Esther Park, First Female Medical Doctor in Korea

Kim Jeom-dong (Esther Park), 1879-1910, Paving the Way for Women

Today, it is natural to see a doctor when we are sick, like when we catch a cold. Until 100 years ago, however, when Western medicine was first introduced to Korea, Western doctors were considered scary people who wielded injection needles and knives. 

For women, the situation was even worse. Women patients could hardly let male doctors feel their pulse for diagnosis, and they would never show the ailing parts of their body due to a strict separation of the sexes fixed in Confucian orthodoxy. When women fell sick, they would simply perform shamanic exorcism several times, only to die. 

In those days, there was a medical doctor who was devoted to women patients. Her name was Kim Jeom-dong, the first female practitioner of Western medicine in Korea. 

Ewha Student Kim Jeom-dong Dreams of Becoming a Doctor 

Born in 1879 in Jeong-dong, Seoul, Kim Jeom-dong entered Ewha School, the first modern educational institution for Korean women, in November 1886. 

She was the youngest of four daughters in a poor family. But she became the fourth student at the school, thanks to her father who had been exposed to Western ideas earlier while working for American missionary Henry Gerhard Appenzeller. In school, she quickly mastered various subjects, including the Korean [English?] language, arithmetic, the Bible and Chinese classics. 

Kim was particularly good at English. Her outstanding language skills led to an encounter with Rosetta Sherwood Hall, an American doctor who came to Korea for medical service missions. Mary Fletcher Benton Scranton, then-principal of Ewha School, introduced Kim to Hall as an interpreter so Hall could better communicate with Korean people while engaging in medical activities. That was how Kim was first exposed to Western medicine. At first, she wasn’t interested in medical work very much and only carried out her duties faithfully as an interpreter. But her life completely changed after she witnessed Hall successfully performing an operation on a patient with a harelip, leaving no scars at all. 

At the time, harelip was known as an incurable disease. But the surgery changed the life of a girl who would otherwise live uncomfortably for her entire lifetime. Deeply impressed, Kim made up her mind to learn medicine and help people suffering from diseases. 

From Kim Jeom-dong to Esther Park 

Hall welcomed Kim’s decision. She helped her study medicine and also introduced a man to her. He was Park Yu-san, a Korean man who helped Hall’s husband with his missionary work and medical activities. The missionary couple arranged a marriage between Kim and Park, and they held Korea’s first Western-style wedding ceremony in a church in 1893. 

From then on, Kim began to call herself Esther Park, after her Christian name and her husband’s surname. The following year, Esther and her husband left for the U.S. to study, following Rosetta Sherwood Hall who was returning home after her husband died. Esther stood out in high school in the U.S. and became the youngest student to enter Baltimore Women’s Medical College.

Her husband, who recognized her talent and hoped that she would become a doctor, supported her while working at a farm in New York. Unfortunately, he did not survive to see his wife become a doctor, as he died of tuberculosis in the U.S., six months before Esther graduated from college. 

In Esther Park's time treatments of illnesses were often based on superstition rather than scientific fact.

Fighting God, Fighting Diseases 

Esther earned her M.D. in June 1900, becoming the first Korean woman to receive a degree in Western medicine. Remembering her husband’s last wish that she should become a doctor, she returned to Korea and began to work at Bogu Yeogwan, the forerunner of today’s Ewha Womans University Medical Center, Korea’s first hospital for women, located near Dongdaemun. The hospital was named by King Gojong. For the first ten months, she took care of some 3,000 patients. 

Female doctor Esther Park was the only hope for women patients who couldn’t get proper treatment, as they weren’t allowed to show their bodies to male doctors. She went everywhere in the country, as long as there were women patients waiting for her. She moved to Pyongyang in 1901 when Rosetta Sherwood Hall came back to Korea and established a hospital there. Esther traveled across Hwanghae and Pyongan Provinces to offer free medical services to women who couldn’t benefit from medical care due to their remoteness. In recognition of her service, King Gojong presented a silver medal to her. 

While she was enthusiastic about her medical volunteer work, one thing was missing in her life. She was so busy looking after patients that she didn’t take care of herself very well. She died of tuberculosis, just like her husband, in 1910 at the age of 33. 

Esther Park was like a ray of sunshine in those days when there wasn’t any female medical staff whatsoever. At the time, it was hard for women even to attend school. But Esther went to the U.S. to study and after returning home, she devoted her life to medical services and social work. It would be fair to say she is called the female Schweitzer of Korea. Her spirit and achievements were reevaluated by the later generations, and she was inscribed at the Korea Science and Technology Hall of Fame in 2006.

The Esther Park Award was established in 2008 by the alumnae committee of Ewha School of Medicine to commemorate Park’s achievements and award Ewha alumnae who carry on the legacy of Park as women doctors and scientists. 

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References:

• PowerPoint slides by Min Seong Jin, student at Korea University 

• Article by KBS World Radio - "Kim Jeom-dong, the First Female Medical Doctor in Korea"

• Article by Katelynjun@ehwain.net, Ehwa Voice, in her online article "First Korean Female Doctor and Scientist, Esther Park"

First Recorded Music in Korea

Lecturer: Jihoon Suk
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Venue: Second floor Residents’ Lounge, Somerset Palace, Gwanghwamun
(near Anguk Station, across street from Japanese Embassy)

Hosting organization: Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch

Write-up and picture from the www.raskb.com email concerning this event

In the first decade of the 20th century, the newly-established record industries in North America and Europe were eager to expand their market to all over the world. Starting in 1902, the London-based Gramophone and Typewriter (G&T) company began a series of recording sessions in non-Western countries, usually referred to as "recording expeditions", to record music and other types of performing arts for potential customers in the non-Western world. 

During these recording expeditions, there were always "intermediaries" in the area, who, not only acted as "talent scouts" to find performers willing to make recordings, but also acted as sales agents for the recording companies. Korea was no exception in the eyes of the executives of the G&T company. The 101 sides of Korean recordings recorded by the company (but eventually produced by its American affiliate, Victor Talking Machine Co.) in 1906, were the direct results of their third major recording expedition to Asia. 

The musical importance of these 1906 Korean recordings cannot be stressed enough, as they provide rich resources for studying the earliest attainable forms of Korean pre-modern music. Their production history also reveals an interesting dynamic between the Western record companies and the Korean public, which paralleled the socio-economic effects and outcomes of the coming of the "West" to the "East" at the turn of the 20th century. (It even reveals a surprising connection with the RAS!) 

This lecture will include a demonstration of early sound recording technologies, both playback and recording technologies using period equipment. It will also include several sound clips of several extant 1906 Victor Korean recordings. 

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Jihoon Suk received a BA and MA in Korean modern history from Yonsei University. While he calls himself a "generalist" in terms of his knowledge on Korean history, his primary research focuses on the roles of the modern non-textual media (sound recordings, films, and photographs), as it was one of the most crucial factors shaping the modern perception of Korean "traditional culture" or "national culture" as we see today. 

He is also an avid collector of vintage sound recordings, which led to his involvement with the Korean 78rpm Discography Project and Archive (http://www.78archive.co.kr), a near-complete online database of Korean commercial records issued between 1907 and 1945. He also has been working with various museums and archives in Korea and around the world, including the Independence Hall Museum of Korea, the Korean Film Archive, the National Gugak Center, U.S. Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, and the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

Published in Korea Times, Jan 17 (W), Foreign Column, "Tracing Korea's earliest recorded music"

Heungam Evacuation - Ned Forney

At the bi-monthly lecture on Korea hosted by the Royal Asiactic Society, Ned Forney shared the remarkable and largely untold story of the United Nation’s first humanitarian operation and the largest US military amphibious evacuation of civilians, under combat conditions, in American history. Ned’s grandfather, the late Edward H. Forney, a colonel in the US Marine Corps, was attached to the US Army X Corps during the first six months of the Korean War. As the senior Marine working for Gen. Edward Almond, the commanding officer of X Corps, Forney helped plan the Incheon and Wonsan Landings and was then the evacuation control officer for the Heungnam withdrawal in December 1950.

During the 15-day operation, over 105,000 US, ROK, and British servicemen were evacuated, along with 17,500 jeeps, trucks, tractors, artillery pieces, and tanks and 350,000 tons of fuel, ammo, and supplies. It was not simply another Dunkirk. In addition to the military withdrawal, 100,000 North Korean refugees were also rescued from Heungnam. Colonel Forney, Admiral James Doyle, the US Navy commander responsible for the naval operations during the withdrawal, and Dr. Hyun Bong-hak, a Korean civil affairs officers and interpreter attached to X Corps, all played a pivotal role in the historic, unprecedented operation.

There are an estimated one million descendants of the Hungnam evacuees now living in freedom in South Korea, the United States, and throughout the world. ROK President Moon Jae-in is one of them. With the support of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA) and the Hungnam Evacuation Memorial Committee, Ned has interviewed 30 former Hungnam refugees and during his lecture will weave their tragic stories into the larger untold saga of the Hungnam Evacuation. 

Write up on the presentation via the RASKB website and this picture as posted in a RASKB email

Ned Forney writes and presents extensively on the evacuation and the people effected. Following are direct links to his homepage with content related to the Hungnam Evacuation:

Korean War Babies Born on the Meredith
More on the Heungam Evacuation
Other Forney Heungam-related articles

The Now-contested "Comfort Woman" Statue

Since Park Guen-hye says she accepted the apology of Japanese Prime Minister Abe, a political apology that is said to have been made to ease tensions in Asia, there are certain terms of giving and accepting the apology which are to be met. One of terms is the removal of the symbolic girl in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. The girl is a symbol of the "comfort women" who were forcibly made to sexually serve the Japanese military during the late occupation years (early 1940s) of the Korean peninsula. The girl sits facing the Japanese embassy, a symbol of youth ripped away and who sits there to confront the Japanese every day for their war crimes, which still have yet to be apologized for to the people who were aggressed against. 

The young girls, now called as "grandmothers" due to their age-group, have demonstrated in front of the Japanese embassy in the past 24 years more than 1,200 times. They have demanded an apology, but never has a Japanese ambassador come to watch, to talk, to listen, or to apologize. Only 42 or 43 of the former 286 "comfort women" who publicly "came out" remain alive, and they are in their late 80s and 90s. Time is definitely running out, and yet no apology to them seems forthcoming. However, the terms of the phone apology to Park Guen-hye requires the removal of the "comfort woman" statue, symbolic evidence of aggression, exploitation and abuse of power on women and a colonial society on a grand scale. 

Many of the "grandmothers" are bedridden, unable to protest. Volunteer activists stand in proxy of the grandmothers and defend the removal of the statue. Since the end of December 2015, they have stayed by the statue 24/7 preventing its removal. In the winter when temperatures dropped well below freezing, they huddled under piles of blankets. In rain it's the same, huddled under plastic sheets. They say the statue will not be removed until a real apology is forth-coming. 

And to symbolize the discomfort that the weather brings the nation, the volunteer protestors, and the Koreans as a whole, the statue is appropriately attired for the weather conditions it must "suffer" through in its endless wait.

SYMBOLOGY of the Statue of Peace / 평화나비 (Peace to her):

"Yeongjong Kim who is head of Jongno-gu has provided design ideas and works of art in the form of a girl instead of a memorial stone. Statue of Peace was built by Unseong Kim and Seogyeong Kim couple. The statue is about 130 cm and is dressed in a skirt and blouse, and an appearance in the girl with small hands and short hair sitting and staring at the Embassy of Japan." Statue of Peace

The design of the statue is imbued with symbols to communicate meaning to the viewers:

• round face - the typical face shape of the 1920s 

• hanbok - the proper and modest attire of a young girl or a Korean citizen at the time when the girls were forcibly taken

• roughly shorn hair - severed relationship between the girl and her home country and her family

• bird on her shoulder - middle object connecting the past experiences with the present life

• clenched fists - an expression of the girl's outrage at the Japanese government for their silence and disregard of the girl's loss of innocence, family, home and a chance of a normal life

(not pictured)

• slightly raised heel of the girl - though a return of the girl to her homeland, she is still not firmly transplanted back in the Korean society

• empty chair beside the girl - a seat for the girls who never returned, a seat also for people to come and sit with the girl and share time and companionship with the girl

• shadow under the girl - the shape of a girl who never returned but is metaphysically hovering; also the shape of a grandmother as she passes on but her "presence" is still felt by the presence of the girl who continues to sit and stare at the Japanese embassy, waiting for an apology

• butterfly - (nestled in the heart of the shadow) a symbol of fluttering hope

For more symbology surrounding the 'comfort woman" statue watch 

"Copper plates laid next to 'comfort woman' statue in memory of sex slave victims".

The House of Sharing 

According to a placard inside of the House of Sharing Museum, more appropriately known as the Museum of Sexual Slavery by the Japanese Military, a museum dedicated to shedding history on the "comfort woman" issue, there are many "comfort woman" statues and memorials throughout Korea. I am unclear on whether these statues and memorials are also part of the demands for removal according to the terms of Japanese Prime Minister Abe's "apology", but they probably are. I was surprised, but the House of Sharing Museum also has a map of "comfort woman" memorials in the US. For more information, visit the online House of Sharing.

The red dots show where monuments and shrines for the victims of Japanese military sexual slavery are (as of 2015). So the 'comfort woman' statue in front of the Japanese embassy is just an example of the sentiment throughout the entire South Korean peninsula about the need for recognition to the problem and the need for a formal apology from Japan for their heinous war crime(s).This picture was taken at the House of Sharing, a home dedicated to care for the grandmothers euphemistically called former 'comfort women'.

Information about the location of the 'comfort woman' shrines and memorials in South Korea.

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The following was taken from the House of Sharing on the 14 June 2016 entry, Facebook. "The House of Sharing International Outreach team would like to share some saddening, extremely disappointing and disturbing news. The Peace Statue in Seoul was attacked today. (June 3rd) A woman hit the head of the statue with a hammer three times and left scars. She was arrested and confessed that she was paid to do so. Why? We know why and can guess who asked her to do that. We are so saddened by so called grown-ups' childish and animalistic behavior." 

The Peace Statue struck and scarred by a woman hired to do so. (June 3, 2016)

Sinking of the Cheonan: A Political Report

International Strategy Center based in Seoul hosted a lecture-dialog on the controversial sinking of the Cheonan on March 26, 2010 at 9:20am. Kim Sang-Gyoon, the presenter, is a former MBC producer for the Current Affairs & Documentaries Department producing "W: World Wide Weekly", "Now We Can Speak", to name a few. Well qualified in work and leadership, Kim additionally qualifies in scholarship in Journalism and Mass Communication (PhD).

Media Coverage of the Cheonan Corvette Sinking and Impact on East Asia

The Cheonan Corvette sunk on March 26, 2010 killing 46 sailors. At that time the media just parroted the government line that a North Korean torpedo attack was to blame ignoring many of the questions and inconsistencies with the results of the investigation. Nonetheless, South Korea, the US, and Japan strengthened measures against North Korea. Kim, Sang Gyoon, a former MBC producer, lectures on the media coverage of the Cheonan Corvette sinking and its impact on East Asia.

Some interesting points addressed in the lecture:

• There is antagonistic symbiosis between South Korea, North Korea, and Japan as well as the more far-reaching countries. The three countries specifically mentioned look like enemies and yet they depend on each other for economy, increasing the military budget, etc. 

• During the first three days or even longer, no mention whatsoever of North Korea attacking the Cheonan was mentioned. Later, there was dialog among South Korea, Japan and the US and then the news was filled with the notion that North Korea had torpedoed the Cheonan with 250kg torpedo which exploded underwater creating an air-bubble environment which resulted in the sinking of the Cheonan. (Later when the Cheonan was rescued from the sea floor, no evidence of torpedo or detonation or chemical trace from explosives was evidenced.)

• The derogatory Korean term giregi (기래기), which is a metaplasm created from 기자 (reporter) and 쑤래기 (trash/garbage), was coined during the atrocious reporting of the sinking of the Sewol when reporters were reporting off of each other's reports and not reporting via actual knowledge or via interviews. This word is now being used for any kind of reporting that is felt to be uninformed or a distortion of the facts, and this includes discussion of reports on the sinking of the Cheonan.

• The three most conservative newspapers in Korea are: Jungang Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo, and Cheonan Ilbo.

• The three public network groups, basically owned or controlled by the government with producers being appointed by the government, are: KBS, SBS and MBC.

• Kim Sang-Gyoon was a producer (?) of the documentary investigating the sudden sinking of the Cheonan, "The Cheonan Project" (this might be translated incorrectly), but the documentary was not allowed to be publicly screened. 

• The government has a history of penalizing producers who are too liberal, examples of which penal actions were taken: "추석 60분" and "제3의 부표".

• Kim Sang-Gyoon felt forced to terminate his position and give voice to topics that the public needed to hear about, not make news-controlled information programs. He and others who felt the need to have proper voice started their own private network and are currently creating public-informing programs.

An article related to the lecture was later published in the World Current Report, Vol 11, November 2015, 2nd Anniversary Special Issue put out by ISC (International Strategy Center - 국제전력센터) .

Lecture on the Cheonan Sinking

By James Flynn

When invited by ISC to attend an interview about the Cheonan Sinking, I jumped at the chance. About a month earlier I attended the tour of the Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine Massacre site. Though the trip, I ended up learning a lot about a Korean History that’s hard to access. I liked our tour guides’ friendly and open atmosphere when we met with local community leaders who had been researching the incident and the family members of the victims. Despite the language barrier our guides encouraged open discussion, and through our conversations, I and others were motivated to learn more about this and similar incidents in Korean History. Attending a lecture on the Cheonan Sinking offered the chance to do just that.

Kim San-gyun was listed as the lecturer and billed as a former MBC producer who had researched on the Cheonan Sinking. As with the Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine tour, I was impressed with ISC’s access to civil society leaders. I thought it was particularly interesting that a former MBC producer would be doing the lecture due to the high media profile of the incident (it made global headlines), and the fact that only a couple of years later there had been a massive walk-out of media workers, led in part by MBC employees.

I had first heard about the Cheonan Sinking shortly after it occurred in late March 2010. At that time, I was a student at Rowan University in the United States. That semester, I had been enjoying a course on the history of the Soviet Union, so Cold War subjects were often on my mind. It was this class that made me interested in Korea, the only country where the Cold War had gone “hot.”

I’m not a consumer of cable media, and I avoid major networks like CNN, MSNBC, and FOX, but I did watch the PBS Newshour religiously, due to its quality and relative lack of hyperbole. Unlike the other networks, I felt that PBS covered the sinking quite objectively, withholding any blame for the incident until more evidence was brought forth. Of course, while no judgment was ever made by the anchor or written in a bulletin, by sampling the guests interviewed – especially those appearing after the US-led joint investigative team had made their conclusions, it seemed the general consensus was that the DPRK was to blame. The story then quickly disappeared from the headlines.

For myself, and I suppose for the most of us in America, the story was over. The DPRK had once again “proven itself” to be a “rogue nation” capable of unpredictable and seemingly unprovoked acts of aggression. However, after attending the lecture, I discovered that this was far from the case.

The lecturer, Kim San-gyun, revealed that from the very beginning of the incident, both the traditionally conservative newspapers (i.e. Joseon, Jungang, and Dong-a Ilbo) followed by the three major networks (KBS, SBS, and MBC) presented a single narrative, which echoed the government’s, placing blame solely at the feet of the DPRK and ignoring or dismissing any evidence to the contrary. In fact, some documentaries and news reports casting doubt on the official government statements were produced but never aired, and the producers of those programs faced penalties for allegedly seditious content.

Our lecturer went on to explain a bit more about the regulatory structure of Korean Media and why journalists are pressured to produce lines favorable to that of the government. While the Korean Press is nominally free and the major networks are run as independent companies, the heads of the public media companies are appointed directly by the president. While completely independent networks are allowed to and do indeed exist (such as JTBC) the three giants KBS, MBC, and SBS by far have the largest audiences, and even these networks are constrained in their criticism due to the government’s “anti-communist laws” which can and have been used to silence critics. It had seemed that the story ended in the late-spring of 2010, but it was clear from this lecture that a lot more had been left unexamined.

I enjoyed this lecture for the opportunity it provided to examine one of the most significant events in recent Korean history and its impact on civil society and the chance to meet with someone directly involved, Mr. Kim San-gyun. I’m looking forward to attending similar events hosted by ISC in the future.

written by James Flynn

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Controversial documentary screening: "Project Cheonan Ship"

Some months later -- Saturday April 23, 2016 -- Barry Welsh -- who hosts the Seoul Book and Culture Club, the Seoul Film Society and the Royal Asiatic Cinema Club -- hosted a similar topic on the controversial sinking of the Cheonan. Read as follows:

Please join Seoul Film Society and the Royal Asiatic Society Cinema Club for our first April screening on Saturday 23rd April at 2pm. We will be showing the controversial documentary film ‘Project Cheonan Ship' followed by an interview with director Baek Seung-woo. ENGLISH SUBTITLES. 

서울필름소사이어티와 왕립아시아학회가 공동 주최하는 4월 이벤트! '천안함 프로젝트'의 백승우 영화 감독님과의 만남에 초대합니다. 일정은 아래와 같습니다. 2016년 4월 23일 오후 2시. 화제의 작품이었던 다큐멘터리 영화 '천안함 프로젝트'를 상영한 후 영화를 감독하신 백승우 감독님을 모시고 감독과의 만남을 가질 예정입니다. 감독님의 이야기를 직접 듣고 질문도 해볼 수 있는 흥미로운 시간이 될 것입니다. 영화는 영어자막과 함께 제공되며 입장은 무료입니다. 

On March 26, 2010, Cheonan, a South Korean navy ship carrying 104 crewmen, sank off the country’s west coast. A government-led investigation involving experts not only from South Korea but also the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Sweden concluded that same year in May that the warship had been hit by a North Korean torpedo -- though Pyongyang denied the charges.

2010년 3월 26일 천안 부근의 서해안에서 한국 해군 104명을 태운 해군함이 침몰했습니다. 한국 정부를 포함한 미국, 영국, 캐나다, 호주, 스웨덴의 전문가들이 동원되어 진행된 조사 결과 같은 해 5월, 천안함 침몰은 북한의 어뢰 공격 때문이었다는 결론이 나왔습니다. 북한에서는 이를 부인합니다.

In his feature film debut, ‘Project Cheonan Ship’, Baek Seung-woo, an independent filmmaker who has directed several shorts, such as 2011's Wooden Goose, offers a thoroughly analytical documentary of the incident. “Contrary to the expectation that this will be a story that is argumentative and provocative, ‘Project Cheonan Ship’ gives the impression of a science documentary made by a scholar because of its consistent calmness and analysis of the story,” says JIFF executive programmer Kim Youngjin.

백승우 감독님은 독립 영화제작자로 2011년 작품인 Wooden goose를 포함하여 다양한 단편영화를 제작하였습니다. '천안함 프로젝트'는 백승우 감독의 첫 장편영화이며 천안함 사건을 치밀하게 분석한 다큐멘터리입니다. 전주국제영화제 김영진 수석프로그래머는, "많은 사람들이 이 영화를 논쟁적이고 자극적인 내용일 것이라고 기대하지만 영화 속에서 차분하게 이어지는 분석은 마치 학자가 만든 것 같은 인상을 준다" 라고 영화 '천안함 프로젝트를' 평하였습니다.

In addition to the film’s inherently controversial subject matter, ‘Project Cheonan Ship’ was produced by none other than Chung Ji-young -- the auteur of such politically charged films as ‘Unbowed’, a sleeper hit that vehemently attacks the Korean supreme court, and ‘National Security’ (Namyeong-dong 1985), a crowd-funded project about the 1985 torture of a democracy activist by the national police.

Schedule:

2pm – 3:20pm – Screening of ‘Project Cheonan Ship’
3:20pm – 3:30pm – Interval
3:30pm – 5pm – Interview and Q and A with director Baek Seung-woo and producer Chung Ji-young

This event will be moderated by film critic and journalist Nemo Kim. Nemo writes about Asian Issues for Monocle, The Korea Observer, Sight and Sound. She was formerly Korea Correspondent at Variety and editor of Reuters/TenAsia Korean Culture Desk. She also teaches Korean Cinema and Culture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

저널리스트 김네모씨가 모더레이터로 진행해주실 것입니다. 김네모씨는 Monocle, The Korea Observer, Sight and Sound에 한국 관련 이슈로 기고하고 계십니다. Variety의 한국특파원, Reuters/TenAsia Korean Culture Desk의 에디터로도 활동하였습니다. 한국 외대에서 한국 영화와 문화에

This event is brought to you by:

Royal Asiatic Society Cinema Club

Aquariums of Pyeongyang: An Interview

Scottish expat Barry Welsh has held Seoul Book and Culture Club for several years. The club is dedicated to featuring Korean related books and movies mostly but other popular media have been themed. This particular free meet-the-author interview was moderated by Kurt Achin, a Seoul-based correspondent and Bureau Chief for Voice of America, and was a crowd drawer. Of course almost any topic on North Korea draws in the crowds, but not only was the forum well attended, but many of the rather large audience (myself included) had already read the book -- Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag -- and came with questions for the author in the hour-long Q&A following Kurt Achin's prepared questions.

The forum kicked off with thanks and appreciation for Kang Chol-hwan, the author, in sharing his time and experiences with the Seoul Book and Culture Club, but Kurt Achin went right to the heart of the matter and what is on everyone's minds, was the book sensationalized, do North Korean defectors "spice up" their narratives?

Mr. Kang just said that it had been 20 years since he had defected, and the cover of the book was of his family. He added that recently 30,000 North Koreans had defected (from concentration camps, the military, and average citizens). Concentration camps were divided into two parts -- one for political prisoners and is highly controlled and very strict, from this camp people cannot be set free and they will die there; the other for economic prisoners and is controlled by the ordinary police. Mr. Kang and his family had been in this latter kind of gulag, as are most defectors, with the exception of 안병철 who had been in the political gulag. That said, human rights abuse in both camps in very harsh!

Kurt Achin: George W. Bush had been impressed by Kang Chol-hwan's story and had invited him to the White House. Obama hasn't made such an invitation, but if he did, how would the conversation be different?

"I wonder if Obama would invite me. 10 years ago when President Bush invited me we [South Koreans?] weren't focused on human rights; we were still thinking on the Sunshine Policy. However, when GW Bush invited me, it was a chance to acquaint him with real human rights issues that needed to be recognized and addressed. So when we met, I was able to suggest two ways to improve on human rights dialog issues with the North -- to encourage North Koreans to flee, and to disseminate info about the West to North Korea. 

Actually when I was in the concentration camp (somewhere between 1985-1990?), balloons had been disseminated and one balloon burst. In it were socks, daily necessities and flyers. From a flyer I heard for the first time that South Korea had been invaded by North Korea, and as I read it, I knew that I was listening to truth. 

In 2007, the North Korean Strategy Center first started disseminating balloons across the North Korean border, but North Korea could use this as propaganda to consolidate NK soldiers, and South Koreans didn't like it because of the potential for causing more of a schism (there were a lot of political difficulties at that time between the North and the South), so the strategy was revised -- dissemination between the Chinese and North Korean border was better for disseminating information, particularly because there was already communication exchange across that border.

Kurt Achin: Is the much talked about marketization of North Korea changing North Koreans?

The three Kims (the Kim Dynasty) is characterized as good at managing government power but lousy at maintaining their economy. For example, not paying attention to the people, not ensuring that citizens have water and electricity. They make strange policies that further imbalance social structures and appearances of social structures. For example, they promote horse-riding for kids, but the kids don't even get a solid meal a day. There is the government sponsored water theme park for kids, but again only a handful of kids in the stratified society could even think of going there. There is a massive 50-storied residential complex, but in reality it is a ghost house. These examples just point at how ineffective policies and infrastructures are made to help the people. There is no synergy between the market economy and the government economy. Also, because the government has proven itself unreliable again and again, North Koreans opt for US dollars and Chinese yuans rather than putting trust in the North Korean currency.

Kurt Achin: Have you been in contact with your family via "handphone" like many other North Korean defectors?

I used to send money and letters but in 2009 my sister was accused of colluding with a South Korean and I have since lost contact. I've asked the United Nations for help but there is nothing they can do. North Korea will not answer.

Kurt Achin: How would you compare North Korean and South Korean political strategies where citizens are concerned?

North Korea is better than South Korea in one way only -- that's in the information dissemination sector. 30,000 people work in various offices for info dissemination, and they are highly skilled at this.  

Supporting North Korea is a crime in the United States and in South Korea, but in both of these countries, because of freedom of speech, people are overlooking the North Korean spies speaking out blatantly and this is a very serious situation. 

Japan has repatriated 100,000 people and this is a big human rights issue. Japan is supposed to be a democracy so this oversight does not reflect the humans rights of a democracy.

Walking with Peter Bartholomew

Many people are unaware of the many historical sites in Seoul, but Peter Bartholomew, former president of the RAS and living in Korea for well over 40 years, gives a tour of just, the big historical sites of Seoul, focusing on the architecture and especially the architecture of the palaces and yang ban residences. 

Here is the RAS write-up of the excursion:

This excursion is organised to explain to residents and visitors to Seoul the vast cultural heritage and history in and around the extensive royal compounds. While walking through historical compounds and buildings we will be shown how Seoul's massive palace compounds were organized and contiguously linked, from the five major palaces (one “Pŏp-Kung” and four“E-Kung”), to the 15 detached palaces (“Pyŏl-Kung”) and their service palace compounds. The palace compounds originally extended from Dŏksu to the present Seoul National University Hospital in the "Daehak‑ro" area, with insightful explanations of the history and reasons for their designs, uses and aesthetic layout. We will see little known nooks of virtually forgotten royal compounds.

The leader will explain the events leading to the establishment of Seoul as capital of Korea in the 1390’s, how (and why) it was originally laid out, and its evolution during the following 500 years into a massive royal complex comprising 5 major palaces, over 15 detached palaces, government administrative centres, numerous shrines and how the city grew up around it, first as primarily a royal government center and then evolving into the economic / commercial, social and cultural centre as well. He will also describe the tragic wars and purposeful demolitions that have erased all but a handful of the original buildings and compounds.

Dŏk Su Palace

This palace became the seat of the royal government only from 1896, following the assassination of Queen Min earlier that year and the subsequent abandonment of Gyeongbok (Kyŏngbok) Palace. It was the centre of the vortex of imperial power games swirling around Korea in the late 19th to early 20th century, with China, Japan, Russia, the British Empire and the United States all having a stake in the game. The tour leader will describe these events while visiting the very buildings and rooms in which King Gojong tried to steer Korea through the maelstrom of international political intrigue. Additionally, the leader will describe in detail the architectural and aesthetic aspects of Korean traditional palace design and science, using this palace’s exceptional styling to illustrate these points.

Dŏk‑Su Palace Library, “Chung Myŏng Chŏn” (Jung Myeong Jeon),which was formerly part of Dŏk Su palace, later becoming the Seoul Club from around 1906 until the 1970's, in which certain ministers in the King Gojong court were coerced by the Japanese to put the royal seal on the Protectorate Treaty papers, called the “Ulsa” Treaty in 1906, and the adjoining former Czarist Russian Legation site with other former diplomatic mission sites in Jeong‑Dong. All of these buildings were part of the violent period of imperial competition of the 1880’s through 1910 that finally led to Japan taking over this country, with Korea squeezed in the middle.

Kyŏng-Hui Palace (Gyeong Hui Palace), a little known secondary palace on Shinmun-ro 2-ga built in 1616 and having a chequered and colourful history (later became Seoul Boy's High School site and now partially restored as a palace). The Seoul History Museum occupies the front part of the palace compound. This is an exceptional example of Chosŏn (Joseon) period aesthetic, being built on a hill with different elevations for each of the ceremonial courtyards and buildings.

Meditating in front of the central building at Kyunghuigung.
This quiet palace is recently reconstructed (with work still in progress), little known and is great for relaxing and for excellent beauty spots as the palace is built on a slope and each of the buildings is a bit higher than the previous.

The compound of the 600 year-old White Pine in Hyoja Dong, and several of the large traditional Korean houses (hanok) in that former Choson Dynasty aristocratic residential area. Important sites surrounding Gyeongbok (Kyŏngbok) Palace, formerly serving the royal compound, while it was the center of the Joseon (Chosŏn) Royal Government until the late 19th Century. The leader will describe the spatial relations, history of development and architectural aspects that make Korea’s traditional architecture so unique. While we will not go into Gyeongbok (Kyŏngbok) Palace, the leader will explain the complex, vast layout and history of the largest Korean royal palace complex ever built. We then will walk between the north wall of Gyeongbok Palace and the “Blue House,” the official compound of the President of the Republic of Korea on our way to “Bukchon” / Ga-Hoe Dong.

The Blue House, resident of the Korean president. When in the area either walking on this street behind Gyeongbokgung or hiking on the hiking trail behind the Blue House, photos taken in the direction of the Blue House are strictly forbidden, except in photo zones like this one.

The Jong‑Chin‑Bu, Office of the Royal Household, the An‑Dong Detached Palace (An‑Guk‑Dong), and Seoul's only remaining aristocratic "great house" (99 "kan") house, the home of Korea's second president, Yun Po‑Sun, and other significant homes in the Ga‑Hoe Dong area, still occupied today by the son of Yun Po-Sun.

The Royal Astrological Observatory next to Chang‑Dok Palace (on the grounds of Hyundai’s headquarters), and the Unhyŏn Palace, former residence of the Daewon-gun, or Prince Regent, Yi Ha-ung. Unhyŏn Palace is the only remaining (somewhat!) in-tact “detached palace,” where offspring of the king (those who would not become the next king) lived up through the late 1960’s to 1980’s, when expelled by the Korean Government. The Taewon-gun's second son, born and raised in Unhyŏn Palace, went on to become King Kojong, the second to last reigning king in Korea prior to colonization (and the last King who truly reigned with power of the state; the last monarch, King Sunjong, was put into power by the Japanese in 1907 was simply their puppet!). This compound has residential buildings of exceptionally refined, sophisticated architecture which will be explained in their historical, aesthetic and execution contexts and a two story European style residential palace building, the last of its style remaining in Korea.

Other interesting Chosŏn Dynasty period homes and structures along the way will be explained and put into context, especially in the "Hyoja-Dong" area and in "Ka-Hoe-Dong" (“Bukchon”), the other primarily aristocratic residential area of the Joseon (Chosŏn) period, between the Gyeongbok and Changdok Palaces.

We are fortunate to have as our excursion leader Mr. Peter Bartholomew. Mr. Bartholomew has lived in Korea for more than 40 years and has made an intensive study of the Joseon (Chosŏn) Dynasty period from the architectural point of view with analysis of its history, culture and politics. He has made a special study into the evolutionary aspects of the royal capital city of Seoul. His fascinating article entitled "Choson Dynasty Royal Compounds ‑ Windows to a Lost Culture" can be found in Volume 68 of Transactions of the RAS, Korea Branch. He will continuously narrate the excursion with historical, cultural and aesthetic / architectural descriptions.

Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine: "I live crying tears of blood"

In various English publications, International Strategy Center (ISC) had a posting inviting up to 10 people to take an overnight historical tour of the “Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine and Site of Civilian Massacre”. This type of tour is totally different than the typical templestay experience, visit a tea plantation and learn about tea ceremony, take a bus to Seoraksan for a color tour or to Haeundae Beach to soak up the rays. I’ve been to Ganghwa Island to see the famous table-top dolmen, have gone to several festivals, and climbed the tallest mountains in most of Korea’s 20 national parks. What really is lacking in a lot of these excursions is the voice of the people—not the voice of the festival participants or the Korean tourists who are traveling somewhere for entertainment, but the voice of the average person who has seen history unfold and is living that history. For that reason, I was quick to sign up to be among the 10 privileged people who would go on the tour.

On October 17 the participants and two leaders from the ISC met at Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, and imagine my surprise to find out only one other person, James a young historian, besides myself, an anthropologist, had signed up. Where were all the people who want a very unique tour rich in history? Are people not signing up because nowadays trips are taken for pleasure and personal entertainment? Shouldn’t mental enrichment also be a drawing factor when choosing a weekend activity? So just the four of us boarded the bus to Gyeongsan. While the hard-working ISC volunteers slept, James and I read the provided literature on the mine—all of it related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea and published in 2010.

Choi Seung Ho, publisher and president of Gyeongsan Sinmoon, met us at the bus terminal and became our guide. Choi is a pillar in the community, knowing and shaking hands with everyone; a dedicated man—according to a 2010 영남일보 위클리포유—who had educated more than 500 people in night-schools in the preceding 20 years. He is not related to the bereaved family members of the mine massacre but takes a very philosophical stance on why he wants exposure to what we learned was hidden history in the Truth and Reconciliation articles. “The last thing I can do for our children [future generations] is to give them their history, even if it is a shameful past,” he said. So before going to the mine itself, he gave us historical setting context to the mine massacre story by showing us the cobalt extraction site 1.5 kilometers away.

In the late 1930s the Japanese used Korean labor to mine the gold and silver in the mine, but with the discovery of cobalt and cobalt being useful for strengthening steel necessary for war munitions, cobalt became the more valued object of the mine. In 1945 the mine was shut down with the expulsion of the Japanese from Korea. Right after the onset of the Korean War, from July to September 1950, political prisoners were brought to the mine, beaten, shot, burned with flame-throwers, and thrown down the mine shaft, which was then dynamited to obscure evidence. I’ve read since that the largest civilian massacres occurred on the sites of former Japanese occupation.

The mine is kept locked to keep ghost-seekers out and to preserve the evidence. Already two excavations have taken place and bones for 400 or so people have been removed, but with the 3,500 people reported victims of the massacre, more than 3,000 are yet unaccounted for. Unfortunately, excavations are expensive and the bereaved families poor. Bags and bags of dirt with bone fragments and teeth line the inside of the mine, waiting for funding to further the excavation. Beneath the shaft where the largest number of bones have been excavated so far, the mud is oily with yellow adipose, even now, 65 years later. A trailer not far from the entrance stores several boxes of bones while the greater number are refrigerated for preservation at a research lab until funding can be obtained to continue the excavation. Bereaved families don’t know if their family members have been excavated yet, and DNA testing is too expensive, so they wait to excavate all before giving all wandering spirits a soul-cleansing ceremony to bid them cease their wanderings. But there is no money, no discussion, and no reconciliation. Therefore, there is no closure for the mine victims and for the bereaved families by extension.

As one Truth and Reconciliation article pointed out, “During the military dictatorships and repressive regimes of President Rhee Syngman, General Chun Doo-hwan, and President Park Chung-hee, these atrocities were kept secret,” and bereaved family members who organized in the 1960s were imprisoned. Korea has had a long history of guilt-by-association so for survival the bereaved family members became silent.

In 2000 under the presidency of Kim Dae-jung, a special law related to the Cheju Uprising, another Korean War massacre site, was passed and all bereaved families members were finally encouraged and invited to register as such. This registry as I understand it was only open for one year and has never been opened since. It is estimated that only 10% of the bereaved families registered for fear of continued guilt-by-association consequences that they had lived with all of their lives. Guilt-by-association prevented them from being civil servants which therefore discouraged them from studying as jobs opened to the educated were in general not opened to them. 2,500 of those massacred in the cobalt mine were classified broadly as ‘political prisoners’. A ‘political prisoner’ could be someone who spoke out against the ruling party, fed someone who spoke out, or even had money and therefore was viewed as being associated with the moneyed “reds”. Just by having a relative massacred in the mine placed the label of “red” on whole families by extension.

President Roh Mu-hyun allotted funding for excavations and made an apology, officially recognizing the illegal use of power in previous governments. However, this funding was cut short in the Lee Myung-bak presidency and at present the topic of funding or recognition is like a heavy tombstone under the office of Park Guen-hye. Elder daughter of the military dictator-president Park Chung-hee, Park Guen-hye presently seeks to use government office to write and enforce a “Correct History Textbook” in middle and high school classes across Korea. Many historians argue that replacing the current choice of eight textbooks with only one, which they feel will “whitewash” her father’s era of military rule among other historical events, will continue to hide historical truths and events that need to be academically discussed and presented. Korea disputes the Japanese textbooks which Koreans say distort history, and yet the current government is taking steps to change history via textbook also. Franklin P. Jones, 18^th-century publisher, so aptly said, “Perhaps nobody has changed the course of history as much as the historian.” The question asked by many is, if history is distorted and events glossed over, how will future Korean leaders learn the mistakes of the past so as to aim for a better and brighter future?

In the course of the weekend I learned many disturbing things. First, the Internet is almost silent on the Gyeongsan Cobalt MineMassacre. What is published is a few short blog entries on the mine and massacre and a few articles put out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea in 2010. Not much else exists in English. More surprising is the lack of information regarding almost all Korean War civilian massacres in Korea. According to Wikipedia, the list of civilian massacres in North Korea cites one, and in South Korea eighteen; the Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine Massacre, with its 3,500 victims, is not in the list, and yet, according to Na Jeong-tae, vice-president of the Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine Bereaved Families Association, 114 such bereaved families associations exist regarding civilian massacres in South Korea. The silence is deafening.

The Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine Bereaved Families Association wants reconciliation. They want investigations on the war crimes as to the reasons for the illegal killings; they want their fathers, uncles, brothers or other family members from the massacre to have their names cleared of “red” slurs, and their own tarnished names to be simultaneously restored. They seek funding to finish the excavations and be allowed Confucian respects to ceremoniously bury their relatives. They also want the bereaved families registry to be reopened so other families can join and be bonded through spirit and share in the catharsis of healing together. However, seeing no hope for change at the moment, Na Jeong-tae, who was able to receive only four years of education, said, “I live crying tears of blood.”

I wouldn’t call my weekend exciting and certainly not entertaining, but what I gained from going to the Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine was knowledge that most Koreans are not likely to have, especially if the Korean government does not acknowledge its own historical past. I listened to the voice of a marginalized people, and I came away with an understanding of family and truth as being treasured values as opposed to what seems to drive society nowadays: economy and politics. I think I can say that the time spent learning about this obscure history and meeting four members of an effectively silenced group, was one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had in Korea. Meaningful because people spoke from their hearts about their experiences to survive, and meaningful because they learned to endure despite the pain of being marginalized and emotionally suppressed. I liked feeling their strength because it is this strength from enduring that has built Korea into the nation it is today.

Published on the International Strategy Center website in their World Current Report, Vol 10, October 2015 publication.