The Dark Side of Seoul Podcast
Channel Details
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...
Recent Episodes
323 episodes
Tourist Season: How is Insa-dong?
Insa-dong as one of Joe and Shawn’s first experiences of Seoul
How the neighborhood has changed since the early 2000s
Traditional Korean i...
Tourist Season: Nami Island & Tourist Trap River
Nami Island’s origins, General Nami and the false tomb, Korea’s domestic tourism boom, Winter Sonata and the early Korean Wave, K-drama tourism, artis...
Tourist Season: The Dark Side of Koren Tourist Sites (replay)
Tourist brochures rarely tell the whole story. In this Tourist Season replay, Joe and Shawn revisit one of the podcast's most popular travel episodes,...
Tourist Season: Tourists from Hell (replay)
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 dive...
The Ulsan Family Tragedy
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,...
The Weird Science Behind Korean Food Nationalism
Dark Side of Seoul Podcast
Episode 316
The Weird Science Behind Korean Food Nationalism
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com...
The Korean Ghost and Mr. Skeptic
Send us Fan Mail
After the release of his book Supernatural Encounters in South Korea, one of the comments Shawn received surprised him.
S...
Paper Problems: South Korea's Election Fiasco Explained
Send us Fan Mail
South Korea just held its 9th nationwide local elections on June 3, 2026, and what should have been a routine referendum on Pre...
Burned Twice
Send us Fan Mail
A car exploded in Shawn’s neighborhood, setting off a chain reaction that destroyed multiple vehicles and exposed a brutal insu...
The Dark Side of Finger Hearts - Fun Sized
Send us Fan Mail
AI scams are getting weirder.
In this Fun Sized episode, Joe and Shawn discuss the rise of biometric crime in Korea and h...
Korean Myths that Won’t Die, and Some New Myths We Created | FUN SIZED!
Send us Fan Mail
“Koreans are better surgeons because they use metal chopsticks.”
“Korean grammar makes people more emotionally intelligen...
Korea's Flashing Problem
Send us Fan Mail
Flashing and public indecency have been a problem in Korea for decades, but recent cases suggest the issue may be getting worse...
The Composer Korea Tried to Execute
Send us Fan Mail
Isang Yun was one of Korea’s most important composers, blending traditional Korean sounds with modern European music.
But...
Fun Size: Why Teachers in Korea Can’t Take Sick Days
Send us Fan Mail
We’re back with another Fun Size episode.
This time, we’re looking at something that sounds simple on paper: sick leave....
The Korean Cherry Blossom Controversy
Send us Fan Mail
Cherry blossoms might seem like the most harmless part of spring in Korea. But behind the crowds, festivals, and photo spots, t...
Fun Size: The Gwanghwamun Sign Controversy
Send us Fan Mail
We’re trying something new.
This is our first Fun Size episode—a shorter format where we tackle current topics that spark...
The Korea “Would You Rather” Episode You Didn’t Know You Needed
Send us Fan Mail
This episode takes a lighter turn with a “This or That” game that somehow turns into strong opinions about Korean food, hiking,...
Why You Can't Bury Your Pet in Korea
Send us Fan Mail
Pet ownership in Korea is growing rapidly, but what happens when a beloved animal dies?
In this episode, Joe and Shawn ex...
SEAblings vs. K-netz: When K-pop Fandom Turned Into a Regional Reckoning
Send us Fan Mail
A minor concert rule violation at a Day6 show in Kuala Lumpur ignites a much larger confrontation between Southeast Asian K-pop...
Reading the Dead: What Korean Graves Tell Us
Send us Fan Mail
Winter is cemetery season in Korea.
With the grass dead, snakes gone, and sightlines open, this is when Korea’s hillside...
Who Should Still Be Driving in Korea?
Send us Fan Mail
South Korea became a super-aged society in 2025. The effects are showing up everywhere, but nowhere more visibly than on the ro...
Where Have All the Soju Tents Gone? Part 2
Send us Fan Mail
Our 300th episode!
Pojangmacha didn’t disappear by accident.
In Part 2 of Where Have All the Soju Tents Gone, Joe a...
Where Have All the Soju Tents Gone? Part 1
Send us Fan Mail
There is no Waffle House in Korea.
For decades, the pojangmacha was the last line of defense against going home hungry, b...
Christmas Nightmares 2: Holiday Crimes
Send us Fan Mail
Christmas is often framed as a moment of peace, forgiveness, and reflection. But in Korean history, Christmas Eve has repeatedl...
Christmas Nightmares 1: Darkest Holiday Stories
Send us Fan Mail
Christmas is supposed to be a time of warmth, safety, and reunion. But history doesn’t always cooperate.
In Part 1 of our...
K-Hacked: How Coupang Exposed Korea’s Cybersecurity Mess
Send us Fan Mail
Shawn and Joe dig into Korea’s crumbling cybersecurity myth and the Coupang leak that exposed almost every user in the country....
Weird Tours
Send us Fan Mail
Shawn and Joe trade war stories from the front lines of Seoul’s tour scene. Influencers melting down in costume, drunk guests a...
Short: The Expat Quest for Thanksgiving
Send us Fan Mail
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 T...
The Secret Military Club That Hijacked Korea
Send us Fan Mail
Korea’s modern history has plenty of villains, but Hanahoe might be the most quietly terrifying. This was the private club of m...
Moving Graves
Send us Fan Mail
Special Guest: Ron Chang
Korean graves do not always stay where you put them. In this episode, Ron Chang joins us to talk...
The West Comes Knocking | The Fall of Joseon, part 18 (1791-1801)
Send us Fan Mail
When a Dutch sailor shipwrecked on Jeju in 1627, he thought he’d been captured by cannibals. Instead, he became Korea’s first W...
Haunted Barracks: Korea’s Military Ghost Stories
Send us Fan Mail
The Korean military is haunted — literally and culturally. Soldiers whisper about phantom footsteps, cold spots inside fences,...
Shawn Wrote a Spooky Book
Send us Fan Mail
Here it is! Finally! Shawn Morrissey's much anticipated book of Korean supernatural encounters is released. We ask him your que...
Why Korean City Slogans Sound So Weird (and Why We Love Them Anyway)
Send us Fan Mail
Korean cities love English slogans, but rarely get them right. From “Hi Seoul” to “Busan is Good,” we explore how Korea’s brand...
From Madness to Reform | The Fall of Joseon, part 17
Send us Fan Mail
King Jeongjo inherited a kingdom broken by madness, murder, and factional greed. In this episode, we look at how the grandson o...
Kidnapped!
Send us Fan Mail
Kidnapping and abduction attempts are on the rise in Korea, with more than nine cases per week. We break down the numbers, the...
Cursed Landmarks
Send us Fan Mail
We tour Korea’s “cursed landmarks,” from the Blue House to Jongno Tower, the National Assembly, Cheonggyecheon, and beyond. The...
Cruel Summer 2: Crueler Summerer
Send us Fan Mail
Our follow-up to Cruel Summer shows Korea’s August crimes were just as horrific. A shaman murdered her niece in a ritual. Coupl...
Cruel Summer
Send us Fan Mail
Summer in Korea sucks. This was a record-breaking year for temps. Floods were awful again. Crime was pretty damn bad, too. Big...
K-Pop Demon Hunters: Folklore & Satire
Send us Fan Mail
K-Pop Demon Hunters looks flashy on the surface, but it hides a lot of Korean folklore inside the glitter. We talk about mudang...