Korea Pulse is written by one person: a Korean dad in his 40s who lives in Ilsan, rides Line 3 into Seoul every working day, and has spent a career seeing how the rest of the world does things. This page explains who I am, and how I decide what gets published here.
Who Is Global Dad?
By profession, I work in the Korean construction industry. That career has taken me to over 40 countries, including years living in the UK with my family and a multi-year posting in Africa. By identity, I am first and foremost the father of a middle-school-aged daughter, and our family of three lives in Ilsan, a planned city just northwest of Seoul.
The name “Global Dad” is not about being a foreigner in Korea. I am Korean. But I know exactly what it feels like to stand in front of a ticket machine in a country where you cannot read the signs, because I have been that person in London, in Africa, and across Europe. This blog is me returning the favor: a local who remembers what it is like to be lost.
After a 15-year hiatus from the digital world, I came back to writing in 2026. Not to review products this time, but to document the country I commute through every day.
The Perspective
Everything here is filtered through one specific lens: a man who has seen a fair amount of the world and still finds his own homeland surprising.
- K-Drama & K-Pop: Much of what I watch and hear comes through the playlists and screen time I share with my daughter. I write about the emotions and cultural values in these works from a father’s seat on the sofa, not a critic’s desk.
- K-Food: With a palate trained in over 40 countries, I review what is actually trending here. I will tell you plainly if a dish is hype, or if it is something I would serve at my own family table.
- K-Travel & K-Trend: I use the subway, the KTX, and the airport buses I write about. As a dad who walks 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy for his family, I care about what these trends mean for daily quality of life, not just what photographs well.
How I Verify What I Publish
The internet does not need another blog recycling press releases about Korea. So Korea Pulse runs on a few rules I hold myself to:
- I go there myself. Place and food posts are based on my own visits, and the photos captioned “@kpulse” are mine, taken on the day.
- Prices and hours are dated. This kind of information goes stale, so I note when it was checked. If a post says “as of” a certain month, that is the month I verified it.
- Downsides get written down. If a place is overpriced, crowded, or not worth your limited vacation time, the post says so.
- No paid promotion. Nothing on this blog is sponsored. If that ever changes, it will be disclosed clearly in the post itself.
- Corrections are welcome. If you find something outdated or wrong, tell me in the comments and I will fix it.
A Personal Note
Everything you read here is a personal reflection. I do not represent the entirety of Korea; I represent one father’s honest take on his country. Think of me as your “Insider Uncle,” an ajussi (아저씨) who has navigated a good part of the world and is now here to walk you through the real Korea with a bit of seasoned wisdom and a lot of fatherly care.
The best place to begin is the Start Here guide, a category-by-category map of the posts readers find most useful, from buying your first subway ticket to picking your next K-drama.
Thank you for reading.
— Global Dad · Ilsan, Korea