as a non-asian westerner as well its kinda crazy giving it a lower score for story bc u dont know the culture or the history? also a lot of these things are explained in the film (which u mightve noticed if u wanted til *after* to google it), like how its implied she knows japanese bc she /went/ to japan while studying shamanism, also its blatantly that the grandfather/general that was buried above the samari was japanese not korean. the iron stake being apart of the 5 elements - the elements they repeatedly mention from the beginning of the film to the end. a lot of the info and background isnt handed to you on a silver platter but that doesnt mean they dont tell you. and not knowing the culture doesnt make it worthy of a lower score, you simply arent the target audience and thats okay lmao.