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Lee Hyo-ri
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The Chosun Ilbo was born right at the start of Korea's modern age, and has grown alongside it. How has Korean society changed since the founding of the Chosun Ilbo in 1920? If the myriad of political and economic events is the façade of modern history, the changing customs of the masses are the true face of that history. Let's take a look at those changing customs through the pages of the Chosun Ilbo.
¡ß Singer Yun Shim-deok's suicide (Aug. 5, 1926)
"Singer Yun Shim-deok Commits Suicide with Young Writer." This was the top story of the society section of the Chosun Ilbo's Aug. 5, 1926 edition. Her song "In Praise of Death," in which she overlaid her own word over the melody of "Donauwellen Walzer," swayed the soul of the masses during the colonial period. Taking the ferry back to Korea from Osaka, where she had recorded her album, she leapt into the Genkai Sea with her lover Kim U-jin.
Many stars have come and gone since then. With popular culture developing in earnest with the mass importation of Western culture following the Korean War, stars were born in a variety of cultural sectors. With the rise of the teenager crowd as the primary consumer of popular culture in the 1990s, Seo Tae-ji and the Boys, who are credited with upgrading Korean pop music, and 21st century star Lee Hyo-ri have held sway. Korean culture has even begun to be exported to Japan and other Asian nations, a previously unimaginable phenomenon.
¡ß Fashion... Shock at Revealing Thighs (Dec. 20, 1967)
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Singer Yun Bok-hee
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Singer Yun Bok-hee returned from the United States in 1967. She shocked society by wearing a miniskirt that revealed her thighs. According to the society section of the Dec. 20, 1967 edition of the Chosun Ilbo, designer Park Yun-jeong ridiculed the miniskirt, likening the fashion to a 156cm tall woman who was wearing nothing else but a man's dress shirt. Now? As an article in the July 27, 2004 edition reveals, we now live in a world where even ordinary folk are posing for nude photographs.
¡ß Sports... "Korean Man Wins Marathon" (Aug. 10, 1936)
The August 10, 1936 special edition of the Chosun Ilbo conveyed the news of Son Gi-jeong's gold medal victory in the marathon during the Berlin Olympic Games with a time of two hours, 29 minutes and 19.2 seconds. It was a brilliant achievement that let the outside world know that Korea existed, while domestically, it was a gratifying moment that released some of the sorrow of colonialism. The Japanese flag on his chest, however, has remained a scar on the heart of the people.
In 2002, Korea and Japan co-hosted the World Cup, with Korea unbelievably making it to the semifinals. The "Red Devil" wave swept over Korea. The subtitle to the Chosun Ilbo's July special edition was, "Dreams can come true."
¡ß Sex... Notorious Casanova Seduces 70 (June 18, 1955)
Prostitution and the opening of sexual culture -- age old topics of conversation. The society section of the Dec. 7, 1927 edition of the Chosun Ilbo reads that there were 708 prostitutes in Seoul, and that four Koreans and two Japanese had come down with venereal diseases.
In May 1955, the "Notorious Casanova" Park In-su, was arrested. Posing as a naval officer, the good-looking young man seduced 70 women. The society page of the June 18 edition reads, "He said that one dance and any woman was his, and the first trial found him innocent." The following year, the novel, "A Free Woman," which deals with the subject of free love, was made into a movie. In Sept. 20, 2004, the special law on prostitution suddenly went into effect. Red light districts like Mia-ri Texas and Cheongnyang-ni 588 were shut down, and women engaged in the business even showed their faces while calling for countermeasures. The debate over whether or not prostitution constitutes a "necessary evil" still continues.
¡ß Food... Development of the "Emperor's Diet" (April 18, 1998)
"... The miserable Pyongyang youth who tried to commit suicide by jumping in front of a tram but failed... He tried because he had no rice to feed his newborn child." (March 28, 1926) Before liberation, the "Public Enemy No. 1" of the entire Korean people was poverty and hunger. To top off an already miserable situation with no food to eat, there was also the indiscriminate quota system of Japan, which attempted to turn Korean into a rice colony. Accordingly, there were countless articles in the Chosun Ilbo like "200,000 Families Cry from Hunger" (Sept. 22, 1924) and "Food Theft Frequent, Warehouse Rice Sometimes Stolen" (Dec. 2, 1923).
No more than 50 years after Korean society was barely surviving on rations following the Korean War, we welcomed in the "Well Being" health food craze and articles like "Emperor's Diet -- Substitute Fish and Meat for Carbohydrates. Restaurants Develop Menus" (April 18, 1998) appeared fast and furious. In an age when being fat is a crime and thin the source of praise, one can find articles like, "Memories of Starvation Become Tourism Draw: Yangpyeong's Boritgogae Village Very Popular" (Sept. 20, 2004).
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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