Saturday, December 31, 2016

Korea Tour : Hwacheon Ice Fishing Festival

Hwacheon County will run free shuttle buses to attract foreign tourists to its flagship ice fishing festival that begins on Jan. 7. The festival will continue through Jan. 29.
 


The buses will take people between three locations in Seoul -- in front of the Dongwha Duty Free Shop in Gwanghwamun, Exit No.2 of subway station "Hongil Univ" and Exit No.8 of subway station "Euljiro 1(il)-ga" - and the venue for the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival in Gangwon Province.




 
Buses will depart from the locations in Seoul at 8 a.m. and arrive at the festival venue around 10 a.m. On their return, the buses will drop passengers at Seoul's Yongsan Station.
 


The county is taking reservations through www.gogogangwon.com or www.winterfriend.com. The shuttle bus service is open exclusively to foreign passport holders.
 
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival is one of South Korea's most popular winter festivals and attracts more than a million people a year.
 
For more information, visit http://www.narafestival.com/ice_eng/?lang=eng.
 
 

 

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Korea Tour : Korean Medical Wave

 
Korean medical technology is widely expanding its contribution and influence throughout international society. Korea transformed itself from a "learner" to a "frontrunner" in the area of advanced health technologies.
 


An increasing number of foreign patients, who suffer from tough diseases that are hardly curable in their local hospitals at home, visit Korea for cancer treatment, rehabilitation, transplants and other treatments. In many cases, these patients get their health completely restored and gleefully return back home with new hope in life.




 
Despite worldwide low growth, the global medical industry is projected to grow by 5.2 percent every year until 2020 (compared to 3.1 percent for automobile and 0.9 percent for IT). However, a few advanced countries have a grip on the international healthcare market. With its high technology and reasonable price in medical services, Korea is competing for more shares in the global market along with other Asian countries and emerging nations.
 


The comprehensive plan is under way now, which presents major policy directions under the vision "Korean medical wave to the world as a global healthcare leader."
 
First, for an export of "K-Medi Package" to the global market, the Korean government will actively engage in international bids for healthcare entities and support the international expansion of relevant industries, such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, and traditional medicine.
 


Second, in order to facilitate the influx of medical tourists to Korea, the Korean government will encourage the development of products converging medicine and tourism, and enhance the credibility and convenience of inbound patients. A wide variety of collaborated products integrating medicine, tourism, the MICE (meeting, incentive tour, convention, and exhibition) industry and the travel industry will be offered to foreign patients. In order to reassure these international patients in visiting Korea, the government will improve the medical service environment by assessing and designating healthcare providers, controlling commission fees, and cracking down on illegal brokers.
 
Recently, Korea's global healthcare industry has achieved a rapid quantitative growth in a very short period of time. Now is the time to strengthen international competitiveness and credibility of Korean medicine by improving the quality of overseas expansion projects and attraction of foreign patients on the solid institutional foundation.
 


On the other hand, the dissemination of Korean medicine across the globe will contribute to the domestic economy and job creation. And the government will play a more significant role in overcoming diseases and promoting the health of the world population. Hopefully, the year 2017 will serve as another stepping stone for the Korean medical wave to sweep the global healthcare market.
 

Monday, December 26, 2016

Korea Tour : Record 17 million visitors to Korea in 2016.

 
The 17 millionth visitor to Korea this year is to be welcomed at Gimpo International Airport today on December, 27th, 2016.

 
The previous record was 14.2 million in 2014.
 

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) in coordination with the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) will celebrate the person at Gimpo International Airport at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

<


 
MCST Minister Cho Yoon-sun will also give a flower necklace to the 17 millionth visitor.
 
KTO, the Visit Korea Committee, the Korea Airport Corporation and the airline carrying the visitor also plan to give welcome gifts.
 
The record is a 31.2 percent increase from the last year, when the number of visitors fell 6.8 percent in 2015 due to Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
 


A MCST official said that the groundbreaking record of 17 million is a drastic 1.5 times increase from 2012 when Korea hit its first 10 million foreign travelers.
 
He also added that for Korea's tourism to take a leap forward, the government and the tourism industry must work together to develop tourism content in addition to improving the quality of the tourism industry.
 

Korea Tour : Haejangguk, beyond the Hangover

 
 
It would be an understatement to say that Korean food is heavily based on soups and stews. Soup is a great way to stretch a meal so many could be fed cost consciously and to also make the most of modest ingredients and parts of meats that may not translate well into other dishes. In the food world today, what was considered food for “commoners” is now celebrated by an industry that has somehow taken a while to glorify the cheaper less desirable dishes already enjoyed and known by many.

Dried Pollack Haejangguk
 
Korean food beyond Korea is a more mainstream version of the classic dishes. Domestically, however, the authentic versions may sometimes be unrecognizable, as with the dish haejangguk, a robust soup with ingredients ranging from blood pudding to the simple bean sprout, and varied in style to test the limits of one’s appetite. 





Known for it’s heavy drinking culture, hangover cures have become mythical in Korea. Haejangguk is a culinary remedy, but today it can be enjoyed at any time for its warming and hearty savory flavor that fills and soothes the body and soul.
 
In Korea it is hard to find a restaurant that can balance a clean and relaxing ambience, pleasant service, and authentic Korean food. Koreans often eat their Korean food at home and only venture out for specialties better enjoyed by those who can deliver with an expertise.

 Bean Sprout Haejangguk

At Jungang Haejangguk in Daechi-dong it is where you will find exactly that. In a modern space with a flavorful hanwoo version of haejangguk, as well as other classic meat dishes, Jungang Haejangguk is en pointe in bringing together a comfortable dining experience.
 

Cow Bone Haejangguk 

Owned by a family with a background in the meat business for over 30 years, and a patriarch who has passionately perfected his own Haejangguk recipe for decades at home, Jungang’s rendition is all that you want from this meat laden soup filled to the rim with high quality ingredients such as cow stomach and seonji, also known as blood pudding, the mandatory siraegi, reconstituted radish greens, and a deep refreshing broth made from ox bones and other beef cuts simmered for 5 hours no less. Jungang Haejangguk can be appreciated by those who want fine quality meat dishes, as it exceeds through its superior ingredients and lovingly made high standard.
 

Korea Tour : Epitome of Silla’s Divine Buddhist Art

Bulguksa Temple: Architectural Realization of the Buddha Land
 
While Seokguram’s sculptural works expressed the unfathomable meaning in the Buddha’s awakening, Bulguksa temple aimed to create an architectural realization of the Buddha’s teachings in the present world. The construction of the temple also began in 751, half way up the west side of Mt. Toham in accordance with the wishes of Kim Dae-seong, and was completed in 774. The grotto shrine was to honor Kim’s parents in his previous life, and the temple was for his parents in the present life.


An imposing complex of wooden shrines and stone pagodas built upon decorative stone terraces, Bulguksa expressed the wish of the Silla people that their kingdom would become the blissful land of the Buddha. Hence it was named the “Temple of Buddha Land.”




 
The cloistered sanctuary is divided into three main courtyards, each containing a worship hall: the Hall of the Great Hero, or Daeungjeon, dedicated to the Historic Buddha; the Hall of Vairocana, or Birojeon, dedicated to the Buddha of Great Illumination; and the Paradise Hall, or Geungnakjeon, dedicated to Amitabha, the Buddha of the Western Paradise. These three areas stand for the Impure Land of Sakyamuni Buddha, the Lotus Land of Vairocana, and the Pure Land Paradise of Amitabha, respectively.
 


The elevated sanctuary stands on a series of beautiful stone terraces stretching 100 meters across the front facade. The terraces are built with carefully dressed granite slabs and natural stones of various sizes, achieving a pleasant harmony of rhythmic compositions. Along with the temple’s two famous pagodas, the Sakyamuni Pagoda (Seokgatap) and the Pagoda of Many Treasures (Dabotap), the terraces and stairs attest to the prominent skills of Silla masons, who adroitly handled solid granite.
 


The temple compounds on the terraces symbolize the world of Buddhas, while the ground down below symbolizes the world of humans. Stone stairways, named “bridges,” on two levels connect the two worlds. One set of stairways has the Bridge of the Blue Cloud (Cheongungyo) and the Bridge of the White Cloud (Baegungyo). The other has the Bridge of Lotus Flowers (Yeonhwagyo) and the Bridge of Seven Treasures (Chilbogyo). Beneath the staircases today are traces of a stone bed, all that remains of a lotus pond that drew its contents from the water flowing down from Mt. Toham.
 


All of the temple’s original wooden structures, comprising some 2,000 kan, or bays, were burnt down during the Japanese Invasions of 1592-1598. Only stone objects, including the terraces, stairs, pagodas and lanterns, and gilt-bronze Buddha images, survived the disaster. The temple was only partially reconstructed after the war and never regained its old splendor. Thanks to the extensive excavation and rehabilitation undertaken from 1969 to 1973, the temple achieved its present state, which still falls far short of its original scale. Various halls and cloisters were rebuilt at this time. They include the Hall of No Discourse (Museoljeon), the Hall of Vairocana (Birojeon) and the Hall of Avalokitesvara (Gwaneumjeon).
 
The main courtyard has the nation’s most famed pair of pagodas - the Pagoda of Many Treasures (Dabotap) and the Sakyamuni Pagoda (Seokgatap), standing 10.34 meters and 10.63 meters high, respectively, in front of the main worship hall. Most temples built during the Unified Silla period (676-935) have two stone pagodas with identical shapes rising side by side before the main hall. Whoever designed Bulguksa attempted a radical experiment by erecting two pagodas in dramatically different shapes, one next to the other and it was a resounding success.
 


The Sakyamuni Pagoda is noted for its princely dignity and simplicity, while the Pagoda of Many Treasures is unmatched for its ornate decorative style. The former is a prototype of Korean stone pagodas, a handsome three-story structure erected on a two-tiered foundation, while the latter resembles an elaborate wooden pavilion lavishly adorned with sculpted ornaments. Their arrangement was inspired by the legend that when Sakyamuni preached the Lotus Sutra on the Vulture Peak, the pagoda of Prabhutaratna, the Buddha of Myriad Jewels, emerged from the ground to praise his sermon. Thus the pagodas’ original names are the “Pagoda of Permanent Sermon by Sakyamuni Buddha” (Seokga yeorae sangju seolbeop tap), and the “Pagoda of Permanent Witness by the Buddha of Myriad Jewels” (Dabo yeorae sangju jeungmyeong tap).
 
Various precious treasures were found inside the Sakyamuni Pagoda during repair work in 1966. They included a paper scroll of the Pure Light Dharani Sutra, presumably printed in the eighth century. The scroll, 6.7 meters wide and 6.2 centimeters long, is the world’s oldest material printed by woodblock.
 


The arts reflect the times. A century after the Silla achieved the unification of Three Kingdoms through long military conflicts, Silla was enjoying its golden age in the mid-eighth century. The cultural flowering of Silla culminated in its two brilliant achievements - Seokguram and Bulguksa, which stand out as ingenious works of Buddhist art and architecture with few peers in all of Asia.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Korea Tour : Two Masterpieces of Silla’s Divine Buddhist Art 

The two most prominent sites of Gyeongju, Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple, achieved UNESCO’s highly coveted inscription in 1995.

Seokguram Grotto : World of Eternity beyond the Human Realm
Overlooking the East Sea beyond mountain ridges from the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula, Seokguram lies 565 meters above sea level near the summit of Mt. Toham. The cave chapel was originally built as a hermitage affiliated with a temple named Seokbulsa in accordance with the wishes of Kim Dae-seong, a state councilor during the reign of King Gyeongdeok of Silla. Its construction began in 751 and was completed in 774 under the reign of King Hyegong. The temple became dilapidated due to poor management in modern times but the hermitage has survived with its sublime beauty and profound religious symbolism.
 


Seokguram literally means “stone cave hermitage.” Unlike most other ancient cave temples in Asia, which were formed by nature or dug into hillsides and carved on rocks, Seokguram is a man-made grotto built of some 360 granite pieces and covered with earth. Cave shrines originated in India and became popular in the Dunhuang and Yungang regions of China before reaching Korea, where they attained a new level of development.




 
The interior of Seokguram consists of a circular main chamber, or rear chamber, with a dome ceiling, a rectangular antechamber and a corridor connecting the two chambers. The floor design reflects the ancient view of the universe that heaven was round and earth was square. It is reminiscent of the ancient burial mounds of the Silla royalty with a square front and round back, which are also known as keyhole-shaped tombs.


The undisputed centerpiece of Seokguram is the majestic Buddha in the circular main hall. A serene but powerful image epitomizing the aestheticism of Korean Buddhist sculpture, it envisages Sakyamuni, the Historic Buddha, at the moment he achieved enlightenment overcoming all obstacles and temptations. The 3.5-meter-high Buddha is seated cross-legged on a lotus throne placed slightly toward the back from the center of the main rotunda, granting more space in front of him. He wears a faint, all-knowing smile with half-closed eyes in deep meditation. With a beautifully proportioned body and a robe with expressive fluid folds, the Buddha has his left hand in dhyanamudra, or the mudra of concentration, with the palm facing upward near the abdomen, and his right hand in bhumisparsamudra, or the earth-touching mudra, extended straight downward to call the earth as witness to his victory over the demon king Mara.


 A large granite roundel adorned with lotus petals around the rim is set on the wall about one meter apart behind the Buddha, creating the illusion of an aureole around his head. This nimbus is uniquely separated from the Buddha. When worshippers at the foot of the Buddha look up, they can see a perfect circle formed by lotus petals with those petals on the upper part of the roundel appearing larger than the petals near the bottom.



The main rotunda has a dome ceiling of intricately assembled square stone blocks, a wonder to modern architecture. As in all other parts of the grotto, no mortar was used. The stones are held together by stone rivets, which protrude to make the ceiling surface uneven, creating the illusion of depth in an attempt to emulate the vastness of cosmic space.
A round granite plate decorated with lotus petals caps the domed ceiling, but cracks divide the capstone into three pieces. According to Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), a 13th-century source written by the monk historian Iryeon, the stone suddenly broke into three when the cave was about to be completed. Kim Dae-seong wept bitterly and fell asleep with his clothes on. During the night, gods descended from heaven and restored the stone to its original condition. Legend aside, Seokguram has been known as an incredible work of art finished with the assistance of unworldly powers transcending the realm of humans.
 
The circular main hall is connected by a corridor to a rectangular ante-chamber, which has bas-relief images of the Eight Guardian Deities, four on each of the two side walls. Two fierce Vajrapanis stand vigil on either side of the entrance to the passageway leading into the main hall. The Four Heavenly Kings are carved on the two walls of the corridor, two on each side.
 


The main Buddha is surrounded by three bodhisattvas, ten arhats and two Hindu gods carved in high relief on the wall of the rotunda. A graceful image of the Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara stands immediately behind the Buddha, with five arhats, or the disciples of the Buddha, lined up on each side. Next to the arhats stands Manjusri, the representation of divine wisdom, and his companion Samantabhadra. Next to these popular bodhisattvas are the two famous Indian devas, Brahma and Indra. There are ten niches above these images, each holding miniature statues of bodhisattvas, saints and faithfuls, all gathered to hear the Buddha’s words.
 
When it was built, an impressive pantheon of 40 divinities, including the Historic Buddha, occupied Seokguram, but only 38 images remain today. Two bodhisattva statuettes in the niches on the wall of the main chamber disappeared during the colonial period in the early 20th century. So did an exquisite five-story marble pagoda which stood in front of the Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara at the back of the Buddha.
 
Silla was the last of the ancient Korean Three Kingdoms to receive Buddhism but its people were intent on turning their entire territory into the blissful land of the Buddha. They believed they would be able to attain Buddhahood through the worship of the divine Buddha images. Seokguram owes its sublime beauty not only to the devout religious faith of the people of Silla but also to their artistic and scientific prowess, and engineering expertise.
 
In its original state, the ancient grotto chapel was an architectural masterpiece equipped with perfect self-conservation capabilities, such as natural ventilation, lighting, and temperature and humidity control. Paradoxically, modern science has fallen short of maintaining Seokguram’s self-preservation capacity not to mention its original structure and appearance.
 
After long, dark years under the Confucian-oriented Joseon Dynasty, which suppressed Buddhism, the mountain grotto underwent a few rounds of repair work in the 20th century. During the colonial period (1910-1945), the Japanese completely dismantled and reassembled the grotto, which resulted in severe mistakes. Drainage pipes were buried under the cave to allow groundwater to flow out. The chilly groundwater flowing underneath, however, had helped to control the temperature and humidity inside the cave to prevent dew formation. Even worse, the entire cave was encased with cement, leading to water leaks and the erosion of the sculptures because the cave could no longer “breathe.” Later in the 1960s, the Korean government covered the concrete mass with waterproof asphalt, but water continued to leak and dew formed. Eventually, the problem of temperature and humidity control was resolved with mechanical devices.
 
The wooden superstructure built over the antechamber in the 1960s remains another mystery. The glass negatives of 1912-1913 which were recently disclosed do not have such a structure at the entrance. Instead, they show one of the Eight Guardian Deities in the antechamber, which stands nearest to the entrance on either side, faces Vajrapani, the holder of the thunderbolt scepter.
 

These recent changes aside, the grotto shrine is a proud testimony to Korea’s brilliant tradition of classical Buddhist sculpture. The main Buddha, in particular, is widely adored as an enigmatic combination of masculine strength and feminine beauty, a personification of divine and human natures. The Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara draws no less admiration for its charming beauty depicted by a masterly hand. Each of the other bodhisattvas, arhats, the Four Heavenly Kings and the Vajrapanis also exhibit unique characteristics and high standards of artistic excellence.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Korea Tour : Foreign ownership of land increase by 1.7%

 
 
Foreigners own 232 square kilometers of land in South Korea as of the end of June, 2016 or 0.2 percent of the country's total land area, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) reported on December, 23rd, 2016.
 


Compared to last December, the size of foreigner-owned land went up 4 square kilometers, or 1.7 percent, but its total value dropped 310 billion won to 32.3 trillion won ($26.9 billion).




 
China's Anbang Insurance Group played a major part in the increase of foreign ownership as it took over 2.5 square kilometers of land initially owned by its newly-acquired Korean unit, Tong Yang Life Insurance.

 

Broken down by nationality, Americans owned the most land at 51 percent followed by Europeans with 9.2 percent, Japanese with 8.1 percent and Chinese with 7.2 percent.
Korea Tour

A majority of the foreign owners were ethnic Koreans with foreign nationalities or joint ventures between Korean and offshore companies.





 
Foreigners own land mostly in Gyeonggi Province with 38.4 square kilometers, closely followed by South Jeolla Province with 38 square kilometers and North Gyeongsang Province with 34.8 square kilometers.
 
Meantime, foreign investors held just 2.7 square kilometers of land in Seoul.
 
"Land in Seoul is so expensive and not much of it is up for sale. By contrast, the surrounding Gyeonggi Province is spacious and much of its land is available," an MLIT official said.
 
It is noted that  foreign ownership of land on Jeju Island, the country's southernmost province, went down by 218,000 square meters during the January to June period, the first decrease since 2002 when the government started to compile related data.
 


Over the past years, Chinese have snapped up land on Jeju Island the scenic tourist attraction where they can stay for up to 30 days without a visa en masse which led to an abrupt appreciation of property prices there.
Korea Tour
 


The size of Chinese-owned land in Jeju plunged by around 510,000 square meters during the first half of the year as resentment by Jeju residents sprang up against the Chinese shopping spree for land.
 
However, amongst foreign investors, Chinese owned the largest amount of land on Jeju Island at 41.9 percent followed by Americans with 18.1 percent and Japanese with 11.6 percent, accounting for 1.1 percent of its total area.
 

Friday, December 23, 2016

Korea Tour : Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes (4)



Seongsan Sunrise Peak Tuff Cone: A Key to Understand Hydrovolcanic Eruptions


Parasitic cones distributed all over Jeju Island are diverse in shape. Most of them are cinder cones, formed by an eruption from the ground. The volcanic products spewed out from a volcano, fell to the ground and accumulated in the form of rock fragments with numerous dark or reddish holes, called cinders or scoria.
 


Some other cones are composed of tuff, a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash formed by magma-water eruptions, which occur when molten magma comes into contact with sea water or ground water. Parasitic cones composed of tuff have two types: Firstly, tuff cones have elevated crater floors and steep sides, and secondly, tuff rings look like low hills with gentle slopes since they have a relatively small amount of tuff accumulated around a large crater.



 
Seongsan Sunrise Peak (179 meters above sea level), protruding from the coastline of Jeju Island at its eastern tip, is a typical hydromagmatic volcano created between 120,000 and 50,000 years ago by an underwater eruption from a shallow seabed. As the name Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak) implies, sunrise viewed from here is a truly magnificent sight.

 
The crater, 570 meters in diameter and 90 meters deep, has steep slopes. The tuff cone has an impressive appearance reminiscent of a castle or a colossal crown, and its bowl-shaped crater has preserved its original form intact. The crater’s three sides except for the northwestern portion have been eroded by waves and reveal the inner layers of the volcano, serving as an important resource for geological studies on ancient volcanic activities.

 
Seongsan Sunrise Peak was originally an island, but the repeated deposit of sand and sediments has created a 500-meter-wide sand bar that runs for a 1.5-kilometer stretch to connect the peak to the main land of Jeju Island.
Apart from the sites mentioned above, the volcanic land forms of Jeju Island include Mt. Songak, a monogenetic double volcano consisting of an outer tuff ring and an inner cinder cone, which shows how marine eruptions transform into land eruptions. Additionally, Mt. Sanbang is an example of a lava dome, built by viscous lava that piled up around the vent forming the mountain-like dome.
Jeju Island is the only place in the world that displays such a wide variety of volcanic landforms in such a small area of land, serving as a virtual volcano museum.

 


In Jeju Island, various types of volcanic landforms, a wide range of climate conditions and the resulting ecology, and the island’s indigenous culture are unfolded in a relatively small and confined space in unique and beautiful harmony. This harmony, the result of a new order created from a concoction of natural, ecological and cultural features, is what makes Jeju Island so special. Specifically, the island’s natural environments are of great importance as scientific, cultural, industrial, and tourism resources, and its numerous parasitic cones and lava tubes have immense research value for studies on global volcanic activities.