Anon Nampa: Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2021 Awardee

By Don Tajaroensuk

The past year has become an unforgettable one for Thailand’s democratic movement, with Anon Nampa occupying the frontline of democratic protests, challenging the untouchable taboo in Thailand of calling for reformation of the monarchy. His powerful speech on August 3, 2020 broke the Thai taboo, which no one before dared to speak of in public. “Ceiling-breaking” is the term to describe the democratic phenomenon after Anon’s speech that turned Thai society into one more open to social debate regarding the monarchy. “Speaking freely to reform the monarchy system must be feasible in Thai society in order to reach a better society,” Anon said on August 3. In Thailand, everyone knows that criticizing the monarchy is prohibited. Anyone who frankly blames, defames, condemns, or even shows disrespect to the monarchy could be imprisoned under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code (Lese-Majeste). Anon was the first person to bravely voice his truth in the public arena, an act for which he most surely must have known what the outcome would be.

Many Thai democratic activists responded that Anon deserved the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights as the representative of Thai activists. It is important to know who Anon Nampa is and what he did before becoming the laureate of the 2021 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. Currently, Anon has been in pre-trial detention for over a month with bail denied by the court, the stated reason being that if released, he would continue to defame the king and lead society back to a state of unrest.

Anon grew up in a farming family in Roi Et. He started his career as a human right lawyer in 2006. After the coup of 2014, Anon became a well-known political activist. His activism was in the spotlight all through 2020 leading the unforgettable Thai political movement. Anon is one of the most significant leaders of the “Resistant Citizens” and the “Ratsadorn” group.

During his career as a lawyer, Anon mostly took cases defending the vulnerable. During the Red Shirt democratic protests of 2011, Anon was a volunteer lawyer to many Red Shirt political victims. He was a lawyer of the tragic Lese-Majeste 112 case of “Arrkong,” an older gentleman prosecuted under this Section 112 charge for sending an SMS message defaming the royal family. He was also the lawyer for Borkor-Laijot and Jatupat Boonpattaraksa, the latter being the 2017 Gwangju Prize laureate. Anon also politically criticized members of

▲ Anon delivering his Harry Potter-themed speech on August 3, 2020.

parliament for not seriously expressing that Section112 was problematic. For over ten years, he argued that it must be constructively discussed in the parliament to reform the criminal code. In November 2011, he called for dignity to be restored from the political stigma and injustice imposed upon political prisoners jailed under the unjust Thai legal system.1

Anon turned to political activism after the coup of 2014, and he has since been charged many times by the authorities. He was first arrested in July 2020 at the “Free Youth” rally at Democracy Monument in Bangkok. Later on, he was released temporarily, but was again arrested in August with Panupong Janok, the leader of Eastern Youth. Then he returned to the stage in September to give a speech in which he said he would not regret it if he were to die along the path to democratization. “Death is not wasteful; it will inspire the next generation, as mine was influenced by Jit Poommisak who passed away several years ago,” Anon said in an interview with BBC Thailand.2

Anon grew up with country songs, poets, and literature based on leftist ideologies. He first challenged a high school teacher when he found the criticism of a poet’s writing to be unfair. He imaged himself as a character in a song and sometimes in traditional literature, which inspired him to go to law school to fight injustice in society. During his study at university, Anon spent more time being a volunteer teacher at the border schools with Malaysia, joining local development activities and protesting alongside local villagers against macro investment.

As Anon was working in the local communities, he saw many injustices and unfairness between the locals and the authorities, including in the business sector. He saw that those villagers did not have much of a voice before the courts. It was necessary to have a lawyer who could argue on their behalf. Those valuable experiences have led Anon to become a lawyer to defend rural residents. He has been legislatively helping locals in some 40–50 cases; in truth, he has lost count. He is happy to be considered a son of these villagers, happily sleeping among the locals in their communities.

Throughout 2020, and particularly during the last half of the year, Anon was busy making pro-democracy speeches throughout the capital. In his strongly worded Harry Potter-themed speech of August 3, Anon argued that the excessive power of the monarchy had undermined Thai democracy for a long time: “We must concentrate on the root cause of the Thai problem, this means that we must be free to speak in public.”3 After being released from jail, at Peoples’ Park on September 19, Anon bravely spoke of the monarchy’s involvement in politics and called for the reallocation of the monarchy’s budget to support the citizens’ needs.4 In his November 29 speech in front of a military barracks, Anon stated that the monarchy was hand in hand with the military and called for a return to democracy.5

I had the chance to sit with the Anon family one weekend evening. We had a chat nearby Anon’s sister’s milk tea store. Anon’s family related that Anon was just

▲ Anon’s family.

◀ Anon delivering one of his August 2020 speeches. ▼ Pro-democracy activists in front of the Supreme Court. (Photo by Prachatai)

an ordinary child while growing up in their village. His mother said she was not always aware of what Anon was doing, and that she had just recently become aware of his activism. Anon’s father explained that he recognized that Anon was a lawyer when he was doing things voluntarily to help political victims in 2011 in a court case related to the democratic movement in the Red-Shirt period.

Anon’s father and mother remembered that Anon once explained to them that the local people should have lawyers who could protect them from social injustice. They never expected that their son would become a famous frontline activist or a lawyer either. Anon’s father remembered that Anon was strong in supporting political fairness since he was young. He would persuade family members to vote but never tried to influence how they voted.

Anon’s sister said that Anon was a leader among his fellow students, and he always volunteered for school and social activities. In his sister’s eyes, Anon is an ordinary person who has fear like others, but she never expected the fearlessness that he exhibits in his recent activism. She respects her brother’s decisions and always supports him.

Anon’s family is very appreciative of Anon receiving the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2021, acknowledging his value in promoting democracy and human rights. Even though his family does not know much about his activism, they are proud of Anon, who is frequently seen on the stage of democracy.

“DO NOT FORGET” One message that Anon tells almost everyone is “Please don’t forget me when we reach the goal,” showing that he has prepared himself for any circumstance that might happen to him in his activism on the path to achieving democracy. How fitting it is that Anon Nampa has been awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2021.

1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Diwb3idmWo 2 https://www.bbc.com/thai/thailand-54492602 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6I6oRInN7c 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDGBHpI16tM 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXelwWU1VzM

Photographs courtesy of the Anon Nampa Facebook page

Don Tajaroensuk is a project director for the People's Empowerment Foundation and human rights activist in Thailand, who is working specifically on the rights of the vulnerable at the national to international level. He is also an advocate for democracy and pursues equity in society for all human beings.

By Kang Jennis Hyun-suk

Itook an express train bound for Mokpo to meet the artist for the June issue of the Gwangju News. The magazine was eager to have an interview with the artist Hong Sung-dam (홍성담) because he is one of the artists who depicts the spirit of May 18, the spirit of democracy.

These days, Hong Sung-dam is working on opening an art museum on an island in Sinan County, where Hong was born and raised. As there were no middle schools on the islands, Hong went to Mokpo, the nearest city on the mainland, for his secondary school education. Sinan County consists of 1,004 islands in Jeollanam-do, off the western coast of the peninsula. Interestingly, the pronunciation of “1,004” is the same as that of “angel” in Korean, “cheonsa” (천사). Some of the islands in Sinan have now been connected to the mainland by bridges. The islands of Sinan County maintain a store of interesting history. I think that if you are aware of the artist’s background, it will help to understand the artist’s works more deeply.

Have you seen the movie The Book of Fish (Jasan-eobo, 자산어보)? The film, which is gaining in popularity these days, is set on one of the Sinan County islands. The story is about a scholar, Jeong Yakjeon (정약전, 1758–1816) who was exiled from the capital for political and religious reasons to the far western Shinan island of Heuksan-do (흑산도). He observed the fish of the area to make an encyclopedia of marine life and wrote additional books such as Pyohae-simal (표해시말, Adrift at Sea: An Account), the account of a sailor who was swept away by a typhoon while sailing from Japan to China via Macao and the Philippines. This record lets us know of the cultures of these far-eastern regions of the time and makes a comparison of their ship-building skills. Jeong Yakjeon was the elder brother of Dasan, Jeong Yakyong (1762–1836), who was also a famous scholar in the Joseon Dynasty. He was also exiled to Gangjin and remained there for 18 years for the same reasons as his older brother. Since these two scholars came to Jeolla Province, they have left their imprint in the form of many great books.

Another famous person from Sinan County is the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, former president Kim Daejung (김대중). He was born on the island of Haui-do (하의도). Long ago, there were three islands in Ha-eui Township in Sinan County. The three islands have a history of various farmers’ uprisings for over 300 years. After the Japanese Invasions of Korea (1592–1598), the Joseon Dynasty realized the importance of keeping its islands and therefore encouraged its people to move to the islands. If someone reclaimed and cultivated barren land on the islands, the government would transfer the ownership to the farmer. But the king broke his word. In 1623, the three islands of Ha-eui were given to the princess Jong-myeong as a wedding present and the farmers on the land were taxed. This led to the beginning of the Farmers’ Uprisings of Haui-do. The descendants of the islanders fought for their rights, generation after generation, for over 300 years. Finally, the first National Assembly of Korea returned the land to the descendants of the farmers. At last, it all ended with a victory for the farmers.

The Memorial Hall of the Farmers’ Uprisings was built in 2009 on the island to honor the spirit of the resisters. At the inauguration of the Memorial Hall, Kim Dae-jung said in his speech, “I’ve come back from the edge of death five times, I was imprisoned six and a half years, I’d lived under surveillance for more than 20 years, and I lived in exile for three and a half years. But I fought with the indomitable spirit of the Farmers’ Uprisings of Haui-do.”

So with this in mind, what kind of artwork and impact has Hong Sung-dam made?

On April 16, 2014, the ferry Sewol tragically sank with 304 causalities, mainly students who were on a school trip to Jeju Island. President Park Geun-hye was absent on that day, and the citizens were outraged by the government’s slow response and incompetence. At the 20th anniversary of the Gwangju Biennale in September of that year, Hong Sung-dam satirized Park Geun-hye as a scarecrow. Resultantly, Hong’s exhibition was canceled by the government and his name was put on the list of blacklisted artists.

In July 1989, the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Pyeongyang, North Korea. Lim Soo-kyung, a university student of South Korea, joined as a representative of the South Korean University Association of Student Unions. It surprised both Koreas and the world. In Seoul, 80 artists of the Student Art Movement Association, which included Hong Sungdam, portrayed the history of Korea’s National Liberation Movement on a huge hanging painting. The painting was 77 meters wide, depicting the Donghak Peasant Uprising, the Korean War, and the May 18 Gwangju Uprising. The painting itself was destroyed by the police, but a video of the painting had been made. The video was sent to Pyeongyang via a third country, and the young artists in Pyeongyang recreated the painting to display at the World Festival of Youth and Students. Hong was arrested for his interaction with North Korean artists, tortured, and jailed for three years. It was on this topic that our interview began.

▼ Sewol, Owol by Hong Sung-dam, comparing the Sewol Ferry disaster to May 18, (2014).

▲ Jeju, April 3 by Hong Sung-dam (2014).

Jennis: What was your life like after getting out of prison? Why do you still paint satire? Hong Sung-dam: Amnesty International helped save my life. After my release from prison, I was invited to many countries to give talks. In order to repay Amnesty International for its kind help, I thought that I should report various forms of state violence across borders with artists in East Asian countries who were opening their eyes to civil rights.

Jennis: I heard you exhibited at the Insa Art Center in Seoul in 2018. What kind of artwork did you exhibit there? Hong Sung-dam: They were paintings depicting various states of violence and citizens’ movements. I painted candlelight vigils, the Japanese military sexual slavery case, the Sewol Ferry case, and violence by the military government. My paintings were exhibited at one of the biggest commercial galleries in Korea. I think it means that the scope of people’s art and realism has expanded.

Jennis: Would you tell me about the Museum of Human Rights and Peace for East Asia in Sinan County that you are working on these days? Hong Sung-dam: We are working towards the goal of opening the museum in 2023. We are planning to open a residency program so that East Asian artists can paint for human rights and peace at ease. And we are also planning to open a Human Rights and Peace Camp so that parents and children might participate during their vacation. Above all, the local residents should be the owners of the museum. So, our team is recording the movements on human rights and peace in Sinan County, including the Amtae-do tenant dispute and the Farmers’ Uprisings of Haui-do.

Jennis: What are your plans for your next art projects? Hong Sung-dam: Sometimes I take a walk along the beach. After heavy winds, I spot trash that has washed up on the beach. The snack bags and PET bottles are from India, Australia, China, and many other countries. Since last October, I have been working on a coastal environment art movement with several artists who have agreed to be part of the project. Our environmental art exhibition, which started in Jaeun-do, in Sinan, will travel around Incheon, Samcheok, Ulsan, Busan, and Yeosu, and then will be held as an archive exhibition in Mokpo in about a year.

Jennis: What is your personal definition of “art”? Hong Sung-dam: Art should create controversy. Common sense is not art. Art must always go beyond social taboos. As a nation moves towards dictatorship, there will inevitably be more satire. Art must be at odds with power.

Jennis: And what kind of person is an artist? Hong Sung-dam: A person with imagination, who evokes the seriousness of events with humor and satire. I think it is the role of the artist to act as a fermentation enzyme to depict for the public the breathtaking impact events have on society.

During the May 18 Uprising, Hong Sung-dam participated in the “citizens’ army.” He witnessed the deaths of innocent lives and afterwards devoted his

passion to telling the truth about the Gwangju Uprising. Hong was selected as one of the world’s top three prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International in 1990. And he was selected by the American news publication Foreign Policy as one of the “Leading Global Thinkers of 2014: A Disrupted World.” Hong is working with other artists and activists in East Asia and making efforts across borders to restore human rights, advance de-nuclearization, and protect the global environment.

After our interview, Hong gave me something that he wrote for a friend. It was the preface of a book by Yamaguchi Izumi, a Japanese writer, artist, and denuclearization activist. I will close with that preface: The people of the world have suffered from the Pacific War instigated by Japan. The trauma is still ongoing, but Japan has never sincerely apologized, even though the people of Asia have sent condolences and encouragement to the Japanese people who have suffered from the disastrous earthquake in Fukushima in 2011. We believed that Japan would change after the Great Earthquake. However, Japan has announced that it will hold the Fukushima Revival Olympics and release Fukushima radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean unilaterally. I still cannot forget the despair in my friend’s eyes when he noted the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. But I hold a ray of hope because there are activists like Yamaguchi in Japan.

Photographs courtesy of Hong Sung-dam.

Kang Jennis Hyunsuk is a freelance interpreter who loves to read books, take photos of nature, and walk her dog. She has lived in Gwangju all her life and is surely a lover of the City of Light.

By The May 18 Memorial Foundation

The May 18 Memorial Foundation has prepared an archive exhibition, “May Is…,” regarding the entire history of the May 18 Democratic Uprising as well as the Foundation.

“May Is…” is the first exhibition being held in the May Recollection Archive Hall after the Citizens’ Sarangbang (Community Center), located next to the May 18 Memorial Foundation’s office, has been remodeled into an exhibition hall.

The exhibition consists of eight sections in total: May, History, Truth, Memory, Records, Songs, May 18 in My Life, and Solidarity. You can view the data collected and donated by the May 18 Foundation, the May 18 TruthSeeking Movement, and the current commemorative projects related to education, culture, solidarity, and academic research, which have all been used to spread the May 18 spirit since the establishment of the May 18 Memorial Foundation in 1994.

The month of May contains the city’s own history written along with the establishment of the May 18 Memorial Foundation in 1994, in collaboration with the May 18 Democratic Associations for Honorable Persons and Victims’ Families, the Association for the Injured People of the May 18 Democratic Movement, the May 18 Association for the Arrested and Injured, and citizens. On view in this exhibition are different photographs and documents prepared by these three organizations, in addition to those of the May 18 Memorial Foundation.

Leaning towards each other, the triangular pillar at the entrance is the shape of the former 1980 structure and the current Jeonnam Provincial Office building. Displayed at the entrance are photographs from the 1980s; at the exit are photographs from the present. The conception and design of this exhibition progresses from how to remember to commemorating and passing on the memories of May 1980.

The history of the May 18 Democratic Movement in 1980 has become the nationwide history of the Korean democratic movement. The brief history of May and the activities of the May 18 Memorial Foundation can be viewed at a glance through the exhibited photographs.

In 1980, Gwangju citizens fought back against the military dictatorship to reveal the violence of martial law. Gwangju citizens and the whole nation have fought together for May 18 against opposition forces denying the violence and distorting the truth. On display in this exhibition are pictures donated by Wi Jung-cheol from 1980 and the oral project carried out by the May 18 Memorial Foundation. The bullet marks in Jeonil Building, which were recreated on one side of the exhibition hall, take the viewer back to the time of May 18.

The records of the May 18 Democratic Movement were selected in 2011 as a UNESCO Memory of the World, which humanity should preserve and remember together. The testimony of Gwangju citizens at the time of the May 18 Democratic Uprising is on display here and will remain in memory. Also available for watching is the video Without Your Name, a special documentary produced by Gwangju MBC commemorating the 40th anniversary of May 18.

On display in this section are photographs taken by German news photographer Jürgen Hinzpeter in May 1980 and articles describing the events of May 18 in chronological order. Also exhibited in this section are various articles related to the Foundation’s commemorative projects and other articles containing the May 18 fact-finding process since 1980, all provided by the The Hankyoreh newspaper.

Clockwise from top left: A photograph from the collection in May Hall, a brief history of May and the May 18 Memorial Foundation through photographs in History Hall, pictures taken during the uprising in Truth Hall, and various articles containing the May 18 fact-finding process in Records Hall.

Music encapsulating the spirit of May, including “March for the Beloved,” can be listened to in this section of the exhibition.

This section features the documentary May 18 in My Life, which highlights the stories of people whose lives have been affected by the incidents that took place in May 18. The documentary, contributed by Gwangju MBC, can be viewed in separate kiosks. Regardless of status, all have lived together in May.

Koreans living in Germany, the United States, and Japan also fought with Gwangju to reveal the truth of May 18 as well as for the democratization in Korea. Through the archival materials and photographs that aid in remembering this time, one can see how solidarity for the movement spread to foreign countries.

Visitors to the exhibition can find the May Greetings Postcards at the May Recollection Archive Hall of the May 18 Memorial Foundation. The May Greetings Project welcomes everyone to send postcards under the theme “Sending May Salutations from Gwangju.” The postcards, which link May in Gwangju 40 years ago with the current Gwangju, can be placed into the “May Mailbox” and will be sent either within Korea or overseas free of charge. These postcards will serve to link the May in Gwangju from 40 years ago with today’s May in Gwangju. Please put your postcard into the May Mailbox, and the May 18 Memorial Foundation will forward it to anywhere in the world.

Photographs courtesy of The May 18 Memorial Foundation.

152 Naebang-ro, Seo-gu, Gwangju 오월기억저장소 (inside the May 18 Memorial Foundation office, May 18 Memorial Cultural Center, 1st Floor) Visiting Hours: Mon.–Fri., 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. (Closed Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays) Inquiries: 062-360-0543 / 062-360-0518 Website: www.518.org

The heat of summer is quickly approaching, and the air quality index for Gwangju is outside the “good” zone for most of the year; indeed, it was high in the “moderate” zone at the time of this writing. The weather is beginning to heat up. The seasonal term, Ipha (입하, Entrance of Summer) fell on May 5 this year and the summer solstice (Haji, 하지) is on June 21. And following soon after that are the three Boknal (복날, Dog Days) of summer. To endure these climatic conditions, Koreans have turned to foods: samgye-tang, a chicken stew to beat the heat, and pork to protect against the ill effects of polluted air. Here we bring you articles on the medicinal qualities of these Korean foods: “Beat the Heat with Samgye-tang,” written by Stephen Redeker (Gwangju News, April 2012) and “Does Eating Pork Protect You from Pollution?” penned by C. Adam Volle (Gwangju News, April 2014). — Ed.

Samgye-tang (삼계탕) is a popular dish in Korea consisting of a whole boiled chicken filled with rice, ginseng root, jujube, and garlic, and served in broth. It is eaten all year round, but Koreans especially enjoy eating it on the three “special” days occurring in July and August, the three “dog days” (Boknal, 복날), called Chobok (초복), Jungbok (중복), and Malbok (말복). These days symbolize the three hottest days of summer. Traditionally, samgye-tang is eaten for the purpose of restoring stamina and health to a person exhausted from the summer heat. On the days mentioned above, crowds now line up outside restaurants just to have a bowl of samgye-tang.

Is samgye-tang really the best thing to eat on a hot summer day? Is the Korean belief that it recharges the body and mind really true, or is it just a tradition that continues today without real proof that it works? In Western culture, some people believe eating chicken soup will help cure a person of the common cold. Science leans more towards vitamin C as the common cold killer, but people still make a habit of eating delicious chicken soup when they get sick. In Korea, people also believe that a whole chicken, usually a pullet, combined with other healthy ingredients, can prevent sickness and revitalize the body. However, there are a number of different items that can be eaten to better relieve the body on a hot day than Korean chicken stew.

In the old days, escaping the summer heat was a difficult task, so naturally people turned to food for relief. Originally, boshin-tang (보신탕, soup containing dogmeat) was served to eager Koreans looking for health benefits during the dog days of summer. This meat is full of protein, low in cholesterol, and generally softer than beef, pork, or chicken, which makes it easier for the body to digest. However, these days dogmeat has lost its popularity as a dog-day delicacy and has been replaced with boiled chicken soup.

We should ingest a variety of proteins, carbohydrates, and vitamins when our bodies are drained. Obviously a must-have on a hot summer day is a glass of water because the body perspires much more and becomes dehydrated. When it comes to protein, whole grains are a good source and also contain iron and vitamin B. Brown rice and wholegrain bread are ways to get that into your system.

The same content can be obtained from meats like beef or pork liver, turkey (unfortunately rare in Korea), and seafoods such as clams, shrimp, and fish. Steering clear of meats with high fat content will strengthen the health benefits of the proteins and essential vitamins.

Vegetables also play a major role in supplying the body with much-needed nutrients. Cooked soybeans contain a large amount of protein, iron, and vitamin B. This also extends to other soy products like soy milk and tofu. Kale, broccoli, and collard greens are all good sources of energy-boosting nutrients, but none can top spinach. Cooked spinach boasts the highest iron content among plant-based foods. It also delivers vitamins A, C, and E, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and dietary fiber.

So, even though samgye-tang is not the most potent way to revive a tired, energy-depleted body on the hottest days of summer, there is little doubt that it is a healthy food to eat all year round. Reserving special days to eat something so delicious should continue, regardless. If we really wanted to make a meal super-powered enough to charge our bodies with what it needs, it would probably look like this: Take the traditional samgye-tang recipe but switch the white rice to brown rice, stuff the skinless chicken full of spinach, broccoli, and tofu, with sides of fish, beef, and pork, and serve it with two glasses of soy milk. Now that is a hearty meal worth sweating for!

With lead-laced fog continuing to roll into South Korea from China, some people are hoping that eating pork does have the effect of protecting one from pollution. According to a story published in The Korea Times, E-Mart alone sold 48.3 percent more pork from February 14 to 27, which is within the seasonal peak air pollution period.

The idea of eating pork to purify the body is a uniquely Korean home remedy, an idea born of tradition rather than science. The Korea Times’ story suggests that the belief became popular when Korean miners – frequent inhalers of unhealthy dust – supposedly started eating pork after they emerged from their tunnels.

Proponents of the cure have attempted to explain scientifically why they think pork works. One livestock supplier suggested to the Seoul Economic Daily that unsaturated heavy acids, of which pork has many, help to expel the heavy metal particles that make Chinese air so concerning. In a December 2013 story, the South China Morning Post wrote that many Koreans believe samgyeopsal (삼겹살, grilled pork belly) is a “health food rich in vitamin B that can lower cholesterol, detoxify the lungs, and cleanse the skin.”

Respectable nutritionists unanimously agree, though, that the opposite is true: Eating pork introduces more toxins into the system, can block already-present toxins from escaping, and is certainly not good for people’s skin. Not eating pork at all might be much healthier than eating the amount of pork consumed by the average Korean.

The main reason has to do with the source of pork, the pig. Unlike many other animals (and people), pigs do not spend much time digesting their food, so there is little chance for the pigs’ bodies to remove the toxins they have ingested. Moreover, there is no place for the toxins to go; pigs do not sweat, so everything they absorb goes into their tissues – which we eat.

And while a grill full of samgyeop-sal will not create new acne, it may worsen any pre-existing skin conditions. Like all meat, pork will raise the body’s insulin levels and its acidity, both of which can cause inflammation, which aggravates acne.

Rather than eating pork, one would be better off eating a pear, another Korean home remedy against pollution. The pear will not protect against the Chinese dust either, but it will be healthier for you, and it will not worsen your skin.

Arranged by David Shaffer.

◀ Previous page: Samgye-tang (chicken stew) a favorite on the hot days of summer. ▶ Samgyeop-sal (grilled pork belly), believed to purify the body.

By Isaiah Winters

As we near the upcoming rainy season, many of Gwangju’s riverside residents and businesses are eyeing the calendar with a sense of foreboding. Last year’s torrents, swelled by prolonged and abnormally heavy rains, were absolutely devastating for them. Though some warily stayed put, others already hobbled by the pandemic and then flattened by the floods salvaged what they could and moved on. The sporadically derelict banks of local waterways still tell some of their horror stories today.

One striking remnant of last year’s floods is etched alongside Gwangju’s Hwangnyong River (황룡강, or Yellow Dragon River). Flowing south along the backside of Eodeung Mountain before curving east in the direction of Honam University, this river completely inundated a nearby island known as Songsan Amusement Park (송산 유원지), precipitating its now nearly year-long closure. If you had the chance to visit the area over the last year, then you probably saw what I saw: a jumble of beady-eyed duck boats wallowing in a watery grave.

During the deluge, these and the waterfront cafeteria where they docked were battered beyond belief and then left to fester. The cafeteria eventually collapsed into the water and remained half-submerged for nearly ten months, while the duck and turtle boats lay nearby in various states of sunken dejection until the beginning of May. That’s when I finally managed to visit, apparently just a day or two after the cafeteria had been demolished and dragged out of the water. I feel a little remorse over not getting to see it up close, but that’s life.

That nearly everything has been brought up to dry land suggests our little island amusement park may be coming back to life almost a year after its ruin. Most crucially, the dock will have to be entirely rebuilt and the island’s pleasant, kilometer-long promenade formerly made of wooden planks will have to be stripped out and redone to return the halcyon parkland to its antediluvian prime. This could all take quite some time, given the one-truck skeleton crew I saw there on duty. How the work truck even got there beats me, as there’s no road in and the bridge connecting the park to the trail up Eodeung Mountain remains cordoned off behind layers of police tape.

▲ The last submerged paddle boat sits with Eeodeung Mountain as its backdrop. ◀ A walleyed turtle boat stares into the void.

Among the many others who’ve helped clean the area up are the ladies of the Gwangsan Lily Rotary Club (광산 백합 로타리 클럽). After forming in 1992, these Rotarians have basically been social capital angels who volunteer at nursing homes, assist workers living in rural areas, and even offer beautician services to those without the means to take care of themselves. By their side were a few male representatives from the local Democratic Party who also volunteered to do some of the heavy lifting.[1] Given that the Gwangju News is similarly the sum of its many unsung volunteers, I thought a little shoutout to these good citizens was apropos.

As an aside, there was another amusement park in Gwangju quite like this one that wasn’t so lucky following its demise: Jisan Amusement Park (지산 유원지). The oldest of its kind in Gwangju, today it retains just a few of its former facilities, like the ski lift and monorail. Plans to revivify the old park seem to have fallen through, with the ongoing pandemic doing the place no favors. With nobody to care for it, nature is quickly reclaiming the surrounding valley. Still, the heavily forested road through the park is open to the public and leads to a nice trail up the foothills of Mudeung Mountain, so it’s worth a visit. However, if you do decide to venture off-road to scope Gwangju’s one-and-only permanently abandoned amusement park, be sure to look out for snakes. (For more on that, see Lost in Gwangju in our September 2018 issue).

Resurrecting Songsan Amusement Park, by contrast, is a lot more feasible for a few reasons. For one, it lacks the huge rides that Jisan Amusement Park used to have, making it easier to maintain but also not much of a real amusement park. It’s actually more of a nature park with a few sports fields, a boardwalk, and a dozen or so of paddle boats for rent. The park’s location atop a sediment deposit in the middle of a dangerous river confluence means it’ll likely get destroyed every few years, but the nature of its “amusements” also makes it easy for the place to bounce back. Thus, there’s no reason to doubt a speedy return just in time for this year’s rainy season.

Not surprisingly, since its founding in 2000, Songsan Amusement Park has in fact been destroyed at least twice, with the earlier episode occurring in July 2009. Then the flooding was so extensive and sudden that seven people got trapped on the island and had to be airlifted out by rescue helicopter.[2] To get a sense of how powerless even emergency services can sometimes become in natural disasters, you can see in one of my pictures a rescue boat (구조선) that stood little chance against last year’s surge. The mudline running down its center suggests it first listed to its starboard side before sinking into the mud, where it stayed for nearly a year. To my grim delight, at the bow a severed duck boat head lies in a state of vacant distress as if it were about to be run over. It’s an image that’s got 2020 stamped all over it.

As it claws its way out of the rush of last year’s runoff, I wish ill-fated Songsan Amusement Park all the best. I’ll be one of the first visitors to return once it officially reopens, provided it survives this year’s rainy season. With the last two biblical floods occurring at roughly ten-year intervals, maybe the area can relax a little until the early 2030s. Or maybe not.

[1] Gi, B. (2020, August 15). 수해복구 나선 여성 로타리안 …

광산백합로타리클럽 송산유원지 침수피해 식당 복구 활동.

[2] Gwangju Internet News. http://www.gjinews.kr/news/ articleView.html?idxno=1243 Shin, J., & Jang, D. (2009, July 07). 광주전남 폭우피해 속출…6 천500㏊ 침수. Hankyoreh. https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/ society/environment/364388.html

Photographed by Isaiah Winters.

Originally from Southern California, Isaiah Winters is a Gwangju-based urban explorer who enjoys writing about the City of Light’s lesserknown quarters. When he’s not roaming the streets and writing about his experiences, he’s usually working or fulfilling his duties as the Gwangju News’ heavily caffeinated chief copy editor. You can find more of his photography on Instagram. @d.p.r.kwangju