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Category Archives: Travel

Koreans in New Zealand

17-May-08

Eating SausageI had known for a while that New Zealand is a place where Koreans have been travelling – and settling down – for a number of years. At the BFI London Film Festival in 2004 there was a short film entitled Eating Sausage (Zia Mandviwalla, 2004), about Korean immigrants in Auckland; while Bungee Jumping of Their Own (Kim Dae-seung, 2001) features New Zealand as a known tourism destination – at least for adventure sports.

Artist Lee Hye Rim lives in Aukland, while the Lonely Planet advises that the work of Oh Seung Yul can be found at the new art gallery there.

Auckland from Devonport

Since I was in Auckland recently on vacation I thought I’d check out evidence of Koreans in New Zealand’s most populous city. A Korean friend of mine in London grew up there, so before I went on holiday I emailed her for some tips, but unfortunately I didn’t get an answer before I got there (understandably – she was on honeymoon). But evidence was not hard to find:

Noraebang in Queen Street

Korean students in the streets and on the buses, a noraebang in Queen Street, a couple of restaurants near the New Gallery on Wellesley Street, a Korean supermarket near the city hospital in Grafton. And that was just on the basis of a random walk round the downtown area.

I was expecting more obvious evidence of Korean businesses in Karangahape Road, the main ethnic street, but couldn’t find any. I suspect, though, that a number of the Japanese restaurants, as in London, are in fact Korean-owned.

New Zealand is a popular place for Koreans to study, but despite the numbers it’s not always easy to adjust - at least that’s the explanation reportedly given by a community spokesman for a recent nasty incident picked up in the Chosun Ilbo.

A youth court in Auckland found six Korean girls aged between 15 and 17 guilty of detaining a 16-year-old girl, also Korean, for more than an hour and burning her with cigarettes outside a supermarket in Auckland in February.

Getting into the more touristy parts, one third of the passengers on my flight [1] down to the beautiful lakeside town of Queenstown were Korean. And back in the North Island, the volcanic Maori centre of Rotorua is also a popular destination for Koreans as for many others. It was there that I got chatting to a Kiwi in the travel business who had some interesting (and unprompted) observations about the behaviour of Korean tour groups compared with the Japanese or Chinese. Let’s call it a combination of risk-taking and entrepreneurism, but Koreans are

  • More likely to injure themselves - and others - on the jet skis
  • More likely to try to avoid paying for things
  • More likely to be ripped off by their own (Korean) tour guides (Korean tour guides are notorious for charging their customers a fee to enter a (free) public park).

At least, on the evidence of this sign, they are no more likely than the Chinese to damage the silver ferns in Rotorua’s Redwood plantation:

Silver Fern sign

Koreans have, apparently, been travelling to New Zealand since the early 90s, both as tourists and on business. Often business is mixed with pleasure, as when people in the fruit business are brought to New Zealand by the big kiwifruit marketing company, Zespri. Apart from fruit, I’m told that deer antlers (for traditional medicine) and honey are popular exports to Korea, but forestry is the biggest commodity export. In fact, Korea is New Zealand’s 6th biggest export market and FTA talks may soon start between the two countries. Prime Minister Helen Clark is currently in Seoul to promote the idea of such talks.

As I left Auckland, once again it was hard to avoid things Korean. In the Air New Zealand lounge, the only non-Kiwi newspapers and magazines on display were Korean: the Hanguk Ilbo, the weekly Economist magazine plus a Korean golf magazine, while the Taste of New Zealand duty free is blessed with four very pretty Korean shop assistants.

I’m looking for someone to provide some funding so that I can go back and do some more in-depth fieldwork. New Zealand’s a great country.

Links

  1. Travel tip - always fly Air New Zealand rather than Qantas for internal flights. The former have all the navigation equipment for taking off and landing in the frequent low cloud, and hence flights get canceled much less frequently than Qantas[back]
Filed in Auckland, Business, Koreatowns, Travel | Comments (7) »

The Seoul Magazine photo challenge

29-Apr-08

One of my minor complaints with Seoul Magazine is their slapdash approach to visual material. Particularly in their events listings they splatter pictures around the page with no description of what the image depicts and what article or event it relates to. We bloggers have a partial excuse for not putting captions under pictures, because as far as I’m aware html currently only supports captions for tables, not images. But publishers of printed media have no excuse.

Take as an example the listing of festivals and events on page 60 of April’s edition. One of the events listed is the Gyeongju Traditional Drink and Rice Cake Festival (19-24 April). It does not take a genius to link the image below with that event, but what on earth is going on? Other than to say that if you had drunk that amount of soju, you’d probably need a bit of a sit-down as well.

Gyeongju Traditional Drink & Rice Cake Festival - from Seoul Magazine

Filed in Pictures, Strange but true, Travel | Comments (0) »

My Friend Korea

27-Apr-08

Courtesy of Arirang TV, a 15 minute video about the attractions of Korea as a tourist destination and about Han Style. Korea’s ancient and modern culture is highlighted.

http://londonkoreanlinks.net/wp-content/uploads/video/MFKorea.flv

Filed in LKL.tv, Travel | Comments (0) »

These people make me angry

23-Apr-08

Today we have two accounts of the AKS evening of Korean culture on 10 April (one of them unsolicited by me). Both of them are favourable and rightly appreciative of the efforts of Sylvia Park of the AKS in organising the event. So I feel justified in presenting another angle.

The evening was scheduled to start at 7pm, so I swanned in, Korean-style, at 7:10 and wondered where everyone was. I grabbed a glass of wine from the dapper Mr Corbishley at the bar, said hello to a couple of embassy and KCC officials and ambled in the direction of the multi-purpose space.

Standing room only

The proceedings had in fact started bang on time, and AKS members and their guests were packed into the seating area. There was standing room only at the entrance to the hall, and I managed to squeeze through the crowd enough to get a view of the KTO representative presenting the delights of Korea as a tourism destination. As the KTO were generously sponsoring the event and funding the buffet, it was only natural that we should get this informative marketing pitch.

It was also natural that the KTO would bring along some guests from the industry: at the fringes of the crowd I recognised some of the people from the Korea, Sparkling launch last year. But as the memory of that particular event came rushing back to me, I began to feel a strong sense of foreboding.

I was not wrong.

As we got further into the evening, a breakaway group started forming outside the hall, drinking and chatting. They were predominantly the KTO and Asiana representatives and their guests (and I think I spotted some Korean Air representatives there as well, though I may be mistaken). The chatter got louder after the Asiana representative had presented the airline’s exciting annual passenger growth statistics, and we had moved on to the performances.

“People don’t want to listen to this sort of stuff”, I overheard one of them say, rather too loudly, as the delicate sound of the kayageum tried to make itself heard. Yes they do, and they’d appreciate it if you’d damn well shut up.

As the Taekwondo kids started their peaceful meditation before their martial arts demonstration, the sounds of merry-making intruded from outside as the Korean travel industry and their colleagues showed their collective disdain for the cultural events going on inside.

Mr Yu In-chon, the new Minister for Culture, Sports and Tourism, has been tasked by President Lee to reduce Korea’s so-called Tourism Deficit. Funding events such as this is a necessary part of the marketing effort. But, for preference, please just cough up the money, go to the pub next door, and leave the rest of us in peace.

Filed in Anglo-Korean Society, Korea, Sparkling, Rants | Comments (2) »

Holiday snaps from Korea

09-Mar-08

Window in Changdeokgung palace

In the past few days I’ve loaded into Flickr some photos from my recent long weekend in Seoul and Busan. Nothing terribly sophisticated, and I rather overdid the pictures of pretty palace rooves, but it was a nice day.

Photos are on my Flickr page here.

Filed in Pictures, Weekends in Korea | Comments (0) »

The LKL long weekend in Seoul and Busan

27-Feb-08

A sketchy account of LKL’s recent trip to the land of morning calm.

Thursday night: arrive at Incheon, sail through immigration and customs, no wait for baggage or mobile phone rental, and buy a 14,000 Won ticket for the shuttle bus to a hotel in the City Hall area. Someone makes sure I’m queuing in the right place, and before I know it I’m at the Lotte Hotel. Get into a taxi. The driver doesn’t know where my hotel is, and can’t understand the map I have carefully printed off. We improvise our way to the Insadong Fraser Suites.

ChuotangFriday morning: as I have made absolutely no arrangements for the weekend other than organising a hotel and sending tentative emails to a couple of people to say that I might be in Korea sometime in February, it’s time to start fixing things. One arrangement which I made on the flight from Hong Kong, which I shared with a colleague from our Seoul office, was a lunch date. Jin-a was worried that being a foreigner I might not be able to cope with “spicy” food. But on convincing her that I should be treated just like a Korean we go to a tiny street cafe behind the Deoksugung: Namwon Chuotang. A foreigner would not really know it was a restaurant, and would be puzzled by a lack of menu. The clue is in the name of the establishment: we are soon seated and the ajumma brings us the speaciality of the house: steaming Chuotang (mudfish soup - above right)

Funeral lament for NamdaemunFriday afternoon: stroll down to Seoul Station to check out the lie of the land and buy a ticket for the KTX to Busan. Am entertained by the fervent singing of evangelical Christians in the station forecourt, who seem to be holding an open-air service. The spirit of brotherly love does not seem to have reached one particular ajoshi, who approaches a pair of twenty-year old girls (complete strangers) emerging from the subway and slaps one of them in the face before wandering off. The girl looks understandably puzzled. The VanWalk back to the City Hall area via Namdaemun to view the devastation. Lots of people milling around. A little van plays a funeral dirge over some loudspeakers as a man tolls a handbell (above left, and right. Can anyone provide a translation of what was on the van?). A quick visit to say hello to a few people in our Seoul office, and I’m at the Deoksugung just as they put on the changing of the guard display (below left). I elect not to join the queue to have my photo taken with the chief guard (below centre), and instead buy a ticket to wander around the grounds and visit the art gallery where they have an interesting exhibition of two twentieth century Japanese and Korean artists. I’m there at just the right time, as the winter sun gets low in the sky and is able to illuminate some of the underside of the palace rooves (below right). Then back to Insadong to recuperate in preparation for the evening.

Deoksugung - Changing of the guardPhotos at the Deoksu palaceDeoksugung eaves

Ted Park, Seoul's friendliest barmanFriday evening: meet with Paul for the LKL / Kimchi for Breakfast meetup. Some food to line the stomach somewhere in the Seoul Station area: seafood and belly of pork barbecue. The side dish of South Jeolla stinky fish with the ammonia kicker is best avoided. Off to see the bars of Itaewon. First up, the Bungalow Bar where a few cocktails are downed in a bar with a beach feel: pleasantly warm sand covers the floor. Then off to Bar Bliss to meet Seoul’s friendliest barman, Ted Park (left), after which it all becomes a bit of a blur.

Saturday morning: I had somehow managed to get back to the hotel from Itaewon but the morning is a write-off. I am not best company for lunch with Justina of the Korean Cultural Promotion Agency. She’s in Seoul trying to drum up support (read: money) for the Dano Festival in Trafalgar Square this year (8 June). I have a soothing galbi-tang in one of the restaurants under the Seoul Financial Center, but I eat it without much enthusiasm.

ChangdeokgungChangdeokgungChangdeokgungSecret Garden

Saturday afternoon: since I was disappointed last time I tried to see the Secret Garden, I turn up for the 3:30 guided tour of the Changdeokgung (above). Last time I visited the garden was closed for “reconstruction”. Alas, this time I fare no better: “health and safety” prevents the stroll. Apparently there is some ice on the path, so we have to be content with looking at the frozen pond before turning back. Then, off to Seoul Selection for a browse and a coffee, which makes me begin to feel a bit more human and gets rid of the last of the hangover fog still remaining after the chilly palace walk. I’d been told that Hank is usually around at 5pm on Saturdays, but unfortunately not so on this occasion. Still, it’s rude to visit without buying a book or two, so the latest KOFIC film director book (Tony Rayns on Jang Sun-woo) ends up in my bag.

SweetpeaSaturday evening: the LKL / Expat Arts Korea meetup with Pete. We meet in the Baekam Art Hall near Samseong subway stop for the concert by Sweetpea (thanks to Anna for finding out about this). Pete and I are the only foreigners there. Probably all the other music-oriented foreigners are at the Bjork gig not too far away in the Olympic stadium. A very pleasant evening of mellow music, though somehow the concert seemed rather passive, without much connection between performer and audience. Then off to a Hongdae bar (BricX) for a beer and a kebab of dried leather smeared with pepper sauce. The culinary low point of the weekend.

SamgyetangSunday morning: an early start for the 9:05 KTX to Busan. Am met at the other end by Nam-hee and Min, who have taken it upon themselves to show me round. First, a foaming Samgyetang in Seoul Samgyetang in the Nampodong area. I reckognise the environs from a previous stay and demand to be taken to a CD shop. The one I remembered from three years ago had closed, but another one nearby had good stock. The sheet music of the Wonder Girls’ Tell me was available for 1,000 Won, but I was more interested in Nam-hee’s recommendation of a live concert by Yang Hee-eun, which hasn’t left my CD player since. There’s a rousing performance of Morning Dew, with audience participation, and a very moving song called 사랑 — 당신을 위한 기도. What an amazing voice [1].

Nam-hee (left) and Min, inside Michae Beauty AcademySunday afternoon: off to Taejongdae park on Yeong-do, the island closest to the centre of old Busan, for a 40-minute boat trip from Pebble Beach. The sun is warm, but the sea breeze is chilly. The tour operators hand out anoraks for those inadequately dressed. The guide highlights all the landmarks on the way, including a lighthouse and clifftop building which could easily be the lair of a James Bond villain (below), but it’s just good to be out on the water. Soon the guide shuts up and puts on a Ppongtchak medley instead which lifts everyone’s mood. Soon we are all dancing as we head back to the quay. We cross back to the mainland for a very fine restorative cup of green tea in a teashop behind the Lotte department store, then at my request I am taken on a guided tour of Busan’s finest beauty academy (Michae Beauty. Chairman and CEO: Kim Nam-hee - with sister Min (right) inside the academy). A very stylish and well-appointed place it is too. Finally we head off to Saha-gu where we stuff our faces at the Centrum all-you-can-eat buffet (below right). When I think of Korean buffet I’m afraid the Young Bean Kwan in London’s Barbican comes to mind. The Centrum is different: superbly fresh and well-cooked dishes on display or cooked to order. It’s a place where people go to celebrate their child’s first birthday and other family occasions. Very functional and spacious: a very public place. You could not conduct a clandestine affair there. The day is at an end, and I am taken back to Nampodong where the rather down-at-heel Phoenix Hotel awaits. It’s not luxury, but when it’s only 55,000 a night I’m not fussed.

YeongdoYeongdoCentrum Buffet, Saha-gu, Busan

Milyang StationMonday morning: a quick stroll around the Jagalchi fish market before I catch the subway to Busan Station and buy a ticket for the KTX back to Seoul. As we pass through Milyang, setting for Secret Sunshine, I feel compelled to take a photo (left). On arriving in Seoul, a quick bag drop in Insadong before heading off to Hongdae for the LKL / Korea Pop Wars meetup with Mark. After a pork katsu cutlet and a tour round the coffee shops, we find ourselves in a rather fine CD shop where Mark loads me up with all sorts of recommended listening. But I still can’t find Shinparam Yi Paksa!, the seminal work of disco ppongtchak.

Monday afternoon: subway back to Insadong. My fellow passengers and I are amused when a tiny ajumma starts pummelling a twenty-year-old stranger for some imagined slight. A stroll round Insadong (for the first time, I managed not to spend anything there during a trip to Seoul) and it’s soon time for the LKL / FT meetup with Anna at a western-branded coffee shop near the Sejong Arts Center. Back to Insadong for dinner with Chris, the kind Korean lady who had managed to get me a good deal at the Fraser Suites. The food at the renowned vegetarian restaurant Sanchon was superb; the strange entertainment including a kisaeng dance rather spoiled the atmosphere.

Jeon Ji-hyun at the Laneige counterTuesday: a final browse in Insadong before catching the shuttle bus to the Whanki Museum. After which a quick browse around Bukchon and Samcheong-dong and it was time to head for the aiport. I pick up the shuttle bus at the Koreana hotel and pretty soon I’m in Incheon, where the tourist agencies have laid on some features for those who don’t want to leave: at the inappropriately named Korean Wave Cultural Center (below) you can stock up on duty-free cigarettes before you get your photo taken dressed as a character from Dae Jang Geum. There are Jumong and King & the Clown themed gifts for sale. Or you can try your hand making Korean knots in the slightly more refined Experience Korean Culture center run by Korea House (below right). But my flight awaited. I ignore the opportunity for a make-over at the Laneige counter (above right), put my bags on a trolley decorated with a nice picture of Jeon Ji-hyun, and head for the gates.

The Korean Wave Culture Centre, Incheon AirportDae Jang Geum photo oppJumong necklacesExperience Korean Culture at Incheon Airport

Thanks to all those people who set aside time to meet up with me and entertain me. I only met half of the people I wanted to meet, and saw fewer than half of the sights. But as I only get to visit Seoul for a quick weekend only very rarely, that’s the way it goes.

  1. You can find a version of Yang Hee-Eun singing Morning Dew on YouTube here [back]
Filed in Busan, Seoul, Travel, Weekends in Korea | Comments (0) »

Thank goodness for that

30-Nov-07

Yeosu Expo 2012 logoI’m not sure what audience BBC World TV is aimed at, and I’m not sure that the BBC know either, which is why it is so bland. And because the channel is done on a budget, the programmes are in part funded by advertisements, and the content is padded out by trailers and is endlessly repeated — which is why the advertisements become increasingly mind-numbing.

On a recent holiday, in order to keep up with current affairs, we tuned in to BBC World channel on the hotel cable TV most days. We got to know the advertisements pretty well. An incredibly irritating promotional video for Incredible India ran three or four times an hour; a pastel blue advert for Korean Air ran two or three times an hour; and a puzzling “Towards Yeosu. Towards the Sea of the Future” advert probably twice an hour. Quite an advertising spend between the two Korean organisations.

The Yeosu commercial was of course for Expo 2012. And watching the advertisement you could be forgiven for thinking that Yeosu had already been selected to host the Expo, and were investing in some rather uncharacteristic advanced marketing. It was not until I got home that I realised that the choice of city was still undecided.

Anyway, the choice is now made, and the advertising clearly met its objectives. Their commercial will now no doubt make way for another repetitious advert.

First round of votes:

Korea: 68
Morocco: 59
Poland: 13

Second round:

Korea: 77
Morocco: 63

Congratulations to Yeosu. I hope I’ll be able to get there. The Marmot spent a weekend there recently for one of the monthly Seoul Magazine features, and made it sound rather nice.

Links:

Filed in Business, Travel | Comments (0) »

Another FT guide to Seoul

02-Nov-07

Following the Weekend FT’s smooth (and expensive) guide to a weekend in Seoul — after which you would need a whole week to recover — the FT’s Korea Correspondent Anna Fifield has responded with a slightly more realistic schedule, published in their Korea supplement on 23 October. No ginseng facials, and no itineraries which assume that the whole population of Seoul has evacuated for the Chuseok holidays leaving the roads to just you and your taxi driver. Fifield’s weekend is for those curious about encountering Korean culture, while the Weekend FT’s is more designed for the business traveller with too much money to spend. So here goes:

Saturday morning:
Do a palace — the Deoksu-gung, Gyeongbok-gung or preferably the Changdeok-gung with the Secret Garden. Late morning, off to browse Namdaemun market. Buy some street food from any ajumma you happen to find there. Alternatively, browse Insadong and get lunch there. Follow this with a visit to the Jogyesa temple near Insadong:

Jogyesa

Tea time: go to see a B-Boy show at the Chongdong art hall behind Deoksu-gung. Take a breather, then head south to check out the human handicrafts in the bars and restaurants Kangnam — the creations of Korea’s finest plastic surgeons. Recommended restaurants are Tani Nomadic Bistro or Park (both behind the Galleria department store) while the cool bars are Circle, Spot, or S-bar.

Sunday morning:
Banish the cobwebs with a bracing stroll up Bukhansan and observe the crazy hiking gear worn by your fellow-walkers. Indulge in some hair of the dog at the bottom of the hill with some dongdong-ju to wash down your kimchi-jeon.

National Museum of Korea

Spend the afternoon at the National Museum of Korea (above) or the Leeum, and as the sun gets lower head back towards Samcheong-dong (”much cooler than tacky Insadong”) for a stroll and some window-shopping, with maybe a bite to eat in Dogahun (opposite the Gyeongbok-gung) or Sujebi in the heart of Samcheong-dong. Round off the day with some live music at Jazz Story.

That’s more my style of weekend, though it assumes an ability to overcome hangovers that I don’t possess any more, and I would also make sure I set aside time on the Saturday to visit Seoul Selection or the Royal Asiatic Society offices to stock up on books.

Sounds like I’ve got my next Seoul weekend break mapped out.

Filed in Seoul, Travel, Weekends in Korea | Comments (0) »

Stop piercing my Seoul!

28-Oct-07

An alternative travel experience summary by Aashish Gadhvi

My first trip to Korea was something I had been looking forward to and preparing for with great enthusiasm. Since my initial interest in Korean cinema/sports, I had become a fully-fledged Korean fanatic and digested all sorts of Korean goodies at every opportunity. So going to Korea for me was as good as a religious pilgrimage. But during my preparations, I read many websites, books and personal accounts which really contradicted the premature views which I already held about Seoul. I would say that the things that I heard were 80% negative, with many people complaining and moaning about various issues related to surviving in Seoul. To hold my hands up, I did have an unrealistically high expectation of what I thought Seoul would be like, which would soon be shattered any time I encountered information about what Seoul was going to be like. However, I’m going to burst another bubble here. For this intrepid traveller, Seoul was a place that really did live up to all my expectations. For the life of me I could not understand where all the criticism was coming from. Deity like scholars, ranging from people who wrote highly respected travel books to holier than thou internet bloggers and podcasters, could not have been more wrong about what I encountered in Seoul. Here’s a few de-mystifications:

(It is worth noting at this point that this article is purely about my own experiences and does not discount the believability of those who write ill of Seoul)

1. Staring — Virtually every thing I read spoke specifically about how every living man, woman and child will stare at you until the cows come home if you’re not Korean. Well I’m Indian and no one, not one soul, ever stared at me. And it’s not like a 6 foot Indian guy isn’t going to stand out in a crowd! I would even say that more people stare at me when I go back home to India than in Korea! Although we did encounter a few people who would have curious looks towards my mum, who always dresses in traditional Indian clothes. But gasp, shock, horror, we didn’t kick up a fuss, all we did was smile and bow in their direction and they did the same back. We even tried to answer questions from those curious ajumas, and most would reply back in broken English about how beautiful they thought the clothes were. Break the ice people, it’s not difficult!

2. Communication — With the staring issue came the issue of interacting with the Korean folks, and most would point out how poor their English is. Well I listened to many a podcast teaching me how to speak Korean, which I can now say I didn’t really need to do. Although they do appreciate someone who speaks to them in Korea, most of them had a reasonably good command of English. No one’s going to be quoting Shakespeare, but then again who needs to? They can communicate on a basic level which is all you need. Besides that, hands signals remain an international language!

3. Cultural Understanding — One of the many podcasts I listened to, spoke of Koreans as a fierce race of nationalists, prepared to put any other race in their place to prove that they lead the pack. Anyone who was not Korean stood in danger of being engulfed by the tide of this nationalist apocalypse. This I can safely say, I never encountered once. In actual fact, I was amazed at how much knowledge people had about my own culture. On the very first day of us wandering around starry eyed in Insadong, a middle aged gentlemen walked up to us, said ‘Namastey’ (a formal greeting in Hindu culture) and laughed! What more could have calmed our nerves? Apart from this there were many people who said ‘Oh you’re Indian! I just got back from India a few months ago! The Taj Mahal is beautiful!’ However the most heart warming instances of cultural understanding were in restaurants, where as soon as we mentioned we were vegetarians, the waiters and waitresses would stand guard near our tables and made sure that we weren’t accidentally served any meat. We were served a potato skins in Pizza Hut, which we asked for no meat, but unfortunately got Pork bits on them. I merely called the waitress who I ordered from, who took the plate back, bulleted to the kitchen, and 5 minutes later came back with a brand new cooked dish, minus the meat. She also couldn’t stop apologising when we left. Such cultural understanding I’ve never even come across in London. All this from a country which I was told didn’t understand the meaning of vegetarianism.

4. Bumping in the street — So alien was my experience of this richly documentated moaning point that I feel I must just have been one in a million. Not once, and I mean not once, did any light headed pedestrian invade my space while walking in the street. Therefore I’m going to overlook this once as I feel I didn’t really experience what everyone was talking about. And if those minor brushes are really what all the hoo-ha is about, then my friends, you’ve clearly never been to Bombay!

For those who think that I’m a tourist promoter in disguise, let me knock out the few things which I didn’t quite take fancy to in Seoul. Of course like any other city, there were things that I didn’t like, and some things which I really really didn’t like. For all the cultural understanding which I came across, I did get a glimpse into the other side. The topic of Americans for example is not a particularly good one to bring up at the dinner table. I was told to avoid Itaewon at night, but due to the lore of Indian restaurants, I ventured anyway. To my horror, the place was jock central, and the warnings to avoid there were not as all misplaced. If the Koreans do view Americans as troublemakers, then on the evidence that I saw, they had no reason to believe otherwise. I also refuse to believe that Koreans would favour Indians over Americans, as others told me. Although we live in the same continent, our culture is just as different to theirs as American culture, so as far as I am concerned, I was viewed and treated as a foreigner, which may not be the same as being treated as an American.

This brings me to my number one annoyance about Seoul: drunk people. Not being a drinker myself, I have been around drinkers for the majority of my life and it has never bothered me. But I can hand on heart say that I have never seen people drink like Koreans do. No matter what time of day it is, there are guaranteed to be some people lying face down in a pool of some form of bodily fluid in a train station. Seeing middle aged men peeing with their pants down and young girls vomiting their guts out was something I could not get used to. But from the Koreans that I spoke to, this is something that most Koreans even don’t like, and for all the drunks that there were, I never had any trouble or run-ins with one.

Those few things however didn’t get me down, and didn’t sway my feelings on the trip. I have nothing but love for Seoul, and look forward to going back at any chance I get. My advice to virgin visitors would be, go in with an open mind, don’t carry anyone’s opinions with you, and you can enjoy Korea for what it is - a dynamic, different and contagious city.

Filed in Seoul, Travel, Weekends in Korea | Comments (0) »

The FT’s smooth weekend in Seoul

08-Oct-07

I don’t usually spend much time reading the Weekend FT’s How to Spend it magazine - most of the things in the magazine being out of my financial reach. But this weekend, in their ongoing series of “Smooth Guides” to a long luxurious weekend they finally featured Seoul.

So here’s the FT’s tips for how to spend a weekend there.

Firstly, they stayed at the W Seoul (Walkerhill). Their second choices were the Park Hyatt near the Coex Mall [1] or the Grand Hyatt [2]

For activities, on day one the FT went to the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul Grand Park (they recommend taking the Sky Lift rather than the shuttle bus from the metro station), had a stroll in Tapgol Park and spent money in Insadong like everyone else - some paper in In Sin Dang and tea at the Beautiful Tea Museum - followed by a visit to the Insa Art Centre. To end the day they entered into a bit of a time-warp: they had a drink at the Top Cloud Bar & Grill at the top of Jongno Tower, sampling some of the daily live jazz which starts at 7:30pm; they then had a stroll along the Cheonggyecheon to the Chenggye Plaza and caught a cab to their dinner venue: Byeok Je Galbi at the Tower Palace apartment complex. Having obviously caught the last sitting and bolted their food in double-quick time, they caught a cab to Apgujeong and had some cocktails at the Once in a Blue Moon jazz club. Still not having drunk enough they then had a nightcap in the W’s lobby bar (which if it’s anything like the one in Manhattan is achingly trendy) while waiting for room service to prepare them a jacuzzi.

Knowledgeable Seoulites: based on the above itinterary, please estimate what time the journalist got to bed.

The journalist, clearly a stylish metrosexual, started day two with a ginseng facial at the Grand Hyatt, before a visit to the nearby Leeum. The rest of the day seemed to be spent with retail therapy back in Apgujeong. In the Galleria they mention Wooyoungmi - “a remarkable men’s wear label with quirky traits” - and Son Jung-wan - which “sells the most darling Hepburn-in-the-Orient cocktail dresses”. Choi Jung In’s shoe shop also features:

filled with theatrical black melting candles and the most wonderful, delicate, vibrant high heels. Acid yellow lace-threaded leather, clashing stripes, metres and metres of leather bindings that weap around the ankle… It’s all as sexy as it is unique.

GaonLunch was at Yonsama’s own restaurant, Gorilla in the Kitchen, while dinner was across the street at The Gaon - “a great contemporary take on traditional Korean dishes,” where you are recommended to have a set menu and sit back to see what the kitchen will bring. One of the features of The Gaon (right) is apparently the wacky interior design by the equally wackily named avant-garde architects Super Potato (who were also responsible for the Park Hyatt). All the shopping seems to have made the FT extra hungry, because they also seemed to have tried a second dinner at Asia Chow - where they also recommend a cocktail on the top floor.

Sounds like a thoroughly exhausting weekend.

Links:

Directory:

  • Restaurants / Bars / Clubs
    • Asia Chow: 916 Building, 91-6 Nonhyun-dong, Gangnam-gu Tel 00822 517 2100 (£60)
    • Byeok Je Galbi: 467-29 Tower Palace, Dogog-dong, Gangnam-gu Tel 00822 058 3535 (£105)
    • The Gaon: 631-23 Shinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu Tel 00822 3466 8411 (£60)
    • Gorilla in the Kitchen: 650 Shinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu Tel 00822 3442 1688 (£35)
    • The Old Tea Shop: 2nd Floor, 2-2 Kwan Hun Dong, Jongro-gu Tel 00822 722 5019
    • Once in a Blue Moon: 85-1 Chungdam-dong, Gangnam-gu Tel 00822 549 5490
    • Top Cloud: 33rd Floor, Jongno Tower, 1-1 Jongno 2-ga Tel 00822 230 3000
    • The Woobar: W Seoul, 21 Gwangjang-dong, Gwangjin-gu Tel 00822 002 0333
  • Shopping
    • Choi Jung In: 648-20 Shingsa-dong, Gangnam-gu Tel 00822 512 9637
    • Beautiful Tea Museum: 193-1 Insadong, Jongro-gu Tel 00822 735 6678
    • Galleria Department Store: Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu Tel 00822 3449 4114
    • Il Sin Dang: 149 Insadong, Jongro-gu, Tel 00822 733 8100
    • Kaye Su: 1st Floor, Jumyung Building, 631-36 Shinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu Tel 00822 545 0110
  1. Never been there so I can’t comment[back]
  2. Which is a perfectly acceptable business hotel, but quite a let down after the Hyatts in Tokyo, and also situated in the middle of precisely nowhere. I had two days there while on a business trip, was miserable there, and so swiftly moved to the far more convenient Westin Chosun, near City Hall. I like to walk everywhere, so the Grand Hyatt was no use to me.[back]
Filed in Seoul, Travel, Weekends in Korea | Comments (3) »

DPRK travellers’ tales

15-Sep-07

Pyongyang Guitar (photo: Jason Carter)

Two travel accounts have recently been highlighted in the BAKS list. First, a long account by guitarist Jason Carter of his 10-day trip to Pyongyang earlier this year to perform in a spring music festival. Like many DPRK travel accounts, we find the author having moments of frustration with the minders as well as appreciating contact with the people he meets.

Carter shared the festival with hundreds of other performers, and turned up not knowing what he was expected to play. He gave them one of his own compositions, though the minders wanted something a bit jollier.

For those who have been hanging around the various DPRK themed events in London this year, there will be a familiar name - Suzannah Clarke, the operatic soprano who is regularly seen in Pyongyang as well as occasionally in Chatham House. She and her mother were his constant companions. And a familiar face - People’s Artist Kim Song Min (left) who was recently in London exhibiting some of his paintings. He ended up sharing a table with Jason Carter (centre) at a big dinner in Pyongyang:

Pyongyang banquet (photo: Jason Carter)

Second, an account of an Air Koryo flight from Beijing to Pyongyang, by Paul Karl Lukacs at Knife Tricks.

Be sure to visit both blogs.

Links:

Photos from Jason Carter’s site.

Filed in Brits in Korea, DPRK, Travel, Western classical | Comments (0) »

“Korea, Sparkling” explained

09-Jul-07

Korea, Sparkling logo

Hiding at the bottom of the goody-bag we were handed at the Korea Tourism Organisation’s “Korea, Sparkling” launch ten days ago was a little booklet which you could almost have missed. But for those who are puzzled as to what “Korea, Sparkling” is all about, the booklet contains some of the answers. It is published by the Korean Tourism Organisation, but reading the language of the booklet, it looks like much of the material was provided by the branding consultants who came up with the “Korea, Sparkling” concept. One thing which the booklet makes clear is that “Korea, Sparkling” is a tourism brand and is not intended to replace the “Dynamic Korea” national brand (if that makes sense).

For those prepared to give the concept a chance, here’s the text of the booklet in full. Apologies for the slightly faint images: my scanner is very cheap.

1 Background Information

A distinct brand to convey Korea’s allure as a tourist destination was needed. Tourism is predicted to become the major economic growth engine for the next-generation and by 2008, the sector is expected to contribute 20% to global GDP. Aggressive marketing and destination branding are becoming common in all corners of the globe. Korea’s tourism brand, “Korea, Sparkling” will be a powerful medium that captures the hearts of consumers with the essence and charm unique to Korea.

2 Connection to National Brand

“Korea, Sparkling” is a strategic brand to promote Korea’s tourism sector. Korea has a national brand that exemplifies its economic, social and cultural facets - Dynamic Korea. What was needed was a strategic brand to nurture the tourism industry. The tourism brand had to be connected with the national brand while piquing interest in Korea among global travelers. As a symbol of the local travel industry, “Korea, Sparkling” will effectively deliver the benefits Korean tourism has to offer to people around the world.

3 Development Process

“Korea, Sparkling” was conceived after exploring the best way to verbally and visually express Korea’s unique traits. The key to brand development was in finding the words and images that best portray Korea. A survey of 8,000 people in 17 countries showed that Korea’s key tourism assets are: its

  • unique culture,
  • friendly people,
  • pristine nature and
  • vibrant cities.

The survey findings served as the basis for the brand concept and the subsequent formation of brand elements and communications program.

4 Brand Concept

The underlying spirit of “Korea, Sparkling” is “Emotional Dynamism”. “Emotional Dynamism” is the fountainhead and energy behind the passion of the Korean people, Korea’s colorful personality and its creative culture. “Korea, Sparkling” embodies the vitality and enthusiasm that can only be experienced in Korea, and it evokes the powerful emotions and dynamism of Korean people and culture.

5 Brand Value

The vitality offered by Korean tourism will be conveyed through its vibrant culture. The messages we hope to convey are based on the following values:

  • Lively - Dynamism springing from Korea’s colorful culture and four distinct seasons
  • Passionate - Passion and energy that shape Korea
  • Progressive - Constant generation of new trends and technologies
  • Creative - Originality and foresight that sparked the “Korean Wave”
  • Friendly - Hospitality and warmth of th Korean people

6 Visual Communications

The symbol of “Korea, Sparkling” is a “window” into Korea’s tradition and future that portrays the vibrant images of the nation.

“Korea, Sparkling”
The visual identity of “Korea, Sparkling” combines the past with the future. It expresses Korea’s traditional legacy and progressive spirit using a “window” as a motif. The window conveys the vibrant “inner emotion” of Korea while providing “inner space” that allows global travelers to imagine and experience their own version of “Korea, Sparkling”.

Symbol Concept
Consonants from the Korean alphabet, the sleeve of Korea’s traditional dress (hanbok), the pinwheel-like emblem on traditional Korean shields, and two hands forming a window were used to create the symbol.

Elements of the Korea, Sparkling symbol

Through the “window,” people can meet the “sparkling” Korea of their imagination. The soft curves of hanbok were blended with refined and simple lines to form the outer lines.

Color concept
The colors red and blue, the central colors of the Korean national flag, were used as a basis for the initial color scheme. Colors adapted from Joseon Dynasty royal attire were then added for a uniquely Korean hue and an image of flapping silk gives the entire design a dynamic and three-dimensional appearance. The meeting of cold and warm colors connotes the yin and yang in Oriental philosophy and it also hints at the “sparkling” taste of Korean food, which is flavored by a fusion of seasonings.

Korea, Sparkling color palette

Logotype Concept
The logotype strikes an optimal balance through a vertical representation of the strong and the weak, along with beauty that is neither too sedate nor too bold. The arrangement of the letters in the work “Sparkling” expresses freedom and dynamism while reemphasizing balance and order.

7 Brand Applications

A great deal of effort and support is needed to cultivate “Korea, Sparkling” as a global tourism brand. Consistent delivery of the values behind the brand will be vital to distinguish Korea from the countless destinations worldwide. For the brand to fully serve its purpose, it must have sustainability and the power to inspire. To make “Korea, Sparkling” a success, every Korean citizen will work together.

Links:

Filed in Korea, Sparkling | Comments (1) »

Korea, fizzling

29-Jun-07

Korea, Sparkling logo

An unruly mob of louts and freeloaders from the travel and journalism trade gathered on the top floor of New Zealand House yesterday evening to honour the launch of the “Korea, Sparkling” tourism brand. When it had been launched so successfully down below in Trafalgar Square not two weeks beforehand, some of us wondered why it needed another launch so soon. But the free bar was doing a roaring trade (our KNTO hosts encouraged us not to hold back), and snouts were in the food troughs way before the presentations started.

The room’s PA system crackled feebly, and the brand marketing video started. Glossy visuals were accompanied by the standard American voice-over you hear on a film trailer. It was a video prepared by the company who came up with the “Korea, Sparkling” brand, and it would have been nice to have heard what it was all about. But in front of me the KNTO guy was bantering with the Korean Air guy, and behind me a gaggle of Korean girls were chattering merrily. As the 30 second Korea, Sparkling advert was introduced in a low-key way, the beau from Korean Air started chatting to the belle from Asiana. It was his turn next, and so it was only poetic justice that as he enthused unconvincingly, against the background of his powerpoint slides, about their partner airlines and lounge facilities in Heathrow Terminal One the crowd started getting more restive. One well-mannered member of the audience tried to shut people up, but the effect was only momentary.

Next up was the chap from Asiana, with a similar presentation to the Korean Air one. The Asiana belle continued chatting to the Korean Air beau throughout her colleague’s presentation.

One thing I did glean from the proceedings is that when an airline says their seats are flat, they don’t mean horizontal. They mean straight. Check the small print before you get taken in.

At the end of the evening there was a raffle, with return tickets to Seoul on those flat but inclined seats - one from each airline. The chap from the Guardian had already left, so missed out on his prize. Korea, Sparkling golf umbrellas were among the other prizes, presented in tubes together with inappropriate jokes about pole-dancing.

When even the people who are paid to promote the brand can’t take its launch seriously, how are we poor souls who are trying to keep an open mind supposed to react?

As we left, we were handed some goody bags. And there were indeed some goodies within. June’s Seoul Magazine (the one with the article about the Mud Festival), a travel guide and map. A Korea, Sparkling T-shirt. An unexplained but aspirational brochure about a seaside expo in 2012. And an intriguing package. Wrapped in a reasonable imitation of good-quality mulberry paper adorned with the Korea, Sparkling logo was a box containing was at first sight was a leather key fob. On further investigation the fob turned out to be a 1 gig USB stick. Now that’s cool. Something traditional yet 21st century. That’s one of the messages about the Korea, Sparkling brand. But I wonder whether there was an unintentional message about Korea embracing 21st century manufacturing philosophy: the production of the memory stick had been outsourced to China.

Filed in Korea, Sparkling, Rants | Comments (1) »

Your help requested. And, some people have all the luck

28-Jun-07

dae_jang_geum_100023-2.jpg

A reader at ukfan’s DJG Comic Relief forum is doing a research project on Dae Jang Geum. He’s a PhD researcher at Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change at Leeds Metropolitan University. As part of this he needs your help to perfect a cultural survey. The survey can be found here. Please email it to him at the address shown on the word document. He needs it in the next few days.

Once he has reviewed your answers to make sure the questionnaire is working OK he gets to go on a field trip: to the DJG theme park in Yangjoo City, Gyeonggi Province, where he will interview a scientifically selected sample of tourists. If only I had had so much fun when I was at university.

From the researcher, Sean Kim:

The aim of the research is to understand the relationships between Korean television dramas and tourist experiences. In particular, this research focuses on the viewing experiences of Asian audiences in relation to one serialised drama, ‘Jewel in the Palace’ and their expected touristic experiences.

The primary purpose of this pilot study is to find out if the questionnaire being used is well-organised and to ensure that the measures adopted in this research are reliable and valid. You may be assured of both confidentiality and anonymity. The information provided in this survey will also be used solely for academic purposes.

The questionnaire has an interesting focus on how much a DJG fan engages with his or her favourite characters. I guess if someone visits the DJG theme park they’ve got to be a pretty avid fan of the show, but to be guided by what a character says? Here’s question 5.1. How much do you agree with the following statement:

When a character / actor in Jewel in the Palace expressed an opinion, it helped me make up my own mind about the issue.

Another interesting feature of hallyu fandom: the biggest fans are keen to meet the stars in real life. Question 5.10 — how much do you agree with the following:

I am determined to meet my favourite character(s) / actor(s) on Jewel in the Palace in person.

I’ve come across this phenomenon through comments left at this site: There is for example Sagar from Nepal, who says he’s going to Korea next year just to meet Jeon Ji-hyun. I must say, if I had a date with JJH I’d make the effort to go to Korea to keep it. Lucky Sagar if he’s managed to get a slot in Ms Jeon’s diary. Similarly Roxane hopes to meet Rain one day.

Something slightly more disturbing though: I thought that watching DJG was meant to be an entirely wholesome experience. But here’s number 6.19 in the questionnaire, where you are asked to say how much you agree with the following statement:

I was so excited to re-enact some scenes of Jewel in the Palace in person such as re-enacting the corporal punishments including flogging and leg-screwing torture.


It appears that when you visit the DJG theme park you can really enter into the spirit of things. And while on the subject, here’s a still from the recent Hi Seoul festival, from the Donga Ilbo (HT to David Kilburn). I’ve been waiting for an excuse to post this:

Flogging at Hi Seoul

Links

Coming soon…

  • Korea’s Grand Culture Project — stay tuned for a summary of a talk given by Professor Kim Hyeon at SOAS’s recent Korean Studies workshop
  • … and here it is
Filed in Academia, Ask an expert, Dae Jang Geum, Hallyu, TV drama, Travel | Comments (1) »

The Boryeong Mud Festival: is this your idea of a good time?

15-Jun-07

It’s getting to be that time of year again. The adverts are in Seoul magazine; Robert Koehler’s even written an article on it in June’s issue (I wonder if he actually experienced it first hand?). And it’s one of the more popular search terms which land people at this site.

But before you book your ticket for the Boryeong Mud Festival 2007, think a little bit about what’s on offer:

A slimy military fitness bootcamp:

Boryeong Bootcamp

A compulsory 10 mile run across the mudflats before breakfast

Squelchy steeplechase

Public incarceration and humiliation (and no breakfast) for the person who comes last

Jail

Strange torture devices

Torture device

Inmates are forced to fight each other for the amusement of others…

Mud wrestlingForced combat

Other amusements include a zombie beauty parade

Muddy zombies

Many visitors are traumatised by the experience

Mime artists

At the end of your stay, provided you complete all the activities satifactorily, the organisers guarantee your physique will be world class

Body builders

And while the guys are showing off, there’s a creche for the kids

Creche

and make-up classes for the girls

Make-up 1Make-up 2

And, strangely, people seem to enjoy the experience

Mud Slide

and end up making new friends

The end

If all this takes your fancy, the Boryeong Mud Festival runs from 14th to 22 July at Daecheon Beach. It takes all sorts.

Links

  • Boryeong Mud Festival official website, where you can find many more photos like those above.
Filed in Travel | Comments (0) »

Korea, Sparkling

16-Apr-07

Korea, Sparkling logo

Why is it that Western Korea-watchers are, in general, so cynical?

Too often we criticise Korea for not listening to sound advice from us knoweldgeable, sophisticated Westerners. So Korea goes and hires the leading “National Branding” expert, Simon Anholt (a Brit, according to one blogger), to assist with a tourism strapline. Highly commendable. And the new brand was launched last week. But still the response from Westerners seems at best muted - with the notable exception of a writer in the Korea Herald.

Have a browse through the comments in the blogosphere linked below, or better still, participate in the KTO’s sparkling competitions and win a return trip to Korea.

Links:

Korea, Sparkling launch event in Seoul, 10 April 2007

Filed in Korea, Sparkling | Comments (4) »

The Leeum Art Gallery, Seoul

11-Feb-07

A brief walk from Hangangjin subway stop (line 6) near Itaewon is the Leeum Gallery, set up by Samsung. No expense has been spared on the building itself, with prestigious foreign architects engaged to build it, and an impressive collection of artworks.

Inside the Leeum GalleryThe building itself is very spacious, and has three main sections. Older artworks are displayed in the galleries around the Guggenheim-style teacup-shaped atrium (left - complete with spiral walkways): Koryo and Chosun ceramics, including many national treasures, ink paintings, and Buddhist artefacts. The second section is devoted to modern and contemporary works, both Korean and international, while the third section, under the main entrance, is set aside for special exhibitions.

Currently on show are late Chosun dynasty ink paintings. You are greeted by some masterpieces by Owon (Jang Seung-eop, 장승업 - the subject of Im Kwon-taek’s Chihwaeseon). Seeing these works up close and life-size is a completely different experience from seeing them reproduced in a book. You can see the individual brush strokes and appreciate the deftly skilled work involved.

The gallery is well laid out, with effort taken to provide descriptions in English for many of the exhibits.

Gallery 2 has three floors: the top floor is devoted to post-war Korean art. Out of the lifts you are faced with a large blue Kim Whanki, and the standard is maintained throughout the space. There is a good collection of figurative works from the 50s and 60s, including Chung Kyung-ja (Delight, an unusual picture of a bridal party in pastel colours) and Chang Uc-chin (whose naively styled works have achieved considerable popularity). And as you leave, a large Suh Se-ok ink painting, Dancers (1989). Two of the pictures which most stick in the memory are the non-abstract works from the 80s. Interesting because one thinks of the 80s as the decade of minjung art, and these are not minjung works. There’s a very bold ink painting of temples and mountains by Kim Ki-chang (Mountain Temple), obviously reminiscent of more classical works but interesting for the randomness of the orientation of the different temples — some are slightly skewed, giving a disturbing effect of things not being quite right — while the hills are little more than big green splodges of paint. The other is a 1984 work by Park Saeng-kwang of a shaman. Vibrant bright blues and reds. Comical little dokkebi lurk in the bottom of the picture. Both works revisit Korea’s classical genres in a reaction against the abstract monochrome movement which dominated the 1970s.

Cy Twombly: Untitled (New York City)Anish Kapoor workThe next floor down contains foreign art of more or less the same period. The most eye-catching work is the one you first see as you enter: Aanish Kapoor’s untitled dark laquered mirror (left) which draws you in to contemplate it. Other interesting works are a sketch study by Christo for his orange “Gates” project in New York’s Central Park, and Cy Twombly’s Untitled (right) which seems superficially to be the inspiration for Park Seo-bo’s ecriture series.

The lowest gallery contains a mixture of Korean and foreign contemporary work. Among the Korean works are a Lee Bul cyborg, a video installation by Paik Nam-June and a large sculpture by Suh Do-ho — Some/one: a life-size armoured warrior (below) whose over-long chain-mail spreads out on the floor all around him is constructed of individual military ID badges.

Suh Do-ho, Some/one, 2001 (installation at 2001 Venice Biennale)

Coffees in the museum cafe cost 6,000 Won.

Well worth a visit, but you need to book in advance as the entry is controlled, ensuring that the gallery is never over-crowded.

Links:

Filed in Chang Uc-chin, Chung Kyung-ja, Jang Seung-eop (Owon), Kim Ki-chang, Kim Whanki, Lee Bul, Nam June Paik, Park Saeng-kwang, Park Seo-bo, Permanent displays, Seoul, Suh Do-ho, Suh Se-ok, Travel | Comments (2) »

Celebrity news round-up: January 07

09-Feb-07

Rain, LKL’s man of the year 2006 has started 2007 on a low-note with a speeding ticket in Hong Kong at the start of his gruelling tour. He also underwhelmed one reporter at a Singapore press conference who found him just a little dull. This wasn’t a reflection on his performance on-stage (and I’ve yet to find any proper reviews of these): more that, given Rain’s broad portfolio of interests and abilities the reporter thought he should have had something a bit more interesting to say. If anyone finds a review of any of his World Tour gigs, please let me know. Meanwhile, here’s a pic of his Malaysian gig, courtesy of Popseoul:

Rain in Malaysia

Meanwhile Hyolee, chastened by her disqualification from the LKL woman of the year 2006 award has vowed to do better in 2007. She commented:

In the end, I came through that experience with more than what I lost. The most valuable thing I got from it was realizing how much I love singing on stage. Hopefully this year will be better. Instead of looking for simple popularity, this year I’m hoping people will see I’m improving my singing, dancing and acting skills.

We wish her well. She starts the race for LKL woman of the year 2007 with a clean slate.

Hyolee pink

Other Hyolee coverage comments on her appearance in a one-off romantic drama on TV: 사랑한다면 이들처럼 (translation: Love like them). (Cue a not very in-depth discussion of an alleged image crisis for Hyolee in the Chosun). And guess what? In an effort to go one better than your average Korean melodrama, Popseoul reports that the plot involves both lovers having incurable diseases. Who’s gonna die first? And how many hankies will you need to get through that experience?

The same Chosun article from which the above quote was taken also reports that she’s the third most powerful woman in Korea, after GNP head Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook. I love these silly surveys.

Other silly surveys in the past few weeks: