The Legend "TaeWangSaShinGi" and an afternote

Last year, a historic and historical drama called "TaeWangSaShinGi" was broadcasted in success.
The drama called Legend, gained a great deal of popularity over both Korea and Japan. First, it starred the internationally famous star Bae Yong Joon.
Korea's famous star "Bae Yong Joon" starred in this drama as the main character who later becomes Great King Kwanggaeto, who drew a significant line to Goguryeo's history.
Besides, the other characters acted so well and lively that the drama seemed so real and funny.
Every scene is incredible for they put a lot of money into it, the drama looks so real.

The plot is based on the life of the Great King Kwanggaeto, who expanded Korean territory to the far North, to where it is now China. He is also known as Damduk.
Damduk, who never would have imagined he would later become king, lived happily with his father. Then, oneday, four gaurdians of King woke up and both the good side and the bad side began to search for the 4 sacred objects.


In his teenage, Damduk becomes the king of Koguryo and depite many attacks from his enemies, he finds his way through such tough times with the help of his friends. With his intelligenece, Kwanggaeto king rules his nation so well and expands the territory to the extent of the South of China. He and his enemies from the North fought to obtain the 4 sacred objects because according to a legend a king who possesses the 4 objects will have the complete power to rule the world.

During Damduk's life he met "Sujini" and "Giah", the two sisters. He fell for "Giah" first and she gave birth to Damduk's son who will later become the king JangSoo. Then, when "Giah" had turned her back on Daumduk because she thought that he abandoned her, Damduk meets this "Sujini" who later finds out that she was the younger sister of "Giah". Those two women share the power of Fire. And the two women and other three men called "HyunGo" who possesses the power of Water, "Jumuchi" the guardian of Wind and "Cheoro" the gurdian of Rain are the guardians of king. They fight for Dumduk sacrificing themselves to protect him.


The handsome Great King Kwanggaeto in his youth(teenage)


Bae Yong Joon, acting 10's in his 30's...






Sujini. Who later falls in love with King Kwanggaeto. Her parents were killed by the HwaChun. She was raised by "HyunMu". He was her guru. She is very funny, easy going and quite... alcoholic. Yet, she fights well along with other male fighters and contributes a lot to Damduk's plan.









Giah. Damduk's first ever crush. She is the sister of Sujini but she doesn't know the fact until her very end. She turns to bad side after she thinks that her lover Kwanggaeto abandoned her.




The Guardians of King.

On the left is Sujini, the second to left is "Cheoro"


On the left is "HyunGo" and to his next is "Jumuchi" who nearly died for saving Damduk.








This men is the enemy of Damduk. Because he thinks that Damduk killed her mother with a poison, he hates Damduk so much and intends to kill him. His name is "Yeon Ho gae". Then, he finds that he loves "Giah" and feel anger for he also notices that "Giah" loves Damduk.






On the left is HwaChun's leader who controls Giah 'til the very end.
Hwachun is a secret, dark organization who have waited for the 4 guardians to wake up and get hold of the 4 objects in order to take the power to rule the world.
With his dark intelligence and magic, he tries to stop Damduk obtaining the objects and guardians.
He also separates Giah from Damduk .



This is "YeonGaRyo" the father of "YeonHoGae".

"YeonGaRyo" who is the noted noble of Goguryeo, abondons his country and king to make his son become the king. Because of his guilt, he poisons himself and dies.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This drama is one of the best damas I've ever seen. It still is in my mind even a year have passed since its last broadcast. I think that many Koreans and Japanese enjoyed the drama because the drama covers the Great King Kwanggaeto we've never that well known before. Also, this drama not only focuses on his accomplishments but also his humanity.

I really hope that a leader just like Damduk, who knows how to rule the country well, has a strong leadership and tenderness in him at the same time. Who listens to other people's opinions and tries to help his opponents if his people are in danger.

In the time when the cyber democracy is very active and the current president being attacked for every little bits of mistake, we need a strong, but considerate ruler and also very helpful and understanding companies and citizens around him.

My city, Ilsan

Living in Ilsan for 10 years now, I want to introduce Ilsan to the world for its features and culture. Ilsan is the disctrict of Goyang, the satellite city of Seoul. In Korean, Il means "one" and san means a "mountain" so all together, Ilsan means "a mountain" and this is because there really is a only one mountain in Ilsan which is called "JungBal Mountain"! Ilsan was established in 1996 as a environmental friendly area. The Lake Park below, is an institution of Ilsan. It was man-made, and it has such a grand, peaceful lake and round park around it so people can walk around the lake through the parkway.





The man-made lake is the instution of Ilsan.

















Peaceful and calm...








This is one of the parkway, and walking through here I feel fresh and renewed. There is a small park for people's health by stimulating the sole of the foot. In there, there are millions of rocks in several different shapes and colors. In Asia, there is this theory that the sole of the foot is connected to every aspects of body health. So, every different part is related to some kind of health problems, thus by stimulating the foot our health problem will be solved.








The autumn in Lake Park!





Then, in the corner of the Lake Park is a famous water fountain!!!
Yet, it is not an ordinary fountain at all, actually, this fountain sings!!!
This fountain is called Singing Fountain. It was built in 2004 and it beams beautiful lights and pumps water with the music.
Plus, no admission fees required, you can just sit on the ground and observe such wonderful scenery and music:-) It usually plays at night, every weekends.
One of the best songs I've heard from this fountain is the OST of animation Aladdin, "A Whole New World".







What a lovely fountain!
Lights everywhere!!!























This place is called "Lafesta". Festa meaning feast in Italien, Lafesta is 365 days festival!!
It held music concerts every wednesday and in special holidays such as Christmas, Easter Day, Thanksgivings day and New Year's Day, there are a lot of sales and events. In lafesta, there are tens of shopping stores, restaurants, game centers and a movie theater. This place is really the conglomerate of all amusement centers. People come here and they buy, they play and they eat and rest.
Living in Ilsan for almost 10 years, I must say that Ilsan is such an ideal place to live. It has many facilities and the culture here is awesome. There are many museums and even opera house and music hall. A year ago, the MBC, one of the famous and popular broadcasting station was built so it is the conglomerate of culture. I can enjoy all kinds of culture here in Ilsan and with the Lake Park and the citizens' autonomous effort, environment in Ilsan is better than any cities. The roads are filled with huge trees and bushes and the sky is as clear as crystal.
To me, Ilsan is so beautiful that I want as many people to share my city. Despite Seoul is the capital of Korea and therefore is the center of Korea, I want to suggest visiting Ilsan and enjoy our culture, environment and amusement:-)
I just love my city and hope it continues to be what it is now!!!

Weight Lifting Princess Fiona, Jang Mi Ran



Besides Marine Boy Park Tae Hwan, there is the princess Fiona in Wight Lifting
and her name is Jang Mi Ran!!!

She won a lot of national and international weight lifting contests, but unfortunately she never won any medals until this 2008 Beijing Olympics!!!

She not only won a gold medal but also set the world record!

Jang Mi Ran, who started Weight Lifting since her childhood, didn't want to devote her life to doing sports at all at first.
Her father, former weight lifting athlete, forced her and her little sister. From then on, Jang Mi Ran has dedicated herself to weight lifting, winning many contests.

Jang Mi Ran said in her interview that her nickname is Princess Fiona, the character in movie Shrek. She may look fat and ugly outside, but inside her she has great personality and persistence.












These are the pictures taken in the Beijing Olympics when she set the world record and granted the gold medals!!!

plus, she was selected as one of the 5 good- body-shaped athletes by the famous magazine, NewYork Times!!! I think she deserves such claims and applause from people for she put her effort in weight lifting and did not give up. She not only brought national pride to Korea but also touched many Koreans' heart.

Our Marine Boy, Park Tae Hwan!!

Gold Medals, Atheletic glory, national pride...Just a month ago, There was a Beijing Olympics held in China!
There were many heroes
Some athletics won, and some failed
However, there were no loser in the Olympics for they all prepared years for the worldly event!
I want to celebrate every athletics and this time I want to share our Marine Boy, Park Tae Hwans' glory of winning gold medal at one of the matches!!!!

So, this is the swimming hero, Park Tae Hwan!
He was famous even before the Olympics took place.
He won tens of swimming contests before the Olympics and thus, there were high expectations which would have somehow been a buren for him.
There were Michael Phelps, Grant Hackett from Australia, Janglin from China
who matched with him until the end.
Our marine boy won the gold medal at freestyle swimming 400m. He is the first Korean ever to win medals. Therefore he is so famous and there are many fans of his.

I'm just glad he did a good job, his effort not being worthless, and made Korea proud!

The Iron Age




Just like the first story I have posted, the Iron Age of Korea cannot be explained
without the story of Tangun King!!


So I'll quickly go over to that.


Tangun was the first king of Korea for he established Ancient Joseon.
The history books states that Tangun ruled his empire for 1500 years and then became a mountain wizard and lived for extra 408 years which totals 1908 years!


The reason why he is so famous and loved is that he was the first Korean to establish a nation based on humanitarianism!!!

Humanitarianism means that to make people more comfortable and peaceful and he really achieved such ideal. He ruled his nation greatly and we feel that he is the person we should take as a role model. To make peace and comfort. (At least, that's what I think...)




These swords are a bit different from those of the Bronze Age. They are thinner than the bronze swords. They are called "Saehyung bronze swords" and they work better than the old ones.
And in the Iron Age, there were many decent farming equipments so the cultivation was thriving. The prehistoric men were growing domestic animals as well. And due to the weapons such as above, there were many wars.

The Bronze Age


Welcome to Bronze Age! At this time, people used this round bronze metal as a mirror. But actually the leaders of this time utilized this metal to show their authority. Until the New Stone age, the distribution of food was fair but since Bronze Age, with the weapons made, there were a lot of wars between tribes and then, the winners took a large proportion of the profits so the
hierarchical society took place.


The most important remnants in introducing the Bronze Age, I must say, is the dolmen! In korea there are hundreds of dolmens.
At least three large stones are needed to make the dolmen. The two can be set straight, holding out the largest stone tablet. The ancient people built up this dolmen for the dead leaders. From the Bronze age, a hierarchical society has begun so the leaders of the tribes collected surplus food and currencies and became more authoritative. Thereafter, the prehistoric people built this dolmen to honor their leaders. And the pictures
below shows how the dolmen is made.


The left shows people carrying the stone.
Because they used enormous stones, they rolled the stones by putting logs on the road to make the stones roll easily.
Then, when the prehistoric people had set up the foundation stones, they fill sand around those stones.
Next, they roll the stone lid using the method described before.
Once the stone is up on the foundation stones, people remove dirts and finally the a grand dolmen takes shape!
Those swords are made of bronze and they were found in Northern Korea along with the dolmens.
They are called "Bipahyung bronze sword"
This tool, called "Bandal stone knife" is used to cutting grains and plants. Since the New Stone Age, farming had begun so this tool was really useful.
The two holes I think, would have been used to put two fingers to hold it steady.

TVXQ Comeback!!!





TVXQ, my favorite Korean singers, finally comeback!
TVXQ(it reads Tong Vang Xin Qi in Korean) was famous from the beginning of their singing career and they have the huge fans all over Korea and Asia.
It is obvious they are the real idols in Korea.
Their new song is called "Mirrotic" and I just love them!
There are already 30000 orders of the album even though it's not out yet.
I love TVXQ's looks, their songs and everything about my MacDreamies!!

Now introducing the members

From the first on the left is "Xiah", "Mickey", "Hero", "Max", "U-know"
God, it took me loooong time to remember their names at first!!!
It is this five members and they all has their charms:-)
Try to match the closeup photos with the two pictures above!!

New Stone Age


The potteries above are made during the New Stone Age. The first and second earthenware are called "dutmooni earthenware". It means that there are added feature in the potteries and in this case the added feature are the rope-shape that's attached to the earthenware. The third one is called "bitsalmooni earthenware". It means that the earthenware has lined-pattern on it. Bitsal means the teeth of a comb so the earthenware looks like the teeth of a comb had run through it, making the line pattern.

The picture on left is called "Garakbakki". It is used as a tool to make clothes and nets. There's a hole in the "Garakbakki" where the strings will go in.

Old Stone Age

In Korea, in the old stone age, primitive men used rocks as their main tools. On the left is the pictures of different rocks that were used in the era.
The stones are called "Tanseokki" in Korean. It means that the rocks were shaped by crashing the rocks. You can see that unlike normal stones which are round, the stones take certain shape. They are all sharp so those "tanseokki" are used to cut down trees, skinning animals and attacking animals.

And the picture on the left shows where the primitives used to live. Some used to live in caves as well.

The Chuseok!!!






Finally, the Chuseok, thanksgivings day in Korea, has come~
Today, all my relatives gathered up and performed the religious service to our ancestors.

The foods on the table are for our ancestors' spirits and at the end of the table are two mortuary tablets which have our ancestors name on them.
Then, behind the table, there is a folding screen to make the background neat and tidy and create serious mood. You can see the beautiful mountains and trees in the folding screen.
The interesting thing is that the folding screen was actually first used to block winds!


The pictures above shows how the ceremony is done. The man with the skyblue shirt is my dad, he is the only son in our family so he takes care of these ceremony a lot. He is kneeling down bowing and thanking to the might-be-somewhere-in-the-room-spirit. There are only men in the ceremony room because since long time ago, only men particiapted in these kinds of services and women prepared foods for the ceremony. So me and mom, grandmom and my aunt have been working hard in the kitchen!!

D-Day 1 to Korea's Thanksgiving, Chuseok!!!



Tomorrow is Korea's one of the biggest national holidays~! It's Thanksgivings day. Koreans call it "Chuseok" or "Hangawi".
From long time ago, Koreans have gathered at this day and they made rice cakes which is called "Songpyun"(the left picture) and formed a circle and played in the moonlight(the right picture). On Thanksgivings day, the relatives also perform religious service to the ancestors. They prepare a variety of traditional food on the table for the spirit of their ancestors to eat.
Just like the picture on the right, Koreans make many delicious dishes on Thanksgivings day. We put beans inside the rice cake balls and steam them till the rice balls ripe well. The food is very yummy, thus it is the main dish served during the Chuseok.
Just like the picture on the right, Koreans gather up and play games like a Korean circle dance called "GanggangSoolae". During the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, women and children made a big circle and sung "Ganggangsoolae" loudly so that Japanese army could hear them. This brilliant plan was made by general E-Sunshin and scared the Japanese troops and finally led Korean soldiers to defeat Japanese Invasion.
I am little bit sad about this thanksgivings day because until this year, every Chuseok I went to my grandparents house earlier and made Songpyun and other fried dishes which I really enjoyed it. Yet, I wil be visiting my grandparents in a few hour and I hope we proceed our religious service in success as usual.

Tangun King, the very spirit of Korea!


The picture on the left is featuring Tangun King.
He was the first king of Korea for he established Ancient Joseon.
His father was son of the king of sky and thus his father came down to human world with 3 gifted gods that controlled rain, wind and cloud.
The history books states that Tangun ruled his empire for 1500 years and then became a mountain wizard and lived for extra 408 years which totals 1908 years!
There is a well-known legend about Tangun's father and some animals, A Tiger and a bear, desiring to be human, came to Tangun and asked for his help. He gave them worm wood and 20 garlics asking them to eat those for a whole month in a cave. The impatient tiger ran off during the test, yet the bear stayed in cave and kept the promise. Thus the bear became a female human and married Tangun and gave birth to a baby who later becomes "Tangun".
*You can get more info about Tangun from the website http://www.tangun.com/

Enjoy Korea with VANK

Hi! Welcome to my blog. First of all, I want to introduce my country, Korea, to you. You can be provided with abundant information about Korea by visiting VANK website. (http://www.prkorea.org/). I am so happy for your attention on Korea and hope you can get useful information and get to know Korea well. Many Korean students, varying from elementary students to high school students, are actively participating in diverse programs offered by VANK to correctify misunderstandings of book publishing companies, governments and many other organizations thus informing Korea to the world. I sincerely wish you have fun in this website.

Now, let me introduce myself.
Hi, again! :-) This is Bora Yeon, the PRKorea ambassador. I am 17 years old female student currently going Myungduk Foreign Language Highschool. It is a great honor that I introduce myself as a PRKorea ambassador. Franklym I had no idea what I had to do to become a cyber ambassador but throuth VANK, I have trained myself hard and finally became one. Through this VANK I gained precious experience and many foreign friends. I loved building friendship with foreign students because I had many international friends back in the time when I was living in New Zealand for a year and a half. I have spent a very good and relaxing time in New Zealand and hope to visit the country again. I hope to become the best PRKorea ambassador with my experience abroad by making more on-line friends and sharing my culture and my country with them.

Moving on to the capital of Korea, Seoul.
Obviously, Seoul is the capital city of Korea. Seoul has been the capital of my country since the chosun dynasty thus plays an important role. It has both the ancient remnants and modern buildings. There are many antiquated castle and castle walls, s a beautiful river called "Hangang" and man-made stream called "ChungaeChun" where many Koreans gather to have fun and relax. Overall, Seoul represents Korea well.

Korea has 5000 years of history on its own. It had rising time and falling period but through many resistants and demo for independece, Korea exists as democratic nation. From early time, Korea has been known as "the polite country in the east" to many countries. Indeed, Koreans are humble and kind. This characteristic is well represented in the clothings and buildings and foods. And now, Korea has advanced itself and the world acknowledges it. However, due to many controveries over the Dokdo ownership, the sea of Japan and other Asian problems, Korea is struggling somehow. Yet, patriots and Koreans are trying their hardest to protect their land and the sea. On the other hand, Korea held 1988 Seoul Olympic and in 2002 it held FIFA World Cup since it has developed itself continuously and became able to hold such worldly festivals.

Korea is a country which always aims for the high, and at the same time preserving its nature and history. Korea is a geat nation where there are millions of Koreans uniting together at certain events like World Cup, Olympics and support their country and become as a one. I sincerely wish your visit and wish you feel its passion.

Who's Bora?

Hi this is Bora Yeon
I am Korean and currently live in Seoul.
I am 17 years old(9th grade) and a female student at Myungduk Foreign Language High School.
I am also one of the cyber diplomats of VANK and the PRKorea ambassadress.
The reason why I created this blog is to share my daily life and experience with people around the world and introduce Korea to the world.
I hope to participate in letting Korea be known to the world truthfully,