Gwangju and South Jeolla International Magazine
Gwangju and South Jeolla International Magazine
July 2022 #245
July 2022 #245
Dr. Cynthia Maung
Winner of the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2022
2022�07��_��.indd 1
2022-06-24 �� 1:46:05
Attorney Attorney Park’s Park’s Law Law Firm Firm We're ready to serve your best interests in legal disputes. We provide affordable consultation & representation.
▶ Areas of Specialty Contracts, torts, family law, immigration, labor
▶ Civil & Criminal
Attorney Park Duckhee
Former judge, member of GIC board Services available in Korean, English and Chinese
#402 Simsan Bldg, 342-13 Jisan-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju Next to Gwangju District Court
2022�07��_��.indd 2
Tel: 062) 222-0011 Fax: 062)222-0013 duckheepark@hanmail.net
2022-06-24 �� 1:46:05
Gwangju & South Jeolla International Magazine
July 2022, Issue 245 Published: July 1, 2022
Cover
Dr. Cynthia Maung
Photo courtesy of May 18 Memorial Foundation
THE EDITORIAL TEAM Publisher Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Chief Copy Editor Layout Editor Photographer Online Editor
Dr. Shin Gyonggu Dr. David E. Shaffer William Urbanski Isaiah Winters Karina Prananto Kim Hillel Yunkyoung Karina Prananto
The Gwangju News is the first English monthly magazine for the general public in Korea, first published in 2001. Each monthly issue covers local and regional issues, with a focus on the roles and activities of the international residents and local English-speaking communities.
For volunteering and article submission inquiries, please contact the editor at gwangjunews@gic.or.kr.
Special thanks to Gwangju City and all of our sponsors.
2022�07��.indd 1
I
t’s July, it’s already our seventh issue of the Gwangju News for 2022, and it’s hard to believe that the year is already half over. July signals the beginning of warm and sunny summer weather, school vacations, and vacation trips, which are now more easily possible with the abating of Covid. So, whether you are relaxing in a long chair on a sandy beach or in an armchair in the air-conditioned comfort of your home, we provide you with a new issue of the Gwangju News for your July reading. Our cover feature for this issue is about Dr. Cynthia Maung, recipient of the 2022 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights for her work in providing medical services to the displaced and migrant workers from her clinic on the Thailand-Myanmar border. We also bring you an interview with the four main speakers at the May 18 Education Forum 2022, which was recently held in Gwangju: Maria Filipsson, Jonas Bolander, Joakim Östling, and Sunjoon Hwang. Our third feature for this month is on the legacy of Tim Warnberg, which includes his help in aiding wounded civilians during the May 18 Uprising. I personally remember Tim from his Peace Corps days here in Gwangju some 42 years ago. David Dolinger was also a Peace Corps member in Gwangju during the May 18 Uprising (our June cover feature). This month we bring you a review of his just-off-the-press memoir of May 18, Called by Another Name. In this July issue, we take you to a Gwangju refill station, OceanCloud. No, it’s nothing like a gas station – it’s much more eco-friendly. We also take you to Gwangju’s CrossFit center – no, it’s not a gym but a “box.” We bring you a restaurant review of the scrumptious Tiramitous. And we take you to the old Gwangju Prison to bring you “poetry” from the punishment room. Then we take you to Yeocheon, where a former resident laments the vanishing of their hometown. Pyroprocessing to solve the nuclear waste problem? We bring you the lowdown in our Environment column. The largest English teachers’ association in Asia? We bring you the scoop on AsiaTEFL. And we bring you much more: Gwangju city news, Korean study, the latest in music, a crossword puzzle, a comic, and photography galore! As always (though distancing guidelines have been relaxed), stay Covid smart, stay Covid safe, be Covid protected, and enjoy the Gwangju News.
David E. Shaffer Editor-in-Chief Gwangju News
Gwangju News, July 2022
The Gwangju News is published by the Gwangju International Center: Jungang-ro 196-beon-gil 5 (Geumnam-ro 3-ga), Dong-gu, Gwangju 61475, South Korea Tel: (+82)-62-226-2733~34 Fax: (+82)-62-226-2731 Website: www.gwangjunewsgic.com Email: gwangjunews@gic.or.kr gwangjunews gwangju_news Registration No. 광주광역시 라. 00145 (ISSN 2093-5315) Registration Date: February 22, 2010 Printed by Jieum 지음 (+82)-62-672-2566
From the Editor
gwangjunewsgic.com
Copyright ©2022 by the Gwangju International Center. All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by this copyright may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the written consent of the publisher.
1
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:38
2
Photo of the Month
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
By Vladislav Kogay
2022�07��.indd 2
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:38
3
Contents
ISSUE 245, July2022
NEWS
01. From the Editor 04. Gwangju City News FEATURES
06. A Doctor for the Weak and Displaced: Dr. Cynthia Maung, Winner of the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 10. May 18 Education Forum 2022: An Interview with the Speakers 14. Tim Warnberg’s Legacy Deserves Notice: Part I TRAVEL
16. Lost in Honam: Notes from the Punishment Room 20. Around Korea: Yŏch’ŏn 1996 – Returning to My Vanishing Korean Hometown TEACHING & LEARNING
23. Everyday Korean: Episode 55. 이제 다리를 뻗고 잘 수 있겠어요 I Can Sleep Peacefully Now. 24. Language Teaching: AsiaTEFL – “Unity Within Diversity, Diversity Within Unity” COMMUNITY
02. Photo of the Month 44. Photo Essay: A Day to Get Together! – 2022 Gwangju Together Day 50. Book Review: Called by Another Name, by David Dolinger and Matt VanVolkenburg 50. Book Review: Should We Stay or Should We Go, by Lionel Shriver 52. Music: Top of the Drop 54. Comic Corner: Alan and Me – Episode 13. The First Fight, Part 2 56. Crossword Puzzle
2022�07��.indd 3
Gwangju News, July 2022
CULTURE & ARTS
gwangjunewsgic.com
28. Local Entrepreneur: We Never Work Alone – Interview with OceanCloud Founder Kim Da-in 32. Local Entrepreneur: Getting Familiar with CrossFit at YongBong Training Center – An Interview with Owner and Head Coach Yang In-sung 35. Environment: Look Up? Or Don’t Look Up? 40. Sports and Activities: Keeping the Beautiful Game Alive 42. Restaurant Review: Tiramitous
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:38
4 Kimchi Contest and May Mothers conducted demonstrations, experience events, and various cultural performances which were well received by participants.
Gwangju City News From the Gwangju Metropolitan City Press Release (http://gwangju.go.kr)
The city of Gwangju expects such events to further expand the popularization of Gwangju rice balls.
The 2022 Art Picnic Opens on June 11
MONTHLY NEWS gwangjunewsgic.com
Gwangju News, July 2022
Furthermore, the event promoted the various flavors of kimchi through the provision of yeolmu kimchi, a representative kimchi of summer. What is more, the 29th Gwangju World Kimchi Festival (October 20–22), and the 2022 Bitgoeul Love Sharing Kimchi Festival (November 22 – December 11), will also be held.
Gwangju Metropolitan City announced that the 2022 Art Picnic, a cultural and art excursion event, will open on June 11 in many places around the city.
Gwangju City Hosts a Kimchi and Rice Ball Outing Event Gwangju Metropolitan City held its Kimchi and Rice Ball Outing Event at the Sangsang Madang area of the Asia Culture Center on June 4. This event was held with the 5th Gwangju Agricultural Life and Food Safety Division to inform citizens of the development direction of Gwangju rice balls, a food that symbolizes the “sharing and solidarity spirit” of the 29th Gwangju World Kimchi Festival and the May 18th Democratization Movement. The May 18 Commemorative Foundation and Gwangju Design Promotion Institute jointly participated in the project. In addition, the winners of the Presidential Prize in the Gwangju World Kimchi Festival
2022�07��.indd 4
The “Art Picnic” has been in the spotlight as a family-oriented cultural and artistic experience program for citizens, but over the past two years, citizens have not been able to enjoy the program due to online and offline parallel promotions as a result of Covid-19 distancing. The 2022 Art Picnic is an on-site program and will be held every Saturday from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. (4 p.m. – 8 p.m. in summer) until November. In particular, the program plans to provide a richer program centering on the Gwangju National Museum, which is full of living history and artistic resources. The Art Picnic at Gwangju National Museum includes an art camp for toddlers, a children’s art camp, a family art camp, a family play camp, an imagination playground, an art stage, a forest fairy tale camp, and a creator camp. Healing programs and museum-related programs will also be introduced. The self-governing district Art Picnic is operated as a differentiated program according to the characteristics of each autonomous district.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:39
5 The Dong-gu Art Picnic, held at Haneul Park of the Asia Culture Center, offers a “small Asian festival” with the main concept of experiencing Asian culture through events entitled Sweet Asia, Made in Asia, and Dancing Asia. The Seo-gu Art Picnic, held at Energy Park (Sangmu Park), operates a convergence experience program that combines cultural arts and energy technology through events centered on experiencing new energy technologies, energy meets art, and super energy power. The Nam-gu Art Picnic, held at Bitgoeul Rural Theme Park, is a program that combines kite-flying and art experiences through a Korean kite painting experience, making character and traditional pattern kites, and a kite-flying experience. The Buk-gu Art Picnic, held at Ilgok Neighborhood Park, operates under the concept of a family healing experience which includes making a natural mask pack and multi-balm, making a natural hair loss prevention shampoo for fathers, nail art for moms, and summer body painting. The Gwangsan-gu Art Picnic, held at Ssangam Park, provides beneficial experiences such as Seonbi’s summer vacation, a Seonbi play experience, and a global traditional play experience.
Gwangju Dong-gu (East District) News
The target audience for recruitment is about 30 residents living in Dong-gu, office workers located in Dong-gu, and humanities activists active in Dong-gu. The “Dong-gu Humanities Together” group aims to work as a small team and actively participate
2022�07��.indd 5
The recruitment period is from June 27 to July 1, and participating members will be given benefits such as participation in a humanities competency strengthening workshop, information on Donggu's humanities city activities such as the College of Humanities and Humanities Center programs, and preferential participation. To apply, would-be recruits can download the application form from the Dong-gu website and apply by e-mail (argos3@korea.kr), and the selected members will be announced in July.
Gwangju News, July 2022
Gwangju Dong-gu Chairman Im Taek announced that Dong-gu will recruit members of the “Donggu Humanities Together” group until July 1, where Dong-gu residents will lead humanities activities and become participants in humanities policy.
gwangjunewsgic.com
Gwangju Dong-gu Recruits Members for “Humanities Together”
in the Humanities City project, which includes things such as proposing opinions on the Humanities City project by excavating and recording humanities resources in unknown neighborhoods. Residents will directly participate in and evaluate the humanities policy of Donggu and become active participants in Dong-gu's humanities city policy.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:39
FEATURE
6
A Doctor for the Weak and Displaced Interview with Dr. Cynthia Maung
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
By Arlo Matisz On May 19, 2022, Doctor Cynthia Maung was interviewed for GFN's face2face program. Dr. Maung had just been awarded the May 18 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights award by the May 18 Memorial Foundation for her work providing health services to displaced persons and migrant workers at the Mae Tao Clinic, which she founded in 1988. The clinic is located in a refugee camp on the border of Myanmar and Thailand to provide medical assistance to Myanmar refugees who fled to the Thai border due to the oppression of the Myanmar military. Below is our interview with her.
A
rlo Matisz (AM): Thank you, Dr. Maung, for joining us for the interview today. Could you please introduce yourself to our listeners? Cynthia Maung (CM): I am Dr. Cynthia Maung. I have been working for displaced persons on the Thai-Burmese border since 1989. AM: That is a very long time to do very good work. Thank you so much for joining us in the city of Gwangju! Now, obviously you have worked in this
2022�07��.indd 6
career for decades, and you were a doctor before that. What gave you a strong interest in medicine? CM: I studied medicine in Myanmar and finished my studies in 1985. Since I was young, I have known that medicine is one of the most important things in my life, because my father was a healthcare provider. I joined my father and saw that many people throughout the world could not access proper healthcare services, so I wanted to work like my father and treat patients so people could enjoy their
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:40
7 health rights through the protection and promotion of health. AM: When did you start the Mae Tao Clinic, and what can you tell us about that time? CM: I joined the 1988 pro-democracy uprising in Myanmar, but the military tracked down prodemocracy activists, so I had to flee to the border along with my colleagues and friends. Along the border area, we saw many internally displaced people who could not access healthcare services, and we also saw that malaria was prevalent. There were also many young people who suffered from mental health issues. So, I wanted to start helping those people and found a way to work with the local community. Then, with the support from the local community, we were able to set up the Mae Tao Clinic.
were able to start our small clinic; medical supplies were donated by a local church group, and after a year, some international NGOs recognized that there was an office in place that, together with the local community, was able to provide treatment to these people, so they start giving medicine as well. AM: Could you tell us what some of those organizations are that you worked with? CM: In the beginning, the organizations were a local church group and the local community, and then gradually the Thai group “CONSORTIA,” which is one of the biggest consortium groups, supported us with help from different international NGOs from the UK, US, and Canada. So, we started working with them on food relief, and at the same time, the MSF (Medicins Sans Frontieres) was in the refugee
AM: So, your clinic is on the Thai side of the border, but you are helping people from both sides? CM: Yes. So, initially, most of the services that we provided were for people crossing the border from Myanmar to Thailand. Today, because of Covid-19 and the lack of access to healthcare, people crossing the border need a place where they can get primary healthcare services, so we set up a clinic for local assistance that advances healthcare services.
2022�07��.indd 7
camp to help out. Another organization called the Malaria Research Unit worked on the malaria control program, because most of the patients that we saw suffered from malaria, so we got training and medicine from these organizations. AM: That is great that there was help that poured in, although I am sure you can always use more. How many people work at the clinic? CM: The clinic has grown from a primary healthcare facility to a training center for healthcare workers, and we also started a job protection and education program in 1995, because we have seen that many women who deliver outside the healthcare facility cannot get access to nutrition. Children dropped out of school because their parents were very poor, so
Gwangju News, July 2022
AM: How and when did the clinic get settled? CM: Initially, it was supported by a local Thai community, because Thailand and Myanmar share a very long border, so there has been a relationship with local people. They speak the same language and work together on community development, community training activities, and education for children. With support from the local community, we
▲ Dr. Maung (left) treating a patient.
gwangjunewsgic.com
AM: When you first approached the border after 1988, what did you see there and what made you realize that you had to work there? CM: Initially, I worked in a hospital with women and children. The children suffered from malnutrition, and the women were delivering babies is a challenging environment, because there was no access to health facilities in such a rural area. So, in the beginning, when we started the clinic on the Thai side, we started to train local people as healthcare workers for the local community.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:40
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
8 we expanded our services to include a job protection program. Currently, our staff for both the job protection and healthcare programs number about 250.
cannot always go for medical treatment on time, so they can miss the opportunity to get vaccinations. We also need to make sure that everyone gets full, complete treatment.
AM: And how many patients have visited the clinic on average? CM: Starting from 1995, the Burmese economy started to deteriorate, and as a result, there were many migrant workers crossing the border from Myanmar, so gradually our patient number increased annually. The highest we had at one time was 200–300 patients per day for daily consultation. We also have an inpatient facility with 120 beds.
AM: From your perspective, what are some of the biggest challenges that people face? CM: The challenge is the access to healthcare, the discrimination and stigmatization, because we are working with displaced migrant communities who speak different languages. For example, we do not speak the Thai language, and sometimes the hospital’s doctors and nurses who come from the city do not speak the local language, so the ethnic people, the migrant workers, and the refugees cannot access healthcare because of their identity, or because they cannot afford to pay for secondary healthcare services. In terms of resources allocation, we can see people cannot afford the facility, so these are the biggest challenges. The staff try to make sure that the poor people,
▲ The new Mae Tao clinic.
AM: Do you have any difficulties or issues while running the facility, because it is a free healthcare system? CM: Yes, it has been challenging for us to run the facility. First, the location of the clinic is not idyllic. Also, the place is not really designed as a clinic, so sometimes it is difficult to provide good, quality healthcare services. We also receive vaccine support from the local Thai hospital. But we really need more understanding from the local Thai hospital, because most doctors and nurses there do not understand the situation of the migrants, the refugees, and the displaced people. Sometimes it is not just because of the language barrier; they do not understand the political situation in Burma, so cooperation and partnership are very important for our work. The people on both sides of the border are very poor and
2022�07��.indd 8
▲ The Mae Tao clinic in 1992.
or the marginalized people, can access proper healthcare service centers and emergency healthcare services. People who cannot speak the language are sometimes ignored and not given assistance. AM: How have global health issues impacted your own life, or the lives of the people that you treat? CM: I believe all people should have the right to access healthcare services, just as a child should get proper immunization and have access to a quality education, but we see many children are oppressed,
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:41
9 so we need to foster a system to promote a better life for women and children. AM: Now the world continues to experience extreme issues one after another, and the pandemic highlights the problem with global health, including food, security, and environmental protection, so do you have any particular passion where you would like to see changes? CM: Firstly, we need better political relations to invest in the community, as sometimes we see political relations are not good. For example, in the Burma case, we have been under military rule for almost 17 years. There was a period of peace for some time, but now we continue to struggle along the border. Most of the people who suffer are women, children, and the elderly; they continue to be marginalized. To end the crisis, we need to invest more in political relations to better protect the rights and dignity of people, and especially provide access to healthcare and education for women, children, and the elderly. These are the key areas that we need to focus on, and at the same time, people displaced from their homes, like refugees, need to be managed, so addressing refugees and migrants not only in Myanmar but also in the whole region needs to be dealt with by many countries. We have seen the crisis up close, like the war, the displacement, and the refugees, so unless the government addresses this issue, conflict, violence, and prejudice will continue.
AM: Do you have any final words for us here in Gwangju? CM: Firstly, it is an honor for me to be awarded the Gwangju Peace Prize, but this is also for all our staff, our community members, and our partners. We are not alone. Many people around the world fight for freedom, democracy, and human rights, and everyone wants a peaceful environment to work in. You want to see that children grow up in a safe environment like in Korea now, where children enjoy a good life, access to education, and health services. This is important to everyone, so we continue to work on that, and we try to make more partnerships with South Korean organizations like the May 18 Memorial Foundation. This reward encourages our staff to continue the struggle.
AM: From a human rights city to someone who has worked for human rights all her life, thank you so much for coming today, and I hope we can give that help.
The Interviewer
▲ Dr. Maung (center) receives the 2022 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights on May 18, 2022.
2022�07��.indd 9
Arlo Matisz is an economics professor and the host of GFN’s face2face. He is bigheaded and big-hearted.
Gwangju News, July 2022
Photographs courtesy of Dr. Cynthia Maung and the May 18 Memorial Foundation.
gwangjunewsgic.com
▲ Dr. Maung visiting a new couple with a baby at the clinic.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:42
10
▲ The May 18 Education Forum 2022 speakers: (from left) Sunjoon Hwang, Maria Filipsson, Jonas Bolander, and Joakim Östling.
FEATURE
The May 18 Education Forum 2022 An Interview with the Speakers
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
By Jana Milosavljevic
T
he month of May in Gwangju is for remembering thousands of Gwangju citizens who rose up against the military junta oppression in May 1980, those who survived, and those who did not, and as such, is marked by various events and vigils. Among the many events keeping the spirit of the Gwangju Democratization Movement alive, the May 18 Education Forum took place last May 27 under the title “May 18 Democratic Uprising Meets Swedish Civic Education.” The Forum focused on exchange in the area of democratic civic education through a conversation with the invited educators from Sweden, where political participation through civic education has already become commonplace. Following presentations and discussions, the speakers, some of whom were present at the Gwangju Institute of Creative Convergence Education venue, and some of whom joined online, engaged in a real-time
2022�07��.indd 10
online Q&A session with teachers and education staff in Gwangju. The speakers also took the time to answer a couple of questions and share their experiences and impressions of the Forum with our Gwangju News readers. Gwangju News (GN): First of all, thank you for making time for this interview. It was our great pleasure to have you as speakers at the May 18 Education Forum. To begin with, could each of you tell us briefly about yourself, including your background? Jonas Bolander: I have a teaching degree in social science and Swedish for years 1–7. I worked as a teacher for 11 years and as a vice principal for eight years before I became a principal. When I worked as a vice principal, I was responsible for children enrolled in compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities. Being responsible for students
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:43
11
with learning disabilities has given me good insights into how to compensate these students in education. Joakim Östling: Currently, I am the head of the school department at Österåker Municipality.
GN: Very interesting, thank you. Would you let us know to what extent you were familiar with the events and details of Gwangju’s May 18 Democratic Uprising prior to your invitation to join the Forum?
2022�07��.indd 11
Jonas Bolander: In Sweden today, the conditions for students have changed because of the variety of backgrounds among the children. The schools and the teachers have an important task in trying to compensate for the inequality among the students and help them to get equal opportunities in life, no matter their background. Maria Filipsson: In Sweden, we have compulsory schooling, and all children have the right and obligation to go to school. It is my job as a principal, and now as head of educational development and
Gwangju News, July 2022
Sunjoon Hwang: I used to work as a head of a policy analysis department at the Swedish National Agency for Education. In 2011, I also worked as the director of the Seoul Education Research & Information Institute (SERII), as well as the director of the Research Institute of Education under the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education, and in 2018, as a member of the National Education Committee in Korea.
GN: Now, let us move to the topic of education. From the perspective of your various backgrounds and experiences, how would you describe the need for civic education in 21st-century schools? What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of civic education?
gwangjunewsgic.com
Maria Filipsson: I currently work as head of educational development and quality for the public schools in the municipality of Österåker. Before my current position, I worked as a principal for many years, and prior to that, I was a teacher who loved when I got together with students that required a lot of support.
Maria Filipsson: Prior to your invitation, I didn´t know much about Gwangju’s May 18 Democratic Uprising. When we started to talk to Sunjoon Hwang, I began to read a lot about the uprising and all the struggles you have been through to get democracy in your beautiful country. When I understood more, I felt even more honored to be invited to speak at your important event.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:43
12 quality, to ensure that education upholds a high quality for every student. Not just the ones that have parents who are engaged and come from a high socioeconomic background, but every student. In Swedish law, every student has the right to an equally good education no matter what. No student is to be left behind. GN: Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Now I would like to ask some individual questions. Mr. Sunjoon Hwang, following your in-depth research and work experience in both countries, could you give us a summarized outlook on the main points of comparison between the educational systems of Sweden and Korea?
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
Sunjoon Hwang: The education system itself in Sweden is not that different from Korea. However, what I would like to mention as specific to Sweden is the concept of educational autonomy in terms of who decides what. In the case of Sweden, this concept is implemented in three forms. It consists of the division of roles between government, municipal governments, and schools, autonomy in the curriculum and syllabus, and autonomy in budget allocation and use. While education goals and directions are set by central agencies (councils, governments, and national education offices), implementation of education is made by 290 local governments and schools. How to educate is the teacher’s unique area, and it is discussed with students by selecting teaching and learning methods or textbooks. In this sense, it can be said that educational autonomy in Sweden is achieved at the school level. Educational autonomy is essential to develop school democracy. Concerning not only the roles between the central government, education office, and schools, but also the re-organization of the curriculum and education budget, principals and teachers at schools should be given much greater autonomy and discretion than they are now to take responsibility for leading quality education. GN: Mr. Joakim Östling, in your presentation, you mentioned the importance of differentiating the two terms “being democratic” and “working democratically.” Could you elaborate a bit further on this through the example of the schools in the municipality of Österåker?
2022�07��.indd 12
Joakim Östling: Many pupils exhibit a distrust of formal democracy in school. They often feel that the school pays little attention to the questions or wishes from pupil councils. This could be due either to a lack of resources, to the children simply not being taken seriously, or to students not being given a mandate to express opinions or make decisions on important issues. The pupils’ distrust of formal democracy in school also affects their attitudes towards formal democracy in society. If democracy is only perceived as a form and not content, people’s faith in democracy as a fundamental value is undermined. We try in Österåker to work in a way that pupils feel they have an opportunity to influence the content of the learning subjects. The degree of influence varies from teacher to teacher, even in Österåker. But the point I try to make is that it is of importance for the students that education in schools is a combination of being democratic and working democratically.
GN: Mr. Jonas Bolander, you spoke about three different areas in which the students in your schools can have an impact on their own education. Could you tell our readers what those are, and in short, present each of them? Jonas Bolander: There are three different areas in which the students in my schools can have an impact on their own education: free school choice, different student councils, and formative assessment. In Sweden, all parents are allowed to choose a school for their child. When the students are enrolled in school, there are different parts that they can have an impact on in their education. One of the subjects in Swedish schools is “elevens val,” which means that the students can choose one of the subjects in
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:43
13 the curriculum and study it with the purpose to get a deeper understanding of the subject and reach a higher grade. Another way for the students in our schools and preschools to have an impact on their education is through the different councils that the preschools and schools have. Ljusterö and Roslagskulla schools have a student council, class council, food council, a council for the students that are in the after-school program, and a council for the parents. In the councils, the students get to discuss their opinions and ideas about education with the school management. The third area in which the students have an impact is education in the classroom. All education in Sweden is supposed to be based on scientific research and proven experience. The formative assessment is a method that is scientifically proven to have a positive effect on children’s learning. The teachers in our schools use formative assessments actively in their teaching. An example of how formative assessments could be used in the classroom is writing the learning goals for each lesson on the board at the beginning of the lesson; this helps the students keep focused on the learning objectives throughout the lesson.
2022�07��.indd 13
Maria Filipsson: We would have loved to be there on stage and meet everyone. I am still glad that we could join via Zoom. That is one thing that the Covid-19 pandemic has really shown us: We can be together and participate even though we are not in the same building. During the pandemic, the educational system in Sweden was almost the only thing that held us Swedes together. Schools remained more or less normal. Thanks to that, our students were able to keep on learning and developing. One thing I took away was all the graciousness that was shown to us and the sincere willingness to learn and develop. I think that is one reason for your high results in school – your external monitoring and enthusiasm to develop. I also learned that our school systems are very different, and we have a lot to learn from each other. That is why I would love to continue our cooperation to learn from each other.
Photographs courtesy of the World Human Rights Cities Forum Secretariat and Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education.
The Interviewer
Jana Milosavljevic was born and raised in Serbia. She currently lives and works in Gwangju as a GIC coordinator. She loves exploring new places, learning about new cultures, and meeting new people. If you are up for a chat, she can talk to you in Serbian, English, Korean, Japanese, or German.
Gwangju News, July 2022
Maria Filipsson: It is not easy to illustrate briefly, but I will try. It is in our values and in our actions, in all the big things, but perhaps more important, in every little thing we do. We start from when our children are very young. We truly listen to them and let them be part of a democratic society, the family, the school, the classroom, and so on. To us, it is important what they have to say. That is how we can adjust our way of teaching so that every single student will learn. We also hold them accountable for many things at an early age. We train them to think for themselves and to not be afraid of making a mistake or failing at something. We want our students to be full members of our democratic society and to contribute. We let them make a lot of choices. We need their thoughts and knowledge to keep on building our society and to always improve.
Jonas Bolander: I learned that the Swedish and Korean school systems are very different. I would like to learn more about the Korean school system, since your students have better results than Swedish students. The Korean school system might be interested in how we work with student democracy and entrepreneurship in our schools.
gwangjunewsgic.com
GN: Ms. Maria Filipsson, as the head of educational development and quality in the municipality of Österåker, could you briefly illustrate how Swedish schools develop the values that Swedish society is built upon?
GN: What, in your opinion, are the most important takeaways of the Q&A discussion during the May 18 Education Forum? And what are your outlooks on the future of democratic civic education in the post-Covid-19 era?
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:44
FEATURE
14
Tim Warnberg’s Legacy Deserves Notice: Part I By Dr. Marcy Tanter
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
“D
oes anyone know the name of that guy?” “Which guy?” “The one in the plaid shirt.” “Oh, that’s Tim. Tim Warnberg. “ In the summer of 2017, I was a visiting professor at Chonnam National University. I taught an English literature course in their international summer school program. While I was there, I heard about the Gwangju Uprising for the first time and did some research to learn about it. One of the first photos I came across is the (I learned later) famous one that shows five men carrying an injured man on a stretcher. I was struck by the fact that the man in the middle of the photo is obviously Caucasian, and I wondered who he was and what he was doing in the middle of the Uprising. Especially curious is the fact that he is wearing plastic sandals instead of shoes, and the
2022�07��.indd 14
man in front of him seems to be barefoot. They must have dropped everything to carry the stretcher and get the injured man to the hospital. I found out later that this was Tim Warnberg. Tim was a 24-yearold American Peace Corps volunteer who lived in Gwangju and worked at Chonnam University Hospital as a Hansen’s Disease case worker. During the Uprising, he remained in the city to help take care of the citizens.1 Tim was selfless during that time, doing all that he could to aid the citizens, and he has long been recognized for his contributions. There is no question that Tim played an important role in Gwangju before, during, and after the Uprising. The more I learned about him, and the goodness of the other PCVs who stayed to help the Gwangju citizens, the more I wanted to meet him and express my appreciation. As I asked questions about Tim, I discovered that he had passed away in 1993. Unfortunately, Tim
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:44
15 succumbed to a virus after years of treatments that saw him improve and then decline. Remarkably, despite being ill, Tim worked on a Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii under the direction of famed translator and critic Marshall Pihl (1933–1995). His dissertation topic was a translation of sijo poems by Jo Jeong-hyeon called Midnight Earth [자정의 지구 (조종현시조집)]. In addition to the translation for his dissertation, Tim was involved in translating Cho Se-hui’s story “Space Travel,” part of his novel The Dwarf. In 1989, Pihl noted that Tim was working on the translation, (Pihl) but I cannot find any further reference to it. Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton brought out their own translation of The Dwarf in 2006; Professor Fulton told me he has no knowledge of Tim’s work on “Space Travel” (2022). One translation that Tim worked on that has been published and acknowledged: He assisted Professor Judy Van Zile with her book Perspectives on Korean Dance (2001). The exact passages he translated are not marked, but Professor Van Zile notes his help in the introduction to the text (xxii).
2022�07��.indd 15
Tim’s friend and fellow PCV, David Dolinger, stated: “…based upon what we had witnessed … it was important for us to stay [in Gwangju] and make sure that our Korean friends were safe.” 1
Sources Choi, E. (2012). Asian 2218: Introduction to Korea. [University course syllabus]. Cornell University. https://studylib.net/ doc/7598726/asian-2218-syllabus--fall-2012Dolinger, D. (2010, June 12). Comment on blog post. In M. VanVolkenburg (Ed.), Gusts of Popular Feeling. http:// populargusts.blogspot.com/2010/06/park-chung-hees-actof-terrorism.html Fulton, B. (2022, April 19). Personal email to author. Pihl, M. (1995). The nation, the people, and a small ball. In K. Wells (Ed.), South Korea’s minjung movement. (pp. 210– 222). University of Hawaii Press. Kwon, P. B. (2019, Spring). AEAK 389/AHIS 389: History of Modern Korea [University lecture]. SUNY Albany. Milkes, E. (n.d.). The Kwangju Uprising. The Korea Society. https://www.koreasociety.org/images/pdf/KoreanStudies/ Curriculum_Materials/LessonsbyTopic/History/The_ Gwangju_Uprising.pdf Van Zile, J. (2001). Perspectives on Korean Dance. Wesleyan University Press. Warnberg, T. (1987). The Kwangju Uprising: An insider’s view. Korean Studies, 11, 33–57.
The Author
Dr. Marcy Tanter teaches at Ranger College and for the Dallas school district in Texas. The Gwangju Uprising is currently her main research focus, especially the American involvement. She was a Fulbright scholar at Dongguk University in spring, 2018, and she is an international education advisor for the May 18 Foundation. She has participated in the Gwangju Democracy Forum and has delivered lectures at the Gwangju International Center (GIC).
Gwangju News, July 2022
To honor Tim and publicly recognize his contribution to Korean studies, one of his friends, after discussions with Tim’s family, suggested that we petition to have doctorates awarded to Tim posthumously, one for this translation work and another for what he accomplished during and after
Footnote
gwangjunewsgic.com
Aside from his translation work, Tim Warnberg published the first foreign account of the Gwangju Uprising. Appearing in volume 11 of the journal Korean Studies, “The Kwangju Uprising: An Insider’s View” was and continues to be an oftencited, invaluable testimony. Scholars and others who research the Uprising, Korean democracy, the Korean student protest movement, resistance to Chun Doo-hwan’s government, and other related areas, consult Tim’s article often. The article has been assigned on syllabi at Cornell University (Choi) and SUNY Albany (Kwon); the article is listed as a resource for American 11th- and 12thgrade students in the Korea Society’s curriculum guide for high school teachers who are teaching the Uprising (Milkes). From the research I have done, it seems that Warnberg is cited in more than a hundred books and articles, and in multiple master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations. His work is far-reaching and significant in myriad ways.
the Gwangju Uprising. I jumped at the chance to help with this effort because I think Tim deserves it – not only for his unselfish aid rendered during the Uprising, but also for his unwavering belief in the Korean people and Korean democracy. He was devoted to bringing Korean culture to the world outside of Asia through his translation work, and he was devoted to the people of Korea with all his heart. Part II of this article will appear once we know whether the petition was successful. Wish us luck!
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:44
16 Lost in Gwangju
Notes from the Punishment Room
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
TRAVEL
By Isaiah Winters
2022�07��.indd 16
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:45
1717
W
hen photographing derelict structures, there’s a thrill I get from combing through the mundane, personal minutia of strangers’ lives. The most interesting details tend to be analogue and therefore easiest to forget over time, as there’s no online record granting them a form of digital immortality. The value of these unrecorded, offline finds is immense to me, which is why I invest so much time searching for and photographing them.
family as such (늦은 새벽 아빠가). The first of his letters I discovered, likely written to his daughter, was both his most poetic and crushing:
For this issue of Lost in Gwangju, I’ve spent a great deal of my recent free time doing an amateur corpus analysis of messages I found scrawled on the walls of a dozen or so “punishment rooms” (징벌실) within the nowshuttered Gwangju Prison in Munheung-dong. There’s nothing academic about my analysis, and my methodology is spotty, but I think the messages I’ve found nevertheless hold deep value: They lay bare many of the thoughts and emotions that the human spirit conjures up while locked away in a solitary cage.
Father, At the time, why didn’t I know my father’s generosity? I apologize with my tears.
LETTERS FROM “DAD AT LATE DAWN” The most consistent writer within all the punishment rooms I searched was definitely “Dad at Late Dawn.” I know to call him this because he signed one of his five letters to his
2022�07��.indd 17
Most messages from “Dad at Late Dawn,” though, circled back to his daughter. Unfortunately, small parts of the following letter have been lost to mold, water damage, and decay; however, given the author’s writing tendencies in other letters, we can assume his message went more or less like this: Beloved daughter, I miss you so much. I don’t know how I can pay my daughter back. Through the trust of love, I’ll protect you. The greatest thing I’ve done in the world is meet my daughter. I miss you, but through the current pain, I believe our relationship will strengthen. With that thought, I close my day. I love you. “From Dad at Late Dawn” What hit home hardest about “Dad at Late Dawn” and his heart-rending messages was the fact that they remained plastered to the walls of the punishment room where he’d been locked up. The looming questions is, obviously, why weren’t they ever sent? I even found two envelopes ready to go – one for his daughter and the other for his parents – though curiously without any mailing addresses on them. This unfortunate anticlimax reminded me of the Moody Blues song “Nights in White Satin” and its line “…letters I’ve written, never meaning to send.” With no answers to the above question, I
Gwangju News, July 2022
In this article, I’ll focus on three very different messengers from just a few punishment rooms.
In another letter to his own father, “Dad at Late Dawn” reflected on the following:
gwangjunewsgic.com
It’s worth noting that this entire analysis was made possible due to a quirk of the old Gwangju Prison: the prevalence of wallpapered cells. For whatever reason, the prison staff must have okayed a significant amount of decorative autonomy for prisoners, as strikingly different wallpaper designs, colors, and customizations can be seen in each cell. The punishment rooms I analyzed also had wallpaper, though only a simpler, uniform shade of white. This spartan design choice ended up being the perfect canvas for preserving everything the prisoners wrote, both on the newer surface wallpaper and beneath, where underlying layers retained far older messages.
Because the word “father” is a strong name, even though things are hard, I can’t express how I feel. I just bury everything in my heart. Today, too, I put my life in a glass of alcohol.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:45
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
18 overall. The first and second tracks are the newest and oldest, respectively, bookending the playlist from 2003–2013. The decade they span suggests the age of the prisoner who wrote them down, likely young-ish, somewhere in his 20s or 30s. I n t e r e s t i n g l y, English features heavily in the final track, which the ▲ Two envelopes ready to go from “Dad at Late Dawn,” though sadly left unsent. prisoner included now share a bit of “Dad at Late Dawn’s” feelings of and wrote flawlessly. Beyond these details, there’s regret and unfulfillment. nothing more I can say about the punishment room’s great lovelorn lyricist. PUNISHMENT ROOM PLAYLIST Speaking of melancholic tracks, another way “KILLER KANG’S” CRIME AND PUNISHMENT prisoners in the punishment rooms made the most The final message featured in this article is about as of their low-stimulation environment was to recall music. This they did by writing out the lyrics of entire songs on the walls as best they could. One inmate was by far the most prolific lyricist in all the punishment rooms. When looking over his tracks, I wondered if he’d sung these tunes softly to himself as the hours ticked by, like in a noraebang from hell. Below is a track list I’ve put together of all the songs this particular inmate jotted down. The first track is the most interesting, as it was released in September 2013, which means the prisoner must have been locked up in that specific punishment room within about two years of the prison’s closure in October 2015. Track 1: 나란 놈이란 – 임창정 Track 2: 소주한잔 – 임창정 Track 3: 발자국 – 먼데이 키즈 Track 4: 남자야 – 먼데이 키즈 Track 5: 이별택시 – 김연우 Track 6: 멋지게 이별 – SG워너비 Track 7: 청혼 – 노을 It’s no surprise that the tracks aren’t happy ones, with bad breakup ballads being a strong theme
2022�07��.indd 18
▲ One of the “Dad at Late Dawn” letters, likely to his daughter, left on a punishment room wall.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:46
19 dark as it gets: murder and the death penalty. In one of the punishment rooms, I came across a short but disturbing paragraph recounting the horrific crime of an inmate at the prison. When translated into English, the story, which admittedly has a confusing timeline, goes as follows: In one of the cells, the death row inmate Kang Jong-gap was sentenced to life in prison. His sister-in-law took care of him while he was in prison and gave him money after he got out. He lost it gambling and then bothered her and his older brother for more money. He ended up killing his sister-in-law and got the death penalty.
▲ A few of the things left on a balcony overlooking the prison’s auditorium.
<He still likes gambling.> The part that gets me is the understated coda written in present tense. In four simple words, the writer manages to cheapen the life lost and dispel any hope for remorse on the part of the murderer. The ending also grants an air of credibility to the account, like the writer himself had observed the killer’s unrepentant smirk over a petty wager in prison. In short, the final line makes for very good writing, but is it anything more than half-garbled gossip?
2022�07��.indd 19
Photographs by Isaiah Winters. Source [1] kokoeun12. (2019, October 7). 우리가 대한민국 사형수 61명, 그들은 어떤 죄를 저질렀을까? <두번째> [61 South Korean death row inmates; what crimes did they commit? (Part 2)]. koko님의블로그 [Koko's Blog]. https://blog.naver.com/ kokoeun12/221670380384
The Author
Born and raised in Chino, California, Isaiah Winters is a pixel-stained wretch who loves writing about Gwangju and Honam, warts and all. He particularly likes doing unsolicited appraisals of abandoned Korean properties, a remnant of his time working as an appraiser back home. You can find much of his photography on Instagram @d.p.r.kwangju.
Gwangju News, July 2022
It may surprise some to know that “Killer Kang” is likely still alive, assuming he hasn’t died of natural causes. This is because just before the turn of the century, capital punishment, which is still technically legal in South Korea but de facto abolished, became
So, that’s it for this article. I still have many more untranslated notes from various punishment rooms, so if I have the time to go through them, there will likely be an addendum to this article next month. We’ll see.
gwangjunewsgic.com
After a bit of online sleuthing, a more detailed account of what happened emerged, though the source isn’t the most reputable, so take the following with a grain of salt. There is indeed a Gwangju Prison inmate named Kang Jong-gap who was sentenced to death in the year 2000. Prior to that sentence, he’d served 20 years for an earlier murder, and when he got out, he pestered his sister-in-law for money to cover gambling debts. This she refused, in addition to his request to move in with her, so, consumed with hatred for her (and her mother), he killed them both with a hammer.[1]
much harder to enforce. Since then, sentences like in the above case have often been commuted to life in prison. In light of this fact, if Kang is indeed still alive, I can’t help but wonder whether he still likes gambling.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:47
20 Around Korea
TRAVEL
n su’s coastal region see nized scooter, with Yeo ▲ A girl rides a mecha in the distance.
▲ Yeosu’s Dolsan Bri
dge is seen in the dis tance.
Yŏch’ŏn 1996
Returning to My Vanishing Korean Hometown
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
By Jon Dunbar
M
y last visit to Yeosu was in January 2019. I visited the 2012 Expo grounds, now virtually empty with a nice aquarium, and then I took a long taxi ride across town to the City Hall area, of which I was most intimately familiar. At Butterfly Island, a brewpub serving some of the best craft beer I’ve ever tasted, I met a Canadian who claimed to be the second-longest-term foreign resident there. He was quite surprised to meet a fellow foreigner whose memory of the city stretched back even further. Of course, when I first visited, this was part of Yŏch’ŏn (Yeocheon in today’s romanization), which was absorbed into Yeosu in 1998. In 1996, my uncle taught English there, and so my parents sent 16-year-old me and my 14-year-old sister to visit for a month, at the same time as our 12-year-old twin cousins who were visiting their dad. We landed at what was then called Kimpo International Airport, the country’s main airport, in
2022�07��.indd 20
July in painfully hot, humid weather, and endured a very long van ride cross-country, all the way down to my uncle’s home. We knew we were getting close when we started seeing all sorts of chemical plants everywhere, lit up at night like Christmas. Korea was a developing country back then – chaotic, construction everywhere, full of bad smells. Korean people were, if anything, kinder and more welcoming to strangers back then. Culturally, it felt geekier than today; I recall a fad at the time being guys wearing their glasses or sunglasses on the back of their heads, for whatever reason. We used to crack up watching “Icing,” a soap opera about a Korean hockey team. The roads were more dangerous back then, filled with vehicles unfamiliar to us. We were obsessed with Daewoo’s Damas and nicknamed it the “microvan.” Less impressive were the blue pickup trucks, which I nicknamed “psycho trucks.” When my uncle would leave us at home for the day, sometimes one of these trucks would drive slowly through the apartment
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:47
21 complex, broadcasting a solemn, eerie message (which years later I learned was just a list of things for sale). As dangerous as the roads were, jaywalking was rife. Pedestrians would cross wide, busy roads, going one lane at a time, advancing when there was a gap. And it was common to see vendors walking through gridlock traffic, selling treats like bbeongtwi-gi discs to people stuck in their cars. I learned a lot of dangerous ideas watching Koreans jaywalk. My uncle’s fourth-floor apartment had three bedrooms, and I got my own room. The building showed its age: Lights would flicker like strobes when switched on, and the shower had no pressure at all. And the ceiling was a little lower than you’d expect in a modern apartment. To keep us busy while he worked, my uncle introduced us to some of his students, including Su-mi and Da-woon, two girls his daughters’ age, and they showed us around as much as possible. But there were no kids my age – they were all studying for the CSAT already. Once, he let me attend a class with his only two 16-year-olds, two teenage girls who were so burned out from studying they could barely keep awake.
mean the port area that’s now been almost all wiped away by the Expo area. We went to a dingy roller rink, walked out over the breakwater to Odong Island, and visited a few markets. At one market, I saw a fishmonger pulling live eels out of the water and butchering them right in front of me. It might have been the first time I witnessed death.
ch’ŏn around outside in Yŏ ▲ Jon Dunbar, left, sits ts. den stu an two of his uncle’sKore
2022�07��.indd 21
s,and with his sister, cousin
Living with my uncle was difficult, and after a shouting match one evening, I ran away. I wandered the streets, but there was nothing to do, nowhere to go. I climbed the highest mountain
Gwangju News, July 2022
Korea’s now-famous nightlife wasn’t on display back then. It seemed like after dark, Yŏch’ŏn became a ghost town. Once, my uncle’s coworkers brought us to a noraebang, where our inability to take singing serious certainly annoyed the adults. We hung out with adults a few times, either at someone’s home or in front of a convenience store, where we would be served watermelon and popsicles, and sometimes beer. I had my first beer, probably Cass.
gwangjunewsgic.com
Once, Su-mi and Da-woon took us to Yeosu, 30 minutes away. I felt weird following preteens on an intercity bus, but it seemed perfectly normal to everyone here, even my uncle. When I say Yeosu, I
▲ An ad for Han Lim Language Scho ol, where Jon Dunbar’s uncle (back right) worked in 1996.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:48
22
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
around, Mount Ansim, pulling myself up over the boulders and weeds, careful to avoid spider webs. There was enough light from the city below that it wasn’t too dark. I stopped eventually on a flat, bare rock, unable to go any higher. Finally, I came down, and at around 3 a.m., tue sta I returned w co a es ar’s cousins rid ▲ One of Jon Dunb re and cow to my uncle’s sto e n.Th ŏ ch’ Yŏ rt in outside Hanaro Ma today. apartment. are still both there Rather than go in the front door and wake everybody up since I didn’t have a key, I scaled the outside of the building, climbing from balcony to balcony, a feat that wasn’t so hard due to the shorter distance between floors, and within seconds I was climbing in through my window and jumping into bed.
Korea. I made up my mind to return after graduating university, and sure enough I did. I’ve since been back to Yeosu about four times. In 2009, I visited in time to see the old seaside community being destroyed to make way for the 2012 Expo. And in 2012, I returned with my parents, first to the Expo, but also to show my mom where we’d stayed with her brother. The area has changed since 1996. But traffic still swirls around the rotary in front of City Hall. Nice new buildings stand on the former site of my uncle’s old apartment, but they’re still residential. And the entrance to the Hanaro Mart down the street is still flanked by two cow statues that I remembered playing around on with my sister and cousins over two decades earlier. The city may not look exactly the same anymore, but it still feels like my Korean hometown. The Author
Jon Dunbar first visited Korea in 1996 and moved back permanently in 2003. He is general editor of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea journal, Transactions, a self-published author, and a copy editor at The Korea Times. He has also been contributing the Gwangju News crossword since June 2019.
In front of the apartment building were bins for recycling. Once, on one of our final days there, the four of us grabbed a bunch of plastic bottles and threw them out from my uncle’s window, one by one, trying to hit the bins way down below. For each, we listed a complaint about the country that we wouldn’t miss. “This one’s for all the weird fish and sewage smells!” “This one’s for the humidity!” “This one’s for the psycho trucks!” By the time we finished, a crowd of concerned Koreans had begun to gather in the parking lot below. We left on August 17, just as a typhoon was approaching and while riot police prepared to clash with students protesting at Yonsei University. It felt like the country was collapsing behind us as we raced for the airport. The trip was a grueling experience, but after returning to Canada, I couldn’t stop thinking about
2022�07��.indd 22
▲ Jon Dunbar, left, poses with his two cousins and two of his uncle’s Korean students on a street in Yeosu.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:48
Learning Korean 23
Everyday Korean Episode 55
이제 다리를 뻗고 잘 수 있겠어요. I Can Sleep Peacefully Now. By Harsh Kumar Mishra
Grammar Points
멍지에:
V~던
언니, 하시던 프로젝트가 끝났어요?
Meongjie: Eonni, the project you were doing, is it finished? 정민:
응! 오늘 아침에 최종 보고서를 보냈어.
Jeongmin: Yeah! I just sent the final report in the morning. 멍지에:
축하해요. 마음이 좀 가벼워지겠네요.
Meongjie: Congratulations! You must be feeling relieved. 정민:
좋아. 남해에 갈까?
Jeongmin: Awesome. Shall we go to Namhae? 멍지에:
좋아요. 거기서 카야킹도 할 수 있다고 들었어요.
This is another frequently used idiom in Korean. It means “to have no worries / to be at ease / to sleep peacefully” and is mostly used to express a change in mental state after finishing some task (e.g., a test or project). Ex: 7월 10일에 토픽 시험을 보고 드디어 다리를 뻗고 잘 거예요. I can finally sleep peacefully after taking the TOPIK exam on July 10. 이번 행사 준비 때문에 다리를 뻗고 잘 수 없다.
I can’t feel at ease because of the preparation for this event.
Vocabulary
프로젝트: project, 아침: morning, 최종: final, 보고서: written report, 보내다: to send, 마음: mind / heart, 가벼워지다: to become light, 다리를 뻗다: to stretch out (one’s) legs, 자다: to sleep, 해수욕장: beach, 카야킹: kayaking
2022�07��.indd 23
The Author
Harsh Kumar Mishra is a linguist and Korean language educator. He volunteers with TOPIKGUIDE.com and Learnkorean. in. He has also coauthored the book Korean Language for Indian Learners.
Gwangju News, July 2022
Meongjie: Sounds good. I have heard that we can also go kayaking there.
다리를 뻗고 자다. gwangjunewsgic.com
그럼 이번 주말에 해수욕장에 갈까요?
Meongjie: Then shall we go to the beach this weekend? 정민:
Ex: 만나던 남자와 헤어졌어요. I broke up with guy I was dating. 여기는 제가 자주 오던 카페예요. This is the café I used to come to often.
맞아! 이제 다리를 뻗고 잘 수 있겠어.
Jeongmin: Right! I can sleep peacefully now. 멍지에:
This grammar point is used with verbs to recollect a past habitual or repeated activity. The resulting meaning is somewhat similar to English’s “used to.”
TEACHING & LEARNING
The Conversation
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:48
24 Language Teaching
AsiaTEFL: TEACHING & LEARNING
“Unity Within Diversity, Diversity Within Unity” An Inter view with Dr. Park Joo-Kyung
Those familiar with English language teaching (ELT) are most likely familiar with the international ELT associations TESOL Intl. Assn., centered in North America, and IATEFL, centered in Europe. These two associations have been with us for nearly a half century, leaving Asia underrepresented. To fill this gap, AsiaTEFL was relatively recently formed. The following interview is with AsiaTEFL President-Elect Park Joo-Kyung, a resident of Gwangju, and focuses on what AsiaTEFL is and what it has to offer the ELT community. — Ed.
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
K
OTESOL: It is great to be able to talk with you, Dr. Park, about AsiaTEFL, an association that many KOTESOL members, and English language teachers in general, may not be familiar with. You are among the founding members of AsiaTEFL. Could you tell us how the association was founded and the rationale for establishing it?
Park Joo-Kyung: To begin with, AsiaTEFL stands for the “Asian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.” It was founded in 2003 by Dr. Lee Hyowoong of Korea Maritime University, a former president of the Korean Association of ▲ Park Joo-Kyung, President- Teachers of English (KATE). Elect of AsiaTEFL. As English was being taught in an EFL context in most of the countries in Asia, an international organization for the Asian region had been sought by ELT professionals in Asia. At the time, outside of national ELT associations in Asia,
2022�07��.indd 24
the only larger grouping was PAC, the Pan-Asia Consortium, a group of four national ELT groups. However, AsiaTEFL was expected to have the ability to cover the field of English education in the whole of Asia and reach beyond national boundaries for individuals and groups to work together toward commonly held goals of developing TEFL in Asia. With his strong leadership and passion for creating a new organization, Dr. Lee managed to gather 135 like-minded ELT leaders from many parts of Asia who served as the founding committee members of AsiaTEFL, and some of them – including you, David, and myself – have served on the AsiaTEFL executive council since its foundation. You can read about the background of foundation in more detail on the AsiaTEFL website at www.asiatefl.org. As a founding and lifetime member, I have been privileged to serve AsiaTEFL in many important roles and functions including as the association’s first general secretary, as conference executive director, as well as director of both external affairs and financial affairs. I have also served as chair of the 2011 and 2020 international conferences, vice
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:49
25
▲ Dr. Park Joo-Kyung addressing the 2020 AsiaTEFL international conference.
president of finance and public relations, and now as president-elect.
and events held by AsiaTEFL. After all, two heads are better than one.
KOTESOL: Congratulations on being elected as president-elect. That means that you will be a president next year. I said “a president” because AsiaTEFL has a dual-president system with five vice-presidents. Would you explain how this rather unique system works?
KOTESOL: As you have worked closely with both AsiaTEFL and KOTESOL – including being a past president of KOTESOL – in comparing the two associations, what would you say are their major differences?
AsiaTEFL, as an international association for Asian teachers of English, has the majority of its
Gwangju News, July 2022
2022�07��.indd 25
Park Joo-Kyung: I think, the first and foremost difference is in their membership body and their characteristics. KOTESOL, an affiliate of TESOL International Association and one of Korea’s various ELT associations, has unique, open, and foreign characteristics with its large number of expatriate members who are mostly from the countries where English is spoken as the first language. KOTESOL members and officers have different backgrounds in their education and career paths, which bring diversity and dynamics to the organization. In addition, KOTESOL is uniquely open in that any member can serve the organization in any position if they have the ability and willingness to share with others, regardless of gender, age, regional background, or many other factors that often function as stumbling blocks in Korea’s still traditional society.
gwangjunewsgic.com
Park Joo-Kyung: AsiaTEFL has two presidents, one of whom is to be from South Korea, and five vice-presidents, selected from among the top five countries or regions with the most members. This dual-president system was suggested by Dr. Lee Hyowoong when he retired from his decade-long presidency. In order to receive grants from Korea’s National Research Foundation (NRF), it is a must to have a Korean president and bank account in Korea. And to keep AsiaTEFL a truly international association, another president from outside of Korea was needed. For this reason, the dual-president system was adopted, with each president in charge of different departments within the organization. Likewise, each vice president is in charge of managing a different aspect of the organization’s activities. This multiple-president and multiple-vice-president system works very efficiently and effectively in all the stages of planning and implementing the activities
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:49
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
26 membership from Asian countries and regions, along with some from other parts of the world. Currently, the association consists of about 19,000 members (full and associate) from 97 countries. Associate members are those who register with AsiaTEFL without paying the membership fee but enjoy some limited benefits. As its motto “Unity Within Diversity, Diversity Within Unity” implies, AsiaTEFL has the Asian characteristics that are common among many members but presented in many different ways depending on the host and the venue of its major activities, such as its annual international conference and regular webinar series.
Third, AsiaTEFL has ReNs or “research networks” in which a group of researchers from three or more countries or regions conduct joint research and present it either collectively in a featured symposium or as individual featured speakers at a conference. Their research papers are also published as part of the AsiaTEFL Book Series, published by major international publishers such as Routledge, which brings us to the fourth activity of AsiaTEFL. The AsiaTEFL Book Series features in each volume research papers on the same topic written by authors from five to six different countries in Asia.
KOTESOL: You have just mentioned an international conference and webinar series. Will you tell us more about the major activities that AsiaTEFL is involved in?
“Next year, AsiaTEFL celebrates its 20th anniversary.”
Park Joo-Kyung: To begin with, AsiaTEFL hosts an annual international conference, rotating its venue to different countries in Asia each year – 10 different countries so far. The conference has traditionally been an in-person event, usually attracting more than a thousand participants, but due to the pandemic, the conference was held in hybrid mode in Seoul in 2020, and online-only in Mathura, India, in 2021. It will be held as a hybrid conference again in Malang, Indonesia, this year, and AsiaTEFL 2023 has recently been approved to be held in Daejeon, here in Korea. Hopefully, it will be an in-person conference, once again, as it commemorates the twentieth anniversary of AsiaTEFL. Second, the AsiaTEFL Webinar Series was launched in September 2021 in order to provide the members with more opportunities for their professional network during the COVID-19 period. I was one of the presenters at the first webinar with the topic of “Connecting Asia through English Language Education: The Importance of Building Sustainable Professional Networks.” The webinars are held five times a year, in March, May, July, September, and November. Webinar 2 this year was held at the end of May, entitled “Augmenting the Pedagogical Landscape in ELT: Contextualizing the Trends,” and one of the three speakers was Dr. Lee Ju Seong, who is originally from Gwangju and also a KOTESOL member. Ironically, the Webinar Series has been a wonderful gift brought to us by the pandemic.
2022�07��.indd 26
Last but not least, AsiaTEFL publishes The Journal of AsiaTEFL, a refereed publication devoted to research articles, reports, and book reviews concerned with the teaching and learning of English, especially in Asian contexts. It is now published online and is open-access. The journal is indexed in SCOPUS and has been accepted for coverage in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). As the incoming president of AsiaTEFL, one of my missions is to provide any necessary support for the promotion and further improvement of the quality and circulation of The Journal of AsiaTEFL in order to achieve our goal of becoming an SSCI-indexed journal as soon as possible. KOTESOL: Since you are now AsiaTEFL presidentelect, next year you will be ascending to the presidency. What events and activities are on the AsiaTEFL calendar for, say, the rest of this year and next year? Park Joo-Kyung: Well, there are three more webinars that will be coming up this summer and fall. The 20th AsiaTEFL International Conference is being held in Malang, Indonesia, on August 5–7. The conference theme is “Hindsight, Insight, Foresight in ELT in Multilingual Asia.” Next year, AsiaTEFL celebrates its 20th anniversary, and since the conference is hybrid, you will be able to take part from the convenience of your home. Special events and activities will be held
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:49
27 throughout the year, including the 21st AsiaTEFL International Conference in Daejeon, on August 18–20. With the conference theme “Celebrating ELT in Asia: Visions and Aspirations,” it will be organized in a way that highlights AsiaTEFL’s twenty-year growth and development and projects its future as a world-class professional organization. More effort will be made to ensure the quality of the conference for both academic and cultural exchange, regardless of the conference mode: inperson, online, or hybrid. AsiaTEFL 2023 is to be held at the Daejeon Convention Center, a state-ofthe art facility, and will provide all the participants with unforgettable experiences. KOTESOL: For KOTESOL members – and for all EFL teachers in Korea, for that matter – what would you say are the benefits for them in becoming members of AsiaTEFL?
Park Joo-Kyung: If you have read my interview about KOTESOL, you know that I enjoy singing all kinds of songs, which includes the AsiaTEFL Anthem. It tells you so nicely and concisely what AsiaTEFL is all about:
2022�07��.indd 27
KOTESOL: “In AsiaTEFL we will grow” – what nice words to end this interview with. Thank you, Dr. Park. Interviewed by David Shaffer. Photographs courtesy of Dr. Park Joo-Kyung.
GWANGJU-JEONNAM KOTESOL UPCOMING EVENTS Check the Chapter’s webpages and Facebook group periodically for updates on chapter events and other online KOTESOL activities. For full event details: • Website: http://koreatesol.org/gwangju • Facebook: Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL The Interviewer
David Shaffer has been involved in TEFL and teacher training in Gwangju for many years. As vice-president of the GwangjuJeonnam Chapter of KOTESOL, he invites you to participate in the chapter’s teacher development workshops (presently online) and in KOTESOL activities in general. He is a past president of KOTESOL and is currently an AsiaTEFL member and the editor-in-chief of the Gwangju News.
Gwangju News, July 2022
KOTESOL: Well, we have covered a lot in this discussion. What else would you like to say to our ELT community about AsiaTEFL?
I would like to invite all teachers of English to AsiaTEFL for them to realize their wishes of being satisfied, satisfying, and sustainable ELT professionals.
gwangjunewsgic.com
Park Joo-Kyung: AsiaTEFL is a unique venue for English teachers in this region and around the country to realize the goal of helping learners acquire communicative competence in English as a lingua franca and become global citizens. Its conferences are the largest venue in Asia for participants to engage in dialogue and exchange ideas with others from all sectors of English teaching and learning in countries and regions within and beyond Asia. You can also enjoy different Asian cultures full of varying tastes and flavors. One of the biggest benefits, though, is that you can enjoy all the major events and activities for a lower fee than for non-members or free of charge. If you are a graduate student, school teacher, or retiree, you receive a 50 percent discount on membership and conference registration fees. In addition, AsiaTEFL differentiates membership fees into three types according to per capita GDP of countries or regions, demonstrating that AsiaTEFL is a caring association.
“We teach a global language to open doors to new opportunities, knowledge, and the world. / With our grip on our traditions, we stand firm on our native ground. / We come from different lands, but we are one in a circle of dedicated professionals. / We are gathered here to forge strong links, broaden horizons, share our lives, / become the best teachers we can be, and open pathways through this universe. / In the air, we hear a vibrant harmony, the sound of people united for one goal: / Peace through friendship, knowledge, prosperity, in AsiaTEFL we will grow.”
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:49
28
We Never Work Alone
Interview with OceanCloud Founder Kim Da-in
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
COMMUNITY
By Karina Prananto and Kim Ji-yun
I
admit that my knowledge of eco-friendly products is quite minimal. I do bring my own shopping bag, and I prefer not to buy plastic bags unless really necessary. I separate all my trash, but I think there are more things I can do for ecofriendliness. I met with a very nice young lady who makes soap (Orsoap, Gwangju News, March 2022), and recently, my colleague found an eco-friendly refill station downtown which just recently opened last May. I was curious to see what they have, because I had never seen a refill station in my life. My visit there was awakening, and the bright and clean second floor of the place was very welcoming. The products were all tidily arranged. The corner with camping items is very inviting. Many people assume that ecofriendly products are expensive, but OceanCloud seems to be able to make things more affordable. So, instead of buying a 10,000-won silicone straw from Starbucks, I bought a 1,000-won one there. In short, being eco-friendly does not have to be expensive. Curious, I asked the staff there for the person behind this store concept, and she introduced me to Kim Da-in, the owner. Below is our interview with her. Gwangju News (GN): Thank you for accepting this interview! Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Kim Da-in: My name is Kim Da-in. I run an independent studio called OceanCloud that makes interesting designs and is an eco-friendly lifestyle shop.
2022�07��.indd 28
GN: What motivated you to start this business? Kim Da-in: To be honest, I have had thoughts in my mind about doing things eco-friendly, but I was one of those people who was slow to put it into practice. However, there was an opportunity to start an ecofriendly business. When I went camping, I saw a ▲ Kim Da-in reflection of the clouds floating in the water, and while I was trying to take a picture with my friend saying it was so pretty, there was also garbage such as plastic waste and plastic bottles that interfered with the scenery. Walking around, all the trash caught my eye, and at that time, I started to think that what we do is reflected in nature. From that day, I thought of the brand name OceanCloud, and I changed the initial concept of camping and pretty props to eco-friendly camping and other props. I also went to eco-friendly accessory shops in Seoul and Busan to do market research. I found out about the refill station idea while doing market research, and I thought that it would be good to have a refill station in Gwangju, as more people use refill stations than I thought. It is also a good way to definitely reduce the use of plastics. So, that is how the shop and refill station OceanCloud began! GN: We saw you have a diverse range of products. Do you collaborate with certain companies? Kim Da-in: We are contacting some companies and doing
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:49
29
2022�07��.indd 29
GN: Have there been any difficulties while running the business? Kim Da-in: Since ecofriendly shops and refill stations are not widely available in Gwangju, I have to go to Seoul and Busan for market research. And the most difficult thing was to prepare for the operation of the refill station. It is difficult to find a company that receives products in bulk, is as eco-friendly as possible, and recycles used bulk bins, and since there is not enough knowledge to divide bulk-type products, it
Gwangju News, July 2022
GN: You just recently opened. What has been the market reaction so far? Kim Da-in: Initially, I was a little worried about what customers would think about refilling, as apparently in Gwangju, eco-friendly shops and refill stations are not widely known, but there was a lot of positive response that the idea was amazing and very good. There were more people who came back with empty bottles after visiting the refill station than expected, and some of them brought their families and friends. Customers have been telling me they wished there were more places to experience
and purchase these kinds of products in Gwangju. gwangjunewsgic.com
research to see whether their products use eco-friendly materials, or whether certain products can be used for a long time if they are not an eco-friendly material or brand. Currently, there are more than 30 brands that we are collaborating with, such as Cocori Jeju (코코리제주), which makes detergent and hand wash using misshapen tangerines that otherwise have no commercial value on Jeju Island. We also work with the Huinyeoul (흰여울) brand of the Sohwa Aram workplace, which creates jobs for the disabled, Toun28 (톤28), Jigu Shop (지구샵), and 175 Planet (175플래닛).
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:50
30
▲ Refill station at OceanCloud.
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
was difficult to find out how to divide them one by one. I have to buy all the valves on the market and figure things out myself by matching them to the bulk product. GN: Can you briefly introduce your main products to us? Kim Da-in: We currently run two businesses. OceanCloud is an independent studio which has been certified as an industrial design company. It provides various visual design services such as posters, leaflets, and logos. Then there is the eco-friendly lifestyle shop. It offers unique and diverse brands of eco-friendly products, as well as detergents, shampoos, body washes, and diffusers for refill stations. There are 33 kinds of products, including interior accessories and accessories for light camping. GN: What kind of work did you do before you started this business? Kim Da-in: I was an art student who loved drawing and making things, and after graduation, I got a job in design and gained a lot of experience by traveling to various countries as a freelancer. But
2022�07��.indd 30
the freelance work went better than I thought, so I started a design business. At that time, I thought I would work by myself and just enjoy life, so I set up an independent studio. However, things have grown, and now I am working with a team. GN: As an entrepreneur who runs a recycling shop, what do you think your social responsibility is? Kim Da-in: I think my social responsibility is to lead citizens to ethical consumption and activities. This includes discovering people who make products that are beneficial to the environment and introducing them to citizens. Another aim is not only selling products, but also informing people about various eco-friendly activities, such as bringing your own tumbler, using your own shopping bag, separating your garbage properly, and other such things. GN: Who is the role model in your life? Kim Da-in: My role models change every day, and there are so many of them, but the ones that always remain the same are my parents. My father, who catches onto new knowledge and skills quickly, knows so many things that the term "
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:50
31 knowledgeable" fits him very well. He is almost 60 years old, and he reads the trends of the times so fast, that he knows more about pop culture idols and movies than I do. It is amazing. In addition, when my younger brother and I were the first to decide on a career path through studying, there was a lot of opposition and concern from the family. However, our mother believed in our talent and supported us until the end. She loves to donate, is always like a friend, and is a very warm person. I respect her a lot. GN: What is your plan for your store in the future? Kim Da-in: As an eco-friendly shop operator and designer, I have the perception that I should be eco-friendly, but I want to have fun with things, so I plan various services such as workshops for making key rings from plastic waste, milk pack plastic lid collection rewards, and daily zero-waste practice bingo. I also plan to collaborate with places that make eco-friendly products that are great but difficult to design so that consumers can experience various products. In order for OceanCloud to be eco-friendly in an easy and fun way for those who were not interested in eco-friendliness, our team will always put our heads together and come up with new and interesting plans every day!
Photographs by Kim Ji-yun.
OCEANCLOUD ECO CAMPING AND LIFESTYLE 오션클라우드 무소속작업실 Address: Jebong-ro 140, 2F, Dong-gu, Gwangju 광주 동구 제봉로 140 Tel: 070-4247-0677 Opening Hours: Daily, 11:00 – 20:00 Website: oceancloudlife.com Instagram: @oceancloud_life
The Interviewers
Karina Prananto is from Jakarta, Indonesia, and has been involved with the Gwangju News since 2007. She is a special-needs mother and loves Harry Potter, dinosaurs, watching true crime documentaries, and traveling with her family. Kim Ji-yun is from Gwangju, South Korea, and has been doing an internship at the GIC since March 2022. She majored in English Education, so she likes talking with global friends. Also, she loves taking a walk, traveling, drawing, and listening to music.
gwangjunewsgic.com
Gwangju News, July 2022
2022�07��.indd 31
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:51
32 Local Entrepreneur
Getting Familiar with CrossFit at YongBong Training Center An Interview with Owner and Head Coach Yang In-sung
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
COMMUNITY
By Jana Milosavljevic
W
e all know working out and doing sports is good for our health. We also all know that taking up a sport or starting any kind of workout is not easy, especially when we are new to it and do not know a lot about it. As someone who was trying out various sports and has always enjoyed very dynamic activities and workouts since a young age, I was naturally curious when I heard of a training regimen called CrossFit. However, at the same time, I always felt like there was a certain mystery surrounding it, and maybe even a sense of fear when people spoke of it, implying one must be good at every sport to take it up. Nevertheless, there came a day when curiosity outweighed all the worries in my mind, so I literally just walked straight through the doors of the CrossFit box nearest my house. (Note: CrossFit centers are not called gyms but “boxes.” They literally resemble a box made of cement walls that contain bars, weights, and ropes.) Worrying that I might chicken out, I straight signed up for a one-month membership without even trying one single time to see if I could actually do it. It turned out, even though my body was constantly aching throughout the first week (I did not give up and went every single day!), I fell in love with how dynamic and various the CrossFit workouts were – there was never a dull moment. Following the recent article about Korea gyms in the May issue of Gwangju News and a brief introduction to CrossFit
2022�07��.indd 32
some six years ago in Gwangju News issue no. 167, I hoped to unveil some CrossFit mysteries and share more information with anyone who might still be wondering what CrossFit is and whether it is something for them. Mr. Yang In-sung, the owner and head coach of YongBong Training Center where I began my CrossFit adventure, was so kind to agree to talk to me about CrossFit in general, CrossFit in Korea, and CrossFit in Gwangju. Gwangju News (GN): Thank you for taking the time for this interview. To begin with, could you please briefly introduce yourself? Yang In-sung: Hello, I am Yang In-sung. I have been the owner and head coach of YongBong Training Center since 2015. GN: As far as I know, CrossFit does not have a long history in Korea. Could you explain in short what CrossFit is and how you yourself were introduced to it? Yang In-sung: CrossFit consists of constantly varied exercises – high intensity and functional movement. I first came across CrossFit in 2013 while in Vancouver, Canada. At that time, I stayed in Vancouver for six months studying English. I wanted to meet a lot of native speakers and improve my English, but at the same time, I was also looking for some dynamic exercise. That was when I found CrossFit and joined
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:52
33
▲ Rowing machines.
2022�07��.indd 33
GN: That is impressive, indeed. Having in mind the versatility of your clientele, how do you plan the workouts? Yang In-sung: First, I try to include as much weightlifting as often as possible. This is because weightlifting, which is the basis of weight training, is a necessary basis for being able to do a wide variety of other exercises. However, no matter what, what I consider most is making sure that members are free from injury.
Gwangju News, July 2022
GN: Now, could you introduce CrossFit at your YongBong Training Center to our readers? What do you think is unique about CrossFit at YongBong Training Center that one cannot find at another gym? Yang In-sung: YongBong Training Center opened in November 2015. I think we are one of the oldest CrossFit boxes in Gwangju. Some people comment that we do not do the traditional CrossFit style of WOD (“Workout of the Day”), and I agree with that. What I try to pursue is to make weightlifting fun and a long-term habit – a lifestyle for people to work out for their health, to lose weight, and to gain power and stamina. Now, there are more than 15 boxes in Gwangju, and we are the first CrossFit box in Buk-gu.
GN: Would you talk a bit about the people of YongBong Training Center – who are the members that usually join the gym, and what are their goals? Yang In-sung: The members of YongBong Training Center vary from students to office workers, from those in their 20s to those in their 50s. Many members first start working out with a specific goal in mind, such as that of diet and weight loss. Also, since CrossFit puts a lot of emphasis on physical strength, among our members, there are many of those who are preparing for examinations to become police officers or firefighters.
gwangjunewsgic.com
a CrossFit box named Studeo55 CrossFit. To my knowledge, CrossFit gained popularity in Korea less than 15 years ago. Finally, in 2014, the first CrossFit box was opened in Gwangju, and I started working as a coach there. After that, I was doing CrossFit every day and making new friends. Around that time, videos of CrossFit athletes’ lifestyles and exercise routines became widely available through YouTube, and I was completely mesmerized.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:52
34 in weightlifting as they learn about it, and I wish that we all can participate in amateur competitions together. Finally, I would be the happiest if this ‘training spirit’ could be transferred to our members’ children, too, and that I could train them one day, as well. GN: How do you see YongBong Training Center five years from now? What are your plans for the future? Yang In-sung: I just want to maintain the box. Some people might dream of making a second or third box, like starting a franchise, but I just want to stay here as long as possible, do workouts, and sweat with our members. Maybe after five years, we will be doing the same thing.
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
▲ Gymnastic + Lifting called Metcon.
GN: What, in your opinion, are the benefits of CrossFit, and what are your three favorite exercises? Yang In-sung: I think the benefit of CrossFit is that we can develop strength and improve cardio ability at the same time. We train with Olympic-style weightlifting, gymnastics, and also cardio exercises, and we call it “metcon” (metabolic conditioning). So, we lift like powerlifters, we run, and we row – you could say it is something similar to a triathlon. When it comes to my favorite exercises, I would say those are “snatch” (Olympic-style weightlifting), pull-ups (gymnastics), and the rowing machine (cardio). GN: What is your personal motivation for your own exercise and for continuously running the box? Yang In-sung: Actually, there is nothing in particular. I am just happy that our members get energy from joining the box and creating healthy habits. So, you could say my motivation comes from the members. Even when there are days when I do not feel like working out, when I see our members working out diligently, I regain my motivation and work out with them, and based on that, create the workout programs. It seems that I and the box members gain motivation from each other. Furthermore, Olympicstyle weightlifting is not a really popular sport in Korea. I hope the members become more interested
2022�07��.indd 34
GN: Finally, what would you like to say to our Gwangju News readers who are still wondering whether they should challenge themselves with CrossFit? Yang In-sung: What I want to say is start now! Do whatever is good for your health, even if it is not CrossFit. When people think about CrossFit, they just focus on the high intensity aspect of it, so they cannot seem to make the decision to start easily. However, at our box, we adjust the type of movements or the number of reps to be suitable for beginners, so everyone can do it, from youngsters to elders. Finally, every box has a different workout style, so I would recommend to always do something like a one-day trial before signing up for a membership. Photographs courtesy of Yang In-sung.
Address: 1409-3 Yongbong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 광주광역시 북구 설죽로 173 Instagram: @team__yb Naver Cafe: https://cafe.naver.com/cfyb
The Interviewer
Jana Milosavljevic was born and raised in Serbia. She currently lives and works in Gwangju as a GIC coordinator. She loves exploring new places, learning about new cultures, and meeting new people. If you are up for a chat, she can talk to you in Serbian, English, Korean, Japanese, or German.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:53
Environment 35
Look Up? Or Don’t Look Up? By Hyunhwa Chung
there is no functioning permanent storage facility.” He is also criticizing all these countries that have “no advanced planning in place and no coherent concept as to how their highly radioactive nuclear waste should be stored for eternity.” The decision of including nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy was made because of the urgency of reducing carbon emissions under the condition that safety should be ensured. The EU also sees this inclusion as a transitional activity, according to an article in World Nuclear News. Twelve countries, including France, agreed to the inclusion, and
Gwangju News, July 2022
2022�07��.indd 35
Source: Visual Capitalist
gwangjunewsgic.com
Nuclear energy releases as low carbon as some energy sources during generation. To justify the usage, the price should be much lower because it leaves radioactive waste for which there is no solution. The below graph is from an interview with Mycle Schneider, the editor of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, and it shows how the prices of different energy sources have changed recently. As you can see, the prices of wind and solar have dramatically dropped, but not nuclear. Then, why should we take such uncertain risks and inherit such dangerous waste for our next generation? Schneider says, “No one knows how much (the storage of high-level radioactive waste) really costs, because
COMMUNITY
EU TAXONOMY AND K-TAXONOMY President Moon’s government had the direction of reducing the dependency on nuclear energy and set a plan to phase-out the energy source, but because the EU taxonomy recently included it as a green energy source under certain conditions, it is causing confusion in the green energy policies of Korea. President Moon’s recent comment about nuclear power being a major source of energy for the next 60 years was criticized from both sides of the political divide because it sounded different from a phaseout, but it was not encouraging nuclear power generation either. Newly elected President Yoon announced that Korea would resume building the two nuclear power plants that Moon had stopped and mentioned ‘pyroprocessing technology’ could be used to solve the nuclear waste problem. At this point, questions arise in times of carbon-neutrality: Is nuclear energy green? Is nuclear energy a shortcut to net-zero emissions? Are there not any other energy solutions?
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:53
36
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
Source: WNISR, Lazzard
five, including Germany, did not, mainly because of safety and the creation of nuclear waste. The decision, which looks like a yes to nuclear energy, affected Korea, and just recently, nuclear energy was included in the Korean taxonomy, too. However, extending the lifespan of old reactors or building new ones will have to meet the conditions as in the EU. The truth about the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy is that it drew a stricter line for the conditions to use nuclear energy. NEW NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES: SMR, PYROPROCESSING TECHNOLOGY, AND SFR SMR is a general term to refer to small modular reactors. SMRs were initially developed for military purposes, such as submarines, because they had to be small. There are over seventy designs being researched at the moment. These small reactors are designed to release the excessive heat more quickly, so they can be built anywhere, while the conventional ones need to be built at the seaside to use water as coolant. This may sound like one of the few options for inland countries where solar panels or wind turbines are not efficient due to their climate conditions, but there many considerations. Pyroprocessing, which President Yoon recently mentioned, is a technology to recycle used nuclear
2022�07��.indd 36
fuel rods at high temperature in sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). During nuclear power generation, only three percent of a fuel rod is used, with the rest becoming waste, and of course, this gives scientists the motivation to squeeze more out of each one. In Korea, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has been working on this technology for over twenty years. Theoretically speaking, the heat during pyroprocessing can be used to produce electricity while reducing the high-level radioactive waste to 1/20 of the volume, the toxicity to 1/1000, and the time to keep it in storage to “only” 300 years instead of 10,000. On September 1, 2021, there was news that a JFCS report had proven the validity of the research on pyroprocessing by both Korea and the U.S. However, the next day, the Department of Science, Technology, and IT of Korea posted on the Policy News site that the JFCS report did not conclude that the research has proven said validity but only suggested further studies are needed. Professor Jang Jeong-wuk at Matsuyama College, whose is an expert in nuclear energy policy, wrote for No Nukes News in December 2022 that pyroprocessing is a fantasy. In this article, the collaborative experiments with the U.S. used MOX fuel, which was not the type from a light-water reactor that is most common in Korea, so the result was not applicable. In this article, he explains the limitations of pyroprocessing and SFR in depth. The validity of this research was not proven after spending about 60 billion USD for 25 years, which may mean the research is not making any obvious progress. From his article, I learned that SFRs an essential part of pyroprocessing technology, because they are the reactor where used fuel rods are reprocessed, but the examples so far showed limitations according to Dr. Jang. For example, Monju SFR in Japan is being dismantled after many accidents including leakages. A French ASTRID was canceled as well. He also explains the reasons why SFRs are not the solution: First, the liquefied sodium used as coolant instead of water is high in reactivity when it meets air or water. This means it can explode. Second, sodium is very corrosive, so SFRs’ lifespan is only 50 years, which means they need to be rebuilt every 50 years because pyroprocessing the waste down to 1/20 takes hundreds of years, causing an increase in the price of power generation if calculated thoroughly. Third, the process requires high temperature that
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:54
37 affects the durability of the surrounding parts and devices, so they are expected to be fixed or replaced continuously, which adds to the cost, too. Also, during pyroprocessing, a much larger volume of low and medium radioactive waste is produced. Judging from these reasons, pyroprocessing might be possible experimentally under certain conditions, but it is not for sure to take care of the used radioactive fuel, and there is a group of people which does not want others to know how safe it is, how economical it is, or how long it takes for the process, so they can go on with this game. Dr. Jang’s article also informs that the only SFR in operation is in Russia, which is being used to burn the plutonium of dismantled nuclear weapons. India started building a prototype Fast Breeder Reactor for military purposes in 2004 and was expected to be finished in 2010, but still has not completed the project with many delays. China is building two SFRs called CFR-600 in Xiapu, Fujian, and is still not finished. In other words, this is not a technology that can be easily commercialized in the near future. Other than these factors, there are research findings on more stable and controllable materials for fuel such as thorium, but this also has downsides that are not easy to overcome.
In the above ranking from 2020, the three top countries in terms of the number of nuclear power plants are the U.S., China, and France. (Note that the total number of reactors worldwide is 448, and 204 are in these three countries.) The U.S. does not have a long-term storage facility. It has a fund for one, and Yucca Mountain in Nevada was selected as a candidate, but because the current system to use dry casks at nuclear power plants seems to hold the waste for another 100 years, the local people who do not agree are not being convinced. China started building an underground research laboratory out of nowhere in the middle of the
Gwangju News, July 2022
2022�07��.indd 37
Source: Visual Capitalist
gwangjunewsgic.com
Nuclear technology has been used since the 1950s. So far, there have been three major accidents: Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, and Fukushima in 2011. The Three Mile Island accident did not cause human casualties, but it was shut down for good, and even shutting it down required a lot of money. The Chernobyl accident caused a lot of direct and indirect casualties, as well as economic crises, because of the expenses in dealing with the accident. It is considered to be one of the reasons the Soviet Union collapsed. The Fukushima accident is an ongoing crisis for all countries, especially if they share the waters nearby Japan. Japan no longer wants to spend money for the containers or the facility to store the radioactively contaminated water, and wants to release it to the ocean, insisting it is safe since it is going to be diluted in the ocean water. Now the fishermen and residents nearby who are the biggest victims are trying to stop it. The thing is that there is no going back once it is released, even if the result is not so bad.
THE PERMANENT NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY Since the advent of nuclear power, people have just been hoping for a solution to radioactive waste. Sadly, 70 years have passed, and nothing miraculous has been found. It is the consensus that burying nuclear waste 500 meters underground is the most realistic solution, which is not exactly a new technology. Permanent means until the radioactive waste finishes its reaction. It takes one centrennium (100,000 years) for such waste to lose its toxicity, and our human history is so far shorter than that. Given this, you can figure how long the waste needs to be stored and how hard it would be to find a place safe from any tectonic activities during that length of time. So, I looked into how many countries have permanent storage facilities.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:54
38 Gobi Desert in Beishan, Gansu Province, close to Mongolia. It is a big country, so China is going to use the facility to store its own waste, and maybe use it to store the waste from other countries, possibly to make a profit. France has a landmass 5.5 times larger than South Korea, and the population is about 1.3 times higher. It has 58 reactors in operation. La Hague reprocessing center boasts that it “reprocesses” the waste so that 25 percent of natural uranium is saved through recycling. However, because there are 58 reactors and the waste keeps accumulating, they are considering Bure 300 kilometers east of Paris and close to Germany as a permanent burial repository. Germany is sensitive about this, of course, and there are residents who oppose it. So far, this project has cost 2.5 billion Euros and 25 years of research, but because of the opposition of local residents, it is still not decided.
I found the siting criteria for the Chinese Beishan Underground research laboratory while searching:
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
Surprisingly Finland is not among the 15 highestranked countries, because it has only five reactors in three power plants, but it is the first country that is building a permanent storage facility 500 meters deep. It is going to be in operation in 2023. The estimated total cost of final disposal of used fuel from these five reactors is approximately 3 billion Euros. Finland is 3.5 times larger than South Korea, and its population is 5.5 million, about 1/9 of South Korea.
2022�07��.indd 38
Source: Posiva
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
The criteria include five conditions to look for and seven conditions to avoid. In short, the burial site should be safe from any geo-hazards, avoid environmentally sensitive areas, and most of all, obtain agreement from the local government and citizens. The laboratory is estimated to cost over CNY 2.72 billion (USD 420 million), and if the research proves successful, the repository will be built by 2050. INTERNATIONAL ENERGY OUTLOOK AND CONCLUSION I would like to conclude this article with two graphs from a report by the U.S. Department of Energy entitled International Energy Outlook 2021 with Projections to 2050. In the above graphs, the U.S. government is estimating the rapid growth of renewables worldwide, while nuclear power is just maintaining a steady line. The projection for 2050 is that nuclear energy worldwide will be less than 5 percent, while renewables will go up to almost 30 percent. Why? It is pretty simple. Renewable energy is becoming cheaper and more efficient every year. It is even safe. Some Koreans say using renewables is a problem in terms of land usage for a small country like Korea, and they will create lots of trash. It makes some sense, but nothing can be compared to the nuclear danger and its waste problem. I mentioned the sizes of countries and their populations earlier because I want people to realize having 24 reactors in five power plants in the southern part of the peninsula is
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:56
39 dense, and they produce a minimum of 750 tons of nuclear fuel rod waste every year. Temporary storage will quickly run out, and a plan for a permanent repository or any technology to handle the waste does not exist. Using nuclear energy without having a plan for the waste is much worse than using a toilet when there is no water to flush. Dealing with climate crises cannot be delayed, and depending on nuclear energy for pyroprocessing technology is stupid, because it is not likely to help the situation before 2050, the year of net-zero. We really need to figure out where the focus should be. Then how do we provide the power we need without increasing the number of reactors? Renewable energy is only about eight percent of the total energy consumption in Korea, while it is 25 percent in OECD Europe, and 15 percent worldwide. Korea should not try to find reasons to increase the number of nuclear reactors without having a plan for the accumulated nuclear waste, but it needs to look for safer, more reasonable, and efficient energy sources. Also, at the moment, everyone’s effort to decrease the use of energy will be helpful so as not to need more nuclear power plants.
Sources
2022�07��.indd 39
The Author
Chung Hyun-hwa is from Gwangju and is currently leading Gwangju Hikers, an international eco-hike group at the GIC, and getting ready to teach the Korean language. Previously, she taught English in different settings, including Yantai American School and Yantai Korean School in China, and has worked for the Jeju school administration at Branksome Hall Asia in recent years. She holds a master’s degree in TESOL from TCNJ in the U.S.
Gwangju News, July 2022
World Nuclear News. (2022). A guide to the EU’s “green” taxonomy and nuclear’s place in it. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/ Articles/A-guide-to-the-EUs-green-taxonomy-and-nuclears-pla Rueter, G. (2021). Every euro invested in nuclear power makes the climate crisis worse. DW.com. https://www.dw.com/en/nuclearclimate-mycle-schneider-renewables-fukushima/a-56712368 Jang, J. (2021). 파이로프로세싱과 소듐냉각고속로(SFR)의 허구성 [The fictionality of Pyroprocessing and SFR]. No Nuke News. https://nonukesnews.kr/2104 Department of Science and IT. (2021). JFCS 보고서, 파이로프로세싱 타당성 등 결론 담고있지 않아 [JFCS report, not containing any conclusions about the feasibility of pyro-processing]. Korea Policy Briefing. https://www.korea.kr/news/actuallyView.do?n ewsId=148892549&pWise=sub&pWiseSub=B3 Clifford, C. (2021). The feds have collected more than $44 billions
gwangjunewsgic.com
In the recent Netflix movie, Don’t Look Up, people did not believe in the comet approaching Earth, even when it was visible with their bare eyes, and did nothing. Are we going to do something? Or nothing? Being energy-mindful is seriously needed to have any future.
for a permanent nuclear waste dump-here’s why we still don’t have one. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/18/nuclearwaste-why-theres-no-permanent-nuclear-waste-dump-in-us. html World Nuclear News. (2021). China starts building underground lab. WNN. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/ China-starts-building-underground-lab Gross, A., & White, S. (2022, February 5). The nuclear power dilemma: where to put the lethal waste, Financial Times. https:// www.ft.com/content/246dad82-c107-4886-9be2-e3b3c4c4f315 World Nuclear Association. (2022). Nuclear power in Finland. https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/ countries-a-f/finland.aspx El-Showk, S. (2022). Final resting place. Science.org. https://www. science.org/content/article/finland-built-tomb-store-nuclearwaste-can-it-survive-100000-years Wang, J., Chen, L., Su, R., & Zhao, X. (2018). The Beishan underground research laboratory for geological disposal of highlevel radioactive waste in China: Planning, site selection, site characterization and in situ tests. Sciencedirect.com. https:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775518300246 Ramana, M. V. (2021). Problems with the prototype fast breeder reactor. The India Forum. https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/ problems-prototype-fast-breeder-reactor Yurman, D. (2021). China’s CFR-600 draws concerns as a breeder reactor. Neutron Bytes.com. https://neutronbytes.com/ 2021/05/ 28/chinas-cfr-600-draws-concerns-as-a-breeder-reactor/ World Nuclear Association. (2020). Processing of used nuclear fuel. https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclearfuel-cycle/fuel-recycling/processing-of-used-nuclear-fuel.aspx U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2021) International energy outlook, 2021 with projections to 2050. EIA.gov. https:// www.eia.gov/outlooks/ieo/pdf/IEO2021_Narrative.pdf
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:56
40 Sports and Activities
Keeping the Beautiful Game Alive
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
COMMUNITY
By Adam Nash
S
port brings people together. Never has that been made clearer than during the pandemic, when clubs and facilities across the world were forced to close, nets were removed, and grass was left to grow on pitches. Fans were even banned from attending games. The electric atmospheres in the grounds disappeared. During the live coverage on TV, all you could hear were the shouts from the players echoing around the empty 50,000-seater stadiums. It is a strange and eerie memory from those days of Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns. You do not realize the true value of something until it is gone. For that reason, I decided that when I arrived in Korea last year, I would make it my mission to join a sports team as soon as possible. So, on the 12th of July, two weeks out of quarantine, I set my alarm for 3 a.m. and made my way down to Nirvana to watch the World Cup Final between
2022�07��.indd 40
England and Italy, hoping first for a historic England win, and second to see if I could ask around about joining a local football team. Sadly, the England victory never came, but I accomplished my second goal within minutes of walking in, when I heard two fellow Yorkshiremen talking at the bar. The very brief introductions went like this… "What’s your name?" "Do you play football?" "Do you want to join our team?" And that was how I joined Gwangju Inter FC. Gwangju Inter FC is the local, foreigner-friendly football team that was formed back in 2002. Now, 20 years on, it is still going strong thanks to members such as Sungje (성제), who has been helping run the club for the last four years. “At first I joined just as a member, like everyone else does," explains Sungje. "But then as people left, I
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:56
41 started to help out more because I can speak both English and Korean, so it’s easier for me to organize things, sort out the money, and talk to the KFA.”
“We take a fee from each player for the tournament to raise the money. It’s not a lot, but it helps and is thoughtful.”
Every Sunday at 2 p.m. – come rain, shine, or scorching summer heat – players from countries like Canada, Iran, the US, Uzbekistan, the UK, and Korea take to the pitch to show off their skills for a couple of hours. Like all sports, there can be a competitive edge to the game, but the team does not take itself too seriously, hence its slogan “You’ll Never Drink Alone.”
Finally, after two years, the signs of recovery are being seen across the world, and things are once again looking up for the team. At the end of May, they finally moved back to the full-size school pitch. Old members are returning, and some new faces are signing up.
Over the years, Gwangju Inter FC has competed against other foreigner teams based across Korea and helped set up a yearly football tournament. The team even won a couple of trophies along the way. “It’s become a big thing that every year we have a big foreigner tournament,” says Sungje. “When we first set it up, it was really hard, but year by year it gets easier to arrange. We've had about 10 tournaments so far. Usually, we have them in Gwangju, but we’ve also held them in places like Busan and Daegu. We got a fundraiser from the government office as well, so it’s now even easier to organize.”
Not only has the team kept together, but Sungje even managed to keep the yearly tournaments running. Last year's tournament in Daegu involved teams from Busan and Seoul and helped raise money for M Dream, a local orphanage.
2022�07��.indd 41
If you are interested in finding out more about the team, you can contact them through their Facebook or Instagram page. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ 70583932242/ Instagram: @gwangju_inter The Author
Adam Nash is a proud Yorkshireman, born and bred in Sheffield, England. He loves traveling, football, and playing music. He has been a drummer for over 20 years but recently picked up the guitar, as a drum kit will not fit in his apartment. Instagram @adam_nash62
Gwangju News, July 2022
“The rules kept changing all the time, and it was also difficult to get the number of players we needed. Usually, every year there are a lot of new members joining the team, but since Covid-19, people have not been coming out, and not as many people are arriving in the country. But we still managed to keep it going by moving to a 5-a-side pitch.”
Sports clubs like Gwangju Inter FC are vital for the expat community. They provide the perfect opportunity to meet new people, socialize, and have fun. They help newcomers settle in quickly and give people a chance to get outside, keep fit, and stay active. Hopefully, as restrictions lift, local teams like Gwangju Inter FC will continue to grow.
gwangjunewsgic.com
Like every sports team, when the coronavirus spread across the world, Gwangju Inter FC faced some difficult challenges to keep the club together. Before the pandemic, the team had a year-long contract to play on an 11-a-side school pitch, but when the schools closed their facilities, Gwangju Inter FC was homeless.
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:57
42 Restaurant Review
Tiramitous By Melline Galani
W
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
FOOD & DRINKS
hat better way to endure the hot summer days than with a soft, refreshing dessert accompanied by an iced beverage or coffee in an air-conditioned space? Situated in Yangnim-dong, Tiramitous (티라미뚜) was first introduced to me by a friend. I had no expectations of something special, since there are so many coffees hops with a solid variety of delicious desserts in and outside of Gwangju. Therefore, what could have been special about this one? The first thing that caught my attention was the refrigerator showcase. The moment you enter the door, your eyes will be directed to the refrigerator display, which shows all the available desserts. Colorful fresh fruits, cocoa, cream, yoghurt, and macaroons are all combined in perfect harmony, making it impossible to choose. TIP: Do not go there alone. Take at least one friend (or more if possible) so you can try more than just one dessert. The place is decorated with lots of green plants and has large windows that are opened in spring and autumn so the cool breeze can refresh the interior. You can either opt for a table or sit at the window and enjoy the street view. Tiramitous offers a variety of drinks and coffee specialties, all delicious. I am a coffee lover, and my favorite specialties are cappuccino, affogato, and dolce latte. All desserts are made daily and only with fresh fruits. Therefore, they are adjusted in accordance with the seasonal fruits that are available. Not all desserts are tiramisu-style (from a European's point of view), though you may be confused about the name. They are small-sized cakes with different flavors, some decorated with fresh fruits. All specialties are soft, not too sweet
2022�07��.indd 42
(which I love), refreshing, and delicious. I have tried almost all of them, but I cannot pick a favorite since all are so tasty! You may choose among passion fruit, caramel, original, sweet potato, berry brownie tiramisu, or fruit cakes and fruit yogurts in small sizes. The prices for desserts vary from 6,000–6,900 won but are worth every penny. In my opinion, it is quite a cheap price range for the quality offered. As you know, fresh fruits are expensive in Korea. For the beverages and coffee, the prices range between 4,000–6,000 won. The owner of the place makes the desserts himself, and his passion for the job can be seen and tasted through his art-like desserts. He also makes birthday cakes decorated with seasonal fruits. I ordered a strawberry cake for my son’s birthday that was delicious and not expensive. Since Tiramitous has become well known among dessert lovers, do not be surprised to see that many desserts are sold out way before closing time. Fresh fruit and the decent amount of sweetness make this place the perfect option for everyone. If you have not tried it yet, then you must! Tiramitous has become one of my favorite places to enjoy a good dessert in our wonderful City of Light! Photographs by Melline Galani.
The Author
Melline Galani is a Romanian enthusiast, born and raised in the capital city of Bucharest, and currently living in Gwangju. She likes new challenges and learning interesting things, and she is incurably optimistic. She enjoys tasty food and is always in search of great places to dine or relax. Instagram: @melligalanis
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:57
43
Gwangju News, July 2022
2022�07��.indd 43
gwangjunewsgic.com
TIRAMITOUS / 티라미뚜 Address 1F, 165 Baekyang-ro, Nam-gu, Gwangju 광주 남구 백양로 165 (양림동 499-1번지) 1층 Operating Hours: 11:00–21:30, closed Mondays and national holidays Phone: 062-462-4991 Instagram: @tirami_tous
2022-06-24 �� 3:45:59
44 Photo Essay
A Day to Get Together!
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
CULTURE & ARTS
Written by Karina Prananto Photographs by Park Tae-sang
N
o one expected that May 22 was going to be scorching hot. Soon after the event ended, although volunteers and booth participants felt their necks burning from the heat, one thing was for sure: They were as happy as could be, as they had been able to hold a successful offline event. In accordance with the Basic Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea, May 20 is designated as Together Day every year by the Ministry of Justice to eliminate discrimination and prejudice caused by differences in nationality, race, and culture, as well as to appreciate the diversity of local communities. The Gwangju International Center (GIC) has helped organized this event, hosted by Gwangju City and the Gwangju Immigration Office, for a few years now. Small in number yet strong and united in a sense to promote their countries’ culture to Gwangju citizens, 10 global food booths and seven global culture booths participated that day. Gwangju citizens seem to be so eager to finally taste different kinds of world food and experience traditional games, as we saw people keep coming in. It was truly a day to celebrate, not only for the community as a whole, but because we have overcome the difficulties from the recent rise of the pandemic. We hope to see you again in future GIC events.
2022�07��.indd 44
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:00
45
gwangjunewsgic.com
Gwangju News, July 2022
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:02
2022�07��.indd 45
Gwangju News, July 2022 gwangjunewsgic.com
46
2022�07��.indd 46
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:03
47
gwangjunewsgic.com
Gwangju News, July 2022
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:05
2022�07��.indd 47
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
CULTURE & ARTS
48 Book Review
Called by Another Name By David Dolinger and Matt VanVolkenberg Reviewed by William Urbanski
W
hen David Dolinger first came to South Korea in the late 1970s, it was a very different place. Particularly in rural Jeollanam-do, the advanced infrastructure that we enjoy today, like good, paved roads, excellent public transportation, and incredible telecommunication systems, was all but absent. Beyond the physical differences was an authoritarian political climate that, thankfully, has been lost to the ether of time. In the popular narrative of South Korea, people generally, and somewhat correctly, believe that this country that has become such an incredible economic and cultural powerhouse was built on sheer hard work. What is so easily overlooked is the human cost and the sacrifice, often by those who were willing to pay the ultimate price for their beliefs, that fundamentally shifted the landscape and laid the true foundation upon which democracy could take hold. Called by Another Name is David Dolinger’s memoir of his time in the Peace Corps, his entanglement with the events of 5.18, as well as the aftermath. It provides a fresh and uniquely human perspective to key events that began to radically change Korea some forty years ago. This aspect of the book, which gives readers a detailed impression of the day-to-day life in rural Korea before 5.18 and also explores the fallout,
2022�07��.indd 48
is, according to co-author Matt VanVolkenburg, one of the key factors that distinguishes it from other accounts of The Gwangju Uprising. Called by Another Name is a project that began in earnest mere days after 5.18, when Dolinger began to write down everything he could about what he had witnessed. The result, a product of numerous revisions and a long collaboration with VanVolkenburg – well known in Korea for his popular blog “Gusts of Popular Feeling” – is a book that is extremely well paced, replete with gritty details, and is a must-read for anyone who lives or has lived in Jeollanam-do. BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END Upon arriving in Korea in the late 1970s, spending a few nights in Seoul and undergoing a three-month orientation in Cheongju, Dolinger made his way to Yeongam, where he worked diagnosing and treating tuberculosis at the local public healthcare center. Anyone who participated in an EPIK (English Program in Korea) or JLP (Jeollanamdo Language Program) orientation session before being sent to their schools will instantly relate to this part of the book and be able to empathize with Dolinger’s experience. I particularly enjoyed his recollections of the Peace Corps orientation session in which Dolinger’s (and other volunteers’) “inability to fit
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:06
49 the mold” had him labeled as “insensitive to Korean culture”; strong accusations that would be proven tremendously incorrect by his later actions. This also set up another theme in the book: ongoing friction with the Peace Corps.
2022�07��.indd 49
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS Some of the facts in the book are nothing short of unbelievable. One that particularly astounded me was that following the events of 5.18 over three hundred KCIA agents were placed at Chonnam University, with two in each classroom, in an effort to intimidate students. This was part of a larger effort by the Korean government at the time to prevent people from speaking out and to generally control the narrative around what happened during 5.18. There is a section near the end of the story in which Dolinger lists his “truths” about what happened during 5.18. In the face of still ongoing efforts to alter the facts around 5.18, I thought it was a good decision to include this part in the book, as it reinforced the idea that certain facts are beyond question. Another factor that made me hesitant to classify Called by Another Name into a single genre of book is the last sixty or so pages. They contain a touching tribute to Tim Warnberg, one of Dolinger’s close friends who was instrumental in assisting both foreign reporters and citizens during 5.18, but whose contributions have never been fully acknowledged. This section contains letters, numerous personal accounts, as well as “The Kwangju Uprising: An Inside View,” the first ever academic article published in English about 5.18, written by Warnberg. Even if you have little interest in Korean history, there are some compelling reasons why you should
Gwangju News, July 2022
The days he spends downtown during 5.18 revolve around familiar downtown landmarks such as the Provincial Office and the Chonnam University Hospital, where David and his friends put their translation skills to use for the citizens as well as reporters who were in the area. Owing to the trust he built up with the students, Dolinger was able to earn unrestricted access to the Provincial Office and even sat in on a meeting of the student organizers. This perspective is another key feature that distinguishes Called by Another Name from other publications about 5.18.
After leaving Gwangju and being forced out of the Peace Corps, Dolinger felt compelled to stay in Korea for some time, during which he became involved with the Korean dissidents’ information pipeline and was also able to confirm that he was being followed by a detective, possibly a member of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). This part of the book reads a little bit like a spy novel, again making the book hard to categorize.
gwangjunewsgic.com
With so much that has been said, written, and shown on screen about 5.18, I was somewhat skeptical that I would learn or hear anything new in this book. Any doubts I had were very quickly eradicated and I was drawn in by his personal accounts of the days leading up to 5.18, the carnage that ensued, as well as the events afterwards. Without giving ▲ David Dolinger too much of the story away, there is a memorable scene where Dolinger walks into Gwangju from Naju (which would have literally taken all day) since the bus driver, fearful of what was happening in Gwangju, refused to take him any closer into the city. Throughout the book, Dolinger, owing to his status as a foreigner and American, occasionally describes a sense of immunity in Korea; an assumption that is tested in dramatic fashion on this trek into Gwangju, as well as a number of other times throughout the book.
The book describes the brutality and violence of 5.18 in realistic detail, and when I met Dolinger, he explained that this is one of the main points that many discussions about 5.18 gloss over. People tend to focus on the ideological differences between the parties involved and the desire to form a democracy, but the fact is that the actions taken against the citizens were horrific and excessive.
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:07
50 50
Called by Another Name is a book that you will enjoy, will learn a lot from, and that will enhance your understanding of the social and cultural context of 5.18. It should be of interest to anyone who has lived in or visited Korea. Most importantly, in this era of alternative facts and misinformation, it is a credible and stirring account of the astonishing events during one of the darkest chapters of Gwangju’s history.
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
still pick up Called by Another Name. First and foremost, its main story is a fantastic one that moves at a great pace, making it an enjoyable read. On a more philosophical note, the book addresses several important questions that all of us would do well to reflect on. In the chapter "Trying to Stay True," Dolinger considers how to maintain and work towards the ideals of our youth and live a meaningful life while simultaneously addressing the very real problem of earning a living. I think Dolinger's solution to this problem is worth considering, because even if you do not agree with his opinions or beliefs, one thing is for sure: Dolinger is a very, very smart man.
2022�07��.indd 50
Photograph by Kim Hillel Yunkyoung.
The Reviewer
William Urbanski is the managing editor of the Gwangju News. Instagram: @will_il_ gatto
Should We Stay or Should We Go By Lionel Shriver Reviewed by Michael Attard
T
he narrator introduces us to Kay and Cyril, an English couple in their early fifties. They have just returned home from the funeral of Kay’s father, who suffered from severe Alzheimer’s for many years. The opening mood of the novel is bleak with the dialogue including phrases such as “a grotesque waste of money” and “This dying by degrees, it cheats everyone.” The author, Lionel Shriver, throughout the book has the couple engage in serious conversations reflecting wellthought-out opinions and insights, which adds a great deal to the enjoyment of the book. The professional couple appears to be in full control of their lives and to be contributing members of society. Yet, the blaring question between them is, “What will happen to us?” By page fourteen – so I am not giving much away – Kay and Cyril, of sound mind, agree that in order to ensure that they do not become a burden to anyone, as well as preserve their own dignity – to commit
suicide together on Kay’s 80th birthday. Thirty years later, the fateful day arrives. Over those three decades, only occasionally had they discussed their pact. The author somewhat cleverly entwines Kay and Cyril’s interest in the Brexit debate into their arguably much more important situation. During Brexit, there were “Remainers” and “Leavers,” which was precisely analogous to their life-or-death quandary. And at one point, Brexit was delayed, so could they, too, delay? Kay thought that they might, but not Cyril. For some readers, this talk of Brexit may detract from the premise of the book. This fateful day also falls in the middle of Covid-19. Kay realizes that with the cancellation of social engagements, she will not have some “good-byes” at all. And she says, “I still can’t get my head round what it means to be alive… much less what it means to die.” This leads to what Kay secretly calls “introducing a wild-card.” But once the card is played, it does not produce the expected outcome, and
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:07
Book Review 51
2022�07��.indd 51
The focus of a couple of chapters is on the future world condition. If we can look forward to longevity without illness or pain, then life will be worth living. But if the future portends a world gone insane or a subsistence at the poverty level, then perhaps it might be better to go at a time of our own choosing. Other than the first two chapters, the other eleven could come in any order. There is no progression to a logical or even reasonable conclusion, and this probably reflects the author’s position. No one ever chose to be born, and the vast majority of humans do not choose to die. However, in the modern world where it is easier than ever to prolong life, the question of when to die has become meaningful. But this will invariably entail the question, at what cost? I think that Ms. Shriver has taken both a realistic and fanciful view of a question for our modern age. She has neither judged nor suggested. Rather, she has proposed that on an individual and societal level, we acknowledge the dignity of both life and death. The Reviewer
Michael Attard is a Canadian who has lived in Gwangju since 2004. Though officially retired, he still teaches a few private English classes. He enjoys reading all kinds of books and writes for fun. When the weather is nice, you may find him on a hiking trail.
Gwangju News, July 2022
I found chapter seven to be the dreariest and most depressing. I am sure that this is because I recognized that the conditions described in the institution where Kay and Cyril find themselves locked up were perhaps, if at all, only slightly exaggerated. This chapter serves as an ominous warning to anyone considering long-term care for a parent. The onset of senile dementia with the loss of memory and cognitive function does not necessarily mean that the older person has lost their personal sense of dignity. Yet, in this chapter, the home operates on the patronizing premise that their role is to provide basic care for human shells.
Cryogenics does not go well either. With Cyril and Kay coming back light years in the future, I think the author detracts from her serious consideration of voluntary suicide by creating an almost comical and yet unamusing world.
gwangjunewsgic.com
Even though the book’s subject is serious, the author has created light sections allowing the reader an occasional respite from the gloom and offering an encouragement to read on. Some readers, myself included, may feel that the author goes overboard in the chapter where Kay and Cyril pass on the suicide to be rewarded with a wonder drug whereby not only is their youth restored, but they can live forever. However, the author, never completely abandoning the serious vein in which the novel is written, offers through the characters the suggestion that the taking away of the inevitability of nature would lead to a psychic crisis of teleological proportions where people would fail to see a personal purpose.
In a frightful scenario, Cyril loses his nerve and Kay commits suicide on her own. The daughter concludes that her father murdered her mother and subsequently feels that no amount of suffering is too much for him to bear.
CULTURE & ARTS
while the story seems to be over, it is only page 70. What follows is ten different scenarios where either Kay or Cyril, sometimes in agreement, disagreement, or unknown to the other, change course and break the pact. Often their children or other parties b e c o m e involved in the unforeseen consequences to the extent that life after 80 may resemble paradise or hell.
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:08
52
Top of The Drop
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
CULTURE & ARTS
By Daniel J. Springer
Each month, Daniel Springer of the Gwangju Foreign Language Network (GFN) picks his favorite newly released tunes that you may not have heard yet, along with some upcoming albums and EPs that you might want to keep on your radar. — Ed.
DANIELLE PONDER – “THE ONLY WAY OUT” For those that are caught in the dead-eyed daily grind wondering if it is possible to escape the misery that dominates your daily existence, Danielle Ponder is a great role model. A former public defender in upstate New York prior to moving to NYC and making a go of music full-time, Ponder debuted the lead single to the upcoming Some of Us Are Brave LP on national TV courtesy of Late Night with Seth Meyers. The album is out in September, and Ponder is certainly counted amongst not only the brave, but one of the best on-the-rise artists out there right now. DANGER MOUSE & BLACK THOUGHT FEAT RUSS, DYLAN CARTLIDGE, & JOEY BADA$$ “BECAUSE” The second single to the upcoming collab album from Danger Mouse and The Roots’ Black Thought is just dripping with vintage soul vibes and social protest. Interestingly, production contributor Joey Bada$$ states that The Roots filmed the video to “You Got Me” with Erykah Badu on his grandmother’s block when he was a kid, and it changed everything about how he viewed music at
2022�07��.indd 52
the time. Fast forward too many years for those of us of a certain vintage, and Joey is truly living the dream. Danger Mouse and Black Thought’s Cheat Codes drops August 12 via BMG. NIGHT TAPES – “HUMANS” If this is the first time you are listening to this band, you are getting a pitch-perfect introduction to their dreamy latenight drive sound. The Londonbased trio have been putting out music since 2019, but this is the first music since their debut Download Spirit EP came out in 2020. If you indeed are new to this, we cannot recommend all of this swerve enough. SCOOBERT DOOBERT – “WHO AM I REALLY FOOLING ANYWAY” The mystery man out of San Diego in the Scooby-Doo mask is back for more with the latest single to his upcoming EP Kōan C, which is the prolific producer’s third of the calendar year thus far. The song is a bit of cheeky yet truly critical reflection of his own ongoing production credits with Japanese indie dance darlings CHAI, who just wrapped a North American tour with Mitski. Kōan C drops in full on July 1, and from where we are sitting, there is no need for critique from anyone. KOKOROKO – “AGE OF ASCENT” While Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label has been doing amazing work for basically the entirety of its own existence, this Afro-centric octet out of London is definitely becoming a centerpiece in that solid roster. With “Age of Ascent,” the group have also announced their latest album set to drop August 5 called Could We Be More, and we will see what happens as far as the answer. It definitely feels as if Kokoroko is ready for their close-up. RUBY RED – “EAT ME” This duo is a pair of life-long friends born in Oakland and raised in LA that just released their debut album Saboteur on June 10. While it would be a stretch to
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:09
53 call this album an instant classic, it is a very strong full-length with a soul-smacked twist on dream pop that stands out in that exceedingly crowded room and explains their already solid following on the platforms. JACK WHITE – “IF I DIE TOMORROW” While the efforts from the former leading man of The White Stripes have been both coming forth fast and furious as surely as they have been underwhelming, this folksy acoustic number does have something to it. While on the main it sounds like something that belongs in a montage for a fantasy adventure flick, it has a couple of electronic punches that make it a good surprise by the end of the tune.
DRY CLEANING – “DON’T PRESS ME” Last year’s New Long Leg was not only one of the best rock albums of the year but also the most conceptually
2022�07��.indd 53
Angel Olsen – Big Time (June 3) Horsegirl – Versions Of Modern Performance (June 3) Post Malone – Twelve Carat Toothache (June 3) BTS – Proof (June 10) Joyce Manor – 40 oz. to Fresno (June 10) Vance Joy – In Our Own Sweet Time (June 10) Foals – Life Is Yours (June 17) Hercules & Love Affair – In Amber (June 17) Perfume Genius – Ugly Season (June 17) TV Priest – My Other People (June 17) Alexisonfire – Otherness (June 24) Goose – Dripfield (June 24) Regina Spektor – Home, Before & After (June 24) Soccer Mommy – Sometimes, Forever (June 24) Conan Gray – Superache (June 24)
JULY RELEASES Burna Boy – Love, Damani (July 1) Moor Mother – Jazz Codes (July 1) Viagra Boys – Caveworld (July 8) Katy J. Pearson – Sound of the Morning (July 8) Metric – Fomentera (July 8) Beabadoobee – Beatopia (July 15) Black Midi - Hellfire (July 15) Lizzo – Special (July 15) Jack White – Entering Heaven Alive (July 22) Sports Team – Gulp! (July 22) Ty Segall – Hello, Hi (July 22) Maggie Rogers – Surrender (July 29) Beyoncé – Renaissance (July 29) Of Montreal – Freewave Lucifer fck (July 29)
Gwangju News, July 2022
JACOB BANKS – “BY DESIGN (EVEL KNIEVEL)” For those that kind of paused or maybe threw their heads back to the opening bits of this tune, you are surely not alone. This most recent from the London-based artist heralds the release of Lies About The War in August via his homegrown label Nobody Records. All this comes hot off the heels of the release of the For My Friends EP in March, so to say the artist is on the move does not quite do descriptive justice for what is really going on of late.
JUNE RELEASES
gwangjunewsgic.com
HORSEGIRL – “DIRTBAG TRANSFORMATION (STILL DIRTY)” This is a trio out of Chicago that must have really taken courses on the deeper trends in rock over the years, because the variety of styles coursing through their debut album are all so well performed it almost beggars belief. While some of the less savvy might dismiss this as the umpteenth example of nostalgia run amok in our meaningless, oversaturated mediaverse, Versions of Modern Performance is contrarily an epic tour-de-force. The fact that this is the group’s debut album is mind-blowing.
original and addictive. A combination of twangy post-punk and indie instrumentation and Florence Shaw’s deadpan spoken word vocals, Dry Cleaning feel less like rock than a pithy gossip session amongst the well-to-do ladies at a London dinner party sniping the absolute shit out of everyone in the room. This tune heralds the band’s sophomore album Stumpwork, which drops October 21. With this lead single, they have really made Shaw’s vocals an earworm that you cannot ignore, with vocals that are whispered straight into your soul from seemingly inside your own head.
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:09
Gwangju News, July 2022 gwangjunewsgic.com
CULTURE & ARTS
54 Comic Corner
2022�07��.indd 54
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:11
55
gwangjunewsgic.com
Yun Hyoju was born and raised in Gwangju, and somehow ended up married to an Irish guy named Alan. She has been working on her short comic, “Alan and Me,” which is about their daily life. She publishes a new comic every week on Instagram. It can be found here: @alan_andme.
2022�07��.indd 55
Gwangju News, July 2022
The Author
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:13
56
CROSSWORDPUZZLE Created by Jon Dunbar
Look for the answers to this crossword puzzle to appear in August in Gwangju News Online (www.gwangjunewsgic.com).
DOWN
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
ACROSS
1 6
9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 22 24 25 28 32
Previously, Korea’s main international airport “Neither a borrower ___ a lender be” Beer measurement unit Association of Southeast ___ Nations “___ to Joy” Artist Do-ho Actress Christina Big Bang member Had a meal Personal ad abbrev. What businesses can do after lifting of restrictions (2 words) Uh-oh (2 words) “Mind the ___” Indonesian body of water War-torn country Jett or Rivers
2022�07��.indd 56
33 35 36 38 40 42 43 46 49 50 51 53 54 55 56 57 58
“Do or do not, there is no ___” Sichuan seasoning Heuksando's county Fruit on a thorny bush A track made by a wheel Dunham or Park City absorbed into Yeosu Scrap of cloth Hearing organ One lumen per square meter Ross or Krall Tank ship cargo Energy burst that damages electronics Gwangju News contributor Iraghomo Boxing match ending Weir in Yeoju City Amazed (2 words)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 20 21 23 25 26 27 29 30 31 34 37 39 41 43 44 45 47 48 49 52
Urban or Marx “Whose Line ___ Anyway?” (2 words) Daewoo Damas ___-Man They go with green or Bloomin’ Memo Yeosu island connected by breakwater Instant ___ University entrance exam Adorable Pronoun paired with her/hers Jung Ho-seung or Kim Ji-ha Prehistoric men Nonghyup mart brand Abrams and Jameson Japanese photojournalist Katsuo Pirate’s utterance Hindu prince Manning or Lilly Quick sleep “Seize the day” Atomic cores Gwangju's Japanese sister city Pound Pull hard “Cogito ___ sum” Yeosu 2012 event All over again Missionary James Scarth Teaching ESL Place to spend the night
2022-06-24 �� 3:46:14
GIC광주국제교류센터 GIC’s
Ch GIC광주국제교류센터
new Kakao Talk Channel!
Now, with our new Kakao Talk Channel, you can get the latest information on GIC’s events or inquire on any of GIC’s programs! Add us now on Kakao :) Opening Hours
Monday – Friday 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday 8:30 a.m. – 5p.m. Or leave us a message anytime and we will get back to you as soon as we can!
Supported Languages
Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian
2022�07��_��.indd 3
2022-06-24 �� 1:46:06
2022 7.27 - 7.30 광즈로 놀러와 수
Wed.
DAY 4
토
Sat.
518국립묘지 May 18 National Cemetery
DAY 3
월봉서원
DAY 2
Wolbong Seowon 장
1913 송정역시
양궁체험
Welcome to Gwangju
야간투어
Night Tour
Archery Experience
송정역시장 Songjeong Station Market
양림동 펭귄마을 Yangrim-dong’s Penguin Village
DAY 1
김장체험 Kimchi-Making Experience
만연산치유의숲 Manyeon Mt. Forest
모집 Registration 6/23(목) - 7/13(수), 온라인 신청(www.gic.or.kr) June 23 (Thu.) – July 13 (Wed.), Online
대상 Target
주최 Host
광주 외 지역 거주 외국인 유학생 청년 24명 24 International students living outside of Gwangju
주관 Organizer
제공사항 We provide
신청 Go to Apply
숙박,식사,체험비,광주 내 교통비 Accommodation, Meals, Activity costs, Transportation fees within Gwangju
활동내용 Activities 광주청년과의 네트워킹 및 광주명소 방문과 문화체험(3박 4일) Networking with youth in Gwangju, visiting attractions in Gwangju, and cultural experiences (4-day program)
2022�07��_��.indd 4
2022-06-24 �� 1:46:06
