Traditional Korean music, or gugak, had a very difficult 20th century, when it and other aspects of traditional Korea were ignored and sometimes even forgotten in favor of modern — invariably Euro-American — cultural norms. In the last decades of the century, however, gugak began making a comeback, fueled by pride in the nation’s heritage and the desire to find symbols of “traditional modernity.” Now, young artists are making gugak their own, presenting the world with music that is increasingly diversified and internationalized.

Also in this issue, we head to Namhae, Korea’s treasure island, to witness traditional farming and fishing methods in action; talk with musical producer Misha Shin; learn about late composer Isang Yun; sneak a peak at the film “The Battleship Island”; and more.

_Editorial staff, KOREA

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Cover Photo

Photographed by 15 Studio

(From the left) Gayageum, geomungo, janggu, haegeum, buk, jing, kkwaenggwari (the smaller gong on the floor)

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Cover Story | » | Written by Hilary Vanessa Finchum-Sung, Associate Professor, Department of Korean Music, Seoul National University

Tradition’s Roar

Traditional Korean music is alive and well

Inside the packed theater, last minute arrivals rush to their seats while others busily chat with friends or review program notes. Many snap shots of the stage setting of transparent drapery and light scaffolding before the lights dim. The excited flurry of conversation dulls to a murmur as the young musicians appear and begin to take their seats. Then, black. The muffled whine of the sepiri, a small double-reed pipe, pierces the darkness, and a small point of light expands to reveal the piri performer dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, a guitar strapped low and slung behind his back. His eyes close as his sepiri’s cries crescendo and subside, the volume intensifying and ebbing in increasingly quicker turns until a pained sustained pitch yields to guitar distortion. At that moment, a wall of sound erupts magnified by a burst of white light. Having replaced the dainty sepiri with the boisterous double-reed conical taepyeongso, the performer executes jaggedly frantic melodic ascents and descents as he simultaneously thrashes the guitar with his free hand. The haegeum, a two-string bowed lute, geomungo, a six-string zither, electric bass and drums relentlessly pound out a tumultuous din, leaving no space for silence.

With an opening that literally shook the frame of the KB Haneul Theater at the National Theater of Korea (NTOK), the post-rock band Jambinai’s performance serves as a metaphor for their singular contributions to an ever-shifting paradigm of “tradition” in the world of traditional Korean music, or gugak, literally “national music.” By self-definition not a gugak team, Jambinai’s refusal to be pinned down by such a label, paired with their inclusion in a festival dedicated to 21st century gugak performances, makes them an ideal example with which to begin this essay. Between pieces, the guitar and piri performer and vocalist Lee Il-woo softly noted, “Gugak people always ask us why we’re so loud. We’re never asked to play at gugak events.” While audience members laughed quietly, their reaction, paired with the band’s commentary, communicated that the band had arrived, despite international and domestic critical success outside of gugak circles. It communicated, as well, openness to divergence to be the key to gugak’s vigor.

Since 2010, the Yeowoorak Festival has served as a significant platform for new trends in traditional Korean music. Through the years, the festival has gained a reputation for featuring the most cutting-edge gugak performers while not losing sight of its roots. Headliners have included the cross-dressing folk-singing force of nature Hee-moon Lee, the improvisational quartet Black String, the world music fusion group Gongmyeong and gayageum master and composer Hwang Byungki. The festival has become an important metaphor of potential: Gugak can be popular, gugak can draw diverse audiences, gugak can sell tickets. After more than half a century of struggle, preservation and transformations, gugak has entered an unprecedented era in which it serves not only as an icon of Korean heritage, but as a contributor to Korea’s intensifying engagement with diverse and global communities. The Yeowoorak Festival flaunts gugak’s potential, a wellspring of cool with an untouchable depth.

Gugak tradition through time

As an ethnomusicologist, it is my job to grapple with words like “tradition” and “traditional.” What do such words really mean? Years ago, an encounter with folklorist Henry Glassie’s definition of tradition changed forever my understanding of how tradition functions in our world. “Accept, to begin,” he wrote, “that tradition is the creation of the future out of the past.” When examining music labeled as “traditional” in a place like Korea, one should accept that this music’s significance rests in what it means to be Korean today. The ways by which gugak is designed, presented and performed has everything to do with Korea’s local and global identities.

In the world of traditional Korean music, paradigms regarding what gugak is have shifted continuously. While heavily context-functional in both court and folk realms during the Joseon era (1392–1910), gugak morphed into a symbol of historic memory during colonial times (1910–1945) and was almost abandoned in the post-war era when the US-modeled education system used the Euro-American method of teaching pitch, the solfège, with little or no mention of gugak, to generations of school children. In the 1960s, performance traditions came under the protection of the intangible heritage system at a time during which upward mobility was equated with Euro-American standards and the stuff of Korea seemed almost antithetical to development. Once the heritage system began to work, and traditional arts were no longer in danger of becoming a faint memory of Old Korea, changes began to take place.

These changes were relatively slow in coming. When first conducting field research in Seoul 19 years ago, this writer encountered rather inflexible definitions of gugak. The heritage system had succeeded in saving gugak, but it proceeded to create an unyielding environment in which gugak became exclusive and specialized, notions of authenticity rigid. The relative absence of gugak education in public schools until the 1980s, as well, exacerbated this distancing from the non-specialist, resulting in the unfortunate norm of people who cannot tell a gayageum from a geomungo, a haegeum from an ajaeng.

Still, the evolving weight of gugak as a national and social emblem in the late 20th century greatly impacted the contemporary gugak template. In social movements of the 1980s, use of gugak as a symbol of indigenous modernity planted the seeds for gugak’s cultural capital. Young musicians, inspired by the efforts of the aforementioned samulnori, embarked on a mission to popularize gugak by lobbying for increased gugak curriculum content in public education and creating new performance styles accessible to then-contemporary audiences. The tireless efforts of artists such as Kim Deoksu of the band SamulNori, haegeum performer Kang Eun-il and composer Won Il, among many others, opened new doors and, ultimately, altered the construct of “tradition” from preserved survivor to accessible, malleable expressive culture.

Since the 1990s, gugak’s outlook has both diversified and internationalized, with the growing overseas popularity of Korean pop culture paving roads for global engagement never before imaginable. At this juncture, gugak took on a cultural ambassadorial role, with globalization framing institutional initiatives. As Korea has become host to the world at music festivals, such as the Jeonju International Sori Festival, and arts markets, such as Performing Arts Market Seoul (PAMS), more artists have begun traveling abroad to participate at major international music events such as WOMAD, WOMEX and South by Southwest.

Yanggeum player Choi Hui-seon, pansori singer Min Eun-Kyung, gugak group Black String

Despite being ignored and almost abandoned in the 20th century, when Euro-American cultural norms gained dominance in Korea, gugak has managed to survive. In the late 20th century, young gugak artists began efforts to popularize traditional Korean music as a symbol of indigenous modernity.

20세기 들어 서양 문화의 범람 속에 국악은 백안시 당하고 거의 잊혀지다시피 했다. 그럼에도 20세기 후반 무렵, 젊은 국악인들은 한국이 지닌 자생적 근대성의 상징으로 국악을 자리매김 시키려는 노력을 시작했다.

Kim Young-jae, a master of several traditional instruments, singing and dancing, performs at the 2016 Yeowoorak Festival, National Theater of Korea.

“Jangdan DNA: Sensibility of Kim Yong-bae,” performed during the 2017 Yeowoorak Festival, pays tribute to the late Kim Yong-bae, one of the founding members of the influential group SamulNori. Founded in 1978, SamulNori not only brought rural music into the modern era, but also helped spark renewed local and international interest in traditional Korean music.

2017년 여우락 페스티벌에서 선보인 <장단 DNA-김용배적 감각>은 국악계에 큰 영향을 미친 연주단 ‘사물놀이’ 의 창단 멤버 중 한 명인 고 김용배에게 헌정된 공연이다. 1978년 창단한 ‘사물놀이’는 한국의 옛 농촌 음악을 현대에 되살렸을 뿐 아니라 국악에 대한 국내외의 관심에 불을 지폈다.

Samulnori masters perform “Jangdan DNA: Sensibility of Kim Yong-bae” at the 2017 Yeowoorak Festival, National Theater of Korean.

Yeowoorak: Here is Korean music

The timing of such developments could not be more appropriate. The long-term stability of institutional support for gugak programs has led to increasing numbers of young gugak professionals. It has also meant increased competition for jobs while more and more performers compete for fewer available positions. As a result, there has been a surge of new performance styles and creative developments since the turn of the century. Imaginative takes on folk and court music performance standards have inspired an alternative edge to new music creativity, with many performers watching the world music market closely to determine viable performance models.

The Yeowoorak Festival has built a reputation for pushing the envelope of gugak tradition. Yeowoorak, spelled yeourak under the official Korean romanization system, is an acronym that comes from yeogi uri eumak itda, or “our music is here.” Practically, it stands out amongst a host of music festivals because of its reachable location—at the National Theater in the heart of central Seoul—and timing. Taking place in the summer, Yeowoorak remains one of the few gugak-related music festivals in Korea held outside of the festival season, which typically runs from late September to early November. The lineup at each year’s festival has included the most seasoned gugak performers alongside young performers responsible for reinventing gugak’s image and sonic expressivities. The Yeowoorak Festival advances the contemporary gugak archetype: mindful of origins as it roars into the future.

Three featured performances in this year’s lineup encapsulate the quintessence of Yeorak’s contributions. “Jangdan (rhythmic cycle) DNA: Kim Yong Bae-style Sensibility” served as an homage to percussion master Kim who tragically took his own life years ago. Performers Park Eun-ha, Kim Jeonggeui, Kim Buk-man and Won Il expressed through rhythm and dance the profound impact Kim had on their artistic development. Live performance of the piri, a double reed instrument, juxtaposed with archival recordings of Kim’s voice and percussion sounds gave way to live performances of shamanic rhythms which culminated in an audience dancing and shouting for more. Jambinai’s post-rock reinvention of gugak instrumentation showcases an exhilarating sonic assault of pulsating geomungo lines and the haegeum at its shrieking, haunting best. Baraji, a young group known for their rich renditions of southwestern shaman rituals and folk songs, combine clever arrangements of sung epic narratives, or pansori, standards—such as the male drummer quartet/comedy routine rendition of Heungbuga’s “Opening of the Gourd” scene—and an intensely layered execution of Jindo’s purification rite for the dead.

The Korean phrase ongo jishin, “understanding the new by learning things old,” comes to mind. In Yeowoorak, the deep, tangled roots of gugak reinforce the value of tradition itself, that of a future unfolding as a process and in honor of all that has come before.

Post-rock band Jambinai plays at the 2017 Yeowoorak Festival, National Theater of Korea.

Held in the summer at the National Theater of Korea, the Yeowoorak Festival boasts performances by both veteran artists and younger artists, performances that push the envelope of traditional Korean music while remaining true to its roots. The festival reminds audiences that gugak is both cool and blessed with incredible depth.

올 여름 국립극장에서 개최된 여우락 페스티벌은 중견 음악인과 젊은 아티스트들이 한데 어우러져, 한국 전통음악이 탄탄한 뿌리를 바탕으로 새로운 지평을 여는 장이 되었다. 여우락 페스티벌은 국악에 현대적인 멋과 끝간 데 모를 깊이가 동시에 살아 숨쉬고 있다는 사실을 일깨운다.

Musician and director Chang Jae-hyo performs at the 2014 Yeowoorak Festival, National Theater of Korea.

Gugak: A Primer

Photos of instruments courtesy of the World Musical Instrument Museum of Seongnam Cultural Foundation

The National Orchestra of Korea and SamulGwangdae perform at the 2016 Art in Chamber Concert.

Defining gugak

The term gugak incorporates multiple court and folk genres as well as new music inspired by court and folk aesthetics. The term gugak, “national music,” emerged in the late 19th century to distinguish indigenous music from non-Korean music.

Aesthetics

Traditional Korean music centers attention on melodic development and focuses on subtle shadings of tone color. Functional harmony is not an aesthetic native to gugak. Ensemble textures are heterophonic. Rhythmic cycles structure pieces in both court and folk realms.

Contexts and genres

Gugak is broadly divided into two realms: court and folk. Records of court music, including ritual music, state music and aristocratic music, abound through the many treatises and notations that have survived over the centuries, such as the “Akhakgwebeom” (Treatise of Music, 1493), but very few records exist of folk music before the late 18th century.

Court music

Court music can be divided into categories of official ritual music and literati music. The music of court-related life in general centered heavily on Confucian ideologies. Aak, court ritual music imported during the Goryeo era, became one of three official categories of court music, including hyangak, or music of Korean origins, and dangak, or music of Chinese origins.

Outside of the ritual realm, music was both used in banquet contexts as well as in private chambers for personal enjoyment and benefit. This music, known as pungnyu, epitomizes court music ideals through simple melodic lines and slow-to-moderate tempi. Pungnyu includes instrumental suites and sung poetry, like gagok, gasa and sijo.

Folk music

Folk music is the music of the common people. Folk music has been integral to the rhythms of daily life—work, play, lulling a child to sleep—and therefore has been a part of the very fiber of everyday existence. Unlike the restraint of court music, folk music is raw and emotional. Folk music genres include folk songs; pungmul, or rural percussion ensembles; gut eumak, or various region-and-ritual-type-based genres of shaman ritual music; hyangje jul pungnyu, or folk chamber suites; and pansori, or sung epic narratives, among others.

An important aspect of folk music rests in its many regional variations. Like regional food flavors and dialects, folk music has many dialects, called tori. For example, yukjabaegi tori from the southwestern province employs a particular melodic type known as gyemyeonjo within which three notes of a scale—mi, la, do—are emphasized. Mi receives a heavy vibration, re receives slight vibration, and si resolves to do as the breaking tone.

Instruments

Traditional musical instruments have a natural and earthy tone color. Strings are made of wound silk, flutes are constructed of bamboo stalks, and the bodies of zithers are made of aged paulownia wood.

In court performances, the tonalities and ornamentations are subtle. Instruments that fit within this standard are employed in court music. Typical instruments used in court ritual and secular performance include the 12-string court zither, or jeongak gayageum; large bowed zither, or dae ajaeng; six-string fretted zither, or geomungo; two-string bowed lute, or haegeum; court large transverse bamboo flute, or jeonggak daegeum; a variety of small double-reed instruments, of piri; notched vertical flute, or danso; double-headed hourglass-shaped drum, of janggu; and others. Instruments associated with ritual and/or formal Confucian music include the tiger-shaped scraper, or eo; ocarina, or hun, sixteen bronze bells, or pyeonjong; sixteen stone slabs, or pyeongyeong; and many others.

Instruments adapted to folk aesthetics produce wide vibrato and a diversity of tone colors, and can easily be played at rapid tempos. Representative instrumentation includes the bowed zither, or sanjo ajaeng; folk large transverse bamboo flute, or sanjo daegeum; and folk 12-string plucked zither, or sanjo gayageum. The two-string bowed lute, or haegeum, and six-string fretted zither, or geomungo, traditionally have just one version, but the playing techniques for both are different in court and folk music.

The eight materials classification system divides instruments according to gold (metal), stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, earth, leather and wood.

i. Metal instruments include: pyeonjong, jing, nabal, kkwaenggwari

ii. Stone instruments include: pyeongyeong

iii. Silk instruments include: geomungo, gayageum, haegeum, ajaeng

iv. Bamboo instruments include: piri, daegeum, danso

v. Instruments using a gourd: saenghwang

vi. Earthen instruments: hun

vii. Instruments made by stretching skin over a hollow body: janggu, sogo

viii. Instruments made of wood: bak, chuk, eo

The haegeum (two-string bowed lute) is the only instrument considered to have historically contained all eight elements within this classification system.

Travel | » | Written and photographed by Robert Koehler

Treasure Island

Namhae enchants with scenic splendor and vibrant local traditions

Namhae’s bamboo fish traps, or jukbangnyeom, ingeniously use the strong currents of the Jijok Strait to catch Korea’s most prized anchovies.

With its picturesque terraced fields, the coastal village of Gacheon is a popular travel destination.

The sun rose above Daraengi Village. The small disc of light peaked above the ridge, barely visible through the mist, illuminating oh-so-slightly the terraced fields below in a pale gold glow, the rays diffused in the dew and drizzle. Fog continued to roll in from the sea, hanging in the hills above the village, a village still slumbering in the pre-dawn tranquility, the only sound the waves crashing into the cliffs below, the only sign of life a few farmers, their diligence enviable, walking slowly through the alleys or clambering the steep paths through the terraced fields that climbed the steep hillside like a giant green staircase, perhaps to get an early start to the day, or maybe, like this writer, simply to take in the inspiring view and enjoy the peace and solitude only the morning can bring.

Located just off the southeast coast and connected to the mainland by a series of picturesque bridges, the insular county of Namhae bills itself as Korea’s “treasure island.” With vistas like the one described above, it’s hard to argue otherwise. Though the visuals are indeed breathtaking, what makes Namhae a truly fascinating place is its local traditions, the ways of life of its people, from its terraced fields and time-honored fishing practices to more recent additions to the island’s rich milieu.

Blue water and silver sand await at Sangju Silver Sand Beach.

Walking paths line Gacheon’s coastal cliffs.

Green terraces, blue sea

From Namhae-eup, the county seat and “downtown,” such as it is, an hour’s bus ride along the island’s scenic coastal road brings you to the small seaside village of Gacheon, home to Korea’s most widely recognized set of terraced fields, called darangi-non in Korean and pronounced daraengi in the local dialect. Better known as Daraengi Village, the community sits above high coastal cliffs at the island’s southernmost point, perched precariously on the steep slopes of Mt. Seolheulsan, soaring hills above and crashing waves below.

Gacheon’s seaside cliffs made the building of a pier for fishing boats impossible, or at any rate, impractical. Unable to fish, local villagers turned to farming. To ready the steep mountainside, where the incline exceeds 45 degrees in spots, pioneering villagers began building terraces using stone walls. Farmers-cum-civil engineers tamed the hillside one terrace at a time, ultimately transforming it into a breathtaking flight of 108 steps, each step a field where residents planted crops like rice and garlic.

Signs mark the village’s scenic spots. Thanks to the influx of visitors, many villagers have opened cafés, restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts.

Fast waters and fat anchovies

The county of Namhae is comprised of two main islands: Namhaedo, the larger of the two, and Changseondo, located to the northeast of Namhaedo, to which it is connected by the Changseon Bridge. Separating the two is the Jijok Strait, a narrow channel where the water flows up to 15 kilometers an hour. The strong currents, while treacherous, also provide a rich and, when times are good, lucrative living to local fishermen, who have employed for five centuries an ingenious method to turn the rapid waters to their own advantage.

Some 23 V-shaped wooden weirs, or jukbangnyeom, were erected along the length of the strait. The two arms of the V funnel the water, and what it contains, into a bamboo trap. At high tide, fish — mostly anchovies — swim into the trap. At low tide, the water drains from the trap through the narrow spaces between the bamboo slats, but the disoriented fish remain, with little to do but wait for the fishermen to arrive and scoop them up into their nets.

Locals say the rapid currents make the flesh of the anchovies especially firm, while the jukbangnyeom method prevents bruising to the meat. Accordingly, locally produced anchovies, or jukbangnyeom myeolchi, sell for up to 10 times the price of conventionally harvested anchovies at markets nationwide.

German-style homes overlook the sea at German Village.

Outside influences

Namhaes scenic splendor and bucolic charm have made it a popular relocation destination for young creatives fleeing the grind of the big cities. Two such individuals, a potter and an arts producer, have transformed a 50-year-old stone warehouse in the tiny village of Simun into an eye-catching exhibit space. The Dolchanggo Project gives young artists, who often struggle for opportunities in the cities, a chance to show their work to the public. The operators also run a hip, minimalist café and an artist residency program.

One of Namhae’s more unique, if not surreal, attractions is the so-called German Village, a collection of stately German-style houses atop a hill overlooking the coastal village of Mulgeon-ri. This pretty, if perhaps a bit out-of-place piece of Deutschland was built over a decade ago as a retirement community for the Korean miners and nurses who were dispatched in the 1960s to what was then West Germany in order to earn hard currency for the developing Korean economy. The homes, built using materials brought over from Germany, often double as guest houses, cafés and restaurants serving sausages, schnitzel and, of course, beer. The village also hosts its own Oktoberfest.

Anchovy stew, served with rice and lettuce, is a local specialty.

Where to eat

While at the Jijok Strait, try the anchovy stew served with rice and lettuce, or myeolchi ssambap. While many places offer it, Uri Sikdang has been doing it the longest.

Where to stay

A popular summer getaway, Namhae has lots of bed-and-breakfasts, especially along scenic coastlines and at popular destinations like Daraengi Village. Well-heeled travelers will want to check out the Hilton Namhae Golf and Spa Resort, an architecturally inspired hotel with ocean views, spa facilities and a seaside, 18-hole PGA championship golf course.

Getting there

Buses to Namhae depart from Seoul’s Nambu and Dong Seoul terminals. The trip takes about four hours, 30 minutes.

Two visitors rest a bit at Dolchango Project, an old stone warehouse that has been converted into an arts space.

People | » | Written by HahnaYoon Photographed by 15 Studio

Bringing Korean Musicals Center Stage

Producer Misha Shin helps make Korea a player in the international musical scene

Swedish author Henning Mankell said in his novel “The Fifth Woman,” “It’s only when we can work with something that brings out our strengths that we’re of any real use.” While most of us are on a lifelong journey to find our strengths and how to use them, Shin’s Wave CEO, Misha Shin, seems to have found hers with only a few bumps along the way. Responsible for musical productions such as “On Air,” “Run to You,” “Cafe-in,” “Interview” and currently “Kicks: Season 2,” Shin didn’t start off in musicals, but she’s there now, and her continuous efforts to promote Korean musicals abroad are bolstering the nation’s status as a player on the international musical scene.

Heard it on the radio

“I first decided that I wanted to be a writer when I was in high school,” says Shin as her long, colored nails touch her wavy, black hair. “I had always enjoyed writing as a child. People likened my writing style more to ‘popular writing’ as opposed to ‘serious literature,’ and I think that’s how I got into broadcasting.”

Shin began her career quite early at the age of 22 and worked as a radio scriptwriter at KBS while she was attending college. Shin describes radio as “creating content that’s only temporary. You speak the words and they pass away.” Although her position at KBS was a highly coveted one, Shin longed to bust out of her ordinary routine and to make works that had permanency. With that in mind, she decided to go to film school.

Poster for “On Air”

Poster for “Maybe Happy Ending”

Film school fantasies

“What some people think of a passing fancy, I decided to go for,” says Shin, who admits that she’s made a lot of unique choices in her life. “I don’t think I was aiming to make a serious decision. I think I was young and I just wanted to go somewhere.

“She headed to the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in the Czech Republic at a time when most film students in Korea were studying locally or heading to the US for their studies.

“There was little awareness in Korea about the Czech Republic and no direct flights, even.” However, Shin explains the rationale in her decision making. “It was so long ago that we placed a lot of importance on 16mm and 35mm. There I could attend classes in English on 16mm, and it would cost me a lot less than what I would pay in the US.”

“On Air” is a jukebox musical about the love between a former pop star-turned-DJ and a radio producer.

BIFF and beyond

Shin admits with a smile on her face that while being in the Czech Republic was a great experience, she had no talent in filmmaking. “It was something I came to realize on my own while looking at my films. Additionally, there was very little good feedback about my films. I didn’t even get into the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) at a time when my situation of being a Korean woman based in Prague would have made for a special case in the selection.

“However, Shin got a chance to meet some organizers of BIFF when they were visiting the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and they offered her an administrative job in Busan. Shin worked at the BIFF as a European film promotion coordinator and later, as the head of hospitality. She also helped to set up the Asian Film Academy, an educational program set up by the BIFF, which is still active today.

“Although I felt that working for the BIFF was something that I could do, I still wanted to nurture my creative side. I worked there for six years — a long time. I wondered what I should do next,” says Shin. She went on to work for a soap opera development company, where she helped re-develop once-popular Korean shows for a Chinese audience with Chinese actors in Mandarin. “Even though it was a small company and I only worked there for two years, I think I got to learn a lot about the industry. I learned the meaning of applying for a private equity loan and how to watch it grow,” Shin says, adding that this knowledge helped her build toward her next step.

From movies to musicals

Instead of trying to direct films, Shin decided in 2007 that she wanted to start a production company, which she named A Forest Named Joy. The company did well temporarily, making horror films for cable channels such as OCN and CGV, but it began to struggle when entertainment programs rose in popularity. It was right around then that she met with a friend of hers, a KBS producer she was close to from her scriptwriting days at the radio station. Her friend suggested, “Why don’t you try to make a musical just the way that we used to go live on the radio?” and just like that, the idea for Shin’s first musical arrived.

“Of course, I had seen a few musicals before, but I had never felt excited about them until I began my own work in them” says Shin who opened her company, Shin’s Wave, with the premier of “On Air.” Break down the Korean origins of her company name, and shin refers to the Korean word for “new.” As CEO, she describes her day-to-day as everything from evaluating and selecting already developed stories and thinking about new ideas to develop with writers to casting and organizing and dealing with finances. She says that the most important aspects of a well-made musical are “a good story with good music,” and she lists “Les Misérables,” “Billy Elliot” and “Chicago” as her personal favorites.

Take off for ‘On Air’

While Shin admits that she didn’t know much about musicals at first, she says that the first musical was “in the format of a radio show — not a musical.” As Shin describes it, “It was just like a live radio program involving a love story between a radio DJ and a producer, mixed in with K-pop songs. Using texts from the audience, the radio DJ would interact with the guests in the theater in real life.” Strengthening her experience, “On Air” had a successful three-year run in Korea.

Shin believed in the musical so much that she wanted to try it in another country. “I wanted to export a production that I had made. I began to think about how I could reformat the musical to make it in another country. Another idea was to have the radio DJ role filled by a Korean pop star,” Shin says about her thought process at the time.

Japan seemed to fit her concept perfectly, as the Korean boom had hit Japan quite hard and she believed she could market “On Air” as a Korean musical. Starting in 2011, she began to look for a way to produce the musical there, despite not having a network or knowing Japanese.

Even after Shin joined with a Japanese production company to run the musical, she ran into a series of troubles: being unable to double check the Japanese translations herself, the high costs compared to Korea and having just a week to put the show on stage. She says, “During the whole set-up process, we weren’t sure if we would make it. There were many sleepless nights and meetings past midnight at our hotel.” Despite the feelings of doubt, the show ultimately came together. “At the technical rehearsal, there was finally a moment of, ‘Oh, this could work!’” Feeding off positive Twitter reviews, which she credits to a strong plot and having the musical in Japanese, the musical enjoyed a popular run.

“Kicks: Season 2” shows off taekwondo through holographic performances.

Looking forward

Since then, Shin has continued to work on musicals, and she uses what spare time she has to drink wine and network. In 2015, Shin’s Wave was behind “Run to You,” a jukebox musical using the music of Korean hip-hop trio DJ DOC, and in 2016, the company opened a two-person musical named “Cafe-in.” Currently, they are running a musical, which incorporates taekwondo and holograms, called “Kicks: Season 2.

“After trying out several different fields, Shin says she finally feels that her talents are being utilized to the fullest, and that the balance between her creative work and administrative work is harmonized. She hopes to continue exporting musicals and strengthen the genre of K-musicals all over Asia.

Korea & I | » | Written by Dr. Sanko Lewis Illustrated by Kim Min Ho

Taekkyeon: Korea’s Folk Martial Art

Sometimes, battles are like a dance

Although I couldn’t understand the words, I could easily hum along to the soulful pentatonic melodies. The grannies happily sang the songs of their youth, while rhythmically stepping in a triangular pattern, bending their knees in a rhythmic bounce with each step and swinging their arms this and that way, as if wading through barley fields. The uninitiated seeing these elderly women in their sixties, seventies and eighties — one even aged 93 — singing and moving to the rhythm of their ancestral songs would easily mistake the activity for a folk dance, rather than a martial art.

My first encounter with taekkyeon, Korea’s most authentic martial art, was quite providential. I’d already been practicing Korean martial arts since I was a teenager. I had a fourth degree black belt in taekwondo and also a black belt in hapkido, but I was eager to experience the lesser-known taekkyeon. Taekkyeon was a folk martial art practiced before Japan’s annexation of Korea and suppressed nearly into extinction during the occupation. I knew that if I truly wanted to understand Korean martial arts, I had to learn taekkyeon. I was thrilled when I discovered that there is a respected taekkyeon instructor at the very university where I had just started working.

A musical martial art

He was an oriental medicine doctor by profession and taught acupuncture and taekkyeon at the university’s Life Long Education Center. The center offers different classes to retirees, hence the reason this class was filled with grannies who came for acupuncture lessons on Wednesday and Friday mornings. I only attended the Wednesday morning class because on Fridays it clashed with one of the literature classes I teach in the English Department. When the grannies finish their acupuncture lesson, an hour of taekkyeon followed. Halfway through the taekkyeon class, someone would sneak out to switch on the rice cooker, for afterwards, it was time for lunch. The grannies brought forth numerous containers of homemade side dishes — pickled chilies, beans glazed in honey, fern-shoots brined in soy sauce, stir-fried mushrooms, sweet lotus root, spicy kimchi — everyone shared in the merry potluck. I became very fond of these ladies who treated me like a long-lost son who they had to reintroduce into their traditions. They not only fed me and made sure I ate more than enough. They also taught me their beloved folk songs and even showed me how to put on the white Hanbok — a traditional Korean outfit — worn during taekkyeon training. I found the unusual knot used to tie the jacket in the front and the pant legs tight against the ankles particularly challenging, and when my knots were jumbled, one of the grannies would re-knot them properly. I loved training with the grannies and enjoyed being part of that unique community, but after a few months I realized that I wasn’t learning much anymore. The grannies went through all the fighting motions, but they never actually sparred, and even if they did, I would have felt much too uncomfortable sparring against them. It was then that I started looking for another taekkyeon group where I could learn the more practical side of the martial art. My taekwondo instructor in Seoul did some research and found me one of the most reputable taekkyeon schools in the country, located in Insa-dong, a district in downtown Seoul with a strong traditional arts scene.

Even at this school, with a clear focus on sparring, and known for hosting regular taekkyeon battles, I was surprised to discover the use of traditional Korean music. Warm-ups were done to the rhythm of a folk song and occasional singing, and during sparring sessions a live folk music percussion band accompanied the “battles.” Taekkyeon is innately connected to the traditional folk rhythms of Korea. Taekkyeon’s fundamental movements are based on a triangular stepping pattern known as pumbapgi that follows the three-beat rhythm found in traditional Korean music. There is a conspicuous bounciness about taekkyeon that echoes the up-and-down motions seen in traditional Korean dance. The knees are rhythmically bent and extended so that the techniques acquire a wavelike motion quite distinct from the martial arts of neighboring China or Japan.

Not unlike a dance, the movements should be enjoyed. “Don’t be too serious,” advised Grandmaster Do one evening. “You should always smile while doing taekkyeon.” So I smiled, thinking back to the cheerful grannies who taught me to sing their childhood songs.

Arts & Entertainment 1 | » | Written by Linda Miruh Jeon Photos courtesy of the Tongyeong International Music Foundation

The World of Isang Yun

Festivals and concerts mark the centennial of an avant-garde composer whose life reflected his country’s tragic modern history

The Isang Yun Soloists Berlin perform at the 2017 Tongyeong International Music Festival.

This year marks the centenary of the internationally acclaimed Korean-German composer Isang Yun’s birth. To commemorate this special occasion, musicians and event organizers from across Korea and abroad have been holding concerts and festivals to remind everyone of the mark Yun made on the world of classical music.

One of the most notable events held here in Korea was the annual Tongyeong International Music Festival, which was established in 2002 and named after the coastal city where Yun was born. This year, it was held from March 31 until April 9, featuring performances by the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra (TFO), the Isang Yun Soloists Berlin and the Arditti Quartet. This year, the TFO, led by Swiss composer and conductor Heinz Holliger, is scheduled to perform in multiple cities, including Berlin, Hanover and Bratislava, to celebrate Yun’s 100th birthday.

Isang Yun

Fortunes and misfortunes of a tumultuous life

Born in 1917, Yun lived through many of the major periods in history, witnessing firsthand the negative effects of the colonization of Korea, World War II, and the subsequent division of the peninsula. Following the Korean War, he secured a teaching position at Seoul National University and later moved to Europe in 1955 after winning the Seoul City Culture Award. He eventually relocated to West Berlin to attend the Hochschule für Musik.

In 1967, he was accused of having unauthorized contact with North Korea, which he had visited several years earlier. Brought back to Seoul, he was put on trial, convicted, incarcerated and sentenced to death.

However, Yun’s imprisonment caused furious protests from the international community, including prominent figures such as composer Igor Stravinsky and conductor Herbert von Karajan. The West German government also stepped in, pressuring the Korean government to release Yun. He and his wife were released from jail two years later in 1969, upon which they returned to West Berlin. Though he was able to visit Pyongyang in 1990 for a music festival, he passed away before he was able go back to his native land, the very place to which he longed to return.

A recent play, “Isang Yun: The Wounded Dragon,” performed at the Gyeonggi Arts Center, tells his story and how the events he experienced transformed him over the course of his lifetime.

Fusing Asian and European traditions

Yun left behind a prolific body of work that ranges from symphonies and concertos to operas that continue to be analyzed and admired to this day. Described by The New York Times as “a musical bridge between Asia and Europe,” he has been noted for his ability to gracefully fuse elements from traditional Korean music with Western techniques.

The Cello Concerto, one of his most serious pieces, reflects the agony, the loneliness and the struggle he faced during his time in jail. By plucking the strings, the cellist is able to mimic the distinct sounds and vibrations made when playing the geomungo, a traditional Korean stringed instrument.

Yun also actively expressed his desire for the unification of the Korean Peninsula through music. His 1977 Double Concerto, based on a Korean fairy tale about two star-crossed lovers banished to the opposite ends of the galaxy, reflects this hope.

Truly avant-garde in every sense of the word, Yun radically changed the contemporary classical music scene. Though he was unable to return to his home country during his lifetime, his legacy lives on in our hearts.

Pianist Hans H. Suh won the first prize at the 2016 International ISANGYUN Competition.

Arts & Entertainment 2 | » | Written by Diana Park Photos courtesy of CJ Entertainment

Blockbuster Tale of a Tragic Past

Ryoo Seung-wan’s newest film breaks international sale records

“The Battleship Island” tells the story of a group of Korean forced laborers who try to escape from Hashima Island during the Japanese colonial era.

Director Ryoo Seung-wan’s newest film, “The Battleship Island,” is generating some serious buzz. The film, his first since his 2015 hit “Veteran,” takes place during colonial times (1910–45) on Hashima, a remote Japanese island that resembles a battleship. It tells the story of about 400 Korean forced laborers toiling under dangerous conditions in the island’s mines, who risk their lives to escape their living hell.

The film’s A-list cast includes Hwang Jung-min of award-winning films “The Himalayas” and “Ode to My Father,” So Ji-sub of TV series “Oh My Venus” and Song Joong-ki of the hit soap opera “Descendants of the Sun.” Hwang also starred in Ryoo’s “Veteran,” the third highest-grossing Korean film of all time. The film also marks the big screen comebacks for So and Song, who have spent the last couple years focusing on their television careers.

Hwang plays a father who, tricked into going to Japan, risks everything to save his daughter. So is a gangster living on the island, and Song is an independence fighter who comes to Hashima to save another fighter. The stories collide to tell a dramatic and emotional tale against a painful historic backdrop.

Song Joong-ki plays the role of a Korean Independence Army fighter.

Under international spotlight

Entertainment giant CJ E&M kicked off the film’s promotion at the European Film Market in February, where it earned interest from international buyers. The film attracted more international buyers at Cannes in May. As of June, over 113 countries and territories, including the United States, Japan, France, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand, bought the film.

The cast, which features some of Korea’s most internationally popular actors, drew keen interest from overseas buyers. “A big factor in us deciding to purchase rights to ‘The Battleship Island’ was not only for its strong story plot, but also ‘Descendants of the Sun’ star Song Joong-ki,” said Lim Teck of Singapore’s Clover Films to the Hollywood Reporter, referring to the popularity of Korean pop culture in overseas markets. “We have high expectations about the strength of the tight plotline and director Ryoo Seung-wan’s mise-en-scéne.

“The film has captured the attention of European buyers as well. Cyril Bucket of France’s Metropolitan Filmexport told the Hollywood Reporter that the film “has the genre appeal that is sure to captivate French moviegoers.” He added that the film’s multidimensionality with strong elements of a war movie, prison movie and escape movie had enough factors to draw the attention of French viewers. Though it could not reveal actual dollar amounts, CJ E&M said the movie has sold internationally for prices far in excess of other Korean films.

While the star-studded cast and dynamic plot is noteworthy, the film’s setting has generated controversy. Japan moved to register Hashima as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009, but Korea initially opposed the Japanese initiative, pointing to the use of forced Korean labor in the island’s undersea coal mines. The forced labor issue is a familiar one to Koreans. In 2015, the MBC variety program “Infinite Challenge” heightened awareness of the issue by featuring interviews of surviving Koreans who had worked on Hashima. The island became a UNESCO site in 2015 following a compromise plan, but controversy continues to surround Japan’s acknowledgement of its historical abuses in the mines.

Despite the controversy, Japan is among the nations that have purchased the film.

Between 1940 and 1945, many Koreans were forced to work in Hashima’s undersea coal mines, where they had to work 12 hours a day in dangerous conditions.

Koreans frantically trying to escape Hashima.

Korean Culture in Brief | » |

Korean Pianist Takes Gold at US Piano Competition

Pianist Sunwoo Yekwon took gold at the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held in Fort Worth, Texas, in June. Sunwoo bested 29 other competitors in the final performance with a rendition of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor performed first with the Brentano String Quartet and then with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Trained at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, Sunwoo is the first Korean to win gold at the competition, the most prestigious piano competition in the United States. He takes home a USD 50,000 prize, as well as three years of individualized career management, recording partnerships, promotional help and other benefits.

Fondation Cartier Holds Exhibit in Seoul

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is presenting its collection as an exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) through Aug. 15. The Seoul exhibition, the first of a world tour, afforded museum goers with an opportunity to take in the works by artists like Ron Mueck, David Lynch, Sarah Sze, Raymond Depardon, Chéri Samba, Claudia Andujar and Jean-Michel Othoniel. The exhibit also features commissioned works by Korean artists Lee Bul, Sunwoo Hoon and brother directors Park Chan-wook and Park Chan-kyong. Cartier launched the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in 1984 to promote and raise public awareness of contemporary art.

Festival Begins for Web Series and Films

Seoul Webfest, Korea’s first international festival dedicated to online series and films, will run for two days, beginning on Aug. 17. The festival’s lineup boasts 89 overseas works, including one by a non-Korean resident in Korea, and 36 works by local artists. The lineup also includes six works of virtual reality. First held in 2015, the festival aims to nurture and cultivate up-and-coming creators of web content, a media sector that is growing increasingly important with the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices.

Exhibition Spotlights the Arabian Peninsula

A special exhibition at the National Museum of Korea is introducing Koreans to the history of the Arabian Peninsula. Organized by the museum and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, the “Roads of Arabia: the Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia” exhibition traces the ancient trade routes and early-Islamic pilgrimage roads that once spanned Arabia. It features 466 objects, ranging from human-shaped steles from the 4th millennium B.C. to gilded doors that once graced the entrance to the Kaaba at Mecca. The collection also displays 19th century handicrafts and artifacts pertaining to the birth of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including the personal effects of the founder of the state, Ibn Saud, who became the kingdom’s first king in 1932.

São Paulo Celebrates Korean Culture Day

São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, has designated Aug. 15, Korea’s national independence day, as “Korean Culture Day.” São Paulo Mayor Joao Doria and Korean Consul General in São Paulo Hong Young-jong held a signing event on April 7. The day is part of São Paulo’s project to promote the Korean heritage of the Bom Retiro district, home to the city’s largest Korean community. The project includes monuments symbolizing Korea, centers to promote Korean food and products, and support for Korean artists engaged in exchanges with their Brazilian counterparts.

Winners of 2017 Young Architects Award Announced

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the winners of the 2017 Young Architects Award on June 16. Three teams — Kang Jeyong and Jun Jongwoo of IDÉEAA, Ewha Womans University assistant professor Kook Hyoung-gul, and Suh Jaewon and Lee Euihaing of AIA Architects — took home prizes. First handed out in 2008, the Young Architects Award aims to discover and cultivate young architects. This year’s contestants were judged not only on their completed works and their problem-solving ability, but also on the sincerity of their architecture and their future potential.

Literature | » | Written by Chang lou-chung Illustrated by Kim Yoon-myung

Not So Hard to Say I’m Sorry

Lee Kiho’s novel ‘At Least We Can Apologize’ examines false guilt, self-reflection and freedom

Having grown up as a Catholic — or, having grown up as a kid under pressure from a zealous Catholic mother, to be exact — this writer found giving confession to be one of the most awkward things about going to church. There was always some mandatory confession of this or that transgression that had to be made: all the Easters, the Christmases, the saints’ days, and all of that.

Being a creative type, I just mostly invented some sin for confession. Or, at least I didn’t say what I really felt guilty about, thereby, in the minds of a devout Catholic, committing even more sins. It wasn’t that I thought myself innocent or morally flawless. I never thought myself as such and still don’t. Also, I’m not against the concept of reflecting upon one’s wrongdoings either. I do believe that reflecting on your wrongdoings can help you become a better person. Nonetheless, I didn’t like giving confession, and I invented sins every time I had to enter that little confession booth. Generally, this happened in two ways. First, maybe my mind went blank and I couldn’t think of any misdeeds. Or perhaps I could and didn’t want to say what I thought I had really done wrong. In the latter case, I always made sure to whisper up to the various saints and angels, and to God Himself, who was presumably listening to me even when I spoke to myself in my mind, promising that I’d never do this again, so just forgive me for not telling the priest this one time.

I became free from the pressure of confession by choosing to not go to church anymore. However, I’ve since realized that there are others who feel free from such pressure in a different manner, in a more creative, industrialized and capitalistic manner. They turn the confession and reflection process into a business. Welcome to the fictional world created by author Lee Kiho.

While Kafka concludes that the punishment and the system define the crimes, Lee thinks that a lack of self-reflection and a lack of independence allow forced guilt to be planted into the human mind.

Did you do something wrong? No worries, we’re here for you.

We apologize for you! Parents, couples, siblings, acquaintances, friends, neighbors, coworkers or any relation! Whether you knew what you were doing or not, we offer apologies for any number of wrongs you’ve committed against someone. Don’t hesitate to give us a call! (p. 93)

In Lee Kiho’s 2009 novel “At Least We Can Apologize,” two young men run just such a business. In the name of apologizing, they take advantage of their clients’ guilt. Maybe it’s a brilliant idea, particularly in a time when there’re fewer and fewer people who are Roman Catholic and who go to church on a regular basis. The problem is that the two young men have a unique view on sins, guilt and apologies.

Jin-man and Si-bong, the two young men, are in fact just out of a mental facility. They met in this psychological ward, where they were beaten and cursed by their caretakers, and where they took pills that presumably made their bodies, particularly their mental states, dysfunctional for many years. They come out, back into the world, as they “accidentally” reported their facility and its illegal abuse of its inmates to the authorities. Not having or remembering anything that they could call home, they decide to go to Si-bong’s sister’s place where she and her gambling addict boyfriend — referred to throughout the novel solely as “the man in horn-rimmed glasses” — live. The sister, Si-yeon, however, cannot support three unemployed men all by herself. So they go out to find jobs. While searching for a job, and while being mostly rejected, they have a moment of clarity. They realize that they’re actually good at one thing: at least they can apologize.

In this way, they start their apology agency. In fact, they not only apologize for their clients but also invent sins for them, too. “Just earlier today, when you hit the shuttlecock so high in that game of badminton.... That could be considered a wrong, too,” they say. Sitting down first at the picnic table before your friend takes a seat and drinking the beer faster than your friend could both also be wrongs, according to them. “All the things you think could be considered wrongs,” they say, “We’re saying that we can apologize for all of that on your behalf.”

“Wrongs and apologies, chickens and eggs

Furthermore, they even commit more wrongs in order to increase their apologizing business. They apologize first and then commit the wrongs that correspond to the apology. Their upside-down idea about wrongs and apologies are rooted in the violence they suffered at the mental hospital. Due to their caretakers, who used to ask them every day what they had done wrong, they had to make up wrongs. If they couldn’t come up with an answer, they were beaten. To avoid being beaten, they apologized for made-up wrongs and then they committed the wrongs afterward.

Author Lee Kiho has said in several interviews that he was inspired to write this novel when he was reading Kafka’s “The Trial,” in which Kafka raises questions about crime and punishment, about what defines a crime. Lee raises similar questions. Why do you apologize? Did you do something wrong for which you should apologize? Why do you think that’s wrong? While Kafka concludes that the punishment and the system define the crimes, Lee thinks that a lack of self-reflection and a lack of independence allow forced guilt to be planted into the human mind. Both authors think crimes or sins don’t really exist unless there’s something else that will define the crime and sin, whether that’s a social structure and the application of social pressure or simply the ideas inside one’s own mind.

Experimental stylist and comic talent

This novel was a transition in Lee’s literary career, not only because of its length but also because of its style. For the first decade of his career, Lee was mainly known as a raconteur and a comedic author with witty and out-of-nowhere material. This novel was a complimentary modifier for an author who was already funny, brilliant and eloquent in scribing colloquial phrases. His earlier work was also quite experimental in terms of style. For example, he borrowed the rhythm and rhyme of rap or hip-hop music in his debut story “Bunny.” He impersonated the baritone voice of the Christian Bible in “Choi Sunduk: Filled with the Holy Spirit.” He narrated like a TV chef on a daytime cooking show in his short story “The Best and Easiest Homemade Vegetable Fried Soil.” Setting style experiments aside and keeping the sentences simple and not artsy, in this novel Lee focused on the characters and the questions he wanted to pose. The result was brilliant, though it’s still categorized somewhere near comedy, Lee’s strength.

He moved further toward the opposite direction from his usual strength in his second novel, “A History of Sons Under Primogeniture,” in which Lee wove the contemporary history of Korea into the life of an average man living through the times. However, he hasn’t yet fully transformed into a writer dedicated to social criticism. From flash fiction to essays depicting the day-to-day life of his family in a comedic tone, Lee still produces vigorously while teaching students in the southern city of Gwangju. He turns 45 this year.

There is light in Lee Kiho’s otherwise dystopian world. The main characters, all dregs and bilge water of the world, can develop hearts of gold and do have human emotions. To see it, however, you’ll have to read the middle third of the novel. That middle section is an amazing breath of fresh air... until the shock hits you at the end of the book. Lee Kiho never relents.

“Do you have anything to apologize for?”

“Whatever it is, don’t worry about it. We’ll apologize to the caretakers for you.”

Usually the residents replied with something like, “Really, there’s nothing I’ve done wrong.”

“Why the hell should I apologize?! Don’t you little shits know who I am?! You motherf*****s, I’m going to sue all of you!”

“What are you talking about ‘apology’? Who are you?”

But, usually after about a week, the majority of them would say something akin to the following, grabbing our wrists or latching onto our legs:

“Please! Please apologize for me, will you? If you apologize, it means no more beatings, right?”

“Yes! Yes, of course I need to apologize! I’m sure I must apologize for my wrongs! I’m no one special at all!”

“Who are you, sirs? Are you the apolozigers?”

Each time we would say to them: “All right, first thing you have to do is confess your wrongs to us.”

“Only if you tell us what you did, can we apologize on your behalf.”

“Then we become the ones who committed the wrongs.”

But the majority of the residents did not know their wrongs. So we had to teach them each and every one, and even commit them for them as well.

“Even not washing yourself well can be considered a wrong. How’s that one? Should we go with that?”

“Even all of the things that you just think to yourself can be considered wrongs. What about this: You want to run away from here, right? You want to escape and then report everything to the police, huh?”

“First, let’s commit a wrong. How about... not taking your medicine?”

The residents either nodded their heads, or responded with a quick, “Ahh... Of course” Even the residents who didn’t have anything to say to us and held out for a very long time eventually came to say, “Ahh... Of course!” We went to them every single day without fail and talked to them about their wrongs. There were just so many wrongs to discuss. (“At Least We Can Apologize,” Dalkey Archive Press, 2013, p. 72-73).

This is Pyeongchang | » | Written by Hahna Yoon Photos courtesy of the Korean Culture and Information Service

Magic Meets PyeongChang Games

Promotional video shows the Winter Olympics around you

A ski jumper performs in Gwanghwamun in the middle of the summer.

Watch as an athlete, pointing his skis in a V shape, launches from the ski jump in the Winter Olympics, and there is a moment when you forget that it’s real. The Olympics can challenge you to look at the world in a different way. Could I ever twirl on ice like a figure skater? Could I jump that high or be that fast? In its efforts to promote the upcoming PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) face the challenge of trying to turn a very hot public onto cold winter sports. In one creative solution that they’ve found, they are posing an interesting question: What would these extraordinary Olympic feats look like in everyday life?

To answer this question, the MCST has enlisted the help of someone who knows how to excite an audience, champion magician Yu Ho-jin. A regular on television, Yu is best known for being the first Asian to win the Grand Prix at the World Championships of Magic (FISM) in 2012. To promote the upcoming games, Yu staged a series of illusions or trick photos, the magician dressing as an athlete performing different Winter Olympic sports out of their natural element.

Case in point is the most widely circulated photo to date, taken on June 14 in Gwanghwamun Square. In the photo, a ski jumper soars past the statue of King Sejong as a handful of amazed tourists snap photos. In other photos, Yu can be seen on a snowboard, suspended on the side of a large bus advertising the PyeongChang Olympics, seemingly gliding above the traffic, and as a cross-country skier with his skies glued perpendicular to the side of a Sangam-dong skyscraper. On a lake in Songdo, Incheon, Yu was dressed as a speed skater hurrying across the water. Surprised onlookers in a handful of these photos add to each moment.

Outfitted head to toe in winter gear during the middle of June, Yu says, “The tricks I performed for the campaign allowed me to experience the physical strain that real athletes must go through in preparing for a major event like the upcoming PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.” He also wishes the best for the PyeongChang Olympics.

Going viral

The best of these moments have been edited and will be turned into a promotional video that will make its rounds on YouTube, Facebook and other networks. Since the shooting of these scenes took place in public, excitement to watch these videos had been at an all-time high even before their release at the end of July. There were many questions about whether or not there would be cameos from other PyeongChang Olympic ambassadors and where these videos would later be found.

The curiosity and interest in the video contrasts sharply with the reaction to previous videos, which have been criticized for their cheap production value. One particular video was panned so badly that the MCST promised viewers it would not be the official promotional video for the games. Many fans seem relieved at the higher-quality promotional video.

Director Oh Yeong-woo of KOCIS said in a press conference, “We hope these videos, released through various online channels, will be seen around the world and raise interest in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games, even in the summer months when winter sports feel far away.” He believes that by combining magic and winter sports, the average Olympics watcher will be able to relate more closely to the events. Find the promotional video online and perhaps you will begin to see Olympic feats around you as you make your way among a crowd or race to catch Line 2 on the Seoul Metro.

A snowboarder grabs the air from the side of a bus.

A cross-country skier glides down the cityscape.

A speed skater flies across a lake.

You can see the video at www.youtube.com/GatewayToKorea

Current Korea | » | Written by Robert Koehler Photos courtesy of Yonhap News

President Moon Visits US, Germany

Korean president strengthens international friendships through summits with US President Trump, German Chancellor Merkel and G20 leaders

President Moon meets with US President Trump.

“Korea firmly supports efforts being made by the G20 member states to fight trade protectionism, to strengthen the multilateral trading systems centered on the World Trade Organization, and efforts to expand free trade. The benefits of free trade should be more fairly shared, and to this end, the Korean government will actively work to minimize disadvantages that smaller companies or agricultural businesses might face as we expand free trade.”

On July 8, President Moon Jae-in spoke to journalists after joining other world leaders in adopting a joint communique at the conclusion of the two-day G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. The joint communique, which reaffirmed Seoul’s support for free trade and global efforts to combat climate change, capped a busy couple of weeks for President Moon, who not only attended important summits in Washington, Berlin and Hamburg, but was also compelled to deal with the fallout from North Korean provocations, most notably its launch of a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4. President Moon’s meetings with world leaders strengthened Korea’s traditional friendships and promoted a globally united response to the recent tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

President Moon meets with US President Trump.

The Korean and US presidents hold a joint press conference at the White House Rose Garden after their summit.

Korean success a reward for the US

On June 28, President Moon departed Seoul for a four-day visit to the United States, historically, Korea’s most important ally. Naturally, the visit included a summit at the White House with US President Donald Trump. The presidential itinerary also included meetings with business people and US lawmakers and a visit to the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

In their summit on June 30, the Korean and US presidents discussed, sometimes candidly, a wide range of matters of mutual interest, from trade to, of course, North Korea. In particular, the United States indicated its support for Seoul to play a leading role in resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue.

“I’ve confirmed President Trump’s firm determination to develop our alliance, to solve the problem of North Korean nuclear weapons, and to establish permanent peace on the peninsula,” said President Moon at a press conference in the White House Rose Garden following the summit. “President Trump and I share the top priority to resolve the North Korean nuclear weapons issue, closely coordinating on our joint North Korea policies. Our two sides also affirmed our commitment to taking advantage of not only sanctions but also dialogue with the Pyongyang regime in a step-by-step and comprehensive manner, in an effort to solve the nuclear weapons issue, basically.”

The two leaders also agreed to promote fair trade to advance economic growth that yields reciprocal benefits. President Moon said, “We will work together to bring about reciprocal outcomes for both peoples by boosting economic growth and creating jobs from which both countries can benefit.”

At a welcoming dinner at the White House held before the summit, President Trump expressed his regard for Korea, saying, “We very much respect you and we very much respect the people of South Korea.”

President Moon responded by describing Korea’s success as a reward for US efforts. He said, “The US helped to plant the seeds of democracy and capitalism in Korea, so Korea’s success is a reward for the US.”

President Moon and the first lady depart for the United States from Seoul Air Base on June 28.

President Moon attends a luncheon meeting with other world leaders during the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany.

Sharing experience

In July, President Moon jetted off to Germany, where he paid an official visit July 5–6 and attended the G20 Summit in Hamburg on July 7–8.

As part of his state visit, the Korean leader met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at her office in Berlin on July 5. The two discussed many areas of mutual interest, particularly North Korea. Though President Moon stressed the need for stronger sanctions and pressure on North Korea in the wake of its July 4 launch of what the international community suspects is an intercontinental missile, he also emphasized a peaceful approach to resolving the North Korea problem. Chancellor Merkel indicated her understanding.

President Moon also met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the country’s head of state. He asked for Germany’s assistance in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, saying, “As Germany overcame its division and played a leading role in solving nuclear weapons issues by mediating between Iran and the US, I would like to ask Germany for help.”

President Moon speaks during his first summit with Chinese President Xi in Berlin on July 6.

Acting as one

President Moon was extremely busy at the G20 Summit, which offered a unique opportunity to meet with the leaders of some of the world’s most influential nations to discuss North Korea and other pending issues.

Indeed, after a closed-door retreat session on July 7, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the host of the summit, said G20 leaders had expressed concern over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. “The G20 is normally committed to the economy and to financial markets, more than foreign policy, but in today’s Retreat Session, North Korea was naturally brought up, especially by the South Korean president, but also by others from the region,” she said. “Those who discussed this issue have expressed great concern that this development is very threatening.” She added that there was broad agreement that the U.N. Security Council should respond appropriately to North Korea’s violations of Security Council resolutions.

Moon also met with US President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to issue a statement condemning North Korea’s provocations, including its recent missile test. They called on the international community to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions and reduce their economic relations with Pyongyang. At the same time, the three leaders said they “stand ready to offer a brighter future for North Korea if it chooses the right path.”

Just prior to the summit, President Moon met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on July 6. The Korean president asked his Chinese counterpart to help resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, calling on Beijing to “play an active role in the matter as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.” President Moon also met Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Korean issues, including the North Korean nuclear issue. President Putin, noting Seoul’s status as Russia’s fourth largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific region, agreed that the North Korean nuclear issue was urgent, and that resolving it would require substantial and detailed approaches.

President Moon and German Chancellor Angela Merkel inspect an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony in front of the Chancellery Building in Berlin on July 5.

Global Korea | » |

Poland

2017 Korea Festival Held in Warsaw

Some 15,000 people, including locals, overseas Koreans and foreign diplomats, attended the 2017 Korea Festival, held in Warsaw’s Park Agrykola on June 10. As Poland’s biggest celebration of Korea, the Korea Festival has been held annually since 2012. This year’s festival, held under the theme of “Feel, Taste, Discover Korea,” was a day full of Korea-related fun, including performances of traditional arts, Korean cuisine tastings, hands-on traditional arts programs and promotional events for the upcoming PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Local Korean restaurants set up booths where Warsaw residents had a rare opportunity to sample popular dishes like bulgogi, dakgangjeong, gimbap, japchae and patbingsu.

Programs providing hands-on experiences of Korean traditions were especially popular. Participants could make Hanji fans, play traditional musical instruments, sing K-pop songs, make woodblock prints, try taekwondo and participate in other activities. Major Korean corporations like Samsung, LG and Hyundai also set up promotional booths.

Egypt

Egyptian Ceramic Artists Experience Goryeo Celadon

Ceramic artist Park Byeong-jo taught 18 young Egyptian potters the beauty of Korea’s jade green Goryeo celadon in a workshop held at the Fustatu Cultural Center, a ceramics center operated by the Egyptian government, on May 21–24. The workshop, part of the Korean Cultural Center in Egypt’s “K-craft on the Nile River” project, gave participants an opportunity to learn the unique decorative techniques employed on Goryeo celadon and to compare Korean and Egyptian pottery. The experience was especially significant in that the artists used Korean techniques to create works made from Egyptian materials, making the workshop a meaningful exercise in cross cultural exchange.

The workshop was also an opportunity to reflect on the history of friendship between Korea and the Arab world. Park noted that during Korea’s Silla and Goryeo eras, Arab traders prized Korean ceramics. Goryeo celadon was renowned throughout Asia for its fine blue-green glaze.

Written by Korea.net Honorary Reporter Stephanie Pradnyaparamita

Photos courtesy of tvN

Live in the Present

The soap opera ‘Tomorrow With You’ teaches valuable life lessons

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the ‘present.’”

— Bil Keane

Among the number of Korean soap operas that have been aired on TV, “Tomorrow With You” (tvN, 2017) is one that really caught my attention. Despite the fact that the ratings were not as high as “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” tvN’s previous soap opera in the same time slot, there are valuable lessons that can be learned from this show.

“Tomorrow With You” is a romantic comedy consisting of 16 episodes. It aired on tvN on Friday and Saturday nights. The story is about Yoo So-joon (played by Lee Je-hoon), who has the ability to travel into the future by riding a subway car to a mysterious spot between Seoul Station and Namyeong Station. He gained this ability after a tragic accident at Namyeong Station that killed his parents. Ever since, he has been able to travel to the future, back and forth, and even buy or bring things from the future to the present.

In this show, Yoo So-joon married Song Ma-rin (played by Shin Min-ah), a photographer from an online clothing store. To make a long story short, everything that happens between Yoo So-joon and Song Ma-rin has already been foreseen by Yoo So-joon — even their marriage, which seems to have been made in a rush after he saw a picture of them in a wedding dress and a suit. He can foresee not only marriage, but also accidents, the status of the relationship, and even the time of his own death. Even though it’s a romantic comedy, viewers feel empty every time they watch the show. Every scene in the show is dark, even in scenes that take place in broad daylight.

After watching this show, one of my lecturers posted these questions on her social media account: Have you ever wondered how you would feel if you already knew the future? How would you feel if you already prepared for everything, even for difficult situations that might come up? Would you still feel the excitement of a happy moment?

Knowing the future is quite an ability, but there are a lot of things that would be sacrificed in the present, like any sensation or satisfaction that one may have, because there would no longer be any mystery. In the show, Yoo So-joon prevents some problems that he sees will happen in the future, like a scene in which he chooses an area for his company to invest in. However, is he satisfied with the result? Does he still feel excitement or joy at times like his marriage? Would it be at the same level if he didn’t know beforehand?

“Tomorrow With You” shows a good example of what Fritz Perls (1893–1970) called the “here and now.” Perls was a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, born in Germany. The “here and now” is Perls’ term for a person with a healthy personality. According to Perls, a person with a healthy personality lives in and from the present moment. Having some plan for the future is important because it’s one of the ways to grow, and not forgetting the past is also wise, because the past may bring lessons. However, one should never let their guard down because of too much anxiety for the future or too many regrets for the past.

This soap opera lets us reflect upon the importance of the present. The future may be important, but living our current life and meaning every single moment that we have is the most important. Such “here and now” people feel safe in their current life and admit that the life that they have is reality. They immerse themselves in the everyday happenings around them and put earnest meaning into it. Experiencing any impulse, excitement or increased adrenaline is good to have in one’s current life, in the here and now.

Flavor | » | Written by Cynthia Yoo Photographed by ao studio Kang Jinju Stylized by 101 recipe

Gamja Kongguk

It’s the ice-cold solution to the summer heat

When summer afternoons grow long and unbearably hot, people are left with a curious dilemma. Should they fight fire with fire, as in the old saying, “iyeolchiyeol?” This explains the lines at samgyetang shops where people enjoy a bubbling chicken soup, soaked in their own sweat. The idea is that these boiling bowls are not only full of nutrition but also allow folks to sweat out the heat in order to feel refreshed and cool afterward. Not everyone is a fan, however. Some believe instead in fighting fire with ice, or “inaengchiyeol.” Adherents run to the nearest naengmyeon or bingsu shops, to down something icy-cold to beat the summer heat. These “inaengchiyeol” dishes also boast various nutritional benefits to help folks recover from summer colds and ailments. Cold soybean soup with potatoes, or gamja kongguk, is one such dish, packed with flavor and nutrition.

Gamja kongguk is a variation on the popular seasonal dish, noodles in cold soybean broth, or kongguksu. Kongguksu is more familiar with its wheat flour noodles in a soup made from ground soybeans. Gamja kongguk replaces the flour noodles with thin julienned slices of blanched potatoes. There’s little difference in the flavors of the soybean broth used in either dish, and both often use sliced cucumber to add even more refreshing texture and flavor to the soup. It’s unclear when kongguk became such a popular summer dish, but the first historical reference to kongguk is found in “Siui Jeonso,” a 19th century cooking text.

Origins of kongguk may go as far back as the 19th century, but today, it’s a signature summer dish for both its delicious flavors and rich nutritional profile. Replacing wheat flour noodles with seasonal potatoes is another draw for people who enjoy gamja kongguk. Potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C and a good source of potassium and vitamin B6. They keep well throughout the year and are a great carb alternative to rice and wheat.

Indeed, back in the day when many Koreans couldn’t afford meat, soybeans provided an exceptional source of essential nutrients, including protein, fiber, iron, manganese and various B vitamins. It’s an excellent protein alternative for vegetarians and a mainstay for Buddhist cuisine, which avoids meat. The rich but mild flavors of kongguk are enhanced with only a little salt. People swear by its ability to help folks cool down and rehydrate during the hot sticky days of summer.

How to make gamja kongguk:

Julienne the potatoes into thin strips and soak them in water to get rid of the starch. Then blanch the strips in boiling water with salt and rinse in cold water. Soak the soybeans overnight and remove the skins before boiling them for 5 minutes. Put boiled soybeans, pine nuts, sesame seeds and wild sesame powder in a mixer with 10 cups of water. Grind the mixture, put it through a sieve and season with salt before storing it in the fridge to cool down. Place potato strips in a bowl and cover with cool soybean mixture.

Learning Korean | » | Written by Lim Jeong-yeo Illustrated by Kim Yoon-myung

Pick Me

Stars of hit talent show ‘Produce 101’ want to be the one

In the second season of Mnet’s talent competition show “Produce 101,” potential future pop stars showed off what they were capable of in order to win a place in the project boy band Wanna One.

This season followed the success of the show’s first season that aired in 2016, featuring female aspirants, the fruit of which was the 11-member pop group I.O.I.

For “Produce 101,” ordinary viewers are invited to cast votes for their pick of a potential future pop star. Out of the 101 contestants, only the 11 most-popular candidates are given a position in the K-pop group backed by CJ E&M.

For the programs theme song “Naya Na” (나야나), the 101 male trainees and rookies personally participated in the songwriting, putting their dreams and hopes into the song.

The song’s title and repeating hook “naya na” means in English “It’s me” or “I’m the one.”

The following lyrics convey similar sentiments.

“Oneul bam juingong-eun naya na” translates to “The star of the show tonight is me.” Oneul bam is “tonight,” and juingong is “the lead” or “the main character.”

“Neomaneul gidaryeo on naya na” means “It’s me who has been waiting for only you.” Neomaneul means “for only you,” and gidaryeo on means “to have waited.”

“Ne mameul humchil saram naya na” means “I’m the one who will steal your heart.” Heart-stealing apparently happens across the world, as the same idiom exists in opposite corners of the globe. In Korean, the phrase is “maeumeul humchida” Mam, as in “ne mameul,” is a slang contraction for the word for heart, maeum.

“Majimak dan han saram naya na” translates to “The last one remaining will be me.” Majimak is “the last” or “final,” and dan han saram is “the only one.”

After the final round, the 11 winners who are now members of Wanna One were Kang Daniel, Park Ji-hoon, Lee Dae-hwi, Kim Jae-hwan, Ong Seong-wu, Park Woo-jin, Lai Kuan-lin, Yoon Ji-seong, Hwang Min-hyun, Bae Jin-young and Ha Sung-woon.

Wanna One will debut on Aug. 7.

Korean Art Through Coloring

Traditional eyeglass case Angyeongjip

Thank you for your feedback

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Reader Feedback

I enjoyed most of the articles in the June issue, but I really liked the cover story article on marketplace revival. I am hoping I can go to 1913 Songjeong Station Market, Nambu Market and Daegu Seomun Market when I visit Korea.

Student from Indonesia

As I am studying Korean, the “Learning Korean” section caught my interest. I suggest including a comics section that covers Korean lullabies and jokes.

Teacher from Singapore

What I liked about the cover story from the June issue was that it showed the traditional aspect of Korean culture. It seems Korea is going through a cultural revitalization as people want to enjoy a peaceful life amid modern living.

Professor from Thailand

I like the article “A National Craftsman” in the people section. It was impressive to learn about Park Sang-gyu’s life and his dream of engraving a 20-meter pagoda. I wish I could read more about the everyday life of ordinary people.

Psychological therapist from U.K.

The travel article “Sensual Healing (Boseong)” was the most interesting article from the June issue. How much Koreans love nature and try hard to preserve it touched my heart.

Scientist from Singapore