MWST 2.0 arrives at its sixth stop in South Korea

The Magallanes World Study Tour 2.0 (MWST 2.0) reached its penultimate stop at Station 6- South Korea on 14 November 2022. The study tour was held via Zoom and Facebook Live.

UTAR teamed up with South Korea's Jeonbuk National University to deliver a talk titled "Hanok, Korean Traditional Culture". Representing Jeonbuk National University to present the talk at the virtual event was Office of International Affairs Coordinator HyoJae Lee, who focused on Hanok and other aspects of Korean culture.   

MWST 2.0’s sixth station kicked off with HyoJae briefly explaining the Korean Wave. “Korean Wave has made big hits globally, especially in the 21^st century, and it has played the biggest part in popularising Korean culture. The aspects of the Korean Wave include K-pop, K-drama and K-movies, all of which have become a sensation in the digital age,” he said and added, “There had been three types of Korean Wave; 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. The first is the advent of the Korean wave, which focuses more on visual content, while the second wave was its diffusion, which emphasised on Korean idols. Meanwhile, the third and the current waves focus on diversity and the Korean culture.”

While sharing South Korea’s UNESCO World Heritage cultures, HyoJae highlighted several notable ones. “There are many UNESCO Cultural Heritages in Korea, one of which is Pansori. It is a type of Korean traditional singing where many people gather around to listen and have fun. To preserve Pansori as one of Korea’s living national treasures, the Korean government has taken measures to recognise and register Pansori performers. Another Korean cultural heritage is Falconry, the art of hunting wild animals using a trained bird of prey, specifically, the falcon. Falconry practitioners would use their falcons to catch animals like pheasants and rabbits. It has been a long-standing culture since the three kingdoms era,” said HyoJae.

Speaking of other Korean cultural heritage, he said, “Most people know about the food, Kimchi, but not many are aware of the process behind making it called Gimjang. The traditional method of preparing and preserving Kimchi, which is a laborious task, is shared by friends and family. Unfortunately, it is slowly fading away, as many people would prefer to buy pre-packaged kimchi nowadays since it is convenient. Another cultural heritage is the Haenyeo or ‘Female Divers’. These women, who usually originate from Jeju Island, go into the sea without any oxygen supply to collect seafood such as abalone, sea cucumbers and seaweed. Haenyeos are important as they contribute to the prosperity of the village by securing a common income through joint farming and harvesting of seafood, not to mention, their methods are environmentally friendly as they do not use any oxygen supply.”

The talk reached its climax with Hyojae explaining about Hanok, which refers to traditional Korean architectures. “There are two types of Hanok, which are Chogajib or Thatched Houses, and the Giwajib or Tile-Roofed Houses. There are several features of the Hanok, one of which is called Ondol, an underfloor traditional heating system. There is also Maru, a plank laid with a space between the rooms which is usually used in summer, and Cheoma, the part of the roof that protrudes a little further than the wall. Lastly is Dancheong, which refers to Korean traditional decorative colouring on wooden buildings and artefacts,” said HyoJae. He also introduced several famous Hanok architectures, such as Gyeongbokgung Palace, Blue House, Hanok Village and Jeonju Hanok Village.

The talk ended with Q&A and group photo sessions.