Yeonhwa-do

Each of the islands in Gyeongsangnam-do’s Hallyeosudo Marine National Park seems to have its own unique charm. 

Craggy trees, sun dried wild grasses, clear skies, and old run down farm houses give Yeonhwa-do (연화도) a feel of something akin to a grassland from the American Southwest transplanted onto an Buddhist shrine dotted island in the Asian Pacific.  Being off-season for island tourism and with Yeonhwa-do’s main road under repair, a bit of solitude added to the odd Southwestern aura.  For this weekend, at the very least, this island at the very edge of Korea seemed like perhaps the nation’s most isolated location.

Here are pictures from Yeonhwa-do, one of the farthest flung of the islands in Hallyeosudo Marine National Park. 

**Update:  The scarcity of other tourists on the island might be in part due to the alleged appearance of funnyman Kang Ho Dong (강호동) on the nearby island of Yokji-do.

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Hidden Yongcho-do

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Yongcho-do (용초도), an island so remote you have to take a boat just to get to the boat that gets you there.

 Off the Map 

Roosters crowed, dogs howled, and a baby wailed “Om-ma.”  That’s how I was awakened for my second Seollal in Korea, this one while on the rustic island of Yongcho-do (용초도) in Hallyeosudo Marine National Park.

To call Yongcho-do out of the way would be a disservice.  Boats to the island are few and far between and you won’t find it listed on half the maps of the region.  I hadn’t even heard of it until a friend of mine invited me to spend the holiday at her Grandmother’s house on the island.  

It’s almost completely off the radar screen for most.  To get there, we had to take a ferry to the still quite isolated Hansan Island, then have a local fisherman take us onward.  My 25 year old Korean  friend believed that our arrival would mark the first time foreigners had ever set foot on the island, perhaps since the Imjin war (임진왜란).  As I suspected, this turned out to be untrue.  The island community is small enough that some people remember the accidental arrival of three foreigners who, two years before, took the wrong boat and wound up on Yongcho-do.  Some older island residents even recall the presence of US soldiers who had operated a Korean War POW camp for the “worst criminals.”  They also remember the friendly GI’s who gave chocolate to the kids.  The island’s one, short, concrete road is the most conspicuous artifact of the American presence. 

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Barnacles.

Foreign presence or not, the island is quite a throwback to an island way of life from which many of the Tongyeong folk I have come to know can trace their lineage.  Yongcho-do, untouched by tourism in a way other islands in the park can’t lay claim to, is in many ways a time capsule for the way of life that dominated in pre-economic boom times.  Aluminum roofs instead of the thatched variety, a few electrical appliances, septic tanks, and the fact that all the young people moved to the mainland seem to be the only calling cards of the modern era.  

My hosts were concerned that I would not be “comfortable” in such unglamourous surroundings, but that was no problem at all.  To me, itwas an island that time had almost forgotten and that made it precious.

The People and Their Community

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There are two hamlets on the island, one with a population probably no greater than 75, the other less than 50.  The vibe I got from the hamlet was a little bit like the one I used to get when I visited my late-Grandmother’s senior citizen trailer park.  Quiet, slow, aging.  But Yongcho-do’s hamlet also had an aura akin to what I imagine a remote Celtic hamlet might have had centuries ago.  Going from place to place required moving down narrow alleyways enclosed by homes and walls made from locally exhumed boulders.  Gray and green were the dominant colors, due to the overcast skies, stone, concrete, and the thin layer of moss and algae covering much of it.

People were few and far between.  I saw a couple of women scrounging the beach for Miyeok and Bajirak (미역 & 바지락), varieties of seaweed and clams.  There was another man carrying a huge bundle of sticks up a steep alley.  And this weekend was a busy one for the island.  At the special Seollal service at the island’s one and only Presbytarian church, guests were asked to stand up and come to the front to sing a song.  Of the 5o or so guests, only 10 elderly bodies remained seated. 

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The island is largely self sufficient.  My friend’s Grandmother’s livelihood was farming.  She grew her crops, raised chickens, made her own kimchi and merely supplemented her diet with a few purchased goods.  Of course, being a woman and in her mid 80’s, she was unable to partake in the island’s primary lifeblood: fishing.

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The ocean is quite life and death for the people of Yongcho-do, where there were almost as many fishing boats as houses.  White and weathered, each ship, save a few presumably Christian owned and operated boats, sported sky high spirit poles (신대)… a useful medium for communication with spirits and deities should the winds shift and the waters stir up in this ever-dangerous occupation.  Like those with connections to the fishing industry in Tongyeong, the community is likely ripe with stories of fisherman saved by folk spirits, and also with stories of neighbors lost to the same South Sea on which they depend for their livelihood.

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Spirit Poles (신대) pointing skyward

 

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Christian fisherman?

The Future of Yongcho-do?

Old people don’t live forever, and soon enough, the residents of Yongcho-do will die off.  Maybe some will be replaced by their children, who won’t want to see the family land go.  Maybe a new population of poor, rural fishermen will emerge, perhaps bringing along with them a bit of multiculturalism, because few except for non-Korean mail-order brides wants to marry a fisherman in Korea. 

My guess is that tourism is the future of Yongcho-do.  Other islands like Hansan-do, Somaemul-do, Yokji-do, etc. have already cashed in on the summertime beauty and history of the region.  There is no reason to think it won’t happen to Yongcho-do.  When I asked my host family what they plan to do after the death of the Grandmother, who lives alone, they replied that they would like to make the farm into a summer home for the family to get away from their stressful lives on the mainland.

Yongcho-do:  A Korean Nantucket in the 21st Century?

The first step is to admit you have a problem…

As anyone who has attended an alcoholic’s anonymous meeting can tell you, the first step towards recovery is admitting you have a problem.  The same can be said for a country with race issues…  you can’t begin to deal with it until you admit you have some.

And for the USA, South Korea, and China, all of whom experience race related problems, meeting this first crucial criteria is something only the US seems to be serious about. 

Take a look at these articles, including this post at Xinjiang: Far West China, and this one from USA today, that highlight the approches taken by China and the US’ respective media towards race relations.  China, on the one hand, tries tp preempt potential criticism of what others consider race problems by pointing out that other countries have/had problems too, while the US’ culture of political correctness results in one media outlet castigating another one for its failure to properly represent the diversity of America.

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While I actually believe that the politically correct culture we’ve cultivated in the United States has already served its purpose and is now stifling progress on race relations, you can’t say the US isn’t trying.  For the most part, we know we’ve got a problem. 

On the other hand, as Far West China points out, the Xinhua news’ articles overlook the importance of time in comparing Uyghur/Tibetan, etc. struggles in China with the Native Americans’ plight in the US.  Whereas most of the atrocities committed against the Native Americans were carried out a hundred years ago (loss of land, language loss, loss of traditional customs), similar things are happening to minorities within the PRC, but the process is very much a contemporary one.  So when China isn’t denying racial harmony altogether, which is rare, it is excusing its own problems by pointing out that someone else is doing (has done) it too.

South Korea, on the other hand, seems to be in out and out denial about any possible harm it can do as far as race relations go.  While some have speculated that South Korea may be heading towards a race war, and that the ROK’s involvement in Madagascar and the Philippines is tantamount to imperialism, you’ll see little better than nary a word regarding potential racial problems in the Korean media, nor an attempt to accurately depict a burgeoning multicultural population in magazines, tv shows, or movies.

Again, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem in the first place.

The Temple Stay Experience

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Woljeongsa (월정사), one of Korea's most famous temples, located in Odaesan National Park (오대산국립공원)

Capping off my tour of Gangwon province this past week was a temple stay at Woljeongsa, located in Odaesan, Korea’s least visited National Park.

The temple, which dates back to the 7th century Shilla Dynasty, is a part of the Jogye order of Korean Buddhism, the most popular sect in Korea.  These days, for ₩50,000 a night, anyone can don temple robes and live life as the monks do.  Or at least, that’s what the program would have you believe.  The reality of my visis was actually quite different.

According to the program, the temple stay is divided into nine different blocks of activities, with three meals per day in between.  The following is section by section review of each:

Day 1

  • 3:00 Check-in

Upon arrival at the temple we were greeted by the head monk, and a woman who seemed to be some sort of temple administrator.  Her English was almost perfect.  Unfortunately, our time around this woman was limited to not much more than that.

 

  • 4:00 Instruction in Buddhist Manner

This really only took about 15 minutes, and was the last real time we were able to converse with anyone whose English was up to the task of explaining theories behind the Buddha Vairocana, on which much of Woljeongsa’s layoutis designed to reflect.  Basically, they teach you to err on the side of quiet when on temple grounds, the posture for walking with hands folded in front of you (차수), and to bow in the middle of the Dharma Hall whenever you walk past it (a gesture that shows you are always mindful of the Buddha mind). 

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  • 4:30 Walking Meditation at Pinetree Road

Not so much walking meditation (which is an actual form of meditation used in some orders of Buddhism, requiring a particular technique), this time was more of a “why don’t you go take some pictures because we don’t have anything planned for you at the moment.”  No guide.  No explanations.  No idea why I paid for this.

  • 5:30 Dinner

Now this was actually one of the bright spots.  Though the food is thoroughly vegan and actually quite gross, the experience of noble silence while eating (공양) with a hall full of Sunims and Bhikkunis (Monks and Nuns) is not one to be missed.  As this part is supposed to be silent, the lack of any explanation from anyone is not as sorely missed as in other aspects of the temple stay.

  • 6:10 Bell Striking Ceremony

Hearing Korea’s oldest Dharmabell struck repeatedly while you are standing next to it is one of the sounds that will stick with you for your whole life.  The bell is said to save sentient beings in hell whenever struck, and hearing the bell really gives you a sense of why they might say that.  The bell, struck once, continues to reverberate for what seems like forever after each strike, giving off low, wavering soundwaves, the buzz of which you can feel resounding in your bones.  It feels like it would send sound waves off in every direction for an infinite amount of time.  Hearing this sound totally made up for the fact that our guide, now a 22 year old volunteer who had arrived at the temple for the first time only 3 days earlier than us, was trying to give us instruction by trying and failing to read directly from an English language printout on the meaning of the four instruments at the Bell Pavilion.

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  • 6:30 Yebul Ceremony

Another life affirming experience.  When I was a kid watching all those Orientalizing movies portraying Asians mindlessly bowing before golden idols and fierce looking deities, lit by candle light, and chanting harmoniously (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, for ex.), this is basically what I figured one would see all the time in Asia.  And while the Yebul (예불) ritual is more than just mindless idolotry (the Sunim and Bhikkuni are in fact bowing before their golden Buddha in an effort to stay mindful of the Buddha mind that they are all capable of realizing as well as showing respect to a revered figure), this experience really does indulge a sort of fantasy of what “the Orient” is like in the Western imagination.  Try it, it’s well worth the strain on your back, knees, neck, calves, and self confidence all that bowing and contorting will give you.

  • 8:30 Sleep

Not quite.  Apparently some of the other temple guests decided it was a good time to stay up late, probably drinking soju and yapping about God knows until midnight.

 Day 2

  • 4:00 Wake-up

Not quite.  Apparently some of the other temple guests decided a 4:00 AM wake-up wasn’t early enough for them and they would need to have annoying, singing alarm clocks go off at 3:00, 3:20, and 3:40, respectively.

  • 4:30 Yebul Ceremony

Same as previous Yebul.  You won’t regret waking up to experience this.

  • 5:00 Yoga and Meditation

Interesting mix of yoga and meditation and one taught by the English fluent temple administrator, who, it turns out, was a Bhikkuni herself for seven years, several of which she spent studying yoga and meditation in India and Myanmar, respectively.  She was fluent in four languages, too.  So yes, world class instruction.  If only my joints had the slightest bit of flexibility…

  • 6:30 Breakfast

Another memorable experience eating a disgustingly vegan meal in silence along side a hundred or so bald, chaste individuals.

 

  • 7:30 Walking Meditation

More rediculous than the first.  This time our guide, the 22 year old boy, peppered us with questions about American pop music, rather than letting us attempt the walking meditation we had, you know, paid for try.  I have to give the guy credit though.  He wasn’t paid, he had no qualifications, but he was worked like a dog by his superiors, and did the best he could.  But it kind of pissed me off that it became a problem for me to not talk about the ins & outs of Buddhism with our ”guide” out of concern that I might cause him tremendous embarrassment by exposing his complete lack of knowledge on the subject for which he was supposed to have been the “expert.”  Where did our world class yoga master run off to?

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  • 10:00 Tea Ceremony with Sunim

Perhaps the mostridiculous part of them all.  Wow.  Our 22 year old guide was charged with translating everything Sunim said.  Everything.  And he was talking about big, big concepts.  And this guy would struggle to introduce himself.  Geez.  I wanted to tell him to shut up and let us try to figure out what Sunim was saying on our own, but didn’t out of fear I would cause him collosal embarassment infront of everyone else.  The highlight of the experience for me, was asking the Sunim, in Korean, about how those of us who are not monks can ”polish the mirror” realize the Buddha mind inside of us, thus showing off that I could not only speak terrible Korean, but that I had also once read the Platform Sutra of the 6th Patriarch

  • 11:30 Lunch

  • 12:30 Check-out

Unless you are like Huineng, whose body has been mummified and preserved for 1300 years, you are unlikely to gain any special insights into reality from one night at a temple stay

Unless you are like Huineng, whose body has been mummified, preserved, and revered for 1300 years, you are unlikely to gain any special insights into reality during a temple stay program

So… Temple stays.  Good idea?  Bad idea? 

 

Well, nobody is going to teach you the basics of Buddhism (they didn’t explain who Sakyamuni was, nor what Seon/Hwaduseon/Dharma and countless other terms and concepts are), so if you want to learn about Buddhism, it might be better the pick up a book on the subject or do what I did here.  And unless you are Huineng, who was Enlightened instantaneously upon hearing the Diamond Sutra, you are not about to gain any special insight into reality just by spending a night or two there. 

Basically, you’re paying for a nights sleep in a room comperable to a minbak, three terrible meals, a yoga class, and a few unforgetable experiences alongside a community of Buddhist monks. 

Having said that, those few unforgetable experiences alone are worth the price of admission.  And if you are lucky enough, like I was, you’ll go there during a record snowstorm and experience all the beauty of a mountain encapsulated temple multiplied exponentially by the snow.

Jeongdongjin and the Chills of the Cold War

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The Beautiful Coastline of Jeongdongjin. Site of Several Known Incursions of North Korean Spies and a Romantic Destination for Couples

Maybe South Koreans like a little Cold War intrigue to go with their romantic beach side strolls.

Billed as a romantic weekend destination for couples, Gangwondo’s tiny vacation hamlet of Jeongdongjin (정동진) has become best known in foreigner circles for a few rather offbeat attractions, including a hotel built to look like a cruise ship, a train track that literally straddles the ocean, and a museum of old warships.  And though these attractions are worth a peek in themselves, it is something else that makes this little village more than just a quirky sideshow.

For those with a sense of adventure, Jeongdongjin is just a short walk off the beaten track away from genuinely chilling, real modern-day Cold War intrigue, alongside a hauntingly beautiful foam churning coastline that feels as if it just fell off some artist’s brush.

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The 1996 spy submarine, pictured above, is now on display in a museum just north of Jeongdongjin

Just 14 years ago North Korean spies stranded their submarine off Jeongdongjin’s coastline.  The sub was manned by a crew of 26, 13 of whom were elite Red Guard soldiers.  Knowing they had no hope of saving their ship, the spies took steps to ensure no secrets were compromised.  The ship’s records and computers were set ablaze, and the 13 Red Guards killed their less highly trained, and less trustworthy crew members.  The Red Guard made their way to land, and for 49 days wreaked havoc on the Gangwon countryside, taking both South Korean soldiers and civilians alike before being subdued.

This is not the only incident in which North Korean spies have been spotted off the coast of Jeongdongjin.  Two years later another sub was found nearby, the crew suspected to have all died in a murder-suicide fashion.  There have been other incidents in recent years in which North Korean submarines have been spotted off of Japan too.  There’s not a whole lot of reason to believe there aren’t North Korean spy submarines operating off the coast of South Korea today.

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One of the torched computer screens inside of the North Korean Spy Submarine

The real fear of another incident like this is palpable in Jeongdongjin.  Just a short walk up the coast from the tourist hotels, minbaks, and restaurants, artificial light gives way to darkness, and strolling couples give was to barbed-wire fences and old, abandoned military lookout posts covered in white camouflage.  The posts, though relics of the past, are a reminder of what could happen here, and also of the fact that this place is being watched, albeit in new, modern, motion-sensor kinds of ways.

Walking along the beach, there is no real anxiety at first.  There are no signs strictly forbidding entry.  And there are still a few footprints from other beach-side strollers.

But then the sun goes down, and the footprints dissipate.  There is no more artificial light and the moon and the stars shine brightly, diminished only by their own reflection on the ocean.  The beach begins to narrow as your head north from Jeongdongjin, and the ocean inches close to trapping you between its violent waves and a thicket of barbed wire on the other side.

 That’s when all the weight of genuine Cold War paranoia swept over me. 

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Chilling guard posts like these appear regularly along the coastline heading north from Jeongdongjin

“What sensible person would walk up this far?  Clearly tourists aren’t expected to be walking alongside the ocean this far out, past all the restaurants and among abandoned military observation posts.  Is this place off-limits?  Should I turn back?  Nah, this is too exhilarating.  Are there landmines this far down below the DMZ?  I wonder how often North Korean spies run operations through here and don’t get caught.”

After about twenty minutes more of letting my imagination get the best of me and walking with a shred of trepidation in my step, I finally got an answer to some of my questions in the form of a military escort off the beach.  The soldiers, with a bit of surprise to see a westerner meandering through the area, told me that the beach was in fact closed to the public.  It was for military operations only.  Hmmm… what a surprise. 

They didn’t jam a gun in my face or anything.  In fact, in true Korean fashion they even apologized for kicking me off their restricted military land.

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Jeongdongjin. Home of a hotel designed to look like a life-size beached cruise boat, railroad tracks that skirt the ocean closer than any in the world, and a host of stories relating to North Korean spies.

So yes.   If you do get a chance to go up to Jeongdongjin, I highly recommend walking north along the beach until soldiers come out and won’t let you walk anymore.  It’ll give you a real Cold War chill to see real counter espionage operations in action, a chill far more unnerving than any you might feel on tours to places such as Panmunjeom.  Add to it a remarkable coastline and you’ve got yourself a memorable experience.

 

Seoraksan

This past week I made the trip up to Gangwon province and stopped in at Seoraksan National Park (설악국립공원) for a few days. 

Of all the National Parks in Korea that I’ve visited, this one is undoubtedly my favorite.  Each hike yields remarkable mountain vistas, waterfalls, and more.

In particular, the views on a clear day from a high altitude cave called Geumganggul (금강굴) are beyond breathtaking.  The cave is intended to serve as a place of quiet meditation, and is carved into one of the jagged slabs of rock jutting toward the sky from the mountain’s base.  Equally impressive is that the cave is staffed by a lone Buddhist nun who makes the four hour round trip journey by foot to the cave each day, sitting at her desk sans-heat/four-walls.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip…  Enjoy.  

 

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NotDeadYetBlog moving on…

So I might as well come out and say it… I’m leaving Korea on February 28th.

I’m heading to law school in the fall and want to spend some time settling back into American life before I throw myself into that gauntlet.

What this means for NotDeadYetBlog.com is that the blog’s focus will begin to shift to topics beyond Korea.  I’m currently planning trips across China (from Manchuria to the Tibetan plateau) and to the Yucatan peninsula.  These places, as well as other places will be fodder for posts from here on out.  I’ll also do a restrospective on the human and drug smuggling along the US-Mexico border, and an analysis of the abundance of trash said activities leave behind.  The blog has always been a personal blog about my own travel experiences and I never intended it to be focused exclusively on Korea… It just so happens that for the last 14 monthes I have lived here. 

That being said, I will remain deeply interested in the country, it’s people, and the language (shooting for TOPIK level 4 in April).  There is not a doubt in my mind that I will find many opportunities to continue commentary on matters related to Korea, and I have all intentions of delving into coverage of topics related to America’s Gyopo community as well.

In no way is this the end of NotDeadYetBlog.

Ronald Reagan, Chun Doo-hwan, and saving Kim Dae Jung’s life

Ronald Reagan and South Korean Dictator Chun Doo-hwan at an infamous 1981 White House visit

As I mentioned in an earlier post, part of the growth of Anti-Americanism in South Korea is a byproduct of an increasingly cosmopolitan civil society.  Yet I am often amazed at how certain nuggets of knowledge manage to escape the knowledge base of huge swaths of people.

One such nugget of knowledge concerns the series of events that followed in the wake of the Gwangju uprising.

Certain groups of Koreans blame the US for what happened in Gwangju, believing that the US had the power to stop Chun Doo-hwan’s government forces, but didn’t.  They see the failure of the US to speak out against the government’s actions in Gwangju as a sign that the US supported it.  As Brian mentioned in a comment here a while back, there’s some people who see the incident as if it was Americans doing the killing themselves.  And Koreans don’t really seem to buy the excuse that the special forces units that did the killing were outside the legal responsbility of the US-ROK Combined Forces Command  (see here for an explanation of tension arising from differences in legal culture).

Regardless of what actually happened (I, for one, believe the US was right to not get entangled in this incident, lest they be accused of violating Korea’s soveignty), events that took place after the incident reveal a lot about how the US went about guiding Korea towards the democratic government they now enjoy. 

Kim Dae Jung had been senteced to death by Chun Doo-hwan.  President elect Ronald Reagan, incoming National Security Advisor Richard Allen, and Carter administration officials worked together to buy time before Kim’s execution, which was scheduled to take place before Reagan’s inauguration.  The plan worked, but Kim was still scheduled for execution.

To guarantee Kim’s survival, the Reagan administration decided to make Chun Doo-hwan an offer he couldn’t refuse.  In exchange for sparing Kim’s life, Chun Doo-hwan, whose claim to the Presidency was anything buy solid, would be honored as the first head of state to visit the Reagan White House.  Chun accepted and Kim was spared.

But there is more… Just before Chun was to enter the Oval Office and meet President Reagan for the first time, a Reagan aid approached Chun with a piece of paper… and on this paper it said in Korean something along these lines.  “This meeting will take place only on the condition that you step down after your seven-year term expires, as the ROK constitution requires.”  Chun is said to have nodded his head in acceptance, and walked in to meet Reagan.

Reagan and Chun had their meeting.  Pictures were taken.  Liberals scoffed.  Hippies moaned.  Koreans saw it as a sign that indeed the Americans were behind the Gwangju massacre.  Seven years later, Roh Tae Woo was elected in South Korea’s first democratic elections.   

 Why have so few in newly cosmopolitan Korea heard this story before?  Here is one possible explanation

Another Church… this time full of Koreans

Last week I attended a “revival” at a Korean Presbyterian church in Goseong, Gyeongnam province.  And even though this church was technically in the same town as the migrant church I visited earlier, the setting could not have been much more different. 

  1. *First off, the church was a fairly big church in Goseong’s downtown.
  2. *Second, it was full of Koreans

The Revival’s informational brochure was entirely in Korean, so I wasn’t able to make out some of it.  The gist I got from it, however, was that this was a special event.  A group of Korean preachers who had received some sort of training in America would be stopping in Goseong for a three day event.

The preachers themselves were an odd assortment.  The ringleader was a middle aged man whose voice wavering kind of reminded me of the stereotypical black American preacher.  And of his two sidekicks, one was a meek looking boyish man with an acoustic guitar, and the other was a woman who evidently had some sort of developmental disability.

The service was sort of a rollercoaster of frenzy and quiet prayer.  The preacher would whip everyone up with a storm of firey preaching and song, only to see the crowd descend from it’s clapping, reveling, and damn near hypnotic trance into a quiet reading from the Bible.  And each time the Preacher stirred up the crowd again he brought them seemingly closer and closer to some chaotic climax.  It was two hours long so I left early… My guess is that it ended with a bang.

By far the strangest thing about this Revival was the 30 minute section led by the developmentally disabled woman.  It was strange enough to see this woman in public… she has to be one of the first truly disabled people I have seen in Korea not on the subway or crawling his/her way through a busy market on one of those carts.  The really strange thing was hearing this woman lead the Revival.  Even I could tell that her Korean was unintelligible.  I looked around and it seemed like a lot of people were having a hard time understanding her.  And when she led a song… Wow.  I mean, I can’t give the woman enough credit for standing up there and doing what she did, but she sounded kind of like a drunk Fran Drescher singing Korean hymns.  I have to wonder… is a developmentally disabled preacher a typical fixture in Korean revivals?

So yeah… Koreans being lulled into a trance-like state by a charismatic Preacher and an usual pairing of assistants.  Stark contrast with the migrant church I visited last month.

So I visited a rural church full of migrant laborers…

This past Sunday I visited a foreigner church that South African friends of mine attends in rural Gyeongsangnam-do. It was a small church and there really wasn’t much more to it than about 5 rows of benches, a pulpit, a tv, piano, a bathroom, and an incredibly small dining room.

As it was a foreigner church, the congregation, based on attendance at the service I was present for, was made up of Sri Lankans, Nepalese, Chinese, two South Africans, and one American. The pastor, deacon, and one other lady were Korean.  I didn’t get a chance to find out where everybody worked, but my sense was that a lot worked in the shipyards and in small construction firms.

The service was a fascinating experience indeed, and my first real encounter with non-Western foreign populations here in Korea, save my TOPIK test a few months ago.  Here are some tidbits from my observations…

  • *The service was split between Korean and English.  The Pastor would say something in Korean, then follow it up with a shaky English translation.

 

  • *The Pastor was Korean.  And the very first thing he said to the Congregation the entire night went something like this… “You are in Korea now.  You need to learn Korean.  This is not America.”  I wonder if he realized I was sitting in the front row?

 

  • *Evidently the church makes an effort to make the native languages of its various migrant attendees part of the service.  This service included songs in both Sinhala and Afrikaan.  Next week they plan to have a Chinese language song.

 

  • *Speaking of songs… Each Korean song was sung with the accompanying Korean text on the tv screen.  The problem is, it seemed, that only a few of the attendees could read it.  I got the sense that I was one of the most capable readers of the non-Koreans in attendance…

 

  • *And, like my TOPIK test, my Korean spoken/listening language skills were put to shame by the same migrants who had trouble reading.

 

  • *Among the attendees were four Nepalese.  I believe three of them were brothers.  They all could speak some English, with one being an English teacher in Korea.  What really surprised me, however, was that two of them had arrived in Korea just four days prior, but had already learned more Korean than me.  Evidently he had been practicing before hand.

 

  • *Speaking of which…  These two Nepalese guys had been in Korea for four days and no-sooner did they decide to undertake a major religious conversion and join the Korean Presbyterian Church?  Well… evidently, yes.  It was a bit telling about the nature of the situation that halfway through the service the Pastor had to stop and explain the appropriate times to say “Hallelujah” and “Amen” to the congregation.

 

  • *After the service there was an hour long fellowship dinner, during which the pastor made it a point to tell the new migrants that if they had any problem, they need just come to him and he would help them.  Well, considering that some people have described the nature of migrant labor in Korea as a form of modern day slavery, a promise of protection from a Korean pastor sure would be a good reason to join the church now, wouldn’t it?