Korea’s Ancient Capitals

The present is an accumulative total of the past. So, if you want to really know about the present of a country, you need to delve deep into its age-long history.

And learning about its past capitals – the central locations for the country’s politics and culture – will be a very helpful and significant approach.

The cities of Gyeongju, Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan were designated as the ancient capitals of Korea in accordance with the Special Act on the Preservation of Ancient Capitals decree enacted in March 2005.

For a city to become a capital, it must be some place that is well-suited for residence; a strategic location against foreign invasions; and an all-around convenient spot for overseeing the country. That’s why capitals are usually located near a big river, surrounded by mountains, and furnished with a broad expanse of fertile planes.

Gyeongju, Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan

 

<Jeonglim Saji 5 Floor Tower in Buyeo>

 The Baekje Kingdom (18 BCE – 660 CE), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla, controlled some colonies in China and most of the western Korean Peninsula at its peak in the 4th century and was a significant regional sea power.

In the 5th century, Baekje retreated under the southward military threat of Goguryeo, and in 475 its capital moved to Ungjin (present-day Gongju). Gongju is home to numerous historic sites including Gongsanseong Fortress, Magoksa Five-story Stone Pagoda, and Seokjang-ri Old Stone Age Ruins.

In 538, King Seong moved the capital to Sabi (present-day Buyeo County), home to significant relics such as the five-storied stone pagoda of Jeongnimsa Temple site and Banwollu Tower.

 
<Seokguram Grotto in Gyeongju, a UNESCO World Heritage>
photo by Dmitriy Sim, 2008

Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC-935 AD) which ruled most of the Korean Peninsula between the 7th and 9th centuries. A vast number of archaeological sites and cultural properties from this period remain in the city. Among such historical treasures, Seokguram grotto, Bulguksa temple, Gyeongju Historic Areas and Yangdong Folk Village are designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The many major historical sites have helped Gyeongju to become one of the most popular tourist destinations in South Korea.

Bulguksa temple terrace

Tabotap pagoda in Bulguksa temple - it was decorated with 4 marmorate lions from each side, but Japanese  invaders stole them, later only one was found and returned back

A Map of Korea’s Ancient Capitals

 

The Cultural Heritage Administration recently published a map of Korea’s ancient capitals in English as a tourist guide to important historical sites in Korea.

The “Ancient Capitals Tour” map is designed to be easy to carry and use. The map provides information on the history, geography, folklore, and contemporary situation of the four ancient capitals in South Korea: Gyeongju, Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan.  

 
<Ancient Capitals Tour Map in English>
 

The map also provides useful tourist information, including guides to accommodations and public transportation. Maps will be distributed free of charge at cultural centers and tourism agencies.

article by koreabrand - http://blog.naver.com/korea_brand/10100040570

Growing Coffee on Jeju Island

Love for coffee is getting pandemic these days. You can find a coffee shop in every block of a sizable office district. Some people go so far as buying espresso machines and other coffee gadgets to furnish in their own homes. (Well, being one of those crazy coffee lovers myself, I am just being envious.)

Coffee is a highly sensitive plant, requiring specific growing conditions. It grows in subtropical regions where the temperature stays above 10 degrees Celsius even during winter. That’s why farming coffee has been mostly considered out of the question in Korea.

Well, Ms. Roh Jin-Yi doesn’t accept that.

<Most of the world’s coffee is grown in a band around the equator from 25 degrees

north to 25 degrees south of the equator>

Korea’s First Coffee Farmer

The first coffee farmer in Korea, Ms. Roh has invested all her money and energy in farming coffee in a 400-pyeong (1 pyeong equals 3.3 square meters) green house in Jeju City since early 2008.

Despite the unfavorable conditions, even Jeju being too cold, Ms. Roh has been persistent in realizing her dream of cultivating coffee. And she has succeeded to reap enough coffee for about 10% of Jeju citizens to sample taste.

And last October, Ms. Roh even held the first Jeju Coffee Festival in her own coffee plantation. At the festival, there was coffee tasting, coffee drinking competitions, hands-on experience of roasting coffee beans and hand-dripping. 

   
<The first coffee farmer in Korea, Ms. Roh Jin-Yi>

Hard Work, But I Love It

Ms. Roh is currently growing some 25,000 coffee trees in a 5,600 square meters plantation. And it is no easy job looking after those highly sensitive plants. They have to be watered twice a day (at the break of dawn and around sunset) for 3, 4 hours. A storm hits, and the fragile plants get all knocked out of their pots, and Ms. Roh has to spend many sleepless days harnessing them back in. They also need to get nutrition shots at regular, designated times.

Roh says she does not expect coffee farming to become a profitable business.

“It’s costly to keep the green house warm and it takes 3 to 5 years from germination to harvest. But I’m doing this not because I want to make money, but because I like it,” says the coffee farmer. And adds, “If I make money later, I would like to build a coffee museum,” expressing her ultimate ambition.

Many cheers and well wishes to her dream!

(Korean Brand article)

***

Coffee trees from Jeju island

First Jeju coffee festival (2010 October 16)

Excursion to Hyundai Asan Motor Plant - 현대자동차아산공장 - December 17-18

our excursion group photo

As you understood from the title of this article I made a tour of Hyundai Asan Motor Plant. 
The plant opened in 1994 produces flagmans of Hyundai - Sonata and Grandeur - 260 000 cars per year approximately! Also I remember that it's one of the biggest motor plant in Asia - 1 830 000 m² of plant territirory and 450 000 m² - inside plant area! 

more than 2km widthway

Unfortunately, taking photos inside the plant was forbidden, so I can't show the process of car making photo by photo. Describing it just by words is very boring - so, I the only thing I want to share now are my feelings. And that excursion was really impressive! I was impressed by everything - by the size of  plant, by its organization, by robots...
All this plant resembles me one big organism parts of which work in perfect cooperation - and sometimes it's hard to say where robots end and humans start their work. Abundance of robotics made me think about "revolution of the machines" all time I was there))

first steps are being made by robots

Assembling - technicians' work. Still, it's too complicated for robots,
but would these job exist after 20-30 years?

For people living on Korea - if you also want to see this robo-village, just make a registration here for group or family excursion: http://pr.hyundai.com/Company/EnterpriseNetwork_Inner_Factory_Asan.aspx

p.s. photos are borrowed from hyundai cars official web-site and this blog - httpblog.naver.com/gtk200

World Students in Korea - trip to Asan and Jeonju - December 17-18

This is my first article about a trip to Asan and Jeonju on the 17-18th of December organized by the Korean Council on National Branding.

Together with other students from 37 different countries I visited Hyundai Automobile Plant in Asan and numerous sights in Jeonju, especially in its Hanok (korean traditional house) village.

This video was shot and prepared by reporter went with us - overall look of our trip.

Later I'll write some articles about this trip - food, perfomances, experience and more... 

Korean Traditional Performances at the National Folk Museum of Korea

Time : Every Saturday at 15:00 
Venue : National Folk Museum of Korea, Performance Hall 





http://www.nfm.go.kr:8080/english/main.jsp

Upcoming events in Korea - Sancheoneo ( Mount Trout ) Festival

Real winter covered with snow and ice in every January in the whole area of Hwacheon, Gangwon-do that is famous for clean region where Sancheoneo and otter live. Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival is opened in every January under the slogan of “Unfrozen Hearts, Unforgettable Memories” at Hwacheon that has geographical feature of the fastest ice freezing in the country because of cold valley wind and clean water. This is unique theme experience festival full with good shows and 40 or about various experience programs such as ice sledding, snow sledding, snow sculpture and ice soccer, Sancheoneo experience programs combined with the image of Hwacheon that has clean natural environment with the first grade clean water in Bukhangang (river) for catching Sancheoneo by hand, Sancheoneo fishing on the ice to catch the fish easily and enjoy the fishing by everybody, breaking the ice with 40cm thickness and above and looking at Sancheoneo in the deep water for your exciting play available for experiencing at Hwacheon only and heart-warm memory in winter.

● Title of Event: The 8 th Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival ● Place: Hwacheoncheon site at Hwacheon-eup, Hwacheon-gun,    Gangwon-do and other 5 eup and myeon ● Period: January 9 (Saturday) 2010 ~ January 31 (Sunday) (23days) ● Slogan: Unfrozen Hearts, Unforgettable Memories ● Opened by: Hwacheon-gun ● Supervised by: Hwacheon-gun Nara Festival Organizing Comittee ● Sponsored by: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Gangwon-do,    Local Institutions and Social Bodies, Regional Military Units This is 2010 Superior Festival of Culture & Tourism in Korea by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.   Sancheoneo Experience Program

Sancheoneo , Sancheoneo , Winter Sancheoneo ! To mention about ice fishing, you need to catch at least one Sancheoneo. It is an elegant fish underneath ice out of comparison to the other fishes due to moderate size and beautiful shape. Sancheoneo is hard to catch as it is rare but everyone can catch one or two Sancheoneo at Hwacheon with somewhat good luck and knack since 32 or 3 tons of fresh Sancheoneo are being put just under the fishing place every day for visitors for Sancheoneo festival. It is just the reason why a child or young girl without fishing experience is indulged in Sancheoneo ice fishing. Hwacheoncheon (stream), with 9-thousand ice holes for ice fishing on perfectly frozen ice, is clean water in depth of 2 meter or about, so you can find Sancheoneo that are swimming beneath the ice. Hearing shouts of joy saying, “I caught it!” here and there, many people put their heads near to the ice and shake hands up and down eagerly. Reserved fishing place is better than the spot fishing place if you want to catch more Sancheoneo. One of the knacks is not be stuck on one fishing spot, as swimming pattern of grouped Sancheoneo may be changed in accordance with time due to Sancheoneo property.

Follow this link http://www.narafestival.com/07_global/?f_code=02_01&lang=eng to get more information about this festival!

The Times 50 Best Inventions of 2010

The Paris Motor Show, one of the world’s four major auto shows, was held from October 2 to 17, 2010 at the Paris Expo. If the Geneva Motor Show in March introduces newly launched cars of the year, then the Paris Motor Show in the autumn showcases models that are to be launched the year after.

The theme of the Paris Motors Show 2010 was “eco-friendly.” Eco-friendly has now become such a preval!ent trend worldwide, especially with the EU’s reinforcement of regulations regarding carbon emissions control.

Eco-friendly vehicle invented by KAIST

The Online Electric Vehicle (dubbed OLEV) manufactured by the Korea Advanced Institute of Technology (KAIST) was included in the 50 Best Inventions of 2010 published by The Times, along with Apple’s iPad, Google’s Driverless Car, Sony’s Alpha A55 Camera and others. Also included was the English-Teaching Robot invented by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

In the OLEV are embedded electric power strips that provide electromagnetic power to the vehicle, wirelessly, charging an onboard battery and powering the bus’s electric motor.

The Times introduced the OLEV as an advanced green growth technology that could speed up the commercialization of electric cars and also as the world’s one and only online electric vehicle.

The system’s creators at the KAIST say, “The technology not only eliminates pollution, but also alleviates the problems usually associated with hybrid vehicles such as heavy batteries, lengthy charging and limited range.”

Korean technology opens up a new horizon

The OLEV has been on a test operation since last March at the Seoul Amusement Park. It was also presented during the G20 Seoul Summit in November in front of COEX, garnering outstanding reviews. Furthermore, the vehicle is scheduled to be featured next month in the TV program “Into the Future” of Discovery channel.

The OLEV received mixed reviews in the early stage of its development. Although it is an innovative technology that was meant to pursue both green growth and economic profit, some voiced the car’s low practicality as the cost of planting electric power strips under the pavements would be quite steep. Nonetheless, its inclusion in The Times list is without a doubt a distinct acknowledgement of its potential.

 The English-Teaching Robot

The other Korean item that made in the Times list is the English-Teaching Robot nick-named “Mero,” developed by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

The robots can move in any direction and can follow human facial expression!s. They are not only effective teachers, but the students also enjoy interacting with their new, fun, and cool school “staff.”

While the robots are used primarily in support roles for real human teachers, the Time Magazine called them a “job terminator,” saying they could potentially replace the native speakers currently employed in Korean schools.

Although there remain issues of economic feasibility as well as ethics, both inventions indicate excellent capacity of Korean universities as future leaders of world science and technology.

Foreign Journalists Visit Jeju Olle Road

Twenty Seoul-based foreign journalists on last November 19 and 20 visited the Jeju Olle Road as part of their Jeju Press Tour program sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Traditional Jeju Culture and Haenyeo (sea women)

The twenty foreign journalists, though still somewhat fatigued from the intense reporting they had for the G20 Seoul Summit, participated in the Jeju tour with great zeal and curiosity, especially for the much talked about Olle Road and Jeju haenyeo.

On the first day of their tour, Jeju greeted the journalists with an unusually clear, azure sky and a picture-perfect coast line.

At the center of attention in the tour was, of course, the haenyeo – Jeju’s sea women. A journalist for Tokyo Newspaper expressed his special interest for Jeju haenyeo, saying although Japan also has something like sea women he had never seen the Jeju haenyeo. As four, five haenyeo dove into the sea and began their “sea-picking” routine, the group of visitors all flocked to the water in excitement to take photos.

<The group of foreign journalists all flocked to the water in excitement to take photos.>

Haenyeo dive into 20m deep into the ocean and collect sea products, holding their breath for as long as two minutes. Holding breath is hard enough; but doing that in the middle of cold sea water, swimming AND collecting things? What an amazing feat! 

As one of the haenyeo, a 76-year-old sea veteran, pulled out of the water and showed a “domchi” which is a very rare catch, a big applause erupted among the journalists. The elderly haenyeo has been sea-picking since the age of 15.

But sadly, what used to amount to 15,000 Jeju haenyeo has now plummeted to a mere 5,600. And most of them are in their sixties and seventies. Those in their thirties are just a handful now, less than a dozen.

<As one of the haenyeo, a 76-year-old sea veteran,

pulled out of the water and showed a 'domchi'>

Perfect Harmony of the Sea and the Cliffs

The foreign journalists were once again amazed and awed by the beauty of Seongsan Ilchulbong, a peak that rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption over 100,000 years ago.

Seongsan Ilchulbong is located on the eastern end of Jeju Island and there is a huge crater at its top. With the 99 sharp rocks surrounding the crater, it looks like a gigantic crown. While the southeast and north sides are cliffs, the northwest side is a grassy hill, forming a truly distinctive ambience.

The journalists concluded their first day with a visit to Chyeonjiyeon Waterfall, and their second day was finally the much anticipated Olle Road.

The Olle walking path opened its first route in 2007 and is now furnished with 22 routes of 357km. In the local Jeju dialect, “Olle” was originally used to refer to the narrow path between the street and one’s doorstep. The hiking trail was founded by Myung-Sook Suh who was inspired upon hearing from a certain English tourist that he had healed his hurt soul walking the Jeju roads.

The route the journalists trod that day was Route 10 which is a course a little more taxing than a leisurely walk. You will be able to enjoy a scenic view of cliffs and the ocean. This particular route was declared as “Jeju Olle-Switzerland Friendship Road” last April upon establishing an MOU with the Swiss tourism administration. After the good amount of exercise followed, of course, a sumptuous meal composed of just-caught Jeju sea food and makgeolli.

At the end of the delightful tour, the journalists expressed their wish for having more nature-oriented tourist spots like the Jeju Olle Road. Although they may be somewhat less convenient than those equipped with first-rate technology and amenities, sometimes what we want these days are places that are preserved as they originally were – somewhere we can rest and heal our jaded souls.  

Places to vizit in Seoul

 What - COEX and International Trade Center

Why - exhibitions, the largest aquarium, shopping malls, modern architecture
How -삼성역 2호선 - Samsung Station of subway line 2

http://www.coex.co.kr

G20 Summit was held in this area

Trade Center square

2010 Gyeongi Food Festival

KINTEX. Again. As I've already written in other post it's a Korea International Exhibition Center situated in Goyang-city (30 km from Seoul).
The reason for going there again was Food Festival of cities from Gyeongi province. Good opportunity of getting some food for free~~ I couldn't stay at home and miss it)
The festival hall was divided into several sections - representatives from cities with their special products, food from other countries (even Russia), Korean traditional alcohol,  place for competition between cooking teams and exhibition of their "masterpieces". You can read about it more here  - foodfestival.co.kr

one of the team

Saturday was a day for competition of students from cooking schools. Prize for winners - 3 mil won!

Couldn't  pick up any food! Koreans were faster than me!

Some bakery:

I liked the name of this one - "harmony"

Now drinks go: 

 

XO! Korean Hennesy^^

Makgeolli - raw (unrefined) rice wine

looks like in a lab

just lotus tea

World Students in Korea - Opening ceremony for the 4th batch - 2010.12.3

Me and my classmate (and very good friend) Alexa from Hungary are enrolled now in a very interesting program called "World Student in Korea". It is an international bloggers program run by Presidential Council on Nation Branding since June 2009. This Council organizes different kinds of activities such as trips, tours and other events for us and we are supposed to write about it in our blogs to promote cultural exchange between Korea and our home countries. 

Yesterday I participated in Award Ceremony for the 3rd batch and launching of the 4th batch of WSK hold in National Museum of Korea. 

Opening remarks of Bae-Yong Lee, Chairwoman of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding

Members' blogs can be found here 
http://www.koreabrand.net/en/show/show_blog_map.do

Prize for the best blogger^^

After ceremony we made a tour to the Museum with English guide - update photos later^^

Korean Grafted Cactus Fascinates the World

Let us pay some attention to the newly developed Korean grafted cactus that comes under such sweet names as “seolhong,” “hoohong,” and “saekdong.”

The usual association with cactus is some thorny, misshapen, rough-looking plant standing under the scorching sun in the desert.

Well, time to shatter that association.

<Researchers at Rural Development Administration reviewing the quality of the grafted cactus>

The grafted cactus of Korea comes in numerous splash colors (red, pink, yellow, orange….) and sizes (a cute little cauliflower-like thing the size of your fist!).

The Rural Development Administration(RDA) exhibited its newly developed grated cactus at the horticulture fair held last November 11. The Korean grafted cactus has been garnering excellent reviews from the worldwide horticulture market with its annual volume of export exceeding USD 2 million to over 30 countries including the U.S. and the Netherlands, the leading floriculture nation. 

At the flower fair, a series of rigorous eval!uation was conducted on the presented cactuses including how vivid the color is, how firm it is, its capacity to produce “baby” plant, its commercial potential and so on.

After passing through a set of meticulous tests and screening, 4 qualified cactuses will be selected to be distributed to the farms. Then they will first undergo a test production to be followed by mass cultivation. The RDA aims at USD 3 million annual export by 2012.

Well, at this rate, not reaching for stars!