South Korea - The Korea Times

American documents Jeju's Shamanic traditions

A shaman performs a ritual on Jeju Island. / Courtesy of Joey Rositano By Hallie BradleyLast October, Jeju Island's most beloved Shamanic shrine tree with a 400-year-history fell due to high typhoon winds, and Joey Rositano found himself mourning the loss with the people in the nearby Waheul village. The tree was an intangible cultural treasure familiar to many on the island and served as the village's spiritual center. It is shrines like this that Rositano has spent years documenting in order to shed light on the shamanic traditions of the island that reach back to before recorded history.He originally hails from Tennessee, but has lived on Jeju since 2006. He became enthralled with the shrine worship while there and for the past decade has sought to document through photos and video the rites and rituals many believed had disappeared. “Jeju's muism is one of the strongest living examples of Eurasian polytheism that we have in the world. It's quite likely this reli

Jan 15, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Foreign Line

Camarata invites singers for BrahmsThe nonprofit Camarata Music Company has an open call this weekend for people to join its choir.All are welcome to join this Sunday to get into the groove singing Brahms' "Ein Deutsches Requiem." No experience necessary. Koreans and foreigners are welcome equally, and the choir has represented 99 countries so far."We show that with the right instruction, anyone can sing well," Ryan Goessl, choir director, told The Korea Times in a persuasive invitation message.Visit camaratamusic.org or email info@camaratamusic.com?for more information.Seoul Players Movies in 10Quick, how do you describe your favorite movie? You might be able to give a brief synopsis, but what if you had 10 minutes to really dress it up?"Performers from our community pick a movie they love and then retell it from start to finish in a crisp 10 minute window," the event organizers said on Facebook. "Hilarity ensues, drinks are drunk, we learn how time is a construct and one person's 10 minutes is another's 14 minutes and another's 8. It's all in good fun and sets the st

Jan 15, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Some Asian nations feel betrayed by Korea for close ties with Vietnam

South Korean Park Hang-seo, who coaches Vietnam's national football team, receives birthday congratulations from Vietnamese fans at an airport in the United Arab Emirates on Jan. 4, as he arrives for the Asian Cup 2019. Park is treated as Vietnam's national hero, leading Korean football fans to support his team fervently. This, together with Korea's excessive focus on the country in terms of investment and tourist arrivals, has alienated the rest of ASEAN countries from Korea. YonhapBy Oh Young-jinSouth Korea's New Southern Policy, aimed at boosting ties with ASEAN nations, is backfiring because it is focused on Vietnam at the expense of the other nine members, Hankook Ilbo reported Thursday from Hanoi. The Korean newspaper, the sister paper of The Korea Times, quoted an ASEAN source as saying: “Korea is preoccupied with Vietnam. If this doesn't change, the other members' interests and goodwill toward Korea will cool down.” The source said the ASEAN nations have looked to Korea as a counterbalance to China and Japan that have too much influence on them. ASEAN has emerged

Jan 11, 2019By Oh Young-jin

Some Asian nations feel betrayed by Korea for close ties with Vietnam

17 foreign guides escort visitors at national history museum

The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History has hired foreigners as guides to better serve visitors from other countries.By Park Si-soo One of Korea's biggest national history museums has hired 17 foreigners as guides to better serve foreign visitors. The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History said Friday the guides started working early this month. They are from 18 countries and were recruited through a contest of Korean language and culture the museum hosted last year. The languages they speak include English, Chinese, Japanese and Russian. The guides received intensive instruction on Korea's modern history and museum guiding before they started work. Groups of five-plus tourists can apply for their services by calling 02-3703-9250. Their contracts will expire at the end of the year.

Jan 11, 2019

17 foreign guides escort visitors at national history museum

Joseon Images Korean gisaeng in the American press

A gisaeng school in Pyongyang sometime in the 1920s or 1930s / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffIn the past, some Koreans believed the most beautiful women in the world were born in Pyongyang. Unsurprisingly, the most famous school for “gisaeng” (female entertainers) was located there. Annually, about 200 young teenage girls were chosen and educated for three years in the fine arts of entertainment ― singing, dancing and how to play traditional musical instruments.For many, it was an opportunity to escape the domestic drudgery that awaited the average Korean woman. As a gisaeng they could earn money and, if they were talented and beautiful enough, perhaps win the attention of a rich or powerful man and become his concubine.The gisaeng also had the opportunity to travel the country ― needing only to register with the police in the city they intended to work. Dorothy Gould, an American in Pyongyang, noted in 1930 that “the railroad stations and trains are dotted with these pretty women, with their conspicuous clothes and blackened eyebrows, for the restaurant goers

Jan 8, 2019

[Joseon Images] Korean gisaeng in the American press

Researcher reveals 'post-American landscapes' in USFK military redeployment

A statue symbolizes the first wave of mixed-race Korean adoptees in Paju Omma Poom Park, opened last September on the former site of a U.S. military base. Korea Times photo by Jon DunbarBy Jon DunbarIt's hard to build a full geographical understanding of the Korean Peninsula, due mainly to divisions caused by the Cold War. This includes not just the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, but also urban military sites across Korea inaccessible to the general public. But now that a large-scale plan is redeploying U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) troops further south, coinciding with a warming of inter-Korean relations, South Koreans are rediscovering territory that has been off-limits for decades. Bridget Martin, a Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Geography at UC Berkeley, has been studying the relationship between USFK base consolidation and local development for almost four years. Bridget Martin“Perceived threat levels from the North, which can change quickly, do not track onto the long-term project of U.S. base consolidation,” Martin told The Korea Times. &ldq

Jan 8, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Researcher reveals 'post-American landscapes' in USFK military redeployment

Urbexer in Gwangju shares tales of adventure

Ryan Berkebile photographs the courtyard of an abandoned hanok, a traditional Korean house, in southwestern Korea, exact location undisclosed. / Courtesy of Isaiah WintersBy Jon DunbarRyan Berkebile is the kind of guy who spends his free time “getting dirty, climbing walls, being in the dark and breathing in stale air.”He's an urban explorer who has walked among the secrets of cities in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand. He will be sharing his experiences at the Gwangju International Center (GIC) as part of its GIC Talk lecture series this Saturday.“Urban exploration is a general term for journey/survey of manmade structures, usually neglected buildings or unseen structures like tunnels,” he told The Korea Times. “I see urban exploration as a mixture of tourism, anthropology and modern archaeology.”His lecture will introduce the unique approach of urban exploration, often called “urbex” or UE, give advice on how to explore ethically, and share pictures and stories from his own adventures. Ryan Berkebile examines a discarded cassette

Jan 8, 2019By Jon Dunbar

New York to mark Korean independence fighter

A photo of Yu Gwan-sun, a historic symbol of Korea's fight for independence from 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule. New York State assemblymen will propose a resolution at the joint session of the two Houses soon to designate March 1 “Yu Gwan-sun Day.” March 1 is the day when a massive protest for independence began in 1919. The photo was taken when she was put into Seodaemun Prison by the Japanese authorities. / YonhapBy Jung Hae-myoung New York State is likely to commemorate Korea's independent movement from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule by designating a day for Yu Gwan-sun (1902-1920), a historic Korean woman who led one of the massive independence protests in 1919.According to the Korean-American Association of Greater New York (KAAGNY), a resolution to designate March 1 as “Yu Gwan-sun Day” will be passed at the joint session of New York State on Jan. 14.March 1 is when a massive independence protest took place in Seoul in 1919 and spread to many other parts of the country. Then 16-year-old Yu and her classmates took part in the Seoul protest and contin

Jan 6, 2019

New York to mark Korean independence fighter

Taxi driver fined for overcharging British passengers

The tourist police helped British visitors ripped off by a cab driver. Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan Police AgencyBy Dong Sun-hwa, Park Si-sooA taxi driver has been fined for overcharging British passengers. According to police, the driver picked them up at the International Passenger Terminal in Busan Port on Wednesday morning, drove about two kilometers with the meter off and charged 20,000 won ($18), nearly four times the proper fare. When the passengers told their Korean guide about the incident, the guide reported the driver to the tourist police, a special unit committed to handling complaints from foreign visitors. Police confirmed the offense after looking at the vehicle's dash cam and CCTV footage. The driver admitted he had overcharged the passengers.If you need help too, visit: en.koreatouristpolice.com

Jan 6, 2019By Dong Sun-hwa

Taxi driver fined for overcharging British passengers

Outrage after cabbie rips off foreign passenger for $560

A taxi driver refuses to take a woman holding a child in the Myeongdong area in Jung-gu, Seoul. Korea Times fileBy Ko Dong-hwanA receipt, spread online, shows a taxi receipt for 630,000 won.A Korean taxi driver who allegedly charged a foreigner 630,000 won ($560) for s trip has aroused public outrage.A receipt (picture and partially modified to hide personal information), shows the Seoul-registered vehicle was a privately owned taxi, not a corporate property. Payment was made at 4:46 p.m. on Dec. 28, 2018.The receipt shows “0.00 Km” for the distance. The time the trip began is also missing. The slip shows payment was made by “foreign AMEX card.”The driver most likely erased the travelling distance and boarding time from the rate-calculating terminal and demanded the money from the cardholder, evidently from overseas.The receipt is widely seen as proof of a swindle because people know it is impossible for a trip to cost so much. A one-way trip from Seoul to Busan, the farthest city from the capital, is 400 kilometers away and trip usually costs about 350,000 wo

Jan 4, 2019By Ko Dong-hwan

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