THE KOREAN THE KOREAN WAVE AS VIEWED THROUGHWAVE THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES IN 2007 THE KOREAN WAVE AS As Viewed Through the Pages of The New York Times in 2007 THE KOREAN WAVE AS VIEWED THROUGH THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES IN 2007 THE KOREAN WAVE AS This booklet is a collection of 65 articles selected by Korean Cultural Service New York from articles on Korean culture by The New York Times in 2007. THE KOREAN THE KOREAN WAVE AS VIEWED THROUGHWAVE THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES IN 2007 THE KOREAN WAVE AS As Viewed Through the Pages of The New York Times in 2007 First edition, March 2008 Edited & published by Korean Cultural Service New York 460 Park Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022 Tel: 212 759 9550 Fax: 212 688 8640 Website: http://www.koreanculture.org E-mail: [email protected] Copyright©2008 by Korean Cultural Service New York All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recovering, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. From the New York Times © 2007 The New York Times All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the Material without express written permission is prohibited. Cover & text design by Jisook Byun Printing & binding by Karis Graphic Corp. Printed in New York Korean Cultural Service New York CONTENTS FOREWORD DANCE&THEATER The Korean Wave and American Views of Korea, Yesterday and Today 008 KO–ryO DANCE Theater 081 The Korean Wave: Last Year, Twenty–five Years Ago 012 A Contest for the World, Led by South Koreans 082 With Crews, And Zoos, A B–Boy World 084 MOVIES Jump 087 Tazza 017 FILM 018 FOOD It Came From the River, Hungry for Humans (Burp) 019 Koreans Share Their Secret for Chicken With a Crunch 089 Asian–American Theaters Plan New Festival 021 Heated Competition. Steaming Neighbors. This Is Frozen Yogurt? 092 Voice of a Murderer 022 Pancakes of the World, Dressed for Dinner 095 Drawing A Line From Movie To Murder 023 Rising Star Knows What, Not Who, Is Cooking 097 Festival Distinguished by Its Strong Actresses 025 E–Mo KIM BAB 099 Asian Cinema, Swimming in Crime and Cuteness 027 Korean Fire and Spice In Balance 100 An Immigrant Uprooted, A Teenager Cast Adrift 030 They’re All Through With Love, Yet Searching for More 031 LIFE STylE New YORK KOREAN FILM Festival 033 Traditional Korean Marriage Meets Match on the Internet 103 Welcome Pause for Breath in Telluride 034 As Women Rise, Corporate Korea Corks the Bottle 105 New Tactics Aim to Make Korean Film a Hit in the U.S. 036 South Koreans Connect Through Search Engine 108 A World Where an Antonioni Might Not Get a Distribution Deal 038 Shamanism Enjoys Revival in Techno–Savvy South Korea 110 Who Needs Plot When You’ve Got Dragons? 041 A House To Grow Into 113 A Portraitist Of a Subdued, Literary Korea 042 World Express 115 Victoria Lim, Peter Sheren 116 MUSIC A New Lifestyle in South Korea: First Weekends, and Now Brunch 117 Sensitivity and a Surprise For ‘La Traviata’ at the Met 045 South Korea, Where Boys Were Kings, Revalues Its Girls 120 Finding a Balance Between the Present and the Past 047 What the Left Hand Can Do, Hands in the Audience Applaud 049 &MORE Strong Expression, Delivered With Spirit and Teamwork 050 The Kids Are All Hype, and Hope 125 A Motley Group of Musicians In a Concerto of Contrasts 051 Park Feels Right at Home Among Sybase Leaders 127 Played ‘William Tell’? Yes They Did, Yes They Did, Yes They Did, Did, Did 052 Pak Inspires New Generation of Countrywomen 129 New York Philharmonic Is Invited to North Korea 053 The I.O.C. Should Pick the Welcoming Backyard 132 Another Movement Of Musical Diplomacy 054 Choi Finds Plenty of Success by Playing With Golf’s Greats 134 The Graphic Designers 136 FINE ART Faster Fashion, Cheaper Chic 137 Sun Koo Yuh 057 A Longtime Shepherd of Korean Fashion 140 An Art Gallery in the Lobby 058 To the Glee of South Korean Fans, A Game’s Sequel Is Announced 143 That Unruly, Serendipitous Show in Venice 061 SquarePants RoundTrip: SpongeBob’s Yearlong Ride to Atlantis, via Korea 145 CHILDREN OF DARKNESS 065 The Wizard of Whimsy 148 To See the World in Ballpoint Pen 069 Korean War 150 Korea’s Extraordinary Send–Offs for Ordinary People 071 Korean Artists Mix, and Nature Mingles 074 THE LIST OF 2007 The New York Times articles on Korean Culture 152 Asia Society Will Build a Contemporary Art Collection 076 A Gossamer Gate to Memory: All Who Enter Must Duck 078 Korean Art in Houston 079 eading about Korea in the pages of The New and geopolitical: the North Korean nuclear issue, the York Times in 1907, one would find an exotic U.S. military presence, and the Presidential election kingdom on the far fringes of America’s inter- in December were big stories. But what would have The Korean Wave and Rests. Russia and Japan had recently fought a war over shocked a reader from 1907 or 1957 was the attention Korea, and the victorious Japanese had established a paid to stories about culture, in many different forms, Protectorate in Seoul, soon to be a colonial govern- both culture in Korea and Korean culture in America. American Views of Korea, ment. The Chinese Empire had for centuries consid- From films to sports, food to fine arts, fashion to video ered Korea an intimate part of its political and cultural games, Korea in 2007 was not just a distant object of sphere of influence, but China was caught up in its geopolitical interest but part of the cultural landscape Yesterday and Today own imminent disintegration. The news from Korea in America, and in New York in particular. was of foreign abandonment and domestic turmoil. By Charles K. Armstrong Music and movies were the most common subject of The Korean government dispatched a special envoy Korea–related cultural reportage in 2007. Koreans have to the international court at the Hague to plead for long been recognized for their talent for classical mu- Korea’s independence, only to be rebuffed; Emperor sic, and are disproportionately represented among the Kojong was forced to abdicate under Japanese pres- top soloists and orchestras in the U.S., Europe, indeed sure; the Japanese military was busy putting down all over the world. Many of The New York Times music a Korean insurgency and demanding total control stories covered Korean musicians performing Western over Korean affairs. The New York Times condemned classical music in New York. The first Korea–related Japan’s “obliteration of the Kingdom of Korea” (July music story in January featured two Korean singers 28), but America showed little interest in actively com- playing the leading roles in the Metropolitan Opera ing to Korea’s defense. production of La Traviata, the tenor Wookyung Kim Fifty years later, the U.S. was very much involved with and soprano Hei–kyung Hong. At the end of the year, Korea. In 1957 the Korean War, in which 54,000 the announcement that the New York Philharmonic American lives had been lost, was just four years in would perform in Pyongyang in early 2008 dominat- the past. South Korea was an American ally recovering ed both the front pages and the cultural sections of from the devastation of that conflict, still deeply de- The New York Times. pendent on American economic assistance. The U.S. If stories about music tended to deal with Koreans and the Soviet Union debated the “Korean Question” playing Western classical music, stories about film in the United Nations; Syngman Rhee presided over were very much about Korean movies. For several years a war–ravaged but pro–U.S. Republic of Korea; the Korean films have been a hot commodity among film Korean situation appeared to be stabilizing, but for critics and aficionados in the U.S., and especially in Americans, ominous signs of trouble loomed in the New York, arguably the epicenter of art–film apprecia- former French colony of Vietnam. tion in America (with all due respect to Hollywood). Foreign intervention, domestic intrigue, dependency, New York has hosted a Korean film festival since war and rumors of war characterized American report- 2002. Several new Korean films in 2007 were criti- age on Korea in 1907 and 1957. Politics was ubiquitous, cally acclaimed in the pages of the Times. When it but culture was nowhere to be seen. Coverage of Korea comes to movies, New York — and the U.S. in general in The New York Times in 2007 was very different. — were part of the worldwide phenomenon that has FOREWORD To be sure, there was plenty of politics, both domestic been called the “Korean Wave.” Charles K. Armstrong is the Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences and the Director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University. A specialist in the modern history of Korea and East Asia, Professor Armstrong has published several books on contemporary Korea, including most recently The Koreas (Routledge, 2007). 9 Foreword The Korean Wave and American Views of Korea, Yesterday and Today ne of the most unexpected developments in the region: China can more easily accept Korean any Korean films have been hits among in Korea’s globalization at the turn of the pop culture than Japanese, for example, because of American film critics in recent years.