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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Oeam Korean Traditional Village

By Shim Hyun-chul Staff Reporter One's heart feels purified when he or she visits Asan's Oeam Village, which exudes old, rustic charm. Boasting a tradition of more than 400 years, the stonewall paths ringing the village heighten its flair. Situated to the southwest of Mt. Seolhwa, Oeam Village was, since the early Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), home to Siheung Station, where travelers fed their horses. The village was thus called ``Oyanggol'' and eventually became known as Oeam. After crossing a small creek, one arrives at the village entrance, which is marked by a small pagoda and pine forest. Along the pathway, a stonewall spanning over 5 kilometers connects each of the some 60 houses. The village has been there for generations, providing a colorful new historical experience that's difficult to find in a museum. Most of the houses are ``chogajip'' or thatched cottages, while 10 or so are ``giwajip,'' or tile-roofed noblemen's houses typical of the style of central Korea. The traditional houses date back about 100 to 200 years. Designated Historical Areas in 1988, they

Apr 23, 2009

The World’s First Phone Museum & Gallery

By Shim Hyun-chul Staff Reporter Do you remember your first cellular phone? The handheld items are bound to be associated with many memories. Fancy seeing it again? Care to find out what else can be done with it? Then come to the Phone Museum & Gallery in Jeomdong-myeon, Yeoju-gun, Gyeonggi Province. ``People's old cell phones can become a precious exhibit at our museum,'' said director Lee Byeong-cheol. The museum features everything about telephones, from the world's first model to Korea's first telephone and cellular phones to the latest designs and rare and unique phones. Some 1,200 handheld phones and about 2,000 other baffling telecommunication-related items are on display at the cozy location. Only a few decades have lapsed between the time when people communicated via Morse code and today, when people speak while looking at one another through videophones. But unlike centuries-old artifacts, it's rare to see early telecommunication equipment. Cell phones undergo such rapid transformation and become outdated so quickly that one year for items on display at the

Apr 16, 2009

Mt. Eungbong – Forsythia Flowers

By Shim Hyun-chul Staff Reporter Bright yellow forsythia flowers are in full bloom on every street corner, capturing the attention of passersby. They soak up the rays of the midday sun and form cascades of golden yellow. Mt. Eungbong in Seoul is famous for forsythias, and the bright blossoms adorn the place without fail this year. Forsythias are the first signs of spring and can be found in every corner of the city, but Mt. Eunbong is home to a mass of the flowers and the entire mountain is dyed yellow. Every year in April, Mt. Eungbong becomes covered with forsythia, royal azalea petals and cherry blossoms, and a forsythia festival has opened in Seongdong-gu just in time. Mt. Eungbong can be easily reached from Eungbong Park, near Eungbong Station on the Jungang subway line. Only 95 meters high, it is rather small, but offers an open view of downtown Seoul and the Han River. An octagonal pavilion acts as an observation platform, which is also a popular place for photography enthusiasts to capture splendid cityscapes at night. It is also the only mountain with a rock

Apr 9, 2009

Wine Ginseng Train

By Shim Hyun-chul Staff Reporter Spring is in full bloom in April, but instead of going flower gazing, how about a wine-sipping train ride? Enjoy the leisure of decadence on the train, and begin the new month with the clinking sound of wine glasses. A romantic ride where you can write a letter to a special someone? Listlessly watching the passing scenery outside the window? Being squeezed into a small space, with the chattering of talkative children as background music? A simple train ride can be boring and uneventful. But once you board the Wine Ginseng Train, you can forget bad memories. It's no ordinary train trip. Among the trains that depart from Seoul Station and head to Yeongdong, North Chungcheong Province, there is a special train ― with a moving bar. It features four themes under which the cabins are divided: red wine, white wine, ginseng and herbs. Photographs of wine and ginseng cover the exterior of the train while the interior is decorated like a wine bar. Instead of regular passenger seats, tables of two or four fill the space and there is also a small sta

Apr 2, 2009

Orchid Korea Festival

By Shim Hyun-chul Staff Reporter Despite the spring frost, the arrival of the new season is in full swing. Flower buds are awakening from winter hibernation and announcing spring across the country. Of the many spring festivities, the 2009 Korea Orchid Festival is taking place through April 26 at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon. The largest of its kind in the country, the festival celebrates the centennial anniversary of the Zoological Garden. Over 16,000 of some 450 different types of orchids are on display, including 500 award-winning plants chosen for their superior quality and rare Eastern and Western species. The exhibition is divided into four themes and offers visitors a variety of things to see and experience. Everyday, there are classes on raising orchids, planting a pretty flowerpot, making crafts with pressed flowers, and many more opportunities to learn about orchids. Orchids bear beautiful, elegantly scented buds each spring, and have long been loved by Koreans, particularly among scholars, as they symbolized the honor and integrity of a wise man. They conti

Mar 27, 2009

Temptation of Hot Pepper Paste

By Shim Hyun-chul Staff Reporter The temptation of red: not lipstick, but a well-matured ``gochujang,'' or sauteed hot pepper paste. First, the deep red color strikes the eyes, and memories of its spicy taste teases the mouth to water. You try to resist, but succumb every time to that red gojchujang. To make gochujang, rice, made with barley, is grounded and then mixed with ground fermented beans and hot peppers. Sweet rice taffy oil, water and salt is added to complete the paste, which can take months or years to ferment before people can get their hands on it. Along with soy sauce and soybean paste, gochujang is one of the three main sauces used in Korean cooking. Different from the Western idea of hot, its taste runs from spicy hot to sweet, and Koreans add gochujang to just about every dish-gochujang bulgogi, ``tteokbokki,'' red-hot fish soup and ``bibimbap.'' Koreans religiously believe that the paste determines the palatability of any Korean cuisine. The paste is also nutritious, with protein, fat and vitamins. It also has capsaicin, which has anti-carc

Mar 19, 2009

Image of South Africa

By Yoon Chul Staff Reporter When thinking of Africa, hot weather and desert spring to mind. But that first impression could be changed after the experience of exciting travel in South Africa. The country, located on the southern tip of the African continent, has a wide variety of mesmerizing, exotic places to visit. The divine animals and beautiful scenery will please travelers. Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga has a variety of wild animals, like nothing that can be seen at a zoo. Visitors can observe wild creatures, especially the Big 5 elephants, lions, buffaloes, leopards and rhinoceroses at the tip of their noses. Nothing will hinder your point of view or curiosity. Of course, people can see more of God’s creatures, such as zebras and giraffes. During its pitch-dark night, people can observe twinkling stars illuminating the night. But even watching wild animals in the clean environment is not enough to explain the blessed land of South Africa. In Cape Town, travelers can admire Table Mountain’s magnificence immediately with its flat summit, from where a view

Mar 12, 2009

Exorcism

‘Gut’: Korean Way of Welcoming Good Life By Shim Hyun-chul Staff Reporter A shaman, costumed extravagantly and holding a fodder chopper and fan, dances to exhilarating drumbeats. The ``gut'' climaxes as prayers to the gods and dance movements become more dramatic. Gut is a shamanistic ritual in which a shaman prays to heaven for man's fortune before a table full of food. Korea's gut tradition embodies the local spirit and character. Gut becomes a melting pot for everyone's life stories, surpassing all boundaries set by gender, age and class. While it is the shaman that leads gut, everyone present is united by the spiritual act. Various gut take place across the country, and the purpose of the ritual can largely be categorized into three types: gut for the living, the dead and the entire community. Gut varies by time and space, as well as the costume, dance and music of the shaman. A typical gut takes place at a venue organized specifically for the occasion. The shaman's voice and percussion instruments begin slowly and softly, and then speed up and down in a loop.

Mar 5, 2009

Graduation

By Shim Hyun-chul Staff Reporter Every February, graduation ceremonies, from elementary schools to universities, take place across the country. At this time of year, schools are packed with people selling flowers and friends and families gather to congratulate the graduating students. Graduation signals a new beginning. Many will strive to take their first steps into society, while those who have successfully acquired their first jobs will try their best to fit into their new environment. Others will resolve to study further in graduate schools here or abroad, headed for another graduation in the future. Although overwhelming feelings of anxiety dominate students’ minds prior to their graduation, the uneasiness melts away through the bright laughter of close friends and well wishes of caring teachers and parents. It’s time to bid farewell to the happy times of campus life, such as the library that allowed relaxing naps after nights of vigorous studying, the favorite seat in the lecture hall, the beautiful streets on campus that were once walked along with lovers and the

Feb 27, 2009

Requiem Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan(1922-2009)

By Chung Ah-young Staff Reporter Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan passed away at the age of 86 at St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul Monday, leaving a great legacy as the ``conscience of the time'' in critical moments in Korean history. In his death, the late Cardinal also showed how he lives on in the minds and hearts of Koreans as a messenger of love, hope and gratitude. The late Cardinal was a fervent advocate for human rights and democracy and outspokenly criticized the country's dictatorships during the military regimes from 1961 until the late 1980s. At a Christmas Mass in 1971, he strongly denounced the Park Chung-hee government for trying to extend its rule. In the 1980s, the late Cardinal stepped forth to block riot police from entering a compound where protesters for democracy huddled at Myongdong Cathedral. During his Easter sermon in 1987, Kim also blasted the Chun Doo-hwan government as ``despotic.'' Kim was ordained as a priest in 1951 and raised to the rank of Cardinal-Priest of San Felice da Cantalice a Centocelle by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of April

Feb 19, 2009
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