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Sun, January 19, 2020 | 05:33

Barking up the right tree: Cocker spaniels invade early Korea

Barking up the right tree: Cocker spaniels invade early Korea

In the early 1880s, Westerners began to arrive in Korea. Most were diplomats or employees of the Korean government but there were also a handful of missionaries and businessmen.

2020-01-18 09:40

A-maze-ing cats: Fur flies as felines fight early rat pack

A-maze-ing cats: Fur flies as felines fight early rat pack

Fred Dustin had two great passions - his maze and cats - and was fortunate enough to be surrounded by them daily. He built Kimnyong Maze on Jeju Island and the cats soon followed. Some were abandoned waifs, others were gifts and a few wandered in on their own - all were welcomed and became permanent fixtures of the maze.

2020-01-12 09:24

Harbingers of evil, disease, death: Feline fears of Joseon

Harbingers of evil, disease, death: Feline fears of Joseon

In the late 19th century, Korean cats rapidly went through their nine lives. They were despised by much of the population who viewed them as malignant spirits - harbingers of evil, disease and death. On the last night of the first day of the year, the yagwanggwi, a powerful evil spirit from the netherworld, assumed the shape of an enormous cat and prowled about looking for sh...

2020-01-11 10:17

Hairy facts

“The wearing of long hair in Corea is indicative of social disgrace or mental humility, and marks either the penitent or the outcast. The custom of wearing the hair long by these classes has aroused the commercial spirit in certain speculative natives, and they have set about the labor of supplying the world with hair shaved from the heads of their fellow-countrymen.”

2020-01-06 13:30

The politics of hair

The politics of hair

In the past, a Korean boy only became a man after he was married and his hair was put up in a top-knot (sangtu). Age had little to do with the road to manhood - only the top-knot mattered. According to Lillias Underwood, an early American missionary in Korea:

2020-01-05 09:14

Ice skating in Korea: Cashing in on 'The Western Foot Show'

Ice skating in Korea: Cashing in on 'The Western Foot Show'

Following George C. Foulk's ice skating escapades in early 1886, skating soon became quite popular in Seoul. In the beginning, at least for the Korea population, it was mainly a spectator sport. In the early 1890s, many in the Western community ice skated wherever they could - usually on frozen rice paddies and, for the more daring, on the streams and rivers near the city.

2019-12-29 10:07

The devil wears skates: Crowds mob 1886 ice sensation

The devil wears skates: Crowds mob 1886 ice sensation

In late December 1885, newspapers in China and Japan reported Seoul was awash in political intrigue and unrest. In a letter home, George C. Foulk - the acting charge d'affaires at the American legation in Seoul - dismissed these accounts as “a hideous lie, made up chiefly by the Chinese to prevent other countries from interesting themselves in Korea. The people are quiet and ...

2019-12-28 09:33

Plenty of Christmas cheer: Tough miners kick up their heels in northern Korea

Plenty of Christmas cheer: Tough miners kick up their heels in northern Korea

It would probably surprise a lot of people to know that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was a large American-owned gold mining concession in northern Korea known as the Oriental Consolidated Mining Company (OCMC). In the late 19th century it was rather small and resembled the rough camps of the American Wild West.

2019-12-22 09:51

Fatal attacks: Rampaging boars strike fear into villagers' hearts

Fatal attacks: Rampaging boars strike fear into villagers' hearts

Up until a century ago, tigers prowled the mountains and forests of the Korean Peninsula but they were not the only nocturnal beasts that terrorized the countryside - there were also great wild boars. These boars were huge.

2019-12-21 11:13

Rinderpest: Cattle plague of Joseon a human killer?

Rinderpest: Cattle plague of Joseon a human killer?

Korean farmers have long had to contend with epidemics - one of the worst was rinderpest. Over the years, this disease struck with a tenacity that left much of the deer and cattle population of the peninsula decimated. Characterized by fever, loss of appetite, discharge in the eyes and nose as well as ulcers in the mouth and nasal passages, its mortality and contagiousness we...

2019-12-15 09:22

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