Koreana Autumn 1999 (English)

BEAUTY OF KOREA

Hwamundam Flower-patterned Wall

A wall can serve to demarcate interior space, but its key function involves enclosing a living space to protect its inhabitants and prevent outsiders from entering at w ill.

Korea's traditional architecture does not fa vor high, imposing walls. Instead, walls are invariably low, serving only to separate the outside from the interior of a house with the door usually left open.

From the ancient past, royal palaces and private homes in Korea featured walls decorated with diverse patterns embodying good luck and longevity symbols. Generally referred to as flower walls, they were sometimes called h wach'odam or hwamundam, walls decorated with flower patterns.

Historical records indicate that Koreans began to decorate their walls around the eighth century during th e Three Kingdoms p e riod (1st century B.C.-A.D. 7th century). In particular, people of the Kory6 Dynasty (918-1392) were noted for building

walls w ith exquisite floral patterns. However, these were replaced with more simple and modest patterns during the Chos6n Dynasty (1392-1910), due to the economic difficulties that followed a series of wars and the influence of Confucianism that venerated modesty as a virtue.

The wa lls and fences of royal palaces were dec o rated w ith intri cately inlaid im ages o f shipchangsaeng, ten longevity symbols (sun, mountains, water, stones, clouds, pine trees, tortoise, crane, deer and fungus of long life), or ceramic tiles w ith Chinese characters it! (Buddha), ~ (long life), and ijllfi (good luck). Private homes and Buddhist temples also used clay, stones, tiles and shards for decorating walls.

The picture shows a wall of P6pjusa Temple in Potm-gun, Ch'ungch'6ngbuk-do province, embellished with the Chinese character J!', long life. It was created by pounding tiles onto the earthen w all. +

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KOREAN ART & CULTURE Cover: Architecture provides the framework of people's lives. It is the basis of all cultural behavior as well as a cultural asset that reflects a certain period of time. As 1999 has been designated the "Year of Architecture," KOREANA takes a close look at Korea's traditional architecture which pursued harmony with nature as well as modern architecture that focuses on pragmatism and beauty. The cover photograph shows the wall of a house in Hahoe Village, Ky6ngsangbuk -do.

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Korean Architecture Traditional and Modern 4

Natural Perspective Revealed in Traditional Korean Architecture

by Kim Bong-ryol

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12 Meandering Between Modernism and Tradition

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by Kim Kwang-hyun

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KOREAN A Internet Website Wdh the inauguration of the Korea Foundation's home page on the World Wide Web, on-line access to its publications are possible with abstracts of KOREANA features along with photographs. Please visit our Internet website at: http:I!Www.kofo.or.kr!kdata.htm

18 The Urban Environment and Architecture of Seoul

by Yim Chang-bok

26

Korea's Modern Architecture of the 20th Century

by Min Hyun-sik

32

FOCUS

Korean Design: Identity and Future

by Choi Dae-suk

38 THE 20TH CENTURY IN RETROSPECT

ŠThe Korea Foundation 1999 All rights reserved No part of this publication may he reproduced in any form without the prior permission of The Korea Foundation.

The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily represent those of the editors of KOREANA or The Korea Foundation.

KOREANA, registered as a quarterly magazine with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Registration No. Ba1033, dated Aug. 8, 1987), is also published in Chinese.

Industrialization of the Korean Economy: Achievements and Reflections

by Lee Kyu-uck

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48 ON THE ROAD

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54 DISCOVERING KOREA

Korean Wetlands

by Koh Chul-hwan

Korea Foundation

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building would look OUt upon WaS often more important, indicating that the psychological perspective could take precedence over functional considerations.

Preserving the Spirit of Wood and Stone After deciding on a building site and cious field in front with a river flowing the building's orientation, the next step throughitforabundantharvests. involved laying the foundation and erectExamples of such locations ing the support pillars. For the foundation, The scene which a building looked out include the Nakan walled town in stones from streambeds were brought to upon was called andae. It was most often Chollanam-do (upper left) and the building site. The stones were not a mountain, because mountains are the Hahoe Village in Andong, dressed but laid on the ground as is with only natural element considered to be Kyongsangbuk-do (upper right). their irregular surfaces intact. In order to unchanging and everlasting.

The orientation of a village and indiTHE CARPENTERS RESPONSIBLE secure a wooden pillar on top of a foundation stone, the base of the pillar had to vidual houses can vary according to the FOR BUILDING KOREA's ROYAL be carved to match the irregular surface of andae involved. For e xample, in the PALACES SELECTED A MOUNthe cornerstone. For this process, called Andong hometown of the renowned ktlrengijil, a specially designed tool was neo-Confucian scholar Yi Hwang TAIN SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE used to draw the curves onto the base of a (T'oegye), all the houses face west toward Mt. Tosan, an especially auspiTHE START OF CONSTR UCTION pillar, which was then carved with an adze. When the carved wooden base was cious andae. However, in the famous AND EXAMINED THE CHARACplaced on top of the stone, the two pieces Hahoe Village where many mountain would fit together like meshed gears, lockpeaks face different directions, the vilTERISTICS OF THE TREES FROM ing into each other such that the wood lagers have adopted for their andae one VARIOUS AREAS OF THE and stone would become one. Through of the many surrounding mountains and this difficult and painstaking method oriented their houses accordingly. As MOUNTAIN BEFORE DECIDING called tomb6ng kich 'o, the foundation such, the houses face in every directionWHA T WOOD FROM WHICH stones and pillars were laid and erected in north, south, east and west according to such a manner that the natural form of their respective andae-giving the village TREE WOULD BE USED FOR these materials was preserved. a somewhat disorderly appearance. But PARTICULAR PARTS OF At first glance, it may seem to be a there is a very strict, albeit not readily rather primitive method. But in fact this apparent, order. It is a natural order, THE BUILDING. method is based on scientific principles. To whereby the setting of a building and its place a wooden pillar on top of a stone is easier said than orientation are determined by the various elements of its done. The base of a wooden pillar rots easily due to rainwanatural surroundings. ter running down the column and ponding at its footing. To Why did p'ungsu exert such a powerful influence over avoid this problem, it is necessary to raise the cornerstone the selection of building sites and the placement of strucabove ground level. In addition, no connecting devices or tures in Korea? The Korean peninsula, which is covered adhesives can be used between the pillar and the stone with countless mountains of just the right height as well as because moisture will eventually creep in through the cracks numerous rivers, features a natural environment that is parand cause the wood to rot. Accordingly, the only alternative ticularly well-suited to the principles of p'ungsu. It is almost is to position the wooden pillar directly on the foundation as if the concept of p'ungsu was created as a means for interstone. In this case, however, any horizontal force, for example preting the topography of Korea.

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Anidealsettingforahouseisonewitha hill behind to block the wind and a spa-

earth tremors, strong winds or shifts in structural loads, would cause the pillar to slip off the stone and fall. The only method of construction that can effectively overcome these factors is the t6mb6ng kich'o method mentioned earlier. As the irregular surfaces of the stone and wood lock together like meshed gears, the resulting framework is capable of withstanding even horizontal forces.

All the structural pillars placed atop cornerstones are made of wood. Wood is the only architectural material that is from a living organism. And because it is organic, wood is very difficult and complex to handle. Unlike earth or bricks, wood must be allowed to breathe, can rot from moisture, and is prone to warping. Carpenters who build houses out of wood need to understand the nature of this material. For example, wood from trees that have grown on the southern slope of a mountain should be used on the southern face of a house.

The same principle applies for trees that have grown on the northern slopes; they should be used for the rear, or shaded side, of the house. This is because the wood will perform best under conditions that are similar to its original environment.

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Pillars and girders, which will bear a significant structural load, should be made from trees that grew along the timberline. Only trees that have survived the harsh winds high atop a mountain ridge are resilient and sturdy enough to be used for pillars and girders. In contrast, trees that grew in humid valleys with mild temperatures should be used for walls or decorative applications because their wood is pliable and workable. In order to exploit the ultimate potential of wood, it is necessary to know about the tree's original environment, tG such an extent it was said in the past that expert carpenters did not acquire wood but rather a mountain. The carpenters responsible for building Korea's royal palaces selected a mountain several years before the start of construction and examined the characteristics of the trees from various areas of the mountain before deciding what wood from which tree would be used for particular parts of the building.

In Korea there is a shortage of thick and straight pine trees.

Most pines are thin and crooked. Their bent timber has always been a problem for carpenters. If crooked pines are forcibly straightened out, they become too thin to be used

beauty of traditional Korean architecture.

Taeungjon Pavilion at Ch'ongnyongsa Temple in Ansong seems to be a case study in how many ways curved wood can be used in a building. There is not a single straight column in all four elevations. All of them are crooked and of noticeably different thickness at the top and bottom. Logically, it seems that the building should topple over at any minute. However, this structure has been standing firm for over 200 years. The carpenters who built it knew the character of the wood they were using and used it with confidence. In Manseru Pavilion at Sonunsa Temple in Koch'ang, the crossbeams are all made of beautifully curved wood. There are even some which have been made with two pieces of wood joined together. The interior, with all its twisted girders exposed, has no sense of coziness; rather it pi¡ojects a basic and dynamic sentiment. Here a different sense of building aesthetics is applied. According to the philosophy of Lao tzu, who took nature as his model for man: "Those things which are finished seem to be unfinished, those things which are straight seem to be bent, and those things which are delicate seem to be clumsy." This is what nature is like. And so too the appearance of Korea's traditional architecture.

for pillars or any upright elements. The ideal solution was to use thq:rooked wood as it was.

On the exterior, this could appear crude and unattractive, but this method presents exceptional structural advantages. Girders and other horizontal elements always have to bear vertical loads from the roof. In extreme cases, when the girders cannot withstand the down-bearing loads, they can collapse. But if wood that is already curved upward is used, there is no danger of it bending downward and breaking from the pressure. Also, from a visual perspective, an upward curving wood girder gives an appearance of stability. For this structural reason, wood that curved upward was used for girders and crossbeams in Korea's traditional architecture. What began as a functional concept evolved into a notion of aesthetic beauty.

Not straight but curved, not fine but coarsesuch a dynamic sense of aesthetics creates the

Natural Solutions for Coping with the Environment The Korean peninsula has four very distinct seasons. The coexistence of harsh, cold winters and humid, hot summers make for very difficult natural conditions for coping with architecturally. Indeed, designing a house that can retain heat during the winter as well as keep cool in the summer requires significant expertise and

The columns (upper left) and beams (below) of Taeungjon Hall in Ch'ongnyongsa Temple in Ansong serve as case studies in the use of curved wood.

Papered windows satisfy all three functions of a window: natural lighting, ventilation and a view(top).

Trees are planted in the garden in an effort to bring nature into the house (above).

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innovation In addition, Korea receives heavy rain and snow, so the roof must be strong and high pitched. A strong roof means a heavy load due to its thick and sturdy crossbeams and columns. Of all the weather conditions in the world, perhaps the most challenging to accommodate in terms of architectural design is the temperate monsoonal climate of the Korean peninsula.

The most exceptional feature of traditional Korean architecture is the integration of the ondol (heated stone floor) and maru (wooden floors). The ondol is an under-floor heating system that was developed to provide heat during winter, whereas the maru is a wooden flooring designed to keep interiors cool, especially in humid weather. The ondol and maru obviously are of opposing functions. Because the ondol floor is heated via under-floor flues, it must be built close to the ground to minimize heat loss.

On the other hand, the maru must be elevated off the ground in order to reduce humidity. It is no simple feat to combine such very different materials at different heights in a particular building. But after much trial and error, the two were successfully integrated as can be seen in the traditional Korean house, which is the essence of Korea's traditional architecture.

In the northern regions of China, there are partially heated floor systems called kkang, but there is nothing comparable to Korea's intergrated system. Only in Korean architecture are heated stone floors and wooden floors combined, revealing an advanced level of technology and expertise in overcoming the extremes of both hot and cold conditions.

Korea gets a large volume of rainfall, which contributes to its successful rice farming. But in the past before synthetic waterproofing materials, it was difficult to build a roof that was leakproof. For this, a thick layer of earth was laid on the roof boards. Although this added weight to the roof, the layer of earth acted as insulation, keeping the house cool in summer and warm in winter.

Above all, the most important element in waterproofing is determining the proper slope for the roof. If the slope is too flat, then water will accumulate and seep into the building. If it is too steep, there is a problem with the tiles sliding off. In a traditional Korean house, the roof curves inward. It was after much experimentation that this concave curve was found to be highly effective in keeping out rain as well as creating an attractive appearance. This concave curved roof, which seems to cradle the

sky, is gently lifted up at the edge of its eaves. The resulting curve of the eaves, or ch'6ma, is one of the most elegant aspects of Korea's traditional architecture.

The skill required to build such a gracefully curved roof out of straight materials was second to none. Moreover, the eaves, which were lifted slightly toward the sky, were not only beautiful but actually served to moderate interior temperatures. The zenith of the sun is low in winter and high in summer. The slightly uplifted eaves drew sunlight into the house in winter while providing shade in summer, thus helping to keep the interior of the house warm in winter and cool in summer. The eaves in Korean architecture were not only aesthetically pleasing but functional as well.

The functional aspects of the ondol, maru and curved eaves were realized through experimenting with the laws of nature. The methods used to cope with the weather and environmental conditions reveal the wisdom of accepting the ways of nature.

Architecture Breathing with Nature The walls of Korean houses were usually made of earth, using a variety of methods. First a mold for the front and back was erected and then filled in. By maintaining a wall thickness of about 40 centimeters, the rain could be kept out and moderated temperatures maintained in both winter and summer. Another method involved building a framework of bamboo and then applying mud to its front and back. To increase the adhesion, bits of straw were sometimes mixed in with the mud or the mud was kneaded with water boiled with kelp and other seaweed. Water boiled with seaweed is an excellent natural waterproofing sealant that is even used in modern construction as it effectively keeps rain out while allowing stale air and humidity to escape through wall surfaces. This is because when particles of earth are mixed with seaweed water, the spaces between the particles enable ventilation while keeping out rainwater.

Windows are built into the walls of a house to provide naturallighting, ventilation and views of the outside. If the windows are made of wood slats, then these three effects can only be realized when the windows are open. But an open window is not a reasonable option in the cold of winter.

How is it possible to maintain a comfortable temperature and provide natural ventilation and lighting all at the same time? By using ch 'anghoji, a paper whose name literally means paper for windows and doors. Ch'anghoji is made from the fibers of mulberry bark. It allows light to pass through and diffuses it as well. It could be called a semi-transparent material. The sunlight which comes in through the ch'anghoji is not direct but processed light, so to speak. Thus

filtered, the light is milky and of a comfortable temperament.

It is neither hot nor glaring. The paper prevents the warm air

from escaping outside. The interiors of traditional Korean buildings are neither bright nor dark, the result of ch'anghoji.

The fine spaces between the paper fibers block out strong winds but allow the passing of fine air particles. In a traditional Korean house with a well-designed system of windows and doors, it is said that a person would never catch a cold.

The ch'anghoji prevented cold air from the outside from coming in, but allowed a certain amount of fresh air to circulate through the house. Such natural lighting and ventilation occur when the windows are closed, something which is possible only with paper windows. When glass windows are closed, lighting is possible but not ventilation.

Natural Influences on Korean Architecture Through all the processes of building a traditional Korean house-selecting the site, erecting the framework, putting on the roof and installing the doors and windows-the most important consideration was a respect for nature. In traditional Korean architecture, nature was not something to be conquered or overcome; it was the model, the ideal standard for everything in the human world. The concept of "untouched nature" in Taosim does not mean going back to primitive times but rather the creation of a safe and sound world by following the principles of and submitting to the laws of nature. Also, it does not mean unconditional adaptation of nature. In neo-Confucianism, the idea of "man and nature as one" is emphasized; though architecture is a product of man, its technologies should respect the laws of nature and views of the natural surroundings should be brought inside to make the house a part .of nature.

Neo-Confucianism also emphasizes the spirit of restraint and modesty in man's attitude toward all spaces and natural resources, which in effect means respect for and coexistence with nature. P'ungsu is a highly developed know-how and value system which maintains that the location of a building site and the orientation of buildings should not conflict with nature. The use of crooked pieces of wood involves a construction method that makes the optimal use of the natural characteristics of materials. Earthen walls and paper windows maximize the use of natural materials applied in a scientific manner that makes them environmentally friendly. While all these materials are taken from nature, they are used with sensitivity and based on advanced technologies for maximum performance. In contemporary times, when the development of science and technology is so often harmful to our environment, it is worth pausing to take note of the respect for nature of traditional Korean architecture. + 11

TIIE PATII OF CONTEMPORARY KOREAN ARCIDTECilJRE

Meandering Between Modernism and Tradition Kim Kwang-hyun Professor of Architecture, Seoul National University

noticeably from the 1980s. That was the ontemporary Korean architecKOREANESS IS NOT ONLY decade when Seoul and other major ture has developed along two ABOUT KOREAN PA T TERNS, cities saw a mushrooming of large and main currents. The first small buildings while a mechanical aesinvolves searching for ways to KOREAN MATERIALS, KOREAN thetics reflecting the aspirations of high express Korea's unique culture SPA TIAL TECHNIQUES AND THE technology emerg ed alongside the and natural characteristics through industrial vernacular. The pattern of buildings, while the second relates to CURVED LINES OF A KOREAN urban life gradually transformed to assimilating the cultural concept of TILED ROOF THE KOREANESS keep pace with the rhythm of "contemporary," following on from machines and an electronic-oriented modernism. These issues came to the OF KOREAN ARCHITECTURE lifestyle.

Glitzy neon signs and billfore in contemporary Korean architecMUST BE DISCOVERED IN THE boards, elevated highways and subways ture in the 1970s. In line with Korea's cutting through the city, plastic and PVC rapid economic development, the 1970s ESSENCE OF MAN's ACT OF materials, steel towers and staircases-all were a boom time for urban expansion of these became an everyday part of and high-rise buildings. It was also a BUILDING A HOUSE BET WEEN the urban landscape. These changes in period when traditional expression in THE LAND AND SKY, contemporary Korean architecture architecture was emphasized as a arose from changes in technology and means of giving form to cultural identiAND HOW THAT PROCESS the consequent transformation of culty. As a result, contemporary Korean HAS BEEN MANIFESTED ON tural sensibilities. It is the desire to attain architecture developed along a dualistic the state-of-the-art technological level of path, wherein contemporary function KOREAN SOIL. the advanced countries of the West and coexisted with traditional style and the change in sensibilities brought about form. by such technology that have become the driving force of These two currents, however, resulted in a generally uniform or standardized environment. The underlying reacontemporary architecture in Korea, which has now reached a turning point. However, this situation does not son for this can be found in modern architecture; the two correctly reflect the current state of contemporary Korean key influences of contemporary Korean architecture are architecture. The heart of big cities such as Seoul are still similar in that they are based on an approach of introducdotted with standardized functional modern buildings, ing history and meaning that was lacking in modern archimixed in with commercial buildings of a postmodern flatecture and thereby making up for its shortcomings. vor. Of note, the historical context of architecture is graduHowever, from a technical perspective, these two currents ally being lost while historic buildings in th e city are are not complementary but rather contradictory. These cirbecoming more isolated. As this trend continues, the biggest cumstances are at the root of the development of contemdilemma for Korean architects in the 21st century will porary Korean architecture, and these same forces will conremain the pursuit of ways to identify the dynamism creattinue to influence future development as well. ed by high technology and integrate this with Korean cuiContemporary Korean architecture began to change

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ture as part of the everyday landscape.

On the surface, con tern porary Korean architecture today is developing in diverse directions, but unfortunately, it is an architecture that emerged by sidestepping the mainstream of modern architecture. The debate over traditionalism, an important theme underlying contemporary Korean architecture, is in reality an issue that has simply ridden on the back of the 1960s debate over regionalism, which emerged as a reaction to the standardization of modern architecture. Postmodernism, which dominated the 1980s, was not a serious

criticism of modernism but rather something that was simply accepted by the mass media.

As such, the issue of modernism is missing from the core of the discussion of Korea's contemporary architecture.

The critique of traditionalism in the 1970s gave shape to contemporary Korean architecture, which was rooted in traditional architecture and attempted to adapt past forms to contemporary times. On a wider level, it was an attempt to represent Korea's cultural identity through architecture. Following the 1970s, traditional expression in architecture was the

A traditional Korean building marooned in a sea of modern high-rises.

The harmonious blending of buildings of different eras is actively pursued nowadays.

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leading theme of contemporary Korean architecture, but rather than being a serious criticism of modernism and an effort to develop a regional sense of place, it was more a defensive reaction to escape from foreign cultural influences.

Thereafter, the approach to the issue of tradition has been diverse. But in most large-scale public buildings, as if by some predictable formula, the roof is typically the dominant feature of the building, involving a contemporary structure adapted to traditional form. There are two apparent problems here. First, in the case of public buildings, which by nature should be commemorative and embody a national consciousness, there is a theory that these things must find clear expression in a Korean style. The traditional expression in contemporary Korean architecture came about from the popular cultural sentiment of rediscovering

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traditional culture and the government policy of promoting a national identity. Against this background, the realm of the traditional had to accommodate the functionality and rationality of modern architecture. The whole traditional issue was greatly influenced by a trend toward regionalism among third-world countries that emerged after the 1960s.

Korea's architectural community came to understand this issue, directly and indirectly, through the process of designing state-funded public buildings. As a result, the theme of such buildings was not the conquest of modern architecture through the traditional but rather the harmonizing of modern and traditional architecture.

Contemporary architecture started out as a reaction against the excessive bondage of "function" and "form" in the 1950s, and at the point of separation of function from form. But by appropriately varying the form according to

function and new materials, and in this way dealing with the issue of social consciousness, it was nothing more than a dogmatic application of the modernist axiom, "form follows function." So at the starting point of contemporary Korean architecture, there is the coexistence of two different states of time consciousness-contemporary and traditionalwith traditional, according to its original meaning, not being a criticism of "modern architecture."

Another problem was that the debate over traditionalism basically was too limited to the parameters of the formative and aesthetic perspectives; the movement to understand the traditional in relation to regionalism has only been a very recent development. Two main streams of thought have developed in dealing with the traditional in contemporary architecture. The first, as can be seen in Kim Chungup's Korean Embassy in Paris, France, is about transforming traditional architecture in order to emphasize the lyricism of Korean architecture. The second, as reflected in Kim Swoogeun's Space Group Building, is to approach the essence of Korean architecture through the concept of space. But both of these efforts were, to a large extent, a stylistic compromise between contemporary architecture and traditional Korean architecture. Of course, the matter of the traditional was handled, to some degree, from the perspective of the Korean aesthetic for space, but the Koreaness of Korean architecture still remains an unresolved issue.

When discussing the tradition of Korean architecture, on one hand it means the rationalization of traditional expressions into modern forms, while on the other, it involves a departure from modern to traditional. These are the two schools of thought that have prevailed thus far in contemporary Korean architecture.

In reality, traditionalism and modernism cannot so easily be harmonized. In particular, modernism is a concept that must be realized by surpassing tradition, whereas traditionalism means modifying the shortcomings of rational modernism. As such, the expression of tradition debated in contemporary Korean architecture since the 1970s was a way for contemporary society to gain cultural confidence, however, it did not result in the creation of a dis-

tinctive architectural theme in the flow of world architectural history. It must not be forgotten that it was not Western contemporary architecture understood within the context of traditional Korean architecture, but rather the latter being seen from the perspective of the former.

In the coming 21st century, how should contemporary Korean architecture accommodate Koreaness? It is not an issue that can be resolved by finding an appropriate blend of modern and traditional, nor by searching for those aspects that are unique to Korean architecture. Rather, if Korean architecture is to distinguish its traditions and make a contribution to world architecture, then it must break out of its narrow-minded framework; it must not

fail to advance the universality of "human beings" revealed in Korean architecture.

One of the foremost architects of the 20th century, Louis I. Khan said: "Traditions are mounds of golden dust of man's nature, from which circumstances were distilled out." In other words, according to Khan, tradition is not the reflection of current circumstances or the process of compromise or fusion, but a revelation of human nature and therefore, though it may seem non-functional in the present, is something which must be perpetuated intact. The issue of the traditional in Korean architecture is no exception to this.

If this is true, what "mounds of golden dust

Korea's modern architecture has had to adapt to traditional forms, which is usually most evident in the roof, a variation of a traditional style roof being applied to a contemporary structure (opposite page, top).

Buildings designed simply for function (opposite page, bottom) and new types of houses (above) coexist disharmoniously.

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of man's nature" has Korean architecture left behind? More than anything else, it is its sense of the corporeal based on the universal. The distinction of traditional Korean architecture comes from its quality of being both "universal" and "corporeal."

As with all architecture, in Korean architecture the overall architectural image, that which is left in the mind after looking away and appears like a vague after-image on a screen, is its very essence. It could be a view from a building or a detail that left a lasting impression. Seen in this way, traditional Korean architecture is more than anything else the rugged terrain and the earthy characteristics of a structure built on that land, as well as the palpable sensations of daily life that it exudes.

The universal and corporeal qualities of Korean architecture come from the type of building that is built on the land, and the structures that stand between the land and the body, linking them together. For example, Pyongsan Sowon (a Confucian academy) and Pusoksa Temple are wonderful examples of structures whose architecture exquisitely interpreted the land. Pyongsan Sowon shows intrinsically how a structure and land should be integrated.

This is an excellent example of how a building does not simply sit on the land but rather molds it, and how architecture is not a mere act of erecting buildings on the land, but of shaping the land.

Accordingly, if Korean architecture is to make a contribution to world architecture in the 21st century, there must be a shift in its focus away from the quest for uniquely Korean or regional characteristics, as has b_een the general thinking up till now. The issue of tradition must be reinterpreted as an expression of the basic and universal nature of mankind. That is, Koreaness should not be restricted to that which is uniquely Korean; it is more important to consider how the basic nature of man has been manifested in Korean architecture. Therefore, Koreaness is not only about Korean patterns, Korean materials, Korean spatial techniques and the curved lines of a Korean tiled roof. The Koreaness of Korean architecture must be discovered in the essence of man's act of building a house between the land and sky, and how that process has been manifested on Korean soil.

In the technological civilization of the modern age, humans must not be allowed to become scattered and fragmentary, while the act of building a house must not be dictated by contemporary consumer culture. For this reason it is important to discover the essence of buildings, which are inscribed with the memories and dreams of the community of man, who has lived as one with the land. The aesthetics of such buildings must be discovered and reinterpreted through traditional Korean architecture. Such a task will become even more important in the 21st century, in the 16

electronic civilization. As Louis Khan said, tradition is something that does not have a place in present circumstances, but is something precious that must be carried forward. So, a contemporary Korean architect desiring to convey the importance of Korean culture to the world would first have to reveal this through the universality of man and architecture.

The 21st century will soon be upon us. It is a century when state-of-the-art technology will flourish and for this reason society has focused so much of its attention on this area. Advanced technology will be the decisive factor in future economies, as it is considered to be the key that holds the promise of abundance. It is my belief, however,

that in the future architecture will not change so drastically. Unlike technology, the end result of architecture is not simply the march of progress. Architecture is one facet of culture that has an unchanging continuity.

Therefore, the architecture of the future is only a projection of the future as seen from today; it is not literally "future architecture."

Before future architecture, before Korean architecture, there is simply "architecture." I believe that despite all the technological advances the task of architecture in the increasingly fragmented society of the future

will remain to provide an unchanging and firm foundation for mankind. It is the same for contemporary Korean architecture. I believe that the task of the Korean architect of the 21st century is to first break free from the idea of uncovering the "unique," the belief that there is something uniquely Korean to be revealed. Then, on the basis of the universality and corporeality of architecture, the architect should ask over and over again, what Korean culture has discovered and what meaning that discovery possesses in relation to the universality of architecture. +

Pusoksa Temple is a good example of a careful blending of manmade structures with the natural surroundings.

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Yim Chang-bok Professor, Sungkyunkwan University

THEitE ARE FEW7 CITIR'l IN THE WORLD THAT CA!v MATCH SEOULS 600-YEAR HISTORY AS THE NATIONS CAPITAL. THIS ALONE MAKES SEOUL UNIQUE. IT IS A CITY WITH A PROUD HISTORY AND MANY CULTURAL TREASURES FROM SEVERAL HISTORIC PERIODS.

ve~

what is t6day's seoul as of the Chos<'Sn Dynasty 0392-1910), with the move there starting in 1394. This means that the city has layers of history going back over 600 years. While serving as Korea's political, economic, social and cultural center, Seoul was until as recently as the beginning of tills century, a quiet city of just over 200,000 people. Even in the downtown area, there was no orderly layout of roadways while the majority of buildings along the main thoroughfare of Chongno was thatched-roof houses.

was colonial rule in a big city of one million people. Moreover, the city's growth accelerated following liberation. Many Koreans who had been forced to seek refuge abroad returned home, while in the turmoil of the Korean War (1950-1953), many North Koreans took refuge in the South, ballooning Seoul's population. By the early 1960s, Seoul had a population of over 2 million residents.

With full-scale industrialization underway from the In the more than 600 years since it was made :;; the capital of the Choson Dynasty in 1392, when it was ~ called Han yang, Seoul has grown into a huge ~ metropolis that is home to over 10 million people. C:

1960s, the concentration of people in the city grew ever more acute. As a result, Seoul today is a huge metropolis that is home to over 10 million people. This enormous city has emerged over a period of 100 years at the longest, but in reality, just within the past half century.

Seoul has undergone substantial quantitative expansion.

In the process of satisfying such tremendous quantitative growth, Seoul became the center of all progress with buildings and other architectural structures being erected and development taking place throughout the city. Under these circumstances, it was inevitable that extreme functionalism and materialism dominated all else. As such, thoughtless development popped up everywhere and in the process much of Seoul's beautiful natural environment and precious cultural treasures were destroyed or damaged.

Architectural Resources Seoul is one of the many cities in the world with an exceptionally pleasurable natural environment. I realize this anew whenever I return home from an occasional trip abroad.

As for the natural setting of Seoul from the perspective of geomancy, or feng shui, the inner boundary of the city is defined by the four propitious mountains of Paekaksan to the north, Naktasan to the east, Inwangsan to the west, and Mokmyoksan to the south. Another four auspicious mountains mark the outer boundary: Pukhansan to the north, Yongmasan to the east, Tokyangsan to the west, and Kwanaksan to the south.

Accordingly, two layers of geomantically propitious sites surround Seoul. Between these large and small mountains, which make up the city's geomancy, flows an auspicious waterway, Ch'onggyech'on, a stream that flows into the Han River. In Seoul, you can look out upon nature from any part of the city. Seoul is naturally blessed such that it is possible for its citizens to live and breathe as one with nature.

Moreover, there are few cities in the world that can match Seoul's 600-year history as the nation's capital. This alone makes Seoul unique. It is a city with a proud history and many cultural treasures from several historic periods.

There are important architectural structures from the past still standing in Seoul. They include the five major palaces of the Chason Dynast y, Chongmyo (the royal ancestral shrine), and Sajiktan (the altars to the gods of earth and grains), in addition to traditional tiled-roof houses scattered around Kahoe-dong and Insa-dong. There are also many buildings built in various foreign styles dating from the end of the Chason Dynasty, which stand as testament to the time when Korea began to accept Western influences. Among these are religious buildings such as Myongdong Cathedral and the Seoul Anglican Cathedral as well as

Befitting a city with a long history, Seoul has many architectural structures dating from various historic periods. The Sokjojon building (opposite page, top) on the grounds of Toksugung Palace and the old Bank of Korea building (opposite page, bottom) are examples of Western-style architecture introduced around the end of the Choson Dynasty. In the 1970s, mammoth buildings such as the Daewoo Center Building (above) were built to keep pace with econom.i c development.

public buildings such as Seoul Station, the old building of the Bank of Korea, and the Sokjojon Hall of Toksugung Palace, which have a special place in the hearts of Koreans.

Following liberation from Japanese colonial rule and in the aftermath of the Korean War, Korean society was overcome w ith confusion, but w hen things settled down, a wave of modern building construction began. In the 1960s, the modern buildings that best expressed the Korean sense of architectural aesthetics were Kim Chung-up's French Embassy, Lee Hee-tae's Choldusan Martyr's Shrine and Kim Swoo-geun's Hill Top Bar. In the 1970s, a period of rapid economic expansion, large-scale high-rise buildings were constru cted including th e Samil Building, the Central Government Complex and the Daewoo Center Building.

Into the 1980s, architectural trends became more diversified with major changes emerging. Buildings that were 21

During the 1980s, more diverse styles of architecture were adopted as illustrated by the Kukje Building (above left) and the LG Twin Towers office complex (above right).

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designed by foreign architects sprouted up, including the Kukje Group Building and the LG Twin Towers, while large-scale residential comple xes such as the '86 Asian Games Athlete's Village and the '88 Olympic Athlete's Village were also constructed. Under the overall influence of postmodernism, many buildings that explored the concepts of conservatism and diversity of form were erected as well. Two examples of buildings completed during this period are the Seoul Arts Center and the headquarters of the Bank of Korea.

Although Seoul may seem riddled with all sorts of traffic, housing and environmental problems, a closer look will reveal that it has a wonderful natural environment and many

valuable cultural resources, in addition to a wide assortment of outstanding modern buildings.

The Consequences of Rapid Development Seoul is a city that still shows glimpses of its wonderful natural conditions and long history.

Unfortunately, however, its residents are quite skeptical as to whether Seoul is really being properly nurtured as a city of history and culture. The city is filled with functional and efficient buildings, even in those corners of the city which are rich with a sense of history and the memories of the people, while it seems that the march of so-called economic-centered development cannot be stopped.

There are too many instances where the welfare of the people has been pushed aside by commercialization and profit-seeking, parading under the name of redevelopment or improving the environment. For instance, there is the Nakwon Arcade Apartment that stands in the middle of a road and blocks the view of the mountains to the north, the high-rise apartments that sit atop the mountains in Tonam-dong and the apartment complexes that line the banks of the Han River blocking the view corridors. One way or another, the views of the city are rapidly being destroyed. Policies regarding urban planning and architecture have become secondary to economic development policy or relegated to government oversight of construction activities, while no one seems to appreciate that architecture is the most basic activity in forming the culture of the city.

The city's cultural treasures, important scenic elements in the urban landscape, have been treated poorly, shunted aside by the pursuit of economic development. The Independence Gate, which was relocated to make way for an elevated roadway, is just one of the many examples. The Hwashin Department Store, designed by Park Kil-yong, was Korea's first modern building, but despite having such historical significance, it was demolished for the sake of development and commercial gain.

Although this failure to recognize and properly protect cultural treasures is certainly a problem, an even bigger problem, perhaps, is the insensitive development that takes place around existing large-scale public spaces and historical sites. The Unified Government Building stands in front of Kyongbokkung Palace, with little relation to the historic landmark. In addition, the Hyundai Building stands adjacent to Piwon, or the Secret Garden, while the Kyobo Building overpowers the Pigak Pavilion. Around Poshingak, a forest of commercial buildings essentially vanquishes the smallscale bell pavilion from the scene. There are numerous notable individual buildings in Seoul, but it is not easy to find places where harmony has been achieved between the architecture and the city's rich history and culture. Quite frankly, over the years Korean architecture has focused only on commercialism, with too little consideration of the natural environment, public spaces and cultural sites. There has been a notable lack of awareness on the issue of public benefit in relation to architecture.

From Economic to Cultural Considerations Next year will mark the 21st century, a time when culture will become a more important resource than ever before. We must lose no time in adopting a new consciousness in regard to architecture. The first step involves focusing our attention on the creation of a more user-friendly urban environment. For sometime now, our roads have

The city's cultural treasures have been treated poorly, shunted aside by the pursuit of economic development- The Hwashin Department Store (top), designed by Park Kil-yong, was Korea's first modern building, but despite having such historical significance, it was demolished to make way for a more commercially profitable building (above).

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Many civic organizations have begun public campaigns to change the traffic system from car-oriented to one that accommodates bicyclists and pedestrians in order to enhance the quality of city life (top). Korea's cultural treasures should be recognized and properly profected, but city planning has only focused on development (above). Traditional houses deserve to be regarded as cultural treasures that reveal the housing culture of the Korean people (opposite page).

become too centered on maximizing traffic flow. But what we have failed to realize is that when roads are widened, the distance from our neighbors becomes that much wider while our quality of life is diminished as well.

One of Korea's most distinguished architects, Kim Swoogeun, once said: "A good road is as good as it is narrow, and a bad road is as bad as it is wide." He was implying that roads must be based on a spatial system designed for pedestrians rather than cars in order to create an urban environment that is more human-centered.

In a welcome move, many civil organizations have recently begun conducting a "green traffic campaign," advocating a traffic system which accommodates bicyclists and pedestrians. In order to foster the culture of Seoul, the first thing that needs to be done is modification of the flow of 24

traffic to enable a system of roads that center around pedestrian movement.

Development and preservation also need to be carefully studied based on an integrated view of the city and its architecture. Recently, the buildings in Seoul have been getting larger in scale, and in many instances, a construction project needs to be regarded as a mini-city onto itself. The Sewoon Shopping Mall, built in the 1960s, was the largestscale retail complex of its kind, while the Seoul Arts Center, built in the 1980s, is like a diverse entertainment center where all manner of performance venues are gathered in one place. These are just two examples of projects that could not have been achieved without a total urban perspective.

If Sejongno, the road leading to Kwangwhamun, or the road which leads to the National Assembly, seems not quite right in some intangible way, it is not that the roads are narrower than they are in the West, but because there is no communication or harmony between the width of the road and the buildings along the way. As a result, the roads seem to lack a sense of character. Such situations are due to the propensity in Korean society to regard architecture and urban planning as two separate disciplines.

The increasingly complex contemporary urban environment buildings need to be designed to provide the city with more diversified spatial experiences while the city itself needs more exemplary architectural solutions. Hand in hand with this, there must be preservation and expansion of the natural elements of the city.

There are few cities in the world with natural scenery as beautiful as Seoul's. A look at old maps of the city shows that they are filled mostly with marks indicating natural landmarks including mountains, rivers and streams, which dominated the landscape. But with urbanization, the mountains have gradually been destroyed or isolated, with the rivers and streams being covered over.

If the development of Seoul has been undertaken thus far under a premise of disregarding or even destroying its natural elements, then what is needed is a new development paradigm which promotes the conservation and expansion of natural resources. In this light, the most important priority is to maximize the pt'imary natural element running through the city, the Han River, by linking it with the surrounding areas and turning it into a public space for the citizens of the city. In addition, attention should also be focused on the city's existing public spaces. The most public of public spaces by nature are roadways and plazas. Seoul has been extensively modernized over the years, however its roads and plazas have been developed independently of each other.

Urban architect Paul Zucker asserted that the plazas in a city should function as "psychological parking spaces" for

its residents. As urbanization progresses, the importance of public spaces increases and thus should be a top priority in urban development.

Seoul's public plazas are not being properly utilized. The most representative plazas are the Seoul City Hall Plaza and Seoul Station Plaza, but they are "plazas" in name only. City Hall Plaza merely functions as a traffic roundabout and much of the Seoul Station Plaza serves as a parking lot. Y6tiido Plaza, which had long been a venue for many different functions and events, has since been turned into a landscaped park Special attention needs to be paid to the use of plazas as public spaces for the people and essential spatial elements of the city.

Finally, there is a need to develop the city and its architecture from a cultural perspective. As for our urban architecture policies of the past, it is no exaggeration to say that commercialism and the pursuit of profit have been the fundamental goals of urban development.

Many foreign visitors to Korea say that they would like to stay in a traditional Korean house. But regrettably, there is no decent traditional-style hotel or motel anywhere in the city. That the traditional houses of Kahoe-dong

exist as "just another house" along with the regular houses in the neighborhood is a natural result of managing the city from an economic perspective only. Traditional houses deserve to be regarded as cultural treasures which reveal the ALTHOUGH SEOUL MAY housing culture of the Korean people. Plans are thus needed to proper- SEEM RIDDLED WITH ALL ly regulate and guide architectural SORTS OF TRAFFIC, HOUSING activity in the city and, to fulfill such AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBefforts, everyone should appreciate the cultural value of architecture.

LEMS, A CLOSER LOOK WILL This year has been designated the "Year of Architecture" by the gov- REVEAL THAT IT HAS A ernment. It is said that architecture WONDERFUL NATURAL ENVIcannot help being "a manmade thing." If we become engrossed only RONMENT AND MANY VALUin the real estate and profit-related ABLE CULTURAL RESOURCES, concerns of development, our descendents will inherit an urban IN ADDITION TO A WIDE environment that has been formed ASSORTMENT OF OUTSTANDso1e1y by the forces of commercial interest. Only when the city and its ING MODERN BUILDINGS. architecture are developed in an integral manner and based on a spirit of respecting its natural resources and cultural treasures will Seoul find new life as a cultural city. +

hen a year or a century comes to an end, people amuse themselves by making all kinds of lists. Moreover, with the millennium coming to a close, there is literally a boom in list-making. It can be dangerous to select things in a . limited number, and even more so when it comes to ranking them. Such actions can be considered an amusement that satisfies the curiosity or the shallow intellectual needs of ordinary people. Such a list may be of interest for a while, but within a short time people w ill stop talking about it and soon enough it will be forgotten completely.

If such a selection becomes meaningful, it is not because of the content or the ranking, but rather the standards or values involved in the process. In other words, it is a direct reflection of the values of a particular field at a certain peri-

W

ture is not necessarily noteworthy. For Koreans, modernization was synonymous with Westernization, and Korean architecture was no exception when it came to the transplantation of foreign concepts, which is a characteristic of Korean culture. It is surprising to see the exact same process in architecture as well; what was accepted initially is being outmoded by what was accepted later. This is what Lee Young-mee had to say about the "transplantation in our culture": Transplantation is also a sort of attribute of a dominant culture. The transplantation in our culture is not simply our acceptance of arts and cultures from foreign countries. It is that foreign arts and cultures led the most important trend of a certain field in a certain period, that they play the role of the textbook as they exert dominant, leading influences on key elements, such as the language of arts and the style. Thus the acceptance of foreign cultures is not a normal mutual exchange but a one-sided process, and that such an acceptance continues, so in every stage of the development, the clues to the development or the change do not come from spontaneous creativity, but from foreign arts and cultures, while the arts and cultures of the past are considered outdated.

Accordingly, the transplantation is not a simple occurrence in which culture is moved from one country to another, but a complex phenomenon that has interactive relations with the roots of domestic culture. From a social point of view, it has to do with a strong inferiority complex or a desire for the upward class mobility harbored by both intellectuals and ordinary citizens of less developed countries.

Korea's Modern Architecture of the 20th Century Min Hyun-sik Architect and Professor, The Korean National University of Arts

od in time, which may become a yardstick for interpreting that era. Not long ago, a book was published in the United States entitled 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium . Its authors, Brent Bowers and three others, ranked Johannes Gutenberg as number one, which may have something to do with the fact that this epoch regards knowledge and information as being of the utmost value.

In this respect, we will take a look back at Korea's modern architecture in the 20th century. With the beginning of the 20th century, world architecture began to be led by the West, which exhibited a relative superiority in science and technology. Modernist architecture, dominated by rationalism founded in science and technology, became the mainstay, and although reflections and challenges have become strong since the 1960s, rationalism still has the upper hand.

Within such a global context, Korea's modern architec26

In particular, modernization was urgently pushed, backed by the Middle East construction boom that suddenly burst upon Koreans in the mid-1970s. It led to the economy-first mentality and development for development's sake became our ultimate goal, and ubiquitous construction sites were the tangible evidence of such a mind-set. For this reason, the equation that construction equals development was readily accepted, and quantity was considered more important than quality, while utility was weighed more than aesthetic aspects of construction. Naturally, architectural design

did not have enough room to wriggle in; houses and apartments were mostly built not as "a house to live in," but as "a house to buy and sell," an object of speculation.

Because of this distorted environment, most of Korea's architecture that can be labeled modern was created toward the end of the 20th century, or to be more specific, after the 1980s. Prior to then, Korean architectural concepts were not mature, and accordingly, most Korean architects were not very original.

As an overview, I will identify Korea's notable modern architecture of the 20th century based on the following attributes: • Did it break out of the transplantation of foreign architectural culture and establish an original architectural concept?

• Are the architect's ideas and philosophy enduring?

• Has it influenced or led to a trend in Korean architecture?

• Is it successful in terms of idealization and functionality?

• Is it indigenous?

SPACE GROUP BUILDING Kim Swoo-geun, Seoul, 1971-1977

Kim Swoo-geun is representative of the Korean architects of our times, together with Kim Chung-up. Kim Swoo-geun established his own theory about architectural space which was rooted in Korean tradition-the third space, ultimate space or womb space-that he skillfully put it into practice in the Space Group Building.

This building, his most representative work, is a complete break from his earlier architectural works, which tended toward formalism, such as the Freedom Center and the Walker Hill Hilltop Bar. The construction of the Space Group Building was begun in 1971 and completed in 1977 after a new wing was added. The elegant flow of various spaces, which is a characteristic of traditional Korean architecture, took on a modern meaning in this work FRENCH EMBASSY Kim Chung-up, Seoul, 1961 Kim Chung-up's French Embassy building is an example of adapting the later architecture of le C01·busier to the local characteristics of Korea. In addition, Kim managed to strike a balance between the different characteristics of France and Korea.

The French Embassy building is ultimately Corbusian.

Although both the architect and critics admit that the formal sensitivity was borrowed from Korea's traditional architecture, it is actually more correct to consider it an expansion or development of Corbuisan architecture. The pure architectural space of early modernism that is so evident in Kim 's Pusan National University and Sogang University Administration Hall, which were constructed around the same time, has developed into an ambiguous duality, and his creativity beyond le Corbusier is most evident in the French Embassy building.

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MUNYE CENTER AND FINE ARTS CENTER, MARRONNIER PARK Kim Swoo-geun, Seoul, 1977-1979 When Seoul National University relocated to Mt. Kwanaksan, Kim Swoo-geun single-mindedly created a cultural mecca on the university's old campus. The buildings of the Munye Center and Fine Arts Center are unique in that they used bricks in traditional ways employing Kim's evermaturing design refinement. In addition, they are even more appreciated because they were created on a site that held precious memories for many people; it was achieved with the addition of the former Seoul National University Administration Hall (architect, Park Kil-yong) and two marronnier trees.

Through his work, Kim Swoo-geun reminds us of the "preciousness of living with life's values in the tiring streets of Seoul."

clear expression of function. In addition, like a Renaissance craftsman, he maintains the concept of practicing classical architecture.

If the Samil building, the work of Kim Chung-up, who had a similar spirit, is close to being a copy of the Seagram Building in New York, Kimm Jong-soung 's Hyosung Building features architectural values as a variation of Miesian architecture adjusted to his own taste.

OLYMPI C ATHLETES VILLAGE APARTMENTS Woo Kyu-sung, Seoul, 1988

HYOSUNG BUILDING Kimmjong-soung, Seoul, 1975

Like Mies van der Rohe and other pioneers of modernism, Kimm Jong-soung created architecture with advanced technology, employing an objective approach based on science. His architectural works are characterized by efficiency, transparency, flexibility, and

In Korea, the construction of apartment buildings began with the building of the Mapo Apartments in downtown Seoul in the early 1960s. Apartments now account for more than 50 percent of Korea's residential architecture. However, we have yet to see the development and acceptance of a true form of our own. It may be because apartments have

not been considered as simply housing, but rather as objects of real estate speculation, an asset easy to turn into profit.

Although each apartment unit can be seen as having been developed by adapting it to our lifestyle, from the viewpoint of multifamily housing, the apartment has regressed from the Panp'o AID apartments, imported as a completely predesigned work in the 1970s.

The Olympic Athletes Village Apartments complex is practically the first attempt in multifamily housing in Korea to look at apartments as more than a simple assembly of housing units and consider the outside space as part of the living environment. Even if the fan-like arrangement of the apartment buildings and their peculiar shape are a result of the design limitations of our times, the beauty of the skyline, gradually mounting against the backdrop of Namhansans6ng Fortress, is a delightful encounter between the contours of the land and the architecture.

HAKDONG SUJOLDANG Seung Hchioh-sang, Seoul, 1993 At one time, we wanted to live in a "picture-perfect house on that green grass" like the ones in pictures adorning the walls of barbershops. Befitting Nam ]in's hit song of the same title, in the 1970s urban residential areas were filled with "French-style houses," though they were a far cry from the real thing. This fashionable trend, based on blind pursuit of Western culture however aberrant it may be, broke up our traditional communities because they were intended more to show off rather than to live in, which led to the dehumanization of communities and the loss of our neighbors.

It was amid such a development that Seung Hchioh-sang created Hakdong Sujoldang by borrowing from traditional Korean housing forms to create a modern type of urban housing. Furthermore, the "aesthetics of poverty" achieved

from this work is a great accomplishment that defines the ethical direction of our times.

SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIVERSITY SUWON CAMPUS Yoon Seung-joong and Byun Young, Suwon, Kyonggi-do, 1980

Yoon Seung-joong and Byun Young envisioned the Suwon campus of Sungkyunkwan University as a "city" for education and research, and thus organized all the buildings and spaces into an urban system. All the roads, plazas and buildings on the campus are linked as if they are parts of an organism, making all the spaces, both inside and outside, integral to the university experience. The beauty of the campus is that it is functionally organized according to diagonal pedestrian areas or activity corridors, resulting in the synchronization of buildings and space.

Yoon and Byun created an architectural landmark, as compared to past college campuses which were merely an assemblage of separate buildings.

YANGJAE 287-3 ¡ Joh Sung-yong, Seoul, 1991 A building cannot stand alone in the city. Therefore our ideal architecture should be based on a complete harmony between the architecture and the city, as reflected in the saying, "an architecture fused in a city, and a city fused in architecture." For a while, because of the subdivision of academic studies, architecture and urban planning were treated as separate fields, and due to academic self-interests, the gap between the two deepened. It had long been forgotten 29

that a city is not formed all at once, but develops around various individual elements including architectural structures.

Joh Sung-yong has dedicated himself to restoring the organic relationship between the city and its architecture.

With Yangjae 287-3, he connected the roads of the city with its architecture, linking the arteries of the city, the living being, with the tiny blood vessels of the architecture, the cells, to give life to the whole. This work has become a model for other architects attempting to transform the city into a healthy living being such as Seung Hchioh-sang who created the Culture Space in Tongsung-dong, Chung Guyon who designed the Muae Building, and Yi Jong-ho who created the Metaa Building.

KOOKMIN LIFE INSURANCE MIRAEWON Kim Tai-soo, Yongin, Kyonggi-do, 1997 This building, a training center for the Kookmin Life Insurance Company, is an almost perfect work of architecture created by Kim Tai-soo, a veteran architect. Speaking about Kim Tai-soo's work, architect Lee Sang-hun said: "The images invoked by Kim Tai-soo's architecture are subtle, not radical. He pursues a restrained and typified architecture of perfection, rather than creative, demonstrative architecture. He considers the details, the proportions and the use of materials more important than the architectural discourse."

Kim Tai-soo's architecture is typical of the second-generation architects of modern architecture who practice the modernism to the letter.

SEOUL ARTS CENTER MUSIC HALL

Kim Seok-chul, Seoul, 1988 We can all remember the refreshing shock that Hans Scharoun gave us by merging the stage and the audience in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. He noted: "The idea for this architectural work came from the concept of a concert rather than from formal aesthetics. The playing of music and experiencing it takes place in a single space."

Kim Seok-chul understood this nature of the music hall, and used it successfully to create the Seoul Arts Center Music Hall. In a space as precisely organized as a machine, the conductor, musicians and audience come together to enjoy music that is freshly created at that very moment.

We are now standing at the threshold of a new millennium. We cannot deny the duality of architecture; it has been dictated mostly by economic considerations, which was necessary for development, yet at the same time it was the relentless mastermind for destroying our land and the environment. It is hoped that the era of the past 50 years, in which daily life was dominated by politics and economics, will come to an end, with the new era being a period of wisdom in which daily life is shaped by culture.

To create architectural works befitting such a period of wisdom, architects will have to pursue the coexistence of human beings and nature, while recognizing the inherent values of nature and the limitations of growth. Architecture will be redefined by cultural sensibilities. I am confident that this will be possible thanks to our beautiful natural environment, our ancestors' outstanding architectural legacy, our advancements in science and technology, our accumulated economic power, and a philosophy based on a firm sense of identity which is already thriving. + 31

FOCUS

KOREAN DESIGN

an Choi Dae-suk Professor, Industrial Design Department, Hong Ik University

esign is but the essence of culture. It is thus no simple task to introduce or to understand the design aesthetics of a nation, as design is a process of creating culture.

To do so would require a familiarity of what makes the nation's culture unique and its people different. Throughout history and all over the world, wherever there are people, there is civilization, and wherever there is civilization there is design. In fact, the very way that

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people conduct their daily lives is itself an act or process of design. It follows, then, that design is an innate cultural trait unique to humans.

To understand the past, present and future of Korean design, it is necessary to understand the cultural identity of the Korean people and how they have lived their lives throughout history.

However, we tend to form perceptions of a country or culture on the basis of a couple of visits, through its architecture and public facilities, or else from

contact with its people, books and locally made products. From these impressions, we go on to assess the level of design in that country. This is not to say that such perceptions are necessarily off base, but merely that they are derived from simple, often superficial, observations. On the other hand, they may be very much on the mark Indeed, it is possible to discern much about the level of advancement of a country's design aesthetic or sensibility

from not only its architecture and urban environment, but also from such visual cues as the type of cars seen on its streets, as well as the fashions worn by its people. Design is so inextricably linked to a nation's industrial development that industrial design itself has emerged as a growth industry in advanced economies. Today, industrial design is not only a showcase for industry, but increasingly the key to strengthening industry's competitiveness.

Korean design in the most basic sense can be traced back to thousands of years before the birth of Christ to when Koreans as a distinct ethnic group began to settle the reg ion.

Artifacts from this period are still being uncovered from sites across the country. In terms of function, form and ornamentation, the tools, utensils and articles fashioned by early Koreans are surprisingly elegant and sophisticated.

Culture flourished during the Three Kingdoms period (1st century B.C.-A.D. 7th century), propelling design to new heights of refinement and excellence.

Although few relics from that period

remain today, we can glean from cave paintings from the Koguryo Kingdom in the northern part of the country that Koguryo design was progressive and powerful, befitting a society of horse-riding nomads who boldly ventured about without any attachment to the land. In contrast, the fertile, cultivated plains of the Paekche Kingdom in the southwestern region of the peninsula gave rise to a rich and mellow culture. Paekche designs were characterized by a sense of harmony, optimism, and feminine grace. Neighboring Shilla in the southeast was the last of the three kingdoms to be established, but far from being a backward culture, it was able to not only assimilate characteristics of its neighbors, but also ultimately establish a unique, refined culture of its own, as evidenced by its mural paintings, sculptures and implements.

During the Unified Shilla period (660-935) that emerged after Shilla conquered its neighboring kingdoms with the help of Tang China, culture took on a more cosmopolitan flavor, especially with the inflow of Chinese influ-

Throughout history and all over the world, wherever there are people, there is civilization, and wherever there is civilization there is design. In fact, the very way that people conduct their daily lives is itself an act or process of design.

It follows, then, that design is an innate cultural trait unique to humans.

The two paintings both depict lotus flowers and clouds, but the one on the left is characterized by the energy of Koguryo's dynamism, whereas the one on the right exudes the feminine elegance of Paekche.

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The Buddha at the center of SOkkuram Grotto, a representative masterpiece of the Unified Shilla period (above). Mid-8th century, Unified Shilla, National Treasure No. 24 (height: 326m) Opposite page: This undecorated white porcelain jar embodies the scholarly spirit and frugality of the Choson Dynasty. 15th century Choson (height: 362cm)

ences. Despite such a wide diversity of influences, the culture of Unified Shilla was wholly unique and distinguishable.

As in ancient Greece, the balanced proportions of the human body were revered as an aesthetic marvel; however, the people of Unified Shilla preferred more realistic, natural representations over artificial forms. Under the highly stratified structure of the Kory6 Dynasty (918-1392), a powerful aristocracy propelled culture to new heights of artistry and technique, as seen in the 34

design and execution of intricate inlay patterns involving such diverse media as bronze, mother-of-pearl, and celadon.

The level of skill and refinement of Kory6 design indicates that the aristocratic and literati classes were not only sophisticated but also possessed a keen aesthetic sensibility. Creativity and artistry were able to flourish in Kory6 society to such a notable extent largely because of Buddhism. A telling example of the extraordinary license which artists enjoyed in Kory6 society is the

fact that although celadon was Kory6's most brilliant achievement and that the name itself suggests a cool green-blue color, no two celadon pieces are exactly the same in color. This suggests that not only was uniformity not a primary concern, but true to their Korean nature, Kory6 artists adhered to an unfettered naturalism. Toward the end of the 14th century, as Confucianism superseded Buddhism as the predominant thought and political philosoply, the culture of the ensuing Chos6n Dynasty (1392-1910) shifted to a simpler, more pragmatic sentiment. The brilliance of Kory6 celadon gave way to the clean lines of Chos6n paekcha, or white porcelain, and the rough hewn charm of punch '6ng ware.

Perhaps nowhere was this focus on austerity more apparent than in the living quarters of the literati class. Thanks to the ondol system whereby rooms were heated by underground flues, Koreans slept, ate and worked on the floor. Thus, the furniture of the period was noted for its simple, graceful design and beautiful grain of wood, while virtually eschewing showy ornamentation.

Confucian scholars prescribed to an ideal of asceticism and frugality, which was manifested in the sarangbang, the quarters of the male head of the house, by its absence of the artificial or superfluous. However, this naturalism was not limited to the male quarters. In everything from the furniture to white ceramic ware, Koreans appreciated the beauty of nature by using natural materials and preserving their basic character as much as possible. For example, clothing was made from hemp or cotton, with no adornment.

On the other hand, the fact that women's articles, such as the large squares of cloth used to wrap and transport bundles known as pojagi, were so beautiful testifies to the ingenuity and high level of artistry of Chos6n women. Despite the strictures of a frugal, male-dominated, Confucian

household, women managed to save enough scraps of silk to use for embroidery. Their needlework and use of color showed extraordinary sophistication. It is evident, then, that Korean design has always reflected not only the characteristics of society itself but of nature as well, creating a unique and recognizable motif.

Despite myriad changes in Korean design, which remained intact from the prehistoric age to the Chason Dynasty, Korean people's traditional sense of aesthetics-a human scale, living quarters and furnishings that are in harmony with nature, and all her things created by conforming to the natural environment-make up the identity and originality of Korean design.

Modern design in Korea has its roots in the start of modernization in 1876.

However, it may be more accurate to say that modern design only really came into its own in the 1960s as the country embarked on its push toward industrialization. Recognizing the importance of design in an export-oriented economy such as Korea's, the government adopted the slogan "Exporting Art" and established the Korea Design Center in 1965. The following year, the government organized the Korea Industrial Design Exhibition, an annual event that is still held today.

Through such activities, the government has been actively promoting the design industry, as well as raising public awareness about the importance of design among the general public and other business sectors. However, in the early stages of Korea's industrialization process, government policy focused mainly on utilizing the abundant lowcost labor. This policy began to shift direction as the government realized that it could no longer rely on cheap manpower to be competitive. The public began to recognize that the only way to overcome higher domestic wages and trade barriers overseas was to design high-quality, high value-added items. Accordingly, the government

responded by designating 1990 as the "Year of Design" while also stepping up other promotional efforts. Not all of these policies were successful, however. Because Korea's industrialization process was so rapid, the importance of design did not truly permeate the public consciousness, whether on the government level or among the business community. Moreover, design must become a part of everyday life, in that its purpose is to improve the quality of life. But in Korea, the concept of design has been limited to strengthening the competitiveness of industrial products.

This mind-set is gradually changing amid emerging efforts to establish an identity for Korean design and ongoing discussions about the future direction of Korean design.

Indeed, with the 21st century fast approaching, it is time for a new paradigm for design. Until the 1980s, design in Korea was largely a matter of copying or improvising European or American designs. However, as the general public as well as businesses have become increasingly aware of the importance of design, they have come to view design as an indispensable means of making products more attractive. The government has designated the design sector as a promising intellectual industry for the 21st century and is implementing various measures to bolster its growth. In order to promote awareness of the design revolution among private industry, the government will hold the annual Industrial Design Promotion Exhibition under the auspices of the office of the president, and the Korea Millennium Product Expo to facilitate the design of highly innovative and creative products for the coming century. Other plans include encouraging 35

Modern designs seek to embody both regional flavors and globalizing trends.

From the top: "Frog" (1996), a cassette player for children featuring frog characters; "Ammon" (1997), an audio set.

TV Oasis (1997), provides a sense of comfort and a lyrical ambience by combining a TV set and a potted plant (below).

Opposite page: Ahha Free, a combination clock and cassette player with a base that functions as a recharger

small businesses to move away from manufacturing licensed (OEM) products to developing their own brands by identifying the top ten most promising export items, while expanding the design sector's infrastructure by establishing networks and databases to increase the availability of design information and industry news. Also , regional design centers will be set up to enco urage venture capitalists to invest in design-intensive businesses.

All over the world, in fact, design professionals are busy preparing for the new millennium. In Korea, preparations are underway for several internation al events planned for 2000 and 2001. Design Vision 21 is sponsoring two major events. The first is the "ASEM III Designer Special Exhibition" in 2000, in which young designers from Europe and Asia will be invited

to work together on specific design projects over the Internet, and then exhibit the results of their collaborative efforts. Design themes include Transportation, Information and Communications, Recyc ling and Reusing, Community Space, Fashion and Identity, and New Materials. The Designer site has been launched in accordance with a joint declaration issued by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Korean President Kim Daejung. The exhibition itself will be held during the third ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) summit to be hosted by Seoul in 2001.

The second event is the 2000 Icograda (In tern a tiona! Council of Graphic Design Associations) special congress that will focus on the future and vision of design, to be held in the fall of 2000. The Icograda Millennium Congress will include five separate events: an academic conference which will discuss graphic design in the 21st century as well as the new "ou llim" design movement; an exhibition ¡open to both design professionals and the general public, which will allow member nations to display works of outstand ing design, and otherwise promote their design capabilities; the Design Summit Conference, in which representatives from both member and non-member nations will be invited to

Design is so inextricably linked to a nation's industrial development that industrial design itself has emerged as a J

growth industry in advanced economies.

Today, industrial design is not only a showcase for industry, but increasingly the key to strengthening industry's competitiveness.

36

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share their views on design education, which will culminate in the signing of the Seoul Design Education Declaration; a poster biennale which will be not only a showcase for each member nation's cultural values and identity in poster form, but a venue for the exchange of ideas and information; and local tours for Congress delegates to visit a variety of events throughout the provinces designed to promote cities outside of Seoul as attractive tourist destinations, and to boost awareness of their cultural uniqueness.

The "Millennium Design Expo," which will open in 2001, will offer visitors fresh interpretations of the way we will live in the future. This megaevent, which is being sponsored by Korea's major conglomerates, design groups, and government agencies, will encompass six exhibition halls. The 21st Century Cultural Products Hall will feature a millennium exhibition of cultural products from various nations designed for the new millennium; an exhibition of concept cars and "art cars"; environmental products; an exhibjtion of products designed for the physically-challenged; fashion collections; a collection of works by famous environmental designers; and a collection of world-famous designs on loan from museums. The Design Cultural Hall will present an exhibition of products, fashions, and environmental designs which incorporate the Korean flag; displays of promotional materials and designs which highlight their national image; an exhibit which will demonstrate how Korean traditions and values have been updated in modern designs; an exhibition of native designs of various regions of Korea as well as samplings of their local cuisine; and the "oullim" exhibition, on the subject of future unification.

The Information and Communications Hall will offer visitors a vision of the future. Sponsored by computer and telecommunications businesses, the telecommunications booth will feature

automated pets, simultaneous translation devices, pen computers and other futuristic products. The products of the future booth will feature designs for the purpose of establishing a database of designers, products, and product categories from each nation, as well as an exhibition of a "creativity" database.

The future living section will include works by Asian and European designers who worked together through the Internet, and a so-called international cybermart which will introduce design firms from all over the world. In the Virtual Reality Hall, visitors will be able to experience firsthand the wonders of virtual reality, sleight of hand created by visual multimedia techniques. The "edutainment" exhibition will showcase games that combine education and entertainment.

In the Multimedia Hall, visitors will be able to see the production process and software applications for printing characters for stationery items and toys. There will also be an animation exhibition and another for producing digital music CDs and media that combine audio, video and text. W oddfamous video artist Nam June Paik will also participate in the media art exhibition The Education Hall will feature educational programs that utilize the

Internet or TV, and works of design students from colleges and universities around the world, while Korean schools with design programs will have their own information corner.

There will also be a job fair and competitions in various categories for student works, such as posters.

The other major event planned for 2001, which has been designated the "Year of Design," is the "ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) 2001 Seoul."

Designers from the 54 member nations and 155 design associations will gather to discuss their visions for the future of design, and the new values to which design must aspire, along with related topics. The congress will be held in conjunction with the Millennium Design Expo in which each member nation will have an information booth.

With numerous activities being planned to mark the beginning of the new millennium, it is hoped that these events will serve to vault Korea into a world-class center of design.

The world may indeed be becoming a global village. But directions in design point to diversity, rather than uniformity, and at the same time globalism and localism are working together to shape design trends. This, too, is the case in Korea. + 37

THE 20TH CENTURY IN RE T ROSP ECT

Industrialization of

the Korean Economy ACHIEVEMENTS AND REFLECTIONS LeeKyu-uck Professor of Economics Ajou University

One of the basic flaws in the Korean economy was that even though government regulation was imposed upon virtually all economic sectors, the institutional mechanisms of its market structure were both imperfect and incomplete. The hand of government regulation was present throughout the entire process spanning the foundation, growth and decline of enterprises. As a result, successes and failures of businesses did not depend on their competitiveness in the free market. Resources were inefficiently distributed and the overall sense of economic equity suffered.

38

ince the mid-1960s, Korea has enjoyed an extended period of high economic growth nearly unprecedented in the history of the world. Within a single generation, the country has escaped the vicious circle of poverty while achieving modern industrialization. Particularly since the 1980s, the Korean economic development model has become a classic case study for developing countries seeking to emulate its dynamic results. Korea has successfully emerged as a semiadvanced nation, elevating its position within the world economy to the point where it is widely expected, both at home and abroad, to take its place among the advanced nations. Korea's entrance into the OECD is one example of this trend.

However, recent economic circumstances, due to a financial crisis that began in late 1997, resulting in IMF oversight, have completely altered this perception of the Korean economy.

Although the nation's economy is now firmly on the track to recovery, at the height of the crisis per capita income plunged from above $10,000 to $6,000 because of the drastic depreciation of the Korean currency. Then can it be assumed that Korea's economic "mira-

de" was a mere bubble? The answer to this question is both "yes" and "no." To the extent that occasional shifts in exchange rates do not accurately reflect the actual condition of the Korean economy as seen from a longterm perspective, the answer to the question would have to be a qualified "no." Although there may have been some inaccuracies and overstatements in terms of statistical data, it is indisputable that the Korean economy did achieve amazing growth. On the other hand, even if it is assumed that the Asian economic crisis directly contribu.ted to volatile movements in international monetary markets, it must be said that on the flipside of Korea's economic success, numerous deficiencies and contradictions had accumulated over time, finally erupting when the crisis hit. For this reason, one would also have to answer "yes" to the question.

Viewed from this perspective, instead of focusing on quantitative assessments of the Korean economy, we should now attempt to clarify its developmental path so as to identify the structural factors behind its prior successes and failures. By doing so, we should be able to derive lessons that would be valuable not only for deter-

mining the future of the Korean economy but for other countries as well.

Thus, I will first discuss the process of growth that the Korean economy has undergone. While accenting its structural peculiarities, I will search for reasons related to the recent economic crisis and attempt to advocate a basic framework for economic reform.

tive strength. In order to stimulate this sector, the government actively encouraged the introduction of foreign capital and technology. In an effort to enhance the policy's effectiveness, entrance regulations were enforced under which designated industries received financial backing and tax concessions. To counter the inflationary pressures resulting from this expansion-oriented growth policy, the government also implemented a system of direct price controls.

High economic growth is often

The Route of Korea's Economic Development As part of its economic rehabilitation policy from the period following the Korean War to the early 1960s, Korea focused on import substitution of nondurable consumer goods.

However, it soon encountered the economic limitations of its shallow domestic market and insufficient capital resources. In 1962, after several years of economic stagnation, the government pushed forward an economic development blueprint centered around an ambitious five-year plan. In accordance with this, it established macro-economic benchnarks related to economic growth, exports and Shipbuilding is one of the main industries that goods produced while sethelped to boost the Korean economy which was ting up goals and support virtually destroyed by the Korean War. measures for targeted strateaccompanied by labor unrest, disparigic industries. Mindful of the example of Japan, an economically backward ties in income distribution and environnation that had successfully modernmental degradation. In Korea, however, ized itself, Korea set out to adopt a these problems did not surface during strategy of a big push forward. By the 1960s and 1970s, mainly because of doing so, it sought to mobilize the critia general sense that the national goal of cal minimum capacity necessary to high-speed economic growth was catch up with semi-developed nations. being realized and thus any negative In Korea, this shift in policy ushered in side effects of development were a tradition of heavily interventionist deemed justifiable. This attitude, which fit in so well with authoritarian rule, government.

The economic plan called for an prevented political democracy from outward-looking development strategy. developing along with economic Its essential framework involved proadvancement. moting labor-intensive manufacturing, This government-led growth policy an area where Korea boasted comparacontinued into the 1970s without any

significant change, although government intervention in the selection and support of companies investing in strategic industries became somewhat more visible. With its 1973 policy calling for investment in heavy-chemical industries, the government allowed a handful of corporations to establish monopolies or oligopolies in industries such as shipbuilding, automobiles, steel, non-ferrous metals and petrochemicals.

This was done in order to achieve economies of scale despite the limited domestic market. This period solidified the foundation of the diversified business groups known as chaebol. The hothouse growth of enterprises protected from domestic and foreign competition led to an accelerated movement toward big businesses and huge . conglomerates amidst increased com petition for limited resources.

Based on past economic experience, it has generally been observed that if large enterprises are to succeed, they must develop large-scale production plants and accumulate adequate resources to ensure economies of scale while expanding the distribu. tion channels and organizational capabilities necessary for selling their products. Korea's large companies invested in all these areas.

Even so, during its industrialization process, Korea sorely lacked proprietary technology, a situation that had to be overcome in order for the nation to enjoy long-term growth.

From the early 1970s, the Korean economy began to show signs of fatigue-a situation exacerbated by two crude oil shocks. The first shock, which occurred in 1974, was overcome with relatively little difficulty as a result of adjustments in organization and industrial structure that had been undertaken in the previous year. Even so, the 39

extensive implementation of direct price controls became necessary in order to prevent runaway inflation.

The subsequent oil shock of 1979 left deep scars on a Korean economy weakened by deficient market mechanisms and an expansion-first growth policy.

In the mid-1980s, the government actively promoted deregulation and liberalization in an attempt to address the structural problems of the Korean economy. First, it enacted dramatic reductions in import barriers in order

stered by the so-called three lows-low interest rates, low exchange rates and low oil prices-which laid the foundation for the long-term growth that extended from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.

For Koreans, who had become accustomed to high growth for over 20 years, the stabilization policy of the early 1980s was a bitter pill to swallow.

Nonetheless, such policy could be maintained through the coerciveness of an authoritarian government. As numerous groups and strata through-

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The Korean economy, which had been developing at a h igh speed, was dealt a major blow by the oil shocks in the 1970s.

to liberalize the domestic economy and enhance competitiveness. At the same time, it drastically curtailed various forms of support for the heavy-chemical industrial sectors. It also promoted liberalization in the financial sector with such measures as the privatization of state-owned banks. Another distinguishing feature of economic policy from this period was the transition from a growth-centered policy to a stability-oriented emphasis. The new policy direction was generally successful: inflation was quelled; there was a surplus in the current account balance; and the momentum for growth was maintained. This performance was bol40

out Korean society began to vent their dissatisfaction and demands leading up to and in the aftermath of the 1988 democratization movement, the government that came to power through democratic elections yielded to public pressure in abandoning the stabilization policy, thus returning to a focus on economic expansion.

Whereas the shift in Korea's macroeconomic policy during the 1980s can be described as "stability-oriented," the shift in its microeconomic policy was characterized by stimulation of competition. The Fair Trade Act implemented in 1981 aimed to establish a competitive market structure along with a free and

fair system of business transactions in lieu of direct government intervention in the market as characterized by the previous price regulation. At the same time, the government's commitment to deregulation became stronger.

Such efforts achieved varying results, but these soon became insignificant due to the lack of effective leadership and various other problems. A mutually beneficial relationship had formed during the prior three decades between the regulatory bureaucracy and related businesses. Consequently, the curtailment or abolition of these vested interests was fervently opposed.

Government civil servants, businessmen and consumers had long since become inured to regulation. Because values appropriate to a free-market economy could not be nurtured, it was not easy for institutional reform to take root, while market mechanisms were not mature enough to fill the vacuum created by the removal of government regulation. As a result, in many of the sectors where regulations were relaxed, unsound management and widespread inefficiency proliferated. The Korean economy had reached the point where structural reforms were required, but no one was prepared to face up to bankruptcy and unemployment-the unavoidable consequences of such reforms. In order to overcome these difficulties in a democratic manner, persuasion, adjustment and consistent implementation were needed, but the government lacked the political expertise to achieve this.

By the end of 1997, the destructive force of all these factors culminated in Korea's financial crisis. Regardless of where one wishes to place the blame for the economic meltdown, the crisis clearly brought Korea's legendary economic growth to a screeching halt. In the end, the crisis cannot be blamed on a few economic bureaucrats and corporate heads. To the contrary, it represented the cumulative successes and failures of the overall Korean economy.

Structural Causes of the Financial Crisis and Response Measures As previously stressed, one of the basic flaws in the Korean economy was that even though government regulation was imposed upon virtually all economic sectors, the institutional mechanisms of its market structure were both imperfect and incomplete.

The hand of government regulation was present throughout the entire process spanning the foundation, growth and decline of enterprises. As a result, successes and failures of businesses did not depend on their competitiveness in the free market. Resources were inefficiently distributed and the overall sense of economic equity suffered. Waste resulted from rent-seeking activities under unnecessary regulations and restricted competition as government-business collusion flourished.

This situation can also be seen as the natural outgrowth of the interventionist, authoritarian political regime, which had existed during the Korean economy's rapid development. As the nondemocratic government was propped up by its apparent economic success, there was an emphasis on results under which the ends justified the means.

Within such a context, personal freedom and a just economic order could not progress. The government's regulations and resource allocation tended to be carried out according to political discretion rather than any rule of law.

Initially, this reinforced government's control of businesses, but it eventually led to a strengthening of businesses' hand in terms of their ability to manipulate government policies to their benefit. Particularly in the case of the leading conglomerates, an economic downturn threatened a chain-reaction of bankruptcies among their subsidiaries.

A moral hazard which resulted from the fact that the government would not let this happen, permeated into the management of these enterprises because if any of these giants fell, they were sure to cause a major quake

when they hit the ground. In effect, the government lost its ability to impose a consistent policy in regard to the conglomerates. Because the chaebol were effectively immune to bankruptcy, the ultimate regulatory mechanism of a market economy, there was no way to clear out the dead wood to make way for new growth.

During this period, the government got involved in such issues as labormanagement disputes, which should have been handled by business itself.

Acting from a shortsighted perspective,

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stopgap measures aimed at heading off the latest crisis. In the end, it was unable to ensure the basic welfare of the overall labor movement, which consisted of both existing and newly formed labor unions.

Korea 's economic growth was fueled by its financial industry.

However, as part of the process of promoting growth, the government took over direct ownership and control of financial institutions in order to regulate business enterprises. As the initial stages of development were surpassed,

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The high-speed economic growth accompanied many problems that set the stage for the 1997 financial crisis.

it intervened and settled disputes, increasing the private sector's dependency on the government. Because the government responded selectively to the actions of labor and management according to its own discretion, a fair and objective rule of law could not be established. After the labor movement was liberalized and the limited measures for preventing strikes were repealed, any efforts to introduce flexibility into the labor market naturally aroused opposition from labor unions.

The government found itself intervening even in individual labor disputes, entering negotiations for the sake of getting involved while coming up with

the bureaucratic governance of financial institutions undermined the autonomy of the financial system and spawned negligent management. Amid the moral hazard of financial institutions, Korean conglomerates found it relatively easy to procure the capital to fund their expansion and diversify their business sectors. On the other hand, the amount of non-performing loans mounted steadily. Rudimentary corporate management along with low profitability kept businesses from developing competitive strength. As Korean financial institutions gradually became more exposed to competition and liberalization, they were clearly lag41

ging behind international institutions in terms of financial structure and management and thus extremely susceptible to external shocks. This situation contributed to the recent financial disaster.

The government that took office in the midst of this financial crisis accepted the high interest rates and austerity measures called for by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) as it searched for a new paradigm to guide Korea's economy. Among its initial attempts to revive the economy, the government sought to create a channel

induced foreign capital via the establishment of joint ventures with foreign investors. It also eased restrictions on holding companies in order to support the active restructuring of conglomerates; for example, the breakup and disposition of sectors unrelated to the conglomerates' main business lines. At the same time, it encouraged mergers and swaps among conglomerates (the socalled big deals) in an effort to eliminate excess facilities and develop specialized expertise in core industries.

Moreover, the government supported work-out deals for the normalization of

Labor, management and the government formed a committee to help build consensus for reform efforts.

of dialogue for labor, employers and the government to reach consensus on labor-related issues. At the same time, the administration actively carried out comprehensive financial reforms and restructuring of the conglomerates while promoting measures to enhance the transparency of businesses and seeking to attract increased investment from foreigners.

In particular, the government eliminated cross-payment loan guarantees between subsidiary companies of the same conglomerate in order to suppress excessive expansion based on debt financing. On the other hand, it 42

operations of certain near-insolvent businesses.

With widespread popular support, the measures implemented since 1998 in response to the economic crisis gained considerable momentum, but they did include certain aspects that were irrational or had not been sufficiently reviewed. At present, numerous policy directives are being undertaken which have yielded noteworthy initial results. However, at this point in time, Korea needs to take a closer look at the logical and practical validity of each policy directive while ensuring that they are properly coordinated.

Conclusion

The financial crisis that struck at the end of 1997 has made us all poignantly aware that Korea, which has long enjoyed high economic growth, must now select a new paradigm for the management of its economy.

Hereafter, it must travel a new road away from the trodden path of the past. For this to be successful, all economic players, beginning with the government, must be firmly committed to reform, based on an accurate analysis of the previous practices that brought about the crisis.

However, policies must not be forced through or implemented in a haphazard manner for the sake of "economic restructuring." That is to say, short-range political considerations should not blind the government to economic rationale. Businesses and labor, instead of clinging to their shortsighted self-interests, must not forget the truism that overall enhancement of the economy is, in the final analysis, intrinsically linked to their individual welfare over the long term. Avoiding emotionally biased judgments concerning economic realities and government policies, all economic players must adopt a rational "market mind-set" appropriate to a free market economy.

If Korea fulfills each of these needs in a. timely manner, its economy will soon enough be on the path to renewed growth. The secret to Korea's economic growth lies in the perseverance and creativity of its people, the government's commitment to economic reform, corporations' willingness to take investment risks and their responsiveness to a fast-changing economic environment. The nation's hidden strengths remain intact. The economic crisis has exposed and helped to eliminate the contradictions and negative by-products that accumulated during Korea's rapid economic expansion.

Now Korea's economy stands poised to move forward with a new dynamism. +

TRADITIONAL ARTISAN

YunTokjin FIFTY YEARS OF MAKING DRUMS Lee Hyoung-kwon Director, Cultural Heritage Research Institute

The secret of the Korean drum lies in its yin-yang combination. The dark, thick-leathered head makes the yin sound, while the light, thin-leathered head makes the yang sound.

ong the musical instrunents used by people, the drum is said to be the oldst and most primitive. rom the days when cave people fought with torches, the drum was used to stir up emotions, and it had the unique power to make its listeners' hearts pound.

In Korean history, there are even tales about the sound of drums.

A

"Chamyonggo (The Self-sounding Drum)" is a sad tale about the love between Princess Naknang and Prince Hodong, and "Shinmun-go (The Heralding Drum)" features a drum used by commoners to let the king know about wrongful deeds. The drums in these stories involved more than producing a sound from a simple leather instrument.

No musical instrument is more

familiar and universal than the drum.

Every ethnic group on earth has distinct drums of their own. The Korean people are no exception; they have over 23 varieties. There is, for example, the chulbuk for the farmers' dance; soribuk for accompanying singers; ch'umbuk for dancers; p6pgo for use at temples deep in the mountains; masanggo for performing on horseback; chwago for accompanying the 43

Drum making (from the top left to the opposite page): Pine wood is cut into slats; slats are fitted together to form a barrel; the outer surface of the drum body is trimmed round; the barrel is covered with cloth; each end of the barrel is covered with a piece of tanned leather; the leather covering is pulled tight with leather strings; repeating the process of stepping on the leather to loosen it and pulling it back even more to increase its tautness; the leather is finally attached to the barrel with nails; a completed drum.

This 150-year-old drum (below) and a 100year-old one (bottom) are Yun Chongkuk's prized family heirlooms that attest to his family's four-generation-long history of drum making.

44

rites at the royal ancestral shrine; and yonggo for the trad itional military band called taech wit'a. These are all uniqu e in strum e nt s im b u ed with Korean culture and history.

However, in the wake of modernization, man y of these drums are no longer used and are thus becoming a forgotten aspect of Korea 's cultural heritage, as Korean drum makers disappear one by one.

Nonetheless, there is one man w ho has dedicated his life to drum making as if it were his destin y. And it is thanks to him that we are able to keep alive the history of the various drums that have fallen into oblivion.

Yun Tok-jin, w ho has been designated Human Cultural Treasure No. 63, operates the Traditional Korean Drum Ma nufact uri ng Wo r ks h op fr o m a basement storage area in the Kuri City Cultural Center, nearby th e famous Tonggu Roy al To mb. He has been making drums for 50 years. With his rugged and serious appearance, at first glan ce, I could sense the stubborn determination that has enabled him to make drums all his life. As far as the drum is concerned, Yun has a philosophy of his ow n.

One of the first things that he told me w as that the sound of the drum is the sound of life. "A good drum stimulates emotions in everyone. A drum w ith a spirit can make a crying person laugh and a worried person move his shoulders w ith joy."

Yun has an ear for sound. When listening to a radio or TV performance, he can recognize the drums he has

made by their sound. He is n o less expert w hen it comes to discerning the drum sounds of China, Japan and Korea. According to him, the Chinese drum simply makes a lingering sound that lacks character, while the Japanese drum makes a shallow sound like a tin drum. He says that the sound of the Korean drum is alive and versatile, at times climbing rocky mountains, and at other times riding gently along the valleys. According to Yun, the secret of the Korean drum lies in its yin-yang combination. The dark, thick-leathered head makes the yin sound, while the light, thin-lea thered head makes the ya ng so und. He say s that a n cie nt Koreans never failed to balance the yin and yang w hen they made drums.

Yun says that finding the proper leather to make the head is of utmost importance in making a good drum.

He has made about 4,000 drums in the past. 50 years. He produced the large drum u se d during the 1988 Seo ul Ol y mpi c Ga m es, and m os t o f th e drums at the celebrated Buddhist temp les all over th e n a tion , including Pulg uk sa, Hae insa, T'ongd osa, a n d Naksansa. Of these, he has a special feeling for the large dragon drum at th e gran d th ea te r o f th e Na tio n al Th ea ter and th e shinm un -go ( th e drum, the symbol of the ombudsman of Korea) at the office of civil affairs and complaints at the Ombudsman of Korea.

A Scorned Profession Fro m long ago , Na ksa n ( n ow To ngs ung-dong) in Seo ul; Hado ng,

Kyongsangnam-do; Tamyang, Chollanam-do; Iksan, Chollabuk-do; and Yech'on, Kyoyngsangbuk-do were well-known for their drums. Yun 's family made drums in Hadong, Kyongsangnam-do.

Hadong became a center of drum production because it was renowned for ox leather, the most important material in drum making, and because it was close to Mt. Chirisan, where abundant linden and ash trees , a source of wood for the frames, could be found.

However, Yun's relationship with the drum was not a happy one. When he made his first drum his father spanked him. Yun had just turned seven years old. He grew up watching his father making drums, but when he wanted to learn the work, his father did not want to hand down the dreadful fate of being looked down upon as a leather handler.

Yet, there was no other alternative for making a living in the poor household. Yun learned to make drums by looking over his father's shoulder. One day when he flawlessly repaired a broken drum, his father finally relented and began teaching him the skills that had been handed down from generation to generation in their family.

"My father could make any drumthe drum for accompanying p'ansori, the chulbuk for farmers' dance, the shaman's drum, and even the noego and yonggo, the top-of-the-line drums used for royal ancestral rites. He was unusually strong, so he could make

even big drums for Buddhist temples on his own, whereas other drum makers had to have helpers."

Yun began to make drums in earnest when he was 22 years old. His family had moved to Sunch'on, and his father was dead , having been killed by a stray bullet during the Yosun Revolt. All his father left behind were his drum-making tools.

Yun took over his father's tools and work, supporting the famil y as the head of the household.

In 1950, when the Korean War broke out, Yun joined the Republic of Korea police because he was resentful of his father's death. During a shooting incident with armed guerrillas, however, he was wounded, and had to return to making drums as if it were his fate.

"These days, people's understanding of traditional culture has been renewed. I get orders from schools, temples and dance schools. The demand is enough that I don't have to be idle. But it's no way near what it was right after liberation." He reminisces that the boom years for drum making were immediately after the country was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and the military coup d'etat in 1961.

During the colonial period, the playing of drums was virtually silenced because the Japanese did not like their sound, but with liberation from Japanese rule, every village was eager to resume their farmers' bands, and the beating of drums could be heard across the nation.

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However, Yun had to go hungry. In fact, it was the hunger that was harder to endure than the discrimination he suffered as a drum maker.

"I didn't have a beggar's bowl, but I was no different from a beggar. I was lucky if I could gather arrowroot to boil into gruel, or eat gruel mixed with tough, dried vegetable leaves. Usually I would go without food, or beg for food. Sometimes I boiled scraps of leather left over from making drum heads to eat with soybean paste. It tasted good back then. It was the most delicious thing that I had ever eaten."

Drums did not sell during the days when he was experiencing such

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hunger. That was because people only play drums when they are full and happy, and when they are hungry, the sound of drums only makes them feel worse.

At any rate, Yun survived those difficult times and persevered with his drum making. Now he is the best artisan in his field. He can tell whether a drum is well-made by simply listening to its sound.

Passing on the Sound of the Drum Yun divided the drum-making process into leather handling and crafting wooden frames. He uses cow, horse and dog leather to make drum

heads and says that the best leather comes from five-year-old bulls.

Cow leather is thin, so it is used to make high-pitched drums. Rump leather is tough so it is used for court music drums. Neck leather is thick and makes a low sound, so it is used for drums to accompany singers. The belly part is soft and best for highpitched sounds and is therefore used to make drums for the monk's dance.

Yun believes that the expert drum maker must have a discerning eye as well as good leather handling skills.

As the expression, "first, drummer and second, singer" well illustrates, the drummer has a more important role

than the singer in a p'ansori performance. It goes without saying that behind every good drummer is a good drum maker. In particular, the Korean drum requires a delicate balancing of the yin and yang, so a good drum can be made only when the maker possesses a thorough understanding of the characteristics of sound.

The most difficult part of drum making is the tuning, which comes in the final stage of production. Only a person with an experienced ear can do it right. It cannot be solved by a certain formula; only those who are so experienced that they possess extraordinary skills are up to the task Yun

says th at when a drum does not sound right, his pride forces him to peel off the leather and start all over again.

Yun, who has dedicated his life to making drums whose sounds move the hearts of listeners, says that his relationship with the drum is the destiny of his family. His ancestors who, like butchers, were scorned because of their profession, must have soothed their bitter feelings with the sound of the drum. He says he feels he can understand their bittern ess, alb eit vaguely, only today after 50 years of making drums.

However, he is different from his

for ebears. He believes that it is his duty to take pride in his family's work and proudly pass it on to future generations, while relegating the resentment of his ancestors to history.

His workplace is a community of blood relatives, w hich includes his eldest son Yun Chong-kuk and two younger sons as well as his sons-inlaw. When I observe him pursuing the path of the lonely artisan with the tools that witnessed the joy and sadness of his ancestors, surrounded by his own family, I am overcome with the gladness that one feels when listening to the sound of a drum which stirs one's heart. +

The most difficult part of drum making is the tuning, which comes in the final stage of production. Only a person with an experienced ear can do it right. It cannot be solved by a certain formula; only those who are so experienced that they possess extraordinary skills are up to the task.

The Dragon Drum of the Nation a l Theater, which was used for the opening ceremony of th e 1988 Seou l Olympics, was made by Yun Tokiin (opposite page).

Clo ckwise from top: A dance drum used in sungmu, a traditional Buddhist dance; Yun Chon g-kuk is making dru ms following in his father's footsteps; unfinished drum barrels; chwago for a ccom panying the rites at the royal ancestral shrine.

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The Songjusa site (above) over which an image of Buddha stands vigil together with many pagodas.

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fame rapidly when it was discovered that the mud from its mud flats was especially valuable for skin-care applications. Mudpacks made from this mud enjoy widespread popularity. The mud from Pory6ng, which is exposed to high levels of infrared rays, is rich in minerals, germanium and bentonite, an active ingredient in cosmetics effective for anti-aging and removal of dead skin.

In support of these developments, Much'angp'o, Chukdo and Taech'6n Beach were linked together and designated a special tourism zone in January 1997. There are only a few such special zones in Korea. The designation is limited to only areas of international renown that can attract visitors all year-round. Consequently, much construction has followed with the appearance of all manner of new facilities that have led to a steady increase in visitors to the areas.

Much'angp'o Beach is shaped like a horseshoe. With its fantastically rugged rock cliffs and lush pine forests, it exudes a peaceful ambience. For most of the year, Much'angp'o is a quiet fishing town, but when the sea parts, people come from all over the country to

walk on the sea path created by the Moses Miracle. The sea path begins at the shoreline and extends out to sea for some 15 kilometers, drawing an elegant C-shape in the direction of Soktaedo. People walk along this path to pick up clams, octopus and sea cucumbers left high and dry from the parted waters.

The sea usually remains parted for about two hours. During that time, tourists and residents of the area revel in the unique experience, which occurs once or twice every month, except in July. The parting of the sea starts when the difference in high and low tides is some 86 centimeters, depending on the wind conditions and ocean currents. To view the parting waters, it is best to arrive about one hour before the scheduled time. Last year some one million visitors came to see the "miracle" for themselves, with the railroad authorities operating a special "Moses Miracle Tourist Train" at least once a month.

Noteworthy Sites Around Muchangp'o Much'angp'o was a military base during the Chos6n Dynasty (1392-1910)

and thus there are several historical relics around the area. In particular, the site of the ancient Songjusa Temple and the sacred sites of martyrdom at Kalmaemot and Och'onsong are worth seeing.

The Songjusa temple site is situated in Mukbang village, Songju-ri, east of Taech'on. It can be reached by following the road to Puyo, through the Songju tunnel, and past the old mining town. Although the temple has since disappeared from long ago, traces of its grand pagodas and tombstones still remain, providing a clue to the temple's grandeur in its prime.

Songjusa, located on the site of the former Ohapsa Temple of Paekche, was built during the Unified Shilla period. Mt. Songjusan rises up behind the temple site to create a scene like that of a folding screen. The first thing one comes upon when entering the site is a large stone monument. The monument, the largest of its kind from the Shilla period, is over 5 meters in height with a turtle-shaped base engraved with a dragon design.

The monument is a memorial to Nanghye-hwasang, the founder of the temple. With a secular name of Kim, he was an eighth-generation descendent of T'aejong King Muyol and thus of "true-bone" lineage. His Buddhist name was Muryang and he was also called Saint Songju, while the title of Nanghye was conferred posthumously. Born in 801, during the second year of the reign of King Aejang, Nanghye went to study in Tang China and established Songjusa upon his return.

He died in 888, the second year of the reign of Queen Chinsong. The official name of the monument is Nanghyehwasang Paekwol-bokwang.

Although the engravings are outstanding, what makes the monument truly exceptional is the epitaph that was written by Ch'oe Ch'i-won, the most distinguished scholar of his time.

The epitaph, displaying Ch'oe's profound erudition, is one of the four

Along the West Coast, the Moses Miracle is a quite common phenomenon because of the dramatic differences in the level of high and low tides. But a simple parting of the seas does not turn just any place into a desirable tourist spot. There must be something more to attract crowds of visitors.

From the top: The sea at Much'angp'o regularly features the "Miracle of Moses" with the tides opening up to reveal the sea bottom. Kalmaemot, a Catholic shrine where the French priests of the Paris Foreign Mission were martyred. Some stone walls and an entryway are all that remain of Och'ons6ng, a fortress built during the Choson Dynasty.

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best-known epitaphs of Ch'oe. This epitaph is not only valuable to the study of Shilla history, but is also said to be the most superlative stone monument inscription known. The writing on the monument was performed by Ch'oe In-kwon, the preeminent calligrapher of his time and Ch'oe Ch'i-won's cousin.

The monument is designated National Treasure No. 8. Likewise, the five-story stone pagoda is Treasure No. 19, the central three-story pagoda Treasure No. 20, and the western threestory pagoda Treasure No. 47, while the eastern three-story pagoda has been designated a regional treasure.

Deeper into the mountains from

S6ngjusa, one comes to Paekunsa, which is worth a visit as well.

A visit to Kalmaemot in Pory6ng will reveal a notable chapter in Korea's history. Kalmaemot is where five Catholics were martyred during the anti-Catholic suppression of 1866. The five included Bishop Daveluy An and priests Aumaitre 0 , Huin Min, Joseph Chang Nak-so and Lucas Hwang S6kdu.

Daveluy An was the fifth bishop of the Chos6n Dynasty. Lucas Hwang S6k-du was the bishop's assistant, helping to translate the Bible and oversee records of the church.

The anti-Catholic suppression of 1866, called Py6ngin bakhae, came about when the Taewon-gun, King Kojong's prince regent, who was concerned about Russia 's southward 52

advance and request to open trade relations, enlisted the aid of France at the persuasion of a Korean Catholic.

However, when things did not turn out as planned, the Taewon-gun launched a full-scale persecution of Catholics.

Bishop Daveluy, unable to endure the ongoing persecution of his followers, sent a letter to priests 0 and Min suggesting that they surrender themselves in order to save their Catholic brethren. They did so and were arrested at Hapd6k, Kodo-ri, then taken to Seoul where they were severely tortured and sentenced to death.

However, because King Kojong was ill and the day of his wedding cereiS mony was approaching, it was ~ thought that to spill blood in ~ Seoul at such a time would be inauspicious. Therefore, the priests were taken to Kalmaemot in Pory6ng to be executed. Bishop An, who had come to Korea 21 years earlier as an assistant to the former bishop Bernuex Chang, was executed just 21 days after assuming the post of bishop of Chos6n parish. The five men who were martyred at Kalmaemot that day were recognized for their sacrifice by being entered on the order of saints on May 6,1984.

Kalmaemot is located at the seaside about 20 kilometers from Taech'6n. It can be reached by following Route 21 for 10 kilometers to a three-way intersection at Chup'o, and then going another 10 kilometers west. A monument has been erected there, extolling the sainthood of the priests. Kalmaemot is not only an obligatory pilgrimage destination for the Catholic faithful but also an important historical site.

In Sos6ng-ri, Och'6n-my6n, one can see Och'6ns6ng, a naval base established during the reign of King Sejo of Chos6n. Most of its major buildings, said to have been built over a period of 16 years from 1602, have been destroyed. Today, Och'6n Harbor is the

leading producer of mussels, which are distributed nationwide.

Namp'o Stone and Inkstones P01:y6ng is also known for its legendary Namp 'os6k (stone from Namp'o), with inkstones made from this stone being a regional specialty.

There are three types of Namp'os6k: ch '6ngs6k, aes6k and os6k. Os6k is known for its durability and commonly used for tombstones as well as the stone altars and stone posts placed in front of tombs. Ch'6ngs6k is ideal for making inkstones.

"There are several places where you can find suitable material for inkstones," says 60-year-old inkstone maker Kim Jin-han. "But Namp'os6k is considered to be the best."

Kim, a third-generation maker of inkstones from Uip'y6ng-ri, Ch'6ngnamy6n, says that an inkstone is only as good as its original material. Namp'os6k possesses such a fine composition and grain that it is said to rival the Tangyes6k of China, generally regarded as the finest stone available.

"From the early Chos6n period, almost 70 percent of all inkstones were made from Namp'os6k. Of the three inkstones left behind by the famous calligrapher, Ch'usa Kim Ch6ng-hui, two are made of Namp'os6k, a fact which proves the quality of Namp'os6k," Kim stressed.

The best Namp'os6k can be found in the S6ngjusan, Paekunsa area. To make an inkstone, the stone is first cut and then covered with a wet straw bag to protect it from sunlight, which helps to harden and seal the surface.

The finished inkstone is steamed in a wicker tray over a cauldron. The steamed inkstone is coated with beeswax and then polished to a shiny finish. The test of a good inkstone is that water poured over it will remain even after 10 days. The inkstone was the most endeared of the writing materials of the scholars of old. The different types of inkstones were named

after their carvings: yongy6n (dragon), ponghway6n (phoenix), maejoy6n (birds and flowers), chukhoy6n (bamboo), nanch'oy6n (orchid), p'odoy6n (grapes) and k6buky6n (turtles). These days there are few people who buy inkstones to use for brush writing.

Instead, they are sought after for their decorative value.

Befitting a location that produced exceptional inkstones, Poryong has many tales, legends and work songs handed down from generation to generation. Because it was both a farming and fishing town, farming songs and fishing songs could be heard throughout the area. Of the songs handed down, most are ballads. The legends are mostly about filial sons and daughters.

One of the stories about a filial son goes as follows: There was once a good son from a poor family who was told in a dream that the only way to cure his mother's illness was to feed her the livers of 1,000 dogs. So each night, the son recited a spell that turned him into a tiger so he could hunt dogs. On the last night, while out hunting dogs, the man's wife unknowingly put his spell book into the fire.

The man was thus doomed to live as a tiger and was not able to cure his mother's illness. Resentful of his situation, the tiger-man roamed the mountains roaring ferociously to vent his bitterness and was eventually shot and killed by a hunter. Meanwhile, his mother died of her illness. This is a tale of tragedy, arising from the simple mistake made by the man's wife.

Then there is the story "Hwanggumsaem (The Stream of Gold)," a tale about a family ruined by a man's blunder. Near the village of Saho-ri, there was once a farmhouse where a 99year-old man lived. Just before he died, the old man told his son that if he were buried at the bottom of the well then the family would become rich.

However, he admonished his son never to tell anyone. The young man

buried his father at the bottom of the well as told. But, because he was disturbed by thoughts of his father every time he drank from the well, the son finally told his mother what he had done. Not long after, word spread through the neighborhood and the villagers, saying that water which touched a dead body was not suitable for drinking, began to dig up the well to remove the body. When the corpse was found, it appeared as a golden calf.

But when the people rushed to dig it up, the golden calf turned into mud.

The "Stream of Gold" is the story of a man who could have been rich but failed because he did not keep his promise to his father. +

KirnJin.-han, ink stone artisan (above).

Opposite page: Mussels are the major catch of Och'on port.

along the shores of Inch'on-from the end of a month to a full moon when the difference between ebb tide and flood tide is the greatest. The tidal levels tend to lessen toward the south.

Even so, tidal variations reach almost six meters in Mokp'o, the southernmost city. Such wide differences in tidal levels are the result of tidal movements originating from the entire Yellow Sea, which is considered to be a single semienclosed bay.

The intertidal flatlands along the West Sea are considered among the rarest in the world. According to the Ramsar Convention, an international agreement on the preservation of wetlands, wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland, or water; whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary; with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt; including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 meters.

Korea's tidal flats fall under this definition. The Ramsar Convention was adopted in Ramsar, Iran in February 1971, with 87 countries being members

56

as of 1995. Korea became a member in 1997 with the Ministry of Environment being responsible for ensuring compliance. The convention initially started out with a goal of protecting the feeding and nesting grounds of migratory birds, but it now covers all aspects related to the protection of the diverse functions of wetlands.

In terms of area, over 99 percent of Korea's wetlands are tidal wetlands along its coastlines. These areas are exceptional and valuable enough to warrant protective measures on a global level.

There are several noteworthy facts about Korea's tidal wetlands. First of all, many birds rest and nourish themselves at Korea's tidal flats along their migratory passage from Australia to Siberia. Since February 1998, the Korean Wetlands Alliance has observed and recorded statistics about significant numbers of species of birds that stop over at Korea's tidal flats. According to the National NGO Wetlands Report for Ramsar 1999, about 500,000 godwits and plovers were estimated to have

visited Korea's tidal flats in the previous year. About 50 species of godwits and plovers can be seen on Korea's tidal flats, of which about 30 types are found only on tidal flats. Nineteen come to Korea's tidal flats in numbers large enough to be considered important internationally.

Among a variety of shorebirds, godwits and plovers are the two observed in the highest numbers. The most common type of godwits found in Korea, are classified into dunlin (Calidris alplina sakhaline), great knots (Calidris tenuirostris), and black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa melanuroides). As for plovers, there are kentish plover

(Charadrius alexandrin us dealbatus) and gray plover (Pluvialis squatarola).

Dunlin is the most common type of godwit that is observed throughout the year, except in summer. The total number of dunlin godwit observed in May along the shores of the West Sea reached almost 80,000. Between 5,000 and 10,000 godwits hav e been observed at a time on the Kimje tidal flats. Great knots, commonly observed

at the Kimje and PL1-an tidal flats , Kumgang estuary and Asanman Bay in April and May, also arrive in great numbers that account for one-fourth of their total population in the world.

Black-tailed godwits and bar-tailed godwits (Limosa Japponica) are commonly found at the Kimje and Pu-an tidal flats.

Over 10,000 black-tailed godwits have been observed at Asanman Bay in May. Kentish plover and gray plover are also migratory birds found in large numbers at the Kimje and Pu-an tidal flats, Kumgang estuary and Asanman Bay. The Ramsar Convention stipulates that if more than 20,000 individual migratory birds are observed in a wetland, or if the individual number of birds of a certain species observed accounts for over 1 percent of their total individual number in the entire world, the wetland area qualifies under the definition stipulated in the Ramsar Convention. The Korean Wetlands Alliance has annot!nced that about 40 of Korea's tidal flats satisfy this definition, which means that much of

Korea's tidal flats can be registered as Ramsar Convention-designated wetlands.

The migratory birds stop off at Korea's wetlands along their migratory route because of the abundance of food available, mainly worms and clams commonly referred to as bonthic animals. Korea's tidal flats are noted for containing a bountiful population of bonthic animals. For instance, as many as several hundred surf clams (Mactra veneriformis) can be found in an area of one meter square. There are also as many Manila clams (Ruditapes philippinarum), Venus clams (Meretrix fusaria) and razor clams (Sinonovacula constricta). Of note, fishermen are known to catch spats because of their high commercial value and then scatter them in various locations to be harvested later as an indirect method of aquaculture that allows for concentrated gathering. Aquatic products from tidal flats thus provide a precious means of livelihood for local residents, a fact that further enhances the value of Korea's tidal flatlands.

Koreans who are in love with, or engaged in the study of wetlands are extremely proud of the nation's coastal wetlands (intertidal flatland, tidal flat, intertidal wetland) along the West Sea and visit them frequently to conduct research. The coastal wetlands of the West Sea are among the largest in the world in terms of area.

The tidal flats of Korea are very important to migratory birds such as snipes and plovers.

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Clockwise from the top: Expansive mudflats are formed along the West Sea because of its great tidal range; sometimes waterways like this emerge where the land meets the sea; the tidal flats are home to various creatures.

Tidal flats purify organic matter that flows in from the land. In coastal areas near cities, a certain amount of sewage, no matter how well disposed of through purification facilities, inevitably finds its way into the sea through rivers. A one-meter-square tidal flat is capable of purifying about 30 gC of organic matter a year. Translated into the wet weight of organisms, this amounts to between one and two kilograms. There are very few naturally created areas in the world capable of processing so much organic waste.

Merging with the mountains, Korea's tidal wetlands create a beautiful landscape. In Europe, tidal wetlands form endless plains with flat land areas directly adjoining the tidal wetlands.

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Certainly, this provides a unique panorama, but Korea's wetlands are in stark contrast to Europe's flat tidal plains. Low-lying mountains several hundred meters in height and wide tidal flats alongside the meandering shoreline come together in a breathtaking vista not seen anywhere else in the world. Furthermore, the substantial value of the tidal flats' ecosystem adds to their importance. They are valuable indeed in that they provide a habitat for diverse organisms including migratory birds.

Kanghwado, Yongjongdo, Taebudo, Chebudo and Namyangman are the areas nearest Seoul with tidal wetlands.

Most of the tidal flats are four kilometers to five kilometers wide that takes

two to three hours just to walk across.

In Ch'ungch'ongnam-do province, there are tidal flats along Asanman Bay and Ch'onsuman Bay, and further down south in the ChO!la-do provinces, there are tidal flats at the Kimje, Pu-an and Kunsan areas. The flatlands at Kimje and Pu-an extend 20 kilometers, requiring a boat to traverse the entire length.

The Hamp'yong and Mu-an tidal flats in Cholla-do, which are surrounded by several islands, are among the most beautiful. While nobody wishes to see Korea's tidal wetlands wantonly destroyed, they were the first to be sacrificed in the country's drive for economic development that began in the 1960s. Tidal reclamation projects were undertaken in several places simultaneously, and many tidal flats came to have their natural water flows blocked by the construction of dams. Even today, several large-scale tidal reclamation projects are currently underway in the Namyangman, Kimje and Pu-an flatlands. In Kimje and Pu-an, 40,000 hectares of tidal flats are disappearing for the sake of building a 33-kilometerlong sea dike. This can only be called a tragedy.

Germany is the country that does the most to preserve its tidal wetlands.

It was one of the first countries to embrace the concept of Ramsar wetlands, .and it took the concept a step further by designating every tidal flat in the country a national preserve. To be qualified as Ramsar Conventiondefined wetland, it should meet one or more of the four conditions: It should be a representative or unique wetland, important to the habitat of fauna and flora, of water birds and of fish. The inclusion of fish was subsequently added at the Brisbane Convention held in Australia in 1996. Apart from the concept of Ramsar wetlands, it is hoped that Korea will more actively seek to preserve its natural resources by designating tidal wetlands as special preservation areas protected from development. +

CUISINE

v

on

on Hong Sung-yoo

Novelist, President, Social Gathering for Food Tasting

t6k, or rice cake, is a special traditional Korean dish of which there are more than 200 types. Of the numerous varieties, Koreans take the greatest pride and pleasure in songp'y6n, a stuffed rice cake in the shape of a half-moon. Songp'yon is made with a dough made from rice flour . A wad of dough is molded around a pinch of stuffing and then steamed on a layer of freshly picked pine needles. After the steaming, the songp'yon is rinsed in cold water and coated with sesame oil. Sometimes mugwort is added to the dough, which gives it a greenish color and special flavor. Residents of the Kyongsang-do provinces often use boiled ramie leaves instead of mugwort to color the

T

dough. While in Kangwon-do province, people use starch made from potatoes harvested on the summer solstice for making potato songp'yon. Songp'yon is also categorized by color: white songpy'on, brown songgi songp'yon, which is flavored with pine endodermis, and green mugwort songp'yon. In spring, pine needles picked from branches

growing to the east are used to steam songp'yon, while in autumn, needles from branches growing to the west are used because they are especially soft and fragrant.

Pine trees are synonymous with integrity, purity and long life in Korea.

The Taoist practice of surviving only on pine needles to gain supernatural powers has its roots in the pine tree's symbolism of integrity and honor. The line from a poem, "I saw a green pine tree before me upon entering the door, and a charcoal fire feeding the elixir of long life upon entering the room," is a reference to the lofty state of mind attained by a Taoist. In the past, wealthy Koreans stacked pine needles on the heated floor of an ondol room to steam them and used distilled pine

Various ingredients used for songpy'on (top).

Above: Songp'yon from the Kangwon-do and Hwanghae-do provinces are big and imprinted with finger marks (left) whereas songp'yon made in Seoul and the Kyonggi-do area are more like dainty seashells (right).

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Seoul-Kyonggi-do style songp'yon making(from top): Mix rice powder and water, knead well, separate dough into little balls, press a groove into the center, fill the groove with stuffing, seal the groove and shape into a seashell.

The dough is sometimes colored green with mugwort (right).

sap to make poultice. Koreans believed they could cure sickness with the natural power and energy concentrated in pine trees. Poultice from pine needles softened the skin and the pine fragrance was said to linger on the body for three months. Ancient Koreans also used pine needles to make wine and tea, in addition to using them in preparing the seasonal dish, songp'y6n.

Koreans believed the y w ould become as strong as a pine tree and live a long healthy life if they consumed songp'y6n steamed on pine needles, as well as acquire perseverance and energy which would ultimately enhance their integrity and purit y. They used pine needles to steam songp'y6n not only for its fragrance, but also because they knew that the pine needles worked as a preservative. One can only marvel at the wisdom of ancient Koreans who were wise enough to use pine needles to preserve songp'y6n which can spoil so easily.

Chewing pine needles also helps to fight fatigue and maintain one's youthful vigor. Pine needles not only promote the discharge of waste from the body, but also stimulate brain activity and strengthen the heart. In addition, they are rich in iron and thus effective for treating anemia.

According to Tongguk Seshigi (Korean Almanac) compiled by Hong Sok-mo, a Confucian scholar who lived during the reign of King Ch6ngjo (r.

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1776-1800) of the Chason Dynasty (1392-1910), songp'y6n is a seasonal dish consumed twice a year: the first day of the second lunar month and the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, or Ch'us6k, the Harvest Moon Festival.

White songp'y6n, made from grains taken from a stack of rice straw gathered on the First Full Moon Day, are eaten on the first day of the second lunar month. Large rice cakes are about the size of one's palm and small ones are like small-sized eggs, but each is molded in the shape of a tiny bowl.

They are stuffed with various fillings and placed on a bed of pine needles inside a steamer and steamed. They are then rinsed in cold water and coated with sesame oil. Red beans, black peas and green peas are used for stuffings, whi <: h are sometimes mixed with honey. Chinese dates and boiled dropwort are occasionally used as well.

Because servants were given songp'y6n in an amount corresponding to their age, the day was known as Servants Day. The songp'y6n eaten on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month is made from glutinous rice powder. According to folklore, songp'y6n consumed on Ch'us6k is said to help you "get a grip on yourself." The songp'y6n is offered together with taro soup at the ancestral memorial services performed on this day. Even today on Ch'us6k, family members sit together under the full moon while preparing songp'y6n for

steaming with pine needles. The entire house fills with the distinctive fragrance of pine needles, helping to make the autumn day even richer and more bountiful. Songp'yon made from rice harvested ahead of other crops is called ory6 songp'y6n (literally songp'yon made of rice that ripened early in the season), and offered at the memorial ancestral rites performed both at home and at the gravesites of ancestors.

The size of songp'yon differs slightly in each region. Those made in Seoul and Kyonggi-do are dainty and uniform whereas songp'yon made in the Hwanghae-do, Kyongsang-do and Kangwon-do provinces are larger and cruder in appearance. Songpy'on is molded into different shapes in each region. In Seoul and Kyonggi-do, it is made in the shape of small shells, while in the colder regions of Kangwon-do and Hwanghae-do, it is made round and then flattened with the hand to get all the air out, leaving finger marks on the surfaces.

Young women used to take extreme care when making rice cakes as it was said they would give birth to beautiful children only if they made attractive songp'yon. There is an amusing anecdote related to songp'yon that occurred during a trip of King Sukchong (r. 1674-1720) while traveling incognito. Sukchong frequently went outside the palace in disguise at night to gauge public sentiment. One night while touring Natnsan Valley he happened to hear the sound of someone

reading coming from a humble cottage. He looked through an open window and saw a young s6nbi, or literati, reading while his young wife was sewing by lamplight. The poor couple looked so contented that he continued to observe them for a long time. After a while, the man closed his book and said he was hungry. The woman brought out two pieces of songp'yon in a brass ricebowl. The man quickly ate one and picked up the other piece.

Sukchong was going to scold the man for not giving a thought to his wife when the man, holding the songp'yon between his lips, leaned over to his wife and put it inside her mouth. The king was deeply touched by their love for each other and returned to the palace without saying a word. The next day, unable to get the impoverished couple's display of affection out of his mind, the king told the queen that he wanted to have some songp'yon. The entire court became roused at the king's request, and several court ladies brought a huge bowl filled with songp'yon to the king. The king became furious, threw down the bowl and roared: "Do you think I'm a pig, offering me a whole bowl of songp'yon?" Of course, it was not the rice cakes that the king longed for, but the true love between a husband and wife.

The anecdote reveals that songp'yon is a seasonal traditional Korean dish that was enjoyed by all Koreans regardless of their social standing and as much in the past as it is by Koreans today. +

Kangwon-do and Hwanghae¡do style songp'yon making (from top): Separate the dough into balls, press a groove into the center of the ball, fill with stuffing, seal and squeeze out the air, leaving finger marks in the dough.

Rice powder ready for mixing with water (right).

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LIVING

Korean Aesthetics Create Unique Interior Design Joh Sung-yong Architect and Principal, Johsungyong Architect Associates

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ow vividly I can remember the sensory pleasures and warmth of the ondol room of my youth. Until I was in college, it was an annual ritual to re-paper the floors, walls and windows of the ondol rooms in our home-rooms heated by a system of flues built under the flooring- with a translucent yet durable paper known as ch'angho-ji. I can still recall the glow of the afternoon sun in autumn, filtered through the ch'anghoji-covered window. I remember the distinct smell of fresh paste that had yet to dry, and how the steam would rise from the shiny new ondol floor. It wasn't just the satisfaction of having freshly papered walls and floors that captivated me, however. It was also the security and warmth that comforted me on autumn nights that suddenly turned chilly. I would slide open the doors and go out into the madang or courtyard-even if it was just to go to the bathroom-and stand in awe of the glittering firmament of the night sky. Then a brisk wind would chase me back inside, where I would snuggle under my thick quilt.

In the 1970s, as Korea embarked on a period of rapid economic and political development, it seems that we began to forget and to lose that which was our very own. Seduced by the promise of prosperity and material abundance, and driven by an uncontrollable desire for ever-more, we shunned the beauty of our indigenous traditions in favor of cheap, plastic adornments and other articles of foreign cultures. Today, we live among a veritable hodgepodge of foreign elements, poorly grafted onto our Korean traditions. In the 1930s, the Japanese writer Junichiro Tanizaki sounded an alarm about the growing domination of Western cultural influence over his country's way of life in his book, In Praise of Shadows. I am struck by how many of his observations apply to Korea today. Tanizaki loathed

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Western bathrooms and kitchens, with their shiny expanse of white tile; tile may be easier to keep clean and sanitary, but it is cold and sterile. He also found the living rooms of Westernstyle houses suffocating, unlike the open courtyards of Japanese homes, and especially decried tacky ornaments such as cheap chandeliers.

Tanizaki longed for the subtle and tranquil charms of the traditional Japanese home, its interior bathed in a veiled light, the rooms quiet and serene. In the back, past the courtyard, would be the bathroom, which had its own tiny window through which one could view the flowers in the courtyard.

More than anything else, residents are shaped by culture, which in turn is influenced by geography, climate, customs and lifestyles. No matter where you go in the world, you will find that the houses of the region are the culmination of a balance achieved between nature and civilization. In Africa, huts are the logical answer to the jungle, whereas on the Aegean Sea, white houses face the blue sky and sea, set in deep alleys that provide shade. In the same manner, the geography and climate of Korea contributed to the development of its two most characteristic residential forms; the thatchedroof house and the tile-roofed house.

The shapes and the interior spaces of the houses are uniquely designed to accommodate both Korea's fiercely cold winters and oppressively humid summers, as well as the milder weather of spring and autumn.

In traditional Korean houses, the floors are generally wood or heatable stone. The rooms are not connected to each other but to a central madang.

This layout is flexible enough for the country's four distinct seasons, as well as for regional differences such as the hot, humid weather of the south, and the cold, dry climes of the north. The madang is very different in concept from the courtyards of Western or

In traditional Korean houses, the floors are generally wood or heatable stone. The rooms are not connected to each other but to a central madang. This layout is flexible enough for the country's four distinct seasons, as well as for regional differences such as the hot, humid weather of the south, and the cold, dry climes of the north.

Sparsely furnished, a scholar's room ensures that its master is not furniture but a man.

Opposite page: The tableau created by sunr ays filtered through the paper window playing on the polished oil paper floor always stirs nostalgia in the minds of Koreans.

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In traditional Korean society a husband and wife used separate rooms for privacy, the woman living in a room called an bang ( top) and the man in one called sarangbang (abov e).

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Japanese houses, which are usually decorative in nature, or gardens. In the Korean home, the madang serves the practical purpose of linking the rooms together. It is also the nucleus of the home, where routine household tasks are performed, and a communal center where special occasions such as weddings and birthdays are celebrated. Until recently, the madang was integral to the Korean way of life. The fact that it has been largely replaced

by Western-style gardens, which are not only expensive but ill-suited to the Korean climate and tradition, is yet another example of how Koreans have blindly followed the latest trends without considering the related consequences. It is also a reflection of broader sociological changes resulting from growing prosperity including the shift to a nuclear family unit and ubiquitous urbanization, and along with this, a makeover of the concept of community.

It is not only the exterior of the Korean house that has changed, but the way they are decorated and furnished as well. Traditionally, Korean rooms were austere, furnished with only a few essential items and decm¡ated perhaps with a fresh coat of paper on the ondol floor, sealed with oil, an aesthetic reflecting the asceticism of literary scholars. In contrast, the interiors of today are crammed with every conceivable appliance and piece of furniture. It is as though the furnishings have taken over the rooms. Consider the luxurious sofa set, which has no bearing at all to the number of people in the family or their actual lifestyle.

It is contrary to common sense to stuff beds in ondol rooms, when you can just as easily sleep on the ondol floors. For that matter, why do we pack our rooms and hallways with furniture and appliances and ornaments that we barely use in years, if at all? Of course, we depend on many devices and conveniences that our forebears never could have imagined.

Civilization has "progressed" to the point where we cannot live without our telephone, stereo, TV, VCR, refrigerator, air conditioner and whatever new appliance or consumer electronic fad that happens to roll off the production line next.

No matter how rapidly Korea becomes Westernized, however, there are those habits that will endure. Our living rooms may have plush sofas and display cabinets to house our knickknacks, but we will never feel right wearing shoes inside the house, especially among close friends. In summer, we will never feel as comfortable as when lying on cool woven bamboo mats, and in winter, nothing can replace the coziness of sleeping on an ondol floor. It rna y not be convenient having to fold and unfold paddings and blankets to sleep on the floor, especially considering the hectic pace of urban life, but the sight of a bed encased in sheets reminds me more of a hotel than a home.

Even more like a hotel room is toda y's typical master bedroom, with its attached bathroom and wardrobe. In this case, the master bedroom is, as its name implies, the preserve of the master, where the husband and wife ultimately spend much of their time. This development leads to children having their own rooms, but the husband is left without a personal space of his own. In the past, men and women had separate rooms, the sarangbang and the anbang, respectively. This arrangement provided both sexes with privacy, something nonexistent in most homes nowadays.

While I do not advocate separating husband and wife, especially with the

nuclear family now being the predominant family unit in Korea, is it not possible for the husband to have his own space where he can unwind after a tiring day at work? A small den or study would be nice. Something like the living room, whose function is too encompassing and ambiguous, could never be the man 's room.

Herein is another example of Koreans hastily adopting a Western convention without fully analyzing how it served Westerners' preferences much less their own. The result is a room that takes up most of the interior space of a home, but which does not allow the head of the household to exercise his

authority. And although it can be spacious, neither is the living room suitable for the woman of the home.

Only in the madang, or perhaps in a small area off the kitchen with its natural sunlight, would a harried housewife be able to take a break from her labor and appreciate the small joys of everyday life.

The compact disc is unrivaled for the clarity of its audio recording and ease of use , and yet it can never replace the pleasure of dusting off an old album and play ing it on a turntable. For one thing, the plastic case is so light and rigid that it has

none of the satisfactory character of a record album.

The same is true for the newest automated cameras and cars, which are capable of multiple functions and promise ultra-smooth operation. But none of these sleek products have the solid, elegant beauty of mechanical products. Just as umbrellas that pop open at the flick of a button are not necess arily improvements over umbrellas of old, so can stainless steel flatware never replace the elegance of traditional Korean brassware. The lesson is patently clear: smaller, more convenient tools are not always an improvement. There is no doubt that the latest technological innovations fashioned from fiber optics, computer chips and bioengineered materials are capable of wondrous feats, but that alone cannot guarantee a richer quality of life. That is because there will alwa ys be a place for human thought, feeling and sensual pleasure.

Lik ew ise, a home needs a personal dimension. A house cannot be reduced to mere convenience or utility. It must reflect how the family lives, while being functional and practical. It must allow for tradition, for the way Koreans have lived for ages, and enable spiritual fulfillment. Let us never forget the space that links the madang to the rooms with wooden floors, the bright but not overly shiny rooms, the small nooks and crannies and storage spaces that serve, rather than ignore, the needs of home dwellers, the large windows and doors that face south, through which we can appreciate the glorious sights and sounds of a beautiful summer day, the cascade of flowing water, and the scattered petals of blossoms around the open madang. + 65

oran Market, whose official name is Moran Folk Market, is located in Songnamdong, Chungwongu, Songnam-shi, Kyonggido province. With a history of almost 40 years, this open-air traditional market opens every five days. It once occupied a wide area along the main streets of Songnam, but was relocated to its current site along the lower reaches of Taewon-ch'on stream in 1990. At the time the area was initially developed, many of the local residents were from North Korea and so they named the market after Moranbong Peak in the North. The market is open for business on dates with the numbers four or nine (4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, and 29th) of each month, involving a large area of 108,900 square meters, 350 meters long and 30 m eters in width. It is unclear exactly when the market was first opened, but it is said to be sometime in 1962.

Nearly all Koreans cherish warm memories of traditional markets. As a child, they used to follow their mother to the market, gazing wide-eyed at the curious objects in the street stalls and listening to the exciting songs of the taffy vendors. The sacks of peas, blocks of malt and other items on sale at the open-air markets offer heart-rending tales of households struggling to keep their many mouths fed and come up with their children's school tuition. In various corners of the market, customers haggling with merchants attracted crowds with their boisterous giveand-take. Itinerant traders were wonderful sources of endless and fascinating stories, w hile the wrangling over prices melded with outbursts of laughter, sighs and sorrows.

Moran Market is the largest traditional market in Korea that opens every fifth day. Much like a straw-thatched cottage standing in a forest of high-rise buildings, it brings to mind scenes of yesteryear. Markets that opened every five days came into existence during

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the late Choson Dynasty (1392-1910).

In addition to functioning as a location to buy and sell goods, markets were a place where people from various villages could exchange information and thus played an important role in creating public opinion. At a time when there was little inform ation exchange because transportation was lacking, marketplaces served as a vital

information source. Traveling merchants, who roamed all over the country, were primary sources of the latest news and thus served an unofficial but important function of spreading information about the political situation as well as shaping general public opinion.

Parents also used the markets for infor mat ion-g ath ering regarding prospective spouses for their children

The Moran Market in Songnam is reputed to deal in everything that is produced in the country (above).

Opposite page: Moran Market on a typical market day

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Transvestite Snh Ch'un-ja is the most popular figure at Moran Market (top).

A stall selling fish at Moran Market (above).

from other villages. In addition, the markets offered festive diversions in the form of traditional wrestling or ssiri1m contests and traditional musical and dance performances that were held in a designated corner of the market.

Traditional markets that open every five days are fast disappearing nowadays because of modern shopping centers, supermarkets and convenience stores. There are only about 150 sites in Korea where traditional markets still open every five days.

Moreover a number of five-day markets remain so in name only, as they have evolved into everyday markets.

Only a few merchants still remember the traditional market days when they squeezed in among permanent stalls to display their goods on a board placed on the street.

The street leading to the entrance of Moran Market is lined with stalls set up by women from nearby areas to sell seasonal greens and marine products typically displayed in small baskets. The market is also a place where various regional dialects can be heard.

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At the entrance, stacks of small bundles brought in by women from Yoju, Chech'on, Ch'ongyang and Ch'onan are seen beside baskets crawling with crabs freshly caught at early dawn in the mud of an inlet found in Sosan.

The market, which is said to offer everything from local specialties from all parts of the country to a diversity of daily necessities, actually begins from these street stalls.

Market activity reaches a peak at Ch'usok, the Harvest Moon Festival, which falls on the 15th day (full moon) of the eighth lunar month.

Koreans perform rites on this traditional holiday involving the offering of freshly harvested crops and fruits to ancestors. The market fills up with newly harvested crops including rice and produce at this time of the year.

Moran Market includes sections for flowers, cereals, medicinal herbs, clothes, shoes, daily necessities, fish, vegetables, food, chili peppers, pets, poultry and others. Such classification is for the sake of convenience only, however, as the types of items being sold are so various that even the merchants' association does not know the actual number which comprises a wide range from needle pouches to black goats raised for medicinal purposes. Still, there are several things not available at the market: cows, pigs and military goods. Except for these three items, the market sells practically everything else.

About 250,000 people visit on market days. The market is Korea's largest in terms of size and the number of customers. Including the vendors without a stall of their own who rove about the market area, there are about 1,500 merchants whose combined revenues reach an average of 700 million won to 800 million won per market day.

Moran Market is especially renowned for its red peppers and poultry including hens, ducks and geese. So many transactions are made here that it is

often said Moran Market determines the price of red peppers and some other items in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Come September, the pepper section at the back of the market turns as colorful as autumn leaves with peppers from all parts of the country. A wholesale pepper market opens on the 3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th, 23rd and 28th of each month, one day before the regular market opens. In early summer, the market is filled with garlic from Haenam, Mu-an and other parts of the Cholla-do provinces, piled high in mounds resembling small mountain peaks. Garlic is virtually a staple of Korean cuisine and diet. In August, freshly picked green peppers giving off a refreshingly pungent aroma are sold in place of red peppers.

From the livestock section comes a constant cacophony of ducks, hens, black goats, rabbits, black hens and chickens. Adjacent to this, puppies await people to give them a home while young children gush over a litter of five puppies yawning beside a basket of kittens.

Turtles, eels and snake-headed fish thrash wildly in the freshwater fish section, with the vegetable section overflowing with greens, melons, watermelons, tomatoes and various summer fruits. All types of herbs along with grubworms, centipedes, silkworms and ginseng are for sale in the medicinal goods section. With interest in health rising rapidly, a growing number of younger customers stop by the medicinal goods stalls which offer for sale small quantities of medicinal items.

The busiest period for each section varies. In spring, the flower section bustles with customers out to buy flowers and plants to decorate their homes. In summer, demand is high for ducks, hens, rabbits and other meat used for health foods and tonics. In fall, the market fills with the spicy fragrance of chili peppers while in win-

ter, shoppers make a beeline for the medicinal goods section in search of herbs to help them fend off colds.

Throughout the four seasons, a fragrant aroma of sesame seed oil wafts from a corner of the market. About 30 mills press oil from sesame seeds yearround, turning out enough sesame oil to meet a third of the entire demand in Seoul. Housewives are regular customers as they know the oil is 100 percent from sesame seeds.

The most celebrated personality in Moran Market is Suh Ch'un-ja who performs in a vacant area of the parking lot at about noon each day when the market is most crowded. Young children and older men who have already had a few drinks usually come early to occupy the front seats. Suh is a longhaired transvestite dressed in a pink skirt and an orange flower-patterned blouse. Some men among the audience, unaware that Suh is a transvestite, occasionally leer at her slim waist and ample breasts. Suh performs a lively repertory to sell taffy while also playing a changgo, an hourglassshaped drum. During Suh's alluring performance, the neatly sliced pieces of taffy arranged on a board sell briskly.

Lee Kee-hwa, 64, is one of the merchants who has worked at Moran Market the longest. He has been doing business at the same place in the market for almost 20 years, selling medicinal goods. Every herb used in folk remedies is available at Moran Market, he says. He used to be an itinerant trader who traveled to every five-day market in the country. Though he was born in Kunsan, Chollabuk-do, he considers anyplace with a market his home. During each tour, which generally lasted a month, he traveled throughout the entire country to visit every market that opened every five days. Beginning at Changgye, Chollabuk-do, he would visit Hamyang and Koch'ang in Kyongsangnam-do province, then back to Chinan,

Chollabuk-do and on to Yongdong, Ch'ungch'ongnam-do province selling his goods. In every village with a regular market, there used to be private lodgings for traveling merchants.

About 20 would crowd into a room and spend the night discussing business and exchanging news.

Music blaring from speakers adds to the shopping experience at Moran Market. As for food, meat roasted on hot plate eateries are popular with families. The entire family can enjoy an unlimited quantity of roast pork with the purchase of a 6,000 won bottle of soju (popular Korean liquor).

Shoppers can also sample barbecued pork. A whole pig rotates slowly on a spit, luring customers with its appetizing aroma. All kinds of food are available, from red bean porridge, pumpkin porridge, rice served in soup and noodles to dumplings.

The right side of the market is lined with street stalls. Although they are unregistered, each is reserved for regular vendors such that an outside trader cannot find room among them. The street booths offer practically everything including water taps, bamboo rice scoops, red ants, videotapes and all kinds of seeds. There are also the socalled panaceas claimed to be especially efficacious for treating backaches, neuralgia, and athlete's foot. A 67-yearold woman who came from Y6ju on a cross-country bus sits among the street stalls with several sacks of peas and barley. "I just came out for the fun of it and to watch the people," she says.

Sales at nearby discount outlets and department shops drop noticeably on market days. "This is a well-planned market which sells everything and marketers from all parts of the country come to observe its operations. It is also conveniently situated, enabling the gathering of high-quality and lowpriced products from the provinces," boasts Chun Sung-bae, 46, president of the Moran Market Merchant Association. Children come in groups

for science field trips and to enjoy the vibrant goings-on. The market also attracts many couples out on a date thanks to its unique ambiance.

Moran Market is found in the heart of a busy city, exuding the warm sentiments of bygone days. Although merchants complain that five out of ten people leave the market emptyhanded since the onset of Korea's economic crisis, the market still bustles with people out to fill the void in their hearts by taking in the lively scene. It is not only because of its goods that Moran Market still attracts large crowds at a time when large-scale discount outlets are prospering. The main reason it attracts so many people is that it provides a vital means of livelihood for countless people and also because it conveys warmth and vitality that can comfort the weary. + .

You can buy a plant or a puppy at the Moran Market where everything from land and sea is sold.

NATIONAL TREASURE

Mystique of the Gilt-bronze Seated Maitreya Buddha Moon Myung-dae Professor/Head, Institute of Buddhist Art & Cultural Properties, Dongguk University

orea is widely known for countless statues of giltbronze and stone seated Buddhas, many of them highly captivating figures of great size and masterful sculpturing.

The Gilt-bronze Seated Maitreya

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Buddha, National Treasure No. 83, is a large statue exemplifying the extraordinary splendor of Buddhist art that is much admired around the world.

Rather than a dazzling beauty, however, the statue exudes a subtle allure, not unlike the bliss of a refreshing breath of fresh air on a warm spring afternoon.

The most prominent feature of the statue is its unique posture. The meditating Maitreya Buddha sits in a relaxed pose on a cylindrical lotus stool with his left foot on the lotus pedestal, right leg crossed over the left knee, and the second finger of the right hand held gracefully against the right cheek. The pensive Buddha conveys an intriguing aura.

The fluid lines of the bent right arm rising smoothly upward blend harmoniously with the subtle curves of the fingers, the three-peaked crown resembling a slightly open lotus flower, the slightly raised knee, and the graceful folds of cloth around the knees creating a refined image of ascension and curves. The Buddha's lower body is clad in supple folds of

cloth which are carved onto the pedestal, giving a sense of stability.

The overall harmony of curves and lines, and the Buddha's left hand on the creases of the folds on his right leg that contrast with the simple folds of the robe cascading below the lotus stool add to the feeling of ascension and stability.

The round, graceful face reflects the purity and innocence of a young boy. The succinct elegance of the bare torso along with the simplicity and conciseness of the three-peaked crown and two-strand necklace enhance the sense of purity and innocence. The resilience and gracefulness of a young boy's underdeveloped chest and waist, and the soft shoulders and arms that are neither robust nor delicate create a definite mystique. The elegance deriving from the solid yet vibrant texture unique to gilt bronze intensifies the sense of intrigue.

Actually, much of the statue's unique beauty can be attributed to the warm and exquisite texture of the gilt bronze.

The Gilt-bronze Seated Maitreya Buddha is the most exceptional of the

many statues of Buddha cloaked in a soft, refined and elegant beauty. It is greatly admired as a divine work of art and thought to represent the most profound beauty inherent to statues of Buddha by sublimating the noble spirit of the h warang (a troop of young warriors that formed the core of Shilla's military forces) with that of a regal prince.

The date when and the place where the statue was made is unknown. Although there have been occasional discussions about it dating to Paekche (18 B.C.-A .D . 660) or Kogury6 (37 B.C.-A.D. 668), it is generally regarded to have been produced during the Shilla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 935) in that it resembles the world's largest stone seated Maitreya Buddha, discovered in Pukji-ri, Ponghwa, which is known to be associated with Shilla. Such conjecture is further supported by the fact that the wooden statue of Maitreya Buddha in the Koryuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, is a work of early seventh century Shilla.

The wooden statue bears a striking resemblance to the Gilt-bronze Seated Maitreya Buddha in I<:orea, supporting the belief that it was created during the Shilla period around A.D. 600.

The wooden seated Maitreya Buddha in Koryuji Temple is widely regarded as one of the finest masterpieces in the Orient. Like Korea's Giltbronze Seated Maitreya Buddha, the Koryuji Maitreya Buddha boasts an arresting beauty which harmoniously integrates the highly restrained and simple beauty of form, as illustrated in the three-peaked crown, the bare torso and the natural grain of the wood with the gentle yet elegant pose, as well as the sense of innocence and purity symbolically representing the ideal beauty of youth.

The Japanese statue was clearly made in Korea in that it resembles National Treasure No. 83 in almost every aspect, the exception being its natural portrayal of gentleness instead

of the solid texture of gilt bronze and its more dignified appearance than the youthful-looking gilt-bronze Maitreya. In addition, the wooden seated .Maitreya, a virtual twin to Korea's gilt bronze statue, is made of red pine wood. The fact that red pines can be found in Ch'unyang, Ponghwa, but not in

Japan, essentially proves the statue is from ancient Shilla, and also supports the theory that the gilt-bronze statue dates to this ancient kingdom. The Gilt-bronze Seated Maitreya Buddha and the wooden Buddha at Koryuji Temple are widely regarded as statues of eternal beauty which continue to attract keen interest from the entire world by providing a glimpse into the wonder of an ideal world. +

Korea is widely known for countless statues of gilt-bronze and stone seated Buddhas, many of them highly captivating figures of great size and masterful sculpturing.

National Treasure No. 83, 7th century, Shilla period, National Museum of Korea

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Artifacts now on display (from left): A standing Maitreya (Buddha of the Future, National Treasure No. 81); portrait of Kang Se-hwang (Treasure No. 590); gold crown from the Ch'onmach'ong Tomb (National Treasure No.188)

Korea's Cuhural Treasures Embark on European Exhibition Tour Doh]ae-kee Reporter, The Kyung Hyang Shinm un

very people in the world treasure their cultural heritage as the legacy of their ancestors who lived hundreds and thousands of years ago and also as testimony to their history and unique spirit. Cultural relics are thus a "treasure trove of culture" that reveals profound information about a people and their past.

An exhibition of Korean artifacts intended to promote an understanding of Korea's history and the spiritual world of its people entitled "Korea-Old Kingdom: In Search of Its Spiritual Essence" is currently on tour in Europe.

The works in the exhibition highlight three spiritual roots of ancient Korean art-shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism-which greatly influenced Korea's culture and art from the ancient

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past through recent times. The exhibition, which opened on June 3 at the Villa Huegel Museum in Essen, a city in northwest Germany, will also be shown in Munich, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland, where it will end on July 9, 2000.

Korea boasts a long history and extraordinary culture of 5,000 years. In reality, however, Europeans are much more aware of the Korean War, the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics and various other contemporary facts about Korea such as its rapid growth as a newly developing nation. The exhibition is thus intended to promote an understanding of the uniqueness and richness of a Korean culture that has flourished for more than 5,000 years. In scale, this is the largest exhibition since

the "Treasures of Korean Art" exhibition that toured Germany and Britain in 1984 and 1985.

The exhibition has attracted much interest, with three incumbent and former presidents of the German Republic attending the opening ceremony of the exhibition at the Villa Huegel Museum on June 3. The exhibit also received wide coverage from the local press while Focus, a current affairs magazine, reported: "Korea's culture and art have not been accorded just treatment in Europe compared to those of China and Japan. It is noteworthy that the panorama of Korea's culture and art is now unraveling in Germany." Dr. Berthold Beitz, director of Ruhr Arts, a private cultural foundation in Germany that organized the event, said in her address

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at the opening ceremony that Korea is still perceived as an "unknown country" in Europe despite its noteworthy history and culture, while stressing the hope that the exhibition would provide a rare opportunity to promote understanding and respect for Korean culture.

The 325 works making up the exhibition range from metal artifacts and paintings to folk crafts, featuring 15 National Treasures and 27 Treasures designated by the Korean government The majority of the artifacts are original and many of them had never been exhibited overseas before. Because the exhibition features an unprecedented number of National Treasures, there has been wide concern in Korea about them possibly being damaged in the course of their travels abroad. Chung Yang-mo, director general of the National Museum of Korea, had this to say on the matter: "I know there are concerns about their safety, but we need to more aggressively promote what we have to the world with genuine articles."

The Villa Huegel Museum is situated amid a lush forest estate. A standing Maitreya (Buddha of the Future, A.D. 719) with a benign and enigmatic smile looms over the entrance to greet visitors.

The 257-centimeter-high figure carved from granite is on display overseas for the first time and has become a popular subject for souvenir photographs.

A total of 154 Buddhist items that were instrumental in the formation of Korean culture are on display on the second floor of the museum. In the center is a gilt-bronze seated Maitreya Buddha (National Treasure No. 83) in meditation. The statue, recognized as an Oriental masterpiece for its formative beauty and highly expressive sculpturing, testifies to the exquisite artistic skills of ancient Koreans. To its left is a stone statue of an arhat from Onhaesa Temple in Yongch'on, Kyongsangbukdo province. The figure reveals the unique characteristics of Korean beauty

through humor, contrasting with the solemn dignity of the West Humor is a prominent element of Korean aesthetics and is manifested in various aspects of Korean culture and art.

Also on display are the kingfisherblue celadon and white porcelain ceramics that many Europeans are familiar with. Celadon represents the Koryo Dynasty (918-1392) when Buddhism flourished, and white porcelain relates to the Choson Dynasty (1392-1910) when Confucianism was adopted as the national code of ethics.

The greenish-blue color of Koryo celadon is still revered today for its intriguing aura, while even the Chinese have long admired the intricate inlaying techniques. Koryo celadon is typically regarded as aristocratic compared to the more modest white porcelain ceramics of the Choson Dynasty. The ceramics are sin1ple and unassuming, another feature of Korean art that contrasts sharply with the highly detailed and ornamental arts of Europe. They exude an "Oriental beauty" capable of lulling admirers into deep meditation. ''Europeans do not show great enthusiasm for the simple white porcelains at first, but after studying them for a while they say they become aware of an Oriental mystique that is difficult to describe," says Cho Hyun-jong, a researcher at the National Museum of Korea.

The collection highlighting Korea's Confucian heritage lists 64 items used by Choson literati such as white porcelain ceramics, brush paintings and vessels used in ancestral rites. These objects portray the essence of Confucian culture that emphasized ancestral veneration and revered letters above military skills.

A structure modeled after a traditional Korean house is replicated in the museum. Inside can be found an altar table used in ancestral rites and incense burners, demonstrating ancestral veneration that is still practiced by Koreans today.

The displays also include pho-

tographs of Chongmyo, the royal ancestral shrine of the Choson Dynasty which was recently designated a World Heritage by UNESCO, along with books and brush paintings by various literati.

Of particular note is a large white vase with a small lump in the center that appears to be a flaw. "The vase is displayed to clearly reveal the lump as a typical trait of Korean art-reaching out to the people through imperfection," says curator Chung. There are also numerous relics related to shamanism, a gold crown and various gold ornaments that glitter brightly in the light. A gold crown excavated from Ch'onmach'ong, the Heavenly Horse Tomb, is exhibited in a room with a floor of wooden planks, which vibrate when walked on, thus causing the delicate ornaments on the crown to quiver.

Visitors to the Villa Huegel Museum will feel that the overall lighting system is somewhat dim. The museum staff came up with this effect to further enhance the sense of mystery. Dr. Lee ]eong-hee, curator of the Ruhr Arts Trust who planned the exhibition, says that to properly promote any culture, it is more important to introduce the "roots" and "spiritual essence" that provided the foundation for it to bear fruit rather than the current "fruits" of a culture. "We focused on providing answers to the questions Europeans have about Koreans and their culture," she adds.

Accordingly, the exhibition catalogue includes many articles that help to promote a better understanding of Korean culture as well as encyclopedia-like explanations of the exhibited items and a glossary.

The exhibition will continue through October 17 at the Villa Huegel Museum before traveling to the Kunsthalle Museum in Munich (November 4 through February 20, 2000), and finally to the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, Switzerland, where it will be held until July 9, 2000. + 73

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Sohn Jin-chaek's

ThBiiiB Kim Myoung-hwan Deputy Editor, Culture & Entertainment Desk, Chosun Ilbo

The Fire is an experimental work that relies heavily on imagery. Words are

used extremely sparingly, with gestures, songs, light and sound being used to convey the vicissitudes of history in mythical images.

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he process of firing pottery cannot be so mundanely described as the making of receptacles. The act of pouring one's soul into shaping a pot out of clay, placing it inside a kiln, making a fire to heat the kiln, and then waiting for a fine ceramic to emerge is the work process of a dedicated artist.

Accordingly, it is often said that not only clay and water, but also spirit is required to create a fine ceramic piece.

The Fire is a play that was staged at the main hall of the Munye Center from June 11 through June 29. Written by Kim Young-Dak, a well-known philosopher, and produced by leading producer Sohn Jin-chack, the president of the Michoo Theater Company, the play presents an artistic spirit that flourishes under the most painful of circumstances.

The play is based on the true-life experiences of Chos6n Dynasty (1392-1910) potters who were kidnapped by Japanese invaders in 1598.

The potters were abducted to Japan's Satsuma peninsula, the southernmost point of Kyushu, where they were forced to make pottery. Of some 80 families of potters, the dramatic experiences of the Shim family are especially noteworthy. Not forsaking their Korean family name, the Shim family of potters devoted themselves to perfecting their ceramic craft from Shim Tang-kil to his 14th-generation descendant Shim Sukwan. The Shim family distinguished itself as the leading producer of Satsuma-yaki, which has come to represent the best of Japanese pottery.

The Fire is an experimental work that relies heavily on imagery. Words are used extremely sparingly, with gestures, songs, light and sound being used to convey the vicissitudes of history in mythical images. The first scene opens in total darkness. Then a dim light can be seen from the upper right side of the stage. As the stage is gradually illuminated, the kidnapped potters, clad in

rags and with forlorn expressions of despair, appear on the stage. Under the coercion of their Japanese captors, they agonize over the prospect of making pottery for the dreaded enemy. The agony they suffer is expressed through their somber movements as well as solemn songs. Particularly, the low and mournful sounds created by Korea's most-renowned acoustics specialist Kim Pul-rae produces a surreal atmosphere.

At the front of the stage sits a young potter, apparently a member of the Shim family. He talks with his ancestors, transcending time and space. At that moment, the audience begins to. sympathize with the potters who were forced to live in Japan 400 years ago.

The potters especially agonize over their loss of identity as people of Chos6n. Suffering from nostalgia for their homeland, they are coerced by their captors to make pottery. They refuse to make pottery with the clay and the water of Japan, claiming that they can only make pottery with Chos6n clay and water. The Satsuma warriors bring them clay and water from Chos6n, but they do not go so far as to obtain Chos6n fire, which to the potters symbolizes the spiritual essence of their art.

Ultimately, the potters have to fire up their kilns in Japan. Where can they find fire to their suiting? They find it in their inner selves. The potters were torn between two consciences. One was "the heart of Chos6n" that formed the basis of their identity and for which they desperately yearned, and the other was "the heart of Japan" to which they must adapt to survive there. How was it possible to choose one over the other? The potters' answer: "We did not forsake either of the two. Instead, we embraced both of them, and eventually developed a new conscience."

Although they were abducted to Japan against their will, they gave birth to a new artistic spirit. With respect for

Review

his ancestors' fate that forced them to live in a foreign country as potters, 14th-generation potter Shim Su-kwan tells his son: ''Here is a grass seed. It probably didn't intend to be here.

Nevertheless, it makes every effort to live, accepting its fate as it is, taking root in the ground, and sprouting leaves ... " The Fire is the story about the Chos6n potters who accepted making pottery as their fate and endeavored to perfect their art despite all the hardships they endured. It depicts the fascinating power of art for which the potters devoted their lives. The creation of Korean pottery is said to embody the pursuit of truth. The play depicts a realization of truth anew to be one of the essential qualities of ceramic art.

The beauty of The Fire can be found in the harmony between Korean enlightenment and Oriental images.

Cast in a hazy light, the cotton garments of the Chos6n potters, mainly in pale yellow, visually harmonize with the lusterless ochre pottery. This visual harmony is in accord with the Korean aesthetic that natural beauty is superior to artificiality.

Through this original work, Sohn ambitiously sought to discover new ideas for theater in Korea's traditional culture. Having won the grand prize in the 1963 Seoul Theater Festival for The Heaven for Namsadang, Sohn occupies an in1portant position in a group that creates experimental plays through the rediscovery of tradition. To be sure, The Fire is not a perfect piece and may not live up to the expectations of those familiar with Sohn's work Considering that The Fire is a play in which dialogue is sparingly used, it should have been richer in audio-visual images.

Nevertheless, given that the Korean theater community has been presenting works of a lighter, less serious nature lately, it is refreshing to find a producer who pursues serious themes such as that found in The Fire. + 75

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ngsanArlbh ilion

Art of Mt. KOmgang from the 18th Century to the 20th Century LeeTae-ho Professor, Chonnam National University

outh Korean tourists can now travel to Mt. Kumgang and admire the breathtaking vistas of Kumgangsan, the Diamond Mountains, albeit under strict restraints, for the first time since the division of the Korean peninsula into North and South Korea over 50 years ago. To South Koreans, touring Kumgangsan is like the first step on the long road to unification, as the mountains have long been revered as a spiritual symbol.

During the six months since the Hyundai Group began offering deluxe cruise ship tours to Kumgangsan, many figures from the literary and art com-

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munities have joined other tourists to appreciate its exquisite beauty. Upon return, each has revealed feelings of pain over national division and hopes for unification while attempting to convey its little-known magnificence through media features and works of art. The wave of renewed interest in Kumgangsan has led to exhibitions of ancient paintings of the mountains.

Kumgangsan is injecting fresh life into the domestic literary and art circles as well, comparable to a cultural blood transfusion for an ailing social atmosphere.

The exhibit "Kumgangsan in a

Dream-Art of Mt. Kumgang from the 18th Century to the 20th Century in Korean Art," organized by the Ilmin Museum of Art Quly 6 through August 29), was intended to highlight the past and present art of Kumgangsan. This effort can be regarded as a manifestation of Korea's fervent desire for unification by tracing the footsteps of ancient Koreans through various areas of Kt'1mgangsan's 12,000 peaks. The museum selected 15 contemporary artists who portrayed their own versions of Kumgangsan in diverse genres.

The exhibition was also significant for linking the paintings of Kumgangsan

IArt Re v iew produced during the past 300 years, from the works of Chong Son (1676-1759) to Pyon Kwan-shik (1899-1976), with those of contemporary artists.

The exhibition includes two parts.

The first is a collection of data and paintings on Kumgangsan dating from the 18th century through the 20th century, while the second part features contemporary works by artists who have recently toured the mountains.

By comparing ancient paintings with contemporary works, it is possible to discern continuity and change in traditional styles of painting. The exhibit can thus be called the first attempt at exploring the direction of art related to Kumgangsan, which has become accessible to South Koreans only recently.

The show is also significant as an attempt to integrate the North and the South through art.

Kiimgangsan, Birthplace of National Culture

Kumgangsan is so beautiful that it is known as the Diamond Mountains. It is unquestionably the creme de Ia creme of the beautiful mountains and rivers of the Korean peninsula, which has long been referred to as the land whose rivers and mountains create a natural embroidery. The landscape created by the sharply jutting groves of strangely formed rocks and broad rocky valleys is unrivaled in magnificence. Its splendor has been lauded by Koreans of long ago who referred to the mountains as the Diamond Mountains, with a beauty seen only in dreams. From antiquity, Koreans have revered Kumgangsan for its splendid scenery, comparing it to the enchanted land of mountain spirits, the land of Buddha, a place of refinement for personal cultivation, and a Shangri-la embodying the ardent wishes of the Korean people.

As the spiritual mountain of

Koreans, Kumgangsan is also a source of great pride. Past accounts of travel to Kumgangsan include frequent references to the fact that "Even the Chinese wish they had been born in Koryo so that they may travel to Kumgangsan." There are also many proud assertions of its unsurpassed scenery compared to even the most renowned mountains in China, including Mt. Taishan, Mt. Huashan, and Mt. Huangshan. Past Koreans even went so far as to say that the Five Sacred Mountain Peaks of China look flat when compared to K(ungangsan. The mountains symbolize the life and dreams of Koreans as the birthplace of art portraying their reality and ideals.

For this reason, art works related to Kumgangsan continue to represent the predominant national sentiments and spirit of the times more profoundly than any other forms of art by conveying the pains and joys of the people.

KC"ungangsan has inspired rich and diverse works of culture and art, ranging from paintings, travelogues, legends, myths and Buddhist relics to music. The many legends and myths associated with the awesome beauty of Kumgangsan candidly reflect the unique sentiments of the Korean people. The Kumgangsan-related Buddhist relics created since ninthcentury Shilla also feature extraordinary artistic aesthetics rooted deeply in religious faith. The poems and paintings by the literati of the Choson Dynasty (1392-1910) effectively broke new ground, as opposed to the previous tendency to imitate Chinese art, by establishing the foundation for a distinctive cultural and artistic style.

The magnificent scenery of Kumgangsan has always been a source of artistic inspiration for members of the literary and artistic community. The artists who created renowned

works of art centered on Kumgangsan are among those who dominated the mainstream of Korean art such as ChOng Ch'ol (1536-1593), who earned a name for himself through his collection of lyrics entitled Kwandongby6lgok, and ChOng Son, widely regarded as one of the greatest artists in the history of Korean art who captured the formative beauty of Kumgangsan through his painting. The works related to Kumgangsan are usually considered among the most significant efforts of an artist. Pyon Kwanshik, who passionately depicted the Diamond Mountains through his many paintings, is such an example. From ancient times, K(ungangsan has played a vital role as Korea's cultural and artistic birthplace. Even during the blea-k days of Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945), travel to KC"1mgangsan was sufficient to instill a national pride and aspirations for national independence.

Thus it is only natural that Koreans Sh im Sa-jong's M t. Kiimgang seen from Tanballyong(Choson) (opposite

page, left); Chong SOn's Pulchongdae ( Choson) (opposite page, right); An Sung-bok's Sound of Wind in Manm ulsang (1999) (below)

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continued to adulate these mountains even after the country was liberated from Japan and became divided.

Although Kumgangsan, the only place in North Korea where South Koreans are allowed to visit today, embodies the pains of division, it also stands as a symbol of the motivation and determination for unification.

Despite the immeasurable significance of Kumgangsan in terms of the history of Korea's culture and art, not a single exhibition on Kumgangsan has been held during the 50 years of national division. The fact that an exhibit is now being held belatedly at the turn of the century reflects the reality of Korea, whose division has devastated Kumgangsan's cultural vitality.

Culture and Art of Kumgangsan Spanning 300 Years The first part of the exhibit focuses on the paintings of the Choson Dynasty, highlighting the works of 15 painters including ChOng Son, Kim Hong-do (1760-?) and Shim Sa-jong (1707-1769), as well as folk paintings.

Although more than half of the paintings are being publicly displayed for the first time, they are representative paintings of Kumgangsan.

In an unexpected stroke of good fortune, previously unknown paintings such as Pirobong and Pulj6ngdae by ChOng Son, Mt. Kumkang Seen from Tanballyong by Shim Sa-jong (1707-1769), Sambulam and Kuryongp'ok by ChOng Hwang (1512-1560), Korydong and Kuryongp'o k by ChOng Su-yong, and Samilp'o by Ko Yon-dang, along with a folding screen titled Ktlmgangj6ndo

(Complete View of Diamond Mountains) by Shin Hak-kwon, were discovered during the process of preparing for the exhibit. In addition, a collection of poems, letters and copies of travelogues by Han Sok-bong (1543-1605), Kim Ch'ang-jip (1648-1722) 78

and Cho Hui-ryong (1797-1859) offers a glimpse into the opulent culture of Kumgangsan that flourished during the Chason Dynasty.

The paintings of Kumgangsan by 20th century painters feature a collection of works by 15 artists including traditional ink paintings by Kim Kyu-jin, Ko Hui-dong, Kim Un-ho, Yi Sang-born, Pyon Kwan-shik, Yi Ung-no and Pak Saeng-kwang, and oil paintings by Pae Un-song and Im Yong-ryun. Except for a few items, these works are on public display for the first time and some are by artists hitherto little-known in the field of Korean modern art.

Aside from the paintings, the exhibit also brought together other items associated with Kumgangsan, from Tonggukjiji written by Chong In-ji (1396-1478) and Yang Song-ji (1415-1482) in the 15th century, Account of Travels to Kumgangsan by Nam Hyo-on (1454-1492) to Dialogue Between Pisok and Kumgangsan by ChOng Pi-sok written in the 20th century. In particular, the display of Buddhist documents dating to the Koryo and Chason periods, poems and travelogues of the Chason era, and travelogues, travel maps and photographs of Ki:'tmgangsan from the Japanese colonial rule period allow visitors to appreciate the far-reaching impact of these unique mountains in contributing to Korea's culture and art.

The exhibit brought together the entirety of literary and artistic works on Kumgangsan by including those that date back to 500 years ago while the first part highlighted paintings of the past 300 years.

Expectations for Contemporary Artists The items on exhibit number about 200 of 120 types collected from over 50 sources. While scrambling to collect materials for the exhibition, I was surprised to learn there are relatively few works of Kumgangsan produced dur-

ing the past 300 years including those

by ChOng Son and Pyon Kwan-sik. I could locate only a limited number of outstanding works on Kumgangsan even from major museums. Since I had to visit over 50 locations and borrow one or two items from each, it was indeed gratifying to come upon unexpected masterpieces and unknown works. The discovery of unknown works led to a showing of 300 years of paintings on Kumgangsan that included both masterpieces by Chong Son and Pyon Kwan-shik and others of relatively lesser significance. The masterpieces and kitsch were shown together based on a belief that each, in its own way, illustrates the social and cultural significance of its time. As the spiritual mountain of the Korean people, Ki:'tmgangsan symbolizes their unity.

Yet very few artistic works on Kumgangsan were produced in the 20th century, a fact I realized only after I began to plan for the exhibit. In a way, this is a reflection of Korea's unfortunate modern history that has been forced to overcome repeated setbacks.

The second part of the exhibit features works by 15 contemporary artist including Oriental paintings by Lee Jong-sang, Kim Ho-deuk, Baik Soon-shil, Kim Sun-doo, and Mun Bong-sun; Western paintings by Hwang Yongyop, Min Jeong-gi, Yoon Dong-chun, Song Pil-yong, and Shin Jang-sik; sculptures by Yoon Suk-nam, Ahn Sung-bok and Lee Hyung-u, and installation works by Yook Keun-byung and Park Hwa-yong. The significance of this second part involved the showing of works of every existing genre making up today's art. The exhibit provided the opportunity to observe the diverse interpretations of Kumgangsan and the unique styles of 15 artists who showed how the void caused by 50 years of division can be bridged at the end of the 20th century. +

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Arirang'IV Korea's First International Satellite Broadcaster in English KOREANA Editor

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n the eve of the new millennium, Korea is striving to enhance awareness of Korea and its culture overseas through satellite TV broadcasting. Test operations on June 7, 1999 proved successful.

Based on this auspicious start, Korea commenced its first 24-hour satellite broadcast channel in English on August 12.

Under its motto of providing the best of Korean television programming to the entire world, satellite broadcasts are beaming programs 24 hours a day to 50 nations in the Asia-Pacific region, an audience of more than 250 million people. To reach the widest possible audience, the programming is broadcast in English, with Chinese subtitles.

The channel offers a broad mix of programming-from dramas, sports events and cartoons to pop music videos - as a means of providing viewers with instant access to Korean culture. It also features timely and in-depth news reports about Korea through its various news programs, as well as insights into Korean

culture and life through special documentaries.

The satellite broadcasts are part of Arirang TV, which was founded in 1997 as the first English-language Korean network .

Arirang's prime target audience so far has been foreigners

residing in Korea and visitors, and as such, its mission has been to help viewers better understand Korean culture and to adapt to life in Korea more easily. Arirang is a cable TV station, but its reach now extends throughout the world via satellite in

addition to the supply of its programming to CNN World Report and Hong Kong's ATV. In honor of the launch of its new regional satellite service, Arirang hosted a series of promotional events. On July 19, it broadcast a live concert of traditional Korean music from the city of Sunch'on in ChOllanam-do province. The "N am do Kugak Spring Summer Fall Winter" program revealed the splendor and richness of Korea's ancient musical traditions. At the other end of the spectrum, Korean youth let loose their passion and vigor at a pop concert broadcast live from Kyongpodae Beach of the East coast city of Kangnl'mg on July 31. On the day of the official launch itself, dignitaries and celebrities were on hand to offer their congratulations and best wishes.

By broadcasting in English and Chinese, the two most widely-used languages in the world , the new satellite venture will not only serve as a bridge to ethnic Koreans living abroad and foreigners interested in Korea, but it will also help build a foundation of understanding and friendship among its neighbors conducive to regional harmony. +

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Limitless Horizons in Kevin O'Rourke's Anthology of Korean Verse Daniel A. Friedlander and Ko Asia Freelance Translators

Kevin O'Rourke's anthology, Looking for the Cow, is a wide and varied collection of Korean poetry in the 20th century. The broad selection of poets and the forms, styles, and subjects with which the anthology deals represents an excellent introduction to the various phases through which Korean poetry grows, changes and matures as a result of both contemporary and European influences.

In Korean poetry, no clear divisions can be seen between movements. Thus, at once, while Yi Sang is writing his surrealistic poems in the 1930s, the Buddhist monk, Han Yongun is writing traditional forms of devotional poetry while expressing his love of Korea in more nationalistic verse. This is the trend found throughout O'Rourke's very representational selection. So it is also no surprise that while Seo Chongju, Kim Chunsu, and Cho Byunghwa are dealing with humanistic and existential issues in the 1950s, Ku Sang, Pak Mokwon, and Pak Tujin are writing war poetry, as they try to put some voice to the horrors they experienced in the civil war and use their poetry as a healing balm for themselves and their nation. The rigid censorship and political climate of the 1960s and 1970s serve to influence new thoughts and feelings on the conduct of both leaders and civilians on all levels of Korean society. Political freedom,

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Rain falls Night spreads quiet feathers Rain whispers across the yard a secret conclave of clucking chickens.

The Japanese come sneaking quietly and calmly into Korea. There is no apparent trouble; all is peaceful and friendly. Rain whispers a warning that trouble is tln the way while the "clucking chickens," or those cowards who are leading the Korean nation, plot with the Japanese to secretly feed it to them.

The Romantic Movement of the 1920s and 1930s is generally associated with direct poetic attacks on the Japanese. In "Will Spring Come to Stolen Fields," Yi Sanghwa expresses this sentiment: Strangers hold the land: will spring come to stolen fields?

My body smells of the green.

Between the green of laughter and the green .of sorrow !limp through the day.

The spirit of spring has been fired.

personal introspection, sentimentalism, and humanism through Christianity are all themes associated with Korean poetry in this period.

Contemporary Korean poetry gets it start when Kim Uk begins writing symbolist poetry around 1910. From this point on, the majority of Korean poets will reject the old restrictive forms of traditional Buddhist and Confucianist verse. Although Kim Sowol and Han Yongun continue to write of these traditional subjects (deep sorrow, humanism, and generosity, for example) throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Korean poetry continues to adopt and adapt more formalized European influences (symbolism, modernism, existentialism, humanism, surrealism, introspection).

The question, "Will spring come to stolen fields?" expresses the sorrow of an entire nation alienated from nature. The color green is a symbol of hope and longing for a better time, a time when winter is not overshadowing the land; while the author's "limp" is the limp all Korea feels as a result of the affliction of the Japanese occupation.

With the introduction of modernism, the 1930s and

The poem "Sound of Rain," by Ju Yohan, reflects the very powerful collective influences of the Symbolist School and the Japanese colonial occupation of Korea (1910-1945)

1940s become a period of more stylized verse, reflecting a greater concern for European-style literary themes. In Kim Kirim's "On the High Seas," a greatly matured post-mod-

But our fields have been stolen; and spring has been stolen too.

ernist style, more reminiscent of the Beat poets of 1950s America, is apparent:

S.O.S. Six-thirty in the afternoon.

Suddenly, the world is shipwrecked, caught on the hidden reef of the sea of darkness.

Help!

I forego the temptation to save it.

These European themes, at once, both broaden and deepen the poetry which follows from the introduction of modernism on, while homegrown stylization and inventiveness serve to el~vat the writing of Korean poetry to levels equal or above anything on the world stage.

O'Rourke's selection gives the reader a good idea of just how far and how fast Korean poetry advances (in form, style, and subject matter) in the 20th century.

His knowledge of Korean poetry coupled with his knowledge of the Korean language help to make Looking for the Cow an easy-to-understand, nonscholastic introduction to the richness of 20th century Korean poetry.

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Early Masters of Modern Korean Fiction

Selected and Translated

by Kim Chong-un and Bruce Fulton University of Hawaii Press, 1998 Kim Yung-Hee Associate Professor of Korean Literature University of Hawaii at Manoa

In modern Korean literary traditions, unlike in the West, the short story has long been privileged and recognized as the testing ground for writers' talent and potential while serving as the key to their entry into the mainstream literary world. The formal brevity, structural tightness, and stylistic compression inherently required of the genre have served its connoisseurs well in gauging writers' skills in controlling thematic enunciation and craftsmanship. Therefore, it has usually been through the publication of one's first short story that Korean writers have made their debut and gained admission to the literary establishment. This convention is still strongly maintained in Korea today. Indeed, some of the best-known Korean authors of long novels are remembered and appreciated for their short stories.

The exploration of the short story genre was emphatically and tirelessly pursued during the early phase of the development of modern Korean fiction from the early 1920s. The short story allowed aspiring young writers to experiment with their craft and venture into different thematic areas without having to consider the onerous bur-

den of full-length fiction. Moreover, the literary journals and general-interest magazines, the major channels for writers to make their literary debut, had a limited number of pages and faced chronic financial difficulties, and thus encouraged the avoidance of voluminous writing and ironically seemed to have encouraged the advancement of the short story genre. Another contributing factor could be the scarcity of trade publishers who would readily accept the monetary risks of publishing full-length novels by authors of unproven quality and accomplishment.

Furthermore, the censorship and economic deprivation under Japanese colonial rule may have forced Korean writers to choose the more tenable short story form, again paradoxically promoting the growth and refinement of the genre as a desirable and ideal literary medium for cultivation.

Under these singular and often adverse circumstances, however, Korean writers produced some masterpieces in the short story genre during the colonial period, and part of this legacy is made available in English translation in A Ready-Made Life. The anthology contains 81

16 stories, all by male writers except for one by woman writer Ch'oe Chong-hOi, which covers works produced from 1921 to 1943. At the outset, the translators make it clear that they do not intend to make the collection a "definitive, canonical" piece. Rather, they based their selection on the "stories' appeal" to them and on a concern for brevity, unavailability in English, and variety in styles.

The result is still a felicitous anthology that represents the major works of masters in modern Korean literature, some of whom are also renowned for their long novels. Especially noteworthy is the inclusion of the works of three authors, Yi Ki-yong, Yi T'ae-jun, and Pak T'ae-won , who left for North Korea after the 19451iberation from Japan and whose works, therefore, were long banned in South Korea until the late 1980s. The inclusion of these neglected writers provides a model for compilers of future anthologies. The anthology, however, could have expanded its coverage by including more women writers to strike a better balance in gender, and at the same time, to demonstrate the integral contribution of women novelists to the shaping of modern Korean narrative traditions, as the translators observed themselves.

The introduction presents a brief overview of the development of Korean literature under Japanese occupation such as the impact of censorship on Korean writers, and offers concise summaries of the themes and techniques of individual works included in the anthology. This section also informs the reader of the general tone and orientation of the stories, which reveal the dismal and fragmented nature of life under Japanese rule. And yet, Kim and Fulton suggest interesting possibilities for multi-level readings of these stories from critical perspectives such as Marxist and Freudian, or simply for pleasure, rather than taking them monolithically as disguised anti-colonial subtexts. As such, the introduction prepares the reader with information to contextualize the writers and their stories and offers different options for approaching them. One error in the name of a woman writer occurs in this section: Yi Won-ju should have been written as KimWon-ju.

Another helpful feature of the collection is the preface provided at the beginning of each story in which an informative summary of the writer's background, works, and career is given. Moreover, it is convenient to have on hand such details as the name of the journal in which the story was originally published along with the publication date. This is particularly relevant to readers who would like to know more about the identity of the source materials from which the stories were taken.

The stories are presented in the chronological order of publication of individual stories with one slight exception: Yi Ki-yong's story, "A Tale of Rats" (1926) is presented before Yom Sang-sop's "The Rotary Press" (1925). This thoughtful arrangement provides readers with a historical sense of the 82

development of the Korean short story genre and helps make them aware of the relative position and value of these stories in the development of the short story genre. The majority of the stories are short except for Ch'ae Man-shik's story, "The Ready-Made Life," from which the title of the anthology is derived, and thus make for speedy reading .

The translations of the stories read extremely well , reflecting the virtuosity of the originals. The choice of vocabulary is precise and impeccable, and sentences flow smoothly without a hitch. Most impressive is the seeming ease and proficiency in preserving intact the colloquialisms and down-toearth flavor of some of the stories. One outstanding example is Kim Yu-jong's "Wife." Without a thorough acquaintance with and expertise in American slang or popular jargon, such a rendering would have been impossible. In addition, considering that the translation of dialogue is one of the most difficult skills to master, the characters in A Ready-Made Life speak in a natural language befitting their social status, gen. der, and age. This is one of the delights of reading this anthology.

A welcome inclusion is the new translation of Chu Yosop's "Mama and the Boarder," which is long overdue. This version captures the very essence of the wistful and poignant forbidden love story of a young widow narrated from her six-year-old daughter's point of view. The new translation of Yi Hyo-sok's "When the Buckwheat Blooms" further enhances the idealized beauty of the countryside and its people, thanks to the translators' experiences and discriminating acumen in forging and chiseling phrases, sentences and paragraphs. The following, which is the ending of the story, is one such example: "As Ho ambled along, the tinkle of the donkeys' bells, more lucid now, carried over the dusky expanse. The moon had arched far across the heavens." Finally, Yi Kwang-su's "Mystery Woman" adds a new dimension to the qnthology since by bringing to light the versatility of Yi, who is usually identified as a writer of lengthy novels, beginning with his first full-length, epoch-making fiction, Muj6ng(1917).

A Ready-Made Life will eminently serve as a guide for Western readers to modern Korean literature produced under Japanese occupation, revealing the dwarfed, suffocating, and demeaning life of the colonized, while showing how most of the writers succeeded in transcending such shackles to create works of superb artistry, penetrating insight, and enduring message. The collaborative efforts of Kim, an early pioneer in translation in Korea, and Fulton, who has established a proven track record in the enterprise, has yielded a memorable, distinguished, and, most of all, enjoyable product in the increasingly demanding field of translation and raised its standard to a higher level. For this, A Ready-Made Life will remain a continuing source of challenge as well as admiration and appreciation. +

JOURNEYS IN KOREAN LITERATURE

Yi Hyo-sok English literature, a sense of loss regarding home, and his own particular sentiment-these are the elements that infuse the many short stories, poems and novels that make up the body of Yi's work.

83

The Life and Work of

Yi H o-so Kim Yoon-shik Professor of Korean Language and Literature Seoul National University

Y

i Hyo-sok (1907-1942), better known by his penname Kasan, was born in the village of Chinbu, P'yongch'ang-gun, Kangwon-do province, the son of the village chief Yi Shi-hu. He attended P'yongch'ang Elementary School and Ky6ngs6ng High School (Kyonggi Middle and High School following national liberation) and went on to study English literature at Kyongsong Imperial University. After Yi's birth mother died when he was five years old, he was raised by his stepmother, Kang Hong-kyung. Perhaps it was because of trouble with his stepmother, nobody knows for sure, but Yi boarded 40 kilometers away from home while attending P'yongch'ang Elementary School.

The university that Yi attended was established during Japan's colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945), offering a preparatory course in 1924 and a regular curriculum in 1926. It was the only university where both Korean and Japanese students attended classes together. Yi studied English literature, in particular Irish literature, from 1925 to 1930 and wrote his graduate thesis on the plays of]. M. Synge. Along with Yu Chin-o, who was one year his senior, Yi completed an elite course of study under Japanese colonial rule.

Another aspect that shaped Yi's work is a deep sense of loss about his hometown. Yi's only memories of his 84

hometown were of his elementary school days. Once when he was asked about his hometown, he answered: "I have no hometown, no native place that has nurtured my character and sentiments over half a lifetime in a tender and powerful way." Still, it was his hometown that served as the background for one of his most acclaimed short stories, "When the Buckwheat Blooms" (1936).

English literature, a sense of loss regarding home, and his own particular sentiment-these are the elements that infuse the many short stories, poems and novels (Pollen, 1939 and The Endless Blue Sky, 1940) that make up the body of Yi's work Up until the time of his death from meningitis at the young age of 35, Yi worked as a teacher in a rural school and wrote at the same time. For academic purposes, his work can be divided into two periods, the early and the late.

The early period is marked by Yi's literary debut while still a student with the story "Ghosts and the City" in 1925.

"A Fortuitous Meeting" and "The March" followed in 1929. All three of these stories are exposes about the misery of life in the city for those at the bottom rung of society. "Ghosts and the City" is about a plasterer who chases two ghosts that suddenly appear before him and discovers that they are the wretched ghosts of a beggar woman, whose leg was maimed in a

car accident, and her son. "A Fortuitous Meeting" is about the downfall of an innkeeper's daughter as seen through the eyes of a leftist activist, while "The March" describes life in a boarding house of laborers in the city. In all three stories, Yi does not stop at simply depicting the misery but denounces it, and it is this social consciousness that sets his work apart.

At the time, writers with this line of social orientation were referred to as "associate" writers. There were many associations of writers who used their art as a tool for promoting social awareness and socialist revolution, including RAPP in Russia and NAPF in Japan, along with the Korea Artists Proletariat Federation (KAPF), which existed between 1925 and 1935. Writers who were not members but sympathized with the ideology of these associations were known as "associate" writers. When Yi made his literary debut, the KAPF was more powerful than the nationalistic movement, with its ideology reflecting the current of the times. Both Yi and Yu Chin-o were recognized as associate writers and continued to publish works of similar character. In this vein, Yi produced a volume of short stories entitled The Waters of Russia in 1931. The book is made up of three serialized short stories: "The Waters of Russia," "The Landing" and "Letter from the Northern Country." The first story, "The Waters of Russia," tells the story of a young man who makes his way to Russia in a third-class cabin, carrying a map of the world and a Russian phrase book It is about the youth's longing for Russia, an ideal in his mind, the land of revolution, a worker's paradise. "The Landing" describes the youth's arrival at a small harbor in a corner of the Soviet Union, a place he long dreamed about, with his friend Kim. "Letter from the Northern Country" is an epistolary novel composed of letters sent by the youth to his friend back at home about the

things that happen to him in the harbor town- his adaptation to the land of revolution through his love for a Russian girl.

What stands out in the three stories is the youth's romantic longing for revolutionary Russia. Romantic here means a yearning that has no basis in reality or experience, a completely abstract sentiment. The coming and going of detailed scenes and use of Russian words remote from reality are evidence of this.

The late period of Yi's work can be called his "return to nature" period. The work which marks his move away from being an associate writer toward defining his own literary world is "The Pig," which was published 1933. "The Pig" is about a poor youth named Shik, who takes the family pig to the village's breeding farm to be mated. For a poor family, raising a pig was considered the best way to earn extra money. As Shik makes his way home from the farm, he becomes immersed in thought about his one-sided love for Pun, and does not see the oncoming train that kills the precious family pig.

As man y critics have pointed out, what is noteworthy in this work is the notion that there is very little distinction between the mating of pigs and the fornicating of human beings. As Shik watches his pig struggling to mate, he starts to think about Pun. In his con-

fused mind, the figure of the pig gets mixed up with an image of Pun. "The Pig" was followed by stories such as "Punyo" and "Fields" (1936), in which he finds no difference in the act of sex between animals and human beings. Even "When the Buckwheat Blooms" can be called an extension of this theme. These stories emphasize that the essence of humans can be found in sex, which is the most natural phenomenon in nature, thus creating a completely different category from Yi's previous works on revolution or social reconstruction.

Critics attribute this change in direction to the demise of the KAPF in the early 1930s and the influence of D. H. Lawrence, author of Sons and Lovers.

But what is most important to remember is that Yi had a special, unique way of unfolding a story. He was not so much interested in the act of sex itself, or in eroticism, but sex as a means to understand the order of nature. In "When the Buckwheat Blooms," which takes the mating of animals as its motif, the power of nature stirred up by the seductive sight of buckwheat flowers in the moonlight leads to an act of intercourse at the water mill.

Such themes naturally are critical of the urban environment. As can be seen in "Human Prose," and "Angels and Prose Poems" (1936), Yi continues

to condemn the evils of the city. This anti-urban inclination gradually led Yi toward poetry or what can be called anti-prose.

Although prose is the language of novels, Yi managed to create a very different lyrical world, for which critics described him as "the author who wrote poems in the form of novels," a point of frequent discussions.

Something that should be mentioned is Yi's unique sense of aesthetics, which can be found in the special charm of his words. Yi found no sense of aesthetics in history. He once said: "It is more useful to think of geography rather than history when investigating the idea of beauty." But in the end, even the land could not provide him with the sense of beauty he sought. Yi noted: "It is meaningless to try and make something that it is not, thwugh prejudice and obstinacy, and to indulge in retrospection. The effort to discover a new beauty is creative." This is a socalled refined, modernist sentiment. It is in this vein that he insisted that flowers be Western flowers and names be Western-style names.

Paeks6k's poetic language touched off his thoughts of leaving home, and it was in Bliss, by Katherine Mansfield, that he discovered the beauty of pear blossoms. For Yi, a writer with an elite education in Western literature, this was only natural. +

Yi Hyo-sok's birthplace (left) and a park with buckwheat in bloom and a waterwheel like the one in his story (above).

85

The Korea Foundation Fellowship Programs FEllOWSHIP FOR KOREANSTUDIE5

The Korea Foundation offers fellowships for Korean studies in the fields of humanities, social sciences and arts.

The program is intended to provide scholars and other qualified professionals overseas with an opportunity to carry out in-depth research in Korea for a period of three to twelve months.

Each successful applicant will be provided with round-trip airfare to Korea and a monthly stipend during the grant period Applicants should complete the Korea Foundation Fellowship for Korean Studies application form and submit their academic research proposals to the Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by August 31 of the same year.

Support for Korean Studies Programs Abroad The Korea Foundation offers financial assistance to universities, research institutes and libraries abroad in their efforts to promote the study and understanding of subjects related to Korea. Projects submitted for consideration must be in the fields of humanities, social sciences or arts and within the categories listed below: 1) Establishment and expansion of Korea-related courses and faculty positions, 2) Fellowships for graduate students or research grants for faculty members, and 3) Library acquisitions and cataloging.

Applications must be submitted to the Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by November 30 of the same year.

For application forms, program guidelines or further information, please write to:

FELLOWSHIP FOR KOREAN LANGUAGE TRAINING

Korean Studies Support Team The Korea Foundation

The Korea Foundation offers grants for Korean language training to graduate students, scholars and other qualified professionals overseas who wish to learn the Korean language at a Korean university language institute for a period of six to twelve months.

Each successful applicant will be assigned to a Korean language course at a major Korean university, and will be provided with tuition and a monthly allowance during the grant period Applicants should complete and submit the Korea Foundation Fellowship for Korean Language Training application form to the Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by August 31 of the same year.

For application forms, program guidelines or further information, please write to:

Seocho P.O. Box 227 Seoul. Korea Tel. 82-2-3463-5612 Fox, 82-2-3463-6075. 6076

Personnel Exchange Team The Korea Foundation Seocho P.O. Box 227 Seoul. Korea Tel82-2-3463-5613 Fax. 82-2-3463-6075. 6076

KOREA FOCUS A BIMONTHLY ON CURRENT KOREAN AFFAIRS

In addition to KOREANA, the Korea Foundation publishes KOREA FOCUS as part of its effort to inform the world community about Korea and to enhance international understanding in this era of globalization.

KOREA FOCUS offers a comprehensive view of contemporary Korea in a wide-ranging selection of informative articles on Korea's current affairs. In this bimonthly, you will find timely essays and commen- FOCUSl:~ taries on Korea's politics, economy, society and culture, opinions on world affairs, and a chronology of recent events in Korea.

Its articles are selected from leading ¡:;,.,--:;,:::;;.::::..-:::..-::::::.:-..: publications in Korea, including major daily newspapers, newsmagazines and academic journals.

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