SEOUL Weekly: SEOUL Subscription Price Drops!

SEOUL Subscription Price Drops!
Get our magazine for just KRW 22,000 for 12 months, KRW 10,000 for six months

Good news! The production cost of SEOUL, our monthly travel and culture magazine, has fallen, allowing us to pass the savings on to you. Starting immediately, we are cutting our subsciption rate from KRW 25,000 to KRW 22,000 for 12 months, and from KRW 14,000 to KRW 10,000 for six months.*

Don’t miss this chance to enjoy SEOUL’s top-quality content for an almost criminaly low cost. For subscription inquiries, send an email to sense@seoulselection.com.

With informative articles, gorgeous photographs and interviews with fascinating individuals, SEOUL has been helping international residents discover everything the city has to offer since its launch in 2003. In addition to our print issue, we also offer an easy-to-read digital version, optimized for your tablet device (iOS, Android).

* Unfortunately due to shipping costs, the overseas subscription rate will not change.
 

A miscellany of high-quality hyperlinks from the week, courtesy of SEOUL editor-in-chief Robert Koehler

• KOCIS is discussing ways to promote the Korean Wave.
• Director Benson Lee talks about his John Hughes-inspired film.
• A Korean and a Canadian take to Youtube to promote Jeju’s unique linguistic heritage.
• Controversy strikes the Busan International Film Festival after shakeup.
• Korea’s southern coast has a lot going on this time of year.
• Lots and lots of bamboo in Damyang.
• A beautiful sunrise at Geojedo’s Haegeumgang Coast.
• Evening from Busan’s Dalmaji Park.
• Bright yellow fields in Jejudo.
• Another week passes at Robert Koehler’s photo blog.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

The National Changgeuk Company of Korea and Korean-Japanese playwright Jung Eui-shin have created a changgeuk (Korean classical opera) rendition of the German play written by Bertolt Brecht. The original play tells the story of a peasant girl that raises a child abandoned by wealthy parents. The play was recreated to tell the multidimensional story in a dramatic pansori, or performance of Korean musical storytelling. The moving satire will surely spark both laughter and tears among audience members.

VENUE: National Theater of Korea
PERIOD: March 21-28
MORE INFO: T. 02-2280-4114/6, www.ntok.go.kr
ADMISSION: KRW 20,000-70,000
GETTING THERE: Dongguk Univ. Station 동대입구 (Line 3), Exit 2

Erlend Øye and The Rainbows Live in Seoul

Norwegian indie folk duo Kings of Convenience’s Erlend Øye will perform in Korea this March with his new project band The Rainbows. Øye made his musical debut in 2001 with the Kings of Convenience album “Quiet is the New Loud” and has won the hearts of many Korean fans. Because of the band’s big fan base in Korea, Øye has visited Korea almost every year since his first visit in 2010. For his experimental second solo album “Legao,” Øye collaborated with the Icelandic reggae band Hjalmar to create a lively collection of tracks.

VENUE: AX-KOREA
DATE: Mar. 14, 19:00
MORE INFO: T. 02-457-5114, www.axhallkorea.com
ADMISSION: KRW 88,000
GETTING THERE: Gwangnaru Station 광나루역 (Line 5), Exit 2. Cross the road, turn left and walk five minutes. The hall is located behind the youth center.

Fulbright Forums Present: Balloon Diplomacy: The Changing Landscape of North Korean Human Rights Activism

The Fulbright Forums is presenting a lecture by Harvard University grad Kristine Lee on the “changing landscape of North Korean human rights activism.” From the Fulbright homepage:

Over the course of the past decade, the South Korean public’s engagement with the issue of unification and North Korean human rights issues has become increasingly polarized. NGOs and civic groups—populated largely by committed human rights activists and North Korean defectors—have begun to use aesthetically unconventional means of cultivating public interest in North Korea. Their arsenal includes, but is not limited to, transmitting shortwave radio broadcasts about the outside world into the North and sending giant balloons filled with incendiary political leaflets and Choco Pies across the DMZ. In spite of their meticulously choreographed efforts to draw the public’s gaze, the South Korean news media still bristles with images of military hardware, marching soldiers, and flaming missiles, all underscoring one important point: North Korea is a threat to global security.

Northeast Asian regional security in the 21st century will be shaped in no small part by the bilateral relationship between North and South Korea. While the jawdropping speed of change and the internationalization of South Korean society has built a culture of opportunity and progress, it has also brought many changes to patterns of civic engagement in public spheres. The rift between activists’ efforts to humanize North Korea and the international community’s perception of North Korea as a relentless producer of nuclear warheads is jarring. My project has been an exciting opportunity to capture evolving views at a critical juncture in modern Korean history, in the wake of the North Korean ascendancy.

VENUE: Fulbright Building
DATE: Mar. 20, 7PM. RSVP by Mar. 18.
MORE INFO and GETTING THERE: See this link.

Third Temple Food Festival

Stop by the Seoul Trade Exhibition & Convention (SETEC) on March 12-15 to take part in the third Korean Temple Food Festival. Hosted by the Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism, the festival will feature delicacies made by 11 temples especially recognized for their food offerings, as well as by monks renowned for their culinary skills. There will be a wide range of exhibits, lectures, tastings and hands-on programs where visitors can experience the unique taste and spirit of Buddhist cuisine as it has been handed down through the ages. For international participants, there will be specially prepared Buddhist meals, motion games based on Buddhist meals and webtoons about temple food.

Buddhist cuisine has much to offer the secular world. “Based on 1,700 years of Buddhist culture, Korean temple food has the most Korean power to relieve the pain and stress suffered by people today,” said the Ven. Jinhwa of the Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism. “We hope to build a proper understanding of and public interest in temple cuisine through this festival.”

VENUE: SETEC
PERIOD: March 12-15
MORE INFO: T. 2031-2032
GETTING THERE: Exit 1 of Hangnyeoul Station 학여울역 (Line 3)

The Sixteen 

The Sixteen is a choir and period-instrument orchestra founded by English conductor Harry Christophers. The ensemble performs early classical music including English polyphony, Baroque music and other pieces from the Renaissance. Starting as a group of friends who got together to perform at a small concert more than 30 years ago, the ensemble has since won many international awards including France’s Grand Prix du Disque and Britain’s Gramophone Award. For their first performance in Korea, the group will sing the tunes of “Miserere” written by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri.

VENUE: LG Arts Center
DATE: March 13, 20:00
MORE INFO: T. 02-2005-0114, www.lgart.com
ADMISSION: KRW 40,000-80,000
GETTING THERE: GS Tower B1 floor is directly connected to Yeoksam Station 역삼역 (Line 2), Exit 7. Take the LG Arts Center elevator from there.

RASKB Excursion: Korean Pottery & Porcelain in Icheon Area

The RASKB will visit some famous kilns to see some time-honored traditions at work. Traditionally, the important ingredients in making porcelain were good quality kaolin and large quantities of firewood. Kaolin was only found in some areas of the country, and the best kaolin close to the capital was found around Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do. There were also heavily wooded areas nearby, and the Hangang River provided a transportation route for moving raw materials to the kilns and finished products to the capital and beyond, so the nearby town of Icheon became the production center for much of Korea’s most famous porcelain.

VENUE: Gyeonggi-do
DATE: Mar. 21
MORE INFO: See this link.
ADMISSSION: KRW 40,000 for members, KRW 48,000 for non-members
GETTING THERE: See link above.
 

The burning of the daljip on Jeongwol Daeboreum, Namsangol Hanok Village. Photo by Robert Koehler.

Seoul Selection’s Free Book Giveaway – Our free book give-away continues! Check out the list in last week’s newsletter here. 

Seoul Selection Offline Bookshop Sale – One of the greatest repositories of Korea-related English-language books anywhere, Seoul Selection is offering a 10% sale on any and all books published by Seoul Selection purchased from our OFFLINE bookshop next to Gyeongbokgung Palace.
 
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 atoz@seoulselection.com. Experienced translators only.
 
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.
 
Send Your Event Info – If you would like to advertise any upcoming events you are organizing, please send us the press release material at pubco@seoulselection.com by the preceding Friday in order for it to appear in the following Tuesday’s issue.

Freelance Contributors Wanted – SEOUL 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 english@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.