Jaewon Hwang

Discouraged, Not Defeated: How Gen Z Is Responding to Record Inequality

The discouragement is real. But so far, this generation is responding to it with more urgency than those who came before them.

[The HPV Gap Series] Korea Made the HPV Vaccine Free for Boys. Few Families Understand Why It Matters

The government solved the cost. It did nothing for a mother who still can't see the reason.

Harvard Removed the Price Tag. Who Gets In Barely Moved.

What the Class of 2029 data reveals is that access to elite higher education isn't a single problem with a single lever. Tuition is one barrier; standardized testing another; the pipeline of preparation—school quality, counselor access, the sense that Harvard is even a place for you—may be the most durable.

South Korea's Foreign Population Is at a Record High. Its Immigration Portal Hasn't Kept Up.

"I like South Korea," Omer said. "I just want the process of legally being here to be a bit more common-sensical,” she added.

AI can pass the bar. These Korean students still want to be lawyers.

As GPT-4-class models score in the top 10 percent on bar-exam simulations, a generation weighing the profession argues the credential is changing — from proof of competence to proof of survival.

Why We Built This Section

I built the Work and Power desk at KYN because I am tired of reading about my generation as a data point.

GenZ Japan’s Crisis: The Death of Creative Ambitions

What emerges from the ground is not a portrait of youthful apathy. Rather, it is a portrait of extremely competent risk assessment, performed by people who, in most other developed nations, would still be a decade away from their first full-time job.

College Tennis Was a Consolation Prize. Now It's the Road to Center Court.

The rise of college players on tour has dismantled a false choice between athletic ambition and academic security. For the juniors watching, college is no longer where tennis dreams go to settle. It is where they go to launch.

Why We Built This Section

I refuse to accept a paradigm where the public carries the moral and financial weight of a crisis engineered by a tiny fraction of global corporations.

The "Zero" Illusion: What Science Says About Your Favorite Zero-Sugar Sodas

"Rather than relying blindly on the word 'zero' on a label, wise consumers should inspect the nutrition facts and ingredient lists to suit their personal needs. For true health, water or tea remains the best choice, but enjoying zero drinks in moderation within a balanced lifestyle is perfectly safe."

[Explained] The "Chad" Trap: How Boys are Being Harmed Today

Real self-worth and healthy relationships are built on empathy, mutual respect, and emotional maturity, qualities that no algorithm or physical intervention can ever engineer.

Why Young Women Are Getting Sick After a Visit to the Clinic in Korea

Such lenient prescribing is exactly what regulators have been trying to crack down on. But not every doctor agrees that harsher regulation is the right response.

The Viral Snack Loophole: Why Teens Keep Eating What Regulators Have Flagged

Until manufacturers, importers, and regulators pay closer attention to the snacks available to students across stores, the burden of catching what slips through will keep falling on thirteen-year-olds who just wanted a snack that tasted good.

[Explained] The $45 Water Bottle and the Age of Performative Consumption

When life is broadcast continuously, the things you carry are no longer just tools. They're your wardrobe.

In Mexico, the Care You Get Depends on What You Can Afford

The root cause, in his view, is money and how it is collected: "Budget diversion, cuts to the national budget, and the low rate of people who pay taxes." Reform the tax system and raise the budget, he added, and public care could improve.

Why Today's Teenagers May Never Own a Home in Korea

"Owning a home in Korea seems to have become almost impossible for average people," Kim said. "The housing market, I feel, has been turned into a playground for rich investors, landlords, and corporations."

A Mother's Care, Generated by AI: Why Young Shoppers Scroll Past

What young people reject is AI used instead of care rather than in service of it: a mother's hands replaced by a synthetic image, a 40-year-old holiday tradition replaced by something that looks unfinished.

Five Million Sold. Then Koreans Turned the Wrapper Over.

It took five million bars — and a generation of children with candy-colored tongues — before anyone thought to turn the package over and read it.