UNSRC Korean Cultural Society

Korea Times
09-23-2009 18:29

“Monggyudowondo,” the oldest Joseon painting by Ahn Gyeong, will be unveiled to the public for the first time in a special exhibition titled “Teominhaerak” at the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul, from Sept. 29 to Nov. 8. / Courtesy of National Museum of Korea

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

“Monggyudowondo,” a painting from the early Joseon era depicting paradise, and “Cheonmado,” the only painting in existence from the Silla Kingdom, will be exhibited at the National Museum of Korea starting Sept. 29.

These works are among the highlights of a special exhibition titled “Yeominhaerak,” or “Sharing Enjoyment with People,” held to mark the museum’s centennial that will continue through Nov. 8.

The history of the nation’s museum goes back to Nov. 1, 1909, the waning days of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).

King Sunjong opened a royal museum at Changgyeong Palace to showcase cultural assets, including Buddhist paintings and Goryeo porcelain, to ordinary citizens for the first time ever. The symbolic event marked the end of the kingdom and the beginning of modern society.

The museum had its name changed to the Yi Royal Museum, the Yi Royal Gallery and then the Deoksu Palace Art Museum, which was finally turned into the National Museum of Korea in 1969.

“The museum holds a distinguished identity that has survived against all odds, keeping national cultural assets and spiritual values,” former culture minister, Lee O-young who was named chairman of the commemoration project committee, said in a press conference Wednesday.

“Also, the museum’s 100-year history speaks volumes because current young students have lost their historical identity. We should keep our identity through the museum to communicate with the past,” he said.

Lee said that the museum is a paradigm for the future by providing an interaction with the past.

The special exhibition consists of two parts ― historical relics related to the museum’s centennial and Korean relics collected from overseas.

The first section of the exhibition will display about 120 pieces that were handed down from the royal museum. The exhibition also showcases the museum’s activities and evolution during the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), national liberation, and the Korean War (1950-53).

The second section will display a total of 30 pieces, including national treasures and relics that have been collected by other countries.

“Mongyudowondo,” the oldest Joseon-era painting, by painter Ahn Gyeon, will be unveiled to the public for the first time. In 1447, Prince Ahnpyeong told the famous artist about a mysterious dream of paradise. The prince asked Ahn Gyeon to make a painting based on the dream. The original work is on loan from the central library of Japan’s Tenri University.

From the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, a gilt-silver ewer and basin, one of the greatest metal works of the Goryeo Kingdom remaining today, will be featured in the exhibition. The narrow mouth and the cover decorated with an animal-shaped ornament are unique features of this 12th-cenutry vessel.

The exhibition highlight, “Cheonmado” or “Painting of Heavenly Horse,” is the only surviving Silla-era painting executed in the 6th century, and was found in the Cheonmachong Tomb and designated as National Treasure No. 207. The painting has been kept in a special storage room since it was first found in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province in 1973.

“Many people don’t know the museum turns 100 this year. But this occasion is very important not only as a cultural event but also for the nation’s pride and legitimacy. Through this occasion, we are trying to make the public feel closer to the museum,”’ Choe Kwang-shik, director of the museum, said.

The director said just as King Sunjong opened the palace’s museum to the public, the museum will make the special exhibition especially accessible to the public ― with free admission.

“The exhibition’s title is `Yeominhaerak,’ which means ’sharing enjoyment with people.’ We will continue the legacy of the museum to prosper together with people instead of being isolated from their present needs,” said Choe.

As part of the centennial anniversary, the museum will host international academic forums, special exhibitions and a museum expo.

Around 600 national and private museums will team up to host commemorative events this year.

An international forum is scheduled for Nov. 3, which has invited some 10 directors from museums around the world.

A museum expo in which 100 selected museums will promote their institutes will be held from Oct. 10 to 18. Additionally, a symbolic traditional pavilion topped with green celadon roofing tiles will be built as a symbol of the museum and open to the public on Nov. 1.

“Long-term, we will also try to establish a museum complex equipped with various cultural facilities such as theaters, galleries and restaurants on the site of the U.S. army base near the museum by around 2014,” the director said.

chungay@koreatimes.co.kr

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NYT
September 23, 2009

Evan Sung for The New York Times

BEYOND THE KOREAN BBQ Kim Yoon-ok, the first lady of South Korea, flips a savory pancake stuffed with seafood, scallions and slivered red peppers during a demonstration in Great Neck, N.Y.

TALKING about food is built into the job for first ladies: cookie recipes, menus for state dinners and, now, organic farming are all in their sphere of influence. But Kim Yoon-ok, the wife of the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, seemed to go beyond the call of duty on Sept. 21 when she picked up a spatula to cook pajeon — savory pancakes stuffed with seafood, scallions and slivered red peppers — for a group of American veterans of the Korean War.

To the consternation of her bodyguards, and in a moment that seemed more inspired by Rachael Ray than by Michelle Obama, the first lady plunged into the rows of guests to hand-feed bites of her pajeon to some silver-haired veterans and their wives.

“I wanted to give them a new taste of Korea as something positive and delicious,” she said in an interview afterward, her first with a member of the Western news media since her husband took office last year. (She spoke through an interpreter.) “From the war, they do not have many pleasant food memories.”

Mrs. Kim, along with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the chef; Moon Bloodgood, a Korean-American actress; and Salvatore Scarlato, a local war veteran with a flamboyant cooking style, were all taking part in the South Korean government’s mission in the United States this week. While Mr. Lee met in closed sessions at the United Nations, his wife, 62, embarked on a new career in the field of culinary diplomacy.

The government’s Korean Cuisine to the World campaign began in April, with official goals that include quadrupling the number of Korean restaurants abroad and lifting Korean food into the “top five rank of world cuisines” by 2017. Putting aside that such a ranking system does not exist, the campaign shows how seriously food is now taken by many governments, especially in Asia.

As sushi has served as a kind of cultural crowbar, opening doors for Japanese tourism, culture and exports, the South Korean Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has high hopes for bibimbap and bulgogi.

Bang Moon-kyu, a ministry official who is leading the campaign, said that it has about $10 million to spend in 2009, including grants and scholarships for South Koreans to travel and attend culinary school. The campaign has already established a research and development lab devoted to the popular street-food dish called tteokbokki, a garlicky, richly spiced dish of rice cakes bathed in red chili paste. Tteokbokki (pronounced duck-bo-key) got its own festival in March, spinning off from the larger annual Seoul festival of rice cakes, or tteok. “And tteokbokki is only the beginning,” he said.

“First was Chinese food in the U.S., then Japanese and Thai,” said Min Mon-hong, director of tourism for Korea. “Korean is the next big boom.”

At least seven arms of government, including the military, were represented at the Sept. 21 event, which took place at Leonard’s in Great Neck, a local venue for proms, weddings and bar mitzvahs. The catering, by the New York restaurant KumGangSan, was vastly more flavorful than the usual kosher fare.

As the cameras of the Korean news media clicked, Jean-Georges Vongerichten showed off his one-handed pajeon-flipping abilities. “I’ve been teaching him some sauces and marinades,” said Mr. Vongerichten’s wife, Marja, who is Korean-American. “I think he would do great things with gochujang,” she said, referring to the spicy, fermented paste of ripe red chili peppers that is one of the basic seasonings of the Korean kitchen.

New York City is viewed by the campaign’s officials as a vast field of opportunity for shaping world opinion about Korean food. Although the city lacks a truly ambitious, transporting Korean restaurant, the flavors have made major inroads here. At the Momofuku restaurants, David Chang made his name by layering the intense flavors of Korea into Japanese and American dishes; at Ssam Bar, his version of tteokbokki is crossbred with Italian gnocchi in a light, fiery, herb-spiked pork sauce. New York Hotdog in Greenwich Village serves hot dogs topped with bulgogi (redundant, but tasty) and burgers with kimchi.

For many years, authentic Korean food was perceived, even among Koreans, as too spicy, too garlicky and too sour for the world stage. (The strong smell of kimchi was a running joke among the American veterans on Monday). In South Korea, exotica like pizza and hamburgers became fashionable once the country began to recover from the devastation of the war years.

But high-end restaurants in Seoul are now turning away from Western food and toward Korean tradition, drawing on both everyday snacks like pajeon and painstaking arts like the making of tteok, sticky rice pounded into a dizzying array of shapes, colors and flavors.

Making tteok, like almost all cooking in Korea, was traditionally done by women; hundreds of female slaves and workers were employed by the kitchens of the royal court during the Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910. “The court cuisine has become trendy in the last few years,” said Michael Pettid, the author of “Korean Cuisine: An Illustrated History.” “More people can afford to eat things once reserved for the elite, like tteok.”

Last week on 32nd Street in Manhattan, where Korean restaurants are clustered, Eun-joo Song, a Korean-American student at Parsons the New School for Design, expressed doubt about the need for any official campaign. “I think the restaurants here can speak for themselves,” she said, gesturing at storefronts advertising barbecued beef, organic tofu and handmade dumplings. “Governments can’t tell people what to like.”

Although Mrs. Kim’s official role was to promote Korean food, she did use her platform to raise a tender political topic. “You all look very healthy to me,” she said, gazing out at the veterans in their blue dress uniforms. “You might live to see the reunification of the two Koreas.”

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Korea Times
09-17-2009 21:51

Red ginseng is being air-dried at Daedong Korea Ginseng during the ongoing 29th Geumsan Gingseng Festival, Geumsan County, South Chungcheong Province. / Korea Times Photos by Shim Hyun-chul

By Shim Hyun-chul
Staff Reporter

Red ginseng, made by processing ginseng, is used widely as an ingredient for medicine and other health food products. With the spread of Influenza A, more people are turning their attention to ginseng and red ginseng to boost their immunity.

Ginseng, which used to grow strictly in the wild, is now grown in various ways. It differentiates into “sansam,” “jangnoesam” and cultivated ginseng, depending on its location. Sansam refers to ginseng grown deep in the mountains whereas jangnoesam is grown in the woods.

The ginseng also has different names depending on how it is processed. It is called “susam,” if used as unprocessed, “baeksam,” or dried ginseng, and
hongsam,” or red ginseng, to refer to ginseng that is peeled, cooked and then dried.

Among these, red ginseng preserves well as it’s easy to store for a long time without affecting its quality. Also, new elements are added into the red ginseng as it is peeled, cooked and then dried. It is first air-dried and then sun-dried, or dried through other methods so that the moisture level reaches about 12.5 to 13.5 percent.

Red ginseng is known to boost immunity, combat diabetes, reduce high blood pressure, enhance brain activity and fight fatigue.
Red ginseng was first raised in the country in 1080, and remained a government-owned production until 1996.

If you are interested in learning more about ginseng or purchasing it, Geumsan county in South Chungcheong Province will host the 29th Geumsan Ginseng Festival, which opens today and will run through Sept. 27. For more information, visit http://tour.geumsan.go.kr or call 041) 750-2386.

shim@koreatimes.co.kr

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