Korea’s 100-Day Celebration: The Baegil
By Diane Dooley || Introduction We carefully arrange the table decorated with rice cakes, fruit, and delicate flowers. We take a step back. Our three-month-old son, dressed in a hanbok, … Read More
Category: History & Tradition
Ponderings & Contemplations: Place Names with Intriguing Revelations
By Park Nahm-Sheik || Place names often come with meanings not always apparent on the surface. Take, for example, a village known as Bae-bau (배바우), located on the outskirts of … Read More
Half the Story: Women, Memory, and the Unfinished History of May 18
By Luis Andrés || May returns to Gwangju each year not as a simple commemoration but as a confrontation. It reminds us of the May 18 Democratic Uprising of 1980, … Read More
The Ancient India–Korea Connection: Two Civilizations Marry
By Siddhant K. || The legend of King Suro and Queen Suriratna is more than a royal romance; it is the earliest chapter in the long, largely untold story of … Read More
Yu Gwan-sun: The March 1st Movement Female Leader
By Luis Andrés || March 1 marks one of the most significant national holidays in South Korea. Known as Samil-jeol, it commemorates the March 1st Movement of 1919: a nationwide, … Read More
Refuge at Yeoseo Island: A Wartime Recollection
By Young B. Choi || Many years have passed. Yet the stories my parents have told me about their wartime flight during the Korean War remain vivid in my mind, … Read More
Life in Overdrive: Understanding the Korean Phrase “Ppalli-Ppalli!”
By Murdock O’ Mooney || If you’ve visited South Korea, you’ve probably observed the ppalli-ppalli (Hurry, hurry) culture in action. Buses take off suddenly, tossing passengers down the aisle; taxi … Read More
Cherishing Seollal: An Indian’s Perspective on Korea’s Lunar New Year
By Siddhant Kumar || “Seollal is the rare moment when time slows enough for Koreans to remember that the present stands on borrowed ground”— Kim Young-ha, Author Every year, when … Read More