May 29, 2013 / Issue No. 582
Maija Rhee Devine Bookreading TODAY
Just a reminder—‘The Voices of Heaven’ author Maija Rhee Devine will hold a bookreading at Seoul Selection Bookshop today (Wed, May 29) at 4 pm.
Looking for a Designer
Seoul Selection would like to hire a full-time or part-time designer to help us with our publishing load. The position is open to both Koreans and international applicants. Korean applicants should be able to understand at least basic English, while international applicants should be able to speak colloquial Korean. Proficiency with Adobe InDesign would be a major plus, too.
Those interested should send a resume and cover letter to hankinseoul@gmail.com. A link to any online portfolio you have might help, too.
SEOUL June Issue
Dining with a View, Mysterious Hwasun and More
The rain this week got you down? Cheer yourself up by picking up a copy of the June issue of SEOUL, Seoul Selection’s monthly travel and culture magazine. In this issue of SEOUL, we discover some of Seoul’s best rooftop dining places, explore Hwasun and its mysterious stone monuments, chill out in Garosu-gil, talk with SuperSound founder Kim Dong-hyun, and SO MUCH MORE. And don’t forget our Goings-On Around Town section, your guide to the month’s festivals, performances, and events.
If you’d like to read the magazine online, you can purchase a pdf version for just a US$1 here.
Around the Web
A miscellany of high-quality hyperlinks from the week, courtesy of SEOUL editor-in-chief Robert Koehler.
Chinese gamblers are the biggest patrons of Korea’s casinos.
More middle-aged people than teens are hooked on social media.
Italian football fans are a rough crowd.
Beautiful trees and walking
paths of Bangokji
, Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Events
Korea Queer Festival
The 13th Korea Queer Culture Festival will kick off June 1, moving its main festival site from downtown Jongno to the Hongdae area this year. The opening day program includes a flamboyant launching ceremony, parades, concerts, and afterparties at nearby clubs. There will be various tents, stalls, and booths offering information and souvenirs as well as musical programs, dancing, and fun throughout the entire day. Other satellite shows and relevant exhibitions will take place throughout Seoul until June 16.
VENUE: Hongdae area
PERIOD: Jun 1—16 (Seoul LGBT Film Festival: Seoul Art Cinema and Indiespace theaters in Seoul, Jun 6—16, www.selff.org)
MORE INFO: T. 0505-303-1998, http://www.kqcf.org
GETTING THERE: Hongik University Station 홍대입구역 (Line 2), Exit 8
Rainbow Island Festival
The Rainbow Island 2013 Music & Camping Festival will return June 7–9, showcasing British band Travis along with top-tier Korean bands and artists like Clazziquai, Idiotape, Beenzino, Jung-gi-go, Taru, Park Sae-byul, GOGOSTAR, and Raspberry Field. The main draw of this festival is its riverside location, allowing patrons to camp and relax while listening to the riveting sounds of the live acts. In particular, Clazziquai has garnered positive reviews for their house- and lounge-based soft tunes, making their sophisticated electro music more familiar to the Korean audience.
VENUE: Namiseom Island
PERIOD: Jun 7–9
ADMISSION: KRW 88,000–143,000, www.rainbowfestival.co.kr
—Tickets: http://ticket.interpark.com/global
GETTING THERE: Gapyeong Namiseom Station 가평 남이섬역 (ITX or Gyeongchun Line)
Muju Firefly Festival
The mountain town of Muju is known for two things—its fantastic winter sports scene and its summer firefly festival. As the name of the festival would suggest, the fireflies are the stars of the show here. Agriculture and urbanization has largely wiped out the firefly in much of Korea. Relatively pristine Muju, however, is still home to a healthy population of lightning bugs that light up the summer sky. In addition to watching the fireflies, visitors can enjoy a wide range of other hands-on activities and cultural events, including opportunities to catch river trout with their bare hands.
VENUE: Muju-gun, Jeollabuk-do
PERIOD: Jun 1–9
ADMISSION: Free
MORE INFO: T. 063-324-2440, http://english.firefly.or.kr
GETTING THERE: Buses to Muju depart from Seoul’s Nambu Bus Terminal (travel time: 2 hrs, 30 min).
BASS Hosting Queen’s B-Day Ball
The British Association of Seoul (BASS) will hold the Queen’s Birthday Ball 2013 on June 1 at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. Prepare yourselves for sumptuous food, fine wines, generous male & female table gifts, a Grand Raffle featuring airline tickets courtesy of British Airways & a Silent Auction with stunning prizes. Other Raffle prizes include top restaurant & hotel stay vouchers; shopping vouchers from High Street Market, ADIDAS footballs, Gavin’s Sausages, items from Kojeon Antiques, and hair care vouchers. The theme of the ball will be kept top secret until the doors open on the night!
BASS seeks to enhance our members’ experience in Seoul, and provide hope and financial assistance to Korean charities in need. BASS hosts a full calendar of social events and maintains strong ties to the local community through fundraising efforts.
VENUE: Grand Hyatt Seoul
DATE: June 1
ADMISSION: KRW 220,000
MORE INFO: www.britishseoul.com or call 02-797-1234
Collaboration Party “All In”
“All In” is a party to promote the beginning of the “Light My Fire for Human Rights,” a collaborative project by street fashion brand A.F.M., musical collective Loose Union, and subculture webzine “AWEH” to spread the message of human rights group Amnesty International. The party includes a Loose Union concert where you can see NEW BLUE DEATH, ZUCK ZUCK GRUNZIE, USED CASSETTES and LOVE X STEREO.
VENUE: Platoon Kunsthalle
DATE: June 8, 7 pm
ADMISSION: Free
MORE INFO:
070-7596-8331
GETTING THERE: See here.
RASKB: The Imjin River: ‘The Korean War’s Thermopylae’
On 22nd April 1951, the greatest offensive of the Korean War was unleashed: A third of a million communist bayonets surged south. Their key breakthrough point was the Imjin River. Here, for three nights, a brigade fought an army. Then, in a death ride down an enfiladed valley, survivors fought free, but for one battalion, it was too late. The 1st Glosters—cut off and surrounded on an isolated hill—were wiped out in a tragedy that has passed from history into legend.
RAS Council Member Andrew Salmon, author of the double award-winning “To the Last Round: The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River, Korea, 1951” will guide participants through this battle. He will brief participants on both the tactical and strategic pictures, presenting maps, photographs and paintings, as he reveals what it was like to fight China’s awesome “human wave.”
Participants will overlook the ford on the Imjin, then visit “Castle Site.” Here, they will enter the Confucian shrine where an unknowing Lieutenant Phil Curtis took communion that Sunday morning, and stand on the spot where, just hours later, he won a Victoria Cross – at the cost of his life. Andrew will present a theory as to why this young man acted so heroically. They will then visit the brigade artillery position where Chinese attackers were repelled in Napoleonic style—over open sights. At the main valley they will hear about hand-to-hand combat, premonitions of death and “The Witch,” and will visit the backstop position overrun in the last hours. They will pass the spot where Colonel Kingsley Foster was killed with his rearguard at a Chinese ambush laid on the brigade’s line of retreat. They will finish at the Gloster memorial park at Solma-ri, where Andrew will recount the doomed battalion’s final hours.
DATE: May 25—26
COST: KRW 175,000 for members and KRW 210,000 for non-members
MORE INFO: See this link.
GETTING THERE: See link above.
Everyday Koreans
Bukchon in the Rain
 
Bukchon’s 31 Gahoe-dong on a rain day. Photo by Robert Koehler.
*Click the photo to see a full-size version at our website.
NOTE: If you have a photo you would like to see in our Everyday Koreans section, please sent it to story@seoulselection.com. Photos should be AT LEAST 950px wide. Send a one-line bio, too.
Notifications
Tell Us About ‘Your Korea’: If you’re a longtime resident of Korea and would like to share your story in KOCIS’s KOREA Magazine, shoot an email with your story idea to book@seoulselection.com.
Update Your Shopping Mall ID – Seoul Selection encourages you to change your ID and password for our online bookshop and shopping mall at Seoulselection.com. The old IDs and passwords no longer work following our recent upgrade.
Looking for Translators – Seoul Selection is looking for a few good translators (Korean to English) for general translation work. Those interested should send a resume and cover letter to Kyehyun at trans@seoulselection.com.
Seoul Selection eBooks – You can purchase some Seoul Selection titles in ebook format via Amazon.com (for Kindle) and Apple’s iBookstore. Titles include Ask a Korean Dude, Moon Tides, Doing Business in Korea, Once Around the Sun, and seven volumes of our Korean Film Directors series: BONG Joon-ho, IM Kwon-taek, KIM Jee-woon, LEE Chang-dong, LEE Man-hee, PARK Chan-wook, and SHIN Sang-ok.
Seoul Selection via Ingram – Seoul Selection now has a direct wholesale distribution agreement with Ingram Book Group, the world’s largest wholesale distributor of publisher content. By choosing to allow Ingram to represent our material, we have opened our titles to a wider audience. Our titles will be available for order through Ingram at more than 35,000 distribution channels worldwide. Ask your local bookstore to have Seoul Selection titles available!
Send Your Event Info – If you would like to advertise any upcoming events you are organizing, please send us the press release material at book@seoulselection.com by the preceding Friday in order for it to appear in the following Tuesday’s
issue.

Freelance Contributors WantedSEOUL Magazine needs writers who are fluent in both Korean and English. Writers should have a strong interest in Korean culture and be able to interview Koreans. Send your resume and writing samples to book@seoulselection.com.

We Buy & Sell Used Books – Seoul Selection buys and sells used books in English. Unlike our regular selection of publications that specialize in Korea-related topics, our Used Book section carries books on all subjects. It’s all part of our effort to make life easier for the English-speaking community.

SEOUL Magazine
SEOUL (June 2013)
Buy Books at Seoul Selection’s ONLINE Bookshop!
Sponsors
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Publisher: Hank Kim / Editor: Robert Koehler

Seoul Selection reserves all intellectual property rights on information provided in this newsletter. Some event information has been provided by the Korea Foundation. The IPRs are protected by pertinent laws

Seoul Selection Web Site: https://www.seoulselection.com

e-mail: hankinseoul@gmail.com tel: 734-9567 fax: 734-9563