Yoko Story: the Truth of So Far From the Bamboo Grove

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWTjGI3uXPg&feature=player_embedded

I substitute my explanation with this video.

I've no hard feelings on Japan, but I believe it's true that Japan was quite cruel to Korea under their colonization. But it seems that Japanese people have no sense of apology to Korea. Japan has always been evading their responsibility and denied their wrongdoings on Korea in the past.

I've once read a book about German education, and the biggest surprise was that German students start from learning Hitler and Holocaust, their most shameful history. They learn by their heart German had made a huge mistake and that sort of thing should never happen again.

Japanese are never educated that way. Instead, they're intentionally educated to glorify their history---though it's pretty much the same with Koreans. They don't know what they should feel sorry for. I think it's a huge mistake itself.

My Point Of View on China's Northeast Project

The territory of Goguryeo Kingdom in 5C.

Goguryeo's the surely a poweful, influncial country that took a huge terriotory ranging from todasy's China and Korea. It's also the country that Koreans are proud about the most, and firmly believe to be their ancestor country.

But the thing is China has launched its Northeast Project in 2000s, claiming that Goguryeo was one of Chinese' minority governments and supposed to included in Chinese history. Of course Koreans got furious at this.

These are some main arguments on the issue.

Chinese claims that Goguryeo was found in today's Chinese territory and always stayed at it. And where Goguryeo was at belonged to Han, the Chinese government, territory.
Korean objects that Goguryeo conflicted with Han and eventually expelled Han government from their land.

Chinese claims that Goguryeo paid a tribute to China, proving that the country was subordinate to China.
Korea objects that tribute was a token gesture and there are plenty of evidences Goguryeo had its pride as an independent nation. Korea also argues that other independent nations at that time also paid a tribute to China and it's nonsense to say only Goguryeo was a subordinate.

China claims that Su and Tang had a war with Goguryeo to unite China.
Korea claims that Goguryeo fought off Su and Tang to protect their independence.

The absulute truth is that history's always on the winner's side. The powerful country writes history to show off their glory and greatness. And they reads the history favorable to them, to add to their fame and powefulness. Today China's in a superior state than Korea in a global world, so it tries to make Goguryeo history to make their history look good---it's rather political than to explore the historical truth. I heard China also wish Goguryeo (and Balhae) to be their history, in case North and South Korea's united and claim Gando territory which used to be theirs.

Perhaps Goguryeo's neither China nor Korea. There's been some evidences on this, first Goguryeo lied at Liaodong peninsula, which initially was neither Chinese or Korean territory. Its language wasn't same as Chinese or Korean; it had its uniqueness instead. Historically Goguryeo had not been dominated by China, Korea, or Japan. Its culture didn't look much like China or Korea. (I sort of agree with this, Goguryeo relics queit look different than the countries that existed at the same time...) So Goguryeo's not China nor Korea, it's just "Liaodong Nation"!

Of course I want Goguryeo to be part Korea's history. But I guess I have to be neutral at history to see every posibility and examine every basis, to have my own point of view.

Gojoseon, Myth or Real?

It's actually "Joseon," not "Gojoseon." But we call it Gojoseon to tell it apart from Joseon dynasty which was found by Lee in 1392.

Gojoseon's known as a first kingdom of Korea which started on 2333 B.C., but the world doesn't recognize the country as a "real existed" one. Especially Japanese histrorians say Gojoseon's merely a myth. They have their reason of saying so, because it's the country that existed long time ago and there aren't many data left to tell us what the country was like.

But there are some clues to show that Gojoseon's not a myth to us. For example, the dolmen's been found many places around today's Chinese and North Korean territory. (c.f. 70% of world's dolmen's on Korea.) And it's been widely known that the relic's highly related to the territory of Gojoseon.

No one can say for sure an ancient country really existed or not---because they wasn't there. I also believe the birth myth of Gojoseon's somewhat unrealistic and they just lack of historical records on it. (And it's true that Korean government goes patriotic when explaining Gojoseon.) But there ARE some evidences to prove its existences and that is something. And the countries that's denying Gojoseon as part of Korean history has their political & diplomatic reasons on back---like China may not like the idea of Gojoseon, because on this historical basis Korean government might claim the land north to Korea.

What's interesting about this dolmens is that it has this mysterious holes on them. The studies have shown that the holes on the stones signify the constellation. If that account is ture, Gojoseon dolmens are the oldest astronomical chart, which is pretty awesome!

Korean Students' English Ability

Korea (along with Japan) invests a LOT in English education. Everyone spends a lot of time and money to go to "Hagwon" to learn, learn, learn English aside from the one they learn in school. But they're just poor in English. (Korea, yes along with Japan, score worst in global TOEFL score, especially in speaking section.)

Why this result? Because English education in Korea is sadly distorted. (I think this has started from Japan colonization period, bad for Korea) Focus so much on reading and grammar. A teacher reads the whole paragraph, they ask you to underline certain lines, and they tell you what grammar's used and what vocabulary's important, that kinds of stuff, and the students take note of them. You can see how BORING it would be to do this the whole year. So they don't get to speak or write anything.

Some people insists Korean students are good at reading at least, because that's all they do during their three years of high school. But I think, well, no. Okay it seems, but they get stuck with reading again when they're given the type of text they haven't "practiced." I say "practice" because they in fact practice for the college test. English isn't the foreign language you want to be fluent at----it's just a "means" to go to college for them.

At least they study a lot of vocabularies, so that might help them with their speaking later on!---Well, I doubt it. I think there's three types of vocabs, it's like the vocab pyramid and the ones on the bottom(the basic words, you know like boys, girls, tree). I know most of them and it's not hard to speak those words when I talk. And on the top are the "big" words, the ones you write in your essay or formal writing. And what's between them are the words that's "not" the basic words but the words people speak pretty much in their dialogues. (Maybe colloquial belongs to this category) I'm supposed to learn this vocabs from the bottom but Korean education forces us to take a English test to go to college so they make the students learn just the "big" words to read difficult texts which are on the test. It's funny that Korean students know the word "amalgamate" and don't know what "hang out" means. This is why Korean students are just afraid of speaking English! (And yes, they actually are really bad about speaking.)

Good news is, things are beginning to change. From this year, freshmen take a test something like TOEFL, which evaluates them with speaking and writing too! It's time that it should change---after all, it has been "wrong" for such a long time.

Sports Day

Korea is a collective country. Collectivism, or "groupism" can be seen everywhere in Korean culture, even in schools. In American school there's no homeroom teacher or something like that: they just move from class to class every block and they not exactly belong to a single class. But Korean students do belong to a single class throughout a year, where they stay with same classmates and homeroom teacher, and where they learn. It's teachers who move, not students. (I think it's not to make students comfortable, though. It's more like it makes it easier for teachers to keep their eyes on them.) Of course there are some "moving-around" classes, but many of the studeis are done in a single classroom.

The classes go like: class #1, #2, #2,.... And since there are 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade, (we don't say freshman or sophomores, for there's just three years in high.) There's a sort of a "bond" among graders with same number of the class. And that's how they can collaborate, on the most dynamic and enthusiasic day of their whole school year!

.....................The Sports Day체육대회 usually takes place on May. (Typically the midterm ends on the first week of May, and it's a good way to blow off their stresses!) Students do practice a lot for all the games and sports for the day----there's sure a "competition." Third graders often take the most responsibility on arranging things for the Sports Day, possibly hassling with juniors, but they're overcoming this "seniors decide everything" tradition and trying to participating equally for the event.
Along with practicing, they make an order for their team shirts. Good way to make them stuck together.

















Sometimes it's great chance to show off their characters. After all they couldn't in schooldays when they wear uniforms.












Here are some common games they do.

Rhythm Dance, the highlight of the day. In my school the first graders do. A whole class participate for harmonious work. Typical collectivisic work.

..........................................T-ball, an easier form of baseball. Girls definately aren't able to hit the ball that's thrown to them, so instead they put the ball in front of them to hit. Other rules are same as baseball.

Footbaseball, also an easier form of baseball. You kick the ball instead of hitting it. Students and teachers all enjoy it.

Tug-of-war, also the group sports. It also takes up the hugest point in a total score.

.Jump-rope, both for individual and group. As far as I know the group one gains more points.

Race for various distances. There's also a relay with a baton, most exciting of the all.

..................................Ssireum, korean wrestling. Girls hesitate to go for it, but the game itself is lots of fun.

Hula hoop, with all kinds of difficult requests. Like three steps forward with hoop, with your one leg, ect.

Guys who don't do the sports root for the team, it also counts a lot on their total score.

At the end of the game, the team that got the most points take the first place and the class is given an award.

Koreans' Way of Life that's Reflected on the Language (2)

4) Postpositions makes all difference

In English there are words like "also, too, but, at least, just" that add up the meaning. "I'll go there" and "I'll go there too" are obviosly different, aren't they? What's unique in Korea is that many of these extra meanings and nuances are described through postpositions. 은eun, 나na 도do, 까지kkaji are the common examples.
e.g. 너 친구 얼굴 예쁘다! (Your friend's so pretty!)
너 친구 얼굴은 예쁘지.(Your friend is pretty, but.... (she's negative in other aspects.) )
너 가니? (Are you going?)
너도 가니? (Are you going too?)

c.f. Koreans usually speak without postpositions. They also speak without subjects which are obvious.

4) I you love
Yes, that's how you say in Korean! It goes like subject-objective-verb. That's why you got to listen carefully till the end!

5) Three different words for one meaning
As I said, Korean language's largely affected by Chinese. There's been a lot of foreign words since 20th century, so there's often three words to express the same concept, or at least two, Korean and Chinese. Normally Korean words are used in colloquial, and the words originated in Chinese are usually big, academic words that's used in formal writings, but there's no set standard.
e.g. 얼굴-안면(顔面), 눈알-안구(眼球)
김-증기(蒸氣)-스팀(steam)

Koreans' Way of Life that's Reflected on the Language (1)

1) Honorific(formal language)
In English, or many of other languages, there's no honorific words that's as delicate and complicated as that of Korean. For example, you call the person you're talking to "you," whether he's your friend or your dad, or your grandfather. In Korean there's appropriate word to call friends, teachers, and older people and they're always very careful about using the honorific. Typically you say formally to someone you first meet, and to someone who's older. This is why Koreans want to know how old the person is for the first thing. The honorific shows that Koreans bureaucratic thoughts: they strinctly keep the order of ranks in any form of group. (you can find out more on honorific on http://koreaworldwider.blogspot.com/2010/04/koreans-have-lots-of-honorificformal.html )

2) Segments
How many colors are there in a rainbow? The answer's two in Liberia, three in Zimbabwe, and seven in Korean. Knowing how Korean people devide out certain concepts may help you understand their culture, thoughts, and life.

e.g.1 there're the words to say three to four days before or after today in Korean.
그그저께(two days before yesterday)-그저께(a day before yesterday)-어제(yesterday)-오늘(today)-내일(tomorrow)-모레(a day after tomorrow)-글피(two days after tomorrow)-그글피(three days after tomorrow)
What's interesting's that there's no native word for "tomorrow."(내일來日 concists of chinese characters.) Some people argue that this means Korean people naturally lack the will to create out the future. Maybe, but how'd they explain there're ARE native words to say two or three days after today?

e.g.2 하늘(the sky)이 푸르다. 나뭇잎(the leaves)이 푸르다.
American people may never understand how could they think "sky" and the "leaves" have the same color, but that's how Koreans say. the adjective "푸르다" is used to say both blue and green. But I don't think that means Koreans are "dull" about colors. In Korean there're actually a tons of different words to express different colors. I think Korean ancestors didn't feel they need to distinguish between the sky and the leaves---They're all nature after all!

3) "Light" and "strong" words for sounds and actions
There're really a lot of mimetic words, and onomatopoeia. (There're many kinds that even natives don't know.) What's interesting's the "degree" of that sounds and actions can be felt different, which depends on which vowels you use.

There're two kinds of vowels: positive and negative.
positive: ㅏ(ah), ㅗ(oh)
negative: ㅓ(uh), ㅜ(ooh)
Postives sound light and bright, and negatives sound serious, heavy and dark.
e.g. 졸졸<줄줄, 똥똥하다<뚱뚱하다, 살랑살랑<설렁설렁, 팔락팔락<펄럭펄럭

Also you can say "stronger" consonents to emphasize.
e.g. 감감하다<깜깜하다<캄캄하다, 단단하다<딴딴하다<탄탄하다

I invite you to "our" home.

In many cases, Korean people say "we, our, us" instead of "I, my, me."
It may sound weird (and even dangerous) to say so in English but it's very common and widely used in Korean. It's commonly known that Korea's communalism("We" culture) is reflected on its language, or vise versa.

Here are some examples for this: our school, our home, our mom/dad, our brother/sister, our wife/husband, ect.

Website for Learning Korean

http://ecamp.kdu.edu/

click on "회원가입"to sign in!
you can choose on various levels with your korean study.

Formal and Informal Expressions in Korean

Koreans have lots of honorific(formal) expressions. It's one of the traditions to speak formally to someone older than you. It's unique in Korean and pretty complicated so you might find it hard to comprehend.

You make formal sentences in basically three ways.

1. with subject
In your writing, you use formal expressions for the subject when needed. e.g. When you talk about your grandfather, your teacher, principal, ect. You can add two special words- 시 and 께서- to do this.
e.g. 어머니가 집에 온다 ->어머니께서 집에 오신다.(오+시+ㄴ+다)

There's some special words to make your sentence formal too. Of course you add 께서 next to the subject.

e.g. 할머니가 방에 있다 -> 할머니께서 방에 계신다.
아버지가 죽었다 -> 아버지께서 돌아가셨다.

2. with object
You use 께 (to) instead of 한테. There's also some special expressions needed.

e.g. 책을 선생님한테 주다 -> 책을 선생님께 드리다.

3. according to listener
The word that ends the sentence(in korean it's called 어미, which means the tail of the word) is up to who you talk to. You speak in different manners when you talk to your frineds and the principal, right? It's like that.

Below shows how the verb 하다(to do) changes.
This explains how 안녕하세요 and 안녕 are different.

e.g. 안녕. (to your friend) 안녕하세요(to older people)
같이 갈래?(to your friend) 같이 가실래요?(to older people)

Introduction to Korean Language

Korean ancestors didn't have their language, as a matter of fact. They did speak Korean, though it was quite different from modern one, but they didn't have the letters to express their thoughts. They adopted Chinese characters(Hanja) as their letter, and it was surely uncomfortable but this two-language system---Korean as oral, and Chinese as written---lasted for thousands of years. But one thing's sure, Korean language goes back a long way. For example in Korean "thread" is called "sil 실," and it's known that English word "silk" is somewhat affected by it.

Korean letter, Hanguel 한글, was invented in 1446 by King Sejong. (It was named Hunminjeong'eum훈민정음 at that time, which means "sincere letters educating the people") Since then it has been revised and renovated till now.

Here are some major characteristics of Korean.

• Korean's rich in vocabularies. According to Standard Korean Encyclopedia published in 1999, there're 508,771 letters in total. What's unique in Korean is that Korean's very rich in words for colors, onomatopoeias(words for sounds), and mimetic words(words for behaviors). For example I can name at least seven words for red, blue, and yellow. And there's surely many words for sounds and behaviors, and it's so cute to read them in Manhwa(Korean comics)
• Korean language flows. It's pretty much like English, there's lots of flows and assimilations that helps you speak smoothly.
• I you love. That's how you say "I love you" in Korean. Not like English, you say objective first than the verb. That's why some people say you should listen to what they say till the end.
• Korean is an agglutinative language(glue language). In English there's a basic form of verbs, like see, write, or go. And to say something that happened in the past, it goes saw, wrote, and went. In Korean there's a major body of the verbs, like bo보, sseu쓰, ga가, and to make the past tense you add atda았다, which goes boatda보았다, ssetda썼다, gatda갔다. You basically "glue" the words you need to get the form of verb you want. Japanese works the same way.
• Korean's a easy language to learn. (At least that's what English Institute announced. It said English's hard language to learn, though. I don't know why!)

Good luck with your studies!

Korean History in a Nutshell

Korea, commonly known as South Korea is the herb of Asia. It's close to China and Russia, and Japan.Korea used to have a huge territory, farther on north dominating territories which now China and Russia owns, but due to a series of wars it'd lost many of it's valuable territories.Korea has long history, and it tried to keep favorable relationships with nearby countries most of the times.Korea's culture is somewhat influenced by China's, and Korea also influenced many of Japanese cultures. When Japan militarized on 20th century, Korea fell on pray and had been colonized by Japan for 35 years. After it's freed, however, it suffered Korean war and devided into North and South. It's amazingly grown up since 1970 and now it has become one of the most successful country in Asia.

Housewarming Party

Korean people throw a party for friends and neighbors when they're moved. It's called Jipdeuli집들이. The host prepares several kinds of food at their new house and invites people over. When you're invited you're supposed to take Jipdeuli presents with you. What do you think you'll bring?

You might think of these options: plants, ornaments, wines, ect.

In America people normally give potted plants or decorations as housewarming gifts.
Of course these are possibilities, but some of Koreans give candles and matchboxes. Sounds weird? Well they signify flourish at a new home, like a growign flame or fire.

It's also popular to give tissues, toilet paper, or detergent, wishing new life would smoothly unravel like toilet paper unrolls or detergent gets dissolved. It's affordable, a whole pack of Kleenex(a famous detergent brand) priced 10,000 won!($10)

Different last names

In Korea women's last names stay the same after they're married, unlike western cultures.
Children take their father's last name, but that doesn't mean their mother have the same surnames as them. These days some feminists want thier children take their last names, and some people insist on using both father's and mother's last names, like Kim-Park.

This is my family tree.

c.f. Korean Last names
The most common last name is Kim 김. 21. 6% of Korean people are Kims, according to the survay in 2000. Then comes Lee, Park, Choi, Jeong, Kang, Cho, Yun, Jang, Yim.
Some of the "unique" names are Kang Jeon강전, Kae개, Kyo교, Kun군, NAn난, Nae, Noi뇌, Nu누, Dan단, Dam, Don돈, Mangjeol망절, Myo묘, Bi비, Sam삼, Sobong소봉, Su수, Sun순, Sib십, Eogeum어금, Yeong영, un운, Jang'gok장곡, Jeo저, Jun준, Cho초, Chun춘, Hu.

My last name, Jeon(전), isn't really common one I heard.
But I like it cause my friends in America could say it easily.

Same for my first name, Suli. This is a REALLY unique name in here.

(it almost sounds like American name they say. I've saw person in my name

just once in my life so far.)

It is traditional to name children with chinese characters(hanja), for example my name composes of two different chinese letters, Sul(to speak and write) and I(it's actually conjuncture, really don't have any meaning). Of course the last names are all chinese characters. One more thing, people with same last names might come from different origin.

Sul (述)+ I(而) -> Suli

Jeon (全,complete)

The Cross by Yun Dong Ju

십자가
윤동주

쫓아오던 햇빛인데
지금 교회당(敎會堂) 꼭대기
십자가에 걸리었습니다.

첨탑(尖塔)이 저렇게도 높은데
어떻게 올라갈 수 있을까요.

종소리도 들려 오지 않는데
휘파람이나 불며 서성거리다가

괴로웠던 사나이
행복한 예수 그리스도에게
처럼
십자가가 허락된다면

모가지를 드리우고
꽃처럼 붉은 피를
어두워 가는 하늘 밑에
조용히 흘리겠습니다.

The Cross
Yoon Dong-ju

The sunbeams that followed me
Are now falling on the cross

At the steeple of a church.

How can one climb up there,

To the steeple so high?

Now the bell is not ringing,
I shall loiter awhile, whistling.

If the cross is to be granted me,

As it was once to Christ,

One who suffered gladly,

I shall quietly endure,

Drooping my head,

While my blood oozes like flowers

Beneath the darkening sky.

Une Croix
Yun-Dong-ju

Le soleil qui me suit,

Est accroche maintenant

A la croix du faite d'une eglise.

Comment peut-il monter

Sur une fleche si haute?

On n'entend meme pas les sons d'une cloche,

Mais allant et venant en sifflant,

Un homme qui etait console,

Comme Jesus heureux,

Si on lui permet la croix.

Offre sa vie,

Et fera, sans bruit, couler du sang

Qui s'epanouit comme les fleurs,

Sous le ciel ou tout devient sombre

About the Poet:

01 Life Yun Dong-ju was the eldest son among the 4 children of his father Yun Yeong-seok and his mother Kim Yong. As a child he was called "Haehwan" (해환, 海煥). On December 27, 1941, he graduated from Yeonhui Technical School, which later became Yonsei University.
In 1942, he went to Japan and entered the English literature department of Rikkyo University in Tokyo, before moving to Doshisha University in Kyoto six months later. On July 14, 1943, he was arrested as a thought criminal by the Japanese police and detained at the Kamogawa Police Station in Kyoto. The following year, the Kyoto regional court sentenced him to two years of prison on the charge of having participated in the independence movement. He was imprisoned in Fukuoka, where he died in February 1945.
The following month, he was buried in Longjing in Jiandao, his birth place[1].

02 After His Death He had been writing poetry from time to time, and chose 19 poems to publish in a collection he intended to call "Heaven, Wind, Stars, and Poetry" (하늘과 바람과 별과 시), but he was unable to get it published. In January 1948, 31 of his poems were published by Jeongeumsa, together with an introduction by Chong Ji-yong; this work was also titled Heaven, Wind, Stars, and Poetry.
In November 1968, Yonsei University and others established an endowment for the Yun Tong-ju Poetry Prize.

Self Portrait by Seo Jeong Ju

애비는 종이었다. 밤이 깊어도 오지 않았다.
파뿌리같이 늙은 할머니와 대추꽃이 한 주 서 있을 뿐이었다.
어매는 달을 두고 풋살구가 꼭 하나만 먹고 싶다 하였으나……
흙으로 바람벽 한 호롱불 밑에
손톱이 까만 에미의 아들
갑오년(甲午年)이라든가 바다에 나가서는 돌아오지 않는다 하는
외할아버지의 숱 많은 머리털과
그 커다란 눈이 나는 닮았다 한다.

스물세 해 동안 나를 키운 건 팔할(八割)이 바람이다.
세상은 가도가도 부끄럽기만 하드라.
어떤 이는 내 눈에서 죄인(罪人)을 읽고 가고
어떤 이는 내 입에서 천치(天痴)를 읽고 가나
나는 아무것도 뉘우치진 않을란다.

찬란히 티워 오는 어느 아침에도
이마 위에 얹힌 시(詩)의 이슬에는
몇 방울의 피가 언제나 섞여 있어
별이거나 그늘이거나 혓바닥 늘어뜨린
병든 수캐마냥 헐떡거리며 나는 왔다.

Father was a servant; he never came home till late at night.

My aged leek-root grandmother and the flowering date tree were all that stood for permanence here.
For months mother would go on about how she'd love a green apricot, just one ... lamplight on earthen walls,
this black-nailed mother's son beneath.
Grandfather went to sea, they say,

in the year of the Kabo Reform; he never returned.

I'm supposed to have his thick hair and big eyes.

For the last twenty-three years I've been raised,

eight tenths of me at any rate, by the wind.

The more I see, the more shameful the world appears.

Some read sinner in my eyes.
Some read imbecile on my lips.

But I rue nothing.

Blood drops mingled on my forehead with the dew of poetry

when morning cracked each brilliant new day.

Through light and shade I've come this far,

panting like a tongue-lolling sick dog.


Mon pere etait un serf. Il ne rentrait jamais, meme tard la nuit.

N'etaient plantes la que la grand-mere, blanche comme les racines

d'un poireau, et le jujubier en fleurs.

Ma mere, depuis un mois, revaitd'un miserable abricot vert...
Pres de la lampe a huile placee dansune niche du mur en terre, il y avait le fils de la mere avec desongles noirs.

On dit que le grand-pere paternel avait pris la mer, unjour, il y a bien longtemps, et n'etait jamais revenu, et que par cesgrands yeux noirs et ces cheveux epais, je lui ressemble.

Pendant vingt-trois ans, c'est le vent qui m'a eleve.

Plus j'avance dans la vie, plus je rencontre la honte.

Les uns lisent dans mes yeux un pecheur.

Les autres lisent sur mes levres un idiot.

Mais je ne me repentirai de rien.

Tous ces matins, quand l'aurore est splendide,

A la rosee de la poesie perlant a mon front

Se melent des gouttes de sang.

Et me voila marchant dans le soleil et l'ombre,

Langue pendante, haletant comme un chien malade.

About the poet:

Seo Jeong-ju(May 18, 1915 – December 24, 2000) was a Korean poet and university professor who wrote under the pen name Midang (lit. "not yet fully grown"). He is widely considered the best poet in twentieth-century Korean literature. He was nominated five times for Nobel Prize in literature.[ He published 15 books of poetry consisting of around 1,000 poems.
After his death, South Korean Government officially presented Gold order //
Biography
Seo Jeong-ju was born in Gochang County, Jeollabuk-do,[2] and received his primary education in the village Seodang until 1924. He had heard many traditional stories and stories of ancient times from his grandmother as he grew up. The stories from his grandmother, his primary education and his experiences of youth influenced his literatrary style. He went to Jung-Ang Buddhism College, but he dropped out of school in 1936 involved in demonstration.[3] In 1936, his poem, Byuk (Wall), was published in the Dong-Ah Ilbo newspaper.
He worked as a professor of literature at Dongguk University and other universities from 1959 to 1979. After his wife's death in October 2000, he barely ate or drank anything besides beer. He died on December 24, 2000.
Literary works
Seo Jeong-ju's early works were modernistic and also surrealistic, influenced mostly by foreign literature. His first collection of poems, Haw-Sa Jip (Flower snake), was published in 1941. The book explores humanity's feelings of guilt and folklore. His poem Jahwasang (Portrait) describes a young poet whose desire to learn was interrupted by the Japanese invasion in 1910. However, Midang wrote Japanophilic literature for the newspaper Mail Ilbo from 1942 to 1944 under the Japanese penname Datsusi Sijuo.
His influence on Korean poetry stems in part from the anthology The Early Lyrics 1941-1960. His later poetic style was Oriental and nationalistic, discussing self-reflection and redemption in Buddhism. His works have been translated into a number of languages, including English, French, Spanish, and German. According to translator Brother Anthony, he is the founding father of modern Korean poetry.[4]
In 1997, his poems were finalized the course of translation in Spain and France thanks to donation of Daesan Culture Foundation.[5]
Works translated into English
Early Lyrics 1941-1960, The Poems by SO Chong-Ju (Midang) (bilingual) Translated and Introduced by Brother Anthony of Taizé. 1998. (all the translations in this book are viewable at http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/Sojngju.htm.)
Poems of a Wanderer by Midang So Chong-Ju, Chongju So, Kevin O'Rourke (Translator), Chong-Ju So. 1995.
The Early Lyrics of So Chong Ju by Midang, Anthony of Taize (Translator). 1993.

http://www.klti.or.kr/TextApp?mode=7004
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seo_Jeong-ju

Commencement

Introduction to VANK

VANK stands for - ‘Voluntary Agency Network of Korea’, a civilian international exchange association in Korea. We work for the promotion of Korea's image all over the world by Internet. VANK was established in 1999 by volunteers, and now has over 12,000 members. Using email or internet we serve as cyber travel guides to overseas Koreans and foreigners so that they can understand Korean culture and language better, and at the same time we hope we build international friendships. VANK is a great chance for those who are interested in Korean language, arts, cultural education, history, geography, social studies, sciences to learn about our country, and we also welcome with open arms anyone just wanting to make Korean friends!


My Second Blog
I actually have my blog in NAVER(http://blog.naver.com/dependy), but I already have lots of other posts in my previous blog which didn't really match with newly posted ones, so I've decided to create my blog dedicated to Korean information. I've been working on VANK's cyber diplomat, as well as an ambasaddor since last year. These are the three main things I want to post:

• Informations about Korean culture
• Translated vergions of Korean literature in different languages
• Materials that might help you study Korean (i.e. grammar, structures..)

If I've got a chance I'll try more diverse topics, like food, history, ect. I'll be pretty busy with my studies this year---as a senior in competitive Korea---but I'll try to post as much as possible and let you know many interesting aspects of my country.

Happy new year! (Today, it's the New Year's Day in Asia!)