Korea [2009 Vol. 12 No. 9]

Opening a communicative space between Korea and the world

The World Remembers Old Korean Medicine Hangeul Brings New Life to Tribal Tongue

ISSN: 2005-2162

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SEPTEMBER 2009

www.korea.net

 

CONTENTS

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38 Publisher Kim He-beom, Korean Culture and Information Service Chief Editor Ko Hye-ryun Editing & Printing JoongAng Daily

Cover Photo The 25-volume Donguibogam represents the height of ancient Oriental medicine.

E-mail [email protected] Design JoongAng Daily

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission from Korea and the Korean Culture and Information Service. The articles published in Korea do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. The publisher is not liable for errors or omissions. Letters to the editor should include the writer’s full name and address. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space restrictions. If you want to receive a free copy of Korea or wish to cancel a subscription, please e-mail us. A downloadable PDF file of Korea and a map and glossary with common Korean words appearing in our text are available by clicking on the thumbnail of Korea on the homepage of www.korea.net.

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News in Focus • Turning a Notorious Debacle into Hope for the Future • Lee hopes for thaw with North

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Obituary • A man whose name meant ‘democracy’ Diplomacy • Trade Agreement Broadens Horizon for Korea and India

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Global Korea • 14 Volunteers Go Abroad to Bolster the Human Family • An Electricity ‘Control Tower’ • Hangeul Brings New Life to Tribal Tongue

Green Growth • Global Praise for Eco-Korea • Panel Discusses Green Policy • UN Honors Green Strategy



Culture • Korean Wave Goes Literal in ‘Haeundae’ • Haiku’s Elegant Cousin • A Global Bridge of Words



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Korean Literature

• P  ark Wan-seo: Stripping naked our modern hypocrisy

Korean Artist

• Korea’s Ambitious Phantom

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Science & Tech • Technology, Convenience, Culture on the Subway Rails

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Hidden Champions • Dogged Fighter Against Rotten Toothbrushes

VOL. 13 / NO. 9

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Cover Story • UNESCO Honors Korean Medicine’s Ancient Ambitions

SEPTEMBER 2009



Sports • Taking Down the Champion • Fierce Midfielder Is Youngest Korean to Head to England • Korea Just Misses FIBA Berth

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Travel • The Luxuries of Time



Korean Food • Back to Basics, and Thank Buddha • The Secret to Family Cooking

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People • A Teenage Novelist’s Voyage • A New Shade of Korean Leader • Blazing a Trail in Hollywood • Discovering Musical Joy in the Fields

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Foreign viewpoints • And Korea Transforms Yet Again: Alan Timblick

발간등록번호: 11-1110073-000016-06

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Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers

[YONHAP]

UNESCO Honors Korean Medicine’s Ancient Ambitions

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Donguibogam, a comprehensive medical book, is made up of five categories: internal diseases, external diseases and somatology, other diseases in gynecology and pediatrics, medicinal decoction and acupuncture.

ny Korean would be able to tell you this much: Donguibogam is an old book on diseases and cures, and its author is Heo Jun, a royal doctor during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). But the details may be fuzzy for some. The book is in fact a 25-volume encyclopedia written in 1613, a compilation of all the Eastern medical principles and practices of the time. Still, there’s no doubt that, in Korea at least, Donguibogam is one of the lucky few books to enjoy high name recognition even though those who wrote it are long dead, the paper has discolored and the binding has worn out. And as of July 31, this ancient collection is no longer exclusively a Korean treasure, with the Korean Cultural Heritage Administration announcing that UNESCO has added the Donguibogam to its Memory of the World Register. There have even been novels and dramas based on the story of this famous book and its equally well-known author. A variety of editions are still available, with explanatory tomes and Web sites helping keep the encyclopedia’s legacy alive. And since 1991, Donguibogam has enjoyed more than simple name recognition. In that year the Korean government designated the book Korea’s National Treasure No. 1,085, endowing the book, if belatedly, with the official status it deserves. The original copy from the 17th century is currently under the care of two different organizations: the National Library of Korea and the

The Donguibogam not only outlines the most advanced Eastern medical techniques of the time, it also showcases plans for a Korean public health system.

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Academy of Korean Studies. The content of the book is easy to understand, and sometimes quite specific. One section on internal diseases reads, “When people undergo significant emotional trauma, they may experience weakened heart, nausea and anxiety. If those symptoms continue for a long time, they could develop into amnesia. To cure amnesia, one should prescribe insingwisadan, which is made of cow’s gall bladder.” Another chapter, on somatology, suggests an affordable cure for stiffness of the neck. “Stiffness of the neck, front or back, is often caused by humidity in the body. A Chinese quince is effective when you cannot move your neck due to tensed muscles,” it reads. Discussions of folk remedies also abound in the volumes. “Inducing vomiting is one of the oldest medical practices. Renowned doctors from long ago have used it, along with inducing sweating and diarrhea. For patients in the early stages of disease, one should induce vomiting. But for patients in advanced stages of disease or for those who are old, weak and frail, do not induce vomiting.” Along with the Donguibogam, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization added 34 pieces of documentary heritage to its list in the ninth meeting of the UNESCO International Advisory Committee in Bridgetown, Barbados, held from July 29 to 31. The documents honored include Anne Frank’s diaries from the Netherlands, the Magna Carta from Britain and the Song of the Nibelungs from Germany, a heroic poem from mediaeval Europe and the basis for the famous operatic cycle by Richard Wagner. UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register seeks to preserve documents and library collections from around the world. Its International Advisory Committee meets every two years to assess nominations. Other selections on the list include the Vienna City Library’s Schubert collection, the manuscripts and correspondence of Hans Christian Andersen from Denmark and the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The latest additions bring the total registered on the

Memory of the World Register to 193 pieces or collections from 83 countries. According to officials at the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, “UNESCO showed its high regard for the Donguibogam as the compilation of all medical philosophies and treatments in East Asia at the time, mostly in China.” Along with the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs; the Cultural Heritage Administration, and oriental medicine experts, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO has worked since 2007 to promote the medical book for inclusion on the esteemed list. The Donguibogam contains information broken up into five categories: internal diseases, external diseases and somatology, miscellaneous diseases in gynecology and pediatrics, medicinal decoction (extracting chemicals from mostly plants through boiling) and acupuncture. Officials at the Korean National Commission for UNESCO also noted that the UN agency praised the Donguibogam for “reflecting the state’s determination to document the principles of preventive medicine and establish a public health care system, ideas that in 1613 were centuries ahead of their time.” It’s true: The publication of the Donguibogam was a state-sponsored project — in fact quite a costly and drawn-out one.

It was King Seonjo (1552-1608), Joseon’s 14th monarch, who ordered Heo Jun (1539-1615) to write the book. The death of people around the king, including his own children, to infectious diseases incurable at the time drove him to pursue solutions, so Seonjo collected a group of intellectuals to work for Heo, in what would be today’s version of a government committee or task force. According to historical records, their work consumed a great deal of time, materials and money even by today’s standards. The compilation alone took more than 10 years. Three more years were needed to engrave the text on wood blocks and print it for mass distribution. Experts estimate the work would’ve cost tens of billions of won, or tens of millions of dollars, in today’s money. Though King Sejong the Great (1397-1450) had introduced a unique Korean writing system, Hangeul, around 1443, Chinese characters still dominated Korean academia and literature, and Heo wrote Donguibogam in that alphabet, known here as hanmun. Yet three of the 25 volumes in the Donguibogam were translated into Hangul, a process that experts believe took place in the mid-19th century judging from the books’ grammatical characteristics. In fact, there seems to have been an effort to translate all 25 parts into Korean, but for some reason the project was never completed. These three Hangeul tomes are now historical artifacts in their own right, kept at the Academy of Korean Studies. But the addition of the Donguibogam to the UNESCO register was not without controversy. Choi Yeong-ho, an official with the Welfare Ministry who attended the IAC meeting in Barbados, said China was watching the process closely. He even said there was a possibility that country might raise objections about the sources

[YONHAP]

Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers

From top, an 18thcentury edition of the Donguibogam from Japan; a 20th century version from China, and a 19th-century edition in the Korean langauge

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Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers

[JoongAng Ilbo]

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not for its scientific value. The association cited the inclusion in the book of what it calls “nonsensical medical practices” like “becoming invisible,” “how to see ghosts,” and “how to change a fetus from a girl to a boy.” Kim Nam-il, an Oriental medicine professor at Kyung Hee University, called for those odd sections to be understood in a cultural context and not a medical one. He responded that it was unlikely that Heo actually believed in those methods, instead including them in an effort to give hope to desperate patients. Of course, such an assertion is hard to prove. Regardless of UNESCO’s intentions, the listing of the Donguibogam has boosted efforts by the Korean government and local businesses to promote Korea’s traditional medicine. In 2006, the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine set up a committee to commemorate the upcoming 400th anniversary of the Donguibogam, and has been working on translating the text of the ancient medical book into English. “Work on the English translation is about 25 percent done. We cannot be sure when it will be completed, though,” said Kim Seung-eon, a member of the committee. “We are also uncertain as to how we will introduce the Englishlanguage Donguibogam to the world — whether in publication, on the Web or in some other medium. In that sense we have a lot of work ahead of us.” Come 2013, when the anniversary arrives, the committee will also host the inaugural International Oriental Medicine Expo. The National Library of Korea, meanwhile, says it will hold a special exhibition on the Dong-uibogam in September along with some academic forums. UNESCO has accepted seven Korean treasures onto its Memory of the World Register. They include the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, the Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty, and the woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana. The country has the sixth-highest number of items on the list in the world, and the most in Asia. Germany has the most items on the register overall, followed by Austria and Russia. By Kim Hyung-eun

A Joseon Doctor Braving War and Exile [JoongAng Ilbo]

Although Heo Jun used Chinese medical books as reference, he modified the prescription and medicinal ingredients to befit Koreans’ physical constitution and local climate.

behind the book, or claim larger ownership of Eastern medical principles and practices. After all, the Donguibogam was a compilation of the traditional medical philosophies and treatments in all of East Asia at the time, and these particularly prospered in China. In fact, the Korean encyclopedia used some 80 Chinese medical books as references. An official with the Korean National Commission for UNESCO also said that most of the work to add the Donguibogam to the UNESCO list were done in a low-key manner so as to avoid any confrontations with China. Park Seok-jun, the director of the Eastern Medicine Science Research Institute, argues that although Heo Jun did use Chinese medical books as sources, his work was certainly original to some extent, and that the prescriptions and medicinal ingredients were modified to fit the local climate and the physical constitution of Koreans. Also, over the centuries the Donguibogam has been a steady seller in neighboring countries like China and Japan, republished on numerous occasions in those countries — further testament to its value. While China and Korea argued over who could claim to have originated the techniques in the book, another controversy erupted around the validity of those techniques themselves. Oriental and Western medicine have conflicted for decades, of course, and shortly after the Donguibogam’s inscription to the UNESCO list, the Korean Medical Association released a statement that the registration did not mean that the world had acknowledged Oriental medicine as scientific. The listing recognizes the book as part of Korea’s documentary heritage,

Heo Jun is one of the most renowned doctors in Korean history.

Heo Jun is perhaps the most well-known doctor in all of Korean history. The story of his life is dramatic — particularly the time and energy he expended authoring the Donguibogam, deemed his biggest achievement. The drama surrounding it has often been the inspiration for novels and television shows. (Of course, these adaptations often ratchet up the conflict for entertainment’s sake.) Heo was born in 1539 in Yangcheon County, Gyeonggi Province — today Deungchon-dong, western Seoul. His father, Heo Ron, was a military officer working for the government. His mother, a concubine known only as Kim, came from Yeonggwang, a county in South Jeolla. During the Joseon Dynasty, children of concubines were often ostracized, experiencing discrimination in everyday life and seeing their career choices sharply limited. Heo Jun was probably no exception — part of what makes his life story so appealing to people today. The genealogical records of the Heo family indicates that Heo Jun passed the state medical exam in 1574, although it’s uncertain when and how he became interested in that field. Heo became a doctor at the royal court some time after. Yu Hee-chun (1513-1577), a prominent scholar of the mid-Joseon era, recommended Heo to the government, records show.

Along with other royal doctors, Heo was in charge of the health and well-being of King Seonjo, and it seems he did his job well. In 1592, when the Japanese invaded, beginning the Imjin War, Seonjo took refuge in Uiju, in today’s North Korea, Heo stayed right beside the king, caring for him. In 1596, Heo cured Seonjo’s son, Gwanghaegun (1608-1623), of some kind of illness. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty record that Heo was rewarded several times for these feats. Heo had certainly earned the king’s trust. In 1596, Seonjo ordered Heo to author an extensive collection of medical books, vowing his full support. But the work was delayed as the Imjin War dragged on, and all seemed lost when Seonjo died and Heo was exiled as a result. In the novel Donguibogam, Lee Eun-seong writes that Heo’s mentor was a man named Yu Ui-tae. The part people remember most about this novel is how Yu later gets cancer and makes Heo conduct an autopsy of his body after death, in what the novel posits as one of Korea’s first. Although this would be quite striking if it were true, historians say that Yu is a fictitious character and that the author seems to have used Yu I-tae, also a prominent royal doctor of Joseon, as the inspiration for him. The actual Yu is known to have lived some time between the 17th and 18th centuries, decades after Heo died.

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Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers

The Hunminjeongeum Manuscript

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Of Ancient Gods and Governments

Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration

In addition to Donguibogam: Principles and Practice of Eastern Medicine, which was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register on July 31, there are six other pieces of Korean heritage honored by the organization. They are: the wood blocks of the Tripitaka Koreana and miscellaneous Buddhist scriptures (2007); Uigwe: The Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty (2007); the second volume of Baegun hwasang chorok buljo jikji simche yojeol or The Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests’ Zen Teachings (2001); Seungjeongwon Ilgi, or The Diaries of the Royal Secretariat (2001); The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty (1997); and the manuscript of the Hunmin Chongum (1997).

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his manuscript, published in 1446, first promulgated the Korean alphabet, Hangul, devised during the reign of King Sejong (1418-1450), the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), and completed in 1443. It was inscribed on the Memory of the World Register by UNESCO in 1997. The name Hangeul, a combination of han, meaning “the Korean people,” and geul, meaning “letters,” was given to the alphabet only in the early 20th century. The creator, King Sejong, was concerned that Chinese characters, which were widely used by Koreans at the time, were too difficult to learn. After all, they were designed to fit Chinese, a language completely different structurally from Korean. “Hunmin jeongeum” means “proper sounds to instruct the people.” The version in this book consists of 28 letters, but today’s Hangeul has 24. The king hoped, in creating it, to develop an orthography that perfectly represented the Korean language. King Sejong himself wrote a preface clarifying the origin and purpose of the new alphabet and giving brief examples and explanations of each of its letters, while he had the scholars at the Jiphyeonjeon, or “Hall of Worthies,” give detailed explanations and examples. The exact date of the publication of the Hunminjeongum is not clear. But in the annals of King Sejong, it is noted that the book was published in the ninth lunar month of 1446. This date was later converted to the solar date Oct. 9 and designated Hangeul Day. Another edition of the Hunminjeongum, which contains haerye, or commentaries, published about 550 years ago, was long thought to have been lost, but a copy was found by chance in 1940 in an old house in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, and is presently kept at the Gansong Art Museum in Seoul. In 1958, it was designated a national treasure. This book consists of two parts. Part one is the main text written by Sejong himself. It contains the preface and explains the purpose of the new letters. It also presents the 28 letters — 17 consonants and 11 vowels — and the way they are combined to make up Korean syllables. Part two, written by the scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon, contains the commentaries. By Limb Jae-un

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Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers

Jikji: Teachings of Korean Buddhism

The Goryeo Daejanggyeong

Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration

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last moments. Literature is also included, and 145 priests and monks from India, China and Korea are mentioned. The key words of the book’s title, “jikji simche,” were derived from the famous phrase, “Jikji insim gyeonseong seongbul,” meaning the attainment of an enlightened state by direct appeal to the mind. The idea was that when one comes to see through Zen what the mind is, then one comes to understand that mind to be that of the Buddha.  By Limb Jae-un

Seungjeongwon Ilgi: The Diaries of the Royal Secretariat

Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration

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eungjeongwon, the Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), was in charge of not only important national events but also simple routine ceremonies as well. This office was responsible for keeping the Seungjeongwon Ilgi, the Diaries of the Royal Secretariat, a detailed record of daily events and official court schedules from the Joseon Dynasty’s first king, Taejo, to its last, Sunjong. Today 3,243 diaries still exist, which may seem like a lot — but it’s a small number compared to the number that were originally written. As the most extensive historical records kept at the time, the diaries from the late 19th century and the early 20th century provide an invaluable look at how Western influence first found its way into the Joseon Dynasty. Many of the diaries were destroyed in war and fire, or deliberately burned by the Japanese, but some of these have been restored. The diaries offer a look at

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how old Korea collected historical data and stored state secrets, but also served a different purpose — to remind their descendants of the importance of preserving Korea’s history. The Seungjeongwon Ilgi, usually written by six secretaries and two scribes, is a vivid depiction of an Eastern monarchy, with its politics, policy making, and power structure, while at the same time being unique pieces of documentary culture. The size of the Seungjeongwon Ilgi is also unprecedented. The existence of these diaries is significant because they served as the primary source for the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, making its value as great or even greater than that of the Annals themselves. It also makes possible the accurate comparison of lunar and solar dates, meaning it even has scientific and statistical value. The books were designated National Treasure No. 393 in 1999 and listed on the Memory of the World Register in 2001. The original Seungjeongwon Ilgi is housed in the Gyujanggak Library at Seoul National University, and public viewing is not allowed. But 141 photocopies have been compiled by the National History Compilation Committee and are available for public reference.  By Yim Seoung-hye

Tripitaka Koreana, which consist of more than 81,000 wooden printing blocks, is kept at Haeinsa Monastry. Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration

aegun hwasang chorok buljo jikji simche yojeol (Jikji for short) explains the essentials of Zen Buddhism. It was compiled by the priest Baegun in the late Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). The teachings of great priests were carefully selected for this book, to allow anyone to learn the core of Zen teachings. Jikji originally came in two volumes, but the first no longer exists. The second is preserved in the National Library of France. An inscription on the last page indicates Jikji was printed in July 1377, about 70 years earlier than the Gutenberg Bible in Germany. While some earlier examples are mentioned in Korean history, Jikji is now the world’s oldest existing book printed with movable metal type. Partly for this reason, it was inscribed on the Memory of the World register in 2001. Jikji was printed by Baegun’s students, Seokchan and Daldam, under the auspices of Myodeok, a nun, at Heungdeok Temple in present-day Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. The tome contains historical biographies meant to be studied by student monks after they had attained the wisdom necessary to understand the essence of Zen, including the Buddha’s sayings from his

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he Goryeo Daejanggyeong, which means Goryeo Dynasty Tripitaka, most commonly known as the Tripitaka Koreana, is a Korean collection of Buddhist scriptures that has existed since the 13th century. UNESCO launched the Memory of the World Program in 1997, calling for the preservation of valuable archival holdings and library collections all over the world, and the Tripitaka is undoubtedly one of Korea’s most important. Tripitaka means “Three Baskets,” and Daejanggyeong in Korean refers to a collection of Buddhist scriptures. It was commissioned under the Goryeo Dynasty (A.D. 9181392) and consists of 81,258 wooden printing blocks. Currently, it can be found at the Haeinsa (Haein Temple) monastery in southwestern Korea. When Buddhism was first transmitted to East Asia through China, its scriptures were translated from various Indian and Central Asian languages to classical Chinese. Although there were several attempts by numerous countries to inscribe them in wooden printing blocks for distribution, the Tripitaka Koreana remains the only complete canon still extant on the mainland of Asia. In addi-

tion to the Tripitaka, there are 5,987 miscellaneous wood blocks that were stored at the Haeinsa monastery and were presented as supplements to the Tripitaka. The woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana possess undoubtable cultural value and represent the best available printing and publishing techniques of the period. They are highly valued for their systematically prepared blocks and beautiful inscriptions. The pieces have endured for centuries, allowing paper scriptures to be produced from them continuously. Over many generations, the woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana were used as an outline of Buddhism itself, compiling scriptures, commentaries and history. These sacred collections have enabled many scholars to carry out extensive research and make new discoveries. Even today, Haein Temple prints copies from these woodblocks to distribute them whenever the need arises for research or education. Accordingly, Haeinsa has become the main locus for traditional Buddhist education in Korea, a center for the preservation of knowledge and scholastic research.  By Hyon Mi-kyung

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Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers

Uigwe: The Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty

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The value of Uigwe has been recognized not only among Koreans but also in the wider world because the collection made it possible for people to understand the changes that took place over time in royal ceremonies and allowed for detailed comparisons with other contemporaneous East Asian cultures. What makes the Uigwe especially valuable is its irreplaceability. Most of the volumes were hand-transcribed by professionals. Even if the content was the same, each copy of the Uigwe is one-of-a-kind. Of course, access to the originals is strictly limited. In fact, the general public has never been permitted to see the original Uigwe. The stack room where the Uigwe is stored is equipped with elaborate anti-theft systems and facilities to prevent damage in natural disasters. But Uigwe has been carefully photographed on microfilm, and the public can enjoy free access to these reproductions at their convenience through the Web sites of the custodian organizations.  By Yim Seoung-hye

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his collection covers the over 472-year history of the Joseon Dynasty, from the reign of its founder King Taejo from 1392-1398 to the reign of King Choljong from 1849-1863. The annals comprise a whopping 1,893 volumes, and are believed to cover a longer period than any other collection of records regarding a single dynasty in history. The corresponding annals for the Chinese Ming dynasty record only 260 years and the reigns of 13 emperors, while those for the Qing cover 296 years. The Joseon collection is also one of the most exhaustive in the world. The Great Authentic Annals of Vietnam, recording the history of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), consists of 548 books. At 2,964 volumes, the Ming Dynasty annals surpass the Joseon’s in number, but each volume is thinner, and where the former has 16 million characters, the latter has 64 million. The Annals of the Great Qing Dynasty are composed of 4,404 books and make up the world’s

largest historical document in numbers of volumes, but it includes the same content in three different languages: Manchurian, Chinese and The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty was Mongolian. The kept at four libraries in different places Japanese Sandai for safety reasons. One, pictured above, Jitsuroku is small was at Mount Odae. in comparison. To broaden public access to the annals, the Korean government had them translated into Korean from the original Chinese. After 26 years of effort, the Korean edition was completed in 1993. A CD-ROM version was made in 1995, and this work has rapidly popularized the annals in Korea as well as in the broader global scholarly community.  By Limb Jae-un

[JoongAng Ilbo]

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uring the 500-year Joseon Dynasty (13921910), Confucian rites and rituals were highly regarded. Therefore it was crucial to document the specific procedures, protocols, formalities and requirements needed to conduct important ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, and banquets, along with the details of the construction of royal buildings and tombs as well as the various other cultural activities of the royal family. This obsession of the Joseon Dynasty with compiling records of its accomplishments led to the production of the book known as Uigwe, a collection of royal protocols that later generations could use as a guide to reproducing official ceremonies. Selected for the UNESCO Memory of the World list in June 2007, Uigwe comprises over 3,895 books uniquely categorized by time and theme. The collection is currently kept at the Institute of Korean Studies in Seoul National University and the Academy of Korean Studies.

Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration

Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration

The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty

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News in Focus This aerial view of the Sinsi Island floodgate and the Saemangeum tidal embankment was taken Aug. 10 from a helicopter.

Turning a Notorious Debacle into Hope for the Future

[NEWSIS]

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he Lee Myung-bak administration has finalized an ambitious development plan for the Saemangeum reclamation site along the nation’s southwestern coast, shifting the direction of land use from agriculture to a wide range of industrial, ecological and tourist programs with an aim to build a world-class waterfront city. In a meeting hosted by Prime Minister Han Seung-soo on July 23, the government adopted a new master plan for the project, which has been plagued by budget and environmental problems for years. Construction began at Saemangeum in 1991, aimed at building a 33-kilometer (20.5-mile) embankment to form a tidal flat of 28,300 hectares (69,930 acres) and a reservoir of 11,800 hectares, but the fate of the site was left up in the air after fierce protests by environmentalists. After more than four-and-a-half years of court battles, the Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that the government could continue the multi-trillion-won (multi-billion-dollar) project. “Saemangeum is a development program on an enormous scale that requires 50-year and 100-year plans,” said Kwon Tae-shin at the Prime Minister’s Office. “We will begin with building a worldclass city and further details will be finalized before the end of this year by listening to experts at home and abroad and collecting public opinion.” According to the government, the master plan includes eight multipurpose development programs, including construction of a new city. Although the initial plan called for the use of 70 percent of the 28,300 hectares for farming, the

The Lee administration has plans to transform the Saemangeum project, dogged by delays and budget overruns, into a Jeolla renaissance

Lee administration has reduced that amount to just 30 percent. The government said 23.8 percent of the Saemangeum land, near the center of the site, will be developed into a new world-class city based on the examples of waterfront cities such as Amsterdam and Venice. The administration now hopes to finalize a design for the city, which will be developed as a tourist, international business and foreign investment hub, before the end of this year. According to the Saemangeum Project Office, three designs are currently being considered, and the completion of the new city is scheduled for 2020. The three alternatives were presented by the Lee administration in July. The first design, titled “Sha-Ring City,” involves three urban blocs radiating out from a lake at the center, symbolizing Korea’s white porcelain and clean water, the government explained. The three blocks will each have distinct functions. The second alternative is the “Full Moon City.” The Lee administration said the design was meant to reflect Saemangeum’s transformation, just like the changing shape of the moon from a crescent to a shining orb. The outer part of the city will be designed to resemble the former shape, while the inner part of the city will be based on the patterns of Korea’s traditional window frames. The master plan also looks similar to a semiconductor wafer, one of Korea’s key export products. The third design, “Delta City,” takes into account the existing underwater terrain. With a lower-depth area to be located at the center, this city would look like a group of islets. A development axis would be created to connect the city to the sea, the government said, in order to strengthen the connection between the two and foster growth. “We will survey experts at home and abroad about their opinions on the three design alternatives. We will also hold public discussions and symposiums to collect opinions to modify the designs before making a final decision,” the Lee administration said in a press release. With a plan to build a waterfront city, the government decided that the water quality at the site should be September 2009 korea 19

[JoongAng Ilbo]

News in Focus

Top to bottom, the design of the “Sha-Ring City,” the design of the “Full Moon City” and the design of the “Delta City” 20 korea September 2009

President Lee Myung-bak delivered his Liberation Day speech Aug. 15 at the Sejong Arts Center in central Seoul.

[NEWSIS]

improved. Initially the plan called for agricultural water, but now Lee hopes to produce water suitable for tourism, leisure and residential buildings. The specifics of the water quality project will be finalized by the end of this year, the Saemangeum Project Office said. The Environmental Ministry will take the lead in ironing out the specifics, according to the office, in order to ensure the ecological preservation of the site. Under the new blueprint, 3,900 hectares will be used for industrial facilities while another 2,490 hectares will be used for tourism and leisure programs. The administration said 5,950 hectares of land will be used for ecological parkland, and science and research facilities will be built on another 2,300 hectares. The master plan also calls for an international business hub and the construction of the new city. Another 2,030 hectares of land will be used for an energy recycling project. With five key construction projects, the government finally hopes to resolve the nation’s concerns about the slow progress at Saemangeum. Reclamation of 100 hectares to begin development of the new city — called the “Gateway Project” — is the top priority. The government said it will come up with plans to attract investment and begin reclamation as soon as possible. The second project is the development of multi-purpose land near the tidal embankment. Reclamation of the 200 hectares along the embankment will be finished before the end of this year, and the government will raise the level of the roads along another embankment by 2010 in order to spur development in the region. Using a budget of 698.8 billion won ($561 million), the government will finish developing the 200 hectares first as a tourist venue, with construction to be completed next year. Ground will be broken on a 8.77-kilometer bridge linking the islands off Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, to Saemangeum will take place this year. The bridge will cost 257.6 billion won. The Lee administration also pledged to complete a survey before the end of this year to assess the amount of soil needed for the reclamation project and come up with a financially efficient plan. The fourth of the key tasks will be the construction of flood control embankments, and last, but not least, comes the preparation of a 10-year plan to improve the Mangyeong and Dongjin rivers and begin a water management program starting in 2011. The government said it will prepare a new public affairs strategy to promote the Saemangeum project to the world and attract foreign investment. An international symposium and promotion of the project in global media are being considered. The Lee administration pledged that the development program will be environmentally friendly. Under the nation’s strategy of low-carbon green growth, environmentally friendly transportation systems and renewable energy will be used to build this new city, the government said.  By Ser Myo-ja

Lee hopes for thaw with North President also pledges to end regionalism, corruption in annual speech

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outh Korean President Lee Myung-bak took the 64th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule on Aug. 15 as an opportunity to urge North Korea to forsake its nuclear ambitions, proposing the two Koreas resume nuclear dialogue. He pledged various incentives if the North does so. “Nuclear weapons only aggravate the North’s future, instead of promising the country’s safety,” he said in an address at the annual ceremony held at the Sejong Arts Center near Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. “I hope North Korea will find ways to protect itself and bring prosperity to both the North and the South. If North Korea shows such resolution, the South Korean government will proceed with a new peace plan for the Korean Peninsula.” The president said such a program could involve international efforts to help North Korea’s economy develop and “dramatically improve” living standards. Lee carefully emphasized, however, that such incentives would be offered only if the North stops pursuing a nuclear program. The president’s remarks came at a time when there have been glimmers of hope for improved inter-Korean relations, which had been stalled since nuclear and missile tests by the North. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made a trip to the North recently and met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in a successful bid to free two U.S. journalists. President Lee also presented proposals on domestic affairs in the speech. He said the government plans to reform the election system and administrative programs to root out long-standing

regionalism, referring to the emotional feuds between people from the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces, and Koreans’ tendency to favor those who share their geographical origins. “At the root of Korea’s unproductive politics is regionalism,” Lee said, “Under the current electoral system, you can’t get away from regionalism. The old administrative districts that were formed more than 100 years ago are intensifying regionalism and hindering effective regional development.” He said that the National Assembly session next month will discuss the details, adding that the government intends to expedite reform by giving support to districts that decide to consolidate. Lee also emphasized “clean politics.” “I believe the key to making our politics meet world standards is in making them more transparent and productive. It is true that transparency has increased in this field throughout the years. But we still have a long way to go,” he said. Lee said he was the first Korean presidential candidate ever to receive no illegal money from corporations, ending the vicious cycle that had dominated Korean politics, and he again pledged that he would never take any illegal funds. The president also promised not to tolerate any special favors for his relatives, and to make sure that this pledge is carried out by reinforcing the supervisory system. “Special attention will be given to eradicating corruption that involves abuses of power and corruptive practices that have been established as the norm in certain regions,” the president said. 

By Seo Ji-eun September 2009 korea 21

[KPPA]

Obituary

Dignitaries come from across Korea and the world to pay their respects after death of President Kim Dae-jung (1924-2009)

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solemn Korea bid farewell to the late President Kim Dae-jung in a state funeral service on Aug. 23, remembering a champion of democracy and peace. Kim passed away Aug. 18 at age 85 due to complications from pneumonia. He served as president from 1998 to 2003. It was only the second state funeral in Korean history. Former President Park Chung Hee was accorded the first state service in 1979, when he was assassinated while in office. The service for Kim took place at the National Assembly in western Seoul, the same place where he was sworn in as president 11 years ago. About 24,000 political figures and friends and relatives of Kim endured the summer heat to pay respects to the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner. The hearse entered the parliamentary

[NEWSIS]

A man whose name meant ‘democracy’

Top, mourners line the procession route as the funeral cortege of the late former President Kim Dae-jung reaches Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall in downtown Seoul on Aug. 23, following rites at the national Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul. Above, a portrait of the former president pays tribute to his memory.

building about five minutes before the service began at 2 p.m. Following the national anthem and a moment of silence, a personal history of Kim was recited. Then Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, head of the committee organizing the funeral, delivered the memorial address. In his speech, Han called Kim “one of the greatest leaders in modern Korean history, recognized both here and in the international community. “President Kim dedicated his whole life to realizing democracy, peace and the reconciliation of the people,” Han said. “We should honor his last wishes and strive to overcome differences in regions, ideologies and generations.” In an emotional eulogy, Park Young-sook, a political contemporary of Kim’s, called the name Kim Dae-jung “synonymous with democracy” and said the former president left a lasting legacy with his pursuit of forgiveness and reconciliation. After the funeral rites and the playing of a video clip looking back on Kim’s life and career, Lee Hee-ho, the former first lady, stepped toward Kim’s portrait. She was joined by the other surviving members of the family in laying down flowers. President Lee Myung-bak and First Lady Kim Yoon-ok were next to pay their respects. Former presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Kim Young-sam and the former first lady Kwon Yang-sook, widow of the deceased former President Roh Moo-hyun, also took their turns honoring Kim Dae-jung. A children’s choir sang “Our Wish,” a Korean song about praying for peaceful reunification of the Koreas. It was a favorite of Kim’s, and during the historic summit between him and Kim Jong-il in 2000, officials from the two Koreas held hands and sang it at dinner. Kim’s political contemporaries from South Korea’s allies extended their condolences on the day of the funeral. Madeleine Albright, who was the U.S. Secretary of State during Kim’s tenure, arrived in Korea the evening before the funeral and attended it. Joining Albright were Yohei Kono, Japanese foreign minister during the Kim administration, and Tang Jiaxuan, China’s foreign minister from 1998 to 2003. Soldiers fired their rifles in a salute to signal the end of the service, and the hearse left the National Assembly and headed for Kim’s former residence in Donggyo-dong, western Seoul. The choir from Kim’s Catholic parish met the procession as it reached the home. The hearse then moved through the streets of Gwanghwamun and reached the plaza at Seoul City Hall, where hundreds of citizens and Democratic Party officials had taken part in separate rites to remember Kim. The procession reached its final destination, the Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, southern Seoul, at 4:50 p.m. Kim was buried in a plot near tombs of two other former presidents, Syngman Rhee and Park Chung Hee as more rites were conducted with family members and close political aides. In the days leading up to the funeral, the organizers had said they would not allow street rites, or noje, so that Kim would be honored in a respectful manner. Lee Hee-ho, the former first lady, also asked for a modest ceremony. On the day of the funeral, the North Korean delegation that had visited Seoul to pay their respects to Kim had a 30-minute meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. No details were not disclosed, with Cheong Wa Dae saying only that the two sides talked of improving relations, but it was the latest sign of a thaw — and perBy Yoo Jee-ho haps a fitting tribute to the deceased president.  September 2009 korea 23

Diplomacy

[YONHAP]

“I

Trade Agreement Broadens Horizon for Korea and India If Korea ratifies the Comprehensive Economic Partnership as planned, tariffs between the two nations could fall to 1% on average in 10 years

24 korea September 2009

Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, second from right, and India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma sign the trade pact in Seoul Aug. 7.

t’s a historic day today,” said Kim Jong-hoon, Korea’s Trade Minister, on Aug. 7 after signing the Korea-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or CEPA, with his Indian counterpart, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma. “Bilateral relations will be further solidified, and the CEPA sends signals to the world that the two countries are committed to free trade,” he said at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade building in central Seoul, adding that Korea will have a chance at access to one-sixth of the global market. Under the CEPA, which took three years of negotiations to finalize, Korea and India will eliminate or cut back tariffs on most goods over the next 10 years. The pact is similar in essence to the free trade agreements Korea has signed with the United States and other trading partners, but phases out tariffs more slowly. The deal is the first of its kind between Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, and a member of the “BRICs” group of fast-growing developing economies comprised of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The pact is expected to open the Indian market, with a population of 1.2 billion people, to Korean companies. As of last year, India’s GDP totaled $1.2 trillion, making it the 12th-biggest economy in the world. “Economic ties between the two countries have great potential to grow in the future,” Indian minister Sharma said, noting that bilateral trade may double over the next 10 years. “That’s what we will be aiming at,” he said. “This is just the beginning.” After the accord takes effect — in January next year if the National Assembly ratifies it as planned — Korea will phase out or reduce tariffs on 90 percent of Indian goods over 10 years. India will eliminate or cut tariffs on 85 percent of Korean goods within the same period. Tariffs on Korean auto parts, the nation’s biggest trade item, are to be reduced to as low as 1 percent over an eight-year period from the current average of 12.5 percent. But both sides agreed to exclude fish and some agricultural products, including dairy, beef, and pork, from tariff concessions. In the service sector, India agreed to open its telecom, accounting, medical and advertising markets to Koran companies, while keeping

mining restricted. Korean lenders will also be allowed to open branches in India. Korea will be able to invest in food processing, textiles, garments, chemicals, metals and machinery, according to the Foreign Ministry, which in the long run will encourage local businesses to take a chance on the subcontinent. Experts predict that makers of auto components, steel and machinery will benefit most from the agreement. Korean companies already export in large numbers to India, but further growth has been stymied by high duties. Korean firms sold $1.13 billion in car parts to India as of last year, but 12.5 percent was lost to tariffs. Under the agreement, those duties will decrease to between 1 and 5 percent over the next eight years. “[The CEPA] provides strong momentum to strengthen economic ties between Indian and Korean businesses,” said Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at a luncheon at the Millennium Seoul Hilton in downtown Seoul after the trade pact was signed. “This agreement will provide an institutional framework to enhance mutual cooperation in trade and investment and new business opportunities,” Sohn said, noting Korean investment in India has branched out from the manufacturing sector into service industries such as retail and financial services. “Many Korean companies such as Posco and Hyundai contributed to India’s economic growth. I hope companies of the two countries invest more in each other,” commented Sharma at the luncheon. Sharma made special note of investment in technology and agriculture. The agreement is expected to create more jobs in Korea in such areas as computer game design, IT and even yoga, according to a report by Kim Joon-sung, Yonsei University’s career center director. The report, titled, “The Impact of the Korea-India CEPA on the Local Job Market,” lists the 10 most-promising jobs in light of the agreement: computer game designer, film dealer, yoga instructor, auto parts maker, researcher, international electronics trader, liquid-crystal display engineer, IT consultant, medical clinic coordinator in charge of customer service, overseas construction bidding broker and By Lee Eun-joo international food trader.  September 2009 korea 25

Global Korea

Provided by COPION

Children play in a meadow just outside a day care center on the outskirts of Ulaanbataar July 21, as other children from the center watch with a group of Korean volunteers who traveled there last month.

14 Volunteers Go Abroad to

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eople say it time and again: To be a developed country means more than to be wealthy. A developed society is one in which the spirit of giving and sharing is alive and active. And today many Korean citizens decide to go abroad to volunteer as a group. One of these, with help from Cooperation and Participation In Overseas NGOs, or COPION, stayed with orphans living in a national daycare center on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, for five days from July 18. It was made up of 14 members — four mother-daughter pairs, one father with his daughter, two sisters and two brothers — all from seven different ordinary families. COPION is a non-governmental organization under the auspices of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which aims to help establish a global civil society by regularly dis-

26 korea September 2009

patching Korean youth and senior volunteers to developing countries and offering financial assistance to start local NGOs there. The volunteers took care of and played with the orphans. “Because of our busy schedules at school and work, our family did not have much time to share common interests,” said Ryu Young-sook, 41, a member of the group. “But here my daughter and I are able to open our hearts to others and strengthen our bond while preparing for the volunteer activities.” The other families in the group also grew closer as they worked to assist the abandoned or orphaned children at the center. Most of the parents and children had already experienced volunteer work separately, but it was the first time all had gathered together to help out. What’s more, the group members said their familial foundation made them better able to care for the Mongolian children with warm hearts.

On the third day at the center, volunteers prepared presents for the 50 elementary school kids, putting a yellow T-shirt, colored paper and crayons on each of the 50 desks in the small wooden classroom. When Jo Kyeong, 41, a public official, and Park Ji-hyun, 24, a company employee, called all 50 kids to the classroom, they raced into the room with joy. The little ones soon became amateur designers, cutting the colored papers into shapes, drawing meadows and sheep to attach to their shirts. Some even drew their favorite soccer players on their shirts with the crayons. The children showed off their artwork to their classmates and their Korean helpers. The next day, the volunteers arranged an outdoor event for the children, dividing both the orphans and the volunteers into teams of two to compete in a threelegged race. Some cheered with loud

Bolster the Human Family voices, while others fell. But no matter who won or lost, everyone seemed to be having a good time. During snack time, the volunteers served the Mongolian children Korean food such as bulgogi (marinated beef), tteokbokki (sweet and spicy boiled rice cakes) and japchae (glass noodles mixed with fresh vegetables and sliced meat). The NGO members later said they felt their hearts ache as they watched the children eating so quickly. Soon the last day of the trip arrived, and the children at the center wept, asking the volunteers not to leave. Some of the kids even ran after the bus the workers rode on their way home. The volunteers also burst into tears as they waved goodbye to their temporary charges. But that wasn’t the end for this group of 14 kindhearted Koreans. When Kim Jeong-hui, 46, and Kwon Min-seong, 17, suggested sending books and other helpful materials to needy

children inside Korea, all the members agreed. A week after the volunteers came back to Korea, all 14 gathered again. Shim Dong-hyun, 49, a company employee who went to Mongolia with his 16-year-old daughter, said he was

impressed that his daughter devoted herself even more than he did to the children at the center. It was a turning point — reminding the Koreans of the importance of family, and what it means to be deprived of its warm embrace.  By Lee Min-yong

A group of Korean volunteers and children from the center pose for a group photo in a meadow in front of a day care center. September 2009 korea 27

Provided by The Korea Electrical Safety Corp

Global Korea

The Korea Electrical Safety Corp. is providing safety systems for this floating drill on the coast of Africa.

An Electricity ‘Control Tower’

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orea’s power supply infrastructure has come a long way. It was just few decades ago that most households had to use candles or oil lamps, but today Korea is a fully developed country, with a reliable supply of electricity to homes and offices. Its safety systems have advanced significantly over the years as well. Now the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. is taking a step further, expanding into the global market.

28 korea September 2009

Since Rim In-bae was appointed president of the company in October, the organization has begun searching for a new growth engine. Tossing away past bureaucratic customs, the corporation has gone on the offense, investing in businesses abroad. It began providing consultation services to evaluate and check electrical safety in locations from the Middle East to the South Pole. The electricity safety consulting business is dominated by developed

countries, since the sector is full of large-scale projects that require rigorous and thorough work. The opportunity to provide these services overseas came as the number of international orders won by Korean companies has increased significantly in recent years. Late last year the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. announced it would become a “world-class control tower for electrical safety,” utilizing its 34 years of know-how and a global net-

work that includes 15 major overseas electrical safety institutions such as the Fédération Internationale pour la Sécurité des Usagers de l’Electricité, or FISUEL. In the first half of this year the Korean organization’s revenue from overseas business amounted to 2 billion won ($1.6 million). It’s hoping to raise that revenue to 3 billion won by the end of this year. The Korea Electrical Safety Corp. marks as its latest achievement the signing of a technology cooperation agreement on electrical safety July 20 with Mongolia, which is one of the world’s 10 most resource-abundant countries. Rim forged the agreement with Mongolian Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Dashdorj Zorigt. It calls on the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. to provide inspections of major public facilities as well as a wide range of consulting services, including training Mongolian public servants and cooperating on research into electrical fires. “Through this agreement Korea’s advanced technology in electrical safety will be transferred to Mongolia, and we expect Korea to have the advantage in the Mongolian market once its outdated electrical facilities are replaced,” said Rim at the signing ceremony. “We will provide safety checkups so that all Mongolians enjoy electricity safely,” Rim said. “Also Korea will aggressively adopt positive points from Mongolia.” He added that the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. will not hesitate in providing advanced technologies to ensure electrical safety in any country. Over three weeks in March, technicians from the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. trained 90 electricity technicians from VietNam Electricity on safety inspections. The Korean company plans to use that event to help expand its consulting businesses in Southeast Asia, which lags in terms of electrical safety. The Korea Electrical Safety Corp. also conducted inspections of the expansion of the King Sejong Base on the South Pole, of the Agbami FPSO drillship built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in Nigeria and of the Sohar Aromatics Project in Oman. The Korean organization not only provides consulting services to public companies abroad. It also services private companies. Last month the group won a safety testing contract with a petrochemical plant that is under construction in Qatar jointly with ABB Korea. The contract is worth 700 million won and is the biggest single safety-related project that the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. has won. The company will

Rim was proud to sign an agreement to provide inspections of Mongolia’s power system.

perform safety tests over a period of one year. The aggressive changes at the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. were largely the result of the “one-second” management style practiced by the organization’s president. Rim recently published a book about speedy management, in which he claims that a company, particularly in times of crisis, must act in a split second. That means quick management decisions must be realized a split second faster than rivals, all while maximizing services offered to customers.  By Lee Ho-jeong

Top, Rim In-bae, head of the KESC, right, holds a memorandum of understanding signed with Dashdori Zorigt, minister of minerals and energy of Mongolia. Above, KESC engineers check electrical systems on an oil prospecting ship off Angola. September 2009 korea 29

Left, an Indonesian teacher instructs children in the Korean alphabet, after it was adoped as the official written script of the Cia-Cia tribe. Above, students listen to their teacher reading Hangul from a textbook, above right, specially created by a Korean society to promote the script.

Hangeul Brings New Life to Tribal Tongue An Indonesian language in danger of extinction will adopt the Korean alphabet as its writing system

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Korean academic group’s long-held ambitions are being realized, as a native minority in a small Indonesian city agrees to adopt Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, as its written language. Some villagers started learning it late last month. It was the first time that a foreign population had designated Hangeul as its official writing system. The Cia-Cia tribe has its own spoken language, but the absence of an official alphabet has made it difficult for them to preserve it, according to the Hunminjeongeum Society. The society, a private academic group devoted to studying Hangul, says the minority tribe with a population of 60,000 in Bau-Bau, the main city on Buton Island, Sulawesi Province, concluded a memorandum of understanding with the society last month to transcribe their language into Hangeul. The Korean society originally made the offer. Starting July 21, 40 elementary school students began learning the Korean alphabet from a textbook

developed by society members for four hours a week. The textbook deals with the language and culture of the tribe, its history and local folk tales of the island. The book also includes a traditional Korean fairy tale called “The Rabbit.” Bau-Bau plans to begin building a Korean language center in September and train Korean language teachers to spread Hangeul across neighboring regions. The city government will display Hangul and the Roman alphabet together on signposts and is considering publishing history books and folktales in Hangeul. Linguists here expressed hope that the case will become a stepping stone to spread and promote the Korean alphabet globally. The Hunmin Jeongeum Society had attempted to convince minority populations overseas to transcribe their

language using Hangeul before, but to no avail. Hunmin jeongeum, made up of four Chinese letters meaning “correct sounds to instruct the people,” refers to the first instruction book on Hangeul, published in 1446 by King Sejong the Great. The king was the creator of Hangeul characters. “Successful adoption of Hangeul among Bau-Bau residents over the next five years will determine whether our Hangeul globalization project can prosper in other regions in the world,” said Kim Ju-won, a society member and a professor of linguistics at Seoul National University. According to the Summer Institute of Linguistics International, there are 6,912 languages currently in use, 2,500 of which lack an alphabet. King Sejong intended

to create a new language to differentiate Korean from Chinese. Writing Chinese characters was considered difficult for the common people during the Joseon Dynasty in that only privileged aristocrats — normally male — could read and write fluently. The majority of Koreans were effectively illiterate before the invention of Hangeul, according to historians. Organized into syllabic blocks, each consists of two or more of the 24 Hangeul letters, which represent 14 consonants and 10 vowels. These blocks take on the shape of how each is pronounced, and can be arranged both horizontally and vertically. The relatively simple and flexible structure of Hangeul makes the alphabet easy to learn. Thanks in part to this efficient writing system, the illiteracy rate in Korea is near zero.  By Seo Ji-eun September 2009 korea 31

[YONHAP]

Global Korea

Green Growth

Panel Discusses Green Policy

[JoongAng Ilbo]

Cheonggyecheon in central Seoul was crowded with people who came there to cool off on a hot summer Sunday in early August. Several foreign media including New York Times carried articles introducing the stream restoration project as a representative green policy of Korea in June and July articles.

Global Praise for Eco-Korea Cheonggyecheon, four rivers win admiration of New York Times, others

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he Lee Myung-bak administration’s “low-carbon green growth” policies and several related projects are attracting the attention of foreign media. The New York Times spotlighted the Cheonggyecheon restoration project in a July 17 article titled “Peeling Back Pavement to Expose Watery Havens.” The project was conducted between 2005 and 2007 under the leadership of Lee, who was the mayor of Seoul at that time. The project turned the stream, which had been polluted, then paved over and forgotten in the postwar era, once again into a verdant and refreshing place to stroll and gather. “The restoration of Cheonggyecheon is part of expanding environmental efforts in cities around the world to ‘daylight’ rivers and streams by peeling back pavement that was built to bolster commerce and serve automobile traffic decades ago,” the article said, pointing out that residents’ groups and some elected officials in Los Angeles are looking anew at buried or concrete-lined creeks, “inspired partly by Seoul’s example.” The open watercourses are intended to handle heavy rain better than buried sewers and cool off areas overheated by sun-baked asphalt, luring wildlife and pedestrians. According to the article, the stream has achieved many of its goals. A new analysis by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that replacing a highway in Seoul with a walkable greenway caused nearby homes to sell at a premium 32 korea Sptember September2009 2009

after years of going for bargain prices in comparison with outlying properties, it said. “Efforts to recover urban waterways are nonetheless fraught with challenges, like convincing local business owners wedded to existing streetscapes that economic benefits can come from a green makeover,” the article said. “Yet today the visitors to the Cheonggyecheon’s banks include merchants from some of the thousands of nearby shops who were among the project’s biggest opponents early on.” Le Figaro, a leading French newspaper, wrote in a July 8 article about green growth policies that the Korean government is trying to find opportunities from the current economic crisis through its “ambitious” Green New Deal. Meanwhile El Mundo, the second-largest daily newspaper in Spain, wrote July 5 that Korea has already shown its ability and will to tackle challenges through various forest restoration projects and Cheonggyecheon’s recovery. The newspaper also carried details of a speech by President Lee. The Asahi Shimbun of Tokyo wrote in a column that it hopes that Korea and Japan will be well-intentioned rivals in green growth and in overcoming the economic crisis. Singapore’s Strait Times and Russia’s Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper also carried articles about Cheonggyecheon, the four-river refurbishment project and Korea’s green growth vision in their June issues.  By Koh So-young

A panel titled “The Environment, Energy and Green Growth in Korea” was held on Aug. 21 at the congress. At the panel, Yoo Beom-sik, an official on the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, praised the government’s green growth policies, while Matteo Fumagalli, a professor at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, shared his thesis, “Middle Powers and the International System: South Korea’s Quest for Energy Security and Regional Competition in Central Eurasia.” Choi Hyun-sun, professor at the University of North Florida, gave his views on climate change with his thesis, “Integrating Green Growth and Economic Development: Korea’s Climate Change Adaptation as Top-Down Approach.” Choi explained how economic development and an environment-friendly approach can be integrated as an economic strategy. Heike Hermanns, a professor at

Seoul’s Inha University, also presented his thesis, titled “South Korea: An Early Mover in Environmental Policies?” Hermanns’ thesis read, “Some of Lee’s plans focus on projects involving the construction industry (e.g. new nuclear power plants, river renewal projects), leading critics to surmise that ‘green renewal’ is just a strategy to overcome the current economic crisis rather than revealing environmental concerns.” He asserted Korea has been slow in embracing international efforts to address global climate change, citing the fact that though Korean has signed the Kyoto Protocol, it is not obliged to cut greenhouse emissions at present as it is categorized as a Non-Annex 1, or developing, member. As Korea is not an “early mover,” Hermanns urged the country to respond more quickly on green issues as a way to boost its international profile.  By Kim Mi-ju

The World Congress for Korean Politics and Society 2009, held by the Korean Political Science Association, met from August 20 to 22.

September 2009 korea 33

Provided by KPSA

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ince President Lee Myung-bak was sworn into office, he has emphasized the importance of the government’s vision for “low-carbon green growth.” “Green growth” refers to sustainable growth that not only helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, but also creates new growth engines and jobs in technology R&D and energy. Government officials describe “green technology” as a combination of IT, communications, biotechnology, nanotechnology and culture, transcending them all. This trend was even on display at the Korean Political Science Association’s World Congress for Korean Politics and Society 2009 at COEX in southern Seoul from August 20 to 22. The main theme for the Congress was “Korea at the Crossroads,” and over 500 local and international experts in political science, public administration and the other social sciences attended.

Green Growth Culture

Green Growth

UN Honors Green Strategy

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[NEWSIS]

orea’s green growth strategies have added envi- announced a series of measures to support a low-carbon, ronmentalist credentials to the international resource-efficient industrial base including the 50 trillion respect the country gained for its miraculous won ($40 billion) Green New Deal. These measures were economic growth, and it was honored by the combined in July as the 107 trillion won “Green Growth United Nations for these efforts last month. National Strategy” along with a pledge that the governThe United Nations Environment Program has select- ment would implement it over the next five years. That ed Korea as the next venue for an important international sum is roughly equivalent to around 2 percent of Korea’s conference on the environment, the B4E Global Summit. GDP over those years, the government said. On Aug. 20, Achim Steiner, executive director of the proIn an interview with the JoongAng Daily in May, UNEP gram and a UN undersecretary general, signed a memo- executive director Steiner applauded Korea’s efforts and randum of understanding with Korea’s Environment Min- called it an example for the world to follow, a tone he kept ister Lee Maan-ee finalizing Korea’s hosting of the meeting in his visit to Seoul last month. in 2010. “The Republic of Korea’s strategy cuts across a wide The B4E, or Business for Environment Global Summit, swath of sustainability challenges from renewable energy is a gathering of leaders from businesses, governments and and waste to transport, freshwaters and forestry,” Steiner civic groups across the said while participating world to discuss ways to in the MOU ceremony make industry sustainwith the environment able and environmentministry. The strategy, friendly. The annual Steiner added, was “a conference will be in its vision of green economfourth year in 2010, and ic growth, underlining a will be held in Seoul new and dynamic straApril 22-23. tegic direction and jour“The country is conney that we are delighted sidered as one of the and excited to share.” leading proponents of During Steiner’s visit the Global Green New to Seoul, the UNEP also Economy, making it a announced the result of very relevant host for its examination of the these two UNEP events,” Korea’s green growth the UNEP wrote in a policies. statement announcing “The Korean govthe decision. Seoul will ernment has presented also host the ceremony its Green Growth Stratfor the Champions of egy as an innovative the Earth Award, which development approach recognizes environmeninvolving a fundamental tal leaders and is held shift in the country’s together with the B4E growth paradigm, from Summit. ‘quantitative growth’ to Starting late last year, ‘qualitative growth,’” the the Lee Myung-bak Environment Minister Lee Maan-ee(right) poses with UN Environment Pro- overview read.  By Moon Gwang-lip administration has gram Executive Director Achim Steiner in Seoul.

34 korea Sptember September2009 2009

Provided by JK film

International conference on green industry will come to Seoul in 2010

It’s pandemonium as a massive tsunami slams into the southern port city of Busan in the summer blockbuster Haeundae.

Korean Wave Goes Literal in ‘Haeundae’ Directed and written by Youn JK, the film is a smash hit across Asia

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ugust is the hottest month of the Korean year, and Haeundae, the country’s most famous beach, located in the southern port city of Busan, is without doubt the most sought-after destination for summer vacationers. Around 1 million of them show up every year. But this summer another “Haeundae” was the talk of the town, with the film of the same name drawing an impressive 10 million moviegoers from its release July 22 until Aug. 24. The film also made headlines in late July when production company CJ Entertainment announced that it would be released soon in local theaters across China and other Asian countries, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. In fact, even before its release at home, Haeundae was exported to 23 countries around the world through the European Film Market at the Berlin film festival and the Cannes Film Market earlier this year. So what is so special about the movie that it manages to attract local and foreign audiences alike? Many critics and viewers attribute the film’s audience appeal to its exciting story line, which focuses on how various characters played by seasoned actors such as Sul Kyung-gu, Ha Ji-won and Park Joong-hoon respond during a tsunami. It also makes use of eye-catching advanced computer-generated graphics, which accounted for a big part of the movie’s 13 billion won ($10.6 million) budget. Director Youn JK, who also wrote the film, said he was stay-

ing in his hometown of Busan when he first heard about the tsunamis that hit Southeast Asia in December 2004. “I conjured up a dramatic image of the million or so people who visit Haeundae Beach on holiday suddenly getting swept up in a tsunami, and that initial idea translated into this film,” the director said. That means that it took almost five years from the initial conception of the idea for the film to its completion. In fact, writing the script was as hard as making the computer-generated tsunami itself, the director said. To come up with the “right” three main couples for the film, Youn said he created stories for hundreds of potential characters over more than two years. “I wanted to avoid the over-redundant heroism that is often found in Hollywood disaster movies,” the director said. “Rather, through the film I tried to show how important and valuable human relationships are.” Reportedly it cost about $5 million for Youn to work with a Hollywood staff on computer-generated special effects to create a tsunami in the movie. Hans Uhlig, who was the CG supervisor for Hollywood blockbusters such as “The Day after Tomorrow” and “The Perfect Storm,” participated in the filmmaking process. “Special effects are difficult for sure, but they’re worth a try. I learned through making Haeundae that nothing in the world is impossible, and I have gained confidence that Korean disaster films can develop their own style,” Youn said. By Park Sun-young September 2009 korea 35

Culture

[JoongAng Ilbo]

Korea scholars ramp up campaign to promote sijo

David McCann, a professor at Harvard University, has loved sijo poetry since he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in 1966. 36 korea September 2009

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ost Americans are familiar with the Japanese poems known as haiku. In fact, it may be the extent of their knowledge about Asian poetry. But this may be a good thing for Korea, too, paving the way for a similar genre from these shores known as sijo. Pronounced shee-jo, this form’s roots can be found in the Goryeo Dynasty. Though Koreans are very proud of these three-line compositions that consist of 43 to 45 syllables, sijo have been mostly unknown to those outside the country — until now. May saw the Harvard Manhae Sijo Festival take place at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leading it was David McCann, the Korea Foundation professor of Korean literature at Harvard University. McCann, 64, is a sijo enthusiast on a campaign to popularize them. He first became interested in the poetry form in 1966, when he came to Korea as a member of the Peace CorpsaftergraduatingfromAmherst College. He was teaching English at a high school in Andong when he came upon a book of Korean poetry translated in English. Since then McCann has been studying, teaching and translating sijo. But McCann isn’t the first to attempt to bring sijo into a foreign land. In 1992, Larry Gross, a Florida poet who had found sijo translations in a poetry book published in India, established a journal called Sijo West in 1996 with fellow poet Canadian Elizabeth St. Jacques. Like a haiku, a sijo is composed of three lines, but though the former follows a strict 5-7-5 syllable rule, the

sijo writer has more space and freedom for expression, with each line made up of 14 or 15 syllables. Sijo can also be written in a string of four phrases, each with three, four, or five syllables. They were originally meant to be sung, and some were written to be part of a larger work. “Sijo is much more flexible than haiku,” said Heinz Insu Fenkl in an interview with the Boston Globe in late June. Fenkl teaches creative writing and Asian literature at the State University of New York, New Paltz. “If you have 15 syllables per line, that’s much more than the haiku. What it allows for is something haiku can’t do, which is the formation of narrative inside the poem. You can express complicated things. At the same time, they sound very natural.” Last year, Bo-Leaf Books published a book of English sijo by McCann titled “Urban Temple: Sijo, Twisted & Straight.” It seems McCann and Fenkl’s efforts are bearing fruit. In April, the Sejong Cultural Society, Chicago in the U.S.A announced a sijo writing competition for middle and high school students. The organization, which was founded in 2004 to promote Korean culture, sent 20,000 fliers to English teachers and principals in 20 states this year. Last year, it only sent a quarter that amount. At Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia, 120 students who studied sijo in their literature classes submitted poems to Sejong. “The sijo was really fun and different,” said Tracy Kaminer, a teacher at Marist, in an interview with the Boston Globe. “I think sijo is an elegant form of By Lee Hae-joo poetry.”

A Global Bridge of Words The Korean Translation Institute brings local literature to world readers

T

he Korea Literature Translation Institute has helped speakers of many different languages — such as English, German, Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, Polish, Rumanian and Vietnamese — enjoy Korean literature. The institute’s certified professional translators strive to communicate both accurately and in culturally appropriate ways the cultural and historical background of Korea. While working to keep pace with the latest literary trends, they provide material for people overseas interested in Korean literature. Nobel Prize nominee Ko Un tops the list for number of books translated with 51, including his bestsellers Ten Thousand Lives and Maninbo, out in 15 foreign languages. Recognized as the greatest living Korean poet, Ko has produced a mountain of poetry over the years, and his new volume, “Songs for Tomorrow: A collection of poems 1960–2002” selects work from his entire career, translated from Korean into English by Brother Anthony of Taizé, Young-moo Kim, and Gary Gach. Another classical Korean poet, Jung Geuk-in, has published his poems in English, increasing Western awareness of the classical form of Korean poetry called the

Clockwise from left: Songs for Tomorrow is the latest in a long string of translated works by Ko Un; the original author and publication date of Chunhyang are unknown, but that hasn’t stopped it from being translated and read around the world, and The Land by Park Gyung-ri is shown here translated into Chinese.

gasa, along with knowledge of the country’s past and culture. Translators of this book paid particular attention to the synchronization between the Korean gasa and the English version, trying to sustain the verbal echoes and rhythmic beats in the original text. Scale and stairs: Selected Poems of Heeduk Ra is another set of poems translated into English. Heeduk Ra has published five books of poetry and two of prose,

for which she has received many honors. She teaches creative writing at Chosun University and is regarded as one of Korea’s best poets. Her poems are filled with a sense of contrast between image and idea, sound and sense. She tries to create a path from the visible world to the invisible. Her work portrays the ever-shifting border with the unknown. Also among the most popular Korean authors abroad are Lee Chung Joon,

Provided by Korea Literature Translation Institute

Haiku’s Elegant Cousin

Hwang Seok-yeong and Choi In-hoon. Portraying a peculiar side of Korean society are Yi Mun-yol’s novels, which have been published in 16 different languages. All these works and more can be found at the Korea Literature Translation Institute. Thanks to the popularity of Korean pop culture in Asia, the institute believes that it is now time to expand the scope of their work and improve the current state of literary translation. Literature helps readers discover more about the country of its origin: its people, language and culture. It even plays a political role, serving as a mediator between societies. With the support of talented translators, a number of excellent Korean textbooks have been published for many people overseas who are interested in Korean literature. The driving mission of the Korea Literature Translation Institution is to provide an entrancing experience to foreigners through translations authored by native speakers of the target language. Also, the translator will usually be a specialist in a particular area, such as scientific or political terminology. This leads to translations that are comprehensible, relevant, and culturally sensitive. You can make an order through www. amazon.com By Hyon Mi-Kyung September 2009 korea 37

Korean Literature

Park Wan-seo Stripping naked our modern hypocrisy

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Major works The Naked Tree (Namok, 1970) The Beginning of Days Lived (Sarainneun nareui sijak, 1980) Mama’s Stake (Eommaui malttuk, 1982) Warm Was the Winter That Year (Geuhae gyeoureun ttatteuthaennae, 1983) The Woman Standing (Seo inneun yeoja, 1985) Illusion (Mimang, 1990) My Beautiful Neighbor (Naui areumdaun iut, 1991) The Dreaming Incubator (Kkum kkuneun inkyubaeiteo, 1993)

Source: Korea Literature Translation Institute

38 korea September June 2009 2009

[JoongAng Ilbo]

Such a Lonely You (1998)

lthough Park Wan-seo, born 1931, did not begin her literary career until she was almost 40, she has since become one of the most prolific and popular authors in Korea. Since her debut in 1970 with The Naked Tree, Park has been showered with numerous honors, including the Lee Sang Prize for Literature in 1981 and the Korean National Literature Award in 1990. A storyteller of considerable gifts, Park is noted for her skillful employment of concrete details and compelling episodes drawn from everyday life, as well as her verbal dexterity and the natural flow of her narratives, which renders her works both accessible and engaging. Park experienced the tragedy of the Korean War firsthand. Raised by a strong mother who was determined to give her the best education, Park entered Seoul National University as a student of Korean Literature. But the outbreak of the war and the death of her older brother cut her education short just a few days after she entered university, and Park was forced to support her family. The tragedy of families torn apart by the Korean War and the heavy price the war continues to exact from its survivors is commemorated in such works as The Naked

Tree, Warm Was the Winter That Year, and Who Ate Up All The Shinga. Park’s works also target the hypocrisy and materialism of middle-class Koreans. Identical Apartments features apartments of the same size with the same furnishings and decorations — symbols of their inhabitants’ identical lives, intent on gaining material gratification. In A Reeling Afternoon, a marriage of convenience brings about atrocious results. In these works, individual avarice and snobbery are linked to larger social concerns — the breakdown of ageold values and the dissolution of the family which are the byproduct of the rapid industrialization of Korea. Since 1980, Park has shown great interest in the problems afflicting women in this patriarchal society. Perhaps the most notable of her works focused on feminist issues is The Dreaming Incubator, which features a woman who is forced to undergo a series of abortions until she produces a son. Quite literally, a woman’s body becomes a mere “incubator” for male progeny in the male-centered Korean society. The way this objectification of the female body is perpetuated or condoned is given no room for justification in Park’s razor-sharp prose.

September 2009 korea 39

Korean Literature

Novel

A Very Old Joke

by Park Wan-seo

(Aju oraedoin nongdam) death is not motivated by any concern for his emotional state, but by their desire to prevent him from giving away his inheritance. As a result, the man dies without having received proper treatment for his cancer, and his wife, the sister of the protagonist, is left without a penny to her name. The funeral of the dead man turns into a showy display of the family’s power and wealth. While the solemnity of death is thus marred by greed, birth is deprived of its sanctity and joy by the obsession with male offspring which

characterizes a patriarchal tradition. Sim’s wife, already a mother of two beautiful daughters, believes that her status as a wife of a prominent doctor is not secure until she bears a son. Pregnant once again with a daughter, she undergoes an abortion and with the help of her obstetrician, she finally succeeds in giving birth to a son. Park’s examination of human relations corrupted by the evils of capitalism and patriarchy poses a difficult question about the feasibility of real love in this hypocritical world.

Who Ate Up All the Shinga? (Geu mandeun singaneun nuga da meogeosseulkka) In Who Ate Up All The Shinga?, referring to the plant whose stalks Park chewed in North Korea as a child, Park narrates the events of her life, from her happy childhood in Kaesong in the 1930s to her twenties, spent in wartorn Seoul in the 1950s. A novel of growing up as well as a personal testimony to the hor-

rors of war, Who Ate Up All The Shinga? represents the author’s attempt to work through her traumatic memories. Even for a writer famed for her ability to paint with a varied palette in her fictional works, the novel is remarkably vivid; its descriptions of wartime events make us feel as though we are watching a

documentary. Recreating herself as a girl who came of age in a time of fear, Park offers an indictment against ideological strife and warfare that all is deeply personal and enormously compelling. In the sequel Was the Mountain Really There? Bak recounts her life in postwar Korea.

Translation index Book Title

Year of publication

Genre

Translator

Novel

Ryu Suk-hee

Three Days In That Autumn

2001

My Very Last Possession and Other Stories

1999

Novel

Jun Gyung-ja

A Sketch of the Fading Sun

1999

Complete Collection/Anthology

Lee Hyun-jae

The Naked Tree

1996

Novel

Yu Young-nan

Below are two excerpts from Who Ate Up All the Shinga? that showcase Park’s delicate and piercing literary style. (1) …If kids are playing house and one suddenly asks, “Who wants to play hide-and-seek?” the others scramble after her. In exactly the same vein, when anyone suggested a trip to the outhouse, we’d all follow. We’d squat together, our round bottoms exposed, and strain in unison, even if we didn’t have to go to the bathroom. Back then, little girls wore “windbreaker knickers,” with an opening underneath to make squatting easier. Even at midday, the outhouse was dark, and the girls’ white bottoms looked pale and blurry, like unripe gourds on a roof beneath a hazy moon. Although we exposed our bums, it wasn’t a big deal if we didn’t have to move our bowels. Crouching side by side and chatting was fantastic fun. As we squatted in our dim hideaway, excreting little corn ears of dung to mirror what we’d eaten, our trivial tales called forth flights of fancy and elicited histrionic “oohs” and “aahs.” “Did you hear about Kapsun’s dog? It had six puppies, but listen to this! The dog’s yellow, but no puppy was yellow — just black ones, white ones, and white ones with black spots.” (2) The bare, enervated ridge in Seoul made me think instead of a dying old man. To relieve my loneliness on my daily climb, I dwelled in memories and found excuses to look down on my peers in Seoul. They could never know the translucent blue of the dayflower’s petals or the beautiful music that lurked within its leaves. Or how if you carefully scratched away the thick, gleaming flesh, you’d discover veins that were thinner and more delicate than summer silk. Or the sound the veins gave off when you vibrated them against your lips. I could barely get a noise to come out, but some kids could make beautiful, plaintive melodies. After the cherry blossoms fell in Sajik Park, acacia flowers came into bloom. They permeated the whole of Mount Inwang with a nauseating milky smell. Packs of boys would travel from ridge to ridge, hunting for branches laden with blossoms, and then harshly snap them off so they could eat the petals. Watchmen patrolled the forest. If they spotted boys snapping large branches, they’d rush over and wring their wrists until they cried out in pain. Most of these kids came from our poor district of Hyonjo-dong. At their age, three meals a day wasn’t enough to fully satisfy their hunger, but they seemed to break the branches more for the thrill of it — getting caught, fleeing, being yelled at by the watchmen. After the boys swept away, acacia branches with withered flowers would be strewn about the ground like

rags. That year was the first time I saw acacias and their blossoms. I learned that children in Seoul could also draw snacks from their surroundings. The more experienced ones would take a bunch of acacias and pluck one flower after another, savoring them like grapes. Once I surreptitiously tried a bunch, afraid I might get caught, but their milky, tepid, sweet taste made me nauseated. Only something fresh, I thought, could settle my stomach. Suddenly shinga came to mind. In the countryside, they were as common as dayflowers, growing everywhere, at the foot of hills and along roadsides. They had jointed stalks and were at their plumpest and most succulent about the time wild roses came into bloom. We’d snap the reddish stalk, peel the skin, and eat the tangy inner layer. I thought their puckering tartness would be the perfect antidote for acacias. I combed the hill frantically. I was like an animal looking for grasses to rub against a wound. But I couldn’t find a single stalk. Who ate up all the shinga? The Seoul ridge had run together in my mind with the hill behind our village. I retched until I was dizzy. Excerpted from Who Ate Up All the Shinga? by Park Wan-seo. Translated by Yu Young-nan and Stephen J. Epstein . Copyright © 2009 Columbia University Press. Used by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.

Provided by Woongjin Books

This entertaining and thought-provoking novel examines human nature, corrupted by money and power, and the place of women in a patriarchal society — two topics that have consistently engaged Park’s imagination throughout her literary career. The protagonist, Sim Yeong-min is a renowned physician. His brother-inlaw, a son of a wealthy businessman, is dying of cancer, but is himself unaware of the gravity of his condition. His family’s refusal to apprise the patient of his impending

List of Park's books translated into English by the Korea Literature Translation Institute 40 korea September 2009

September 2009 korea 41

Korean Artist

Korea’s Ambitious Phantom He’s spent years hiding in small Seoul theaters. Now it’s time to emerge

Yang Jun-mo has spent the last two years performing in small theaters — but his career’s about to get a big boost.

42 korea September 2009

[JoongAng Ilbo]

Provided by Seol & COMPANY

E

The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber is the longest-running Broadway musical ever.

ven before the official cast of The Phantom of the Opera was unveiled, rumors were swirling that Yang JunMo would play the title role. And nobody doubted that he would be perfect. The 30-year-old actor has had a very busy and fulfilling year. He was a happy April groom and heard the news about Phantom on his honeymoon. Yang then played Prince Hyemyung in The Kingdom of the Wind until July. Now he is practicing for his biggest role of the year. His career as a lead is already five years long, but not many people recognize Yang’s face, perhaps because he mostly worked at local theaters and in Japan for the first few years, finally breaking onto the Seoul scene in 2007. When he made his debut in 1999 at the age of 20, it was as a classical baritone. But later, as a senior in college, he performed in the musical Kumkang based on the work of the famous poet Shin Dong-yeop in a production to mark the five-year anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration between North and South Korea. It opened in Pyongyang. “I was practicing with so many great actors, like Jang Min-Ho, Se Hee-seung, Yang Eunkyoung and Kang Sil-il. It made me so nervous even to practice my lines,” Yang said. Yang was impressed by the excited and passionate reaction of the North Korean audience. It was very different from the “respectable” atmosphere of classical opera. That was when Yang decided to aim for a career in musicals. He gave up on studying abroad in America and came back to Seoul to start over. Yang has devoted all his time and energy to musicals since then. Starting with Ggokdobyulcho, Yang performed in many shows including The Last Empress, Winter Sonata, Claw of Angel and Sweeney Todd. But the role of the Phantom will finally give Yang a chance to shine and get mainstream attention. That doesn’t mean his devotion will

waver, however. “People think that I made my debut with Sweeney Todd and rocketed to a title role. But for my entire musical career, my interest has never been the fame or even winning awards,” says Yang in a recent interview. “I only wish to be a better actor. That is all. I have been planning my life as an actor and hoping to fulfill my dream step by step.” Yang has been performing in small theaters during the two years since Sweeney Todd, which first disseminated his name among the public. He could easily have aimed at bigger and bigger roles, but instead, Yang chose to practice his acting skills. During 2008, Yang performed both leading and supporting roles in Evil Dead, See What I Wanna See, Last Five Years, and Island — all in small theaters. “I know many had doubts about my role choices following Sweeney Todd. The reason is simple. I just wanted to show them who I am as an actor. I am ambitious, but I’m ambitious about the character rather than the piece of work itself,” says Yang. Thus, Yang is more excited about the character he is about to play than the big name of the musical itself. “I think trying the role of the Phantom is a kind of my duty as an actor. I am very happy,’’ Yang said. “The Phantom has an omnipotent view, looking at people’s lives from the cellars of the opera, but at the same time he sees the ugliness of himself deep inside. I would like to try and express the humane side of the Phantom,” Yang continued. Starting as a classical baritone singer, Yang Jun-mo is now an irreplaceable part of the Korean musical theatre world. The Phantom of the Opera will open September 23 at the Charlotte Theatre in Jamsil, Seoul. It has been eight years since the musical was last performed in Korea.  By Susan Yoon September 2009 korea 43

Science&Tech caption

[NEWSIS]

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[JoongAng Ilbo]

Technology, Convenience, Culture on the Subway Rails Seoul’s new line No. 9 makes a world-class transit system even better Top, Express Bus Terminal Station is one example of the newly-opened high-tech line No. 9. Above, a new train runs on the line. 44 korea September 2009

hen foreign tourists and expatriates in Korea chat about the top 10 things that impress them about the Land of the Morning Calm, there’s one that always comes up: Korea’s public transportation. Especially impressive is the Seoul subway system, made up of nine lines that tie together neighborhoods of the capital and its outskirts in Gyeonggi Province. According to Seoul city government statistics, about 6.2 million people use the nine subway lines every day. That figure is 59.4 percent of the capital’s population. Seoul’s subway stations are generally clean without the unpleasant odors and trash found in some other world cities. (Some countries do not even have air conditioners in their subways, which forces commuters to endure the sizzling summer heat.) Seoul’s subway marked the 35th anniversary of its launch, with line No. 1, on August 15. It was good timing, with the city starting operations on its brand new ninth line on July 24. The new trains run 25.5 kilometers (15.8 miles) from Nonhyeon in southern Seoul to Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul. The debut of the new subway line reflects the system’s continuous development in technology and design to serve commuters and visitors better. And subway line No. 9 brings more to the table than shiny new stations and train cars. The line also — for the first time here — offers express trains, running from Gangnam in southern Seoul to Gimpo International Airport in just 30 minutes. Even better, the basic fare is the same as the regular subway: 900 won. An additional fee of 100 won is added on for every five kilometers past a certain distance. Park Jeong-yeon, a resident of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, was the first passenger to use the new line when it opened. The 27-year-old librarian commutes to work at a staterun children’s library in southern Seoul. Before the subway line was built, Park said she had to leave home at 6 a.m. and board a bus for a 40-minute ride into the capital, only then to transfer to another bus to southern Seoul. It took her more than four hours to perform one round trip, Park recalled. She said it was nightmare when the weather wasn’t good. September 2009 korea 45

Science&Tech

Hidden Champions

[NEWSIS]

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Above left, all stations on subway line No.9 are equipped with sliding glass doors on the platforms. Top right, children’s bathrooms are another innovation on line No. 9. Above right, the new line’s Dangsan Station has the country’s longest escalator at 49 meters.

46 korea September 2009

Station exits at Heukseok are equipped with canopies that extend in heavy rain or snow — the first in the world.

The new line’s Dangsan Station has the country’s longest escalator at 49 meters long and 24 meters high. There are Internet cafes at Nodeul and Yeomchang stations, while other locations have concert venues and art galleries that offer not only a pleasant trip but great opportunities for artists and musicians to promote their work to the public. Seoul government officials also stress that the other eight existing subway lines are also undergoing a transformation, while they are already equipped with facilities such as convenience stores, cosmetics shops, art galleries and concert spaces. For example, Gyeonggbok Palace Station on line No. 3 has an art gallery inside the station, where passengers waiting for their friends to arrive can take a look at displays. Shindang Station on line No. 2 features different exhibitions with different themes throughout the year. From July to August, the station contained an exhibition on live insects and reptiles that let passengers actually touch them. “It’s a nice occasion to bring my son to the nearby subway station,” said a housewife surnamed Park. “My boy is taking his summer break, and I didn’t know where to take him because my husband couldn’t take any summer leave this year. I’m glad that at least I can show my son something even without traveling too far.”  By Kim Mi-ju

Esencia Has 40 percent of the world market for toothbrush sterilizers

[Provided Helmet] Provided by by HJC company

Rain slowed traffic to a stop, delaying her return home. “I have so many reasons I’ve been longing for the new subway line,” Park said. “Now I can arrive at work before 9 a.m if I take an express train at Gimpo International Airport station at 8:10 a.m. Now I can leave home an hour later than I used to.” To ensure the safety of commuters and to deter suicide attempts, all stations on subway line No. 9 are equipped with sliding doors on the platforms. Seoul government officials say the doors also reduce the noise when the subway arrives at the station. The doors are also now being installed on the 265 stops on the other eight existing subway lines, with renovations at some of the stops already completed. Trains on subway line No. 9 also offer lower handles inside the subway to enable children or shorter passengers to hold on without difficulty. The exits at line No. 9’s Heukseok Station even have the world’s first canopies with roofs that automatically open and close in heavy rain or snowfall.

Dogged Fighter Against Rotten Toothbrushes ll moms impress on their children the importance of brushing one’s teeth every night. And getting those toothbrushs bacteria-free is just as important — or you may end up scrubbing your pearly whites with the very bugs you’re trying to eliminate. Esencia, founded in 1989, dominates the global market for toothbrush sterilizers. According to Ministry of Knowledge Economy data, Esencia’s global market share in the sector in 2007 was roughly 40 percent. In Korea Esencia’s products account for 70 percent, and in the Japanese market it has a share of 60 percent. In the U.S. the firm’s share tops 30 percent, with all its products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And Esencia conquered the market quickly. A year after it was founded, Esencia released the world’s first toothbrush sterilizer. Since 2000, the company has turned its eyes to the global market, participating in various events including international invention competitions in Switzerland and China. In 2000 Esencia set up its first overseas office in Tokyo. The company grew rapidly, setting up export networks in six countries by the second half of 2003. In 2006, it further expanded its network to the U.S., Canada, Vietnam and Thailand. In every market Esensia went multimedia, marketing on TV and online.

The company now exports to almost 30 countries, including huge markets such as Russia and China. Shin Choong-sik, president of Esencia, says that the company was able to penetrate fastidious European markets by meeting export standards like ISO9001, UL, CE, JIS and CCC. He credits the achievement to development and production know-how accumulated over two decades. The company holds some 100 patents. Shin also attributes Esencia’s success to the adoption of automatic production facilities that lower cost and increase efficiency. Chinese manufacturers have copied the company’s sterilizers and sold them at much lower prices, but these copies were only 80 percent as effective or less than Esencia products. Shin said that the competition with low-priced products in the past 10 years helped raise Esencia’s quality. Instead of using fluorescent-like sterilizing lamps it developed cold-cathode tubes. It expanded the life of its sterilizers 10 times over previous goods and maximized its sterilization rate to 99.9 percent. Shin, who suffered from constant tooth pain, began developing toothbrush sterilizers after seeing a roach sitting on this toothbrush in the late 1980s. Although Shin faced difficulties, particularly when he first began selling the sterilizers, he is a strong believer in never giving up hope.  By Lee Ho-jeong

September 2009 korea 47

Sports

Taking Down the Champion Relative unknown becomes the first Asian man to win a major PGA title

Yang holds up the trophy he received for winning his first PGA championship.

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48 korea September 2009

[AP]

Yang Yong-eun, center, celebrates his win at the Hazeltine National in Minnesota Aug. 17, while Tiger Woods, right, drops his head. The obscure Korean beat the superstar golfer, who bogeyed the final two holes.

‘I wasn’t that nervous, because it’s a game of golf... the worst I could do was just lose to Tiger.’

previously unheralded Korean golfer pulled off one of the greatest upsets in PGA history at the Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minnesota on August 17, when Yang Yong-eun became the first Asian male to win a major PGA title. All the more impressive was the manner in which the 37-year-old Jeju native clinched the PGA Championship. Yang, ranked 110th in the world, had been trailing Tiger Woods by two strokes heading into the final day of play before taking the tournament by three strokes, shocking the world’s best golfer. Woods, who has 14 major titles and 70 PGA wins to his name, is invincible in his career lead with 54 holes at PGA majors. The 33-year-old American golfer was on pace to win his 15th career major and the first of the season. However, Yang was calm and calculating in upsetting one of the best clutch golfers in history. Yang took the lead for the first time when he eagled on the 14th by chipping in from an area just off the green. He then went on to birdie the final hole by hitting a three-iron shot from 210 yards out and then connecting on a 10-foot putt. He ended the day with a two-under par 70, and was eight shots under par for the whole tournament.

“This means the world to me right now,” said Yang to a group of reporters after clinching the win. “I wasn’t that nervous because it’s a game of golf. It’s not like you’re in a cage match [for mixed martial arts] where you’re fighting against Tiger and he’s going to bite you or swing at you with his nine-iron. The worst I could do was just lose to Tiger and go a few ranks down in the final scoreboard.” Woods, on the other hand, had an uncharacteristically poor finish with bogeys on the final two holes. His poor putting was the biggest reason for his loss. “I was certainly in control of the tournament for most of the day, but just didn’t make anything. I did everything I needed to do except for getting the ball in the hole,” Woods said to the press. With the win, Yang improved his ranking from 110 to 34 and has secured a spot on the Internationals team for the President’s Cup matchups between American and non-European golfers, to begin in San Francisco on Oct. 6. A relative unknown, Yang comes from a humble background. His family are farmers, and he is said to have practiced his golf swings with metal pipes on the farm after picking up the sport at the age of 19.  By Jason Kim September 2009 korea 49

Sports

Fierce Midfielder Is Youngest Korean to Head to England Lee Chung-yong left FC Seoul for the Bolton Wanderers on Aug. 13

50 korea September 2009

Korea Just Misses FIBA Berth Team couldn’t extend East Asia win to triumph over Iranian powerhouse

K

Sung-ryeung, made up half of the national team’s midfield crew, which includes Manchester United’s Park Ji-sung and the Wigan Athletics’ Cho Won-hee.  By Jason Kim

Right, Lee Chungyong dribbles the ball in a game for FC Seoul.

Korea’s youth basketball team, left, won the East Asian FIBA championship but lost to several teams in the Asian tournament.

[JoongAng Ilbo]

notched two goals and four assists for FC Seoul this season. Lee’s skill set was recognized early on, and he dropped out of middle school to join the lower professional ranks of Korean football. He was able to earn a spot on FC Seoul’s roster when Senol Gunes spotted the youngster in 2004. Since being added to the national team by manager Huh Jung-moo, Lee has improved his play by leaps and bounds. He and his FC Seoul teammate, Ki

[JoongAng Ilbo]

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ee Chung-yong, one of Korea’s most promising midfielders, became the seventh and the youngest Korean to join the English Premier League, agreeing to a contract in late July. The 21-year-old midfielder left Korea to join the Wanderers in Bolton, Manchester on August 13. “I will approach the new venture overseas with the thought of starting over,” said Lee prior to leaving Korea for Britain. “Much like those ahead of me paved the way and made this opportunity possible for me, I will try my best to do the same.” Lee is headed off to join the Wanderers, an English Premier League club. The 21-year-old was chosen as one of the world’s most promising midfielders by ESPN and the English daily newspaper The Times last year. Lee is expected to contribute considerable playing time for Bolton, which finished 13th in the English league last season with a record of 11 wins, eight draws and 19 losses. With strong dribbling skills, good speed and wide vision, he is considered the most gifted offensive Korean player to join English Premiership. Known to get easily agitated with defenders, his fiery temperament, when channeled in the right direction, can serve to motivate his teammates. Having played both the center midfield and right winger positions, Lee has

orea entered the 2009 Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur Asia Championship in Tianjin, China from August 6 to 16 with a clear goal — to finish among the top three in order to secure a berth in the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey. Having won the East Asia Championship in Nagoya, Japan in June, the team was confident about its chances of securing its first World Championship spot since 1997 but came up short. Korea failed to make the final four of the Asia Championship for the first time in tournament history, losing in the quarterfinals to Lebanon 68-65 on August 14. The team lost to Taiwan the following day and defeated the Philippines 82-80 on August 16 to finish seventh overall. “We will use this experience to improve in time for the Asian Games next year. We need to reflect on our shortcomings and at the same time work on the positives to prepare for next year,” said head coach Hur Jae. “I want to congratulate our players for playing hard despite the difficult circumstances.” Under the rookie national team head coach Hur Jae, Korea had gone undefeated in the East Asia Championship and had

won its first five games without much problems. In the preliminary round and much of the second round featuring teams from East Asia and Southeast Asia, Ha Seung-jin, Kim Joo-sung and Kim Min-soo were able to provide strength inside the paint and Yang Hee-jong and Yang Dong-geun, among others, were able to ease the burden on the frontcourt with timely shooting from the perimeter. However, as expected, teams from the Middle East caused Korea problems. In the quarterfinals, Korea had more steals (11-7) and fewer turnovers (19-12), and it shot poorly from the field (38.1 percent) and from the free throw line (41.2 percent). In the final game of the second round against Iran on August 12, Korea was dominated by the Iranian frontcourt, which featured Hamed Ehadadi of the Memphis Grizzlies. Iran out-rebounded and outscored Korea in the paint, 44 to 30 and 26 to 11, respectively. Iran defended its 2007 title with a win over the home team China (70-52), and Jordan defeated Lebanon (80-66) in the other semifinals.  By Jason Kim

September 2009 korea 51

Travel

The Luxuries of Time Mansions of old offer respite from the exhaustion of today

Its rational design and flawless maintenance make Myeongjae Gotaek a must-see site for architects.

52 korea September 2009

Provided by Myeongjae Gotaek

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e urbanites lead a fast life in an unstable world. It has its advantages, but sometimes we long for something old, something constant — something that stays in one place. Fortunately, that’s a perfect description of the traditional homes that have been tucked into the Korean mountains for hundreds of years. These old mansions offer comfort and familiar hospitality, just the thing for the burned-out desk jockey. At one of these traditional mansions scattered across Korea, visitors can refresh both body and soul. Lay down on the wooden floor of the open hall, overlooking a garden full of scarlet flowers — crape myrtles and garden balsams — and bathe in the clean air. One of the best regions to experience this old-fashioned living is Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, home to 47 traditional houses of various sizes. Nearly 50,000 tourists, including 8,000 foreigners, visited the town in 2008 and stayed at one of the old mansions — some of them head houses of local clans — to experience the traditional Korean lifestyle. The homes in Andong can accommodate about 1,800 guests per day in a total of 303 rooms. About half of the 635 old mansions in Korea are located in North Gyeongsang Province, and the provincial government is working on a 600 million won ($477,000) project to promote these mansions as a national tourist attraction. One of these efforts to boost tourism was the recently-held North Gyeongsang Province Head House Forum. One of Andong’s most famous old homes is Imcheonggak, located on the way to the Andong Dam, once the residence of Seokju Lee Sang-ryong, who served as the first prime minister of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. The 99-room wooden house was built in 1519 in the mid-Joseon period (1392-1910), and is considered a world-class piece of architectural heritage. In 2004, Imcheonggak September 2009 korea 53

Travel

54 korea September 2009

provided by Korea Tourism Organization

The interior of Parkjinsa Gotaek located in Gosung, South Gyeongsang Province is another fine look at the lives of Korea’s old rich and famous.

Provided by Seon Byeong-guk Gaok

was opened to public view. The complicated layout is both open and closed, with the inner house, middle house and guest house flawlessly connected to a series of gardens. For a relaxed stay in a serene environment, Imcheonggak is the perfect spot. To cool off the heat of a summer night, take a walk across Wolyeong Bridge, overlooking the picturesque lake near Andong Dam. The octagonal pavilion and observatory in the middle of the bridge offer a fantastic view of the illuminated lake and its colorful fountains, making it a favorite date spot for couples. Right next to Imcheonggak is Chilcheungjeontap, a seven-storied brick pagoda designated National Treasure No. 16. This structure, the oldest and biggest brick pagoda in Korea, was built in the Unified Silla Period. Imcheonggak hosts guests in seven rooms in the main house and guest house, and a stay includes access to the gardens. For reservations and detailed information, please visit www.imcheonggak.com or call (054) 853-3455. Nongam Jongtaek, the head house of the Yeongcheon Yi clan, is the birthplace of poet Nongam Lee Hyeon-bo (1467-1555), whose most notable work is “The Fishermen’s Song” (not to be confused with The Fisherman’s Calendar by Yun Seon-do). This is one of the most well-known traditional houses in Andong, and the descendents of Lee’s direct line have been living in the house for over 650 years. The mansion boasts a spectacular view of the fabulous gorges of Mount Cheongryang and the silvery sand along the Nakdong River. The remote location, far from the national highways, offers a quiet vacation for those looking to relax. Nongam Jongtaek has 20 rooms for guests, including an annex for a more private stay. You can also enjoy rafting on the river during the summer. While at Nongam Jongtaek, make sure to taste traditional local cuisine, such as the sweet rice drink sikhye, songpyeon rice cakes made with potatoes and Andong noodles. For more details, visit www.nongam.com or call (054) 843-1202. A stay at a traditional mansion runs from 50,000 to 150,000 won during high season. Twenty-one museums and exhibition halls can be found all over Andong, so a tour will give you insight into local treasures and cultural properties. The Andong Folk Museum features an exhibit on the traditional gwanhonsangjae, the four major ceremonies that Koreans used to go through from birth to after death: the coming-of-age ceremony, wedding, funeral and ancestor worship service. The museum also showcases traditional food, clothing and shelter as well as folk religions and games. Not all the mansions are self-containted: All of Hahoe Village, the one-clan community of the Pungsan Yu family, has been designated Important Folklore Material No. 112. Here national and folk treasures wait

Hundreds of soybean paste jars line the terrace of the manor at Seon Byeongguk Ga-ok.

behind every corner. Andong Dam, built to control flooding on the lower Nakdong River, maintains a lake filled with 1.25 billion tons of water, which means cruises and fishing are close by. Myeongjae Gotaek in Nonsan, South Chungchung Province, was the residence of Myeongjae Yunjeong (16291714), a great Joseon scholar, and is visited by some 30,000 tourists every year. The structure was designed and built over 300 years ago, but the rational design and flawless maintenance make it a must-see site for aspiring architects

and those interested in feng shui, according to the current master of the house, the 12th-generation descendent of Yun Jeong. In 2008, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited the mansion. Situated at the foot of Mount Noseong, Myeongjae Gotaek is an 82-room building built in the square layout that is typical of the Chungcheong provinces. It consists of a main house, an annex, a guest house, a storehouse and a shrine. The mansion’s celebrated scientific design brings in the fresh air longer during the summer, drawing it into the open space between the main house and the storehouse, while blocking the wind during the winter for added warmth. The main doors to the guesthouse slide and turn on hinges at the same time, rare for the time. The daecheong, the open wooden floor that played the role of a living room, is elevated so that the mistress of the house could look out across the village. The serene pond in front of the gorgeous guesthouse is surrounded by centuries-old crape myrtles and Japanese cornelian cherries. Myeongjae Gotaek operates various programs such as coming-of-age cere-

Seon Byeongguk Gaok is still home to its 21st-generation mistress, Kim Jeong-ok — a sign of continuity in a chaotic land.

Andong noodles

monies and tea ceremonies, and you can even have a traditional wedding there. The annex has six rooms for guests, each room ranging from 60,000 won to 110,000 won depending on the size. For more information and reservation inquiries, please visit www.yunjeung.com or call (041) 735-1215. Seon Byeong-guk Ga-ok, the 99-room head house of the Boseong Seon Clan in Bo-eun, North Chungcheong Province, is situated in the middle of a thick pine grove. A hundred years ago, the then-master of the house, who was a seafood merchant, recruited only the best carpenters from all around the country to build this architectural masterpiece out of red pine trees from Mount Songni. The great labor took 23 years to complete and has been designated Important Folklore Material No. 134. A typical house of the landlord class, Seon Byeong-guk Ga-ok features spacious rooms and higher ceilings compared to other traditional houses, illustrating the changing hanok style in the late Joseon period. The site of the house was thought to be propitious, since it is shaped like a lotus flower floating on water. Originally, the house was built on a vast 24-acre site, with 134 rooms in the main house along with a guest house, shrine, gatehouse, servants’ quarters, kitchen garden, a terrace for spice jars and a garden, but it was partially destroyed during the Korean War. Last year, the mansion was visited by over 30,000 tourists. The hundreds of jars with pepper paste, soy paste and soy sauce lined up on the terrace are a fasciSeptember 2009 korea 55

Travel Korea’s Taste Masters

Back to Basics, and Thank Buddha

Provided by Seongyojang

Chef says the trend toward simple food is good news for Korea

Left, buildings sprawl across the grounds at Seongyojang in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. Top and above, visitors can experience cultural programs like making rice cakes, eating local food and playing folk games.

nating sight. The 21st-generation mistress of the house, Kim Jeong-ok, says that she makes a paste of dates, the specialty of Bo-eun, in addition to the traditional pepper paste. The date paste is naturally sweet and nutritious and appeals to young people more than the sometimes hard to swallow traditional concoctions. The region is known for producing many notable scholars, so many students studying for national examinations come here for an extended stay, inspired by that reputation. The house offers five rooms, including a family room and a group room, for tourists, and the guesthouse serves as a tea house. Rooms range from 50,000 to 120,000 won. The group room can accommodate up to 30 people for 240,000 won. The house’s Web site is www.adanggol. com, or call (043) 543-7177. Seongyojang in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, was the first civilian house to be designated as a national cultural property. It is a must-see tourist attraction for those visiting Gangneung, one of the most popular vacation desti56 korea September 2009

nations in Korea. Over 300,000 tourists stop by the magnificent mansion, which includes 10 buildings on a site of 24 acres. Alongside the main house sits large and small guest houses, servants’ quarters and a pavilion. Built in 1703, it is the biggest civilian house in Korea, and the term manor or villa would perhaps be more appropriate. Centuries-old pine trees line the rear of the house, and red lotus flowers blossom on the pond near the pavilion. Ultimately, the only way to understand why Seongyojang is called “the most beautiful house in Korea” is to see it for yourself. According to Kim Bong-ryeol, professor of architecture at the Korean National University of Arts, Seongyojang is a perfect example of the characteristics of traditional Korean architecture, with a garden laid out in multiple layers and walls wrapped around the inner houses. Even the servants’ quarters are lined up in a row to project a grand and solemn beauty. Currently, the mansion can accommodate 180 guests in over 50 rooms.

The main floor is used as an educational center, and there is an outdoor playground and grass field. Folk games such as shuttlecock kicking, swings, seesaws, the arrow throwing game of tuho and the board game yutnori are played frequently here. Traditional music is performed every Saturday. You can even take classes in wood crafts or experience a tea ceremony or local cuisine tasting, all for a price comparable to other mansions. For more information about visiting Seongyojang, visit www. knsgi.net or call (033) 646-4270. Kevin Edwards, 45, from Britain, visited Seongyojang in July 2009 and said he fell completely in love with the indescribable charms of Korea after the visit. He said he would bring his entire family back to the manor. No visit to Seongyojang is complete without viewing a sunrise over the East Sea from nearby Gyeongpodae Beach — the ultimate reminder that, no matter what we city slickers do, the Earth continues to chart its slow course across the cosmos. By Hong Jin

These are just a few of the dishes included in the set menu at Sanchon, a traditional temple-food restaurant in Insa-dong, central Seoul. [JoongAng Ilbo]

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ae Han-chul, kitchen director at the Grand InterContinental Seoul in the southern part of the capital, is a leading culinary figure involved in promoting Korean food worldwide. Recently, he visited Paris to create Korean dishes for the “Soirée Coréenne” (Korean Night), an event organized by the Korean government and the private sector that provided 300 French artists, politicians and business managers with a taste of Korean food. The chef ’s active role as an ambassador for Korean cuisine is simply part of his food philosophy. He says there’s one simple fact in the world of dining — tastes change constantly. What’s hot one day can go the way of tuna and noodle casserole in the blink of an eye. “Today, the consumer palette is increasingly shifting from sophisticated, complex tastes toward simple and healthy food, like Korean [cuisine],” he

said in a recent interview at the hotel. “Complex times call for simpler foods,” he said. And as part of this back-to-basics food trend, many people are looking for meals that don’t contain additives or growth hormones. Bae, who has been exploring the culinary scene for three decades since embarking on his career as a chef in 1979, said Korean food fits perfectly with consumers’ tastes right now. For the best traditional Korean meal, Bae recommends the well-known Sanchon restaurant, a temple food eatery in Insa-dong, central Seoul. Sanchon, which in Korean means mountain village, is run by a former Buddhist monk named Kim Yonshik who has spent 30 years studying vegetarian temple dishes, ever since he entered the temple at age 15. The restaurant serves a unique style of hanjeongsik featuring rice, stew and more than two dozen side dishes including japchae (glass noodles mixed with fresh vegetables) and seasoned deodeok (a type of root with a pungent taste). The menu changes seasonally. Normally, a Buddhist temple style recipe would exclude the five spices including garlic, green onions, red spices and — of course — any artificial seasonings, but Sanchon sometimes uses the spices for those visitors who are unfamiliar with temple dishes. A set lunch is 22,000 won including tax, while the dinner set is 39,600 won. To visit, take subway line No. 3 to Anguk Station, exit 6. For more information, call (02) 7350312 or visit www.sanchon. com. Hours are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Traditional performances are staged at the restaurant from 8 to 8:45 p.m. every day. By Lee Eun-joo

Bae Han-chul

September September 2009 2009 korea korea 57 57

People

Korean Food

The Secret to Family Cooking

A Teenage Novelist’s Voyage

provided by Korea Organization of Information Service

In her book, Lea Huyonh Nho shares her experience learning Korean cooking from her mother-in-law.

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t’s a common assumption that most ambitious cooks improve with age, working out their kinks, controlling their jitters, tempering the vanity that breeds bad judgment. Common, but not really correct anymore for the taste buds of Koreans — or a Vietnamese woman who was entranced by her Korean mother-in-law’s secret recipe. Lea Huyonh Nho, who came here from Vietnam and married a Korean husband, received indispensable cooking lessons from her Korean mother-in-law. To Lea, the author of the book The Taste of Mother’s Secret Recipe, this Korean woman was a gem of a cook: modest, penny-wise and brought up in austere surroundings. 58 korea September 2009

While living with her, the author compiled not only lists of ingredients but also her thoughts and feelings towards each and every Korean dish she learned. Of course, not every foreign wife living in Korea has to learn to cook Korean cuisine, but the author hoped to share part of her story living in an unfamiliar place and trying to please her husband in order to bridge the gap between their two different cultures. Simple dishes such as kimchi jjigae and dwenjang jjigae seemed to require no special techniques. Yet, Lea said, the results of her mother-in-law’s cooking and her own were never the same. The secret lay, Lea decided, in the extra ingredient: a mother’s sincerity. She said that she was pleasantly surprised to discover how much devotion a Korean mother puts into one dish. She calls this “mother’s secret recipe.” In order to utilize this secret recipe, Lea says, first one needs to let go of one’s obsession with making delicious food every time. What one truly needs is an understanding of the basic essence of making Korean food, the author argues. In this book, Lea hoped to present the image of one Korean mother, because, she says, it’s crucial to understand the mind of the Korean mother in order to understand what Korean husbands want from their foreign wives. The book contains recipes simple to sophisticated that Korean mothers can cook for big family dinners, or even for a husband with no appetite. The author relates Korean customs and manners to their eating and drinking habits. Therefore, Lea says, if one keeps pace with Koreans’ innate characteristics, you can never disappoint your husband’s taste buds. Your work might turn out subpar at first, but that’s OK, Lea says — once you understand the basis of cooking Korean food, you will be able to cook perfect cuisine with very few ingredients. And that will enrich more than just your diet; it’ll spice Lea Huyonh Nho up your family life as well. Author of The Taste of 

By Lim Seung-hae

Mother’s Secret Recipe

[joongAng Ilbo]

A Vietnamese wife shares what her Korean mother-in-law taught her

Lee So-young wrote a 608-page historical novel about the ancient Roman Third Servile War. Here the middle school student stands in front of Roman ruins in Italy.

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‘Everything about my book is great, except the words “gifted girl” on the cover.’

ee So-young is 15 — and she’s a published novelist. And not a sappy romance novel, either: The ninth grader at Daechi Middle School recently authored Rebellion, a 608-page piece of historical fiction. Even more incredible, she wrote it entirely in English. Lee liked writing short English stories growing up, but this is her first time completing a whole book, not to mention seeing it published. “I think everything about my book is great, except the words ‘gifted girl’ on the cover,” Lee said. “I wanted [the publishers] to erase it but they wouldn’t approve. It’s kind of embarrassing when there are many other students that have exceptional English skills. They just don’t have the time to sit down and write an entire book.” Setting the plot during the Third Servile War (73-71 B.C.) in Rome, about which very little is known, Lee invested all the devotion she could muster in Rebellion. It took her around a year-and-a-half to finish the book, writing two to three hours daily. She verified historical facts online, constantly leafed through encyclopedias and even saw several documentaries to ensure she wasn’t inserting any errors. Lee took on another challenge by deciding to use Spartacus, the courageous gladiator who

led a slave rebellion against Rome, as her main character. Lee first became interested in the ancient civilization when she received a pet parrot named Caesar. But the more she learned, the more she felt it would be hard for her to depict the real Caesar as a character. “If you have too much information when you’re writing fiction, it doesn’t really help,” the author recalled. In addition to her one-year stay in France, the elementary education she received when she lived in the U.S. for a little over three years made it easier for Lee to write and read in English than to do the same in Korean. She also has a strong passion for writing, saying, “Writing is different from plain studying. What I gain from aceing tests is temporary, but what I gain from my writing is everlasting.” Lee added that she still can’t help but beam whenever she looks at her book.When the book was honed to Lee’s satisfaction, she sent excerpts to some 40 different foreign publishers and received one reply requesting the manuscript. In the end, Korean Ilsong Books was the lucky publishing company to sign a contract with Lee. Editorial supervisor Oh Young-sook said, “Combining all her assets as a young and aspiring author, I believe the term ‘gifted girl’ was made for girls like her.” By Carol Park September 2009 korea 59

People

[JoongAng Ilbo]

A New Shade of Korean Leader People like Lee Charm, German-born head of the Korea Tourism Organization, make their love for Korea felt in culture and business Ken Crawford

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n this mostly ethnically homogeneous country once called the “hermit kingdom,” Lee Charm is one of a kind. Born Bernhard Quandt in Germany, Lee came to Korea in 1978 and, enamored with his adopted home, became a Korean citizen in 1986. His first Korean name was Lee Hanwoo, literally meaning “helping Korea.” He adopted his current name in 2001. Lee’s love affair with Korea has led to various opportunities. He has appeared in Korean television dramas and hosted TV and radio programs.

But none is as big as his latest assignment: Lee was named the head of the Korea Tourism Organization in July, becoming the first foreign-born person to be named to a leadership position in the Korean government. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports, which oversees the tour organization, explained the hiring of Lee expressed the Korean government’s willingness to open doors for all, regardless of their ethnicity. “Our society is becoming more open and more internationalized,” the ministry said. “And the public sector has been considered conservative and closed. But this move shows the gov-

ernment is prepared to open up.” The emotional Lee said he felt obligated to let the world in on his adopted homeland. “I feel that if people around the world knew Korea as I do, many people would visit Korea,” Lee said. “Over the last 30 years I have been in Korea, I have come to know Korea. And with that I feel a sense of duty that I can and should share this with others.”

Lee Charm, born Bernhardt Quandt, is the first foreign-born person to be head of a Korean state agency.

60 korea September 2009

[JoongAng Ilbo]

‘If people around the world knew Korea as I do, many... would visit.’ And Lee isn’t the only startling recent appointment. The Korea Meteorological Administration in early August hired Ken Crawford, professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, to head a newly formed nine-person unit to pursue accurate weather forecasts. The administration called Crawford the first foreign national — Lee Charm is, after all, a Korean citizen — to be hired as a high-ranking public servant in Korea after the law on their hiring was amended to expand opportunities for them. Crawford had a 28-year career with the National Weather Service in the United States and will be charged with trying to improve Korea’s weather forecast capabilities. The Korean administration said Crawford is signed through 2012, and its expectations for him are such that Crawford will be paid $260,000

Guenter Reinke

An Son-jae

a year, about twice the salary of the Korean president. He will also be provided with an apartment and a sedan car. Korea has gradually opened its public institutions and private sectors to foreigners. And regardless of their positions and ranks, these international figures share one thing in common — their unabashed love for Korea. Suzanna Samstag Oh is the only American among the Korean conglomerate Daesung Group’s top officials. She has been a senior adviser on energy and culture since 2006. Oh, who arrived here as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in 1980, fell in love with the traditional Korean percussion form called samulnori after attending a show by the troupe of the master Kim Duk-su. She offered to help the troupe and was later hired as its overseas manager. She went on global tours with them and arranged workshops for foreigners following performances. Since he became chief executive of Boehringer Ingelheim Korea in 2005, Guenter Reinke has tried to assimilate himself into Korean culture. The German native builds Korean traditional kites, and his love for the Korean culture has led to Boehringer Ingelheim’s sponsoring of the Seoul Traditional Artist Awards, which started in 2007. “Young Koreans should realize that Korea’s rich traditions and culture formed the basis of its remarkable economic growth,” Reinke said. “They should take more interest in trying to preserve and inherit these traditions.” There are those who exert themselves

Suzanna Oh

in learning the Korean language and extol the virtues of their new tongue. After arriving in Korea last fall, Christian Schindler, the German-born general manager of Lufthansa Korea, started picking up the new language, believing simply that he ought to learn the language of the country in which he was working. “By learning the Korean language, I’ve developed a better understanding of the Korean culture and sentiments,” Schindler says. “I am amazed by the logical and scientific structure of the language.” Others, such as Brother Anthony of Taizé, a professor emeritus of English at Sogang University, are trying to spread the news about Korean culture. The professor, who has Korean citizenship under the name An Son-jae, has translated a swath of Korean books. He began translating modern Korean literature in 1988 and has been honored with the Republic of Korea Literary Award in the translation category, the Daesan Award for Translation and the Korea PEN Translation Prize. American Maureen O’Crowley, meanwhile, is trying to promote Seoul as a tourist attraction. She is head of the Seoul Convention Bureau at the Seoul Tourism Organization. After running her own tour agency in California, she developed her Korean ties by working at the Los Angeles bureau of the Korea Tourism Organization in 2006. “Korea is my passion,” she said. “I love Seoul. That’s why I am working By Yoo Jee-ho here.”

September 2009 korea 61

People

Blazing a Trail in Hollywood From opposite left to below: Jun JiHyun in Blood: The Last Vampire, Rain in Ninja Assassin, Jang Dong-gun in Laundry Warrior, and Lee ByungHun in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Korean actors find their place amid the samurai and kung fu fighters

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wood movies with Korean actors in the lead roles are coming soon. In The Warrior’s Way, Jang Dong-gun plays an Asian warrior who has been hiding in a small American town in his first American film. Pop superstar Rain already made his debut in Hollywood in a supporting role in Speed Racer in 2008, but now he is ready to come back as the lead character in the new movie Ninja Assassin. This huge list may seem an unqualified success for Korean actors, but bigger problems often crop up after they land on the shores of L.A. As the previous attempts by Korean actors to break into the American film industry show, the biggest obstacle to overcome is the language barrier. The ability not only to read the lines fluently, but also to communicate with the director and the staff members is crucial for a successful actor. At a recent interview on May 12 in Seoul, Jun explained the issues she had to deal with while shooting Blood. “I remember the first shoot very vividly. I could only perform two lines of the

script, and I couldn’t understand what the producers wanted from me,” she said. Because language is a major difficulty for foreign actors, it is inevitable that Korean actors not fluent in English will have limited options for possible roles. Most of the time, Korean actors choose action films and play very dynamic characters, expressing themselves with movement rather than verbally, through lengthy conversations or monologues. Although Lee has a quite big role in G.I. Joe, his character is built up through set pieces and visual qualities rather than lines. Of course, the blockbuster is an excellent start for Lee’s career, raising awareness of him worldwide. However, the question remains: After the movie’s success, will Lee be able to keep up with the fast pace of Hollywood and take it to the next level? The test for every Korean actor is to be more than just an exotic Asian face and continue to make films. Being able to speak fluent English is a big plus, but it is also something Korean

actors have to overcome in order to take that next step in Hollywood. Another reason Korean actors have limited role options in action movies has to do with stereotypical ideas about Asians in Western society. Japanese samurai or Chinese kung fu fighters are still the commonly accepted images of Asian culture, particularly Asian men.Films in genres that average Americans identify with the most, like drama or romance, seldom have Asian characters in leading roles. Stereotypes are unquestionably negative, as they come from the commodification of one’s culture, but they have helped shape individual countries’ identities. Samurai have become representative of Japanese culture, and likewise for kung fu and China. But Korea has no such quick fit in the Western world. Thus, often roles for Asian characters tend to go to Japanese or Chinese. In fact, Jun’s film Blood is based on a Japanese anime. Meanwhile, Rain’s character, Taejo Tokokan, and Lee Byung-Hun’s character Storm Shadow were originally Japa-

nese, but they both asked the filmmakers to change the nationality of the characters since they are Koreans. Although a lot of the characters’ features may still remind viewers of Japan, that effort should be acknowledged. It might be inevitable for Korean actors to start their Hollywood careers playing stereotypical Asian characters, but in time the best will be able to build up their own identities. Perhaps the best known example of this is Yunjin Kim, who played a complex and nuanced Korean character on the American television show “Lost.” Establishing a positive and strong Korean identity that can be differentiated from previously built images is the key to the globalization of Korean culture — and its biggest challenge.  By Susan Yoon

[JoongAng Ilbo]

s you watch the latest crop of Hollywood action movie trailers, you may notice something unusual, something some said would never happen — more and more Korean faces in lead roles. The year 2009 has been an especially fruitful one for the Korean actors who have made it in American film, though no one knows how long their luck will last. My Sassy Girl heroine Jun Ji-Hyun starred in her first international action movie, Blood: The Last Vampire, which was released in June in Korea. In the action flick, Jun plays the role of a humanvampire hybrid named Saya. Famous Korean Wave actor Lee Byung-Hun also made his Hollywood debut in the big-budget G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which opened in August. In this theatrical and colorful action movie, Lee plays Storm Shadow, a Korean martial arts fighter and a member of the villainous organization of the title. And even more big-budget Holly-

62 korea September 2009

September 2009 korea 63

Provided by Kim Back-keun

People People

Kim Back-keun, 46, plays a concert in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province in 2008.

Discovering Musical Joy in the Fields Kim Back-keun once dreamed of being a star. Now he farms, but that dream never died

64 korea September 2009

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t first glance, Kim Back-keun may look like an ordinary Korean farmer (except for his long ponytail). Kim, like his father, grandfather, great grandfather and three more generations before, has spent most of his life in the small village of Garakgol in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province. Waking up before dawn every morning, Kim spends the day tending rice on his 13-acre farm, watering or sowing seeds for cabbage, radish, cucumber and other seasonal vegetables, or experimenting on new cultivars. But when the day is over and night sets in, the 46-year-old heads to a makeshift studio in his home and picks up a guitar. He plays the songs he’s written, reliving old dreams of rock stardom. And Kim has indeed become some-

thing of a small celebrity in this largely rural community, performing at various province fairs and events. He even released his first album in April. In his songs, Kim croons about passion for rice, awe at Mother Nature, love for his family and friends, artistic brooding and just about anything else he feels in everyday life. “My whole family has lived in this village for the past seven generations — for more than 100 years,” Kim said. Born in this small town, he was meant to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors, taking even deeper root in this tight-knit rural community and becoming a farmer. But as a teenager in the 1970s, Kim was mesmerized by something else: rock music. The sound of his brother’s guitar and of Elvis Presley on the transistor radio fascinated him. Soon Kim found himself glued to the little box every night, listening to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk Railroad and Pink Floyd, while playing his brother’s guitar all day long with other music buffs. After Kim graduated from high school in Seoul, the long-haired young rocker joined a small band as guitarist and performed around college campuses in downtown Seoul for about three years in the early 1980s. But life as a hungry artist wasn’t for him. “It was simply impossible to get by just by doing music full-time,” said Kim. After three years, the band broke apart, and hungry and desperate Kim decided to return to his hometown to become a farmer, and perhaps practice his music part-time after work. Life as a farmer, however, was no easier than his career in music had been. Kim struggled for years until he adjusted to the rural life, getting to know how to sow seeds, tend the rice fields, harvest and sell the crops and

‘Music is like an everyday habit to me. Farming and music are the two pillars of my life.’

Top, Kim cares for his vegetable garden. Above, Kim sings on a poster for one of his concerts.

maintain the farmland on sunny, rainy, windy, snowy and all other days. But during all these trials, Kim’s passion for music remained. “Music is like an everyday habit to me. Farming and music are the two pillars of my life,” said Kim, now married with three children, including two teenager daughters and a 10-year-old son. So he built a small music workshop in his house, paneling the walls with more than 1,000 small paper egg-packaging boxes to make it soundproof and filling the room with guitars, drums, flutes and other musical instruments he bought or made himself. Surrounded by instruments and more than 1,000 of his favorite LPs, collected over three decades, Kim finally began writing his own songs again. “It’s okay you’re rustic / It’s okay you’re rough / The humble and proud people who have silently soldiered on with their lives … You can be thirsty / You can be hungry / The people who live along with nature have no laments,” Kim sings in his song titled “The Farmer’s Mind.” He also praises rice as “nature’s gift / nature’s lifeline / for all the people / now and forever,” in his song titled “Rice.” “No matter how good you are / No matter how bad you are / All the lives in this world look for something to eat,” Kim croons. With the help of old friends, Kim managed to hold his first solo concert in downtown Gwangmyeong last October, before even releasing his first album, with seven tracks, in April this year. About 600 copies have been sold so far — much better than Kim expected. “I’m grateful I can play in front of people who appreciate my music,” he said. For Kim, farming and music share certain common elements — complete unpredictability and catharsis. “You can never guess what this year’s harvest will be like, since it can change depending on the weather, environmental changes and all the other frivolity of nature,” he said. Whereas in music, Kim said, there are certain unanticipated, hard-to-come-by moments of inspiration, which suddenly open doors to new melodies and creative rhythms. “It’s a moment of catharsis, and you can sometimes meet a moment like that when farming crops in nature,” he said.  By Jung Ha-won

September 2009 korea 65

Foreign Viewpoints

S

And Korea Transforms Yet Again I thrive on surprise, which makes this land — always changing, achieving goals no one would think possible — perfect for me.

Alan Timblick is head of the Seoul Global Center at the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Previously he served as the head of Invest KOREA and senior vice president of KOTRA. Until he joined the Seoul Global Center, he was a senior advisor at Invest KOREA. He has lived in Korea for 23 years. From 1968 to 1995 he worked with Barclays Bank as an economist, a high street banker and an international corporate banking specialist, with resident country manager responsibilities in Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Luxemburg and Korea. After that, he worked with the executive search firms, AMROP International and subsequently Korn/ Ferry International as a managing director. 66 korea September 2009

ince I have spent half of my adult life in Korea, it should be an easy matter to write a column about life as a foreigner in this country. But in fact I find it a bit difficult. Like the expression, “He can’t see the forest for the trees,” one can get so used to something that we don’t notice how it can appear to those unfamiliar with it! So let me write about what I enjoy. My character is one who dislikes monotony, the routine and the predictable. I don’t like watching movies when the plot is obvious and the ending is no surprise. So the delight I get from living here comes from the constant flow of surprises and unexpected events. For a start, the topography is a surprise. They say that 70 percent of Korea’s land is mountains. Any drive into the countryside will confirm this. The other day I drove on a newlyopened stretch of expressway between Seoul and Chuncheon, the capital of Gangwon Province. As you pass through tunnel after tunnel, burrowing through the landscape like a high-speed mole, the road bursts into the open displaying wide vistas of steep hillsides green with forests, winding silver streaks of rivers and white rushing waterfalls. Again, on a more recent journey southwards, a rolling mountain meadow, worthy of a scene from “The Sound of Music,” came into view, complete with bales of harvested hay — even though these were wrapped in shining white plastic! This was unlike any scenery I had ever seen in Korea before. Even the city scene provides eye-openers on the daily commute. Just a week ago Seoul opened up a brand new boulevard right in the middle of the ancient center of the 600-yearold capital. I had been driving daily past the screens that concealed the on-going works for a few months, and I knew what the planned Gwangwhamun Plaza was supposed to look like when it was completed. But I was totally unprepared for the visual effect of the wide open space, the floral arrangements, the water streams and the fountains, and I was above all astonished by the crowds of people — families with young children, pensioners, dating couples and foreign sightseers — who stroll along the plaza as if they were at their favorite beach resort, oblivious of the traffic flowing to either side. Seoul used to be a city where the pedestrian

was treated almost like a second-class citizen, with priority given to getting the vehicles through as fast as possible. Now it has become a walker’s delight, with controlled crossings, wide sidewalks, tree-shaded rest areas and floral gardens nestling among the highrise office blocks. Even pavement cafes have appeared along the Cheonggyecheon rivulet which runs through the city where a four-lane overhead throughway once stood. I am sure that my former fellow expats from the 1970s would be struck dumb with amazement at the transformation of the city within such a relatively short span of time. The removal of the squalid, the shabby, the confusing, the disorderly and the dirty has been progressively achieved over the past decade or less, and is evidence of how quickly the Korean people are able to change and to accept new ideas. What is worrying is when the new is considered better than the old without proper evaluation. And the gradual disappearance of many of the old-style, authentically Korean buildings might be seen as “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” So I get particular satisfaction when I see areas of preservation, such as the Bukcheon area to the north of the city center, or of re-creation, such as at the Museum of Korean Furniture in Seongbuk-dong, on the slopes of Mount Bugak. The shape of the tiled roof, in particular, on the traditional hanok home carries a grace in the upward and outward curvature, which is absent in both Japanese and Chinese traditional architecture. But amidst the constant flow of surprises that strike me living in Korea, maybe the most astonishing is the national trait of the Korean people that makes them propel themselves constantly to improve, to make next year better than last, and to rise up in the ranks of nations in a whole range of activities — science, technology, sport, performing arts: The list goes on. Living in Korea is sometimes like being in a state of perpetual crisis. But the people seem to thrive on crisis. And it is more than merely fun to observe the fighting spirit. (Koreans regularly use the exclamation, “Fighting!” to encourage one another.) Seeing them constantly overcoming adversity is nothing short of an inspiration. And that is the real reason I enjoy living here.

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