Seoul Lights Up for the Holiday Season - Korea.net

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EVENTS Seoul Lights Up for the Holiday Season BY PARK MIN-YOUNG STAFF WRITER Central Seoul is glowing for the holiday season. Seoul City and the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture are holding the winter version of the ‘Hi Seoul Festival 2008’ from Dec. 19 to Jan. 18. Under the theme “Pure Seoul, Pure White Winter,” the festival is all about white light. The goal is to present a warm ambience to citizens who are suffering from the recent economic depression and to show a new aspect of Seoul’s nighttime view. “This winter festival pursues ‘empty Seoul,’” says Sohn Jang-bok, illumination director of the festival. “Seoul is always packed with tall buildings, flashing lights and noise. Through pure white color, we will purify this messy city and help citizens experience a new light.” Highlights include music, lights and digital artworks, which are lined up on the main street from Cheonggye Plaza to city hall. Various illumination patterns and a countdown video for New Year’s are displayed on a big white wall which is set up in Cheonggye Plaza. Cheonggye Stream is decorated with digital effects. There is also a skating rink in front of city hall with magnificent lights and a giant Christmas tree. Some of the main buildings around there, such as the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, are lit with different colors of light. Many events are being prepared in central Seoul during this period. A “Hope Tree” will be decorated with small light bulbs — each holding notes with citizens’ wishes written on them. For details, visit http://www3. hiseoulfest.org ■ Yonhap Korean exhibition room at the 2008 Dubai Media & Marketing Show in Dubai Korean Media Take Aim at the Middle East Korean Music and Dance Set to Impress Japan The Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo Korea’s major broadcasting companies promoted Korean soap operas and documentary films at the 2008 Dubai Media & Marketing Show, which was held Nov. 3 to 5 at the Dubai International Convention Center, Dubai. MBC, SBS, SBS Production and KBS Media exhibited 25 soap operas and documentary films such as “East of Eden” (MBC) and “The Painter of the Wind” (SBS). Built in a form of a giant TV, the Korean exhibition room caught many eyes. Englishdubbed Korean programs were showcased on the monitors. The exhibition team handed out program brochures to the visitors. The officials of the show put banners of Korean soap operas — “Beethoven Virus” (MBC) and “Ilji-mae” (SBS) — at the entrance of the center, proving the popularity of Korean programs in the Middle East. “Dae Jang Geum” (MBC) aired in Iran last year, taking a 90 percent share in program ratings. “Sorry, I Love You” (KBS), which recently aired on Dubai TV, finished amid cheers of local fans. “There are Korean soap operas in the Middle East, but no Japanese or Chinese ones,” said an official of KBS at the event. “Korean soap operas are not just a product of cultural content but a means to raise the brand value of Korea,” Lee Kyeong-ja, a member of the Broadcasting and Communications Committee, attended the show and promised to support the export of Korean programs. ■ 54 KOREA DECEMBER 2008 Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture The Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo is set to hold the Korean Traditional Song · Dance · Music Festival on Dec. 11 at the Yotzuya district center. “The Korean Cultural Center has been doing many cultural exchanges with Japan so far,” said an official at the center. “This festival will be a chance to commemorate what we have achieved in 2008 and to once again introduce the charms of Korean traditional culture to Japan.” The festival also celebrates the construction of its new building in Shinjuku. Many human cultural assets of Korea, such as Jeong Cheol-ho, who does “Pansori,” or Korean traditional narrative song, and Lee Okcheon, who specializes in “Heung-bo-ga,” which is also Pansori, will perform. A total of nine songs and exorcism dances will be showcased. It will be a rare chance to see various Korean traditional instruments, such as “Ajaeng,” a seven-stringed Korean instrument, and “Gayageum,” a 12-stringed Korean harp. For more information, visit http://www.koreanculture.jp ■ DECEMBER 2008 KOREA 55
BOOKS Goguryeo: In Search of Its Culture and History Author: Jeon Ho-tae Publisher: Hollym Page: 288 Price: 35,000 won Long Long Time Ago Publisher: Hollym Page: 128 Price: 15,000 won The author explores one of the most powerful and prosperous times in Korean history by examining mural paintings found on the walls of ancient tombs. Located in North Korean cities of Pyongyang and Nampo, the Complex of Goguryeo Tombs consists of 30 individual tombs from Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms running from 57 B.C. to A.D. 668. In 2004, it was designated as the first UNESCO World Heritage site in the country. The tombs are assumed to have been used as a burial site for kings, queens and other members of the royal family and contain beautifully colored mural paintings showing daily life and mythologies of the time. The author, a professor of history and culture at the University of Ulsan and curator at the National Museum of Korea, specializes in ancient cultural history and has published numerous articles on Goguryeo tomb murals and ancient Chinese art. ■ A total of 20 most loved Korean folk tales have been collected in this illustrated book. Readers can meet a variety of beloved characters that have made Korean children happy and excited for generations: a rabbit who outwits a tiger; a brother and a sister who became the Sun and the Moon respectively; a tortoise and a hare who are totally different from the ones in Aesop’s fable. Illustrator Kim Dong-sung, who majored in Oriental painting at Hongik University, has created beautiful illustrations by using a dreamy ink painting, adding to the fun. ■ Big Bang in Capital Market Edited by The Korea Herald Publisher: Jimoondang Page: Price: 15,000 won The recent downfall of top U.S. investment banks calls into question the validity of the Korean Government’s scheme to foster investment banks as a catalyst for capital market growth. Isn’t the plan based on a wrong model? Hasn’t the era of investment banks come to an end with the ongoing turmoil on Wall Street? To these questions, this book gives unambiguous answers. The researchers of the Korea Securities Research Institute, who jointly authored the book, argue that it is not investment banking per se that is challenged. What has been found defective is the Wall Street model of investment banking. The authors provide a penetrating analysis of the problems of what they call Wall Street’s “free lunch model” and offer astute policy recommendations for financial regulators. They also stress that financial companies should foster a sound risk management culture. What made the difference between Goldman Sachs survival and Merrill Lynch’s failure, they explain, was the attitude toward risk management. For further information, visit www.koreaherald.com. ■ 56 KOREA DECEMBER 2008 DECEMBER 2008 KOREA 57
Page 3 and 4: Opening a communicative space betwe
Page 5 and 6: COVER The Experience of Foreign Stu
Page 7 and 8: COVER The Korea Herald U.S. Enginee
Page 9 and 10: DIPLOMACY Yonhap “Sets of bilater
Page 11 and 12: GLOBAL KOREA Yonhap Ramsar Changwon
Page 13 and 14: GLOBAL KOREA World Ocean Forum 2008
Page 15 and 16: CULTURE Emography on a closet Calli
Page 17 and 18: CULTURE Royal Protocols of the Jose
Page 19 and 20: CULTURE Hanbok Artist Makes Style S
Page 21 and 22: PEOPLE Moon Young Doo Credia Japane
Page 23 and 24: ART A scene from “A Ballerina Who
Page 25 and 26: TRAVEL Inje Ice Fish Festival Night
Page 27: EVENTS Daegu Photo Biennale 2008 1
Page 31 and 32: SPECIAL SERIES they are perceived a
Page 33 and 34: SPECIAL SERIES 880,000 new jobs wil

Seoul Lights Up for the Holiday Season - Korea.net

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