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MY KOREA Singin’ in the ROOM ---------- Noraebang Nights Just how can Koreans derive such joy from gathering in a dimly lit room, blasting a synth-cheese version of their favorite pop song, and then singing and dancing with face-twisting abandon? by Niels Footman photograph by Kim Nam-heon illustrations by Jo Seung-yeon 32 KOREA FEBRUARY 2010
Ask a Korean the biggest cultural oddities facing a Westerner in his country, and you will likely hear a commentary on terrifyingly spicy food, unfailing reverence for the elderly or the perils of trying to master chopsticks. Ask a Westerner, however, and the list transforms. What the heck is with these devil-may-care drivers? They will demand. Why do older people barge through me as if I didn’t exist? And how can Koreans gather in a small room, and sing and dance with facetwisting abandon? True enough, karaoke, or noraebang (literally “song room”) as it is known here, is one of those oddities, but it is far from unique to Korea. My earliest brush with it actually took place in Hong Kong, where I lived and worked for three years in the mid-’90s. My first time, as such things tend to be, was unforgettable. Though a lifelong lover of rock and pop music, and a passionate bathroom and mirror-front singer, I had never for a second countenanced going out with friends to a karaoke, much KOREA FEBRUARY 2010 33
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Page 3 and 4: PRELUDE The Beauty of Korea Located
Page 5 and 6: TRAVEL 26 Inje, which lies on the e
Page 7 and 8: When a massive tsunami approached t
Page 9 and 10: Joon-ho’s The Host (2006) was als
Page 11 and 12: efore after before after Still and
Page 13 and 14: other such movies, with companies a
Page 15 and 16: Q How did you end up working overse
Page 17 and 18: Zip Cinema Stills from the recently
Page 19 and 20: DEEP INTO THE WORLD OF EVERYDAY LIF
Page 21 and 22: into obscurity again, the point is
Page 23 and 24: THE ART OF SHARING A cafe can serve
Page 25 and 26: As soon as “Art for Life” opene
Page 27 and 28: Art for Life COOKING CULTURE One of
Page 29 and 30: The Road to Baekdamsa temple
Page 32 and 33: 18 KOREA FEBRUARY 2010
Page 36 and 37: less singing at one. After much pro
Page 38 and 39: SUMMIT DIPLOMACY KOREA TO BUILD NUC
Page 40 and 41: NEW REACTOR TECHNOLOGY The APR 1400
Page 42 and 43: GLOBAL KOREA INDIA’S MAMMOTH MARK
Page 44 and 45: KOREA-INDIA BILATERAL TRADE (Unit:
Page 46 and 47: NOW IN KOREA
Page 48 and 49: AP Photo / The Canadian Press, Darr
Page 50: while holding hands with his sons C

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