A chain-link fence starts from a sandy beach on Korea's eastern shore, splits into two barbed wire fences, and divides the Korean Peninsula with a no-man’s land called the Demilitarized Zone. The landmine-filled DMZ, one of the world’s most heavily militarized areas, has a set of northern and southern fences covering a swathe of land approximately 4 kilometers wide across the peninsula. The unfortunate strip of land stretches from the eastern shore to the waters of the West Sea.

Culture Aug. 8, 2023

Early movable metal type printing from the period of the Goryeo Kingdom shows surface tension of the ink, which is a common tendency of liquid on metal surface at rest to shrink into circular liquid drops. An 87-page book from 1239 is full of Hanja characters printed on hanji, traditional Korean paper made from mulberry tree bark, showing the characteristics of movable metal type printing. Might was always right in the Goryeo Kingdom. The political elite in the 13th century were military leaders

Culture Oct. 29, 2022

Today's Korea is a product of Silla's 1,000 year history and its successful unification of Korean kingdoms in the seventh century. The Korean tradition of remembering ancient rulers with elaborate and grand tombs are visible documentations of the history of one of the oldest civilizations in history. The royal tombs of two Silla Kings, King Wonseong, the 38th King who died in 798, and his son King Heungdeok (777–836), the 42nd King of Silla, stand out among the 56 Silla kings

Culture Oct. 22, 2022

Among the many wonders of Korean history is the invention of Hangeul in 1443, which is responsible for Korea's very high literacy rate and the large vocabulary. "I pity my illiterate people who must endure difficulty and injustice because they lack literacy," wrote King Sejong the Great in his introduction to the Hunminjeongeum in 1443. Koreans celebrate the birth of their script on the Hangeul Day holiday on Oct. 9 each year. Before the promulgation of Hangeul, Korean spoken words and

Culture Oct. 15, 2022

You can take Koreans out of Korea, but for some, you cannot take Korea away from Korean Americans. That's what leads to Korean America, a thriving Korean culture overseas that parallels the motherland. Korean-language newspapers, radio and TV define Korean Americans as Koreans who live in the US away from their homeland. Canada and the US are home to the largest numbers of Koreans outside of Korea, combining for some 3 million out of the 7.3 million documented Koreans living in 193 foreign

Culture Oct. 8, 2022

When Joseon Kings needed a backup office, just in case their main palace was burned down by an angry mob. When it happened in 1592, Changdeokgung was there. It has been the backup palace for the past 600 years. Yi Bang-won, the fifth son of the founding father of Joseon, and the father of King Sejong the Great, built the Changdeokgung complex in 1405 because Gyeongbokgung, the main palace that was used as an administrative court, royal residential court and official audience court, was tainted b

Culture Sept. 24, 2022

Evergreen, pine and cypress trees symbolize unyielding principles and faithful devotion in Korean culture. Korea's most famous painting of pine and cypress trees is named Sehando, which literally means "Age old freeze painting." It is designated as Korea's National Treasure No. 180. Ironically Sehando was painted not by a painter but rather by a seonbi named Kim Jeonng-hui (1786 - 1856) during the Joseon Kingdom period. Seonbi were the intellectual elite of Korea. Kim Jeonng-

Arts & Design Sept. 17, 2022

For more than a thousand years Koreans have been vat-dyeing fabrics and Hanji with indigo dye, one of the oldest natural sources of blue dye, made with the leaves of the indigo plant. The indigo plant, called jjok in Korea, not only adds varying intensities of blue to Korean clothes, but fabrics with the blue dye also repel mosquitoes, snakes and ticks. Extracts from the leaves have also been used to treat various skin and respiratory ailments. Five colors of nature -- blue, white, red, black, a

Culture Sept. 9, 2022

In 1776, while the American Revolutionary War was raging in North America, 23-year-old King Jeongjo of the Joseon Kingdom who started his reign of the “yeomin” policy, "the monarch being with the people."   King Jeongjo the Great (1752 -1800) was a benevolent reformer who provided employment to 700,000 common people with good wages and excellent benefits while building his prized project, the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress.   The Hwaseong Fortress, which is 5.74 kilomete

Culture Sept. 3, 2022

The Korean landscape has an abundant number of royal tombs dating back to Ancient Joseon from 2333 BC to the Joseon Kingdom of the 20th century. While most of the royal tombs of previous kingdoms still remain unidentified, all of the royal tombs of the Joseon Kingdom from that of the founding father of Joseon Yi Seong-gye to the last Emperor Yunghui of the Korean Empire are clearly marked and maintained in pristine condition. During the Joseon era, when the Yi family of Jeonju ruled Korea cont

Culture Aug. 27, 2022

Following the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty signed in 1910, Koreans were left without a country to call their own. There was a systematic destruction of their traditions, values and language.　 Suddenly bereft of a royal ruler, Koreans quickly espoused the concept of Korean independence and democracy, including civic participation. On May 12, 1919, the Daegu District Court sentenced a Buddhist student, Yoon Hak-jo, 25, and nine defendants to 10 months in jail for leading a crowd to call for Kor

Culture Aug. 20, 2022

Civilizations are judged by the quality of historical knowledge they document and leave behind. For about 3,000 years, “seoye,” the art of calligraphy, has been a visible documentation of East Asian civilizations and culture. The ink used in traditional calligraphy, “meok,” made from burnt carbon, is long-lasting. In traditional calligraphy, each brush stroke carries philosophical thoughts beyond just the literal meaning of the written characters. For example, a dot

Culture Aug. 6, 2022

Arirang songs evoke powerful emotions and often lead to spontaneous shoulder dance moves among Koreans, at home or abroad. Arirang is a genre of Korean music featuring heart-wrenching laments of tragedy, hardship, suffering and injustice. Arirang‘s improvisational nature enables anyone to easily weave their own poignant life stories into the song, like modern-day rap. Life has always been tough for ordinary Koreans, especially in remote areas. Poverty, hard labor, and abrupt political ch

Culture July 30, 2022

Clothing is an extension of our self-image. It helps define who we are. Five colors of nature -- blue, white, red, black, and yellow -- are found in traditional Korean hanbok, including wedding garments. The colors in children’s clothes bring balance with nature: blue for spring, white for fall, red for summer, black for winter and various shades of yellow representing the land. “In history books, Koreans were said to have clean clothes, to wear silk clothes and to revere white cl

Culture July 23, 2022

Among Korea’s oral traditions, “pansori,” or narrative singing of epic stories and folklore drama, is performed with audience participation. A solo performer who sings and narrates folktales must have an audience who verbally cheers, reacts to the climax of a scene, and helps the performer build up the spiritual and physical energy needed for the culmination of the story. A combination of singing, called “chang,” plus verbal storytelling called “aniri,&rdqu

Culture July 16, 2022

　 Korean history has always favored the victors as the kingdoms which have disappeared have no voice except for their legacy. 　 The Gaya Kingdom of Korea, more accurately Gaya Confederacy, founded in 42CE, had a relatively short history by Korean standards, but we are still learning about them from their music and the artifacts buried with their rulers. 　 The Three Kingdoms, Goguryeo (37 BC - AD 668 ), Baekje (18 BC - AD 660) and Silla (57 BC - AD 935), had a formidable neighbor called Gaya in

Culture July 9, 2022

Twice a day, the West Sea tides rise and drain the Korean tidal flats, called getbol, along the western coast of Korea. The slow draining and replenishing of the getbol, as the seawater comes under the influence of the moon, breathes oxygen-rich life into the muddy and sandy West Sea coast, creating a variety of getbol wetlands rich with the aquatic and amphibious creatures that live in them. The getbol are a complex muddy and sandy environment submerged in the water at high tide and exposed a

Culture July 2, 2022

War is always a human-made calamity. The Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598), known as the Imjin War, that began in the Year of the Dragon in 1592 were no different. While Korea of the Joseon era had superior battleships, muzzle-loading cannons and large weapons that could rapidly fire several rounds of explosives, which Japan lacked, the combat-ready standing army at the time of the Japanese invasion was only around 2,000 men. Goryeo Kingdom inventor and engineer Choi Mu-sun (1325-1395) h

Culture June 25, 2022

Some of the most powerful forces in nature are volcanoes and the hot molten lava which flows from the Earth’s mantle, often hundreds of kilometers deep underground. The Earth’s inner core is almost as hot as the surface of the sun at an estimated temperature of nearly 5,500 degrees Celsius. The hot molten lava, known as magma, bursts out of the Earth’s surface from time to time. The openings where such eruptions occur are called volcanos. As the molten lava snails around the

Culture June 11, 2022

Humor has been the essential grease that nourishes life’s joy for ordinary Koreans. Among many humorous Korean music and performing arts, Andong Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori, or the Hahoe mask dance, gives performers the courage to say and do a multitude of outrageous things at the expense of the social elite. Nine surviving masks from the Goryeo Kingdom, some 900 years ago, combine to make National Treasure No. 121. They represent the monk, nobleman, scholar, butcher, bride, Bune the ente

Culture June 4, 2022