Korea’s Intangible Heritage for Humanity Everyone has a memorable moment that cannot be forgotten. For me, a resident of Gangneung, November 25, 2005 was the once-in-a-lifetime moment. On that day, UNESCO in Paris decided to place the Dano Festival of Gangneung on the roster of Masterpieces...

‘Yoko’s Story’ and the Truth about Korea The still ongoing controversy over “So Far From the Bamboo Grove” - translated as simply “Yoko’s Story” in Korean ? has gotten Boston’s Korean parents into frenzy to “teach” elementary and middle school teachers the truth about Korea.

Solitary Historian Once Scorned by Her Motherland On November 30, the remains of the late Dr. Park Byeong-seon (Park Byeng-sen) made their journey home. Park was a Korean historian who lived in France, setting the stage for retrieving ancient Korean texts such as the Jiki, an anthology of Z...

Winter Solstice and Christmas The morning before last, Monk Beopyeol at the Eundeok Cultural Center of the Won Buddhism called me. He invited me to have red bean porridge (patjuk) together, saying it was made for dongji, the winter solstice, which fell on the da...

Nurturing Hallyu through Copyright Protection 2011 is now drawing to a close. A quick review of the year brings to mind the K-pop boom in Paris and Shin Kyung-sook’s novel “Please, Look After Mom” which brought home the value of maternal love to American readers. There is no doubt that Korean...