logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2021
28m 2s

Sleepless in Seoul

Bbc World Service
About this episode
<p>Korea is one of the most stressed and tired nations on earth, a place where people work and study longer hours than anywhere else. And statistics show they are finding it increasingly difficult to switch off and relax; they sleep fewer hours and have higher rates of depression and suicide than almost anywhere else. And as a result sleeplessness and stress ... Show More
Up next
Today
Why it's good for men to talk
Across the world, there’s often a stigma when it comes to men discussing their emotions. “We’re taught here as men that a man shouldn’t cry,” says Kholekile, who chairs the ManKind Project, a support group for men in South Africa. Across the world, there’s often a stigma when it ... Show More
24m 48s
Yesterday
France’s new Christians
The number of adults getting baptised in France has tripled in the last three years. Why are so many more adults joining the Church in France? We meet two of France’s new Christians, one baptised this Easter, one last Easter, and hear the strong stories they have to tell about th ... Show More
26m 27s
Jul 10
Ark of the dry lands
Researchers in Morocco are developing dry-land agriculture at ICARDA (the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas). It is home to a gene bank, in which around 150,000 different seed-types are kept in perfectly calibrated cold vaults, and duplicated to prot ... Show More
26m 29s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2012
Korea
The death in December of Kim Jong Il, North Korea's "Dear Leader" has focused the spotlight on the affairs of one of the world's most secretive states. Kim Jong Il - and his father before him - had assumed the status of demi-gods. To follow any other religion risked imprisonment ... Show More
27m 42s
Dec 2021
Sleepless in Seoul: South Korea’s Exhausted Workforce
This year's surprise international television success is the dystopian South Korean series, Squid Game, which imagines people competing in a series of ever more violent contests, hundreds dying along the way. The show is a shameless satire on the cut-throat competitiveness of ord ... Show More
28m 46s
Feb 2022
Sleepy in South Korea
Life in a place where people work longer hours and get less sleep than anywhere else. 
6m 19s
Feb 2022
Sleepy in South Korea
Life in a place where people work longer hours and get less sleep than anywhere else. 
6m 19s
Jun 2023
Writer Elise Hu on Life in Seoul and the Rise of K Beauty
K Beauty is one of biggest beauty markets in the world—and one that people travel from all over the world for. This week, Lale chats with Elise Hu, a broadcast journalist, author, and host of the podcast TED Talks Daily, whose new book Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Beauty from t ... Show More
29m 1s
Jul 2020
Episode 77: Indian Hospital Sells Fake COVID-19 Results, Linguists Worry About Space Language, the Mayor of Seoul Commits Suicide
A hospital in India has been caught selling fake negative COVID-19 results for the equivalent of a little more than 33 US dollars. Linguists examine just how much language will change as humans begin to travel to distant moons and planets. In Seoul, South Korea, the Mayor recentl ... Show More
15m 50s
Jun 2024
The Happy Pod: Seoul's 'spaced-out' contest
To combat over-working culture, South Koreans have taken part in the annual 'space-out' competition, where they must simply sit still and do absolutely nothing for 90 minutes. But, they must not fall asleep. Also: meet the podcasters hoping to promote friendship between Morocco a ... Show More
26m 43s
Mar 2023
CLASSIC: Did a cult try to run South Korea?
In 2017 South Korean President Park Guen-hye was impeached and ousted from power as a result of a wide-reaching corruption scandal touching everything from big business to religion. In the aftermath, the world’s been left asking: What exactly happened? Was this another tragic cas ... Show More
57m 6s
Dec 2017
What life is like in North Korea
The most important story in the world right now is how real the chance of war with North Korea is — and how cataclysmic such a war would be. Part of the reason the risk of war is so real is that our understanding of North Korea is so sparse. "The Hermit Kingdom" is a world unto i ... Show More
52m 20s