From the Editor – September 2026

I sometimes sit in the twilight of a cloudless evening gazing upward. And I sometimes notice what looks like a bright star or planet, but it is moving much too fast. No, it isn’t a UFO, and it isn’t a hallucination – it’s the international space station, orbiting about 400 kilometers overhead and at more than 27,000 kilometers per hour, with a team of earthlings on board.

Recently, I was informed that Dr. Soyeon Yi was in Gwangju (you may know her better as Astronaut Soyeon Yi), so the Gwangju News set up a date to meet with this earthling, 18 years after her first-Korean-in-space adventure. Read about what she is doing now.

September 5 marks the opening of the 16th edition of the Gwangju Biennale. This year is the first for Malta to participate, and they are going all out with their own Malta Pavilion. Gwangju News visited their Horanggasy venue and spoke with their collaborating team of artists. Read all about it.

This year, late September also marks the Chuseok holidays (24–26). During my time here, I have noticed conspicuous changes in how the holiday is observed. The Gwangju News has therefore asked its publisher to reflect on how the traditional harvest moon celebrations have faded during his 70-plus-plus years of observations.

If you are not very familiar with transitional justice or spatial justice and their relation to Gwangju (the former deals with the redressing of legacies of massive human rights abuses, and the latter connects urban planning and memory), then you will be interested in our Human Rights essay on the topic and its relation to May 18. Our second Human Rights article examines the challenges foreigners may face regarding social equity across various aspects of their lives in Korea.

We also bring you a discussion on India–Korea relations with respect to President Lee’s recent journey to India, and then we take you on a journey south to Yeosu to see the sights of this seaside city.

On environment-related topics, read our interview with an anti-nuclear-power activist, and learn how we are wearing down our beloved mountains with our feet. Learn also in this issue how to be a better language learner. Learn about the GIC’s international youth programs and the GIRC’s volunteer help corps.

Check out our movie, restaurant, and café reviews, as well as our sports, music, and upcoming events sections, and much more. Enjoy your September with the Gwangju News!

---

---

Table of Contents