In Korean spirituality, the soul and spirit of a person is defined as “honbaek”: “Hon” is the soul that rises to heaven, while “baek” is the spirit body that is interred underground. From the earliest times in Korean civilization, Koreans looked to the heavens for spiritual strength. Chamseongdan, one of the oldest altars for worshiping heaven, dates back to the Gojoseon (Ancient Joseon) period, and is still used atop Manisan in Ganghwa island. The indige

Culture May 28, 2022

In Korea’s long history of seafaring, ancient seafarers mastered navigating the open seas when they finally deciphered the secrets of the direction of the magnetic north. Conquering the seas has defined great empires in history as seen in the Baekje Empire (18 BC-AD 660)’s prominent presence surrounding the West Sea (officially known as the Yellow Sea) and its sailors’ reach into lands where elephants and monkeys roam. “One of the reasons why Baekje dominated the open s

Culture May 21, 2022

Korean burial tradition includes burying treasured items of significance with the deceased. Most valued objects in the Korean antiques trade are treasures which were originally buried in ancient tombs. A fifth-century Silla-period phoenix-shaped glass pitcher, dug up in 1975 from Hwangnamdaechong, the largest royal tomb of Silla, has intrigued Koreans for decades about its origin as its aesthetics looked of a foreign nature. It was not until researchers made the connection between some 30 glas

Culture May 14, 2022

Koreans celebrate the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, better known in Korea as Shakyamuni Buddha, on Chopail, a public holiday on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, which falls on May 8 this year. Some of life’s questions for humanity have always been “Who am I?” and “Where am I going?” In Korean Buddhism, Chamseon, which means participating in Seon meditation, the goal is to reach enlightenment. “You must know who you are first, before you know where y

Culture May 7, 2022

Cattle have long been an important part of Korean culture as members of the workforce, as Korea has traditionally been an agrarian society.　 Only well-to-do families owned cattle. Owning a cow or bull back then is equivalent to owning a tractor these days.　 Cattle has been widely seen as liquid assets, as rural Korean families often sold cattle to cover their children’s university education costs.　 Before modern commercial feed became available, feeding cooked meals to “hanwoo&rdq

Culture April 30, 2022

Flowers are omnipresent in Korean life, which is a series of celebrations, one after another. One of the essential components of the Korean psyche is the “heung” and the “kki.” Heung represents the rhythms of life, while the kki is the enthusiastic energy that moves us. While modern greenhouses today produce an almost unlimited selection of colorful flowers throughout the year, fresh flowers were not always readily available in Korea until the late 20th century. Not to

Culture April 23, 2022

For most of her history, Jeju Island was better known as the Tamna Kingdom (2345 BC - 1405). Tamna was one of the nine neighboring enemy countries of Silla (57 BC – AD 918) back in the day. Silla even built the tallest wooden pagoda in Korean history with each level of the nine-story tall pagoda dedicated to fending off the nine enemy states. The Hwangnyongsa wooden pagoda was completed in 645, standing 80 meters tall, before it was burned down by the Mongol invaders in 1238, according t

Culture April 16, 2022

Among a variety of Korean cherry blossom trees, one of the most spectacular is the King cherry tree that uniquely grows naturally in Korea. In April each year, King cherry blossoms bloom like popcorn from bare branches before the leaves burst out of the buds. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that the rest of the world learned about Korean King cherry blossoms. Upon encountering an ancient forest of King cherry trees on Jeju Island‘s Hallasan in 1908, French botanist and Cat

Culture April 9, 2022

During the Japanese invasion of Korea from 1592 to 1598, many Korean potters and blacksmiths were forcibly taken to Japan, taking with them new pottery styles and cutting-edge technology to Japan. Many Korean potters, who worked as lowly tradesmen back home, found Japan a better home than Joseon, as they enjoyed upward social mobility, with some even entering the samurai class, which eventually became the highest ranking social caste of the Edo period (1603-1867) in Japan. When news of a bette

Culture April 2, 2022

In the 19th and 20th century, Western missionaries introduced brick buildings to Korea. Most of the building work was done by overseas Chinese workers. The Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul was built with bricks by Qing dynasty “Hwagyo” (overseas Chinese) workers in the late 1800s. Ehwa Women’s University’s brick building was also built by Qing dynasty Hwagyo workers. According to Yi Jung-hee, a professor at Incheon National University, Qing dynasty workers were large-frame

Culture March 26, 2022

Women’s prominent role in Korean Buddhism goes way back in history. Becoming a Buddhist nun or monk was a common life options for the ruling elites of the Silla Kingdom and Goryeo Empire which lasted more than 14 centuries from 57 BC to AD 1392. Even kings and queens jettisoned their throne to become Buddhist monks and nuns during the Silla period, just as the Siddhartha Shakyamuni Buddha gave up his kingdom to become an enlightened one, some 2,600 years ago. The oldest surviving book

Culture March 19, 2022

Over its long history, Korea has suffered, losing at times and recovering her land, language, history and culture. But Koreans never lost their indispensable national dish, kimchi. Kimchi is the staple of Koreans everywhere, including the Korean diaspora, which stretches as far as North and South Americas, Europe and the Middle East, Africa and all of Asia. Growing up in the US, I didn‘t always have kimchi on my dining table, but I enjoyed it when I could. When journalists from Korea ac

Food March 12, 2022

The portrait of Gongjae Yun Du-seo, National Treasure No. 240, is a striking and unforgettable image. One of best known Joseon-era seonbi -- a virtuous scholar -- and a brilliant painter, Yun Du-seo (1668-1715) is credited with changing the practice of portraiture in Korea with his self-portrait, hailed as a masterpiece. During the Joseon era, a nobleman‘s beard was a symbol of his authority. Portraits of Joseon men of stature and significance were commissioned to be hung over their ne

Culture March 5, 2022

Jeju Island has been known for its citrus fruits since its days as the Tamna Kingdom -- its identity before it was taken over by the Goryeo Kingdom in 1105. When residents of Jeju Island, who were forced to send citrus fruits to the Joseon king in the capital Seoul during the Joseon period (1392-1910), were not always able to meet growing demand, the issue was elevated to the Kingdom's policy. “The Joseon government nationalized citrus farms to secure harvests and managed 36 citrus orcha

Culture Feb. 26, 2022

The United States Marine Corps motto “Semper Fidelis,” which means “Always Faithful” does not leave anyone behind on the battlefield. After fighting in the Korean War, also known as “the Forgotten War,” a Korean warhorse named Reckless was not left behind by the US Marines. When the US 5th Marine Regiment returned to California in 1954 following the July 27, 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement, the horse came with them. Standing 1.32 meters tall at the withers,

Culture Feb. 19, 2022

Long before the Upper Paleolithic Period, the late Stone Age, during which our immediate ancestors the Homo sapiens inhabited the Korean Peninsula, there were ancient Hominin, a group consisting of extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors who lived in Korea. The Stone Age all over the world was characterized by the use of rudimentary chipped stone tools, of which an abundant variety are found in Korea. When an Acheulean-like handaxe, a Paleolithic period tool, which was the cutti

Culture Feb. 12, 2022

The Neolithic Age in Korean history and civilization refers to the period from about 8,000 to 1,500 BC, when ancient Koreans used comb-patterned pottery. Hence it is also called the comb-patterned pottery period, in reference to the combware, the main pottery type of the Korean Neolithic Period. People have been whaling since the Neolithic Age in Korea, according to the most vivid rock carvings of whaling left by ancient Koreans. Of the 90 species of whales in the world, some 40 species of whal

Culture Feb. 5, 2022

On Jeju, Korea’s largest island, it’s common for women to wear the pants in the family. For a long time, the Jeju women, many of whom are primary income earners for their households, are literally responsible for putting seafood on our tables. Jeju haenyeo, which roughly translates to “women of the sea,” are free-diving seafood gatherers who can hold their breaths for long periods as they harvest from the sea floor. “They used to call us ‘jomnyeo’ whic

Culture Jan. 29, 2022

Korea hosts an abundant number of dolmens, which stand as proof that the Korea Peninsula was a happening place during the prehistoric period. The dolmens are megalithic burial monuments and places of worship, estimated to have been erected from the early Neolithic period into the Bronze Age. The dolmens, similar to standing stones in other cultures, is as common as, and as Korean as kimchi in Korea. More dolmens are located in Korea than anywhere else. Some Korean dolmens have a st

Arts & Design Jan. 22, 2022

The large bamboo flute called daegeum, used in traditional Korean music, is uniquely capable of producing a wide range of listening experiences from a single ancient woodwind instrument. Daegeum, a one-of-a-kind woodwind instrument indigenous to Korea, is made from double-groove bamboo, which is an anomaly in bamboo but perfect for making daegeum flutes with thick walls. Because a daegeum is made from natural bamboo, no two instruments are alike. Double-groove bamboo is unlike regular bamboo

Culture Jan. 1, 2022