Hangul is the most sublime form of writing system ever invented. Imagine otherwise memorising thousands of pictographs like an ancient Sumerian. Or imagine having to memorise the pronunciation of words instead of just knowing from the written form. Absolute disgrace that the Foreign Service Institute in the US thinks Korean is the hardest language, while random European girls are learning it in six months from watching kdrama and kpop.

He was sixteen years old. Stepan Chubenko was a goalkeeper. He played for the youth team of FC Kramatorsk. He dreamed of being a professional footballer. He took care of the children at the local orphanage with his friends, bringing them toys and books and sweets. He had a girlfriend. They had talked about getting married someday. In the summer of 2014, three russian-backed militants tortured him for a week and shot him three times in the head in a village near Donetsk. His killers offered to spare his life if he would side with the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic.” He refused. Read the full story on my Substack: