It's our birthday (sort of)

On February 23rd this blog turned one year old. I was too busy to post anything that day so this is really a belated birthday post. It's been a good year, and I'd say that we've been relatively successful in that we've managed to post, on average, more than once a week for the last year. Besides putting up many smaller posts on current events involving Korean social movements, we also managed to contribute a number of unique commentaries of our own that have either been prepared for print or were original posts that recieved wider circulation. Often, the events that we have covered in these stories have been ongoing and you can see their development through other stories in the archives.

Here's a sample of some of the stories that I think are our best work. If you are a new reader to this blog than these stories will give you a sense of some of the issues that we've covered, and if you are a returning reader, we'll here's a reminder of where we've been and, hopefully, where we'll continue to go in the future.

Our story on the struggle over the expansion of irregular work, Against Flexibilization, was our most thorough exploration of the proliferation of non-regular work in South Korea and the fight against it -- a fight that continues to this day as the National Assembly is still trying to introduce the legislation. This story has definitely gotten the most attention on this blog as it continues to unfold. Likewise, an overview on the migrant workers struggle, the new minjung, also dealt with this topic in the sense that the expanding use of foreign migrant labour is a form of labour restructuring in itself and migrants groups, such as the MTU, continue to struggle for rights and equality in South Korea.

Matt, our other contributor, has put up some great posts as well. His posts on conscientious objectors in South Korea got a lot of attention and he is planning some important updates on this story in the future. His story North Korea's attempts to control the spread of information is also indicative of his good work. In the aftermath of the APEC and rice liberalization protests (two interrelated issues), Matt was quick to write about the public reaction to the death of Jeon Yong Cheol during a scuffle with police. Kotaji and I also tried to weigh in on the topic with a story in Japan Focus about some of the points of focus of the APEC protests and the protests that were about to follow in Hong Kong.

Well, those are my picks for some birthday reading. Hopefully we'll have lots more for you next year. Thanks for reading!