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Korea Enters Donors’ Group 1

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68 korea January 2010
G a t e w a y t o K o r e a

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CONTENTS

06 14
23 28
Publisher
Kim He-beom,
Korean Culture and
Information Service
06 Cover Story
• Korea Accepted to Donors’ Club
• Honing a Young Aid System
Chief Editor • Climbing Into the Trenches
Ko Hye-ryun

Cover Photo
Editing & Printing
JoongAng Daily 14 Diplomacy
• President Urges Immediate Action at Climate Summit
Bike paths are a key E-mail • Harper, Lee Tackle Range of Issues
cultural component of webmaster@korea.net
Korea’s four rivers res-
toration project. Design
JoongAng Daily 18 Global Korea
• Multicultural Boot Camp for Future Military Brass
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The articles published in Korea do not necessarily rep-

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liable for errors or omissions.
28 Green Growth
• River Project Focus on Environment, Leisure
• Green Market of the Future Is Hope of Planet, Business
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34 Culture
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the homepage of www.korea.net. • The Crimson Ink That Once Fueled Korean Government
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4 korea January 2010

 JANUARY 2010
VOL. 17 / NO. 13

44 54
40 terature
Korean Literature
• Writing After the Struggle’s End: 54 Travel
• Walk Into Nature, and a Perilous Past
Gong Ji-yeong • Into the Woods: An Energetic Trek
• Roads that Shaped Korea’s History
Korean Artist
44 • The ‘Little Giant’ of the Opera:
• Embarking on a Taste Adventure

Youn Kwang-chul
60 People
• Salvation Through Cinema:
Father Sebastian
48 Sports
• Bearing Nation’s Hopes, Jang and An Lift to • Europe Through Diverse Eyes
Victory
• Korea Takes Home Big Slate of AFC Awards
66 Foreign Viewpoints
• Choosing the Right Approach :

52 Korea through the Lens

• Something’s Fishy
Phillip Raskin

• Year of the Tiger...

January 2010 korea 5

Officials and experts in international development aid at-
tend the third annual Seoul International ODA Conference
in November. The meeting came only days before Korea was
admitted as a member of the Development Assistance Com-
[KOICA]

mittee of the OECD.

6 korea January 2010

 CoverCover | From|Recipient
StoryStory Korea at to
theDonor
G-20

BIG
DREAMS
SMALL
The world looks
country to chair
oks to Korea as it becomes the first non-G8
non-G
ir the Group of 20 and steer economic policy

FIRMS January 2010 korea 7

Korea Enters Donors’ Group
Nation finally accepted by OECD Development Assistance Committee
K
orea has joined an exclusive,
multinational club for devel-
opment aid, hoping to
improve its aid structure
and steadily increase its assistance to
others.
On Nov. 25, Korea became the
newest member of the Development
Assistance Committee, an OECD body
on development aid. It was regarded as
the culmination of Korea s transfor-
mation from a recipient of internation-
8 korea January 2010
al aid to a donor nation.
In a special session at the OECD
headquarters in Paris, the DAC
endorsed Korea’s entry. With that,
Korea joined 22 individual nations
plus the European Commission, the
executive body of the European
Union.
Korea is now a member of all 25
OECD committees, the second Asian
nation to do so after Japan. It joined
the OECD in 1996 and began the pro-
cess of joining the DAC a decade lat-
er.
Welcoming Korea to the DAC,
Committee Chairman Eckhard
Deutscher said, “We have had many
opportunities to observe Korea’s great
progress, as a nation, as an economy
and as a provider of aid to the world’s
poorest countries. Korea’s joining us
today has paved the way for a more
open and inclusive Development
Assistance Committee.”

[KOICA]
Left: KOICA’s senior director Jang Hyun-
sik stands next to the commemorative
stone before the construction work
began on the Korea-Camboida Friend-
ship Road. Top: The road was a detour
around Angkor Wat, the famous tem-
plex complex, so that vehicles wouldn’t
damage the cultural heritage site by
driving through it. Middle: The Korea Ex-
pressway Corp. carries out construction
work. Above: The finished road.
Cover Story | From Recipient to Donor
The DAC, which calls itself the
venue and voice of the world’s major
donors, serves as a forum for donating
nations to discuss issues regarding
development aid and poverty reduc-
tion. Founded in 1961, the DAC is an
exclusive club, open only to nations
whose annual official development
assistance — the type of aid that pro-
motes the economic development and
welfare of developing countries —
exceeds $100 million or whose annual
ODA is more than 0.2 percent of their
gross national income.
Korea’s ODA surpassed $100 mil-
lion in 1996, but its ODA-to-GNI ratio
was 0.09 percent last year.
Oh Joon, Korea’s deputy foreign
minister for multilateral and global
affairs, charted the country’s history
to highlight the significance of its
acceptance.
“Since the founding of the OECD
in 1961, Korea is the first country to
develop into a donor after decades of
receiving international aid,” he said.
We depended on such assistance for
our economic development and now
we’re helping out others.”
Oh also said the DAC membership
reflects Korea’s will to provide aid to
countries in need under the interna-
tional development system.
“We are humbled by the realiza-
tion of how much we owe to the world,”
Oh added. “We believe it is our respon-
sibility to pay back to the world by
Jang Si-jung, fourth from left, vice president of KOICA, and Sok An, third from right, deputy
prime minister of Cambodia, stand before the sign that commemorates the completion of the
Korea-Cambodia Friendship Road in May 2009.
sharing what we have gone through.”
The OECD also lauded Korea’s
efforts to join the DAC and its mem-
bers, which are all major donors.
“This is happening in the middle
of an economic crisis,” remarked
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gur-
ría, “when many countries are holding
back. Korea is signaling the way for-
ward, as it has done in many areas.”
A delegation of experts from the
DAC visited Korea in June 2009 for a
closer look into the nation’s aid pro-
grams. Based on their report, which
complimented Korea on its growing
aid volume and strategies, the DAC
members threw their unanimous sup-
port behind Korea’s entry.
Before that, in August 2008, the
OECD conducted a special review of
Korea’s development cooperation, and
noted Korea s positive steps to address
pressing issues, such as increasing
ODA, introducing unified assistance
strategies, and acquiring development
knowledge and experience to share
with others.
Upon its entry, Korea pledged to
increase its aid in relation to its gross
national income. from the current
0.09 percent of GNI to 0.15 percent by
2012 and then by 0.25 percent by
2015.
The average among the DAC mem-
bers is 0.3 percent, and the level recom-
mended by the UN is 0.7 percent.
By Yoo Jee-ho
January 2010 korea 9
Honing a Young Aid System
Unified assistance agency on the way to provide help across the world
A
nation doesn’t have to be a
member of the OECD’s
Development Assistance
Committee to provide aid,
of course, but helping within the con-
text of DAC raises the donor nation’s
profile in the international commu-
nity and forces it to live up to the
standards of major donors, Korean
officials have said.
Membership also carries symbolic
significance. In the history of the
OECD, which was founded in 1961,
Korea is the first nation to go from a
recipient of aid to an emerging donor
nation. DAC membership validates
this unique transformation.
But with membership come
responsibilities.
Oh Joon, Korea’s deputy foreign
minister for multilateral and global
affairs, pointed out that Korea must
work to meet the committee’s aid
standards, both in terms of quantity
and quality of aid.
Korea reached over US$100 mil-
lion in official development assis-
tance in 1996, thus meeting the DAC
membership criteria. Its ODA was
US$803.8 million in 2008, and the
government estimates the figure will
reach US$900 million in 2009 and
then US$1.1 billion in 2010.
But it’s not the absolute amount
that Korea is concerned about. Only
0.09 percent of its gross national
income was spent on aid in 2008, and
that’s well below the DAC average of
0.3 percent and the UN-recommend-
ed level of 0.7 percent. Korea aims to
increase the level to 0.25 percent by
2015, a commitment that the DAC
termed “solid” but that would still be
short of the committee standard.
Then there’s the matter of improv-
ing the makeup of Korea’s aid. Oh
said about 75 percent of Korean aid is
“tied aid,” in which a donor nation
asks recipients to purchase products
10 korea January 2010
and services by companies of the
donor, even though cheaper alterna-
tives may be available.
Oh said only about 10 percent of
aid from major donors is tied, and
Korea plans to reduce the portion to
25 percent by 2015.
In its special review of Korea’s
development programs in 2008, the
OECD estimated that 98 percent of
Korean bilateral aid was either tied or
partially tied. The OECD said the fig-
ure was “at odds” with DAC recom-
mendations and that significant
progress was required.
And as part of its mid-term aid
strategies, Korea plans to diversify its
donation targets and expand assis-
tance to Africa, a continent that has
previously been overlooked.
The government figures show that
more than 40 percent of Korea’s bilat-
eral ODA heads to Asia, compared to
around 14 percent for Africa. As
recently as 2002, aid to Asia account-
ed for more than 75 percent of Korea’s
bilateral assistance, whereas less than
3 percent of that went to Africa.
At the second Korea-Africa
Forum held in November, Korea
pledged to double its development
assistance to Africa by 2012. In 2008,
Korea contributed US$107.1 million
in ODA to the continent.
Korea has also said it would con-
tinue to work with the International
Development Association, an organi-
zation under the World Bank that
provides interest-free loans and pro-
grams for poor nations, and also with
the African Development Bank.
Domestically, Korea has to
improve its aid structure. The OECD
has said Korea has no overall law to
govern its development cooperation
and should introduce such legislation
to “clearly set out Korea’s overall ODA
objectives and provide the legal basis
for a consolidated aid system.”
Oh admitted that Korea’s aid
cooperation system is “fragmented.”
The aid structure is built on two main
organizations. The Foreign Ministry
is responsible for the nation’s grant
aid, while the Finance Ministry over-
sees concessional loan policy. The
grant policy is then implemented by
the Korea International Cooperation
Agency, or KOICA, and concessional
loans by the Export-Import Bank of
Korea’s Economic Development and
Cooperation Fund, or EDCF.
In addition, 30 other cabinet min-
istries, government agencies and
regional authorities have been
involved in providing grant aid of
varying sizes.
In its review in 2008, the OECD
said such a fragmented system, and
the resulting lack of coordination,
creates inefficiencies. For instance,
KOICA and the EDCF produce sepa-
rate assistance strategies for a given
recipient, and the OECD suggested it
would be better to have a unified
strategy for each beneficiary.
“A lack of unified strategies, par-
ticularly at the country level, under-
mines the coherence, efficiency and
potential impact of development
activities,” the OECD report read. “A
fragmented approach also increases
demands on over-stretched partner
governments.”
The OECD recommended that
Korea tackle this two-pillar system
and create “a single entity with sole
authority over development coopera-
tion objectives, policy and strategy.”
The OECD also said such an organi-
zation could then produce a unified
policy framework to lead and apply to
all parts of the ODA system.
Oh acknowledged the problem
but said it can’t be fixed overnight.
Currently the International Develop-
ment Cooperation Committee under
the Prime Minister’s Office holds

caption
caption
caption
A young family in Ghana gets their water from
caption
the well drilled by the Korean headquarters of
[NEWSIS]
World Vision in November last year.
about two meetings per year to coor-
dinate aid-related issues from differ-
ent sectors. The Framework Act on
ODA, designed to strengthen the role
of this committee and improve con-
sistency and efficiency of the aid pol-
icy, is pending legislation.
Seol Kyung-hoon, director-gener-
al of the development cooperation
bureau at the Foreign Ministry,
explained that five different legisla-
tors had each drafted a law on reorga-
nizing the aid structure since July
2008, and on Nov. 23, the government
combined their measures into a single
legislative draft and submitted it to
the National Assembly for review.
Under the act, Seol said the gov-
ernment would bolster “coherence
and coordination” in creating and
implementing ODA policies, while
still recognizing separate policies for
grant aids and concessional loans.
The International Development
Cooperation Committee would
assume more responsibility in coordi-
nation, Seol said. It only meets about
twice a year, but under the new law, it
would hold sessions more regularly.
Seol and other aid officials have
stressed that strengthening mecha-
nisms for evaluating aid performance
Korea’s official development assistance (Unit: million U.S. dollars)
317.5
182.7 212.1 264.7
1998 1999 2000 2001
Source: Korea International Cooperation Agency, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
is also part of Korea’s agenda to
improve its ODA structure. A state-
ment from the ODA Korea Web site,
operated by the Foreign Ministry,
reads that Korea will also try to for-
mulate an original Korean assistance
model that transmits the country’s
successful development experience
aligned to the recipient country’s
national development strategies.
“Forming strong partnerships
with recipient countries as well as
donor countries is essential in increas-
ing aid effectiveness,” the statement
says. “Active participation in policy
dialogues with recipient countries
will be sought.”
ODA officials at the Korea gov-
ernment say the international envi-
ronment related to development
assistance has changed. Thanks to
Cover Story | From Recipient to Donor
803.9
752.3
699.1
455.3
423.4
365.9
278.8
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
globalization, they argue, the mutual
cooperation within the international
community in dealing with global
issues is now essential for the world
security and prosperity.
Given this change, officials say
Korea’s role has increased and the
scope of its assistance has widened.
And since it may be difficult to
dramatically raise its ODA amount
over a short period, Korea could con-
centrate on other areas.
“Korea could raise its visibility by
focusing on poverty reduction and
sustainable development,” a govern-
ment official said. “They are the main
challenges of the international devel-
opment cooperation today, and
Korea’s experience in poverty allevia-
tion can serve as a model.”.
By Yoo Jee-ho
January 2010 korea 11
 Students in Laos hold up textbooks provided by the Korea
International Cooperation Agency, or KOICA. The Korean
body has spent US$3 million since 2007 on purchasing text-
books for school-aged children there.
[KOICA]

12 korea January 2010


Climbing Into the Trenches
Pledges are well and good, but KOICA volunteers make them happen
S
enegal is an African nation
with a painful history of
slave abduction and colonial
rule by the French, and about
a third of its 12.5 million people live
below the international poverty line
of US$1.25 per day.
But to this barren, dry land by the
Atlantic Ocean, Korean volunteer
workers have brought water, and
hope.
The Korean government funded
efforts to build a waterway across a
large green field. When the project
was completed in June, kids could be
seen playing in the water, and some
adults were fishing. Local farmers
saw their first harvest with the new
irrigation, and said the increased rice
production led to higher income.
Today, more canals are being created
in farm villages across Senegal.
The Korea International Cooper-
ation Agency, better known by its
acronym KOICA, has been helping
Senegal and other nations in need.
This Korean agency is in charge of
implementing the nation’s grant aid
and technical cooperation programs.
KOICA has experts in various
fields, not the least of which is agri-
culture. Min Hwang-ki is one such
expert who has taught the basics to
Senegalese farmers who didn’t even
know how to make compost.
“It may seem as though our tech-
nology may be of little use,” Min said.
“But here, there’s so much we can
give. We should do these things as
much as we can.”
Senegalese officials lauded KOI-
CA’s work, saying the agency’s sup-
port would help build a new Senegal.
But it’s not just this African nation
where KOICA has worked its magic.
It’s sent more than 1,500 volunteers to
42 developing countries around the
world, including some of the poorest
Cover Story | From Recipient to Donor
nations such as Cambodia and Para-
guay, under the World Friends Korea
program. KOICA set up a regional
office in Cambodia in 2003 to facili-
tate its assistance there. It has 28
regional offices in 27 nations overall.
Near the Cambodian capital of
Phnom Penh, Koica helped build an
embankment 14 kilometers long. The
agency invested US$2 million in the
project, which started in 2007.
KOICA also paved a two-lane
detour around Angkor Wat, a major
piece of Cambodian cultural heritage
and a popular tourist attraction, so
that vehicles wouldn’t have to drive
directly through the site and risk
damaging it.
Established in 1991, KOICA was
set up following the enactment of the
KOICA Act. According to the agency
Web site, this law provided a legal
platform for Korea’s grant aid pro-
grams, human resource management
and ODA policy implementation.
Programs under the act, the Web
site explains, include foreign worker
training programs in Korea, the dis-
patch of experts and volunteers
abroad, the sponsorship of develop-
ment studies, the implementation of
emergency relief activities and the
provision of commodities, capital
and facilities. The law also allows
KOICA to support civic groups and
cooperate with multilateral bodies.
KOICA was created at a time of
transition, when Korea was trans-
forming from a beneficiary of inter-
national aid into a donor. By the late
1980s, Korea’s technical assistance to
developing nations was in full swing,
and the nation formed the first group
of UNESCO Korea Youth volunteers.
The Economic Development Coop-
eration Fund was founded in 1987 to
handle concessional loans, and it
made its first loan the same year. In
Cover Story | Hidden Champions
1993, Korea surpassed US$100 mil-
lion in ODA, the minimum required
to become a member of the OECD
Development Assistance Committee.
KOICA wasted little time devel-
oping aid programs. In 1995, it initi-
ated the NGO support program and
the Korea Overseas Volunteer Pro-
gram. A year later, Korea joined the
OECD and began to push up its
annual ODA over the rest of the
decade.
Grant aid is one of two types of
bilateral ODA, along with conces-
sional loans. After joining the DAC,
Korea pledged to increase its grant
aid as a percentage of overall ODA
from 70 to 90 percent to meet the
standard set by leading donors. The
onus now falls on KOICA.
But it’s not always about money.
KOICA volunteers are an eclectic
group of individuals from diverse
backgrounds, people who choose to
go to countries in dire situations for
one simple reason: They want to
help.
Park Na-ri, for instance, teaches
Korean language, music and arts at a
Cambodia school, after working for
the Korean-American Educational
Commission, which operates Ful-
bright grant programs. The 41-year-
old didn’t mind the work then, but
she opted to “do what I actually want-
ed to do, which was to share whatever
I had with others.”
Lee Eun-sook manages volunteers
at KOICA’s Cambodian office. She
used to work at a Korean financial
company, but she’s spent the past four
years in Cambodia, the first as a vol-
unteer.
Lee said she wanted to get herself
“out of my comfort zone” and came to
Cambodia. She called the move the
best choice she ever made.
By Yoo Jee-ho
January 2010 korea 13
[YONHAP]
President Urges Immediate
I
n an effort to fight climate change
while pursuing economic devel-
opment, Korea announced a plan
to establish a global think tank to
advocate low-carbon green growth
strategies at the world leaders’ confer-
ence in Copenhagen, Denmark, last
month.
President Lee Myung-bak arrived in
the Danish capital city on Dec. 17 to
meet with world leaders at the annual
climate change conference. In his key-
note speech, Lee said the world agrees
on the need to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, and the Copenhagen confer-
ence should focus on how to do so.
In the address, titled “Taking Action
Together,” Lee promoted a “me first”
spirit, encouraging leaders to take action
voluntarily, citing Korea’s recent move
to set its own emissions targets.
“We all agreed that we must do this
14 korea January 2010
because acting first is good for us and
good for the world,” Lee said. “Yes, I
believe a ‘me first attitude’ is the fastest
way to save our planet.”
One of the key elements of the
speech was Lee’s announcement of his
plan to open the Global Green Growth
Institute during the first half of next
year. The president called green growth
Korea’s new national vision, and said the
country annually invests 2 percent of its
GDP in research and development of
green technology and infrastructure.
“And I hope to share this with all of
you,” Lee said in the speech, delivered in
English. “This is one reason why Korea
will establish a Global Green Growth
Institute, or GGGI, during the first half
of next year. The GGGI will help all of
us share our experiences and know-how
with each other.”
Lee said renowned experts at home
and abroad had already agreed to par-
ticipate in the think tank. The Blue
House said members of the institute will
include Nicholas Stern, chairman of a
climate change institute at the London
School of Economics; Thomas Heller, a
professor emeritus of international legal
studies at Stanford Law School and head
of the Climate Policy Initiative; Hal
Harvey, the chief executive of the Cli-
mateWorks Foundation; and Eric Bein-
hocker, a senior fellow at the McKinsey
Global Institute.
The Korean presidential office
Cheong Wa Dae said the think tank will
open five branches around the world by
2012, with special attention paid to
emerging countries in Asia to help them
develop green growth strategies.
Lee also made official Korea’s bid to
host the climate conference in 2012. The
Conference of the Parties of the United

Action at Climate Summit
Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change, as it is officially known,
takes place annually and the venue
rotates among continents.
Asia will host the conference in
2012, and Korea and Qatar are vying for
the opportunity.
The 2012 event will be the 18th con-
ference, and up to 15,000 delegates from
192 member nations of the UN conven-
tion are expected to attend to create a
new climate plan. The Kyoto Protocol is
due to expire at the end of 2012. The
announcement of the host won’t be
made until the end of next year, but
sources at Cheong Wa Dae said Den-
mark and major Asian countries have
shown support for Korea’s bid.
As the part of the “me first” attitude,
Lee proposed a registry of “nationally
appropriate mitigation actions.
“This mechanism will internation-
ally recognize the voluntary targets set
by developing countries and increase
transparency and also provide assis-
tance so that they can achieve these
goals,” the president said. “This will be
one way to encourage countries to act
voluntarily.”
On Lee’s second day in Copenha-
gen, amidst a gloomy outlook for the
climate summit, Lee gave another
address, urging leaders to take immedi-
ate action. “Although we may not agree
on everything today, this must not be an
excuse for no action,” Lee said. “We will
continue to do our very best because
there is no alternative to our planet. This
is all we have.”
While the climate summit ended
with almost no progress, Cheong Wa
Dae said Lee played an important role
by promoting Korea’s voluntary and
aggressive action to fight climate change
Diplomacy
Korean President Lee Myung-bak, at the po-
dium, gives a speech at the recent climate
change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.
and pursue low-carbon green growth.
“Lee also played a role to mediate
between advanced and developing
economies on the issue,” Kim Eun-hye,
Lee’s spokeswoman, said.
“Lee gave two addresses at the sum-
mit, an unprecedented case for a state
leader,” Kim said. “Lee’s proposal of the
NAMA Registry was reflected in the
draft of the summit’s declaration. It
established a meaningful starting point
to urge developing nations to join the
greenhouse gas emission efforts, while
advanced nations will provide sup-
port.”
Lee’s message that there was no
excuse for inaction “will be the basis of
the global paradigm to save the planet
from climate change and to move for-
ward Korea’s green growth strategy fur-
ther in the future,” Kim said.
By Ser Myo-ja
January 2010 korea 15
Harper, Lee Tackle Range of Issues
A
t a summit in Seoul Dec. 7, President Lee
Myung-bak and Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper pledged their cooperation
in hosting the Group of 20 summits next
year.
The two heads of state discussed a wide range of
bilateral and global issues during the visit, including a
Korea-Canada free trade agreement and the North
Korean nuclear crisis, the presidential office of Cheong
Wa Dae said.
At the joint press conference following the summit,
Lee said the meeting with Harper took place at an
important time, since both Canada and Korea will host
the G-20 next year. Gatherings of world’s advanced
and emerging economies will take place in Toronto in
June and Seoul in November. Cheong Wa Dae also said
Lee and Harper expressed their hope for an early con-
clusion of negotiations for a bilateral free trade deal.
The two nations have gone through 13 rounds of talks
since 2005.
“The FTA is an issue that can be resolved by the
two countries. That is why I believe we will soon reach
an agreement,” Lee said during the joint media confer-
16 korea January 2010
ence. The Canadian leader said he, too,
was very “optimistic” about the envi-
sioned trade deal after what he called his
“excellent” discussions with Lee.
The Korean president also spoke
positively about the ongoing trade dis-
pute between the two nations on Korea’s
The leaders import ban on Canadian beef. The pres-
coordinated ident said the issue is “very sensitive to
the Korean people,” but he believes in
the G-20 principle that the two countries will be
able to settle the matter. “The situation
summits that is heading toward a resolution, not
both countries toward deadlock,” Lee said.
Canada has taken the issue to the
will host in World Trade Organization, where it has
been under discussion by a panel since
2010 and August. Seoul and Ottawa are also hold-
discussed an ing bilateral talks to discuss the ban. The
Lee-Harper summit, the third of its kind
FTA and this year, also focused on the global eco-
nomic crisis.
North Korea. “President Lee and I had excellent

[NEWSIS]
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
left, holds a press conference with Korean
President Lee Myung-bak during his visit to
Seoul in early December.
discussions on global issues, such as the
G-20 meetings next year,” Harper said,
adding that Canada will host the sum-
mit in Toronto from June 26-27.
Lee also praised the contributions
made by the past three rounds of G-20
summits in Washington, London and
Pittsburgh to the international commu-
nity’s efforts to fight the global financial
meltdown. Noting that the G-20 sum-
mits next year will be venues for global
economic cooperation in the post-crisis
period, Lee sought Harper’s coopera-
tion to prepare appropriate agenda,
Cheong Wa Dae said.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, the
Canadian leader said he would commit
himself to similar goals.
Lee and Harper also vowed to make
joint efforts for the denuclearization of
the North, and the Canadian leader
showed support for Lee’s “grand bar-
gain.” By Ser Myo-ja
Hungary Could Be
Korean Base in EU
H
ungarian President
Laszlo Solyom visited
Korea at the invitation
of President Lee
Myung-bak from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2,
and during the summit the two lead-
ers agreed to work together toward
the ratification of the Korea-EU free
trade agreement and to increase
exchanges and cooperation between
their two countries.
The meeting itself took place
with a state dinner on Dec. 1 at the
Korean presidential residence,
Cheong Wa Dae.
According to the president’s
office, Lee stressed that the trade lib-
eralization pact will not only bring
raw economic benefits, it would also
help balance growth among EU
member nations. Solyom agreed
and promised his cooperation. Hun-
gary will hold the presidency of the
EU Council in the first half of 2011.
During the summit, Solyom also
said Hungary could be a base for
Korean companies entering Europe,
and sought Lee’s support for an
increase in investment, Cheong Wa
Dae said.
This year marked the 20th anni-
versary of the establishment of dip-
lomatic ties between Korea and
Hungary. At the summit, Lee pro-
posed to expand the bilateral
exchange of senior government offi-
cials and stressed the importance of
boosting trade, investment, cultural
and academic interaction.
Hungary was the first country in
the Soviet sphere of influence in
Eastern Europe to establish diplo-
matic ties with South Korea. The
event in 1989 offered Korea an early
foothold to advance into the region,
Cheong Wa Dae said.
“Among the socialist nations,
Hungary was the first to decide to
Diplomacy
participate in the 1988 Seoul Olym-
pics,” said Kim Eun-hye, spokes-
woman for Cheong Wa Dae.
Expressing satisfaction with the
development of relations, President
Solyom proposed further coopera-
tion in science and technology. A
plan to establish a joint research cen-
ter was proposed, and Solyom also
requested Korea open a cultural cen-
ter in Hungary. President Lee said he
would seriously examine the mat-
ter.
The Hungarian leader offered
his support for Lee’s North Korea
policy, particularly the “grand bar-
gain” proposal to resolve the nuclear
crisis, Cheong Wa Dae said. Global
efforts for Korea’s successful hosting
of the Group of 20 summit next year
were also discussed.
During his stay in Korea, Solyom
visited historic sites in Gyeongju,
Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and
inspected environmental institu-
tions on Jeju-do Island. He also vis-
ited the National Assembly and
Samsung Electronics.
By Ser Myo-ja
[NEWSIS]
President Lee Myung-bak, right, walks
with Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom.
January 2010 korea 17
Provided by the Korea Air Force Academy

Multicultural Boot Camp

18 korea January 2010
 Global Korea

Five foreign cadets at the Korea Air Force

Academy trade war-stories about cadet life in
Korea in front of campus barracks in Cheon-
gwon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do.
The four men are from Thailand and the fe-
male cadet is from Japan. From left: senior
Worawat Warawong, junior Reiko Kagiyama,
junior Supachai Jirasirichote, sophomore Je-
sada Chomdara and freshman Thawatchai
Thongsangkaew.

for Future Military Brass

January 2010 korea 19
 Thawatchai Thongsangkaew
Korean military academies reach out to
foreign officer candidates to strengthen
military ties with other nations
T
he influx of foreigners into
Korea has not just limited
itself to tourists, expats and
marriage migrants living here;
Korean military academies are embrac-
ing the extent of globalization’s reach
by training cadets from other coun-
tries.
Even though the history of entrust-
ing foreign cadets with military educa-
tion and training programs in Korea is
not that long, many foreign cadets are
striving to seize opportunities to get
Korean military trainings and learn
about Korean culture.
Currently, there are a total of 13
foreign cadets being educated in three
academies.The Korea Military (Army),
Naval and Air Force academies have
six, two and five foreign cadets, respec-
tively.
Each of the academies said foreign
cadets are elite would-be officers who
have the potential to become military
diplomats for making close ties between
20 korea January 2010
Jesada Chomdara
Korea and their homeland after they
return to their country.
“I think I have a greater advantage
than other air force cadets in Thailand
since I have been able to experience
Korean lifestyle and its culture. I am
confident that I have learned and know
more about other culture than my fel-
low Thai cadets,” said Worawat Wara-
wong, a Thai cadet in his final year at
the Korea Air Force Academy. “I believe
training programs here made me
stronger mentally and physically. It
also developed me into a better man
and helped me think properly.”
By Air
The Korea Air Force Academy,
which is located in Cheongwon-gun,
Chungcheongbuk-do, has been accept-
ing cadets from Thailand and Japan
since 1994 and 2002, respectively, into
training programs. Currently, there are
four Thai cadets in each grade and one
Japanese junior.
Supachai Jirasirichote
The origin of the program was in
June 1991 when four-star General Han
Chu-sok, Air Force Chief of Staff at the
time, visited Thailand and received a
verbal request from a local Air Force
commander to accept Thai cadets into
Korean training programs. The follow-
ing month, an air force attaché at the
Thai embassy in Korea made a formal
request.
A year later, the Ministry of Nation-
al Defense gave the approval to accept
Thai cadets. The first Thai cadet
entered the academy in 1994.
Korea Air Force Academy regula-
tions require Thai cadets to complete a
year-long Korean language course
before beginning their training and
studies. They share the same life and
routines as Korean cadets during four
years at the academy.
After finishing the full four-year
course, Thai cadets are commissioned
second lieutenant in Korea and return

Reiko Kagiyama
to their homeland.
“The most difficult matter that I
faced during my freshman year was the
language,” said Supachai Jirasirichote,
a Thai junior. “I learned Korean lan-
guage for a year at a language institute
at Dankook University before entering
the academy. Institute instructors talk-
ed slowly and did not use difficult
words. But I had hard time under-
standing words in the academy since
more difficult words were spoken
quickly. I have been used to the Korean
language since sophomore year.”
Jirasirichote also said that he had
been selected to study abroad in both
Japan and Korea. He chose the Korean
academy because of a reputation for
intense training regimens.
In addition to the Thai cadets, Jap-
anese cadets began entering the acad-
emy in 2002 as juniors. Potential offi-
cers from Japan are trained for one year
here and then go back to the National
Defense Academy of Japan to finish the
remaining one-year course.
“I first got interested in Korea after
visiting the country when I was a first
year in junior high school. Since then I
dreamed of learning about Korea and
its language,” said Reiko Kagiyama, a
Worawat Warawong
junior cadet from Japan. “I am plan-
ning to become an intelligence officer
and an air force attaché to the Japanese
embassy in Korea so that I could con-
tribute to making bridges between
Korea and Japan.”
All five foreign cadets at the Air
Force Academy commonly pointed
out that Korean cadets are well disci-
plined and have a high sense of nation-
al pride due to strict education system
and hierarchy.
They also said that compared to
their homelands, Korean cadets have
relatively less freedom to step out-of-
line.
“Cadets in the Korea Air Force
Academy are required to study and go
through exercises and activities almost
in a perfect manner,” said Jesada
Chomdara, a sophomore from Thai-
land. “The academy in Thailand pro-
vides relatively fewer training pro-
grams that require local cadets to con-
centrate more. In Korea, you have to be
nearly perfect in the academic pro-
gram of study, military training, athlet-
ics, inspection, squadron assembly and
so on.”
The Korea Air Force Academy is
now promoting its plan to exchange
Global Korea
cadets with Turkey starting from 2011.
The academy is waiting for the Turkish
military’s final acceptance of the plan,
which is expected to boost bilateral
military ties.
In addition, the academy has also
reached out to the Philippines and
Australia, both members of the allied
UN force that dispatched some of their
troops to Korea during the Korean War
(1950-53), about plans to send their
officers-in-training to Korea.
The Korea Air Force Academy was
opened on Jan. 14, 1949, in Gimpo,
Gyeonggi-do. Known as the Aviation
Academy at the time, the inaugural
class had 97 cadets. In Oct. 1 that year,
the academy adopted its current mon-
iker.
On May 1, 1951, as the Korean War
raged on, the campus temporarily
moved to Jinhae in Gyeongsangnam-
do. It remained in the city near Busan
until Dec. 12, 1958, when the campus
returned to Seoul. The academy finally
settled at its current location in Cheon-
gwon-gun on Dec. 21, 1985.
Then in February 1997, the Korean
Air Force Academy made history by
becaming the first among the acade-
mies to allow female cadets to enter.
January 2010 korea 21
 Senior Korean cadets at the Military Academy demonstrate to other foreign cadets
(not shown) how to lead a squadron during company-level tactics. The tactics, which
are part of an intensive military training aimed at developing combat skills and leader-
ship as a would-be commanding officer, last six weeks each year in July and August. Witsarut Ruansri

22 korea January 2010


Nibphit Yoobanyong Fredericosy Valmonte Supakit Kaewyoo
New cadets are required
to be at their mental and
physical peaks
By Land
Currently, one cadet from Turkey,
four from Thailand and one from the
Philippines attend the Korea Military
Academy, which readies officers for
the army, in Nowon-gu, northern
Seoul.
Except for the Turkish cadet, other
foreigners receive the whole four-year
course along with Korean cadets.
“In order to enter the Korea Mili-
tary Academy, you have to be academ-
ically, mentally and physically well
prepared. As far as I am concerned,
Provided by the Korea Miliary Academy
Korean cadets not only obtain good
performance in their studies but also
value leadership and honor above
everything else. They also have a high
regard for responsibility,” said Nibphit
Yoobanyong, 22, a sophomore from
Thailand. “Discipline is very strict in
the Korea Military Academy. In Thai-
Global Korea
Saran Nopnorm
land, cadets are given opportunities to
make up for their mistakes during
cadet life. But the Korean academy
does not allow mistakes. You have a
high chance of being kicked out.”
Military Academy cadet Supakit
Kaewyoo, a 23-year-old junior from
Thailand said, “Korean cadets are full
of passion and always work very hard
at many things. And since you have to
accomplish a number of assigned
duties within limited period of time,
those who manage time well get good
results.”
The most difficult challenge Kaew-
yoo is still facing in his cadet life is the
Korean vocabulary. He said that Kore-
an military terms, acronyms and, in
particular, Chinese characters are giv-
ing him a hard time.
Thai freshman Witsarut Ruansri,
21, chose to earn his stripes in Korea
January 2010 korea 23
 The academies pride themselves on strict
regulations, discipline, and high standards
because he thinks he could learn a lot
more than other countries because of
the value placed here on traditional
culture and history.
“Since the Philippines joined to
fight during the Korean War as one of
allied members, I believe Korea sol-
diers are our comrades and that made
me to choose the Korean Military
Academy,” said Filipino cadet Frederi-
cosy Valmonte. This 22-year-old soph-
omore has found that Korean cadets
actually cherish the freedoms they’re
allowed, contradicting stories of the
hard-knock lives of Korean cadets he
had heard about in the past.
Valmonte, who entered the mili-
tary academy last year, is the first Fili-
pino to receive a military education in
Korea.
“I am experiencing little trouble
during my life in the military academy
because academies in Korea and the
Philippines share similar academic and
training curriculums,” Valmonte said.
“The only difference I see is that each
grade in Korea runs its own military
training program whereas all cadets in
the Philippines are trained together
regardless of the grade.”
The Military Academy is planning
to educate cadets from Mongolia, as
well, in order to boost military exchang-
es and friendly relations with that
country.
The Korea Military Academy was
opened on May 1, 1946, in Nowon-gu,
with 88 cadets.
24 korea January 2010
During the Korean War, the acad-
emy temporarily moved South to Jin-
hae, opening there on Oct. 31, 1951.
After the war ended, in June 1954 the
campus transferred back to its original
location.
By opening the door for female
cadets on Mar. 1, 1998, it was the sec-
ond academy to do so.
By Sea
Even though the Korea Naval
Academy has the shortest history with
foreign cadets enrolling in their train-
ing courses among the military acade-
mies in Korea, it is taking full advan-
tage of foreign cadets to enhance the
reputation of the Korean Navy world-
wide.
The Naval Academy has been
allowing foreign cadets to enter the
academy since last year.
The academy has been providing
foreign cadets with four-month Kore-
an language courses at the Korea Army
Signal School in Daejeon before they
are formally admitted to the academy.
“Kazakh cadets have the chance to
study at overseas academies in Turkey,
Germany, the United States, Korea,
Russia and India,” said Kapashov Askar
Kendirbekuli, 20, a sophomore from
Kazakhstan. “I challenged myself to
enter the Korea Naval Academy since I
have been interested in Oriental cul-
ture since I was young and, in particu-
lar, had a long desire to learn about
Korea.”
Kendirbekuli’s ultimate goal is to
become a foreign affairs minister in his
homeland and contribute in improv-
ing diplomatic ties between Korea and
Kazakhstan.
“I choose to become the first Viet-
namese cadet to get training at the
academy,” Vu Dinh Thuc, 20, a cadet
from Vietnam in his first year in the
Naval Academy. “I decided to apply for
an admission to this academy because
I wanted to experience new challenges
in another country.”
The Naval Academy prides itself on
its strict regulations and discipline as
well as high standard of education sys-
tem.
One of advantages that the Naval
Academy has is the cadets’ well-orga-
nized self-governing system, accord-
ing to Kendirbekuli. He pointed out
that cadets were able to develop leader-
ship skills through the system as officer
candidates.
Both cadets expressed different
obstacles they had to overcome during
their early days in the academy.
“Rather than having hard time
overcoming language and cultural dif-
ferences, Korean food did not agree
with my appetite in the first place. So I
only ate rice and kimchi for a quite a
while,” said Kendirbekuli.
For Thuc, it was the language.
“During the first five-week basic cadet
training, [a basic training period before
becoming a freshman at the academy],
I had no choice but to remain in a posi-
Provided by the Korea Naval Academy
Kapashov Askar Kendirbekuli, left, a sophomore from Kazakhstan, and Vu Dinh Thuc, a freshman from Vietnam, pose for a photo in
front of a replica of the turtle ship, a historic ironclad warship of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), at the Korea Naval Academy in Jinhae,
Gyeongsangnam-do.
tion of attention because I was not able
to fully understand any orders from a
commanding senior cadet,” Thuc said.
Kendirbekuli said, “I missed my
parents and other family members in
my hometown so much, but I am doing
my utmost to overcome any odds that
I confront in order to become a repre-
sentative officer of my country in the
future.”
Since the establishment of diplo-
matic relations between Korea and
Vietnam in 1992, a combined 14 high-
ranking military officials from each
country have made visits to the other,
including a Vietnamese vice defense
minister’s visit to Korea in 1999.
Korean navy fleets have also called
at ports in Vietnam five times as part of
the cruise training.
The Korea Naval Academy was
established as the Navy School on Jan.
17, 1946, under what is now the Naval
Logistics Command. The school’s
campus opened in Jinhae on Oct. 25,
1948, and the school was renamed the
Korea Naval Academy in January the
following year.
The Naval Academy became the
last to allow female cadets to matricu-
late, finally allowing them to do so on
Feb. 20, 1999.
Foreign cadets who are preparing
to receive their education at academies
in other countries are selected through
written tests and in-depth interviews
during their freshman year at their
own countries’ military academies.
The Korean government is funding
these foreign cadets with sums similar
to those that pay for Korean cadets’
education.
Global Korea
To gain admission to any of Korea’s
officer training schools, all applicants
have to go through a two-stage screen-
ing process. The recruiting procedure
is jointly managed by all three acade-
mies.
The first stage, which normally
begins in August every year, is the writ-
ten test that covers three sections —
Korean language, English language
and mathematics.
The second stage includes a physi-
cal check-up, a physical fitness exam
and an in-depth interview.
Applicants who pass the first two
stages also have to achieve a minimum
standard score or above from the
National College Scholastic Aptitude
Test in order to be a successful candi-
date.
By Lee Min-yong
January 2010 korea 25
[PRESS-Q]

Ko Eun-ah, the reigning beauty of the Korean silver screen back in 1960s and ’70s, now heads the charity store chain Sharing Happiness and
uses her fame to help the less fortunate.

Group Deploys I
n the 1960s and ’70s, Ko Eun-ah was the darling
of the Korean screen, and of male Korean filmgo-
ers. But then she suddenly disappeared from

Stars to Cure
show business, and 15 years ago turned up host-
ing a show on a local Christian radio station. Today,
Ko runs a theater chain with her husband, retired film-

World’s Ills
maker Kwak Jung-hwan. But the 63-year-old actress-
turned-entrepreneur has one more title, the one she’s
most proud of: chairwoman of Sharing Happiness, a
nonprofit chain store selling secondhand clothes,
books and other everyday odds and ends.
Proceeds from the nation’s 43 Sharing Happiness
stores go to charity work, not only in Korea, but also
around the world, thanks to Korea Food for the Hun-
gry International, the local chapter of the global aid
NGO founded in 1971.
While Ko is the face of Sharing Happiness, other
celebrities also play their part. Seasoned entertainer
Park Mi-seon works as a representative; actresses Ji
Su-won and Kim Ye-boon are “sharing ambassadors.”
Some 50 staff members work tirelessly at stores, most-
26 korea January 2010

ly located at churches, across the country.
Ko and Sharing Happiness employees also
make frequent trips to the countries where
KFHI sends its volunteers and rescue teams. In
the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Pak-
istan in 2005, a delegation flew to the country
to bake bread and care for injured children. A
few months later, Ko flew to Africa, to work in
Burundi, Uganda and Sudan.
“When I first set foot in Burundi, I saw
people roaming the streets absentmindedly,
and women holding babies leaning on walls
with empty eyes. Nowhere could I find hope,”
Ko remembered.
But during her eight-day stay, Ko also met
a 14-year-old boy with AIDS who dreamed of
becoming a pastor and a young girl recovering
from heart surgery given by Korean volunteer
doctors.
Ko said that whenever she visits developing
countries, she realizes how privileged Korea is,
and how crucial it is for Koreans to help the
hungry and needy elsewhere in the world.
“Growing up, I learned that helping others
is a natural part of life, because my parents
always helped their neighbors even though
they were not that affluent.”
Ko’s background as a passionate Christian
was one reason she accepted the top post at
Sharing Happiness without hesitation, and in
that capacity, Ko said, she has been pleased to
see an increasing number of people willing to
help others.
Provided by Sharing Happiness
Swimmer Park Tae-hwan, an Olympic medalist (left) wearing a Santa From left, Sharing ambassador Kim Ye-boon, organization representa-
Claus outfit sells secondhand clothes and other goods with members tive Park Mi-seon and chairperson Ko Eun-ah devote themselves to
of Sharing Happiness. helping the less fortunate.
Global Korea
“In the past, donation was a pretty foreign
concept to many [in Korea] because people
thought donation was something that should
be done by business moguls. But people have
started to think that donation and sharing are
not that difficult. They realize they can help
others just by giving clothes or shoes they don’t
wear anymore.”
Concrete proof of that can be found at a
Sharing Happiness store on the ground floor of
Seoul Cinema in Jongno, central Seoul, Ko said.
The area is full of young people, and always
packed with donated goods.
Ko said her acting career has been a great
asset to help organize bazaars and other large
charity events.
“The staff at Sharing Happiness does all the
dirty work for me, sending formal letters and
coming up with business proposals, and all I do
is show up at the end and persuade people to
donate.”
The actress has no appetite for a comeback.
Instead, Ko has big plans for Sharing Happi-
ness.
“I want to see more Sharing Happiness
stores sprout up in every corner of Seoul. If
companies give us a chance to open Sharing
Happiness stores in their buildings, I believe
the effect will be huge because people can eas-
ily donate and help others,” the star said.
“I think even a small Sharing Happiness
store can make this world a better place.”
By Sung So-young
January 2010 korea 27
River Project Focuses
on Environment, Leisure
A massive network of bike lanes will connect to river cruise boats
for unique tour packages, while a flurry of construction will improve
water quality and sustainability — but at a cost of 22.2 trillion won

28 korea January 2010

 Green Growth

L
ate last year, nine small cafes
were built on bridges over the
Hangang River in Seoul. They
have already become tourist hot
spots, each attracting 700 visitors a day
to see the city from a new angle.
Now imagine super-sizing such a
project to 22.2 trillion won (US$19 bil-
lion), encompassing cultural and leisure
facilities, industrial complexes and
improvements in water quality across
Korea, and you’ll see why expectations
for the four rivers restoration project —
which gets into its second year and kicks
[JoongAng Ilbo]
now-president Lee Myung-bak when he
served as Seoul mayor from 2002 to
2006, has been transformed from a
shabby overpass into a new Seoul land-
mark.
To similar effect, the government
plans to build 1,728 kilometers (1,073
miles) of bicycle lanes around the four
rivers — the equivalent of two round
trips from Seoul to Busan. According to
the Ministry of Land, Transport and
Maritime Affairs, the bike routes will be
linked up with cruise ships plying the
rivers for package tours.

The four rivers restoration
project will include 1,728 ki-
lometers of bike lanes.
into high gear this month — are high.
In November, the Ministry of Land,
Transport and Maritime Affairs put the
plan into motion, breaking ground with
much pomp and circumstance on 15
reservoirs across the four rivers — the
Hangang, Nakdonggang, Yeongsangang
and Geumgang.
This part of the infrastructure,
which is meant among other things to
enhance water flow and the water qual-
ity of tributaries, is slated to include 16
reservoirs and two multipurpose dams,
completed by 2012. The construction of
one reservoir on the Geumgang began
June 29 as a pilot program. The two
dams will be built beginning later this
year.
Another major goal of the project is
to transform riverside areas nationwide
into leisure getaways — just like the
Hangang River cafés.
You might call it the Cheong-
gyecheon stream restoration project on
steroids. That tiny waterway, rebuilt by
Dozens of hotels for bikers will be
also established along Korea’s four major
rivers, the ministry says. It said bikers’
hotels will even be built along the lanes
at an average of every 50 kilometers,
with bicycle repair facilities. Campsites
will also be located about every 60 kilo-
meters.
According to the ministry, transfer
stations at key points on the rivers will
connect the mildly sloping bike lanes
— with a grade of less than 3 percent
— to cruise and train lines. The govern-
ment may already be considering bike
races along the lanes.
Another facet of the project will
address Korea’s chronic water supply
and drought problems, estimated to
cause a loss of 800 million cubic meters
of water next year, and flooding, which
results in several trillions of won in
damage to riverbanks, homes, business-
es and other property every year.
In a report published in 1990 by
Population Action International, a
January 2010 korea 29

[YONHAP]
Artists provide their renditions, layered
over photographs, of how the rivers
will appear after the project’s comple-
tion in 2012: from top to bottom, the
Geumgang, Nakdonggang, Hangang
and Yeongsangang.
30 korea January 2010
Students and professors of Inje University collect garbage in an attempt to clean up along the
Nakdonggang River.
United States-based private research
group, Korea was designated a “water-
stressed” country.
By building dams and reservoirs on
the four rivers, the government hopes to
secure around 1.3 billion cubic meters
of additional water. It also says the proj-
ect will allow it to control the flow of
another 920 million cubic meters of
water, helping prevent flooding.
Land Minister Chung Jong-hwan,
who is at the helm of the river project,
said it will eventually save massive
amounts in government funds.
“In a nutshell, [the rivers’] utility has
yet to be maximized,” said Minister
Chung in a statement. “The average cost
for restoration after a disaster is 4.2 tril-
lion won, but just 1 trillion won was
invested in prevention over the past five
years. That means we are wasting funds
that could be saved otherwise.”
The new infrastructure, the govern-
ment says, will upgrade the purity of
around 86 percent of the total length of
the four rivers to “second-class water,”
or water whose biological oxygen
demand is less than 3 milligrams per
liter. Second-class water is capable of
sustaining most aquatic life and can be
used for recreational purposes. As of
2008, roughly 76 percent of the water in
the four rivers was second class.
[JoongAng Ilbo]
It all sounds straightforward, but the
project has stirred up controversy for its
possible environmental impact and
massive final budget — as much as 8.3
trillion won more than initially planned.
The four rivers project is the largest ever
of its kind in Korea, exacerbating a rift
among politicians delaying passage of
the 2010 budget at the National Assem-
bly last month.
It also conjures up memories of the
“grand canal” plan that Lee abandoned
once faced with staunch public resis-
tance. Some critics even believe the
river project will do more harm than
good, claiming the environmental
impact study was inadequate.
Proponents respond that the infra-
structure upgrades are essential to the
country’s sustainable development. The
government has proposed to use 107
trillion won for green growth develop-
ment, and the four rivers restoration
project is a key part of this campaign.
The Land Ministry said it has started
research for a master plan to revitalize
all of Korea’s rivers, including those not
included in the original four rivers proj-
ect.
“It is a plan to renovate virtually
every river in the country,” said Kim
Dong-yeon, an official at the Land Min-
istry. By Moon Gwang-lip
 Green Growth

STOP
CO2

Steam billows from the cooling towers of Vattenfall’s Jaen-

[REUTER]

schwalde brown coal power station near Cottbus, eastern

Germany Dec. 2.

January 2010 korea 31

 Green Market of the Future
Is Hope of Planet, Business
Though Korea is still classified as a developing country under its terms,
local companies are already rushing to earn Kyoto Protocal credits;
meanwhile, Seoul tries out hybrid taxis to clean up the capital’s skies

K
orea is busily moving toward
its ambitious goal of a 30-per-
cent cut in greenhouse gas
emissions. One of the latest
moves in this campaign: the introduc-
tion of LPI-electric hybrid taxis in
Seoul.
The Ministry of Environment, the
Seoul Metropolitan Government, the
Korea National Joint Conference of Taxi
The focus on Associations and the Hyundai-Kia
Automotive
green growth Group agreed to
put 10 hybrid
will hurt GDP, Avante and Forte
sedans produced
but it will also by the automak-
er on the road as taxis for two years. The
be a chance Ministry of Environment estimated that
each hybrid taxi would emit 4.9 tons of
greenhouse gases per year, compared to
to get ahead 8.5 tons of emissions for a conventional
taxi of the same size.
in a new But such positive efforts to reduce
greenhouse gases are inevitably accom-
sustainable panied with negative limits on indus-
trial activities.
economy. The Ministry of Knowledge Econo-
my said in early December that, if Korea
achieves its target of emissions 30 per-
cent below the business-as-usual esti-
Provided by the city government
decline in the nation’s economic growth
rate, the country needs to upgrade its
industrial structure, focusing on brick
and mortar businesses and developing
renewable energy and energy-efficient
businesses,” the report said.
Youn Woo-jin, senior research fel-
low of macroeconomics and industrial
economic analysis at the Korea Institute
for Industrial Economics and Trade,
said in a recent report, “The greenhouse
gas reduction policy should not be
delayed, as the cost of reductions will
increase more quickly as the density of
greenhouse gases in the air increases.
“It is difficult to implement policies
reducing greenhouse gases because it’s
hard to estimate the social and econom-
ic damage of climate change exactly, and
there is much uncertainty,” he contin-
ued. “The best way to counter such
uncertainty is to adopt carbon pricing
systems, such as a carbon tax and a car-
bon credit trading system.”
The world market for carbon credits
is growing rapidly. The World Bank
forecasts that the market grow to US$150
billion in 2010, up sharply from US$11
billion in 2005. Carbon dioxide is the
most common greenhouse gas.
Thus, emission reduction projects

The view of Nuedo Island from Tando
port, Ansan city, Gyeonggi-do Province,
with three wind power turbines.
32 korea January 2010
mate in 2020, it would drive average
annual growth in per-capita gross
domestic product from 2005 to 2020
down 0.41 percentage points. The min-
istry released the analysis after joint
research with Seoul National University
and the Korea Productivity Center.
“In order to achieve the target of a
greenhouse gas reduction without a
are not just costs to economic growth
but can also bring benefits, as General
Electric CEO and Chairman Jeff Immelt,
made clear in his famous remark in
2005, “Green is green.”
Accordingly, local companies are
jumping into the carbon credit market.
The state-run Korea Electric Power
Corp., or Kepco, said in its “Low-Car-

[YONHAP]
bon Green-Growth Strategy” report in
September that it will earn 8.2 million
certified emission reductions, or CERs,
annually by 2020. CERs are carbon
credits authorized under the Kyoto Pro-
tocol.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, industri-
alized countries are required to drasti-
cally cut their emissions. However,
companies in those countries can get
CERs if they invest in projects that
reduce emissions in developing coun-
tries. And the firms in developing coun-
tries that are involved in the projects
also get a share of the CERs. This is
called the Clean Development Mecha-
nism, or CDM.
Kepco signed a deal last year with
China Datang Corp. to build additional
wind farms in Gansu Province and
Inner Mongolia as part of efforts to earn
CERs. The company has registered 18
CDM projects including the Chinese
wind farm project with the United
Nations and has secured 530,000 tons of
CERs per year, as of this September.
Though Korea currently has devel-
oping-country status under the Kyoto
Protocol, local companies also can earn
CERs by conducting emission-cutting
projects in Korea or in another develop-
ing country, as the related CDM regula-
tion was changed a few years ago.
According to the state-run Korea
Energy Management Corp.’s CDM
bureau, Korea had 35 CDM projects
registered and secured 14.9 million
CERs this year as of Dec 13. Worldwide,
1,946 CDM projects producing 329.5
million CERs were registered at that
time.
In December, a consortium of three
companies including Posco Engineer-
ing & Construction, the building arm of
Korea’s top steelmaker Posco, won a
CDM project worth 20 billion won
(US$17 million) in China. In the proj-
ect, the companies will generate and sell
electricity made using gas generated
from a landfill with more than 13 mil-
lion tons of waste in Chengdu.
According to the consortium, con-
struction work will start around March
2010, and the plant will go into opera-
tion in 2011. The project will bring 6
billion won in revenue from electricity
Green Growth
LPI-electric hybrid taxies arrive for a test
drive in Seoul in early December. Ten hy-
brid Avante and Forte sedans made by
Hyundai-Kia will serve as taxis for two
years in the city.
sales and 7 billion won in carbon credits
per year.
The Ministry of Knowledge Econo-
my established a government-private
joint conference to discover and sup-
port CDM projects overseas for local
companies in early December.
Meanwhile, even financial compa-
nies are accelerating their launch of new
products to support the low-carbon
green growth policy.
The Korea Banking Institute, an
organization jointly operated by local
banks to educate and train their work-
ers, launched a three-week course late in
November to nurture green finance
experts.
The course targets employees at
banks, brokerage houses and insurers
already selling eco-friendly services, the
institute said. Those who take the course
will be educated on carbon credit trad-
ing systems, technologies used in green
industries including renewable energy
and on the development of financial
products related to those industries,
according to the institute.
By Koh So-young
January 2010 korea 33
Korean Wave Crashes Upon

M
uch has been made of “the Korean Wave” of pop cul-
ture sweeping Asia, but it was made real Nov. 24, when
a swath of Korean music stars arriving at Shanghai
Pudong International Airport was met by a human
wave of over 800 fans.
The musicians, which included Wheesung, f(x), 2PM, 2AM,
U-Kiss, 4Minute and Jang Nara, were in China to perform in the Feel
Korea K-POP Night and K-Fashion Show to promote tourism in
Korea as part of the “2010-2012 Visit Korea Year” initiative unveiled
in November. The fashion show took place at the Longemont Hotel
the day of the stars’ arrival, while the much-anticipated K-pop con-
cert was held the following day at the Shanghai Grand Stage.
Provided by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Later on Nov. 24, the group headed to central Shanghai to take

part in a press conference at 3 p.m., which was covered by major
Chinese media outlets, including Shanghai TV.
Im Seul-ong and Jo Kwon of 2AM, Kim Hyun-ah of 4Minute and
Chinese singer Chi Wei hosted the big show. Over two hours, Jang
Nara, 2PM, 4Minute, 2AM and U-KISS took the stage one after
another, to the appreciative roar of 8,000 fans, who sang along in
Korean.
The show was attended by over 20 Chinese media companies
Thousands of fans turned out to see the Korean stars. including Sina.com and SMG New Entertainment.
34 korea January 2010

Shanghai Shores
“It was a great opportunity to evaluate the future success
of K-pop from the reactions of fans and the quality of the
concert,” said one Sina.com employee.
Though their names are similar and they both hail from
the same management agency, JYP Entertainment, 2AM and
2PM play completely different music, with the former focused
on ballads, the latter on dance music. 2PM is now in the midst
of promoting its first album “1:59AM,” which includes the hit
single “Heartbeat.”
Wheesung, one of Korea’s best-known R&B singers, just
released his sixth album, “Vocolate.” He has a large fan base
in China. His cover of Craig David’s “Insomnia” has been
gaining notice recently.
The girl group f(x) debuted just a few months ago but has
already caught people’s attention with their catchy hits “LA
chA Ta” and “Chocolate Love.” The group consists of five girls
of different nationalities: Victoria from China; Amber, a Tai-
wanese-American, and Sulli, Luna and Krystal from Korea.
Seven-member pop group U-Kiss recently released its
third single “Conti Ukiss.” 4Minute, another girl group, counts
among its hit songs “Hot Issue,” “Muzik” and “What a Girl
Wants.”
Culture
Opposite above, the girl group 4minute
performs at the Feel Korea K-Pop Night in
Shanghai. Above, a fashion show took
place a day before the concert.
The Korean government hopes that the star power of pop
singers and celebrities will help attract more Chinese tourists
to Korea in the coming years. This event and more like it that
showcase Korean pop music, fashion, tourism, drama and
digital content are being organized by the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism; the Korea Foundation for Cultural
Exchange; the Korea Creative Content Agency; and the the
Visit Korea Committee.
“Although we have different nationalities and speak dif-
ferent languages, I could feel how much they loved the music
from the heated atmosphere at the concert,” said Chung
Dong-cheun, an executive at the Korea Creative Content
Agency. “I hope that the cultural exchange between the two
countries will grow with these events.”
“This concert was a stepping stone for more Korean sing-
ers and music to enter the Chinese market,” said Yu Byong-
han, an official at the Culture Ministry. “It was a good chance
to spread the Korean Wave again through cultural exchange
between the two countries before the 2010 Shanghai World
Expo.” The concert also aired on Korean broadcast television
network SBS on Dec. 24, and in China on SMG New Enter-
tainment the same month. By Limb Jae-un
January 2010 korea 35
 [JoongAng Ilbo]
Local Airline Gives the Gift
of Understanding Great Art

V
isitors to the British Museum in London can now order
up a portable multimedia guide in the Korean language,
making it the third institution to offer the service thanks
to a sponsorship from local flag carrier Korean Air. The
guide is a small touch-screen device that comes with audiovisual
commentary on 220 objects at the museum, and it’s now available in
10 languages, including English. Versions of the Korean guide for
children and the visually impaired are coming soon, according to
Korean Air. The partnership with the museum, which boasts 6 mil-
lion visitors each year, will last until 2014.
“Korean Air’s passion for cultural sponsorship differentiates it
from other airlines,” said Cho Yang-ho, the carrier’s chairman and
chief executive officer. “Our sponsorship of multimedia guides
enables museum visitors to appreciate important objects and artwork
in greater detail by listening to informative commentaries.”
Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, said, “Korean
36 korea January 2010
 Culture

Korean-language electronic guides sponsored by a local airline enchance

trips to the British Museum and its global peers in Paris and St. Petersburg.

Air’s sponsorship of the project has been vital in allowing the Muse-
um to greatly increase the number of objects that we offer through
our handheld guides and across the major languages that our visitors
use.” The director, speaking at a ceremony commemorating the
launch of the service, added, “As a museum for the world, we are
delighted to be able to offer our visitors the opportunity to learn
about this unparalleled collection in so many languages and in a
more interactive way.”
The multimedia guide is part of the carrier’s Global Cultural
Sponsorship program. To celebrate it, a Korean Air B747-400 aircraft
has been wrapped with images of art from the British Museum’s col-
lection. The aircraft made its debut flight with the new livery from
Incheon to London on Dec. 1 and has been used on routes to Europe
and the Americas.
In tandem with the multimedia guide, passengers traveling in
First and Prestige classes on the Incheon-London route will be given
special edition baggage name tags decorated with images of the Lew-
is Chessmen, famous pieces on display at the museum.
The carrier currently offers a “Flying Art Ambassadors” service
on selected routes, including those between Incheon and London,
Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam. Specially chosen and trained Korean
Air cabin attendants, including some with degrees in art and culture
or even museum or curator experience, provide information about
museums, artists and famous art at the destination.
Korean Air signed an agreement to sponsor a multimedia guide
at the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2008. It was then followed by
similar sponsorships at Russia’s State Hermitage Museum in St.
Petersburg in August.
The company even donated a huge collage to the Art Restoration
and Storage Center of the State Hermitage Museum. A total of 67
students created the 15.6-meter wide (51-foot) and 9.6-meter high
work out of 3,240 magazines over 10 days in June. The collage depicts
Provided by Korean Air

the exterior of the museum and some of the art in its collection.
The Russian museum has 2.9 million pieces, including works by
Leonardo Da Vinci, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste
Renoir and Paul Cezanne. Korean Air says the museum sees some
2.6 million visitors every year, and its audio guide was offered in Rus- Korean Air has sponsored Korean audio or
sian, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish before the Kore- multimedia guides at three globally important
an carrier added its native tongue. museums: the British Museum, opposite top
At the Louvre, Korean commentaries on 600 pieces are available and bottom and top this page; the Louvre in
on PDAs. The partnership for the multimedia service will last over Paris, second from top, and the State Hermit-
the next six years. Cho, the CEO, said, “We earned the confidence of age Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia,
the Louvre in 2006 when we conveyed its paintings between [France above.
and Korea] for an exhibition held in Seoul to commemorate the
120th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.”
The carrier decorated one of its aircraft with the image of the
Mona Lisa, formed out of small Hangeul letters, in celebration of the
launch of the service. By Seo Ji-eun

January 2010 korea 37

Provided by National Palace Museum of Korea
Seals like these were the only way to ensure confidential letters
— or orders from superiors — were genuine.
The Crimson Ink That Once
Fueled Korean Government
T
oday people worry that paper is an endan-
gered species, with everything done via com-
puter — holiday cards, headlines, correspon-
dence, even government documents.
But before modern times, the only way a state
could reliably communicate orders and information
down through the ranks was with paper. And the only
way to ensure that this vital channel wasn’t disrupted
was with to use an official seal.
In old Korea, the seal on the paper was as impor-
tant as what it said, giving it the power of law or cred-
ibility.
These seals supplanted the ancient use of other
symbols such as palm prints, and gave way to signa-
tures, to the extent that in some countries today it’s
considered odd to register a stamp with the govern-
ment and rely on it to prove one’s identity.
Government seals are still around today, of course,
but they’re usually only encountered in specific con-
texts, and then we only see the red ink left behind, not
the stamp itself.
But if those leftovers of a once-ubiquitous practice
intrigue you, then it behooves you to drop by the
National Palace Museum of Korea, where a special
exhibition of government seals from the Joseon
Dynasty (1392-1910) kicked off last month, to con-
tinue until Feb. 15. Officials at the museum call it the
first exhibition to deal exclusively with government
seals.
To those who don’t think much about the seals —
38 korea January 2010
or even those who think they all look the
same — curator Kim Yeon-soo has this
to say: “Some may think that the topic is
too difficult and profound, but those
with slightest interest in history will cer-
tainly get something out of this exhibi-
tion because seals and sealed documents
played a key role in Korean history. And
even if you’re not into history, you will
get a glimpse of royal palace life, which
almost always fascinates people.”
Since opening in 2005, the National
Palace Museum of Korea has hosted a
permanent exhibition on life in Korean
palaces at the time of the Joseon Dynas-
ty. On top of that, nine special exhibi-
tions have been organized so far. Muse-
um officials say one on royal patterns
and decorations earlier this year was
“Even if particularly successful.
you’re not
While museum officials admit that
the exhibition on seals may not be as
into history, interactive or exciting as previous exhi-
bitions, they value the time and effort
you will get a that went into creating it.
glimpse of
According to Kim, the museum has
spent several years collecting the seals
royal palace and related documents from their scat-
tered locations across the country. Their
life.” efforts yielded 160 seals used in 71 gov-

The exhibition of government stamps from
Korea’s past continues at the National Palace
Museum until Feb. 15.
ernment offices during the Joseon peri-
od.
There are stamps to classify official
documents, stamps carved with the
name of the organization, even stamps
to show the approval of the king him-
self.
Of those, the ones that were the most
used, and the ones that are subsequently
the most worn down, are those from the
organizations called ijo and hojo. Ijo
oversaw the recruitment of government
officials, and hojo dealt with finance.
The exhibit also shows what an
important role the seals played. All were
manufactured only by the yejo, a gov-
ernment organization that oversaw edu-
cational, diplomatic and cultural
affairs.
Gyeonggukdaejeon, the state code
Culture
book of Joseon Dynasty, specifically stipulates the
sizes of the seals. More highly places organizations or
officials had correspondingly larger seals.
The book also contains a warning: “Anyone who
tries to forge a seal is to be beheaded and his family
members sold as slaves.” These were not idle threats,
particularly in times of conflict, and many stories are
extant about the harsh punishments handed down for
counterfeiters.Later, the designs of official seals reflect-
ed the sudden changes Korea went through with the
arrival of Korean Empire (1897-1910) and Japanese
colonization (1910-1945).
So if you’re ever wondered how the Korean state
functioned before television, fiber-optic Internet and
e-government — drop by and decode the language of
the seal.
Admission is free, with English information avail-
able upon request. For more details, visit www.gogung.
go.kr or call (02) 3701-7634~5.
By Kim Hyung-eun
January 2010 korea 39
 Major works
Full length novels
Go Alone Like a Rhinoceros Horn
(Musoui ppul cheoreom honjaseo gara, 1993)

Mackarel
(Godeungoe, 1994)

A Good Woman
(Chakhan yeoja, 1997)

Sister Bong-sun
(Bongsuni-eonni, 1998)

Short story collections

Consideration For Other Human Beings
(Ingane daehan yeui, 1994)

Essay collections
Unscarred Soul
(Sangcheo eobneun yeonghon, 1996)

Trip to a Monastery
(Sudowon gihaeng, 2001)
[JoongAng Ilbo]

40 korea January 2010

 Korean Literature

Gong Ji-yeong
Writing After the Struggle’s End

G
ong Ji-yeong (born 1963) is one of the most recognized female writers in Korea. With
gravity and sensitivity, Gong has been writing about women’s experiences in a patri-
archal society that has yet to shed the last remnants of feudalism, and the struggles
young people face in a chaotic world as their political consciousness matures.
Early interest in literature led Gong to self-publish her own poems and stories while still in
her teens and to attend graduate school in literature later. The student movement of the 1980s,
however, was what furnished the budding writer with a sense of purpose and the subjects com-
manding her passion. Her novella Rising Dawn is a product of her experience with the labor and
student movement of that decade.
Gong is also a feminist writer. In her own words, she is a part of “the generation who was
taught in schools that men and women were equal” but had to live in a world that contradicted
their school learning. Go Alone Like a Rhinoceros Horn is a particularly fine example of Gong’s
exploration into this contradiction. The novel was made into a feature film in 1995.
In many of her works, the subject of women’s struggle and that of the labor movement conflate
in characters that must face the twin tasks of building a new identity for themselves after the labor
movement and finding a place for themselves in a male-dominated society. As the chaos and
repression characterizing the 1980s gave way to the relative calm and prosperity of the ’90s, the
students who had sacrificed so much to bring about the necessary social changes find themselves
in a world that no longer seems to require their revolutionary fervor. They have no choice but to
lead ordinary lives without the sense of direction that was once an integral part of their identity.
For women, the process of integrating back into the capitalistic society as ordinary citizens entails
not only embracing materialistic goals they once disdained but also subjugating themselves to a
patriarchal order. Resultant anger and confusion constitute the core of Gong’s works.
Gong continues to devote much of her creative energy to the issue of women and laborers, or
those underprivileged or persecuted members of the Korean society.

January 2010 korea 41

 Sister Bong-sun
Jjang-a, the narrator of
Bong-sun’s life story, is born
in the winter of 1963. At this
time, poverty is a common
sight and a shared experience
in Korea; the entire country
is struggling with the devas-
tation left by the Korean War
and at the same time charg-
ing ahead with rapid indus-
Publisher: Prunsoop trialization at the expense of
Publication date: 1998 workers and ordinary citi-
208 pages zens. Thirteen-year-old
Bong-sun runs away from
Existence Sheds a Tear (Jonjaeneun nunmuleul heullinda)
The seven stories col-
lected in this volume make
evident the author’s affection
and respect for the people
who struggle to remain true
to themselves regardless of
what the world demands and
the sincerity with which she
explores the changes in the
world and the female psyche.
Publisher: Changbi “Solitude” is a particu-
Publication date: 1999 larly fine example of Gong’s
294 pages artistry. The protagonist is a
devoted wife and a mother of
two children who embraces
the joys and tribulations of
an ordinary life — raising
children, saving money to
buy a bigger house, coping
Published translations
Book Title
૴ࠤ݅ଭ
ෘ࣫෉
ਏԩ

Le nostre ore felici / Vincenza D’Urso
଴ԩ઩
۩෉
ુଭ
/ Human Decency / Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton
ॷ޵
บ઩
ૈ‫
ۀ‬Փ݅ ᏃṮᳰᾴ
૤


ᠱкЎдзЛїюк

Йь¿сж 2006
ࣲ০ଲ
ચ‫

ۍ‬KAKA NOHCYHU /
ࣲ০ଲ
ચ‫

ۍ‬Sister Bong-sun / Park Jung-eun
ࡿীଭ
।ళߋ
෻ୀছ
ԧޭ

ѿѮк๻кєВзодіг‐Н

ᙼἲ⁹ᬙ
42 korea January 2010
(Bongsuni-eonni)
her abusive stepfather and
now works as a kitchen maid
at Jjang-a’s house.
When Jjang-a is born,
Bong-sun is left in charge of
caring for her, and the two
remain as close as biological
sisters until Bong-sun runs
away with a young worker at
a local dry cleaner. Aban-
doned by her man, the preg-
nant Bong-sun returns to
Jjang-a’s house and raises her
child alone. She marries once
with the reduction in her
husband’s salary and worry-
ing over his drinking habits
— but at the same time, she
battles with a sense of ennui
and exhaustion stemming
from the trivial details of her
life and dreams of escaping
into an entirely new world.
However, even as she fan-
tasizes about a different life,
she remains dedicated in her
role as a mother and a wife,
and is terrorized by her own
desire for escape: “At times
she was overwhelmed by an
impulse to run out of her
house barefoot ... like a wom-
an possessed ... abandon
Year of publication
2009
2006
Novel
2006
2006
1998
again, this time to an old
divorcé, but is left alone for
the second time when her
husband dies of an illness.
Misfortunes and ill luck con-
tinue well into her old age,
throwing Bong-sun into ever
worsening conditions of life.
Despite her hardships, how-
ever, Bong-sun soldiers on
with optimism and courage,
and transforms her unhappy
life story into one of rejuve-
nating hope and resilience.
those beautiful children. ...
She was afraid of herself, but
there was something as pow-
erful as her fear. It was a tingle
of excitement.”
To the author’s credit, the
protagonist’s conflict does
not degenerate into a famil-
iar dilemma between a safe
but confining domesticity
and a terrifying but equally
alluring adventure in deviant
behaviors such as extramari-
tal affairs. Gong transforms
the protagonist’s desire for
escape into a yearning for the
future, where thrills of new
life and domestic happiness
may coexist.
Genre Language
Novel Italian
Novel English
Japanese
Novel Bulgarian
Novel English
Novel Japanese
List of Gong's translated works
 Poetry

A Smaller Person
Ⴌⓩ⒘Ḅᓤ

ⓩ⊜✘ஈ‴ⓩ㊸ኤத✘ᜤⓩ⊜✘ᕼਸ㋌⏬෰࿬ⓩ⒘ I intend to be smaller until I start to grow small. I am a small

ḄᓤႬⓩ⒘Ḅᓤॴਸ⋩Ⓦ㊴ॴ⒰Ứक़ᓕẉ฽ॴ person, a smaller person, a dog, a cat, a finger, a matchstick,
ᮜ
I obstinately stared in one direction. A frowning look lingers in
෰࿬㊴ᦁ㋽⒜ਸ✩ῼᕕ৤ᥬᓔ᩼⌌⏬⥹୐ᜈㆴ╭⒘ my every wrinkle. Something impressive, light, pain,
ฌ᠀ሸ♔ᛜ⌨ῼៈⓠ⌌⏬ⓐḙ╙ⓐ৛᮳ਸ⼍
Since my first breath, I’ve gone on breathing. Ah, the beginning
⧰⒤⒔ᖴᾀ⒜ῈⓌ㐜ᖴਜụ㋌Ṵᾀ⒜ῄ৤ᅨ⌌⏬ is like that. The beginning forgets the beginning and the last
⊜⊜‴ⓩ⒘୐ᕈ৛Ⓦ☸‴ⓩ⒘‴ⓩ⒜ⓢ⌌᧜ᜄਸ does not know it’s the last. Ma, I shouted as my first word but
ᜠ✘ᜡ⒘ᜠ✘ᜡ⒜᠀ᛌਸ⌜ᜠ㊰ਸ⨃ᥴ⒤⒔ᖴ᫠ in vain. If it were Dad, oh, my God!
ᕄ᩼ၬⓨỤ␁⌞⌌⏬⊜᧜✘ᓔ៌⍼ᜠⓌ५

When I start to grow small, it’s the start. I am a smaller person,

ⓩ⊜✘ஈ‴ⓩ㊰៌‴ⓩᅴৈ☸෰࿬Ⴌⓩ⒘ḄᓤႬ
a smaller dog, a smaller lizard, a smaller voice, an interference
ⓩ⒘ॴႬⓩ⒘ᄜᜠᦘⓩ⒘᠁Ụᜄつᄱ⒰ड़ẅᜤ
of waves, the untouchable sky,
▐✘✘⊢࿬㊰࿰

And a refraction of waves, a touchable raindrop, a raindrop, a

୐ᜄਸつᄱ⒰ૌ╠ᜤ▐✘࿬ᮯᦁ␐ᮯᦁ␐Ⴌ્⒘
larger raindrop, I was a shower passing with a gust of wind.
ᮯᦁ␐෰࿬ᄤ㇥੔㋀ర✘෰क़࿬Ụ෰ஈ⍘⌌⏬Ẑ
Small people with umbrellas turned inside out like the world,
ਜ⧰ᕔ␈ḈⓌᇼ✩⌌✜ⓩ⒘Ḅᓤሼ⑸ᜄ⦕⌨⓸‴၄
stuck to the window for a while I am smaller circles,
ᓔ᫱⌌Ṵ෰࿬Ⴌⓩ⒘ᄱ୐ᓔᥐሼ

Inside the window three children are playing the game of scis-
⑸ᜄ⦕⊠⠕⌨Ṵ࿬Ẑ៝⒰⊜ⓌሼⓌक़⑜ᥬ⑜ᩌक़
⑜ᥬ⑜䠙䠙଴⮱੔⍅㊸⒜╭㊰ਸⓠ⌌⏬㊴⊜Ⓦ࿬ sors rock and paper to decide the rules and roles. One child

Ứᥬွ⒜⠱ㄔ⮰ਸḄᓔ✜ᄱ╜⌨ၘ㋌‸ᮜᖴ␌ৈ✫ stretches out his palm and rattles off mysterious lies about a

ᜨ⒜࿰⌌໫ਸ vanished coin but

෰࿬ඵத✘ြሻ✘᠓㋠ . . . I couldn’t hear the whole story through to the . . .

Provided by the Korea Literature Translation Institute

From ೻ࢇ‫ࢂط‬Мԯ೼ by Kim, Haeng-suk

Kim Haeng-suk was born in Seoul in 1970. Her debut poem appeared in the quarterly Contemporary Literature in 1999. She was the recipient of the Daesan Creative Writ-
ing Fund in 2000 and the Solmoe Creative Writing Fund in 2007. Her poetry collections include “Adolescence” (2003) and “The Ability to Part” (2007). She has also pub-
lished narrative works, including “What Was Literature” (2005) and “Traversing Creations and Ruins” (2005). Currently she is a professor of Korean literature at Kangnam
University.

January 2010 korea 43

Provided by Lee Yong-sook
Y
oun Kwang-chul, a Korean opera
singer based in Berlin, hasn’t always
found it easy to fulfill the demands of
his roles. It’s not his voice — Youn is
highly acclaimed, and a winner of the 1993 Plá-
cido Domingo International Opera Voice
Competition — it’s his height.
Youn’s 5-foot, 7-inch stature has earned
him the nickname “little giant,” and he famous-
ly admitted to the press at a round table that he
used to wear platform shoes on occasion when
called upon to play the typical operatic part of
king or warrior.
But later he decided, “The only way to over-
44 korea January 2010
come physical weakness was to triumph
through music.” So Youn put his normal shoes
back on and focused on nurturing an authori-
tative voice instead.
“When I was rehearsing for the Bayreuth
Festival, I even studied the lovers and sponsors
of Wagner at the time he wrote the piece,” he
said. “Most singers only pay attention to the
sound of the music, but background informa-
tion like that can really deepen your acting and
musical understanding. It’s like, a man who had
been abandoned by his lover can better play the
role of someone with a broken heart.”
But Youn had many obstacles to overcome
 Korean Artist

The ‘Little Giant’

of the Opera
The long journey of an international bass

beyond his height. He was born and raised by
impoverished parents in Chungju, Chung-
cheongbuk-do Province, a small town about
two hours away from Seoul. As a result, Youn
had no formal training in music as a child.
Before graduating from a vocational high
school, he studied music for three months and
enrolled in a local music college where he was
taught by Ju Wan-soon.
After winning several prestigious national
music competitions, Youn made his official
debut in 1988 as De Siriex, a diplomat in
Umberto Giordano’s opera Fedora. Later, Youn
went on to study at the Sofia Academy of Music
in Bulgaria under Lesa Koleva. Youn Kwang-chul came into
The highlight of Youn’s career came in 1993, the spotlight when he played
when he won the Placido Domingo in Paris, the leading role in the opera
which brought the opportunity to give a gala Parsifal, the opening work of
concert at Seoul Olympic Park in 1995 with the Bayreuth Festival in Ger-
Domingo himself, who dubbed Youn “an many in 2008.
emerging jewel on the world opera stage.” The
two continued to sing together later in Paris,
Barcelona and Helsinki.
Youn’s operatic roles in Europe are a record
of unparalleled success, covering the most
important works in his range, including Aida,
Don Carlos, Don Giovanni, and Tosca.
His performance as Hermann in Wagner’s
January 2010 korea 45
classic Tannhauser at the Bayreuth Fes-
tival was received with raves from crit-
ics, one even praising him as “the eve-
ning’s leading man” with a “velvety,
sumptuous voice, which overflowed
with warmth.” The same production
was brought to the Metropolitan Opera
in New York in 2004, and since then
Youn’s name has quickly spread as one
of the top three bass singers in the new
generation of German opera.
At last year’s Bayreuth, Youn played
the lead in Parsifal, one of Wagner’s later
pieces, loosely based on the 13th cen-
tury epic poem, led by the Norwegian
director Stefan Herheim. The news
came as a surprise to many, but the
44-year old singer explained the appear-
ance would represent “the essence” of
his operatic career.
“There was an air of surprise about
my role when it was first announced,” he
said. “But more people seemed con-
vinced as time went on, looking at my
career over the past year. It shows the
trust the opera world has in my musical
depth.”
In April and May, Youn played the
king in Lohengrin at the Royal Opera
House. Before his Seoul concert, he
appeared in Faust in Vienna and Die
Walküre with Domingo in La Scala.
Last month in Seoul, Youn staged
the song cycle Winterreise (Winter Jour-
ney), based on 24 poems by Wilhelm
Müller with music by Franz Schubert,
with the leading conductor Myung-
Whun Chung on piano.
It wasn’t their first performance
together. Chung and Yeon first teamed
up in 1994, when Youn sang Pietro in
Simon Boccanegra during Chung’s last
project with the Bastille Opera. The star
maestro, who was appointed by a leftist
party, was forced to resign when a right-
leaning party took the reins of the
French government. Their friendship
has continued through the years.
Chung is one of many friends, and
many admirers, Youn has won over
despite his sometimes questionably
compatible physical characteristics. It’s a
testament to the open-mindedness of
the opera world — but most of all to
Youn’s persistence and brilliance.
By Park Soo-mee
46 korea January 2010
Interview
Q. In Winterreise, you sang to piano accom-
paniment by the conductor Myung-Whun
Chung. Was this the first time you sang with
him?
A. Yes. Our last performance together was the
opera Simon Boccanegra in Paris in 1994.
Tell us about your first encounter with Winter-
reise.
It’s a piece that bass-tone male singers can eas-
ily come across in their careers. But even in Europe
it’s very rare that one gets to sing the entire cycle,
mainly because it’s so long and there’s no intermis-
sion in between, which is tough for singers. I’ve
sung this piece four or five times in Berlin, and I
also sang it during my recital in Korea in 1999 and
2003. I always opted to introduce Schubert in a
friendly manner. That’s how I came to stage my last
concert here.
In Korea, normally tenors and baritones sing
Winterreise.
It’s actually a very difficult piece for a bass,
mainly because it was originally written for tenors.
But it can be more familiar to a bass since the nature
of the songs is very dark, and the narrative behind
it is sad. It might be easier for a bass to create a
darker mood, but overall it’s difficult to carry the
tone.
What is your favorite piece of the 24?
I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite, but I find the first
one the most difficult. It’s got all the stories that the
song needs. A man with a broken heart meets his
lover’s parents and talks about his marriage. It’s
beautiful, but it’s difficult. Overall, “The Inn” (the
21st song) is also very beautiful, as the man laments
that he has no place to lie down when he is dead.
The first song starts with the idea of “leaving.”
You lived away from home for many years. Did
you ever identify with that part of the song?
“The Wanderer” by Schubert is one of my
favorite songs. I lived away from home for so long
that wherever I go I don’t feel I am actually living in
that place. In Europe, I’m always a foreigner, but
when I come to Korea I feel the gap of not quite
belonging here either. It’s also very hard to live as a
classical singer in Europe.
You’re not simply exposed to their culture, you
 Korean Artist

have to stand at the center of it. I am responsible for

bringing inspiration to them in their culture as a for-
eigner.

How did you overcome that barrier?

I think the only way to truly overcome all that was
through my music. I tried to interpret each song as
closely as possible to the original composition and add
subtlety. Most bass singers get to play distinguished
roles such as chief priests, kings or fathers. This means
a large physical appearance does matter, and being
shorter than average in Europe was hard for me. But
once I began to sing, people started trusting me. I had
put in extra effort to interpret as accurately as I could
and overcome physical barriers.

Do you get a lot of comments about the depth of

your performance as a bass in Europe?
I think so. But again, they mostly talk about my
music. I hear a lot of comments that my voice is not
something they had imagined from a bass artist. I’ve
gotten a lot of reviews where critics say that I give them
a sense of musical trust.

Do you feel a connection with Chung? What were

your expectations before your last concert togeth-
er?
We hadn’t actively performed on the same stage
together. But many conductors in Europe started their
careers as pianists, and often the piano accompani-
ment from a conductor conveys a sound that’s more
orchestral than solo.

Do you recall your first encounter with Chung in

1994?
It was an honorable occasion for me, especially
because I had just started my music career in Europe.
I wasn’t getting major roles at the time, so just being on
the same stage at the Bastille Theater with Chung was
a thrill. I remember very clearly how the orchestra
members threw roses at him during the curtain call
after the concert.

Did you get to spend a lot of time with Chung work-

ing on this show?
Our interpretation might differ, but I think we have
a common understanding of the composer’s intention
and its ultimate harmony. It’s a joy to find that com-
mon ground working with new partners. Youn Kwang-chul
By Park Soo-mee

January 2010 korea 47

 Bearing Nation’s Hopes,
Jang and An Lift to Victory

T
he IWF World Weightlifting Championships
were held in Korea for the first time in
November, and Korean weightlifters were
victorious in the top weight divisions in both
men’s and women’s competitions.
Jang Mi-ran entered the IWF World Weightlifting
Championships at Goyang Kintex in Gyeonggi-do
Province with the eyes of the nation on her shoulders,
and she did not disappoint,cementing her place as a
dominating force in the women’s heavyweight class.
The 26-year-old came into the annual world cham-
pionships having won three consecutive titles and a
gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The pres-
sure on her to win her fifth consecutive world-
class event was enough, but the fact that this year
she would compete in Korea added extra
stress.
“This time could not have come sooner,” said
Jang with a sigh of relief at the press conference
at the end of the day. “I am happy to have won at
the first world championships held in Korea.”
Jang looked nervous at the start and missed her
first attempts in both the clean and jerk and snatch
events for the first time in her career. But later she got
her nerve back, and Jang ended dominant in the clean
and jerk competition, clearing 187 kilograms, replac-
ing the world record of 186 kilograms she set at the
Summer Games last year. In the snatch competition
Jang lifted 136 kilograms, just two kilos short of Tati-
ana Kashirina, 18, of Russia. Despite that second place
finish, her record-setting performance in the clean and
jerk pushed Jang to the world title in the 75+ kilograms
division with a combined total of 323 kilograms. As
Jang would explain at the post-competition press con-
ference, her miscalculation leading up to the final lift
played a crucial part in her runner-up finish in the
snatch event.
“After clearing 135 kilograms on my second
attempt, I mistakenly thought that I was the only com-
[YONHAP]

petitor left before I attempted my third lift. I proceed-

An Yong-kwon ed to lift 136 kilograms, but Kashirina had one attempt
48 korea January 2010
 Sports

remaining,” explained Jang. “That said, I have not

improved much on my snatch record since the Beijing
Olympics, and 136 kilograms was not easy.”
Jang now joins an exclusive club of female weight-
lifters who have won four consecutive world champi-
onships. Since winning her first event at the 2005
World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Jang has placed
first in the heavyweight division of all international
events since.
While Jang is now a household name, Korea’s oth-
er gold at Worlds came from a virtual unknown: An
Yong-kwon, who won the supers division (105+ kilo-
grams) of the men’s competition. Prior to the start of
competition, Saeid Ali Hosseini of Iran, Viktors Scer-
baiths of Latvia and Ihor Shymechko of Ukraine were
the favorites. But Hosseini pulled out with an elbow
injury and Scerbaiths had a poor showing in the snatch
competition and withdrew, allowing An the opportu-
nity to sneak to top of the podium.
The 27-year-old cleared 247 kilograms in the clean
and jerk and 198 kilograms in the snatch for a com-
bined total of 445 kilograms. The competition finished
in dramatic fashion as Udachyn Artem of Ukraine and
An both tied at that score — but when the organizers
finished tabulating tiebreakers, An emerged the win-
ner based on his body weight. At 142.23 kilograms, An
weighed less than his competitor, who checked in at
158.90 kilograms.
“I am ecstatic about my gold medal win,” An told
reporters after he was declared the winner. “I will work
harder and will not stay complacent.”
In the prime of their careers, both Jang and An will
look to parlay their strong performance in Goyang
into gold medals in future World Championships,
but their ultimate goal is the 2012 London Olym-
pics. While Korea has fared well in the clean
and jerk competitions, its weightlifters will
have to improve on their finesse and work on
their snatch skills in order to outclass the tra-
ditionally strong East European, Middle East-
Jang Mi-ran ern and Chinese competitors. By Jason Kim

January 2010 korea 49

[JoongAng Ilbo]

Korea’s national team manager Huh Jung-moo and his players cheer after a goal.

Korea Takes
E
very four year, the top 32 teams gather to
participate in the world’s biggest event dedi-
cated to a single sport — the World Cup.

Home Big Slate With the draw held in early December this
year, Korea’s national team, which has qualified for its
seventh consecutive World Cup, will attempt, in June

of AFC Awards
in South Africa, to advance to the round of 16 for the
first time outside their home turf.
The 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Korea and
Japan still marks the only occasion when Korean foot-
ballers made it that far. Local fans are banking on team
manager Huh Jung-moo and his men to reach new
heights, but they’ll have a tough starting group, with
Argentina, Nigeria and Greece.
50 korea January 2010

The national team won in its category, while its manager Huh Jung-moo
was named manager of the year by the Asian Football Confederation.
“There are no easy groups at the World Cup. Our
goal is to reach at least the round of 16 in South Africa
next year, and we will be well prepared to do that,” Huh
told reporters after the draw on Dec. 4. “In order to
make the round of 16, we need one win and two ties or
two wins and a loss, and I cannot say for sure how we
ll measure up to the other teams in the group. We will
have to analyze and prepare thoroughly.”
Considering Korea’s reputation within Asian foot-
ball, the goal of the round of 16 does not sound like a
stretch. Under Huh’s leadership, the national team has
completed almost the entire year without a single loss.
Their 27-game unbeaten streak only ended with a loss
to Serbia in an exhibition match at Craven Cottage in
London on Nov. 18. That was the first loss in 22 months,
during which time the team won 14 and tied 13, com-
ing up one game short of the Asian record set by Korea
in 1978 and ’79 — 24 wins and four ties. It was also
only the second loss since Huh took over the team in
December 2007.
For that accomplishment, Korea won national
team of the year honors at the Asian Football Confed-
eration Annual Awards at the Shangri-la Hotel in
Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia in late November. Huh was
instrumental in the team’s success, selecting young and
talented players and giving them the opportunity to
flourish with a group of veterans. Huh, 54, was hon-
ored for his leadership with the AFC manager of the
year title, the first Korean in six years to win the award.
Decades ago as a player, Huh played a key role in the
national team’s midfield, notching 25 goals in 84
appearances from 1974 to 1986.
“I believe the players, who followed the coaching
staff, and the support of football fans were the reasons
for our seventh consecutive qualification for the World
Cup. I want to thank the players, fans and KFA officials
for their hard work this year,” Huh said at the annual
awards.
Huh beat out Kim Jung-hoon, the defensive-mind-
ed manger of North Korea who led the country to its
first World Cup since 1966, and Takeshi Okada, who
led Japan to its fourth consecutive World Cup berth.
The last Korean to win the award, in 2003, was the late
Cha Kyung-bok of Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, who led
his club to three consecutive K-League titles. Other
past recipients include Dutchman Guus Hiddink in
2002, who took the national team to its fourth-place
finish at the 2002 World Cup.
Lee Keun-ho, Ki Sung-yeung and Lee Chung-yong
Sports
[YONHAP]
Huh Jung-moo, far left, won manager of the year, while Ki Sung-yeung,
fourth from right, won young player of the year at the AFC Annual Awards
at the Shangri-la Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Nov. 24.
are the most notable young players on the team, and
all three have gone on to earn deals with overseas
teams. Ki was the latest, recently signing on to join
Celtic FC in the Scottish Premier League in January
2010.
A midfielder striving to live up to his manager’s
legacy, Ki is also the youngest member of the national
team at 20. The former FC Seoul midfielder has a long
career ahead of him, and he won AFC Young Player of
the Year for his role on the national team and FC Seoul
this season. Ki has become an integral part of the
national team’s starting lineup and showed a lot of
poise, good vision, solid passing skills and a scoring
touch. Since being selected for the national team in
September 2008, Ki has scored four goals in 17 appear-
ances. Though FC Seoul crashed out of the first round
of the K-League Championship, it did manage to make
it to the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League
and finished third overall in K-League standings in
2009.
But the national team was not the only group of
Korean footballers to make noise this season. The
Pohang Steelers were awarded the AFC club of the year
award after they won the AFC Champions League and
finished second overall in K-League standings. Led by
Brazilian Sergio Farias, Pohang entertained fans with
an exciting attack-minded game and finished the reg-
ular season without a single loss on their home field.
South Korea’s Hong Eun-ah also received the AFC
referee award for women. By Jason Kim
January 2010 korea 51
 Click
Korea
For love of Hangeul
Right, members of the Cia-
Cia tribe, which lives on a
remote island in Indonesia,
arrive at Incheon Interna-
tional Airport Dec. 21. The
nine-person delegation
was invited by the Seoul
Metropolitan Government
and the Hunminjeongeum
Society. The tribe made
headlines this summer af-
ter deciding to adopt the
Korean alphabet, Han-
geul, as its own. The tribe
has had no means to write
its spoken language. The
delegation includes Mayor
Amirul Tamim of Bau-Bau

By Kim Kyung-bin
city, where the Cia-Cia
live, schoolteachers and
students from the tribe.
[YONHAP]
 Korea through the Lens

Something’s Fishy — Right, with Christmas

two weeks away, a diver donning a Santa
Claus costume plays with a swarm of sardines
during an underwater feeding show at Coex
Aquarium in southern Seoul.

Year of the Tiger — Below right, a tiger

roars at Seoul Grand Park, a symbol of 2010,
the Year of the Tiger by the Chinese zodiac.
Images of tigers flooded Seoul for the new
year, symbolizing hope and good wishes.

The 50-Foot Pedestrians — Below, the

world’s biggest “media canvas” shows the
piece “Walking People” by Julian Opie, on the
façade of the newly renovated Seoul Square
building across from Seoul Station.

[YONHAP]
[YONHAP]
Walk Into Nature, and a Perilous Past
Belying its beautiful mountains and seaside landscapes, Ganghwado Island has
been a frequent battlefield, home to clashes with Mongolia, France and the U.S.
S
cience has brought immeasurable ben-
efits to humankind, but it has also sep-
arated us from the joy of a simple walk
along the seaside or through the forest,
transplanting us, sweaty and irritable, onto a
treadmill in the basement.
Swiss-born novelist and entrepreneur Alain
de Botton noted in “The Art of Travel,” his
insightful essay on the revitalizing power of
nature, “the consoling idea that in vacant or pen-
sive moods, in traffic in the city’s turbulent world,
we may also draw on images of our travels
through nature, images of a group of trees or a
spread of daffodils on the shores of a lake, and
with their help, blunt a little the forces of enmity
and low desires.” In the places depicted on the
following pages, walking is more than a way to
burn fat. It’s a sacred chance to escape the suf-
focating rat race and exercise the mind, building
up memories to offer comfort in difficult times.
Before the airplane, the car, the wheel, to
travel was to walk. No one is ever alone on a
walking tour: The whispering trees, the grass
and the birds are ever-present companions.
Recently the Olle paths in Jeju and the trail
up Mount Jirisan have attracted special attention
in Korea. But one doesn’t have to run with the
crowd — there are plenty of other, perfectly
accessible places to venture on foot. Here are just
a few.
54 korea January 2010
2010
A walk on the island of Ganghwado is like
stepping into a coffee table hardcover.
Breathtaking mountains, sea and sky hide a
startling number of important historical and cul-
tura sites. The best part: This relaxing oasis is just
one hour away from the smog and stress of
Seoul.
Ganghwado has been called a “museum
without a roof ” because of its many historical
sites. The oldest is the Chamseongdan, a stone
altar on Mount Manisan where Korea’s mythical
founder Dangun supposedly performed rites to
appease the heavens. A cluster of prehistoric dol-
mens on Ganghwado has been designated a
UNESCO World Heritage site. The island was
also a battleground during the Mongolian inva-
sion in the Goryeo Dynasty period (918-1392).
In modern times, Ganghwado again became
the target of foreign invaders, and battles took
place there with the French in 1866 and the Unit-
ed States in 1871. This military history is reflect-
ed in the 53 stone dondae, military posts built
along a beachside path to ward off invasion from
the sea. The island was also a temporary home
for many refugees who fled from the North dur-
ing the Korean War.
The most common way to enjoy the island
[JoongAng Ilbo]
involves a walk along the path between the don-
dae. The official route is divided into four sec-
tions. The first is the History-Culture Path, which

is about 13 kilometers (8 miles) and takes some
four hours to walk. The second is the 15-kilome-
ter Patriotic Dondae Path, taking five hours. The
Pathway to the Historical Tombs, an 18-kilome-
ter section, takes another seven hours, and the
last is the Sunset Village Path, a relatively easy
4.25 kilometers.
The “History-Culture” section includes a
visit to Gwang-hwasanseong, which served as
the temporary capital of the Goryeo dynasty; the
ruins of the Goryeo palace; Yongheunggung Pal-
ace, and the Anglican Church of Ganghwa, with
its tradional Korean-style chapel. After that, the
path to Yeonmijeong Pavilion overlooks the pic-
turesque fields of Daesan village, providing a
taste of rural Korea.
The second section highlights the strategic
military location of the island, where the rivers
Hangang and Imjingang meet. Barbed wire runs
along the waterfront, a reminder of the division
of Korea. There are also remains of historical
military camps and bases as well as the 53 don-
dae.
The third section of the path features the
calm of Jeondeungsa Temple and the royal tombs
of a king and a queen that are the only ones made
in their style in the South. The final leg of the
journey should end with a glowing sunset, best
admired from the Geonpyeong inlet, and with a
stroll through the salted shrimp market in
Travel
The sunset from Ganghwado Island on Korea’s
west coast is one of its most striking sights,
bathing old battlefields in a blood-red glow.
Oepori.
Unlike the Olle trails in Jeju, the Ganghwado
pathway is not universally famous. Yet it is a
quaint and idyllic walk to be thoroughly enjoyed.
Since Ganghwado is so easily accessible from
Seoul by public transportation, one can leave
with pockets as light as one’s heart.
More information can be found at www.
ganghwa.incheon.kr.
Getting There
A bus runs frequently from Sinchon in Seoul
to the Ganghwa Bus Terminal. The trip takes
approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes and costs
4,200 won.
Places to Eat
t
4FPIBF
#PLIXFKJC

Located near the Changhuri inlet, this res-
taurant is easy to find and boasts a great sunset
view. It serves blowfish dishes including wild
river puffers and seasonal fresh fish. Lodging is
also available.
t
1VSFVO
&POEFPL

Ten minutes from downtown Ganghwa-eup,
next to the Songhae Postal Office, this place is
famous for its soy sauce-seasoned crab and rice
simmered in earthenware bowls. Also recom-
mended is the fish and rice set, a real value for its
price.
January 2010 korea 55
Into the Woods: An Energetic Trek
Chungnyeongsan is Korea’s largest forest, mostly the work of Lim Jong-guk.
An idyllic campsite and purported health benefits are among its charms

The campsite along the
dirt trail through Chung-
nyeongsan, originally
blazed to move trees, can
accommodate 10 tents
total.
M
ount Chungnyeongsan is a mag-
nificent mountain located
between Jangseong-gun County
in Jeollanam-do Province and
Gochang-gun County in Jeollabuk-do Province.
It’s the largest forested area in the country, with
62 hectares of cedar, 143 hectares of cypress and
55 hectares of larch trees — all planted with
dedicated care over 32 years, from 1956 to 1987,
by the late Lim Jong-guk. The main part of the
forest consists of cedar and cypress, which typi-
cally live 30 to 50 years. The average height of the
trees is 18 meters, at a density of some 700 to
2,500 trees per hectare.
The cypress woods at Mount Chungnyeong-
san are now known for their supposed health
effects. The tall cedar and cypress trees cover the
land with a blanket of cool air even during the
summer. Proponents of the practice of “forest
bathing” believe the phytoncides emitted by the
coniferous forest calm the mind and body and
strengthen lung function, helping alleviate bron-
chial asthma. Some patients suffering from skin
diseases or even terminal cancer visit the area
hoping to gain these benefits.
Because it is a private forest, for a long time
Chungnyeongsan did not appear on most maps.
But in times its spectacular greenery made it a

56 korea January 2010

2010

popular location for shooting movies and TV
dramas. Im Kwon-taek’s classic The Taebaek
Mountains and The Harmonium in My Memory
were both shot in Geumgok village at the foot of
the mountain, which was also the first to win the
grand prize for “Most Beautiful Forest” in a cam-
paign co-hosted by the Korea Forest Service in
2000. Past the village, a mountain path leads into
thick foliage, and up a moderate slope. This trail
was originally blazed to transport trees, but today
it seems all natural, running six kilometers (3.7
miles) between the villages of Munamri and
Moam. Though the dirt route be travelled by car,
it is much better on foot.
A camp site and spring alongside can accom-
modate up to 10 tents. Walking through the
woods and breathing the fresh air does wonders
for one’s heart.
Sightseeing
t
)POH
(JMEPOHT
#JSUIQMBDF
Hong Gil-dong is both a character in a novel
by Heo Gyun and a real, historical person.
Known as “the Robin Hood of Korea,” Hong was
Travel
born into a noble household in the mid-15th
century but was shunned because he was the off-
spring of a concubine.
He gathered a group of rebels fighting for
social justice, calling themselves Hwalbindang.
Unfortunately, he was pursued and finally arrest-
ed by the Joseon authorities and exiled to Nam-
hae. Hong later escaped, leading the group to
Okinawa.
Joint Korean-Japanese academic research
traced the course of the real Hong’s life, and
Jangsung-gun County established a Hong Gil-
dong museum in 2004.
Places to Eat
t
4BOHPMKKBHJ

Pheasant may be delicious, but it’s a rarity
and even trickier to cook, making this restaurant
near the entrance to the Hong Gil-dong village a
special treat. Their specialty is sukiyaki with
pheasant meat, plus optional noodles or rice
cakes. The pheasants are raised in a plot right
next to the restaurant, so diners can see the birds
for themselves.
[JoongAng Ilbo]
January 2010 korea 57
Roads that Shaped Korea’s History
Today, Haneuljae and Mungyeongsaejae are tourist attractions, but centuries ago
these living arteries bustled with traders, travelers — and even invading armies

M
ireuksa Temple on Mount Worak-
san in Jecheon, Chungcheong-
buk-do Province, boasts an
impressive three-story stone
pagoda. Just to its left is a modest trail lined with
pine and oak trees, fanned by a cool breeze under
a clear sky. This is Haneuljae. Though only a half-
kilometer (1,600 feet) long, it’s one of the oldest
paths to connect Chungcheongbuk-do in the
west and Gyeongsangbuk-do on the east. The
name means “Sky Hill” because it seems to touch
the sky. The bumpy dirt trail turns to asphalt at
the crest of a ridge, offering a view of the
1,115-meter high Mount Daemisan to the West.
Haneuljae is as much as 1,300 years old. First
established during the Silla period, it was a major
thoroughfare on the peninsula through the Japa-
nese invasion of 1592 to 1598. It lost its central
role when new roads were built to cut through
the hills of Joryeong and Ihwaryeong.
For the past 600 years, Haneuljae has gone
practically entirely unused, and it has been des-

ignated one of the top 10 best preserved natural
spots in Chungcheongbuk-do. The Woraksan
National Park Authority even created in the
1970s a 1.5-kilometer “Historical and Ecological
Observatory Path” near the storied trail that has
become known as Haneuljae.
Sightseeing
t
+VOHXPO
.JSFVLTBKJ

This temple was built in the 11th century
during the early days of the Goryeo Dynasty, but
later burned down during the Mongolian inva-
sion. Still at the site are a stone statue of a stand-
ing Buddha, a five-story stone pagoda, a stone


lamp, another three-story stone pagoda and two
unique pillars.
t
0ME
.VOHZFPOHTBFKBF
1BUI

This was part of Yeongnamdaero, the biggest
road connecting the southeastern part of the
peninsula with Hanyang, the capital, in the
Joseon period. It was an important route for its
economic functions, its military significance and
as a crossroads of culture. The old path is about
6.5 kilometers long, stretching from the first
gateway of Mungyeongsaejae to the third. Today
[JoongAng Ilbo]
it has been preserved as a yellow earth road and Stone lamps and pago-
plays an important part in local tourism, the per- das and a standing Bud-
fect place to visit after a walk down Haneuljae. dha watch over the site
It’s also been used as a setting for historical TV of Jungwon Mireuksaji
dramas and attracts many visitors from around Temple, built in the 11th
the country with its deep forests, beautiful nature century during the reign
and historical sites. of the Goreyo Dynasty.
Places to Eat
t
+VOHBOHUBQ
0SJKJC

Duck meat is usually greasy, and commonly
roasted, but there is another delicious way to pre-
pare it — in a stew with medicinal herbs.
This winter dish is surely to please every
taste, attested to by this restaurant’s two-genera-
tion history. It’s also entertaining to watch the
experienced serving staff separate the meat from
the bones with deft skill. White baekgimchi and
cucumber kimchi are also rare treats suitable for
foreign guests who are not used to Korea’s spicy
dishes. By Ji-soo Lim

58 korea January 2010


Embarking on a Taste Adventure
If good food to you
means a full stomach
and an empty plate,
try sulfur-fed duck
F
rederic Nef ’s criteria for
good food are met when
the plate is empty and the
stomach full, an order he
finds isn’t hard to fill in Korea.
The executive chef at the JW
Marriott Seoul in southern Seoul,
Nef says he didn’t know much about
Korean cuisine before arriving here
earlier this year, and he hadn’t
expected to see so much culinary
diversity.
Frederic Nef
Executive Chef,
JW Marriott Seoul
Nolboo Yuhwang Ori’s grilled sulfur-fed duck is one of Nef’s favorites.
Korean restaurants are a rarity
in Nef ’s home city of Paris, where
foreign restaurants focus mainly on
Mexican, Cantonese and Chinese
food. Now, every day brings new
tastes, he says.
Things got even better three
weeks ago when his Korean friends
took him to Nolboo Yuhwang Ori,
a restaurant that serves grilled sul-
fur-fed duck in Banpo-dong, south-
ern Seoul. He has been back twice
already and is well on his way to
becoming a regular customer.
The duck is served whole and
stuffed with 23 ingredi-
ents including rice and
nuts and cooked in an
earthenware oven for 3
hours. At 55,000 won ($43.40) it is
certainly a serious meal, but diners
are not likely to leave hungry. “The
dish has a good combination of
nutrition,” he said.
After Nef and his wife’s first
Travel
Korea’s Taste Masters
Provided by the restaurant
visit to the restaurant, three weeks
ago, their plates were clean. It would
seem Nef ’s criteria for good food
were well met.
To reach the restaurant, take
line No. 3 or 7 to Express Bus Ter-
minal Station, exit 7. Hours are
from noon to 10 p.m. Reservations
are necessary. For more informa-
tion, call (02) 6282-5292 or visit
www.nolboo.co.kr.
Frederic Nef has worked as an
executive chef for the Marriott
chain since 2005, when he was
hired by the Beirut Marriott
Hotel in Lebanon.
Before coming to Seoul in
January this year, he was the
executive chef for the Marriott
Paris Rive Gauche Hotel for a
little over a year. He has 27 years
of experience in the kitchens of
hotels and military clubs in
Europe, the Middle East and Rus-
sia. By Lee Eun-joo
January
January 2010
2010 korea
korea 59 59
Salvation Through Cinema
Father Sebastian smuggled film classicsinto Korea under military rule. Today he’s
still a staunch defender of the medium’s power to inspire more than just adrenaline
W
aegwan, Gyeongsangbuk-
do Province, a small,
sleepy village about 270
kilometers (168 miles)
southwest of Seoul, is well known for its
Catholic monastery, built during the Kore-
an War in 1952.
Now the Waegwan Abbey, one of the
oldest Catholic monasteries in Korea and
home to more than 100 priests and Catho-
lic monks, has become famous for an
unusual reason — its collection of classic
European films, a rarity in Korea.
Father Sebastian (born Heinrich Roth-
ler), a German priest who has been a fix-
ture at the monastery since 1968, is the
guardian of this precious collection,
encompassing not only religious movies
but also art house films that may be no lon-
ger available at DVD shops crowded with
the latest Hollywood blockbusters.
For more than three decades, Father
Sebastian has imported and played foreign
films here, on a self-proclaimed mission to
spread messages of hope, love, freedom,
justice and salvation.
“Finding good movies is like finding a
treasure in a dark forest,” Rothler said, sur-
rounded by stacks of DVD boxes at the
abbey’s Benedictine Audiovisual Center,
which he has headed since 1993. Here in
the small, humble studio, he busily copies,
60 korea January 2010
packages and sends out DVDs ordered by
customers with two employees and other
volunteers. Copies of films by Andrei Tark-
ovsky, Ingmar Bergman and Ken Loach
— even Frédéric Back’s classic animated
film The Man Who Planted Trees — are
strewn everywhere. The studio has about
60 films available on DVD and often VHS
as well, ranging from Tarkovsky’s master-
piece Solaris and Federico Fellini’s La Stra-
da to rare footage of Korea in the 1920s,
filmed by a German priest.
The story of the 73-year-old Rothler
also dates back to the ’20s, when the young
student first fell under the cinema’s spell.
Studying religious psychology at a college
in Munich, Rothler learned that church
wasn’t the only place one learns about reli-
gions — the same messages could be spread
through music, books, opera, photography
and other media. His favorites were images
and movies.
“I saw all kinds of movies, from South
Africa, Latin America, and even Japan and
Indonesia,” Rothler said. Munich, a famous
college town, hosted movie directors and
critics at countless forums and events back
then, and the young aficionado didn’t miss
a thing.
After he became a priest in 1965, Roth-
ler met another priest who had served in
Wonsan, now in North Korea.
 People

Photo by Jung Chi-ho

Father Sebastian Rothler has headed

the Benedictine Audiovisual Center at
Waegwan Abbey in Gyeongsangbuk-
do Province since 1993.

January 2010 korea 61

 “He told me how beautiful a country
Korea is, and how Koreans are kind,
delightful and smart,” Rothler said. Young
European students at the time were also
beginning to take more interest in the third
world, and Rothler finally left for Korea in
1966.
The country, then under military rule,
had no guarantee of free speech, let alone a
film market open to controversial issues
regarding society or politics.
“I brought in some socially critical
movies, like On the Waterfront, or Charlie
Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, and showed
them in colleges or small movie forums,” he
said. “I thought it was right [to show such
movies to people] because there was no
freedom in Korea back then, and people
wanted to watch movies about social jus-
tice.”
But with even college campuses under
the watchful eye of plainclothes police offi-
cers, Rothler had to be extremely careful.
The students who wanted to see his films
would set the exact minute Rothler had to
arrive at some basement on campus or
another secret location. Then he would be
ushered, film can and projector in tow, into
a tightly-locked classroom where dozens,
sometimes hundreds, of students would be
eagerly waiting for his arrival in dead
silence and pitch black darkness.
“I mostly showed movies about labor
unions like Waterfront, or some Tarkovsky
movies … but they were considered social-
ist movies by society back then,” he said.
After being assigned to lead the Bene-
dictine Audiovisual Center in 1993, Roth-
ler rolled out an even more ambitious plan
— officially importing foreign classical
films and selling the copies to film fans.
Though well known in die-hard circles,
these movies could only be found at that
time in dusty piles in the back of old rental
shops, and then only if they’d been import-
ed at all.
Yet the timing was perfect, given the
renewed popularity of the old movies
among young people in the giddy, liberated
1990s. Budding movie buffs abounded, all
searching for old classic films they could
brag to their friends they’d seen. So the
Benedictine Audiovisual Center soon
became a famous fixture among local fans
62 korea January 2010
longing to learn about Bergman, Tark-
ovsky, Fellini and their ilk.
But the center’s collection isn’t just the
modern cinematic canon. It also includes a
long list of religious-themed movies,
including one about a legendary Catholic
missionary who lived in remote Latin
American forests, and the award-winning
German documentary 2,000 Years of Chris-
tianity.
“I not only look at the message and plot
but also see the film’s image quality, like
composition and camerawork,” he said.
“No matter how good the theme is, I don’t
select it unless it has some quality from an
aesthetic viewpoint,” he said, adding slyly
that 2000 Years of Christianity was a perfect
antidote to movies like The Da Vinci
Code.
The center also brought to Korea what
Rothler says was the first real film footage
with images of the country, taken back in
the ’20s. The new DVD, titled The Land of
Morning Calm, is based on 15,000 meters
of raw film recorded by Father Norbert
Weber, who visited Korea in the 1910s and
’20s when the country was under Japanese
occupation.
The film shows long-lost images of the
early 20th century Korean Peninsula, before
the Korean War separated the North and
South. The images include women spin-
ning on cotton wheels, families making
traditional tteok rice cakes, a look at Dong-
somun (Seoul’s ancient East Gate), which
was destroyed just years later, and mission-
ary activities in what is now North Korean
territory.
The footage was once stored in a Ger-
man monastery, but later the Nazi govern-
ment, which sided with Japan in World
War II, tried to confiscate it, Rothler said,
because some of it could be interpreted as
espousing a critical view toward the Japa-
nese occupational regime in Korea.
Fortunately, a monk saved the film,
hiding it behind a stone wall in the base-
ment before he died during the war. The
film was rediscovered in 1975 during a
renovation.
For more information about the Bene-
dictine Audiovisual Center, see www.
benedictmedia.co.kr or call (054) 971-0630.
By Jung Ha-won

Europe Through Diverse Eyes
Korea’s first compilation of short stories with contributions from all 27 EU nations
has a story of its own, as the longtime ambition of Swedish envoy Lars Vargö
T
he Lisbon Treaty has paved
the way toward turning the
European Union into an even
more integrated economic
and political bloc. But it remains a
region with a rich diversity of cul-
tures, and that’s what keeps attract-
ing tourists and scholars from across
the world.
And a sampler of the cutting edge
of Europe’s literary culture was
recently unveiled to the Korean pub-
lic in the form of “Europe, Fascinat-
ing Stories,” which contains short
stories from all 27 member states of
the European Union.
This literary tour of
Europe, translated into
Eu
Korean, features a range of
Ko
popular contemporary
po
writers such as Zadie
wr
Smith from Britain, Ingo
Sm
Schulze from Germany,
Sch
Anna Gavalda from France
An
and Hans Gunnarsson
an
from Sweden.
fro
Urban life in Europe is
the binding theme, but
the authors’ widely vary-
ing perspectives and styles
offer readers an insight
off
into unexpected corners of
int
Eu
European cultures and
lifestyle
lifestyles. According to the
People
book’s publisher, Minumsa, it’s the
first time that modern short stories
from all 27 EU member countries
have been combined together in one
book.
“Through this selection of 27
European short stories, the reader
will get a glimpse of numerous Euro-
pean cities and their people, with
each story bringing a new opportu-
nity to learn about the cultures and
the peculiar histories that have helped
to shape the European Union,” the
publisher said.
The project was spearheaded by
Lars Vargö, the Swedish Ambassador
to Korea. A poet himself, Vargö, who
came to Korea in 2006, is well known
for his special love for literature, so
much so that he founded the Seoul
Literary Society, or SLS, along with
other like-minded foreign ambassa-
dors in Seoul.
Among them was Spanish Ambas-
sador to Seoul Delfin Colomé, who
died after a long fight with liver can-
cer early last year, and in fact the two
diplomats developed the idea for
“Fascinating Stories” in discussions
after they created the SLS in 2006.
“When I suggested that we should
start this book, [Ambassador Colo-
mé] immediately came up with the
idea that it should have as a common
January 2010 korea 63
 theme ‘life in European cities,’ in
order to show the richness and vari-
ety that you find there,” Vargö said.
The embassies of EU countries in
Seoul were asked to present ideas for
a selection of short stories, but the
Swedish embassies in various EU
countries also participated to facili-
tate the selection process, according
to Vargö.
“European cooperation is based
on common values, such as democ-
racy and respect for human rights,
but it is also from the diversity and
64 korea January 2010
the differences that still remain that
Europe gets much of its present vital-
ity and strength. This book, a collec-
tion of short stories, one from each
member country of the EU, is hope-
fully a good example of this,” Vargö
said of the book.
“It is also with great pride that
this book reaches the Korean market
during the Swedish presidency of the
European Union, but it should of
course be seen as a common effort of
all the EU representatives in the
Republic of Korea,” the ambassador

added. Sweden held the presidency
of the EU during the second half of
2009.
But this book is not the only
accomplishment SLS has put under
its belt in the past three years after its
inception. An organization with an
open membership, SLS is committed
to generating interest among Korea’s
foreign community and Korean
nationals in literature written by
both Korean and foreign authors.
The group’s members are mainly
foreign ambassadors stationed in the
People
[JoongAng Daily]
Left, during a Seoul Literary Society meeting at his residence early this year, Swedish Am-
bassador to Seoul Lars Vargö and other SLS members listen to the speaker of the day, well-
known Korean writer Gong Ji-yeong, seated on the right in the photo above. Gong talked
about her literature at the group’s regular meeting, and attendees had a rare chance to
speak with the novelist firsthand.
capital. Currently active members
include Czech Ambassador Jaroslav
Olsa, Jr.
“Our activities mainly include
meetings and lectures where local
writers and foreign writers visiting
Korea are invited to talk about their
works and exchange their ideas with
the participants so that people can
deepen their understanding of their
literary world,” Vargö said in a sepa-
rate interview.
SLS has invited prominent Kore-
an writers to participate in its regular
meeting, such as the poet Ko Un and
novelists Park Wan-seo, Hwang Sok-
yong and Gong Ji-yeong.
“We believe our meetings and
events provide foreign ambassadors
and our Korean members with a good
opportunity to become familiar with
Korean literature,” the Swedish
envoy said.
The presidency of the literary
society, which had been held by
Vargö since its establishment, was
handed over last June to Colombian
Ambassador Alejandro Borda, who
was then vice president of the group.
However, the Swedish envoy
resumed the lead post when Borda
left his post unexpectedly last Octo-
ber. By Park Sun-young
January 2010 korea 65
Foreign Viewpoints
Choosing
the Right
Approach
In Korea, American frankness
is often considered extremely
offensive — instead, building
a consensus is most essential
Phillip Raskin is the representative director
of Burson-Marsteller Korea. An American,
he has lived and worked in Asia, Europe and
the United States, and is still working on
improving his Korean.
66 korea January 2010
R
ecently, I was sitting in a
meeting where I was the only
non-Korean. Of course, as an
expat this happens pretty of-
ten, but as this meeting was actually in
Korean, it gave me more opportunity to
sit back and observe how people com-
municate, and some of the differences
from my own culture.
To clarify: I do speak a bit of Korean,
and my tutor would like to think I am
making progress weekly (and that
I’m always doing my homework).
But I don’t speak what I would term
“informative Korean” — meaning I
can’t get primary information in Kore-
an. In fact, my Korean is quite limited,
so I would say I can follow the conversa-
tion or maybe get through a few written
sentences if I already know the subject
and a few of the main Korean words.
In business this tends to work because I
often know the issues and the situation
beforehand, and many of the words are
ones I’ve encountered before — or just
English words with Korean pronuncia-
tion. I’m also not that good at speaking,
especially in a business context. So dur-
ing this meeting, I couldn’t really con-
tribute that much directly.
At the meeting, we were talking about
a subject I knew quite well, and go-
ing through a presentation I’d already
been through a bunch of times, so even
though the discussion was in Korean, I
knew almost exactly what we were talk-
ing about. We were speaking to a fairly
senior guy serving as an advisor, so we
were already in a “deferential” position.
And for me, it was quite interesting to
see how the conversation went.
As the senior guy spoke, both our team
and the client simply nodded along,
with the occasional “ne” or “algesse-
umnida” to break the silence. To the
Western ear, it sounds a bit like punc-
tuation. Even though there were parts
where he clearly didn’t understand our
presentation, or where he was saying
things that were not that relevant, our
job was to nod, accept and wait.
In a meeting in the U.S., however, this
conversation would have gone very dif-
ferently. Instead of saving up our re-
sponses for a later time out of respect,
we probably would have (politely) in-
terrupted to correct misperceptions to
move forward more quickly. In effect,
we would have changed the very na-
ture of the discussion — what is called
in philosophy and physics the observer
effect. But with apologies to Heisen-
berg and Bohr, this is to Americans a
very normal way of doing business. We
would say we value efficiency and clar-
ity over procedure.
For me, it was quite difficult, knowing
what I wanted to say but not having
the tools to get it done. However, given
the situation, that would have been
the wrong way to go — our job was
not to convince Mr. Senior Guy, but to
let him be heard. Because in this case
what was most important was for him
to provide his viewpoint, and for him to
see us accept that viewpoint. We could
provide clarification later through inter-
mediaries, but at this time, our job was
to let things be, and give a sense to the
speaker that we were building a con-
sensus.
Perhaps because I work in communica-
tion (at a public relations agency), I at
least was able to draw upon the most
important rule of our profession — re-
member the audience. The right mes-
sage to the wrong audience has just as
much potential for negative impact as
the other way around. And I knew that
in this case, my message would have
not been that helpful, so I kept quiet.
So who’s right? Which is the way to go?
A wrestling match, like the Americans,
where we have moves, countermoves
and the effort to take control? A bil-
liards match, where it’s my turn, your
turn, with maybe more turns for me if I
outrank you? West vs. East?
As always, the answer is: It depends.
There is always a way to get one’s
point across, though it often has to be
adjusted based on the situation. Being
“too American” in Korea will get me
into trouble, just as much as a Korean
firm will have similar issues for not be-
ing American enough when reaching
out to audiences in the U.S. The trick is
remembering where you are, what you
are trying to do, and what approach is
best to accomplish that.
68 korea January 2010