(EN) Gwangju News November 2017 #189

Gwangju and South Jeolla International Magazine I November 2017 Issue #189 I Asia Culture Forum 2017

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Healing Happiness Health

A variety of things worth watching and enjoying!

Do you need to heal your body and mind, while escaping from the daily routine?

Please try to feel at home in Gwangju City and Jeollanam-do’s abundant clean air!

Korea’s Top 25 Wellness Tour Attractions

Templestay

Cypress Hyosogung

Cypress Forest Woodland

Suncheon Bay

MEDIWELL GWANGJU 6 Reasons Why You Should Choose Mediwell Gwangju:

Tel: +82-62-714-1730 Web: http://mediwellgj.kr mediwellgwangju

November 2017

Photo Source: KTO: 온석원, Jeungsimsa Temple

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

1. The largest number of medical personnel by percentage of population.

2. World-class medical technology and state-of the art medical facilities and equipment.

3. Highly qualified resident professionals by treatment.

4. Inspection by dedicated specialist and prompt treatment result.

5. Pursuing customized inspection program.

6. Reasonable expense compared to Seoul and other cities.

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Letter from the Editor

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November 2017, Issue No. 189 Published: November 1, 2017 Cover Art & Design: Asia Culture Forum 2017

THE EDITORIAL TEAM Publisher Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Online Editor Layout Editor Chief Proofreader Photo Editor Creative Advisor Copy Editors Proofreaders Researchers

Dr. Shin Gyonggu Dr. David E. Shaffer Eden Jones, Anastasia Traynin Karina Prananto Karina Prananto Jake Hollingsworth Lorryn Smit Joe Wabe Brian Fitzroy, Alvina Joanna, Joseph Nunez, Gabrielle Nygaard, Andrew Vlasblom David Foster, Di Foster, Ynell Lumantao, Sen Nguyen, Stephen Redeker, Laura Sweeten, Gilda Wilson Kwak Ji-young, Yoon Ha-neul

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

Gwangju News is the first public English monthly magazine in Korea, first published in 2001. Each monthly issue covers local and regional issues, with a focus on the activities of both the international residents and local English-speaking communities.

Copyright by 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.

Gwangju News is published by 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 E-mail: gwangjunews@gic.or.kr Registration No. 광주광역시 라. 00145 (ISSN 2093-5315) Registration Date: February 22, 2010 Printed by Join Adcom 조인애드컴 (+82)-62-367-7702 For volunteering and article submission inquiries, please contact the Editor at: gwangjunews@gic.or.kr For advertising and subscription inquiries, contact karina@gic.or.kr Special thanks to the City of Gwangju and all of our sponsors.

ovember brings you Culture. At the same time, it brings you Revolution! – The 4th Industrial Revolution, that is! Yes, the 4th. If you were only aware of one, delve into our features. The Asia Culture Forum 2017 is being held this month, with the subtheme “Culture Cities in the Age of the 4th Industrial Revolution.” Dr. Serexhe of Switzerland, a keynote speaker at the Forum, offers us his perspectives on culture, creativity, and the revolution. The views of the people of Gwangju on the 4th Industrial Revolution are featured in Gwangju Talks, and in a related feature, we bring you the quiet revolution electric cars are making (no idling) worldwide.

The Gwangju News brings you culture every month, but we give you an extra helping this issue. Barim, in downtown Gwangju, introduces a revolutionary idea in art venues. The Gwangju Performance Project aims to shake things up with naughty performances of The Taming of the Shrew. Our photo essay features breathtaking tattoos of Asia, and our Korean Culture column highlights some quirky holidays that you may not have been aware of (e.g., Hug Day?!).

Food is an integral part of culture. We introduce Kim Jeong-suk and the fabulous things she does with kimchi.

We have a great galbi steak story and recipe, and acquaint you with a little Italian restaurant that is making a big name for itself: Contua.

This issue also provides a Thanksgiving-themed movie review and a book review of The Windup Girl. We supply a 4th-industrial-revolution-inspired fictional work of brilliance and a fiction-to-reality opinion piece on weaponizing AI. For those with the travel bug, we take you to the colorful Naejangsan mountain, to the snow-white skiing and snowboarding peaks of Korea, on a farther trip across Russia, and on a near-to-home ride on taxi safety.

And of course, there is more, but we will leave that for you to discover. Enjoy the Gwangju News this November!

Dr. David E. Shaffer Editor-in-Chief, Gwangju News CORRECTION

The article “Áine Byrne,” appearing in the last issue of Gwangju News, stated that the photos included in the article were courtesy of the interviewee while, in fact, it should have stated that the figure drawing was by Áine Byrne in 2017, while the printing image was produced by the Gwangju Printmaking Class of 2016, and the photo of sketchbooks used was a Google Image. Lastly, it should have been noted that these art classes are not free but are made possible through donations of the attendees, fundraisers, and tutor philanthropy.

Contents

November 2017 #189

33 Naejangsan - Autumn Paradise

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28 GWANGJU NEWS 04. Upcoming Events: November 06. Gwangju Theater Schedule 10. Gwangju City News 56. Community Board

FEATURES 11. Asia Culture Forum 2017: Interview with Dr. Bernhard Serexhe Art Historian, Independent Curator, Electronic and Digital Art Expert 14. Electric Cars Making a Charge in Korea and Worldwide 17. Gwangju Talks: The 4th Industrial Revolution COMMUNITY 19. Community Leaders: Suk and Her Kimchi 22. In Town: Barim – An “Outside the Box” Art Venue in Downtown Gwangju 24. Gwangju Live: The GPP Presents The Taming of the Shrew 49. Expat Living: Taxi Safety in Korea SPORTS & ACTIVITIES 30. Sports: Skiing and Snowboarding in South Korea

39 FOOD & DRINKS 26. Kitchen Stories: Galbi Steak 28. Where to Eat: Contua TRAVEL 33. Around Korea: Naejangsan – Autumn Paradise 36. From Abroad: Vladivostok to Moscow in Three Weeks: A Brief Encounter with the Homeland ARTS & CULTURE 39. Photo Essay: Tattoos of Asia 42. Photo of the Month: Tranquility 44. Korea Culture: A Series of Quirky Days to Celebrate in Korea 45. Book Review: The Windup Girl 46. Gwangju Writes: Boy, You’re Going to Carry That Weight a Long Time 48. Thanksgiving Movie Review EDUCATION 51. Talk to Me in Korean: Career 52. KOTESOL: EPIK, TEE, and TaLK – and Lee Myung-bak OPINION 54. The Race for Weaponized AI

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Upcoming Events Compiled by Yoon Ha-neul

Festivals Gangjin Bay Reeds Festival

November

2017 Hwasun Chrysanthemum Festival 2017 화순 국화 향연

GWANGJU NEWS

강진만 춤추는 갈대 축제

Gangjin City welcomes all who are tired of hectic city life to the Gangjin Bay Reed Festival. The Gangjin Bay is a unique trail with countless plants and marine life, featuring a breathtaking field of reeds.

Date: Location:

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

Admission: Telephone: Website:

October 27 – November 12 510 Nampo-ri, Gangjin-eup, Gangjingun, Jeollanam-do Free 061-430-3331~3334 http://www.gangjinfestival.com

Hwasun is located in the center of the province of Jeollanam-do and is famous for Dolmen Park, a world heritage site where over 1,000 years of culture are kept alive. Every year the Chrysanthemum Festival takes place in Hwasun, where visitors can stroll among the chrysanthemums. The festival’s major events include chrysanthemum exhibitions, performances at the dolmen traditional market stage, and chrysanthemum tea tasting.

Date: Location: Admission: Telephone: Website:

October 27 – November 12 85 Jingak-ro, Hwasun-eup, Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do Free 061-379-3575 http://www.hwasun.go.kr/festival

Hampyeong Chrysanthemum Festival 함평 국향대전 Feel the sweet fragrance of chrysanthemums amidst the serene autumn in Hampyeong. Experience traditional folk games and food while checking out the exhibition of agricultural products competition.

Date: Location: Admission: Telephone: Website:

October 20 – November 5 Hampyeong Expo Park Adults 7,000 won, youth 5,000 won, children 3,000 won 061-322-0011 http://www.hampyeong.go.kr/

5 Piagol Autumn Foliage Festival

Luciano Pavarotti 10th Anniversary Concert

지리산 피아골 단풍축제

서거 10주년 추모 콘서트 2017 월드투어

The Jirisan Piagol Autumn Foliage Festival is covered with diverse colors of autumn every year. The festival is held under ‘an’ autumn foliage trip with samhong. Samhong literally means “the three reds,” referring to the vibrant red foliage. During the festival, a free shuttle bus will be provided, and visitors will receive free admission to Yeongoksa Temple. The festival opens with a funeral rites presentation in appreciation of the beautiful surroundings, followed by a concert and many opportunities for you to experience traditional Korean culture.

Date: Location: Admission: Telephone: Website:

November 4–5 919 Naedong-ri, Toji-myeon, Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do Free 061-780-2227 http://festival.gurye.go.kr/portal/ piagol/01/001/index.jsp

The 10th anniversary of the death of Tenor Luciano Pavarotti, beloved and legendary singer, will take place at Gwangju Culture and Arts Center on November 15. The world’s best sopranos, as well as top-notch artists from all over the world will be in the concert. We invite you to this concert to commemorate the beautiful music of Luciano Pavarotti.

Date: Location: Admission:

Telephone: Website:

2017 Wolchulsan Chrysanthemum Festival 2017 월출산 국화축제

November 2017

Yeongam-gun invites you to feel the fragrance of deep autumn from its 100 million chrysanthemums.

There will also be 160,000 flowers from 25 different chrysanthemum exhibitions on display as well as experience programs and performances for visitors to enjoy.

Date: October 28 – November 12 Location: 19-10 Gichanland-ro, Yeongam-eup, Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do Admission: Free Telephone: 061-470-2347 Website: http://tour.yeongam.go.kr/home/tour/

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 15, 8 p.m.

Gwangju Culture and Arts Center, 60 Bungmun-daero, Buk-gu, Gwangju VIP seats: 130,000 won R seats: 100,000 won S seats: 70,000 won A seats: 50,000 won 1588-7890 http://www.ticketlink.co.kr/ product/20792

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017 GWANGJU NEWS

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Gwangju THEATER 62 Chungjang-no 5-ga, Dong-gu, Gwangju (two blocks behind NC WAVE) TICKETS: 8,000 won INFORMATION: 062-224-5858 For more information, please visit: http://cafe.naver.com/cinemagwangju * Synopses excerpted from Wikipedia, IMDb and Hancinema

JUNG IL-WOO, MY FRIEND 내 친구 정일우 Genre: Documentary Director: Kim Dong-won Film Length: 84 minutes Starring: Jung Il-woo Summary: Born in the United States, Jung Il-woo (Jesuit Father John Vincent Daly until his 1998 naturalization as a Korean citizen) lived in Korea since the 1960s and advocated for the poor until his death in 2014. He set an example for others with his life. The documentary follows Jung Il-woo’s footsteps through the memories of those who miss him.

MIS-PRESIDENT 미스 프레지던트

Genre: Documentary Director: Kim Jae-hwan Film Length: 85 minutes

올드 마린보이 Genre: Documentary Director: Jin Mo-young Film Length: 85 minutes Starring: Park Myeong-ho, Kim Soon-hee Summary: After escaping North Korea with nothing, a devoted husband and father struggles to support his family. He works hard as a deep-sea diver despite the dangers and difficulties of the job.

LOVING VINCENT 러빙 빈센트 Genre: Animation Directors: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman Film Length: 95 minutes Starring: Douglas Booth, Jerome Flynn, Saoirse Ronan Summary: The world’s first fully oil-painted feature film brings the artwork of Vincent van Gogh to life in an exploration of the complicated life and controversial death of one of history’s most celebrated artists.

Other Events

November 2017

November 5–11: The 6th Swedish Movie Festival (English subtitles, free admission) November 17–19: Gwangju Independent Movie Festival November 22–25: The Gwangju Women’s Film Festival November 23–26: Special Exhibition of Female Directors: • Chantal Anne Akerman (No Home Movie) • Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, Certain Women) • Agnieszka Holland (Spoor) • Mia Hansen-Love (L’avenir) • Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

Summary: Mis-President follows the daily lives of an old man and a married couple who worship Park Chung-hee and Park Geun-hye like gods. The film often inserts documented footage of the past to show how the ideology of the government successfully prevailed. It also shows how the elderly, brainwashed by the propaganda, are living today like the past. It’s shocking to see how this group of people are worshipping the Parks with absolute, religious faith.

OLD MARINE BOY

2017 Gwangju Experience Tour Program

Introducing a tour program designed to win over the hearts of the tourists through expanded and varied content!

We are eager to introduce pleasant experiences through which tourists can enjoy the history and culture of Gwangju.

G-Food Program (Food Preparation)

G-Beauty Program (Hallyu Make-up)

The G-Food Program allows participants to have an understanding of Korean food while giving them an opportunity to create traditional recipes.

Menu:

Gungjung tteok-beokki, bukkumi, japchae, tteokgalbi Duration: 1 hour Place: Namdo Folk Food Museum, Traditional Culture Center

The G-Beauty Program is a program where participants can learn how to do celebrity/idol hairstyling as well as use baby-face make-up using various Korean beauty products.

Programs: Learning celebrity make-up and hairstyling, nail art, and skin care Duration: 2 hours Place: Gwangju Women’s University, Hermoso Beauty Academy

G-Market Program (Visiting a Traditional Market)

G-Culture Program (Experiencing Culture)

Through the G-Market Program, participants visit traditional markets of Gwangju and experience various street foods and events.

Place: Daein Art Night Market: Every Saturday, 7 p.m.–11 p.m.

1913 Songjeong Station Market: Everyday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m.

Nam-Gwangju Night Train Market: Every Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m.–11 p.m.

Through the G-Culture Program, participants can gain first-hand experience with aspects of Korean traditional culture.

Programs: Wearing hanbok, playing Korean traditional instruments, experiencing a Korean traditional tea ceremony, and experiencing Korean calligraphy Duration: 1-2 hours Place: Gwangju Hyanggyo, Wolbong Seowon G-POP Dance Program (Learning K-Pop Dance) This program allows participants to experience Hallyu by learning K-pop idol dance.

Program: Latest K-pop cover dance Duration: 1 hour Place: Joy Dance Plug-in Music Academy

Program Application 1.

2.

Methods

Fill-out and submit the forms (application form and the form for list of applicants).

Apply directly by contacting: Email: kimyr214@visitgwangju.kr or hyoon610@ visitgwangju.kr, or phone: 062-611-3636/7.

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News

Compiled by Karina Prananto Photo courtesy of Mudeungsan National Park KIA Tigers Takes South Korean Baseball Title First Time in Eight Years The KIA Tigers have successfully taken the Korean Series title for 2017. The Tigers defeated the Doosan Bears 7-6 on October 30 to take the championship series in just five games and collected their first Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) throne since 2009.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

GWANGJU NEWS

The Tigers are now undefeated in their 11 Korean Series appearances.

The Tigers lost the opening game of this year’s best-of-seven series on October 18, but bagged four consecutive wins, including the last three at the Bears’ home, Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, to beat the two-time defending champions.

Left-hander Yang Hyeon-jong, who tossed a complete shutout in Game 2, pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and saved the game. He was named the series MVP thanks to 10 scoreless innings in the series. He picked up 48 of the 74 votes cast by the media, 24 more than outfielder Roger Bernadina.

Funeral for Sewol Ferry Victims Held at Mokpo New Port A funeral for Lee Yeong Sook, one of the nine missing victims from the devastating sinking of the Sewol Ferry, was held at 8 a.m. on October 13 at Mokpo New Port. It was a small ceremony, similar to the memorial held for Cho Eun Hwa and Heo Da Yoon, two of the victims from Danwon High School.

Park Gyeong Tae, Lee’s son, said the funeral will move to Busan where their families are currently living.

Lee boarded the Sewol Ferry on April 16, 2014 to move in with her son in Jeju. After three years of being missing, Lee’s remains were finally found on May 22, 2017.

Among the previous nine unaccounted-for victims, there have been four victims (Lee Yeong Sook, Cho Eun Hwa, Heo Da Yoon, and Go Chang Seok)... five victims (Nam Hyeon Chul, Park Yeong In, Yang Seung Jin, Gwon Jae Geun, and Gwon Hyeok Gyu) remain missing.

Movie “Taxi Driver” Not to Be Screened in China The movie “Taxi Driver” has been banned by the Chinese

movie industry.

The film tells the story of a taxi driver who agrees to take a German journalist to Gwangju, where they witness the government troops’ bloody crackdown against university protesters and citizens.

However, recent claims have been made that the story is reminiscent of the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989, which is still a sensitive issue in China.

China’s Digital Times reported that it removed all information, news, reviews, and comments related to the movie.

Despite this censorship, the movie has already attracted a number of Chinese people with a rating of 9.1 out of 10.

Mudeungsan Mountain Summit Opens to Public The summit of Mudeungsan will open to the public for the second time this year on October 28.

In connection with Autumn Travel Week, carried out by the Korea Tourism Organization, concerts presenting classic and folk music will be held at Jangbuljae Peak from noon to 3:00 p.m.

The peak of the city’s most famous mountain will be open to hikers from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Identity cards are a necessity for all those heading to the summit as it is located inside a Korean military base.

Mudeungsan’s summit has opened 19 times since 2011, welcoming some 387,000 people to date.

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Asia Culture Forum 2017: Interview with Dr. Bernhard Serexhe

Art Historian, Independent Curator, Electronic and Digital Art Expert Written by E.J. Jones Photos courtesy of Dr. Bernhard Serexhe

FEATURE www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

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H

ave you ever heard of the 4th Industrial Revolution? It is a new term for many and happens to be a central subject of this year’s Asia Culture Forum (ACF) to be hosted in Gwangju from the 13th to 15th of this month. The forum’s official theme is “Culture, Technology, and Creativity: Culture Cities in the Age of the 4th Industrial Revolution.” With this focus, the forum will provide an important platform for discussion and promotion of international exchange within Asian culture. This year’s speaker line-up features an impressive host of native Korean and international speakers, and there will also be a connected youth camp occurring alongside this event, designed to cultivate leaders in young people interested in Asian culture and creativity. The forum’s theme of culture, technology, and creativity is a fitting one, as South Korea is well-known for its technological advancements, and Gwangju – hailed as one of the country’s significant cultural hubs – is recognized as an important creative city in Asia. We had the pleasure of speaking with one of the forum’s keynote speakers for this year, Dr. Franz-Bernhard Serexhe, to bring you an informed introduction to the three-day forum.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

Gwangju News (GN): Dr. Serexhe, thank you so much for your willingness to chat with us about the upcoming Asia Culture Forum. As I’ve read from your online biographies, you are a man with a long list of credentials who has been a part of various types of projects related to art and culture. How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers? What do you feel is most important for us to know about you as a speaker at this year’s forum?

My name is Dr. Bernhard Serexhe; I am an art historian, international independent curator, and a publicly appointed expert for electronic and digital media art, and also Senior Lecturer for Media Art at the University of Berne, Switzerland. I started my career with studies in sociology, psychology, art history, philosophy, and educational science; after researching in the field of medieval archeology, I was engaged as curator at the ZKM’s Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (Germany) in 1994, where in 2006 I was appointed chief curator of the ZKM’s Media Museum. Until 2016, I have curated manifold exhibitions on the impact of new media technologies on our societies.

My main interest as a curator and author is in the transition from analogue to digital culture. My most recent and ongoing exhibitions focus on global surveillance and censorship in the digital society.

GN: Have you visited Gwangju before? If so, what was the occasion and what did you think of Gwangju as a cultural hub and creative city?

▲ Dr. Franz-Bernhard Serexhe

Since 2010, I have visited Gwangju several times, mostly on the occasion of the Gwangju Culture Forum, and in 2015, I was invited to the grand opening of the Asia Culture Center (ACC). The city of Gwangju stands for its great resistance against dictatorship in the 1980s. With its Biennial and the ACC, this city has gained a great reputation as an Asian culture hub; for me, it is one of the most important and vibrant culture cities in East Asia.

GN: Have you been involved with any special projects in or related to South Korea in the past?

For eight years now, I have been involved in several cultural projects related to Korea – in Korea itself and in Europe. As a consultant in media art and culture, I have advised several important national cultural institutions, among them the National Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Busan Biennial. In 2013, with Move On Asia, I curated a large-scale video exhibition on Korean and Asian contemporary art at the ZKM’s Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany. And in 2016, one of my main projects was the exhibition New Gameplay at the Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin in Gyeonggi-

13 do. Besides this, I am closely connected to the Korean art scene. Many Korean artists are my friends; some of them have been represented in my exhibitions in Europe and Asia. And last but not least, I should mention my academic lectures in some Korean institutions and my involvement in the Asian Arts Space Network, which is organized by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

GN: As I’m sure you are well aware, this forum will discuss its topics as they relate to the 4th Industrial Revolution.

This is a new term for many and has been defined in various ways. So, what does the term “4th Industrial Revolution” mean to you? Also, how does this concept relate to your field and involvement with digital art?

It is sensible to question the meaning of the abundantly used and misused term “revolution.” The political and culture revolution in the 1980s, in which Gwangju people fought against military dictatorship, was coming from below. But the digital revolution is being decreed from the top downward by powerful, globally operating corporations, which – by controlling the extensions of man – have taken over influence in all realms of human life. The proposition that the 4th Industrial Revolution will bring more affluence, more democracy, more jobs, greater individual freedom, and even peace to the world has become the favorite promise of a large following of politicians who tell us that the new digital order will march forward irreversibly, being a given fact of technological progress whose consequences are in every respect as necessary as they are desirable. The ongoing, accelerating digital revolution penetrates all areas of our life and is thus fundamentally changing our civilization.

GN: What do you hope the forum will accomplish? In your opinion, what changes need to be made for the future?

It is for me not possible to predict the accomplishments of this important forum. I would sincerely hope that the discussion will not limit itself to purely technological or economistic questions.

GN: Do you have any closing thoughts?

Yes, in 2016, every day I closely followed the courageous protests against the abuse of political authority and power on Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul and in many other places in Korea. The glory of an impeccable democratic process does honor to the Korean people.

GN: Thank you very much for your time, Dr. Serexhe.

We look forward to welcoming you back to Gwangju for the ACF and are grateful for your many important contributions within the realm of culture and the arts.

It is our hope that the people of Gwangju and others around the world will come together as we discuss culture, technology, and creativity in the wake of the 4th Industrial Revolution at this year’s Asia Culture Forum 2017.

THE AUTHOR

Eden has been living in Korea since 2014 and enjoys reading, writing, snowboarding, and enchanting the locals with her violin when she can manage to find a spare minute away from her editing responsibilities at the Gwangju News. Eden became managing editor in September 2017.

November 2017

The concept of UNESCO Cultural Cities is, among others, to promote and to host the production of cultural content and to implement “culture” as a job-creating instrument in the domain of digital content. It is in these terms that the so-called 4th Industrial Revolution is closely related to art and culture. They have to question the manifold stimuli for cultural change and how these are related to social and political consequences. Culture does not stand against economy; on the contrary, it is the deepest source and the strongest catalyst of economy. Art as the creative process of research, analysis, and confrontation is not a product, nor a commercial commodity, that can be sold on the world market. As the conscience of society, it is the active process of being involved in gaining a higher awareness of things as they are, and as they should be, in a democratic society.

Very justly, and necessarily, the Gwangju Forum in September this year has already addressed the issues of democracy, human rights, and peace. The media and communications industries are consciousness industries with the largest impact on the further development of humanity. Given the rapid transition into a new, digitally dependent and controlled society, the Asia Culture Forum 2017 will also have to pose questions about democracy, human values, and sustainability in the ongoing 4th Industrial Revolution. The Asia Culture Forum 2017 offers a broad range of themes in which these questions will hopefully not be sidelined.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

GN: What, specifically, will you be discussing at the Asia Culture Forum? Can you give us a sneak preview?

GN: What might you say to our readers that would encourage them to attend this year’s forum? Why is it important?

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Electric Cars Making a Charge in Korea and Worldwide

FEATURE

Written by Douglas Baumwoll

I

n July, I was driving to Incheon Airport to head home for my summer vacation. I stopped at a roadside rest area to use the bathroom, as one does, and to get an order of those new delicious deep-fried potatoes available nationwide. Walking back to the car, eagerly stabbing a spud with the heavy, green, plastic toothpick and popping it into my mouth, I noticed something at the edge of the parking lot I’d never seen before in Korea: a public electric car charging station.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

A few weeks later, in the U.S., I was riding the bus into New York City. As we descended the ramp to the Lincoln Tunnel to cross under the Hudson River, I saw a huge billboard near the entrance advertising a hybrid car that gets incredible gas mileage. The passers-by riding in 19 million vehicles see that billboard every year. It struck me then that I needed to delve deeper into the growing presence of electric and hybrid cars I’ve noticed in daily life over the past few years.

Why talk about electrifying transportation?

Electric and hybrid car owners are no longer only the wealthy or super-eco types. In fact, most of you probably know someone who owns an EV (electric vehicle) or hybrid. I do, yet my specific knowledge about this facet of our overwhelmingly technologically driven world was sorely lacking. As I began writing this article, I quickly discovered that, as seemingly with most topics of interest these days, the whole electric car/hybrid world is way, way more complicated than it appears at first glance. There are many intertwined issues involving science, technology, environment, climate change, energy, and economics.

Following is the rundown on these issues, written in the most straightforward jargon I can muster. If you get to the end of the article, I’ve done my job. If you go and research some facts further, then I’ve really done my job. With an estimated 1.2 billion motorized vehicles burning fossil

fuels (and spewing noxious emissions) on the world’s roads today, talking about automotive transportation is one of the most important conversations we can have now. Future generations will be glad we did so.

What is happening in Korea with respect to EVs and hybrids?

The Korean government is optimistic that 30 percent of new car sales will be EV sales by 2030. More immediately, it intends to increase the number of fast charging stations nationwide to 6,000 by 2020 (up from 1,500 stations currently). These stations can provide a full battery charge in just 30 minutes. The government is also offering subsidies to carmakers so they can increase production to meet buyer demand. On the local level, there are many examples of promotion and investment in EVs in Korea.

In Suncheon, the local government will provide, gratis, 227 EVs to citizens this year. Besides this, it offers 22 million won in subsidies to anyone who buys a new EV. Finally, in Gumi, there are commercial bus routes that use electric buses whose batteries are recharged while they drive. Along 15 percent of a given route’s length, there are electric lines installed under the pavement, which wirelessly recharge the bus’s electric battery as it passes over.

“Nevertheless, generating the electricity that recharges EV batteries, especially on a scale of hundreds of millions of cars worldwide, is definitely a problematic issue.”

What is an electric car?

Okay, so let’s start with a few quick terms (there are

15 many more besides those I’ll mention here). The car you probably call an “electric car” is actually a “pure” electric vehicle, a PEV, or just EV for short. EVs run on 100 percent electricity taken from “plug-in” sources like a wall socket in your garage or a public charging station. In contrast, a “hybrid” (technically called a “hybrid electric vehicle”) burns gasoline, but at a slower rate than a “conventional” car using its internal combustion engine. Why? Because hybrids use some self-generated electricity while being driven. Currently, the mass-production car that travels the farthest using the least amount of gasoline is the Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid Blue. This model will propel you and your passengers over 58 miles (93 km) of roadway while burning just one gallon of gasoline (i.e., it gets 58 mpg). Using the metric system, this is a fuel consumption of 4.9 liters/100 km. You can drive this car 700 miles (1,120 km) on one 12-gallon (45-liter) tank of gas.

What kinds of numbers are we talking?

According to Forbes, roughly 90,000 passenger pure-EVs were delivered to customers worldwide by the top-10 EV automakers in the first quarter of 2017. Korea’s own Hyundai ranks seventh on this list, having produced 2,569 EVs. The infamous Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors delivered 20,000 vehicles, coming in second place to the Renault-Nissan Alliance at 26,000 (who knew?). In 2016, 750,000 EVs were sold worldwide (40% in China), bringing the total number of EVs on global roadways to 2 million. This is a significant number; however, we must remember that, although in absolute terms 2 million vehicles on the roads sounds like a lot, in relative terms it is but a miniscule 0.2% of all vehicles being driven in the world today.

Why buy?

According to The Atlantic magazine, 75 percent of people who would consider buying a hybrid car would do so to save on fuel costs. A typical hybrid will save a usual U.S. driver about $600 per year on gasoline at current gas prices. But to me and many others, reducing air pollution (from car exhaust fumes) that directly causes both climate change and public health injury is the real reason to switch the entire global fleet over to EVs. Savings on fuel costs is a secondary benefit.

In the near future, hybrid electric vehicles will need to be abandoned. Although improving fuel consumption, they still consume fossil fuels and emit greenhouse gases from their tailpipes. Both hybrids and conventional cars spew carbon dioxide,

November 2017

What are EVs and hybrids like today?

Let’s take a look at aesthetics and functionality.

My recollection of electric cars in the not-sodistant past was of a mundane-looking, cookie-cutter, sub-compact car for city use only, needing a recharge daily.

But things have changed. A lot.

Won’t I have to worry about running out of electricity?

Not anymore. Let’s take one example. Chevrolet’s pure EV, called the Bolt, can drive 238 miles (381 km) on a single charge. Remember, there’s no electricity lost or wasted when you are sitting in traffic or waiting at a traffic light.

The word “idling” literally does not apply to an EV. If you drive about 60 miles (96 km) per day, you’re good to go for four days on one charge. At home in your garage, this battery recharges from zero to full in nine and a half hours. The sticker price for this car is US$40,000.

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How long have EVs been around?

Amazingly, to me at least, the first EV appeared in the mid-1800s. By about 1910, however, the internal combustion engine had overtaken the auto market and accounted for virtually all passenger car sales. Recently, thanks to concerns over saving on fuel costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, EVs and hybrids are making a comeback. This is cause for celebration for aficionados.

In Korea, for example, there were just 311 EV cars on the roads in 2011, whereas today there are 11,000.

Again, however, in terms of percentages this number is insignificant, as there are 22 million registered vehicles in Korea.

This year’s Car and Driver top-10 picks for EV/hybrids come from automakers such as BMW, Chevrolet, Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and Toyota. Factories churn out compact cars, sedans, luxury sedans, minivans, sports utility vehicles, and high-performance sports cars of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Price tags are surprisingly affordable, as three of the top-10 models sell for less than US$25,000 (26 million won). For the speed freak, BMW, Porsche, Acura, Ferrari, and Aston Martin all make limited edition hybrids. How much will James Bond have to pay for his V-12, 6.5-liter-engine Aston Martin RB001?

A mere pittance, at just US$2.8 million.

16 methane, and nitrous oxide into the air. EVs spew nothing; they don’t even have tailpipes. Apart from greenhouse gases, fumes from your conventional car contain hazardous substances including carbon monoxide, nitrous dioxide, and benzene. Furthermore, diesel exhaust has been directly linked to lung cancer, qualifying it as carcinogenic.

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November 2017

Is there a catch?

Unfortunately, yes. It is not a straightforward discussion, but when we consider the entire process involved in (1) fabricating a car of any kind and (2) extracting and processing the fuel used – whether gasoline, diesel, or electricity generated from a power plant burning coal or natural gas – pollution of multiple kinds are produced.

Although debated, many scientists say that, all in all, fabricating and driving an EV produces less pollution per mile/km driven compared to a conventional car.

Nevertheless, generating the electricity that recharges EV batteries, especially on a scale of hundreds of millions of cars worldwide, is definitely a problematic issue. I believe, however, that the increased use of EVs on the road will spur innovation and reform in the entire electricityproducing grid, ultimately leading to less air pollution from transportation overall.

The Future Here is a quote from CNBC dated September 10, 2017: “China is joining France and Britain in announcing plans to end sales of gasoline and diesel cars.” It seems that gasoline-powered cars really may be on the brink of extinction. This is something I have hoped for my entire life. Combined with artificial intelligence and future abilities of cars to “communicate” with each other to avoid accidents, EVs are making a charge into the future, possibly changing the face of passenger and commercial road transportation as we have known it all of our lives.

THE AUTHOR

Doug Baumwoll, a professional writer and editor for 25 years, trains in-service teachers in writing skills and methodology.

His personal writing interests include visionary and speculative fiction, climate change, energy, and social justice. He is the founder of SavetheHumanz.com.

Gwangju Talks

17

Gwangju Talks The 4th Industrial Revolution Written by Douglas Baumwoll

TOPIC: Hey, folks. This month’s Gwangju Talks is

BACKGROUND: Allow me just a bit of background

INTERVIEWEES

2. What do you think one result for societies in general will be of the 4th Industrial Revolution?

Phil – The accessibility of information to the masses. For example, smartphones are available worldwide.

Mee-kyeong – Communication with foreign countries and people. With Wi-Fi and the Internet we are all connected closely. People can learn much information and skills online.

Seong-eun – People can get products easily or can make their own with a 3D printer.

Mi-mi – In my opinion, the ubiquitous use of cellphones and the Internet links people together everywhere.

3. Do you think the 4th Industrial Revolution will affect your professional field in some way?

Phil – Yes. There are more resources available to learners and teachers. Things like dictionaries and images are online and sharable.

Mee-kyeong – I think I should change my job (laughs).

In language education, learners can self-teach themselves languages. Today’s middle school kids can self-teach, and don’t want to learn from teachers. Tools like Google Translate in the future may get better. The world will change a lot in 5 or 10 years, so we must be flexible, especially parents, and prepare for the next generation with open minds.

November 2017

1. Phil Griffith, 46. From Winnipeg, Canada; lives in Gwangju. Teacher trainer.

2. Jung Mee-kyeong, 50. From Gwangju, lives in Gwangju. Civil servant at Jeollanamdo Board of Education.

3. Park Seong-eun, 29. From Yeosu, lives in Yeosu.

Public elementary school teacher.

4. Park Mi-mi, 27. From Shinan, Docho Island,

QUESTIONS 1. Have you ever heard of the term “The Fourth Industrial Revolution?”

Phil – You mean information technology? Yes. Mee-kyeong – Yes. Seong-eun – Yes. Mi-mi – Yes.

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here, folks. Honestly, I had never heard the term before writing this article. In fact, I was only aware of one Industrial Revolution ever having occurred.

So, very briefly: the 1st Industrial Revolution began about 200 years ago in Britain. It involved the mechanization of manufacturing and transportation by using steam engines (and rivers) as a source of power (think steamboats, railroads, and mills).

The 2nd Industrial Revolution, which began about 100 years ago, involved the beginning of true mass production through the “assembly line” employed in factories (think cars) and was powered by electricity.

The 3rd Industrial Revolution came in the 1970s with digitalization – personal computers, programmable machines, and the Internet. Finally, the 4th Industrial Revolution, happening now, connects the digital, physical, and even biological worlds. Examples include robots, the Cloud, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, and 3D printers.

lives in Mokpo. Public elementary school teacher.

FEATURE

about the “4th Industrial Revolution,” which is one of the themes of the Asia Culture Forum this month.

18 Seong-eun – Memorizing knowledge as a teacher and student will be unnecessary. There will be a huge demand for connecting knowledge and organizing information. It will be important to prioritize information to decide what to teach.

Mi-mi – In elementary school education, the next national curriculum is changing, and we will teach basic computer programming skills (e.g., coding) in elementary school. We will use 3D pens and printers in our schools.

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November 2017

4. Do you think the 4th Industrial Revolution will lead to a huge amount of unemployment and poverty, or will it lead to a society where everyone has a higher quality of life (e.g., income, leisure, cheaper products, clean environment)?

Phil – There will always be jobs for people, but they will be related to the industries that do well within the 4th Industrial Revolution. Regarding environment, I don’t think humans are capable of living in a way that allows for clean energy and environment.

Mee-kyeong – I think robots will take hard-labor jobs.

People can enjoy lives more in their free time. People need to think about how to help other people in the future.

Business may control government in the future more than today. The economic system will have to change, because robots don’t get paid, and maybe we can build houses in one day with a 3D printer.

Seong-eun – Factory workers will disappear because machines will be more effective than humans for manual labor. Displaced workers will have to perform jobs that only humans can do, such as caring for the elderly and counseling. Government may have to financially support people more. Competition between countries will increase.

High-tech is Korea’s resource.

Mi-mi – I think people will be able to get better-paying jobs, if they have a creative and well-trained mind.

5. What does the term “artificial intelligence,” or “AI,” mean to you?

Phil – AI means a self-aware computer or technology.

Mee-kyeong – Like the electronic helper on a smartphone, like Genie on Samsung. Things that organize work and information.

Seong-eun – Google has the AI “AlphaGo,” which defeated Lee Se-dol, the Korean go champion, 4 to 1.

Mi-mi – Something that is not human, but can produce human thinking.

FINAL THOUGHTS As a final note, here, I ask you to investigate the meaning of the term “artificial intelligence” or “AI” and what it means to you. Based on these interviews and multiple articles I have read, people’s connotative definitions vary widely. Is Siri really AI? What is the definition of intelligence? Does intelligence necessitate the ability to learn, or to experience

consciousness? There is another term in the scientific field, called “artificial general intelligence (AGI),” which is also known as “strong AI.” This is the stuff of science fiction, such as the android Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Some scientists and philosophers assert that strong artificial intelligence does not currently exist. AlphaGo, from DeepMind (owned by Google), for example, is called a “software” on its website, and not AI. Notwithstanding, AlphaGo “played a handful of highly inventive winning moves.” Going back to 1996, IBM’s famous supercomputer Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov in one chess match.

Deep Blue could not, however, learn to play checkers on its own based on its human programming and stored information. Here is the January 2016 perspective of Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, in an article on the Forum’s website: “Already, artificial intelligence is all around us, from selfdriving cars and drones to virtual assistants and software that translate or invest.”

The point is that we all must openly discuss what traits constitute intelligence, and therefore what precisely is artificial intelligence. The AGI of the original Terminator movie, one that learns and evolves and changes its behaviors in the real world, would surely be a very dangerous tool to use in global society. Read up on the Turing Test, the Coffee Test, and the Employment Test for more insight into this possibility. Society is certainly taking steps toward this type of strong AI, and people like Elon Musk, the South African entrepreneur who founded the technology companies Space X and Tesla Motors (among others) are very concerned about it, especially if it is incorporated into national defense strategies.

Ken Jennings, the 73-time winner of the popular trivia TV show Jeopardy, was soundly defeated by the IBM computer named “Watson” in 2011. He talks of two futures resultant from the 4th Industrial Revolution, and it will be up to everyone – government, business, and citizens alike – to decide what kind of future the world will have: one of plenty, leisure, clean energy, and clean environment, or one of a very high-skilled workforce that earns a lot coupled with a very low-skilled workforce earning nothing, and a completely displaced middle class in between, left to languish in unemployment and poverty.

THE AUTHOR Doug Baumwoll, a professional writer and editor for 25 years, trains in-service teachers in writing skills and methodology.

His personal writing interests include visionary and speculative fiction, climate change, energy, and social justice. He is the founder of SavetheHumanz.com.

Community Leaders

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▲ Left: Suk (second from left) and her colleagues at Kimchi Town. Right: Visiting students learning to make kimchi at Kimchi Town’s “Great Kitchen.”

COMMUNITY

Written and photographed by Madeline Miller

I

Growing up, Suk recalls that the desire to become a teacher was sparked by her father – watching him wake up early to study and prepare for his job as a professor at Chosun University. As an elementary student, she enjoyed helping and encouraging her classmates. During middle school, her dream shifted as a love for literature

Looking at Suk, one wonders how a person of such small stature could contain so much personality. She is a fashionista – but her younger sister, Miryeong, says Suk has always been “on point” with her style, yet “never having to try.” Suk says her role model is Cleopatra – she was “intelligent, self-controlled, independent, and wise.”

“She was beautiful,” Suk continues, “but always denied it, like me.” Suk also admires her role model for her linguistic ability. “I only know Korean and a little Chinese and English. She knew five languages! She could talk to anyone!” Suk says. As she gets older, Suk complains that language learning has been getting harder, but her sister insists that that is another reason to admire her – for her tenacity for learning.

In addition to publishing several kimchi cookbooks and writing poetry, Suk has “recently” (according to her, but what she really means is in the last 20 years) become interested in art. Some of Suk’s favorite artists include Cézanne, Degas, van Gogh, Picasso, and traditional Korean artist Kim Hongdo (김홍도). She especially appreciates these artist’s still life paintings and makes it a point to visit the best art sites and museums when

November 2017

Kim Jeong-suk has been in the kimchi-making business for decades. As a child, she dreamed of being a teacher and poet – now, she’s both. She travels abroad at least once a month, doing what she does best: creating new types of kimchi from ingredients available in the host country, teaching local chefs how to prepare traditional kimchi, and judging local cultural competitions. As a cultural ambassador for Korea, she receives government support for her projects and travel, and is apparently loving every minute of it.

was born. Reminiscing on her school days, she says “the pictures are so clear” in poetry, bringing emotions she “didn’t know [were] there.” She claims she wanted to be a “poetress” – it sounds more intentional, she insists, than a “sad poet man.”

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f you run a simple Google search on “kimchi,” you’re likely to find between three and five varieties. If you’re searching in English, especially, you’ll have no idea what the majority of the ingredients are because these vegetable names, translated, all come out pretty much the same: “cabbage,” “lettuce,” “pepper paste.” Korean has many names for ingredients and cooking processes we don’t necessarily distinguish in English. But more than that, there are actually hundreds of kinds of kimchi, most of which the Western world is and has been completely ignorant about for all of history.

COMMUNITY

Suk and Her Kimchi

20 20 became developing the community’s involvement with Kimchi Town, located in Nam-gu, Gwangju, which she calls the “kimchi mecca of the world.” According to her, Jeollanam-do, and specifically Gwangju, has the perfect particulars for kimchi ingredients and preparation: yearly temperatures allow for the best fermentation and preservation processes; ideal soil for nutrient (and thus flavor) enrichment in radish, cabbage and other vegetables; and the mountains surrounding the area, which protect inhabitants and ingredients alike from the harsher elements. While kimchi has over 1,300 years of history, Suk insists that the “spirit and culture [of kimchi] will never die; the method may change, but kimchi is always alive.” ▲ Suk helping the students make kimchi.

November 2017

Suk’s interest in kimchi began as she was a high school student preparing for entrance into university. As stated earlier, she had had the inkling of an idea to become a teacher but didn’t know what specific subject to study.

Miryeong shares that Suk always liked food, and she studied Korean cuisine and education. From there, people can specialize in different areas, like health, taste and preparation, or education. Suk studied the nutritional benefits of kimchi, like the fact that fermentation creates a lactic acid that’s said to be anti-aging. She says, “Koreans are thin, healthy, and have good skin because of so much kimchi.” According to her, the average Korean adult living in Korea will eat nearly a pound of kimchi every day, giving them a definite advantage over the average person in the Western world who’s probably never had any kimchi.

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she travels – places like the British Museum of Art, Napoleon’s grave and War Museum, van Gogh’s grave, and the Louvre rank among her favorites. She insists she “almost always reads,” pointing to a stack of collectable classics in her office bookshelves. Korean translations of David Copperfield, Moby Dick, and Little Women sit next to books on Degas’ impact on the art world. She says that these things inspire her to make an art of her food and drive her to teach about food like the “greats taught art and poetry.”

After learning of the health benefits of kimchi, Suk realized that the cultural value of kimchi is diminishing.

Korean women are entering the workforce more and staying longer than their predecessors, making kimchi preparation less of a priority and one left to the grandmothers. More and more people buy, rather than make, their own kimchi, meaning young people don’t know how to prepare the food they “need more than anything.” Because of this, one of Suk’s major life goals

As she travels, Suk enjoys the struggle of experimenting as often as she would like; when teaching abroad, finding traditional kimchi ingredients is difficult or impossible.

She recalls traveling in Vietnam and Mexico specifically, hunting for ingredients just a few days before kimchi workshops, settling for non-traditional ingredients like mango. “The good thing about kimchi,” she says, “[is] you can make it from anything; fruit, vegetables, tofu, anything.” Some of the most common forms of kimchi are the stereotypical Napa cabbage kimchi (배추김치, baechu kimchi), radish kimchi (깍두기, kkakdugi), and easy kimchi (막김치, mak kimchi), which is basically the same as the Napa cabbage kimchi, just integrating a couple of shortcuts to make the process easier.

Aside from being an ambassador abroad, Suk is also a local teacher. She donates her time at Kimchi Town, having officially passed the legal retirement age but wanting to maintain the creative outlet teaching provides her. Usually each year Kimchi Town holds two kimchi festivals on their campus: one in spring and one in fall.

This year, though, due to the demand and overcrowding issues in previous years, there are a total of three: in May, September, and November. On a given day at Kimchi Town, there could be as many as 300 visiting students, whether elementary school students or tourists on a cultural expedition.

On September 29, a group of 107 sixth-graders visited Kimchi Town. After a brief tour of the kimchi museum, which explains kimchi’s long history, the students heard from a kimchi expert on Suk’s staff. After the short lecture on preparation and safety, students flooded the “Great Kitchen” – rows of counters and sinks filled with the necessary ingredients for baechu kimchi. Suk whipped around corners to help students tie aprons and chop radishes, hardly saying a word, just putting her hands where there was a need. At first, students seemed a little timid, facing the petite whirlwind, but seeing her intent was to help and not harm, they quickly warmed up to her.

21 Kimchi Town also regularly hosts government-sponsored groups of Korean language students from nearby universities like Chonnam and Chosun. These students, depending on the class type, can receive a Korean cuisine certificate from the academy. Generally, classes are 12,000 won per student to make one kilo of kimchi, but Suk urges that “any foreigners who want to come can make a group, and I can get the money for them!” As an ambassador, Suk urged me to invite you, the readers of the Gwangju News, to “come make good food for free!” Classes are not limited to kimchi alone. In July, Suk taught a group of Vietnamese students from Chosun about Korean cuisine, including bean sprout soup (콩나물국, kongnamul-guk) and japchae (잡채).

The kimchi-making process is actually fairly easy – Suk stresses that while she teaches, she’s always telling students, “It’s not hard, you just need time. You need to care, and that takes time. But it’s so easy to make!” Typical ingredients are gochu-jang (고추장, red chili paste), one or two base vegetables (cabbage, radish, carrot, cucumber, etc.), and a paste made of blended shrimp or anchovies, green onions, vegetable stock, and sesame seeds. From there, there are many variations. Suk graciously prepared some I could eat (I don’t handle spicy food well) by simply leaving out

the gochu-jang. Because there are hundreds of varieties, she indicates that there are types of kimchi for every palate – “sweet, sour, spicy, [or] boring.” Haenam’s kimchi is known for being sweeter, for example, while Gwangju’s is generally spicier. Japanese-style kimchi is freshly made and resembles salad but should be eaten on the same day.

Korean kimchi is notorious for its long shelf life, aging like wine – longer is better, some lasting years and “getting healthier [as] it gets older.” Suk says her favorite kimchi is summer radish kimchi (열무김치, yeolmu kimchi), made with whole young radishes, garlic, ginger, and green onions. This type is usually eaten with cold noodles (냉면, naengmyeon) during summer months. But, aside from kimchi, Suk’s favorite food is any kind of Korean pancake ( 전, jeon) because it’s also easy to create according to taste – “just cut small, small, small, and stir!”

THE AUTHOR Maddy is a grandma’s lifestyle in a 23-yearold’s body. She has too many hobbies, most prevalent of which are reading, exploring, and chasing the children off her lawn (if only she had one). Her favorite food is anything that isn’t spicy or olives.

Since 2000

(former Body&Soul Clinic)

The International Clinic in Gwangju

Phone: 062-525-0606 www.geomedclinic.com ** The best landmark for our clinic is “Buk-gu District Office” ** On the 1st Floor of our building, there is a “Paris Baguette”. Our clinic is located on the 5th Floor.

November 2017

For More Info:

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Family Medicine, Health Screening, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Minor Surgery, Travel Medicine, Vaccination, Complementary Medicine, Pre-employment Health Screening, Laboratory Test (Blood, Urine, Pap, STD), X-ray & Ultrasound, Prescription Refill, Nutrition (Intravenous Vitamins & Minerals), Detox (Chelation & Fasting), Anti Aging, Immune Booster, Weight Management.

22 In Town

Barim: An “Outside the Box” Art Venue in Downtown Gwangju Written by Laureline Claeys with contributions by Douglas Baumwoll Photographs courtesy of Laureline Claeys

Barim is not simply an art exhibition hall. It’s a space devoted to many folks in Gwangju: artists, art students, art critics, curators, visitors, art lovers, and the art-curious.

It offers a varied palette of artistic events: exhibitions, residencies, workshops, lectures, showcases, concerts, artrelated social gatherings, and even parties. Picture Barim as a constantly evolving paradigm that grows depending on Kang’s encounters, daily collaborations, and funding.

Kang explains, “Barim is a loose organization based on a collective of artists, art event-makers, art curators, critics, and supporters. It all creates a strong social network.”

The name of the venue itself is innovative, inspired by a traditional Korean shading technique used in painting.

Therefore, you might imagine that Barim would focus on promoting traditional forms of art. What initially caught Kang’s attention, however, is not the literal meaning of the word, but rather the fact that it’s catchy and easy to remember for everyone, including foreigners. She was also beguiled by the metaphorical aspect it embodies: the mastery of color shading and graduation can be seen as a way to blur boundaries and to create slight connections between things that at first glance appear distinctly different. In this sense, Kang promotes a vision of an interdisciplinary artistic creation, in which visual art can be transcended by installation, performance, sound, video, programming, or experimentation.

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November 2017

COMMUNITY

I

f you are living in Gwangju and have an interest in the artistic scene of this delightful city, then you need to check out Barim. The essence of this artists’ venue is as diverse as the energy of its creator and director, Kang Min-hyung. Kang and I met last month and discussed passionately art, creativity, culture, and of course, Gwangju and Barim. The project began in Spring 2014 and has grown stronger ever since, becoming an important element of the Gwangju art scene. So, what makes this venue so unique and attractive?

▲ Kang Min Hyung, the director and creator of the venue, on Barim’s rooftop.

23 Kang’s story is a fascinating one. As the director of the venue, she dedicates all her energy, passion, and time to keep the place afloat and support the new projects coming in. “In terms of running and organizing, receiving and paying money, I’m doing everything by myself,” she says.

Originally from Seoul, Kang left for the United States at 18, then lived in Tokyo for eight years, where she completed her master’s degree in art. She eventually decided to quit her well-paying full-time job in an advertising company in order to pursue her artistic career. She decided to participate in a curatorial residency in Vietnam for a year, then finally came back to Seoul after 13 years abroad. “I had a hard time living in Seoul,” she confesses, “because half of the population lives there, it’s very competitive in any field, and it takes two hours on the subway every day. This was really not cool to me.” Also, Kang didn’t want to live in Seoul only to perpetuate the idea that “there is no other place to be” when it comes to doing art-related business in South Korea.

She felt it was important to do something meaningful in the art world without having to stay in the capital. In her opinion, the strong centralization in South Korea creates a deep division based on geography between Korean people and culture. “The country needs to move toward decentralization [from Seoul],” she says. After searching for a city that she felt could benefit from her project and where she was also interested in living, she finally decided to open her art space here in Gwangju.

there were really a lot of people who wanted this kind of space,” she says.

Kang thinks that artists have to both stay open to new forms of art and constantly renew their approach. “Learning something new is important,” Kang says. In that sense, she designed Barim to be an art space that put its main focus on process-based art, conceptual approaches, and new art mediums. “I felt there are so many artists out there who want to experiment in a work in progress. They might fail, because it’s experimentation . . . When you experiment with a completely new medium, you need a space for failure, and I felt that didn’t really exist in Gwangju”.

In the end, Barim’s main function is to provide residencies that allow artists and curators to learn, research, conceptualize, experiment, and discover new and intriguing artistic endeavors. This venue gives space for attempts and failures, as failing has to be seen only as what it is: a part of the never ending learning process, a stepping stone on the path of experimentation and creation. Kang’s most recent project was ambitious and involved the first curatorial residencies for young, Gwangju-based curators.

The three-month residency period just showcased a sixday, grand art opening on October 21. I encourage you to join the Facebook group “Gwangju Barim” or to check the venue’s website www.barimart.wordpress.com to find more information about past and coming events. You too, dear reader, can be a part of Barim’s growing art lovers network!

November 2017

THE AUTHOR Laureline Claeys holds a BA in modern literature and a MA in linguistics. Over the years, she has participated in research and journalistic writing projects. Her interests include creative writing, live performance, and visual art. Her solo art exhibition premiered in September 2017 in Gwangju, involving poems and illustrations. She currently teaches French at Chonnam National University.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

“At first it was a short-term project. I wasn’t that optimistic,” she says. Coming here as an outsider was not easy. She did know the city a bit, as she had attended an alternative high school in Damyang, but she had no personal connections here when she came back. Gwangju was essentially a big unknown for her, but the challenge did not frighten her.

She felt Gwangju was a city full of contradictions – being both politically liberal and socially conservative while looking at the same time forwards and backwards – that still manages to develop. “Being an observer of what happens here,” she explains, “is an interesting trigger for an artist.” Nevertheless, when she arrived, she found that there wasn’t much of a contemporary art context here. “Things were going on, but I felt they were a lot more focused on traditional media. I wanted to do something more conceptual,” she adds. For example, one of her core ideas was to create bridges between artistic and everyday life by bringing art into the residency areas. So, as soon as Kang arrived, she rented spaces in a goshiwon (고시원, a very small but affordable accommodation with a shared bathroom, typically rented by workers or students) in downtown Gwangju. She installed exhibitions and residency artists in several of those tiny spaces. After initially feeling that the public was not used to this unique idea, being more familiar with clean “white-cube” galleries, Barim then developed so fast that Kang now rests assured that the city is ready for many other inventive projects. “In fact, it turned out that

▲ Barim show, workshop, and event space.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017 COMMUNITY

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The GPP Presents The Taming of the Shrew

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Written by Ender Waters Photo courtesy of Gwangju Performance Project

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t was January of this year, and I was sitting on a beach in Thailand when my phone buzzed. My good friend and frequent collaborator, Cat Neil, former president of the Gwangju Performance Project (GPP), had messaged me.

“We talked it over, and they want you to do Shakespeare in the fall instead of the spring,” the message read.

I paused for a moment and considered. My contract was due to finish in August, and I hadn’t fully decided whether I wanted to renew or not. A lot could happen between January and November.

A few months earlier, neck-deep in rehearsals for the GPP’s annual fundraiser, The Cabaret, I had been talking with Cat about the shows the English language theater group were planning to do in 2017.

“I’d love for us to do Shakespeare in the Park,” she had said.

The idea appealed to me. “I’d love to direct Shakespeare in the Park,” I replied.

“What play would you want to do?”

I paused for a moment and considered before answering with a grin. “The Taming of the Shrew…with inverted genders.”

Back on that beach in Thailand, I made my decision. “I guess I’m renewing my contract,” I said aloud to myself. I then downloaded a copy of the play and got to work.

With recent GPP productions Counterparts and No Man’s Land having dealt with rather intense subjects such as AIDS, racism, sexual abuse, and the pitfalls of capitalism, we decided to keep the tone of Taming a little bit naughty, bawdy, and above all, entertaining. Our iteration of the play is not set in any specific time period, so you’ll see cell phones and radios next to swords and 17th century frills.

We had a whole lot of wonderful auditions, ranging from Gwangju and GPP favorites like Jack George (Bianco) and Rachel St. John (Petruchia) to talented newbies like Kaitlyn Wachter. We even have three (very talented) actors coming down from Iksan every weekend.

Overall, we really hope all those who attend the play have an absolute ball and laugh till they’re falling out of their seats.

The Taming of the Shrew opens November 11th at Yunbaram Theater. For more details, see www. gwangjutheater.com.

THE AUTHOR

Though Ender Waters grew up in Melbourne, Australia he doesn’t know (and doesn’t care) where “home” is any more. He went to film school in Los Angeles and, after graduating and deciding he didn’t like working a corporate job, promptly moved to Gwangju, where he has lived for two years. He enjoys watching movies, reading books, occasional photography, and traveling to as many places as he can.

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I was pretty sure that a simple inversion of the genders would fix most of the problems and also add many more opportunities for comedy. So, once I had lit on the idea, I knew that this was one hundred percent what I wanted to do.

Although I have a fair amount of experience directing short films, this would be my first time directing a fulllength play, and I wanted a solid crew around me. Monique Onyema, co-president of the GPP, agreed to produce, while Robyn Morgan, the other co-president of the GPP, would serve as my assistant director. Long-time Gwangju resident Sarah Hale would be the stage manager.

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Arguably Shakespeare’s most well-known romantic comedy, The Taming of the Shrew has been consistently and frequently updated and retold, perhaps most familiarly in the 1990s teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, starring Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon Levitt. But the original play, despite being uproariously hilarious, trumpets a view of romantic relationships and appropriate courting that is off-putting and uncomfortable for most modern audiences.

GPP members quickly became excited about the project.

As is the case in many theater groups, there are often more women than men involved in our GPP performances, and with the gender inversion, there were a lot of juicy roles up for grabs.

26 Kitchen Stories

Galbi Steak Written and photographed by Karly Pierre Translation by Karina Prananto

FOOD & DRINKS

K

im Chul-woo rushes into the side door of the restaurant a few minutes late. After quickly bowing to me, he darts off to the kitchen. As a new parent to twin baby boys, he’s often flustered these days. When he emerges from the kitchen and takes a seat across from me, he’s calmer and smiling brightly.

teach, but at that time there were no cooking classes at universities in Gwangju,” says Kim. “I taught a few fruit carving lectures at the YMCA and cooking lectures at academies until finally a cooking department at Gwangju Health University opened. I was hired and have worked there ever since.”

“Did you enjoy the meal?” he asks, pointing to my empty plate.

Kim tries to instill in his students a carefree and creative approach to food. “Cooking is like any art,” he says. “A chef can create his own unique identity through food.

At some point as a chef, you can’t be held back by what people say you can or can’t do. I never listen to those people. I make food that my guests can appreciate, and I don’t aim to attain some artificial idea of a master chef. I do whatever I like.”

A few minutes earlier, I had just finished eating three healthy portions of fish cutlet (생선 까스). The meal, Kim explains, was prepared by his younger brother, who was once a sous chef at Namsan Tower in Seoul and now coowns this restaurant, Cafe Ddakddaguri (카페 딱따구리) in Sangmu, with him.

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November 2017

When they opened the restaurant three months ago, Kim, 43, thought it was a great opportunity to express his two loves: art and cooking. He points out the artwork that lines the walls of his restaurant, all of which he created.

“I really wanted to go to art school when I was young, but unfortunately my parents could not afford it,” says Kim. “As a kid I was super quiet and usually stayed in my room drawing or writing poems. I decided to apply to a technical high school to study cooking without telling my parents. I wasn’t really interested in cooking, but I wasn’t doing well in regular school, and I wanted to do something different.”

As a child growing up in Jangseong, he says most meals his mother cooked were nothing out of the ordinary.

“Cold winter days were special though,” says Kim. “My mother would make mussel and radish soup (홍합무국) for my friends and me when we came home after sledding in the snow or making a snowman . . . My grandmother was from the countryside and made a special, ripe kimchi stew (묵은지김치찌개). I remember looking in the pot and seeing the pork buried in kimchi.”

After graduating from cooking school, Kim began building his career by entering cooking competitions and working at various restaurants. “I really wanted to

In fact, Kim says he never really considered himself a chef until two years ago, when he cooked for his parents for the first time. “It was my father’s 70th birthday party,” he says. “I had been cooking for over 23 years but never had the time to cook for my parents before. When I served my father the beef galbi that I had prepared, I cried. And every time I think about that moment I want to cry again.

I thought to myself, ‘if I could have done this for them earlier, I would have matured so much faster.’ That’s the day I became a real chef.”

In the future, Kim hopes to open a restaurant and start an art village in his hometown of Jangseong. He imagines traditional wooden pavilions near a pond, buzzing with talented artists. “I believe this dream will come true in maybe two or three years,” he says with a smile.

On my way out, I notice a cluster of drawings of a woodpecker (ddakddaguri, in Korean). “Ah, yes,” he says.

“I like them because they never stop working.”

THE AUTHOR Karly Pierre has an MA in mass communication and has worked as an editor and writer for several publications. She is currently an assistant professor in the ESL department at Chosun University.

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GALBI STEAK

This is the same recipe for galbi steak that Kim prepared for his father’s 70th birthday party. Kim says that even though this is a cheaper cut of beef, it has the texture of a more expensive cut.

▲ Chef Kim Chul-woo

Marinade onion kiwi olive oil

Sauce Ingredients 100 ml teriyaki sauce 5 grams ginger syrup sesame oil butter starch

Garnish freshly grated parmesan cheese fresh basil mixed baby lettuce basil oil

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Method Remove fat from the short ribs and season with salt and pepper. Grate some onion and kiwi pulp.

Mix the kiwi and onion juice in olive oil and marinade the short ribs for one day. Put butter and olive oil in a pan. Sear the ribs and cook onions in the pan lightly. Place the ribs and onions in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Add butter to the pan that the ribs were cooked in. Toss in sliced mushrooms and sauté. Mix ginger syrup, sesame oil, teriyaki sauce and a dash of starch in a bowl. Add five mushrooms to the sauce. In a pan, lightly fry a cluster of grated parmesan cheese.

Place short ribs on a plate. Pour sauce over the ribs and add onion and mushrooms. Place mixed baby lettuce and a sliced roma tomato beside the ribs. Sprinkle on freshly chopped basil and a touch of basil oil. Top with fried parmesan.

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Ingredients 150 grams short ribs (갈비살) 50 grams yellow onion 30 grams white beech mushrooms (만가닥버섯) 30 grams matsutake mushrooms (새송이버섯) 1 roma tomato black pepper salt

28 Where to Eat

Contua Written and photographed by Justin Ramsay

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

FOOD & DRINKS

S

ince moving to Gwangju almost five years ago, I have noticed a definite boom in the number of foreign food restaurants, with many young people growing up in the age of globalization and social media.

This has led to more open-minded attitudes and more of a willingness to embrace other cultures, specifically foreign cuisine. Korean food is great, but as the saying goes, “variety is the spice of life,” and most people, especially foreign residents, are incredibly thankful for the wider array of dining options that are becoming available in our city. We now have the option of eating food from India, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Spain, Greece, and France, among others. This month’s featured restaurant is a lovely little Italian restaurant called Contua.

There has never been a shortage of pizza available in Korea during my time here; however, most of these offerings are from large franchises and are very mass-produced and “Koreanized” with toppings such as sweet potato, bulgogi, and corn. Spaghetti, too, is widely available at many cafeteria-style restaurants and can be found on many menus, but this too is often bland and tastes like a packaged microwave meal. Restaurants that specialize in Italian cuisine are few and far between, so when I found out about this place in Jisan-dong, I was very excited to give it a try.

Jisan-dong is located right behind Dongmyeong-dong, and Contua is on the main road leading up to the courthouse. The restaurant was quite easy to find as it had a clear sign and a green door and shutters. From outside, Contua resembles a boutique that one might find when walking through the streets of Europe. The black chalkboard menu along with a bicycle with curved handles and shopping basket parked outside definitely gives the place a European look. The lace curtains that are visible in the windows give the front of the restaurant a certain charm and very welcoming look.

Upon stepping inside, one immediately notices the simple but stylish wooden tables and chairs, which are painted white and compliment well the wall and tile color of the interior. Subtle lighting, sparsely placed wall decorations,

and elegant placemats help to create a pleasant, comfortable dining space. The two staff at the restaurant greeted my wife and I with friendly smiles as we took our seats and started to look through the menu.

The menu was just a couple of pieces of paper on a wooden clipboard. The chef explained that the menu is seasonal, and there are often changes made depending on the availability and freshness of ingredients. He wants to always use the best fresh ingredients to give diners quality food. Also worth mentioning is that the menu has Italian names for the dishes with explanations in Korean, but a quick look at Google translate will solve this problem if you don’t know either of these languages. The menu that we looked at had two starters: baked eggplant and bruschetta.

The menu also had a selection of about ten pasta dishes including beef lasagna, carbonara, mushroom, rose, bolognaise, seafood, and Italian cheese with spicy black pepper. The two pizzas on the menu were gorgonzola and margarita. Rounding off the food menu was medallions of pork steak with red onion and parmesan. On the last page, there was a small drinks menu with a selection of wines, beers, and sodas.

We ordered the eggplant, two-cheese spaghetti with black pepper, margarita pizza, and pork steak. It only took around ten minutes for the first dish to arrive, which was the eggplant. This starter came on a long, rectangular plate with the eggplant cut in half, baked, and topped with tomato sauce, baby salad, and parmesan cheese. It was perfectly sized for sharing. All the ingredients tasted very fresh, and the eggplant had been cooked for just the right amount of time. The tomato sauce was tasty, without too much acidity, and the baby salad and sprinkling of parmesan cheese added just the right amount of flavor and texture to the dish.

Next to arrive was the spaghetti and pizza. The spaghetti was not the most interesting dish I have ever seen, but the flavor made up for it – which is the most important thing.

The pasta was creamy with granules of fresh, strong hard cheese and a generous dusting of parmesan cheese on top, creating a look almost like snow. The spaghetti was not

29

▲ Clockwise from top left: Margarita pizza, pork steak, restaurant exterior, baked eggplant, and two-cheese spaghetti with black pepper.

Finally, my favorite dish among those I tried was the pork steak. This dish was a little pricy at 17,000 won, but it was absolutely delicious. The presentation on the plate was very good with four, evenly sized, pork steak medallions on a bed of baby salad and topped with crisscrossing strips of red onion. On the side was a stroke of white, tangy sauce and a dollop of whole mustard. The meat itself was perfectly cooked, seasoned all the way through, and very tender. This dish was also very easy to share as there was no need to cut up a large piece of meat because

THE AUTHOR

I enjoyed my meal at Contua and am eager to try the other dishes on the menu. If you’re in the mood for some Italian food or just want some nice pork that isn’t samgyeopsal, then I recommend giving Contua a try.

CONTUA 꼰뚜아 Address: 광주 동구 동명로 98 98 Dongmyeong-ro, Dong-gu, Gwangju Telephone: 062-415-9258 Operating Hours: 11:30–21:30 (Closed for break: 15:00–17:00) Price Range: 10,000–20,000 won

Justin is an English teacher from South Africa who has lived in Gwangju since 2013. He is a big fan of food and the arts, and generally goes where something good can be eaten, seen, or heard. He is often involved in GPP performances and writes monthly food articles for the Gwangju News. In his free time, he’s usually playing board games, video games, or just enjoying a nice stroll around Gwangju.

November 2017

it came in the form of medallions.

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overcooked and the flavor of the strong cheese and black pepper was very well balanced. Prior to being served, we saw the chef rolling the dough and preparing the pizza through the large, open area between the dining area and the kitchen, which I enjoyed as I could see where my food was coming from and that it is all freshly prepared.

The pizza arrived on a thick wooden board and had an imperfectly shaped, homemade look rather than a typical, perfectly round pizza which you get at all the franchises.

The crust was one of the best crusts I have eaten in a long time. It was perfectly crunchy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. The pizza had a good cheese-to-tomato ratio, and it was an absolute pleasure to eat.

SPORTS & ACTIVITIES

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▲ Riders at Muju Deogyusan Resort. (Photo by Erlo Brown)

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November 2017

Skiing and Snowboarding in South Korea Written by E.J. Jones Photographs courtesy of Joy Rako and Erlo Brown

Y

ou have been feeling it for weeks now. That cool autumn breeze, and with it, a nip that hints at Korea’s frigid winter on the horizon. Most people probably do not think about skiing or snowboarding or anything related to snow until the fluffy white stuff begins to cover the ground. Then there are addicts like me who think about it year round, who dream of it in our sleep.

Despite my love for snowboarding, I tend to procrastinate on buying my season pass until it is too late to get the significantly reduced price of the early-bird sign-ups for most resorts. Well, guess what? This year I am ahead of the game. With my season pass to Welli Hilli Park

Resort purchased for just 270,000 won – a fraction of the 640,000-won full price, all I have to do now is wait for the snow. If you are reading this and kicking yourself for not looking into purchasing a season pass sooner, never fear.

There are sure to be great deals still around if you get on it now.

Perhaps you are not a fanatic like me, but you do enjoy taking a couple of trips to the mountain every season and you are wondering where the best places to go are and how much it will cost you. In general, most resorts I have seen run between 65,000–90,000 won for one adult day pass.

31 On top of that, if you do not have your own equipment, you will have to dish out about an extra 20,000–30,000 won for ski or snowboard rental, plus another 15,000 or so for clothing to keep you dry and comfortable in the elements. This does not include food or bus fare to the resort! As you can see, skiing and snowboarding are expensive (and these are prices you will see everywhere, not just South Korea). Luckily, you can save a ton of cash by owning your own equipment, purchasing a season pass, or joining an all-inclusive trip with a tour company such as Enjoy Korea or Wink.

As for which resort to choose, there are many options.

Having lived in Korea for three years now, I have had the opportunity to visit multiple resorts, including: Muju Deogyusan Resort, High 1, and Phoenix Park. There are many other resorts besides these to check out as well, but those I have just mentioned are some of the best.

MUJU DEOGYUSAN RESORT The first resort I visited when I came to Korea was Muju due to it being the closest in proximity to Gwangju compared with other resorts. By bus, it takes roughly two hours to reach the resort (faster if you are lucky enough to find a buddy with a car), and I have heard rumors that there is a direct bus that can take you from Gwangju straight to the mountain, although I unfortunately found

out about this service too late to make use of it. What I experienced at Muju was a lovely, family-friendly resort with decent snow and nice, long trails. There is also at least one really nice spa at the resort for soaking in the hot tubs after a frigid day on the slopes. In addition, there is a great shopping area for those friends not so keen on spending all day in the cold. For me, the biggest drawback to this resort was that there was not much of a free-style terrain park, which is a must for me. Also, the cost to stay in the resort’s overnight accommodation was quite pricy, in my opinion. On the flip side, the resort actually has two peaks which means, for the person who just wants to cruise, there are more than enough trails to keep one busy for a good couple of days.

HIGH 1 RESORT High 1 was the second resort I experienced in Korea.

I found out about the resort upon joining two tourist organizations called Enjoy Korea and Wink, which organize ski and snowboard trips for foreigners each year (they also organize other similar types of trips with other activities year round). I highly recommend taking one of these trips if you are new to the area and want a hasslefree way to enjoy the slopes at a discounted rate and also meet some new shred buddies along the way. Last year I remember paying less than 200,000 won for a two-day trip that included riding, bus fare, equipment rental, and

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November 2017

▲ Snowboarding with friends and Muju Deogyusan Resort. Left to right: Erlo Brown, Eden Jones, Lauren Brown, Vic Jung. (Photo taken by a kind passerby.)

32

â–˛ A rider performing a nose-press in the freestyle park at High 1 Resort. (Photo by Joy Rako)

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November 2017

accommodation! As for my experience at High 1, I found this resort to be a big step-up from Muju for my personal tastes. They had a huge park, super-friendly staff, and modern facilities. Since this resort is further away from Gwangju, I would stay with a friend in Seoul on Friday night, and then we would take the resort bus for two hours to the resort from there. I actually bought a pass to High 1 last year for under 300,000 won, which paid for itself in just four trips. My time at High 1 was pleasant, and I highly recommend it.

PHOENIX PARK Last year in the middle of the season, my friend in Seoul discovered a snowboard club online. This club is one a foreigner would normally be unlikely to find, unless their Korean was very good since all of the information was in Korean. The club consisted of about 50 or so members (all Korean) who went to Phoenix Park every weekend.

The best benefit of joining the club, aside from having a ton of people to ride the slopes with, was that the group had reserved a chunk of rooms in the accommodation across the street from the resort, allowing members to stay overnight for the insanely low price of 20,000 won!

The freestyle terrain park at this resort turned out to be even better than High 1, with plenty of features and great variety. Phoenix Park will host the freestyle snowboarding and ski events for the 2018 winter Olympics happening in February this season, so unfortunately, their main terrain park will not be open to the public (at least this is what I have heard). Because of this, I have decided to try out a new resort this year called Welli Hilli, which has

a free shuttle bus from Seoul that takes about two hours to travel to. Fingers are crossed for a terrain park that is comparable to Phoenix Park Resort.

There you have it, a little bit on skiing and snowboarding in South Korea. As I mentioned earlier, there are many other resorts in Korea to try out. An important one I have not mentioned yet and of which I have heard many wonderful things is Yongpyong, reportedly the largest and best resort in the country. It takes three hours to reach this resort by bus from Seoul, and much longer from Gwangju. Unfortunately, like Phoenix Park, Yongpyong is hosting part of the winter Olympics and will be partially closed to the public this season. Whatever resorts you choose to visit, skiing and snowboarding are always an amazing time no matter where you go, so long as you are well prepared and take a couple of friends along for the ride. There are various Facebook groups I recommend connecting to, which will be helpful in finding the best deals, events, and like-minded snow enthusiasts like myself, so be sure to search for these. See you on the slopes!

THE AUTHOR

Eden has been living in Korea since 2014 and enjoys reading, writing, snowboarding, and enchanting the locals with her violin when she can manage to find a spare minute away from her editing responsibilities at the Gwangju News. Eden became managing editor in September 2017.

Around Korea

33

Naejangsan Autumn Paradise

Written and photographed by Stephanie and Ryan Hedger

TRAVEL www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

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November 2017

S

outh Korea’s most beautiful season is upon us, and no matter what other people claim as being the perfect autumn leaves destination, we’re convinced the splendor of this final flurry of color is best seen in North Jeolla Province. For our money, Naejangsan National Park is the most beautiful place in all of Korea to witness the dramatic change of color and season. Sure, Bukhansan and Seoraksan get all of the publicity – and justifiably so – but the mountains, location, temples, and population density of Naejangsan make for an incredible destination that we’re glad most people overlook. In the fall is the most crowded you’ll see this park, but the number of people is significantly less than the aforementioned parks that are more well known for their autumn foliage.

HARMONY WITH NATURE Never before in my time exploring South Korea have we been as awestruck by seasonal landscapes as we were the first time we visited Naejangsan in fall. The landscaping of the initial park near the entrance, interspersed with the perfectly situated buildings and pagodas, makes for a jaw-dropping first impression. For people uninterested in hiking the mountains, a visit to Naejangsan National Park is still worth their time and energy, as every inch is teeming with color. Once inside the park, there are tree-lined pathways, a pond with a picturesque pagoda in the middle, and pathways leading to a couple of temples.

The relationship between people and nature is perfectly balanced in these places, and the changing colors in the trees balances beautifully with the traditional style of the temple and park buildings.

HIKING NAEJANGSAN The best way to experience the full depth of colors on display in Naejangsan during autumn is to hit the hiking trails in search of vertical clarity. Not only is hiking wonderful exercise, but it also transports visitors out of the main area of the park and deep into nature. With each upward movement, hikers are treated to new angles of an ever-expanding landscape, growing larger and vaster the higher they climb. The surrounding mountains and blanket of color that unfold the higher one hikes is truly stunning and is arguably the most beautiful hike in the whole country during the autumn period. Natural beauty equaling Naejangsan’s effortless autumnal display is difficult if not impossible to find, and it’s unlikely that I would waste a good weekend searching for another option when the obvious choice is to revisit such a lovely mountain range. The trails are moderate and anyone in decent health will be able to complete the circuit without too much difficulty. There are plenty of places to rest along the trail, and there are several flat peaks to congregate or spread out in groups.

35

The trees seem to be changing early this year, so be sure to set aside a weekend to visit, and I hope to see you there.

THE AUTHORS

Blog: www.hedgersabroad.com Facebook: /hedgersabroad Instagram: /hedgersabroad

November 2017

Ryan and Stephanie have lived, traveled, and worked in South Korea since 2013. Based out of Yeosu, they are the duo behind Hedgers Abroad, their blog, which documents their lives through photography, videos, and shared stories. They freelance in their spare time and are on the road constantly.

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FALL PERFECTION Whether you visit Naejangsan for the first time this year or return for a yearly fall pilgrimage, immersing oneself in nature is such an important activity late in the season.

With the cold of winter coming, there’s never been a more perfect time in which to experience our surroundings in their most spectacular state. A hike to the peak of Naejangsan National Park, visiting Naejang or Baekyang Temple, exploring the valleys, or simply taking a walk along the water’s edge and looking out at the floating pagoda…there’s no chance you’ll be disappointed. With a smile on your face and a gladness in your heart that can only come from experiencing nature’s beauty, I dare you to find a more perfect fall destination. If this park wasn’t located in North Jeolla Province, I would travel to any farflung corner of Korea I needed to in order to bask in its colors and serenity.

TRAVEL

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▲ From left: Lomonosov Moscow State, The author’s sleeper bed on the train to Irkutsk.

Vladivostok to Moscow in Three Weeks A Brief Encounter with the Homeland Written and photographed by Anastasia Traynin

“W

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November 2017

here are you from?”

As with many other foreigners living in this country, this is usually the first question Koreans ask when meeting me for the first time. It was also often the first question strangers would ask when I was growing up in the USA. Being white and Western, my parents easily pass for the average American in the still-racialized USA, until they start speaking and the accents come out.

I was born in Moscow, Russia on June 22, 1987. After moving to Korea in 2012, I would learn that this was a pivotal month and year in Korean democratization history. Before that, living in a Russian family, I knew that June 22, 1941 was the day Hitler invaded the Soviet Union during World War II, finally bringing Russia into the war.

Our whole family first stepped foot in the USA in May 1991, during the big wave of post-Soviet Jewish refugee emigration, and our American history starts there. I grew up bilingual and continue to speak Russian with family.

Yet, when the inevitable question comes up in Korea, I normally answer that I am from Miguk (미국; literally, the beautiful country”), the USA. Lately, I’ve taken to answering bokjap-haeyo (복잡해요; It’s complicated). This may have something to do with two important events of 2017: the death of my grandfather, the family patriarch, and my three-week trip across Russia to commemorate my 30th birthday in the second part of the summer. After missing numerous family trips back to the proverbial motherland since my last time to visit back in 2001, I finally decided that this was the year for me. Luckily, I had a friend in Gwangju who was happy to make use of my Russian language skills and come along with me on this journey.

I was fully committed to not only visiting Moscow, but also boarding a train on the legendary Trans-Siberian railroad, the name given to the route between Vladivostok in the Far East and Moscow in the West. I wanted to go for much longer than three weeks, making multiple stops along the way as many travelers do. In the end, I made do

37

▲ The author having dinner at a Khuizir restaurant, Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal.

with my vacation time on this round, taking it as a trial run.

Besides a few Korean families, my friend and I were the only foreigners – or tourists even – that I came across in the third-class section. Though I speak and understand Russian, it was hard not to stand out with reading material in English and a giant travel backpack. The people around us were mostly families with small children, couples, and a variety of solo travelers embarking on or coming back from their summer vacations, some spending time at the

November 2017

Vladivostok felt like a strange and unique port city, complete with echoes of my current adopted country on both sides: imported used city buses from Busan, South Korean cosmetic shops, a Busan-style chicken joint, a North Korean restaurant, hidden North Korean migrant workers, and plenty of South Korean tourists. Though I found all this interesting, I was more than ready to move

Boarding a third-class cross-country train in the nighttime is a rather chaotic and disorienting experience.

Yet I found that, whatever it may have been in the past, the current Russian train system is meticulously maintained, with hardworking and kind train attendants keeping time, regularly cleaning their appointed train cars, selling snacks and souvenirs, and resolving any issues that come up. I can recall only one run-in with the infamous Russian vodka drunkenness on the train, as both alcohol and smoking are now restricted on board. My friend and I were prepared for noisy travelers and a difficult time in this cramped sleeper train, yet the reality was that we had comfortable beds, sheets, and blankets, resulting in a restful travel sleep, even with people entering and exiting the train at all hours of the day and night.

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Third class Russian train tickets proved to be relatively inexpensive, especially when reserved in advance, and since I split my East-West journey in the middle, I only needed two tickets: one from Vladivostok to Irkutsk and the other from Irkutsk to Moscow. In Vladivostok and on the first leg of the train ride, I was on my own and had plenty of time to read and reflect. I quickly realized that this would be a lovely, yet surreal trip: I had landed in a country where I was comfortable with communicating in the language, yet I was completely unfamiliar with the everyday customs, currency, and modern lifestyle.

A simple trip to the grocery store or outdoor market was always a delightful adventure, discovering and rediscovering all the different types of foods and smells from my childhood that I had forgotten about – and some that I never knew. It was like waking up in the future, and in a way it was the future: the difference between the Russia my family left in 1991 and the Russia of 2017 must be as vast, and maybe more so, than that of the same time period in Korea.

on and board the train. This is when I hit my first big travel snafu. It turns out that, unlike anywhere in the world that I have seen or heard of, the entire Russian train system operates on the time of the capital, Moscow. Unluckily for me, Vladivostok is a full seven hours ahead, which meant spending that extra time in the summer heat of the city.

38 dachas, the ubiquitous Russian summer houses. Making conversation was difficult, as my language skills were of little use among the cultural confusion. Still, I managed to have one enlightening discussion, which further opened my eyes to the vastness of Russia beyond my somewhat limited big-city upbringing. As we passed through the Siberian region Buryatia, I learned of the Buryat people, related to the Northern Mongolians; the Old Believers, who lead a similar lifestyle to the Amish; the relationships with China and Korea; and also the sweeping social changes within modern Russia. Of course, all of these new findings mean that I have to return sooner rather than later.

I could write a lot more, especially about the emotional aspect of returning to the neighborhood of my birth in Moscow and our family’s first apartment. I have never seen as much constant ongoing digging and construction on nearly every corner as I did in this changed and rapidly changing metropolis.

I also never imagined how difficult it would be.

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November 2017

With the limited space, I will finish with a note about the real gem of our trip: pitching our tent for three nights in the forest patch at Olkhon Island on the western side of Lake Baikal, the world’s largest and deepest lake, located in southern Siberia near the Mongolian border. Though the town of Kuizhir and its surroundings have certainly become an overly developed tourist area with many

▲ Shaman Rock, Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal.

visitors and the accompanying commercialization and environmental degradation, I cannot stress enough that this island and the lake are a must-see during any wellrounded journey to Russia. Olkhon Island is a bumpy sixhour ride from Irkutsk and a short ferry crossing, both of which are well worth the trip. The Buryat food, music, and shaman ceremonies; the purity of the lake water; the epic skies; and the sight and energy of the sacred Shaman Rock on the shore are amazing experiences, simply not to be missed. There is much more to see of Baikal that we did not have time for on this trip.

As for the ever-present question, “Where are you from?” when I am able, I do my best to muster patience and explain about my privileged history, in hopes that it may help others to understand that one person can have more than one gohyang (고향, hometown), and if they are lucky, feel “at home” in any place across this wide, wondrous world.

THE AUTHOR

Anastasia (Ana) Traynin is the comanaging editor of Gwangju News. She has been a contributor to the magazine since Fall 2013 and has been living in Gwangju since spring of that year. After teaching for three years at Hanbitt High School, she became a GIC coordinator in May 2016. She has passions for Korean social movements, alternative education, live music, languages, and writing.

39

Tattoos of Asia Written and photographed by Dylan Goldby

ARTS & CULTURE

November 2017

It wasn’t always that way. Tugging at his shirt, he tells me of a time when he would only wear clothing if he was going to war or celebrating a victory. You see, Benjun was a headhunter of the Konyak people. His facial tattoo documents that history and is a permanent reminder of how the world has changed for him and his people.

When one looks at the modern world, people have never been closer together and the quality of life has never been higher. We have unparalleled access to information, which has allowed people to make a life for themselves in ways that were simply not possible before. Access to that information is very quickly becoming ubiquitous.

People are more aware of their own situation and the way others live. This has given us amazing opportunities to improve our own lives and those of others. The other side of the coin is that we are very quickly losing what makes us individuals or makes our own cultures special.

The world’s cultures have developed important traditions and ways of expressing themselves over the centuries that they have been apart, but in the world we have built for ourselves, those differences have a diminishing role.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

I

sit in Benjun’s small, private quarters as the village representatives are holding a meeting in the much larger main room. Benjun cradles his grandson and tells me of his time and the changes his people have undergone. During his time, he has seen schools built and children educated. He has seen the spread of Christianity as the dominant religion.

40

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

In many societies, tattoos have always been taboo and only worn by those willing to place themselves into a subculture. However, for others, tattoos have been an outward tradition that solidified their identity and represented their people. My project, Tattoos of Asia (tattoosofasia.com), focuses on cultures that have taken the ultimate step in tattooing their faces as a symbol of their people. By removing all distractions and allowing the subject’s face to tell its own story, the project attempts to see beyond an outward mark that divides peoples and show that we are all human underneath, how we choose to present ourselves, or what our culture demands of us. In some cases, like Benjun’s, these tattoos were part of a darker culture that is no longer needed in the modern world.

Facial tattoos may not be a necessary part of the modern world, but they were a part of so many lives not so long ago. This project aims, in some small way, to preserve those faces for people like Benjun’s grandson to remember where they came from.

THE AUTHOR

Dylan is an Aussie photographer based out of Seoul. He cut his teeth working in the editorial industry in Korea and then moved into working on personal projects for the preservation of culture all around Asia. His work has been seen in global publications as well as featured by Nikon Asia. His desire to connect with and document the cultures of Asia led him to self fund a 128-page book about the lives of the Lai Tu Chin people of Myanmar. The successful completion of this project has only fueled his desire to do more work on the peoples of the region.

42

Photo of the Month

ARTS & CULTURE

After nearly two months, Gwangju is starting to feel like home. Nevertheless, moving from a city of around 50,000 to a metropolis of 1.6 million was a huge change for me.

While the bustle isn’t so obvious in my little corner of Seogu with its quiet, tree-lined streets, it was certainly present the weekend I spent at the 7080 Chungjang Recollection Festival.

After sidestepping my way up a sidewalk packed with vendors, the crowds parted. The long, sloping silhouette of the Hanul Madang (aka the big greenspace at the Asia Culture Center) and its dangling lights caught my attention.

I brought my camera to my eye.

It can be easy to let any creative work fall to the side after a 40-hour week. When Monday to Friday are fully packed and the weekends are for playing catchup on chores and errands (or just unwinding), the act of writing, photography, or creating other art can quickly fall off the to-do list.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

The solution, for me, has not been to carve out chunks of time in which I’m allowed to take photos, but to make photography part of my every day routine. Documenting the changing streetscapes I see on my morning walk to work, the feel of taking the late bus home after a long day, or a quiet moment of tranquility in a bustling festival are reasons for me to keep my camera close.

With this mentality, the picture I took represented a brief moment of tranquility in a busy, exciting day; an oasis of green in a sprawling urban landscape is a metaphor as apt as any. But being only a moment, the pastel sky deepened to an inky black, and I ducked back into the crowd – a moment of peace giving way to an evening of excitement.

THE AUTHOR Adam Travis is an English teacher in Gwangju.

Adam is originally from New Brunswick, Canada and can usually be found behind a camera when he’s not in front of a classroom.

43

Tranquility

Written and photographed by Adam Travis

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

Do you have any photos that you would like to show to Gwangju (and the world)? Gwangju News features a photo of the month to create more opportunities to promote more photographers based in the Jeollanam-do region and to show off our beautiful province from different areas and angles. Submissions can be posted in the “Photography in the South� Facebook group throughout the preceding month. Alternatively, you can also send your submissions to the editor by email: photos@gwangjunewsgic.com

44 Korean Culture

A Series of Quirky Days to Celebrate in Korea Written by Cho Namhee

November 2017

Pepero Day (November 11th) When Lotte Confectionery Korea introduced their first Pepero (빼빼로) sticks in 1983, its long and slim appearance attracted middle school girls in the Yeongnam area, also known as Gyeongsang-do, the southeast region of the peninsula, to stores to buy and share them with other schoolgirls in hopes of becoming more slender in figure. Ever since then, the Korean confectionery giant has focused more on its marketing strategies of promoting the snack as a symbol of November 11, since the date resembles four Pepero sticks in a line (11.11). The chocolate sticks have now become so famous that they are celebrated across the nation regardless of gender or age, and it remains as one of the most successful marketing strategies in Korean history. Look for the closest store around you to get the packet of snacks on November 11.

Be careful to avoid the various imitations and fast-selling signature packets, because the real stuff, the original and almond-coated, sells like hotcakes!

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

ARTS & CULTURE

E

veryone has circles to mark on their calendars to remember and celebrate important and meaningful days, including birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and other special days, such as Christmas and New Year’s Day. Some special days for celebration belong to different groups of the world, whether of nations, religions, or cultures. For this month’s issue, we will discuss “Pepero Day” on November 11, a quirky day for the annual exchange of Peperos, or chocolate-coated cookie sticks, and the 14th of every month.

The 14th of Every Month • January 14: Diary Day – Mark the special days in a brand new diary (appointment book).

• February 14: Valentine’s Day – For females to show their love to their boyfriends/husbands.

• March 14: White Day – For the males to show their love to their girlfriends/wives. (Men are expected to give back three times the value of what he received in the previous month.)

• April 14: Black Day – For those without partners to

• • • • • • • •

have jjajang-myeon, black bean paste soup (a cheap Chinese restaurant menu item).

May 14: Rose Day – For males and females to give each other roses. (Males commonly give more to their sweethearts.)

June 14: Kiss Day – Self-Explanatory. (Lipstick and breath mint product sales are up on this day.)

July 14: Silver Day – Silver accessories are exchanged.

(A time for moving relationships to the next level.)

August 14: Green Day – A time to escape to the forest from the scorching heat. (Often bottles of soju are consumed.)

September 14: Photo Day – Time for taking a special or official photo at a portrait studio.

October 14: Wine Day – Time to share a glass of wine with that special someone.

November 14: Movie Day – Time to go see a movie with a special friend.

December 14: Hug Day – Exchange gentle but firm hugs to wrap up the year.

There are more special days influenced by marketing, such as Pork Belly Day (Samgyeopsal Day) on March 3, O-Sam (5.3) Day for cuttlefish (ojingeo, 오징어) and pork belly (samgyeopsal, 삼겹살) on May 3, and Gugu (9.9) Day (the sound of chickens clucking) on September 9. But note that you can always have these food dishes on any day you choose.

Special days may be important to keep; however, let’s not forget that our sincere hearts and feelings come first.

THE AUTHOR

Cho Namhee currently studies communication at Chonnam National University.

Book Review

45

The Windup Girl Reviewed by Kristyna Zaharek

I

bought The Windup Girl in a set with a few others from a departing teacher. I hadn’t heard of it before and didn’t know what to expect. For months, it sat on my shelf while I read other, more pressing novels.

Eventually, I finished that list. I would glance at the book, sitting patiently on the shelf, collecting a light layer of dust until, finally, a day came when I sat down and opened this book by Paolo Bacigalupi to a middle page.

I knew from the first sentence that this book would be delicious, and boy, was I right!

So, these buildings called “calorie factories” start popping up. They generip a fruit or vegetable by copying its genes. Then they mass-produce them and sell them for a higher price. These

Anderson is an American generipper. The government hates people like him: rich people who steal the genes of produce and make money from a fake replacement. While he is busy hiding his identity and hunting for other fruits to gene-rip, he runs into a girl named Emiko.

Emiko is a robotic humanoid, or a “Windup,” that is not legally allowed to be in Thailand. Created in Japan, she was abandoned by her owner and is now hiding from the law.

Her new owner pays off the secret police because she brings him calorie money by servicing his guests in an underground brothel.

Emiko is on a short leash, and she’s desperate to get free. When Anderson is introduced to her, he begins to put thoughts in her head of freedom, which leads her to drastic decisions that put the lives of everyone she knows at risk.

Then we have Jaidee and Kanya who are part of the “white shirts” (the secret police). They keep the peace as well as ensure the gene-rippers

Throughout these twisted, intertwined stories, we see love, betrayal, fear, stupidity, bravery, and more. The choices of a single Windup – of one robotic girl with dreams of freedom – end up creating havoc in the country and possibly toppling the entire system.

But, of course, you’ll have to read the novel yourself to discover the fate of these characters.

I was drawn into this book. Every chance I had to read it, I devoured the pages and the words. I even learned a little Thai on the way! My favorite part of this book was the absence of a clear villain. Everyone has dark secrets, but everyone also has dreams that make them human. I grew to love the characters. Sometimes, I even hated them. It really depended on their choices. In the end, I felt hopeful.

The book left me satisfied – though I would love to read a sequel one day.

THE AUTHOR

Kristyna lived in Gwangju, South Korea for two years. She is a hopeful novelist with a heart for travel. She also really likes dark chocolate.

November 2017

Oh, yes – one more thing. Fruits and vegetables have been dying off by disease. It’s nearly impossible to purchase a mango without risking rot or illness. People are dying. It’s in the air. It’s in the food. It’s in the water.

Hock Seng is the Chinese factory manager. Hated by all and untrusted by his boss, Anderson, he has plans to escape Thailand and find a better life.

The world seems to be against him at every turn.

are taxed when they import goods (though they are known to take bribes every now and then). They, too, are caught up on the political warfront as everything goes to hell.

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Set in a futuristic, dystopian Bangkok, this book weaves its way through the stalls of open markets to the damp, rusty corners of food factories.

Imagine that money no longer held any significance. Instead, calories were the new form of cash. Going for a run would burn calories – it basically wastes your money. Eating a sweet, delectable piece of cake would cost you far more than a plate of vegetables.

gene-ripped mangos would then be free of possible infection, but they would also be far from the real thing.

46 Gwangju Writes

Boy, You’re Going to Carry That Weight a Long Time

ARTS & CULTURE

Written by Stephen Schelling

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

T

he young man fidgeted outside the conference room door. He adjusted his poorly knotted tie and tried to smooth his wrinkled suit. He took a deep breath but choked on a little bit of spit that went down the wrong tube. He began coughing uncontrollably when the door opened. A much older man of muscular bulk and distinguished grayed hair glared at him.

opposite end, the overhead light creating a nimbus around his head. He wore neither a suit nor a tie. In fact, he was wearing black jeans and a plain, black T-shirt. The stark contrast unnerved Mr. Cooper, knocking him further off guard.

“Mr. Cooper, we’re ready for you,” Mr. Shkrill said sternly, and then turned and went back to his seat at the conference table without waiting for the coughing Mr. Cooper to enter the room.

“Quickly!” Mr. Shkrill suddenly admonished. “We are busy men.”

The door bumped Mr. Cooper as he shambled in. The briefcase he had gotten from Goodwill had nearly busted open from the door hitting it due to the briefcase’s broken clasps, which was probably why it was at Goodwill to begin with. He found himself at the end of a long conference table that sat six businessmen on either side, whose twelve heads – including Mr. Shkrill’s – turned in concurrence as he entered and set his broken briefcase on the table’s end.

The men wore suits of varying colors and patterns with different colored shirts and ties, but for some reason they all looked the same. A thirteenth man stood at the

No one spoke.

“Oh, okay,” Mr. Cooper said fumbling with the briefcase as he opened it. He pulled out a strange, rectangular object and some papers. He began to count out thirteen copies but was interrupted.

“Don’t give us papers. Just tell us. Now.” Mr. Shkrill was terse.

“Well, it’s…it’s a device,” Mr. Cooper said holding up the object. “It’s my device that I came up with that can meld with the human body and enhance every aspect of life.”

Mr. Cooper paused in expectation but only received silence. He continued.

47 “It, um, allows you to communicate with others anywhere in the world, any time of day. There will be no more need for knowledge because everything can be accessed instantly. It will entertain. People will want to buy a new model every two, three years.”

“Why would users buy a new model?” Mr. Shkrill asked all the questions.

“That’s because it has planned obsolescence. You see, it’s designed in such a way that after a few years it will work slower and the components – or the device itself – are likely to break, so the user will have no choice but to get a new one if they want to continue using it.”

“Why would users continue to pay for it?”

“Well, simply, it’s a drug. It affects users on a molecular level by creating endorphin highs, similar to what a heroin addict feels. Users become addicted to it. They need to use it more and more each day.”

“How do we install it on the user?”

“They’ll do it themselves. Users will carry it everywhere, but they can shift and move it around different parts of the body as needed. It’s a small device, but it has the capability to be larger and heavier so that, over time, with newer models, users can become used to the increased weight and size.”

“Are there any other benefits?”

The dejected Mr. Cooper, surprised by the sudden discharge, gathered his papers and prototype and put them into his broken briefcase. He held the clasps shut as he walked out the door. The thirteen heads silently watched as he disappeared into the world beyond the conference room. The door shut.

“What do you actually think, sir?” Mr. Shkrill asked. “Are we going to steal it?”

“You can bet your golden parachutes we’re going to steal it,” Mr. Trabajos answered. “I want you to steal all of Mr. Cooper’s research and work, disgrace and discredit him, and ensure he will be living on the streets before the week ends.”

Mr. Shkrill nodded his head in assent as he walked out the door to assemble a team and complete the directive.

The remaining eleven heads swiveled back to face Mr. Trabajos.

“What should we call this device, Mr. Trabajos?” one head asked.

“I am taking suggestions at this very moment.”

“How about the Wonder Box?” suggested one head.

“Under the Skin?” suggested another head.

“Life Enhancer?” suggested yet another head.

“Good ideas, but I already have the answer,” Mr. Trabajos said. “It will connect to the body on a molecular level, so we should name it as such, but it should also evoke something from the past so the sheep of the world can understand and relate to it.”

“Who would ever willingly agree to such a preposterous thing?”

“What is it?” various members of the eleven heads asked in clamoring anticipation.

“That’s easy. Simply provide an incredibly long release form full of legalese for every user to sign to give up their rights.”

“We’ll call it…the Cell Phone.”

“Why would they do that?”

Mr. Shkrill looked to the man at the opposite end, Mr. Trabajos, and then back to Mr. Cooper.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Cooper, but your vision is too narrow, and your device just won’t work for this company or humanity.

Thank you for your time. You are dismissed.”

Mr. Trabajos didn’t smile. He raised his knuckled fist to his lip and schemed.

THE AUTHOR Stephen Schelling is a writer and teacher, a pickler, and an Eagle Scout from America with a B.A. in journalism from Marshall University.

November 2017

“Nobody likes reading. Especially as time goes on and the device grows in popularity, reading will go down. Device purchases and use will go up.”

“Marvelous!” the eleven heads shouted in unison as their bodies’ hands clapped.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

“It can be used as a tool to spy on the users to track their activities and purchasing habits. Basically, every secret thing they ever do can be recorded and analyzed. You can use it to control people.”

48 Movie Review

Thanksgiving Movie Review

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

ARTS & CULTURE

Written by Natale Ryan

I

n the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Whereas in Canada, it is celebrated on the second Monday of October. People from both countries think of the holiday as a time to gather with friends and family. For this issue, I wanted to provide a list of movies to prepare for the upcoming holiday seasons.

Even though Canadian Thanksgiving has passed, the U.S.’s holiday is approaching. The history of Thanksgiving is controversial for some people in the United States, as some believe that it shouldn’t be celebrated anymore or the day should be rededicated. A reason for this is that the story of Thanksgiving that we are told as children has often been skewed, leaving out the sad reality of the forced removal of indigenous people from their land. Despite this, many of us still see the end of the year as a time for being thankful.

Here are my top six movies to get you ready for the holiday season.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) Starring Steve Martin and the late John Candy, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles tells the story of Neal Page (Martin) struggling to make it home in time for Thanksgiving. His flight is canceled, and his failed attempts of finding other modes of transportation lead him to an encounter with a door-to-door salesman named Del Griffith (Candy). The two men are as different as night and day, Neal is whitecollar and calm, whereas Del is boisterous. Since the two men are both on their way to Chicago, they agree to carpool.

During their journey, they are plagued with bad luck.

However, Neal, who was once repulsed by Del, changes his mind and learns more about himself and family. If you want an all-American movie that reminds you of what the holidays are truly about, look no further. The movie takes the number-one spot because of its heartwarming message.

Dutch (1991) Like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Dutch is a road movie. It was directed by John Hughes, who also directed

the popular Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Dutch stars Ed O’Neill as Dutch Dooley and a young Ethan Embry as Doyle Standish, and tells the story of a man named Dutch who is traveling from Chicago, Illinois to Georgia to pick up his girlfriend’s son from a prestigious boarding school.

Little does Dutch know that the boy he will be traveling with is a snobby brat who resents the fact that his parents divorced and also that Dutch is dating his mother. The duo fall victim to hardships on their journey, and by the time they make it back to Chicago, the audience is treated to a hilarious and heartwarming story.

Free Birds (2013) Now it is time for an animated film that is much more recent. Free Birds tells the story of one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions: the turkey pardon! Reggie (voiced

by Owen Wilson) is a turkey lucky enough to be spared from becoming dinner. He begins to enjoy a lazy life at Camp David, but soon, he meets another turkey named Jake (voiced by Woody Harrelson), who forces him to travel back into time to Plymouth during 1621. Though it may not be as appealing to adults, the film is great for children and features a lot of Thanksgiving traditions. However, the film received some backlash and was called “insensitive” for portraying the turkeys as Native Americans. Despite controversial content, this cute movie is what families are sure to like and has a good message, overall.

The Addams Family Values (1993) The first The Addams Family was a commercial success and is still a Halloween must-see, but did you know that many view the sequel as a spooky Thanksgiving movie? The original cast of the first film return for this sequel as Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) welcome baby Pubert (voiced by Cheryl Chase). His siblings, Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) hate their new brother, so they carry on with their typical shenanigans of endangering the baby with medieval techniques. To

Expat Living their horror, Wednesday and Pugsley are sent away to an eerily upbeat summer camp, and it is during a camp skit that we get our Thanksgiving link. The counselors, who had been trying to force happiness upon the always gothic Wednesday, are taken hostage. Wednesday takes a play about the stereotypical first Thanksgiving feast and adds truth to it. With Wednesday’s alterations, the story transforms when the Native Americans retaliate against the settlers. The scene, though dark, has been favorited among people who oppose the celebration of the holiday. If you want a laugh during the holiday and also wish to gain a piece of understanding for Western Thanksgiving history, I suggest watching this movie, especially for the scene mentioned above.

These are my top six picks to get you in the mood for the upcoming holiday season. If you are abroad and are feeling homesick as the holidays approach, want a taste of Western culture, or are simply a somewhere-in-between movie fan, I recommend these films to warm your heart!

THE AUTHOR

A

sk for stories of awkward and uncomfortable experiences in taxis, and you are bound to receive more than a few. If you are not a local in Korea and are not able to communicate fully with the driver, it is not uncommon to have your fair share of less-than-ideal rides about town. Hopefully, you have never experienced any of the following, but if you have, don’t feel alone. However, as the bad experiences often receive more attention, it is important to note that not all taxi experiences are unpleasant. I, along with countless others, have never experienced anything like what was shared with me by other expats in Korea, but it still happens, and caution is always advised when entering the care of a stranger.

Steve, a middle school English teacher from the U.S., recalled that once as he was riding from Suncheon to Gwangyang, the driver was watching a Jeonnam Dragons game on his phone mounted to the dash.

In a moment of excitement as the Dragons scored a goal, the driver took his hands from the wheel to cheer, swerved, and nearly hit a guardrail.

Michelle, who has lived in Seoul for a year, said, “I hailed a cab that had its doors locked. The driver was pretty erratic, so I texted my husband to tell him what was going on and to hang out with me. After a few more very strange minutes, the driver pulled over, shouted “WC” and ran to the public restroom.

Somehow, I stayed in the cab for the duration, and once he returned, everything was totally normal. Now I have a better understanding of what a locked door implies.”

Other folks living on the peninsula noted that they had been driven by drivers smelling heavily of alcohol or appearing to be nearly asleep. One teacher in Gwangju said that his driver stopped during the ride to verbally assault another driver who had cut him off, all while the meter continued to run. Some have been refused service, presumably because of their foreign appearance. Others have been told directly by the driver that he would not usually transport a foreigner late at night.

November 2017

Natale is an English teacher in Mokpo. She is from Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States.

She attended college in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and majored in criminology and sociology. In her free time, she enjoys watching scary movies and writing short stories. Her favorite movies are To Kill a Mockingbird, E.T., and Memento.

Her heroes are Snoopy and Audrey Hepburn.

Written by Jake Hollingsworth

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) What is Thanksgiving without the most iconic TV show of all-time? In this short cartoon, Charlie Brown is faced with the task of putting together a holiday feast for the Peanuts gang. This story may not seem like much in comparison to other films, but it is a show that many Westerners have watched every year to mark the holiday, as well as to get their fix of Charlie Brown’s stage-stealing pet, the much-beloved beagle, Snoopy!

Taxi Safety in Korea

COMMUNITY

The New World (2005) This is my favorite on this list, and I had to add it because it focuses on the true reason for celebration during the Thanksgiving season – selflessness. This movie tells the closet story of Pocahontas that can be accounted for to date. John Smith is played by Colin Farrell, who is taken hostage by a Native American tribe and is spared by the chief ’s favorite daughter, Pocahontas (Q’orianka Kilcher). The princess is intrigued by the man she saved and marks him as hers with body paint as a symbol of her love. John Smith returns to his village, Jamestown. Pocahontas falls into a depression when a war between her tribe and the settlers breaks out, and she is exiled from her tribe for having provided food for the starving men of Jamestown. The movie goes further into the history of Pocahontas, her marriage to John Rolfe, and her kindness toward people. It paints a beautiful picture of humanity and tells Pocahontas’ story exquisitely.

49

50

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

In addition to safety concerns, expats in Korea have experienced moments when they felt they were being scammed. Andrew from the U.K., who has traveled back and forth to Korea multiple times over the past four years working with Korean construction companies, said, “I joined Samsung in Geoje. They told me that I would be picked up and that the price from Busan to Geoje would be 130,000 KRW. There were four of us and I assumed the fare would be split four ways. However, the driver took 130,000 KRW from each of us. He must have thought it was Christmas!” Multiple respondents said that they have been driven in an indirect route to their location, driven in circles, or rode with a driver who ignored his GPS and pretended to not know where the destination was, all while racking up an unnecessarily inflated fare.

Taxi safety is a legitimate concern, but compared with the large number of expats living in Korea, the percentage of negative experiences is relatively small. Many drivers are thoughtful and helpful. Adam, a teacher from the U.S., was riding with a driver in Jeonju to the bus terminal. When asked where he would be taking a bus to, the driver quickly realized that Adam needed to go to a different terminal than the one he had requested. The driver’s concern for his passenger enabled the confused expat to avoid missing the final bus of the evening.

Stories of good experiences could go on over many pages, but safety is still a topic worthy of discussion. Veteran expats shared tips and best practices to remain as safe as possible. David from Daegu recommends always being ready to snap a cell phone picture of the driver’s medallion info. It is usually located on the front passenger’s side above the glove box. Jason and his wife Rachel, teachers for nearly a decade in Busan, recommend the buddy

system, especially for females and especially late at night.

Another recommendation from many expats is to have your destination written in both English and Korean.

This helps to avoid confusion for both you and the driver.

Allison in Gwangju, a hagwon teacher from Canada, also urges expats to map out where you are going on your phone before hailing a taxi. She says this allows passengers to more quickly recognize if they are traveling in the wrong direction.

With the option of the Kakao Taxi app (a service similar to Uber) now available, expats are having better luck getting to their destinations, especially in cities. Brian in Seoul said, “My personal experience with hailing a taxi compared to the Kakao Taxi app is like night and day. Maybe it’s because they get rated. I’ve consistently had 4- to 5-star service, and cars that were in great condition, with extra padding, WiFi, and perfect air temperature.”

Compared with many other countries around the world, Korea is a relatively safe and comfortable place to live and work. The majority of expats surveyed related this sense of safety and ease, but also acknowledged that bad people live everywhere in the world. Therefore, common sense is the best tool to avoid negative experiences. If something does not feel right, it is probably because it isn’t.

THE AUTHOR

Jake Hollingsworth is an American English teacher living in Naju.

Survival Korean includes the most essential Korean phrases you need to know while traveling or living in Korea. The expressions come with detailed explanations as well as fun and useful information about the situations in which they are used.

Talk to Me In Korean

Career

안녕하세요. [an-nyeong-ha-se-yo.]

Hello.

Sample Sentences 저는 Keith입니다. [jeo-neun ki-sseu-im-ni-da.] = I’m Keith. 저는 Stephanie입니다. [jeo-neun seu-te-pa-ni-im-ni-da.] = I’m Stephanie.

저는 (name) + -입니다. [jeo-neun (name) + -im-nida.]

I’m (name).

이번에 새로 온 (position) + -입니다. [i-beo-ne sae-ro on (position) + -im-ni-da.] I’m a new (position).

This phrase could be useful when introducing yourself to new coworkers. Some larger companies may ask you to introduce yourself in a group setting, but for smaller companies that don’t ask for group introductions, this phrase can be used when meeting co-workers individually. Literally, 이번에 [i-beo-ne] means “this time” and 새로 온 [sae-ro on] means “a new (position) that came.”

This phrase literally translates to “I ask a favor of you.” In this instance, the favor that is being asked is to be accepted kindly into the workplace.

Since this phrase is extremely broad, it can be used in a variety of workplace situations, such as at the end of a job interview or when asking someone to do some work for you.

EDUCATION

Sample Sentences 이번에 새로 온 원어민 선생님입니다. [i-beo-ne sae-ro on wo-neo-min seon-saeng-nim-im-ni-da.]

I’m a new native English teacher. 이번에 새로 온 디자이너입니다. [i-beo-ne sae-ro on di-ja-i-neo-im-ni-da.]

I’m a new designer. 잘 부탁드립니다. [jal bu-tak-deu-rim-ni-da.]

“Please be kind.”

51

한국어 조금 해요. [han-gu-geo jo-geum hae-yo.] I can speak a little Korean. 한국어 잘 못해요. [han-gu-geo jal mo-tae-yo.] I can’t speak Korean well. 한국어 못 해요. [han-gu-geo mo tae-yo.] I can’t speak Korean.

출근/퇴근 시간은 몇 시예요? [chul-geun/toe-geun si-ganeun myeot ssiye-yo?]

What time should we be at work?/What time do we get off of work?

Sample Sentences 화장실 어디 있어요? [hwa-jang-sil eo-di i-sseo-yo?] Where is the toilet? 분필 어디 있어요? [bun-pil eo-di i-sseo-yo?] Where can I find some chalk? 출근 [chul-geun] and 퇴근 [toe-geun] are words used often in the workplace. 출근 means “going to work” and 퇴근 means “getting off of work.” By themselves, these terms are considered nouns, but to use them as verbs, simply add 하다 [ha-da] to the end. The result is 출근하다 [chul-geun-ha-da] (to arrive at work) and 퇴근하다 [toe-geun-ha-da] (to leave work). The words 출근 and 퇴근 are often combined to become 출퇴근 [chul-toe-geun] and can be used at the beginning of this phrase to ask what time a person begins work and what time he/she gets off in the same sentence.

This is another phrase that is used quite often in the workplace. When leaving work, many people say this phrase as a way of saying “good job on today’s work” and as a way of saying “goodbye.” It can also be said when any project, report, or meeting is completed.

This book extract from Survival Korean is available at MyKoreanStore.com

November 2017

수고하셨습니다. [su-go-ha-syeo-sseum-nida.]

Good job.

Use this phrase when looking for something. www.gwangjunewsgic.com

(place/item) + - 어디 있어요? [(place/item) + - eo-di i-sseo-yo?]

Where is (place/item)?

52 KOTESOL

EPIK, TEE, and TaLK – and Lee Myung-bak

EDUCATION

Written by Dr. David Shaffer

I

n the area of English education in Korea, how epicmaking has EPIK been? How talked about has TaLK been? And is TEE not your cup of tea? We will take a look at these recent English policy initiatives and others that have had a considerable effect upon the English community in Korea.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

Quite a bit of English education policy activity surrounded the presidency of Myung-bak Lee and his presidential campaign. He was the mayor of Seoul who gained popularity for his Cheonggye-cheon stream restoration project, and then went on to campaign on a proposed Seoul–Busan canal project to boost commerce. As with his water projects, Lee’s English education policies during his 2008-13 presidency have had very mixed results. Lee’s administration supported more English and more native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) in the public school system than was seen previously.

Before Lee was sworn into office, his transition team had already announced that they would be implementing an English immersion program nationwide, under the Korean understanding of “immersion.” This meant that by 2010 (two years hence), all classes in all subjects would be taught in English in secondary schools. The immersion program plan was immediately engulfed in controversy.

With strong opposition coming from parents, teachers, and education experts alike, the plan had to be quickly dropped. In its stead, however, the Lee administration attempted implementation of a scaled-down English-only policy: a plan for English classes to be taught using only English. As part of this plan, NESTs would be employed.

The English Program in Korea (EPIK), began much before Lee was in office with less than 60 (NESTs) across the country; however, it was much expanded during the

Lee presidency. This program brought native English speakers into the English classroom at middle schools, high schools, and later to elementary schools across the nation. A cornerstone of the program was that NESTs were to assist Korean English teachers (KETs) in teamteaching, thereby increasing the use of English in class. At its peak in 2011, there were nearly 9,000 NESTs working in the EPIK program.

Colin Walker, now at Myongji University, was in the Gyeonggi EPIK program in 2008 and gives the program points for introducing KETs to Western pedagogy and for giving KETs and Korean students an opportunity to interact with native English speakers – for the first time for many. However, in numerous cases, team-teaching was dispensed with and co-teachers would teach classes separately rather than collaborate. Low eligibility requirements (a bachelor’s degree and citizenship in an English-speaking country) attracted applicants with limited teaching skills, leaving the program to be questioned by experts and laypeople alike. The cost of the program for the quality produced was also questioned.

Some regions felt restricted by the nationwide EPIK guidelines and formed their own EPIK-like programs.

While Gwangju continues within the EPIK program, Jeollanam-do formed JLP (Jeollanam-do Language Program). Tyson Vieira, now at Kyungnam University, was in JLP in Haenam and had an “amazing” experience.

He said, “I had friendly, very knowledgeable, and professional co-teachers. Others have had differing experiences, based on their co-teacher, principal, and apartment conditions.”

In response to the above criticisms of the EPIK program, a certificate in teaching English is now required for

53 incoming NESTs, and degrees in fields related to English teaching (bachelor’s or master’s) are preferred. However, since 2011, the number of EPIK teachers has been steadily decreasing for a number of reasons. Many regions are relying more on KETs and giving them additional training to replace the NESTs. Regardless, it seems that there are no plans for further decreases in Gwangju EPIK for the time being: “Gwangju City will continue to grow in its reach in order for more and more students to experience having a native English teacher in their classroom,” says Gwangju EPIK Coordinator Pratishka Ruthun.

As somewhat of a supplement to EPIK, the Lee government began the TaLK (Teach and Learn in Korea) Program – a program recruiting native Englishspeaking undergraduates to teach in rural areas of Korea for six months to a year. The classes taught are afterschool English classes, and the NEST is paired to teach with a Korean undergraduate student. One of the many Korean university students in the TaLK program was Lee Seol-ha (now a middle school teacher in Gwangju), who participated for three semesters. She relates that having a NEST in the classroom was a motivating firsttime experience for her rural students, and that her co-teacher “was very effective in helping students learn English.” Since its inception, over 3,000 NESTs have gone through the TaLK Program, with about 250 now actively participating nationwide.

So, the Myung-bak Lee administration has definitely left its mark on English education in Korea. EPIK may not quite be epic-making, but with the refinements made to it over the years, it is making significant contributions to English teaching. TaLK is the “talk of the town” where its teachers are placed, being a boon to rural schools and the less-advantaged students in their after-school programs.

This is one program that most likely could benefit from expansion. And TEE training might not be every KET’s “cup of tea,” but as kinks get worked out and the program becomes more standardized, it has the potential to arm every KET with the skills they need to produce students proficient in all of the four skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

KOTESOL:

Teachers Helping Teachers Learn — Share — Succeed THE AUTHOR

David E. Shaffer is Vice-President of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of Korea TESOL (KOTESOL). On behalf of the Chapter, he invites you to participate in the teacher development workshops at their monthly meetings (always on a Saturday). For many years, Dr. Shaffer has been a professor of English Language at Chosun University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses. He is a long-time member of KOTESOL, a holder of various positions, and currently National President. Dr. Shaffer credits KOTESOL for much of his professional development in English language teaching and scholarship. He is also the present editor-in-chief of the Gwangju News.

GWANGJU-JEONNAM KOTESOL MONTHLY MEETING Date: November 11 (Saturday) Place: Gwangju National University of Education

For full event details: Website: koreatesol.org/gwangju Facebook: Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL

November 2017

Presentation 1: Reflecting on Investment and English Language Teachers Presentation 2: The Power of Routine SwapShop – Share with the group an activity or teaching idea that you have.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

NESTs in EPIK and TaLK can only go a short way toward an eventual goal of English-only in English classrooms across Korea. Accordingly, the Lee administration began the Teaching English in English (TEE) program in the Seoul area in 2009. This is an intensive training program for KETs up to six months in duration. “The purpose of TEE certification,” Lee Hyo-shin of Konkuk University told the Korea Herald, “is…to modify how they teach English so students can enjoy learning and improve students’ conversation skills.” Programs vary from region to region, but a common complaint, especially among high school KETs, is that they cannot apply the learned techniques and still do the mandatory “teaching to the

test.” However, the program certainly does upgrade KET language skills and add to their repertoire of teaching techniques.

OPINION

54 Op-Ed

The Race for Weaponized AI Written by Matt Furlane

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

O

ver the last several years there has been a lot of optimism surrounding artificial intelligence (AI).

From advances in self-driving cars to Amazon’s Alexa to Google’s AlphaGo, the ability of computer software to solve problems once thought only capable by humans has increased exponentially. Soon every hospital will have AI to help diagnose patients, and every city will use AI to be more efficient. Within the next three years, most consumer products like your cellphone, TV, car, and home appliances will be infused with advanced AI programs that talk with you naturally, monitor your daily habits, and connect to an AI cloud. It will be a revolution in the way we live. But is there a potential danger on the horizon?

Major concerns are now being raised by both governments and technology experts that the potential military applications for AI are causing a new arms race. Vladimir Putin ominously stated, “AI is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities but also threats that are difficult to predict.

Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.” Hugo de Garis, author of The

Artilect War has said, “In the next decade or so, I see a growing political rivalry between China and America because China is on its way up and America has only a quarter of their population with a much lower growth rate.

So it’s inevitable…there’s going to be an AI arms race.”

Popular futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil has stated, “It really is intelligence that enables you to win in a conflict like warfare; the only thing that can defend you from AI that threatens you is to have AI that’s even smarter that’s on your side.”

Despite my previous hopes that AI would bring a more enlightened future, I’m now starting to share these new doubts that many have expressed. Humanity has survived a nuclear arms race, barely. But as North Korea’s recent hydrogen bomb test shows, even a small nation can eventually develop this technology and threaten the world.

Imagine how hard it will be to control autonomous killing machines. The very nature of power and conventional war is about to drastically change and every advanced nation is now spending billions to acquire or develop better smartweapons, and rogue states will soon follow. The race for weaponized AI has begun.

55 According to military experts, robot soldiers, drones, and quantum computers will be key components of the 21st century battlefield. I will briefly discuss these developments.

First, robots. When most of us consider robots, maybe we think of toys, manufacturing assembly lines, or Jarvis in the movie Iron Man. But there are military applications to consider as well. Although robots seen in movies like the Terminator have been viewed as extreme science fiction, they are now becoming a real possibility. According to a study by the U.S. Joint Forces Command, the goal of autonomous battle field robots could be achieved by as early as the year 2025. And if you search on YouTube for Boston Dynamics, now owned by Google, you will understand why combat robots are just around the corner. Countries like China, with large manufacturing capabilities, could easily quadruple their standing armies by creating robot soldiers, thus forcing other nations to compete or fall behind. Even smaller nations like North Korea with limited capabilities could produce armies larger than their economies would normally be able to support. Or instead of fully robotic soldiers, they could use smart exo-skeletons depicted in films like Elysium and Edge of Tomorrow. In this manner, the traditional infantry soldier would be able to exceed all current physical limitations, lifting heavier objects, running faster, and engaging in combat for longer periods of time. The first nation to field a battalion of these types of soldiers could destabilize an entire region – but nation states aren’t the only worry. Governments could easily suppress their populations and criminal syndicates could use robots to control drug territory. These are only some of the potential dangers we face from robot soldiers.

Lastly, quantum computers. Regular computers use transistors in a serial binary system to process information.

1’s and 0’s are sent back and forth based on the speed of the processor and computer programs written to execute instructions in a step-by-step method. Quantum computing changes everything by using quantum bits (called qubits) that can be in multiple states simultaneously.

These new computers will be able to process vast quantities of information in parallel at insanely fast speeds. The first quantum computer was created by the company D-Wave, but IBM and Google are also investing billions of dollars into their own quantum computer development. China has taken notice and is doing the same. From decrypting communications and simulating nuclear explosions to running battlefield simulations involving millions of units, the military potential is huge. But ultimately, the primary goal is to use quantum technology to create advanced neural networks to create even smarter, more powerful AI weapons. Whoever gains “quantum supremacy” may indeed rule the world.

Given all these potential developments, I’m wondering whether humanity will survive its own progress. If this new arms race spins out of control, we could be facing a century of human suffering and death. Scientist Richard Dawkins has somewhat comically stated on the YouTube channel, Big Think, the following: “They [machines] might do a better job of running the world than we are. It might be no bad thing if we went extinct.”

Dawkins may be correct, but it won’t be the machines that made us extinct: it will be ourselves. As we go forth into the 21st century, citizens and governments will have to cooperate to ensure a better future, to insure this arms race stays under control. I, for one, am not ready to go extinct.

THE AUTHOR

Note: The views expressed here are solely those of the author.

November 2017

Matt is an English teacher from the United States. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and an associate’s degree in electronics engineering. He took up photography and journalism after he graduated and still relies heavily on a spell checker for words like “necessary” and “Mississippi.”

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

Secondly, drones. The first drone-like device was used in World War II. The Germans successfully used an explosive device called the “Goliath,” which looked like a mini tank and was remotely controlled by a soldier who would target Allied tanks. Today, drones like the U.S.’s Predator, armed with spy cameras and missiles are being used in places like Afghanistan to devastating effect. Currently, they are operated by humans but could easily be automated using AI software for targeting and execution. Every nation wants this ability. But what happens when governments turn this technology against civilian populations? Already in the U.S., technology once used by the military has been used domestically to undermine the political opposition.

For example, spying on the president and collecting data on millions of innocent people. And Third World authoritarian regimes facing democratic uprisings could track the political opposition in real time with drones and use that technology as a means of staying in power. We see this today being implemented in places like Hong Kong by the Chinese government. Is Korea next? If we are going

to preserve human rights and democracy, then we need checks and balances on the use of drones. The frightening reality is that this technology will soon be everywhere, and the addition of AI to their capabilities will only make them more invasive and more lethal.

56

Community Board Have something you want to share with the community?

Gwangju News Community Board provides a space for the community to announce club activities and special events.

Please contact gwangjunews@gic.or.kr for more information.

UNESCO KONA VOLUNTEERS KONA Storybook Center (KSC) is a registered small public library supported by UNESCO KONA Volunteers (UKV).

UKV is a registered organization that helps disadvantaged children to learn English independently through storybooks and story-maps. We guide the family and children to develop a love of reading storybooks in English. We also give guidance to volunteers in using storybooks. We are looking for longterm volunteers who desire to enrich their lives. We are asking volunteers to commit to helping at least once a month.

GIC ZUMBA WITH THANDO GIC Hall, 1st Floor, GIC 7:00–8:00 pm, Thursdays Facebook: GIC Zumba with Thando Zumba is BACK at the GIC! This is a fun-filled cardio class that fits all levels, no experience needed. Come get the body back to where you want it and have fun while you are at it. Midweek fitness party. Dress comfortably and be ready to sweat. Also, bring along water and a towel.

For more information, please visit http://cafe.daum.net/ konavolunteers or our Facebook pages for KONA Storybook Center and UNESCO KONA Volunteers, or contact Kim Young-Im 062-434-9887, or email konacenter@gmail.com.

VOLUNTEER TEACHERS NEEDED for the Gwangju UCC (Universal Cultural Center). Any levels of experience, English teachers here in the Gwangju area during 2017 can participate.

UCC has a Facebook profile if you would like to see what kind of other services are available. To participate in the international cultural exchange programs, you may email peter.j.gallo@ gmail.com, or phone or text 010-9490-4258.

www.gwangjunewsgic.com

November 2017

GWANGJU FILIPINO ENGLISH TEACHERS (GFET) Every 3rd Tuesday of the month 10 am – 12 noon, GIC, Room 3 (2F) We are a group of Filipino English teachers in Gwangju who conduct regular accent training and lectures to help fellow English teachers to become better educators.

GWANGJU INTER FC The Gwangju International Soccer Team (Gwangju Inter FC) plays regularly every weekend. If you are interested in playing, email gwangju_soccer@yahoo.com or search “Gwangju Inter FC” on Facebook.

TUESDAY NIGHT YOGA GIC Hall, 1st Floor 7:00–8:00 pm, Tuesdays Facebook: Gwangju Yoga with Emily This is a weekly class appropriate for all levels. Beginners and advanced practitioners alike are encouraged to join.

GWANGJU ANIMAL SHELTER VOLUNTEERING Every Sunday. Meet at The First Alleyway at 12 for brunch and carpool to the shelter.

Walk dogs between 1–4 pm.

Please wear comfortable clothing.

See you there!

Facebook: Gwangju Animal Shelter Volunteering

Han Ok-hee in April 1969 (left) and present (right).

I WANT TO FIND MY PARENTS & RELATIVES

I want to find my parents or any living relatives. I was abandoned outside Gwangju City Hall, on March 23, 1969. On the same day, I was taken to the Social Welfare Society (대한사회복지회) in Gwangju.

My Korean name, Han Ok-Hee, was given to me by a social worker in Gwangju. I was adopted and went to Sweden on September 20, 1969 and am now 49 years old.

If anyone has any information, please contact me, in Korean or English. Your information can perhaps fill the missing parts of my sometimes wounded heart.

All answers will be replied to.

Contact info: Malin Bergström Jordgränd 16 19247 Sollentuna Sweden E-mail: malin.m.bergstrom@outlook.com

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We provide affordable consultation & representation.

▶ Areas of Specialty contracts, torts, family law, immigration, labor ▶ Civil & Criminal Attorney Park, Duckhee

former judge, GIC board member Services available in Korean, English & Chinese

#402 Simsan Bldg, 342-13 Jisan-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju Location: next to Gwangju District Court

Tel: 062) 222-0011 Fax: 062)222-0013 duckheepark@hanmail.net