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DMZ Peace Train Music Festival imagines 'borderless world'

Bohemian Betyars, right, perform at Rolling Hall during Zandari Festa 2017. / Korea Times photo by Jon DunbarBy Jon DunbarThe DMZ Peace Train Music Festival returns to Cheorwon County in Gangwon Province this weekend for two days of “dancing for a borderless world.” The festival is returning after a two-year break due to the pandemic for this year's event this Saturday and Sunday, which will be the third such festival. People camp out at Goseokjeong during the first DMZ Peace Train Music Festival in 2018. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar“We had to cancel the last two editions, and it is extremely hard to come back,” said Cecilia Soo-jeong Yi, co-founder and head of content for the festival. “We are really excited but at the same time insanely nervous. It feels just like when we did our first edition, we had no idea how the crowd would react, and I think we have the same feeling about this year's edition.”When the non-commercial music festival had its first run in 2018, the Korean Peninsula was in a mood of peace, but its second edition came in 201

Sep 27, 2022By Jon Dunbar

DMZ Peace Train Music Festival imagines 'borderless world'

Repatriated flag runs out of time in Korea

The original sujagi is on display for a special occasion. / Courtesy of Ganghwa History MuseumBy Jia H. JungSomewhere in the belly of the glassy, triangular Ganghwa History Museum, there rests a very important flag. The flag is on loan from the U.S. and its lease is almost up.U.S. military forces captured the item 151 years ago after its first military engagement in the “Hermit Kingdom” in June 1871. The U.S. recorded the event as the “Expedition to Korea"; Koreans remembered it as Sinmiyangyo, “Western Disturbance in the Sinmi Year.”The flag's name is “sujagi,” the commanding general's flag. Faded but formidable, the four square meters of woven hemp bear a bold Chinese ideogram signaling military rank. Closeups of the sujagi's woven hemp, left, and the lettering. / Courtesy of Ganghwa History MuseumThis relic of the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom is the last of its kind. The flag, in Korea since 2007, is so dear that it is currently folded up and kept where specialists of Korea and the U.S. monitor the climate conditions. No one wants to accelerat

Sep 27, 2022

Repatriated flag runs out of time in Korea

Haebangchon braces for multiple music festivals

The poster for Block Party / Courtesy of Block PartyBy Jon DunbarSeoul's multicultural Haebangchon neighborhood had been gearing up for three multi-venue live music festivals over the next month ― sarcastically referred to as “Rocktober” by one participating musician in light of the confusion over the different events ― but the number has now been reduced to two.The first festival coming to the neighborhood is Block Party, happening this month on Sept. 24. It's the work of Platform Magazine, a locally made English-language magazine that's released four issues so far. The event is happening close to the birthday of Platform co-founder Jamie Finn, who confided that he thought it was the only way to get a good group of people out to celebrate his birthday. “Please don't tell anyone that I don't have any friends,” he told The Korea Times. But Finn certainly has no lack of friends, looking at the lineup of 40 acts playing at five venues across Haebangchon and nearby Gyeongnidan in Itaewon, as well as the army of volunteers helping out. “Through our work on Pl

Sep 20, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Haebangchon braces for multiple music festivals

US singer-songwriter Geoffrey Lewis makes 'Unions'

Geoffrey Lewis poses on the sidewalk in Seoul's Haebangchon, Sept. 19. / Korea Times photo by Jon DunbarBy Jon DunbarAmerican singer-songwriter Geoffrey Lewis is three quarters of the way through his “Unions” series of EPs, with the third volume having been released at the end of June. “I wanted to make a proper album, which to me is 12 songs,” he told The Korea Times. “These days people just put out singles or small EPs, but I wanted to accomplish 12 songs that are meant to be together, creating what I consider to be my first full album.”Rather than release a full album all at once, he decided to put them out three at a time, starting in late 2019. “I want each volume to have its own unique feel, but in the end, as a whole, they will all blend well together,” he said. Volume 3 starts with a tune called “Falling Down,” and Lewis has already released a music video for the song, taking footage from American daredevil Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking skydive from the stratosphere in 2012. “No one has fallen farther or

Sep 20, 2022By Jon Dunbar

US singer-songwriter Geoffrey Lewis makes 'Unions'

South Africans to throw Heritage Day Picnic

Courtesy of SAKorNetBy Jon DunbarSouth Africa's Heritage Day on Sept. 24 will be celebrated a week early, with a picnic on Sept. 17 co-organized by the South African Chamber of Commerce (Safcham) Korea, the South Africans in Korea Network (SAKorNet) and the South African Embassy. This year's picnic will start at noon at Nodeul Island in Seoul. Picnic sets from Pie Republic may still be available for pre-order before Thursday. The South African shop Lekker Saffa Spaza is also offering snack packs filled with treats available back home. An after party will be held later that night in The Workshop, a pub in Seoul's Haebangchon area. The annual holiday celebrates the heritage of South Africans of all backgrounds. Since 2005, a media campaign has been rebranding the holiday as National Braai Day, in recognition of the country's culinary tradition which brings all South Africans together.Visit fb.com/safchamkorea for more information.

Sep 14, 2022By Jon Dunbar

South Africans to throw Heritage Day Picnic

SPECIAL REPORT 'Too good to be true': Belarusian circus performers deceived by Korean agency

Katsiaryna Balabolava, left, and Andrey Ramanenka, a Belarusian circus duo, demonstrate their juggling skills in the coastal city of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, Aug. 7. On the other side of the harbor are several docked cruise ships, one of which the duo used to perform on until they were forced to quit in mid-July after suffering from delayed payments and unfair treatment. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukThis is the first in a four-part series of stories on 'artist and entertainer' visa holders in Korea supported by the Korea Press Foundation. This interactive digital journalism project features articles, photography and short documentary films that expose the systematic loopholes in Korea's E-6 visa management practices that are easily used to exploit foreign artists who come to the country with hopes to be part of the nation's arts and entertainment scene.Exploitation of foreign artists shows dark side of nation's flourishing entertainment industryBy Lee Hyo-jin YEOSU, South Jeolla Province ― On a cloudy afternoon on Aug. 7, Andrey Ramanenka, 29, and Katsiaryna Balabolava, 27,

Sep 13, 2022By Lee Hyo-jin

[SPECIAL REPORT] 'Too good to be true': Belarusian circus performers deceived by Korean agency

RAS Korea RAS Korea's Dongducheon Chapter continues going strong

Photo Caption: RAS Dongducheon members pose at the central school garden. As the members are minors, names are withheld for their protection. / Courtesy of RAS Dongducheon By Steven L. ShieldsPut a handful of enthusiastic high school students together, and what do you get?Lots of energy and teamwork for a common goal. That's what is happening at Dongducheon Foreign Language High School. Busy people get things done, which couldn't be truer for the Royal Asiatic Society Korea's (RAS) Dongducheon chapter members.RAS Dongducheon was organized four years ago by a group of exceptional students at Dongducheon Foreign Language High School. They learned about RAS Korea through a late 2018 feature in the Chosun Ilbo (daily newspaper). From that humble beginning, the Dongducheon chapter has continued to grow and develop, surviving the challenging changes in school operations and study formats during the pandemic.RAS Dongducheon's members are enthusiastic high school students w

Sep 7, 2022By Jon Dunbar

[RAS Korea] RAS Korea's Dongducheon Chapter continues going strong

Migrants, expats compete in football tournament

Migrants from Thailand and Myanmar compete, Aug. 28, in an early stage in the GME Hanaro Football Cup 2022. Thailand beat Myanmar 6-1 and will play again next Monday in the quarterfinals. / Courtesy of GME RemittanceBy Jon DunbarGlobal Money Express (GME), a remittance company in Korea, is hosting the Hanaro Football Cup 2022 next Monday at Seoul's Hyochang Stadium, with teams representing Korea's diverse migrant and expat communities. The day will feature seven games by eight teams that have advanced to the quarterfinal stage after an earlier round last month. Starting at 12:30 p.m., the hour-long quarterfinals will feature Indonesia vs. Nepal, Sri Lanka vs. Mongolia, Thailand vs. Western nations and Vietnam vs. India. At 4:30 p.m. the winners will face off in the semifinals and the final will start at 7:30 p.m. A poster for the GME Hanaro Football Cup 2022 / Courtesy of GME RemittanceVisit gmeremit.com/football2022 for more information.

Sep 6, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Migrants, expats compete in football tournament

Korea Encounters Suppression of marijuana, 'degenerate' youth culture in 1975

Singer Lee Jang-hee works as a radio DJ, circa 1973. / Weekly WomanBy Matt VanVolkenburgFrom 1968 to 1972, Westernized youth culture centered on music, art, fashion, literature and film gained a foothold in South Korean media and among young people, but from 1970 it was beset by yearly government crackdowns. In August 1970, long hair, short miniskirts and experimental art were subjected to a month-long crackdown, while marijuana was criminalized after years of American requests to do so in order to ingratiate Korea with the U.S. government which had announced troop cuts for Korea. In 1971, Park Chung-hee's electoral victory over Kim Dae-jung was bookended by spring and fall protests from students demanding an end to campus military training ― protests that ended in mid-October when a garrison decree sent soldiers to occupy campuses.A parallel crackdown on decadent trends such as long hair, bodypainting and go-go dancing that began in early October 1971, seen as a “smokescreen to hide the real issues” by Korea Times columnist James Wade, forced haircuts on almost 50,000 yo

Sep 6, 2022By Jon Dunbar

[Korea Encounters] Suppression of marijuana, 'degenerate' youth culture in 1975

Australian pop star looks to build a community in Korea

Will Hyde / Courtesy of Steph PedersonBy Jon DunbarAustralian pop singer and podcaster Will Hyde turned 23 last week. He spent his birthday in Korea, working on a song he plans to pitch to K-pop rock band Xdinary Heroes. “We had some great dinners the nights before; I felt very grateful for those, and then just worked,” he told The Korea Times, Monday. “A big part of forming relationships with artists here is going out and having dinner and chatting, and I think that's a really refreshing way to get your feet into collaboration and to understand them,” he observed. “In America and Australia, it's very different, like you just hop straight into the studio. At least (here) you have everyone on board before you even enter the room, so that's actually a lot nicer because it saves everyone time.”He arrived in Korea Aug. 20 for a short visit, and leaves this Wednesday for Los Angeles where he plans to continue his career. All his belongings are traveling with him, and he brought along a whole bunch of stuffed koalas to give out to the people he meets. As

Sep 6, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Global Community

Global Community

DMZ Peace Train Music Festival imagines 'borderless world'

Repatriated flag runs out of time in Korea

Haebangchon braces for multiple music festivals

US singer-songwriter Geoffrey Lewis makes 'Unions'

South Africans to throw Heritage Day Picnic

SPECIAL REPORT 'Too good to be true': Belarusian circus performers deceived by Korean agency

RAS Korea RAS Korea's Dongducheon Chapter continues going strong

Migrants, expats compete in football tournament

Korea Encounters Suppression of marijuana, 'degenerate' youth culture in 1975

Australian pop star looks to build a community in Korea

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