Gangwon Artist Triennial 2022 is being held from the 29th of last month to November 7th (Mon).

A total of 250 works were exhibited under the theme of “Mountain More Than Sagong.”

Gangwon Artist Triennial 2022 made the place that used to be an idle space a part of the artwork

It is a Gangwon-do-type Nomadic Visual Arts Festival that tours the area where Gangwon-do events are held every three years with the aim of becoming an art park across Gangwon-do. For three years, three events are held every year: Gangwon Writer, Kids, and International Triennial, and each event is held every three years, so the name Triennial is used.

The theme of Gangwon Artist Triennial 2022, the first year event in Pyeongchang, is “More Mountains than Sagong.

” It means that Pyeongchang, nature, daily life, art, and local residents all have their own mountains, and they are already one mountain, and the mountains of all social workers gather to form a “highland of art, Pyeongchang.” Sagong here means the subject of the event, not the negative meaning used in everyday life.

In addition to this, it is an event of social workers made with the will and affection of various local organizations and local residents.

The six spaces that make up the exhibition are daily spaces used by local residents. Gangwon-do’s unique story is filled in the discovered and re-recognized idle space to welcome visitors.

In addition, this year, the first Rush Art Fair will be presented at the Gangwon Artist Triennial 2022 in cooperation with the British handmade cosmetics brand Rush Korea (CEO Woo Mi-ryeong).

Under the theme of “No Prejudice in Art,” Rush Art Fair will display works by artists with developmental disabilities on a national tour.

In addition, the “Guardian of the Forest” product of Rush Body Spray was sprayed in each exhibition hall, allowing visitors to see the exhibition while smelling the scent as if they were walking in the forest. Not only the sight but also the sense of smell made it possible to feel art closer.

Korean winter sports speed skating star (Sanghwa) and Japanese star (Nao Kodaira) were rivals in the world championships and the Olympics, but they are showing off their strong friendship to support and encourage each other. They have different nationalities, but at the crossroads of injury and retirement, the two continued to warm up once again at the PyeongChang Olympics and this Beijing Winter Olympics, and they could see their sincerity with hot tears. And as long as it’s ambiguous.We also look forward to this politically in our relationship.

Prime Minister Kim Bu-kyum said on the 22nd about Korea-Japan relations, “I hope it will serve as an opportunity to resolve the Korea-Japan relationship that was blocked when Japanese Prime Minister Kishida and Foreign Minister Hayashi were present.”

When asked at a meeting of the Seoul Foreign Journalists Club held at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea’s Prime Minister Kim replied, “Prime Minister Kishida and Hayashi are politicians who value friendly and good relations among Northeast Asian countries.”

Prime Minister Kim also said, “The two countries acknowledge that there are much more things that they have cooperated with, leaving different positions, and I think there are many issues for politicians at the time to talk together,” adding, “We need some symbolic measures that can trust each other and understand.”

Citing the late Lee Soo-hyun, who died while saving Japanese in the past, and the recent case of “Lee Sang-hwa-Kodaira” at the Beijing Winter Olympics speed skating, he said, “The next generation of Korea has shown that they can be trusted friends with each other. “Politicians should not widen the gap between the citizens of both countries for their political reasons,” he stressed.

Prime Minister Kim Bu-kyum said on the 22nd about Korea-Japan relations, “I hope it will serve as an opportunity to resolve the Korea-Japan relationship that was blocked when Japanese Prime Minister Kishida and Foreign Minister Hayashi were present.”

When asked at a meeting of the Seoul Foreign Journalists Club held at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, Prime Minister Kim replied, “Prime Minister Kishida and Foreign Minister Hayashi are politicians who value friendly and good relations among Northeast Asian countries.”

Prime Minister Kim also said, “The two countries acknowledge that there are much more things that they have cooperated with, leaving different positions, and I think there are many issues for politicians at the time to talk together,” adding, “We need some symbolic measures that can trust each other and understand.”

Citing the late Lee Soo-hyun, who died while saving Japanese in the past, and the recent case of “Lee Sang-hwa-Kodaira” at the Beijing Winter Olympics speed skating, he said, “The next generation of Korea has shown that they can be trusted friends with each other. “Politicians should not widen the gap between the citizens of both countries for their political reasons,” he stressed.

“I have a lot of regrets about the current situation in Korea-Japan relations,” he said. Prime Minister Kim said, “Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1965, we have shared the values of human rights, democracy, and market economy over the past decades.

We have grown together into a responsible country in Northeast Asia. “Past history issues, court decisions related to this,

Problems such as trade conflicts between Korea and Japan are homeworks that must be solved for the long-term future of Korea-Japan relations, he said.

“The end-of-war declaration will be the best momentum to resolve the deadlock on the Korean Peninsula and resume various talks,” he said. “It is because it shows the will of the parties to end hostilities and promote mutual trust to denuclearize and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.” “Our government will do its best to create the conditions until the end,” he said. Regarding inter-Korean relations, he said, “I think there have been great achievements and regrets.” Prime Minister Kim said, “I think it is an unimaginable step for North Korea’s top leader to come to the international community to hold summits with the U.S. president several times and meet between the two Koreas,” adding, “There have been disagreements over the roadmap of denuclearization, but I think these difficulties are part of the Korean Peninsula.”

“South Korea and the United States are blood alliances,” he stressed. As confirmed at the Korea-U.S. summit in May, the Korea-U.S. alliance has been upgraded beyond military alliances to comprehensive and reciprocal alliances, including economic and technological alliances, Prime Minister Kim said. “South Korea and the U.S. will respect each other’s positions in various international relations and strive for peace in Northeast Asia.”

He also said, “South Korea and China are neighboring countries that mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year and are ‘strategic cooperation partners’.” Prime Minister Kim said, “China is Korea’s largest trading partner and has been with us for a long time in Northeast Asia,” and added, “Geographically, it is the ‘nearest neighbor’ and in many ways, ‘partner who cannot leave each other’.” Prime Minister Kim said, “There have been many ups and downs between Korea and China, but fundamental trust and cooperation with each other have not been shaken,” adding, “Even if there are temporary difficulties, I think the relationship between the two countries will develop further in the future.”

Mike Choi

Asia Journal

Due to political differences and conflicts, the Korea Peninsula has been divided since 1945. Not just in Korea, but geo-political conflicts have been happening all over the world. For as long as we can remember, our world has been in conflict.These conflicts and acts of hatred have deep roots in human history. Even today, we have countries at war, we see acts of racial discrimination, and we find it difficult to coexist in harmony. We are far from a perfect and peaceful world. However, the world is slowly but surely turning a new leaf. Instead of disputing over our differences, the world is learning to celebrate them instead. Recently, we’ve seen the two separated Koreas demonstrate acts of coexistence and reconciliation.The 2018 PyeongChang Olympics was a monumental moment as North and South Korea, once again, appeared as one unified nation on a global stage.The city of PyeongChang has become a landmark and symbol for global peace and to this day, the city continues to promote peace and unity.

Opening Ceremony of PyeongChang International Peace Film Festival (PIFF)

From the 17th to the 22nd of June, the PyeongChang International Peace Film Festival (PIPFF) held their 3rd annual festival. The PIPFF continues the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics’ mission of promoting international peace through films. Topics regarding unification, coexistence, understanding the value of peace, geopolitical issues, etc, were covered. This year, 78 films from 26 countries were presented. Unfortunately, many directors were not able to attend the festival in person due to the pandemic. But, another successful event was able to take place due to everyone’s cooperation and mindfulness to the safety measures. On the final day of the festival, LA Time Asia Journal’s K-UNIV reporter had the chance to interview 3 of the directors.

Director Haesup Shin of ‘Comrade Anna’

Haesup Shin, a Swiss-Korean director born and raised in Switzerland, was the first to be interviewed. This year, Shin brought his film. “Comrade Anna,” to the PIPFF. The heartwarming film is set in Switzerland and follows the encounter of a South Korean-Swiss child named Anna and a North Korean man. The two share a wholesome connection as the movie unfolds into a fairy tale-like story. The film touches on social issues that are relevant today such as the racial prejudice against asians.

“I wondered what it would be like to look at North Korea with the pure eyes of a child who has yet to have political opinion and knowledge.”

Shin pitched the movie with the intention of showing a pure perspective on North Korea and North Koreans. In modern media, there are countless depictions of North Korea and their people. However, many of these depictions are portrayed with prejudice. Shin wanted to humanize the image by telling the story through the perspective of a child.

Director Suh-Young Park of ‘Soonyoung’

Suh-Young Park was the director of the film, Soonyoung. Soonyoung is a film that follows a woman in her late 30s who spent the past 2 decades taking care of her sick parents. After her parent’s passing, the rest of her family turns their back on her and she is forced to overcome countless obstacles. Throughout the story, she meets new people and finds solutions to her hardships. The viewers are able to spectate her late emergence to the real world.

When asked what inspired her to create such a melancholic film, Park stated,”It’s a little embarrassing to say this, but my inspiration starts with the people around me. I write scenarios based on what is happening in the real world… The story Soonyoung started off as my aunt’s story. I wanted to show a story of a brave woman.”

Park likes to capture the emotion and atmosphere of a scene through the facial expressions of the characters in the scene. Her attention to detail in this aspect allows her style as a director to stand out

Director Ju-Seung Lee of ‘Mast’

True to the host nation’s pledge to make the events a “culture Olympics and Paralympics,” 600 culture-related programs have taken place or are slated to occur during the Paralympic Games in Gangwon Province, to end Sunday.

South Korea boasts a rich culture embedded within its more than 4,000 year history, which PyeongChang is eager to share with visitors from abroad.

The experience commences from the very doorsteps of Gangwon Province, in Jinbu Station where a traveler stepping off the KTX comes across various art and virtual reality exhibitions and other programs that operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Throughout the Winter Games, 42,000 people have accessed the programs.

Step deeper into the province, and you will find other events that invites you to experience the country’s deep culture.

Inside one of the exhibition halls at the PyeongChang Olympic Plaza in Daegwallyeong-myeon, Gangwon Province. (Yoon Min-sik/The Korea Herald)

Must-see venues

PyeongChang Olympic Stadium remains closed until the Paralympics closing ceremony this Sunday, but the Olympic Plaza that holds the venue has plenty of features to enjoy.

Traditional Korean Pavilion holds performances of traditional Korean gukak music, gurus and demonstrations on other time-honored art in Korea. Even on days without performances, visitors can observe paintings exhibited inside the traditional hanok.

Avid fans of Korea’s modern art will be excited to come across the works of Paik Nam-june, Lee Gyeong and Lyu Jae-ha at the Culture-ICT Pavilion. “Light PyeongChang,” is a three-part exhibition that holds works by these artists, including “Project Mapping” by Lyu and collaboration by Lee and Paik.

Paik’s most noted works like “Turtle” and “M-200” are also present at the venue.

ICT Pavilion is more than just art. The second floor of the building holds exhibitions of cutting-edge 5G technology and various virtual reality programs, including one that simulates a bobsledding experience.

Another eye-catching feature involves a pair of robot fish, which visitors can control in a game of virtual hockey. Sixteen robot fish can be found across the Olympic venues, along with 19 other robots, including 10 guide robots, two vacuuming robots and two waiter robots.

Hallyu content is available at the nearby Live Pavilion, which holds hologram concerts of top K-pop stars and other virtual reality programs.

The entrance fee for the Olympic Plaza is 2,000 won. The venue is located in Daegwallyeong-myeon, PyeongChang-gun, Gangwon Province.

One of the most popular events at the Gangneung Olympic Park is “The Great Journey of Bandabi,” held every day at 3 p.m. Sixty people take part in the parade led by the mascot of the Paralympic Games, Bandabi, partner to the Olympic Games’ Soohorang.

Busking, street dance and other performances take place at the park, and a line of customers typically forms outside PyeongChang Super Store that sells related merchandise.

The entrance fee for the park is also 2,000 won per person.

For more information on culture programs presented by the organizing committee of the Paralympics, visit www.pyeongchang2018.com/ko/culture/index.

The Traditional Culture Pavilion & Traditional Culture Plaza in the PyeongChang Olympic Plaza in Daegwallyeong-myeon, Gangwon Province. (Yoon Min-sik/The Korea Herald)

Events, eateries across province

Dagewallyeong Snow Festival ended with the Olympics in late February, but the nearby RE2018 exhibition hall is hosting the “All Together Art Exhibition” through Sunday. Twelve artists across the province are presenting their work, which can be viewed free of charge.

Those wishing to visit can do so from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the last entry at 5:30 p.m. To get there, take one of the shuttles operated by the Paralympic organizing committee and get off at the PyeongChang Olympic Plaza stop. It is a 1.1-kilometer walk from there.

Potato Flower Studio in PyeongChang-eup is also holding an exhibition of works by 20 artists from 16 countries.

PyeongChang Olympic Market, a traditional market in the region, is somewhere visitors can taste food made with buckwheat flour, which are specialty in Gangwon Province.

Buckwheat, or “memil” in Korean, is considered a must-eat dish in the region. The town of Bongpyeong is famous for dishes made with Buckwheat flour, a reputation boosted when celebrated writer Lee Hyo-suk — born in Bongpyeong — wrote the novel “When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom.”

On Saturday, “Bongpyeong-Jang” — meaning Bongpyeong marketplace — opens in Bongpyeong and features memil noodles, memil bread and much more to make the visit worthwhile.

An exhibition hall dedicated to Lee is also near the marketplace, and street performances mixing traditional and modern music also take place.

Soft tofu and potato dough soup are among the dishes one must try in a visit to Gangwon Province. The province is the largest producer of potatoes in Korea, so much that the nickname for people from the province is “Gamja-bau,” or “people from the town of potatoes.”

For more information on must-try delicacies in the region, see khnews.kheraldm.com/view.php?ud=20180205000219.

The culture-sharing experience does not end with the Paralympics.

As part of efforts to promote Korea’s traditional culture to the outside world, the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation on March 22 and March 29 will hold madang nori performances at the Pungryu folk theater at the Training Center for Important Intangible Cultural Properties in Seoul.

Madang nori, which literally means “play in the backyard,” are traditional Korean comedy plays with masked actors, music and dancing. It was a main pastime for common folk in ancient Korean kingdoms.

Each performance is held at 7:30 p.m., and lasts for 90 minutes. The shows are available to visitors aged 8 and up, and the entrance is 5,000 won. For information on tickets, visit https://booking.naver.com/booking/12/bizes/148839 or call (02) 3011-2178.

But beyond the performances, the best experience can be to mingle with locals and experience what they call “jeong.” The closest translation is “affection,” but the word also implies the tendency to be nice, friendly to others — regardless of their relation to you — and the sense of being welcomed and cared for even in the company of strangers.

For foreign visitors, the festivities of the Paralympics may be a chance to be plunge into the deeply rooted culture of jeong that the country has boasted for years.

By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)

From November last year to April, the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is slated to hold 26 international events.

Test events are in full swing this month, with the venues in PyeongChang and the neighboring city of Gangneung having hosted the Cross-country and Nordic combined World Cups and International Skating Union Single Distance Speed Skating Championships.

Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre in Pyeongchang (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)

These events, however, also presented potential challenges for hosting thousands of tourists in a region where the two main host cities, PyeongChang and Gangneung, only have populations of some 44,000 and 217,000, respectively.

Traffic and accommodations are the primary issues.

One of the events to commemorate the upcoming games, the Gyeongpo World Fireworks Festival held in Gangneung last weekend, managed to attract 150,000 visitors. But most of them were jam-packed into narrow roads made even narrower by illegally parked cars.

It was reported that while the main venue on the beach was open to those with tickets, nearly half of the seats were empty.

Other issues raised by local media include the lack of dining options. The eateries near the games venues offer almost exclusively Korean food. As of early February, no Western-style restaurants — or non-Asian restaurants — could be found near the stadiums in PyeongChang.

Although organizers said participants of the recent test event had not complained about this — as food was provided for them at a hotel — they admitted this could be an issue for those who come to watch the games.

“There will be many international tourists, and it is true that the restaurants and accommodations are in short supply. I believe this will be dealt with before the Olympic Games,” said Kim Hee-sun of the POCOG.

Sung Baik-you, the spokesperson of the POCOG, said the new high-speed rail services connecting Seoul and PyeongChang — slated to be operational by the end of the year — will make up for the lack of hotels.

Even if tourists stay in Seoul, the transportation within PyeongChang remains problematic. The four-lane road leading to the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies is one of the wider roads in the county, but it is not able to serve thousands of visitors at once.

Moreover, there is a lack of parking space around the venues.

“Visitors will not be able to park near the arenas. … The area around the venues will be regulated,” said Kim.

This measure is to minimize traffic congestion around the venues, she explained, but this also means visitors will be confined to shuttle buses when travelling to and from arenas.

Another issue was the lack of directions in foreign languages, particularly on parking and ticketing in the arenas.

The organizers said the year leading up to the opening ceremony will allow them to fix whatever shortcomings the test events have shown.

According to Kim, the POCOG plans to address the traffic problem by operating what the organizers call a “transportation hub.” They will create … several large parking areas that will be placed adjacent to the arenas, from where shuttle buses to the venues will operate.

During the World Curling Federation competition, which begins Thursday, the organizers will hold a trial operation of the transportation hub near Gyeongpo lake.

“We admit that there are areas that need work. We will check to find what these are and make sure that the appropriate measures are taken before the Olympic Games,” Kim said.