Don’t Blacklist Bong Joon-ho

Not anymore. Not anywhere.

안녕! It’s Ari, your chatty Korean friend and weekend reminder. 🎉 Today’s newsletter covers a jjigae recipe and a request to wannabe dictators around the world. Before we dive in,

📢 My First Short Read Coming Next Week

I’m in the final stretch—doing the final of final revisions, which I believe will be done in a couple of days. So, I’m pretty positive I Like You, But Not Your iPhone will be released next week!

Actually, the title is something a man once said to me. If you’re curious about what it means and why he said it, grab a copy next week! 📖✨

Spam Sundubu Jjigae

Spam Sundubu Jjigae @웅이맘의 달콤키친

March is just around the corner. Before winter ends, how about wrapping up the cold season with a bowl of warm jjigae? Sundubu Jjigae is one of the most popular stews in Korea, known for its spicy broth and creamy silken tofu.

Today, I’d like to introduce a beginner-friendly way to make Sundubu Jjigae. Traditionally, this dish is made with beef or seafood broth, but if you don’t have those ingredients on hand, you can still whip up a delicious version with just a can of Spam!

This recipe was created by Ryu Soo-young, a popular celebrity cook known for his beginner-friendly recipes. Since its introduction, it has become a beloved go-to for many.

Check out the recipe below and enjoy a warm, comforting weekend. If you need a visual guide, be sure to watch the cooking video!

For 2-3 servings,

Ingredients

• 200g Spam

• 1 green onion

• 2 Cheongyang peppers (any spicy peppers you have)

• ⅓ zucchini

• ½ onion

• 5 TBSP olive oil

• 1 TBSP minced garlic

• ½ TBSP sugar

• 3 TBSP gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes)

• 3 TBSP soy sauce

• 2 TBSP oyster sauce

• 300ml water

• 1 pack of silken tofu

• Black pepper (to taste)

• 2 eggs

Instructions

1. Prepare the Vegetables: Slice the green onion thinly. Dice half of the onion and cut the zucchini into half-moon shapes. Finely chop the Cheongyang peppers.

2. Prepare the Spam: Mash half of the Spam using a knife for better broth flavor. Cut the other half into small chunks for topping.

3. Stir-fry the Spam: Heat a pot with 5 TBSP olive oil and add the mashed Spam. Stir-fry until golden brown.

4. Sauté the Aromatics: Add 1 TBSP minced garlic, green onion, Cheongyang peppers, and ½ TBSP sugar. Stir-fry for 1 minute.

5. Add Gochugaru and Soy Sauce: Push the ingredients to one side of the pan and add 3 TBSP gochugaru to the empty space. Let it toast slightly in the oil before mixing everything together. Pour in 3 TBSP soy sauce, stir, and let it bubble.

6. Simmer the Broth: Add 2 TBSP oyster sauce and 300ml water. Once the broth starts boiling, add zucchini and diced onion. Simmer for 5 minutes.

7. Add Tofu and Spam: Gently add silken tofu and the remaining Spam chunks. Sprinkle black pepper generously.

8. Finish with Eggs: Crack in 2 eggs and let them cook for 2 more minutes.

9. Serve and Enjoy: Enjoy your warm and spicy bowl of Spam Sundubu Jjigae!

Enjoy your homemade Spam Sundubu Jjigae—a quick and delicious way to warm up your weekend! 🍲🔥

Don't Blacklist Bong Joon-ho

Three-time Academy Award-winning director Bong Joon-ho's new movie Mickey 17 is coming soon. 👆 In fact, it releases in South Korea today, making it the first country to see its official release. 🥳

Mickey 17 is a sci-fi dark comedy film based on Edward Ashton's 2022 novel Mickey 7. The story follows Mickey Barnes, portrayed by Robert Pattinson, an “expendable” crew member on a human expedition to colonize the icy planet Niflheim. Mickey’s job is to die, undertaking dangerous tasks. However, each time he dies, a new body is reprinted with his memories intact. The plot intensifies when Mickey 17, or the 17th Mickey, is mistakenly presumed dead and replaced by a new iteration, leading to a confrontation between the two versions. Bong described the film as an exploration of the human condition, asking what it truly means to be human.

In the movie, Mark Ruffalo plays a villainous politician named Kenneth Marshall. Ever since the film began its global premiere tour, audiences worldwide—including in Europe and the U.S.—have been speculating that this petty dictator resembles their own bad political leader. But if there were a contest for which country has the most Kenneth Marshall-like leader, the award would undoubtedly go to South Korea, 🏆 whose president spectacularly failed a self-coup attempt, has red-wearing supporters just like in the movie, and—if you remember which law he recently declared and then shamefully lifted—you’ll understand why. After all, the villain is named Kenneth Marshall.

Given that the movie was filmed back in 2022, we can only assume that Bong Joon-ho has the uncanny ability to foresee the future. 🔮

The director is known for creating films packed with deep social commentary, which once led to him being blacklisted as a leftist artist under South Korea’s past far-right governments. His 2006 film The Host was labeled “anti-American” and criticized for “highlighting government incompetence,” while Memories of Murders (2003) was accused of “portraying the police in a negative light and supposedly shaping public opinion against them.”

During his Mickey 17 promotion tour in South Korea, Bong commented on the country’s recent martial law crisis, calling it “surreal.” He recalled experiencing martial law as an elementary school student and never imagined he would witness it again decades later. He also shared that when martial law was declared, a friend called him jokingly asking, "Are you calling from prison?"—likely a nod to his history of being blacklisted by two previous far-right administrations.

Now that South Korea’s self-couping president is behind bars, Bong Joon-ho is—at least for now—safe from being blacklisted again. But with bad political leaders on the rise globally, I fear history might repeat itself elsewhere. As some countries already point fingers at the villain in Mickey 17, claiming he resembles their own problem leader, I have a plea to make to the world’s wannabe dictators: Please—don’t blacklist Bong. The three-time Academy Award-winning director shouldn’t become a three-time blacklisted artist.

Thanks for reading! 🥰 If you’d like to help make future issues even funnier and better, consider buying me a coffee! ☕️ I’ll be back next week with a 📖. 안녕!