From the Editor – March 2026

This month’s cover of the Gwangju News celebrates International Women’s Day – March 8. You may wonder why a regional magazine such as ours would mark an occasion that is obviously global in nature. The reasons are many. To begin with, the rapid expansion of IT and the internet has transformed the local into the “glocal,” where the global and the local increasingly intersect. In Gwangju and Jeollanam-do (the local), the number of women from non-Korean backgrounds (the global) is both significant and growing. Even more significant is the glocal makeup of our readership.

A large proportion of our magazine’s writers are also women, and many of them come from international backgrounds. Their voices enrich our pages month after month – contributors from India, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Algeria, Mexico, and the Philippines, alongside those from Korea. We also have female contributors based in Ukraine, Australia, the Philippines, the U.K., and the U.S. With such a vital and international community of women shaping our publication, we would clearly be remiss not to celebrate International Women’s Day. Men, your time will come in November.

Our feature this issue appropriately focuses on International Women’s Day, usually considered a respectful, courteous observance. But the article points out that the day “was born from protest, labor struggles, and violence against women who dared to demand dignity in a system designed to exploit them.” Accompanying our feature is an article on the young Korean woman most closely associated with the March 1st Movement of 1919 – a woman who dared to publicly call for Korean independence from colonial rule, a woman unwavering in that conviction until her death in the oppressor’s prison. That young martyr was Yu Gwan-sun. She was seventeen.

To begin our new Human Rights column, we present an essay declaring that “Freedom Without Responsibility Is Not Democracy.” Upcoming articles in this column will feature World Human Rights Cities Forum speakers among many others.

If you think we have had a cold winter here in Korea, you will feel warm in comparison to the icy cold hardship that the civilians of Ukraine are experiencing due to their neighboring belligerent [see Global Focus].

And there is so much more of interest, including Gwangju’s international sister cities, winter fun in Yeosu and Busan, yellow dust, reviews, more nuclear power, art, sports, essays, kimchi, and an in-depth interview with our publisher/GIC director. Enjoy!