SHOPPING I
March 23rd, 2009
Archive
Archive for March, 2009
6,000 Korean Cultural Treasures Still Abroad
March 23rd, 2009
The Chosun Ilbo
76,000 Korean Cultural Treasures Still Abroad
The retrieval of the seal of Emperor Gojong of the Chosun Dynasty, some 100 years after it disappeared, has rekindled interest in how Korean cultural properties were smuggled out of the country and how to retrieve them.
According to the Cultural Heritage Administration, a total of 76,134 cultural properties were smuggled out or plundered as of the end of 2008. They were taken away through grave robbery, plunder, sale, or donation, during chaotic periods, including the Japanese invasions of Korea in the late 16th century, the French fleet’s campaign against Ganghwa Island in 1866, Japanese colonial rule, and the Korean War.
Japan keeps the largest quantity of some 34,369 stolen Korean cultural properties. Some 99 percent of Buddhist paintings from the Koryo period, Koryo celadon and Chosun white porcelain are currently in Japan. France has the Oegyujanggak archive of Chosun Dynasty documents, looted during the naval campaign, “Jikji Simche Yojeol (Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests’ Zen Teachings),” the world’s oldest extant text printed with movable metal type during the Koryo Dynasty in 1377, and “Wang Ocheonchukuk Jeon (Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Kingdoms of India)” by Hyecho, a Buddhist monk from the Shilla Kingdom.
UNESCO adopted the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property in 1970. Under its supervision, the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property (ICPRCP) has been calling for the return of smuggled or stolen cultural properties to their home countries. But the convention applies only to the cultural properties stolen after 1970, and since it has no legally binding force, most of the UNESCO’s requests for the return of stolen cultural properties are ignored.
Korea has got a total of 7,466 stolen pieces of cultural properties back from 10 countries so far. Japan has returned 1,321 pieces to Korea. But the Japanese government says it can do nothing about treasures held by private collectors except ask them to return the items voluntarily.
Another way to retrieve them would be a private campaign in a situation where intergovernmental negotiations have produced no tangible results. It is also necessary to seek cooperation with other countries whose cultural properties have been stolen in large quantities.
Thus conflict arose recently between China and France when a Qing Dynasty bronze statue owned by designer Yves Saint Laurent was put up for auction. Indians were angry when personal belongings of Gandhi were put up for auction in the U.S. The two incidents made the return of stolen cultural properties an international issue. But many other countries are struggling to retrieve cultural assets.
url: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200903/200903190007.html
Temptation of Hot Pepper Paste (gochujang)
March 19th, 2009
Korea Times
 `Gochujang,” or hot pepper paste, along with soy sauce and soybean are representative slow foods that can take as long as several years before they can be eaten. |
By Shim Hyun-chul
Staff Reporter
The temptation of red: not lipstick, but a well-matured “gochujang,” or sauteed hot pepper paste.
First, the deep red color strikes the eyes, and memories of its spicy taste teases the mouth to water. You try to resist, but succumb every time to that red gojchujang.
To make gochujang, rice, made with barley, is grounded and then mixed with ground fermented beans and hot peppers. Sweet rice taffy oil, water and salt is added to complete the paste, which can take months or years to ferment before people can get their hands on it.
Along with soy sauce and soybean paste, gochujang is one of the three main sauces used in Korean cooking. Different from the Western idea of hot, its taste runs from spicy hot to sweet, and Koreans add gochujang to just about every dish-gochujang bulgogi, “tteokbokki,” red-hot fish soup and “bibimbap.” Koreans religiously believe that the paste determines the palatability of any Korean cuisine.
The paste is also nutritious, with protein, fat and vitamins. It also has capsaicin, which has anti-carcinogenic and dieting effects.
Recently, the Korea Food Research Institute and the Academy of Korean Studies have come forth with documents dating back several hundred years, all the way to the Imjin Wars (1592-1598) with Japan, to refute the claim that hot peppers entered Korea via other foreign countries. Their feat has provided the platform for hot pepper paste-based Korean dishes to be recognized globally as genuine native Korean cuisine.