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When cultural reporter Judith Kampfner isn't reporting on New York's rich arts scene for WNYC, she's trotting the globe, covering stories from far-flung destinations. Judith's latest dispatch comes to us from South Korea, where she's attending the 2003 International Festival of Women in Music Seoul. In advance of a series of features for WNYC, Judith is filing a daily Weblog from the capital city of Seoul. Read on for Judith's observations on Korean culture, history, and society.

Sunday, April 13

Street musicians in Insadong, a bustling art gallery and antiques district in Seoul.

A welcome change came in the form of a shopping trip to Insadong, known for its crafts. There are some tourists here today, almost the first time I have seen any. Streets on a Sunday afternoon are closed to traffic, very much a time and place for promenading with the family. Drums are set out for some kind of entertainment but there are a group of very enthusiastic young people doing what looks like a medieval jig with pipe and drum. Street vendors are everywhere, and there's a cheerful sweet-maker in white apron who sings as he works, and a man who beats passers-by with a brush (it's supposed to invigorate after a sauna). One of my favorite stores specializes in hand-made paper, and it's an agony to decide which tiny prints to unravel from long rolls. Another tea shop upstairs, seemingly far from the bustling crowd below, with thick shutters, candles, toasted rice cakes.

In the evening, I'm sitting cross-legged on the floor in a villa once owned by a famous calligrapher, but now it's a restaurant. You can be completely secluded from the other diners with your party in its own little building. It's a feast of many truly splendid dishes – Korean food can be superb. But a dish with thin strips of meat appears, and my host, a journalist, suddenly says that many people think Korea has a savage culture because they eat dog. But he stresses that they do not eat "petting dogs." He says he and his friends love to eat dog in the summer, it's good for vitality, like eel. His wife, who's English is weak, looks at him angrily – she never eats dog. I politely swallow hard and fast and try not to think about the little hooded outfit I’ve just bought for my pug (just like the ones in the stores I photographed on Day One). Not wanting to continue this conversation, I dive into a description of another cultural event I've been to which seems savage to outsiders – a day with the bulls at Pamplona.

A man beats passers-by with a brush, used to invigorate oneself after a sauna.

The meal doesn’t lose its edge for me; it's a fine last supper for me in Korea. The journalist's wife turns out to be the captain of the Korean national women's basketball team. She says that when they play the Japanese, they always set out to be doubly aggressive and determined to win. We talk about the bitter rivalry between the soccer teams when they co-hosted the World Cup in 2002 and Korea performed brilliantly to take fourth place in the tournament. When I tell them about the two young Japanese men who look after the comfort women at their shared home, they question the motives and sincerity of the boys: one of the boys had confided in me that his grandfather was an officer in the Japanese army and he had found his diary in which he mentions comfort women. So is guilt a sincere and honorable motive? They ask me, of course, when I am coming again to Korea and naturally they want to know whether I like their country. I can truthfully, honestly, say that I do love it, but it’s hard not to sound gushy.

A street vendor in the Insadong shopping district.

Seoul Searching has led to one conclusion: That this is a very neglected destination; it is wonderfully easy to negotiate; it is happy, modern, and yet a fiercely proud and culturally rich city. It's what the French call jolie laide – beautiful and ugly at the same time. The mountains give the city definition, like good bone structure – but the River Han is dull and dirty. It’s not a physically imposing city which is part of its attraction. There's an innocence and a feeling of order and purpose. But there's also underlying fear here. My hosts at dinner ask whether we in America really are worried about North Korea attacking South Korea, whether we know just how many of their nuclear missiles are aimed at Seoul and other South Korean cities with only one aimed elsewhere, at Japan.

Seoul is a Confucian city with a complicated future.

Read Judith's Previous Blog Entries:
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Friday, April 11, 2003
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Monday, April 7, 2003

Additional Resources:
War and Forgiveness a one-hour documentary from WNYC, Soundprint and Radio Netherlands
Lonely Planet Guide to Seoul
CNN Special Report: The Two Koreas