korea magazine [september 2011 vol. 7 no. 9]

8/4/2019 KOREA magazine [SEPTEMBER 2011 VOL. 7 NO. 9]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/korea-magazine-september-2011-vol-7-no-9 1/29

People & Culture

SEPTEMBER 2011

GWANGJUDIVE INTO DESIGN

FUSION GUGAKTRADITIONAL

MUSIC MAKEOVER



Talchum One of Korea’s

Important Intangible

Cultural Properties, the

Talchummask dance is not

only a performance, but

demonstrates philosophical

and dramatic tales of

humans, animals and the

supernatural. Te Andong

International Mask Dance

Festival is an opportunity to experience the various

Korean traditional dances

and even interact with the

performers. Te festival,

which runs from Sept

30 to Oct 9, will be held

at both Maskdance Park

and Hahoe Folk Village in

Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-

do Province.

korean heritage



Contentsseptember 2011 VOL.7 NO.09

02

02COVER STORY

Korean artists lead the way for music, ballet.

12PEN & BRUSH

Novelist Jung Yi-hyun mixes realism and daring.

16PEOPLE

Designer Sohn Hye-won finds beauty in history.

18GREAT KOREAN

Sohn Kee-chung was Korea’s 1st gold medalist.

20SEOUL

Travel the world from right within Seoul.

23FLAVOR

Enjoy songpyeon rice cakes for chuseok.

24TRAVEL

Di G j th it f t d d i



cover story

TAKE CLASSICS TO NEW HEIGHTS

Korea’s young classical artists aresweeping global competitions.With the world’s leading balletcompanies beckoning to dancersand major symphonies searchingor the next big musician, thecountry is proving itsel a vibrantcradle or young maestros. hisnew generation o artists isleading the way to success.by Lee Se-mi | photographs by Kim Nam-heon ©

Y o n h a p N e w s A g e n c y ( o p p o s i t e , a b o v e l e f t ) ; K N U A

02-11cover story.indd 2-3 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:08



www.korea.net | 0504 | korea | september 2011

in 1993, it has given rise to numerous

winners on the world classical music

stage. In addition, the Korean National

Research Institute or the Gied in Arts

(KRIGA), a stepping stone or many on

the way to KNUA, has helped provide

an early education or gied youth in

music since 1994. Several graduates

rom KRIGA later went on to win

international music competitions.Proessors with a wealth o experience

and talent have been vital in helping

these young artists. Choi Hyun-

soo, winner o the 1990 chaikovsky

Competition and the rst male ethnic

Korean singer to win, is now a proessor

at KRIGA. Acclaimed pianist and

conductor Kim Dae-jin, a proessor

at KNUA, actually taught two o this

year’s chaikovsky winners and also

Kim Sun-wook, the winner o the

2006 Leeds International Pianoorte

Competition and the rst Korean to

win the event.

Young musicians are no longer

looking west with wistul eyes. o

study overseas is not a prerequisite to

success or even necessarily a stepping

stone to advancing on the global stage.

“It really helped to study under such

excellent teachers who had international

experience and at schools with well-

organized programs. Te only reason

I was able to win had to do with the

groundwork laid by my teachers,” says

soprano Seo. Fellow chaikovsky winner

Son adds, “An artist’s identity comes

rom a sense o originality, and I’m

happy I have developed my own musical

skills and identity in Korea.”

At the 14th International chaikovsky

Competition in June, ve Korean

musicians took home prizes in the

piano, violin and voice categories. Te

competition, held in Russia every our

years, has been dubbed the “Classical

Olympics,” and the young musicians

shocked the world with their talent.

Soprano Seo Sun-young and bass

Park Jong-min won the top prizes in theemale and male voice categories. Son

Yeol-eum and Cho Seong-jin placed

second and third, respectively, in the

piano competition, while Lee Je-hye took

third place or violin. Additionally, Son

won several Best Perormance awards

or her pieces by Ro dion Shchedrin,

Rachmanino and chaikovsky.

In May, soprano Hong Hae-ran also

made news by becoming the rst Asian

winner o the voice competition at the

7th Queen Elisabeth Competition in

Belgium, one o the world’s top three

music contests besides the chaikovsky

and International Chopin Piano

Competition. Using the Brussels win

as a springboard, Hong is now poised

educated in Korea, demonstrating that

it is no longer necessary or Koreans to

receive their musical instruction abroad

i they are to be successul.

Tese steps toward classical

independence have been long coming. A

number o successul veterans have been

paving the way or decades, and past

winners o the chaikovsky Competition

include pianist and conductor Chung

Myung-whun, baritone singer Choi

Hyun-soo (also known as Hans Choi),

pianist Paik Hae-sun and singer Kim

Dong-seub (also known as Gerard Kim).

Others have gained recognition both

at home and abroad with their rigorous

international touring s chedules and

overseas activities. Paik Kun-woo, one

o Korea’s leading pianists, went to the

United States to study at Juilliard School

when he was 15, receiving international

recognition or his perormance o the

complete works o Maurice Ravel at the

Lincoln Center in New York. Violinist

Chung Kyung-wha, the sister o Chung

Myung-whun, entered Juilliard at 12

and quickly became a star when she

played a chaikovsky concerto with the

London Symphony Orchestra. Award-

winning soprano Sumi Jo attended theAccademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and

sang at the world’s top ve opera houses

as a prima donna.

MUSICAL GUIDANCE Apart rom the

rare exceptions, most o Korea’s top

veteran musicians have received their

musical training overseas rom an early

age. As late as the 1980s, it was difcult

to get a strong musical education in

Korea — a country where Western

classical music had not been introduced

until the 1960s — without some orm

o governmental support. I one wanted

to become a world-amous musician,

the only way to achieve that goal

was through one’s own network, and

preerably overseas.

Tis is why the recent success o

to launch her career with New York’s

Metropolitan Opera House this month.

Teir accomplishments are

extraordinary, and these young artists

— whose ages range rom 17 to 28 —

are part o the rise o local classical

musicians. Each o the winners was

so-called homegrown “classical kids”

(as they are known colloquially)

has become such a talked about

phenomenon. Behind a string o

successes at international competitions

are the educational support system and

economic growth that have, together,

enabled Koreans to oster an interest in

art and culture.

Tis generation studied at nationalinstitutions whose instructors were the

very same people who had once studied

abroad, and beneted rom Korean

companies that now support the arts. In

short, becoming an artist is no longer

the pipe dream it once was, and the

eld o classic arts in Korea is rapidly

evolving with the times.

Cho Seong-jin, one o the chaikovsky

Competition winners, is currently

studying at Seoul Arts High School. Te

other our competition winners studied

at the Korea National University o

Arts (KNUA) and soprano Hong also

graduated rom KNUA.

KNUA has positioned itsel as a

wellspring or talented musicians

through an education system that

ocuses on practice. Since its oundation

1985

Lee Mi-kyung takes 5 th forviolin at the QueenElisabeth Competition. KimChin takes 6th in violin.

1987

Lee Mi-joo places6th for piano at theQueen ElisabethCompetition.

1974Chung Myung-whun takes 2nd place for pianoat the Tchaikovsky Competition, becomingthe first Korean to place at the event.

1990Choi Hyun-soo (Hans Choi) wins the topprize for voice at the TchaikovskyCompetition (competing for the US).

1991

Paik Hae-sun takes4th for piano at theQueen ElisabethCompetition.

1976

Kang Dong-suktakes 3rd for violin atthe Queen ElisabethCompetition.

1994

Paik Hae-sun comes in 3rd forpiano at the TchaikovskyCompetition. Lee Kyung-suncomes in 6th for violin.

Cho Seong-jin, whoplaced third for pianoin the TchaikovskyCompetition, performsat the internationalcontest (above).Soprano Hong Hae-ran,winner of the QueenElisabeth InternationalCompetition, listens toQueen Fabiola ofBelgium (left).Opposite, from left:Seo Sun-young, SonYeol-eum, Cho Seong- jin, Park Jong-min andLee Je-hye.

AGE OF ACHIEVEMENTOver the last four decades, Korean classical musicians have been increasingly

distinguishing themselves at international competitions. The following

musicians have made their mark at the world’s top classical music events: the

International Tchaikovsky Competition, the International Chopin Piano

Competition and the Queen Elisabeth Competition.

© Y

o n h a p N e w s A g e n c y ( a b o v e ) ; Y o n h a p - A P ( l e f t ) ; K u m h o A s i a n a C u l t u r a l F o u n d a t i o n ( o p p o s i t e )





FOUNTAIN OF RESOURCES Koreans no

longer have to give up their dream o

studying music due to a lack o unds,

as major corporate sponsors o the

arts are stepping in to help. Four o the

chaikovsky Competition’s winners

(Son, Cho, Lee and Seo) have been

the beneciaries o the Kumho Asiana

Cultural Foundation’s sponsorship

program, which has been supportingyoung talent or the last decade. Teir

initiatives include scholarships, ree

airline tickets, opportunities to perorm

and ree instrument rentals.

Kumho accepts new musicians into

its sponsorship program twice a year, in

a cutthroat competition in which over

200 aspiring musicians apply. o date,

roughly 1,000 people have beneted

rom the program.

Another noteworthy music sponsor is

the Daewon Cultural Foundation, which

specically supports classically-trained

musicians. Korean Leeds winner Kim

received nancial and administrative

support rom 2005 to 2008, and has

since signed with Askonas Holt, an

international arts management company

whose client list includes the likes o

Sumi Jo, Chang Han-na and Chung

Myung-whun.

DARE TO DANCE Korean ballet dancers

are rapidly making their mark on

the world stage as well. en students

rom the KNUA dominated the 6th

International Dance Competition

“Sicilia Barocca 2011” held in Modica,

Italy, in July, winning in the junior,

student and senior categories.

Sim Hyun-hee and Yang Chae-eun

shared the top spot in the senior section,

while Sim took top honors in the pas de

deux with Kim Hyun-woong, a ormer

member o the Korea National Ballet

and a KNUA alumnus. Jung Ga-yeon

and Choi Ye-lim jointly won the rst

prize in the junior category. Na Dae-han

nished second in the same sec tion. In

the student category, Lee Sun-woo took

the top prize, with Lee Goh-eun and Lee

Soo-bin tying or second place, and Jun

Joon-hyuk taking third.

“Tere was a lot o interest in Korean

ballet because it was the rst time our

country had joined the competition. We

were able to show that Korean ballet is

indeed o a quality high enough to win

at a major international competition,”

says Kim Sun-hee, a dance proessor at

KNUA. Kim hersel graduated rom the

well-known Vaganova Ballet Academy

in St. Petersburg, Russia, which has

produced other legendary dancers such

as Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova.

“Since the competition, there has been a

lot o inquiry about the Korean artorm.”

Across the globe, there are more

than 10 Koreans who dance as prima

ballerinas and soloists at some o the

world’s major ballet companies. Kang

Hyo-jung, a dancer with Germany’s

Stuttgart Ballet, was promoted to

principal dancer aer her debut as Juliet

in Romeo and Juliet , a perormance in

which she received 12 curtain calls.

Kang joined Stuttgart aer winning a

prize at Switzerland’s Prix de Lausanne

at 16 and has danced as a soloist with

the company or the past years aer

dancing with the corps de ballet.

On American shores, ballerina Seo

Hee became the rst Korean soloist at

New York’s American Ballet Teatre.

She debuted as Giselle in the popular

classical ballet o the same title and won

the prestigious Prix de Lausanne in

2003. In Russia, Bae Joo-yoon joined the

Bolshoi Ballet in 1996.

Similar to classical music, however,

more and more dancers are getting

their start in Korea. While both Kangand Seo studied abroad beore joining

international ballet companies, recent

star Lee Sang-eun decided to join the

Universal Ballet Company (UBC), one

o only our proessional companies in

Korea, upon graduating rom Korea’s

Sun Hwa Arts High School.

Tough Lee, a past winner o

the Grand Prix Award at the Seoul

International Dance Competition

and a silver medalist at the Shanghai

International Ballet Competition, later

le the UBC, it is remarkable that she

began her career entirely domestically.

Earlier this year in May, Lee danced one

o the leading roles in La Bayadère with

the Dresden Semperoper Ballet.

Park Sae-eun, a student at KNUA,

joined the Paris Opera Ballet in August,

while classmate Choi Young-gyu joined

the Dutch National Ballet in May. Park,

in particular, is the rst Korean ballerina

to enter the ranks o the French

company, ollowing in the ootsteps o

ormer-company member ballerino Kim

Yong-geol, now a proessor at KNUA.

While studying at KNUA, Park won the

top prize at the Lausanne competition

in 2007, ollowing it up with a gold

medal at Bulgaria’s International Ballet

Competition Varna in 2009.

Furthermore, Han Sung-woo, also

a KNUA alumnus, has become the

rst Korean ballet dancer to join

Great Britain’s Royal Ballet aer

winning second prize at the 39th Prix

de Lausanne, a rst or a male Korean

dancer. More recently, Kim Ki-min

joined Russia’s Mariinsky Ballet, the

world’s top classical ballet company, asthe rst male Asian dancer.

“Mariinsky, the Dutch National

Ballet and Great Britain’s Royal Ballet

are all stages very much sought aer

by dancers around the world. It’s a rst

step or Korean ballet dancers to adorn

the global stage,” says KNUA dance

proessor Kim Sun-hee.

RISE TO SUCCESS How did Korean

ballet become so

competitive? Te

educational groundwork

was laid in the 1980s and

1990s when several ballet

institutions opened in Korea,

one aer another. It started with

the Universal Ballet Company in

1984, then the Culture School o

Korea National Ballet in 1993 and

lastly the Dance Division at KNUA in

1996. Te level o education has been

enhanced as dancers rom world-

class ballet companies such as Bolshoi

and Kirov have returned to Korea as

proessors and instructors.

Experts say Korean dancers have

improved greatly as their overall

physical condition strengthens and the

educational system here becomes better. © Y

o n h a p N e w s A g e n c y

Active communication with overseas

ballet companies has also enabled

Korean dancers to take on new and

dierent styles rom Russia, as well as

the latest trends rom Europe and the

United States.

Koreans are creating their own

legends in the classical music and dance

elds. Young artists on the international

stage are presenting hope to uturehomegrown “classical kids” in Korea.

Indeed, the country is emerging as a

powerul source o classical arts with

the continuing growth o education

and resources. Just as with K-Pop and

the Hallyu Korean wave, unwavering

support and investment are needed

to ensure promising young talents

continued success.

1995

Park Jong-hwa takes5th for piano at theQueen ElisabethCompetition.

2002

Kim Dong-seub takes 3rd forvoice at the TchaikovskyCompetition. Lim Dong-mincomes in 5th for piano.

2005Kwun Hyuk-joo takes 6th for violin at theQueen Elisabeth Competition. Brothers LimDong-min and Dong-hyek tie for 3 rd place atthe International Chopin Piano Competition.

2007

Lim Hyo-sun takes 5th for piano at theQueen ElisabethCompetition.

2008Cho Eun-hwa wins thecomposition categoryat the Queen ElisabethCompetition.

2009

Jeon Min-je wins the compositioncategory at the Queen ElisabethCompetition. Kim Su-yeon places 4th forviolin and Yoon So-young takes 6th.

2010

Kim Tae-hyung takes 5th for piano at the QueenElisabeth Competitionand Kim Da-sol takes 6th.

2011Soprano Hong Hae-ran becomes the first Asian to win the Queen ElisabethInternational Competition for voice. Soprano Seo Sun-young and bass Park Jong-min sweep the top voice prizes at the Tchaikovsky Competition. Son Yeol-eumand Cho Seong-jin place 2nd and 3rd for piano and Lee Je-hye takes 3rd for violin.

Park Sae-eun is thefirst Korean ballerinato join a Frenchcompany (opposite).Seo Hee is one ofKorea’s leadingdancers (left).




40s, Ahn had already conducted over

200 orchestras, including the Royal

Philharmonic Orchestra, the Budapest

Symphony Orchestra and the Los

Angeles Philharmonic.

Yun I-sang (1917-1995), born 11

years aer Ahn, was one o Europe’s

leading musicians in his day. oday, he

is seen as someone who bridged Eastern

and Western music, helping open anew era in the history o world music.

Aer studying music in Japan, Yun

moved to France and Germany to learn

to become a composer. Yun excelled in

cello in Japan and, aer realizing that

Koreans had borrowed a oreign song as

their national anthem, decided to write

one himsel. Aegukga would become

the rst piece o original Korean music

written and released overseas.

In 1936, Ahn moved to Europe,

where he learned to conduct rom some

o the great maestros o his day, such

as Bernhard Paumgartner and ZoltánKodály, in Germany, Hungary and

Austria. Later, he met with the world-

amous composer Richard Strauss and

became his assistant conductor. By his

08 | korea | september 2011

PIONEERINGCLASSICALARTISTShe Korean arts have undergonedramatic changes in the nation’stumultuous modern history. In lessthan a century, Korean classicalartists have soared to the top o theirrespective ields internationally.

his remarkable growth seen by today’s musicians and dancers wasmade possible due to the hard work and sacriice o the generations thatcame beore.

By the early 20th century, Western

classical music had only barely begun to

trickle into Korea. Te ew that heard it

were quickly taken with its unamiliar

melodies, inspiring musicians to venture

into the genre.

A notable Korean composer rom that

period is Ahn Eak-tai (1906-1965), the

creator o Aegukga, now the national

anthem o South Korea. Te rst Asianto conduct the Berlin Philharmonic

Orchestra, Ahn was also the rst Korean

to study conducting. He headed to the

United States aer learning to play the

cover story

www.korea.net | 09

Han Dong-il, oneof Korea’s mostwell-knownpianists, madehis debut atCarnegie Hall.

Composer YunI-sang is knownfor integratingtraditionalmusic withclassical.

Chin Un-suk,a Germany-

based Koreancomposer, is acontemporarypioneer.

Pianist PaikKun-woo,based in Paris,is anotherinternationally-recognizedmusician.

Conductor andpianist ChungMyung-whundirects the SeoulPhilharmonicOrchestra.

Ahn Eak-tai is one of Korea’s first conductors(opposite). Ahn conducts an orchestra (below).

Juilliard with the possibility o studying

under the renowned Armenian violin

teacher Ivan Galamian. In 1967, she

entered the prestigious Leventritt

Competition along with ellow alumnus

Zukerman. Te two ended up tying or

rst place as the jur y couldn’t select a

single winner between the two.

Te history o Korean ballet overseas

starts with Kang Sue-jin (1967-present).

A role model or many aspiring dancers,

the modier “the rst” seems to ollow

Kang everywhere she goes, as she

was the rst Asian to win the Prix de

Lausanne and the youngest dancer to

join the Stuttgart Ballet. She alone put

Korea on the world map o ballet.

In 1993, Kang was asked to dance

the lead role in Romeo and Juliet in

celebration o the work’s 30th anniversary.

In 1999, she won the Prix Benois de la

Danse, the veritable Oscars o the ballet

world, and in 2007 was bestowed the

title Kammertanzerin (Royal Court

Dancer), an honor only given to our

people in the 50-year history o Stuttgart

Ballet. Both were rsts or Asians.

© A

h n E a k - t a i F o u n d a t i o n ( l e f t a b o v e , o p p o s i t e b o t t o m ) ; G y e o n g g i A r t s C e n t e r ( o p p o s i t e t o p ) ; Y u n I - s a n g P e a c e F o u n d a t i o n ( o p p o s i t e s e c o n d f r o m t o

p ) ; Y o n h a p N e w s A g e n c y

applying elements o Korean traditional

music to the Western musical scale. For

instance, he would use the gayageum,

a 12-string zither, as vibrato, or apply

the singing styles o Korean traditional

minyo or pansori to the cello or violin.

His works include operas like Sim jong

(perormed at the opening ceremony

o the 1972 Summer Olympics) and

orchestral music such as Silla.

When a eeling o helplessness

dominated a post-war Korea, celebratory

news o 14-year-old Korean pianist Han

Dong-il’s debut concert at Carnegie

Hall on April 28, 1956, was joyously

welcomed by Koreans. In 1962, he was

invited to John F Kennedy’s White

House to play Franz Liszt’s Mephisto

Waltzes and Debussy’s Refets dans

l’eau. Tree years later, he won the 24th

Leventritt Competition, making Han the

rst Korean to have won an international

classical music competition.

Along with Pinchas Zukerman

and Itzhak Perlman, Chung Kyung-

wha (1948-present) is one o the most

respected violinists in the world. Her

success became an inspiration or many

young Korean musicians, especially aer

she was awarded a ull scholarship to




to a school in a non-English-speaking

country. Te Animation Department

was invited to Switzerland’s Fantoche

Animation Film Festival in 2007, along

with the Royal Academy o Fine Arts in

Antwerp, Belgium, and Italy’s National

School or Cinema, which has, in

essence, been unofcial recognition that

KNUA is one o the top our animation

education centers in the world.

At the same time, KNUA is

vastly dierent rom most other

arts universities in Korea, as it has

established a curriculum o expertise

with a ocus on training and practicing.

Te school chooses a select ew new

students every year, with an educational

program ocused on private lessons,

group discussions and eld training.

Students also have a number o

opportunities to perorm their work.

Te admissions process is also

centered on practical aspects to the

arts, whereby a student’s current skills

are balanced against their potential. A

practical examination and past school

transcripts are considered too.

In addition, the school’s tuition is

relatively inexpensive and still manages

to oer excellent acilities, with generous

post-graduate support. For example,

music students are given 92 private

practice rooms and chances to perorm

over 140 times annually, on dierent

stages that include an ensemble room,

a percussion room, an opera recital

room, a large-scale orchestra hall and

KNUA Hall. Upon nishing school,

KNUA graduates requently get jobs at

art organizations or launch careers as

proessional artists. As o 2010, 5,222

men and women had graduated rom

KNUA, with 2,684 o them (51%)

gaining employment in the arts.

KNUA tries to nd gied children as

early as possible, in order to ocus on

Five young Korean artists took

home prizes at the 14th International

chaikovsky Competition in June, all o

whom were educated in Korea. Te most

interesting aspect o their success is that

they each perormed Western classical

music with a Korean spin.

Four out o the ve winners rom the

prestigious Russian competition were

rom the Korea National University o

Arts (KNUA), and the 6th International

Dance Competition “Sicilia Barocca

2011” was similarly dominated by

10 KNUA graduates. In addition to

classical music and ballet, students rom

this national arts school are nding

success in elds spanning rom theater

to moviemaking and animation.

Many KNUA graduates took part in

the production o the movie Te Chaser ,

nurturing creativity rom as early an age

as possible. In some cases, KNUA’s Art

alent Center will spend up to 10 years

helping one child hone their skills. From

2011, it has also b ecome an educational

center or teachers o gied children,

making ull use o KNUA’s accumulated

expertise and know-how.

“KNUA’s educational programs

produce world-renowned artists

under a vision o nurturing creative

proessionals. It’s important or artists

to express the values o society through

their art, and to become a leader in

the art world, one should understand

the importance o people’s inherent

abilities,” Park says.

As Korea’s only national art school,

and the institution most responsible or

heightening the nation’s arts, KNUA’s

vision is clear and simple. As Park puts

10 | korea | september 2011 www.korea.net | 11

Korea is turning heads as its mosttalented young artists sweepinternational classical music andballet competitions. At the center o this success is Korea NationalUniversity o Arts (KNUA).Arguably the most inluentialnational arts school in Korea, KNUAwas established 18 years ago as acradle or classical education thatocuses more on actual practicethan mere theory.

© K

o r e a N a t i o n a l U n i v e r s i t y

o f A r t s

it, “KNUA’s vision is to oster beautiul

artists, ones who can help make others

happy. Musicians who perorm at the

Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall, or

winners o international competitions,

are all world-leading artists. At the same

time, those who perorm in a small

town and can capture the value and

beauty o lie through their art are no

less important.”

THE STARSOF KNUA

KNUA GRADUATES WHO PLACED ATINTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS

These statistics show the number of graduates and current students from the Korea National University of

Arts (KNUA) that placed at international music and dance competitions. They include combined statisticsfrom the music and dance departments of KNUA.

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 (until June)

38

8

74

138

70

18

74

65

3038

20

Music

Dance

an edgy thriller that made it to the nal

round o the Cannes Film Festival in

2008, including cinematographer Lee

Seong-jae, art director Lee Min-bok and

director Na Hong-jin. Emerging director

Yang Hyo-joo, another KNUA graduate,

won the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin

Film Festival this year or her short lm

Te Unbroken.

“More than anything else, the

government established KNUA with the

intention o ocusing on training and

practicing, as it was determined to have

Korea play a leading role in arts and

culture in the 21st century,” says KNUA

president Park Jong-won.

As a ormer lm director, Park is

an artist himsel. He is known or his

works Our wisted Hero and Te Eternal

Empire, and had an active career in lm

until he became a proessor at KNUA

in 1995. His work has not changed in

principle, however, as he still ocuses

on the beauty o humanity and believes

that education lies in the challenge o

uncovering people’s true talents.

Although there are many great art

schools in the world, rom Juilliard

School to the Royal Academy o

Dramatic Art, they are all separate

institutions that ocus on one major

eld. KNUA, however, has six dierent

subdivisions: music, dance, drama, lm

and multimedia, visual arts and Korean

traditional arts.

In 2007, KNUA’s Department o

Architecture acquired international

certication rom the Royal Institute

o British Architects (RIBA), the rst

time this certication had been awarded

Park Jong-won,president of the KoreaNational University ofArts, speaks withKOREA in his office(opposite). Studentspractice Koreantraditionalinstruments toperformGugak (traditional music) atKNUA (above). KNUAis the only nationalarts university inKorea, and has sixmajor departments,including drama (left).

cover story





pen & brush

The Voice of a

New Generation

Jung Yi-hyun

Jung Yi-hyun, a rising young writer in the world o Korean

contemporary ction, becomes genuinely excited when

speaking about her latest work. Te 39-year-old author is

making her rst major oray into the international literary

scene with a joint work with Swiss author Alain de Botton

(Essays in Love). “When Munhakdongne Publishing rst

oered me this project with Alain,” Jung says, “I couldn’t help

but wonder i it would even be possible. I ended up saying I

would love to be on board, as long as he was interested.” urns

out, de Botton had read two o Jung’s translated shorts and

quickly agreed.

“Both o us are writing one novel each on a general theme,

which is love and marriage. Although we’re using the same

keywords and outline, the views we express will be dierent,

as one will ocus on an Asian woman in Seoul and the other a

Western man in London,” Jung explains about the work, which

is scheduled to be published next year. “Right now we’re at the

stage where we’re sharing opinions on our rst dras.”

Although Japanese and Korean writers have collaborated

in the past, this is the rst time a Korean and European writer

will be co-authoring a novel. Jung’s earlier works, My Sweet Seoul (2006) and You Don’t Know (2009), were published aer

she had written them serially or a newspaper and online. As

her rst traditional novel, the joint work carries even more

signicance or the young author.

With an urban sensibility, Jung Yi-hyun describes the worldaround her in a realistic, ast-paced writing style. Currently oneo Korea’s most prominent writers, Jung has penned severalworks — one o which was adapted into a popular V drama. Sowhat’s next or the successul author, known or her open-endedconclusions? by Choi Hye-jung | photographs by Kim Nam-heon

© M

o o n j i P u b l i s h i n g

“For me, this is the rst time I’ve written a novel that was not

done serially,” she says. “With my last work, You Don’t Know,

I wrote around 2,000 Korean letters a day. In truth, writing

serially or a paper or or the Internet is just too demanding.

I you make one wrong turn in your story, you’re stuck with it

and can’t change anything… Alternatively, writing a novel and

only publishing it once I’m satised with the nal product, I

can go back and start again or change parts at any point.”

IN PURSUIT OF DESIRE Jung didn’t always want to write. Te

author majored in politics and diplomacy at university, beore

becoming disenchanted with the gap between the theory she

was learning and the political environment she lived in. “I saw

a big dierence between reality and ideals. At the time, there

was a lot o conusion and instability running through Korean

society,” she says. Te young woman began to dri rom her

major and nally decided to switch to creative writing in her

late 20s. Te more she wrote, the more she ound she had a

knack or ction.

Her career got o the ground when she submitted three

short stories to the journal Literature & Society in 2002, whichearned her the prestigious New alents Award. Te three

stories were Rose of Sharon, Innocence and the winning piece

Romantic Love and Society — each o which was included in

her rst collection o shorts. In Rose of Sharon, Jung describes

12-15pen&brush.indd 12-13 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:11




the love and jealousy that arises between two lesbians, a

subject matter that was rare in Korean literature at the time.

With Innocence, she told a story about the death o three

husbands through one woman’s voice, and in Romantic Love

and Society, Jung weaved the tale o a emale university student

who considers giving up her chaste lie as a means to climb the

social ladder.

Each story displays a daring and provocative sense o

writing, something unique to ction writers just starting

out. Literary critic L ee Gwang-ho once commented, “Jung

Yi-hyun discovers the potential or a new emale writing

style through an audacious and rebellious imagination;

an ability in linguistic composition to subvert male

hypocrisy and their extreme rigidity.”

Jung’s ction, which oen eatures “bad” or

“disreputable” women as its main characters, is

bold in its unabashed depiction o desire as being

something careree and lighthearted, though

with timely insights that are anything but

oversimplied. Her main characters are emme

atales who stay true to their own desires and

the pursuit o them.

GROWING WITH THE TIMES With the

publication o My Sweet Seoul , You

Don’t Know and Today’s Lie (2007),

Jung became the voice o the younger

generation. When she won the 5th Lee

Hyo-seok Literary Award in 2004

with the short story Another Person’s

Loneliness, and the 51st Hyundae

Munhak Literary Prize in 2006

with Sampoong Department

Store, she managed to acquire

popular and critical success

nearly simultaneously, a

result o Jung’s keen insight

into the changing times.

“Many people dene

my work with comments

like ‘a sharp yet

cheerul writing

style’ and ‘cynicalthough sensitive

expressions,’ and

this is probably

because my

characters refect their thoughts, attitudes and liestyles within

an urban setting,” Jung says. Tough it’s “impossible” to

evaluate her style objectively, she eels that it’s important that

a writer constantly evolves — rather than stick to a known

ormula. Tis is why she loves her recent works the most, as

they are proo o her evolution.

In the blurb on the back cover o Today’s Lie, notable emale

Korean novelist Park Wan-suh writes, “o date, Jung Yi-hyun

has come across as being a writer that is wicked or wicked’s

sake...With this work, however, she has displayed a more

warm-hearted, proound point o view, something dierent

rom her past work, and has given me hope that her uture

ction is virtually boundless.”

Today’s Lie is comprised o stories about men and women

living in the 1990s, and ocuses on how each grows as an

individual against their will, in the context o the times they

live in. You Don’t Know, a proound work o introspection

about amily, has a similar theme o progress and change. old

in the style o a mystery novel, the story begins with a murder

and centralizes on the deteriorating relationships between six

amily members. As the title se ems to suggest, the ragmentary

amily relations in the novel serve as a m irror to look into the

reality o our own lives. It’s a work o ction that captures the

distorted aspects o human lie in contemporary times.

THROUGH HER EYES Jung’s reality isn’t always such a cynical,

dark world. At the end o You Don’t Know, the author writes:

“I suddenly elt that I’d never really know them. Silently, I put

one oot in ront o the other toward that place.” Te ending

ultimately provides the reader with a ray o hope.

“I was cynical or a long time, but I changed aer getting

married,” Jung admits. “Even when I’m hard at work, writing

in my study, I have to think o what I’ll make or dinner, not to

mention thinking o my husband and child.”

“I I once approached everything in an objective, analytical

way, today I’m inclined to rst eel a sense o empathy. For

example, when I used to hear that a child had been killed in an

accident, I would wonder what led to the accident and how I’d

approach it i I were using it as the b asis o a story. Now I hear

the same news and wish I hadn’t heard about it at all. While

people tell me I’ve become a more compassionate person, I

worry about that as a writer because a writer needs to keep a

sharp handle on reality and in my case cold, analytic insighthas been replaced by empathy.”

Jung says she draws inspiration or her ction rom casual

banter at bars, stories that she hears in the course o her day

and intriguing news articles. She is careul to never neglect the

daily events and incidents in lie, because she uses these oen

overlooked moments as the basis or her work. S o what makes

her want to continue writing?

“I always think about this question, but it’s hard to answer.

I just want to show what reality means to me and how people

live in this place, through my own lter. Tat’s the kind o

ction I think about. O course, what’s important is not simply

writing, but making my writing elicit sympathy rom readers.

However intriguing a story may be, i the story makes a reader

think, ‘Who am I and what am I doing with my lie?’ then it’s a

success,” Jung says.

“Sometimes people ask me, ‘Why does your ction have

no conclusion?’ Well, the thing is, there’s no xed ending in

people’s lives. A woman might say that she’ll break up with

her boyriend i he’s unaithul to her, but when it actually happens she ends up still wanting to believe in him. Tat’s lie.

I think the same idea can b e applied to literature. I like to write

ction that allows readers to participate and draw their own

conclusions.”

MY SWEET SEOUL

The main character in My Sweet Seoul (2006)

is Oh Eun-su, a single woman in her 30s who

has been working at the same company for

seven years. Written in an engaging style, the

story details the lives of young people today,

many of whom suffer from a general malaise

because of a lack of options and motivation.

The novel starts with an interesting question:

What would you do on an ex’s wedding day?

Although Eun-su is single, most of those

around her feel she’s old enough to be

married. Instead of being mature, however,

she stubbornly maintains that she is “a grown

child who avoids heavy words like

responsibility and obligation; a voluntary minor.” Three men then come into

Eun-su’s life, all around the same time: Tae-oh, an aspiring movie director who

is years younger than Eun-su; Yu-jun, a friend and lecturer at a private

educational institute; and Young-su, who appears to be a great marriage

prospect and someone whom she was introduced to by her boss. The novel

uncovers what happens in the course of these three men’s relationships with

Eun-su. A strong voice and a fast-paced sense of action are the main strengths

of this novel, which people have a hard time putting down once they’ve started

reading. Towards the conclusion, Jung writes, “I’m 32. I have nothing, achieved

nothing. There’s no one who loves me to death and no one whom I love to

death. Is this melancholic freedom or free melancholy? Can I start life over

again from nothing?” Young readers were quick to identify with the

protagonist’s philosophical dilemma and the book became a bestseller, often

making news even while being released as a serial in the Chosun Ilbo

newspaper. The popular novel was adapted into a TV mini-series drama in

2008 and a musical in 2009. It has since been translated to Chinese.

REPRESENTATIVE WORK

12-15pen&brush.indd 14-15 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:11




people

www.korea.net | 17

ucked away in central Seoul, Sohn

Hye-won’s oce is ound in what

appears to be a cozy house, rather than

an oce building. A brown and white-

spotted Brittany is the rst to run out

at the sound o the doorbell. Sohn, the

creative director o branding company

Crosspoint, and her sta raise a dog

and cat there. “We’ve had them since we

moved into this building in 2001. Tey

keep us company, especially when we

have to work late nights. o designers,

nature is the greatest teacher,” Sohn says.

Sohn is amous or her Midas touch

— she repackages a brand, and it

becomes instant gold. Familiar brand

names in Korea like Hillstate (apartment

complex), Cheoeum Cheoreom (distilled

liquor) and Raison (cigarettes) are all

part o her oeuvre. Afer majoring in the

applied arts at Hongik University, Sohn

started working at Crosspoint in the

late ’80s. Many, including hersel, soon

realized her knack or marketing, and

she ended up buying the company in

1990. She has been running Crosspoint

ever since, and is currently an associate

proessor o industrial art at her alma

mater and a member o the Presidential

Council on Nation Branding.

Afer working in corporate branding

or many years, the chic marketing

expert ell in love with the unexpected

ve years ago: Korean traditional crafs.

Enchanted by their classic charm, she

directed several projects eaturing

the art, like the exhibit at Avenuel last

summer, which showcased hundreds o

works by 98 artisans. An international

design convention at the COEX last

winter introduced six Korean traditional

crafs: hanok, housing; hanbok, clothing;

Hanji, paper made o mulberry;Hangeul , the Korean alphabet; hansik,

ood; and Gugak, traditional music.

Sohn also began collecting traditional

crafs that had been acquired by Japan

during the colonial period (1910-1945).

About 300 small tables, closets, drawers

and ornaments are saeguarded in a

warehouse near her oce. “It started out

as a hobby. I thought it would be nice to

make a contribution to the country and

uture generations by buying the items

and later donating them to the National

Museum o Korea. But beore I knew

it, I became obsessed. My collection

now ranges rom items rom the Joseon

Dynasty (1392-1910) to Japan’s colonial

period,” Sohn says.

She is especially interested in

najeonchilgi, or lacquerware inlaid

with mother-o-pearl, o which she

has several pieces. Te craf is a several

thousands-o-years-old technique that is

among the most intricate in the world,

Sohn explains. “Najeonchilgi is made

with seashells ound in the southern sea

near ongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do

Province, where warm and cold currents

meet. Te colors are proound and

mysterious, and coupled with Korean

artisans’ dexterous skills, it would behard not to be beautiul,” Sohn says.

“Najeonchilgi has mesmerized the

world since its peak in the Goryeo

Dynasty (918-1392). During the

Sohn Hye-won is a master o coming up with iconicproduct names and promoting brand identities. hemarketing expert ell in love with Korean traditional cratsand has since made it her lietime goal to introduce themto the world. by Park Min-young | photographs by Park Jeong-roh

Japanese colonial period, the Japanese

loved the craf so much that many made

it a habit to buy a new piece every time

they went to Jongno-gu in central Seoul,

where najeonchilgi shops were ound in

every other building. Even today, cheap

najeonchilgi card holders are popular

among oreign tourists visiting the Insa-

dong neighborhood. Te only problem

is that the people have orgotten its

beauty and value.”

Using her talents to persuade people

o its aesthetics, Sohn decided to

revitalize and promote najeonchilgi

overseas. Her rst goal is to exhibit the

crafwork at the International Furniture

Salon in Milan. Te key to do that, she

emphasizes, is to modernize the craf,

not imitate the past.

“Te handicraf has evolved over

the years. It adapted a Peruvian mosaic

technique during the Goryeo Dynasty,

and the 10 traditional symbols o

longevity appeared on them in the

middle o the Joseon Dynasty (1392-

1910). But we have done nothing to

improve it in recent years. What we need

to do is modernize najeonchilgi so that

it can be remembered as a 21st-century

version o the handicraf,” says Sohn.

Sohn has b een contacting najeonchilgi

artisans throughout the nation to teach

them recent design trends. She even

sent ve Important Intangible Cultural

Property-titled artisans to the Milan

show in April. It won’t be easy, but Sohn

believes they will be able to exhibit their

najeonchilgi at the Milan show as early

as next year. She will also open a high-

end, modernized Korean traditional

crafs boutique in Seoul this month.

“In about three to ve years, I’ll hand

down the company to my sta and ully devote mysel to the globalization o

Korean traditional craf. My dream is

to see it blossom in the world o the 21st

century,” says Sohn.

Sohn Hye-won, director of the branding companyCrosspoint, is famous for her design knack andability to modernize Korean traditions (opposite).Sohn’s warehouse is a haven for Korean crafts,such as najeonchilgi (top to bottom).

ModernizingTraditional

Crafts

Sohn Hye-won

16-17people.indd 16-17 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:12




great korean

© S

o h n K e e - c h u n g M e m o r i a l F o u n d a t i o n ; N a t i o n a l M u s e u m o

f K o r e a ( r i g h t b o t t o m )

While it may not seem odd that an ancient Greek bronze helmet rom the6th century BC is housed in the National Museum o Korea, what is unique

is that it is recognized as reasure No 904. he helmet was presented tomarathoner Sohn Kee-chung as an award when he won the gold medal at

the 1936 Summer Olympics. by Seo Dong-chul

Marathoner Sohn Kee-chung was the

rst Korean to win an Olympic track

event, and running had been a part o

his lie since childhood. Born in Sinuiju,

now in North Korea, in 1912, Sohn

helped his amily make ends meet by

doing odd jobs around town, including

deliveries that had the boy running all

day long. By the time he was 16, Sohn

ound a job in Dandong, China, and

he ran 8 kilometers to and rom work

every day as he didn’t have money or

transportation.

Tough he ran out o necessity r ather

than by choice, Sohn’s anity or long

distance running was apparent rom an

early age. When he was just 12 years old,

he won the An-Ui rack Competition,

a 5,000m event that stretched rom

Sinuiju to Antung. Later, he chose to

attend Seoul’s Yangjeong High School,

which was amous or its track team.

From 1933 to 1936, Sohn won 10 o

the 13 marathons he ran in Korea and

Japan, qualiying or the Olympic team.

Excited as he was to b e competing in the

international event, his heart was heavy.

Sohn was to compete not or Korea, but

as a marathoner or Japan, which had

colonized the country in 1910.

On Aug 9, 1936, Sohn surprised the

world with his win in the marathon

event. Te little-known athlete rom East

Asia pummeled his competition witha time o 2 hours 29 minutes and 19

seconds, breaking the Olympic record.

His win was bittersweet, however, as

the Japanese ag was raised upon his

The Bittersweet Victory of

Sohn Kee-chung

Sohn Kee-chung runs themarathon at the 1936Summer Olympics(opposite). Sohn triesto hide the Japaneseflag on his chest atthe awards ceremony

(top left). Sohn runs in

a marathon (topcenter). Sohn, secondfrom left, is presentedwith an honoraryGreek helmet (topright). Treasure No904 (left).

victory and it was the Japanese national

anthem that rang through the stadium.

Tough the gold medal hung rom his

neck and a laurel wreath decorated his

crown, Sohn’s ace was dark. A photo o

the awards ceremony depicts Sohn with

his head bowed.

In a legendary incident, the

Choson JungAng Ilbo and Dong-a Ilbo

newspapers printed photographs o

Sohn on the medals po dium with

the Japanese ag blotted out rom his

uniorm. In retaliation, the colonial

government shut down the Choson

JungAng , and publication o the Dong-a

was suspended or nine months.

By the time Korea was liberated rom

Japanese colonial rule in 1945, Sohn

had become a running coach, training

Korean marathoners or international

competitions. He coached Suh Yun-

bok and Nam Sung-yong or the

1947 Boston Marathon, with Suh

winning the race.

From that point on, Sohn was

a constant source o support orKorean marathoners. He held a

number o positions through

the years, including chairman o

the Korea Association o Athletics

Federations and a member o the

Korean Olympic Committee. He is also

said to have had a key role in winning

Seoul the right to host the 1988 Summer

Olympics, and was given the honor

o being the nal runner to carry the

Olympic torch.

Although the gold medal won by Sohn

in Berlin is still recorded as a Japanese

victory, his dream o seeing a Korean

track athlete draped in a Korean ag

nally came true in Barcelona in 1992

— a ull 56 years afer Berlin. Hwang

Young-cho, the marathon gold medalist,

stood in ront o the elderly Sohn beore

placing the gold medal around his role

model’s neck.

Tus, the Greek bronze helmet on

display at the National Museum o

Korea carries a place in local history.

A reminder o the nation’s turbulent

past, the helmet is a symbol o hope

and pride. Sohn, who died in 2002,

said upon donating the helmet to the

museum, “Tis helmet does not belong

to me, but to our nation.”

18-19great korean.indd 18-19 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:12



www.korea.net | 21

and breads. One o their best

sellers is the cannelés bordelais,

a traditional pastry originating

rom Bordeaux. Te palm-

sized delight eatures a crisp,

caramelized shell that gives

way to a custard-like inside.

Founder Jeong Hong-

yeon is a premiere

patisserie, and his shop

showcases everything

rom perect macaroons

to delicate chocolates

and caramel éclairs.

O course, the French are

not only known or their sweets. Tere

are several wine shops, with imports

rom Europe and North America,

which can help quench one’s thirst.

Wine Nara has been a mainstay in the

neighborhood since 2003 and oers a

cool basement space or connoisseurs

and explorers. Te busy shop sells

40 to 50 b ottles a day, with prices

ranging rom a reasonable 19,000 won

(US$17.60) or a basic red to the nest

French vintage at 1.8 million won

(US$1,668) a bottle.

Other culinary hints o truly French

authenticity can be ound in the

secretive, basement restaurant o La

Saveur, or even the local branch o the

chain bakery Paris Croissant — which

employs a French patisserie and imports

our rom France.

CHINATOWN Seoul might be the only

major metropolitan area in the world

to lack a distinguished Chinatown.Putting this act aside, however, the area

surrounding the Yeonhui and Yeonnam-

dong neighborhoods in western Seoul

serves as a de acto “Little China.”


Korea is now home to more than 1

million expatriates, more than a quarter

o which live in the capital. Over the past

several decades, the increasing expat

population has led to several immigrant-

concentrated neighborhoods, where

outside cultures have come to meld with

Korea’s. Tese uniquely hybrid areas

allow locals a rare opportunity to step

into a dierent — though perhaps not

quite traditional — world.

THE FRENCH QUARTER Te area o

Seorae Maeul (“maeul” means village in

Korean) in southern Seoul is a dynamic,

ever-changing neighborhood known or

its concentration o French residents.

Gone are the multi-lane thorougharesand rushed pace o inner-city Seoul,

and in its place is a two-way street with

groups o twos and threes strolling

leisurely to restaurants and caés.

Home to roughly 420 French

nationals, the area o Seorae Maeul

was rst developed in 1985 with the

relocation o the Lycée Français de Séoul

to the neighborhood. Te school became

the center point o the expat population,

many o whom came to Seoul in the

1990s as major French corporations

entered the Korean market.

Tough the area today encompasses

more o a European eel than a uniquely

French one, the neighborhood still oerssnippets o authenticity tucked into

corners and alleyways. Hôtel Douce, an

intimate bakery aliated with a nearby

pastry school, provides French desserts

seoul

© D

o n g - a I l b o ( o p p o s i t e t o

p )

Korea’s immigrant and expat population continues to grow, andwith the rise o diversity, multicultural neighborhoods oer apeek into other worlds and cuisines. by Ines Min | photographs by Choi Ji-young

Cultural Clusters

Jin Bo has freshseafood cuisineon its menu and avariety of privaterooms areavailable for amore intimatefamily setting(right above).A variety ofimported alcoholand preserves can

be purchased atJin Bo, a popularrestaurant in theYeonhui andYeonnam-dongneighborhoods(right).

Daehwa Mart

Hongbok

Wine Nara

Express BusTerminalStation

Hongik UnivStation

↖

↖

Hôtel Douce

Paris Croissant

Customers leave aParis Croissant bakeryin the Frenchneighborhood ofSeorae Maeul (left).Residents take a strolldown the main streetof Seorae Maeul on awarm day (oppositetop). The local Frenchschool attracts expatsto the neighborhood(opposite bottom).

Ten to Ten

Lycée Français de Séoul

Yi Hwa Won

Jin Bo

Hae Ji Yeon

20-23seoul/flavor.indd 20-21 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:13




some 1,000 Japanese residents

can best be experienced by the multitude

o cuisine to be had.

In the 1990s, the neighborhood

began to attract amilies o Japanese

immigrants with its low-cost, well-kept

housing. As the years went on, a close-

knit community grew and today the

quiet neighborhood is dominated by tall,

majestic trees and the call o the cicada.

Mono Mart, a 10-year-old haven or

Japanese cooks and candy-lovers, is

a tiny enclave lled to the brim withbrightly-wrapped sweets such as corn

avored tay and a range o Japanese

sauces, rozen sh and snacks. Next door

is Sanuki, a noodle house that oers a

Every chuseok, amilies indulge in a bito olklore via the age-old tradition o

songpyeon. hese colorul, ragrant hal-moons contain history, culture andlegend. by Ines Min

Chuseok, Korean Tanksgiving Day, is Korea’s biggest

holiday o the year. Family members gather at their homes

to celebrate the year’s bountiul harvest and also take time

to pay their respects to ancestors. It is this latter tradition

that calls or songpyeon , or steamed, hal moon-shaped

rice cakes. Tough generally known as tteok, which are

oered to the ghosts o ancestors in order to appease the

spirits, this particular variety o rice cake is oered during

chuseok’s ancestral r ites o charye.

Tough tteok is consumed year-round, songpyeon is

associated with the harvest holiday as it was originally

made with the rst rice crops. oday, they can be bought at

any time o year, in a variety o colors and avors.

Songpyeon are small, walnut-sized cakes that can contain

a variety o llings, such as mixtures o chestnuts, jujubes,

red bean, sesame or honey. Te “song” in its name, which

means “pine tree,” reveals the traditional process o making

the treat. Rice our, salt and boiling water are combined

to make the shell, with a dab o sweetened lling placed

inside the hollow center. Te cakes are then individually shaped by hand and steamed over a bed o pine needles.

According to local olklore, people who create beautiully-

shaped songpyeon will be blessed with beautiul daughters.

Te pine needles in the nal step o steaming help

keep the cakes rom sticking together and adds a subtle

ragrance that truly distinguishes songpyeon. Recently,

studies have shown that pine needles have health benets,

as the trees produce large amounts o phytoncide — which

kills germs and viruses in the air.

A range o other ingredients can be added to the recipe,

rom ssuk (mugwort) to aromatic owers. Dierent

combinations o herbs and ruits are what create the

varieties o songpyeon — rom

dark green to light pink —

and a whole palette o unique

avors. Songpyeon recipestypically vary rom region to

region, as amilies integrate

the most abundant crops into

the cake.

favor

© K

o r e a T o u r i s m O

r g a n i z a

t i o n

Handmade songpyeonis made for the chuseok holiday.

Tough Chinese have lived in Korea or

generations, large groups began to move

to the area in the 1960s, ollowing the

establishment o the Overseas Chinese

High School in Yeonhui-dong.

Te most notable aspect o the

unocial Chinatown, which centers on

a long side street, is the prominence o

Chinese restaurants, each specializing

in distinct dishes. Yi Hwa Won oers a

quiet atmosphere coupled with lling

course meals, while other eateries

prepare Uygur-inspired lamb skewers.

At Jin Bo, a two-story restaurant

opened more than a decade ago, resh

seaood stews and chicken and hot

pepper stir-ry are popular. Te menuis a usion o Chinese and aiwanese

oods. “Our restaurant is popular among

aiwanese and Chinese diplomats, but

also Koreans as well,” says manager

Cheng Gye-hye, a fh generation

aiwanese expatriate. “Our interior

design makes people eel as i they’re in

an actual restaurant in China, and our

ood caters well to their tastes.”

For the more adventurous, you can

try your own hand at cooking a Chinese

meal with the ingredients available at

Daehwa Mart — a small grocery store

that specializes in imported goods.

Tough it is dicult to nd singularly

authentic Chinese, Cantonese,aiwanese or Uygur cuisine in Seoul’s

Chinatown, it is the propagation o a

new, adapted culture that makes this

area worth a visit.

JAPANTOWN Te Japanese

neighborhood o Seoul is located in

Dongbu Ichon-dong, and is better

known as “Little okyo.” Te tree-lined

main street lies opposite a public school,

and the inuence o the neighborhood’s

Cafe Moss offersa variety offlavorfulmochi ice cream, smallrice cakes filledwith ice cream,fruit fillings orfrozen yogurt(left above).Fresh fish isgrilled in thesemi-openkitchen ofGookhwa (farleft). A chef atGookhwa tendsto his skewers,which burst with

seafood, garlic,nuts and meats(left).

rereshing bowl o soba, and Mori Sushi,

pulling in customers with its resh catch.

Gookhwa is an izakaya comprised

o a semi-open kitchen and grill that

welcomes you as soon as you walk in.

Customers sit at a low bar counter, where

they can check out the day’s oerings o

large whelk and sailn sandsh straight

rom the southern coast. Skewers o

ginkgo nuts, garlic, Pacic saury and

mushrooms line the grill and a ull,

seasonal menu o Japanese dishes can

be enjoyed. An assortment o high-end

sakes and Asahi on draf are available.

Japanese inuences can be seen

throughout the neighborhood, rom the

presence o mochi ice cream (a rice cake

lled with rozen cream) to the ubiquity

o shops that either carry Japanese ood

or specialize in the cuisine.Tough France, China and Japan may

be miles away, one can indulge in the

tastes o these major world destinations

rom right within the heart o Seoul.

Cafe Moss

Gookhwa

Mono Mart

Azabu

Ryu

Mori SushiSanuki

SongpyeonSecrets of

Franchised and independent

tteok shops can be find

throughout Seoul. In particular,

Insa-dong is famous for its

variety of quirky homemade

shops and hidden alleys lined

with outdoor displays of tteok.

HOT SPOTS

Ichon Station↖

20-23seoul/flavor.indd 22-23 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:13




travel

Finding Design in GWANGJU

Mount Mudeungsan stands guard

over Gwangju Metropolitan City.

Te surrounding area comprises a

provincial park, connecting Gwangju to

its neighboring counties. A landmark

o the city, Mt Mudeungsan is known

or its gradual slope, which makes it an

easy climb to the amous trio o peaks:Cheonwangbong, Jiwangbong and

Inwangbong. From the top, massive

columns o rock ormations can be seen

— 40m-long ridges o 10m- to 18m-high © T o p i c I m a g e s

pillars that rise toward the blue sky

above.

Te people o Gwangju are said to

be as great as their guardian mountain.

Full o vigor, passion and a love o

nature, the citizens here have an eye

or beauty. Having established the now

internationally-recognized GwangjuBiennale in 1995, a major art e vent held

every two years, the city continues on

its path o art evolution with its ourth

Gwangju Design Biennale.

he 4th Gwangju Design Biennale opens this month in the southern city. From Sept 2to Oct 23, Gwangju will be illed with the excited buzz o artists and designers,converging on the heart o Korea’s art history.by Chung Dong-muk | photographs by Kim Hong-jin

DESIGN IS NOT DESIGN Tis year’s

edition o the still relatively-young

design biennale is spearheaded by the

motto dogadobisangdo, which translates

to “design is design is not design.” Te

existentially-themed event presents

the changing concepts, practices and

potential o contemporary design,and provides a new platorm or the

signicance o Asia in the art world.

Inspired by the opening lines o Laozi’s

Tao Te Ching — “Te way that is the way

A view of the rock pillars on Mt Mudeungsan

24-27travel.indd 24-25 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:13




is not always the way” — the biennale

seeks to re-examine and redene the

undamentals o design today.

“Tese days, design rules. Most local

governments in Korea are desperately

trying to build design-based cities,” says

amed architect Seung H-Sang, art co-director o the ourth Gwangju Design

Biennale alongside Chinese artist Ai

Weiwei. “But I have a dierent view as

an architect. Giving something a name

with the word ‘design’ in it, doesn’t mean

that it really is design. Painting suraces

and installing objects do not necessarily

result in a design-based city or products

with good design.”

A total o 129 artists and 74

companies rom 44 countries will exhibit

132 works in the 2011 Gwangju Design

Biennale. Te biennale is divided into

six main categories, then subdivided

again to ocus on the dierent areas

o lie in which design is key, such as“environment” and “home.” Tough

design was once seen as secondary to

unction, it has grown to prominence

as a conceptual balance o aesthetics, © G w a n g j u D e s i g n B i e n n a l e ( o p p o s i t e a b o v e l e f t ) ; K o r e a T o u r i s m O r g a n i z a t i o n ( o p p o s i t e b e l o w l e f t )

technology and e conomy.

Te changing o the times also

brought an accessibility to good designthat didn’t exist beore. Instead o being

a luxury that only those with time and

money could aord, good design is

increasingly available to all people, at all

HOW TO GET THEREAirplane

Flights

depart from

Gimpo Int’l

Airport to

Gwangju Airport

seven times a day.

It takes 55

minutes. For more

information, call+82 62 940 0214

or visit http://

gwangju.airport.

co.kr. Travelers

can get to downtown Gwangju by shuttle bus (No

1000) from the Gwangju Airport. For more

information about the shuttle, call +82 62 364

4221. Shuttle buses also run from Incheon Int’l

Airport to Gwangju at intervals of 30 to 60 minutes

from 6:50am to 10:40pm every day. It takes about

four hours. Call +82 62 360 8114.

Train High-speed KTX trains run from

Yongsan Station in Seoul to Songjeong

Station in Gwangju nine times a day on weekdays.

It takes about 2 hours and 50 minutes. Call +82

1544 7788 for more information or visit http://info.

korail.com/2007/eng/eng_index.jsp.

Bus Express buses run from Central City

Express Bus Terminal in Seoul to Express Bus

Terminal in Gwangju at intervals of 30 minutes. It

takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes. For more

information, call Express Bus Terminal in Gwangju

(+82 62 360 8114) or visit www.kobus.co.kr.

WHERE TO STAYGwangju has plenty of hotel and motel

accommodations as the city hosts a variety

of international events, like the Gwangju Biennale.

Check out the five-star Ramada Plaza Gwangju

Hotel (+82 62 717 7000) or the four-star hotels

Prado Tourists Hotel (+82 62 654 9999) and

Shinyang Park Hotel (+82 62 228 8000). Many

motels and inns are located in the Sangmu District.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Gwangju Museumof Art

A Gwangju DesignBiennale banner

Gwangju

Seoul

A view of Gwangju city (top left). Locals walk byan advertisement announcing the 2011 GwangjuDesign Biennale (top). Tteok-galbi is a popularlocal dish (above).

Ghana sculptorEric AdjeteyAnang will builda traditional,Ghanaian-stylecoffin withKoreaninfluences forthe 2011Gwangju DesignBiennale (left).

price levels. With this progress, the idea

o what design is changes entirely.

CITY OF ART Tis year’s biennale

centralizes on two words: “name” and

“place.” Working with the idea that

everything around us is design, it canbe said that “named” design are objects

like cars, while “unnamed” designs are

those that are not recognized, but which

in act have an impact on our every

lives. Similarly, “placed” and “unplaced”

design is executed not only within

the walls o the biennale venue, but

throughout the city as a whole.

Gwangju Folly, one o the biennale

categories, has amous artists create

installations at public acilities in

rundown areas and call attention to the

aesthetics o overlooked neighborhoods.

Tis section o the biennale hopes

to rejuvenate the city with a design

makeover, creating decorative structuresas part o a long-term, 10-year project

with the help o international architects.

Juan Herreros has taken on the

Jangdong Rotary to redesign, and

Peter Eisenman is in charge o the

Chungjangno Police Station. Others

will transorm university entrances

and more. “When it comes to design,

many people will think about industrial

design. But the Gwangju Design

Biennale is dierent; this event ocuseson delivering cultural and social

messages,” says Cho In-ho, head o the

Policy Research eam at the Gwangju

Biennale Foundation.

LAND OF FOOD Gwangju is not only

known or its strong art culture, but

also or its range o cuisine. Located at

the heart o Jeollanam-do Province, the

region is at the center o the South and

Yellow Seas, and has ertile earth rom

the Yeongsangang River and the streams

that fow down Mudeungsan, Woraksan

and Jirisan Mountains. Local cuisine is

rich in sh, wild herbs and ragrant rice.

Tere are our representative disheso Gwangju: Songjeong tteok-galbi (a

tender steak made o ribs), Mudeungsan

boribap (broiled barley with assorted

vegetables), oritang (duck soup) and

Gwangju kimchi (ermented cabbage).

Te best place to nd tteok-galbi is

at Songjeong-dong’s teok-galbi Street,

located across rom the KX Songjeong

Station. Te neighborhood is home to a

traditional market and bee is one o the

major items o trade.It was Choi Cheo-ja who rst made

tteok-galbi in the 1950s, tenderizing

minced meat patties made rom ribs.

Te melt-in-your-mouth tteok-galbi

was perect or those in weakened

health, and the dish soon took o in

the area. oday, the area has 15 tteok-

galbi restaurants and among them Sea

Songjeong teok-galbi (+82 62 941

3353) and Songwon teok-galbi (+82 62

944 0366) are the most popular.

Mudeungsan Boribap Street can be

ound along the trail that leads to Mt

Mudeungsan. Te dish is a healthy way

to energize the body beore a hike, as

its main ingredients are barley, a variety o resh vegetables, gochujang red

pepper paste and sesame oil. Check out

Shieoganeun Boribap (+82 62 222 0208)

and Haenim (+82 62 224 2260).

24-27travel.indd 26-27 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:13




now in korea

© N

o r e u m M

a c h i

It’s 6pm and the husky yellow o dusk lls a room

behind the stage at the Grand Ballroom o the

RitzCarlton Hotel. Five women busily prepare

or their big show, aces ushed with excitement

aer a seamless rehearsal practice. Tis is Queen,

a popular usion Gugak (Korean traditional

music) group, and they’re about to hit the stage.

o ully embody their music, the members

o Queen are outtted in coordinated, stylish

dresses, decorated with traditional hanbok

(Korean dress) air. In the place o the long

hemmed traditional wear, miniskirts o organza

and stilettos mark their image. Four o the

ve carry Korean traditional instruments - a

gayageum (12stringed zither), haegeum (a ddlelike instrument), sogeum (a small bamboo ute)

and an electric violin - while the h is vocalist.

Queen perorms the Korean olk song Doraji

to an upbeat tempo but mixes in contemporary

Western hits, rom Dancing Queen to Hey Jude.

“Playing usion Gugak is so interesting, because

the addition o movement and dance to the

perormance helps create a dynamic ambiance,”

says gayageum player Kim Hyunah, who

majored in the instrument at university.

THE REBIRTH OF GUGAK What do Sarah

Brightman, Lim Hyungjoo, Sumi Jo and Yang

Bangean have in common? Except the act

that they are all gied musicians, the answer

is “usion.” Brightman gripped the world withthe popera hit Time to Say Goodbye and Lim is

Korea’s popera star. Jo broadened her musical

domain rom classical to include pop, and Yang

created new genres by combining international

o most young Koreans, Gugak, ortraditional music, isn’t regarded as

particularly earcatching. However, a usionGugak renaissance is growing.by Lim Ji-young | photographs by Kim Nam-heon

Fusion Gugak group Noreum Machi p erforms a lively concert.

28-31now in korea.indd 28-29 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:13



Fusion Korea, which was established by a geomungo (six

stringed zither) player, is one such representative company

and manages several groups, including Queen. “We are

ooded with inquiries or concerts, and we choose which one

o our Gugak teams would best t the characteristics and scale

o each request,” says representative Kim Changil. Kim says

he wants to combine dynamic Western music with Korean

traditional music in order to create a new style o musical

perormance.

LAYMEN TO LOVERS Te rise o usion Gugak has beenspurred by a number o events and estivals, and reaching

a diverse audience has b een key. “I never thought I’d enjoy

Gugak. I didn’t even like learning about it in school. But

now, I think that Gugak is pretty un and exciting,” says

Choi Sunghee, an elementary school student who was

visiting Marronnier Park with her parents to see a Gugak

medley perormance. Te concert, held in the art district o

Daehangno, was part o the rst annual Marronnier Summer

Festival, a twoweek event that includes a host o shows.

www.korea.net | 31 30 | korea | september 2011

Most o the audience members were young, with several even

swinging their hips to the rhythm o the Gugak.

“Tis is my rst usion Gugak concert. I know next to

nothing about Korean traditional music, but even or a novice

like me this show has been pretty interesting,” says 22yearoldKim Hyunsoo. While traditional orms o Gugak appeal to a

largely older audience, the quick pace and modern reworkings

o usion Gugak have been luring youthul listeners.

“We wanted to attract and bring in more young people to

the Daehangno area with the estival, and we gured that there

would be nothing better than multidisciplinary perormances

like usion Gugak,” says Kim Gapsu, popular actor and

director o the estival. Te event was held in order to establish

the area as a youthul, cultural o asis, and the inclusion o

Gugak was indicative o the genre’s return to being hip.

KOREA AND THE WORLD Fusion Gugak’s reach has now

extended to overseas audiences with the help o homegrown

bands and the government. Te Seoul Metropolitan

Government launched a campaign to promote usion Gugak

through an ocial European tour that will see one o Korea’stop bands participate in estivals in France, the Netherlands,

Germany and Croatia. Noreum Machi, which combines a

number o Korean music traditions into an ensemble group,

has played in a variety o domestic and international venues.

olk instruments rom Korea, China, Japan and Mongolia. It is

this usion that helped inspire Gugak’s own renaissance.

Te traditional music dates back to the Tree Kindoms

Period (57BC to AD668), moving rom court entertainment

to culture or commoners. raditional orms o Gugak survive

today, along with some 60 traditional instruments, but

have long been thought to be inaccessible to most modern

audiences. Attempts to modernize the music were made, and

popinuenced Gugak rst emerged in the early 1980s with

easylistening melodies and lyrics. Although usion Gugak

would not become successul or decades, those rst versionsplanted the roots or it to become a national phenomenon.

Artists modiy Gugak to create playul variations o such

wellknown melodies like Pachelbel’s Canon and even beats

or bboying. Fusion Gugak rst made waves through the

media, as V shows and movies began to include the new

genre as background music in production. Beore long, the

impressive, yet amiliar, sound o usion Gugak became a hit,

and today, there are even management companies or bands

that specialize in the genre.

© F

u s i o n K o r e a ( o p p o s i t e

b o t t o m ) ; Y o n h a p N e w s A g e n c y

A number o bands

are making their names

known overseas. Gong

Myoung, a ourman

group, has played a variety o international estivals,

rom South by Southwest

in the US to the Førde

Folk Music Festival in

Norway. Te band places

an emphasis on percussion

and rhythm, with complex

arrangements o the

daegeum (a large bamboo

ute), the sogeum, piri (a

doublereed instrument) and

a janggu (an hourglass shaped drum).

Yeoul, an allemale gayageum quartet, became a hit aer

their debut in 2003 with their catchy music. Te group only

plays gayageum, as they eel other instruments overwhelm its

sound, and even invented an electric version in 2005.Other groups have been on the r ise, combining jazz with

Gugak or covering OSs. Te spectrum o Gugak groups is

wide. From cofeeshops to temples and parks, a usion Gugak

concert is sure to always be just around the corner.

Queen takes a moment before aperformance at the Ritz-CarltonHotel (right). The five-membergroup Queen plays a set (below).

Gugak performances can be seen in

venues across Korea. The Seoul

Namsan Gugakdang, a traditional

theater at the Namsangol Hanok

Village, organizes concerts

throughout the year. To visit, take

Subway Line 4 to Chungmuro

Station and exit No 3. Visit http://

sngad.sejongpac.or.kr. Another

venue is the National Gugak Center

in southern Seoul. Take Subway

Line 3 to Nambu Bus Terminal

Station and exit No 5. Visit www.

gugak.go.kr.

GUGAK VENUES

GAYAGEUM A zither that can haveanywhere from 12 to 25strings. An electric versionhas also been made.

HAEGEUM A string instrumentthat resembles afiddle. A thin neck,hollow soundbox andsilk strings are strungwith a bow.

SOGEUM A small bamboo flutethat is held like itsWestern counterpart.

JANGGU An hourglass-shaped drumthat is beat witha stick.

28-31now in korea.indd 30-31 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:14




It’s no se cret that K-pop has spread like wildre throughout

Asia, moving into neighboring Europe and even gaining ans

in North America. Now, Latin America is the latest region

to be hit with Hallyu, the Korean wave, with countries romMexico to Chile joining the trend.

With the number o ans growing every day, and the

demand or K-pop becoming stronger, events are popping up

all over the region. One o the biggest is an annual K-Pop Latin © K

o r e a n C u l t u r a l C e n t e r o f L a t i n A m e r i c a

entertainment

America Competition, held in Buenos Aires. Te competition

allows K-pop ans in South America to live out their dreams

by either singing or dancing along to songs by their avorite

Korean idols on stage. But only one winner or winning groupcan take home the coveted grand prize — a ree trip to Korea.

Te event is organized each year by the Korean Cultural

Center o Latin America and the Korean Embassy there, along

with several local media sponsors. Last ye ar’s contest was the

rst K-pop competition to be held on an international scale in

the country, with a total o 92 teams rom 10 countries across

Latin America perorming songs by groups or singers rom

SHINee to Girls’ Generation.

Tis year’s event, however, has doubled in size, highlighting

just how quickly K-pop is growing. According to the Korean

Cultural Center, a total o 171 teams rom 14 countries —

including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador,

Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican

Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela — applied to compete this

year in two categories: song and dance. Te center said they hope the event will help Hallyu spread in Argentina, since

it has already gained prominence in other countries such as

Mexico, Chile and Peru.

O the competing 171 teams, 15 nalists were selected or

the nal on Sept 11 at the Sala Pablo Picasso del Paseo La

Plaza. Each group submitted an application on the contest

website in May, and auditioned either in person or via video.

A jury selected the nalists rom the preliminary rounds

o auditions. Tis year, the nal 15 hail rom Chile, Peru,

Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and

Mexico, with nine groups competing in the singing category

and six in dance.

Last year’s winner, 17-year-old Victoria Lopez rom Buenos

Aires, Argentina, won or her rendition o SHINee’s Hyeya.

On her trip, she was able to visit top Korean entertainment

agency SM Entertainment, see stars perorm on the variety show Music Bank and explore tourist sites such as Insa-dong.

She told local Korean media that she hopes to one day become

an international singer, just like her avorite idols. “It’s a dream

or me to be like Korean artists,” she said in an interview.

While K-pop may be taking baby steps in Argentina, the

teen says that the success o groups like VXQ, SHINee and

Girls’ Generation has been huge in a country where it’s still

dicult to even purchase their merchandise. Te exponential

growth o anbase has led to an increase in Korean media

attention as well. Korean broadcaster SBS announced in July

that it will hold auditions in Argentina or its next season o

the popular show K-Pop Star , providing an opportunity or

avid ans to ulll their dreams a la American Idol ormat.

So why exactly did K-pop become so popular in South

America, a continent thousands o miles rom Korea? Fans

say the craze started when Asian culture was rst introducedto the region through Japanese anime and comic books. From

there, a natural progression o curiosity led to ans becoming

interested in Japanese dramas and music, which then led to

Korean dramas.

Soompi.com, a major Korean music an site, said that

Hallyu gained ollowers quickly in part because the imported

dramas were nothing like their Latin American soap opera

counterparts. Tis new orm o entertainment piqued interest

and ans began to research the artists whose music they heard

on the dramas. Also, several countries in the region, including

Brazil and Chile, have large ethnic Korean populations, which

urther helped introduce Korean culture.

Since it was dicult to gain access to K-pop, many ans

started by watching music videos on the Internet. According

to statistics gathered by Youube and the Korean Network Studies, Super Junior, 2NE1 and Big Bang have some o the

most watched videos on the Internet. A large portion o these

viewers comes rom countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile,

Colombia, Mexico and Peru. 2NE1’s video or I Am the Best

reached 5 million views online just a week aer its release,

with a vast majority o its audience rom Brazil.

Gradually, ans began asking local radio and music shows to

play their avorite groups and songs. In Mexico, V Azteca’s

program Venga la alegría does weekly spotlights on Korean

groups during their 90 Segundos segment, which is 90 seconds

o short clips introducing a group, singer or song. Similar

programs in Colombia and Panama have ollowed suit, with

Panama’s radio program Banzai devoting an entire hour to

K-pop, J-pop and J-rock.

And as K-pop grew in popularity, so did the desire or the

groups to visit South America. Some call the past year the

“Year o Flash Mobs,” as large groups o ans congregated

spontaneously in several countries, hoping to attract theattention o Korean entertainment agencies. Peru and Mexico

have been the sites o several o these an fash mobs, and

in response, SM Entertainment has stated it hopes to hold a

concert in Latin America.

Hallyu is no stranger to Asia and Europe. But a unique contest in Argentina has set outto promote K-pop in South America, ueling the wildire o its popularity. by Emma Kalka

Dreams inLatin AmericaK-POP

A group performs at the 2011 K-Pop Latin America Competition prelims(opposite). A contest participant sings for her audition (above left). 2010winner Victoria Lopez, right, stands with her award (above right).

32-33entertainment.indd 32-33 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:14



www.korea.net | 35

Expectations or Son are sky-high,

aer the orward scored a remarkable 18

goals in nine preseason games. Son had

three goals in 13 caps with Hamburger

last season but should see a more

signicant role. “Tis season I want to

score 10 goals,” Son told local media.

In France, current national squad

captain Park Chu-young saw his team,

AS Monaco, relegated rom Ligue 1.

By August, it had become clear thathe would be leaving Monaco or a top

division team somewhere in Europe.

Meanwhile, Nam ae-hee will be looking

to secure a spot on the starting 11 with

Valenciennes. Nam was the

youngest Asian player to ever

play in Ligue 1, when he debuted with

the team in 2009 at age 18. At 20, the

Busan native knows he has a lot o work

ahead o him. “Valenciennes is still a big

team or me. In act, I haven’t conrmed

my starting position in the lineup. I still

have a lot to learn with this club,” Namsaid. “I want to play in the 2014 FIFA

World Cup. Ten, I want to be starter

or Valenciennes. I know I have to work

harder. I’m not satised with where I


Te Korean presence in European

ootball is a relatively new phenomenon.

Cha Bum-kun was the rst Korean to

make a mark in Europe in Germany’s

Bundesliga in the early 1980s, but even

at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the South

Korean roster was made up o a list o virtual unknowns. Only two players

rom that historic squad — Ahn Jung-

hwan and Seol Ki-hyeon — were playing

in Europe at the time. © Y

o n h a p - R e u t e r s ( a b o v e ) ; Y o n h a p N e w s A g e n c y ( o p p o s i t e )

sports

Tere are now at least 12 Korean

players in Europe’s top leagues, and

more are on the way. Park Ji-sung, who

retired rom the national squad earlier

this year, remains Korea’s biggest icon in

world ootball. Park has been an integral

part o one o the world’s best teams,Manchester United, and one o manager

Alex Ferguson’s more reliable players

since the team signed him in 2005. Park

said he believes the Korean presence in

the English Premier League (EPL) will

continue to grow. “More Korean players

will come,” he told Sky Sports News.

“Tere are Korean players who have the

talent to play in Europe. Hopeully they

can come over to play and show how

much Asian ootball has improved.”Korea’s domestic ootball league,

the K-League, has long been among

the strongest in Asia, and in recent

years has been a breeding ground or

international-caliber talent. Te Bolton

Wanderers signed winger Lee Chung-

yong rom FC Seoul in 2009, and the

23-year-old is emerging as one o the

brightest young stars in the EPL. Tis

season, Lee and Park will be joined in

the EPL by 20-year-old striker Ji Dong-

won, who signed with Sunderland aer

playing with Korea’s Chunnam Dragons.

“Te boy has been in antastic

orm or both club and country, andhe was one o South Korea’s standout

perormers at the Asian Cup,” said

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce. “Te

Premier League is very diferent to the

K-League, so there is hard work ahead,

but you just have to look at players like

Park Ji-sung and Lee Chung-yong to see

how well Korean players are adapting.”

In the Bundesliga, Son Heung-

min, 19, and Koo Ja-cheol, 22, have

been targeted or breakout seasons in

2011-2012. Koo joined VL Wolsburg

rom Jeju United back in January andwas prolic at the AFC Asian Cup in

January, scoring a tournament-high ve

goals. He was arguably the K-League’s

best player in 2010.

am right now.” Jung Jo-gook is another

newcomer to Ligue 1, signing with

Auxerre rom FC Seoul back in January.

Te 27-year-old scored two goals in 16

appearances.

Youngster Ki Sung-yueng is part o

Celtic FC, which is expected to win the

Scottish Premier League this season.

Ki scored a goal in the team’s rst game

o the season in July. Both coach Neil

Lennon and Ki hope the highly-talentedyoung midelder can take a step

orward this season. “I’ll try to score as

many goals as I can this

season and I am practicing

my shooting in every training session,”

Ki said. “Last season I got our goals. I

want to score more than six this s eason.”

Ki is joined by deender Cha Du-ri on

the Scottish giants’ roster. Cha had a

long career in the Bundesliga beore

joining Celtic in 2010.

With more Koreans plying their trade

in Europe, the uture o the nationalteam is bright. Even with Park Ji-sung’s

retirement, there will be no lack o talent

as Korea aims or a strong showing at

the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

he Korean contingent in the top leagues o European ootball has seen ameteoric rise over the last decade. A crop o rising stars and emerging veteranshave joined the established Korean players, raising the proile o local ootball. by Matt Flemming

Hamburgerforward SonHeung-mincelebrates after agoal (opposite).Clockwise, fromleft: Ji Dong-won;Nam Tae-hee; LeeChung-yong; SonHeung-min; and KiSung-yueng.

FootballersGoWest

34-35sports.indd 34-35 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:14




MILESTONE NUCLEAR PACT India

currently operates 20 nuclear reactors,

producing 4,780 megawatts o electricity.

Construction is currently underway to build

six more reactors to add 4,800 megawatts

supply, and the Indian government has an

ambitious project to expand the nuclear

power generation capacity to 63,000

megawatts by 2032.

As o now, Russia, France and the United

States have won contracts to build nuclear

reactors in the lucrative market. Russia is

currently building two and is consulting

to win two more reactor bids. The site

assignments were also made to France and

the United States so that the two countries

will build two reactors each.

Following the signing o the milestone

accord, Lee asked Patil or the Indian

government’s cooperation or Korea’s

participation in the country’s projects.

While many countries around the world

have reconsidered their nuclear power

generation projects in the atermath o

the latest nuclear catastrophes at Japan’spower plants ater the earthquake, India is

still expanding the peaceul use o atomic

energy to keep up with its ast-growing

economy.

Since winning the US$18.6 billion bid to

build our nuclear reactors in the United

Arab Emirates, President Lee Myung-bak

has worked tirelessly to export Korea’s

nuclear plant technologies.

According to Park Jeong-ha, Lee’s

ocial spokesman, Patil said during the

summit she was very impressed by the

saety o Korea’s nuclear plants and the

highly positive evaluation given by theInternational Atomic Energy Agency.

“Nuclear energy supplies 40% o Korea’s

electricity, and we have put orth steady

summit diplomacy

ASIAN ALLIANCES

Asian neighbors have always been important partners o Korea. In July, President LeeMyung-bak held a meeting with the visiting president o India and signed a deal that willcement Korea’s participation in India’s nuclear plant projects. He also met with the king o

Malaysia and discussed ways to expand the two countries’ cooperation. by Ser Myo-ja

In July, President Lee Myung-bak continued

his diplomatic outreach with global

leaders in a signicant summit with India’s

president and a meeting with the king o

Malaysia, both aimed at expanding Korea’s

bilateral cooperative ties with its Asian

neighbors.

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil o

India visited Korea at the invitation o Lee

rom July 24 to 27. During her state visit,

Lee and Patil held a summit at the Korean

presidential oce o the Blue House and

discussed ways or the two countries to

expand bilateral cooperation.

The highlight o the meeting was the

signing o a bilateral nuclear cooperation

pact, a milestone agreement or Lee’s

continuous eorts to export Korea’s atomic

power stations to the ast-growing, energy-

hungry economic giant o Asia.

The agreement or the peaceul use

o atomic energy is an important step

to entering India’s energy market, as it

provides the legal grounds or Korean

companies’ participation in India’s nuclearplant construction projects.

President Lee Myung-bak, second from right,stands with Malaysian King Mizan Zainal Abidin(opposite). Lee toasts with the Indian PresidentPratibha Devisingh Patil (top). Lee shakes handswith Mizan in a summit (above). A conference isheld between Lee and his Indian counterpartPratibha Devisingh Patil (left).

© C h e o n g W a D a e

38-41summit.indd 38-39 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:15




run Korea Electric Power Corporation

signed a memo with the Nuclear Power

Corporation o India Limited in 2009 to

enter the market. During his visit to India

in January last year, Lee pushed orward

the nuclear cooperation agreement during

his summit with Indian Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh. Follow-up discussions

took place between the two countries in

July last year, and the nal wordings were

concluded in March this year.

“With the ocial signing o the

agreement during Patil’s visit to Korea, thelegal ground or the two countries’ nuclear

cooperation has been completed,” Park

said. The civil nuclear cooperation deal is

considered the rst step to enter India’s

atomic energy market and to receive a

plant site allocation. “Although it will take

some time, we believe it is possible to sign

a construction contract i India allocates

a site or a plant to be built with Korean

technology.”

BILATERAL COOPERATION During the

summit, Lee and Patil also discussed eorts

to expand the two countries’ cooperation,

saying that diplomatic, security, economic,

trade, social and cultural ties have

improved signicantly since they ormed

the Strategic Partnership in January 2010.

They agreed to pay special attention toimproving cooperation in politics, security

and deense industry.

According to the Blue House, the two

leaders agreed that the Comprehensive

Economic Partnership Agreement,

which took eect in January 2010, has

tremendously contributed to expanded

trade and investment exchanges as

well as the exchanges between the two

countries’ citizens. They acknowledged

that the agreement should be improved to

refect the changes in the bilateral trade

environment that have taken place over

the past 18 months to bolster its strength.

They also agreed to work more closely to

ease more import restrictions.

During the summit, Lee also expressed

his hope or Korean companies’ expanded

participation in other major inrastructure

projects in India. He particularly sought

the Indian government’s support to realize

POSCO’s long delayed project to build a 12

million-metric-ton steel mill in the eastern

eorts to improve eciency o reactors

and develop technology to come to the

current level,” Lee was quoted as saying by

Park. “The recent IAEA saety inspection

conrmed that Korea’s nuclear technology

is world-class, like that o the US.”

According to the Blue House, the state- © C h e o n g W a D a e

; Y o n h a p N e w s A g e n c y

state o Orissa.

The Blue House said the two presidents

also agreed to conclude the ongoing

negotiations on bilateral maritime andaviation cooperation and a double taxation

avoidance agreement as soon as possible.

They pledged to cooperate more closely

or the successul 2011 Korea-India Cultural

Exchange Year campaign, promising to

build more cultural and inormation

centers in each other’s countries.

They also agreed to cooperate closely

on the successul hosting o Korea’s 2012

nuclear summit and other global issues

such as climate change.

During her our-day trip to Korea, Patil

met with Park Hee-tae, the Chairman o

the National Assembly, on July 26 and

visited the research complex o Samsung

on July 27. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, 76, is

the rst emale politician to become India’s

president and took the post in 2007. She is

known or her philanthropy and successul

political career, and won her rst election

at the age o 27 in 1962.

During her visit to Korea, Patil laid

fowers beore a bronze bust o renowned

Indian poet Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

on July 25. The statue was erected in May

in Daehangno, central Seoul, to mark the

150th birthday o the poet who won the

Nobel Prize or Literature as the rst non-

European. Koreans have a high respect and

love or his 1929 poem, The Lamp of the

East , which described his hope or Korea’s

revival during the Japanese colonial period.

GROWING FRIENDSHIP Lee met with

Malaysian King Mizan Zainal Abidin at the

Blue House on July 20 to discuss the two

countries’ cooperation.

“Ater having successully overcome the

recent global economic crisis, Malaysia has

demonstrated its competitiveness,” Lee

said. “We hope to see continued protection

or Korean residents in Malaysia and

continued support or Korean companies

operating in the country.”

According to the Blue House, Lee highly

praised the two countries’ tireless eorts to

strengthen their cooperative partnership

since the establishment o diplomatic ties

in 1960. He also said Mizan’s visit, ollowing

Malaysian Prime Minister Seri Najib Tun

Razak’s visit to Korea in April this year, will

urther develop the bilateral relations.Lee visited the country in December last

year. Through requent exchanges, the

two countries’ leaders have pledged to

expand their cooperative partnership in all

aspects, particularly in trade and energy

development, as well as in global agendas.

Since orming diplomatic relations

more than hal a century ago, Korea

and Malaysia continued to develop their

partnership in political and economic elds.

As o 2010, Korea’s bilateral trade with the

country recorded US$15.6 billion, the third

largest among the ASEAN member nations.

In 2010 alone, Korea has invested US$1.71

billion in Malaysia, while the country

invested US$110 million in Korea.

The Blue House said Lee stressed the

importance o bolstering cooperation in

the development o energy eld, includingnuclear energy, during his meeting with

the Malaysian king.

Mizan replied that he would like to

see more cooperation between the two

countries. “The king expressed hope to

see more cooperation in the renewable

energy and green technology, which Korea

is known or its competitiveness,” a Blue

House spokesman said. “He also expressed

hope to see urther improvement in

cooperation o tourism, culture and

people’s exchanges.”

In 2010, 264,052 Koreans visited

Malaysia, and 113,675 Malaysian visitors

came to Korea, indicating a growing

exchange o citizens. As o 2010, about

15,000 Koreans are living in Malaysia.

During the meeting at the Blue House,

Mizan congratulated Lee on Korea’s

success in winning the bid to host the 2018

Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. He also

attended a dinner hosted at the Blue House

and visited Samsung Electronics.

President LeeMyung-bak walkswith IndianPresident PratibhaDevisingh Patil atthe Blue House ina summit betweenthe two countriesheld on July 25(left). MalaysianKing Mizan ZainalAbidin, left,watches a 3D TVscreen at SamsungElectronics, duringhis visit to Seoulon July 20(below).

President Lee Myung-bak, left, gives a speechduring the official Korea-Malaysia summit held atthe Blue House on July 20 (above).

38-41summit.indd 40-41 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:15




launched the Alliance or a Green

Revolution in Arica (AGRA) in connection

with the Rockeeller Foundation ater

studying agricultural reorm in a number

o dierent countries.

HISTORICAL SOLUTIONS Korea has

established itsel as a model or agricultural

revolution. As recently as the 1950s, Korea

was one o the poorest nations in the

world. However, ater joining the OECD,

Korea ofcially became an aid donor inNovember 2009. This rapid transormation

was made possible due to huge innovations

in the nation’s agriculture.

global korea

In 2000, 191 heads o state gathered at the

United Nations headquarters in New York.

They agreed on eight goals to reach by

2015 through international cooperation,

calling them the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs). The frst goal on the list was

battling poverty and starvation, and the

aim was to halve the number o those who

live in absolute poverty, defned as those

who subsist on less than US$1 a day.

The heads o state noted that three-

quarters o those living in poverty live

in rural areas, most o whom engage

in arming. The OECD asserted that an

increase in income or arming amilies

enhanced agricultural productivity and

was the key to eliminating poverty, a

fnding backed up by the United Kingdom’s

Department or International Development

(DFID), which is responsible or ofcial

development assistance rom the UK.

Simultaneously, the Bill & Melinda

Gates Foundation, the largest civilian

charity organization, is lending its ull

support to help poor countries developtheir agriculture, well aware that the main

cause o sickness and death in the world’s

poorest areas is amine. The oundation © I n

t e r n a t i o n a l T e

c h n i c a l C o o p e r a t i o n C e n t e r

KOREA’S AGRICULTURAL

TECHNOLOGY GOES GLOBAL

Korea is earning a reputation overseas or its advanced agricultural technology,as the country is lending industry assistance to more and more developing countries.Once an aid recipient, Korea has turned into an aid donor, helping the international

community solve such pressing global issues as poverty. by Seo Dong-chul

Korea’sSaemaul Undong (New

Community Movement), an integrated

rural community development campaign

undertaken in the 1970s, was particularly

helpul in this regard and is still a

benchmark or many developing nations.

The movement aimed to increase

the income o rural communities and

played an important role in shaping

Korean society in the 1970s. Under

a motto that stressed diligence, sel-

help and cooperation, Saemaul Undonghelped lay the groundwork or ood sel-

sufciency through tasks that ranged

rom improvement o village roads to the

A trainee from theGhana branch of

the Korea-AfricaFood andAgricultureCooperationInitiative observesa flower on JejuIsland (opposite).Trainees at ahorticultureinstitute learn toproperly packagefresh vegetables(left). A traineelearns to testglucose levels offruit (below left).Participants listento a lecture(below).

42-45global korea.indd 42-43 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:15




Cambodia and the Philippines).

This year, it plans to establish fve more

KOPIA centers, starting with the one it

opened in Ethiopia this July. “Overseas

agricultural development cannot happen

overnight. It’s necessary to build trustwith other nations through a history o

successul interactions,” says Kim Nam-soo,

director o RDA’s Technology Cooperation

Bureau. RDA plans to build 30 more KOPIA

centers by 2013.

KOPIA aims to continue agricultural

cooperation with developing nations

through technological support and the co-

development o resources. The spirit o the

project is based on customized support.

RDA believes past support programs led

by other countries were less ruitul even

with their high-tech machines and proven

agricultural methods, because they were

not customized or local conditions. It’s

pointless to donate arm machinery to

armers who can’t aord the gas to run it.

to match local conditions.” The Korean

government confrmed its determination

to lead the global battle against poverty

and amine, and the country’s experiences

became a symbol o hope.

Korea’s overseas agricultural technologydevelopment program began in 1972.

As o 2010, Korea had concluded 156

cooperation agreements with other

countries or organizations, invited 3,708

people rom 116 countries or training, and

sent 437 agricultural experts to 72 nations.

The KOPIA (Korea Project on

International Agriculture), which is run

by the Rural Development Administration

(RDA), was launched in 2009 and helps

integrate such agricultural projects in a

more systematic way. RDA established

KOPIA centers in six nations (Vietnam,

Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Brazil and

Paraguay) in 2009, and a year later set

up centers in our other nations (the

Democratic Republic o the Congo, Algeria,

© I n

t e r n a t i o n a l T e

c h n i c a l C o o p e r a t i o n C e n t e r

construction o irrigation acilities.

According to the Ministry or Food,

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the

amount o rice production increased rom

a meager 3.94 million tons in 1970 to over

5.62 million tons in 1985, then to morethan 6.05 million tons in 1988. In short,

it took less than 10 years or Korea to

produce more rice, the staple o Koreans’

diet, than they consumed.

GOING GLOBAL In September 2010,

The 30th Session o the FAO Regional

Conerence or Asia and the Pacifc (APRC)

was held in Gyeongju. President Lee

Myung-bak said at the opening ceremony,

“Advanced countries need to expand

humanitarian support and development

cooperation or developing countries.”

“Based on Korea’s experience in realizing

ood security, we will redouble our

eorts to help developing countries with

customized technologies and inrastructure

KOPIA has kept this in mind as it hasattempted to transer technology to

meet local needs. In Muguga, Kenya, or

instance, armers used to thresh grain by

hitting a shea o rice on a hard surace.

In response to this, KOPIA designed and

then supplied a new threshing machine

to Kenyans which could be powered by a

bicycle. Furthermore, KOPIA shared other

technology, such as a Korean traditional

rice-planting technique using a motjul (rice

planting line). These and other initiatives

have led to a 20% increase in Kenyan rice

production.

In other areas as well, KOPIA is helping

armers support themselves and develop

agricultural resources by ocusing on a

region or nation’s main crops. That has

translated into tropical crops and bio-

energy produce (used as an alternative

energy source) in Southeast Asia; eedgrains and ruits and vegetables in Central

Asia; and oil plants and garden plants in

Central and South America.

DIVERSE DONORS While KOPIA centersare helping increase the overall amount

o production and arming household

incomes, the Asian Food and Agriculture

Cooperation Initiative (AFACI) and the

Korea-Arica Food and Agriculture

Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI) are

programs designed to solve multilateral

issues within a broader ramework.

AFACI was launched in November

2009 with 12 member nations, including

the Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia,

Mongolia, Thailand and Korea, which is

presently the organization’s secretariat.

It aims to increase the average income

in arming communities and address

agricultural problems such as migratory

insect pests and disease control. AFACI

categorizes its tasks according to the scope

and nature o the work that needs to be

done, localizing needed support.The tasks are split up into pan-Asian

regional and national categories, and oer

workshops and training. Today, AFACI

is carrying out a wide range o projects,including building networks o agricultural

technology and inormation, and bringing

about organic arming technology

development or sustainable agriculture.

KAFACI was launched in July 2010 to

reduce poverty and hunger through rural

development in Arica. It has 16 members,

including Ethiopia, Angola and Cameroon,

with Korea serving as the group’s

secretariat. Arica’s agricultural background

and history vary greatly rom Korea’s,

which is why such close attention is being

paid to the region.

As one RDA expert explained, “At

frst, each member nation proposes three

technological felds they want to develop.

Korea then invites experts rom each o

these felds to oer a 10-week training

session at related research centers. Through

this process, the two parties come up witha list o tasks to be accomplished and

establish a direction in which to perorm

the projects.”

African traineeslisten to a lectureon how topreserveagricultural genesat the RDAGenebank (left).A group oftrainees visit anexperimentalapple farm tolearn how tocultivate the plantin the future(opposite left).Trainees andinstructors ripenthe fruits of theirhard learning andlabor (oppositeright).

42-45global korea.indd 44-45 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:15



my korea


My second day in Korea, the bubbly English teacher I replaced

showed me a Post-it note on the ridge I would inherit. “Here’s

how you tell the delivery person your address in Korean,” she

explained cheerully. Tat note spelled out my new address in

Korean words with English letters: “Beck sa hoe, beck sheep

eel Bang-ee-dong.” Tis was my rst introduction to Korea’s

amazing delivery culture. Tough I barely had a stitch o

knowledge about the Korean nation, culture or language, I

could order Korean ood by phone. Once I learned the names

o some dishes, o course.

Delivery is baedal in Korean, and my wie says Korea hasa “baedal culture.” Te speed and convenience o delivery ts

a nation that is always on the go. Drivers here share the road

with legions o motorbike and moped-driving delivery men

and women who dodge and dart into every obscure alleyway

in Korea, bringing packages, supplies and ood to anyone

who needs it. Along with the bikers, delivery trucks and vans

bring larger items around. Te small, dark blue delivery vans

have the proportions o the lunchbox I carried to school as a

child, and their drivers t them around sharp corners, into

unbelievably narrow spaces. And what can be delivered?

Almost anything.

In the 1995 movie Te Net , Sandra Bullock plays a woman

who uses the Internet so much that nobody knows what she

looks like. She orders everything online and has it delivered

to her door, until she becomes a virtual hermit. I our world’s

wired-in uture really leads to home-delivery shut-ins, nonation will live better than Korea.

Laundromats, clothing stores, package pickups, ower

shops and baby supplies are either online or a phone call

away, and delivery speeds can be astonishing. My wie once

ordered an outt rom a store in the morning, and it arrived

that same aernoon. We haven’t set oot in a pet supply store

in over a year, though we own two dogs, and when I was out

o country during her birthday, I had owers delivered to my

wie’s workplace. Even moving houses in Korea includes door

to door service. Entire moving crews will empty a house (with

a li, through the window o my apartment), load it, ship it

and set everything up in the new place — they only ask where

each wardrobe and desk should go. My wie ound a moving

company with a book-shel specialist, who packed away her

considerable library and re-stocked the shelves in the new

house, in exactly the same order as beore, thanks to a system

he’d developed. Me, I can barely organize the photos on my

computer’s hard drive!

Meanwhile, my two avorite grocery stores both include

ree home delivery i you spend more than a certain amount.

Tis means we do not have to bring our car when we shop

or ood. O course, the speedy bike-delivery workers may

corner sharply on their way. Some places suggest you carry

the eggs home yoursel, and don’t have ice cream delivered, in

case there’s trac. Is even going to the grocery store too much

strain? No problem; there are online shopping websites.

While online clothing stores are multiplying, the most

popular delivery item is probably still ood. Te most oen-

ordered cuisine includes ried chicken, pizza and Chinese

ood, but everything rom rice dishes and soups, to cutlets,

ried things and even sushi, are available. Couriers lug stainless

steel boxes o Saran-wrapped dishes to the oces o dedicatedworkaholics logging overtime, or to the convenience store

where my riends drink beers lazily on the patio together, or

to the park where my wie and I let our dogs of the leash — so

long as I can explain the basics o where I am in Korean, the

deliverymen will always nd me. I I’m in my apartment and

the ood was delivered on real, non-disposable dishes, I can

leave the dirty plates outside my apartment, and the courier

will come by and pick them up again later or re-use.

Te delivery bikers know their neighborhoods, some with

side-streets intricate and treacherous as spider webs, almost

with their eyes closed. Tanks to the population density in

Korea’s cities, running deliveries only within several city blocks

remains viable or some types o delivery. Within that zone,

service is amazing!

During a dicult time in my lie, I discovered that

yangnyeom chicken (ried chicken marinated in a sweet and

very spicy sauce) was one o the ew comort oods that tasted

good even on my worst days. I once tried to order yangnyeom

chicken at my house, but the shop I called explained

apologetically that my address was outside their delivery area.

In Korea, delivery service is not only ubiquitous, it’s a must. One Canadianexpat explores the world o convenienceand speed that comprises the country’szipping motorbike culture.

DELIVERYDARING

46-48my korea.indd 46-47 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:15



and despite the distance there wasn’t even a big markup. I don’t

think I’ve ever eaten a more satisying, or surprising, meal.

Some o the more specialized delivery services, likegroceries and supplies, require a strong working knowledge

o Korean, and maybe also a Korean ID card, to navigate all-

Korean websites and make online purchases. Not many expats

I know capitalize on the ull range o delivery services available

in Korea. Aer getting over the initial shyness about placing

a phone call in Korean, and with the aid o a ew Youube

videos that can teach useul phrases, getting ood delivery isn’t

hard at all. Even better, at every place I have called repeatedly,

en minutes later, I received a phone call rom the ranchise

in the next zone o the same chain, which did deliver to my

house.So how does one know what to order? Restaurants with

delivery service advertise by distributing copies o their

menus, sticking magnetic versions onto apartment doors

or taping them onto staircases. Tis kind o marketing is

one o the measures delivery services take to stay ahead in a

competitive business.

And competition is steep indeed. Tis spring, major Korean

news outlets carried discussions about competitive ood

delivery services, rst when a mega-store ofered barbecue

chicken as a loss leader, at less than hal the price charged

by neighborhood delivery ranchises (which are usually

independently owned). Local shops could not compete, and

there was a backlash against the corporation or endangering

the livelihoods and existence o purveyors o Korea’s beloved

chicken delivery. Not long aer, several university-aged

pizza delivery workers were killed in car accidents in the

same month, prompting a discussion about the pressureon employees to drive dangerously, or be charged or losses

caused by lateness. Because o the bad publicity, several chains

dropped their 30 minute-delivery guarantees. Convenient as

quick delivery is, any sensible driver in Korea, as well as any

sensible pedestrian, supports lessened pressure on the reckless

drivers who share the road with us.

Delivery is not just limited to dense cities, nor to homes

with street addresses, either, as evidenced by a riend o mine



I B R S / C C R I N° : 1 0 0 2 4 -4 0 7 3 0

K O C I S

1 5 H y o j a -r o , J o n g n o - g u

S e o ul ( 1

1 0 - 0 4 0 )

R e p u b l i c o f K o r e a

NE P A S A F F R A N C HI R

N O S T A MP R E Q UI R E D

P r i o r i t y / P r i o r i l a i r e

B y a i r m a i l / P a r a v i o n

R E P L Y P A I D / R É P O N S E P A Y É E

K O R E A

( S E O UL )

© C

h o i J i - y o u n g

Dolhareubang, a carvedbasalt rock on Jeju Island

엽서(9월호).indd 1 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:16



Readers’ CommentsYour ideas will be reflected in making forthcoming issues of KOREA.

1. Are the contents in KOREA magazine useful for understanding Korea?(1) Very useful (2) Useful (3) Somewhat useful (4) Not useful at all

2. What kind of contents do you find most interesting or useful in KOREA?

(1) Cover Story

(2) Interview (Pen & Brush, People)

(3) Travel & Culture (Travel, Seoul, My Korea, Now in Korea)

(4) International Cooperation (Global Korea)

(5) Others (please specify)

3. How do you find the editing, layout and printing quality of KOREA?

(1) Excellent (2) Good (3) So-so (4) Bad (5) Very bad

4. Which article did you find most interesting in this issue and why?

5. Do you have any suggestions for improving the contents of KOREA, or

any new ideas for regular sections?

6. Your Personal Information:

Gender : Female Male

Country :

E-mail :

Subscribe online for your free copy of KOREA.It’s as simple as ...

1. Korea.net

2. Home > Library > Publications > Periodicals

* KOREAThis monthly magazine provides first-hand

information on culture, tourism and policies.

Latest Update : September 2011

54 pages

3. Enter your street address for a free hard copyor

download a PDF file of the magazine each month.

Subscriptions

20 11Sept ember

엽서(9월호).indd 2 11. 8. 26. 오후 3:16

korea magazine [september 2011 vol. 7 no. 9]

Documents