In Korea and much of the world, trap-neuter-return programs are a widely accepted way of controlling feral populations and reducing conflicts between cats and humans. Why is the US military so slow to catch up? Kerri Burrows used to go hiking on Namsan every week. On one hike, she saw a poster about stray cats. She…
The Japanese military systematically forced hundreds of thousands of women and girls into sex slavery before and during the Second World War. As the survivors grow old, they need us to join their fight to right the wrongs of history. There’s a picture on my computer from 2009 that’s stayed with me: elderly women dancing…
A new generation of Korean animal rights activists is determined to stand up for the defenseless, even if it means leaving their comfort zones. Heeji Yi has become an unstoppable force in the local animal rights scene. She’s attended protests, done vegan education at Cube of Truth events, and organized Save vigils for animals on…
Where Korea’s cyberbullies (and a few cool people) did their thing before the rise of social media. Sometime around 2007, a woman I barely knew started a thread on a message board and addressed it to me. She made sure to tell me to fuck off in the subject line. Another member of the same…
Yiombi Thona, a prominent Congolese refugee activist and human rights educator, talks about the “responsibility crisis” that prevents the world’s nations from meeting their obligations to asylum seekers. It was an honor to interview Yiombi Thona in 2014 for a special issue of Groove Korea to commemorate the magazine’s 100th edition. The theme was “100…
Vegan activists with display monitors gather every week in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul, and show graphic footage of animal slaughter. Are passers-by making the connection? The first time I observed a Cube of Truth event in Myeong-dong, the busy shopping area in downtown Seoul, I’d followed the group’s activities on social media for some time. The…