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The World Remembers

Old Korean Medicine
Hangeul Brings New
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9
SEPTEMBER
ISSN: 2005-2162

2009

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  SEPTEMBER 2009
CONTENTS  VOL. 13 / NO. 9

06 38 48 52 62
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06 Cover Story
• UNESCO Honors Korean Medicine’s Ancient
Ambitions
32

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 Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers

UNESCO Honors
Korean Medicine’s
Ancient Ambitions

[YONHAP]
6 korea September 2009 September 2009 korea 7

A
ny Korean would be able to
tell you this much: Dongui-
bogam is an old book on dis-
eases 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 compi-
lation of all the Eastern medical prin-
ciples and practices of the time.
Still, there’s no doubt that,
in Korea at least, Donguibog-
am is one of the lucky few
books to enjoy high name rec-
ognition 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 Administra-
tion announcing that UNESCO has added the
Donguibogam, a Donguibogam to its Memory of the World Reg-
comprehensive medi- ister.
cal book, is made up There have even been novels and dramas
of five categories: based on the story of this famous book and its
internal diseases, equally well-known author. A variety of editions
external diseases and are still available, with explanatory tomes and
somatology, other Web sites helping keep the encyclopedia’s legacy
diseases in gynecol- alive.
ogy and pediatrics, And since 1991, Donguibogam has enjoyed
medicinal decoction more than simple name recognition. In that year
and acupuncture. 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 organi-
zations: 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.
8 korea September 2009
Academy of Korean Studies.
The content of the book is easy to under-
stand, 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 insing-
wisadan, 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 Nibel-
ungs from Germany, a heroic poem from medi-
aeval Europe and the basis for the famous oper-
atic cycle by Richard Wagner.
UNESCO’s Memory of the World Regis-
ter 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 lat-
est 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 com-
pilation of all medical philosophies and treat-
ments in East Asia at the time, mostly in Chi-
na.”
Along with the Ministry for Health, Welfare
and Family Affairs; the Cultural Heritage Admin-
istration, 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 Commis-
sion for UNESCO also noted that the UN agen-
cy 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 cen-
turies ahead of their time.”
It’s true: The publication of the Donguibog-
am was a state-sponsored project — in fact quite
a costly and drawn-out one.
Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers
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 chil-
dren, to infectious diseases incur-
able 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 ver-
sion 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 bil-
lions of won, or tens of millions of
dollars, in today’s money.
Though King Sejong the Great
[YONHAP]
(1397-1450) had introduced a
unique Korean writing system,
Hangeul, around 1443, Chinese
characters still dominated Korean academia and From top, an 18th-
literature, and Heo wrote Donguibogam in that century edition of the
alphabet, known here as hanmun. Donguibogam from
Yet three of the 25 volumes in the Dongui- Japan; a 20th century
bogam were translated into Hangul, a process version from China,
that experts believe took place in the mid-19th and a 19th-century
century judging from the books’ grammatical edition in the Korean
characteristics. In fact, there seems to have been langauge
an effort to translate all 25 parts into Korean, but
for some reason the project was never complet-
ed. These three Hangeul tomes are now histori-
cal artifacts in their own right, kept at the Acad-
emy 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 Bar-
bados, said China was watching the process
closely. He even said there was a possibility that
country might raise objections about the sources
September 2009 korea 9

behind the book, or claim larger ownership of
Eastern medical principles and practices.
After all, the Donguibogam was a compila-
tion 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 Com-
Although Heo Jun mission for UNESCO also said that most of the
used Chinese medical work to add the Donguibogam to the UNESCO
books as reference, list were done in a low-key manner so as to avoid
he modified the any confrontations with China.
prescription and Park Seok-jun, the director of the Eastern
medicinal ingredients Medicine Science Research Institute, argues that
to befit Koreans’ although Heo Jun did use Chinese medical books
physical constitution as sources, his work was certainly original to
and local climate. 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 contro-
versy erupted around the valid-
ity of those techniques them-
selves. Oriental and Western
medicine have conflicted for
decades, of course, and shortly
after the Donguibogam’s
inscription to the UNESCO
list, the Korean Medical Asso-
ciation released a statement
that the registration did not
mean that the world had
acknowledged Oriental medi-
[JoongAng Ilbo]
cine as scientific. The listing
recognizes the book as part of
Korea’s documentary heritage,
10 korea September 2009
not for its scientific value.
The association cited the inclusion in the
book of what it calls “nonsensical medical prac-
tices” 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 list-
ing 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 Med-
icine set up a committee to commemorate the
upcoming 400th anniversary of the Donguibo-
gam, 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 uncer-
tain as to how we will introduce the English-
language 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 Inter-
national Oriental Medicine Expo. The National
Library of Korea, meanwhile, says it will hold a
special exhibition on the Dong-uibogam in Sep-
tember along with some academic forums.
UNESCO has accepted seven Korean trea-
sures 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
Heo Jun is perhaps the most well-known
doctor in all of Korean history.
The story of his life is dramatic — particu-
larly the time and energy he expended authoring
the Donguibogam, deemed his biggest achieve-
ment. 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 mili-
tary 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 con-
cubines were often ostracized, experiencing dis-
crimination 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.
Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers
[JoongAng Ilbo]
Heo Jun is one of the most renowned
doctors in Korean history.
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, Gwang-
haegun (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 sup-
port. 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.
September 2009 korea 11

Of Ancient
Gods and
Governments
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 Bud-
dhist 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 Dia-
ries of the Royal Secretariat (2001); The Annals of the Joseon
Dynasty (1997); and the manuscript of the Hunmin Chongum
(1997).
Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration
12 korea September 2009
Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers
The Hunminjeongeum Manuscript
T
his manuscript, published in 1446, first pro-
mulgated 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, mean-
ing “the Korean people,” and geul, meaning “letters,”
was given to the alphabet only in the early 20th cen-
tury. The creator, King Sejong, was concerned that
Chinese characters, which were widely used by Kore-
ans at the time, were too difficult to learn. After all,
they were designed to fit Chinese, a language com-
pletely 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 exam-
ples.
The exact date of the publication of the Hunmin-
jeongum 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 pres-
ently 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
September 2009 korea 13

Jikji: Teachings of Korean Buddhism
B
aegun hwasang chorok buljo jikji simche yojeol
(Jikji for short) explains the essentials of Zen
Buddhism. It was compiled by the priest Bae-
gun 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 print-
ed 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
Seungjeongwon Ilgi: The Diaries of the Royal Secretariat
S T
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 pro-
vide an invaluable look at
how Western influence
first found its way into
Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration
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
14 korea September 2009
Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers
The Goryeo Daejanggyeong
Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration
Tripitaka Koreana, which consist of
last moments. Literature is also included, and 145 priests more than 81,000 wooden printing
and monks from India, China and Korea are mentioned. blocks, is kept at Haeinsa Monastry.
The key words of the book’s title, “jikji simche,” were
Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration
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
how old Korea collected historical data and stored state
secrets, but also served a different purpose — to remind he Goryeo Daejanggyeong, which means tion to the Tripitaka, there are 5,987 miscellaneous wood
their descendants of the importance of preserving Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty Tripitaka, most commonly blocks that were stored at the Haeinsa monastery and were
history. The Seungjeongwon Ilgi, usually written by six known as the Tripitaka Koreana, is a Korean presented as supplements to the Tripitaka.
secretaries and two scribes, is a vivid depiction of an East- collection of Buddhist scriptures that has exist- The woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana possess
ern monarchy, with its politics, policy making, and power ed since the 13th century. UNESCO launched the Mem- undoubtable cultural value and represent the best avail-
structure, while at the same time being unique pieces of ory of the World Program in 1997, calling for the preser- able printing and publishing techniques of the period.
documentary culture. The size of the Seungjeongwon Ilgi vation of valuable archival holdings and library collections They are highly valued for their systematically prepared
is also unprecedented. all over the world, and the Tripitaka is undoubtedly one of blocks and beautiful inscriptions. The pieces have endured
The existence of these diaries is significant because Korea’s most important. for centuries, allowing paper scriptures to be produced
they served as the primary source for the Annals of the Tripitaka means “Three Baskets,” and Daejanggyeong from them continuously.
Joseon Dynasty, making its value as great or even greater in Korean refers to a collection of Buddhist scriptures. It Over many generations, the woodblocks of the Tripi-
than that of the Annals themselves. It also makes possible was commissioned under the Goryeo Dynasty (A.D. 918- taka Koreana were used as an outline of Buddhism itself,
the accurate comparison of lunar and solar dates, meaning 1392) and consists of 81,258 wooden printing blocks. Cur- compiling scriptures, commentaries and history.
it even has scientific and statistical value. The books were rently, it can be found at the Haeinsa (Haein Temple) These sacred collections have enabled many scholars
designated National Treasure No. 393 in 1999 and listed monastery in southwestern Korea. to carry out extensive research and make new discover-
on the Memory of the World Register in 2001. When Buddhism was first transmitted to East Asia ies.
The original Seungjeongwon Ilgi is housed in the through China, its scriptures were translated from various Even today, Haein Temple prints copies from these
Gyujanggak Library at Seoul National University, and Indian and Central Asian languages to classical Chinese. woodblocks to distribute them whenever the need arises
public viewing is not allowed. But 141 photocopies have Although there were several attempts by numerous coun- for research or education. Accordingly, Haeinsa has
been compiled by the National History Compilation tries to inscribe them in wooden printing blocks for dis- become the main locus for traditional Buddhist education
Committee and are available for public reference.  tribution, the Tripitaka Koreana remains the only com- in Korea, a center for the preservation of knowledge and
By Yim Seoung-hye plete canon still extant on the mainland of Asia. In addi- scholastic research.  By Hyon Mi-kyung
September 2009 korea 15

Uigwe: The Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty
D T
uring the 500-year Joseon Dynasty (1392-
1910), Confucian rites and rituals were high-
ly regarded. Therefore it was crucial to docu-
ment the specific procedures, protocols, for-
malities and requirements needed to conduct important
ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, and banquets,
along with the details of the construction of royal build-
ings and tombs as well as the various other cultural activ-
ities 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 current-
ly kept at the Institute of Korean Studies in Seoul Nation-
al University and the Academy of Korean Studies.
16 korea September 2009
Cover Story | Korea, country of chroniclers
The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty
Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration
Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration
The value of Uigwe has been recognized not only his collection covers the over 472-year history largest historical
among Koreans but also in the wider world because the of the Joseon Dynasty, from the reign of its document in num-
collection made it possible for people to understand the founder King Taejo from 1392-1398 to the bers of volumes,
changes that took place over time in royal ceremonies and reign of King Choljong from 1849-1863. but it includes the
[JoongAng Ilbo]
allowed for detailed comparisons with other contempora- The annals comprise a whopping 1,893 volumes, and same content in
neous East Asian cultures. are believed to cover a longer period than any other col- three different lan-
What makes the Uigwe especially valuable is its irre- lection of records regarding a single dynasty in history. guages: Manchu-
placeability. Most of the volumes were hand-transcribed The corresponding annals for the Chinese Ming dynasty rian, Chinese and The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty was
by professionals. Even if the content was the same, each record only 260 years and the reigns of 13 emperors, while Mongolian. The kept at four libraries in different places
copy of the Uigwe is one-of-a-kind. Of course, access to those for the Qing cover 296 years. Japanese Sandai for safety reasons. One, pictured above,
the originals is strictly limited. In fact, the general public The Joseon collection is also one of the most exhaus- Jitsuroku is small was at Mount Odae.
has never been permitted to see the original Uigwe. The tive in the world. in comparison.
stack room where the Uigwe is stored is equipped with The Great Authentic Annals of Vietnam, recording the To broaden public access to the annals, the Korean
elaborate anti-theft systems and facilities to prevent dam- history of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), consists of government had them translated into Korean from the
age in natural disasters. 548 books. At 2,964 volumes, the Ming Dynasty annals original Chinese. After 26 years of effort, the Korean edi-
But Uigwe has been carefully photographed on micro- surpass the Joseon’s in number, but each volume is thin- tion was completed in 1993. A CD-ROM version was
film, and the public can enjoy free access to these repro- ner, and where the former has 16 million characters, the made in 1995, and this work has rapidly popularized the
ductions at their convenience through the Web sites of the latter has 64 million. The Annals of the Great Qing Dynas- annals in Korea as well as in the broader global scholarly
custodian organizations.  By Yim Seoung-hye ty are composed of 4,404 books and make up the world’s community.  By Limb Jae-un
September 2009 korea 17

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
T
he Lee Myung-bak administra-
tion has finalized an ambitious
development plan for the Sae-
mangeum 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 Minis-
ter Han Seung-soo on July 23, the gov-
ernment 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 pro-
gram 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 world-
class city and further details will be final-
ized before the end of this year by listen-
ing to experts at home and abroad and
collecting public opinion.”
According to the government, the
master plan includes eight multipurpose
development programs, including con-
struction of a new city. Although the ini-
tial plan called for the use of 70 percent
[NEWSIS]
of the 28,300 hectares for farming, the
18 korea September 2009
News in Focus
Lee administration has reduced that amount to just 30
percent.
The government said 23.8 percent of the Saeman-
geum 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, inter-
national 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 comple-
tion 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 semicon-
The Lee admin- ductor wafer, one of Korea’s key export products.
The third design, “Delta City,” takes into account the
istration has existing underwater terrain. With a lower-depth area to
plans to trans- be located at the center, this city would look like a group
of islets. A development axis would be created to con-
form the Sae- nect the city to the sea, the government said, in order to
mangeum proj- strengthen the connection between the two and foster
growth.
ect, dogged by “We will survey experts at home and abroad about
delays and their opinions on the three design alternatives. We will
also hold public discussions and symposiums to collect
budget over- opinions to modify the designs before making a final
runs, into a decision,” the Lee administration said in a press
release.
Jeolla renais- With a plan to build a waterfront city, the govern-
sance ment decided that the water quality at the site should be
September 2009 korea 19

[JoongAng Ilbo]
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
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 Saeman-
geum 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 hect-
ares of land will be used for an energy recycling project.
[NEWSIS]
With five key construction projects, the government final-
ly hopes to resolve the nation’s concerns about the slow prog-
ress 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 hect-
ares 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 develop-
ment 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 Saemange-
um 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 start-
ing 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 consid-
ered.
The Lee administration pledged that the development
program will be environmentally friendly. Under the nation’s
strategy of low-carbon green growth, environmentally friend-
ly 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
S
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 for-
sake 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 Gwangh-
wamun, 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 interna-
tional efforts to help North Korea’s economy develop and “dra-
matically improve” living standards.
Lee carefully emphasized, however, that such incentives
would be offered only if the North stops pursuing a nuclear pro-
gram. 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
News in Focus
President Lee Myung-bak
delivered his Liberation Day
speech Aug. 15 at the Se-
jong Arts Center in central
Seoul.
regionalism, referring to the emotional feuds between people
from the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces, and Koreans’ ten-
dency 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 expe-
dite reform by giving support to districts that decide to consoli-
date.
Lee also emphasized “clean politics.”
“I believe the key to making our politics meet world stan-
dards 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
 Obituary

building about five minutes before the service began at 2 p.m. Follow-
ing 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 mod-
ern 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 contempo-
rary 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 hon-
oring 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

[KPPA]
Yohei Kono, Japanese foreign minister during the Kim administra-
tion, 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,

A
and the hearse left the National Assembly and headed for Kim’s for-

A man whose solemn Korea bid farewell to the

late President Kim Dae-jung in
a state funeral service on Aug.
mer 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

name meant 23, remembering a champion of

democracy and peace.
Kim passed away Aug. 18 at age 85 due
reached the plaza at Seoul City Hall, where hundreds of citizens and
Democratic Party officials had taken part in separate rites to remem-
ber Kim. The procession reached its final destination, the Seoul

‘democracy’
to complications from pneumonia. He National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, southern Seoul, at 4:50 p.m.

Dignitaries come from across Korea
and the world to pay their respects
after death of President Kim Dae-jung
(1924-2009)
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 presi-
dent 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]
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.
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 per-
haps a fitting tribute to the deceased president.  By Yoo Jee-ho

22 korea September 2009 September 2009 korea 23


[YONHAP]
Trade Agreement Broadens
Korean Trade Minister Kim
Jong-hoon, second from
right, and India’s Commerce
and Industry Minister Anand
Horizon for Korea and India Sharma sign the trade pact
in Seoul Aug. 7.
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
“I
t’s a historic day today,” said Kim
Jong-hoon, Korea’s Trade Minis-
ter, 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 part-
ners, 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, mak-
ing it the 12th-biggest economy in the world.
“Economic ties between the two countries
have great potential to grow in the future,” Indi-
an 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 tar-
iffs 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 advertis-
ing markets to Koran companies, while keeping
Diplomacy
mining restricted. Korean lenders will also be
allowed to open branches in India.
Korea will be able to invest in food process-
ing, textiles, garments, chemicals, metals and
machinery, according to the Foreign Ministry,
which in the long run will encourage local busi-
nesses to take a chance on the subcontinent.
Experts predict that makers of auto compo-
nents, 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 institu-
tional framework to enhance mutual coopera-
tion 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 deal-
er, 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
international food trader.  By Lee Eun-joo
September 2009 korea 25
 Global Korea

Children play in a meadow just outside a day

care center on the outskirts of Ulaanbataar July

Provided by COPION
21, as other children from the center watch with
a group of Korean volunteers who traveled there
last month.

14 Volunteers Go Abroad to Bolster the Human Family

P
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 Coop-
eration 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-
patching Korean youth and senior vol-
unteers 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 inter-
ests,” said Ryu Young-sook, 41, a mem-
ber of the group. “But here my daughter
and I are able to open our hearts to oth-
ers and strengthen our bond while pre-
paring 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 Mongo-
lian children with warm hearts.
On the third day at the center, vol-
unteers 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 offi-
cial, and Park Ji-hyun, 24, a company
employee, called all 50 kids to the class-
room, 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 art-
work to their classmates and their Kore-
an helpers.
The next day, the volunteers arranged
an outdoor event for the children, divid-
ing both the orphans and the volunteers
into teams of two to compete in a three-
legged race. Some cheered with loud
voices, while others fell. But no matter children inside Korea, all the members impressed that his daughter devoted
who won or lost, everyone seemed to be agreed. herself even more than he did to the
having a good time. A week after the volunteers came children at the center.
During snack time, the volunteers back to Korea, all 14 gathered again. It was a turning point — reminding
served the Mongolian children Korean Shim Dong-hyun, 49, a company the Koreans of the importance of family,
food such as bulgogi (marinated beef), employee who went to Mongolia with and what it means to be deprived of its
tteokbokki (sweet and spicy boiled rice his 16-year-old daughter, said he was warm embrace.  By Lee Min-yong
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, ask-
ing the volunteers not to leave. Some of
the kids even ran after the bus the work-
ers rode on their way home.
The volunteers also burst into tears
as they waved goodbye to their tempo-
rary 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 A group of Korean volunteers and children from the center pose for a group photo in a
and other helpful materials to needy meadow in front of a day care center.

26 korea September 2009 September 2009 korea 27


The Korea Electrical Safety Corp. is providing
safety systems for this floating drill on the
coast of Africa.
An Electricity ‘Control Tower’
K
orea’s power supply infra-
structure 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 coun-
try, 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, expand-
ing 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 corpo-
ration has gone on the offense, invest-
ing in businesses abroad.
It began providing consultation
services to evaluate and check electri-
cal safety in locations from the Middle
East to the South Pole.
The electricity safety consulting
business is dominated by developed
Global Korea
work that includes 15 major overseas electrical safe- perform safety tests over a period of
ty institutions such as the Fédération Internationale
Rim was proud one year.
pour la Sécurité des Usagers de l’Electricité, or to sign an The aggressive changes at the Korea
FISUEL. Electrical Safety Corp. were largely the
In the first half of this year the Korean organiza- agreement to result of the “one-second” manage-
tion’s revenue from overseas business amounted to 2 ment style practiced by the organiza-
billion won ($1.6 million). It’s hoping to raise that
provide tion’s president.
revenue to 3 billion won by the end of this year. inspections of Rim recently published a book
The Korea Electrical Safety Corp. marks as its about speedy management, in which
latest achievement the signing of a technology coop- Mongolia’s he claims that a company, particularly
eration agreement on electrical safety July 20 with in times of crisis, must act in a split
Mongolia, which is one of the world’s 10 most
power system. second. That means quick manage-
resource-abundant countries. ment decisions must be realized a split
Rim forged the agreement with Mongolian Min- second faster than rivals, all while
ister for Mineral Resources and Energy Dashdorj maximizing services offered to cus-
Zorigt. It calls on the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. tomers. 
to provide inspections of major public facilities as By Lee Ho-jeong
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 tech-
nology in electrical safety will be transferred to
Mongolia, and we expect Korea to have the advan-
tage in the Mongolian market once its outdated elec-
trical facilities are replaced,” said Rim at the signing
Provided by The Korea Electrical Safety Corp
ceremony.
“We will provide safety checkups so that all Mon-
golians enjoy electricity safely,” Rim said. “Also Korea
will aggressively adopt positive points from Mongo-
lia.”
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
countries, since the sector is full of on the South Pole, of the Agbami FPSO drillship
large-scale projects that require rigor- built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineer-
ous and thorough work. The opportu- ing in Nigeria and of the Sohar Aromatics Project in
nity to provide these services overseas Oman.
came as the number of international The Korean organization not only provides con-
orders won by Korean companies has sulting services to public companies abroad. It also
increased significantly in recent services private companies. Last month the group
years. won a safety testing contract with a petrochemical
Late last year the Korea Electrical plant that is under construction in Qatar jointly with
Safety Corp. announced it would ABB Korea.
become a “world-class control tower The contract is worth 700 million won and is the Top, Rim In-bae, head of the KESC, right, holds a memorandum of understanding
for electrical safety,” utilizing its 34 biggest single safety-related project that the Korea signed with Dashdori Zorigt, minister of minerals and energy of Mongolia. Above,
years of know-how and a global net- Electrical Safety Corp. has won. The company will KESC engineers check electrical systems on an oil prospecting ship off Angola.
September 2009 korea 29

Hangeul Brings
New Life to
Tribal Tongue
An Indonesian language in danger
of extinction will adopt the Korean
alphabet as its writing system
30 korea September 2009
A
Korean academic group’s long-held ambi-
tions are being realized, as a native minority
in a small Indonesian city agrees to adopt
month.
Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, as its written
language. Some villagers started learning it late last
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 popula-
tion 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 origi-
nally 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 togeth-
er on signposts and is considering pub-
lishing 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
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.
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 charac-
ters.
“Successful adoption of Hangeul
among Bau-Bau residents over the next
five years will determine whether our
Hangeul globalization project can pros-
per 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
Global Korea
[YONHAP]
to create a new language to differentiate
Korean from Chinese.
Writing Chinese characters was con-
sidered 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 illit-
erate 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 effi-
cient writing system, the illiteracy rate in
Korea is near zero.  By Seo Ji-eun
September 2009 korea 31

[JoongAng Ilbo]
Global Praise for Eco-Korea
Cheonggyecheon, four rivers win admiration of New York Times, others
T
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 Cheong-
gyecheon 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 Califor-
nia, 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
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.
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 govern-
ment is trying to find opportunities from the current eco-
nomic 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 restora-
tion 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
Panel Discusses Green Policy
S
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 green-
house 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, transcend-
ing 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.
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 offi-
cial on the Presidential Committee on
Green Growth, praised the govern-
ment’s green growth policies, while
Matteo Fumagalli, a professor at Central
European University in Budapest, Hun-
gary, shared his thesis, “Middle Powers
and the International System: South
Korea’s Quest for Energy Security and
Regional Competition in Central Eur-
asia.”
Choi Hyun-sun, professor at the
University of North Florida, gave his
views on climate change with his thesis,
“Integrating Green Growth and Eco-
nomic Development: Korea’s Climate
Change Adaptation as Top-Down
Approach.” Choi explained how eco-
nomic development and an environ-
ment-friendly approach can be inte-
grated as an economic strategy.
Heike Hermanns, a professor at
Green Growth
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 over-
come the current economic crisis rather
than revealing environmental con-
cerns.”
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 devel-
oping, 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
Provided by KPSA
Politics and Society 2009, held by the
Korean Political Science Association,
met from August 20 to 22.
September 2009 korea 33
Green Growth Green Growth
Culture

UN Honors Green Strategy

International conference on green industry will come to Seoul in 2010

K
orea’s green growth strategies have added envi- announced a series of measures to support a low-carbon,

Provided by JK film
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 It’s pandemonium as a massive tsunami slams into the southern port city of Busan in the summer
economic growth, and it was honored by the combined in July as the 107 trillion won “Green Growth blockbuster Haeundae.
United Nations for these efforts last month. National Strategy” along with a pledge that the govern-
The 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 pro- In 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
Korean Wave Goes Literal in
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
‘Haeundae’
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 Directed and written by Youn JK, the film is a smash hit across Asia
civic groups across the said while participating

world to discuss ways to in the MOU ceremony
make industry sustain- with the environment
able and environment- ministry. The strategy,
friendly. The annual Steiner added, was “a
conference will be in its vision of green econom-
fourth year in 2010, and ic growth, underlining a
will be held in Seoul new and dynamic stra-
April 22-23. tegic direction and jour-
“The country is con- ney 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 gov-
the decision. Seoul will ernment has presented
also host the ceremony its Green Growth Strat-
for the Champions of egy as an innovative
the Earth Award, which development approach
recognizes environmen- involving a fundamental
tal leaders and is held shift in the country’s
together with the B4E growth paradigm, from
[NEWSIS]
A
ugust is the hottest month of the Korean year, and
Haeundae, the country’s most famous beach, locat-
ed in the southern port city of Busan, is without
doubt the most sought-after destination for sum-
mer 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 Viet-
nam. In fact, even before its release at home, Haeundae was
exported to 23 countries around the world through the Euro-
pean 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 charac-
ters played by seasoned actors such as Sul Kyung-gu, Ha Ji-won
and Park Joong-hoon respond during a tsunami. It also makes
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-gener-
ated 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 supervi-
sor for Hollywood blockbusters such as “The Day after Tomor-
row” and “The Perfect Storm,” participated in the filmmaking
process.
“Special effects are difficult for sure, but they’re worth a try.

Summit. ‘quantitative growth’ to use of eye-catching advanced computer-generated graphics, I learned through making Haeundae that nothing in the world
Starting late last year, ‘qualitative growth,’” the which accounted for a big part of the movie’s 13 billion won is impossible, and I have gained confidence that Korean disaster
the Lee Myung-bak Environment Minister Lee Maan-ee(right) poses with UN Environment Pro- overview read.  ($10.6 million) budget. films can develop their own style,” Youn said.
administration has gram Executive Director Achim Steiner in Seoul. By Moon Gwang-lip Director Youn JK, who also wrote the film, said he was stay- By Park Sun-young

34 korea Sptember
September2009
2009 September 2009 korea 35

Haiku’s
M A Global Bridge of Words
ost Americans are
familiar with the
Japanese poems
Elegant known as haiku. In
fact, it may be the extent of their
knowledge about Asian poetry. But
Cousin
this may be a good thing for Korea,
too, paving the way for a similar
genre from these shores known as
sijo.
Korea scholars ramp Pronounced
up campaign shee-jo, this form’s
roots can be found in
to promote sijo the Goryeo Dynasty.
Though Koreans are
very proud of these
three-line composi-
tions 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, Massachu-
setts. Leading it was David McCann,
the Korea Foundation professor of
Korean literature at Harvard Univer-
sity.
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, teach-
ing 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
[JoongAng Ilbo]
in a poetry book published in India,
established a journal called Sijo West
in 1996 with fellow poet Canadian
Elizabeth St. Jacques.
David McCann, a professor at Harvard Uni- Like a haiku, a sijo is composed
versity, has loved sijo poetry since he was a of three lines, but though the former
Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in 1966. follows a strict 5-7-5 syllable rule, the
36 korea September 2009
sijo writer has more space and free-
dom 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 inter-
view with the Boston
Globe in late June.
Fenkl teaches creative
writing and Asian lit-
erature 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 natu-
ral.”
Last year, Bo-Leaf Books pub-
lished 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 pro-
mote Korean culture, sent 20,000 fli-
ers 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 submit-
ted poems to Sejong.
“The sijo was really fun and dif-
ferent,” said Tracy Kaminer, a teacher
at Marist, in an interview with the
Boston Globe.
“I think sijo is an elegant form of
poetry.” By Lee Hae-joo
The Korean Translation Institute brings local literature to world readers
T
he Korea Litera-
ture 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 lit-
erary trends, they provide
material for people overseas
interested in Korean litera-
ture.
Nobel Prize nominee Ko
Un tops the list for number
of books translated with 51,
including his bestsellers Ten
Thousand Lives and Manin-
bo, out in 15 foreign lan-
guages. Recognized as the
greatest living Korean poet,
Ko has produced a moun-
tain 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 pub-
lished his poems in English,
increasing Western aware-
ness of the classical form of
Korean poetry called the
gasa, along with knowledge
of the country’s past and cul-
ture. 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 trans-
lated into English. Heeduk
Ra has published five books
of poetry and two of prose,
Culture
Hwang Seok-yeong and
Choi In-hoon. Portraying a
peculiar side of Korean soci-
ety 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
Clockwise from left: Songs literary translation. Litera-
for Tomorrow is the latest ture helps readers discover
in a long string of translated more about the country of its
Provided by Korea Literature Translation Institute
works by Ko Un; the original origin: its people, language
author and publication date and culture. It even plays a
of Chunhyang are unknown, political role, serving as a
but that hasn’t stopped it mediator between societies.
from being translated and With the support of talented
read around the world, and translators, a number of
The Land by Park Gyung-ri is excellent Korean textbooks
shown here translated into have been published for
Chinese. many people overseas who
are interested in Korean lit-
erature.
The driving mission of
for which she has received the Korea Literature Transla-
many honors. She teaches tion Institution is to provide
creative writing at Chosun an entrancing experience to
University and is regarded as foreigners through transla-
one of Korea’s best poets. tions authored by native
Her poems are filled with a speakers of the target lan-
sense of contrast between guage. Also, the translator
image and idea, sound and will usually be a specialist in
sense. She tries to create a a particular area, such as sci-
path from the visible world entific or political terminol-
to the invisible. Her work ogy. This leads to transla-
portrays the ever-shifting tions that are comprehensi-
border with the unknown. ble, relevant, and culturally
Also among the most sensitive. You can make an
popular Korean authors order through www. ama-
abroad are Lee Chung Joon, zon.com By Hyon Mi-Kyung
September 2009 korea 37

Park Wan-seo
Stripping naked our modern hypocrisy
A
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
Major works popular authors in Korea. Since her debut in
The Naked Tree
1970 with The Naked Tree, Park has been show-
(Namok, 1970) ered with numerous honors, including the Lee
Sang Prize for Literature in 1981 and the Korean
The Beginning of Days Lived
(Sarainneun nareui sijak, 1980)
National Literature Award in 1990.
A storyteller of considerable gifts, Park is
Mama’s Stake noted for her skillful employment of concrete
(Eommaui malttuk, 1982)
details and compelling episodes drawn from
Warm Was the Winter That Year everyday life, as well as her verbal dexterity and
(Geuhae gyeoureun ttatteuthaennae, 1983) the natural flow of her narratives, which renders
The Woman Standing
her works both accessible and engaging.
(Seo inneun yeoja, 1985) Park experienced the tragedy of the Korean
War firsthand. Raised by a strong mother who
Illusion
(Mimang, 1990)
was determined to give her the best education,
Park entered Seoul National University as a stu-
My Beautiful Neighbor dent of Korean Literature. But the outbreak of
(Naui areumdaun iut, 1991)
the war and the death of her older brother cut
The Dreaming Incubator her education short just a few days after she
(Kkum kkuneun inkyubaeiteo, 1993) entered university, and Park was forced to sup-
Such a Lonely You
port her family. The tragedy of families torn
(1998) apart by the Korean War and the heavy price the
war continues to exact from its survivors is
Source: Korea Literature Translation Institute
commemorated in such works as The Naked
[JoongAng Ilbo]
38 korea September
June 2009 2009
Korean Literature
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 age-
old values and the dissolution of the family
which are the byproduct of the rapid industrial-
ization of Korea.
Since 1980, Park has shown great interest in
the problems afflicting women in this patriar-
chal society. Perhaps the most notable of her
works focused on feminist issues is The Dream-
ing 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 per-
petuated or condoned is given no room for jus-
tification in Park’s razor-sharp prose.
September 2009 korea 39

A Very Old Joke
(Aju oraedoin nongdam)
This entertaining and
thought-provoking novel
examines human nature, cor-
rupted 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-in-
law, a son of a wealthy busi-
nessman, 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
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 per-
sonal testimony to the hor-
Translation index
Book Title Year of publication
Three Days In That Autumn 2001
My Very Last Possession and Other Stories 1999
A Sketch of the Fading Sun 1999
The Naked Tree 1996
List of Park's books translated into English by the Korea Literature Translation Institute
40 korea September 2009
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 sanc-
tity and joy by the obsession
with male offspring which
rors of war, Who Ate Up All
The Shinga? represents the
author’s attempt to work
through her traumatic mem-
ories. Even for a writer famed
for her ability to paint with a
varied palette in her fictional
works, the novel is remark-
ably vivid; its descriptions of
wartime events make us feel
as though we are watching a
Genre
Novel
Novel
Complete Collection/Anthology
Novel
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 obstetri-
cian, she finally succeeds in
giving birth to a son. Park’s
examination of human rela-
tions corrupted by the evils of
capitalism and patriarchy
poses a difficult question
about the feasibility of real
love in this hypocritical
world.
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 Moun-
tain Really There? Bak
recounts her life in postwar
Korea.
Translator
Ryu Suk-hee
Jun Gyung-ja
Lee Hyun-jae
Yu Young-nan
Korean Literature
Novel by Park Wan-seo
Below are two excerpts from Who Ate Up All the Shinga? that rags.
showcase Park’s delicate and piercing literary style. That year was the first time I saw acacias and their blossoms. I
learned that children in Seoul could also draw snacks from their
(1) surroundings. The more experienced ones would take a bunch of
…If kids are playing house and one suddenly asks, “Who wants acacias and pluck one flower after another, savoring them like
to play hide-and-seek?” the others scramble after her. In exactly grapes. Once I surreptitiously tried a bunch, afraid I might get
the same vein, when anyone suggested a trip to the outhouse, caught, but their milky, tepid, sweet taste made me nauseated.
we’d all follow. We’d squat together, our round bottoms exposed, Only something fresh, I thought, could settle my stomach.
and strain in unison, even if we didn’t have to go to the bath- Suddenly shinga came to mind. In the countryside, they were as
room. Back then, little girls wore “windbreaker knickers,” with an common as dayflowers, growing everywhere, at the foot of hills
opening underneath to make squatting easier. Even at midday, the and along roadsides. They had jointed stalks and were at their
outhouse was dark, and the girls’ white bottoms looked pale and plumpest and most succulent about the time wild roses came into
blurry, like unripe gourds on a roof beneath a hazy moon. bloom. We’d snap the reddish stalk, peel the skin, and eat the
Although we exposed our bums, it wasn’t a big deal if we didn’t tangy inner layer. I thought their puckering tartness would be the
have to move our bowels. Crouching side by side and chatting was perfect antidote for acacias.
fantastic fun. As we squatted in our dim hideaway, excreting little I combed the hill frantically. I was like an animal looking for grasses
corn ears of dung to mirror what we’d eaten, our trivial tales called to rub against a wound. But I couldn’t find a single stalk. Who ate
forth flights of fancy and elicited histrionic “oohs” and “aahs.” up all the shinga? The Seoul ridge had run together in my mind
“Did you hear about Kapsun’s dog? It had six puppies, but listen with the hill behind our village. I retched until I was dizzy.
to this! The dog’s yellow, but no puppy was yellow — just black
ones, white ones, and white ones with black spots.” Excerpted from Who Ate Up All the Shinga? by Park Wan-seo.
(2)
Translated by Yu Young-nan and Stephen J. Epstein . Copyright
© 2009 Columbia University Press. Used by arrangement with the
The bare, enervated ridge in Seoul made me think instead of a dy- publisher. All rights reserved.
ing 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 day-
flower’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
Provided by Woongjin Books
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
September 2009 korea 41

Korea’s Ambitious Phantom
He’s spent years hiding in small Seoul theaters. Now it’s time to emerge
[JoongAng Ilbo]
Provided by Seol & COMPANY
Yang Jun-mo has spent the last two years The Phantom of the Opera
performing in small theaters — but his ca- by Andrew Lloyd Webber is
reer’s about to get a big boost. the longest-running Broad-
way musical ever.
42 korea September 2009
E
ven before the official cast of The
Phantom of the Opera was unveiled,
rumors were swirling that Yang Jun-
Mo 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 Hye-
myung 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 Eun-
kyoung and Kang Sil-il. It made me so nervous
even to practice my lines,” Yang said.
Yang was impressed by the excited and pas-
sionate reaction of the North Korean audi-
ence. It was very different from the “respect-
able” 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 Ggok-
dobyulcho, 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
Korean Artist
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 plan-
ning 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, look-
ing 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 Septem-
ber 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

W
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

[NEWSIS]
line also — for the first time here — offers express trains,
running from Gangnam in southern Seoul to Gimpo Inter-
national 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

Technology, Convenience, distance.

Park Jeong-yeon, a resident of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Prov-
ince, was the first passenger to use the new line when it

Culture on the Subway Rails opened.

The 27-year-old librarian commutes to work at a state-
run children’s library in southern Seoul. Before the subway

[JoongAng Ilbo]
Seoul’s new line No. 9 makes a world-class transit system even better
Top, Express Bus Terminal Station is one example of the new-
ly-opened high-tech line No. 9. Above, a new train runs on
the line.
44 korea September 2009
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

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.
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 sta-
tions 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 sub-
way 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 passen-
gers to hold on without difficulty.
The exits at line No. 9’s Heukseok
Station even have the world’s first can-
opies with roofs that automatically
open and close in heavy rain or snow-
fall.
46 korea September 2009
Science&Tech
Hidden
Champions
Dogged Fighter Against
Rotten Toothbrushes
A
ll moms impress on their The company now exports to
children the importance of almost 30 countries, including huge
brushing one’s teeth every markets such as Russia and China.
night. And getting those Shin Choong-sik, president of
toothbrushs bacteria-free is just as Esencia, says that the company was
[NEWSIS]
important — or you may end up scrub- able to penetrate fastidious European
bing your pearly whites with the very markets by meeting export standards
bugs you’re trying to eliminate. like ISO9001, UL, CE, JIS and CCC.
Esencia, founded in 1989, domi- He credits the achievement to devel-
nates the global market for toothbrush opment and production know-how
sterilizers. According to Ministry of accumulated over two decades. The
Knowledge Economy data, Esencia’s company holds some 100 patents.
The new line’s Dangsan Station has the country’s global market share in the sector in Shin also attributes Esencia’s suc-
longest escalator at 49 meters long and 24 meters 2007 was roughly 40 percent. cess to the adoption of automatic pro-
high. In Korea Esencia’s products duction facilities that lower cost and
There are Internet cafes at Nodeul and Yeom- account for 70 percent, and in the Jap- increase efficiency.
chang stations, while other locations have concert anese market it has a share of 60 per- Chinese manufacturers have cop-
venues and art galleries that offer not only a pleasant cent. In the U.S. the firm’s share tops 30 ied the company’s sterilizers and sold
trip but great opportunities for artists and musicians percent, with all its products approved them at much lower prices, but these
to promote their work to the public. by the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis- copies were only 80 percent as effective
Seoul government officials also stress that the tration. or less than Esencia products.
other eight existing subway lines are also undergoing And Esencia conquered the mar- Shin said that the competition with
a transformation, while they are already equipped ket quickly. A year after it was founded, low-priced products in the past 10
with facilities such as convenience stores, cosmetics Esencia Esencia released the world’s first tooth- years helped raise Esencia’s quality.
shops, art galleries and concert spaces. Has 40 percent of the world brush sterilizer. Since 2000, the com- Instead of using fluorescent-like steril-
For example, Gyeonggbok Palace Station on line market for toothbrush sterilizers pany has turned its eyes to the global izing lamps it developed cold-cathode
No. 3 has an art gallery inside the station, where pas- market, participating in various events tubes. It expanded the life of its steril-
sengers waiting for their friends to arrive can take a including international invention izers 10 times over previous goods and
Station exits at look at displays. competitions in Switzerland and Chi- maximized its sterilization rate to 99.9
Shindang Station on line No. 2 features different na. percent. Shin, who suffered from con-
Heukseok are exhibitions with different themes throughout the In 2000 Esencia set up its first over- stant tooth pain, began developing
equipped with year. From July to August, the station contained an seas office in Tokyo. toothbrush sterilizers after seeing a
exhibition on live insects and reptiles that let pas- The company grew rapidly, setting roach sitting on this toothbrush in the
canopies that sengers actually touch them. up export networks in six countries by late 1980s.
extend in “It’s a nice occasion to bring my son to the near- the second half of 2003. In 2006, it fur- Although Shin faced difficulties,
Helmet]
by subway station,” said a housewife surnamed Park. ther expanded its network to the U.S., particularly when he first began selling
heavy rain or
company
“My boy is taking his summer break, and I didn’t Canada, Vietnam and Thailand. In the sterilizers, he is a strong believer in
by HJC
snow — the know where to take him because my husband couldn’t every market Esensia went multime- never giving up hope. 
Provided by
take any summer leave this year. I’m glad that at least dia, marketing on TV and online.
first in the
[Provided
By Lee Ho-jeong
I can show my son something even without traveling
world. too far.”  By Kim Mi-ju
September 2009 korea 47

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,
[AP]
who bogeyed the final two holes.
48 korea September 2009
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.
A
previously unheralded Korean golfer
pulled off one of the greatest upsets in
PGA history at the Hazeltine Nation-
al 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
‘I wasn’t that wins to his name, is invincible in his career lead
with 54 holes at PGA majors. The 33-year-old
nervous, American golfer was on pace to win his 15th
because it’s a career major and the first of the season. However,
Yang was calm and calculating in upsetting one of
game of the best clutch golfers in history.
golf... the Yang took the lead for the first time when he
eagled on the 14th by chipping in from an area just
worst I could off the green. He then went on to birdie the final
do was just hole by hitting a three-iron shot from 210 yards
out and then connecting on a 10-foot putt. He
lose to Tiger.’ ended the day with a two-under par 70, and was
eight shots under par for the whole tournament.
Sports
“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 score-
board.”
Woods, on the other hand, had an uncharac-
teristically 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 tour-
nament 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

L
ee Chung-yong, one of Korea’s
most promising midfielders,
became the seventh and the
youngest Korean to join the
notched two goals and four assists for
FC Seoul this season.
Lee’s skill set was recognized early Korea’s youth basketball
on, and he dropped out of middle team, left, won the East

English Premier League, agreeing to a
contract in late July. The 21-year-old
midfielder left Korea to join the Wan-
derers in Bolton, Manchester on August
13.
“I will approach the new venture
[JoongAng Ilbo]
school to join the lower profes- Asian FIBA championship
sional ranks of Korean football. but lost to several teams in
He was able to earn a spot on FC the Asian tournament.
Seoul’s roster when Senol Gunes
spotted the youngster in 2004.
Since being added to the national

Korea Just Misses FIBA Berth

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 oppor-
tunity possible for me, I will try my best
to do the same.”
team by manager Huh Jung-moo,
Lee has improved his play by
leaps and bounds. He and
his FC Seoul team-
mate, Ki Team couldn’t extend East Asia win to triumph over Iranian powerhouse

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 con-
siderable 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 moti-
K
orea entered the 2009 Fédération Internationale de
Sung-ryeung, Basketball Amateur Asia Championship in Tian-
made up half of the national jin, China from August 6 to 16 with a clear goal
team’s midfield crew, which — to finish among the top three in order to secure
includes Manchester United’s a berth in the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.
Park Ji-sung and the Wigan Ath- Having won the East Asia Championship in Nagoya,
letics’ Cho Won-hee.  Japan in June, the team was confident about its chances of
By Jason Kim 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 shortcom-
ings and at the same time work on the positives to prepare for
next year,” said head coach Hur Jae. “I want to congratulate
Right, Lee Chung- our players for playing hard despite the difficult circumstanc-
[JoongAng Ilbo]
won its first five games without much problems. In the pre-
liminary 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

vate his teammates. Having played yong dribbles the ball es.” China (70-52), and Jordan defeated Lebanon (80-66) in the
both the center midfield and right in a game for FC Under the rookie national team head coach Hur Jae, Korea other semifinals. 
winger positions, Lee has Seoul. had gone undefeated in the East Asia Championship and had By Jason Kim

50 korea September 2009 September 2009 korea 51

 Travel

The Luxuries of Time

Mansions of old offer respite from the exhaustion of today

W
e urbanites lead a fast life in an unsta-
ble world. It has its advantages, but
sometimes we long for something
old, something constant — some-
thing that stays in one place.
Fortunately, that’s a perfect description of the tra-
ditional 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, over-
looking 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-fash-
ioned 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 expe-
rience 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 pro-
vincial 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,

Provided by Myeongjae Gotaek

once the residence of Seokju Lee Sang-ryong, who
Its rational design and flawless maintenance served as the first prime minister of the Provisional
make Myeongjae Gotaek a must-see site for Government of the Republic of Korea. The 99-room
architects. 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
52 korea September 2009 September 2009 korea 53

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 fantas-
tic view of the illuminated lake and its colorful foun-
tains, 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 informa-
tion, please visit www.imcheonggak.com or call (054)
853-3455.
Nongam Jongtaek, the head house of the Yeo-
ngcheon 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 liv-
ing in the house for over 650 years.
The mansion boasts a spectacular view of the fabu-
lous 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 pri-
vate 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 muse-
ums 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 fea-
tures 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 Pung-
san Yu family, has been designated Important Folklore
Material No. 112. Here national and folk treasures wait
54 korea September 2009
The interior of Parkjinsa Gotaek lo-
cated in Gosung, South Gyeongsang
Province is another fine look at the
lives of Korea’s old rich and famous.
and those interested in feng shui, accord-
ing to the current master of the house,
the 12th-generation descendent of Yun
Jeong. In 2008, former Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev visited the man-
Provided by Seon Byeong-guk Gaok
sion.
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
Hundreds of soybean paste jars line the terrace of the manor at Seon Byeong- shrine. The mansion’s celebrated scien-
guk Ga-ok. tific design brings in the fresh air longer
during the summer, drawing it into the
behind every corner. open space between the main house and
Andong Dam, built to control flood- the storehouse, while blocking the wind
ing on the lower Nakdong River, main- during the winter for added warmth.
tains a lake filled with 1.25 billion tons The main doors to the guesthouse
of water, which means cruises and fish- slide and turn on hinges at the same
ing are close by. time, rare for the time. The daecheong,
Myeongjae Gotaek in Nonsan, South the open wooden floor that played the
Chungchung Province, was the resi- role of a living room, is elevated so that
dence of Myeongjae Yunjeong (1629- the mistress of the house could look out
1714), a great Joseon scholar, and is vis- across the village. The serene pond in
ited by some 30,000 tourists every year. front of the gorgeous guesthouse is sur-
The structure was designed and built rounded by centuries-old crape myrtles
over 300 years ago, but the rational and Japanese cornelian cherries.
design and flawless maintenance make Myeongjae Gotaek operates various
it a must-see site for aspiring architects programs such as coming-of-age cere-
Travel
provided by Korea Tourism Organization
Seon Byeong- monies and tea ceremonies, and you can even have a
traditional wedding there. The annex has six rooms for
guk Gaok is guests, each room ranging from 60,000 won to 110,000
still home to won depending on the size. For more information and
reservation inquiries, please visit www.yunjeung.com
its 21st-gener- or call (041) 735-1215.
ation mistress, Seon Byeong-guk Ga-ok, the 99-room head house
of the Boseong Seon Clan in Bo-eun, North Chung-
Kim Jeong-ok cheong Province, is situated in the middle of a thick
— a sign of pine grove. A hundred years ago, the then-master of
the house, who was a seafood merchant, recruited only
continuity in a the best carpenters from all around the country to
chaotic land. 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 land-
lord class, Seon Byeong-guk Ga-ok features spacious
rooms and higher ceilings compared to other tradi-
tional 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
Andong noodles paste and soy sauce lined up on the terrace are a fasci-
September 2009 korea 55

nating sight. The 21st-generation mis-
tress of the house, Kim Jeong-ok, says
that she makes a paste of dates, the spe-
cialty of Bo-eun, in addition to the tra-
ditional 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 stu-
dents studying for national examina-
tions 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 accommo-
date 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, Gang-
won Province, was the first civilian
house to be designated as a national cul-
tural property. It is a must-see tourist
attraction for those visiting Gangneung,
one of the most popular vacation desti-
56 korea September 2009
Provided by Seongyojang
Left, buildings sprawl across the grounds at
Seongyojang in Gangneung, Gangwon Prov-
ince. Top and above, visitors can experience
cultural programs like making rice cakes, eat-
ing local food and playing folk games.
nations in Korea. Over 300,000 tourists The main floor is used as an education-
stop by the magnificent mansion, which al center, and there is an outdoor play-
includes 10 buildings on a site of 24 ground and grass field. Folk games such
acres. Alongside the main house sits as shuttlecock kicking, swings, seesaws,
large and small guest houses, servants’ the arrow throwing game of tuho and
quarters and a pavilion. Built in 1703, it the board game yutnori are played fre-
is the biggest civilian house in Korea, quently here. Traditional music is per-
and the term manor or villa would per- formed every Saturday. You can even
haps be more appropriate. take classes in wood crafts or experience
Centuries-old pine trees line the a tea ceremony or local cuisine tasting,
rear of the house, and red lotus flowers all for a price comparable to other man-
blossom on the pond near the pavilion. sions.
Ultimately, the only way to understand For more information about visiting
why Seongyojang is called “the most Seongyojang, visit www. knsgi.net or call
beautiful house in Korea” is to see it for (033) 646-4270.
yourself. Kevin Edwards, 45, from Britain,
According to Kim Bong-ryeol, pro- visited Seongyojang in July 2009 and
fessor of architecture at the Korean said he fell completely in love with the
National University of Arts, Seongyo- indescribable charms of Korea after the
jang is a perfect example of the charac- visit. He said he would bring his entire
teristics of traditional Korean architec- family back to the manor.
ture, with a garden laid out in multiple No visit to Seongyojang is complete
layers and walls wrapped around the without viewing a sunrise over the East
inner houses. Even the servants’ quar- Sea from nearby Gyeongpodae Beach
ters are lined up in a row to project a — the ultimate reminder that, no matter
grand and solemn beauty. what we city slickers do, the Earth con-
Currently, the mansion can accom- tinues to chart its slow course across the
modate 180 guests in over 50 rooms. cosmos. By Hong Jin
Back to Basics, and Thank Buddha
Chef says the trend toward simple food is good news for Korea
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]
B
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 manag-
ers with a taste of Korean food.
The chef ’s active role as an ambassador for
Korean cuisine is simply part of his food philoso-
phy.
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
Travel
Korea’s Taste Masters
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 con-
tain 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 rec-
ommends 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 Yon-
shik 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 han-
jeongsik 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 some-
times 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) 735-
0312 or visit www.sanchon.
com. Hours are from 11
a.m. to 10 p.m. Tradition-
al performances are
staged at the restaurant
from 8 to 8:45 p.m. every
day.
By Lee Eun-joo Bae Han-chul
September 2009 korea
September 2009 korea 57
57
 Korean Food
The Secret to Family Cooking
A Vietnamese wife shares what her Korean mother-in-law taught her
provided by Korea Organization of Information Service
In her book, Lea Huyonh Nho shares her experience learn-
ing Korean cooking from her mother-in-law.
I
t’s a common assumption that most ambitious cooks
improve with age, working out their kinks, control-
ling 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 cook-
ing 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 understand-
ing 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 under-
stand the mind of the Korean mother in order to under-
stand 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 dis-
appoint your husband’s taste buds.
Your work might turn out sub-
par at first, but that’s OK, Lea says
once you understand the basis of
— book is great,
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
A Teenage Novelist’s Voyage
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.
L
ee So-young is 15 — and she’s a pub-
lished novelist. And not a sappy
romance novel, either: The ninth grad-
er at Daechi Middle School recently
authored Rebellion, a 608-page piece of histori-
cal fiction. Even more incredible, she wrote it
entirely in English. Lee liked writing short Eng-
lish stories growing up, but this is her first time
completing a whole book, not to mention see-
ing 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 embarrass-
ing 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
‘Everything book.”
Setting the plot during the Third Servile
about my 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
except the year-and-a-half to finish the book, writing two
to three hours daily. She verified historical facts
words “gifted online, constantly leafed through encyclope-
girl” on the dias and even saw several documentaries to
ensure she wasn’t inserting any errors.
cover.’ Lee took on another challenge by deciding
to use Spartacus, the courageous gladiator who
People
[joongAng Ilbo]
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 Eng-
lish 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 differ-
ent foreign publishers and received one reply
requesting the manuscript. In the end, Korean
Ilsong Books was the lucky publishing com-
pany 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

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
I
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 Han-
woo, 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.
Lee Charm, born Bernhardt Quandt,
is the first foreign-born person to be
head of a Korean state agency.
60 korea September 2009
Ken Crawford
But none is as big as his latest assignment: Lee was named ernment is prepared to open up.”
the head of the Korea Tourism Organization in July, becoming The emotional Lee said he felt obli-
the first foreign-born person to be named to a leadership posi- gated to let the world in on his adopted
tion in the Korean government. homeland.
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports, which over- “I feel that if people around the world
sees the tour organization, explained the hiring of Lee expressed knew Korea as I do, many people would
the Korean government’s willingness to open doors for all, visit Korea,” Lee said. “Over the last 30
regardless of their ethnicity. years I have been in Korea, I have come
“Our society is becoming more open and more internation- to know Korea. And with that I feel a
alized,” the ministry said. “And the public sector has been con- sense of duty that I can and should share
sidered conservative and closed. But this move shows the gov- this with others.”
‘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 pur-
sue 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 fore-
cast capabilities. The Korean administra-
tion said Crawford is signed through
2012, and its expectations for him are
[JoongAng Ilbo]
such that Crawford will be paid $260,000
Guenter Reinke An Son-jae
a year, about twice the salary of the Kore-
an president. He will also be provided
with an apartment and a sedan car.
Korea has gradually opened its public
institutions and private sectors to for-
eigners. 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 conglom-
erate 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 fol-
lowing performances.
Since he became chief executive of
Boehringer Ingelheim Korea in 2005,
Guenter Reinke has tried to assimilate
himself into Korean culture. The Ger-
man native builds Korean traditional
kites, and his love for the Korean culture
has led to Boehringer Ingelheim’s spon-
soring 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
People
[JoongAng Ilbo]
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 lan-
guage 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 log-
ical and scientific structure of the lan-
guage.”
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 pro-
fessor, 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
here.” By Yoo Jee-ho
September 2009 korea 61

Blazing a Trail in Hollywood
Korean actors find their place amid the samurai and kung fu fighters
A
s you watch the latest crop of
Hollywood action movie
trailers, you may notice
something unusual, some-
thing 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 human-
vampire 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 villain-
ous organization of the title.
And even more big-budget Holly-
62 korea September 2009
wood movies with Korean actors in the
lead roles are coming soon. In The War-
rior’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 unquali-
fied 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 direc-
tor 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 viv-
idly. 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 diffi-
culty 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 dynam-
ic 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 sam-
urai 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 nega-
tive, as they come from the commodifi-
cation of one’s culture, but they have
helped shape individual countries’ iden-
tities. Samurai have become representa-
tive 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 charac-
ter Storm Shadow were originally Japa-
People
From opposite left to below: Jun Ji-
Hyun in Blood: The Last Vampire,
Rain in Ninja Assassin, Jang Dong-gun
in Laundry Warrior, and Lee Byung-
Hun in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
nese, but they both asked the filmmakers
to change the nationality of the charac-
ters 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 Ameri-
can 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 big-
gest challenge. 
By Susan Yoon
[JoongAng Ilbo]
September 2009 korea 63

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
thing of a small celebrity in this largely
rural community, performing at vari-
ous 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 ances-
tors, 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 tran-
sistor radio fascinated him. Soon Kim
found himself glued to the little box
Provided by Kim Back-keun
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 cam-
A
puses in downtown Seoul for about
t first glance, Kim Back-keun may look like
an ordinary Korean farmer (except for his
long ponytail). Kim, like his father, grandfa-
three years in the early 1980s. But life
as a hungry artist wasn’t for him.
“It was simply impossible to get by
ther, great grandfather and three more gen-
erations before, has spent most of his life in the small
village of Garakgol in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Prov-
just by doing music full-time,” said
Kim.
After three years, the band broke
ince. Waking up before dawn every morning, Kim apart, and hungry and desperate Kim
spends the day tending rice on his 13-acre farm, water- decided to return to his hometown to
ing or sowing seeds for cabbage, radish, cucumber and become a farmer, and perhaps practice
other seasonal vegetables, or experimenting on new cul- his music part-time after work. Life as
tivars. a farmer, however, was no easier than
But when the day is over and night sets in, the his career in music had been.
46-year-old heads to a makeshift studio in his home and Kim struggled for years until he
picks up a guitar.
He plays the songs he’s written, reliving old dreams
adjusted to the rural life, getting to
know how to sow seeds, tend the rice
of rock stardom. And Kim has indeed become some- fields, harvest and sell the crops and
People
People
‘Music is like maintain the farmland on sunny, rainy, windy, snowy
and all other days.
an everyday But during all these trials, Kim’s passion for music
remained.
habit to me. “Music is like an everyday habit to me. Farming
Farming and and music are the two pillars of my life,” said Kim,
now married with three children, including two teen-
music are the ager daughters and a 10-year-old son.
So he built a small music workshop in his house,
two pillars of paneling the walls with more than 1,000 small paper
my life.’ egg-packaging boxes to make it soundproof and fill-
ing 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 sol-
diered 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 life-
line / 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 some-
thing to eat,” Kim croons.
With the help of old friends, Kim managed to
hold his first solo concert in downtown Gwang-
myeong 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 inspira-
tion, which suddenly open doors to new melodies
and creative rhythms.
Top, Kim cares for his veg-
etable garden. Above, Kim “It’s a moment of catharsis, and you can some-
times meet a moment like that when farming crops
sings on a poster for one of
his concerts. in nature,” he said.  By Jung Ha-won
September 2009 korea 65
Foreign Viewpoints
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 Govern-
ment. 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, AM-
ROP International and subsequently Korn/
Ferry International as a managing director.
66 korea September 2009
S
ince I have spent half of my adult life
in Korea, it should be an easy mat-
ter 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 char-
acter is one who dislikes monotony, the rou-
tine and the predictable. I don’t like watching
movies when the plot is obvious and the end-
ing 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 moun-
tains. Any drive into the countryside will con-
firm this. The other day I drove on a newly-
opened 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, com-
plete 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-year-
old 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 citi-
zen, with priority given to getting the vehicles
through as fast as possible. Now it has be-
come a walker’s delight, with controlled cross-
ings, wide sidewalks, tree-shaded rest areas
and floral gardens nestling among the high-
rise 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 amaze-
ment 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 de-
cade 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, au-
thentically 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 Bu-
gak. 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 tradi-
tional architecture.
But amidst the constant flow of surprises that
strike me living in Korea, maybe the most as-
tonishing is the national trait of the Korean
people that makes them propel themselves
constantly to improve, to make next year bet-
ter than last, and to rise up in the ranks of
nations in a whole range of activities — sci-
ence, 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 con-
stantly overcoming adversity is nothing short
of an inspiration. And that is the real reason I
enjoy living here.
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