my timesThe Korea Times
OpinionBlogs

About the Past

“About the Past” is a series dedicated to providing short glimpses of Korean society and culture primarily through the images and narratives of foreigners living or visiting Korea from the late 19th century through 1975.

About the Past

Early misadventures in Korean food: Part 1

Several decades ago, when I first came to Korea as a young soldier, I knew almost nothing about the country save what I had seen on the popular American television program “M*A*S*H.” I was stationed in the mountainous region of Gangwon Province, a relatively quiet and rural part of the country, and our camp was small and primitive. Very few of my fellow soldiers ventured far from the “ville” — the small camp town located just outside the gate — and they devoted little of their free time to learning Korean, the culture or even experiencing the local cuisine. Many considered eating in the KATUSA snack bar a culinary adventure. My first adventure with Korean food occurred during an annual military exercise (Team Spirit), when my unit was deployed near a small mountain village. Our timing was perfect. The village was celebrating a wedding, and some of the kind, elderly villagers invited us to come and partake in the feast. As I recall, there were only three or four of us who went — and only after being warned by our commander that we were absolutely forbidden to consume any

May 3, 2026By Robert Neff
Early misadventures in Korean food: Part 1
About the Past

Voices of the past: Seoul in spring

April is arguably one of the best months to visit Seoul — not only because of the mild temperatures, but because the city and surrounding mountains become breathtaking mosaics of fragrant pink, white and lavender blossoms from cherry and lilac trees. Unsurprisingly, these displays of natural beauty have become popular backdrops for social media posts by families, young lovers and tourists. Foreigners have long been enchanted by April’s splendor in Seoul. In April 1884, a group of U.S. naval officers traveled overland from Jemulpo (part of modern Incheon) to Seoul and visited the American Legation. In his journal, George W. Woods, a naval surgeon, noted upon entering the city, “almost everyone [they encountered in the streets was] carrying little twigs of plum and cherry, thick with pale pink blossoms — many of them large and double.” When they arrived at the legation, they were struck by the recent renovations, including the new garden. “The whole place looks very pretty,” observed Woods. “The quaint little buildings are all touched up ‘brightly,’ the paths and stone

Apr 19, 2026By Robert Neff
Voices of the past: Seoul in spring
About the Past

Letters from Gaeseong Part 1: The market

Up until a couple of decades ago, the arrival of the mailman was one of the highlights of the day. Although opening the mailbox almost always revealed an assortment of junk mail and bills, every so often there were letters from friends and relatives. It was especially exciting to find international envelopes adorned with curious and beautiful stamps, promising adventure in faraway lands — albeit experienced vicariously through the pen of a loved one. One such correspondent was Ethel Higgins. She was just 27 years old and a newlywed when she moved to Korea in 1910. She came from Claremont, a small farming town in rural Illinois with a population of about 200. It is through her letters home that we can peek at snippets of her daily life in Songdo (modern Gaeseong in North Korea) in the early 20th century. In her first letter home, Ethel explained that to the Japanese and the “natives,” the peninsula was known as “Chosun” — meaning “Morning Freshness.” Yet, in all of her letters home, she never used “Chosun,” but instead referred to the country as Korea, perhaps becaus

Mar 7, 2026By Robert Neff
Letters from Gaeseong Part 1: The market
About the Past

Peeping in Joseon Korea: Voyeurism, diplomats and scandals (Part 3)

According to Walter Hillier, the British consul to Korea from 1889 to 1896, Korean's scholar gentry, called yangban, “are invested with certain rights and immunities, and it is an offence against the law for a plebeian even to use rude language towards them, much less assault them. Their pride is proverbial, and they are most jealous of their dignity and rights.” On June 6, 1889, while out on an errand, Kim Chang-yo, the head servant at the French Legation, committed the heinous crime of voyeurism. According to the secretary of the American Legation, as Kim passed the residence of a yangban, Soh Piang-so, he looked over the wall and “beheld with profane eyes the ladies of the noble household, a crime than which there is none greater in the Corean calendar.” Kim, “having been discovered in the act of his offending,” was scolded by one of Soh’s house servants. Rather than apologize for his brazen act, Kim cursed at the servant. The nobleman was beyond words and patience; he immediately ordered the voyeur seized and soundly beaten. When Kim spoke in a rude manner, the noblema

Feb 21, 2026By Robert Neff
Peeping in Joseon Korea: Voyeurism, diplomats and scandals (Part 3)
About the Past

Peeping in Joseon Korea: Voyeurism, diplomats and scandals (Part 2)

On June 6, 1889, while out on an errand, Kim Chang-yo, the head Korean servant at the French Legation, committed the heinous crime of voyeurism. According to the secretary of the American Legation, as Kim passed the residence of Soh Piang-so, a member of the Korean gentry, he looked over the wall and “beheld with profane eyes the ladies of the noble household, a crime than which there is none greater in the Corean calendar.” Kim, “having been discovered in the act of his offending,” was scolded by one of Soh’s house servants. Rather than apologize for his brazen act, Kim cursed at the servant. The nobleman was beyond words and patience; he immediately ordered the voyeur seized and soundly beaten. When Victor Collin de Plancy, the French commissaire, learned of the incident, he was furious. The cause of his ire was not his servant’s illicit peeping, but rather Soh’s audacity in punishing a member of the legation’s staff without his permission. Plancy immediately dispatched his Korean guards to the nobleman’s residence — not only to free Kim, but also to arrest Soh fo

Feb 8, 2026By Robert Neff
Peeping in Joseon Korea: Voyeurism, diplomats and scandals (Part 2)
About the Past

Peeping in Joseon Korea: Voyeurism, diplomats and scandals (Part 1)

Recently, an article appeared in The Korea Times discussing the increasing popularity of television programs that showcase the homes of others. As a partial explanation, the article noted: “In Korea, people have long been fascinated by homes — not only as places of rest, but also as symbols of lifestyle, taste and financial success.” In the late 19th century, however, not everyone was willing to display their homes or courtyards to strangers. Many early Western visitors to the peninsula commented on the high walls surrounding Korean houses and the exteriors which seemed dilapidated and uninviting. Even the residences of the upper class looked rundown, as if they had long been neglected or were badly in need of paint. When the Rev. John Wolfe, an Englishman, visited Korea in the summer of 1885, he described Korean homes as being “very mean and poor on the outside” but “extremely neat and tidy” on the inside. Only later did it occur to these Western observers that this was less a matter of neglect and indifference than of prudence. An open display of wealth invited unwanted

Feb 7, 2026By Robert Neff
Peeping in Joseon Korea: Voyeurism, diplomats and scandals (Part 1)
About the Past

Seoul’s streetcars: Between tradition and progress

The claim that streetcars, introduced in Seoul in the spring of 1899, represented “the first step toward civilization in the Hermit Kingdom,” as declared by Harper’s Weekly, provoked both excitement and unease, with many fearing the slow-moving modern vehicles would erode Korea’s long-held traditions as they rolled through the city’s ancient streets. Horace N. Allen, the American representative to Korea, found the effect amusing. The Korean gentry, long-accustomed to the deference of commoners, now found themselves enslaved by the constraints of time. Allen described the harsh lessons of punctuality: “So with the electric cars, which also would not tarry at the demand of the attendants of one of the gentry, and even when the great man himself would simply stop at the car steps and give some orders to his menials, the impudent contrivance was likely to go off and leave him standing there in the road.” Even worse was being run down by a streetcar. George Trumbull Ladd described Korean men — presumably members of the gentry — walking with a dignified strut along the track

Dec 19, 2025By Robert Neff
Seoul’s streetcars: Between tradition and progress
About the Past

American whalers and the East Sea in the 1840s: Peril and adventure

In the mid-1840s, the peaceful isolation of the East Sea was disrupted by the appearance of large, strange-looking vessels — three-masted and two-decked — flying a red, white and blue flag. These were American whaling ships, mainly from New Bedford, Massachusetts, along with a few from smaller New England ports, crewed by men of many nationalities in search of whales, a bit of adventure and, of course, pockets full of money when they returned home. These whaling vessels often passed Jeju Island and sailed through the Korea Strait — the narrow passage separating Korea from Japan — to enter the East Sea whaling grounds. In early 1846, one American described circling Jeju Island for about a week on a calm summer sea — a strange description considering it was winter. Unfortunately, he didn’t consider the “Isle of Beauty” important enough to describe it in any detail, noting only that the crew “saw many whales and captured some.” As for the East Sea itself, he declared the whaling to be “so easy” as “the fish were so numerous that we had no occasion to chase them w

Nov 23, 2025By Robert Neff
American whalers and the East Sea in the 1840s: Peril and adventure
About the Past

Barbershops in Korea: Cutting through tradition

For many men, hair loss can be devastating to one’s vanity and confidence. But in 19th-century Korea, the loss of one’s hair was nothing short of emasculating. In the early 1900s, Lillias Underwood, an American missionary in Korea, described the deep importance that Korean men placed on their hair. “No matter how old [a Korean male] is, without a top-knot (sangtu) he is never considered a man, addressed with high endings, or treated with respect. After assuming the top-knot, no matter how young, he is invested with the dignities and duties of a man of the family, takes his share in making the offerings and prayers at the ancestral shrines, and is recognized by his ancestors’ spirits as one of the family who is to do them honor, and whom they are to protect and bless.” Thus, the Korean population was horrified when a government edict declared that starting on Jan. 1, 1896, all men would cut off their topknot. Many were in disbelief when they discovered that their monarch, King Gojong, was one of the first to submit — unwillingly — to the new law. Sallie Sill, the wife of t

Nov 4, 2025By Robert Neff
Barbershops in Korea: Cutting through tradition
About the Past

When rumors turn deadly (2): Anti-foreigner fear in Korea’s past

Most people have heard the story of a man who’s drugged at a party and wakes up in a hotel bathtub full of ice. Disoriented and in pain, he finds a note on the toilet telling him his kidney has been stolen — and there is nothing he can do about it. It is a terrifying cautionary tale, but nothing more than an urban legend. Korea has its own share of dark rumors and legends about illegal organ harvests — stories that blend fear, superstition and a deep mistrust of foreigners in unsettling ways. In the late 19th century, Korea was caught in a vortex of unrest stirred up by political intrigue and xenophobia. In 1883, a Chinese newspaper reported on turmoil in Seoul caused by the growing number of Japanese arriving in the city. According to the report, the populace believed that the “terrible Japanese intended to draw blood from [Korean] girls and children for the purpose of concocting medicine. So great was the alarm among the maidens in the Capital that many betook themselves to flight, and others actually got married off post-haste without caring much what sort of husbands they we

Oct 26, 2025By Robert Neff
When rumors turn deadly (2): Anti-foreigner fear in Korea’s past
previous page
12345
next page

Top 5 stories