Different Voices of Korea

"Poetry is an act of peace." - Pablo Neruda

"The Hermit Kingdom" The Forgotten War De-militarized Zone. Korea's recent history, though embroiled in strife and pain, is largely unknown, forgotten, or ignored by the international community. The following poems highlight the bitter sentiment of Koreans (and people of any other country) through a period of continuous war, and the reality of youth growing up near the 38th parallel. In either case, an entire nation's emotions can be viewed through the depiction of a single cultural object and the commentary of a unique individual. As you scroll first through the following scenes from present-day Korea, take a moment to reflect on the struggle and determination it took to build-up the nation to its status today.

Major international companies originating in the ROK. Hyundai is the world's top ship-building company and a car manufacturer, while last year, Samsung was ranked 5th internationally in International Technology brands.

Exhibit 8.15

A pair of straw shoes hangs in the museum

Its seams are torn,

woven soles near thread-bare

Once upon a time, these shoes were a child’s pride and joy.

When he first put them on, the straw was sturdy and snug

the walls braided skillfully by a craftsman

They carried the boy through his joyful youth,

exploring the Korean mountainside, racing in the dirt path between rice fields

But one day, the boy was called off to war.

He marched to the beat of the Righteous army,

his childhood left behind in the trailing dust

The sandals guided him through smoky fields, between moaning bodies

speckled by flecks of blood from the Red Sun.

other soldiers would laugh at his worn soles

but the supple straw carried him where most steel boots could not

back to the familiar dirt roads, and the warmth of family reunion.

It was peacetime now, or so the news blared

every day, the man stood at the gate, listening to the echo of steel boots in rhythm

he longed for the rush of battle

the thrill of holding a gun, firing for one’s country

Without a word to anyone, he re-enlisted

and the last the straw shoes ever saw of him

was the glint of sunlight on his shiny steel-toed boots

But the shoes never forgot

what dying men sound like

the sight of countless boots, lined up and ownerless

and though it occupies the museum’s stand of honor

the shoes are in eternal mourning,

for the peaceful farm days

when war was but a dream

The Opposite Bank

Every day, I walk

Surveying the bank along the river

Where the water laps at the stones lining its shore

In this alcove, I find security

The violence and pain surrounding life cannot find me here

Or so I was told

On the other side of the Han* River

Is a land where ‘safety’ has no meaning

No one ever walks along those shores

Except with gunfire at their backs, fleeing with their lives in their hands

The river tries to help them

With quick flowing fingers, it pulls them across

Tugging them away from the ‘pinging’ of bullets

Sometimes they make it

And Mother will hurry to clear a spot by the fireplace

But other times, my river takes them into his arms

And envelopes their pain in his soothing current

The same shiny pebbles that line my side of the river

Stretch across the opposite bank

On good days, I can see the reflected sunlight winking from their smooth surfaces

And I imagine another child is standing

In the land that produces shivering souls and whistling bullets

Staring at my own land

Wondering, what lies on the opposite bank

(*The river that marks the boundary between Korea’s North & South)