Gwangju News July 2023 #257

Gwangju Busking World Cup 2023

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July 2023, Issue 257

Published: July 1, 2023

Cover Photo

Wantok installation at the 2023 Gwangju Biennale

Publisher Dr. Shin Gyonggu

Editor-in-Chief Dr. David E. Shaffer

Managing Editor William Urbanski

Chief Copy Editor Isaiah Winters

Layout Editors Kim Sukang

Photographer Kim Hillel Yunkyoung

Online Editor Kim Sukang

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

Copyright ©2023 by the 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.

The Gwangju News is published by the Gwangju International Center: Jungang-ro 196-beon-gil 5 (Geumnam-ro 3-ga), Dong-gu, Gwangju 61475, South Korea Tel: (+82)-62-226-2733 Fax: (+82)-62-226-2731

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From the Editor

It’salready July! We are officially moving over the hump into the second half of the year. This July issue of the Gwangju News is already our seventh issue of 2023, and we hope that you enjoy it as much as this year’s previous issues. With July comes summer to Gwangju and its environs; the ending of the school semester; the beginning of vacations, travel, and sightseeing; and the final days of the 2023 Gwangju Biennale!

Remember last year’s first-ever Gwangju Buskers World Cup? Well, it’s returning and will be building on the successes of last year. The Gwangju News has connected with one of the competition’s organizers to give us inside information on what we will be listening to on the city streets this fall at the Gwangju Buskers World Cup 2023.

This issue, we introduce a new column, Political Focus, penned by Dr. Jonathan J. Chiarella, who will be giving us his analyses on current affairs related to Honam or international relations from his perch right here in Gwangju. This issue: air bases that everyone wants, just not anywhere near them.

Have you heard about the autobahn-like racetrack planned to link Gwangju to Yeongam? Yes, a no-speed-limit expressway with mortal implications. Read our managing editor’s take on this deadly project [Opinion].

We bring you two [Environment] articles this issue: one about the benefits of using solar energy in Korea, and the other about Japan’s plans to dump a million tons of radioactive wastewater into the Pacific (and no, that is not a typo!).

You’ll be surprised at the amount of history you can read in wallpaper [Lost in Honam]. And, oh yes, after 25 “episodes,” Alan and Me have a baby boy [Comic Corner]!

Waste not our water, stay Covid cautious, savor the summer, and enjoy the Gwangju News!

David E. Shaffer Editor-in-Chief Gwangju News

Special thanks to Gwangju City and all of our sponsors.

Gwangju

THE EDITORIAL TEAM

Photo of the Month

By Isaiah Winters

The Author

Hailing from Chino, California, Isaiah Winters is a pixel-stained wretch who loves writing about Gwangju and Honam, warts and all. He’s grateful to have written for the Gwangju News all these years. More of his unique finds can be seen on Instagram @d.p.r.kwangju and YouTube at Lost in Honam.

Sunset over the Goheung shoreline.

14 Lost in Gwangju: Peeling Through the Past

18 Expat Living: A 30-Year Love Affair – How a ticketing mistake brought me to the city of the living instead of the city of the dead

20 Environment: The Importance of Solar Energy in Human Life

22 Environment: What? Release the Fukushima Nuclear Wastewater?!

24 Around Gwangju: All Is Fair for Love and Democracy – The 2023 Youth Gwangju Democratic Forum

27 Opinion: You Can’t Spell “An Autopsy Hub” Without “Autobahn”

30 Political Focus: Not in My Backyard – How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the Bombers 44 Contemplations

Ponderings: Actions Speak Louder Than Words!

Great

Gwangju City News

Recycling Machines in Dong-gu District Turn Trash into Cash

In January 2021, the Dong-gu District in Gwangju City installed recycling machines for empty cans and plastic bottles as part of its efforts to promote resource reuse. Two machines were placed in the Jeungsim-sa area parking lot, a popular area for visitors to Mt. Mudeung National Park. Additionally, one machine was put into operation at the Jiwon 1-dong Recycling Neighborhood Yard

Users can earn points by depositing their recyclables into a vending machine-like recycling device and entering their mobile phone numbers. Each empty can and PET bottle will accumulate 10 points. Once a user accumulates 2,000 points or more, they can register as a member on the recycling website (www. superbin.co.kr) and convert their points into cash.

The Dong-gu District Office has announced plans to expand the installation of these machines if the satisfaction level is high. Lim Taek, head of Donggu District Office, stated, “We will develop various policies to transform our city into a sustainable resource recycling city.”

Base Taxi Fare Rises by 1,000 won in July

The Gwangju Metropolitan City government has announced that the base taxi fare will rise by 1,000 won starting in July. The base rate will start at 4,300 won as compared to the current 3,300 won. The increments of increase for distance and time, as well as the basic fare for late-night taxi use will remain the same as before. Taxi fare of a middlesized taxi will start at 4,300 won, up from 3,300 won. Deluxe taxi and jumbo taxi fares will start at 5,100, up from 3,900 won.

Gwangju Mudeung Stadium Reopens

Gwangju Mudeung Stadium reopend on June 19 after being closed for renovations for eight years. With the renovations, an underground parking lot, a climbing wall, a jogging track, and a playground have been newly built. Gwangju Metropolitan City expects that Gwangju residents will enjoy the stadium as a sports theme park.

Protect Yourself from Ticks When Hiking

In Jeonnam Province, two people died this year of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), which is a tick-borne infectious disease. According to the Jeollanam-do Institute of Health and Environment, two women in their 80s died of SFTS, one in Haenam in April and the other in Suncheon in June.

Every year, numerous SFTS patients are reported nationwide. In spite of a high fatality rate (18.7%), there are no preventive vaccines or cures available. In the first half of this year, there have been 14 SFTS patients across the country, two of which have died.

Ticks live in wooded and grassy areas. During outdoor activities such as hiking, gardening, and farming, wear pants and long-sleeved shirts to protect your skin from ticks. After outdoor activities, take a shower and wash your clothes.

First article translated by Koo Yesol. Other articles translated by Kim Sukang

▲ Protect Yourself from Ticks When Hiking. (Photo by Sukang Kim)

Gwangju Busking World Cup 2023

By Gwangju News

The first annual Gwangju Busking World Cup, which took place in October 2022 was a resounding success. It boosted the international profile of Gwangju and filled the downtown area with energetic and lively international performers. Best of all, it gave the citizens of Gwangju the opportunity to interact with performing artists from all over the world.

The Gwangju News had the opportunity to interview Kim Seong-houn, the general manager of the 2023 Gwangju Busking World Cup, about this year’s upcoming festival. Kim and his team were kind enough to shed some light on what has been going on behind the scenes in preparation for this October’s GBWC.

Gwangju News (GN): Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. First of all, for those who do not know, what is the Gwangju Busking World Cup?

Kim Seong-houn: The Gwangju Busking World Cup is a competition and festival at the same time, where musicians from all over the world gather here in Gwangju to understand and exchange each other’s music and compete in good faith.

GN: Last year’s event was a huge success. What do you think was the best part on last year’s Gwangju Busking World Cup?

Kim Seong-houn: From the point of view of staff and also as an audience member, it was nice to listen to all the different genre of music that you can’t really listen to here in Korea. On the other hand, we managed to create a tour program for the buskers to enjoy the history and nature of Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, This

program really satisfied the buskers. There were lots of tasks to manage for this tour program, but after we saw their faces after the tour was completed, our team had no regrets for the work put into doing this.

GN: I understand that some of the buskers from last year will be coming back this year. Is that correct?

Kim Seong-houn: For now, we cannot say. We are at the screening and scoring stage right now (June 1–21), and cannot confirm who will be selected as

the 64 finalists who will be coming to Gwangju to compete in this year's competition.

GN: How is this year’s contest going to be bigger and better than last year’s?

Kim Seong-houn: The number of applications for the Gwangju Busking World Cup has definitely increased over that of last year. In particular, overseas musicians’ applications have increased two-fold compared to last year!

Last year’s Gwangju Busking World Cup. (Photo by William Urbanski) ▲

We selected 121 teams as finalists last year, but this year we are cutting that in half. So, this year, 64 teams will be competing on stage. We reduced the number of artists who will perform on stage to allow the artists to focus more on performing and less on competitiveness. On the other hand, the 64 teams will have more benefits, including up to three round-trip tickets per team and aid with accommodations. Besides the competition itself, the audience will be presented with excellent domestic and international invited performances. We are bringing professional world music performing teams for the audience so that they can enjoy music aside from the competition.

As for the finalists, we are giving an opportunity to the 2022 winners to perform in other festivals, events, or elsewhere in the music market, not just ending with getting an award from the Gwangju Busking World Cup. We are trying to help them grow as musicians. For this year’s winners, eight teams will be awarded, and the top two teams will be given support to perform in music festivals in other countries. It will be a great chance for them to advance as musicians.

GN: Bringing artists from all over the world has got to be a massive task. What are some of the logistical challenges you have had to overcome so far?

Kim Seong-houn: For last year, which was our firstever competition, there was difficulty in promoting the event to potential overseas participants. So, we would mainly approach buskers on the street with information on the Gwangju Buskers World Cup. But this year, we have appointed Lee Jung-hun as head artistic director, who has overseas networks such as with overseas music festivals and music markets, to develop our busking event into a global music competition and festival.

GN: Last year, it seemed to me that several different festivals were taking place at the same time that the Busking World Cup was taking place at the Asia Culture Center. While some of these (like the food festival) created a synergy, I feel like the other music festivals created a little confusion, and it would have been better if the Busking World Cup had exclusive rights to use the ACC grounds for musical performances during that time. What are your thoughts on this?

▲ Rain or shine, there was always plenty of audience support for last year’s Gwangju Busking World Cup. (Photo courtesy of Kim Seong-houn)

Kim Seong-houn: The ACC is a national institution established by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (MCST) of Korea, and the organizer of the Gwangju Busking World Cup is the Dong-gu District Office of Gwangju. We are cooperating with each other, but we believe we have different rules as a governmental institution and as a local government. This year we are also using part of the ACC facility, and in order to develop into an urban music festival, I think it should naturally take place in the square and in the city center so that more people can enjoy it.

GN: The Gwangju Busking World Cup is a competition. Could you let us know what the judges are looking for when they are picking the finalists and the winners?

Kim Seong-houn: As the screening criteria are specified on the website, musicality, skill and talent, originality, and stage manners are the criteria for the screening.

GN: As opposed to the regular singing festivals that take place around the country, busking creates a special atmosphere and connection with the audience. Could you try to describe this special atmosphere?

Kim Seong-houn: Busking usually is found in places where pedestrians walk by; that means it is quite easy to listen to them. On your way home after work, maybe after a nice dinner with your partner, or even when you are sad and down, and just need to get out of the house, you’re most likely to meet buskers singing and performing on the street. Performing in close proximity, buskers and their audience talk freely, new listeners comes and previous ones move on. This vibe of free participation creates a special atmosphere.

For the 2023 Gwangju Busking World Cup, the audience will be able to enjoy music on the street, transcending nationality, race, generation, gender, religion, and ideology.

GN: Besides its entertainment value, the Gwangju Busking World Cup is an excellent medium for cultural exchange. Could you talk about some of the benefits to the Gwangju community of inviting people of so many different cultural backgrounds to the city?

Kim Seong-houn: We believe that within music is contained a nation’s culture that has been formed over many years. As well, music is also sung as a universal language. Introducing many different cultures via music to the people of Gwangju will help all of us in the understanding of other cultures, creating respect, and wiping out discrimination. It won’t happen in one day, but that is our long-term goal.

GN: When the festival is over and the buskers go home, what do you hope they will say about Gwangju?

Kim Seong-houn: We hope that they will remember Gwangju as a good place to perform, as a charming city, and as a city that they want to come back to.

From last year’s event, we could follow the applicants’ experiences on their social media pages. Though they might not have contacted us directly, we could see from their posts how special this experience was to them. It made us feel blessed. All we want from our team is to just make them happy and have only good vibes about Gwangju.

GN: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! We really appreciate it and are excited to see what’s in store at this year’s GBWC!

Interviewed by William Urbanski, Managing Editor, Gwangju News.

Photographs by William Urbanski and Kim Seong-houn.

Last year’s finals night was a lively affair! (Photo courtesy of Kim Seong-houn)

▲

The Soil Has Brought Us Up

The

Artist Couple of the Baegun Kiln

By Kang “Jennis” Hyunsuk

In Gwangyang, Jeollanam-do, there is a high mountain named Baegun. It is facing Jiri Mountain across the Seomjin River. At the foot of Baegun Mountain, you will find a traditional kiln named Baegun, where buncheong ware is fired, expressing the unique color of the soil. The Baegun Kiln (백운요) has been operated for over 20 years by an artist couple. When I followed the sign announcing the name of the kiln, I spotted cute clay sculptures hiding among the flowers in the garden. This made me feel as if I were entering a fairy world. For this month’s People in the Arts, I met with Kim Jeong-tae and Shin Hyo-jung, the artist couple of the Baegun Kiln.

While the ceramist, Kim Jung-tae, was working in his studio, I started the interview with the sculptor, Shin Hyo-jung, who focuses on clay sculptures.

THE SHIN HYO-JUNG INTERVIEW

Jennis: It’s an honor to meet you. I heard that you are preparing for the firing process of the kiln soon. So thank you so much for taking the time for this interview for the Gwangju News

Shin Hyo-jung: Thank you for coming all this way.

Jennis: The handwriting on the wall is touching: “The soil has made me.” Can I ask who wrote this?

Shin Hyo-jung: I learned calligraphy from my grandfather when I was young, and I enjoyed writing calligraphy. When I was in a calligraphy club in my high school days, I won first prize in the national calligraphy competition. So people said that I had manual dexterity. A few years ago, my husband asked me to write the phrase on the wall. He had previously thought that he made bowls with soil, but through living in the process of working with soil, he came to realize that it was the soil that has made him humble.

Jennis: I wonder how the two of you met and have worked together with the soil.

Shin Hyo-jung: My husband is a friend of my older brother. He was a very diligent young man, so my mother wanted to take him as her son-in-law. After we got married, we sometimes went to my uncle’s to help him with his work. My uncle, Jeong Woong-gi, is a ceramicist who has operated the Hadong kiln in the pottery village of Hadong. My husband, who fell in love with my uncle’s beautiful works, asked my uncle to accept him as his apprentice. But my uncle told him to think it over because living as a ceramist is not easy. Anyway, my husband got permission through his

▲ Meeting Myself. Clay sculpture, by Shin Hyo-jung.

earnest requests. And when we settled down here, my uncle came in person and named the kiln “Baegun.” It has already been over 20 years since we first fired the Baeun Kiln.

Jennis: How did you come to make clay sculptures, and what do you consider to be the charm in your work?

Shin Hyo-jung: I suddenly felt that I wanted to express my own feelings when I made pottery as a hobby. But it is not easy to express one’s feelings with a bowl. When I make clay sculptures, I feel calm without really realizing it. So I love to work with clay sculptures –they make me smile.

Jennis: I heard that buncheong ware is baked in a traditional wood kiln, so do you bake your clay sculptures in the same kiln?

Shin Hyo-jung: Oh, no, clay sculptures can’t be baked in a wood kiln. I tried it once, but the temperature of the kiln was too high for clay sculptures. I want to express bright feelings through my clay sculptures, so a wood kiln doesn’t suit my work. I bake my clay sculptures in a gas kiln at a slightly lower temperature than that needed for buncheong ware.

Jennis: I think it would be heartbreaking if the works that took many days to make melted or broke in the baking process. It must have taken a lot of time to find the proper temperature for baking.

Shin Hyo-jung: Yes, it did. The heating process is quite delicate, so it took me a lot of time to find the right temperature.

Jennis: The clay sculptures you make are called to-u (토우) in Korean, meaning “clay friend.” What gratification do you get out of making so many clay friends?

Shin Hyo-jung: I want to put my heart and soul into creating each clay sculpture. So I cannot make a lot of “friends” at once. If I feel uncomfortable or uneasy for whatever reason, I cannot work. So if something uncomfortable occurs, I quickly purge it from my mind.

Jennis: Thank you, I think it’s now time for your husband’s part of the interview. My hope is for you to always be in a very good mood so that you are able to create many more of your little “clay friends.”

THE KIM JEONG-TAE INTERVIEW

After listening to the story of the clay sculptures that purify the heart of artist Shin Hyo-jung, I moved to ceramist Kim Jeonng-tae’s studio and continued my interviewing. In his studio, bowls made from the potter’s wheel were waiting for the artist’s next touch as they dried out their moisture. On the desk, books related to pottery were showing his daily life focused on buncheong ware.

Jennis: As a tea lover, I’m interested in tea bowls. I heard that buncheong pottery has been loved by many a tea lover. So, I’ve been quite interested in buncheong ware and would like to learn more about it from the one who makes it in the traditional kiln named “Baegun-yo.”

Kim Jeong-tae: “Buncheong earthenware” (분청사기) is an abbreviation of “Bunjang-hoecheong earthenware” (분장회청사기, grayish-blue pottery coated in white slip). It appeared between the celadon of the Goryeo Dynasty and the white porcelain of the Joseon Dynasty. The pottery pieces are first heated to 850 degrees Celsius, coated with white clay water, and then coated again in one of several ways.

▲ Becoming One. Clay sculpture, by Shin Hyo-jung.

Some of the more common ways of coating buncheong are brushing on white slip with a thick brush, etching in designs to reveal the dark soil beneath, scraping away the background of the pattern, or drawing images or designs with a brush using iron-rich paint. But the easiest method of coating is by immersing the bowls in white clay water and soaking.

Jennis: Among the many ways of making buncheong, which technique do you most commonly use?

Kim Jeong-tae: The characteristic of my work is spreading colors onto a piece of pottery and seeing them bloom like flowers when the fire meets the soil in the wood kiln. I like this natural change, often creating unexpected colors. Also, like the inlay technique of Goryeo celadon, I am using this technique with a wide variety of stamps to make impressions on my buncheong works.

Jennis: How is a bowl baked in a traditional wood kiln different from one baked in a kiln using electricity or gas? And it is said that there are several ways of heating in a traditional kiln. Can I ask what they are?

Kim Jeong-tae: Unlike gas and electric kilns for which it is easy to control the heat, it is difficult to control the temperature in a traditional kiln. But the color change that occurs on the bowl depending on the type of soil, the type of glaze, the firewood, the strength of the wind, and the method of feeding the fire – this colorchange magic occurs only in the traditional wood kiln.

A day before the main firing up of the kiln, I preheat the kiln to blow out the moisture. I usually use oak and pine as firewood. I use one of three heating methods: oxidation, reduction, and neutrality. Among them, I usually use neutrality for my buncheong ware. When finished, I slowly cool down the kiln and then take the pieces out.

Jennis: You must be very nervous when you light a kiln. Staying up all night, observing the color of the flame moment by moment, and deciding which firewood to put in must take fortitude.

Kim Jeong-tae: Yes, that’s right. Because the fate of the pottery pieces that I’ve been working on for many months is decided by the kiln in a single day. So, before I fire the kiln, I place a bowl of clean water in the kiln to express gratitude to the potters who had lived on this earth before me, and then I start working. When the

▲ Buncheong gourd bottle with sunset glow pattern, by Kim Jeong-tae.

▲ Buncheong water jar with inlaid patterns, by Kim Jeong-tae.

fire goes out, the water in the bowl has disappeared, so I believe that the gods of the potters consumed it well.

Jennis: I’m also curious about how to obtain and store the soil, which is the main material for your works.

Kim Jeong-tae: I look for a site where construction has cut into the side of a hill to save good soil. I’m curious about what colors will result in the finished pieces from the stones or soils that I have gathered. I grind the stones and soil finely, and then I put them in water and stir. The soil sinks to the bottom and the dirt floats. This process is called subi (수비). After filtering with fine nets several times, the fine soil is put out to dry in the shade. When it’s dry, I put it in a sack for months to mature. The soil, which is aging in the sack, is mixed with five or six different types of soil when I make the clay dough for a piece of pottery. When kneading the soil, I should remove as much air from the dough as possible. If the air is left in the clay dough, the air expands in the kiln and the bowl breaks when it is baked.

Jennis: What do you think are the special characteristics of the Baegun Kiln?

Kim Jeong-tae: I make pottery from soil, but when I put into the kiln these pieces that I have worked on for months, there is a moment when I can’t control myself as a human. Once, I got no usable pieces of work from an entire kiln firing. When I take out a well-baked piece, I can see its pink patterns blooming like a sunset. People call it “kiln magic” or “kiln change.” The various minerals in the soil bloom on the earthenware piece like the Milky Way in the night sky, or like plum blossoms, or the autumn leaves of a persimmon tree. So I think that a piece of pottery is a combined work of art that results when the ceramist meets with the soil, the wind, the air, and wood. And I humbly accept the limitation of human abilities. If there is a special characteristic of the Baegun Kiln, I think it is to find the original color of the soil.

Jennis: I appreciate your time. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to make a bowl by myself.

Feeling the soil in my hands was a touching experience. Since you provide experience activities in making pottery and clay sculptures for the students who live nearby, I feel your desire to convey the beauty of soil to the next generation. Thank you.

AFTER THE INTERVIEW

After the interview, I returned home and did some additional research on buncheong ware. It is said that buncheong ware gradually declined in the late 16th century but was abruptly ended by the Japanese invasions (Imjin-waeran, 1592–1598). After the war, many Joseon potters made pottery in Japan, and their works were exported to Europe under the name of

Japan. According to Kurokami Shutendo, who wrote the biography of Lee Sam-pyeong, a potter who was taken to Japan during the war and became the Kamisama of the Arita Kiln, there were 30,000 Joseon potters who were forcibly taken to Japan at that time.

The Interviewer

Jennis Kang is a lifelong resident of Gwangju. She has been doing oil painting for almost a decade, and she has learned that there are a lot of fabulous artists in this City of Art. As a freelance interpreter and translator, her desire is to introduce these wonderful artists to the world. Instagram: @jenniskang

▲ Kim Jeong-tae tending his traditional firewood kiln.

Peeling Through the Past

By Isaiah Winters

Inever cared about wallpaper – until now. That’s because on a recent revisit to one of Gwangju’s oldest abandoned hanok houses, a friend showed me just how much history can lurk between the layers. In this month’s edition of “Lost,” I return to Imgok-dong with hanok restorer and now avid

wallpaper collector Kang Dong-su to literally peel back the layers of history, exposing evidence of colonialism, affluence, and unique bits of minutiae along the way. If I somehow manage to make wallpaper analysis seem interesting in the process, then I’ll chalk it up as a win for the column.

▼ Dong-su looks through wallpaper layers holding a piece from the 1970s.

CREAKING COSMOPOLITANISM

In this section, I’ll provide a historical framework for the hanok itself, backed by Dong-su’s many insights. Basically, the hanok’s imposing exterior bears design motifs that draw inspiration from across the globe and bookend Korea’s colonial period. While its overall structure is naturally Korean, the main pillars’ narrow-to-wide shape suggests repurposed pieces of the house may date back as far as the lateJoseon era. Another telling detail is seen in a patio extension on the south side, which is neatly lined with narrow floorboards and wood notches atypical of hanok. That’s because they’re of a Japanese design Koreans call jangmaru (장마루) and date back to the occupation era. Interestingly, the front patio facing west retains wider, juxtaposed floorboards more typical of hanok, a floor design known as umulmaru (우물마루).

In addition to these features, high above the Japanese occupation-era porch extension is a brick gable whose influence may date back to when Christian missionaries arrived around the turn of the 20th century, bringing brickwork construction along with their religion. Sitting above the gable are massproduced concrete tiles, likely added in the 1960s or 1970s, which were made in Korea but retained

a Japanese style, as the tile-making facilities of the day were inherited from the colonial era. The most mysterious piece of the hanok by far is a single wood panel used in the kitchen’s construction. Taken from an old wooden crate, it’s originally part of a petroleum shipping box produced by Atlantic Petroleum, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One online source dates this sort of crate to 1907, but how it became part of a rural Gwangju hanok is anyone’s guess. Given all this, the house, despite its decrepit state today, was remarkably cosmopolitan for its time.

PEELING THROUGH TIME

Bland, beige, and blanketed with dust, the latest wallpaper inside the hanok leaves little to the imagination. However, in just a few short minutes, Dong-su was able to find enough of interest to inspire an article of its own. A humble split in the first door we came to revealed large panels inked with hanja (Chinese characters), which seemed to have been used for writing practice before being entombed within the door. Beyond the door, just under a loose flap of wallpaper, were large sheets of delicate paper bearing extensive missives in beautifully written Hangeul. A small tear beside a window frame unveiled a timeworn Japanese newspaper

▲ The Imgok hanok is approximately three and a half Dong-sus in height.

with playful fonts and old-timey illustrations, and another dog-eared strip found elsewhere exposed a pattern that, according to Dong-su, still exists in Changdeokgung Palace up in Seoul. This was all discovered in about 15 minutes beneath maybe one or two percent of the hanok’s total wallpaper – and in just a single wing.

Once back in the hanok’s centermost room, we both leaned in to analyze another Japanese newspaper glued to a beam beneath a shelf when Dongsu suddenly shrank by half a meter. The rotten floorboards had given out beneath him, something he said happened quite often. Though we laughed it off, it was a startling reminder that our mutual hobby

such a tax on his patience, I’d honestly love to spend an entire week revisiting the house and nerding out on all the documents and heirlooms left inside. On each visit, I try to lessen the annoyance by bringing a gift – a bottle of Jindo hongju last time, and two bottles of makgeolli this time – but I still feel like a nuisance. Risking overkill but nursing a paucity of facts, I’m left to guess the original owners’ source of wealth, their status in the local community, and the sudden dispersal of them all from such a priceless family treasure. If I had to wager a guess, maybe they were involved with whatever passed in and out of the now-shuttered Imgok Station; maybe they had connections to the gold mine at nearby Yongjin-san; or maybe they were land barons along this extremely fertile stretch of the Hwangnyonggang. It’s hard to say.

came with as many risks as rewards. Moving on to the most exposed and weather-beaten room in the house, I didn’t expect to find much, but I was dead wrong. Years of constant rain, wind, and collapse had created a conveniently layered wallpaper flap of three or four plies spanning an entire wall. Some plies were so well separated that it was like flipping through samples in a wallpaper catalogue. Here we found more hanja practice scribbles and a large wallpaper pattern Dong-su had seen in a hanok from the 1940s up in Incheon. Though much of the wallpaper’s color and luster are now gone, its bold pattern still retains an air of status and respectability.

MISCELLANEOUS CONJECTURE

Unfortunately, the current owner can’t shed much light on the hanok’s origins, though he’s happy to have two young-ish men visit and haul away some of the peeling garbage for him. If I didn’t feel like

To finish off this little section on naked conjecture, I’ll provide the last of my lowbrow, low-resolution thoughts on what else I found interesting about this particular hanok. While Dong-su was busy uncovering wallpaper that linked the moldering dwelling to the centers of power in Seoul, I found one tiny pop-culture reference in the corner of a nondescript storage closet to be very intriguing. There, I saw a single corner of an old newspaper advertising three classic films: Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, 007’s The Spy Who Loved Me, and the original Star Wars film. This suggests the newspaper is from 1978 which, though half the age of some of the relics seen elsewhere in the hanok, still makes it a 45-yearold rag marking a monumental year in filmmaking. According to its fine print, an adult ticket back then was 1,300 won, while kids or anyone catching a flick in the morning got in for a mere 900 won. Loving little discoveries like this, I wish I had more time to comb through the hanok’s many other recesses. Maybe it’s time for another visit – this time with some plum wine.

Kang Dong-su’s Instagram: @baemui.naru

Hailing from Chino, California, Isaiah Winters is a pixel-stained wretch who loves writing about Gwangju and Honam, warts and all. He’s grateful to have written for the Gwangju News all these years. More of his unique finds can be seen on Instagram @d.p.r.kwangju and YouTube at Lost in Honam.

The Author

▲ A crate panel from Atlantic Petroleum.

▲ Samples for Dong-su’s growing wallpaper archive.

▼ Newspaper advertisement from 1978.

A 30-Year Love Affair

By Charles Vallerand

“Why did we have to take a three-hour bus ride from Gyeongju to come to Gwangju?” asks my partner Riana. I answer: to see my friend Professor Shin again. This is the third time I’ve been here, and as you’ll see, this city holds a special place in my heart.

I first came to Gwangju 30 years ago, on the sidelines of a business trip to Seoul. As a young civil servant in the international relations section of Canada’s Department of Communications, my boss at the time asked me to replace him at a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) telecommunications working group. My girlfriend at the time, now my spouse, is Indonesian. After the meeting, I took a few days off to visit Korea. It was one of my first trips to Asia, and I was really curious to discover a part of the world I knew nothing about. The only thing I knew

was that my compatriot, the Canadian singer Corey Hart, was staying at the same hotel probably because he was on tour in the country. He was immensely popular around the world back then.

I wanted to visit Gyeongju, recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. I thought this UNESCO designation should guarantee that I would not be disappointed by my visit to the country’s ancient capital. I had been impressed by the photos of the royal tombs, which I wanted to see with my own eyes. I ended up buying a ticket for Gwangju (there are no flights to Gyeongju) and found myself stranded at Gwangju Airport late that night. As nobody spoke English, I waited for a long time before a cab driver offered, in Korean, to take me to a hostel. I slept rather badly that night on an intermittently heated tatami mat, without sheets or blankets.

I soon realized that Gwangju was a very special city in the country’s history. The student movement for democracy was still very much alive in the memory of its residents. As a university town, there were young people everywhere. In the mountains, along the paths, I came across people meditating, others doing their morning stretches, Buddhist temples, Japanese bunkers... The view of the city was magnificent (it was much more modest than today). At lunchtime, I stopped off at a popular eatery on the outskirts, where workers and locals ate. The construction workers at the next table, who didn't speak a word of English, offered me a bottle of soju. Their hospitality immediately put me at ease. Like the cab driver at the

How a ticketing mistake brought me to the city of the living instead of the city of the dead

▲ View from Sajik Park Observatory. (Photo via visitkorea.or.kr)

airport, they welcomed and helped me. I have fond memories of those first encounters.

I returned to Gwangju a second time at Professor Shin’s invitation in the spring of 2018 as a panelist at a conference on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He had arranged for us to stay at a hanok, which went along well with my interest in arts and culture. Him and I had met the year before in Jeju at the Culture Summit organized by the international organization United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). The city of Gwangju had already changed. The Asian Cultural Center had been open for a few years. Research on Asian identity was being carried out with the aim of promoting intercultural dialogue. Gwangju had been designated a Creative City for Media Arts by UNESCO. Some 180 photonics companies, members of the CREE LED products program, were conducting R&D on image projection products such as LCD TV screens. I remember we were presented with a K-pop show in holographic projection. The very beginnings of virtual and augmented reality. Gwangju kept playing its role as a guardian of human rights and democracy. Dr. Shin recounted the tragic events of May 1980 and the subsequent changes in the country with an intense gaze. He would also show us the city’s natural surroundings with the same pride.

My third visit to Gwangju, in April 2023, is not the result of a mistake or an invitation. I came back out of attachment and friendship. I took my wife to hike sections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 of the Olle Trail, which circles Jeju-do – 100 km on foot in 5 days with a 7 kg backpack. She loved it. From Jeju-do, we spent a few days in Busan, then on to Gyeongju, which I’d been wanting to visit for 30 years. I was not disappointed. On this third visit, I’m discovering new aspects of Gwangju. The Art Street (we had a lovely time with clothes designer Pung Dang in her workspace/ store), the Biennale (which we toured), Guitar Street (we had a heck of a karaoke party with members of the management team at the Chonnam National University Hospital), the central districts invaded by students in the evenings, the Daein traditional market, the Chonnam National University campus...

Gwangju hasn’t changed in its heart. It remains attached to its values. There are simply more people, more traffic, more high-rise buildings out in the distant suburbs (which we could see from the top

of the Sajik Park Observatory). You can’t cross it on foot from one end to the other anymore. Distances are simply too great. Without being able to predict the future with certainty, it occurs to me that it seems inevitable that in the future, there will be strong pressure to demolish old buildings and less densely populated neighborhoods to make way for new highrises. If it hasn’t already been done, there is a need to draw up an inventory of the heritage sites, buildings and places that need to be protected, and to adopt the necessary regulations. The “benefits” of high-rises must be compared to their “costs,” considering ways to mitigate their impact on infrastructure (roads, sewage and water, nearby schools, hospitals, family shops being replaced by shopping malls…), the environment (sunlight, air quality, wind, green space, heat islands…) and citizens (sense of belonging, friendliness, communal identity…).

This last point is especially critical for the older folks, and their relatives, whose health and emotional wellbeing are tied to a harmonious relationship with their neighbors and surroundings. Conducting a census of the areas targeted for redevelopment should be included in the planning. Consulting citizens is a must. It can be expected that developers will offer to throw money at the problem. Local authorities should resist this “quick fix” and instead adopt a human-centered approach, as buildings and city planning should be designed to improve the human condition and not the other way around. Remember, this is a city of human rights and a beacon for the democratic movement. I’m sure the local authorities of Gyeongju should be able to provide some good advice in establishing exemplary practices for a balanced approach in the country’s future development.

The Author

Charles Vallerand is a member of the UNESCO Expert Facility of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, providing capacity-building assistance to developing countries on the governance of cultural policy and on media diversity. He is the publisher of a weekly press review “Cultures in the Digital Era” covering emerging issues and best practices for the arts and culture in Canada and internationally. Charles has more than 35 years of experience in cultural policies, public service broadcasting, and international cooperation.

The Importance of Solar Energy in Human Life

By Neha Bisht

Converting energy resources to a useful power source such as electricity is the biggest achievement made by humans. Human life is almost unimaginable without electricity. Electricity plays a fundamental role in our daily life due to its significant importance and widespread use. A plethora of natural energy resources are available on Earth such as solar, wind, geothermal, fossil fuels, ocean energy, etc. Among these energy resources, solar energy is a longpersisting energy source. Solar energy is a renewable resource, and the energy can be harnessed without depletion. There are various ways to convert solar energy to useful purposes such as solar heaters, solar panels, solar cookers, and more. Solar panels are one of best sustainable and renewable energy sources to provide 24/7 electricity without emitting greenhouse gases or air pollutants, unlike fossil fuels. Solar power helps in reducing our carbon footprint, mitigating climate change, and improving air quality, leading to a cleaner and healthier environment for both present and future generations. Solar energy provides individuals and communities with the opportunity to generate their own electricity. By installing solar panels on rooftops or utilizing solar farms, people can reduce their reliance on centralized power grids and imported fossil fuels, thereby achieving energy

independence, and enhancing energy security. Solar energy can easily reach areas that are not easily accessible by traditional power grids. Remote communities or regions with limited infrastructure can benefit from solar power systems, which can provide electricity for lighting, communication, education, healthcare, and other essential services. Due to continuous solar demand and growth, it also creates numerous jobs.

SOLAR PANELS ON HOUSE ROOFS AND BUILDINGS

In Gwangju, many houses and building use solar energy for lighting. Installing solar panels on a house roof or building can be a great way to generate clean and renewable energy while reducing electricity bills. There are still many houses that need to adopt a solar energy system. By choosing solar-powered lighting, Gwangju residents can contribute to a greener and more sustainable environment. Solar energy offers several advantages, including reduced reliance on the grid, energy cost savings, and environmental benefits. For promoting this cleaner energy resource among Gwangju residents, the local government must introduce more awareness programs through communities and companies. Generally, the initial

▲ Solar panels (Photo via pixabay.com)

installation cost of solar panels is high; therefore, the government must provide some offset to the initial purchase cost. To install a solar panel on a house roof or building, people need to know the factors that must be considered during installation. First, they should consider the suitability of the roof by checking factors such as roof orientation, angle, shading, and structural integrity. Ideally, roofs that face south and have minimal shading throughout the day are most effective for solar energy production. The number of solar panels and their size need to be determined according to the energy requirement. Solar energy provides long-term financial benefits through reduced electricity bills and potential incentives, or tax credits offered by the government or utility companies. Solar panels generally require minimal maintenance such as regular cleaning to remove dust and debris and occasional inspection for damage or shading issues. Sometimes monitoring systems are also recommended to track energy production and detect any performance issues. People should choose gridtied residential solar systems. This allows residents to draw electricity from the grid when the solar panels are not producing enough energy and send excess electricity back to the grid when it generates more than is needed. Net metering programs allow people to receive credits for the excess electricity they contribute to the grid.

SOLAR PANELS ON STREETS AND ROADS

As you pass through Gwangju’s streets and roads, you can find many solar panels installed along the sideways that provide lighting at nighttime. Solar streetlights are typically installed on poles or structures alongside the road. This approach is known as solar street lighting. The Gwangju city government has installed a lot of solar street lighting across the city and even in remote areas of Mudeung Mountain. I saw a lot of solar panels installed on the way to the mountain to provide lighting for night hikers. It is very hard to provide electricity in remote, hilly, and mountainous regions through traditional grid-powered lighting systems. Installation of solar panels does not require any power grid installation, excavation for burying high-voltage power lines, or cutting down trees to install grids, all of which protect the nearby environment, wildlife, and even human life.

Apart from this, people also need to know about

the technical insight of solar street lighting. A solar streetlight generally contains four components: solar panels, a battery storage system, an LED lamp, and a controller. Solar panels collect sunlight during the day and convert it into electricity. This electricity is stored in batteries for use during the night. The LED lamp provides the lighting, and the controller regulates the charging and discharging of the battery and controls the operation of the light. During the installation of solar street grids, design factors such as geographical location, available sunlight, weather conditions, and lighting requirements are normally considered. Proper positioning is important to ensure maximum exposure to sunlight, while regular maintenance is crucial to ensure the system’s efficiency. Though the upfront cost of installing solar streetlights may be higher than traditional grid-powered lighting systems, they offer long-term cost savings. Solar streetlights have longer lifespans and lower maintenance requirements, which further contribute to their cost-effectiveness. Solar streetlights rely on clean and renewable energy, which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. Additionally, during natural disasters or grid failures, solar energy systems with battery storage can provide a reliable source of electricity. This can help maintain critical services like power emergency response efforts and improve community resilience in challenging situations.

The Author

A native of India, Neha Bisht is pursuing her PhD research at Chonnam National University’s Department of Material Science and Engineering. She loves to meet new people and make new friends. She wants to explore the whole world and learn more about the traditional and cultural differences across the globe. She always likes to contribute to the wellbeing of society in whatever way she can.

Solar panel in Mudeung Mountain ▲

What? Release the Fukushima Nuclear Wastewater?!

By Chung Hyunhwa

By the time this article is released, some of Fukushima’s radioactive wastewater may have already been released into the Pacific Ocean. It is quite depressing to learn that something so seriously wrong as this can be done so shamelessly. The Japanese government insists that the radioactive level of the to-be-released wastewater is not so harmful when diluted 100 times with water , and now they are ready for a test release. Can it really be safe? Should we not cry over spilled radioactive wastewater?

The nuclear wastewater problem started because underground water entered the ruptured reactor after the nuclear accident. The amount of underground water passing through the reactor was 500 tons a day at first. Japan made efforts to stop it, reducing it to 170 tons a day by using various technologies. Japan built huge tanks to store the radioactive water. Now there

are 1,060 tanks at the Fukushima power plant. Japan decided to stop building more tanks and also to release the water in the tanks. It is going to release 1,320,000 tons of radioactive wastewater over 30 years, which comes to 120 tons a day – every day for thirty years! The 120 tons a day will be diluted with 12,000 tons of water. Here, if you stop and think a little, the actual amount of the radioactive material released into the ocean would still be the same. Seawater is pumped in and mixed with the radioactive wastewater, and then sent back into the ocean. The pumping in of seawater is so unnecessary – it only needlessly uses power to pump in the seawater, every day for thirty years! Of course, Japan says the wastewater will be filtered before being released, but it is plainly impossible because to do the job right, the filters should be changed very often for the massive amount of water that will be passing through them, and they are expensive.

Japan claims the wastewater will be “treated” with ALPS (advanced liquid processing system) before being released. There are 64 different radioactive materials in the nuclear wastewater, while a normal reactor may release 19 to 37 depending on the type. They all have different half-lives, and some become safe only after 100,000 years. Can ALPS filter them all out successfully? There are 25 filters in ALPS, and normal filtering is only possible when the filters are changed according to protocol. Even so, tritiated water (super-heavy water) will still pass through the system because there is no way to filter it out. Some say tritium’s half-life is very short, only 12.5 years. It is comparatively short for a radioactive material, but it may take up to 25 years to get it out of the human body, and during that time, the DNA in one’s body will be affected, and it will increase the chance of developing cancers. However, the real dangers are more serious materials, such as cesium, strontium, and plutonium, which are more deadly and have very, very long halflives. Fish 180 times higher in cesium than the accepted value are already being caught in the Fukushima bay.

Japan does not open its data to the world; they selectively release information. The sample they used for the data did not represent the wastewater precisely because it was from the clear top of the tank, not mixed up evenly with the sludge at the bottom of the tank. This was pointed out by a Japanese parliament member as well, and a person who was involved in this work admitted it. Not only that, it has been revealed that the bottom of the reactor is broken. Some argue that these radioactive materials are comparatively heavy, so they will stay near Fukushima, not affecting other countries. Do we really know? Is it really not possible that typhoons would carry these in their routes? What will happen to the oceans and the Earth? The answer is we do not know. If we do not know, it is always the best policy to decide in the safer direction. It is irresponsible to make a decision because it may be okay. The radioactive materials are carcinogens, and the risk of cancers is proportional to the amount of radioactivity. A cancer develops over time, and radioactive materials are not the only cause of cancers, so it will be impossible for cancer victims to prove the relationship.

The Japanese government is not being honest and is trying hard to make the world and its people believe that it is not really a big deal. A minister of Fiji made a claim

to Japan: “If the wastewater is safe, why is Japan trying to release it instead of using it domestically? Because it will reach Fiji later, we are worried.” PIF, composed of the island countries in the Pacific, had a group of specialists to crosscheck the safety of the wastewater, and requested a postponement of the release until it is proven safe. Hong Kong will stop importing fish from Japan if the release really takes place.

According to a Korean nuclear scientist, Dr. Seo Gyunryeol, who has taught at Seoul National University and MIT, the best action for now is keeping the wastewater in storage for another 18 years to make it 30 years in total. Over time the toxic level naturally decreases, and the toxicity would not compare to what it is now. If building more tanks is a problem, other countries, including Korea, could help. I agree to this because, regardless of who made the problem, it is now everyone’s problem. I think we should try to help with our own future. The best solution to the nuclear waste problem is to isolate it at 500 meters underground; the wastewater in Fukushima also should be isolated in tanks. Japan says they do not have more space to build tanks, but this is not true because there is a large restricted area where people cannot live due to the accident. I highly suspect that Japan wants to erase the accident from its history. They want to create an image that there is no problem, that the danger is over. I do not think it is over. Global society should band together to stop the release of this wastewater because the oceans are all connected, and keeping the oceans clean is important to all lives.

If you would like to read more about the final disposal facilities for the nuclear waste, please read my earlier article, Look Up? Or Don’t Look Up? [Gwangju News, July 2022] at this link: https://gwangjunewsgic.com/ community/environment/look-up-or-dont-look-up/

Chung Hyunhwa is from Gwangju and currently working for a horticultural company. She is the former leader of Gwangju Hikers, an international eco-hike group at the GIC. Previously, she taught English in different settings, including Yantai American School and Yantai Korean School in China, and in recent years, has worked for the Jeju school administration at Branksome Hall Asia. She holds a master’s degree in TESOL from TCNJ in the U.S. and a license to teach the Korean language. She loves plants, birds, and making useful things out of repurposed items.

The Author

All Is Fair for Love and Democracy

The 2023 Youth Gwangju Democratic Forum

By Yousra Feriel Drioua

Is it something in the Gwangju air? Or, more accurately, is it the city’s historical record that is so inviting toward the political sphere? In a literal sense, last May, thirty international youths residing in Korea from different civic society spectrums were invited to join the second edition of the Youth Gwangju Democratic Forum (Y-GDF). To learn from and with one another and share their existing knowledge and experiences, but most importantly, to lose the conditioned distaste or even fear of politics many of us were conditioned to develop in our home countries. We were invited to train ourselves to become active citizens.

Now, pardon me, but unless you’ve been living under a rock while in Gwangju, you’ve heard of the May 18th democratic uprising. However, to remain fair to newer residents: Gwangju suffered from an illegal military occupation during the 1980s, and hundreds of civilians lost their lives in opposition. “The May 18 Democratic Movement was a historical event during which universal values of mankind – democracy, human rights, and peace – were realized,” as quoted from the May 18 Foundation’s website, host of Y-GDF. I advise you to give it a look if you’re looking to understand the details of this part of Korea’s history.

Y-GDF 2023 started on May 14, just a couple of days before the annual Gwangju Democracy Forum (GDF). The program kicked off with a spectacular interactive orientation by Prof. Lee Anselmo, who was also in charge of conducting most of the youth lectures. Perhaps I’m exaggerating, but I certainly left his sessions knowing how to, or at least, learned about the art of conducting an engaging class and building a sense of unity among students.

On the first day, we were instructed to perform a SWOT analysis in teams of five on our respective countries’ democratic status and proceed to present it to one another. This style of workshop continued throughout the rest of the program, with teams shifting and using more regional proximity narratives. In ways, as we built upon the initial workshop, these sessions forced us to learn about and refresh our perceptions of different regions’ politics without interest agendas. Excuse my French, but the youth originated from radically liberal states to bastions of conservatism, colonized, and colonizing (which surely made things interesting). Shortly after, our graduation ceremony from Y-GDF 2023 took place on the second day of the GDF!

While the Y-GDF program gave us a chance to think critically and actively re-imagine politics from a humanitarian point of view, it also provided us with a chance for our voices to be heard within each other. On the other hand, the official GDF program provided us with a realistic overview of experiences from civic society actors, introduced us to recurring policies used against some, and yet, planted a seed of courage within each of us – to fight, or alternatively, speak up on the injustices of the world. Quite subjectively, the sessions that left me in awe were The State of Disability Rights in Korea and the Challenges for Disability Rights Defenders by Kim Phill Soon, Challenges Toward Climate and Environmental Right Defenders in Cambodia by Ly Chandaravuth, and The State of Refugee Rights and the Challenges and Issues for Refugee Rights Advocates in Korea by Park Kyungjoo.

Since this was focused on human rights defenders, it might be deemed ridiculous to point out the obvious. Nevertheless, I was deeply moved, reflecting on the fact that each of the spokespeople did not necessarily need to speak up on those issues. As they are not entirely affected by the phenomena, directly related to it, or even belong to the groups they represent.

▲ Opening ceremony of the Youth Gwangju Democratic Forum.

But that is where the beauty of human rights defense is derived from. It is acknowledging the privileges one has but not forgetting his fellow brothers and sisters on the other side of the line.

It might be considered a cliché by now to use this line, but from my sentimental point of view, this is what humanity, activism, and advocacy are centered on. It is becoming a voice for the voiceless, putting oneself in others’ shoes, and having compassion and sympathy to not only feel for said others but to do something about it. I sincerely admire the Cambodian young man, as I have yet to find but am still looking within me for the bravery he possesses. He’s even been arbitrarily detained for standing up for a cause that doesn’t reap him any materialistic profit. He simply has a conviction that he stands for, yet his stance is the furthest from simple, and I respect that. Sure, I have values and beliefs about what a just and fair society should be like, but I cannot pretend that I am ready to go to the lengths he does. I don’t mind taking a bullet on the spot; it is the rest of the gruesome scenarios many human rights defenders endure in detention that weakens my position. In ways, this confession is perhaps the only form of bravery I can afford at the moment,

which seems quite sinful coming from someone who still valiantly considers themself a human rights defender.

All in all, thanks to the Y-GDF, Gwangju’s uprising spirit was revived through the hearts of youth once again this May. While we may not all be ready to dive headfirst into an ocean of political reform within our nations, we’ve each at least managed to secure a lighthouse by the shores to guide us through whenever we are ready for that fight. Until then, we shall continue to forecast all imaginable scenarios of battles ahead and how to overcome them, and continue to advocate for justice with our respective armors – even if not in action, purely in mind and heart... or in my case, on paper.

The Author

Yousra Feriel Drioua is a young Algerian living in South Korea and majoring in mass communication and journalism. As she figures out her calling in life, she’s mostly interested in writing, broadcasting, and learning. She enjoys intriguing conversations, adventures, interacting with people, and being an active community member. Oh, and she’s an avid member of BTS Army! Instagram: myyigli

▼ The May 18 Anniversary-Eve Festival.

You Can’t Spell “An Autopsy Hub” Without “Autobahn”

The Decision to Build a No-Speed-Limit Autobahn Highway from Gwangju to Yeongam

Is the Recipient of the 2023 William Urbanski Most Reckless (and Brainless) Idea Award

By William Urbanski

We have a winner!!! 2023 so far has been an incredible year for terrible initiatives, and there was some stiff competition for the 2023 William Urbanski Most Reckless (and Brainless) Idea Award (WUMRBIA). And even though it is only July, we are shutting down the polling and declaring this year’s contest a wrap because there is no possible thing, no conceivable notion that could be more reckless (and brainless) than the recently announced and completely cockamamie scheme to build a no-speed-limit

As the chairman presiding over this award, I have to say I am personally impressed by this year’s winner because as far as crazy, poorly-thought-out and foolhardy ventures go, this one is a world-class, gold plated whopper. The person or persons responsible for this heedless project have raised the bar for years to come! Bravo!

“Autobahn”-style highway between Gwangju and Yeongam.

BACKGROUND

As you probably know, the German Autobahn is a highway famous for the fact that large (mainly rural) sections of it lack speed limits. The Autobahn has not become a mass graveyard for car crash victims for a number of reasons. Using the left lane for passing only is strictly enforced, as is tailgating. The roads are well maintained, and nationwide, German cars have to go through rigorous regular inspections to make sure they are safe to use. Perhaps most importantly, all German drivers must undergo an austere and rigid program (which costs thousands of dollars, includes first-aid training as well as difficult incar and written exams) to obtain their drivers licenses. All of these factors create a driving environment where people respect the power of their vehicles as well as the rules of the road. This adherence to a strict regulatory driving infrastructure is the foundation upon which the Autobahn was built.

This German model stands in stark juxtaposition to the driving situation around Korea, which as anyone who has gotten behind the wheel here can attest to, is an every-man-for-himself, chaotic mess where the rule of law is nothing but a mere suggestion.

WHY, JUST, WHY?

Since there is nothing that a no-speed-limit highway in Jeollanam-do can accomplish that a regular highway cannot (besides causing a dramatic increase in drivers meeting their fiery and untimely demise), the real question is “To whose benefit is it to build this thing?” Ostensibly, it is being created “to provide young people with the thrill of high-speed driving” (no, I am not making that up; it is an official quote from a prominent politician who I will not mention by name). “Thrill” is definitely one way to describe the myriad sensations going through a young person’s mind when the vehicle they are perilously driving at 240 km/h skids out of control and crashes into multiple other cars while hurdling through the air and bursting into flames. And who exactly are these “young people” who would want to experience the “thrill of high-speed driving”? Obviously, this is

a euphemism for able-bodied men who have access to their daddy’s BMW.

The only other plausible reason for the creation of this deathtrap road is an obvious scheme to attract national and international attention to the area. Well, mission accomplished, and while they are at it, they might as well go ahead and buy the world’s biggest spatula because they are going to need it to scrape all remains of the aforementioned ablebodied men (and the victims they take with them when they crash their daddy’s BMW while driving 240km/h) off the Gwangju Autobahn.

THE FAST AND THE INJURIOUS

Besides the boring old environmental and safety problems with building highways, I cannot help but think there are a couple of other things that the grand architects of this project, and this year’s winners of the WUMRBIA, did not quite think through before actually sitting down and deciding that the Gwangju Autobahn would be anything but a monument to human folly.

First of all, while the speedometers on most modern cars do go up to about 200 km/h, the vast majority of cars are simply not built to handle those speeds. If you took the average Sonata, Genesis, or Santa Fe and drove it for a few minutes with the pedal to the metal, it would send the pistons flying directly through the hood. Realistically, though, if you were to drive at full tilt anywhere in Korea, blowing your engine would be the least of your problems, since there is an excellent chance of causing a collision and extending your high-speed trek directly into the afterlife.

Second, there is more to driving fast than just slamming down the gas pedal. Cars that drive at very high speeds also need to be tuned so that the driver can, you know, actually control what the car does. This means precision suspension and special tires for starters. If people cannot be bothered to activate their turn signals when changing lanes, why would they spend time, energy, and money to turn their daily cruiser into a race car?

Third, even if a driver is very experienced and well trained, physics ensures any car that crashes at very

high speeds instantly becomes little more than a metal coffin. I think the president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said it best: “Higher speed limits cancel out the benefits of vehicle safety improvements like airbags and improved structural designs. The faster a driver is going before a crash, the less likely it is that they’ll be able to get down to a survivable speed even if they have a chance to brake before impact.”

SAFETY, SMAFETY

The Gwangju Autobahn was in good company among the other shortlisted contenders for the 2023 WUMRBIA. Tongdo Fantasia Amusement Park in Yangsan abandoned a Bengal tiger in a cage for three years, which pretty much sets a new standard of “animal rights abuse” and “colossal moral failure.” The ill-fated and money-squandering Jisan IC exposed the depths of the city’s institutional shortcomings, but at least it was done to try to address the actual, real problem of traffic congestion.

When it comes to this year’s winner, encouraging people to (literally) drive as fast as they possibly can in a country that has some of the highest vehicle fatality rates in the OECD was the kind of egregious and reckless disregard for public safety that helped it clinch the grand prize.

It is tough to say if there is a public policy failure or institutional calamity that will be able to up the ante in 2024, but we can keep our fingers crossed. At this point, they will pretty much have to legalize drinking and driving to outdo this year’s champion.

Whatever the future brings, one thing is for sure: If the Gwangju Autobahn ever gets built, I will be staying the heck off of it because I quite like not being a charred corpse.

William Urbanski is the managing editor of the Gwangju News. He is married and can use chopsticks.

The Author

Not in My Backyard

How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the Bombers

By Jonathan Joseph Chiarella

Those in the world of Korean education have likely encountered the national rule about not having military training in the air during special examination periods. The practice reflects a community spirit to national education, true, but it reflects other facts, too. Air force bases are a “thing” in South Korea, and few people enjoy being around military aircraft.

The siting of air force personnel and equipment as well as the staging of drills seemingly form the classic “NIMBY” (not in my backyard) problem. As a society, we need garbage dumps, crematoriums, prisons, and military bases, but no one wants to have such blights too close to them. Everyone wants the benefits of such facilities but simultaneously without the negatives.

Has America solved NIMBY-ism? Considering the mismatch in housing supply with demand, as

well as parking minimums and R-1 zoning, not at all. Huge deserts in Nevada let military drills pass without notice, but Korea cannot cheat its way out of its military issues. Love them or hate them, air force bases on this peninsula are not disappearing soon. At the same time, the ROK Forces and the U.S. Forces Korea are the hot potatoes no one wants to hold.

Maybe we can agree that military operations should not be near heavily populated areas, like a “metropolitan city.” At least, we can reduce their total size and their usage. Politicians and hopefuls have been working towards (or promising to strive for) moving the military base out of Gwangju. In April, a national law set in motion the removal of military air bases from Gwangju and Daegu. One would hope that would reduce complaints from locals regarding noise, pollution, occupation of swathes of land, or the seedy “entertainment” venues

▲ A F-22 Raptor touches down at Gwangju Air Base, Republic of Korea, Dec. 02, 2017. (Photo by Senior Airman Jessica H. Smith, 2017)

that can spring up around bases. But we can ask why military bases exist at all – beyond providing jobs and shots for action films.

Military bases prepare for war. No guarantee exists for imminent combat, but most countries mind the eventualities. The U.S. military has used or uses Yongsan, the DMZ, Gunsan, Osan, and Seongju, not Dokdo or Byeonsan-bando. The decision comes down to strategic thinking and hard power.

Better to have the warriors ready and not need them than to need them and not have them, right?

Seongju County in North Gyeongsang Province became the site for the THAAD “missile defense” and long-range surveillance systems. THAAD has a very small negative footprint. It is good to have THAAD in order to coordinate the missile theater with the U.S., right? Foreign superpowers can deter attack. Russia will not commit suicide by invading a NATO member in Europe. The U.S. and other allies are treaty-bound to intervene, and the chance of nuclear war has made many a leader re-think major strategic options over the past seventy-eight years.

However, the presence of installations like THAAD will mitigate these alluring aspects of the foreign presence. The installation site becomes a crucial, even legitimate, military target. Exacerbating the problem, President Yoon advocated a full and permanent installation, and one that will not move as easily as human resources – and repeated delays mean that the U.S. still retains operational control over the ROKF in wartime. Anyone attacking Korea could occupy Seongju or carpet the surrounding area in an attack. This would weaken the U.S.’s position without risking nuclear retribution. Such an attack is a remote possibility, sure, but so is the premise that THAAD could fully neutralize an all-out surprise attack or that Kim Jong Un would lay waste to the entire peninsula and doom his own comfort by igniting an offensive war on a whim. Accounting for worst-case scenarios can be complex.

Consider neo-arch-conservatives here who would prefer the ROK to remain a statelet or some U.S. colony. Even these caricatures would have to consider what they would tolerate in their own backyards, and whether the price would be worth paying. “We need a military base somewhere in the

country for our protection” must be reconciled with “we need to be far from the front lines” as well as “we need to consider how foreign entanglements incur unwanted attention.”

Any resolution to any military base or airport will involve coordination with the national government, Gwangju’s own government, and the county or city targeted for the moving of operations. Simply offloading operations to Muan County in South Jeolla Province is practically and ethically fraught when only 38 percent of Muan residents support the plan. This raises the larger question of how military bases should operate, be they run domestically or by the U.S. Kicking the can down the road just makes some other hapless community become the sacrificial lamb. For the logical endpoint, look at Japan and the cynical exploitation of Okinawa, and imagine how Beijing would treat Okinawa in a proxy war with the U.S.

Source Jeon, S. (2023, June 14). 무안군민 38%, ‘광주

이전’ 찬성, Yonhap News, https://www.yna.co.kr/view/ AKR20230614029100054.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pspd1994/52722922954/)

The Author

Jonathan J. Chiarella grew up in New York. He holds a BA in history (Rochester) as well as two MAs (Chonnam, Florida) and a PhD in politics (Florida). You can spot him riding the river trails or read his analysis of current affairs related to Honam or international relations.

Demonstration to oppose THAAD in Seongju in March this year. (Photo by People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, CC BYNC-SA 2.0,

Teacher Traits for Teaching Great

By David Shaffer

As an educator, no one wishes to be merely a mediocre teacher. We all wish to be thought of as very good or great teachers by our colleagues, our institution’s administration, and probably most importantly, by our students. There are numerous traits that contribute to making a teacher great. In the previous two installments of this column, we discussed ten of them (Gwangju News, May and June 2023), but I would be remiss to limit the discussion to those ten when there are so many more important traits to consider. I do not wish to suggest that a single teacher must excel at each of these great teacher traits, but it is obvious that the greater one excels at each trait and the more traits that one excels at, the more likely they are to be thought of as a great teacher. The great teacher

traits presented here – as well as the ones presented earlier – are in no particular order of importance. I consider them all to be equally important.

INCORPORATING TECHNOLOGY

Educational technology is ubiquitous in a country like Korea where every public school and university classroom is equipped with, at the very least, a computer, projector, and screen. Gone are the days when the only technology an English teacher needed to know was the six buttons on a tape recorder and the light switch. This is now an era where almost every student has a smartphone that gets hours of daily use. Though possibly not with a silver spoon in their mouth, most students in the Korean classroom grew up with a smartphone in their hand. These students as referred to as “digital natives,” while teachers who grew up before computers became a household item are labeled “digital immigrants” – they were introduced to computers and related technology in their adult years and had to get used to something quite alien to them.

I remember my introduction to modern-day technology. Universities in Korea were one of the first institutions to supply their personnel

with computers, but that didn’t happen until 1997. The learning curve was steep, the blue screen of death was frequent, and the fear of losing the project you were working on was real – a fear that still lingers in the back of my mind. But whether a digital native or digital immigrant, each teacher needs to acquaint themselves with commonly used classroom technology: video clips, PowerPoint, multimedia presentations, etc.

Great teachers will, however, not stop at this. They will familiarize themselves with learning management systems (LMS; e.g., Moodle, Edmodo, Google Classroom) and new apps that they might be able to apply to educational purposes (e.g., Quizlet, Quizziz, Padlet, Kahoot!, Flipgrid, Socrative Teacher, and many more). They will experiment with them and find meaningful ways to incorporate them into lessons to make their classes more efficient learning experiences. Great teachers will also realize that, although students may be whizzes at anything social media-related, they may need detailed instruction in the use of other types of apps. And now there is AI, such as ChatGPT, which outstanding teachers will familiarize themselves with, discover effective teaching uses, and inform their students of the do’s and don’ts associated with it.

Moment for Reflection: To what extent have you delved into researching new technology for teaching purposes, incorporated it into your lessons, and instructed students in the use of technology they are required to use?

EXCELLING AT CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Classroom management is a broad domain. It overlaps with creating an environment for learning, which we discussed in our last issue, as well as a positive teacher–student relationship, which we also discussed there. However, classroom management also includes techniques for shaping or controlling student behavior. A couple of examples should suffice: It is time to begin class. The rambunctious students are making a ruckus. The first instinct of some teachers is to shout over the student noise, “QUIET! CLASS, it’s time to begin!” But by doing so, the teacher is only modeling bad behavior. The student will think, “If it’s okay for the teacher to yell, it’s okay for me, too!” The more accomplished teacher will stand quietly in a spot known as the

class-starting spot and silently wait, or raise their hand in that spot, or tap on their desk and wait.

The great teacher will be adept at using stirrers and settlers. When students seem sluggish, such as after lunch, the teacher will start out with a stirrer activity to activate the students. When the students are overly active, such as when returning from recess, the teacher may begin with a settler activity to calm the students down and alternate stirrer and settler activities throughout the lesson. These are especially useful for the teacher of young learners, as are routines. The exceptional teacher will work general routines into their classes (e.g., attendance check >

listening > speaking > vocabulary > pronunciation, etc.) so that the students will be more aware and relaxed, and less anxious and disquieted. They will also take into consideration different seating arrangements for different group activities and which student groupings (random, friends, proficiency level) are best for particular small group activities and project work. The great teacher is a master at classroom management.

Moment for Reflection: How would you rate your own classroom management skills? What particular classroom management skills would you like to improve upon?

HAVING CULTURAL COMPETENCE

Teaching a foreign language by its very nature involves the teaching or explaining of the cultural concepts embedded in the language and lives of the speakers of the language being taught. As Korea is an extremely homogeneous nation with respect to language, traditions, and race, this makes the understanding and acceptance of another culture that much more difficult. If the English teacher in the Korean classroom is an expat, the presence of culture differences is obvious as soon as that teacher walks through the door.

will also attempt to instill in their students a sense of culture understanding in a manner similar to the way they improve their own culture competence.

As a final comment on cultural competence, Korean students often place a high value of their expat teacher’s ability to speak Korean in their evaluation of that teacher’s overall culture competence. So, making a serious effort at learning Korean (and using it at appropriate times in the classroom) can raise the expat teacher’s cultural competence score considerably in the eyes of their students.

Moment for Reflection: How knowledgeable are you about your own culture and about your students’ culture or cultures. How well do you convey the differences between your students’ culture/cultures and the culture of the speakers of the language you are teaching (e.g., English)?

HAVING GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS

The great teacher will have great cultural competence. They will have an awareness of as well as an understanding of their own culture. They will acknowledge that there are culture “differences” and not judge that aspects of one culture are good and those of another are bad, but rather just different. They will engage in self-assessment, determining the depth and breath of both their own culture and that of their students. In the areas where they determine that they are weak, they will seek to acquire culture knowledge and skills. And very importantly, they will be able to view and understand a cultural behavior within a cultural context. Take for example the wearing of shoes in the house as opposed to taking them off at the door. If the taking off of shoes is put in the context of floors often being used for sitting, the custom makes sense. Also, if wearing shoes in the house in placed in the context of not using floors for sitting and other activities, that custom no longer seems so disagreeable.

Great teachers are aware of their culture competence in both that of their own L1 and that of their students’ L1, and they consistently try to improve both. They

How many times have you heard an English teacher say, “My students just don’t listen. I told them to do such-and-such, but none of them did it – not a single one!” It may have been that the students were disobeying the teacher for some particular reason, but much more likely, the inaction on the part of the students was a result of the teacher’s lack of good communication skills. Did the teacher speak at their normal motorcycle speed or at a comfortable speed for their students? Did the teacher speak at their own vocabulary and syntax level or at that of their students? Did the teacher repeat what they had said? Did they say it a second time rephrasing it differently? Did the teacher use concept checking questions (CCQs) to confirm that the students had understood correctly? A “no” answer to one or more of these questions could result in students not understanding. The exceptional teacher will speak reasonably slow and clear, they will speak at their student’s level, they will repeat and rephrase what they first said, and they will use CCQs to determine if their students understood correctly.

Good communication skills, however, go beyond the sentence level. Much like the structure of a written paragraph, an easily comprehensible piece of spoken text will include a topic sentence, supporting sentences, the main idea, and a brief conclusion. The great teacher will structure their oral language in

this manner and teach their students to do likewise. They will not only hone their own communication skills but also pass them on to their students.

Moment for Reflection: How good are your communication skills? Do you find that you are blaming your students for not understanding when it might be that you are not properly conveying?

HAVING GOOD ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS

The teacher rushes to school, grabs their coursebook to see what lesson is next in the book, reads the activity instructions, and walks into the classroom with fingers crossed. This is an example of a teacher lacking in organizational skills. The organized teacher will plan ahead, preparing lessons in advance and having those plans in writing for easy referral. They will use organizational resources such as daily planners and daily reminder apps. The organized teacher will prioritize the many tasks on their plate, and reduce distractions in order to focus on the task at hand.

The teacher with exceptional organizational skills will delegate tasks (e.g., having students distribute handouts) so that they can focus on more pressing tasks. They will be good at time management, creating schedules, setting deadlines for themselves and their students, and keeping to the due dates. They will be good at managing class projects and communicating their instructions and expectations. Great teachers exhibit exceptional communication skills.

Moment for Reflection: How great are your organizational skills? What could you do to improve upon them?

In addition to the above teacher traits, here is a list of the great teacher traits discussed previously:

• Understanding of the subject matter

• Using current teaching methodology and techniques

• Using a well-balanced teaching approach

• Being a lifelong learner

• Belonging to a professional learning community

• Having a passion for teaching

• Knowing one’s students

• Understanding students’ needs

• Knowing how to engage one’s students

• Creating an environment for learning

David Shaffer, PhD, has been involved in TEFL, teacher training, writing, and research in Gwangju for many years as a professor at Chosun University. As vice-president of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of KOTESOL, he invites you to participate in the Chapter’s teacher development workshops and events (in person and online) and in KOTESOL activities in general. Dr. Shaffer is a past president of KOTESOL and is the editor-in-chief of the Gwangju News.

GWANGJU-JEONNAM KOTESOL UPCOMING EVENT

Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter Workshop

• Date: July 8, 2023 (Saturday)

• Title: Cheerleading the Self-Directed Investigations of EFL Teachers

• Presenter: Maria Lisak

• Venue: Gwangju National University of Education

Check the Chapter’s webpages and Facebook group periodically for updates on chapter events and other in-person and online KOTESOL activities.

For full event details:

• Website: http://koreatesol.org/gwangju

• Facebook: Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL

The Author

The Teacher as an Observer

By Kim Yul

Unlike regular teachers, Montessori teachers play two different roles in the Montessori classroom: one role as teacher and the other as observer. It takes a lot of effort to perform these two roles at the same time. Furthermore, because the teacher shares the same environment with their students, they must pay a lot of attention to their environment. Thus, Montessori teachers are always very busy in their classrooms.

There are lots of things to observe in the Montessori classroom. We should observe the behavior and learning status of the children and how the prepared environment of the classroom engages the student, and we even need to observe ourselves. Why should teachers observe themselves? In my opinion, I think that the teacher themself is included in the prepared environment of the Montessori classroom. The teacher must constantly ask themself how their behavior is affecting the children, how well they are performing as an observer, how well are they respecting the children, and are they giving proper assistance to the children.

In particular, when performing the role of observer in the classroom, the teacher should be careful not to disturb the children. As Maria Montessori (1968) said, “The teacher moves about slowly and silently. She goes up to the one who has called her. Her supervision is such that anyone who needs her is immediately aware of her presence, whereas those who do not are completely oblivious to her” (p. 302). In addition, it is necessary to identify one’s tendencies

to find a suitable observation method. Do you need to see all of the information on one page? What is your writing style? Do you need to take a picture and put it in your notes? These questions are important for the teacher to ask themself so that the information they collect is not lost. It is important to use the information collected through the observation, and the teacher needs to know how to best do that. “The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer; the activity must lie in the phenomenon” (Montessori, 2008, Ch. 5).

The teacher also tries to not make judgments or evaluations. They are just noticing the information. Rather than thinking something like “Jojo doesn’t like to use his pencil,” a true observation might be more like “It looks like Jojo prefers to use a crayon to draw. He sometimes looks sad because he often breaks his pencil.” Observation needs to be scientific, precise, accurate, and in open-judgment format. This is very difficult to do, but quick judgments bring lots of errors to the observation. Close attention needs to be paid to get accurate information.

Source

Montessori, M. (1986). The discovery of the child. Ballantine Books. Montessori, M. (2008). The Montessori method. Wilder.

The Author

Kim Yul is originally from Gwangju and has taught in Cincinnati, Ohio, for many years. He is a Montessori elementary school teacher who believes education can change the world.

Everyday Korean

Episode 67

불난 집에 부채질한다

Add Fuel to the Flames

By Harsh Kumar Mishra

The Conversation

네하: 마지막으로 맛있는 음식을 먹은 게 언제인지 기억조차 안 나요.

Neha: I can’t even remember the last time I ate something delicious.

정민: 진짜? 시내 식당 가자. 오늘 맛있는 삼겹살 사 줄게. Jeongmin: Really? Let’s go to a downtown restaurant. I’ll buy you delicious samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly).

네하: 언니!! 지금 불난 집에 부채질해요?

Neha: Eonni!! Are you trying to add fuel to the flames?

정민: 왜? 내가 뭐 잘못 말했어?

Jeongmin: Why? Did I say something wrong?

네하: 내가 채식주의자이잖아요. 어떻게 삼겹살 먹을 수 있어요?

Neha: I am vegetarian, you didn’t know that! How can I eat samgyeopsal?

정민: 아 미안해. 나는 네하가 채식주의자인 줄 정말 몰랐어. Jeongmin: Oh, I’m sorry! I really didn’t know you’re a vegetarian.

네하: 괜찮아요, 언니. 사과할 필요 없어요. Neha: It’s okay, Eonni. You don’t have to apologize.

정민: 그래. 그럼 사과 대신 인도 음식 쏠까?

Jeongmin: Okay. Then shall I buy you Indian food instead of apologizing?

Grammar

~조차: This postposition is attached to nouns to emphasize inclusion of extreme situations that are even difficult to anticipate. When simply put, this can be related with English’s “not even…” and is used usually in negative sentences.

Example:

오늘 일하느라 너무 바빠서 물조차 마시지 못했어요. I was so busy working today that I didn’t even have a glass of water.

불난 집에 부채질한다: This witty Korean proverb, literally means to “fan a house on fire” and is used to describe a situation when something is making a situation worse instead of helping it out. This proverb is somewhat like English’s “add fuel to the flames/fire” proverb.

Example: 그녀한테 소리치지 말라고 하는 것은 불난 집에 부채질하는 것 뿐이었다. Telling her not to shout was merely like adding fuel to the fire (i.e., it made her angrier).

The Author

Harsh Kumar Mishra is a linguist and Korean language educator. He volunteers with TOPIKGUIDE.com and Learnkorean.in. He has also co-authored the book Korean Language for Indian Learners.

When the Rain Hits

By Francesca Duong

When I see dark clouds roll in, I feel an eminent sense of dread as the thick clouds become denser with water. The humidity that arises makes it feel as if droplets are tensely suspended in the air and are waiting for gravity to plunge them into an adventure to the ground. The gray atmosphere creates a sense of laziness and gloominess that lingers throughout the day, as if each activity is taking a physical toll.

Some of my friends absolutely adore the rain. They could spend hours reenacting Gene Kelly’s iconic dance scene from Singin’ in the Rain with a beaming smile underneath a ferocious downpour. My friends shrugged at the idea of carrying around an umbrella, and instead, fully embraced the potential of being drenched on their walk back home. They welcomed rain so warmly and optimistically – I thought they were crazy.

For me, the peaceful sound of rain drumming against the window could not outweigh the hindrances it causes. Rain has the amazing property of clinging to fibers and seeping through everything it touches. Despite trying to walk as gently as possible during heavy storms, the water consistently drenched my shoes and socks. I despised the feeling of water making contact with my clothes and personal belongings.

Rain, as wonderful as it can be, also has the duality of being able to destroy. It can stain white shoes with sludge and render electronics useless. To exert control in these situations, I constantly check the weather to know if I need to bring an umbrella for the day. Before coming to Korea, this action was enough. Yet, after arriving, no one informed me of how sudden and unpredictable rain could be here.

In May, I was in Chungjang-ro (충장로) one day after work in search of new outfits. The breeze was slightly cool for the afternoon, but the sky was crystal clear. I traversed the streets enjoying the vibrancy of Gwangju while glancing through the windows of clothing stores. Suddenly, something wet landed on my forehead. I tilted my face towards the sky; the clouds were denser but still relatively clear. As I started heading back towards the bus stop, I felt more droplets of rain. Yet, because of the seemingly calm sky, I thought the faint drizzle would quickly pass without worsening.

dashed to their cars with their umbrellas barely withstanding the pressure of the storm. Store owners closed their doors and shut their windows to prevent rain from entering their establishments. Each time a car passed by, water kicked up from its wheels, and I stepped backwards to avoid the splash.

After a certain point in time, the rain let up. Not completely, but it changed from a strong downpour to a light-medium rain. I was nervous the weather would worsen, so I gripped this opportunity to return home. Like The Lord of the Rings’ Gollum hunched over his precious ring, I was hunched over my backpack fronting the attack of water. With one last sigh of dread, I left the safety of the overhang and took on the beast called “rain.”

After a certain point in time, I could no longer feel the individual drops of rain landing on my body. It all felt the same.

During the bus ride, umbrellas started to appear from the sea of people on the passing sidewalks. The rain was intensifying. In confusion, I checked my weather app, but the report gave no hint of rain.

Almost as if struck by a bolt of bad luck, the moment I stepped off the bus, rain came crashing down. The walk to my apartment only took ten minutes, but I was terrified of my laptop becoming damaged from the water. In search of dinner and shelter while the storm passed, I dashed across the street to a bunsikjip (분식집) and gripped the door handle, ready to fling it open. It didn’t budge – the restaurant was closed.

I had rarely seen rain as strong as it was at that moment. The roaring in my ears was synonymous to the sounds heard next to a waterfall. Thankfully, the store had an overhang about half a meter long that protected me from the downpour. When the headlights of a car illuminated the streets, a layer of water was revealed to be completely flowing down the gentle slope of the road. Very few people were out and about; they were most likely hiding from the storm. I stood under the overhang with my backpack hugged tight to my body waiting for the storm to pass. Willing the storm to pass.

I stood there for over 30 minutes. The rain kept pummeling and pummeling. I watched as people

After a certain point in time, I stopped caring about being wet. My hair was wet. My shoes were wet. Everything was wet, except for my backpack. There was nothing else for me to flee from. The water was not going to magically evaporate into the air and leave me with perfectly dry attire; the water was here to stay. As I continued trudging on and on, acceptance of this fact slowly materialized. And in that acceptance, I felt a tiny bit of freedom ignite.

When I returned to my apartment, I ripped my backpack open to assess the damage. Even though the cover of the backpack was damp, my laptop was dry to the touch and still functional when powered on. I collapsed on the floor and stared at the ceiling, laying in my clothes still wet from the rain.

I survived, I guess. It was not as bad as I thought it would be, I guess. You just have to keep moving on and surrender yourself to the situation. Eventually, it will be over, I guess.

The Author

As a writer, Francesca Duong, strongly believes in the power of narrative as a platform for truth and discussion. She loves lengthy conversations, being involved in the community, and discovering delicious foods.

“Rain, as wonderful as it can be, also has the duality of being able to destroy.”

Silverview

by John le Carré

Reviewed by Michael Attard

John le Carré is the author of 26 spy novels; several have been adapted to film. His careers in the British Security Service, M15, and the British Secret Intelligence Service, M16, have provided the backbone for his work. Silverview, his last book, was published posthumously by his son in 2021. The son states that the novel was completed, but interestingly, it is the shortest of his books, and several reviewers, including myself, have assessed that the story concludes without a proper ending.

Circumstances revolve around 33-year-old Julian Lawndsley, a formerly successful trader who has exchanged his hectic London life for the quieter lifestyle of an English countryside book seller. However, Lawndsley is not the main character. Rather, this would be Edward Avon, who goes by various names. The moral dilemma is never more than implicit, but Avon struggles with keeping a balance between serving his adopted country and his private morals. He is married to a spy. The peculiar situation is such that one comes to see

“…the entire Avon clan and its offshoots as being united, not in the secrets they shared, but in the secrets, they kept from one other.”

The antagonist is Stewart Proctor, who claims to be following up on a technical error but in actuality is in pursuit of Avon. In spy terms, Proctor believes that Avon has “gone over.” Avon and Proctor never meet, which lends credence to the theory that the author never completed his story. Proctor and the reader learn a great deal about Avon through an interview that Proctor has with a retired spy couple. These pages are an example, where there is a lot of explanation, but throughout, the story is sparse on action.

As to why Avon would “go over,” it is never made clear. He was a spy whose loyalty had never been in doubt. We learn that at one point, Avon had returned to England from the Balkans in bad shape. “He’d seen bad things. Atrocities. Murdered children.” It helps if the reader has some understanding of actual

events to make sense of the story, but even then, it is not clear as to whom Avon would have gone over to. I suppose the intrigue and mystery may have been purposely created, demanding the reader to pay close attention. Or it could be a weakness of plot.

a bit about the character Stewart Proctor’s children. Why? I do not know; they have nothing to do with the story. We learn that Avon has been selling rare Chinese porcelain on the side. Other than to introduce us to characters who tell us more about Avon I did not see a connection to his spying.

Eventually, there is a communication between Avon and Proctor, and they agree to meet in person. Still, in spite of traitor allegations, there is no sense of hostility or danger. In fact, as Proctor is driving to meet Avon, he thinks of the document that he wants Avon to sign as a “stay-out-of-jail card.” Not surprisingly, Avon never shows up at the designated rendezvous location. Suddenly, there is a bit of back and forth as the Secret Intelligence Service realizes that Avon is trying to outrun them. The story concludes with Avon’s daughter who, when referring to Proctor as “he,” states, “He won’t find him.” And the book is done.

Trying to follow the plot is not made easier by the punctuation and the intermingling of what people say with what they are thinking. At other times when people are speaking, they relay to the reader another character’s statements, in a manner as if they are that person. For example, within a single set of quotation marks, Avon’s daughter, Lilly, is speaking about her mother: “What else do you do Mum? Protect our country from its enemies, darling. As I hope you will do one day.”

The reading is kept interesting by the well-drawn characters. The author has penetrated deeply into their personalities; they are believable, and worthy of our empathy. And even though the story is about a group of spies, the candor between them creates a real-life intellectual sharpness within the intrigue.

Lawndsley and Avon become friendly more than friends, and even though Lawndsley is unknowingly drawn into the spy world, he is never in any danger. In fact, there is not really ever any danger, which diminishes the appeal of a spy novel. There are a couple of mysterious and, of course, very attractive women. But their roles are minimal at best, and while what they reveal allows insight, the lack of suspenseful action leaves the reader feeling somewhat flat.

Other minor characters and side plots seemed like page fillers to me. We are introduced and told quite

Thus, just as things were getting interesting, with a bit of a chase, it is over. I do not see how readers can feel otherwise than that they have been cheated of an ending. There were absolutely no idiosyncratic clues planted here and there suggesting a planned escape that would become clear in hindsight. I feel obliged to conclude by saying that John le Carré has been acclaimed as one of the greatest literary writers of the post-Cold War era. It was perhaps just my bad luck that I picked up this posthumously published work.

Reviewer

Michael Attard is a Canadian who has lived in Gwangju since 2004. Though officially retired, he still teaches a few private English classes. He enjoys reading all kinds of books and writes for fun. When the weather is nice, you may find him on a hiking trail.

“I suppose the intrigue and mystery may have been purposely created, demanding the reader to pay close attention. Or it could be a weakness of plot.”

The

Top of The Drop

By Daniel J. Springer

Our monthly installment by Daniel Springer of the Gwangju Foreign Language Network (GFN) where “Danno” picks his favorite newly released tunes that you may have missed, along with some upcoming albums and EPs that you might want to keep on your radar. — Ed.

SARAH KINSLEY – “BLACK HORSE”

Back in 2021, the artist released The King while still a student at university, and June 9 saw Kinsley release her third career EP Ascension. Now an artist with a few mini records in the rearview mirror, this latest EP tracks with a developing maturity that maybe all of us feel with leaving school for the larger galaxy of real life, and time passing caught in a blurry singularity is an enthralling part of Ascension. While maybe all of us feel such sensations as our lives go forward, few of us have the voice and lyrical skills to put it down forever like Kinsley.

LES IMPRIMÉS – “LOVE & FLOWERS”

Continuing with the perfection of teaser singles to this exciting new project, this is the latest single to the upcoming Rêverie, which is the debut album of Morten Martins. Whereas the previous singles were more of a modern twist on doo-wop and dusty hits of soul’s early 60’s era, this one has the smooth sensuality of Marvin Gaye ala Here, My Dear. Not to be slept on, the album is out via Big Crown Records on August 18.

BLEARY EYED – “UPSET”

For those of us who love the shoegaze sound and stay honest, we often feel like leaving a note to the genre to remind it of our love but that it can get

a little rote at times. This Philly band appears courtesy of Julia’s War, and this tune appears on the label compilation Free Treeway: A Julia’s War Tripple Split, which came out June 16

and also features tracks from labelmates Sun Organ and Euphoria Again. This joint is the true standout, giving a synth twist to the genre, then going into a sludgey reverberating finish that echoes and chants into darkness.

LEISURE – “ALWAYS”

Summer jam alert right here, kids! While it gets cold down in the southern hemisphere, the Kiwi extra chill collective are back with a sun-kissed jam for the summer months up here. This is their first new music since 2021’s Sunsetter, and what a return it is, with a breakdown that fades the beat into near nonexistence whilst an extra deft touch of strings creep in, only to be put to bed by the hands in the air. This heater is just a standalone for now, but the band is out with Leisurevision later this year.

KING KRULE – “FLIMSIER”

This tune features on Liverpool native Archy Marshall’s fifth career LP Space Heavy. Per Pitchfork’s own notes on the artist’s past works, “King Krule tends to sound woozy, even slick, until you get close enough to smell the rot.” To be honest

and with very few exceptions, the rot is usually most of what we smelled with few exceptions, and Marshall’s past works had the aftertaste of a cheap drink you were forgetting about even as you imbibed. Not so with this latest record, as it feels like the blues blech, electronicized muck, and indie skids have combined into a memorable, albeit quite cold and dark, concoction.

SYNTHIA FEAT. MALLA – “YOU & I”

Described as a “supergroup of sorts,” this project is produced by Leon Michels (El Michels Affair) and performed by some of the best vocalists from the Big Crown roster. This tune is the B side of a recent 7” with a cover of an 80’s cult classic by Carol titled “So Low” on the near side. “You & I” is the main event here though, a synth-centric lo-fi builder and echoes its way right into your soul in the process of hitting the ether, with Helsinki-based Malla’s vox the icing on this spacey cupcake.

BAR ITALIA – “PUNKT”

This is a trio out of London who just made their debut on Matador with Tracey Denim. The crew had spent their first few years together in quasi-anonymity, dropping heavily abbreviated bits of busted rock memories and gaining a wordof-mouth reputation along their understated way. The band’s label debut feels like trying to check one’s appearance in a broken mirror whose shards lie on the floor of a bar bathroom that somehow only lies in the past. For those of you who notice the holes in your favorite old sweater and decide to still throw it on for a night out.

BABY COOL – “ALTAR”

This is from the debut solo album by Grace Cuell, who is also a cofounder of Aussie indie outfit Nice Biscuit, amongst other projects. “Altar” has the feeling of a psychedelic folk picnic at some secret warm asteroid floating in the Oort Cloud and appears on Earthling on the Road to Self Love.

Cuell says of the record, “The songs on this album are deeply sentimental. I have a lot I need to sing about to help me make sense of this earthly pod I have been gifted. If in singing these words out loud, I can help others find solace in knowing that we’re all out here flailing about in the cosmos, then it feels good to me.”

DEEPER – “BUILD A BRIDGE”

For the uninitiated, this is a band out of Chicago whose work has found a dedicated cult following in the process of releasing their first two records since debut in 2018. Back in April, the band announced that they were signing with Sub Pop with a very meta song called “Sub,” and this takes the new relationship with the legendary label to official status, as the band later this summer will release Careful! With this lead single the band whose central question during creation is whether their music feels good have certainly answered in an affirmative and very catchy manner.

VACATIONS – “MIDWEST”

This is an exceedingly consistent band out of Australia who we rarely pass up on a Monday or Tuesday night of broadcasting, and this tune just dropped as the Newcastle-based quartet begin to hit the road in a serious manner this year, with Aussie dates galore lined up along with their Singapore debut coming shortly along with a North American headliner tour commencing in DC cheekily dubbed “TOURZILLA.”

Daniel J. Springer (aka “Danno”) is the creator, host, writer, editor, producer, troublemaker, and Mr. Fix It of “The Drop with Danno,” broadcasting weeknights on GFN 98.7 FM in Gwangju and 93.7 FM in Yeosu from 8–10 p.m. Prior to this, he was a contributor to several shows on TBS eFM in Seoul, along with being the creator and co-host of “Spacious” and “White Label Radio” on WNUR in Chicago.

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook: @gfnthedrop

Show RSS Feed: https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-drop-withdanno

The Author

June Releases

Bully – Lucky for You (June 2)

Protomartyr – Formal Growth in the Desert (June 2)

Beach Fossils – Bunny (June 2)

Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is But a Dream… (June 9)

Feeble Little Horse – Girl with Fish (June 9)

Jenny Lewis – Joy’All (June 9)

Squid – O Monolith (June 9)

Christine & The Queens – Paranoia, Angels, True Love (June 9)

Kool Keith – Black Elvis 2 (June 16)

Hand Habits – Sugar the Bruise (June 16)

Cable Ties – All Her Plans (June 23)

Wye Oak – Every Day Like the Last (June 23)

The Japanese House – In the End It Always Does (June 30)

John Carroll Kirby – Blowout (June 30)

July Incoming (Watch Out!)

Little Dragon – Slugs of Love (July 7)

Dominc Fike – Sunburn (July 7)

Local Natives – Time Will Wait For No One (July 7)

PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying (July 7)

Mahalia – IRL (July 14)

Claud – Supermodels (July 14)

Greta Van Fleet – Starcatcher (July 21)

Blur – The Ballad Of Darren (July 21)

Oscar Lang – Look Now (July 21)

Post Malone – Austin (July 28)

Georgia – Euphoric (July 28)

Sevendust – Truth Killer (July 28)

The title of this article is a maxim, which many of history’s great role models lived by. Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, and Captain Cook, for example, did just that.

Marco Polo (circa 1254–1324) spent nearly two decades traveling and exploring in a wide swathe of the Orient. Over much of this period, he lived in the Yuan court under the tutelage of Emperor Kublai Khan (1216–1294). He was afforded many privileges as the Khan’s favorite courtier, one of which was working as his imperial envoy to the neighboring kingdoms. Done with his long Oriental sojourn, he returned home to Venice and published a memoir of his encounter with the cultural diversity of the East. This tome served to help open Europe’s eyes to the cultural riches of the vast Asian continent.

Marco Polo was followed by another Italian explorer just as great: Christopher Columbus (1446–1508). Under the auspices of Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain, Columbus embarked on a transoceanic voyage to open a sea route to the East Indies or East Asia. The region was a mythic land of plenty in the popular Western imagination of the day. Columbus ended up by discovering a huge land mass on the far end of the Atlantic. This continent is known today as Latin America and comprises Central and South America. Serendipitous and wide of the mark as it was, this find proved to be more than enough of a payoff for Columbus and his sponsors.

About three hundred years later, Captain Cook (1728–1779) became the first person ever to navigate and map Newfoundland’s coastal waters in North America. Backed by British maritime and naval authorities, he soon ventured further out beyond the southernmost reaches of the Atlantic into the Pacific, mostly the South and Central Pacific. He explored the coastal waters of New Zealand and Australia, sailing via the Hawaiian Islands as far up north as the Bering Strait. Cook’s exploration was by and large very well done, his cartography having been done close to a fare-thee-well.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words!

By Park Nahm-Sheik

Closer to home, Hyecho (704–747) made a name as a big-time explorer of the day. An elite Silla-period Buddhist monk, he visited 40-some faraway lands on either side of the Silk Road, venturing far beyond the western borders of China. Among other countries, he visited India, Afghanistan, Persia, and Uzbekistan. Parenthetically, it was a stroke of good fortune that two volumes of his long-missing travelogue came to light in the early 1900s, thanks to a French research team, providing historical records of immense value to students of cross-cultural transactions in Asia dating back to more than a millennium ago.

Silla boasted another equally amazing explorer by the (household) name of Jang Bogo (circa 790–841). He hailed from the port of Cheonghaejin on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula. By the way, Cheonghaejin was the ancient name for what is Wando today. Often referred to as the ruler of the (Asian) Seas, he literally lorded over maritime commerce between Korea, China, and Japan. He gradually expanded his sphere of influence out to India and Persia. Indeed, his aspirations were continental at the very least, if not exactly global.

Just as inspiring are the tales of explorers in the realm of arts and sciences. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), for one, faced stiff headwinds because of his denial of the church’s dogma on the solar system. Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) came face to face with a similar issue. He was courageous enough to defy the authorities with his stand that Copernicus was on the right track,

Today we owe a whole lot to these and many other audacious souls for taking our understanding of the universe to the next level. Humanity is forever in debt to Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Michelangelo (1475–1564), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Johann Wolfgang Mozart (1756–1791), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), Frederic F. Chopin (1810–1849), Peter I. Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), Isaac Newton (1643–1720), Albert Einstein (1879–1955), and Stephen Hawking (1942–2018).

Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) and Bill Gates (1955– ) also merit due recognition for their trailblazing roles in the sphere of philanthropy. Carnegie sowed the seeds of the community library in the United States. He apparently wished to take the American general public to a much higher intellectual level. Bill Gates has been plowing astronomical sums into a global project to alleviate the pains of poverty and disease, especially in the less developed parts of the world. He evidently has his sights set on helping lift those communities most in need out of the swamps of despair.

These two exemplary humanitarian givers have shown to the world that “Riches are like muck which stinks in a heap but, if spread abroad, make the earth fruitful.” Korea’s super-rich “elites” would do well to remember that “Shrouds have no pockets” and “We are not born for ourselves.”

Let me close here by proposing that “Actions Speak Louder Than Words” be our collective guiding light for the rest of our stay on this beautiful planet.

Park Nahm-sheik has a BA in English from Chonnam National University, an MA in linguistics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, U.S.A., and a PhD in applied linguistics from Georgetown University. He is now a Professor Emeritus after a long and illustrious career at Seoul National University as well as President Emeritus of the International Graduate School of English.

The Author

▲ Marco Polo

The Author

Yun Hyoju was born and raised in Gwangju and somehow ended up married to an Irish guy named Alan. She has been working on her short comic, “Alan and Me,” which is about their daily life. She publishes a new comic every week on Instagram. It can be found here: @alan_andme.

C R O S S W O R D P U Z Z L E

1 Commercials

2 “I didn’t ___ thing” (2 words)

3 Netherlands’ Den

4 Words on a product label

5 City of Kyungpook National University

6 Sometimes at the end of a company name

7 Director Bong

8 “___ One Will Listen” (2 words)

9 Korean fig

10 Counselor’s deg.

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