“미국에서 자라나는 청소년들
에게 우리 한국의 역사와 문화, 인
물을 공부하게 하여 한국에 대한
올바른 인식과 자긍심을 갖게 함
으로써 한인으로서의 정체성을 키
워주자”
대뉴욕지구 경기여고동창회
(회장 이정희) 산하, 경운장학회
(회장 강용진)는 5월 2일(토) 오후
1시(동부시간) 맨해튼에 있는 코
리아 소사이어티에서 제16회 영어
웅변대회를 화상 및 대면 하이브
리드(hybrid)로 개최했다.
올해 주제는‘한국 문화와 나
(K-Culture & Me)’였다. 수상자는 △대상(상금 1,500달 러): 최연수(Yeonsoo Chloe Choi, 조지아 주) △1등상(1,200 달 러): 간시현(Sihyun Kan, 버지이 아 주) △2등상 2명 (각 1,000 달 러): 트르쟌 류(Trajan Ryu, 뉴욕 주), 나탈리 타(Natalie Tha, 캘리 포니 주) △3등상 3명(각 500 달 러): 사할 유수프자이(Sahar Yousufzai, 뉴저지 주), 권 아이린 (Irene Kwon, 캘리포니아 주), 김 세아(Seah Kim, 캘리포니아 주) △장려상 3명(각 300 달러): 엠마
유 레즈닉(Emma Yoo Reznik, 뉴욕 주), 장하나(Hana Jang, 뉴 욕 주), 이 올리비아(Olivia Lee, 메릴랜드 주) △결선 진출상 6명 (각 200 달러): 김션경윤(Sean Kyung Yoon Kim, 뉴저지 주), 윤윌리암(William Yoon, 메릴랜 드 주), 권유진(Eugene Kwon,캘 리포니 주), 예준 조엘 아멜링(Ye Joon Joel Ameling, 워싱턴 주), 최윤아(Yunah Choi, 캘리포니아 주), 김예서(Yeseo Kim, 매사추 세츠 주)였다.
웅변대회 이전에 원고 점수만
TrajanRyu<ScarsdaleHS, NY9th>
My aunt once described Korea as the earring of Asia due to its shape and location in Asia. Korea’s size may be as small as an earring but its impact on the world has been large. How did the earring of Asia become the face of Asia? I want to share two moments from my life that revealed to me the magic of the Korean Wave. The first helped me understand the phenomenal success of K-pop, and the second helped me understand the emotional power of Kcinema. First, Koreans value togetherness. I was watching an archery event during the Paris Olympics with my family. A Korean had won gold, and I found my mom gently humming along to the Korean national anthem. Curious, I asked her about the words that she was humming. She translated the lyrics for me, but the dramatic final line struck me: The Great Korean People shall preserve the Great Korean Way. Whoa! The Korean national anthem reminds Koreans that we are one people and we must protect our way of life. Togetherness is a virtue.
In contrast, in the United States, individuality and freedom are celebrated as virtues. The Declaration of Independence proudly states: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are unalienable Rights of American citizens (United States of America, Continental Congress). Similarly, in one of America’s most iconic classics, Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau gave the country a remarkable statement in praise of individuality and freedom: “The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right” (Thoreau 412).
As someone raised by Korean parents, I feel nervous just writing those words.
This distinction is not merely a historical artifact. Even today, in my personal experience, it is at the essence of the different ways that Koreans and Americans think. Koreans want to
know: Which group do you belong to? Do you understand your role? Americans want to know: Who are you as an individual? What makes you unique? In a Korean classroom, questioning the teacher is viewed as inappropriately challenging the teacher, and silence in the classroom is valued as an expression of respect. In an American classroom, questioning the teacher is viewed as appropriately engaging with the teacher, and silence in the classroom is taken as an expression of detachment. I know this because I receive bad participation grades in school. What does any of this have to do with the dominance of K-pop? Here is my theory. Korea may be the most conformist society in the world. That has consequences. When something becomes popular in Korea, that thing takes over the country. Fads, trends, and manias seem to ripple at tsunami-speed through Korea. In other words, Korea has unintentionally become the ideal testing lab to figure out what thing will be the next big thing. In that testing lab, Koreans have perfected the science of producing the next popular sensation by asking questions that are
으로 결정되는 원고상(각 500 달 러)은 김션경윤(Sean Kyung Yoon Kim, 뉴저지 주)과 엠마 유 레즈닉(Emma Yoo Reznik, 뉴욕 주)이 수상했다. 원고심사는 장하나(동문), 강 난원, 김은영(동문), 김혜숙(동 문), 제니퍼 I 김, 김윤정(MD), 이 미윤, 이원숙(동문), 문귀향(동 문), 목정혜(동문), 피터 스미트, 양현주(지난 대회 대상수상자) 씨 가 맡았다.
2일 대회 심사위원은 허준옥 박사(동문), 박찬경 동문(전문 통
역사), 이유진 의학박사, Linda Tobash(코리아 소사이어티 수석 고문), 양현주(지난 대회 대상수 상자) 씨가 맡았다. 경운장학회 관계자들은“대회 를 거듭할수룩 응모 학생들이 많 아지고, 특히 외국계 학생들도 늘 어 한국에 대해 올바를 인식을 갖 게하는 등 교육적 효과가 크다. 우 리 학생들이 학교에서 배우지 못 하는 한국의 역사, 문화, 상황, 인 물, 디아스포라(전 세계에 진출해 살고 있는 한인들)을 스스로 공부 하는 과정에서 한국에 대한 자긍
“… Thelivedexperienceoftheoppressedisnotonlyemotionallyricherbutitisforcedtograpplewiththemoremorallycomplexproblems. InthemovieParasite, wearepulledintothegrippingdramaofapoorfamilyrunningacononawealthyfamily– thatisafascinatingstory. Weallrecognizethefeelingofwanting“tostickittotheman”butatwhatpointdowecrosstheline? Thatisaquestionaskedbythe oppressednottheoppressors.
second-nature to a people as conformist as the Koreans: What will catch the attention of the group? What does the group want? When a Kpop group beats the competition in Korea, it is not just ready to top the music charts in Korea – it is ready to top the global charts. Iron sharpens iron.
Second, good art is born out of struggle, and Koreans know struggle. My mom, who is a former artist, once explained to me, when we were at the Museum of Modern Art, that art is an expression of suffering endured. I felt that connection the first time I heard traditional Korean folk music My grandmother is part of a Korean folk music group called Woorigarak. The sounds and tones of their music are unlike any other music I have heard. To me, the singing is unmistakably sad, as if the sounds were sung from a weeping heart. I could not understand the words being sung by the women, but I could understand the sorrow and the grief in their singing.
Korean history is filled with struggle. Throughout history, time after time, struggle came from the outside. As recently as the last century, Korea’s neighbor, Japan, attempted to erase Korean culture entirely (Nahm 223-224). That failed attempt ended not with Japan being split apart as punishment to Japan but Korea being split apart in service of the broader interests of the U.S. and the Soviet Union (Nahm 356-357).
Ultimately, a split Korea meant that Korean families would be split apart. Struggle also came from the inside. Throughout its history, Korea has not made itself an easy place to live for most Koreans. Koreans generally were born into rigid social classes that provided little opportunity for
upward mobility (Nahm 65, 84). Similarly, even in the context of gender inequality across the world, Korean women particularly held fewer rights than Korean men (Nahm 114).
Better stories are told by the oppressed than the oppressors. That makes Koreans great storytellers. The oppressed are the ones whose lived experiences strike our emotional chords. Rather than the story of the slave master, who is comfortable and cozy, we want the story of the slave, who is gritting his teeth and barely clinging on to life. The lived experience of the oppressed is not only emotionally richer but it is forced to grapple with the more morally complex problems. In the movie Parasite, we are pulled into the gripping drama of a poor family running a con on a wealthy family – that is a fascinating story. We all recognize the feeling of wanting “to stick it to the man” but at what point do we cross the line? That is a question asked by the oppressed not the oppressors. Korean culture maintains a deep reverence toward ancestors. When I think about my personal experiences that help me understand the phenomenon of the Korean Wave, I now see them as gifts from Korean ancestors as bestowed to the Koreans of today. Korean ancestors passed on to today’s generation a culture of conformity that made Koreans experts at creating globallypopular music products, and Korean ancestors bore the pains of a Korean history scarred by centuries of suffering that enriched the storytelling prowess shown in its cinematic products. Those gifts, I believe, are the invisible currents that are turning the Korean Wave into a global tide.
