Trouble at a Gwangju church.

From UCANEWS:

During the July 26 Mass in Imdong Cathedral in Gwangju (Kwangju), presided over by Archbishop Andreas Choi Chang-mou and 15 other concelebrants, some of the 400-strong congregation shouted as the priest involved, Father Raymundus Shin Dong-sul, recited a prayer.

The protestors accuse their former parish priest of misappropriating some 250 million won (US$200,000) since 2001. Father Shin was transferred to another parish in 2007 and made archdiocesan procurator in 2008.

In his message at the end of the Mass, archdiocesan chancellor Father Chrysostomus Kim Kye-hong said the Mass was intended by the archbishop to be an act of "reconciliation" between the priest and his accusers.

. . .

However, halfway, through his message, protesters turned off his microphone and the lights in the building. Others walked out of the cathedral and later argued with Archbishop Choi and the Mass concelebrants as they tried to leave.

Said a member of the parish pastoral council:

"We as Catholics well know we should not disturb a Mass. But it was spontaneous as we were very disappointed and angry at the archbishop who has tried to conceal the truth," one of them told UCA News.

Some pictures from 임동성당 from Prime Gyeongje (1, 2)

Gwangju says "Say Kimchi!"

Gwangju recently unveiled its promotional material for the upcoming Gwangju Kimchi Culture Festival (광주김치문화축제). I'll have more on that next month, but I just wanted to say that, holy shit, it looks like a Korean organization actually came up with a catchy, appropriate English-language slogan.



"Kimchi" is what people often say before taking a picture of somone, because it opens the mouth into a smile.



I've occassionally heard people say "cheese," but in Korean 치즈 will force the mouth into something that looks and sounds like angels dying.

It's simple, easy to remember, easy to pronounce by both Koreans and foreigners, and it's fun.

Some old theaters in Gwangju.

I ended up visiting Gwangju Theater last week to check out a film in the Japanese Independent Film Festival from July 8th through the 22nd.

I took some pictures of the interior but they turned out poorly so I'll just save them for myself. It opened in 1934, making it the oldest theater in operation in Gwangju. It's worth a visit, not only because it's old and neat, but because they show all kinds of foreign movies. I ended up seeing Aruitemo aruitemo (Still Walking), staring Hiroshi Abe and Yui Natsukawa of the show "The Man Who Can't Get Married," now playing as a Korean remake "결혼못하는남자."

The theater itself is quite large, at five stories. There is only one screen, and two levels of seats. Naver says the capacity is 856, though there were fewer than 10 people in the theater at the time.

Walking around town that day brought me across other old theaters. I was killing time in an Angel in Us coffee shop when I noticed across the street the shell of the 신동아극장. It's on one of the main streets in downtown Gwangju, but I had never noticed the sign before because the side of the building is usually obscured by its neighbor.



The first two floors are currently occupied by an ABC Mart. The last film to be shown at the theater was 2004's "Anatomy of Hell" (지옥의 체험), and though the sign says it's not a porn film, Wikipedia does tell me that it's part of a "list of mainstream films with unsimulated sex."








Here's "Max Theater," known in Korean as 현대극장. It opened in the 1950s and closed in 2002.





Looking through the windows. There was a newspaper on the counter.

In an earlier post I also mentioned the 태평극장, which opened in 1957. I walked past it many times---it was on the corner near Migliore---and the last movie poster up was for Blade 3. When I passed it last fall it was gone, and remains to this day a parking lot.



Like I said in that entry on "Movie theaters in Gwangju," a local paper did a series last year on the city's old theaters. The easiest way to find them is to visit the 광주드림 website and search for "영화가 흐르던 자리."

I'll also mention that I used to keep track of movie listings for theaters in Gwangju and Suncheon because there were no resources available in English. However, the urls constantly change, making it really difficult to maintain the listings. Sometimes it's impossible to link directly to particular theater information. Your best bet will be to use "Korea Movie Times."

In other Gwangju news, there's a relatively new Arab restaurant that opened downtown. Gwangju is not only the Mecca of Kimchi Research, but indeed the Mecca of Arabs.

Lotus Industry Festival of Korea: August 6th - 9th.

Pop-up from the Muan county tourism website.

The Lotus Industry Festival will be held in Muan county (무안연꽃축제) from August 6th through the 9th. I'm impressed that the papers have written previews of it, so I'll just direct you there. From the Times:

Hoesan White Lotus Habitat in Ilro-eup, Muan-gun, South Jeolla Province, is the largest of its kind in Asia, stretching over an area of 330,000 square meters and a circumference of 3 kilometers. The habitat was originally a reservoir for farming water during the Japanese colonial era (1910-45). It became home to white lotuses in 1997 following a lotus festival.

The blossoms began to grow here in the 1950s, after a neighboring villager planted a dozen or so seeds. That night, the villager is said to have dreamt of 12 white cranes resembling the fair lotuses and took great care of them.

The habitat features walkways that enable visitors to stroll through the flowers, and a 280-meter-long bridge provides a view of the place. In addition to white lotuses, the habitat houses some 30 kinds of lotuses and 50-odd types of flora, and is often visited for biological studies.

From the Herald:

Along and across the white lotus field is a wooden esplanade. Adding a cute touch are small statues of the characters from "Demetan Croaker, The Boy Frog" hidden among the high lotus plants. Although the animation is Japanese, they bring great sense of nostalgia among Koreans who grew up watching it.

One thing to note, however, is that it would be hard to see all the white flowers bloom at the same time, as they tend to flower sporadically, unlike the pink-colored lotus flowers that bloom all at once.

At the end of the pathway is a glass greenhouse and on the first floor is a cafeteria selling various lotus teas, as well as an exhibition of water lilies.

Another fun experience is to go on a small white boat to go around the pond that takes about 30 minutes. Up to four people can get on the boat to go along the 500-meter long route.

Since last year, the annual lotus festival has taken a new turn, by highlighting the industrious benefits of the plants.

The rest of the Herald article does have a quite a bit more about what to do and where to eat. It also says that a local specialty is lotus beer. There's some information on the official Muan tourism site, but not much, and a little about last year's from the Korea Tourism Organization.

There was a lotus festival in Buyeo---the county, not the exclamation---this month, but it's over. Regarding other local festivals, the Gangjin Celadon Festival will be on from the 8th through the 16th.

Mokpo Maritime Culture Festival: July 31st through August 4th.

The Maritime Culture Festival (목포해양문화축제) is coming to Mokpo's Hadang from the 31st through August 4th.



It will be held at and around the Peace Park (평화공원). You can view the program, in Korean, here. Highlights include the multimedia fireworks show on the 31st from 10:30 to 11:00. It should be noted the website directs you to the "Logo Song" (here as .mp3). It's a rap.

There will be a shuttle bus from Peace Park from 1 p.m., with two courses: one to the port, one toward the Culture Center. All in all, looks pretty neat. Those living in or visiting Mokpo might be interested in "Museum Road," or might like to wander around the city, which Robert Koehler of The Marmot's Hole called "an outdoor museum of colonial Korea" in this excellent post. Also take a look at his piece in Seoul Selection, starting at page 77.

Did you get your free coffee at Starbucks yesterday?

I'm a pretty impatient person, and unless it's for an opportunity to punch Brett Favre, I don't think you'd catch me in a line this long.



To celebrate Starbucks' 10 years in Korea, they offered free coffee at their stores here between 10 and 11 yesterday. Martin Coles, President of Starbucks Coffee International, was in Seoul for the occassion.





(1, 2, 3)

The Korea Herald has something this evening; an excerpt:

Coles said that Starbucks Corp. started offering food choices like oatmeal and yogurt made with natural ingredients to reflect health and wellness in the United States, noting that this strategy will be widened at its Korea operations. He noted that plans are under way to launch fruit-based smoothies in Korea.

When the coffee giant began its official operations in Asia's fourth-largest economy on July 27, 1999, it triggered a whole new concept of coffee consumption by introducing premium take-out coffee that it had commercialized and led as a trend in Western countries. Now, Starbucks Corp. is aggressively fighting to maintain its global position as a leader in the premium coffee market by creating innovative products and marketing strategies.

The latest attempt at leading another new global trend is the Starbucks Via Ready Brew. Dorothy Kim, senior vice president of global strategy for Starbucks Coffee Co., told reporters yesterday that the new product is aimed at providing the Starbucks experience in "an instant."

There are 299 Starbucks in Korea, but only 4 down here, all in Gwangju, so I almost never go there. Those of you who are regulars, what's your take on it? While I think people working in Western chains in Korea are generally friendlier than the ones we have to tolerate back home, the service is sometimes suspect, which makes me wonder how closely the home offices are observing what goes on over here. The last time I was in Starbucks---in Seoul---the barista exhibited the oft-seen Korean habit of filling the cup only two-thirds of the way. But I rarely get drip coffee at one of these coffee shops because I can make it at home. Besides, unless I have a real craving I can't justify paying 3,000 to 5,000 won for a cup of coffee that's too often stale because so few people order it. The Starbucks in downtown Gwangju is often prohibitively crowded, so I choose one of the fifty-six others in Chungjangno.

Starbucks was rated #1 in Korea by a group in Taiwan, with Dunkin Donuts and The Coffee Bean coming in second and third, for whatever that's worth. Dunkin Donuts has been in Korea since 1994, and as of February there are 635 locations. Naver currently says 690, but I'm not going to go through and look for errors or duplicates. The Coffee Bean has been around since 2000 and has 179 locations.

I posted more on this, but cut it out for the sake of brevity, and because I have a headache. I'll leave you with a 2006 Joongang Ilbo look at the history of Korean cafes.

* Update: Okay, one more link, this one about the trouble brewing *cough* in Myeong-dong back in 2005:

Starbucks Korea said that it closed its Myeong-dong outlet because the building’s owner asked for more than double in rent, an amount the company wouldn’t disclose. The patch of land that the Myeong-dong Starbucks sits on is the most expensive piece of real estate in Korea.
“We originally had a five-year contract and so we had to renew our lease with the owner of the building, but we weren’t about to pay more than double than what we were already paying. Although the store is in a prime location, we do business strictly on its profitability, so we decided to move to another place,” a Starbucks Korea official said.

* Update 2: Oh, what the heck, I'll repost this video. I don't have any problem with Starbucks the company---and enjoyed reading through Pour Your Heart Into It---and I like the good stories I've heard about how their employees are treated. As somebody who spent a while in the "food service industry" I can appreciate this man's perspective:

Some cool videos from a trip to Korea.

These have been getting some attention on Dave's recently.

A friend of mine just traveled to Korea (to visit me), and made a very artistic video of it all. I watched it, and was moved by it... it really made me miss the place, and realize that it is quite interesting in a way we tend to overlook after living there for a while... a place which opens up your eyes a little, to a totally different, yet familiar world...

Thanks to "brento1138"; here's the first part:

Let me invite you to travel Korea with me by first stealing you from the city lights to enjoy a strange and different pace underground. The subway was my friend and my enemy.

Parts two

Within Korean cities I saw neighborhoods of neon and markets of fish. Everyone on the subway is using an electronic device. Children snack on squid. We also visited Tokyo, and looking out from Roppongi Hills we were not able to tell if the city ever ended or if it continued across the entire surface of the planet.

and three

Seoul's residential architecture is unbelievable. To the horizon stretches an ocean of identical concrete boxes. Seeing it made me reflect on the endless sea of Koreans; as a Vancouverite, it is shocking to see a country filled with only one race. You will find uniformity is in Korean living conditions, fashion and actions.

Be sure to click through to rank the videos or leave a comment.

Oh, then there's of course the "Soju Boy" parody of Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat Soulja Boy" Chris in South Korea found. Really? On a recruiter's website? Anyway, I know from time to time there are UCC contests (UCC콘테스트) held by the tourism organization and by other groups, so anybody producing videos about Korea might want to keep their eyes open.

And, finally, it's summer, so as fine a time as any to post this. I can't keep a straight face for the whole thing.



They came around here yesterday, at 7:45 in the goddamn morning.

Korea Tourism Organization looking for editor.

Late notice, I just saw this, but the official Korea tourism website is looking for a native English-speaking editor. The editor will work out of the KTO office in Seoul, and after a two-week trial period, a one-year, full-time contract will commence. The application deadline is July 31st.

It's that time of the week.

It's Tuesday, which means my weekly installment is in the Joongang Ilbo. It was kept out for two weeks, so that episode of "Chat with the Beauties" isn't so timely anymore. But, better three weeks late than never, right?

That these women would use this opportunity to smear other foreigners and perpetuate nasty stereotypes, on national television no less, demonstrates why the show is called Chatting Beauties and not “Chatting Brains.”

3 teachers with swine flu force cancellation of Jeollanam-do English camp.

A summer English camp scheduled next month in Wando county has been cancelled after three of the native speaker English teachers tested positive for swine flu. Other video reports via MBN, Yonhap, and SBS.

No details out yet about who they are or where they came from, but in June we learned that college students from the US would be teaching at English camps in Jeollanam-do again this summer. Those teachers arrived in Korea on July 19th and were undergoing a week-long orientation.

More curry pizza commercials.

Two new commercials from Mr. Pizza to show how exotic their Curry Curry Pizza is. This first one is a longer version of the original commercial that came out last month. This time it explains that the star is the "Curry Prince," who came from India to try curry pizza in Korea.



And this one has some Koreans in it, including Park Bo-young, a celebrity I don't know.



There are two curry pizzas, Curry Curry Chicken and Curry Curry Fish. I don't know about you, but I can't find out any more about these two items because of the page's encoding.

Commenter Breda Blog said the original one is her least-favorite commercial, and fattycat and WeikuBoy were moved by this Baskin Robbins one.



Indeed, that does make me want to die, but not as much as this one from Won Cashing (원캐싱):

I think they forgot a "we" in there.

Here's a coffee shop that opened in Suncheon's Jorye-dong recently.



Anticipating kushibo's response I went in and asked the guy behind the counter what the name meant. He asked me if I knew what homebred food was---I said yes but I lied---and he said it's like that for coffee. Whatever. The cafe itself is all right, and the guy working the counter was friendly. I was going to take some pictures of the interior, but when I got my camera out a couple chose, out of all chairs in the empty shop, the table right the hell in front of me.

Wonder Girls played Pittsburgh on Saturday, did one song.

The Wonder Girls were in Pennsylvania last week, doing two shows in Philadelphia and one in Pittsburgh. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette review of the Jonas Brothers' July 25th concert:

From the Jonas Brothers?

A bit grown up, but other than that, moms and daughters got a lively and very wholesome night of entertainment from these Jersey boys, not to mention Sparks, South Korean girl group Wonder Girls (for one song) and the harder-rocking quartet Honor Society.

One song? That's the only mention I found of them in the Pittsburgh media, and I found only one mention in the paper of their trip to Philly:

The Jonases even have their own farm team - the Jonas Group, which squeezes acts such as openers Honor Society into the Jonas mold, although the postcoital imagery of "See U in the Dark" doesn't exactly fit their mentors' squeaky-clean image. They also put the spotlight, briefly, on the South Asian girl group Wonder Girls, whose one-song performance failed to make much of an impression.

South Asian, South Korean, same-same. Well, they seem to really be hitting "Nobody" hard. From manager JYP's twitter page

Come learn the Nobody dance by the girls! Verizon Bus-Pittsburgh,Mellon Arena @ 4:30 C u there(No tickets required!might cancel if it rains)

. . .

11:27 AM Jul 25th from web Learn the Nobody dance by the Wonder Girls! Verizon Bus -Wachovia Center(Philadelphia)@4:30 (No tickets required!might cancel if it rains)

. . .

10:26 AM Jul 24th from web Come learn the Nobody dance by the Wonder Girls! Verizon Bus -Wachovia Center(Philadelphia) @ 4:30 C u all there!(no tickets required!)

One of those sessions was uploaded to Youtube.

Rainy month in Gwangju, too.

A little while ago I found some pictures of Gwangju Stream (광주천) swollen from the rain, and when I was downtown for something else I walked over to see how things looked a few days later.

First I just tried to find before-after pictures on the internet, but couldn't find any of the bridge you'll see in the news photographs. I think that's because I was looking in the wrong direction; though I'd been to the stream many times, it wasn't until last week that I noticed it flows southeast to northwest into the Yeongsan River. I assumed it flowed in the opposite direction, so I was looking at the opposite end of Yangdong Market on the map. Anyway, here's what turned up in the papers on the 16th (1, 2, 3, 4, 5):







Those were taken from the north side of Yangdong Market. Here's what I took last Monday and Tuesday. Blogging is very time-consuming, and photo posts take the longest to put together, hence the long delay. I took two days' worth of pictures because when I came back on Monday night I noticed the ones I took didn't match up well against what was in the paper, so I tried again on Tuesday. Unfortunately for me, it rained a lot on Monday night, bringing the river up a little. However, you can still appreciate how high the stream was, considering it's usually little more than a creek.







The parking lot and sidewalk under the market is one of the creepier places in the city. On Monday there were still large puddles and signs of the swollen river.









The next few pictures are of the flooded area we saw in those first pictures.






On Monday I took a few pictures from the middle of the stream by walking across the slabs that are there for pedestrians. On Tuesday, though, that was impossible.



A few more pictures in my Flickr gallery. I also walked around Yangdong Market for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. I also found some information about unqualified, low-quality domesticated animals that the Ministry of Justice might be interested in.