Korean Language, Food, Drama & Movies

Korean Poetry : The Depth of a Landscape by Kim Sa-in 김사인의 풍경의 깊이

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:44:41 +0900

Finally this blog won a prize

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:20:54 +0900

I have won prizes on three earlier occasions for posts uploaded at other Korean blog hosts but this is the first time I won a prize for this blog at Yahoo Korea. The prize was a 2GB Sky Blue iRiver Mickey MP3 player. The ears are dials for adjusting volume and changing tracks, very cute !

The contest was jointly organised by KNTO and www.prkorea.com (VANK)

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?cid=799366
http://www.prkorea.com/metablogen/event/result.html

Arirang Song Of Korea

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:39:22 +0900

Korean-American professor publishes book on 'Arirang'

By Lee Haye-Ah
SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Yonhap) -- Melancholy yet powerful, the tune of the folk song "Arirang" carries the sorrows and struggles of the Korean people across generations and borders.

   Perhaps no one　 feels this more acutely than 85-year-old author Lee Chung-Myun, whose new book "Arirang: Song of Korea," introduces the origins, characteristics and dissemination of Arirang across the globe.

   In an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Monday, the professor emeritus, whose nostalgia for his homeland persisted during 50 years abroad in Malaysia, Japan and the United States, said he was moved to write the book because he was ashamed of his lack of knowledge about the most popular Korean folk song in the face of foreigners' interest.

"This may be the first book ever that introduces Arirang systematically in English," said Lee, who went to the U.S. to teach geography at California State University in Fresno in 1970 and moved to the University of Utah in 1972. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1979.

   The professor-turned-musicologist said Arirang originated 600 years ago in Jeongseon County of Gangwon Province, and spread throughout the peninsula in hundreds of variations.

   To study the song in detail, Lee retired five years ago and visited several Korean locations, including Jindo Island and the cities of Jeongsun and Milyang -- the homes of three of the most well-known versions.

   Although the song is ancient, it was not until the late 19th century that the Bonjo Arirang, today's most popular version, rose as a national symbol out Korea's turbulent modern history, which includes the 1910-1945 colonization of the peninsula by Japan.

   Lee's ambition to document the song's history was stretched even further after watching a TV broadcast showing the New York Philharmonic's performance of Arirang in Pyongyang in February last year.

   "The spirit of Arirang will play a pivotal role in the reunification of Korea and the movement towards world peace, as has been demonstrated throughout Korean history," Lee writes in the preface.

   "I feel that it is to be regretted deeply that I could not include the study of the song of Arirang in North Korea due to the political difficulties between South and North. However, I do hope we will be able to go to North Korea freely to study Arirang songs there in the near future," he added.

   Lee said he hopes Arirang's role as a source of vitality for Koreans living abroad and its potential to touch the hearts of global citizens will be widely recognized upon the publication of the book Tuesday.

   "I plan to sell this book at the U.S. bookstores and through amazon.com in a bid to promote this song internationally," he said.

   ecuedy@yna.co.kr
(END)

Source : http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Features/2009/09/07/28/0801000000AEN20090907005600315F.HTML

Office Hierarchy

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:13:53 +0900

화장님
사장님
대표이사님
전무이사님
상무이사님
이사님
부장
차장
과장
대리
주임
사원

위에 이어진 순서는 맞아요?
팀이 있어요?

겹받침 Ending Consonant

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:17:42 +0900

Above picture extracted from page 99 of Basic book for foreign women married to Korean men.

Rules of double ending consonants as defined by Yahoo Korea Dictionary.
받침규칙의 뜻인다.
[―規則] <명사> ≪언어학≫ 우리말의 받침 소리가/ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅇ, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㄹ/의 일곱 자음으로 되는 현상. 따라서 그 밖의 받침이 홀로 발음되거나/ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ/따위 자음의 형태소 앞에 놓일 때는 앞의 일곱 소리 가운데 하나로 바뀐다.
⑴/ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ/은 /ㄷ/으로 바뀐다. ¶ 옷(과)→옫. 있고→읻꼬. 젖(과)→젇. 낯(과)→낟. 밭(과)→받.
⑵/ㅍ/은 /ㅂ/으로 바뀐다. ¶ 잎(도)→입.
⑶/ㅋ, ㄲ/은 /ㄱ/으로 바뀐다. ¶ 부엌(도)→부억. 밖(도)→박.
⑷겹받침은 그중 하나가 줄어진다. ㉠/ㅄ, ㄳ, 라, ㄾ, ㄵ/은 첫 자음이 남고 나중 자음이 줄어진다. ¶ 값(도)→갑. 넋(도)→넉. 곬(도)→골. 핥고→할꼬. 앉다→안따. ㉡/ㄻ, ㄿ/은 첫 자음이 준다. ¶ 젊다→점따. 읊다→읖다→읍다. ㉢/ㄺ,ㄼ/은 불규칙하다. ¶ 닭(도)→닥. 읽고→일꼬. 읽다→익따. 밟다→밥따. 짧다→짤따. 얇다→얄따.
⑸앞 형태소의 끝 자음에 모음으로 시작되는 의미소가 이어질 때도 일곱 끝소리의 하나로 바뀐다. ¶ 옷 안→오단. 젖어미→저더미. 부엌 안→부어간. 꽃 아래→꼬다래. 옻 오르다→오도르다. 홑옷→호돋. 무릎 아래→무르바래. 값없다→가법따. <동의어> 말음법칙.

Royal Tombs Listed As Korea's 9th UNESCO World Heritage Site

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:28:09 +0900

40 Royal Tombs Listed as World Heritage Site
A stone statue of military officer in Seolleung, the royal tomb of King Seongjong, the ninth monarch of the Chosun Dynasty, in Samseong-dong, Seoul A stone statue of military officer in Seolleung, the royal tomb of King Seongjong, the ninth monarch of the Chosun Dynasty, in Samseong-dong, Seoul

Forty royal tombs from the Chosun Dynasty have been newly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Korea's ninth. The 33rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Seville, Spain last Friday decided to accept Korea's application for listing the group of tombs.

The committee said it recognized the value of the tombs with their unique construction method and landscaping under the Confucian principles and inspired by geomancy. The tombs deserve being listed because historical tradition has been passed down through intangible heritage including ceremonial rituals and all the tombs have been carefully preserved and managed, it added.

The Chosun tombs are those of 27 Chosun kings and their wives, and posthumous honorary kings and their wives.

Other UNESCO World Heritage sites in Korean are the Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple site, the Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon -- the Depositories for the Tripitaka Koreana Woodblocks -- and the Jongmyo Shrine, listed in 1995; Changdeok Palace and the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, designated in 1997; the Gyeongju Historical Areas and the Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen sites, listed in 2000; and the Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes, listed in 2007.
Forty royal tombs newly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site /Yonhap Forty royal tombs newly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site /Yonhap

url: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/06/29/2009062900394.html

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Korean fermented rice wine 막걸리

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:35:05 +0900

A Farmer’s Drink Made Trendy

Once considered old-fashioned, makgeolli is

making a comeback — and not just in Korea

Anyone who’s been out in Korea at night knows about soju, the popular Korean distilled liquor, always served with samgyeopsal, strips of pork belly. But soju isn’t the onl　y traditional tippler on the peninsula: There’s also makgeolli, fermented rice wine, which was ubiquitous until the 1960s but later lost ground to soju and Western alcoholic beverages such as beer, whiskey and wine. But makgeolli is now back, this time winning fans in an unexpected quarter: among Japanese tourists. This isn’t just because of the price difference — a one　-liter bottle of makgeolli sells for 800 yen in Japan but the equivalent of just 150 to 200 yen here — but also because the wine supposedly tastes better before going through the sterilization process required for export. Perhaps the most important reason, however, is the appeal of the special experience of tasting makgeolli in a minsokjujeom, a traditional Korean drinking house. Accordingly, local tourist agencies are busy coming up with packages offering Japanese visitors trips to jujeom, most located in the Myeong-dong and Jongno areas in downtown Seoul . Meanwhile, in Japan , makgeolli is no longer an exotic novelty, with the number of bars offering several different types on the rise in trendy Tokyo areas such as Shinjuku, Ginza and Shibuya. “We have sold 3.4 billion won ($2.74 million) worth of makgeolli in Japan last year, and sales of the liquor have grown 20-25 percent annually over recent years,” said Lee Jin-seong, director of E-dong Rice Wine Brewery, the first Korean company to export makgeolli to Japan, through a Japanese affiliate established in 1993. At Foodex Japan 2009, an international food trade show held in March at Makuhari Messe near Tokyo, the had a long line of curious visitors awaiting their turn to sample the rice wine and perhaps even strike an import deal. According to the Korea Customs Service, 4,891 tons of makgeolli were shipped overseas last year, a 25.4 percent increase from 2007, worth $4.02 million, a leap of 53 percent on-year. Bae Yong-joon, the Korea Wave star known in Japan as “Yon-sama” – “sama” is an honorific suffix in Japanese – has climbed on the bandwagon, inking a deal with Kook Soon Dang, Korea’s leading traditional wine brewer, to produce a special makgeolli named Gosireh, after his restaurant chain in Japan. “Gosireh makgeolli, which was introduced in Japan in April, had sold about 30,000 bottles as of the first week of May, ranking at the top in terms of all kinds of liquor sales in the onl　ine market on Yahoo! Japan,” said Koh Bong-hwan, marketing team manager at Kook Soon Dang. Even taking into account Yon-sama’s huge popularity in Japan , such high sales in such a short period says something. Why are so many Japanese customers attracted to makgeolli? “Makgeolli is gaining popularity because it is low proof, with an alcohol content of 6 to 7 percent, so that weak drinkers can also enjoy it, and it’s also been proved to be healthy, as it contains lots of lactobacilli and fiber, matching up with the ‘well-being’ trend sweeping the world and Japan,” said Shin Woo-chang, deputy director of the research institute of Kook Soon Dang Brewery. The liquor was even found to be effective in suppressing cancer as well as preventing high blood pressure in a report released last year by the research team at the Department of Food and Nutrition at Silla University in Busan. Makgeolli brewing mainly consists of two processes – the making of the rice malt, or nuruk, and the fermenting of steamed rice. Nuruk is an essential ingredient to make makgeolli, as it facilitates the fermentation of rice starch into sugars. It is usually made with crushed rice, placed in a wooden box for about a week until it begins to mold. The nuruk is then added to a mixture ture of steamed rice and water to produce an undiluted makgeolli, which will later be mixed with a fixed quantity of water to get an alcohol content of 6 to 7 percent. Makgeolli dates back to the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), when it was also called “ehwa wine” – ehwa is the Korean word for pear blossom. The name came about because nuruk was usually made about the time the pear trees bloom. “Since it was the first wine made by our ancestors thousands of years ago, it is fair to say that makgeolli is the prototypical traditional wine of Korea . Other Korean rice wines, like yakju, actually originated from makgeolli,” Shin said. In fact, makgeolli was the most popular alcoholic beverage in Korea until the 1960s, when it accounted for about 70 percent of domestic alcohol consumption. At that time, Korea was still an agrarian society, with the greater part of the country’s population being farmers. Nongju, another popular term for makgeolli, literally means “farmer liquor” in Korean, after its traditional consumers. “Makgeolli was called ‘nongju’ due to its popularity among farmers, though it was not meant solely for them,” said Yu Tae-jong, a food engineering professor at Korea University . “Makgeolli was actually the alcoholic beverage usually enjoyed by commoners due to its accessibility, as it is made from rice, the staple of the country,” he explained. However, with the ban on the use of rice to make makgeolli by the government in 1965 due to a chronic food shortage, makgeolli makers started to use other grains instead, affecting the taste and turning the public against it. The ban on rice makgeolli was lifted in 1971, but by then the damage was done. With the introduction of various Western alcoholic beverages like whiskey and wine in the boom years of the 1970s, the percentage of the population consuming makgeolli fell as low as single digits. But the drink recovered a few years ago and is now back in the limelight, Shin at Kook Soon Dang said, thanks to the “well-being” health craze. Scientific research purporting to show that the fermented rice wine had health benefits, in addition to its low price and relatively low alcoholic content, helped boost the popularity of makgeolli, he said. “Advances in the quality and taste of makgeolli in recent years apparently contributed to recapturing the old generation, who often feel nostalgia for makgeolli, which they used to drink in their younger days, while makgeolli makers’ efforts to popularize the liquor by packaging it in cans and fancy bottles have succeeded in winning the hearts of young and new customers,” Shin said. And as evidenced by the introduction on the local market in April of the so-called “cocktail makgeolli,” a more versatile and colorful variety mixed with fruit flavors such as strawberry and grape, makgeolli’s evolution continues down the path to capturing the hearts of Korean customers and those around the world.

By Park Sun-young

Makgeolli is derived from a fermented rice

paste called nuruk, which is then diluted with

water to achieve an alcohol content of 6 to 7

percent. The active cultures in raw makgeolli

are thought to have health benefits.

황동규의 시 겨울밤 0시 5분 Hwang Dong Gyu's poem 'A Winter Night At 00:05 Hours'

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:23:53 +0900

황동규의 겨울밤 0시 5분
Hwang Dong Gyu's poem 'A Winter Night At 00:05 Hours'
Translated by Krys Lee.

별을 보며 걸었다.
I walked watching the stars.

아파트 후문에서 마을버스를 내려
I was about to cross after I got off the local bus

길을 건너려다 그냥 걸었다.
behind the apartment’s back entrance, but I just kept walking.

추위를 속에 감추려는 듯 상점들이 셔터들을 내렸다.
The stores’ shutters came down, as if trying to conceal their inner cold.

늦저녁에 잠깐 내리다 만 눈
Still, one　 or two snowflakes blew in the wind

지금도 흰 것 한두 깃 바람에 날리고 있다.
from the snow that had briefly fallen late that night.
The dust must have died down for now.

먼지는 잠시 잠잠해졌겠지.
How long had it been? I adjusted my coat, collected myself,

얼마 만인가? 코트 여며 마음 조금 가다듬고
and walked to the last stop watching the stars.

별을 보며 종점까지 한 정거를 걸었다.
The last bus stop. Not so long ago, on one　 side

마을버스 종점, 미니 광장 삼각형 한 변에
of the small triangle-shaped square,

얼마 전까지 창밖에 가위와 칼들을
an ironmonger’s with scissors and knives

바로크 음악처럼 주렁주렁 달아놓던 철물점이 헐리고
hanging outside its window like baroque music, was demolished,

농산물센터 '밭으로 가자' 가 들어섰다.
and a farmer’s market with the sign “To the Field” took its place.

건물의 불 꺼지고 외등이 간판을 읽어준다.
The building lights go off and a streetlamp reads the sign.

건너편 변에서는 '신라명과' 가 막 문을 닫고 있다.
On the opposite side, a Shilla Bakery closes its doors for the night.

나머지 한 변이 시작되는 곳에
Where the last side begins, a woman stares hollow-eyed

막차로 오는 딸과 남편을 기다리는 듯
at her cell phone, as if waiting

흘끔흘끔 휴대폰을 들여다보고 있는 여자,
for her daughter or husband on the last bus.

키 크고 허리 약간 굽은,
She is tall, her waist slightly bent,

들릴까 말까 한 소리로 무엇인가 외우고 있다.
and she is memorizing something in a just audible voice.

그 옆에 아는 사이인 듯 서서
I stand by her as if I know her

두 손을 비비며 하늘을 올려다본다.
while rubbing my hands together, and look up to the sky.

서리 가볍게 치다 만 것 같은 하늘에 저건 북두칠성,
In the sky that seems to have frosted over, Ursa Major,

저건 카시오페이아, 그리고 아 오리온,
over there, Cassiopeia…and Orion.

다 낱별들로 뜯겨지지 않고 살아있었구나!
None torn into separate stars, all still alive!

여자가 들릴까 말까 그러나 단호하게
The woman in a just audible voice now says decisively,

'이제 그만 죽어버릴 거야,' 한다.
“Now I’m going to kill myself.”

가로등이 슬쩍 비춰주는 파리한 얼굴,
The streetlight just shines off her pale face.

살기(殺氣) 묻어 있지 않아 적이 마음이 놓인다
There is no murderous trace staining it.

나도 속으로 '오기만 와봐라!' 를 몇 번 반복한다.
I feel somewhat at ease.

별 하나가 스르르 환해지며 묻는다.
Silently, I also think, “Just let him or her come!” several times.

'그대들은 뭘 기다리지? 안 올지 모르는 사람?
A star brightens, and asks,
“What are you waiting for? Someone who might not come?

어둠이 없는 세상? 먼지 가라앉은 세상?
A world without darkness? A world without dust?

어둠 속에서 먼지 몸 얼렸다 녹이면서 빛 내뿜는
The life of a comet radiating light
as its body of dust freezes and melts in the dark

혜성의 삶도 살맛일 텐데.'
is probably not a bad life.”

누가 헛기침을 했던가,
Who let out a dry cough?

옆에 누가 없었다면 또박또박 힘주어 말할 뻔했다.
If someone hadn’t been next to me,

'무언가 간절히 기다리고 있는 사람 곁에서
I would have spoken up precisely to the star,

어둠이나 빛에 대해선 말하지 않는다!'
“I won’t speak about the dark or the light
next to those desperate in their waiting!”

별들이 스쿠버다이빙 수경(水鏡) 밖처럼 어른어른대다 멎었다.
Like the outside of a scuba diving mask,
the stars shimmer, then stop.

이제 곧 막차가 올 것이다.
It’s time for the last bus to arrive.
Source : http://search.korea.net:8080/kpr/200906_korea_en.pdf

속담 Korean Proverbs Idioms

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:51:11 +0900

제 눈에 안경이다.
Beauty lies in the eyes of its beholder.

수박 겉 핥기 식이에요.
It's like scratching the surface.

이웃사촌.
Near neighbor is better htan a distant cousin.

울며 겨자 먹기
Face the music. Bite the bullet.

하늘의 별 따기 같아요.
It's like asking for the moon.

쇠귀에 경 읽기
turn a deaf ear / in one　　　 ear in and out the other

우물 안 개구리
frog in the well / tunnel vision

도둑이 제 발 저린다
Guilty conscience needs no accuser.

아니 땐 굴뚝에 연기 나지 않는다
There is no smoke without fire.
突不燃不生煙

Korean Proficency Tests - KLPT vs TOPIK

Thu, 07 May 2009 15:37:22 +0900

Read about the difference at

http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=L0604

Many ask about the differences between the two exams.

Here's what I can share by way of background information.

Topik is the older of the two and was previously known as KPT (yes, the acronym is confusing).

Topik is in its 11th year this year.

Since 2006, Topik changed from a 6 level to a 3 level exam system (if you are using old 6 level exam papers for practice, should be able to handle equivalent level 2, 4 and 6).

The exam format was also changed and introduced essay writing for the intermediate level, I was told.

Although KLPT started out later, it has developed much faster and now offers CBT (computer based tests).

KLPT does not seem to have levels, meaning your level is determined by your score.

It seems to me that two persons taking the same KLPT exam can end up certified at different levels depending on the individual score obtained.

The two proficiency exams come under two different ministries.

Their respective websites are at http://www.topik.or.kr/ (go to Data, to download past exam papers and answers)http://www.klpt.org/english/Topik (then KPT) past year exam papers (till year 2003) and KLPT prep books can be bought in book shops in Seoul.

I have seen them at Kyobo bookstore.

If you browse the KLPT books and find learning points related to factory settings, then a good guess is that KLPT is geared more for the blue-collared migrant workers seeking employment in Korea.

That said, if your purpose in taking the proficiency exam is to seek admission to a Korean university, neither Topik nor KLPT is going to be of much help because the Korean universities would still make their applicants sit for their own placement test.

If you surf hard enough, may be able to find certain softcopies of past exam papers too.

Also, www.teenkorean.net has some information on KLPT.