Goesan Kimchi-Making Festival for NYT

Photos by @junmichaelpark @seoulphotographer for @nytimes / November is kimjang or kimchi making season in Korea. Traditionally, families and neighbors would come together to share the demanding task of preparing kimchi for the coming year.  Kimjang was a communal and festive occasion, where people enjoyed the freshly made kimchi with …

Covid-19 Upends Chuseok for NYT

Photo and reporting by @junmichaelpark @seoulphotographer for @nytimes. In early September, I thought about how Covid-19 would impact Chuseok, South Korea’s most important holiday and a rough equivalent of Thanksgiving in the U.S. During a normal Chuseok, millions of Koreans travel to their hometowns, clean their ancestors’ tombs and share ritual food together. …

New Normal in Times of Covid for Bloomberg Markets

Photos by @junmichaelpark @seoulphotographer / I documented the start of South Korea’s baseball season for a @bloomberg Markets photo essay, depicting the new normal in the age of Covid-19.â €I went to two games during opening week. Being in empty stadiums was a strange experience. Only journalists, staff members and cheerleaders were in the stands, whereas …

How South Korea Prevented a Covid-19 Diaster for National Geographic

Photos by @junmichaelpark @seoulphotographer / In April, I worked with @natgeo to cover what South Korea has been doing right in handling Covid-19. I photographed medical workers at testing booths and Covid-19-only hospitals, a testing kit company, a school conducting an online class, a social distancing outdoor exam, and a taekwondo studio, a …