The Korea File

Michael Breen has been working in Korea for more than 30 years as a journalist with The Guardian, The Korea Times and others. He's the author of 'The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want and Where Their Future Lies' and the CEO of Insight Communications Consultants.

In the first of a two-part interview he discusses what brought him to South Korea, the Origins of the Korean War and the work of Korean Historian Bruce Cummings.

On April 16th, 2014 the MV Sewol sunk off the coast of Mokpo in the south-west of the country killing 304 passengers.

The victims were primarily high school students bound for a field trip to Jeju-do.

Nine months later, South Korean society continues to struggle with the issues of public safety and government accountability.

Rebekah Jaung of sewoltruth.com spoke with me at the group's petition tent in Gwangwhamun Square last December about continuing calls for an impartial and comprehensive investigation into the tragedy, and the state of the Sewol Truth movement.

Ruth Minnikin is a Canadian singer-songwriter formerly of The Heavy Blinkers, Booming Airplanes and The Guthries and Reels. She now performs as Ruth Minnikin and her Bandwagon on Jeju Island and around Korea.

She received nominations for Best Female Album and Best Folk Album at the 2007 Nova Scotia Music Awards and has performed at the East Coast Music Awards, South by Southwest, and North by Northeast and has contributed to 45 recordings in collaboration with other artists.

She had this to say about her latest record 'The Minnikins' Photo Album', released before leaving Nova Scotia 2 years ago:

"Undeniably my heart was swollen as I wrote, but I daydream that my next bout of inspiration comes from love, salt water and the children I will teach on Jeju Island over the next year. Or, the waves on The East China Sea may swell into sounds of longing and heartache for Canada, the Atlantic Ocean and it’s folks-"

This interview and live performance were recorded the weekend of 01.10.15 at Blue Hill in Jeju City.

The Barberettes are Seoul's premiere doo wop trio and self-described retro time travellers.

Guitarist and vocalist Shinae An Wheeler spoke with The Korea File in late December, reflecting on the group's highly successful year and what 2015 holds for one of Seoul's hottest groups.

With music from the Kim Sisters, Kang Soong-won and The Barberettes.

This live acoustic performance from the Barberettes is from a special year-end set with Korean folk legend Kang Soong-won at Strange Fruit in Hongdae.

Ben Spencer came to Korea expecting modernity on steroids. What he got was the most isolated teaching post in the country--a sleepy fishing settlement on Chuja-do, a small group of islands in the Jeju Strait. He talks to The Korea File about adapting to loneliness and the idiosyncratic community he's found himself in.

In this episode, Jung discusses her oral history project recording the stories of the grandmothers of Jeju. From an essay on aamora.com:

"For the last couple of years, I've taken photos and written essays of sweet grannies in my island home, Jeju-do, South Korea. Here, we call grannies 'Halmang' in Jeju dialect.

Most of them live alone in peaceful rural villages, set against the mountains and the ocean. Their kids left their old towns and ran away to the city. Their husbands have long passed away. Sadly, many grannies lost their beloved ones to the tragic Jeju 4:3 massacre (1948) and the Korean War (1950-1953).

In a Halmang's universe, time passes slower and smoother. Without speaking too many words, their stories spread like endless tree-rings; the stories as someone's lovely daughter, as some guy's beautiful woman, as some kid's strong mother, and also as everyone's sweet grandma."

She can be heard every Wednesday on Jeju's CBS 93.3 FM, and her oral history essays can be found at jejusori.net.

This interview was recorded in late November at the Seomun Market Global Festival in Jeju City.

Special thanks to local musician Ruth Minnikin for her performance at the festival.

In this episode: Kentucky-native and Fulbright scholar Tanner Jones loves banjo, bourbon and Korean traditional sounds. In this conversation, Jones discusses his ongoing research and passion for Korean traditional music on Jeju-do. This episode's Shamanic ritual chanting is graciously provided by musicians 강수선, 김윤수, 이용옥 and 김연희 of Jeju's Chilmeoridang-kut Society.

Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year old was shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, MO in August of this year. Brown's death, and the events that followed in Ferguson have stirred intense debate in the United States touching on issues of race, justice and police violence. This week, members of Jeju's foreign community came together with candles and song for a Wednesday evening vigil to show solidarity with Brown's family and other victims of police brutality.

Live, from Strange Fruit: After more than 3 years of performing all over the country, Table People are gearing up to record a final album before moving on to other projects. I caught up with guitarist and songwriter Eric Davis to discuss the ephemerality of live shows vs. the permanence of recording, and how a band can choose to get by on charm or chops.

"Big Jay" Motz has lived on Jeju-do forever. He's also developed an extraordinary and unique relationship with the island's female divers, the Haenyo. In this interview, he discusses his participation in their diving tradition, the 해녀's role within the matriarchal family structure of Jeju and how he's seen the island change in the face of massive development over the course of 14 years.