(EN) Gwangju News March 2016

Editor’s Farewell Letter Gwangju & South Jeolla International Magazine

March 2016 Issue No. 169 Published on February 26, 2016 Cover Photo: Kirsty Gemma Cover Art & Design: Joe Wabe Photographed by: Kirsty Gemma Gwangju News is the first local English magazine in Korea, first published in 2001. The magazine covers local and regional issues, with a focus on roles and activities of 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 5, Jungang-ro 196 beon-gil (Geumnam-no 3 Ga), Dong-gu, Gwangju 61475, South Korea Tel: (+82)-62-226-2733~34 Fax: (+82)-62-226-2731 Registration No. 광주광역시 라. 00145 (ISSN 2093-5315) Registration Date February 22, 2010 Printed by Join Adcom 조인애드컴 (+82)-62-367-7702

THE EDITORIAL TEAM PUBLISHER Shin Gyonggu SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR Karly Pierre MANAGING EDITOR Katrin Marquez ONLINE EDITOR Callum Holmes COORDINATOR AND LAYOUT EDITOR Minsu Kim, Karina Prananto, Joe Wabe PHOTO EDITOR Joe Wabe CHIEF PROOFREADER Bradley Weiss ONLINE EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Jacqui Page, Sam Page COPY EDITORS Laura Becker, Timm Berg, Brian Fitroy, Robert Hinderliter, Victoria Lee, Joey Nunez, Jon Ozelton, Kelsey Rivers PROOFREADERS Christie Fargher, David Foster, Don Gariepy, Carrie Levinson, Joey Nunez, Gabriella Nygaard, Stephen Redeker, Teri Venable RESEARCHERS Cho Nam-hee, Choi Shin-ae, Jang Dong-ha, Jung Yun-hee, Kim Dae-yong

Volunteering Inquiry and Feedback: gwangjunews@gic.or.kr Advertising and Subscription Inquiry: minsu@gic.or.kr or 062-226-2733~34 Special thanks to the City of Gwangju and all of our sponsors. gwangjunewsgic.com

GwangjuNews

@GwangjuNewsGIC

Dear readers, It has been an honor to serve the community of Gwangju as managing editor. This past year, I was able to experience this great city and its people in a new way. It was my goal during my tenure at Gwangju News to continue to make the magazine a reflection of this vibrant area and a place for the community to find its voice. Katrin Marquez will now assume the title of managing editor and she is equally passionate about doing the same.

I would like to thank the GIC support staff for their hard work and wish for the continued success of this wonderful publication.

Thank you, Karly Pierre

Join Our Team!

Gwangju News always needs volunteers who want to share their expertise or gain some.

Please contact us with your interests and ideas to get involved!

The Gwangju News Print Team needs proofreaders and writers.

Please contact the print editor at gwangjunews@gic.or.kr.

Email us today and start getting involved!

Gwangju City News

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Compiled and Edited by Cho Nam-hee, Choi Shin-ae, Jang Dong-ha, Jung Yun-hee, Kim Dae-yong

DAE-IN NIGHT MARKET SCHEDULE CHANGE Gwangju City officials announced that Dae-in Night Market will be held every Saturday, thus changing its schedule from opening only twice a month. It will be open from 7 p.m. to midnight. The Market features diverse street performances and cultural exhibitions in addition to various handicraft and food items sold by local vendors. Gwangju City Theater Company held street performances for four consecutive weeks in February. They performed the Simcheongjeon pansori and traditional Korean plays. The Gwangju Cultural City Policy General Director said: “I have been visiting other markets [for the last seven years] around the country and through those experiences, I am planning to change Dae-in Night Market to be the best tourist attraction in the city.”

GWANGJU EXPANDS FREE LEGAL COUNSELING Gwangju Metropolitan City has expanded its free legal counseling program for civil rights and has appointed 16 lawyers for counseling twice a week. The expanded program will include free legal consultation control to protect the rights of the citizens and assure the quality of legal advice. Anyone registered as a citizen of Gwangju is able to receive counseling every Tuesday and Wednesday from 2-5 p.m. Disabled, socially disadvantaged and low-income citizens have priority. The free legal consultation includes inheritance and estate management, entrepreneurship administrative sanctions and other miscellaneous legal enquiries. Citizens in need of these services should make an appointment by phone or in person. The office is on the sixth floor of City Hall. Representative Officer Yunsik Cho said: “Through counseling on various legal issues of everyday life, we will try to improve the legal welfare of every citizen. We wish the service to be convenient and actively used by all citizens.” For further information, please contact the legal department of Gwangju Metropolitan City. (Telephone: 062-613-2773) CULTURAL EXCHANGE IN 2016 The Gwangju Convention & Visitors Bureau has invited 10,600 young Chinese nationals to participate in cultural exchange activities since 2012. A part of Gwangju’s continuing plan to increase visits from international tourists, the City has sought to attract Chinese youth in the fields of culture and sports. The City plans to market 2016 as a special year for Chinese tourists to visit. This year is the 20th anniversary of the sister-city union between Gwangju and Guangzhou.

Fifty students from the middle school affiliate of Hae Sa University in Guangzhou visited Gwangju between Jan. 25 and 27 and participated in diverse exchange programs. Students from several groups will be visiting Gwangju in March for a cultural exchange including Southern China Childrens’ News Group (March 27-29), Shandong Geryahyun Middle School (March 28-30) and Miyazaki Nursing College from Japan. Jaesic Song, Department Head of Tourism Promotion, said: “Throughout this year, we expect many more exchange activities than previous years because many students who postponed their visits due to MERS in 2015 are now ready to visit Gwangju.”

For more information on Gwangju, please scan the QR code

Contents March 2016 Issue No. 169

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News and Info 5 Gwangju City News

Features 14 The Cool Kids

12 Upcoming Events

18 Gaining Acceptance

58 Community Board

20 Disruptive in More Ways than One, Uber in Korea

Local 7 Gwangju Talks 40 Josephine’s Panini 41 Gwangju Cooks : Tteokguk 42 My Korea : An Unexpected Journey Mudeong Mountain 44 Gwangju Biz : O-Yang 50 Right to the City : Gwangju as a Human Rights City

22 The Dark Side of Elephant Tourism 24 A Master Tradtional Korean Instrument Craftsman

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26 A Saju Forturne-teller in Gwangju 28 The History of Yangnim 30 Tips and Tricks for Living in Gwangju and Korea

Culture 17 Gwangju Writes : No One Here Is

GIC 8 GIC Talk Preview 9 GIC Talk March Schedule 10 GIC Culture Tour

Photography 36 Finding Balance in Life and Art 38 Photo of the Month

Places to See 48 Lost in Gwangju : Sangmu Area 52 Departing Gwangju : The Old Country A Trip to Romania

Well 54 Behind the Myth : Hangover-free Alcohol?

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General 32 The Platform: Mad About THAAD 34 Education: Meeting Where We Are 39 On the Download 46 Health : Martin Shkreli 55 Green Korea : Waste Conversion 56 KOTESOL : Giving Feedback in the Classroom

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gwangju talks I local

Do you feel that Korea is beginning to accept homosexuality?

Translated and compiled by Cho Nam-hee, Jang Dong-ha, Choi Shin-ae, Kim Dae-yong

Chae Jung-hoon, 36 I don’t have clear ideas about how homosexuality is accepted in our society. Some words like “a few”, “negative” and “reluctant” come to my mind. Indirectly, I could experience their life from mass media and I could put myself in their shoes while I was watching it. We have no right to judge their life as long as it does no damage to others in our society. I think homosexuality is just one part of human nature, so it should be respected.

Kim So-yi, 25 I have one Malaysian friend who is homosexual. He loves Korea a lot. However, he said that some Koreans give him uncomfortable looks because of their bias against homosexuality. Why is homosexuality regarded as bad even though it is not? People think homosexuality is a taboo for only one reason, namely that it is not common. Homosexuality is no longer as unacceptable.

They also have the right to love. There remain intense debates about homosexuals in Korea.

However, if we see homosexuals in a biased way, then their happiness and freedom will be violated. Therefore, I am on their side and I support them.

Jeon Bong-gwan, 24 In many western countries, people are generally not against homosexuality, so they have more freedom and openness to their gender identities. In Korea, however, I think most people hate the idea very much because of our cultural and historic backgrounds. Another reason is that for a long time we have regarded love as only possible between the opposite sex. Due to these reasons, it makes people upset. I often try to respect homosexuality, but I tend to be part of the majority.

Solène Heurtaux, 22 I personally accept homosexuality and know both gay and lesbian couples. Gay marriage was made legal in my country (France) in 2013 and I think that it was a great victory for LGBT rights.

But I am not sure about what Koreans think about that. I haven’t seen any homosexual couples here in Korea, so I think it is still a taboo. I feel like Korea is very advanced on many aspects (technologies, etc.) but some traditions are still very present and they prevent mentalities to evolve on certain issues.

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ART & COMMUNITY Written and photos contributed by Áine Byrne

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We believe one of the indicators of a healthy community, the kind of place that is likely to be loved and endure, is evidence of a strong creative environment.

In Gwangju, “the city of light and culture,” you may expect there to be a large selection of art classes.

While there is a plethora of Korean offerings, regrettably there are few English speaking offerings for adults. The Gwangju Art Class was created by Mariya Happenko, who departed in 2015, and we helped her to keep the classes going. With the new year, we need you more than ever to keep the art classes alive in conjunction with all the other creative activities taking place in the city.

Every Saturday at the Gwangju International Center (GIC), Jen Lee, Susan Sahab and I bring tangible and easy to digest art classes to the local community of Gwangju. We attempt to bring variety through different styles and art ideas via Life Drawing, Painting, Crafts, Still Life and more.

OUR GIC TALK We will be hosting our first talk at the GIC on Saturday March 5, 2016. The concept of the talk is to raise awareness of the great work and resource that the GIC offers to the expat and Korean community in Gwangju. We will talk about our backgrounds, our art classes, you will see some of our work as we

discuss Community Art. At the end, we will do what we do best and hold an art workshop.

In the workshop you will: help us to kick start our 5x5 Community Art Wall project to raise funds for the GIC. Work from the art workshop will go on display in the front exhibition space at the GIC for the month of March.

OUR TALK AGENDA Introduction: Learn about our Community Art Project Speaker: Learn about Aine Byrne Speaker: Learn about Jen Lee Speaker: Learn about Susan Sahab Art Discussion: What is Art and Community?

Art Workshop: Create a 5x5 piece of art or message about “Why I like the GIC?” (*plus optional donation of 2,000-5,000 won to the GIC) GET INVOLVED We are delighted to have the opportunity to share our experiences with you and to include you in the 5x5 Community Art Wall project, so if you wish to take part in the project come on over!

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday March 5, at 3 p.m. in the GIC Hall! Everybody is welcome.

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GIC Talk March Schedule

Theme of the Month:

Understanding Others Time & Location: Saturdays from 3 p.m. – 4 p.m., GIC Auditorium (1st Floor) For more information, contact gictalk@gic.or.kr

MARCH 5 Speaker: Ă ine Byrne, Jen Lee, Susan Sahab Topic: Art Connecting Communities More information about this GIC Talk is included in the GIC Talk Preview on the previous page.

MARCH 12 There will be no GIC Talk, due to Free Cycle, on Saturday, March 12, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. All are invited to the GIC to enjoy the event with us!

MARCH 19 Speaker: Jonathan Brenner Topic: Contention of Maritime Spaces in the West Sea (Yellow Sea) Certainly there is much focus on Korean and Japanese maritime contentions in the East Sea (Sea of Japan). If, however, we focus our gaze to the west, China has begun flexing its might into the South China Sea, East China Sea, and West Sea (Yellow Sea). This talk will explore political security and economic interests of regional, national, and provincial stakeholders.

MARCH 26 Speaker: Allan Jessen Topic: Western Leadership in Eastern Companies Danish businessman, Allan Jessen, will talk about his experiences as a CEO in Korea. This talk will look at overcoming cultural differences to achieve a unified and strong organization. It will explore practices that work to utilize the best from the two cultures to create magnificent results. Driving change management, transforming a local mindset into a global mindset, and developing a local business to be a global business are issues that the speaker will closely examine.

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A Sea of Yellow Springtime Adventures in Gurye Written by Bradley Weiss Photographed by Kim Do-hyeong

Start

9:00 am

Hwaeomsa Temple

Lunch In the Temple

Making Beaded Bracelets & Meditation in Hwaeomsa

Unjoru Wearing Hanbok, Archery

SANSUYU Village

Arrive 18:00 pm

Date: Saturday, March 26 Price: GIC Members 45,000 won/ Non-Members 55,000 won, Kids 30,000 won Itinerary: GIC → Hwaeomsa Temple (Making beaded bracelets, Meditation and Lunch) →Unjoru (Wearing Hanbok, Archery) → Sansuyu Village (Trekking, Eating refreshments) → GIC Contact: 062-226-2733 or gictour@gic.or.kr (Lee Jeongmin)

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arch brings not only the start of spring, but also the beginning to a new season of GIC Tour.

We kick off 2016 with a visit to Gurye, a picturesque rural area nestled between Jiri Mountain and the Seomjin River. Our visit coincides with the peak season for viewing sansuyu, or cornus fruit, blossoms. Koreans from all over the country flock to this region in the spring for the striking vistas and the sea of yellow blossom-covered trees which Gurye affords.

The aim of the first stop on our tour, though, will be to immerse ourselves in the depths of Korean history and culture at Hwaeom temple, just outside of town. With a history of nearly a millennium and a half, having been established in 544 CE, Hwaeom Temple is one of the head temples of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and home to a number of national treasures, including the largest stone lantern of any Korean temple as well as the exquisite granite four-lion three-story pagoda. Our pre-lunch activities, led by resident monks, will include a meditative tea drinking experience in addition to making beaded bracelets, which participants will be able to take home as a physical reminder of what promises to be a spiritually enriching experience. A vegetarian lunch will also be provided by Hwaeom Temple, after which participants will be free to wander the considerable grounds to take in the atmosphere at their leisure.

In the town of Gurye stands Unjoru, our next stop and one of the few still-remaining houses belonging to yangban, or noble families. Built by a high ranking government official in 1776, a total of 73 of the original 99 rooms still survive. The historic edifice still serves as residence to an elderly descendent of the original owners. Unjoru is steeped not only in history, but also in legend. Participants will hear stories of gold rings falling from heaven, the talking tiger origins of the bones that formerly hung above the gate, and the turtle-shaped rock that was discovered underground during the original construction, verifying the perfect, propitious nature of the locale, according to pung-su, or Korean geomantic principles. Our time there will be much more active than just hearing fantastic tales. After a brief tour of the structure, participants will experience dressing in the austere hanbok, or traditional clothing, formerly worn by Joseon Dynasty era scholars. They can also test their skills with a traditional archery experience.

After tallying up the number of bullseyes on the archery range and doffing our scholar’s hanbok, our bus will sweep us off to one of the surrounding rural villages where we will take some time to appreciate the aforementioned yellow vistas of all the sansuyu trees in bright bloom. A raised, covered platform in the village offers a convenient place to rest, take in the view and enjoy some refreshments, including partaking of some locally-produced sansuyu-infused beverages. For more adventurous and energetic participants, a trail can be followed which leads up and out from the village to a higher vantage point for a more sweeping view.

A mix of the natural beauty that spring in Korea has to offer, experiencing one of the most prominent temples in the country, and some entertaining activities at a rare historic home – all this and more await the participants of the inaugural tour for 2016.

If this has your interest piqued, sign up and help us get the new season off to an auspicious start!

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Upcoming Events

SWEET (Solar, Wind & Earth Energy Trade Fair) Korea Energy Management Corporation will participate at the Solar, Wind & Earth Energy Trade Fair held in Kim Dae Joong Convention Center from March 13 to 15. They will introduce its national SESE (Save Energy Save Earth) program. The program encourages children to participate in activities to save energy and learn how to use new and renewable energy.

Dates: March 16 - 18 Times: 10 a.m. ~ 5 p.m.

Venue: Kim-Dae-Jung Convention Center Directions: Take the bus No.38, No.64, No.518, No.01, No.1000 and get off the Kim-Dae-Jung Convention Center Station. ￦ Admission Fee: Free Website: www.sweet.or.kr Phone: (062)650-3048

The 19th Gwangyang Maehwa Festival Dates: March 18 - 27 Venue: 55, Jimak1-gil, Daapmyeon, Gwangyang-si, Jeollanam-do (Sumjin-village area) Directions: Take the intercity bus at Gwangju Bus Terminal and get off at the Gwangyang Bus Terminal (1 hour, 30 minutes). From the Gwangyang Bus Terminal, take the Bus to Daap-Myeon festival.

￦ Admission Fee: Free Phone: 061-797-2721 Website: www.gwangyang.go.kr/gymaehwa/

Gwangju Symphony Orchestra 11 a.m Concert Spring 광주시립교향악단 11시 음악회 봄 Date: March 11, 11 a.m.

Venue: Gwangju Art and Culture Center ￦ Admission: 10,000 won (R seat), Phone: 062-524-5086 Website: www.gso.or.kr

Gurye Sansuyu Flower Festival Gwangju Symphony Orchestra – 40th Anniversary Concert III ‘창단40주년 기념음악회 III, 전원’

Dates: March 19 - 27 Venue: 45, Sanggwan 1 gil, Sanding-myeon, Guryegun, Jeollanamdo Directions: Take the intercity bus at Gwangju Bus Terminal and get off at the Namwon Bus Terminal (1 hour, 10 minutes). From the Namwon Bus terminal, take the taxi to Jirisan mountain hot-spring town(about 25 minutes).

Take the intercity bus at Gwangju Bus Terminal and get off at the Gurye Bus Terminal. The bus goes through Gokseoung and arrive after about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Website: http://sansuyu.gurye.go.kr/sanflower/

Date: March 14 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Gwangju Culture & Arts Center ￦ Admission: 30,000 won (R Seat), 20,000 won (S Seat), 10,000 won (A Seat) Phone: 062-524-5086 Website: www.gso.or.kr/

CHICAGO 시카고 Date: March 18 - 20 Venue: Gwangju Culture & Arts Center ￦ Admission: 130,000 won (VIP Seat), 110,000 won(R Seat), 90,000 won (S Seat) Phone: 1588-0766 Website: www.gjart.net/

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@GWANGJU TEATHER

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Asia Culture Center Schedule

Chungjang-no 5-ga 62, Dong-gu, Gwangju (two blocks behind NC WAVE) 8,000 won per person per film 062-224-5858 http://cafe.naver.com/cinemagwangju

March 1 Son of Saul (László Nemes,107 min) (Drama, History, Thriller) Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn During World War II, a Jewish worker (Géza Röhrig) at the Auschwitz concentration camp tries to find a rabbi to give a child a proper burial.

Tessa Blomstedt Gibt Nicht Auf (Tessa Blomstedt Will Not Surrender) 테사 블롬슈테트는 포기하지 않는다 Dates: March 26 - 27 Location: Asia Culture Theater 1 Language: German Title: Korean / English Genre: Musical play Writer: Christoph Marshaler Admission: 50,000 won(R seat), 30,000 won(S seat)), 10,000 won(A seat) Website: www.acc.go.kr/performance In this collaboration with Volksbuehne Berlin, worldfamous Swiss director Christoph Marthaler explores the desires and dreams of ordinary people.

Tessa Blomstedt is a woman who transcends age. She is looking for that impossible true love. The show shifts between dramatic tragedy, classical music, and bubblegum pop, between longing for a real emotional connection and the kitsch of consumerism. Christoph Marthaler shows life how it is: tiring, disappointing, yet hopeful. His anti-heroes are bourgeois, egoistical cowards, but nevertheless extremely lovable.

Transgression and Syncretism 월경과 혼재 Dates: March 11 - 13 Location: Asia Culture Theater 1 Genre: Performance and EXhibition Writer: You Mi Admission: 30,000 won Website: www.acc.go.kr/performance

Spirits’ Homecoming (Cho Jung-rae, 127 min) (Drama) Gang Hana, Choi Ri, Son Suk Jeong-min, Yeong-hee and other girls her age are forcefully dragged to a service club by the Mokdan River and raped by Japanese soldiers. By the end of the war, Yeong-hee is the only survivor and becomes an old lady. Through a sixteen-years-old exorcist who has a past like her, they both gather the souls of poor comfort girls who died on foreign land.

March 3 Snow Paths (Kim Hee-jung, 99 min) (Drama) Kim Taehun, Park Sodam Jeong-Woo is sent to a sanitarium deep in the mountains to overcome his alcoholism. There he meets a young nun named Maria who has a special ability to see inside people. In this isolated sanitarium Maria is the only person who seems to care for him and soon he feels drawn to her. While struggling with withdrawal symptoms, Jeong-woo has a vision of a different reality .

The further he escapes from his alcoholism, the closer he gets to confronting the past that he has denied for years.

Twinsters (Samantha Futerman, Ryan Miyamoto, 89 min) (Documentary, Biography, Family) Anais Bordier, Samantha Futerman, Kanoa Goo Adopted from South Korea, raised on different continents & connected through social media, Samantha & Anaïs believe that they are twin sisters separated at birth.

March 17 Hunger (Steve McQueen, 96 min) (Biography, Drama) Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw, Brian Milligan This film focuses on the 1981 hunger strikes by Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. Bobby Sands is one of a group of prisoners who first “took to the blanket” with a “dirty protest” in pursuit of their claims for recognition as political prisoners. Sands then became the first one of the group to embark on a hunger strike that was to end in his death.

Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, 97 min) (Drama) Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu In a Turkish village, five orphaned sisters (Günes Sensoy, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan) live under strict rules while members of their family prepare their arranged marriages.

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The Cool Kids

The Rise of Tattoo and Skateboar in Gwangju Written by Murdock O’Mooney Photographed by Hee Seung Kim & Kirsty Gemma

K

im Myung Hyun lifts his shirt exposing his tattooed arms and torso. The work is beautiful and he smiles as he explains his tattoos. “I’ve had these for over 10 years. My tattoos are mostly black and grey style, but I also have irezumi [Japanese style].”

Kim is the operations manager at Crows Ink Tattoo in downtown Gwangju, the oldest and most established shop in the city. The space the shop occupies is palatial by Korean standards. It boasts an open floor plan with exposed-bulb lighting and artifacts from the early 20th century, including an old typewriter, antique piano and a huge area rug. The shop is nothing short of beautiful and, based on the peo-

ple inside, one thing is vividly clear: this is where the cool kids hang out.

While counterculture in Gwangju might not be as apparent as in the U.S. or Japan, it is very much alive and well, and many would argue, growing. Kim explains to me that for seven years Crows Ink Tattoo was the only shop in Gwangju, but recently things have changed. Now there are fifteen tattoo shops in the city, with at least six in the downtown area alone.

Kim tells me that conservative president Park Geunhye is working on a solution for tattoo artists to

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operate legally under a licensing system. “Currently, tattooing is only legal for doctors,” he tells me. “But this will soon change.”

When asked why he got his first tattoo, Kim thinks then responds confidently, “I wanted to show my uniqueness and stand out among my peers.” Kim says that currently men make up about 60 percent of the shop’s customer base and women 40 percent.

Foreigners comprise about 10 percent of his customers.

Currently, the most popular tattoo styles at Crows Ink are black and grey (also known as realistic style) and irezumi. However, increasingly people are requesting more diverse designs known as fashion tattoos.

In a cafe near Crows Ink, I spot a young woman named Eun Gin with a fashion tattoo. She explains her tattoo saying, “This is Cracker. He is my cat.” I look at the simple 2-D image of a cute cat face on her wrist. When asked why she got the tattoo, she smiles and says, “Just for fashion. No reason.” She then adds exuberantly, “It looks cool!”

A few blocks away in the Chosun University back gate area, a tattoo artist named Deal explains the history of tattoos in Korea from his newly opened shop, Creampie Tattoo.

“Traditionally, tattoos were used to mark criminals, or signify social status and clan affiliation—a practice we adapted from samurai culture in Japan,” he explains. “But these days people get tattoos for many different reasons, including fashion and sentimental reasons.” Deal explains why he became a tattoo artist saying, “It was one of the few ways I could make a living as an artist in Gwangju.”

Feeling sated with my knowledge of local tattoo culture, I head to the Asia Culture Complex to investigate another subculture in Gwangju—skateboarding. While there, I meet local skater Jeong Tae Wan. He is flipping his board into the air and grinding on steps. He’s got the typically aware look of a skater— cool, but ready to flee quickly if need be.

Jeong says he was inspired to take up skating after seeing a video of pro Korean skater Jason Choi “surfing the street.” “It [skateboarding] looked so fun and freeing,” he said. “I wanted to move like that.” A year later, Jeong is doing tricks and skating confidently around the Asian Culture Complex.

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He says that while skateboarding is growing in Gwangju, the scene is much weaker than Busan or Seoul. For example, there are no large skate shops in Gwangju and not many pro-skate events happen here. Curious, I ask Tae Wan if the police ever give skaters a hard time in Gwangju, to which he smiles sheepishly and replies in perfect English, “sometimes.”

While it is easy to think that because countercultures go against the mainstream and, some may feel, are not productive contributors to society in the traditional sense, nothing could be further from the truth. According to Theodore Rozak, the author who coined the term in his book Making of a Counterculture, countercultures add much needed cultural richness to societies, including critical analyses and intellectualism, arts and music, poetry and literature and even technological innovations. Notable past counterculture movements include Romanticism (1790-1840), Bohemianism (1850-1910), the American 1960’s (1964-1974) and LGBT movements of the 1970’s.

If the health of a city’s counterculture is any indicator of its cultural richness, then The City of Light is in good standing.

Tattoo Hotspots: Downtown and the back gate areas around Chosun and Chonnam University.

Businesses: 1. Crow’s Tattoo Ink: This is the most well known shop in Gwangju. Professional and established since 1999, they can provide most tattoo style needs. Downtown area: crowstattoo.com, https://www.facebook.com/crowstattoo, 062-227-2300.

2. Miho Tattoo: Miho Tattoo is another professional, established shop with a large portfolio to peruse. Downtown area: facebook. com/Mihotattoo, 010-6786-3242.

3. Nsom Tattoo: This established shop specializes in irezumi, new school and old school styles. Chosun University back gate area: http://blog.daum.net/nsomtattoo, 010-4400-6575.

4. Creampie Tattoo: A newer shop specializing in various styles.

Chosun University back gate area: https://www.facebook.com/ officialCREAMPIE/, 010-8613-6570.

5. Mudeungsan Tattoo: This shop is established and provides various tattoo styles. Downtown area: http://club.cyworld.com/ mdstattoo, 010-5564-2119.

6. Crayon Tattoo: This shop has a strong following and provides various styles. Chonnam University back gate area: You can contact them through Facebook or at 010-9434-0684.

7. Kali Tattoo: This shop has a plethora of tattoo designs to choose from. Downtown: http://blog.naver.com/kalimin, 010-4844-4355.

Skateboarding Hotspots: Asia Culture Center in downtown and Chosun University fountain area.

Businesses: 1. Diamond Street: Large selection of skate apparel and a few boards. Chosun University area: diamondstreet.co.kr, 070-8886-5896.

gwangju writes l culture

No One Here Is Well (Originally published in “trnsfr”)

Written by Robert Hinderliter

Dear Benjamin, This letter is long overdue, and though I wish it brought cheerful news, it does not. No one here is well.

I have had a two-month headache accompanied by fits of dizziness; these sudden, terrible moments when I do not understand where I am in relation to my surroundings.

“Spatial disorientation,” the doctor clarified, and typed the phrase into his computer. I paid him fifty dollars and he entered my symptoms into a Google search. I sat on the cold examination table and watched him scroll through a Wikipedia article on brain tumors.

Mother has dementia. She recently developed shingles, and she scrapes at the sores on her face and screams that Beth has poisoned her. Father’s remains, resting in an urn on the mantle above Mother’s bed, have been mysteriously decreasing in volume. Beth and I worry that this is somehow Mother’s doing.

You remember Beth, don’t you? You met her just once, I think, before she and I were married. She has asthma, triggered by allergies. She takes four different allergy pills, a nebulizer, a steroid inhaler, and a nasal spray, and still sometimes she wakes in the night unable to breathe. I sit up and watch helplessly as she fumbles on the bedside table for her inhaler, eyes wide with fear.

My son Kevin—yes, I have a son now—has been vomiting. Nothing he eats will stay down. He is a brave boy and doesn’t want to miss school, but he gets so weak and sore from the heaving that he has been home for two weeks.

When he jumps up from the couch or the table, Beth and I run after him to the bathroom and rub his back while he retches. The doctors say they need to run more tests.

The dog is very old and has stomach cancer. She drags her skeletal frame to the door when visitors come by, and they immediately say, “Does that dog have cancer?” They can tell just by looking at her.

People do not ask me if I have cancer because I do not have cancer. I am sure that I do not. My doctor has recommended a brain scan, but it would be pointless. I do not have a tumor nestled in my brain. There is no small nugget of renegade cells tucked in the gray folds, slowly growing, striving to be as plump as an onion.

Benjamin, I do not mean for this news to burden you.

You surely have enough troubles of your own. It’s just that I’ve been thinking about you lately, about our time growing up together. It seems so long ago now that I’ve begun to wonder if those days ever truly existed. I worry that maybe what I thought were my memories are really just fantasies I’ve created, lies I’ve told myself and cling to desperately like a drowning man. I don’t see how the world I live in today could possibly be the same world I remember from then.

But there was a time, wasn’t there, when the years stretched out in front of us with endless promise? When we ran around your backyard, hiding in the corn and poking goats with sticks and feeling like ancient heroes born again? Weren’t there days when everyone was healthy and strong and we knew as sure as we knew anything that none of us would ever die?

I just need you to confirm for me that those days did in fact exist, that this world and that world are the same.

Just a sentence from you is all I’m asking. Even one word of confirmation would mean more to me now than any consolation you could offer, though it’s been so long that even one word is more than I have the right to ask. It’s probably too late, anyway, as this address I have for you is years old, and you’ve surely long since moved away.

But please, Benjamin, if you do get this, your reply would mean more to me than you could know.

Your friend, always,

Roger

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Gaining Acceptance A Look At Homosexuality in Korea Written by Katrin Marquez

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pproximately thirty thousand people attended the pride parade culminating the 2015 Korean Queer Culture Festival (KQCF) in Seoul last June. Months later, Seoul National University—the most prestigious university in the country—elected Kim Bo-mi as Korea’s first openly gay student body president. For LGBT activists in Korea these two events reflect societal changes which one day may allow LGBT persons to have equal rights in a country that remains socially conservative.

Though 2015 proved to be a watershed year for LGBT rights in Korea, those same moments that provide hope also illustrate how much is left to be done. Due to opposition from Christian organizations that attempted to block the event, KQCF was forced to change the date of the pride parade. The parade was only held after a court’s intervention.

Even so, the Korean Churches Anti-LGBT Response Committee—a coalition of Christian organizations— held its own event in the vicinity of the parade.

Kim’s election as an out lesbian to SNU’s most significant student role left many older Koreans enraged. Ignoring the fact that this was the first year in nearly two decades that a run-off was not held due to extreme low voter turnout—a requirement under SNU’s student body’s constitution—many older Koreans pointed out that, since Kim ran unop-

posed, her having received 86.8 percent of the vote did not necessarily reflect the students’ approval of her pro-LGBT rights stance. In a November 23 report by Donald Kirk in The Independent, an older veteran is quoted as saying, “They should expel her from the university.” These views are distinct from those of younger Koreans who seem to be more tolerant. Joshua McKee, a gay foreigner who has lived in Gwangju for six years, believes “the younger generation is more open and accepting of different lifestyles” but that “the older generation [is] more closed-minded.”

Steven Denney, a fellow at the Asian Institute, published an analysis of data from The World Values Survey in The Diplomat showing that between 2010 and 2014 Koreans under thirty were most likely to view homosexuality as acceptable at least sometimes, with a response of 39 percent. For people 30-49 and above 50 the acceptance responses were 20 percent and 8 percent respectively. The above 50 cohort was the most likely say homosexuality is never acceptable, responding that way 60 percent of the time. Some theorize this generational divide may be the result of improved socioeconomic circumstances in Korea, since some models in the social sciences have long held that economic stability usually leads to increases in progressive views.

However, economics alone is unlikely change prejudices against LGBT individuals.

Culture and activism tend to have a significant impact in how LGBT individuals are perceived. Film director Kim Jho Gwangsoo’s symbolic marriage to long-time partner Kim Seung-hwan helped to bring the issue of marriage equality to the foreground for many Koreans. Media representations can also impact change as trans woman and prominent LGBT rights activist Park Edhi credits the 2007 drama 1st Shop of Coffee Prince—in which a man struggles to accept his attraction toward a women he believes to be man—with making her believe she could become a beautiful woman and inspiring her to work for the rights of LGBT youth.

In Gwangju, the LGBT community is very discreet.

Unlike Seoul’s more active LGBT bar scene, the community here meets mostly online. “I’ve met a few guys in bars in Seoul, but that doesn’t seem to be the way you meet people in Gwangju,” explains a gay South African living in Gwangju. “It’s all either through apps or websites that people in the LGBT community use. I had a few friends who would use sites specifically for lesbians. That’s the way the community gets together and finds each other.” McKee recalls once taking straight friends to a hidden gay bar in Gwangju only to see the regular patrons leave for fear of being outed. In McKee’s experience, the pressure faced by gay men in Korea is very real. “Koreans have the responsibility of getting married, giving their parents grandchildren and making their families proud,” he says. “A part of that is not bringing shame to their family. So this puts a huge burden on gay or lesbian Koreans.”

Images of people struggling to find acceptance help to humanize the issue of LGBT rights. Even so, Korea still has a long way to go. Among younger Koreans acceptance rather than advocacy seems to be the most prevalent attitude. The advances made in the last couple of years are inspiring, but societal pressure continues to push some Koreans further into the closet. “I have a lot of respect for Korea, their country, their culture and their people,” says McKee. “However, I am happy to be from a culture where being different, whether it is your sexuality or anything else, is more acceptable. I am free from all the stress that is caused by having to stay in the closet and am free to live my own life. I am not forced to live two lives. So, everyone who meets me gets to meet the real Josh.” As awareness and tolerance grow, there is hope that more LGBT Koreans will experience this freedom as well.

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Our team is committed to producing the greatest Korean and most authentic Western food A Unique Lifetime Experience at Holiday Inn Gwangju For more information: 062-610-7000 www.holidayinngwangju.com

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Disruptive in More Ways Than One Uber in Korea Written by Katrin Marquez Photo courtesy of Wikicommons

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C

oined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, the term disruptive technology refers to a technology that displaces an existing system or that changes it in previously unforeseen ways. Uber, the app that allows users to forgo taxis in favor of paying less for rides has been described as a disruptive technology. Though clients worldwide seem to enjoy the convenience of the app, its growth has caused a number of issues. This is particularly true in Korea, where Uber has faced great opposition.

In Korea, the struggle started in August 2014 when Uber first launched its services in Seoul.

Quickly, taxi drivers opposed the spread of the service, petitioning the city government to ban Uber. The Seoul Taxi Association rejected requests from Uber for negotiation with an official for the group saying negotiations would only be considered after Uber stopped offering services in Seoul, according to a November 2014 report in the Korea Times. By May 2015, legislation that bans private vehicles from being used as taxis was passed, effectively rendering most Uber services illegal. Politicians cited safety concerns as well as Uber’s spotty history concerning customer privacy as reasons behind the legislation, though it was lobbied over potential business loss.

The taxi drivers’ concerns are not unfounded. In an August 2015 report in the weblog Gothamist, a New York cab driver complained that since Uber grew in popularity he went from making about $400 a shift to $250. In the same report, Gus Kodogiannis of taxi dispatcher McGuinness Management stated the company had lost 40 percent of its business.

While the struggles faced by taxi drivers due to Uber are tangible, for others staunch opposition to services like Uber is the real problem.

By allowing anyone who passes Uber’s relatively simple background check and brief tutorial to become drivers, the company lowers barriers for employment. Uber gives an opportunity for people who are unemployed or underemployed to earn money. Such an opportunity may be

a boon for the glut of young Koreans who are underemployed. While Uber’s services cannot compensate completely, they may help provide short-term economic relief for those unable to find other work.

Uber claims its drivers can make up to $90,000 annually. While this figure may have been accurate when Uber started, new statistics suggest the current actual salaries of Uber employees may be much lower. Uber drivers are also independently responsible for the costs of gas, car maintenance, insurance, tolls and car rental or financing fees.

An investigation for social media company Buzzfeed found that in New York City, the real earned income of full-time Uber drivers is much less than the company advertises, about $31,500.

Concerning the debates between taxi drivers and Uber enthusiasts, some argue the issues revolve around government regulation. In an opinion piece written for the Los Angeles Times and later reprinted in the Korea Times, Matthew Mitchell and Michael Farren argue that the real problems with the taxi industry result from over-regulation that hinders innovation in the industry, thus making Uber an unappealing option for frustrated customers. They use Broward County in Florida, USA as an example of a city that dealt successfully with the problems caused by Uber’s popularity by abolishing frivolous taxi industry regulation. Interestingly, this solution is different in Korea since both Uber and the taxi drivers appeal to the government for redress.

When Christensen first coined the term disruptive technology, his meaning was specific to the ways new technologies challenge old systems; its application to Uber, however, has larger implications.

When one looks closely at the causes of debates concerning the legality of Uber, one can see how these causes reflect larger societal issues — the impacts of lobbying on legislation, economic opportunity and the role of government in business and competition. Thus, Uber threatens to disrupt more than the taxi industry’s business model by inadvertently highlighting other issues.

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The Dark Side of Elephant Tourism Written and photographed by Tayani van Eeden

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n 2013, barely out of university and beyond South African borders for the first time, I went to live in Thailand. Five months into my adventure, I interviewed for a job in Isaan, the most rural province in Thailand. The head teacher took me for dinner that night to experience some of the local lifestyle, and while we were eating, he suddenly pointed outside and exclaimed: “Look, our resident elephant!

She walks around town with her owner some nights.

You can even buy some fruit to feed her.� He was

so enthusiastic, I felt immediately at peace with the situation. This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for in Thailand. Elephants roaming the streets. I bought fruit, posed for a picture with the elephant, and forgot all about it.

A few months later, I was in northern Thailand and considering going on an elephant trek, but a close friend messaged me and begged me not to do it. I was defensive, telling her that I had been assured

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the elephants are treated humanely. Fighting ignorance with education, she sent me links to articles describing the brutal physical and emotional torture that baby elephants suffer in order for their spirits to be broken in a process known as “the crush.” Isolated from their mothers, tied to cold cement floors and beaten with bull hooks, the elephants learn to fear the sight of the hooks in the hands of mahouts (elephant trainers) from a young age. Once their spirits have been broken, they are forced to carry enormous saddles and up to three people on their backs – much more weight than their spines can handle. There is clearly no humanity in the training of elephants. Mahouts are very skilled at convincing you that what they do is humane because their livelihoods depend on it.

I very easily could have continued on in ignorance if someone had not forced me to question my own harmful actions. I recently returned to Thailand for vacation so that I could visit a famous sanctuary for rescued elephants called Elephant Nature Park.

On my first day, I was reminded of the night I happily posed for a photograph with an elephant. Such street elephants are forced to walk down bustling city roads for the delight of tourists—and the mahouts’ wallets. The lights and vibrations of the cars and motorcycles cause great anxiety for the elephants, many only babies. I remembered the photo I had taken and felt deeply ashamed of my ignorance.

I considered digging through my Facebook posts and deleting this shame discretely. Then, I remembered how grateful I had been that someone had taken the

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time to set me on the right path, and decided that I would do the same for others. I know that many people have been in the same situation—especially those who have visited Thailand and its neighboring countries. This article is not meant to judge, but to serve as a gentle reminder that everyone should research establishments that involve animals before blindly supporting them. Being in a beautiful, exotic country where everything seems strange and wonderful can dull our instincts. Expatriates are a community of tourists, and we should advocate for the spread of #responsibletourism.

For more information on how to visit or volunteer at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, check out www. elephantnaturepark.org. Spots fill quickly. Be sure to book in advance.

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The Music Maker

A Master Traditional Korean Instrument Craftsman Written and photographed by Karly Pierre

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ee Bok-soo, 63, sips instant coffee from a thermos. He is sitting in his second-floor workshop surrounded by planks of wood—walnut, chestnut, paulownia. It has been his life’s work since the age of 16 to transform these planks into musical instruments that have given sound to the story of Korea. Lee’s own life story is one of transformation, beginning with his name. It was changed three times during his childhood.

“My parents named me Bok-dungee, which means fortune, because they were prosperous at the time,” said Lee. “My grandfather, a traditional medicine man, did not like the name, so he randomly changed it to Chun-soo. Then there was an epidemic in my town that killed many people, and the mayor changed my name to Bok-soo.”

Lee grew up in North Jeolla province, the son of a farmer, but he was ambitious and dedicated to excelling in his studies. After completing elementary

school he wanted to continue on to middle school, but his family could not afford tuition. So he joined a music society instead and worked there for four years.

“The conditions there were terrible, so I went back to my father and again asked to be sent to middle school. He said I should work with him on the farm instead. I did not want to do that, so I tried to find a job so I could work in the morning and study at night.”

He finally found a master instrument maker willing to take him on as an apprentice. Lee observed his master, but most of his duties consisted of running errands.

After quickly working his way through middle school in just three months, he was also able to complete high school, supporting himself financially with his apprenticeship.

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ever, these two instruments uniquely represent the style of Korean musicianship.”

The gayageum was developed by Wu Ruk, a musician during the Three Kingdoms period in the state of Gaya. This long wooden string instrument has a delicate tone when plucked. There are several versions of the instrument that vary in size and number of strings.

“I studied for school while secretly making instruments,” Lee explained. “One time a high school teacher displayed one of my instruments in class.

Many of my classmates thought it was arrogant of me to make instruments. They made school difficult for me.

But I enjoyed creating and teaching myself how to do things.”

As a young man, he often relieved stress through cycling. Even though he had no formal training, he began winning competitions and considered becoming a professional athlete.

“I was asked to join the team of the Hungah Bicycle Company, a very renowned company at the time,” said Lee. “But they went bankrupt and I missed a critical year for an athlete, so I went back to my master. He was really happy to have me back because not many people in the trade had an educational background past elementary school. My master thought that people like me with a higher educational background were essential to improving the trade.”

Lee’s skill has earned him recognition as a master craftsman and a Gwangju intangible cultural asset.

He specializes in traditional instruments made from natural materials and can make 27 of the 68 traditional Korean instruments.

“My favorite traditional instruments are the gayaguem and geomungo,” said Lee. “Fundamentally, Korean instruments are derived from China. How-

The geomungo—meaning dark instrument—looks similar to the gayageum and also originates from the Three Kingdoms period, but produces lower tones.

Wang San-ak, a prime minister, is attributed as its creator. Legend holds that the first time Wang Sanak played the instrument, a crane landed next to him and began to dance.

Though Korea’s traditional instruments are an important part of the country’s cultural identity, Lee fears for the future of this tradition.

“Young people are not willing to be trained in this cultural trade because there is no guarantee of economic benefit,” he said. “I have tried to teach a few people, but they were focused on making profits. They made the instruments very quickly to sell quickly, but the quality of the instruments was low.

On the surface it looked like they were interested in preserving tradition, but that was not the reality.”

Lee has also been frustrated by what he feels is the government’s lack of interest in seriously investing in Korea’s cultural assets. Unlike in Japan, China and Europe, traditional artists in Korea, Lee said, do not receive the support they need from the government to continue to see these trades thrive for generations to come.

“South Korea is regarded as a developed country, but in terms of preserving its culture, this country has a long way to go,” he said.

To illustrate his point, he noted how samulnori, a traditional Korean musical style, had been losing respect and popularity in modern Korea. Recently, a group of four samulnori musicians toured Europe, where they received rave reviews for their distinctive sound.

“When the musicians came back to Korea, their musicianship was finally recognized and praised. Our culture was accepted by us because it succeeded in a different country. We are not aware of the value of our culture.”

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PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY

A Saju Fortune-teller in Gwangju Written by C. Adam Volle

fected by the biases of the reader. According to the principles of the universe as carefully studied by East Asian diviners and philosophers for millennia, I am simply not funny.

It is unlikely Kim understands his words are hurtful.

My face has been pinched for the last hour while I have concentrated on trying to understand his world, so he probably thinks I already know. When Kim is aware that he is presenting bad news to a customer, he says he usually takes pains to focus on the positive, such as the ways in which the customer can lessen the impact of some bad luck. In fact he largely credits his success in the business to his personal touch with customers. He says he has investigated the smaller offices and tents of less-successful readers and finds no other difference that might account for it. After all, the saju itself is unchanging – there are even websites that read it now.

“Y

ou have no sense of humor,” Kim Jung-ho tells me through my translator.

This judgment comes as something of a blow. I tell a lot of jokes. As Kim has reminded me several times during our interview, however, a saju consultant invents nothing. Reading someone’s saju – their “Four Pillars of Destiny” - is a systematic process unaf-

If Kim’s rapport with clients is what sets him apart from the competition, the secret to it may lie in his empathy. Like the people who visit him for advice, Kim came to the Four Pillars because of confusion and anxiety about his fate. The man has led an eventful life. In his youth, he worked as a salaryman in a business conglomerate and as a member of one of Gwangju’s gangs. The latter position resulted in his spending time in prison. As his saju predicted, Kim was also fated from birth to love multiple women. He is a widower and two-time divorcee.

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Bigyeol, or Tojeong’s Book of Secrets. The eponymous Tojeong, a scholar who lived during the Joseon Dynasty in the 16th century, wrote his great work in a form of poetry that utilizes couplets of four-syllable phrases, meaning every couplet is eight syllables long. Each of the Four Pillars – year, month, day and hour of birth – is represented by two Chinese characters, so that a person’s fate is written out in eight characters. Kim cross-references these eight Chinese characters representing a person’s fate with a corresponding eight-syllable couplet of Tojeong’s to discover their meaning.

If that does not seem to you like a reliable system for divination of the future, you are not alone. Most of Korea’s modern youth take saju far less seriously than their elders. The days are certainly gone when Samsung’s founder, Lee Byeong-cheol, allegedly demanded that prospective employees have their saju checked before being hired. Yet Kim Jung-ho remains busy day after day, and many of his customers are repeats. The outlook for his business and other saju experts’ looks good.

But then, they know that.

Even though he now interprets destinies for a living, Kim disclaims any unique perspective on his life or others’. He considers himself just another customer, faithfully calculating his own saju on the first day of each year in the exact same manner he arrived at the unfortunate truth about my personality. First he notes the year, month, day and hour of his subject’s birth – each of these elements is one of the four metaphorical pillars - then he looks up their corresponding entries in the pages of the book he uses as an index of his customer’s personalities, relationships and fates. The year of birth offers insight into the subject’s relationship with his or her parents, the day with romance, and so forth.

Only, the work is both more simple and more complicated than this bare-bones description of Kim’s routine suggests. The job is easier because Kim’s book is no longer a physical object, although he does keep a copy of the tome on his bookshelf just in case his computer dies. These days, he types the relevant information into the database on his computer and receives results instantaneously. Understanding these results is more complicated, however, because the book in question is the Tojeong

Facts About Saju ο In China: Ba Zi. In Japan: Syo-kan ο Four Pillars of Destiny / Life. The Four Pillars are: the year, month, day and exact time when you were born. Each answer to these questions is signified by two Chinese symbols, one representing the heavenly branch (the Elements) and one representing the earthly branch (the month of the Zodiac). ο There are online websites, both free and paid, which will compute the same. ο Naturally, Kim’s business sees a sharp rise in the months of December, January, and February, as people regularly have their fortunes checked on either the Solar New Year or the Lunar. ο He has read the fortunes of some people and realized they are criminals, in which cases he has gently suggested a more meritorious path.

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The History of Yangnim Written and photographed by Choi Shin-ae, Kim Dae-yong, Jang Dong-ha, Jung Yun-hee

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hurchill once said, “A nation that forgets its past has no future.” We think preserving history is very difficult. However, there is a place where history still remains in Gwangju. This place is Yangnim-dong.

Yangnim-dong has a rich 100-year old history, so we went to the area to check out the historic buildings. There were many historic buildings such as the House of missionaries Yu Su-man, Wilson, Peterson, and more. This is where missionary work began in the area. Clement Owen was one of the original missionaries to come to this area.

“IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM L. AND CLEMENT C. OWEN. 吳基冕乃其 祖事兼之紀念閣 “ was written on the marble plaque both in English and Chinese outside one of the historic buildings.

Owen dedicated himself to missionary work and medical services as a doctor in Gwangju and Jeollanam-do.

Owen wanted to establish a hospital to pay tribute to his grandfather, but he changed his plan to instead build a memorial for the mission while he was still alive. Sadly, he died from overwork in 1909 before he achieved his plan. The Memorial of William L. and Clement C. Owen was established by donations from his in 1914 in order to pay tribute to Owen and his grandfather.

Owen was born in 1867 in Virginia and graduated from the Medical University of Virginia in 1896 and Union Theological Seminary in 1894. He accepted an appointment in 1897 as a South American Presbyterian missionary and came to Korea on November 5, 1898.

When the port of Mokpo was opened in 1897, Eugene Bell and Clement Owen were appointed as missionaries there. Owen devoted himself to caring for the people at the first Western medical clinic in South Jeolla Province in Mokpo in 1899. The following year

he married a medical missionary, Georgiana W. (1869 -1952). Medical missions work in Mokpo gained momentum with the experience and talents of Georgiana.

At first, Owen was involved in parallel medical missions in Mokpo and Gwangju, and soon after, when spreading the gospel was possible in the hospital, he and Bell committed to spread the word of God. Gwangju was also changing as the harbor opened in Mokpo and A merican missionaries formed the Western Village at Yangnim-dong to help the poor.

While Owen labored, he suddenly suffered from an intense cold when he arrived in Jangheong. Palanquins were prepared for his companions to rush to Gwangju to help Owen, but they arrived three days later. While Wilson was giving medical treatment to Owen, he sent a telegram to the Forsythes, missionary physicians in Mokpo, but before his friends arrived Owen died of acute pneumonia just five years after arriving in Gwangju. On their way to Owen, the Forsythe missionaries could not overlook the lepers dying on the roadside. It delayed their arrival to Gwangju and consequently they could not save Owen’s life.

Owen’s sacrifice and martyrdom became an important motive in the history of our country for the relief of leprosy. A leprosy clinic was founded in Yangnim and it established the largest leper colony, Yeosu Aeyangwon. In addition, the memorial built according to Owen’s will has great significance for Gwangju.

Succeeding Owen, missionary Seo Seopyung started the Yi-Il Bible School, the first girls’ bible school in Korea. Including the establishment of a vocational school to train nurses, this memorial is the cradle where the dream of the great medical missionary history began.

The memorial site was not only used as a bible school

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3 1, 2.Yangnim Church, 3. The Memorial of William L. and Clement C. Owen

that influenced Christian spirituality in Gwangju and Jeolla region, but was also used as a Cultural Arts Center, an educational facility, and more. In 1919, a sermon took place to promote the 3.1 Movement.

In 1920, the memorial was also the birthplace of the modern civil movement, which founded the Gwangju YMCA. For the time being, the memorial is used as a church for congregational meetings, lectures, concerts, movies, dance performances and plays. Moreover, it has contributed to the cultural development of the area by holding cultural events such as school festivals and graduation ceremonies.

Though Owen established a clinic in Mokpo, he moved to Gwangju with pastor Eugene Bell to dedicate himself to preaching the gospel when the Gwangju mission was established in 1904. Therefore, Gwangju Clinic (once known as Jejung Hospital and now Christian Hospital) was established in 1905 by missionary J. W. Nolan coming from Mokpo. The clinic grew significantly after Wilson became the second director in 1908. He was committed to the eradication of leprosy and medical activities for the poor of the area throughout his lifetime. There is a famous story about Wilson starting a leper colony after witnessing Forsythe’s compassion for those afflicted by leprosy.

Heung-jong Choi, the clerk at the Jejungwon and Wilson’s language teacher, was once surprised when Forsythe asked him to pick up and hold a leper’s cane.

However, by following his orders, Choi eventually realized true love and enlightenment, and decided to

dedicate himself to helping lepers with Owen.

Since 1909, Wilson’s missionaries treated lepers behind Jejungwon where kilns were ready. A leprosy clinic was able to open through fundraising and donations from missionaries sponsored by the Association of Edinburgh, UK, and through Heung-jong Choi’s donation of his own land in Bongseonri in 1912. There, Wilson built a church dedicated to caring for lepers. But in 1926, due to the intense opposition to Wilson’s mission in the neighborhood, he had to move to Yeocheon in Yeosu to build another clinic for the lepers, which was called Aeyangwon. Wilson cared for those patients as if they were his family throughout his life.

Wilson began a missionary orphanage for disabled children and orphans in his parsonage in this area, and re-opened the children’s Sunday school with Seorodeuk. After a while, it could not continue to care for the children due to opposition from the previous Governor-General. However, the spirit of his love for the children continued and he opened a war orphan care center in 1949.

We learned many things through Owen and Wilson. A common link between Owen and Wilson is that they always thought about others more than themselves.

We think that all historical events involve sacrifices of many people. However, their hard work is gradually forgotten. People nowadays are not aware that they should try to think of others. We hope that many people will be open-minded.

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Dear Freshmen Tips and Tricks for Living in Gwangju and Korea Written by C. Adam Volle

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t is a common tradition at four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. for graduating seniors to write down advice for incoming freshmen, which is then published in either the campus rag or the yearbook.

Of course, there is no “graduating” from Korea – and even if there was, they would probably be holding me back. Living here is an education though, and I have learned a few things in my four years here. So, if you are a fellow waeguk and new to life in South Korea, here are some tips and tricks that will help get you off to a good start.

TRANSPORTATION: -You can get a free bus route map by going to either the tourist information center outside the bus terminal or the one inside the train station. As decorations for your new apartment go, few are more useful. The tourist centers frequently run out of maps, so you may have to make more than one trip to get ahold of one.

-There are several useful apps available for your smartphone. 광주버스 (Gwangju Bus) will tell you

how to get to stops in Gwangju and how many minutes you have left until your bus is due. Like its name, the app is entirely written in Korean, but you only need to know how to sound out words to make use of it. If you find even that too daunting, the Google Maps app works too. Also, the 가가오 택시 (Kakao Taxi) app has made waiting around and worrying about whether a taxi will ever show up a thing of the past. It requires memorizing a handful of options in Korean, but is very intuitive.

-Just because a taxi driver is grouchy or does not pick you up, does not necessarily mean he or she is racist. Your general happiness in Korea will rely to no small extent on giving people the benefit of the doubt so make a habit of assuming that there are other factors at play. You will usually be right.

HOUSEKEEPING: -If you purchase the largest airtight plastic container that will fit inside a level of your refrigerator, you can put your food waste in that and eliminate the odor. It is also nice just having your food waste out of sight.

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-Mold grows easily in Korean apartments due to lack of ventilation, particularly in bathrooms. I run a squeegee over the bathroom mirror and the walls of my bath after every shower. If you are living in a “villa” apartment, be sure to leave your windows cracked open when you are not at home. If a mold problem develops, hit it with bleach or vinegar.

HEALTH: -Go to the dentist every six months for a cheap check-up and cleaning, courtesy of your national health insurance.

-Keep in mind that many medical procedures are cheaper here. If you are an American who has always wanted LASIK eye surgery, for example, now may be the time.

MONEY: -Rechargeable HanPay city transportation cards are available at Seven-Elevens and will save you 100 won per trip. You can also use them in taxis.

-In general, Daiso is cheaper than local markets, which are cheaper than HomePlus, which is cheaper than Emart, which is cheaper than Lotte, which is cheaper than Shinsegae. Of course, a Daiso’s selection pales in comparison to a HomePlus’s.

-Find out immediately if you will be paying taxes to the Korean government this year, because you can qualify for a number of deductions if you play your cards right. For example: -Once you have one, you should use your debit or credit card for most transactions. You may be able to use your bank card as a city transportation card as well. By using your card you create a paper trail with which you can later show the Korean government you spent over twenty-five percent of your income in-country. You will receive a tax credit for having done so.

-If you are renting an apartment with anyone, even your wife or husband, then only one of you should transfer the monthly rent from your bank account.

There is a tax deduction for housing available, but it is only available to the one individual named on the housing contract, who must be able to show that all twelve months’ worth of rent came from his or her account.

ON KOREANS AND TEACHING: -While I was still having trouble with Korean names I simply referred to everyone as “Ms. [Family Name]”

or “Mr. [Family Name].” It is a little formal but consistently respectful, easy since most Korean surnames are one syllable, and if you happen to be an Englishman you will delight Koreans everywhere by confirming their stereotype of you as a gentleman or lady. Wear a bowler hat and use a walking stick for added effect. You can even do the same with your older students, since teaching them proper forms of address is part of your job.

-If you have co-teachers, treat them as your direct superiors, whatever the organizational flowchart says. Always ask them for their opinions and ideas regarding your lessons, regardless of their attitudes.

-Be proactive in learning what school events are upcoming which may affect your own schedule. It is not a bad idea to ask every week if anything is happening. I once found myself hiking up a mountain in a nice suit instead of going on my Valentine’s Day date because I forgot to ask.

-At social gatherings with your Korean coworkers, don't feel pressure to talk, nor bitter if they have conversations in Korean without including you.

Young, new employees aren't expected to talk much, even if they're Koreans. If you just smile, are decently cheerful and attentive, and refill people's drinks (with both hands!) whenever they're empty, you win!

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS: -Gwangju’s Dongbu Police Department has an English-speaking officer on staff named Hyegyoung Lee. Her English name is Monika. You can email her with any specific questions or concerns at monika1004@naver.com.

-The Korea Tourist Hotline’s number is 1330 and its kind staff is willing to look up anything from a bus route to a festival time. They do not know you are not a tourist.

-Join “Gwangju - 광주” group on Facebook. You will probably be able to find the answers to most of your questions by using the search function.

-Join the “Gwangju News” and “GIC” Facebook pages to track upcoming community events, of course.

The Gwangju Blog is also an excellent resource.

That should do it. Welcome to Korea. Prepare for your hazing.

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the platform

MAD about THAAD Written by Jonathan Joseph Charella

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AD, or mutually assured destruction, is not perfect. It was skewered in the black comedy Dr. Strangelove, loosely based on the novel Red Alert. Dr. Strangelove lambasted the madness of arms races that pushed humanity to the point of making the weapons necessary to ensure its own extinction and for overlooking the possible dangers of human error, accidents, and asymmetry of information. In the film, the Soviet Union delays in telling the world of the completion of a doomsday device; meanwhile an insane U.S. general goes rogue and orders a nuclear attack.

Neo-realist scholars like the late Kenneth Waltz argue such scenarios never played out because systems tend toward rationality and predictability. For all its flaws, MAD has been instrumental in preventing a third World War. MAD theory follows simple, logical axioms of self-interest and game theory. Neither the Soviet Union nor the USA directly attacked the other,

largely because the ensuing war would be a mutual murder-suicide. If the U.S. attacked the USSR, or vice versa, it could expect a massive nuclear counterstrike, and the ensuing nuclear war would be catastrophic for all involved.

The world would be better off without enough collective nukes to wipe out all animal life on Earth many times over. They are as much of an existential threat as global warming. However, we cannot “put the genie back in the bottle.” Nuclear technology exists. Until a day comes when all the world’s peoples have the ability and the will to pressure themselves and all others to decommission all nukes, we must consider MAD and balances of power. This may soon change, however, with THAAD, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.

After a strong sell of THAAD in late 2014, the U.S. dropped the topic as South Korea sought “strategic ambiguity” vis-a-vis the U.S. and China throughout 2015. This year, however, with the

the platform

North’s testing of new rocket technologies, the Korean government and the U.S. have begun negotiations on deploying THAAD. The speed of the system’s expected deployment makes me suspect the U.S. long ago placed orders with Lockheed Martin.

THAAD is a so-called missile defense (MD) system that is deployed in Guam and Alaska, with extra attendant RADAR systems in Japan. China and Russia are deeply troubled by THAAD. Like all MD, it has inherent flaws. For decades, scientists from Bell Labs to MIT have pointed out the impracticality of MD as well as the strategic implications— THAAD is a repeat of Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, itself the last in a line of Cold War missile strategies. The systems must be perfect on the first go and the enemy missiles must not have any technology that was not known to the MD designers at the time of the MD’s design. Israeli and U.S. internal reports and testimony for years have contradicted the claims of American presidents of MD’s efficacy ever since the first Gulf War. If MD systems have any use at all, it is in their ability to stop a counter-strike. The U.S. could launch a surprise strike with weapons of mass destruc-

tion and its new bunker-busting nukes, wiping out most of China or Russia’s weapons. MD would then be able to handle the limited and weak counter-strike they would launch—meaning the U.S. would no longer be subject to the pressures of mutually assured destruction. Even if the MD cannot stop a counter-strike, China, Russia, and North Korea may think it can, or may believe the U.S. thinks it can. In that case, they see the U.S. reserving the right and creating the ability to launch aggression with minor consequences at any point. If war looks inevitable, then the disadvantaged parties’ only hope is to strike first.

THAAD specifically has the ability to do reconnaissance on inland Chinese bases and can be reconfigured in less than eight hours. It will almost definitely be run by the U.S. and be part of a large trip-wire linking Korea, Japan, and the U.S. Regardless, North Korean leadership would not invite suicide by instigating a war it would surely lose unless war was inevitable. Any missile fired on South Korea would fly low and fast and not be covered

by THAAD. THAAD will only destabilize Korea and Northeast Asia.

Attorney Attorney Park’s Park’s Law Law Firm Firm We're ready to serve your best interests in legal disputes.

We provide affordable consultation & representation.

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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

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Meeting Where We Are Space ZARI for Community Exchange Written and photographed by Ana Traynin

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n a Monday evening in January, on a dark and quiet street in Dongmyeong-dong across from Daein Market, there is one jutaek house with painted windows and a light on the first floor. As you walk in through the unlocked glass door, you are greeted by a friendly brown poodle in a striped winter shirt. There is a kitchen, bookshelves, decorations, a worktable and a table with couches for meeting.

leader and group facilitator Lee Jong Hwa and teacher Um Hee Sun, a couple in their thirties who strive to share the place they live with the Gwangju community.

ZARI especially aims to facilitate language and cultural exchange, hold group meetings, and give city youth a place to meet. Zari is a Korean word with various meanings. Um explains it as “here, space, where we live, meeting where we are.”

Kim Jong Pil, an environmental activist in his forties, and 30-year-old Namgu Youth Center worker Park Jeong Hwa have come from other neighborhoods for a Japanese lesson. This is not a café or a study center. This is Space ZARI, a new house created by youth

Lee grew up in Gwangju and worked two years at an alternative school in Seoul in 2007, when there were no such places in Gwangju. During his second stay in Seoul for graduate studies in education, Lee met Jinan native Um who studied English and Japanese, lived abroad

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and was then working at an NGO. Sharing a common dream for building community, they moved back down to Gwangju together in early 2014 and began hatching their vision for an open living space.

They settled on a two-floor house with a big roof and set about converting the first-floor former shop, building a rooftop garden and installing solar panels. With a guesthouse on the 2nd floor and a café atmosphere on the 1st floor, the house has already attracted Koreans from other cities and guests from the Netherlands, Denmark and France.

“We want to get married,” Lee says. “How can we be happy? What kind of life do we want to have? We are against the idea of a ‘closed’ living place. We want to show others how we live.”

Unlike some other community spaces, ZARI does not aim to be a business project or receive any government funding.

“We just do as much as we can do,” Lee says. “There are many projects and possibilities but this space is Lee Jong Hwa and Um Hee Sun together with neighborhood people who need a place, especially youth.”

At the end of the school year, ZARI held a class party for Um’s younger alternative school students of Japanese. Most recently, the couple joined a Dong-gu village radio program. As a trilingual speaker, Um also hopes to use ZARI as a bridge between Gwangju locals and international residents.

“Some Koreans want to learn language and I can bring them together to meet people from other countries in a fun and comfortable atmosphere, sharing culture, language, cooking.”

Um’s Japanese skills are already helping her adult students to achieve their communication goals.

“I do environmental activism, especially related to Japan,” Kim Jong Pil said. “Each time I have met Japanese environmental activists, I wanted to have conversations, but I couldn’t. So I needed to learn.”

Park Jeong Hwa wants to be able to communicate while travelling in Japan.

“I was simply learning Japanese on my own because I wanted to travel to Japan. Learning like this is good.”

Kim explained that besides cafes, there are not many study spaces for university students in Gwangju. As a youth leader, Park commented that students lack money and afterschool places to play outside of PC and singing rooms. ZARI is a place that could fulfill both needs.

While inviting friends from around the city, Lee and Um hope that their neighborhood residents could also make use of the space.

“It would be nice if we could be a resource for our neighbors in Dongmyeong-dong and not only people coming from other areas,” Lee said.

After their upcoming wedding, Lee and Um will live in the Space ZARI house full-time, welcoming Koreans and internationals to work and play together. To find out more and contribute to the project, find them on Facebook at 공간ZARI.

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Finding Balance in Life and Art Photographs by Olga Lian Words by Scott Herder

O

nce Olga Lian discovered photography, she decided to dedicate her life to it. Hailing from Vladivostok, Russia, Lian moved to Seoul, Korea one year ago in search of inspiration and new experiences with a will to create beautiful images.

she was getting settled in Korea.

“When I came here, I did not know where to start, where to go and what to do. Thanks to my family, who believed in me, and inspired me, I had the strength to go forward.”

Her family ties in Korea made it a slightly easier choice, but, like any huge move, it still came with quite a few hurdles.

The Roots

Candid and free-spirited, Lian says she did not really have a plan of attack when she came to Seoul. She did not know Korean, but knew she could rely heavily on her extended family in Korea for support and inspiration. Lian credits them as being her foundation while

In order to find out more about the girl who is making these beautiful photographs we are accustomed to seeing today, we have to look beyond Lian’s Korean side of the family. We have to look at her first artistic love: painting.

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Before Lian was making photos she was creating abstract paintings inspired by some of the greats. You know the names. Manet, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Gogh. Lian applies the lessons she has learned from these masters to her own photography.

“I believe that there should not be a lot of primary colors in the photos. When we look at the paintings of Manet or Da Vinci, we see a total range of colors that are similar in tone. It allows us to look at the picture in general.”

Seeking out the harmony in color and composition is very important to Lian. Like most photographers, she is on the hunt for the defining emotion and feeling to share in the photographs she makes. Where she stands apart from the crowd is in her purposeful removal of colors to achieve the harmony she loves in the paintings.

Finding Harmony Lian finds her inspiration anywhere and everywhere.

Whether it is on a stroll to a coffee shop, walking around with her film camera, or visiting art galleries to discover different techniques and composition, she is always walking around with wide-open eyes.

It seems like she is constantly keeping an eye out for the visually fascinating. But after our conversation continues it begins to dawn on me that these occasions might be more than her thirst for inspiration. It seems like it is finding moments of balance and harmony in her day-to-day life. These pockets of time give her a chance to take a moment off from her own projects, to see with fresh eyes and reconnect with the creativity and love of the abstract that pulsates through her.

When asked about her future projects, she shared that she records all of her ideas in her notebook. That the ideas for projects come so often is more than enough for one lifetime. The ideas are the easy part. It is the juggling act of figuring out how exactly to implement techniques and ideas to tease out a feeling in the viewer.

“It’s important for me to show the beauty, feelings, and emotions. The ideas come by themself.”

Even though Lian is methodically imagining, drawing and planning a scene, she still manages to bridge the gap between abstract painting and photography. By creating beautiful use of balance in her colors and compositions, she takes the viewer away from the typical reality seen in photos.

“I love how people see different things in the same pictures. It’s just like abstract painting to me.”

Inspired by the abstract painters she admires, Lian wants to share her own world and imagination through her photos.

Following The Dream “My mom always told me to do what I truly love. So I dedicated my life to photography.”

Doing what she truly loves is a major mantra for Lian.

Her mother’s advice gave her the confidence and courage to make the transition from Russia to Korea, the patience and passion to get that shot just right and to find her own personal, special moments throughout the day to tap into her creativity and find her sense of balance.

Finally, when I ask Olga what words of wisdom she has for those who are aspiring to make a name for themselves, her answer was just like her mom’s.

“Don’t give up your dream.”

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photography I photo of the month

Photo of the Month Photograph by Thinh-Phat Cao

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his month’s photo is by local photographer Thinh-Phat Cao. This wonderful out-of-focus shot which was taken at a pedestrian bridge in Pilmun-Daero, Dong-gu, comes with a lot of feelings and mood. As the cars move one direction, the snows comes the opposite way. The patches of light mixed with the patches of snow creates a pleasant combination to the eye, almost like a painting. It is a cold winter night in Gwangju, and the start of a blizzard couldn’t have been captured any better.

Nikon d300s and 50mm/1.4

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39

On The Download

March DVD Releases Written by Kyle Chandler

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eading the plethora of Academy-nominated titles available this month on DVD is breakout hit Room (March 1). Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, Room is an intimate film about kidnap victim Joy (Brie Larson) and her 5-year-old son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), who escape from their single-room prison – the only world Jack has ever known. Through Jack, we become fully immersed in the childhood wonderment of discovery, experiencing with him his excitement, fear, and confusion. Room also examines the difficulties of assimilating back into society after such a traumatic experience, with subtle and understated performances carrying the emotional weight of the film. The nominations, awards and accolades Room received are thoroughly deserved.

Carol (March 15) is another film praised by the Academy. Set during the 1950s, the film follows Therese (Rooney Mara), an aspiring photographer who develops an intimate relationship with an older woman, Carol (Cate Blanchett). Blanchett and Mara were both nominated for their performances in a year of strong female leads. Although it received six total nominations, many felt it also deserved Best Picture and Director nods.

Inspired by the true story of Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne), the first person to undergo gender-reassignment surgery, The Danish Girl (March 1) picked up three nominations, but proved to be divisive with audiences.

Some hailed it for successfully capturing the transgender experience, while detractors claimed that by framing the narrative through the perspective of Lili’s wife, Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander), it marginalized Lili’s voice. Ultimately, The Danish Girl helped open discussions on gender identity and put a human face onto an issue that is largely misunderstood in mass media.

Films like Creed (March 1) and Concussion (March 15) caused a stir this year as they were snubbed by the

Academy, fueling debates over lack of racial diversity among the nominees. In Creed, director Ryan Coogler was able to please the expectations of existing Rocky fans and, by shifting the narrative focus to Apollo Creed’s illegitimate son Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), update the franchise, giving it a new voice. Coogler and Jordan received a lot of praise for delivering such a well-executed and engaging film, and many expected them to receive nominations. However, Jordan and Coogler’s absences from the Best Actor and Director categories prompted accusations that the Academy was shunning emerging black talent. Likewise, some complained that Will Smith was also ignored for his performance in Concussion as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a pathologist who uncovers the truth about brain damage in NFL players exposed to repeated concussions.

Also available this month are Macbeth (March 8) and Cartel Land (March 29). Macbeth is visually striking and has powerhouse performances by Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, delivering Shakespearean verse in a way that neither confused nor alienated its broader audience. Cartel Land is an engaging documentary about the drug problem facing local communities and law enforcement on both sides of the Mexican border. Brit-gangster drama Legend (March 1), inspired by real life London crime bosses, the Krays, and Youth (March 1), a touching and funny drama starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel, will also be released on DVD. With all these titles and more, March looks to be a great month for movie releases.

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local I gwangju eats

Josephine’s Panini Written by Katrin Marquez photograph by Karly Pierre

food wafts through the air. I would recommend going with a friend for some friendly conversation and to sample the variety of paninis offered.

E

ven for the most devoted lovers of Asian foods, sometimes all one wants is a Western standard—the perfect sandwich. For those seeking a great panini away from the more crowded atmosphere of downtown’s most popular foreigner hubs, Josephine’s Panini is a perfect choice. Located in the Geumnamro Park, Josephine’s Panini is an intimate casual dining restaurant for those that love a deliciously gooey Panini.

Atmosphere and Service Josephine’s Panini is a cute little restaurant with just a hint of shabby chic style. The exterior of the restaurant includes a small stone garden and lawn in front of a friendly yellow facade. Though the walls are white inside, nothing is sterile about the place as the various vintage decorations—like an antique phone and camera—give the place its quirky character. Do not be fooled by the decorative staircase at the end of the restaurant; the seating area is limited to only a first floor. However, this decorative staircase as well as the plants and antique miscellanea that line the steps creates the proper atmosphere for its patrons. The staff also reflect this quaintness.

Having gone to Josephine’s Panini multiple times, I have only ever seen the two owners working. They are extremely friendly and willing to work hard to understand and be understood by English-speakers.

The mom-and-pop character is charming, but it can be a detriment as wait times between ordering and receiving one’s food can be long—more than 20 minutes in some cases. Though two people are responsible for all tasks, this wait does not assuage the hungry diners as the tempting aroma of cooking

Food Served on large, heavy green plates with a small side salad, the paninis may not look very large at first glance, but they are more than sufficient at filling you up. The menu is not too big, but the options are enough.

Josephine’s has a selection of approximately six paninis which occasionally changes. Among the options are some scrumptious vegetarian options – like the tomato-mozzarella panini or the mushroom panini. One option many people seem to enjoy is the bulgogi panini with a hint of sweetness. Though most of the paninis are quite savory the deliciously slightly-to-cheesy Panini options do have honey.

Aside from the paninis, the menu also includes a few salad options and a large non-alcoholic selection as the restaurant identifies as a café. The fresh juices are particularly good, tasting of the actual fruit and not just flavored additives. The rest of the menu is standard coffee-shop fare with coffees of various kinds.

Josephine’s Panini is a local eatery that should not be missed. The paninis are delicious and appropriately priced—usually under 10,000 won. Considering the fresh ingredients and delicious flavor along with the atmosphere allows for relaxed conversation perfect for a Saturday afternoon meet-up with an old friend.

Address: 광주 동구 금남로 218-5 218-5 Geumnam-ro, Dong-gu, Gwangju Directions: Come out of Geumnam-ro 4-ga Station Exit 1 and cross the street to the Geumnamro Park. Josephine’s Panini is the yellow building.

Phone: 062-234-8879

gwangju cooks I local

Tteokguk:

Rice Cake Soup

Written and photographed by Joe Wabe

F

or thousands of years, Koreans have reckoned time according to the Lunar calendar. The first day of the first month, New Year’s Day, or Sol, is one of the biggest holidays of the year.

Although the origin is unknown, it is a tradition to have a bowl of tteokguk. Theokguk, or rice cake soup, consists of a broth usually made out of beef, pork, seafood and soy sauce and sliced rice cake. Garnish is added before serving, and even though this might change according to the region, a standard bowl will be served with sliced fried eggs, roasted seaweed and chopped spring onions.

According to the book The Customs Of Joseon by historian Choe Nam Seon, this custom is specu-

lated to have its roots from ancient times. It is also mentioned that the white tteokguk signifies purity and cleanliness and by starting a New Year with a bowl of tteokguk, you are setting the stage for a prosperous year full of good fortune. The traditional way to ask someone their age— “How many bowls of tteokguk have you eaten?”

Rice cake has represented sacredness and escape from misfortune for centuries. Eating this simple, but rich tasty soup early on that first New Year’s Day gives you hope that somehow the first spoonful will not only go deep into your stomach, but to your heart. One could almost hear it say “It will be a good year!”

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local I my korea

An Unexpected Journey

Mudeung Mountain Written and photographed by Kim Myungjoon

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ne day, I went to Mudeung Mountain by myself. It was an unexpected trip right after an argument with my mom. I was angry. So I decided to go out and have a walk. When I was roaming near a bus station, I saw a bus coming. Suddenly I felt a strange urge that forced me to get on that bus. I followed my instinct. As I looked at the bus route, I noticed that the final destination was Jeungsimsa Temple, which is located at the foot of Mudeung Mountain.

Most people who are going to a mountain prepare delicious food as well as hiking clothing and gear.

But unfortunately, I was wearing a white T-shirt, a thin blue & white checked utility shirt, quite tight jeans and a pair of uncomfortable shoes. I didn’t bring much food, so I wanted to conserve it. However, I didn’t have lunch before the trip either. What a perfect combination!

Although I did not prepare at all, I felt that I could reach the top of the mountain. I did not know where my courage was coming from. Strange. As I climbed the mountain, my courage turned to doubt. The sun was shining, my body was exhausted because of

thirst and hunger. When I sat down on a bench to rest, an old woman spoke to me. I was quite embarrassed at first because I am rather shy with strangers. But that suspicion melted away as I spoke with her. She was so sweet and kind to me. We talked about ordinary things that I usually only talk about with my friends. She gave me some tips to get to the top and short cuts as well as some food, which appeased my hunger. It was really an extraordinary experience, which I could not have had in the city.

In town, we see more people than on the mountain and we have more things to give. However, for some reason, we do not talk to or help anybody who is in trouble. I reflected on myself and I felt ashamed, too.

After a short break with her, I kept walking and walking. I felt colder and it was windier as I went up. I didn’t have much food left. I was worried inside but I kept going on. I did not know how but I just focused on walking — focused on the present. Later, I could see whole city of Gwangju. It was really beautiful. At the same time, I felt a kind of emptiness in my head, too. It was like the emptiness that we feel after we

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buy something that really we wanted for a long time. I felt that emptiness because I had reached the peak and there was only down from here.

The sun was still high. I loved the weather and the spectacular view there. I wanted to stay longer but I had to go. My head was filled with a kind of clash between those two different feelings. While I was halfway down, a man in his 50s asked me the way to Jeung-Sim Temple. So I went down with him, showing him the way. We talked for about two hours, which I have never done before with a stranger.

The conversation with him made me realize that you should not only enjoy the pursuit of a goal, but also enjoy the process. If it had not been for him, the

last part of my journey would have been boring.

Everything I did that day was unexpected. But those unexpected things changed me into being a more positive and giving person.

It has been few months since I had that trip. I still miss that feeling which makes my heart race even now. But unfortunately, I am just a high school student, which means I am supposed to stay at school most of the time against my will. It is late at night now. The sky is deep dark. But I am still gazing at the mountain, which is concealed by darkness.

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local I gwangju biz

*Gwangju Biz highlights innovative small to mid-sized businesses in Jeolla Province that are bringing the entrepreneurial spirit to the marketplace.

Business to Watch

Written by Jessica Schultz Interview Interpretation by Cho Nam-hee Photos courtesy of O-YANG PRODUCT CO., LTD.

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ehind the curtain you’ll find the critical parts needed to make a machine function. O-Yang Product Company supplies those parts. Since its foundation in 1988, O-Yang Product has specialized in supplying industrial equipment such as industrial belts, plastic goods, pulleys and a variety of other necessary equipment to keep manufacturing companies running. Gwangju News had the pleasure of discussing the business with the company’s CEO Oh Gi Soo. I see that from the beginning O-Yang Product specialized in professional goods for industrial sites. Did you already have the experience in engineering and see this as a growing market when you opened?

At the time when O-Yang was established, Korea’s high-tech and mechanical industries were heavily located in Changwon Industrial Complex, Gyeongsangnam-do and Siheung Industrial complex,

Gyoenggi-do. Engineering plastics are used in various production facilities and they were crucial in automatic lines, and I felt that Korean economic infrastructure is following 20 years behind Japan.

Therefore, I established O-Yang with these items.

Did you anticipate one day specializing in design, production, and distribution as well?

I did not anticipate first. All I had was distributing items. We kept 15 percent and 85 percent ratio of domestic and foreign production respectively. However, now things have changed into the opposite.

Rather than staying in one area, I have tried bit by bit and eventually our area expanded to design and production. Moreover, we now have achieved exporting our domestic products overseas. There is a Korean saying “Stagnant water rots.”

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Were there challenges in opening your company?

Due to lack of capital and poor economic condition of the region, we could not anticipate the stock thus, the sales were not as high as we expected.

However, with patience, we have accumulated trust and sales experience.

When O-Yang Product Ltd. opened in 1988, was the company primarily selling products in Korea?

Are there any major changes in your product offering that have been adjusted since the company’s inception?

We mainly focused on the domestic market when we first launched. It was very difficult since the stock demand did not meet our anticipation. However, we believed it would improve step by step and kept on providing sustainable and sales technique supports and expanded target of the products with patience. We mainly focused on engineering plastics. Now, we not only produce plastics but also produce other products such as belts, pulleys and aluminum profiles.

Was the change a customer demand, technology driven or other?

If we stuck to one single item, our business would have been more difficult. Due to the enhancement of the industrial development, we believed in maximum sales since the demands will rise and the number of items in regard will increase, thus we worked on additional items It seems that international markets are a major focus for your business. Can you tell me a little more about that decision? Was it always a part of your focus or did it become a part later?

At first, we did not think of going abroad however, four years ago, when we first knocked on the international market, we gained confidence and hope.

Gradually we received requests from overseas and expected an increase in exports. The prices have been more intensified than the quality of the item these days. We are looking for buyers aggressively to compete with the Chinese market and the domestic market. We are constantly doing our best to improve our products as our goal

What were some of the steps your company had to take to distribute these products in multiple areas of the world?

We focused on discovering international buyers through being part of the international market discovery department of Small and Medium Business Corporation. We tried our best to fully satisfy our buyers by analyzing the product needs and the buy-

er itself. We have continuously earned information from the organizations such as KOTRA and Gwangju International Center about the international market, and planning marketing and export strategies.

What kind of testing do your products go through?

First, we undertake tests for imports for the raw materials, and manage stocks in different sizes, then when we receive requests, we measure the exact size and start producing, and take quality tests. We aim for 100% satisfaction by taking additional inspection before shipping. We attach the examination results of the inspection for every raw material to improve the quality of our products.

The pace of product innovation is changing constantly. How has your company adapted to fit the needs of your customers over the years?

A decade can change rivers and mountains. We have endeavored to satisfy our customers’ needs by introducing product facilities and growing a company capable of not only distribution but also manufacturing. Our board members and I get frequent lectures on customer services. We are improving incommodities of our customers by standing on their situation.

Can you tell us a little about your products for someone outside the industry?

The fact that the engineering plastics make up for shortcomings of wood, iron and nonferrous materials, they are suitable for any distinctive conditions and used as metal replacements for their light weightness and noise control. Belts ensure revolution counts and movements with exact power transmission and engagement. There is no need for fueling and they can be miniaturized since they are not metal-to-metal contact. I wish I can brag more about our products but there are far too many.

There is more information on our company website.

Anything else you’d like readers of Gwangju News to know about O-Yang Product?

We believed “being responsible” as our priority while running O-Yang Product. Even my family motto is “to become a responsible person.” I believe there is nothing impossible if you are responsible at any time. O-Yang product can meet customers’ needs by doing our best and being responsible. I am sure that we have been supplying the goods promptly to our customers with our database and know-how which no other company has. We will do our utmost to be the best company.

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How Martin Shkreli Is Driving Down Drug Costs Written by Kristal Lee

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hirty-two-year-old pharmaceutical executive, Martin Shkreli, responsible for raising the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat malaria and HIV, has no regrets.

The self-proclaimed “most successful Albanian ever to walk the earth” entered the exclusive pantheon of “most hated men in America,” stating that raising the price of the potentially life-saving drug by 5,000 percent was not enough. During a Q&A session at Forbes Healthcare Summit, Shkreli said he was shocked at the public backlash. He repeated that his fiduciary responsibility is to his shareholders. In the unsettlingly captivating interview, Shkreli was asked

how he would re-do the months preceding the controversy, to which he plainly stated, “I would have raised prices higher. That’s my duty.”

Shkreli believes he is being incredibly bold by espousing “the ugly, dirty truth.” And he is. Shkreli knows his role as a CEO—it is to maximize profits.

“At the end of the day if we want all corporations to not have the obligation to maximize share-holder duty we should take a big ol’ vote and have Congress and Senate change the law. But right now that’s the law. One’s general conception of ethics are generally not at play here.”

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Shkreli said aloud what pharmaceutical corporations say with action. He is not here to save the most lives; he is here to make the most money. Not a surprising response from a former hedge fund manager.

After its 5,000 percent price hike, Daraprim cost $750 and made headline news. Its equivalent, Pyrimethamine, cost 10 cents a tablet in India. In terms of percent increase, drug markups exceeded 10,000 percent. One could look up Time’s piece on the markup on hospital Acetaminophen (i.e. Tylenol), the federal investigation of Valaent’s Flucystosine, or the price history of Colchicine, a drug used to treat gout. In terms of cost per pill, Gilead Medicines marketed Sovaldi, a medication used to treat Hepatitis C, at $1,000 a pop. Solvaldi is prescribed at one pill per day for a treatment regimen of 84 days.

In terms of long-term cost, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. sold Soliris at a tune of $440,000 per year.

“Drugonomics” is a twisted game, but not as twisted as the accounting ledgers of Big Pharma.

Shkreli may have raised the price of Daraprim skyhigh, but what he did is neither uncommon nor illegal; others are simply more progressive about their price increases and less publicly belligerent. Shkreli is the face that is in-your-face, whereas few can name the names of even the largest pharmaceutical companies, let alone put a face to it.

American healthcare is a paradox. The public views healthcare as a right yet fights to keep it a commodity, leaving room for business to capitalize. The two entities are at odds. While competition spurs ingenuity, it also begets pricing power. In a market where life and quality of life are on the table, where people are willing to pay for any marginal reduction in suffering or safer alternative, pharmaceutical companies have immense leverage. And they know it. To their credit, Big Pharma walks the walk.

If there were a virulent bacterial outbreak, the “evil capitalists” would more likely be the first to find the cure—not the charitable philanthropies, not Research University scholars.

Shkreli says the price increase is for the good of patients, stating that the markup will go towards research and design. However, pharmaceutical companies justify drug upcharges based on research and design cost incurred, not the other way around.

So he missed the mark there, but he is driving down prices in another way.

Since the mass media coverage of the flagrant increase in the price of Daraprim, further investigation is being done on drug policy and price regulation.

Lesser-known instances of egregious price-hikes have gained more attention. People are now asking the more important question of how: How was Shkreli able to increase a World Health Organization Essential Medicine price that high overnight? More and more, the public is expressing dissatisfaction with the barefaced audacity of Big Pharma.

Companies, too, have responded to the “Shkreli incident.” San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceuticals will release a patient-specific formula of Pyrimethamine (Daraprim) at $1 a pill. They will do so by compounding, a process in which ingredients will be combined, mixed, or altered to make a customized drug, thus avoiding stepping on Shkreli’s patent rights.

In an ironic twist of fate, Shkreli’s greed is working in favor of patients as we will likely see a slowdown of pharmaceutical price increases, more stringent price regulation, and reform. Shkreli has incurred the wrath of many, not just for himself, but also for the industry as a whole.

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place to see I lost in gwangju

Lost in Gwangju

Sangmu Area Written and photographed by Marley Herckner

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his month I got lost in Sangmu. Luckily I might add. If you search for Sangmu online, you will find very little in English. So how did I spend hours in Sangmu and not grow bored? I spent most of my time in and around Sangmu 1-dong. This is north of the Subway line. There is plenty in Sangmu 2-dong and I may get lost there in the future. If you look at this area on a map you will see a large park. This park is the 5-18 Memorial Park. If you do not know what the May 18th Democratic Movement was, I would recommend looking it up. It is VERY important to the history of Gwangju. But in the simplest way, this was a movement that started May 18th 1980.

Students were protesting at Chonnam when they were fired upon and killed by government troops.

This event is often stated as the Korean Tiananmen Square. Outraged Gwangju citizens collected the weapons they could and began to fight back. The movement lasted until May 27th. This event happened a mere 36 years ago. The park itself is fairly large and is good to walk slowly through and relax.

The Park contains the 5-18 Library, 5-18 Cultural Center, Education Center, and many other buildings and sculptures. The most powerful part, for me, is the sculpture for those lost. It shows three men, the man in the middle falling down. Behind the statue is a large black box with stairs down. I recommend

going down. You find yourself in a memorial with names of many of those who were lost. In the center stands a statue of a man holding a dead body and looking up. It captures the grief that would have been felt by those who lived in Gwangju at the time.

Not far from the park is City Hall. If you search for it online, you will find a variety of articles about their outdoor skating rink. It is just as awesome as your inner child is telling you. The price, when I went, was only 1,000 won. You do have to wear a helmet, and you are only paying for an hour on the rink itself.

As long as you are careful not to go flying and hurt yourself, it is worth it.

If you will deny your inner child, there is plenty more to do and see. Sangmu itself is a well-planned out “downtown.� You can go window shopping down the streets, or stop at the SeJung Outlet mall. The Outlet mall carries a variety of Korean stores, as well as western stores. It is not the cheapest location to go shopping, but it provides a large variety of shopping goods that you may struggle to find elsewhere.

There are also numerous restaurants that litter the downtown area. My friend and I found ourselves at my new favorite. The restaurant is called With A Spoon. It is located on a second floor, but has Ital-

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ian food. Not Korean Fusion Italian food. Delicious pasta dishes. I am hungry just writing about it. But if you are not ready for a meal, I recommend looking for Benikea Hotel (with a 24-hour Jimjilbang!).

The interior of the building makes me feel like it is a 1930’s hotel. But we only peaked inside. But I recommend it for the cafe that is attached. Cafe Old and New is a cute little cafe with a very unique feel.

There are bookshelves filled with books, and such antiques as a Little Rascals VHS. While the menu of coffee is identical to most other cafes in Korea, I found that the white mocha I ordered was amazing.

I am not sure whether it is because I was enjoying it because of the location, or because they roast their own coffee beans.

Finally, as the day comes to an end, you might want to go drinking. A Korean friend of mine told me that

the Chonnam Back Gate area is for early 20 year olds. Downtown, where many of us go drinking, is for mid 20s, and Sangmu is for the 30 year olds and up. I have not gone drinking in Sangmu myself, so I have been unable to check this, but the restaurants, bars, clubs, and noraebangs in the area certainly do look like lots of fun.

Sangmu is nearly the center of Gwangju, so it is a good location to meet so that everyone has to travel a similar distance. If you meet at the Sangmu subway station, you can even take the time to walk up and down the piano stairs that are there. It is very tempting to play Chopsticks or Mary Had a Little Lamb for anyone nearby. It would definitely be a nice workout.

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Gwangju as a Human Rights City Written by Laura Becker Photographs by Marley Herckner, Gwangju Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation and Gwangju International Center

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wangju’s identity as a human rights city goes back much further than the May 18 Democratic Movement of 1980. In 1894, Jeolla province was the center of the Donghak Peasant Revolution, an armed rebellion led by followers of the Donghak movement and an army of aggrieved peasants, against the exploitative central government. Donghak, literally “Eastern learning,” was an academic movement in Neo-Confucianism that rejected foreign influence and the intrusion of Christianity, and called for democracy, human rights, and Korean nationalism. The Korean government, supported by the Japanese, crushed the Donghak rebellion and executed the rebels, but many of the peasants’

first city-level administration of its kind in Korea, was established in 2010. It is charged with the planning and execution of the human rights charter, overseeing human rights improvement citizen committees, international exchanges, and the annual World Human Rights Cities Forum. While government officials manage the human rights administration, joint policy meetings bring together human rights activists, researchers, and public officials to suggest ideas and policies for solving human rights issues at an administrative level.

The Gwangju Human Rights Charter was declared by citizen representatives on May 21st, 2012 and

World Human Rights Cities Forum is held yearly in Gwangju attended by world leaders from various countries to discuss human rights issues and solutions

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May 18 Exhibition Hall in Asia Culture Center subway station

grievances were addressed in the sweeping Gabo Reforms of 1894-1896.

The Gwangju Student Independence Movement, which took place in October and November of 1929, is considered the second most important Korean independence movement during the Japanese occupation, after the March 1st Movement. Korean students remained silent or shouted for independence when they were forced to sing the national anthem of Japan on November 3rd, which is coincidentally both the birthday of Emperor Meiji and the National Foundation Day of Korea. As they began to lead street demonstrations, students were repressed by Japanese authorities, but participation spread to hundreds of schools throughout the country and encouraged the national independence movement.

Despite its unique heritage, Gwangju’s historic experiences do not automatically translate into a present-day city that promotes democracy, justice, and human rights. Korea has established institutional democracy and accomplished economic growth, but the wave of neoliberal globalization has created a social environment in which high competition, unemployment, and the growing gap between the rich and poor cannot be ignored. The formation and practice of a human rights city is an ongoing project undertaken in collaboration with other cities around Asia and the world. What establishes Gwangju as a human rights city, and how can a human rights city be evaluated?

The human rights administration of Gwangju, the

outlines the areas of human rights that establish Gwangju as a human rights city. The charter represents a social agreement between the city and its citizens on what it means to be a human rights city.

In addition to the charter, the Gwangju Human Rights Indicator is an instrument for objective evaluation of human rights policies. Five major areas of human rights each have eighteen practical tasks to promote human rights in citizens’ everyday lives.

For example, in the area of Communications and Participation, one practical task is to promote a culture of human rights and citizenship. Each practical task is then broken down into a number of sub-indicators, each with its own method of measurement. One sub-indicator of a culture of human rights and citizenship is the level of civil participation in human rights education. This is measured by the percentage of schools providing human rightsrelated classes and by the percentage of participants in human rights education out of the total population.

The spirit of democracy, shown vividly throughout Gwangju’s history, would not be able to live on without governmental structures, resources, and the dedicated efforts of public officials and citizens’ groups working together. By breaking the vision of human rights into concrete and measurable goals, the Gwangju Human Rights Indicator allows policymakers to move beyond philosophical ideals of human rights and actually assess how effectively their policies are carried out in practice.

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52 place to see I departing gwangju

The Old Country

A Trip to Romania Written and photographed by Bradley Weiss

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espite having been fortunate enough to travel a good amount in Western Europe, I nevertheless have often felt like I missed out on the classic experience I grew up seeing portrayed in movies—places that seem so bewilderingly foreign as to induce feelings of “not being in Kansas anymore”, replete with locals in traditional clothing practicing customs relatively unchanged for centuries. For this reason, I have long wanted to visit more of Eastern Europe, particularly those places where the overpowering wave of modernization and westernization have yet to become so firmly entrenched in the post-Cold War fallout.

This past fall just such an opportunity presented itself when one of my good friends began a graduate program in the Romanian city of Cluj, located in the traditional province of Transylvania and the country’s second most populous city.

At first glance, Cluj looked architecturally much like other parts of Central and Eastern Europe, only slightly grittier and less grand. The reason for the

semi-dilapidated state for many of the historic buildings was explained by my host friend’s close Romanian friend. Serving as our unofficial tour guide, he explained that despite nearly three decades since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the ownership of many structures is still in dispute, with descendants of precommunism owners trying to reassert their rights.

The ongoing legal mess has left the buildings in limbo, and consequently deprived of renovation and maintenance.

One of the spots in the city I had read about and was excited to visit was Enigma, a steampunkthemed bar filled with kinetic sculptures. Despite an interior that looked like a Tim Burton fantasy, the overall atmosphere was quite disappointing, particularly the choice of music. Looking at pictures, one might expect something industrial or hardcore in the background. Instead, the sound system was literally pumping out cheesy 80s pop, including “We Are the World.” We did not stay long, choosing rather to scratch our dark aesthetic itch with a nighttime stroll through this Transylvanian city’s historic graveyard.

We disappointingly encounter zero stereotypically endemic creatures of the night.

Polluted artificial lake, spanned by makeshift bridge, covers the former village of Geamăna.

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1. Distinct shape of traditional Romanian haystacks. 2. Steampunk-themed bar Enigma featuring moving kinetic sculptures. 3. An elderly farmer, in traditional clothing, leads an oxcart filled with hay.

The surrounding countryside would prove to offer much more of that “authentic” Old World experience I was looking for. The next day, I joined a group of international student friends in a rented van and headed out into the more remote regions. As we moved into the rural farming areas, I was excited to see the visible signs of agriculture being practiced in traditional ways, including collections of cornstalks and a distinct style of haystacks, which I recognized from long-ago cultural anthropology classes. It was not just the hay gathered in a way unchanged by modernity, but soon we were also sharing the country roads with carts full of hay pulled by pairs of enormous oxen.

We got an up-close look at one of these oxcarts when we parked the van near our primary destination. An elderly couple, garbed in traditional clothing, was guiding the powerful, lumbering beasts of burden, who were pulling the heavy cart up steep mountainous paths. The farmer shouted instructions in Romania, which is clearly identifiable as a Romance language, but with that peculiar Slavic intonation, the imprint that centuries of linguistic contact have left. After stopping to appreciate this sight, which felt like stepping back in time a century or more, we moved on to the sunken village of Geamăna. All that remains now of the former town is a ruined church steeple which juts from the middle of a strangely, but strikingly, blue-gray-tinged lake. After a huge copper deposit was discovered in the nearby Apuseni Mountains in 1977, the government forced the evacuation of the resident families

to create an artificial lake which would serve as a catch-basin for a new copper mine’s contaminated runoff. That salient color is the result of the water’s high levels of cyanide and other toxic chemicals. Despite this, I followed the adventurous crew in crossing the lake on a rickety, ramshackle series of floating barrels supporting a crossing pipeline. On the other side I was astonished to find a small farmstead, with the distinctive haystacks, a small flock of sheep, and a pumpkin patch, all existing right on the edge of what amounts to a massive chemical spill.

Despite the swift-approaching twilight of late fall, we steered the van towards one more adventurous stop. Our intent was to explore a small, abandoned castle. The edifice sits uninhabited and in disrepair due to the noble family falling on hard times. The exploration was thwarted by a vigilant neighbor who firmly dissuaded us from entering.

During my time in Romania, I finally got to experience a Europe that seemed truly foreign and new to me. It was not only in terms of retained customs, but in speaking with locals I encountered sentiments that were very different, concerning everything from attitudes towards the local Romani population, to tensions between Romanians and ethnic Hungarians, to a yearning for the “good ol’ days” of communism. All in all, I felt like I was only able to scratch the surface in understanding this amazing country and its fascinating, stalwart people. I am already plotting a return, and maybe this time I will get to see the inside of that castle.

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culture I behind the myth

Hangover-free Alcohol?

Written by Stephen Redeker

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magine spending the entire night drinking a liquor in total excess and then waking up the next morning feeling just fine. This could be a reality, if you believe what the North Korean newspaper The Pyeongyang Times has recently reported.

Our neighbors north of the border have reported that Koryo Liquor exudes national flavor and is a suave drink highly appreciated by experts and lovers, mainly because it cannot cause a hangover.

They claim that it also “won a medal for quality and has been registered as a national and technological hit.” The Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory, inventors of the drink, has been working on this formula for years. Apparently the ability of this spirit to repress the dreaded hangover can be attributed to its very healthy ingredients.

Koryo Liquor is primarily made from a native ginseng root. This special six-year-old plant is called Kaesang Koryo insam. It’s believed to have very high medicinal properties. Scorched glutinous rice is used in the blend instead of using sugar. The rice is supposed to remove the bitterness of the ginseng and thus provide the special blend with its unique flavor and anti-hangover capacity.

What exactly is a hangover and why is that important in Korea? After a large amount of alcohol is ingested (or sometimes just one drink, for some), the body and mind feel very sick and uncomfortable. The alcohol has irritated the stomach lining, dehydrated the body, expanded blood vessels and caused blood sugar to drop significantly. This is a tough way to wake up after a night of drinking, and it’s an all too common feeling for many Koreans. Drinking (often in copious amounts) is a part of the culture, especially with co-workers after a hard day’s work. Many people are faced with the effects of a hangover even on a weekday. They are inclined to come right back to work only hours after the last shot went down. That’s why you see many “hangover curing” elixirs and tonics sold at most convenience stores. Therefore, an alcoholic beverage that doesn’t cause a hangover would be very appealing to the masses.

Can it be believed? Is there truly such a revolutionary invention? Even though many other news outlets have shared this story, it is yet to be seen or tested on the public whether or not this beverage causes a hangover. Andray Abrahamian is the director of research at the Chosun Exchange and often travels to the DPRK. He says the insam based liquors are not such a “tasty treat” to him, and he claims, “in my experience, there is no such thing as hangover-free booze anywhere in the world”. However, he has not yet tried the Koryo Liquor brand in question.

Lest we forget, this is not the first major claim of a remarkable medical effect from insam ginseng. Just last year North Korean scientists created a vaccine made from the precious root. They said it can cure Ebola, MERS, SARS, and even AIDS. Based on that claim, it’s hard to believe in this so called hangoverfree liquor as being the real deal. Thus, another myth that may never be truly verified. (photo credit: www.mnn.com)

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Waste Conversion Written and photographed by Cho Nam-hee

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s the amount of waste produced in Korea has steadily increased in the past few decades, so has Korea’s desire to create an effective disposal system to combat it. Over the years, the government has implemented a volume-based waste disposal system, placed recycling bins in residential neighborhoods and increased taxes on food waste all in an effort to control the growth of landfills. In 2010, 83.4 percent of waste was reused, 9.4 percent was buried, 5.3 percent was incinerated, and 1.9 percent was deposited at sea, according to the 2010 Report of National Waste Disposal and Treatment by the Ministry of Environment. Although landfills and incinerators are necessary, they are still controversial because of their affects on the environment. However, Korea is taking measures to turn trash into treasure.

Thirty percent of waste in the country is food waste and is sorted separately from other waste.

Food waste disposed of in landfills releases harmful methane gas as it decomposes, so starting in 2005, burying food waste in landfills has been prohibited. However, the Sudokwon landfill near Seoul is leading the way in turning this environmental hazard into a source of energy. Sudokwon Landfill Management Corporation currently transforms methane from their landfills to over 30 million (US) dollars worth of electricity a year. The 5,000 acre landfill will reach capacity in 2044, and the company is currently working to develop technology to remove any recyclable refuse remaining in the landfill and convert more waste to fuel.

Like landfills, incinerators generate tons of energy in the country. About 1.1 million tons of combustible household waste was produced in Seoul in 2012 and converted to 730,000 tons of fuel for wasteto-energy facilities, according to Yonhap News.

According to Waste Management World, Korea aims to become one of the world’s top five green

economies by generating more than 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Plans to convert old waste management facilities are being made in cities across the country.

This is a snapshot of Gwangju’s waste management infrastructure. The Environmental Corporation of Gwangju manages all environmental waste facilities in the city. Approximately 1,373 vehicles carrying 6,070.1 tons of sewage arrive at the six local offices (one incineration plant, one landfill, three sewage treatment plants and one food waste disposal plant) every month for sewage and waste management. Although the incineration plant located in Sagmu has received complaints about the odor created during the waste management process, it serves a major role, treating 40 percent of all waste for incineration. The plant will be replaced with a new SRF (Solid Refuse Fuel) facility in Namgu District in December. This plant will convert solid waste into energy and bring innovative waste management technology to Gwangju.

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general I kotesol

KOTESOL

KOTESOL promotes scholarship, disseminates information, and facilitates cross-cultural understanding among persons concerned with teaching and learning English in Korea.

Giving Feedback in the Classroom Written and images provided by Dr. David Shaffer

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aking errors is inherent to learning English as a first or second language; it is part of the language learning process. Correcting students’ errors, or drawing students’ attention to their errors, is almost as inherent for the second language teacher.

As teachers, we all do it in our own way. But how much thought do we give to the process of error correction, or “corrective feedback” – the process that we employ every time we step into the language learning classroom?

Should learners’ errors be corrected?

At first, it seems that the answer in an unqualified “yes,” and student surveys show that most students want all their errors corrected. However, if we were to correct every error that our students made in class, we wouldn’t get much else done. Students would not be able to carry on an authentic-like dia-

logue. Activities would never get completed before the bell rang. We need to be selective in our error correction, selecting the errors that we think are most important to correct for the benefit of the student and the class.

When should errors be corrected?

In surveys, whether Korean or not, students most often say that they want their errors corrected immediately. But if you try to do this, you are likely to find resistance. Some students are worried about losing face and turn red or stop speaking. Others seem more annoyed by the interruption than pleased by the correction; they are more interested in communicating their meaning than in the grammaticality of the form. If you think interrupting the flow of the class is detrimental to the lesson, there are other options. You can collect the errors and discuss them at the end of the activity or class. And another option is to make notes of a student’s errors and give them to the student after the activity is completed.

Which errors should be corrected?

Though a considerable majority of students may say that they want their teacher to correct all their errors, this is not most feasible or most effective. Importantly, as pointed out in Lightbown and Spada (2006), research provides evidence that some linguistic structures are acquired in a specific order, regardless of learner, and a certain structure cannot be acquired before a prior structure in the order is learned. We must do our best to determine which structures are at the student’s or class’s proficiency level for

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acquisition to occur and provide corrective feedback for these errors, passing on other errors until the students are at the proper developmental stage to absorb them.

How should errors be corrected?

There are a number of different ways to correct student errors; one very common method is explicit correction. It is clear that an error is being corrected, and the teacher provides the correct form (e.g., “No, it’s not ‘I seed the movie.’ We say ‘I saw the movie.’”). Recasts are a favorite among many teachers. Rather than explicitly pointing out the student error, it is recast in its correct form in the continuing student-teacher dialogue (e.g., “Oh, you saw the movie!”). Clarification requests can be made by the teacher, indicating that the teacher, for some reason, did not understand and suggesting that the student utterance may have contained an error. And then, there’s metalinguistic feedback, in which the teacher provides comments or information about the error, often using linguistic terminology, without providing the correct form (e.g., “See” is an irregular verb. We don’t say “seed”…). Another corrective feedback method in which the teacher does not provide the correct form, but encourages the student to do so, is elicitation. Here the teacher directly elicits the correct form from the student by asking a question (e.g., “How should we say that?”), by repeating the utterance up to the incorrect form and pausing for the student to complete the utterance correctly, or by asking the student to reformulate the utterance. Finally, there is repetition, where the teacher repeats the student’s error, giving emphatic intonation to the incorrect part, inviting the student to provide a revised formulation (e.g., “I SEED the movie?”). Studies have shown that recasts are a huge favorite among teachers because of their implicitness, but studies have also shown that recasts are quite ineffective in having students notice that they have committed an error. It is up to the teacher to determine which of these error correction forms is most effective.

Who should be doing the correcting?

“The teacher, of course” is our immediate thought.

But considering that learning is best achieved through discovery, the student will better remember the correct form if they arrive at it through teacher scaffolding. If that is unsuccessful, the teacher can invite the classmates or the whole class to provide the correct form; if that fails, the teacher can then provide it.

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There are many ways to provide students with corrective feedback, and many things to consider in determining which to use in which situation. Just as it takes practice for a student to learn a language, it takes practice for the teacher to select the best correction method for the occasion. But we all know that “practice makes perfect.”

References Hendrickson, J. (1978). Error correction in foreign language teaching: Recent theory, research, and practice. Modern Language Journal, 62(8), 387-398. doi:10.2307/326176.

Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

KOTESOL MONTHLY CHAPTER MEETING

Date & Time: March 12 (Saturday), 1:45 p.m.

Place: Gwangju National University of Education Theme: SERVICE – A Tradition in Teaching •Plenary Session by Prof. Robert Dickey, JD •20 Presentations to choose from.

•Multiple presenters from Japan.

•ELT presentations include Service strand and Social Justice strand.

•Morning (10:30) Reflective Practice Session For more details: Facebook: Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL Website: http://koreatesol.org/gwangju

ABOUT THE AUTHOR David E. Shaffer is 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 and the March Chapter Conference. 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 and a holder of various KOTESOL positions, including First Vice-President and Publications Committee Chair. He credits KOTESOL for much of his professional development in English language teaching.

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info

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

Gwangju News community board provides a space for the community to announce clubs’ activities and special events.

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

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.

UNESCO KONA VOLUNTEERS UNESCO KONA Volunteers is a registered organization that helps underprivileged kids to learn English independently through storybooks and story-maps. We are looking for long-term volunteers who desire to enrich their lives. We are asking volunteers to commit to helping at least once a month (please check the days and locations below).

Foreign volunteers who are interested in practicing their Korean and learning more about Korean culture with Korean children are welcome to stay at the center on any Saturday afternoon for a short cultural exchange.

If you have any picture books, storybooks, puppets and any educational items, we accept all donations in order to distribute them to the local children’s homes or community children’s centers in Gwangju and throughout the South Jeolla province.

Jeolla Safety Alliance is a group of Koreans and international residents alike to create awareness of crimes.

This safety card is for you to cut out and keep handy!

FB group: Jeolla Safety Alliance

The days and locations of the facilities are as follows: 1. UNESCO KONA Volunteers Center (Ssangchon-dong, Seo-gu, 062-434-9887) Every Saturday afternoon / 3-5pm 2. Gwangju Children’s Home (Dongnimdong, Buk-gu, 062-513-0859) 2nd and 4th Saturday afternoons / 2–4pm Every 3rd Sunday afternoon / 3–5pm 3. Grandmother’s Community Children’s Center (Jungheung-dong, Buk-gu, 062-524-0276) 4th Friday afternoons / 4–6pm 4. Gwangju International Center (Jungang-ro 196 beon-gil (Geumnam-no 3 Ga, Dong-gu) 2nd and 4th Thursday mornings / 10 a.m. –12:00 p.m.

2nd Sunday afternoons / 3–5 p.m.

For more information, please visit a) http://cafe.daum.net/konavolunteers, b) www.facebook.com (UNESCO KONA Volunteers) or c) contact KONA (Kim Young-Im) at 062-434-9887 or konacenter@gmail.com

COMMUNITY GROUPS IN GWANGJU Gwangju – 광주 Gwangju Freecycle Gwangju Performance Project GFOG (Global Families of Gwangju) Gwangju EPIK Teachers Gwangju Community Builders Gwangju-Jeolla Job Bank Ladies of Gwangju and Vicinity Jeolla Safety Alliance Gwangju Yoga Gwangju Veggies

WE ARE LOOKING FOR WRITERS! Get involved and make Gwangju News an outlet for you to express yourself.

For more info: gwangjunews@gic.or.kr

Gwangju News is only as great as it is because of the community it serves, and the writers, photographers, layout designers and proofreaders within it who regularly volunteer their services.