[Korea Encounters] Hoaxster James 'Swim' takes readers to 'places the RAS dare not go'

Foreigners shop for ceramics in Seoul's Insa-dong, which was also known as "Mary's Alley," published in The Korea Times Nov. 1, 1985. / Korea Times Archive

By Matt VanVolkenburg

On May 4, 1974, the author of The Korea Times' "Scouting the City" column, Alf Racketts, wrote that "the local spring tour season is in full swing," and offered a list of upcoming "picnics disguised as cultural tours" that were to take advantage of the pleasant spring weather.

Scheduled for May 15 was, "Soo-do Sa and the Hermitage of the Overhanging Peak. This is an exciting pilgrimage to Soo-do Temple, so-called because it is a fake. The monks are renegade imposters who all turn into foxes at midnight. The tour group plans to stay overnight with them and learn what happens after that. Any who are left the next morning will attempt the easy, gradual 15-hour climb to the Hermitage of the Overhanging Peak. There, a venerable Zen master will induce enlightenment by refusing to tell the climbers how to get down again."

A week later was a visit to, "Sangnom Sansong. This is a walled mountain fortress to which a Yi Dynasty king fled when the capital was invaded by fierce giant mosquitoes. Tour guide Dr. Sam Muppet will try to persuade rustic local girls to perform the ancient and arcane Moulting Dance of the Mosquitoes, which commemorates this event, with gauzy veils wafting gracefully to represent the wings of the insects, if his wife will let him."

On May 19, 22, and the afternoon of May 30, a three-day tour to a soju factory was scheduled. "On the way back we will visit a kiln site where bushels of potsherds may be gathered, suitable for use as paperweights, or gifts to anyone who knows nothing of the Orient and isn't likely to learn anything later."

Another tour was to visit the, "Tomb of an unknown king who was deposed before reigning, and executed by being imprisoned in a celadon water-dropper. This tomb is notable in that it exactly resembles all the other royal tombs in Korea."

On June 8, those interested could visit, "Paegal-sa and Mountains of the Moon. Rev. Clump Duthers will guide the more adventurous to a remote shrine, where for ages, the devotees have utilized the waters of a legendary spring to prepare an elixir known as 'moon juice.' Says Dr. Duthers: 'It's a way to get there even without the Apollo program.'"

An excursion to, "Podunk-sa and the Teetering Rock" was described as: "A stimulating five-hour bus ride over traditional roads leads to the site of one of the least-known of all Korean temples ― least known because every vestige of its existence disappeared before the Silla Dynasty began."

Of the organization hosting the excursions, Racketts wrote, "Those interested should sign up today, since by tomorrow the cops may have raided the outfit," and added, "Prices of the tours vary with what the traffic will bear, or put up with. At the destination, it is customary for a free-will offering to be lifted in order to insure return. Come and enjoy!"

The banner for Alf Racketts' column "Scouting the City" / Korea Times Archive

The target of this parody was made clear when Racketts ― a pseudonym for The Korea Times' editor, James Wade ― described the trips as being, "planned by the CAS. (Not the RAS, the CAS ― which stands for Corny's Art Scavengers.)" He noted that the CAS had, "begun to sponsor its own publications, including an annual scholarly journal entitled the Ransacktions." A year later, Wade published an altered version of this piece in his book, "West Meets East," in which he described the organization as, a "new group of cultural picnickers, the Rowdy Alpinists' Sodality."

While Wade was clearly poking fun at the local Korean branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, where he would serve as president a few years later, he also made playful references to RAS members, many of whom were columnists at The Korea Times. The CAS was to publish books by Alan C. Strawman and James Swim, references to musicologist and composer Alan Heyman, as well as to Wade himself. A planned sijo collection entitled, "The Rutted Road" clearly referred to the scholar-missionary, Richard Rutt, while "Sam Muppet" clearly referred to missionary Samuel Moffett,

The made-up acronym, "CAS," which Wade said stood for "Corny's Art Scavengers," referred to a group affiliated with the RAS that had been organized in January 1974 by Cornelius "Cornie" Choy, who ran the American Trading Company in Seoul. As Choy recalled in a recent interview, after unexpectedly becoming a popular tour guide for the RAS, he created the Korea Art Club (KAC) to explore more far-flung locales. "Mostly," he said, "the KAC ran tours to those places the RAS dare not go."

As Angie Huse, a KAC member who lived in Korea in the early 1980s, described in an interview, Choy "would take groups on trips outside Seoul to explore some little-known part of the peninsula, and he would always try to contact the Peace Corps volunteers who lived and worked in those areas to see if they could help out, as they would have language skills and specialized knowledge of the areas they lived and worked in."

One of Wade's other references may have been less positive. Five years earlier, former U.S. Embassy employee (and author of the 1968 book, "Korea: Politics of the Vortex") Gregory Henderson came under criticism for his large collection of Korean pottery, which he had exhibited in the U.S.

This situation may have informed one of the offered tours Wade mentioned. In his original column in The Korea Times, Wade wrote of a tour to "Sally's Alley," likely a reference to Mary's Alley, an old expat name for Insa-dong. "The group will visit some little-known antique stores which certify not only that their wares are not National Treasures, but that no customs inspector will suspect them of being National Treasures."

His description of this tour, an "Antique Store Crawl," in his revised version, published in the book, "West meets East," was more pointed: "In Korea it is permitted to buy antiques at high prices as long as they are not old or valuable. Join this exciting exploration of dust heaps; you too may find a national treasure, and be arrested. Tour leader: anyone with U.S. Embassy-privileged mailing rights."

Matt VanVolkenburg has a master's degree in Korean studies from the University of Washington. He is the blogger behind populargusts.blogspot.kr.