Tài liệu Koreans and Arirang pdf

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contents
january 2013 Vol.9 no.1
02
Cover Story

UNESCO’s
Intangible
Cultural Heritage of

Humanity
Arirang
Koreans and
Arirang
Arirang Variations
Arirang as UNESCO’s
Intangible Heritage of
Humanity
korea january 2013
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COVER STORY
The Korean folk song Arirang has been inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Arirang is more than a folk song: for generations,
singing Arirang has given Koreans comfort and brought them together as one.
by Lee Jeong-eun and Im Sang-beom / proofread by Kang Deung-hak (professor at Gangneung-Wonju University)/ in cooperation with the Korean
Traditional Performing Arts Foundation, the Korea Creative Content Agency and based on A Study on the Problem of Administrative Protection of
Arirang in Relation to Its Cultural Traits by Kang Deung-hak and Arirang co-authored by Kim Yeong-un and Kim Gi-hyeon
UNESCO’S INtaNgIblE
CUltUral HErItagE Of HUmaNIty
Arirang
korea january 2013
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COVER STORY
5
group of songs in which the chorus repeats
the word Arirang or a similar sounding word.
Nobody knows the exact meaning of the word
Arirang. Many people believe that it has no
specic meaning.

Each variation of Arirang has a xed melody
and chorus, but the rest of the lyrics are
changeable. That is, singers can either sing the
traditional lyrics or creatively improvise. Thus,
Arirang is traditional, but at the same time very
extemporary.
Arirang was originally a hyangto minyo
(rural folk song) in Gangwon-do and its
vicinity, located in the mid-eastern part of
the Korean Peninsula. People sang it while
gathering rewood or wild herbs, planting rice
seedlings, weeding paddies and elds, doing
house chores, or simply killing time together or
alone. Variations of Arirang included “Arari,”
“Yeokkeum Arari,” and “Jajin Arari.”
In the mid-19th century, professional singers
belonging to sadangpae (troupes of travelling
actors) from Seoul started singing Arirang on
stage, giving rise to tongsok minyo Arirang
(Arirang as a popular folk song). Those
professional singers added their musicality
to the traditional Arirang and named the new
songs “Arirang Taryeong.”
Arirang Taryeong became known more
widely thanks to the reconstruction of
Gyeongbokgung Palace during the reign of
King Gojong (r. 1863-1907). In order to boost
the morale of laborers from across the nation,
sadangpae singers sang Arirang for them. When
the reconstruction was completed, the laborers

returned home and spread Arirang Taryeong in
their hometowns.
In 1926, director Na Woon-gyu made the
movie Arirang and used a remake of the most
popular variation of tongsok minyo Arirang. The
movie was a major hit; the theme song became
known by all the Koreans and gained the
Koreans and Arirang
When South and North Korean athletes entered
the Olympic Stadium together during the
opening ceremony of the 27th Summer Olympic
Games in Sydney in 2000, Arirang was played
rather than the national anthem of either
country. For Arirang is the single most iconic
song that represents the entire Korean nation.
Korea was again full of excitement during
the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup. People
wearing red shirts poured out onto the streets,
and every city square in the country became
a festive sea of red. One of the cheering songs
reverberating through the streets was Arirang,
which every Korean—young or old—knows by
heart.
Poet Ko Un once dened Arirang as “staples
and stars to Koreans and the nameless general
of history that lives have accumulated.” What
greater proof could there be that Arirang is
more than a folk song for Koreans?
Arirang represents Koreans—whether they
are South or North Koreans, whether they live

on the Korean Peninsula or in other parts of the
world—and it is the single element that unites
the Korean nation.
BIRTH OF ARIRANG
Korean folk songs (minyo) are broadly
categorized as folk songs sung by the
common people in rural areas (hyangto minyo)
and popular folk songs for professional
performances (tongsok minyo). Industrialization
and urbanization have brushed aside rural folk
songs as rural communities have gradually
disappeared. Today, the term minyo generally
refers to popular Korean folk songs which
you can hear on the radio or TV. Far and away
the most widely known Korean folk song is
Arirang.
Arirang is in fact not a single song, but a
korea january 2013
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COVER STORY
nickname “Bonjo Arirang” (lit. Arirang of the
original melody). The boom of “Bonjo Arirang”
precipitated a new and lasting trend of creating
Arirang-inspired popular songs in the 1930s
that continues today.
Opinions of the value of Arirang vary greatly.
There was a time when scholars of Korean
literature regarded Arirang merely as an old
folk song and a material for etymological

research. Perhaps Arirang is not musically
the best folk song, but historically it is of
utmost importance. Reected in the mirror of
national history, Arirang is a spitting image
of the Korean nation, which has survived
countless ups and downs over the millennia
through pain and joy and sorrow and
suering.
ARIRANG AROUND THE WORLD
Arirang is not only sung in Korea but also
in Japan, China, the United States, Russia,
Germany, and many other parts of the world,
because Koreans who left Korea—willingly or
unwillingly—still sing the song. Their Arirang
has more sorrowful stories, as most Korean
emigrants had to suer hardships in foreign
lands. The lives of Koreans in Japan, which is
often dubbed a close but far neighbor, were
especially dicult. Arirang was ocially
introduced in Japan by a Japanese ocial named
Nobuo Junpei, who visited Korea in 1876. Later,
radio programs such as Arirang Collection (1936)
and music albums including Song of Arirang
(edited by Koga Masao, 1932) also featured
Arirang. Perhaps due to such exchanges, almost
every record on Korea written during the Showa
period (1926-1989) mentions Arirang. Korean
artists also played a role in spreading Arirang
in Japan. Classical vocalist Kim Anna sang
Arirang as part of her repertoire, and dancer

Choi Seung-hee’s Arirang was also famous.
“Sanghang Arirang” is a variation created
by Korean Americans. The word “sanghang”
refers to San Francisco. There is a story that
Ahn Eak-tai, a renowned conductor in the
1940s, arranged Arirang and dedicated it to his
teacher, Leopold Stokowski. That version of
Arirang, entitled “Arirang Hill,” was created
at the request of Philadelphia-based publisher
Elkan-Vogel Co., Inc. Printed on the cover of the
score is “The rst manifestation of the Korean
music by EAKTAE AHN from Korean Life for
Voice and Piano.”
Literature on Arirang can also be found in
Germany. In 1925, German folklorists published
a report on the folklore of prisoners of war of
dierent ethnic backgrounds, including two
Koreans who fought for Russia as mercenaries.
The report includes details on three variations of
Arirang that the two Korean mercenaries sang.
They are “Arirang Sseurirang,” “Harirang,”
and “Arirangga.” In the 1960s and 1970s, Korean
miners who went to Germany also sang Arirang
to soothe their sorrows from the hard labor and
challenges of life abroad.
Arirang united the Koreans who emigrated
to Hawaii more than a century ago, those who
went all the way to the Yucatan Peninsula
in Mexico to Cuba, and those who scattered
throughout China, Japan, Russia, and Central

Asia, and it still gives a sense of unity to the
over seven million ethnic Koreans abroad
including the descendents of Korean emigrants
who left their homeland a century ago.
ARIRANG IN ART
Arirang embodies the Korean nation’s history
and everyday feelings more than anything else.
It has been an object of research for scholars
and a rich source of inspiration for artists.
Numerous books have come out; some collect
many variations of Arirang, and some delve
into the Arirangs of a certain region.
TV programs were made that appeal to the
collective subconscious of Koreans captured
in Arirang. The sitcom LA Arirang, set in Los
Angeles where many Korean-Americans live,
was a great hit in Korea. Reputable novelist Jo
Jung-rae published a 12-volume novel entitled
Arirang in 1994 telling of Koreans’ tenacious
ght for survival and independence and the
heartbreaking stories of Korean emigrants
during Japanese occupation. The long novel
features numerous characters to depict Korean
history in the most vivid way.
Musicians are also lovers of Arirang. Many
albums have come out at home and abroad
in dierent versions. Some are arranged as
Western classical music or pop music. Some
albums feature Arirang played on the gayageum
(traditional Korean zither with 12 strings)

or other musical instruments. Old albums
featuring Arirang include one released in 1931
with singers Park Wol-jeong and Kim In-
suk singing a version of Arirang arranged by
Columbia Orchestra and an album that featured
pop singer Sugawara Tsuzuko’s rendition of
Arirang.
The poster of the movie
Arirang from 1926
Arirang is sung to create a feeling of unity and energy when people are working together.
INTERVIEW
LOCAL IS GLOBAL
Yun I-geun, Director of the Jindo National Gugak Center
Nearly every small child in Korea can sing
Arirang. At no other time do Koreans have
such a great feeling of unity than when singing
Arirang together, and this sense of unity gives
them explosive energy. Koreans continue to sing
Arirang together when the times call for it, when
they need to join hands to achieve a common
goal. There is no known literature on Arirang.
Instead, Koreans have passed the song down
through the ages merely by singing it, hearing
it, and engraving it in their hearts. And they will
continue to do so indefinitely into the future.
“With the inscription of Arirang on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Korean culture is getting more attention,” says
Yun I-geun, the director of the Jindo National Gugak Center. “The inscription
has also boosted the morale of Koreans living across the globe.”
Yun believes that the inscription will fuel the spread of Korean culture globally

along with Hallyu. He emphasizes that Koreans should first know more about
the many variations of Arirang including Jindo, Miryang, and Jeongseon Arirang
and that efforts should be made to research the vast variety of Arirangs sung in
North Korea and outside the Korean Peninsula and help consolidate them into
artistic works and performances.
“The most Korean is the most global,” asserts Yun. “Each and every member
of the Korean nation should strive to increase the value of traditional Korean
culture.”
korea january 2013
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COVER STORY
8180
Overview A pentatonic mode consisting of
mi – la – do – re – mi
(ascending) /
mi – re – do –
si – la – mi
(descending), with
la
acting as the cadential tone. Stress is usually placed
on
do
when descending to
si
, and the lowest tone
mi
is typically sung with a deep
and wide vibrato. This pentatonic mode notably has no
sol

, which is characteristic of
the musical language of the Jeolla area. It is to be sung with much excitement.
Ari arirang sseuri sseurirang my heart is broken Arirang eungeungeung my heart is
broken
What is this gate on a hill called Mungyeong Saejae*, this winding trail brings tears
to my eyes
The clear blue sky holds innumerable little stars and, likewise, inside our hearts we
carry many hopes
Lyrics
Semachi
Rhythmic pattern
Mode
Mungyeong Saejae
A high hill in the city of Mungyeong in North Gyeongsang
Province, it borders the Chungcheong region in the middle
of the peninsula and the southeastern region of Gyeongsang.
Mungyeong Saejae
Arirang is an image of the
Korean nation, which has
survived countless ups and
downs over the millennia
with vitality through pain, joy,
sorrow, and suffering.
Arirang Variations
Generally Arirang refers to Jeongseon Arirang
of Gangwon-do (mid-eastern part of the
Korean Peninsula), Bonjo Arirang of Seoul and
Gyeonggi (mid-western), Jindo Arirang of Jeolla-
do (southwestern), and Miryang Arirang of
Gyeongsang-do (southeastern). They are called

the four major Arirangs.
THE FOUR MAJOR ARIRANGS

BONJO ARIRANG (OR SIMPLY
ARIRANG)
Director Na Woon-gyu’s movie Arirang (1926)
expressed so tellingly the sentiments of the
Koreans of the day. They were groaning under
Japanese colonial occupation. The movie became
a huge hit and was screened across the nation.
Its theme song, which was later nicknamed
“Bonjo Arirang,” also became a sensation. It was
a remake of the then most popular variation of
tongsok minyo Arirang and became iconic for all
Koreans and eventually the representative form
of Arirang.

JEONGSEON ARIRANG
One of the representative folk songs of
Gangwon-do—a mountainous region that
is in the mid-eastern region of the Korean
Peninsula—is “Arari Sori.” A variation of “Arari
Sori” that was sung in Jeongseon, Gangwon-
do, spread to other regions under the title
“Jeongseon Arirang.”
There are two versions of Jeongseon Arirang:
“Gin Arirang” (lit. Long Arirang), which is
slow, and “Yeokkeum Arirang” (lit. Weaving
Arirang), which densely weaves stories into
the lyrics. The two share the same chorus, but

the verses are dierent. Sometimes, the verse is
sung rst, followed by the chorus, but only the
verses are sung with the chorus omitted.

MIRYANG ARIRANG
There is a theory that Miryang Arirang
is a representative tongsok minyo of the
Gyeongsang-do legion originating in Miryang,
Gyeongsangnam-do. A more credible theory
is that it was derived from “Arong Taryeong,”
which was sung in the rst half of the 20th
century in Seoul, because it has features of both
the Seoul style of music and the Gyeongsang-do
style of music. The mood of Miryang Arirang is
very bright and gallant.

JINDO ARIRANG
Every variation of Arirang bears the
characteristics of the region where it is sung.
Jindo Arirang is a case in point. It is also easy
to follow and is extremely rousing. The exciting
rhythm and melody combined with the witty
lyrics can ease the greatest suering and
heartache.
ARIRANG SUNG BY KOREAN CHINESE
For ethnic Koreans living in China, Arirang
carries even more meaning. Most of the ethnic
Koreans in China are descendents of Koreans
forced out of their homeland by the Japanese
in the 1930s and during the war in order to

develop Manchuria. The locations where they
lived were also strongholds for the Korean
independence movement and warfare in the
1930s and 1940s. They were sources of medicine,
arms, food, and information. Against this
backdrop, Arirang became a kind of weapon in
the anti-colonial struggle; that is, it was sung as
a secret signal.
Ethnic Koreans in China sang Arirang in
their yearning for home and in lament at the
tragic situation of their motherland to soothe
their nostalgia and express their anti-colonialist
sentiments. Arirang remains synonymous with
“fatherland,” “mother,” and “hometown” in
many songs, performances, and literary works
by ethnic Koreans in China.
A memorial stone of Miryang Arirang
korea january 2013
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COVER STORY
A
rirang became known internationally
thanks to Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra,
who recorded Arirang with the title “Eastern
Love Song” in 1975. This prompted releases of
other recordings of Arirang in other countries
including Czechoslovakia, Japan, and Germany.
Jazz vocalist Nah Youn-sun, who is more
famous abroad, sings Arirang at every one

of her performances. She interprets dierent
variations of Arirang including Gangwon-do
Arirang, Jindo Arirang, and Jeongseon Arirang
in a jazz style. “Not only Korean but also
European audiences love the song,” says Nah.
More and more renowned artists are
producing albums featuring Arirang. The
Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation
under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and
Tourism released a series of albums entitled
Arirang: The Name of Korean in cooperation with
artists from home and abroad.
Volume 1 of The Name of Korean features
artists who know Korea well, including
Yuichi Watanabe, Inger Marie Gundersen,
the European Jazz Trio, and Sergei Trofanov.
Volume 2 includes Arirangs by such famous
artists as The Real Group, Yuhki Kuramoto,
Lee Ritenour, and Ithamara Koorax, alongside
Korean musicians such as Shin Hyun-sik,
Kang Eun-il, and Nah Youn-sun. The third
volume focused on harmonizing Arirang
with the traditional music of other countries
Arirang as UNESCO’s
Intangible Heritage Of
Humanity
Arirang was recently inscribed on UNESCO’s
Representative List of Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity. The decision was made
at the 7

th
session of the Intergovernmental
Committee for the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage held at UNESCO
Headquarters in Paris in December 2012.
The committee recognized that Arirang is a
popular form of Korean folk song that bolsters
a collective identity and unity among Koreans.
It also stated, “Arirang is constantly recreated
in various social contexts, places, and occasions,
serving as a marker of identity among its
bearers while promoting values of solidarity
and social cohesion, and an inscription of
Arirang on the Representative List could
promote greater visibility of intangible cultural
diversity and creativity, particularly because of
the great variety found within a single element.”
It added, “A great virtue is its respect for human
creativity, freedom of expression, and empathy.
Everyone can create new lyrics, adding to the
song's regional, historical, and genre variations,
and cultural diversity.”
Arirang indeed does not represent only one
region, but has transformed into many dierent
versions and variations incorporating the joys,
angers, and sorrows of Koreans wherever and
however they live. The song has comforted the
suering, and it has instilled patriotism into the
hearts of Koreans and united them whenever
the nation was in crisis, carrying more meaning

than the national anthem.
The inscription of Arirang on the
Representative List signies that it is now more
than a Korean folk song, but is heritage for all of
humanity. What was added to the list was not
a single regional variation such as Jeongseon
Arirang, Jindo Arirang, or Miryang Arirang,
but Arirang as a collective reference to all
the songs of which the choruses end with the
phrase “Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo.”
Back in 2009, the South Korean government
applied for the inscription of Jeongseon Arirang
on the list, but the committee did not add
Arirang that year because it only considers a
certain number of candidates from any one
country each year. Later, there was an eort
to have all the Arirangs sung throughout the
Korean Peninsula added to the list, but the
South failed to elicit cooperation from the
North on this issue. So, in 2012, the South
Korean government alone led an application.
With the latest inscription of Arirang, Korea
now has 15 cultural properties on the UNESCO
Representative List of Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity.
FUTURE OF ARIRANG
Koreans must research and maintain Arirang as
a precious cultural property for all. The Cultural
Heritage Administration (CHA) of Korea plans
to designate Arirang as a national intangible

cultural property and build an archive on it,
which will be open to anybody. The CHA also
plans to support performances and research
on Arirang. However, to keep all the dierent
variations of Arirang sung in every corner
of the country alive, national agencies and
scholars as well as each and every Korean need
to appreciate the value and spirit of the song in
order to share all the dierent versions with the
rest of the world.
Arirang has been
inscribed on UNESCO’s
Representative List of
Intangible Heritage of
Humanity. The photo is a
celebration of the inscription
with on Arirang performance.
The Name of Korean vol.1 The Name of Korean vol.2
The Name of Korean vol.3
Map Of aRIRaNg
aRIRaNg IN DIffERENT REgIONS
Dancheon Arirang in
Hamgyeongnam-do
Gangwon-do Arirang,
Jeongseon Arirang,
Gangneung Arirang, and
Chuncheon Arirang in
Gangwon-do
Miryang Arirang,
Mungyeong Arirang,

Dongnae Arirang (Busan),
Ulleungdo Arirang,
Yeongcheon Arirang in
Gyeongsang-do
Chungju Arirang,
Chungju Araseong,
and Boeun Arirang in
Chungcheong-do
Jocheon Arirang in
Jeju
Seodo Arirang in
Pyeongan-do
Haeju Arirang in
Hwanghae-do
Bonjo Arirang,
Gin Arirang, and
Hanobaengnyeon
in
Seoul
Jindo Arirang in
Jeollanam-do
collaborating with Asian artists from Vietnam,
Kazakhstan, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
“It is easy to become familiar with Arirang,”
says Yuhki Kuramoto, who participated in the
production of the second volume, “Its melody
is simple and bright, but at the same time feels
sad.” He added that the song will become
widely loved throughout the world.
arIraNg fOr all

korea january 2013
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PEN & BRUSH
Burning Even Brighter in Darknesss
Kim Chi-ha
A Poet of
Resistance and Life
In the 1960s and 1970s, poet and
playwright Kim Chi-ha put his
eloquence to work in vehement
resistance against the military
dictatorship. Today, he is leading the
way in the “life movement.” Here is a
brief look at his life and poetry.
by Im Sang-beom / translations by Kim Won-jung
T
he 1960s and 1970s were an age of
light and dark for Korea. Korea
was a world of light for those who
were excited about the country’s rapid
industrialization and economic growth;
it was a world of darkness for those who
were oppressed and frustrated under
the ironsted military dictatorship.
Countless intellectuals plunged
themselves into arduous resistance
against the darkness, and poet Kim Chi-
ha was one of them. He was a symbol of
the resistance against the dictatorship.

His poetry was perceived as a threat to
the very foundation of the government,
and it was indeed more powerful and
scathing than any other weapon that
could be leveled against it.
WITH A BURNING THIRST
Kim’s poem With A Burning Thirst,
published in 1975, is a monumental
work singing of the people’s yearning
for democracy in the mid-1970s,
when the oppression of the military
government was at its height in the
wake of the so-called “October Yushin”
in 1972, an anti-democratic amendment
to the Korean Constitution. The rst
stanza of the poem poetically describes
the dire reality as the narrator could
write “democracy”—what then seemed
a forlorn hope—only secretly in a back
alley at dawn. This stanza is smeared
with bloodstains.
WITH A BURNING THIRST
by Kim Chi-ha
Translated by Gwon Seon-geun
In the back alley at daybreak
I write your name, O Democracy
My mind has forgotten you for too long
And my legs far too long have strayed
from you.
But with a slender remembrance of

My heart’s burning thirst,
Secretly I write your name
Somewhere in the back alley before
dawn
The rush of footsteps, urgent whistles,
and pounding,
Someone’s groan, wail, lament
nd their way into my heart,
Engraving themselves there.
For your name’s sake,
For the solitary splendor of your name,
On a wooden board with white chalk
I write awkwardly with shaking hand,
trembling heart
And raging indignation
The agony of living
The memory of green freedom reviving
And the blood-stained faces of
returning friends
Who’ve been taken by the police
I write your name secretly
In tears, subduing the crying
With a burning thirst
With a burning thirst
Long live Democracy!
The rst part of the second stanza
sharply reveals the terrors and pains
of the age by invoking many dierent
sounds such as footsteps and voices of
lament. There is no clear explanation

of what is happening, but amid those
sounds, the reader’s imagination
conjures up vivid images of its own.
In the latter part of the second stanza,
the narrator, stricken with anger and
grief, writes on a wooden board. In the
third stanza, it is revealed that he has
written with soundless sobs, “Long
live democracy,” more powerfully
witnessing the political reality of the
day than any writer could hope to do
in prose.
Kim Chi-ha wrote a poem to commemorate the
independence activist, Lee Hee-young.
korea january 2013
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15
LIFE IS A RAY OF HOPE
His poem Life marks a transition in his
philosophy and poetry. Kim states “life
is a ray of hope” in the poem. However
frustrating the situation, life doesn’t
weaken. The scene of a woman crying
with her child in her arms is so sad,
beautiful, and noble. Only life begets
life; no living thing can live without
depending on other living things.
In life, human beings and all other
things in this universe become one.
The realization of that unity, boundless

respect for life, and desperate eorts
to protect life cast a ray of hope that
pierces the darkness of reality.
LIFE
by Kim Chi-ha
Translated by Gwon Seon-geun
Life is
A ray of hope.
My life depends on it
As I stand here at the edge of
An abyss.
I cannot go back
Or forward.
This is the nal stop for me.
I can neither soar
Nor fall
A mother cries
And embraces her child.
The sorrow of life
Breeds a ray of hope.
“I’m talking about building a new
world where ghting is unnecessary,
as all of us ultimately return to the
fundamental world of life,” says the poet.
“While in prison, I studied Donghak,
an academic movement from the late
Joseon Dynasty. Its basic philosophy is
innaecheon, which means humans are
Heaven and to serve the people is to
serve Heaven. Donghak upheld equality

and humanitarianism, transcending
class barriers. I added Jesus to it.”
Kim explains that the purpose of
his poetry changed from resistance to
directing attention to the inner world
because of his revelations about life
while in prison. He combined Donghak
and Christianity to formulate his own
philosophy of life. He founded the
Yullyeo Society in 1998 to promote this
philosophy on life and humanity and a
new type of national culture.
ABOUT POET KIM CHI-HA
Kim Chi-ha entered the Seoul National
University Department of Aesthetics
in 1959 and participated in the April
19 Revolution (which overthrew the
Syngman Rhee government) in 1960.
Later, he became a student activist as
a South Korean representative in an
association of South and North Korean
students pursuing national unication.
He had to go into hiding, working at
sea ports and in mines, because he was
put on the most wanted list after the
May 16 Coup d’État in 1961.
He returned to school in February
1963 and began to write combative
poems the next year. He had ve
poems published through the poetry

magazine Poets in November 1969,
taking his rst step as a resistance poet.
In 1970, he published Five Bandits in
the May issue of the literary magazine
Sasanggye. The poem satirized the
corruption and decadency of the
nation’s leaders through the rhythms
of pansori (a genre of traditional
Korean music), making him an icon of
resistance overnight.
Kim was completely freed from the
shackles of dictatorship in 1984: he
was pardoned and his works were no
longer ocially labeled “seditious.”
By this time, he jumped into the life
movement based on his philosophy
of life. The shift was not motivated by
any change in society but by his own
realizations. During his more than
seven years in prison, Kim suered
nearly to the point of insanity, but he
saw the strong power of life in a clump
of grass that had taken root in a crack
in a concrete wall. From that moment,
his ght became about establishing
a culture of life-giving against all
cultures of killing. He believes that all
the problems of humanity—political
oppression, social
inequality, materialism,

and environmental
pollution—are
byproducts of building
a culture of killing. In
order to heal the culture
of killing and make
the world humane, he
asserts a culture of life-
giving—a culture that is
rooted in principles of life
and respect for life. He
discovered many ideas
about life in Donghak,
an academic movement
that thrived during the
closing years of the Joseon
Dynasty.
This philosophical
transition is readily
apparent in his poetry.
His poems of the 1970s
were full of the vigorous
spirit of resistance, but in the 1990s
he began writing calm, succinct,
contemplative poetry that reveals his
inner world. The poetry anthology
Ilsan Sicheop is a good example.
Kim received the Lotus Prize for
Literature in 1975 from the Afro-Asian
Writers’ Association, when he was

still in prison. In 1981, he received the
Bruno Kreisky Award for Services to
Human Rights from the Bruno Kreisky
Foundation for Human Rights and
the Great Poet Award from Poetry
International. His publications include
the poetry anthology Kkotgwa Geuneul
(lit. Flowers and Shades) as well as essay
anthologies Saengmyeong (lit. Life),
Yullyeoran Mueosinga (lit. About Yullyeo),
Yegame Chan Sup Geuneul (lit. Shades of
the Woods Full of Presentiment), and Yet
Gayaeseo Ttuiuneun Gyeoul Pyeonji (lit. A
Winter Letter from Old State of Gaya).
ABoUt tHE tRANSlAtoR
Kim WoN-jUNg
Kim Won-jung is a professor of English
Language and Literature at Sungkyunkwan
University. He has translated a variety of
Korean poems and prose into English. His
translated works include eight books of poetry
by Kim Chi-ha, Jeong Hyeon-jong, Hwang Ji-
woo, and other Korean poets.
Kim combined Donghak and Christianity to formulate
his own philosophy of life.
Kim argues that society must create a
new type of culture based on respect for
life and principles of life.
PEN & BRUSH
korea january 2013

16
17
PEoPlE
ANECDOTE 1
Yu worked for a construction company. One day,
he met a friend in a music store. That was the
rst time in his entire life he’d ever seen a violin
in person. It produced a sound that seemed to
be of Heaven above. He was so shocked and
overwhelmed that he was left speechless for
some time.
Afterwards, the melodies played through
his mind again and again, and he badgered his
friend to introduce him to an expert maker of
violins. He said that he also wanted to make
one with his own hands. He was introduced to
an expert craftsman, and the next day he went
to his workshop with a block of wood. Over the
next three years, he did an apprenticeship at the
workshop every weekend until he nally made
a violin by his own hands.
ANECDOTE 2
Violinist Kyung-wha Chung was on a
nationwide concert tour of Korea when she
found something wrong with her violin. She
asked around for a professional repairer of
musical instruments and heard about Yu.
Chung’s presence was so imposing, and her
extremely detailed demands aroused anxiety.
After closely watching him restore her other

self, she relaxed and ashed a bright smile.
She politely expressed her gratitude with the
kind of respect and dignity that only a virtuoso
accords another virtuoso. From that moment,
Yu was considered a “doctor” who restores the
instruments of violinist Kyung-wha Chung and
cellist Myung-wha Chung.
PASSION OVERCOMES LIMITS
When exquisite, nearly priceless instruments
pass through Yu’s hands, they become even
more exquisite. Already full of violins, cellos,
and other stringed instruments commissioned
for repairs, he nds few moments of rest
because of frequent phone calls and visits from
musicians.
Yu did not study music in college. Some years
after being struck with fascination for the violin,
he went to Germany in 1990, already 34 years
of age. Rather than taking a regular course
on instrument repair, he went to a renowned
luthier (a craftsman of stringed instruments)
and studied under him until returning home in
1993. Yet, he hadn’t originally planned to train
abroad.
“I was condent I could be a good luthier,”
recalls Yu, “but, one day a client who had an
expensive violin asked about my education.
Upon hearing my answer, he took back his
violin and left. I couldn’t sleep that night. The
next day I made up my mind to go to Germany.

My son was four years old, and I couldn’t speak
a word in German. Before becoming a luthier,
I worked for a good company, and the people
A Doctor for Instruments
Yu Je-se
Musicians’ instruments are their alter egos. When such virtuosos as violinist Kyung-
wha Chung and cellist Myung-wha Chung are ill, they must go to the doctor, but when
their instruments are out of order, they go to Meister Yu Je-se.
by Yang In-sil / photographs by Moon Duk-gwan
korea january 2013
18
19
PEoPlE
colleague’s daughter, and she went abroad with
the violin to study music. He later took charge of
the stringed instruments for the Daegwallyeong
International Music Festival, which is the most
prestigious classical music festival in Korea.
FATHER TO SON
There had only been a few people who
professionally made and repaired stringed
instruments in Korea. Clients were as rare,
and they generally used cheap materials. Yu
decided to use only the best quality materials.
(To this day, he travels the world to nd better
materials.) Clients were at rst half in disbelief,
but he soon made a name for himself. Musicians
who had their instruments repaired abroad
started to knock on his door instead.
Yu doesn’t work every single day. Conditions

need to be just right. Instruments are very
sensitive to humidity and temperature, so he
constantly monitors the weather. If he is ill at
ease, he does not take up his knife, because he
believes that his mood and mind permeate into
the instrument. Every instrument commissioned
leaves a meticulous record as he writes down
all the details from the moment it enters his
workshop until he gives it back to its owner. His
work requires a high degree of concentration
and artistry, and every instrument feels like
around me did their best out of the goodness
of their hearts to discourage me from quitting
my job. They only had the best of intentions for
me and genuinely thought that learning how to
make “ddles” (their word for it) was ridiculous.
This time, too, people tried the same thing, but
nothing could change my resolve.”
Studying abroad was never even remotely
a fairy tale experience. Yu could not say
that everything went well even if he faced
a challenge with the greatest passion and
persistence. Communication was always
dicult, his family was far away in Korea,
and learning was a slow process. He smoked
and drank quite a lot. His diary was soaked
in tears. He packed up and unpacked several
times. One day, he felt himself becoming a
nervous wreck, bit his nger, and wrote a
pledge to himself in blood. It was the genuine

start of a true ght against himself. Then, he
realized that the client who had hurt his pride,
his own child. Yu became the great luthier he
is today, even in the face of so many obstacles,
in large part because of his diligent hands,
sensitive ears, and unwavering tenacity.
His son studied business management in
college, but his heart moved toward musical
instruments as he watched his father give new
life to old instruments. Yu’s son is now in Italy
studying and training hard to follow in his
father’s footsteps. Yu looks forward to working
together with his son some day.
“The reason why instruments Guadagnini
made more than three centuries ago and
Stradivariuses made more than 250 years ago
are still highly appreciated,” explains Yu, “is
because they have been maintained by good
hands. The older an instrument, the deeper
its sound; the more experienced a luthier, the
more exquisite his hands. I won’t put down
instruments from my hands until I die. I hope
someday I will make a truly superb instrument
with my name and see a performer play it.”
Yu Je-se has another dream. He wants to buy
a plot of land in Hoengseong, Gangwon-do and
build a small concert hall where he will display
instruments he has made or collected, allowing
children to study music and music lovers to
gather together, play instruments, and share

good times.
1
Violins await repairs by the luthier.
2
Yu repairs old violins through intricate and delicate work and transform them into instruments of Heaven.
1
2
causing him to go to Germany to study, was his
other teacher in life.
After one year in Germany, Yu could hear
and speak German fairly well. His handling
of instruments had improved remarkably. His
teacher recognized his great progress and
started to pay him a salary. He even entrusted
Yu with the key to the workshop. When Yu was
about to return home, his teacher gave him a
wooden worktable made in 1859 as a gift. To
this day, Yu cuts and trims materials and tunes
strings on this very worktable.
Koreans commonly make a huge issue out
of educational background, which prevented
him from gaining due recognition. During his
struggles, one of his former colleagues extended
a helping hand. When one colleague let him use
his house as a workshop, Yu’s eyes brimmed
with tears. He named the workshop “Yu Je-
se String Music Workshop.” The rst violin he
made in the workshop was dedicated to his
korea january 2013
20

21
gREAt KoREAN
An Ancient Hero of Unication
General Kim Yu-sin
Over 1,000 years ago, the three kingdoms of Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje were in a
continual state of war, each trying to expand its territory on the Korean Peninsula
and beyond. General Kim Yu-sin of Silla finally brought lasting peace by conquering
Goguryeo and Baekje with his outstanding strategy and military prowess. Let’s trace
the footsteps of this great general of Silla.
by Im Sang-beom / photographs with courtesy of Tongiljeon
where he achieved a remarkable feat. When
the two sides rst clashed, the Silla troops lost
their ghting spirit, but Yu-sin charged into the
enemy camp and came back with the head of
the Goguryeo commander, winning the battle
for Silla.
By that time, Yu-sin had met Kim Chun-chu,
who was perhaps the most important person in
his life. Chun-chu later ascended the throne as
the 29th king of Silla and founded Unied Silla.
The two became very close political partners
as well as relatives through two marriages
between their families.
Their mutual trust and friendship were
very strong. When Chun-chu lost his daughter
and her husband in a battle against Baekje, he
went to Goguryeo to ask for military support.
Goguryeo detained him rather than sending
troops to help Silla. Yu-sin organized a special
unit to rescue him. At this news, Goguryeo set

Chun-chu free in order to prevent the outbreak
of a major war with Silla.
The founding of Unied Silla was virtually
sealed when Chun-chu, known for his
extraordinary diplomatic nesse, and Yu-sin, a
gallant and sagacious warrior, joined hands.
POSTHUMOUSLY ENTHRONED
Yu-sin won victory after victory in a long series
of battles against Baekje, Goguryeo, and the
Tang Dynasty in China. When his men were
exhausted, he took o his upper garment,
mounted his horse, and led from the vanguard.
In one of his more innovative actions, he
harnessed drums and drumsticks to a herd of
cows to be released in the event of a surprise
attack to throw the enemy into confusion by the
sound.
Yu-sin was devoted to the royal family and
adamantly upheld the reputation of his family.
When his son returned alive from a defeat at the
hands of Tang forces, he requested the king to
have his son beheaded. His son had to live alone
in hiding for the rest of his life. In a sense, he
was a pitiable hero who had to seek recognition
because he was not from Silla but Gaya.
However, his unwavering determination and
feats as a military leader were so extraordinary
that nearly all Koreans readily recall Kim Yu-sin
when they think about Unied Silla.
K

im Yu-sin (595-673) was a military leader
and politician of Silla who achieved great
feats in conquering Baekje and Goguryeo—
the two other major kingdoms of Korea’s Three
Kingdoms period (57-668)—and unifying the
Korean nation under the banner of Unied
Silla. He was not a member of the royal
family of Silla, but he was so admired that
he was posthumously granted the honorary
title of King Heungmu the Great. Yu-sin
was a grandson of the last king of the Gaya
confederacy, but became an aristocrat of Silla
when his grandfather yielded to them.
Not much is known about Yu-sin’s childhood
before his teenage years except an episode in
Samguksagi (History of the Three Kingdoms of Silla,
Goguryeo, and Baekje, 1145): Yu-sin had reportedly
been in his mother’s womb for 20 months. As
a teenager, he joined the Hwarang (lit. Flower
Boys), an elite group of specially educated
and trained boys. He was such an excellent
swordsman that he became the Hwarang leader.
He travelled across the kingdom with his
followers to train both his mind and body.
A GALLANT WARRIOR
Even at the height of the ongoing conicts
among Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje, Yu-sin
hesitated to venture out onto the battleeld
because he was of Gaya descent, not Silla. It was
only when he was 35 years old that he followed

his father into battle against Goguryeo forces,
1
General Kim Yu-sin paved
the way for Silla to unify the
Three Kingdoms.
2, 3
The tomb of General
Kim and the statues
of the Twelve Zodiac
Animals at Gyeongju,
Gyeongsangbuk-do
3
2
1
korea january 2013
22
23
SEoUl
a WalK ThrouGh
seoul Plaza
Seoul Plaza bore
witness to nearly all
of the upheavals along
Korea’s turbulent
road to liberation and
modernization during
the last century. Today,
it is the city’s favorite
location for cultural
events and a quiet

place to read. A tour
of the city would not
be complete without
a walk through Seoul
Plaza.
by Chung Da-young /
photographs by Lee Jae-hui
korea january 2013
24
25
I
f you are walking around downtown Seoul,
you will almost certainly pass through
Seoul Plaza. Located in the heart of the city,
the Seoul Plaza is at the crossroads to all
areas of old Seoul – Sejong-daero road will
lead to Gyeongbokgung Palace, to the north is
Cheonggyecheon Stream, and Myeong-dong
and Namdaemun are a short walk away. The
Plaza has witnessed many history-changing
events in Korea for more than a hundred years.
AT THE HEART OF SEOUL’S
MODERNIZATION
Seoul Plaza rst took shape in 1897 when King
Gojong returned to Deoksugung Palace after
the 1895 assassination of Queen Min. A wide
road was laid between Gyeongbokgung Palace
and the main gate of Deoksugung Palace and
a modern plaza was constructed in front of
Deoksugung Palace. The plaza was situated in

a central location near the Central Government
Complex in Gwanghwamun, the Parliament
Building (now used as the Seoul Metropolitan
Council), and the Seoul Museum of Art building
in Jeong-dong, which was once the Supreme
Court of Korea. It soon became the center stage
for the nation’s liberation movement from
Japanese occupation including, most notably,
the March 1
st
Independence Movement in 1919.
The square was later an important location for
the pro-democracy movement in the 1960s and
rallies throughout Korea’s modern history.
iNFoRmAtioN
How to get there
City
Hall Subway Station,
Line 1 or 2, Exit 5
Skating Rink
Open: Dec 14, 2012 to
Feb 3, 2013 / 10 AM to
10 PM
Skate Rental Fee:
KRW 1,000 per pair of
ice skates, 30persent
discount for group
reservation of 20
persons or more.
Website: www.

seoulskate.or.kr/eng.
php
Seoul Metropolitan
Library
Open: 9 AM to 9 PM
(weekdays), 9 AM to 6
PM (weekends)
Website: lib.seoul.
go.kr/www/html/en/
main.jsp
Seoul Plaza came under the global spotlight
during the 2002 FIFA World Cup when 80,000
people dressed in red shirts gathered there to
cheer on the Korean national team. The mass
of supporters clad in red, known as the Red
Devils, cheered in a highly organized cadence
of shouting and clapping in front of jumbo
screens.
After the World Cup, the Seoul Metropolitan
Government rebuilt the square to provide a
better city environment and a green area for
Seoulites. In 2004, the trac lanes that cut
across the square and the wide road that ran
directly past the old City Hall were removed
to make way for a vast green. The Floor Water
Fountain was built at the west corner of the
plaza. The fountain, a circle of water holes
bored into in the sidewalk with 48 oor lights, is
an attractive feature of the plaza in the warmer
months.

Seoul Government hosts many cultural
events throughout the year on Seoul Plaza
including the popular Hi! Seoul Festival and
various performances. This past October, the
Korean pop star PSY held a free concert at the
plaza as promised earlier to thank his fans
for kick-starting the success of his viral hit
song “Gangnam Style.” The singer had earlier
vowed to perform topless if his song topped
the U.S. chart, and he kept his promise despite
remaining at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100
for a second week. The concert reached its
peak when the singer sang his hit song and
more than 100,000 fans did the famous “horse
dance” with the singer. According to the Seoul
Metropolitan Police, this was the largest crowd
in Seoul Plaza since the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
The city government supported the event by
providing the square grounds and diverting
trac within a three-block radius.
Towards the winter festive season, the plaza
transforms into a public ice skating rink for
Seoulites and foreign visitors alike. The grass
is temporarily removed from the square and
an ice skating rink is built over the grounds.
Ice skates can be rented at a reasonable rate of
KRW 1,000 (USD 0.93) for one hour, and lockers
1
Desks are available
all around the library for

studying and reading.
2
The library is spacious
and full of light for the
convenience of visitors.
3
The five-meter high
bookcase is a popular
feature of the library.
Ice skating in the middle of
downtown Seoul is sure to
be an unforgettable memory
for many foreign visitors.
and helmets for young
children are available
free of charge. The
skating rink was rst
installed in 2004, and
it has since become
a popular dating site
for young couples
and a special treat for
children with their
parents.
NEW LIBRARY,
NEW CITY HALL
New attractions of
Seoul Plaza are the
old City Hall, which
reopened as the Seoul

Metropolitan Library,
and the new City
Hall building right behind it. The old City Hall
was built in 1926, during the Japanese Colonial
Period.
After liberation in 1945, it served as a local
government building, and for more than 60
years it served as the government building
for the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The
government city decided to build a new city hall
to house the expanding government oces and
sta, and remodel the old City Hall as a public
library.
After four years of construction, the
government moved into the new building in
September of last year, and Seoul Metropolitan
Library opened its doors to the public. The
library restored the main marble staircase and
halls of the old City Hall, symbolizing the
historical heritage of Seoul.
The library has a collection of over 200,000
volumes and 20 computers to view 4,200 DVDs
and audio books. Visitors are free to walk into
the library to read books, catch up with current
aairs, or just take a break from walking. The
third oor displays the most iconic features of
the library where visitors can see the restored
and remodeled old Mayor’s Oce, reception
room, and meeting room.
1

4
2
3
SEoUl
korea january 2013
26
27
travel
A Stage for Dancing Birds
Geumgang Estuary
Geumgang Estuary in Gunsan is an excellent spot to observe
baikal teals. They appear to dance in groups when they take to the
sky. The city of Gunsan flourished during the Japanese colonial
period, and vestiges of that time remain here and there.

by Lee Jeong-eun / photographs by Moon Duk-gwan
korea january 2013
28
29
temple, and residences from the period remain.
Especially famous are Dongguksa Temple, a
two-story wooden house built by a Japanese
named Hirose dubbed “Hirose’s House,” and
the railway village in Gyeongam-dong.
If you visit Gunsan with children, don’t miss
the Jinpo Maritime Theme Park in the inner
harbor. The park was built in commemoration
of Jinpodaecheop (Great Battle of Jinpo),
a major Korean triumph against Japanese
inltrators in the Geumgang Estuary in

August 1380, the sixth year of the reign of King
U of the Goryeo Dynasty. General Choe Mu-
seon, who was also a scientist and inventor,
led Korean forces to victory using cannons of
his own invention charged with a powerful
form of gunpowder. On display in the park are
retired military vehicles used by the Korean
Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Dongguksa is a typical Japanese temple
surrounded by a lush bamboo forest. All
the parts of the temple including the main
buildings, toilets, and bath are connected by a
corridor, revealing some of the salient features
of Japanese architecture.
The reed eld in the village of Sinseong is
not part of Gunsan but of Seocheon. Still, it is
near the bird observatories and is one of the
four most important reed elds in Korea. Seen
3,

4
Vestiges of the Japanese
colonial period remain all
over the city.
5
The Japanese chose
Gunsan for shipping out their
plunder of rice and resources
from Korea, building a port
and railways.

1
Numerous migratory birds
from Siberia return to the
Geumgang Estuary every
winter.
2
Gunsan was the fastest
growing city in Korea in the
early 20
th
century.
from the 1.2-kilometer embankment, the elds
spread unbroken all the way to the Geumgang
River and the hills of Gunsan far o in the
distance.
When you get your rst hunger pangs
during your visit, you may want to try a bun
stued with adzuki bean paste at Yiseongdang,
Korea’s oldest Western-style bakery, which
was founded in 1909 and run by Japanese
owners before liberation in 1945. Every day, the
bakery sells about 1,000 rice buns stued with
adzuki bean paste. It also oers vegetable buns
and croquettes stued with curry and glass
noodles.
W
hen the sun sinks below the horizon
behind Geumgang Estuary and the sky
glows in shades of wine, a long island in the
river comes alive. Did you read that correctly?

What seemed to be a mere island a moment
before is a colony of migrant birds. These birds
hunt together and soar high into the sky every
day around sunrise and sunset. When the
leader takes o, hundreds of thousands follow,
blocking out the sky with their numbers and
making for a spectacular, surreal scene of
continuously shifting shapes. People think
of their impromptu movements romantically
as “group dancing,” but in fact the birds are
jockeying with one another to be as close to the
travel
what to eat
Jjamppong at Bokseongnu
Dozens of people can regularly be seen lined
up in front of Bokseongnu eagerly waiting for a
bowl of Gunsan-style jjamppong, a big bowl of
noodles filled to the brim with soup containing
lots of seafood such as
cockles and clams and
topped with softly pan-
fried pork as a garnish.
how to get there
Car

It takes about two hours from Seoul to Seocheon
Interchange via Seohaean Expressway.
Train

It takes around three hours from Yongsan Station to

Janghang Station.
Bus

It takes roughly one hour from Seoul to Janghang.
travel information

Seoul
Gunsan
center of the ock as possible, where it is safer.
The Korean Peninsula greets numerous
migratory birds from Siberia every winter.
Geumgang Estuary is an especially important
destination for those winged visitors with its
shallow waters, gentle currents, and vast farms
nearby that aord excellent spots for resting
and hunting. Some 90 percent of the world’s
baikal teals come to this very estuary every
year to spend the winter.
The teals rest all day long in the river,
and when the sun sets, they y over Mt.
Manghaesan to the Gimje Plains in search of
food, coming back at dawn.
They can be seen from a number of bird
observatories, the best of which is Napo
Sipjatteul Bird Observatory.
A CITY OF HISTORY
Visitors to Gunsan are strongly recommended
to see the Geumgang River. Gunsan was the
fastest growing city in Korea in the early
20

th
century, serving as the port of choice for
the Japanese for shipping out their plunder
of Korea’s bounty, be that rice, minerals, or
other resources. The Japanese built a port and
railways, and Japanese culture rmly took root
across the entire city where about half the 16,000
residents were Japanese. The customs house,
1 3 4 5
2
korea january 2013
30
31
feStival
T
he so-called “polar bear swimmers” take a
plunge into the cold waters in Vancouver
and New York City on New Year’s Day. At
Haeundae Beach in Busan and Jungmun
Saekdal Beach on Jejudo Island, the “penguin
swimmers” venture into the sea to ring in the
New Year with hope in their hearts. This year
marks the 14
th
Seogwipo Penguin Swimming
Festival. Extreme swimming enthusiasts will
bring excitement to Jungmun Saekdal Beach
by fearlessly plunging into the winter waters
JEJUDO AS UNESCO
WORLD HERITAGE

Being Korea’s largest
island, Jejudo is a
fascinating tourist
destination. It is o
the southern coast of
the Korean Peninsula.
Marado, the nation’s
southernmost island, is
only eight kilometers
o Jejudo. Jejudo is
home to Mt. Hallasan, which rises from the
center of the island and is inscribed on the
UNESCO World Heritage List, along with
the lava tubes that run all over the island.
These and other unique features make Jejudo
breathtakingly beautiful wherever you go.
Still, Jungmun, where the Penguin Swimming
Festival takes place, is denitely one of Jeju’s
best tourist destinations, famous for the Yeomiji
Botanical Garden, the tiered Cheonjeyeon
Waterfalls, and the Jungmun-Daepo Columnar
Joints. The area has excellent accommodations
and leisure facilities including hotels,
condominiums, golf courses, windsurng areas,
and shopping centers. This is, needless to say,
an extremely popular area for tourists.
Swim Your Dream in Jejudo
The Seogwipo
Penguin Swimming Festival
Courageous people gather together on Jejudo to swim in the cold winter

waters to make a wish for the New Year. This is the 14
th
Seogwipo Penguin
Swimming Festival.
by Lee Jeong-eun
contest, search for “gifts of fortune” buried in
the sand, and enjoy a celebratory performance
by a brass band. These other events will start at
9:30 a.m. and the swimming contest begins at
11:00 a.m.
The “penguin” swimmers will warm up
by doing aerobics with professional aerobics
practitioners, and then jump into the water at
the sound of a Korean traditional gong called
jing.
How many will turn out on the beach
to swim this winter? Every year, beautiful
Jungmun Saekdal Beach has seen 500 to 800
people take the penguin plunge, with more
than 2,000 visitors enjoying the other events.
The penguin swimmers are of all ages. Children
usually have fun paddling their feet in the
water, and some group participants give shouts
of joy and excitement or play a mock cavalry
battle in the water to show o their health and
youth. Yet, the water is so cold that even the
heartiest of them have to get out after about half
an hour.
This extraordinary winter event attracts
locals and foreign visitors alike. Catherine Rusk,

a Canadian English teacher at a middle school
on Jejudo, mustered up the courage to become a
penguin swimmer in January 2012. She recalls
that it was indeed cold, but she had so much fun
that the coldn was bearable enough.
One of the most delightful moments for
penguin swimmers may be when they pick
up a “ball of fortune” while swimming. The
organizers of the festival scatter balls of fortune
in the sea beforehand, and getting your hand
on one of the balls means that you can stay at
a hotel in the Jungmun tourist district, have a
meal at the ICC Jeju (International Convention
Center), or play golf at the Jungmun Golf Club
free of charge.
The nale of the festival is eating traditional
specialties of Jejudo—momguk (a thick pork and
seaweed soup), dombe gogi (broiled sliced pork),
and other wonderful dishes, all prepared by
villagers nearby. This warms the bodies and
hearts of the “penguins” after their jaunt in the
winter sea.
on January 5, 2013. The theme of the festival
this year is “A Power Start for 2013,” which
encourages putting the last year behind and
planning for a brighter new year.
The festival features lots of exciting things
to see and do in addition to the swimming
competition. Participants will send up balloons
with their wishes for the New Year, ring

the “Bell of Promise,” bury a time capsule
containing their New Year’s resolutions,
compete in the “Penguin Wrestling King”
1
2
1
The Seogwipo Penguin
Swimming Festival is held to
put the last year behind and
plan for a brighter new year.
2
Around 2,000 to 3,000
people visit the festival every
year.
korea january 2013
32
33
entertainment
a reversal in 2007 and domestic movies soon
represented less than half of the market.
Korean lms were performing poorly and
racking up substantial losses in 2008, posting
the worst-ever average return to investment
of 43.5 percent.
In light of this setback, the recent comeback
of Korean movies is especially gratifying.
When cumulative annual ticket sales topped
100 million in 2012, many industry experts
declared a renaissance of Korean cinema.
A STRONG SYSTEM AND GOOD STORIES

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) attributes
the milestone of 100 million tickets sold to the
eective production systems of major Korean
movie studios. They set specic audience
targets for individual lms and allocate funds
accordingly. The movies All About My Wife and
An Introduction to Architecture are cases in point.
Another factor was Pieta winning the Golden
Lion at the Venice Film Festival. This put
Korean movies in headlines all over the world
and piqued the interest of the Korean public.
Controversy over the oligopolistic structure of
the Korean lm industry continued to seethe,
but positive publicity about Korean movies
drew the public to the theaters in droves. The
dense lineup of movies debuting all throughout
the year was another important factor. There
was no slow season in 2012.
Experts believe that the current boom in
Korean movies is also very much due to their
diversity in genres. At one time, lm noir
dominated the screen to the near complete
exclusion of all else, but
numerous dierent genres are
well represented today.
The audience is more
diverse than before. According
to KOFIC, each Korean watched 3.12 lms in
theaters on average in 2012, ranking Korea
fourth in the world after the United States,

France, and Australia. KOFIC explains that the
diversity is in response to the screening of lms
of dierent genres dealing with a wider range
of subjects targeting specic segments of the
movie-going public. Films that dealt with social
issues such as Unbowed brought back moviegoers
in their 30s and 40s. The blockbuster The Thieves
starred actors and actresses of dierent ages,
attracting a huge bloc of moviegoers ranging in
age from their teens to 40s.
Now that the neo-renaissance of Korean
cinema is upon us, countless movie bus at
home and abroad are taking greater interest
and eagerly anticipating what will come out of
Korea next.
Back to the Movies
Neo-Renaissance of
Korean Film
In Korea, more than 100 million people of all ages went to the
theater to see domestic movies in 2012. This is an astounding
figure, and it naturally raises the question: what brought
people back to the movies? The answer is well-planned
production of films spanning various genres with compelling
stories.
by Yang In-sil
F
or the rst time ever, Korean lms exceeded
100 million in annual ticket sales in 2012.
The average Korean person saw more than three
Korean movies in theaters. Two Korean lms

even passed the threshold of ten million tickets
sold: The Thieves and Gwanghae: The Man Who
Became King. Another nine lms each sold more
than four million tickets.
The number of Korean lms produced each
year has remained remarkably steady for some
time. Of the 441 lms screened in Korea in the
year to December 14, 2012, 146 were Korean,
compared with 150 in 2011 and 140 in 2010.
However, annual ticket sales are up sharply
from 70 million only a few years ago, reecting
audiences’ rising interest in Korean movies.
In other countries, the market share of domestic
movies is somewhat lower: 35 percent in
Germany and France and 49 percent in Japan
in 2011.
The Korean movie industry grew rapidly
in the early 2000s. It hit an intermediate peak
in 2006 when almost 98 million tickets were
sold and the market share of domestic movies
reached 63.8 percent. The industry experienced
Director Kang Dae-jin’s The Coachman was the first
Korean movie to ever win a major international award.
The film won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Jury Prize
at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1961. In the
2000s, an especially transformational period for Korean
cinema, international film festivals started taking much
more notice of Korean directors. In 2002, director Im
Kwon-taek won the Best Director Award at the Cannes
Film Festival for Chihwaseon, while director Lee Chang-

dong’s Oasis won four awards including the Best
Director Award at the Berlin Film Festival. In 2004,
director Kim Ki-duk received the Best Director Award at
the Berlin Film Festival for Samaritan Girl and also at the
Venice Film Festival for 3-Iron. In the same year, director
Park Chan-wook’s Old Boy clinched the Grand Prix at
Cannes. In 2007, Jeon Do-yeon became the first Korean
actress to receive the Best Actress Award at Cannes
for her performance in Secret Sunshine, directed by
Lee Chang-dong. Park Chan-wook’s Thirst won the
Jury Prize at Cannes in 2009, and Lee Chang-dong’s
Poetry received the Best Screenplay Award at the same
film festival in 2010. In 2012, the jury of the Venice
International Film Festival honored Kim Ki-duk with the
Golden Lion for Best Film for Pieta, making him the first
Korean director to win major awards at the three most
important international festivals.
korean filmS awarded at major film feStivalS
1
Gwanghae: The Man
Who Became King passed
the threshold of ten million
tickets sold.
2
The Thieves attracted a
wide range of viewers with a
cast of different ages.
3
A Werewolf Boy was an
unexpected success during

the off-season of the film
industry.
4
Unbowed was the most
noteworthy low-budget
independent film of 2012.
5
Nameless Gangster is a
noir blockbuster that attracted
over 4 million viewers.
1
3
2
4
5
korea january 2013
34
35
J
ain Kim clinched gold in women’s lead
climbing at the IFSC Climbing World Cup in
China in 2007 and has since remained No. 1 in
the world. She is not bulky, but short, nimble,
and pretty, standing a mere 153 centimeters
and weighing 43 kilograms. When her tiny
body climbs spectators hold their breath, nearly
awestruck.
Her parents met at an alpine club, naturally
hiked the mountains frequently as a small
child. Jain was in sixth grade in elementary

school when she rst started climbing. Her
major discipline is lead climbing in which
competitors climb a 15-meter route and attempt
to reach a higher position. Unlike bouldering,
where a climber can attempt a route more than
once within ve minutes, only one attempt
is allowed in lead climbing, which Jain feels
suits her personality. Of course, she also enjoys
bouldering, in which she can try climbing in
dierent ways.
SMALL BUT STRONG
In any discipline of sport climbing, Jain
demonstrates remarkable exibility and
endurance. In order to overcome the
disadvantage of her small size, Jain has spurred
herself with the most stubborn doggedness. She
has to attempt more jumps than
taller climbers in order to reach
distant holds, which requires
extreme exibility and dexterity.
She likes to “high-step,” swinging
her foot up higher than her
shoulder, because it aords her an
advantage with her tiny body and
exceptional exibility. Her bantam
size is also an advantage in tight
spaces.
She became a sport climbing
athlete about 12 years ago. The
2009 World Championship in

Qinghai, China is her most
memorable competition. She won
silver after achieving her long-
harbored dream of completing the
nal-round route. She burst into
SPORTS
A Climber at the Top
Jain Kim
Jain Kim is ranked No. 1 in the world in professional lead climbing with a score of 545.91
points according to the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). Her toes are
contorted; her hands are coarse, but her tiny body moves with incredible strength and
nimbleness to the awe of spectators.
by Im Sang-beom / photographs with courtesy of AT Sports
tears, overwhelmed with joy.
When she climbs, she feels happy as if in
another world—concentrating with her hand in
control of a hold, facing the unique challenges
of the route at every moment, and feeling as
one with the rock. The joy of being immersed
and the thrill of completing a route draw her
toward climbing like a powerful magnet. Only
when climbing does she have a serenity of
beingness that few others ever experience. This
explains her utter determination to not let go of
the experience and to keep climbing as long as
she can. Towards that end, Jain forces herself to
adhere to a strict diet of only one meal and two
pieces of fruit a day.
Now that she is in her mid-20s, Jain believes
that she must focus more on keeping herself

in good shape and avoiding injury rather than
honing her skills further. She hopes to remain
in competition as long as her stamina allows
it. She wants to compete in the 2020 Olympic
Games should sport climbing become an
ocial Olympic sport by then. She will be 32 in
2020, and we also want to see this diminutive
dynamo continue to climb for years to come.
Indeed it is not for nothing that she is popularly
known as the empress of climbing, spider girl,
and the Kim Yu-na of climbing.
1
Kim feels the happiness of
life when she climbs.
2
Kim hopes to remain in
competition as long as her
stamina allows.
21
korea january 2013
36
In 2007, she lost to President Lee Myung-bak
in the contest to win the party’s presidential
nomination, but she made a strong comeback
in the 2012 general election. Before the election,
the party faced another serious crisis, but Park
led the party to win a majority of 152 seats in
the National Assembly as head of the party’s
emergency response commission.
After her victory in the presidential election

was conrmed, she delivered an address in
Gwanghwamun Square in which she said
she would usher in an era of happiness for all
Koreans so that they can achieve their dreams
and she would keep the three promises she
made during the election. The three promises
are that she would always take care of the well-
being of the public, always act on her words,
and help heal the divisions in Korean society.
37
The First Female President-Elect of the Republic of Korea
Park Geun-hye
Park Geun-hye, the presidential candidate of the Saenuri Party, was elected in December 2012 as
president of the Republic of Korea for the next five years. She is the first woman to be elected president
of the country at a high percentage of 51.6 percent.
by Lee Jeong-eun
P
ark Geun-hye, the presidential candidate
of the Saenuri Party, became the rst
female president-elect of the Republic of Korea
in the recent presidential election, which was
seen as a contest between a conservative and a
progressive. With the victory, the Saenuri Party
has consolidated its position and will remain
in power for some time. The latest presidential
election set some new records.
Park will not only be the country’s rst-ever
female president but is also from the family
of a former president. She is the daughter
of Park Chung-hee, who was in power from

1963 to 1979, and she is the rst president-

elect to win a majority of votes since the
re-introduction of direct presidential elections
in 1987.
Park garnered 15.75 million votes, or 51.6
percent of the total votes cast. Her major
opponent, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic
United Party (DUP), won 14.67 million votes,
or 48.0 percent of the total votes. Some 75.8
percent of the 40,507,842 eligible voters, or
30,722,712 Korean citizens, turned out for this
election. The margin of victory was only 1.08
million votes.
FIRST-EVER FEMALE PRESIDENT OF
KOREA
The media at home and abroad has noted the
fact that Korea will have a woman as president,
marking a watershed in the history of the
Republic of Korea. Le Monde, AFP, The New China
News Agency, and other major foreign media
outlets reported that Park clinched victory with
strong leadership in a male-dominated society.
Dubbed the “Iron Lady,” Thatcher
demonstrated more powerful leadership than
many male leaders and is fondly remembered
by many for having put an end to the so-called
“British disease” by reviving the economy,
especially through tight scal policies.
Thatcher reportedly called herself a “politician

of convictions,” and Park likewise says she
emphasizes keeping promises and principles.
In her autobiography, Park described the
common traits of the two by saying that
the economic and diplomatic policies that
Chancellor Merkel pursues are similar to hers
and that both are the leaders of conservative
parties. Merkel studied physics and Park
studied electronic engineering in college.
Park became a politician in 1998 when she ran
in a by-election in Dalseong County, Daegu. She
took the helm of the Grand National Party (the
forerunner of the Saenuri Party) when the party
was in crisis just before the general election
slated for April 2004. In that election, she
prevented a political disaster for the party and
saw it win 121 seats in the National Assembly.
SPecial iSSue
1
2
1
Park delivered an address
in which she said she would
usher in an era of happiness
for all Koreans.
2
Some 75.8 percent of
eligible voters voted. Voters
are taking pictures in front of
a polling station.

Park Geun-hye, the
presidential candidate of the
Saenuri Party, was elected
as the first female president.
korea january 2013
38
individual partner countries’ needs. The theme
of each KSP project is selected in accordance
with the partner country’s demands and
requests.
Second, the KSP focuses on policy. The
program helps partner countries accomplish
their development objectives by providing
specic and practical policy solutions so that
they can achieve sustainable economic growth.
Finally, the KSP is aimed at comprehensive
economic cooperation. To that end, joint
research and policy consulting are conducted
on the purposes of individual KSP projects.
The program also invites the policymakers and
experts of partner countries to Korea in order
to maximize learning eectiveness and thereby
forge solid, long-term cooperative relationships.
It is no wonder that the KSP program
encompasses a broad range of elds: economics,
science and technology, agriculture, education
and training, green growth and new and
renewable energy sources, and e-government.
PRACTICAL HELP
The rst partners of the KSP were Vietnam

and Uzbekistan, which joined the program
in 2004. Since then, the KSP has conducted
policy consulting and joint research on over
440 subjects in 109 projects with 39 countries:
12 in Asia, nine in Latin America, seven in the
Middle East, and one in Eastern Europe.
In many cases, KSP policy consulting has
been incorporated into partner countries’
policies. In 2009, Korea and Vietnam signed
a memorandum of understanding to expand
bilateral cooperation, and the KSP provided
comprehensive consulting on the entire
economy of Vietnam, based on which
Vietnam devised its 2011-2020 socioeconomic
development strategies. Kuwait reected
the KSP’s policy consulting into its ve-year
development plan, and Kazakhstan did so
into its 2010-2014 industrial innovation and
development plan.
Cambodia and Mongolia both introduced
public-private partnership (PPP) programs after
receiving the KSP’s consulting on how to attract
private investment. The two countries are now
amending applicable laws concerning PPP.
The KSP also helped establish the Indonesia
Bond Pricing Agency (IBPA) in 2009. Cambodia
is seeking to found a trade promotion
organization in cooperation with the KSP, while
the Dominican Republic is planning to found
an export and investment center and an import/

export bank, also in cooperation with the KSP.
Partner countries have naturally acquired
Korean technology and knowhow through
the KSP, which benets Korea as the country
can have better name recognition in the
international community and Korean companies
can seize more opportunities to do business in
the partner countries. Ultimately, the KSP will
benet both Korea and partner countries alike.
39
glObal kOReaglObal kORea
S
ustainable economic growth and inclusive
development require sound policies and
systems, and knowledge about economic
development policies and systems should be
shared across the world for the prosperity of
all. One of the ten major programs of Korea’s
international outreach is the Knowledge
Sharing Program (KSP), a Korean-style ocial
development assistance (ODA) model designed
to spread Korea’s knowhow in economic
growth. The KSP is the brainchild of the
Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Korea
Development Institute (KDI).
A country’s experience in and knowledge of
national growth is a priceless asset. Korea rose
rapidly out of crushing poverty to join the ranks
of advanced countries and is now widely hailed
as one of the greatest success stories of all time:

a one-time aid recipient that is now a donor
with a great deal to oer.
PARTNER-ORIENTED
The KSP is intended to provide comprehensive
Korean-style policy consulting that addresses
the specic needs and circumstances of partner
countries.
The program has three salient features.
First, it provides services designed to meet
Sharing Korea’s Experience in Economic Growth
The Knowledge Sharing Program
The Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP) shares Korea’s experience and knowhow in economic growth with
other countries, especially developing countries. Since 2004
,
the KSP has helped provide uniquely Korean
policy consulting to 39 countries.
by Yang In-sil in cooperation with the Korea Development Institute
Industrial inspection in
Cambodia.
1
The final briefing in United
Arab Emirates.
2
The KSP project is selected
in accordance with the
partner country’s demands
and requests.
1 2
korea january 2013
40

41
SuMMiT DiPlOMacY
Prime Minister Kleist visited
South Korea for official talks
on the economic cooperation
and development between
the two nations.
President Lee and President
Zardari inspect the Traditional
Honor Guard at Cheong Wa
Dae.
South Korean President Greets Leaders of
Pakistan and Greenland
President Lee Myung-bak met President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist of
Greenland in Cheong Wa Dae on their official visits to Korea.
by Chung Da-young
KOREA, PAKISTAN TO EXPAND
DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
P
akistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari visited
Korea from December 3 to 5 for talks with
President Lee about bolstering economic and
other cooperation between the two countries.
President Zardari arrived on Monday for a
three-day ocial visit and met President Lee
on the second day to hold a summit to
discuss ways to expand substantial cooperation
mainly in the areas of trade, infrastructure,
and development aid. According to a statement
made by Cheong Wa Dae, the two leaders

agreed to cooperate to develop hydroelectric
power water resources, and rail infrastructure
in Pakistan.
During the talks, the Pakistani president
expressed his gratitude for Seoul’s ocial
development assistance to his country and
congratulated Lee on Seoul’s success in securing
a non-permanent seat on the UN Security
Council for the years 2013-14. Recognizing that
the two countries’ ties have deepened in various
sectors since the opening of their diplomatic
ties in 1983, the leaders praised two-way trade
volume reaching USD 1.56 billion last year.
They also recognized South Korean companies’
increasing involvement in a variety of sectors
in Pakistan including construction, chemistry,
steel, and transport, Lee’s oce said.
Following their summit, Korea’s Ministry
of Land, Transport and Maritime Aairs
and Pakistan’s railway ministry signed a
memorandum of understanding on bilateral
cooperation in the country’s railway
development.
The two governments also signed an
agreement on Seoul’s assistance to spur
Pakistan’s social and economic development,
strengthening Korea’s legal and institutional
grounds for more systemized support to the
country.
Separately, Bank of Korea Governor Kim

Choong-soo and his Pakistani counterpart
Yaseen Anwar signed a memorandum of
understanding to share Seoul’s banking
experience and technology with the country.
Under the MOU, the two banks are to
strengthen their cooperation and expand

joint research regarding currency policy and
foreign currency reserves. The two will also
exchange sta to increase people-to-people
exchanges.
GREENLANDIC PREMIER RETURNS VISIT
F
ollowing the visit of President Zardari,
Greenlandic Prime Minister Kuupik
Vandersee Kleist arrived in Seoul on December
12 for a ve-day visit at the invitation of South
Korea’s Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan.
President Lee visited Greenland on
September 9 and 10, laying the groundwork for
cooperation in green growth and sustainable
development of the Arctic region. Prime
Minister Kleist’s visit was arranged to seek
follow-up measures.
On the second day of his visit, Prime Minister
Kleist met the South Korean president at Cheong
Wa Dae for an ocial luncheon and discussed
matters to strengthen the development of the
Arctic nation’s environmental policies as well
as the opening up of polar shipping routes.

The two leaders also agreed to continue eorts
for economic cooperation and development
between the two nations.
On the same day, Prime Minister Kleist
visited several private minerals companies in
Seoul including Hyundai Steel Company and
Korea Gas Corporation. He was accompanied
by ten-odd businesspeople from Greenland to
seek ways to explore mineral resources in the
Arctic region.
The Greenlandic leader also met Minister
Kim and discussed ways to deepen cooperative
ties between South Korea and Greenland
in various areas, including economy, trade,
sustainable development of the Arctic, climate
change, environment, and South Korea’s bid to
join the Arctic Council.
Prime Minister Kleist expressed his
government’s support for South Korea to
join the Arctic Council, a group of eight
countries with territory in the Arctic Circle.
As a temporary observer of the council, South
Korea is working to be elected as a permanent
observer of the Arctic Council.
korea january 2013
42
43
now in korea
three million Japanese, 600,000 Americans, and
roughly 1.5 million from Southeast Asia.

The appreciation of the Japanese yen,
the spread of Hallyu, and regional tourist
attractions such as the Boryeong Mud Festival
and the Andong Maskdance Festival increased
Japanese trac to Korea. The Chinese were
accorded a visa waiver to Jejudo, although
incentivized group tours, shopping tourism
packages, and overseas school trips were the
main factors in the increase in Chinese visitors
to Korea. According to the World Travel and
Tourism Council, Korea’s tourism industry
expanded 13.2 percent in 2012, the fastest
growth of any G20 country.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
believes that the surge in visitors to Korea in
recent years is largely due to the success of the
G20 Summit and the Nuclear Security Summit
hosted in Seoul, Pyeongchang’s winning the bid
to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, and the
rising tide of Hallyu, all of which have improved
worldwide awareness and perceptions of Korea.
Other important factors are the ministry’s
cooperation with regional governments in
Hallyu and Shopping
Ten Million Visit Korea a Year
The number of annual visitors to Korea surpassed ten million for the first time in 2012.
Why are they coming? Interest in Hallyu (Korean wave)? International events? Let’s have a
closer look at Korea as a tourist destination.
by Yang In-sil in cooperation with the Visit Korea Committee
O

n the afternoon of November 22, 2012,
the arrival hall of Incheon International
Airport was crowded as usual, but one
foreign visitor was given a special greeting.
She was Li Tingting (
) from Shanghai,
the ten millionth visitor to Korea in 2012. The
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the
Korea Tourism Organization, the Visit Korea
Committee, and Incheon International Airport
Corporation together celebrated the ten million
mark in the number of annual visitors.
“My mom and I enjoy watching Korean TV
soaps,” said Li Tingting, “and I’m interested
in Korean food and cosmetics, so I really
wanted to come to Korea. Before coming to
Korea, I searched the Internet for information:
I visited the homepage of the Korea Tourism
Organization and so on. I had no diculties
getting information even though I cannot speak
Korean well.”
12 PERCENT RISE IN VISITORS
The number of visitors to Korea has increased
ten fold over the past 35 years. In 1978 the
country received one million visitors; by 2000, it
was ve million. In 2011, it reached 9.8 million,
and nally hit ten million in 2012. Recent years
have seen an explosive rise in tourists from
China and Japan. Some 2.44 million Chinese
visitors came to Korea in 2012, along with

holding events such as
the Busan Fireworks
Festival and the
Jeju Olle Walking
Festival and its eorts
to streamline the
country’s visa issuance
process. Yet another
factor cited by the
ministry is eective
overseas marketing
by the Visit Korea
Committee which was
organized for the 2010-2012 period, designated
as the Visit Korea Years.
SHOPPING AND HALLYU
While walking along the alleys of Myeong-dong,
dubbed the First Avenue of Shopping in Korea,
you could be forgiven if you thought you were
in China or Japan. Much of the conversation is
in foreign languages in the crowded streets. This
area alone now sees over 1.5 million shoppers
browse and purchase things displayed in shops
lining the streets and alleys annually.
1
Hallyu Dream Festival
commemorates the 2010-
2012 Visit Korea Year
campaign.
2

Major department stores
are popular shopping
destinations for foreign
shoppers.
A group of tourists dance
to a K-pop song at
Gwanghwamun Square.
2
1
korea january 2013
44
and Tourism’s 2011 survey on tourism, the
number one reason why foreign visitors came to
Korea was shopping. The second and third most
common answers were to try Korean food and
to enjoy the beauty of Korea. The most-visited
districts were Myeong-dong, Dongdaemun
Market, and Namdaemun Market in that order.
The most-visited cities and provinces were
Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, Gyeongsang-do, Gangwon-
do, and Jeju Island in that order. The most
commonly purchased items were perfumes and
cosmetics, food, and clothing, while the most
popular shopping places were Myeong-dong
and duty-free shops at airports.
Shopping was also the most satisfactory
aspect of tourism in Korea, followed by safety,
hospitality, food, and entry and departure
procedures at the airport. Tourists, however,
also responded that the language barrier and

nding information or signs in their own
languages were often issues.
WHAT TO IMPROVE
Korea has obviously become a popular global
tourist destination, but ten million visitors also
mean that eorts must be made to improve the
tourism experience.
“We’ll develop more high value-added
tourism sectors involving
health services, performances,
and MICE tourism (meetings,
incentives, conferences, and
exhibitions),” says Choe Kwang-
sik, Minister of Culture, Sports
and Tourism. “With a target of 20
million annual foreign visitors by
2020, we’ll improve the tourism
infrastructure.”
Korea also needs more lodging
facilities to accommodate the
ever-increasing number of
tourists, develop more tourist
attractions across the country,
and diversify tourism attractions
besides Hallyu in order to make
more tourists want to come back
again and again.
The rise in foreign shoppers also means more
sales of products made in Korea. Sales of Korean
products have been somewhat weak because of

the lukewarm domestic economy but they are
now selling briskly through duty-free shops.
One of Korea’s duty-free chains received more
than six million shoppers in 2012, a 27-percent
rise from the previous year. The surge in
tourists caused tourism revenues to soar from
USD 6.1 billion in 2007 to USD 14.3 billion in
2012, or by 134 percent in only six years.
Chinese and Japanese tourists are still seen
at the tables of a café that was a major part of
the setting of a Hallyu TV drama ve years
ago. Musicals featuring Hallyu entertainers
attract audiences from across the Korea Strait.
There can be no doubt that Hallyu has been a
major attraction for Korea. Music fans listen
to PSY’s “Gangnam Style” and other K-pop
songs all over the world, director Kim Ki-duk’s
Piet a and other Korean lms are recognized in
international lm festivals, and Korean food
is increasingly enjoyed worldwide. All these
factors pique global villagers’ curiosity about
Korea.
KOREA AS SHOPPING HAVEN
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports
now in korea
45
FLAVOR
Tteokguk is a Korean traditional dish enjoyed during
the celebration of the Lunar New Year. It is also
sometimes eaten on New Year’s Day, January 1st.

According to
Dongguksesigi
, a 19th century history
book, the custom of eating tteokguk in the morning
of the Lunar New Year’s Day goes as far back as
108 BC. It is believed that a bowl of tt eokguk would
bring good luck for the forthcoming year and ensure
that one lived through the next year. Thus came the
custom of asking “How many bowls of t teokguk have
you eaten?” to ask a person’s age.
White tteok called garae-tte o k is sliced into long
ovals and cooked in a broth to make this dish.
Traditionally, pheasant was used to make the broth,
but most households today use beef as the base for
the soup. The dish is usually garnished with lightly
cooked eggs, marinated beef, and dried seaweed
called gim.
by Chung Da-young / photographs by Lee Jin-ha
food & styling by Kim Young-bin
Tteokguk
A bowl of
tteok
soup
for the New Year
Myeong-dong is dubbed the
First Avenue of Shopping in
Korea.
korea january 2013
46
47

MY korea
what ’s in a name
The Korean Language’s Deepest Rewards Are
Only Revealed with Time
Korean has a reputation for how the language has built-in levels of respect. But what might
surprise you is the level of affection that is also embedded in it.
by Joel Killin / illustrations by Moon Sin-ki
in society, which is as a man of good taste, one
whom women like and can respect. This was
sucient explanation for my parents, but not
nearly as well-explained as could have been
done. I’m glad to have another opportunity
here. Grant me your patience, dear reader, for
I want to take you on a journey.
Sometime shortly after stepping o the plane
for the rst time at Incheon Airport, I knew
that nothing would ever be the same again.
Left, right, up, down – a series of indecipherable
signs greeted me, along with arrows telling me
to go left, right, or straight. I found immediate
comfort in the English translations underneath
all the signage. Not having slept for roughly
24 hours at this point, I carried myself slowly
all the way to baggage claim. About the
time I reached the immigration counter just
before baggage claim, however, I realized I
still hadn’t lled out my arrival documents.
Scrambling, I ducked out of line and went to
write my information on the papers. Less than
30 minutes later, laden with my two suitcases

and an overstued backpack, I was through,
wide-eyed, into the arrivals hall, exhausted and
relieved.
That was over four years ago. The succession
of experiences that followed was nothing short
of life-altering. The food, of course, was a kick
to my taste buds, which, I discovered, were
woefully unprepared for the burst of avor
that came with my rst meal at a dwaeji

galbi
restaurant. The interpersonal customs, too,
stuck out – the way people bow to one another,
how one is supposed to accept a gift, or the
manner in which one pours drinks for other.
Korea is an amazing and unique country,
and certainly one could come, live, and
experience numerous of its pleasures in a short
visit. In fact, many do just this, hopping in for
two weeks or a month or some other length
of time. Some of Korea’s secrets, though, take
time to unravel. For instance, the language.
When one sits down to learn it initially, it is
about another word PSY used: oppan. Again,
she mispronounced it – no, Mom, he does not
say “open Gangnam Style”. After correcting her,
she prodded me to explain about this word, too.
I leaned back in my chair then, puzzling over
how best to elucidate this concept.
Oppan is a variant spelling of oppa (in

Korean:
오빠
), particularly an adjectival form.
Oppa, in its most basic meaning, is the word
for older brother. In Korean, there are several
words younger siblings may use to refer to their
older siblings, depending on one’s gender. A
boy with an older sister would call her nuna, but
a girl with an older sister would say eonni. A boy
with an older brother would call him hyeong,
while a girl would call him oppa.
All this ashed through my head very
quickly, as I mulled where to begin. My parents,
however, were waiting with bated breath, so I
plowed through an answer. In truth, all I was
really able to convey to them was that when
PSY repeats the mantra “Oppan Gangnam Style”
throughout the song, he is referring to his status
S
o there I was a couple months ago, sitting
in my apartment on a quiet, cool Sunday
morning, chatting on Skype with my parents.
My mom was telling me with excitement that
a Korean song had become popular of late
in the U.S. “The singer is PS
-
PSY?” she said
uncertainly. “The song is called Gangnam
Style,” she nished, mispronouncing the rst
syllable of the title. I laughed. “It’s not like

‘gang’,” I replied, “as in: a gang of thieves stole
my money.” No, I told her, it’s pronounced
closer to ‘gong’, as in: the gang of thieves stole
my gong. I concluded, “Just pronounce the
initial G a little harder – like Gangnam,” I said.
My dad had joined my mother at the computer
by this time, and I heard them both pronounce
it together – correctly. “There you go. Your rst
Korean lesson,” I said.
Next, they wanted to know what the song
meant. I explained that Gangnam is a famous
district in Seoul, known for its wealth and posh
lifestyles. PSY, I told them, was elaborating on
common perceptions toward the people who
live in that district. My mom interjected, asking
Eemo
(Auntie)!
Can I please get a
bowl of rice?