The Korea File

The Jeju Peace Forum was founded in 2001 with the goal of contributing to world peace and international cooperation in the East Asian sphere through multilateral dialogue and community building. 

The 2003 edition of the conference included President Roh Muu-hyun's official apology to Jeju Island for the 4.3 massacre and the 2007 Jeju Declaration envisioned a regional peacekeeping diplomatic role for South Korea based on the Helsinki Process. 

In 2008, with the election of the hardline right-wing Lee Myung-bak government, the foreign affairs ministry changed the name of the conference to The Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity and shifted focus away from co-operative agreements, bringing in big name speakers on themes unrelated to the peace process.  

A glance at the list of events, workshops and speakers from the 10th Forum held last May, full of washed-up politicians and discredited neoliberal economic themes, suggests a conference in search of an identity.  

Darren Southcott, editor-in-chief of The Jeju Weekly magazine, joins The Korea File to discuss whether or not the Forum has stayed true to it’s roots as a regional peace initiative.

With more than 10 million visitors every year, how does Jeju balance UNESCO-certified biosphere reserves and multiple World Natural Heritage Sites with the environmental footprint of a rapidly expanding tourism economy? 

Jeju Weekly editor Darren Southcott weighs in on the growing conflict between conservation and exploitation on Jeju Island.

The Jeju Weekly has been publishing since 2009 and is available at various locations around the island.

For all the news that matters about Jeju, check out Darren's byline on the masthead athttp://www.jejuweekly.com/

Music on this episode: 

From 1973, ???(Lee Jung Sun) with '????'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzJo8QmaTGE

From humble beginnings in a Tapdong parking lot 12 years ago, the Stepping Stone indie rock festival celebrated another success in 2015 in spite of heavy rain, intense winds and a washed-out beach due to Typhoon Chan-hom. 

The Korea File was at the festival's Plan B, Daemyung Resort's Diamond Ballroom on Hamdeok Beach, to speak with festival organizer Kim Myoung-su and some of the bands, including Romantiqua's guitar-heavy post-rock, the Mogwai-esque soundscape harmonics of Apollo 18 and the dynamic folk punk of Jeju's own Zen Alone. 

For more on the festival check out Ann Bush's eyewitness account at

http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=4846

South Korea is one of very few developed nations to have maintained a Shamanic heritage over millennia, and although Shamanism’s influence has diminished on the Korean mainland in the face of modernization, state-sponsored oppression and a generational shift in recent decades, it is still widely practiced on Jeju by a shrinking, but significant, number of elderly islanders .

Filmaker, writer and photographer Joey Rositano has spent more than three years attempting to answer this question, documenting, researching and collecting myths and stories from the elderly practitioners of shamanism on Jeju island.

His documentary ‘At Search for Spirits on the Island of Rocks, Wind and Women’ premiered at the 2014 Jeju Women’s Film Festival and a book of his photography work entitled ‘Spirits: Jeju Island’s Shamanic Shrines’ was released this week.

This is the second of a two part conversation.

For more on Joey's documentary, to find out about shrine preservation efforts on Jeju or to order a copy of 'Spirits: Jeju Island’s Shamanic Shrines', go to https://pagansweare.wordpress.com/

With roots emanating from the animistic tradition of central Siberia, Korea is one of very few developed nations to have maintained a Shamanic heritage over thousands of years. But after decades of neglect and government-sponsored eradication efforts in the 20th century, what's left of Korean shamanism? 

Filmaker, writer and photographer Joey Rositano has spent more than three years attempting to answer this question, documenting, researching and collecting myths and stories from the elderly practitioners of shamanism on Jeju island. 

His documentary ‘At Search for Spirits on the Island of Rocks, Wind and Women’ premiered at the 2014 Jeju Women’s Film Festival and a book of his photography work entitled ‘Spirits: Jeju Island’s Shamanic Shrines’ was released this week. 

This is part one of a two part conversation.

For more on Joey's documentary, to find out about shrine preservation efforts on Jeju or to order a copy of 'Spirits: Jeju Island’s Shamanic Shrines', go to https://pagansweare.wordpress.com/

Korea’s back-to-the-land movement is an unprecedented phenomenon in modern Korean history. What’s driving tens of thousands of Koreans to leave the conveniences and comforts of the city to start a new life in rural Jeju? 

Agnes Sohn is an American cultural anthropologist with a focus on social and cultural movements. She recently completed three months of field research under a Fulbright-Hays grant and returns to the island in the fall to continue her doctoral dissertation. 

In this interview she discusses the root causes of Seoul's growing urban exodus and the challenges and complications that arise for new arrivals attempting to integrate into the mostly elderly and primarily agricultural communities of rural Jeju.

Special interview assist from Jeju dialect language preservationist Moira Saltzman.

Music for this episode courtesy of folk legend ??? with ??? ???https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5-ifLVyoMM

Jeju Island welcomes more than a million tourists to its beaches, resorts and UNESCO Natural World Heritage sites every month. The number has grown dramatically every year, from 5 million in 2005 to more than 12 million last year, driven by the economic confidence of a powerful domestic middle class and the package tours of China's nouveaux riche. The effect of the increase in visitors on the environmental and social stability of this island of 500,000 is dramatic and ongoing.  Ann Bush is a writer, teacher and activist from Berkley, California. Her work for The Jeju Weekly magazine has brought an articulate and insightful outsider’s take on the art, history and culture of the island. In this interview she discusses the value and dangers of tourism's economic benefits and the sanctity of cultural solidarity in the face of massive change. Her blog can be found at https://jejujive.wordpress.com/

Music in this episode: ? ? ? ? with '?? ?? ? ? ?' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpQ7A-hlcI4

Where Ween meets Willie Nelson, this is weirdo, operatic guitar rock at it's strangest: expat/Korean hybrid Saure Gurken are currently playing around Seoul supporting the release of their new EP '?'. 

From their bio at doindie.co.kr-"Saure Gurken is a three-piece rock band based in Seoul, South Korea. Formed in 2013 by original members Vance Baryn (vocals, bass) and Quaziq (guitars), they were later joined by Josh King (drums) in 2014. Saure Gurken have released one EP (“?” 2015) and will release two more EP's in 2015 and a full album in early 2016. Like its members, Saure Gurken's sound is strange and eclectic, delving into different styles and sounds with the goal of creating musical experiences rather than simply songs. If one listens closely, they might perceive the infuence of a wide variety of artists including Tom Waits, Metallica, Operation Ivy, Mr. Bungle, and Willie Nelson. Ultimately, Saure Gurken's goal is to create music that is interesting and original which defies notions of genre."

A review of their EP '?'can be found here:

http://sleepingbagstudios.ca/saure-gurken-%E4%B8%8A/

For more of the band's music, go to https://sauregurken.bandcamp.com/releases

Matt VanVolkenburg's prolific blog 'Gusts of Popular Feeling' celebrates it's 10th year of analysis on Korean society, history, urban space, film and current events this month.

In the final segment of a 3-part interview, Matt talks about marijuana, rock music and the counterculture and their relationship with dictator Park Chung-hee in the military police state of 1970s South Korea.

For an epic 10 year run of writing check out VanVolkenburg's archived work athttp://populargusts.blogspot.kr/

Music in this episode- Young Sound '???'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImP9ZzJ5Oi0

Matt VanVolkenburg's prolific blog 'Gusts of Popular Feeling' celebrates it's 10th year of analysis on Korean society, history, urban space, film and current events this month.

In the second of a 3-part interview, Matt discusses the concept of Korean identity, the notion of the unfinished country and the history of anti-Americanism on the peninsula.

For an epic 10 year run of writing check out VanVolkenburg's archived work athttp://populargusts.blogspot.kr/

Music on this episode: 

'From Mother's Arms to Korea' The Louvin Brothers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM0b-Mt79sI&index=14&list=PL4JAoPLjRunSuxI0y99cRxxeFjBeB74Gv