Once again Christmas is upon us. As most of you are well aware, Christmas is a relatively new event in Korea. It is next to impossible to say when it first arrived - maybe with the early missionaries, or perhaps with Lucius Foote the first American Minister to Korea. We do, however, know when the first [...]
In Choson, one of the greatest fears for city dwellers was fire. Because Korean homes were built so close to one another and made of highly combustable material, fires quickly spread from one house to another. Within a short period of time, whole blocks, and in some cases large parts of the city, were destroyed.
One of the worst fires in [...]
In 1896, Russia was the fourth country to provide military advisors to Korea. Prior to the Russians, the Chinese and Japanese provided instructors in the early 1880s, and the Americans in 1888-1890 (longer if you count the efforts of General Dye and Colonel Nienstead). In 1898, a Russian newspaper declared proudly “the former teachers of [...]
The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on Japan to apologize to and compensate women it mobilized as “comfort women” during the Pacific War. No word yet, however, on when said body will call on European governments (i.e., the governments the parliament actually represents) to apologize for raping and pillaging over half the world’s [...]
Tonight! the last Lecture Meeting of this year, with Dr. Richard D. McBride (Fulbright Senior Researcher, PhD in East Asian Languages and Cultures from UCLA), on “The World of Buddhist Devotional Practice in Silla Korea”. He will describe several of the interesting dimensions of that topic — merit-making and divination practices, repentance rituals, dharani procedures, religious communities, and [...]
Many people in Korea - including Koreans - may not realize the importance of December 4th, but in 1884, at an inaugeration party held in the newly-built post office, there was an attempt to remove the Min faction from control of the government by a group of progressive young leaders led by Kim Ok-kyun . [...]
Albert Hakim was the banker involved in the Iran-Contra affair. Unlike most of the participants, he was found guilty (plea-bargained to a lesser offense) and fined. He soon disappeared from the public’s view and it was only after his death was it discovered that he was here in Korea operating and teaching at an English [...]
The Marmot has graciously allowed me to post a long article about crime in the streets of Seoul during the 1890s. It is part of a project I am doing that, unfortunately, will only be published in Korean so I thought this would be a good place to make it available to those expats [...]
According to the Donga Ilbo, Park Eun-bong, a historical writer, has come foward with claims that the Turtle Ship’s roof was not covered with sheet metal and that Koreans should change the perception that the Turtle Ship was the world’s first iron-clad ship.
Based on historical documents which state that “the ship was covered with a [...]
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is recommending the government begin negotiations with the United States to secure compensation for a January 1951 bombing in Sinseong-dong, Bomun-myeon (nice temple, BTW), Yecheon-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do that killed 51 villagers and left the village in ashes.
It’s the commission’s first decision concerning losses caused by the US military.
According to the commission, [...]
Choe Sang-Hun has filed a remarkable and grisly account of South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s attempt to document some of the atrocities of Korea’s last war. Apparently hundreds of dead have been uncovered, many with their hands bound by wire and shot in the head. To read Choe’s article, please go here.
Here is the second part of the Wreck of the German schooner, Chusan.
History has often depicted Korea’s shores as inhospitable to wrecked sailors, but, in fact, the Koreans often treated the sailors fairly well and generally returned them to China or Japan where they often met with misfortune. The recovery of the Chusan is an [...]
Considering that the 1871 conflict between Korea and the United States has become such a popular posting here, I thought I would add my own.
The word Choson is said to mean “land of the morning calm,” but in the eyes of many Westerners, especially in the 1800s, Choson Korea was viewed as an almost mystical land [...]
Granted, we’ve seen many of these photos before, but here’s a really nice collection of photos of colonial-era Seoul.
On the last of the 2007 Seoul Cultural Foundation walking tours of Seoul, we took a look at the area around Seoul Station.
I was really looking forward to take a look at the French Embassy, the Le Corbusier-esque masterpiece of Korean architect Kim Chung-up. Unfortunately, the embassy apparently wouldn’t open on a Sunday, so I’ll [...]
Well, I hear that the RAS tour to Seorak-san National Park this weekend was very successful and good fun for the 27 guests who enjoyed the crisp blue skies. I myself Sobaek-san for the Baekdu-daegan Buseok-sa Temple-Stay Event, and it was stunning weather, Korea’s best… Anyway, here are some upcoming Royal Asiatic Society - Korea [...]
The House of Sharing will conduct English-language visits to the House of Sharing, the safe house for former “comfort women,” on Oct 21 and Nov 18. You can get more information on the visits at the House of Sharing’s blog. The key point here, however, is that you need to sign up EARLY, since space [...]
The RAS tour I just led to Gyeongju was pleasantly successful and good fun; almost 20 guests saw all the best places while I told stories, and we had amazing good fortune with traffic for an October Sunday, arriving back in Seoul an hour ahead of schedule… The great autumn weather and leaves are [...]
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