April 2014

april 2014 VOL.10

Creative eConomy innovation & entrepreneurship Build the Future

contentsapril 2014 | korea vol.10 No.4

14 PEOPLE Cartoonist Yoon Tae-ho Gochujang master Kim Jongkuk

18 TRAVEL Gyeongju

22 SPORTS Korean Martial Art Gets a Proper Home

24 ENTERTAINMENT A World Tunes In

26 SPEcIAL ISSuE A Beautiful, Tearful Reunion

04 cOVER STORy A New Era of Innovation Begins

Korea’s Creative Economy uses ingenuity and entrepreneurship to rewrite the book on economic development

28 cuRRENT KOREA Foodie Nation

30 SuMMIT DIPLOMAcy Bolstering Nuclear Security and Inter-Korean Cooperation

34 POLIcy REVIEw Unification Bonanza

38 cREATIVE TEcHNOLOGy Korea Jumps into the 3D Printer Race

40 GLObAL KOREA An Ancient Gem Shines Again

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Publisher Won Yong-gi, Korean Culture and Information Service | Executive Producer Suh Jeong-sun | E-mail webmaster@korea.net | Magazine Production Seoul Selection | Editor-in-Chief Robert Koehler | Staff Writer Felix Im | Producer Shin Yesol | Production Supervisor Lee Jin-hyuk | Editorial Advisors Choi Byeong-guk | Copy Editors Gregory C. Eaves, David Carruth, Hwang Chi-young | Creative Director Jung Hyun-young | Head Designer Yu Hye-ju | Photography Ryu Seunghoo, Robert Koehler, RAUM Studio | Printing Pyung Hwa Dang Printing Co., Ltd. | All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission from KOREA and the Korean Culture and Information Service. If you want to receive a free copy of KOREA or wish to cancel a subscription, please e-mail us. A downloadable PDF file of KOREA and a map and glossary with common Korean words appearing in our text are available by clicking on the thumbnail of KOREA on the homepage of www.korea.net. 발간등록번호 11-1110073-000016-06

42 GREAT KOREAN Choe Mu-seon

44 My KOREA The Exemplar of Convenience

46 MuLTIcuLTuRAL KOREA Policeman Ju Ji Gang

48 TALES FROM KOREA The King Has Donkey Ears!

50 FLAVOR Dak Galbi

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A new era of Innovation Begins

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Korea’s Creative Economy uses ingenuity and entrepreneurship to rewrite the book on economic development

Written by Kim Bo-eun

“For the seventh year, Korea has been unable to transcend an annual per capita income of USD 20,000.

This signifies that the Korean economy’s current means of growth has reached its limit. In order to transcend this limit, we need to change our paradigm. I believe we should find the answer in a ‘creative economy.’ We are living in an era where a single individual’s creativity and imagination provides hundreds and thousands of livelihoods.”

With this statement, President Park Geun-hye

brought forth an ambitious three-year plan to achieve sustainable growth and make the leap to become a truly advanced economy. The “creative economy” initiative, as the plan is called, aims to revolutionize the Korean economy by fusing information and communication technologies to not only create new businesses and opportunities, but also to innovate existing, traditional industries. It’s a paradigm Seoul hopes goes global—as President Park said at the APEC Summit in Indonesia in October last year, “[I]nnovation is

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ICT and Future Planning, said in an interview, “The creative economy innovation centers are regional ‘bastions of innovation’ and ‘start-up hubs’ (founded) to carry out a number of roles, such as activating entrepreneurship by efficiently bringing together regional resources, boosting corporate competition and opening global markets to products and services.”

The centers will serve as a platform for entrepreneurs-to-be, investors and mentors to interact and share information. They will also link Seoul with provincial areas and aid small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in expanding abroad together with conglomerates. The government will utilize global companies’ market know-how, networks and platforms to support the entire process of startup training, technology development, business model development and providing consulting and funds. It will also foster angel investors in the provinces and cooperate with domestic and global accelerators to support the growth of startups.

The government is also striving to foster the entrepreneurial spirit amongst Korean youth through its “biz-cool program,” to be conducted at 5 percent of elementary, middle and high

schools by 2017. It will also increase the number of universities specializing in entrepreneurship from the current 23 to 40 by 2017. These schools provide entrepreneurship training, offer opportunities to build product prototypes, and teach about commercialization. It will also devise a KRW 15 billion “venture for Korea” program that provides talented youth the opportunity to intern at promising venture companies. The government will also provide up to KRW 100 million in funds when they start a business.

Existing business incubators will undergo streamlining as well. The 277 existing incubators will be restructured so that well-performing ones can receive more government funding and grow further. They will receive increased support, including investment and links to broader networks.

Emulating the Israeli ExampleAs a small open country with a leading startup infrastructure, Israel has captured the attention of Korean policymakers. In particular, the government has focused its attention on Israel’s Yozma Fund, created in 1993 by the Israeli government and the private sector in order to

the one and only source for achieving sustainable growth in the world economy.”

Creating a Virtuous Cycle for Investment FundsKorea has long been famous for its world-beating Internet speeds, bandwidth and penetration rates. Now the country will create a first-rate ecosystem for venture companies to match its IT infrastructure. The government is taking measures to ease the joint surety system—which imputes the obligation to repay debts to other parties such as family members, relatives or employees when the principal borrower defaults—for promising entrepreneurs, with the aim of making a transition from the collateral, security-based financial environment to one based on investment and financing through building a technology evaluation system for startups.

The government is also increasing the pool of angel investors, wealthy individuals who provide capital for startup businesses, often in return for equity. In addition to promoting networking

between angel investors and providing matching funds for angel investments, the government will also increase tax deductions for angel investments. For the next three years, it will exempt 100 percent for investments worth up to KRW 1.5 billion, and also provide angel investors with notable investment records which give them priority in policy funding.

Fostering an Entrepreneurial SpiritTo further promote a startup-friendly eco-system, the government announced it would pour KRW 4 trillion into the system over the next three years. In accordance with an initiative launched in June 2013, it crafted a customized funding plan for startups, following up with the “creative economy town,” an online platform to facilitate and boost entrepreneurship.

Earlier this year, the government devised a plan to build “creative economy innovation centers,” offline versions of the online platform, in 17 provinces and metropolitan areas nationwide. Lee Woo-jin, an official handling creative industry projects at the Ministry of Science,

Office of a Yeouido securities firm.Yeouido is the chief financial center of Korea.

Students and startup hopefuls listen to an explanation about a photo-based SNS service at D.Camp, the startup research center of the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs.

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1. President Park asks about a remote control with a speaker, invented by a high school student to help elderly people watch TV, at Creative Korea 2013.

2. A Dutch coffee maker decorated with LED lights at the Venture-Startup Festival 2013.

3. Thanks to the creative industries, Korea’s benchmark KOSPI continues to grow.

support technology startups. The fund has served as the basis for the country’s professionally managed venture capital market and the development of “Silicon Wadi,” the country’s concentrated area of high-tech industries.

Modeled on the United States’ Silicon Valley, the fund consists of venture capitalists and angel investors, and has helped a large number of its portfolio firms go public on major stock exchanges in the U.S. and Europe. It has also played a role in positioning its portfolio companies for acquisition or investment by leading corporations around the world. At a forum in Seoul on March 7, Israeli venture capital firm Magma VP co-founder Yahal Zilka said that in Israel, the role of the government in activating startup investment has been very important. Thanks to government sharing the investment risk, private capital could invest more boldly, he said.

Seoul aims to create a Korean version of the Yozma Fund by attracting investment in domestic firms seeking listings on foreign stock exchanges or M&As with foreign companies. It will build a KRW 200 billion fund by providing KRW 60 billion of government money and attracting foreign investment.

The government has also announced its commitment to expand the domestic M&A market, aiming to grow the local market by some 75 percent to some KRW 70 trillion by 2017. An active M&A environment has been emphasized as a necessary condition for venture companies to flourish, since it provides investors with the prospect of a return on their investments. In an address last month, Strategy and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said the lackluster M&A market limits companies from restructuring themselves to focus on their core competencies and also makes it difficult for investors to recollect their investments in venture firms, and subsequently limits those companies’ opportunities for growth through M&As.

“In order to achieve a dynamic, innovative economy, we need to create an environment where startup and venture companies can grow into small and medium-sized firms and ultimately global corporations,” said Hyun. “This can only happen when there are active corporate M&A activities.”

Identifying New Industries and MarketsAnother part of vamping up the domestic economy is nurturing new convergence-based industries by applying information and communications technology (ICT) to traditional industries. Such measures are expected to boost productivity and added value, as well as foster related service industries to create more quality jobs for the nation’s youth.

To see this in action, one needs only to venture to one of Seoul’s large traditional markets. Not long ago, these bustling outdoor markets were on the verge of extinction as merchants found it difficult to compete with the conveniences of major supermarkets. Korean IT firms, however, are providing solutions that allow these pieces of Seoul’s commercial and cultural life to keep going strong. Last year, for instance, mobile operator SK Telecom provided touchscreen tablets to merchants at Junggok

Jeil Market that not only function as electronic cash registers, but also help merchants more efficiently manage inventories and promote their wares. This, in turn, has led to a big boost in sales. SK Telecom has also provided market merchants with credit card scanners.

To promote developments such as these, the government has crafted a “creative economy vitamin project” to designate science or ICT-related businesses with significant socio-economic ripple effects. The project will formulate new tasks to upgrade existing industries every year. For example, in the case of agriculture, forestry and marine products, the tasks could center on utilizing ICT to prevent agricultural disasters or using intelligent robots to protect water resources.

The government will also focus on finding and fostering new sources of growth, such as the Internet of Everything (IoE), cloud computing

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and big data. IoE, for instance, adds connectivity and “smart” capacity to each and every device—from cooking utensils to your car—in order to boost its functionality. To promote these sectors, the government is establishing partnerships with global companies to work together on producing IoE-based, sensor-equipped objects and networks such as smart cars and homes.

The government also plans to apply cloud computing in the public sector as early as 2015 by creating an open platform through public-private cooperation. Korea’s intelligent use of cloud computing is already drawing praise from the international community. In a report issued in December 2013, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) cited Korea’s National Total Operating Platform System as an exemplary example of cloud computing in the public sector.

Boosting R&D, Attracting Foreign TalentThe government has announced it will boost R&D investment to 5 percent of the nation’s GDP by 2017. The plan for greater R&D investment covers both the government and private sector. The government will continue to increase its budget for R&D investment to reach KRW 20 trillion in 2017, from the current KRW 17.7 trillion. It will also encourage private sector R&D by establishing a policy support center in the coming months and make concrete plans to activate private R&D investment by the end of the year.

The government also plans to widen the nation’s talent pool by attracting foreign scholars and researchers. The plan is to bring 300 of the top 1 percent of scientists from around the globe to Korea by 2017. To do this, it will create the Korea Research Fellowship, which will bring in foreign talent, including overseas Koreans, and foster them here. Scholarships and research funds will be provided for those coming for master’s degrees and PhDs, and a wide range of incentives such as airfare, living expenses and

research funds, as well as positions in domestic institutions, will be provided for researchers. “A creative economy encompasses all fields ranging from culture to music to broadcasting. All industries can become new growth engines through convergence with ICT. Convergence is the new economic paradigm,” said Min Seung-oh, vice president of Ericsson Korea, the local office of the Sweden-based telecommunications provider.

“A number of efforts need to be made collectively. The government needs to ease

regulations and the private sector needs to play a role in building infrastructure and finding and fostering new growth engines. Both need to fully utilize ideas, talent and capital in doing this.”

Promoting and Protecting Intellectual Property RightsIt is also important to encourage innovation along with the promotion and protection of intellectual property rights. The government will step up crackdowns on counterfeit

products, revise patent laws and provide support for domestic companies going through overseas disputes over intellectual property rights.

In particular, it will shorten the screening process for intellectual property rights, improve screening quality, strengthen the compensation system for damages related to intellectual property rights and bolster protection through amending legislation related to technology leaks. Those who leak confidential business information will be criminally punished.

In order to promote creative activity,

Pangyo Techno Valley, a high-tech cluster located just south of Seoul

If there’s a person who knows something about the creative economy, it’s Gangneung Yeongdong College president Jung Changduk. He’s been trumpeting the importance of creativity in boosting national competitiveness

since the late 1990s, when he traveled the world and saw what Korea was up against. Now, as chairman of the Science, ICT and Future Institute, he’s sharing his insight with an administration determined to make creativity the focus of its economic policy.

Jung explains that the creativity economy is all about mixing the right ingredients. “Like the way we need gochujang and bean sprouts when we make bibimbap, the creative economy requires elements,” he says. “The basic factors of the creative economy include science and technology, information technology and creative ideas. These basic elements mix, or converge, like bibimbap ingredients.” These elements can converge with the arts, with existing industries or with new high-tech industries.

This, in turn, creates economic value, of which, explains Jung, there are four kinds. “The first is creating jobs. The second is creating new engines of growth. The third is venture startups. The fourth is added value,” he says. To illustrate, he takes the example of packaged tofu. “Tofu didn't sell well in markets, but then came vacuum packaging, an advanced technology that's a basic element. It was linked with an existing industry, supermarkets. In so doing, added value was created and a new industry appeared.”

Another example—albeit one yet to be realized—is intelligent cars. “As soon as Psy gets in his car, information technology—to which a creative idea has been added—makes it so that his music automatically comes on,” Jung says. “An existing industry, the car industry, has been linked with IT to produce a new industry, personalized cars. This is the creative economy in action.”

One of the most successful examples of the creative economy at work has been Seoul’s Junggok Jeil Market, the so-called “smart market.” Prior to the adoption of IT, merchants had a very difficult time, but not anymore. Jung explains: “When the market converged with a basic element, IT, an app was made and people used smartphones and the Internet to boost sales from five items a day to 20.”

Creating New Engines of GrowthKorea’s not the only country trying to establish a creative economy. Nations like Israel and Singapore are experimenting with creative economies of their own. There are differences, however. “The emphasis overseas has been existing industries,” says Jung. “They cultivate key talent, which is added to existing industries to create new occupational clusters. We try to create industries that are completely new to create jobs and added value.”

Take, for instance, the example of screen golf, where players use real clubs and balls but shoot against a picture of a course projected onto a screen, with sensors to detect how far and in which direction the ball goes. Jung explains, “This is totally a product of the creative economy. It's a completely new idea produced by converging Korea's advanced IT, GPS information and advanced technology.”

Science, ICT and Future Institute’s Jung Changduk stresses the importance of convergence

Interview by Robert Koehler

A Prophet of Creativity

the government will expand the “patent box” system to mid-sized firms, which will provide corporate tax exemptions on income streams from technology transfers. It will make a “creative fund” where the private and public sector can collectively invest in the commercialization of creative ideas. The government plans to put in some KRW 150 billion by 2015, and expects some KRW 350 billion to come from the private sector. It will also establish a database on technology transfer cases and an overall information network on technology commercialization by the end of the year.

Fostering New Green Energy Industries and MarketsThe government is also taking measures to deal with domestic energy demands and to respond to global climate change. It will ease regulations to encourage new energy industry business models to be created, as well as promote investment in them.

It will map out business models for each of the eight new energy industries and provide policy support packages. The eight industries are those of new renewable energy, electric automobiles, carbon capture and storage (CCS), smart grids,

energy storage means, energy management systems, intelligent demand response and energy saving companies (ESCo).

Along the same lines, the government will create a “green energy town” in order to deal with energy-related and environmental problems. These towns will be built at incineration plants and landfill sites where green technologies will be applied to transform them into new sites of renewable power. Each of the related ministries will cooperate to provide packages that suit each of the projects. For example, the environment ministry will focus on waste recycling, the trade ministry on new and renewable energy and the culture ministry on tourism resources. Task forces consisting of experts and related ministry officials, as well as local authorities and resident groups, will work together on these issues. A pilot project will start running this year of a green energy town. The Office for Government Policy Coordination will serve as the control center, and related ministries will work with local authorities to make a concrete profit model. The overall plan for the green energy town will be made by the end of this year, and implementation will start next year.

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Event to mark the handing over of an electric car for the fourth Smart Grid Day at the International Convention Center Jeju, November 2013.

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seemingly banal subject, Yoon crafts a captivating tale filled with suspense, every little victory or defeat rife with personal glory or despair.

“Nobody is complete, nobody is perfect. That’s why we strive,” Yoon explains the title. “You don’t need car crashes and murder to create suspense. Every moment of our lives is filled with a sense

of drama or struggle.” On top of interviewing countless salary men and

corporate executives to increase his story’s believability, Yoon took advantage of the instant communication with readers offered by webtoons’ online format. He read every single comment left by readers to gather ideas for improving his work for the following month’s edition.

“One of the biggest advantages, or disadvantages, of webtoons is that you can connect directly to your readers, see everything they have to say.”

A Lifer Although the popularity of Misaeng has catapulted Yoon’s popularity recently, leading to his invitation to the 2014 London Book Fair’s Market Focus: Spotlight on Korea seminar from April 8 to 10, he is no newcomer to the field. Even before his smash hit Moss, a crime-thriller which was also made into a film, he’d already released several comics, both in print and online.

Yoon has been drawing and creating his entire life. Growing up in a poor family that moved around a lot meant having few friends, leaving drawing as his sole companion. Intent on using his talent and passion to make a living, Yoon set out for Seoul upon graduating from high school to attend a school for comic book artists. Barely able to afford tuition, Yoon spent three months homeless, sleeping in public spaces and eating a single meal of instant noodles every day.

“The only baths I got were the water I splashed on myself in public bathrooms,” he recalls.

Yoon was lucky, though, for coincidence awarded him the opportunity to work under comic book legend Huh Young-man. Working in Huh’s workshop doing grunt

work and drawing backgrounds, Yoon eventually got himself off the streets and started training himself, drawing every day according to a strict personal schedule. Finally, after being rejected nine times, he published his first comic Emergency Landing in 1993, but Yoon didn’t let vanity get in his way.

“I took one look at the final product and realized that I was focusing only on drawings. The story was an absolute mess,” Yoon exclaims. For the following two years, he copied movie and television scripts verbatim, wrote personal journals and did everything possible to improve his storytelling ability, doing almost nothing else.

Two decades, three awards, a hit film, and countless drawings later, he’s still practicing: working on technique, researching topics and constantly observing everything and everyone around him.

“I hate making the same thing twice. I don’t like stagnation.”

Comic book artist Yoon Tae-ho doesn’t have any hobbies. Every hobby he’s ever attempted has just ended up being work. When he bought a bicycle

for fun, he ended up cycling over 80 kilometers and consuming half a day every time he got on. When Yoon takes pictures, he snaps around 10,000 shots over several hours, a testament to his observant and fastidious nature.

“After a while, I just realized that the best way to relax is to simply do nothing: space out in front of the television,” Yoon says.

Daily Drama While such an intense nature may be physically exhausting, in Yoon's case it has certainly reaped its rewards. His webtoon, an online comic book, Misaeng, a series about daily corporate life, sold over 600,000 copies, with over 400 million total views online. Literally meaning “one who is not yet living,” or “incomplete life,” Misaeng delves into the lives of those in the corporate grind, with the main character comparing every challenge in his life to the Korean board game of baduk. Taking a

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Webtoon and comic book artist Yoon Tae-ho can't relax

Written by Felix Im

Motivated by Imperfection

1. Book version of the crime thriller Moss2. Protagonist of Misaeng3. Copy of Misaeng

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Gochujang is made by several different people all over the country using the same ingredients, but each batch of gochujang varies according to the climate of each area. “Sunchang gochujang makers also differentiate themselves by using special meju (fermented soybeans) made with rice in addition to beans, while most people use ordinary meju made with just beans,” Kim elaborates.

No ShortcutsMaking traditional gochujang takes all year. Kim explains, “In spring, we prepare malted barley. In summer, we make gochujang meju, then buy ground red chilies to make red chili powder. When winter comes, we finally make the gochujang.” Kim’s traditional method requires six months for fermentation, as opposed to modernized factories that condense the process to only three days. Traditional gochujang uses meju, malted barley and red chili powder. Sunchang gochujang is made using only local chilies, beans and Korean salts, assisting local farmers.

Even though most Korean people eat food with gochujang every day, much of it is produced through modern methods, which means many young people do not know what real gochujang tastes like. Kim recalls a child on a school trip to Sunchang who loved his gochujang. “Taking one’s time and following the simple steps carefully are difficult. Few people can do this anymore because they are too busy with their everyday lives. But even children can recognize delicious gochujang. You do not have to teach them. People experience and discover it on their own. “

To Kim, making traditional gochujang is about more than just making sauce. He also feels a duty to preserve the old ways. He didn’t start his craft until the Sunchang Traditional Gochujang Village was built in 1997. Until then, his mother and wife made gochujang in private stocks for his family, but after moving to Sunchang, he decided to help his old mother and explore how Sunchang continues its traditions.

Harmony of Taste and HealthKim says that the most difficult thing is finding people to work with. “If you use machines, you can make your product quickly and easily, but the taste is not as good as real gochujang.” Traditional Sunchang gochujang makers do not use preservatives, so consumers must take good care when storing their product. This can make it difficult

Gochujang master Kim Jongkuk preservesa beautiful culinary tradition

Written by Shin Eun-jung

the Real taste of Korea

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to market. Kim explains that Sunchang Traditional Gochujang Village tried tapping into overseas markets by exporting their product, but local distributors didn’t know how to market it.

One of the key problems is storage. Real gochujang made the traditional way needs to be stored in traditional onggi. “Onggi allows the gochujang to breathe,” Kim explains. Onggi jars also allow gochujang to ferment from late winter to autumn. Even in summer, gochujang, bean paste and soy sauce do not go bad if stored the traditional way. To maintain his supply, Kim buys old onggi from rural households. When the elderly residents pass away, they often leave unwanted onggi which later generations have no use for. “Finding good onggi helps to make tasty sauce because each individual onggi creates its own taste.”

As the interview nears its end, Kim reflects on what gochujang means to him. “Traditionally, healthiness is at the heart of Korean food. When Korean people eat, they do not think only about taste. They consider the harmony between each dish and how the food affects their body. So we can say our food is a kind of medicine. Ultimately, I want to preserve this principle with my gochujang.”

In front of the traditional gochujang (red chili paste) maker Kim Jongkuk’s garden, there are many onggi (Korean earthenware) jars containing gochujang, bean

paste and Korean soy sauce. The well-preserved onggi show the owner’s care and dedication.

When asked what is so special about the gochujang of the southwestern town of Sunchang, Kim fills with pride and answers, “Clean water from the Seomjingang River, the weather all year round that’s prime for fermentation, and lastly, a woman’s touch.” Although a man, Kim recognizes that the heart and soul of Sunchang’s craft have been preserved by its women.

1. Meju, or fermented soybeans, used to make gochujang2. Gochujang in an onggi, or clay jar

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GyeongjuExperiencing the glories of a golden age

Written by Robert Koehler

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Gyeongju is frequently called an “outdoor museum,” and for very good reason. As the ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.–

A.D. 935), the town and its environs are dotted with temples, shrines, palaces and ruins from the golden age of Korean classical civilization. To properly explore it, you’d need to set aside weeks if not months, but a weekend should be sufficient to take in the highlights.

A Golden AgeAccording to legend, Gyeongju was founded in 57 B.C. by Bak Hyeokgeose, the first king of Silla. Like its European contemporary, the Roman Empire, Silla grew from a

small, remote city-state into a mighty kingdom. Through skilled diplomacy and martial brilliance, Silla defeated rival kingdoms and even the forces of Tang China to bring most of the Korean Peninsula under its control by A.D. 676.

As the fortunes of Silla rose, so did those of its capital, Gyeongju. At its height, the city was home to one million, making it one of the greatest cities of Late Antiquity. Tales of its grand palaces made their way along the Silk Road to China and beyond.

Unfortunately, Silla’s—and Gyeongju’s—glory was not to last. As the kingdom entered its later period, local aristocrats grew in power and uprisings grew frequent. By the late 10th century, the provinces were in open revolt.

The many Silla era tombs of Daereungwon Park

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Ssambap—rice and meat wrapped in lettuce leaves—is a local specialty. You can find a number of ssambap restaurants at the south entrance of Daereungwon. If you’re in a party of two or more, Dosol Maeul (T. 054-748-9232) is worth a try. Specializing in Korean traditional meals (jeongsik), the restaurant is in an old Korean home, mixing taste with atmosphere. You’ll love their mountains of side dishes.

Bomun Lake is home to many luxury hotels, including the Hilton, Hyundai and Commodore. The Millennium Palace Resort & Spa (Ragung), meanwhile, is a sumptuous hanok hotel near Bomun Lake with upscale Korean cuisine and private outdoor hot tubs attached to each room. (T. 054-778-2100).

KTX trains to Gyeongju depart from Seoul Station (travel time: 2 hours). From Gyeongju’s KTX station, take a bus to Gyeongju City Bus Terminal.

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Gyeongju

Mt. Namsan & Bomun LakeA bit off the beaten path is Mt. Namsan (494 meters), a low-lying massif overlooking the town. In the days of Silla, the peak was covered with temples, hermitages and works of Buddhist art. Even today, the slopes are dotted with ancient pagodas, Buddhist statuaries and dramatic cliff carvings. The pine forests on the lower slopes are some of Korea’s most famous.

A more modern destination is the scenic Bomun Lake area, a popular recreation area east of town. It is most famous for its cherry blossoms in early April. The lake is also home to most of Gyeongju’s upscale hotels.

In 927, a rebel army sacked Gyeongju, killing the king. The last king of Silla abdicated in 935 in favor of King

Taejo, the founder of the Goryeo Dynasty. Under Goryeo, the city continued to prosper, but in the 13th century, an invading Mongol army sacked Gyeongju again, destroying many of its monuments. It was a disaster from which the city never quite recovered.

Gardens and TombsMany of Gyeongju’s best known historic sites are located in the southern part of town. The most recognizable sites are the Silla mound tombs, or tumuli, of which there are over 200 strewn about town. Daereungwon (Tumuli Park) has about 23 tombs, including the famed Cheonmachong (“Horse of Heaven Tomb”), the tomb of an unknown 5th century Silla king.

Near the park is Cheomseongdae, Asia’s oldest surviving astrological observatory, and the ruins of Banwolseong Palace, a lovely spot in spring when the surrounding fields of canola flowers bloom. Just beyond that is the site of the East Palace and Wolji Pond, an ancient royal pleasure garden. When lit up in the early evening, the pond becomes one of Korea’s most photogenic night scenes.

Just across from the East Palace is Gyeongju National Museum, arguably Korea’s finest museum outside of Seoul.

Bulguksa and Seokguram GrottoThe gems of Silla civilization are nestled on Mt. Tohamsan, a sacred peak overlooking the East Sea. Here you’ll find Bulguksa Temple, an awe-inspiring eighth-century Buddhist monastery, and the Seokguram Grotto, a

rotunda housing one of the most beautiful Buddhist statues in East Asia.

Founded in 774, Bulguksa is a masterpiece of Korean traditional architecture that makes sublime use of the surrounding landscape through a series of stone and earth terraces. It is home to six National Treasures, most notably the two giant stone pagodas in the courtyard.

Built around the same time as the temple, the Seokguram Grotto occupies an artificial cave overlooking the East Sea. Under a stone dome sits a 3.5 meter-high stone Buddha wearing a sublime smile. The sunrises from this location are some of the most beautiful in the land. It is said the Buddha overlooks the watery grave of King Munmu of Silla (r. 661–681), who was buried in a tomb under the waves of the East Sea.

1. The main courtyard of Bulguksa Temple, with its famous stone pagodas2. The sublime Buddha of the Seokguram Grotto3. The Cheomseongdae Observatory4. Cherry blossoms at Bomun Lake5. A Silla golden crown at the Gyeongju National Museum

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The newly opened Taekwondowon elevates Muju as a taekwondo mecca

Written by Kim Tong-hyung

Korean Martial Art Gets a Proper Home

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Koreans take great pride in their heritage of taekwondo, the country’s homegrown martial art, practiced in every corner of the planet and

entrenched in Olympic competition. Now, after years of preparation, the sport will finally get its own 21st-century home.

The Muju Taekwondowon, which will officially open in Muju, Jeollabuk-do, on April 24, is a massive complex of state-of-the-art competition venues and various culture and leisure facilities, built on 2.3 million square meters of land.

State of the Martial Art Hugged by the beautiful hills of Mt. Baegunsan, the park is the result of a four-year investment of about USD 232 million, aimed at boosting tourism and improving the training and competition experience for both amateur enthusiasts and top athletes.

The architectural trophy here is the cupcake-shaped T1 Stadium, an ultra-modern arena with a capacity of 4,500, claimed to be the world’s first taekwondo-specific competition venue. The stadium is supported by training

centers, accommodation facilities and performance arts venues. There is also a museum devoted to taekwondo and traditional martial arts, a sports science research center and convention facilities for business travelers.

Collaborative Efforts Municipal authorities are currently working with the Korea Tourism Organization and taekwondo organizations in different countries to promote the Taekwondowon and develop tourism programs around it.

The construction of the complex was completed in July last year. The Taekwondo Promotion Foundation (TPF), which manages the Taekwondowon, has been holding trial events to test the operations of the main facilities, such as the T1 Stadium.

The foundation is currently seeking private donations to build a ceremony hall, which it will call the Taekwonjeon (“Taekwon Hall”), and a separate training hall for higher level practitioners, called the Myeongingwan (“Masters’ Hall”). Longer-term plans include hosting privately owned hotels and spas.

sPorts

Municipal authorities are also in talks with the Seoul-based World Taekwondo Headquarters (Kukkiwon) and the World Taekwondo Federation over the possibility of moving their headquarters to the Taekwondowon.

“We are confident that the Taekwondowon will help further spread taekwondo as a global, Olympic sport,” said Yoo Jin-hwan, the TPF’s secretary general. “While taekwondo has grown as a global sport, it has always lacked world-class facilities and systems. The Taekwondowon fills that need as a place where people can learn and experience taekwondo in a way that wasn’t possible before.”

Taekwondo is believed to be practiced by around 70 million people in more than 200 countries. The International Olympic Committee’s decision last year to include taekwondo among its 25 “core” Olympic sports, which secured its status for the 2020 Summer Games, was welcomed by sports officials here as they look to cement taekwondo’s status as one of the world’s most popular martial arts. The TPF has bold ambitions for the Taekwondowon, which it claims will be for taekwondo what the Shaolin Temple is for kung fu.

This is music to the ears of Jeollabuk-do officials who are desperate to develop the region’s tourism sector. The famous Chinese monastery is a significant business asset that attracts millions of visitors every year, requiring its head monk to double as a CEO. If the Taekwondowon manages to match even a fraction of that interest, it would be an important boost to the local economy.

Something for Everyone The government first announced plans for the Taekwondowon in 2004 and picked Muju as the location

of what it pictured as a regional hub for culture and tourism. The TPF was established the following year as the organization to manage the facilities. Construction began in 2010.

The finished Taekwondowon is an impressive combination of cutting-edge architecture and technology. The T1 Stadium, inspired by the taegeuk mark in the center of the Korean national flag, is an eco-friendly building with its swirling, solar panel-covered roof designed to collect rainwater and generate electricity from sunlight.

The T1 Stadium will also house a 450-seat performance venue in the under-ground level beneath its competition arena. Located behind the stadium is the four-story museum where more than 5,000 items related to the history of taekwondo and other Korean martial arts are displayed. The U-shaped training center provides state-of-the-art training and lodging facilities that can accommodate 1,400 people at once. The taekwondo experience center, located next to the training center, is perhaps the most accessible facility for people not familiar with taekwondo, where they can learn basic skills through a variety of light-hearted programs and even simulate combat with famous athletes through video games.

With the help of IT companies such as KT, the TPF has established a one-stop system where people can easily reserve and pay for matches or accommodation from anywhere and on any device. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies will be used to track the movement of people and vehicles. Power consumption at each facility will be controlled through an Internet monitoring system that will help managers save energy and reduce costs.

The architecturally spectacular Muju Taekwondowon

1. Foreigners learning Taekwondo 2. Muju Taekwondowon from above

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entertainmententertainment

created intense competition, forcing producers to adapt. Sophisticated broadcasters are also tailoring their wares to a global audience, featuring more foreign faces in their broadcasting and localizing hit Korean TV shows for overseas markets.

A Changing Landscape Access to Korean media from abroad is now simpler than ever. Formerly, fans of Korean dramas or television shows relied heavily on unofficial websites and illegal downloads—that or local releases of dramas usually dubbed into their local language. For fans that prefer to watch the original Korean versions with subtitles, they had to wait a few weeks or even months for the DVDs to be released, always after the dramas or movies finished airing in Korea.

Seeing as there is now demand for Korean cultural products on a global scale, Korean broadcasting companies, such as the government-owned Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and the international cable channel Arirang TV, operated by the Korea International Broadcasting Foundation, began operations on a global scale in 2003 and 1996, respectively. Other television channels, such as Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) and Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), on the other hand, have become available through satellite television and several cable service providers in different countries. Programs are now aired in real time or with very minimal delay, and some have subtitles in English, Japanese, simplified Chinese and other languages, like Arabic and Vietnamese.

What’s happening is that many viewers who tune into Korean channels originally to watch just one drama or music broadcast develop a further interest in Korean culture, and end up watching more programming to feed that interest.

“I learned a couple of cool phrases used in Korean dramas I watched on KBS,” shares Dianne Ng on the show Pit-A-Pat Korean, a 10-minute show that teaches Korean through popular soap operas and songs.

From TV to Net The way in which viewers approach media has changed tremendously. People spend more time on their computers or on their phones now than they do in front of their televisions. To cater to such a growing network of global online viewers, Korean broadcasters now allow viewers access to programs online. Viewers can also watch old episodes and see exclusive clips from the companies’ official YouTube channels.

Aside from the online streaming services provided by KBS and Arirang, websites such as Viki, a video site supported by SK Planet, a subsidiary of SK Telecom, offers Korean dramas and movies subtitled by fans themselves. A number of mobile applications have also been developed to cater to viewers on the go.

With advancements in technology and the Internet, the future of the entertainment market is only expected to have a growing reach in the coming years. Korean entertainment is no longer a product exclusive to Koreans.

Korean producers challenge the world with globally popular entertainment and variety programsWritten by Paola Belle Ebora

A World tunes In

1. Hallyu television content is introduced at Forum Brasil TV, Latin America’s largest broadcast content market.

2. Visitors look around the booths at the 23rd Korea International Broadcasting, Audio & Lighting Equipment Show.

On Feb. 27, crowds of fans camped out overnight at Sydney International Airport in hopes of catching a glimpse of the cast of the hugely

popular Korean variety show Running Man, which had just finished shooting in Australia. Thousands had flocked to Melbourne’s Federation Square, where the filming took place. This wasn’t a one-off event. Whenever the show goes abroad, it’s met with throngs of local fans.

That a Korean variety show could have such a global impact illustrates just how far Korea’s entertainment industry has come. Top creative talent, world-class infrastructure and sophisticated market tastes are coming together to produce some of the world’s most dynamic TV programming.

Korean Wave: Not Just Dramas AnymoreWhen the Korean Wave began in the early 2000s, it was dramas that led the way. Melodramatic tearjerkers like Winter Sonata and historical dramas like Jewel in the Palace won over large bodies of fans throughout Asia. Actors such as Bae Yong Joon and Lee Young Ae became household

names in Japan, China and elsewhere.While dramas continued to do well beyond Korea’s

shores, other TV genres gained few fans overseas. In the Korea Times, Chung Ah-young notes, “Just a few years ago, cast members, including Yoo Jae-suk of Korean top-rated variety show Infinite Challenge, were not noticed by the Japanese audience when they shot the program in the heart of Tokyo.”

That is certainly not the case now. Variety shows like Running Man and We Got Married enjoy legions of overseas fans. The latter has enjoyed so much success in China that broadcaster MBC spawned a global version featuring actors and entertainers from Korea, China and Japan. Korean audition programs like I Am a Singer and Superstar K are also hits overseas, both in their Korean and localized versions.

Korea’s cutting edge production technology and its increasingly globalized writing, production and acting talent have contributed mightily to this success. As in other countries like the United States, the proliferation of terrestrial, cable, satellite and Internet channels has

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CEO Hwang Hee-man explains Sonbadak TV, a broadcast channel designed for smart mobile devices

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sPecial issue

On Feb. 25, a landmark reunion of families separated by the Korean War, the first in three years, was brought to a conclusion. A

boat departed from North Korea’s Mt. Geumgangsan for the South Korean port of Sokcho, carrying with it the South Korean participants. At a farewell meeting held that morning at North Korea’s Geumgangsan Hotel, tears

flowed as families that had been separated for six decades bid each other yet another farewell, with no guarantee of ever meeting again. No doubt, for them, three days and two nights was not nearly enough time.

Held in two rounds between Feb. 20 and 25, this latest reunion of separated families was the first in three years and four months. Subjected to the unpredictable nature of inter-

1. Separated families celebrate their reunion during lunch at the Geumgangsan Hotel on the second day of reunions.2. South Korean Na Bok-seop looks at photos with the North Korean sons of his brother Na Yun-seop at a group reunion event at the Geumgangsan Hotel.

96-year-old Kim Seong-yun (right), the oldest member of the South Korean delegation, hugs her sister Seong-nyeo (left), who lives in the North, at a group reunion event at the Geumgangsan Hotel.

Long awaited meeting of separated families gives relatives divided by war a precious chance to see loved ones

Written by Felix Im

A Beautiful, Tearful Reunion

Korean relations, these reunions are growing more urgent due to the advanced age of many separated family members. Efforts are currently underway to normalize meetings to give hopefuls a better chance of seeing their loved ones once again.

Normalized Reunions NeededSome 437 South Koreans and 266 North Koreans participated in this latest round of reunions, which were a long time in coming. The most recent reunion was held in 2010. Plans for a reunion to be held in late 2013 were canceled by North Korea. In this round, agreed upon during inter-Korean Red Cross talks in early February, participants spent a total of 11 hours together during both individual and group reunions.

In the South, participants in these reunions are chosen through a computer-generated lottery. There are some 72,000 people on the waiting list. Only 0.13 percent of applicants make it onto the final list, a sad situation when one considers the advanced age of many of the hopefuls. Over 80 percent of participants in this round were over 80 years old. Applicants face a nearly 50 percent chance of dying before a reunion takes place. Last year alone, 3,800 applicants died. In the latest reunion, just 12 participants—both South and North—were reunited parents and children, and due to dementia, some didn’t even recognize one another. One participant was so sickly he needed to be carried in a stretcher.

Seoul is working to normalize these reunions. On March

1, President Park Geun-hye proposed regular reunions of separated families, saying, “The members of these families are now elderly, and not much time remains for them. Reunions must no longer be isolated special events.” A few days later, she called on North Korea to allow the exchange of letters and video conferencing between separated families. On March 6, the Unification Ministry proposed Red Cross talks to normalize family gatherings. North Korea has yet to respond to South Korea’s overtures.

A Cold War TragedyWhen Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the peninsula was divided into two zones of occupation—the Americans in the south and the Soviets in the north. As the Cold War set in, the division became permanent, with the south becoming pro-Western South Korea and the north becoming North Korea. Even before the Korean War, many fled south to escape oppression. During the war, countless refugees flooded the South, often leaving family members behind. When the war ended with an armistice, all contact between the peoples of the two Koreas ceased. As a result, families were separated permanently.

In 2000, a warming of inter-Korean ties led to a historic series of separated family reunions. Between 2000 and 2010, 18 meetings and seven video conference reunions were held. The North Korean shelling of Yeonpyeongdo Island in November of 2013, however, led to a suspension of the reunion program.

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Korea is quickly becoming a country of foodies. The runaway success of TV programs like

O’live’s Tasty Road and MasterChef Korea reveal a society that increasingly views food as something more than a source of sustenance. As the concept of “food as art” takes hold, chefs are taking note with heightened attention to food styling and desserts that are as photogenic as they are edible. Interestingly enough, men are embracing the trend with equal gusto as women, strutting their culinary prowess in the traditionally female-dominated kitchen.

‘Tasty Road’ Takes OffYou know a restaurant that has been recently featured in Tasty Road because it’s the one with a line of people a mile long.

Such is the impact of food and lifestyle cable channel O’live’s signature culinary travel program. Hosted by Korean actresses Park Su-jin and Kim Sung-eun, Tasty

Road may in fact be the most watched program in Korea by women in their 20s and 30s. Shin Han-na, a publishing coordinator in Seoul, is a fan. “I think it ref lects the culture and lifestyle of trendy people in their 20s and 30s,” she says. The second season of the program was exported to 12 countries.

Tasty Road isn’t alone, either. Other channels have noted the popularity of food programming. Cable channel Y-STAR counters with its Siksin Road, which has been running since 2010. KBS 1’s hit documentary Koreans’ Dinner Table, meanwhile, travels to Korea’s provinces to introduce the unique regional specialties of individual towns and provinces.

Food-based reality programs are just as popular in Korea as they are overseas. O’live’s MasterChef Korea, a localized version of the BBC hit, has been going strong since its debut in 2012. And it’s spawned its fair share of imitators, too.

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current Korea

Style as Well as SubstanceAs with so many other things nowadays, “style” has become a key ingredient in contemporary Korean cuisine. This has led to the birth of the food stylist, whose job is to present dishes in a way that satisfies all the senses. In the case of Korean cuisine, this means paying particular attention to the size, shape and color of the various bowls and dishes so that the intrinsic beauty of the foods they contain shine through.

Likewise, Korea’s dessert culture, once virtually unknown, is really beginning to blossom. Everyone from high-end restaurants to local convenience stores now offer a wide variety of tasty—and pretty—cakes, pies and other sweets. So-called “dessert cafés” have become ubiquitous in Seoul. With the Korean dessert market growing exponentially, even overseas dessert giants like The Cheesecake Factory have jumped in. Traditional Korean desserts such as injeolmi, a sticky rice cake, and bingsu, or shaved ice, are enjoying a renaissance, too.

No Longer a Woman’s PreserveAs interest in food grows, men—once regarded as

verboten in the Korean kitchen—are strapping on the apron. It doesn’t hurt that handsome,

young male chefs have become all the rage on TV and several popular female

entertainers such as Park Seon-ju and So Yu-jin have married chefs. About

this trend, Dong-A Ilbo journalist Park Seon-hee recently wrote, “People have fallen for the unexpected harmony of the dynamic and impulsive masculine beauty in the world of cooking, once considered a woman’s domain.” One cooking school for men in Seoul now has a waiting list of men wanting to enroll.

Socially conscious dining is also on the rise. In particular, the so-called “Local Food Movement,” which aims to reduce the distance between the farm and the plate in order to ensure freshness and support local farmers, has begun to catch on. In the province of Jeollabuk-do, a regional government has written the movement for local food into its policy. Nationwide, environmentally friendly cooperative Hansalim connects buyers directly to suppliers for organic and sustainably farmed produce. Established in the 1980s, Hansalim doesn’t necessarily represent a recent trend, but it’s significant that the number of Hansalim-registered families shot from about 20,000 in 2008 to more than 30,000 by the end of 2011. That may not be a large number relative to Korea’s population, but the recent growth spurt is worth noting.

As interest in cuisine grows, food goes from fuel to art

Written by Shin Yesol

Foodie Nation

1. Culinary travel program Tasty Road 2014 © CJ E&M 2. A scene from MasterChef Korea, Season 2 © CJ E&M

Y-STAR’s Siksin Road, a popular Korean food travel show © Y-STAR

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summit DiPlomacy

Bolstering nuclear security and Inter-Korean

cooperationPresident Park discusses nuclear security and Korean

reunification during visits to the Netherlands and Germany

Written by Lee Kye-hyun

In late March, President Park Geun-hye visited the Netherlands to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, followed by a state visit to Germany. It was Park’s

second overseas trip this year, following her trip to India and Switzerland in January.

Nuclear Security Summit President Park visited The Hague for the third Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) on March 24 and 25.

The Nuclear Security Summit is the world’s largest security-related multilateral summit, with participation from the leaders of 53 nations, along with representatives from four international organizations: the UN, the IAEA, the EU and Interpol. This meeting verified achievements made by the international community during the previous two summits, in Washington, D.C. in 2010 and in Seoul in 2013, to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism. Leaders discussed plans for international cooperation on continuously strengthening nuclear security.

Participants adopted the Hague Communiqué, which included measures to prevent terrorism using nuclear weapons or radiation.

As the leader of a previous host nation, President Park gave an address at the opening ceremony on March 24. In it, she stressed the joint responsibility of nations to prevent nuclear terrorism, a serious challenge to international peace and security. She also presented a development plan for the international nuclear security regime under the vision of a “world without nuclear weapons.”

“To realize a world without nuclear weapons, we need the collective wisdom of strengthening nuclear security in parallel with nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and nuclear safety,” she said. “I believe that as long as North Korea remains a nuclear challenge, a world without nuclear weapons will not come. And so it has been my long-held conviction that the journey toward a world without nuclear weapons should start from the Korean Peninsula.”

Under the Nuclear Security Summit process, countries work to improve their nuclear security on the basis of the Washington Work Plan, which contains numerous

measures and action points. In Seoul, a number of additional action points were formulated and set down in the Seoul Communiqué. The NSS process is ongoing, and since 2009 has required world leaders and diplomats to devote extra attention to the issue of nuclear security.

President Park held a couple of important bilateral and trilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit. On March 23, she sat down with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue and the possibility of concluding a Korea—China free trade agreement. On March 25, she met with US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The three leaders stressed the importance of trilateral cooperation on the North Korean nuclear weapons issue.

Meanwhile, Park also met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on March 24. The two discussed ways to expand substantive cooperation in the energy, science, technology, agriculture and nuclear sectors. She also attended a luncheon hosted by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

1. World leaders, including President Park Geun-hye (center of front row, in green), pose for photo on the last day of the Nuclear Security Summit.

2. President Park speaks at the opening session of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, the Netherlands.

3. Tripartite summit between President Park of Korea, President Barack Obama of the United States and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit

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summit DiPlomacy

Visit to GermanyUpon the conclusion of her visit to the Netherlands, President Park proceeded to Berlin on March 26 to begin a four-day state visit to Germany. The visit was an important opportunity to expand and deepen the friendly ties that exist between Korea and Germany, a core nation of the European Union and Europe’s largest economy. The Korean side also wanted to learn from the German reunification and integration experience in order to create a basis for Korea’s own reunification.

She began the visit with a luncheon with German President Joachim Gauck. She then met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During her meeting with Chancellor Merkel, President Park discussed plans to promote substantive bilateral cooperation on trade, investment, industry, small and medium-sized businesses, science, job training and the arts. They also held intensive discussions about the situation on the Korean Peninsula, including reunification and the issue of North Korean nuclear arms. During the joint press conference that followed, President Park said, “Korea and Germany share a special bond, having shared the painful experience of

national separation during the Cold War. Germany is a model of peaceful reunification for Korea, as the country not only reunited but also achieved social integrity.”

In Berlin, President Park also met with former East and West German officials who were involved in the German reunification process and visited the Berlin Wall, the symbol of German reunification. President Park has shown much interest in Germany’s reunification experience. At an international gathering in early March, she said, “I think the thing that made German reunification possible was the constant preparation and courageous decisions by leaders. In Korea, too, we must prepare gradually from now so that when the historical chance for reunification comes, we don’t miss it.”

The trip held additional significance for President Park. Exactly 50 years ago, her father, the late President Park Chung-hee, made a landmark state visit to Germany, where he saw first-hand Germany’s rapid rise from the ashes of war. Upon his return from Germany, he remarked, “I found that the Miracle on the Rhine was not a miracle, but the inevitable result and achievement of the efforts of the German people.”

Dresden DoctrineAfter her visit to Berlin, she moved on to the city of Dresden, one of eastern Germany’s leading centers of business and science. She is the first Korean president to visit the former East German city and capital of Saxony.

At the Dresden University of Technology, President Park delivered a speech proposing that wide-ranging exchanges between South and North Korea would be a first step to bolster trust and to prepare for Korean reunification. “What we need is not one-off or promotional events, but the kind of interaction and cooperation that enables ordinary South Koreans and North Koreans to recover a sense of common identity as they help each other out,” she said. Her proposals call for Seoul to increase humanitarian aid to the North, such as healthcare programs for pregnant women and infants, before expanding economic cooperation on larger-scale projects, such as infrastructure development.

She also called for the regularization of family reunions and an increase in non-political exchanges. She repeated her proposal to establish an international peace park along the DMZ and proposed linking the railway systems of the two Koreas to Russia’s Trans-Siberia Railway. If North Korea gives up its nuclear arms program, she said, Seoul

would actively help Pyongyang receive international development funds. The South would also be willing to help establish a Northeast Asia Development Bank with neighboring countries to assist the North with economic development.

After Dresden, President Park made a short visit to Frankfurt, a major European financial center and home to major Korean corporations and Korean expatriates. There she met with Korean residents, including former Korean miners and nurses who went to Germany in the 1960s, and attended a dinner hosted by the minister-president of Hesse, Volker Bouffier.

To further strengthen economic ties and to learn more about the German experience, President Park brought with her an economic delegation of 105 people. This was the largest such delegation to accompany a president on an overseas trip. Some 71 members of the delegation represented small and medium-sized businesses. The representatives attended meetings jointly hosted by the government and major Korean and German economic groups, and networked with German government officials and business leaders.

1. Summit meeting between President Park and German Chancellor Angela Merkel

2. President Park visits the East Side Gallery, part of the old Berlin Wall.

3. President Park proposes wide-ranging exchanges between South and North Korea at the Dresden University of Technology in Dresden, Germany.

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Unification Bonanza Korea gears up to realize the dream of national reunification

Written by Bae Ji-sook

After being divided for 61 years, the most desired goal of all for the two Koreas seems to be none other than unification.

From the tragedies of war-torn families to the more realistic business opportunities to come, when President Park Geun-hye claimed Korean unification to be a “bonanza,” the necessity for unification became clearer than ever. To do this, she is pushing a range of initiatives to build trust while simultaneously maintaining a strong defense posture.

Built on Trust In 2013, Park made visits to nine countries and took part in six multilateral summits, where she accumulated international support for her campaign to build trust with Pyongyang and promote peace and cooperation in

Northeast Asia. At the same time, she pursued humanitarian cooperation,

efforts that led this past February to the first cross-border reunions of separated families in more than three years. Thus, President Park was able to maintain security on the peninsula despite menacing rhetoric and provocations from Pyongyang, including a third atomic test in February of 2013.

Also, in several surveys, including one conducted by the international research firm Gallup Korea to mark her first anniversary as president, Park’s efforts in foreign relations and reform earned her high marks among the public. Her “peninsula trust-building” initiative was the strongest factor.

During her first year in Cheong Wa Dae, Park was driven to build a more normalized state-to-state relationship with North Korea. This eventually helped

reopen the joint industrial complex in Kaeseong, which had been closed by Pyongyang since April 2013. It is clear that she is revving up her “trust politik,” engaging North Korea and moving toward reconciliation.

Building the FutureOn March 11, the presidential office said that the administration is putting together its “preparatory committee for unification” proclaimed by the president at a nationally televised economic address. Mapping out a blueprint to best become one nation with the northern neighbor, Park explained that the committee was inspired by Germany, a nation that successfully carried out its unification through careful planning one step at a time.

“If we are going to realize genuine peace on the Korean Peninsula and make a quantum jump for the Republic of Korea, it is necessary to make preparations for unification that will open up a new era on the Korean Peninsula,” she said.

“I will do my best to lay the cornerstone and realize unification without failure,” she added. Park announced that the committee will be under direct control of the president, who will issue systematic and constructive

directions for unification. The committee is still in its very early stages, and details

have yet to be worked out, but experts are hoping that it will be a working body to cover all the issues, including diplomatic, defense, economic, social and cultural affairs, that need to be assessed in order to successfully unify the two countries. In a later conversation with cabinet members, President Park said anyone, including NGOs, private organizations, politicians and public officials, are welcome on the committee. “Even foreign NGOs can contribute,” she said. “Any person well-informed of the issue at hand.” This means that the committee will be more than just an advisory body or an ombudsman.

Economic TiesIn August 2013, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the government is considering taking part in the development of the Rajin-Sonbong and Hwanggeumpyeong economic zones. It was a move that’s part of her “Eurasia Initiative,” which was revived during Park’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in November last year. The Eurasia Initiative calls for ties among the Eurasian countries through road and railway

Policy review

Visitors use binoculars to view North Korean territory at the unification observation post near the border village of Panmunjeom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War.

Participants release doves during a rally for the peaceful unification of

the Korean Peninsula at the Imjingak Pavilion near the DMZ in Paju,

Gyeonggi-do.

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Policy review

connections to build a new “Silk Road Express” running from South Korea to Europe via North Korea, Russia and China.

At the summit, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for South Korean businesses to participate in the Rajin-Hassan project, established by North Korea and Russia in 2008 to renovate the 54-kilometer Rajin-Hassan railway. Russia plans to use the rail-connected port as a key export point, while South Korean firms can ship exports first to Rajin for them to then be transported as far as Europe via Russian railways. Through the deals, South Korean business groups, including POSCO, Hyundai Merchant Marine and KORAIL, could participate in the rail and port renovation project by acquiring a stake in RasonKonTrans, a Russian-North Korean joint venture.

In a softer approach, the government said it will kick off the construction of a peace park in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ, a four-kilometer-wide buffer zone separating the two Koreas, is under the joint-jurisdiction of U.N. forces and North Korea. President Park said last year that a peace park in the “legacy of division and confrontation” will help the two Koreas surmount mistrust and confrontation.

“By making the DMZ a peace zone, I hope we will

remove memories of war and threats of provocation that are left in peoples’ consciousness and take on a new start to make the Korean Peninsula a place of trust, harmony and cooperation,” she said in her special address to mark Korean Liberation Day on August 15.

Currently, the DMZ’s surrounding areas, such as Paju in Gyeonggi-do as well as Cheorwon and Goseong in Gangwon-do, are in a bid to host the park. The Unification Ministry assumes KRW 250 billion will be needed for the park’s construction between now and 2016, and the project recently gained the National Assembly’s approval for its budget.

“Now is the time for the DMZ to be turned into a ‘Detente Making Zone,’” Kim Jae-hong, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, wrote in his column for the Kookbang Ilbo, a newspaper.

Economic BonanzaIt has been over two months since President Park defined South-North Korea unification as a “bonanza” at the Davos Forum in Switzerland in January. Now there is one real question: Is unification a real bonanza? Yes, definitely, experts say.

Businessmen are already gearing up to take a seat in

the biggest project they have ever faced. The Federation of Korean Industries, a lobby group for Korea’s large corporations, held a seminar on March 11 about the potential economic effects of a unified Korea.

At the meeting Hong Sun-jik, director of the Hyundai Research Institute, said a unified Korea would have a USD 3.28 trillion gross domestic product by 2030, with a population of 74 million. In 2040, GDP would jump to USD 4.95 trillion and finally to USD 6.5 trillion in 2050, he predicted. By then, the size of Korea’s economy would surpass that of the U.K. and Germany, ranking eighth worldwide.

“If we achieve unification in 2015, our GDP per capita will dip to USD 22,000, but will eventually rise to USD 86,000 by 2050,” he said.

Hong acknowledged that there will be some social confusion and hardships in the beginning, but that the economic benefit will outshine them all in the long term.

“Most of all, we will be able to secure vast mineral resources in the North. They will replace USD 15.3 billion worth of imports because the amount of minerals buried in the North is 24.3 times more valuable than those in the South,” he said.

Professor Lim Eul-chul at Kyungnam University said that unification would revive the construction industry once again. The establishment of an economic free zone and other complexes would produce a net worth of up to KRW 60 trillion after unification, and South Korean companies would be able to participate in the construction process, he said. “Any way you look at it, it is a great opportunity,” he said.

Fog covers the Imjingang River in the early morning hours as the Korean army's 28th Division guards the west-central part of the DMZ in 2013, the 60th anniversary of the armistice that halted the Korean War.

North Korean workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The Park administration is pushing for more international involvement in Kaesong, a symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation.

President Park gives introductory remarks at a meeting of unification-related ministries at the Defense Ministry headquarters on March 6.

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creative tecHnoloGy

In February 2013, when U.S. President Barack Obama highlighted 3D printing as technology that could create more high-tech jobs in the United States, the

budding field of 3D printing got a boost. Obama’s message during the State of the Union address was regarded as a strong public endorsement for a technology that had been germinating since the 1980s and has only become commercially available since the 2010s. In addition to the United States and other nations, Korea is gearing up to sharpen its competitive edge in developing 3D printing technology, expected to be one of the most promising and profitable sectors in the 21st century.

3D printing, aka “additive manufacturing,” refers to the creation of three-dimensional objects from computer-created digital models using an additive process. Successive layers of materials are laid down in different shapes. The printers follow the shape of the models by stacking layer upon layer of material to make a real-world, solid object.

The Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology (KICET) announced Feb. 13 that it had succeeded in developing ceramic hybrid 3D printing technology which, it said, can be utilized to develop ultra-speed wireless communication modules and flexible devices.

The institute is applying the new technology to the low-noise amplifiers needed for wireless communication transponders and PAMs, or power amp modules. It expects that the technology will be utilized with flexible devices in the future, as it is possible to develop flexible ceramic films by making use of ceramic hybrid 3D printing technology.

“When the new technology is applied, ceramics will be unbreakable and will become highly flexible. We will be able to produce various censors and circuits in a flexible form,” Dr. Kim Jong-hui of KICET told the the Electronic Times, adding that, “KICET plans to expand applications for ceramic materials to include this new technology.”

Diverse ApplicationsMeanwhile, on Feb. 18 the 3D Fusion Industry Association (3DFIA) appointed its new chairman, Kim Chang-ryong, head of the R&D Center at Samsung Electronics Digital Media Communications (DMC). In his inaugural address, Kim said, “Although the 3D market is not as easy as it seems, both at home and abroad, I will do my best to protect the rights of the member companies and create more markets.”

The 3DFIA outlined its top priorities this year: promote confidence amongst member companies and support marketing through 3D certification procedures; establish a comprehensive domestic cooperation system for a tripartite committee of industries, academic circles and research institutes; and facilitate joint overseas marketing activities for identifying any global trends.

On Feb. 12, a semiconductor device firm, STi, released a 3D printer product at Semicon Korea 2014, the nation’s biggest semiconductor products exposition. It demonstrated the company’s earnest debut in the 3D printing business. STi has reportedly agreed with Samsung to cooperate on the development of 3D technology, though the two firms are declining to comment officially.

Experts say that 3D printing technology can be applied to a variety of industrial fields, including aerospace, military, civil engineering, dental and medical industries, bio-tech industries such as human tissue replacement, fashion, footwear, jewelry and many others. In November last year, Solid Concepts of Texas shocked the world by printing a metal pistol and, according to international press, successfully firing 12 rounds.

Experts say that 3D printing will develop further in mass-production and the mainstream market because 3D printers can enable consumers to avoid costs associated with purchasing common household items. 3D printing consulting firm Wohlers Associates predicted that the worldwide 3D printing market will reach USD 3.7 billion by 2015 and USD 6.5 billion by 2019.

A Korea Polytechnic University team shows off a popular 3D printer at the Student Entrepreneurial Expo at Dongguk

University, Seoul, September 2013.

Korea Jumps into the3D Printer RaceDomestic firms gear up to develop additive manufacturing technology

Written by Sohn Tae-soo

Visitors look at a 3D printer at the 2013 Korea Science Creativity Festival at KINTEX, July 2013.

40 41

Global Korea

In a remote corner of southern Laos, at the base of the sacred mountain Phu Kao, lay the ruins of Vat Phou, once a grand temple of the great Khmer Empire

(802–1431). Just a short bike ride away are the impressive ruins of yet another temple, Hong Nang Sida, which in its heyday was a spectacular architectural expression of the Khmer Empire’s Hindu culture.

Hong Nang Sida’s stone walls will stand once again, thanks to a groundbreaking assistance program by the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea (CHA) and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation to restore the

ancient temple to its former glory. The project, scheduled for completion by 2019, represents a milestone in Korea’s foreign aid paradigm by making the preservation of cultural heritage a component of official development assistance, or ODA.

A Khmer GemHong Nang Sida is believed to have been built in the 11th century by the Khmer Empire, the powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdom that ruled most of Southeast Asia from its spectacular capital of Angkor, in today’s Cambodia. The

An Ancient Gem Shines AgainWritten by Robert Koehler

Assistance to restore a Laotian temple marks a change in Korea’s ODA paradigm

Hindu temple once stood on an important ancient road linking the imperial capital with the important spiritual center of Vat Phou. When the Khmer Empire collapsed in the 13th century, the temples of the region fell into ruin as well, although Vat Phou was later converted into a Buddhist temple and continues to be used as such even today.

Hong Nang Sida, along with Vat Phou and the rest of the ancient cultural landscape of the province of Champasak, was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. The area contains many monuments and structures of architectural and artistic significance, all built between a sacred peak and the Mekong River, as an expression of the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity.

ODA Gets CulturalThe project is not without its difficulties. Baek Kyunghwan, an architect with the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, said, “The work environment is completely different from Korea, including culture, language and climate.”

The temple restoration is a two-stage process. The first stage, to be conducted between 2014 and 2016, will see the restoration of the temple’s platform, an elevated space in the temple, and an area known as the Mandapa, the temple’s main sanctuary. Currently, the sanctuary’s walls are heavily damaged and the roof lies in a state of total collapse. To restore these sections, experts will first disassemble them, determine what can be recycled and then reproduce any missing parts. The disassembly will

also allow researchers to better plan the restoration.The second phase, to be conducted between 2017 and

2019, will involve the reconstruction of the temple’s memorial altar, as well as efforts to preserve other historical sites and intangible cultural heritage in the region. Throughout the project, experts will utilize the latest in Korea’s homegrown technology.

For Korea, the project marks a turning point in its overseas assistance programs. For the last two decades, developed countries conducted a variety of programs to protect and restore World Heritage Sites in developing nations. In the Vat Phou area alone, France, India, Italy and Japan are running restoration projects.

Korea, however, has been a latecomer to these efforts. While Korea has provided Laos with development assistance since 1991, little assistance was provided to restore cultural sites. That changed in 2011, when the CHA signed an MOU with Laos’s Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism to help restore the country’s historic monuments.

Korea is participating in cultural preservation efforts in other countries as well. In 2008, the CHA, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Samsung Electronics Vietnam produced a digital reconstruction of Vietnam’s Hue Imperial City. The Laos project, however, marks the first time Korea has assisted with an actual on-the-ground restoration. Seoul has also recently provided equipment for the preservation of historic sites in Myanmar, and will soon participate in restoration work in Cambodia’s Angkor area.

Ruins of Hong Nang Sida, an ancient Hindu temple in Laos built in the 11th century by the Khmer Empire

© Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation

1. Korean experts survey the restoration site. 2. Korean and Laotian officials celebrate the start of the restoration project. © Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation

1 2

42 43

Great Korean

Pioneer of military science brought Korea into the Gunpowder Age

Written by Felix Im

choe Mu-seon Born to Change the World The details of his upbringing are unclear, but historical records indicate that Choe was born in what is now Gyeongsangbuk-do. His father was a civil administrator whose main duty was to allocate and transport supplies to officials throughout the area. It is said that Choe acquired an early interest in civil affairs by watching his father work. He also demonstrated an acute interest in military tactics from an early age, and had a highly organized mind that made him an apt planner.

Upon growing up Choe acquired civil office and immediately expressed an interest in arms development. He was often met with ridicule and resentment, however. Although Choe stressed the importance of Goryeo producing its own gunpowder, other officials thought it was unnecessary to make what they could already import from the Chinese. They also thought gunpowder was of no more use than for fireworks and entertainment.

Ignoring Common IgnoranceChoe, however, quickly realized that gunpowder could be utilized for weaponry, which Goyreo desperately needed at the time. Busy quarreling amongst themselves for status and power, bureaucrats repeatedly failed to protect their people from the Japanese pirates that often raided and plundered lands bordering the southern seas. Undeterred by official resistance and determined to protect his people, Choe continued to study gunpowder and its manufacturing process. He often traveled to the Chinese border, where he gathered as much information about gunpowder as possible from passing merchants.

After years of private experimentation, he finally succeeded in independent production and took his results

to the royal court. King U (1365–1389) was so impressed that he gave Choe his own department for manufacturing and developing gunpowder and firearms. Choe was not only the first person to produce gunpowder in Korea, but developed a variety of cannons that were exclusive to Goryeo. He was convinced that a wide range of artillery would be absolutely necessary for the nation’s protection. When he asked higher officials for permission to test his artillery, however, bureaucrats mocked him again. It wasn’t until the Japanese invaded Jinpo in Jeollanam-do in 1380 with hundreds of ships that they finally realized the extent of Choe’s wisdom.

Time to ShineThe Royal Court immediately endowed Choe with military rank and permission to test his new artillery on the invading Japanese pirates, who were numerous and fierce. Fortunately, they were also unaware of Goryeo’s firearms advancements, and thus had prepared no strategy to combat long-range cannons. Consequently, the Japanese ships approached Korean shores in a single cluster, which made it easy for Choe and his cannons to destroy them. Surviving pirates swam to shore, where they were quickly disposed of by awaiting infantry. The battle was won; Choe was a hero. After the Battle of Jinpo, piracy gradually dispersed, and Goryeo fishermen could sail in peace.

Before he died, Choe left a manual detailing his knowledge to his son, Choe Hae-san. Through the efforts of Hae-san, Choe’s methods continued to be utilized and developed well into the Joseon era (1392–1910). Korean cannons later proved essential in the victories of Admiral Yi Sun-sin during the Imjin War, when Japanese forces invaded Korea again.

Monument marking the Battle of Jinpo at the mouth of the Geumgang River. In 1380, warships led by Choe Mu-seon and Na Se used naval cannons to defeat a raid by Japanese pirates, sinking about 500 warships in the process. It was the world's first battle featuring naval cannon.

1The hwacha, a mobile rocket launcher developed during the Joseon Dynasty. It is a descendant of the rocket system developed earlier by Choe Mu-seon.

2A re-enactment of the Battle of Jinpo. when cannons designed by Choe Mu-seon were used to defeat raiding Japanese pirates.

1 2It’s a common misconception that gun powder in Asia

was only used by the Chinese for fireworks prior to its utilization by Westerners for modern firearms. Not only

is this inaccurate, but gunpowder was widely used by the Korean military long before the invention of modern muskets. A Korean military scientist and strategist named Choe Mu-seon (1325–1395) single-handedly introduced gunpowder to the people of Goryeo (918–1392) and developed firearms exclusively for the protection of his people.

45

my Korea

and convenience stores. Scan your card as you get on and off the subway or bus, and the card will automatically calculate the fare and enable free transfers between the two. While the price of many things in Seoul have caught up to or even surpassed those in other first-tier cities across the globe, public transport remains an incredible bargain, with base fares starting at only KRW 1,050.

Subway Wonders Admittedly, you lose certain things when you’re no longer driving a silver 1989 Toyota station wagon to get around, as I once did. The efficiency and amenities offered by the Seoul subway, however, make that a very small sacrifice. What you can’t do in your hatchback but can do on Line 1 is completely avoid rush hour traffic. You can also take advantage of the subway’s free 4G LTE and Wi-Fi to check your e-mail, surf the web and watch TV. Thanks to Korea’s peerless mobile infrastructure, you can make phone calls too, even when you’re 20 meters underground

and beneath a river.It’s also largely thanks to Seoul’s ever-expanding and

ever-improving public transportation system that the city has seen major progress in its environment in recent decades. City buses now run on compressed natural gas. The subway carries over 2.5 billion riders annually, meaning that much less pollution created by car exhaust. The subway has also recently introduced special bike-friendly cars on weekends so that cyclists can travel with their bikes to their favorite cycling spots.

For both residents and visitors, though, perhaps the best aspect of Seoul’s exhaustive public transportation system is simply how accessible it makes the city, dispelling any need for a car. Seoul’s sheer size can at first be overwhelming, but its buses and subway trains make getting from point A to point B easy, providing endless opportunities to explore its myriad neighborhoods; to not worry about the journey and to just enjoy the destination.

The Exemplar of ConvenienceSeoul’s public transportation system is a joy to use

Written by Charles Usher Illustrated by Kim Yoon-myong

44

To best appreciate a good public transportation system, it may be that you have to grow up in a town without one. I did. Or at least, I thought

I did up until high school, when I learned that my small Midwestern city of 26,000 people actually had a bus system, which tells you pretty much all you need to know about its usefulness.

Enormous Scope, Simple Convenience Unlike my hometown, Seoul is one of the largest and most densely populated metropolises in the world, with over 10 million people jammed into 605 square kilometers. To keep a city like that functioning, a public transportation system, and a good one, is a necessity, and the Korean capital has come up with one of the world’s

best. Its subway system alone runs over hundreds of kilometers of track, encompasses nearly 500 stations, and links three provinces to the capital. The airport railroad takes passengers from Incheon International Airport, on an island off the peninsula’s west coast, to Seoul Station, downtown, in under an hour. Its buses reach every corner of the city, often traveling in bus-only lanes, avoiding the worst of Seoul’s notorious rush hours.

Using Seoul’s public transportation is as easy as it is convenient. On buses, all stops are announced in both Korean and English. On the subway, station names and many signs are provided in Japanese and Chinese as well. To take the bus or subway, single tickets can be purchased with cash, but far better are the T-Money transport cards, which can be bought and topped up at subway stations

46 47

multicultural Korea

The walkie-talkie attached to the right shoulder of police officer Ju Ji Gang’s light gray uniform crackles. In something that looks like a reflex

developed by occupation, Ju’s hand is quick on it, turning the volume down as he straightens the stiff fabric of his jacket while standing up from his chair behind the light brown partition dividing the desks from the entrance of Ingye Police Station in Suwon, 30 kilometers south of Seoul.

Unexpected Occupation When Ju left Sumatra to go study at university in Jakarta as a young man, he had no idea that this was where life would take him. One day, he met on campus a young woman on exchange from Korea, and in 1995 they returned to her homeland together. Today they have three children, the youngest in primary school and the oldest in university.

“I never thought I’d become a police officer,” says Ju and looks around at the little police station that now is his everyday life. The interior is simple: the partition dividing the desks and the visitors, some benches and tables along the wall, and some book shelves, all in a brown color scheme.

Upon arrival in Korea in 1995, Ju started to study Korean. Having mastered the language, Ju started working for a company and in 2000, he obtained Korean citizenship. After seven years in the company, he and one of his colleagues quit at the same time. The colleague became a police officer and Ju often helped him by interpreting.

“I started to think that it was attractive, something that I could also do,” he remembers.

Not long after, Ju passed the police exam for people with special language skills. There are only 20-30 people that are selected every year, and Ju was among them.

“I’m on my sixth year as a police officer now,” Ju says, peering toward the dusty afternoon light trickling in through the narrow windows placed high up along the walls of the station.

It’s been only four months since he was transferred to Ingye Police Station after having spent five years in Gimhae in Gyeongsangnam-do, where he was working on tasks related to foreigners in the National Police Agency’s Foreign Affair Department. All together, there

are only four officers with a non-Korean background. One is from the Philippines, one from Vietnam, one from Cambodia and then Ju from Indonesia.

Impassioned to Help Most Indonesians in Korea are working for construction sites or factories.

“They are living very tough and difficult lives,” he says.

Ju sees it as his mission to support these people, in his professional as well as in his private life.

“I try to help them as much as possible,” he says.Even though many foreign workers are living tough

lives in Korea, and there are still many prejudices against them, Ju is proud of what Korea is doing to help.

“There are many things in place for foreigners here,” he says, “It’s the best among Asian countries.”

Suddenly, the station is filled with police officers, all in the same light gray uniform. Ju joins them, and they are all talking and laughing together. Since Ju became a police officer, he has become somewhat of a public figure. Everybody wants to hear the story about the Indonesian who came to Korea for love and became a police officer.

“Just look up my name in Naver,” he says, “I’ve been interviewed by all the big newspapers.”

Ju Ji Gang helps international residents at an international support center in Korea.

Suwon’s Finestfrom Sumatra

Policeman Ju Ji Gang from Indonesia is keeping Suwon safe

Written by Ida Kymmer

Once upon a time in ancient Silla, there lived King Gyeongmun (r. 861—875), the kingdom’s 48th king. On top of living in tumultuous

times, full of turmoil and rebellion, King Gyeongmun had another vexing problem. According to legend, he had hideously large ears. Much like King Midas of Phrygia, who was punished by the Greek god Apollo with donkey ears, King Gyeongmun never failed to wear some form of crown or hat to cover his abnormal hearing organs. Unlike King Midas, however, King Gyeongmun had no magic touch that turned things to gold. Moreover, his donkey ears were not the result of some divine curse, but simply developed one day out of the blue. King Gyeongmun was horrified. He was dumbfounded. Nobody could know.

Don’t You Tell a Single Tree! King Gyeongmun was apparently great at keeping secrets, for nobody knew about his resemblance to a donkey, not even his queen. In fact, the only person who ever saw King Gyeongmun without either his hat or crown was the royal crown maker, who by professional necessity occasionally measured the King’s head. Whether it was out of fear or respect, the crown maker knew better than to go around telling people what he knew. Even the trustworthy crown maker, however, wasn’t completely free of the gossip instinct. Upon nearing his death, the tortured crown maker realized he simply couldn’t take his secret with him to the grave. His sealed lips must be opened at least once before meeting his maker. “Oh, I must tell somebody,” he thought.

49

Unable to contain it any longer, the crown maker f led deep into a bamboo forest near a serene temple and shouted into the trees, “The King has donkey ears!” Satisfied at last, the crown maker was able to return home and die in peace. The bamboo trees, however, couldn’t contain themselves either, and every time the wind blew through the forest, they echoed the words, “The King has donkey ears...the King has donkey ears,” a sound that carried quite far, informing nearly the entire kingdom of King Gyeongmun’s medical secret. Infuriated and embarrassed, King Gyeongmun ordered that the entire bamboo forest be cut down and eradicated. However, every time the wind blew it carried the same words everywhere it went: “the King has donkey ears...the King has donkey ears...” Perhaps it is such a wind that has brought this story to us across so many generations.

tales From Korea

Even bamboo trees can't keep secrets

Written by Felix ImIllustrated by Shim Soo-keun

the King Has Donkey ears!

48

Royal Animal Ears Although King Gyeongmun is a real historical figure, this story is obviously folklore. Details are described in the Samguk Yusa, or Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, a collection of folklore, legends and historical anecdotes from the 1200s about the three ancient kingdoms of Goguryeo, Silla and Baekje. This is an interesting coincidence, as King Gyeongmun’s tale demonstrates remarkable similarity to that of King Midas, whose barber uttered his secret into a hole in the ground, from which reeds eventually sprang up and whispered, “the King has the ears of an ass!” Similar tales exist in other countries’ folklore, often the donkey’s ears changing into the ears of a lamb or goat, which brings up the question: What is it about animal ears that makes us want to put them on our unfortunate kings?

50

Flavor

Written by Shin Yesol

Dak Galbi

The pleasant lakeside city of Chuncheon is famous for its beautiful natural surroundings and dak galbi, one of Korea’s most popular dishes.

Dak galbi got its start in 1960 when a Chuncheon restaurateur began grilling chicken instead of pork. The dish caught on and now can be found throughout Korea.

To prepare dak galbi, chunks of chicken meat are pan fried in a tangy red-pepper sauce with vegetables, sweet potatoes and rice cakes. Noodles are sometimes added as well. After the meat is consumed, a bowl of rice is often fried in the leftover sauce.

Chuncheon is still the place to enjoy this spicy favorite. Try the restaurants in Myeong-dong’s Dak Galbi Alley.

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2014APRIL

I’ll take this hat.Korea has many traditional markets, or sijang. A sijang usually has many interesting things and delicious food. Have you ever gone to a sijang? Let’s buy something in Korean in the sijang!

무엇을 드릴까요? mueoseul deurilkkayo?

이 ___________ 얼마예요? i ___________ eolmayeyo?

____________원이에요. ___________woniyeyo.

이 ___________ 주세요. i ___________ juseyo.

A

B

A

B

The number system (Sino-Korean system)It's KRW 12,000.

0312,000원이에요.manicheonwoniyeyo.

이 모자 주세요.i moja juseyo. 04

I'll take it.

-(으)세요

‘-(으)세요’ means “please do...” when speaking to the second person(s). ‘-으세요’ is attached to the verb stem ending in a consonant, and ‘-세요’ is attached to the verb stem ending in a vowel.

There are two number systems in Korean. One is a purely Korean number system, which is used for smaller, more common numbers.We also have the Sino-Korean system, which is used most commonly for larger numbers. This system begins with “일, 이, 삼.”

basicform

honorific form

(informal)오다 oda

To come or arrive오세요oseyo

주다 judaTo give

주세요juseyo

입다 ipdaTo wear (clothing: shirts,

pants, coats, etc.)

입으세요ibeuseyo

신다 sindaTo wear (footwear: shoes,

socks, boots, skates, etc.)

신으세요sineuseyo

1 일 il 8 팔 pal

2 이 i 9 구 gu

3 삼 sam 10 십 sip

4 사 sa 100 백 baek

5 오 o 1000 천 cheon

6 육 yuk 10000 만 man

7 칠 chil

이 모자는 얼마예요?i mojaneun eolmayeyo?

02How much is this hat?

How may I help you?

01무엇을 드릴까요?mueoseul deurilkkayo?

Let’s practice! 위의 대화와 같이 물건을 사 봅시다.

모자

moja

\12,000

목도리

mokdori

\24,500

장갑

janggap

\35,000

가방

gabang

\98,000