal measure. The incident remains a cautionary tale repeated every winter.
Christmas Day itself has not been spared violence. In 2024, a teenage girl was murdered in Sacheon by a boy she had known only online. Their relationship never existed in the real world until the day he planned to end her life. He traveled across the country, lured her to a secluded parking lot with the promise of a gift, and stabbed her repeatedly. She died that night. He was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Earlier, in 2018, three men broke into a woman’s home in Daegu in the early hours of Christmas Day. Armed with knives, they beat and restrained her before stealing cash. Media coverage fixated less on the crime and more on her immigration status, revealing another uncomfortable layer of how society chooses its victims.
Christmas Nightmares is not about shock for shock’s sake. It’s about remembering that history doesn’t pause for holidays. Sometimes, the season meant to symbolize peace instead reveals who is protected, who is forgotten, and what people are willing to do to survive.
December 18, 2025
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 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 companies keep failing upward and how a single leak at Coupang nearly shut down parts of the small business economy. Plus, a side tour through xenophobic blame games, delivery driver exploitation and the weird reality that the country with the fastest internet once clung to ActiveX like a family heirloom.

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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
K-Hacked: Korea’s Cybersecurity Crisis and the Coupang Breach
Korea loves its image as a sleek digital wonderland. Servers humming. Rocket delivery arriving in the morning. Shiny dashboards running national services. It all looks advanced until you look at the plumbing. Then you find out half the pipes were installed during the ActiveX era and never updated again.
The Coupang breach did not break Korea’s cybersecurity reputation. It revealed the reputation was mostly wishful thinking.
The IT Powerhouse Myth
Korea built one of the world’s fastest internet infrastructures, and for years that was enough to earn the country a global reputation for technological brilliance. But speed is not security. Behind the glossy branding sit outdated servers, companies running sensitive systems on unsegmented networks and a government still patching tools from the mid 2000s.
Internet rankings tell the story. Korea is now behind Singapore, Chile, the UAE, the US, Vietnam, Iceland and others in broadband speed. Mobile speeds are slipping too. IT workers say the same thing. Korea rested on its laurels while everyone else kept moving.
The result is a perfect hunting ground for hackers. Nearly eight billion attack attempts a day. Annual increases in the double digits. Poor segmentation. Weak encryption. Outdated code. Publicly available penetration tools. It is the digital version of leaving your apartment door open and then bragging about how fast your elevator runs.
A Tour of Recent Hacks
The past few years have been a parade of preventable breaches.
SK Telecom
More than twenty three million users had personal information exposed. The company kept LTE and 5G subscriber data in plain text and linked external and internal networks together like a single open hallway. Logs warning of intrusions were ignored. Patches from 2016 were never installed. Leadership shrugged until the Personal Information Protection Commission slapped them with fines.
Lotte Card
Almost three million users hit. Card numbers, CVCs, resident IDs. The executives resigned. The investigation keeps growing. Confidence keeps shrinking.
The Government
The Onnara System was breached for almost three years. Public officials logged into remote work systems from unsecured personal computers. Alerts never triggered. Logging systems repeatedly failed and no one acted on it. Critics called it chronic neglect. They were being polite.
Then came the fire at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon, where negligence halted more than seven hundred national systems. Ministries reverted to paperwork. Citizens could not get certificates. The digital future turned into a line at a counter.
Government ministries lecture companies about security even as their own house collapses behind them.
And Then There Is Coupang
Coupang is Korea’s Amazon. Tens of millions of users rely on it. Small businesses depend on it. During the pandemic it became essential. Rocket delivery changed expectations. Even its critics depend on it. And then the bomb dropped.
Coupang initially said four thousand accounts were affected. The investigation revealed the real number. Almost thirty four million. Nearly every user on the platform.
Names, addresses, phone numbers and emails were siphoned off through overseas servers starting in June and nothing detected it for five months. Coupang insists payment information remains safe. The public is not convinced. The government is not convinced. Small businesses definitely are not convinced. Some reported a thirty percent drop in orders.
The predictable response followed. A suspect was identified, reportedly a former Chinese employee. Racist comments exploded online. Blame shifted to foreigners. Forty and fifty something men were the loudest voices. That anger conveniently dodged the real problem. Coupang’s weak systems. Korea’s weak cybersecurity culture. The refusal to modernize. The refusal to invest.
It is easier to blame China than to blame corporate negligence and political inaction.
Why Korea Keeps Getting Breached
A lot of the problems trace back to policies from the early 2000s. Korea went all in on e-government systems, but the country treated technology like a one time project. Build it. Launch it. Move on. Maintenance fell behind. Regulations focused on checking boxes rather than actually securing systems. Companies bought tools to pass certification rather than building long term defensive strategies.
Other persistent issues include:
• Outdated programming knowledge across institutions.
• People using simple passwords and reusing them everywhere.
• The old real name system that forced companies to collect sensitive IDs on insecure sites.
• Turf wars between agencies that slow down upgrades.
• Weak enforcement until something goes wrong.
• Security teams underfunded and understaffed.
In Korea, hacks are not shocking news. They are monthly ritual. A culture treats cybersecurity as crisis management rather than long term infrastructure. Hackers know it. Companies know it. Government agencies know it. Everyone hopes they are not the next headline.
The Coupang Leak Should Be a Wake Up Call
Korea can reclaim its status as an IT leader, but not without dropping the fantasy. The infrastructure is fast. The systems built on top of it are old. The culture around security is outdated. And the companies running it all prefer speed and convenience over safety.
The Coupang breach exposed almost every user in the country. It also exposed a bigger truth. Korea’s digital backbone needs renovation, not slogans.
Until then, hackers will keep treating Korea like an open buffet, and companies will keep acting surprised when they get caught sleeping.
December 11, 2025
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-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 busker and a heron named Bob, and you get a solid snapshot of what it means to guide people through this city. It is messy, funny, awkward, exhausting and sometimes unexpectedly sweet.

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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
The Weirdest Things We Have Seen on Tour in Seoul
Tour guides build up a thick skin, but Seoul still finds ways to surprise us. This episode walks through the moments that stop a tour cold, push patience to the limit or turn into stories we never forget. Influencers causing chaos, drunk guests wobbling through alleys, bathroom mysteries, misinformed history buffs and wildlife drama at Cheonggyecheon. It is every guide’s greatest hits album, and not always in the flattering sense.
Influencers Behaving Badly
Shawn and Joe started with the one group guides dread. Influencers. The word covers a wide spectrum, but the troublemakers usually share the same traits. Loud. Self important. Zero awareness of anyone around them. Joe recalled a day when a costumed influencer squad showed up ready to “perform” for their followers. They treated the tour like a background prop, blocked walkways, derailed Joe’s pacing and then wandered off.
Shawn agreed that some are fine, but many cannot be trusted to behave like adults. Guides end up playing babysitter while paying guests quietly resent the circus around them. Their joint conclusion was simple. Influencers need rules, and the rules need teeth.
When Tourists Show Up Drunk
One of Shawn’s personal favorites is the man who apologized between bouts of vomiting. Twice. He stayed polite the whole time, which somehow made it funnier. Joe countered with a bathroom incident that lasted suspiciously long. Both stories circled back to the same point. Setting higher prices filters out a certain type of chaos. Not all of it, but enough to protect the rest of the group.
A Mixed Bag of Tour Groups
Some groups arrive rowdy. Some arrive cold. And others, like the cast of The Great Gatsby musical, show up ready to party in the best way. Shawn talked about guiding with a head cold and accidentally turning a slip up into a joke that landed perfectly. Every guide has those moments. You just lean into it.
They also shared encounters with groups that changed the tour’s energy without doing anything wrong. Sometimes the vibe is off. Sometimes it is magic. You roll with what you get.
What Happens When People Think K-Dramas Are History
Shawn and Joe both field questions from guests who learned “history” from entertainment media. There are tourists who correct the guide with absolute confidence based on a single show they watched on Netflix. Others declare expertise after landing in Seoul twelve hours earlier. Balancing poetic license with historical accuracy becomes its own negotiation.
Shawn has been mistaken for a Toastmasters speaker. Joe has watched people confidently argue against documented events because they read a fan theory online. It is predictable and never dull.
When Western Misconceptions Collide With Korean Reality
Joe shared the story of the Australian tourist who bailed mid tour and later wrote a negative review. The trigger seemed to be Joe’s comment about South Korea’s propaganda, which did not fit his worldview.
This opened up a conversation on how Westerners bring assumptions about cost of living, pensions and political systems into Korea and struggle when reality does not line up. Shawn stressed the need to arrive with an open mind. Both agreed that politics comes up naturally. If they know the answer, they answer.
Street Life, Protests and Strange Moments in Seoul
The episode wandered into everyday oddities. Protesters shouting at no one. A clown fight. Seoul Station’s rough side. Government decisions that actively make public spaces worse. The kind of things that guides see constantly but never make it into guidebooks.
Shawn also shared a story about a tour guest who managed to argue with his enthusiastic wife throughout the walk. They finished without incident, but the tension was a character in its own right.
Urban Wildlife and the People Who Harass It
Joe talked about changes along Cheonggyecheon, including a local heron named Bob who does not seem impressed by joggers or tourists. Shawn and Joe both see people throwing rocks at animals or annoying everyone with their loud “lawnchair karaoke.” The decline of coordinated running groups has given way to a new plague: solo runners who act like the stream is their personal treadmill.
Public Spaces and the Art of Being Loud for No Reason
The conversation shifted to groups of runners with portable speakers, mountain bikers treating pedestrian paths like race tracks and buskers who should have been told “no” a long time ago. Cheonggyecheon in particular attracts performers who seem committed to testing the limits of amplification. The Kenny G busker on Thursdays has become a running joke.
Authorities have cracked down, but the chaos never disappears entirely.
Health, Safety and the Unexpected
Shawn reminded listeners that tourists need to disclose allergies, asthma or limitations instead of pretending they are fine until it becomes a problem. Joe recalled the time police arrived to investigate a costumed group on one of his tours.
The episode closed with a discussion of shipping headaches, customs fees and the long suffering battle of getting merch to the United States. The plea for reviews and Patreon support naturally followed.
December 2, 2025
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 myself and others that giving thanks goes beyond turkey, Macy’s parades, and football. The original is here.

November 24, 2025
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 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 world of coups, purges, favoritism, region based politics and the strange afterlife of Hanahoe’s legacy in Korean society. If you want to understand why Korean democracy took so long to take root, this is the rot at the center.

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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
The Secret Club That Tried To Run Korea
If you want to understand why South Korea’s democracy arrived late, limping, and covered in bruises, you need to understand Hanahoe. This was not just a group of military buddies. It was a shadow bureaucracy that planned its rise, groomed its successors and treated the Korean military as its private job pool.
Most tourists never hear this story. Most Koreans under forty only know the name as something adults spit out with disgust. But for decades, Hanahoe shaped everything from promotions inside the army to political alliances that still determine election maps today.
What Hanahoe Actually Was
Picture an elite club inside the Korea Military Academy that acted like a mafia with slightly better uniforms. The founding members, mostly from the Daegu and Gyeongbuk region, created a network that rewarded loyalty over competence. It became common knowledge that your birthplace mattered more than your test scores.
Hanahoe’s members backed each other relentlessly. They climbed faster. They got plum assignments. They pushed rivals out. By the time the 1970s rolled around, Hanahoe was not just a club. It was the unofficial HR department of the Korean Armed Forces.
And yes, this is the soil Chun Doo hwan and Roh Tae woo grew out of.
Chun, Roh and the Coup That Was Practically Prewritten
When Park Chung hee was assassinated in 1979, the military went through a leadership vacuum. Hanahoe treated this vacuum like a Black Friday sale. Chun used the network to seize the Army Security Command, then used that position to stage the 12.12 coup that toppled the existing order.
Roh Tae woo marched right in behind him, because that is what Hanahoe did. One member climbed. The others pushed from below.
The result was the authoritarian Fifth Republic. The Gwangju massacre. Years of martial law. A generation that grew up afraid to speak near windows.
How Hanahoe Stayed in Power
The secret sauce was their loyalty pipeline. You did not join Hanahoe casually. It was anointed. Once inside, you were guaranteed protection. Promotions came easier. Investigations evaporated. Even after Korea held free elections, Hanahoe lingered in the upper ranks like mildew behind wallpaper.
Politically, the TK region (Daegu and North Gyeongsang) became the beating heart of conservative voting blocs. This was not an accident. Hanahoe members stacked the bureaucracy with people from their hometowns. Regional favoritism did the rest.
The legacy of that system still shows up in modern politics. If you ever wondered why certain areas vote conservatively no matter what, this is part of that DNA.
The Fall That Should Have Happened Sooner
When Kim Young sam finally abolished Hanahoe in the 1990s, it shocked people that the group had survived this long in the democratic era. Chun and Roh were arrested for mutiny and corruption. You would think that would close the book.
Not quite. Hanahoe was dismantled officially, but its alumni networks survived quietly. The favoritism did not disappear. It just hid itself better. Modern Korean institutions still struggle with the shadow of this era. People are still hired based on school ties, regional identity and unseen loyalties that have nothing to do with job performance.
Hanahoe is a cautionary tale. Give a small group power without oversight and they start acting like owners instead of public servants. In Korea’s case, the owners wore uniforms and treated political power like a family inheritance.
Why This Matters Today
It is easy to blame old dictators for the sins of the past, but Hanahoe built habits that institutions still fight.
Promotion by network. Regional loyalty. Suspicion of outsiders. A deep fear of giving up control. None of that evaporates when you pass a new law.
Hanahoe is a reminder that democracy is not just voting booths. It is the constant push to break old patronage systems and demand transparency. Korea is still doing that work.
And like most things in Korean history, the story is not clean. It is messy, political and soaked in the sweat of people who thought they were destined to rule.
November 20, 2025
Moving Graves

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 mound is opened. Ron walks us through the whole thing: the paperwork, the tools, the shock of what you find underground, and the strange mix of duty, sadness, sweat and family logistics that define Korean memorial life.
If you have ever wondered how Korea handles the dead, this is your backstage pass.

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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
Moving the Dead: Ron’s Story of Exhumation and Family Duty in Korea
Korea has a long relationship with the dead. Ancestors are not abstract ideas. They sit in the landscape. They live in the soil. They look over the living. And sometimes, they have to be moved.
In this episode of the Dark Side of Seoul Podcast, our friend and guide Ron Chang shares the experience of relocating his grandparents’ graves. Both passed in the 1980s and were buried in a remote cemetery in Yangju. It was beautiful back then. Quiet. Mountain air. But time changes everything. The cemetery became harder to reach. The mounds needed constant repair. And the family changed, too. There were fewer people left who could tend the graves.
So the decision was made. Move them.
Ron takes us through the cultural side first. Grave moving is not unusual in Korea. Families do it for many reasons. Pungsu, the Korean feng shui tradition, is a major one. If the land feels wrong or the energy changes after development, families trust the terrain more than paperwork. Another reason is practicality. Some graves are simply too remote. Modern life does not always allow for mountain hikes with weeding tools and offerings.
Ron’s family had a more personal reason as well. His aunt’s parents, who came from the northern provinces, were buried in Donghwa Gyeongmo Park near Imjingak. Only families with North Korean roots can be buried there. Ron’s uncle is buried there, and when the time comes, his aunt will join him. Ron’s grandparents qualified as in-laws. It made sense to bring everyone to the same place.
The physical process was something else entirely.
Three workers arrived with shovels, axes and tools Ron had never seen before. The soil had hardened over decades. Removing the mounds took almost an hour. Then the deeper digging began. Reaching each coffin took hours. The workers eventually tore open the top of the coffin and removed the remains by hand. Ron describes the moment with a kind of shocked respect.
He remembers finding his grandmother’s gold necklace. His grandfather’s watch and glasses. These small, quiet artifacts of a life.
The remains were boxed, carried down the mountain and driven to the crematorium. Then the ashes were brought home for a night before being placed in special cupboards at Donghwa Gyeongmo Park. Once sealed, those cupboards cannot be opened for twenty years. Families attach photos or letters on the doors. No rituals. No jesa. No bowing to a mound in the wind.
Ron said the whole process was solemn but meaningful. It reminded him how central the dead remain in Korean family life. The living change homes, cities and careers. The dead move more slowly, but they move too.
And Korea makes space for them.
November 15, 2025
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 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.

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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
The West Arrives: Cannibals, Cannons, and Catholicism in Joseon
When King Jeongjo took the throne in 1776, he tried to reform a kingdom torn apart by factions and tradition. But the real challenge was still to come—from beyond the sea.
The story begins not with missionaries or merchants, but with a shipwreck. In 1627, a Dutch sailor named Jan Janse de Weltevree washed ashore on Jeju Island. Expecting to be eaten by “cannibals,” he instead became the first Westerner to live in Korea. Over time, he took a Korean name—Park Yeon, passed the civil service exam, married, and commanded troops. When fellow Dutch castaway Hendrick Hamel met him years later, Weltevree’s Korean was flawless… and his Dutch was nearly gone.
Joseon’s Confucian order saw itself as the last bastion of civilization in a barbaric world. But small cracks had formed. Through China, books like Matteo Ricci’s True Principles of Catholicism introduced Western science and Christianity. To some, it was dangerous heresy. To others, a breath of fresh air in a stale system.
By the late 18th century, reform-minded scholars began embracing Seohak, or “Western Learning.” They admired Europe’s science and technology but ignored its faith. Others—especially from poor or marginalized families—found Catholicism’s message of equality too powerful to resist.
King Jeongjo tried to keep the peace. But after his death in 1800, the regent Queen Dowager Jeongsun and her conservative Byeokpa allies cracked down hard. The first Korean Catholics were executed for performing non-Confucian funeral rites. By 1801, more than 300 believers were executed, thousands imprisoned or exiled—including members of the royal family.
What began with one stranded sailor ended with Korea’s first religious persecution—and a nation split between old beliefs and new worlds.
November 7, 2025
Haunted Barracks: Korea’s Military Ghost Stories
Every Korean base has a ghost story. From eerie guard posts to phantom radio calls, Korea’s military folklore is filled with soldiers who never stopped standing watch. We explore the legends, the psychology behind them, and the blurred line between stress and the supernatural.
Media recommendations
- R-Point
- Dog Soldiers
- Dead of Night (‘74)
- The Living & the Dead (‘07)
- The Others (kinda)
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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
The Ghosts That Still Stand Guard: Korea’s Military Hauntings
The Korean military has two realities — the one soldiers live in, and the one they whisper about after dark. In those long night watches, the barracks fill with stories of footsteps on empty floors, radios that speak to no one, and figures in old uniforms walking where no one should be.
The Perfect Conditions for a Haunting
Isolation, sleep deprivation, and a rigid hierarchy make the military a breeding ground for ghost stories. Many tales come from soldiers on overnight guard duty or bases built over former battlefields. Psychologists say these stories help conscripts process fear together. In other words, ghost stories are group therapy in camouflage.
Classic Motifs
- Ghosts wearing outdated ROK uniforms
- Radio messages from empty outposts
- Sudden drops in temperature inside fences
- People walking over water or through barbed wire
- Voices crying where no civilians live
Famous Hauntings
Nonsan Training Center
Recruits report seeing dead trainees calling them over during grenade drills. The “Ghost Tree” nearby has spooked generations of soldiers who swear they see faces in the bark.
The White-Clad Old Man
In 2014, soldiers at a construction site saw an old man dressed in white drifting between half-built barracks. Excavation later revealed old graves under the site. The figure vanished soon after — but guards still feel watched.
The Combat Boot Ghost
At an Air Force base, a suicide victim’s boot refused to burn. Soon, a one-booted soldier was seen patrolling the corridors. Footsteps echoed from empty floors until the dormitory was shut down.
The Ammunition Depot Spirits
Front-line guards heard invisible boots and ghostly rifle clinks near old Korean War ammo bunkers. One ghost, “Private Kim on the 2nd Step,” supposedly still walks his post.
The Fog Ghost
Along the DMZ, soldiers see a lone figure emerging from thick mist. Radios fail, the temperature drops, and the shape disappears into vapor — a soldier reliving his last patrol forever.
What It Says About Military Life
Korea’s military ghosts reveal more than superstition. They show the human cost of isolation, hierarchy, and fear. The haunted barracks are symbols of the stress young men endure — and the stories they invent to survive it.
Whether it’s a ghost or just the mind trying to make sense of the dark, one truth remains: in the Korean military, even the dead still stand guard.
October 29, 2025
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?

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
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
Hunter Winter
Cecilia Löfgren Dumas
Ashley Wright
Edward Bradford
Boram Yoon
Chad Struhs
Stewart MacMillan
Louise Dreisig
October 23, 2025

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