On My Way To Korea

As always, Epik High releases awesome stuff

It’s been a while since I’ve found a new k-pop song I really, really liked.  Here you go:

Disclaimer: Please don’t ask me on or offline for any extra details about North Korean refugees.  Thank you.  I will only post minimal information and only things I get consent to post.

I got to meet a friend when she came up to Seoul last weekend and we had a great time!  She’s a North Korean refugee (새터민 / 탈북자) so I felt like I had a great opportunity to get to know someone who has weathered a lot to get to where they are today.  Many of us deal with where to go when we graduate from high school or where to get a job, but I can’t even begin to understand what North Korean refugees have gone through.  Sometimes when people go through that, they take the opportunity to learn from it and make the most of what they have and succeed.  I think she is one of them who will succeed in whatever she’ll do in the future.

While I was waiting for her to come when we were going to first meet, I decided to walk around and I found a protest outside.  They opposed 이명박, the current president of South Korea, but I don’t know too much other than that.  Here’s two pics I took there:

Anyways, when we met we decided to go grab a bite to eat at a Korean resturaunt.  We both had some sort of meat and mushroom soup which was EXTREMELY delicious.  She told me a really funny story about when she went to the DMZ and yelled at the North Korean soldier saying ‘야 이 나픈놈아!’ or something along those lines.  She said her boyfriend was terrified and thought they’d be immediately shot lol.

After we had a cup of coffee, we decided to go to a movie, 의형제/Brother, which is about a South Korean agent (소강호/So Kang-ho, star of 괴물/The Host) who hunted North Korean spies and then became a bounty hunter.  In the beginning you find out that one of the North Korean spies is doing everything to help his wife and girl who are still back in North Korea.  The protagonist hunts him until he develops a relationship and sees him as a little brother.  Here’s the trailer:

It was my first experience seeing a movie in a Korean movie theater so I would have to say it was an enjoyable one =).

When we arrived at the theater, we had to wait 2 hours to see the next showing so we decided to just browse around the 용산 (Yongsan) area.  The last time I went to Yongsan I felt like I didn’t find the good market, so I really wanted to go to the ‘good’ place (선인프라자 / Sunin Plaza).  We headed over there and I got a adapter for my phone which is a combo power-plug and headphone jack so I just had to bring one adapter with me on my phone.

After the movie, she took me to a neat street by 종각 station that was extremely busy.  After walking a little bit we decided to go into one restaurant and had 낙지 닭칼비 (octopus and chicken ribs) and OH MAN was it good.  Seriously, I’ll go back there in a heart beat.  The price was really good too, like 7,000원 per person.  Here’s a pic of us with the food:

Here we talked a little bit more about North Korea.  She asked me about what I thought about the country and in short I told her that I felt sorry for those that had to live under Kim Jong-Il’s reign.  She told me that she’s looking forward to helping others who leave the country and helping people get over the propaganda they’ve been fed their entire lives.  I think that’s a very noble goal and I hope she’s able to fulfill that.  In the short term there’s always volunteering opportunities here in South Korea.  I’ll be attending one such event this Saturday which I’ll probably give some commentary on (though I’ll most likely not be able to take pictures).  I was able to find a monthly volunteering opportunity thanks to a commenter who pointed me the right direction, so thank you!

Here’s me drinking the remaining bits of the 막국수 (I think that was the name):

Well, that’s it!  We had a wonderful day and I’m really glad I got to meet her.

Being directed by my favorite K-director (임권택) and starting my favorite K-actor (안성기), I absolutely had to watch Festival (축제).  It all revolves around a grandmother who passes away and the ceremony which follows.  Festival looks at what death means to those around the deceased and how they have influenced everything around them.  If you’re interested in Korean culture, this is a must see.  It serves a dual purpose of showing what a Korean funeral service looks like and the meaning surrounding it and the culture around the younger caring for the elderly.  It also briefly touches on how the modern culture is changing and the younger don’t care for the elderly as much as they used to.

Here’s a collection of clips I extracted dealing just with the funeral:

For those interested, here’s a website which explains a little about some more things.

This was my favorite song I found in the collection of North Korean music. I hear that the singer is actually currently in South Korea and I’m led to believe that this song was written and sung in South Korea due to the South Korean dialect found in it.  Enjoy! (sorry for the wma format)

첯 사랑 오빠 (The Man I First Loved)

첫사랑오빠 그리운오빠 꿈속에도 보고픈오빠
정든그품에 살며시안기여 사랑의노래 부르고싶어
내사랑오빠 나의그대여 잊지못할그리은오빠
추억속에 숨어버린 오빠를나는나는 못잊어
저하늘 그어데서오빠는 지금무엇을 할까
소리쳐 불러봐도 대답이없네 꿈에보고싶다오빠야
꿈에보고싶다오빠야 그리운 첫사랑
추억속에 숨어버린 첫사랑오빠 못오시나요

첫사랑오빠 나의그대여 잊지못할그리은오빠
추억속에 숨어버린 오빠를나는나는 못잊어
저하늘어디에서 나를 바라보고 있을까
아무를찾아봐도 보이지않네
힘내보고싶다오빠야 힘내보고싶다오빠야 그리운 첫사랑
추억속에 숨어버린 첫사랑오빠 못오시나요

Thanks to 아기싼타 for transcribing the lyrics!

For more North Korean music, check out this post.