Essay Contest Result

My name is Lena Susanne Johansson and I am a Swedish woman living in Sweden. My interest in Korea began in 2019. Since then, I have been learning about Korean culture both on my own and while attending Korean language classes. In 2022, I also spent one semester in the Korean Language & K-CULTURE Program via Lexis Korea at Konkuk University in Seoul.

In this essay, I will first explain how I have applied the knowledge I have gained by reading the Understanding Korea Materials (UKMs). Thereafter, I will provide two proposals for future UKMs and explain how my proposals will help improve the image of Korea.

1. Notable Applications of using Understanding Korea Materials

Before attending Konkuk University, I wanted to improve my knowledge of Korean history and society. UKMs such as The History of Korea (2019) and Seoul (2015) were then great sources of information. However, the UKM that was the most valuable to me when living in Korea was A History of Korean Women (2021).

Korean and Swedish culture a quite different. Swedish culture is one of the most liberal and individualistic cultures in the world, while Korean culture is more conservative and collectivistic. By reading the mentioned UKMs, I started to understand that all cultural differences stem from the differences in our countries' histories. Trending ideologies, unions and wars with neighboring countries, immigration and emigration, natural catastrophes and famines are all examples for things that throughout the years have affected Korea and Sweden differently. Ultimately making the cultures different.

This insight might seem very basic but is, in my opinion, absolutely essential when living in a new country. During my time in Korea, I would face cultural differences that were shocking, annoying and inconvenient. However, understanding what these differences originated from made it easier for me to accept them and deal with them in a respectful manner. In this way I applied the knowledge from the UKMs into my everyday life in Korea.

The UKM A History of Korean Women was proven especially valuable to me when living in Korea since it helped me to make friends with Korean women. I have identified two ways in which the UKM was helpful. The first way is that it helped me to have conversations about deeper and more interesting topics. The UKM gave me an improved understanding of Korean women’s past and current challenges and endeavors, and their role in Korean society. This made it possible for me to have meaningful conversations with them, which resulted in deeper relationships.

The second way in which this UKM helped me when making Korean female friends was that it prevented me from being judgmental when encountering differences in life choices and habits. I will give an example. I went on a friend date with a Korean girl who dreamed about getting married and becoming a housewife. In Sweden, being a housewife is very uncommon these days. Most people would claim that it is even demeaning since it limits the woman's opportunities and capacity. However, with the knowledge from the UKM I could understand why this choice seemed attractive to her as a Korean woman living in Korea. So, even if we had encountered a huge cultural difference, I could remain nonjudgemental and respectful to her. This ultimately gave me the opportunity to start a very fun, interesting and valuable friendship with her.

My friend group of Korean women is very diverse. It contains married housewives, childfree career women and politically engaged women in same sex relationships. The UKM A History of Korean Women helped me put all these women, and their chosen lifestyles, in the perspective of Korean history. This made me understand Korean culture and society better and also made me more empathetic, respectful and openminded when making friendships with these women. Some of these friendships truly changed my life and they helped me feel more at home while living in Korea.

The UKMs provided me with the valuable insight of how differences in Korean and Swedish history is the origin of modern time cultural differences. Applying this insight to my everyday life in Korea helped me to accept cultural differences and deal with them in a respectful manner.

The knowledge I gained from A History of Korean Women (2021) was applied when making friends with Korean women. This UKM provided me with interesting conversation topics, as well as understanding of Korean society and culture. This understanding made it possible for me to be more accepting of differences in life-choices and habits, which enabled me to make long-lasting and deep friendships with Korean women.

2. My proposals for new Understanding Korea Materials

2-1. Korean folk art

I was a participant in the 2024 Korean Speech Contest at the Korean Culture Center in Stockholm. In this competition, I presented a poetic short story inspired by the very famous Korean minhwa painting Irworobongdo (일월오봉도). However, the preparations for this contest were difficult since the English information available about Korean minhwa was so limited. Therefore, my first proposal for a new UKM is Korean folk art (minhwa).

Minhwa is a very beautiful and unique part of Korean traditional culture. It is therefore unfortunate that the information about it is often only provided in high level Korean. I am very interested in learning more about Korean art, and I am definitely not the only foreigner with that interest. A new UKM concerning famous historical and current minhwa artists, and their works, would therefore be very valuable and fill the current English information void of Korean minhwa.

2-2. Korean literature

During the pandemic, when traveling to Korea was not an option, a way for me to learn more about Korean culture and society was by reading contemporary Korean authors such as Han Kang, Min Jin Lee and Hye-Jin Kim. It is astonishing how many great historical and contemporary Korean authors and poets there are, and I wish more foreigners would be introduced to them. However, once again there is a lack of easily accessible and pedagogical information in English.

My second proposal for a new UKM is therefore Korean literature. This UKM could answer questions such as: What famous historical and contemporary Korean authors are there? Which major historical and contemporary Korean literary pieces are there, and why are they considered major? Are there any common themes amongst Korean literary pieces that could be the result of Korean history? In the last question I propose that e.g. the unique Korean concept of 한 is explained.

2-3. Why Korean folk art and literature as UKMs?

The common image of Korea amongst foreigners seems to often be limited to K-pop, K-food and K-beauty. This is unfortunate since there is so much more to Korean culture! I believe that in order to change this situation, the image of Korea needs to diversify and deepen. One way of doing this is by filling the information void with high quality English information regarding Korea. Showing the diversity of Korean culture, through amazing and unique Korean folk art and literature, will deepen foreigners' appreciation and understanding of Korean culture. Ultimately this will improve the image of Korea internationally.