01/03/2024
Darryl Coote is a journalist, writer, husband and father who has called Jeju Island home for the better part of the last 15 years.
Attracted to its mythology, Darryl first moved to Jeju in 2008, and shortly after landed a job at the since-shuttered Jeju Weekly, kick starting his journalism career.
It was while working at the magazine that Darryl first learned of the Jeju Massacre, a topic that has since become his beat, and which prompted him to write about other massacres and human rights tragedies, from the executions of political prisoners in Iran in 1988 to the ongoing persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
He has worked on several English-language books produced by the provincial government on the Jeju Massacre as well as the official Jeju 4.3 website. And he is currently working on a long-form nonfiction piece centered on victims of the atrocity.
When not working as a writer and reporter, Darryl enjoys being a member of the Jeju Eagles, the only adult hockey team on the island, playing video games, reading, raising his wee daughter, spending time with his wonderful wife and drinking unhealthy quantities of coffee.
He is honored to be based in Jungmun, the traditional home of his in-laws, whose family has lived in the southern village for more than 400 years. And he can be frequently seen walking his toy poodle through its streets.
If you see him, fear not his morose exterior and say “hi.”
