For October, we are happy to share the news of Han Kang winning the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Prize committee states it nominated Han Kang’s literature “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”  We also want to pause to celebrate both National Foundation Day and Hangul Day.  Both of these holidays focus on pieces of the rich history that make up the culture of the Korean people.

As we discussed in our Editor’s note, we are thrilled to hear the news that Han Kang was selected as the Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 2024. Her achievement is received as a victory for many sectors of minorities in South Korea. 

As The New York Times  recognized, her Nobel Prize showcases “another validation of the outsize soft power of the South Korean cultural juggernaut.” However, it should be noted with emphasis that she is a female writer who writes about past traumas of Korea.

Through October 20^th, 2024, the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted the exhibition “Lineages: Korean Art at the MET.” Despite being a smaller exhibition compared to others that the museum displays. Lineages featured a diverse display of Korean art ranging from traditional ceramic pieces from the early 12^th century to statement pieces commenting on South Korea’s political landscape of the late 1980s.

For Korean adoptees, cultural holidays such as Hangul Day and National Foundation Day can take on a deeper meaning, as they reconnect with their heritage and identity. These two important Korean holidays provide adoptees with opportunities to engage with significant aspects of Korean history and culture, allowing them to explore their roots in meaningful ways. 

KCCNYC Mix No 4: 할로윈 파티 HALLOWEEN PARTY: This month our playlist is a collection of spooky, and sensual K-Pop to help soundtrack your Halloween party + music videos to get you in a spooooky mood!

The diversity represented in this month’s new k-dramas is pretty stunning.  We have a musical history lesson; women in a small town selling sex toys door-to-door; a mainstream drama with gay main characters; a tiny, silly spin-off; a couple of dramas examining the definition of family; a couple of crime dramas where the main character challenges their instincts and a sequel horror story.  Wow.

October deserves a spooky story and we’re telling an eerie one called Green Onion or The Man Who Planted Onions. It’s also the first story in a new book called “Korean Folktales” by Kim So-un and Frances Carpenter, being released Oct. 29. Pick it up online or at your local bookstore!

We’re in a land where the people have never seen an onion before. In this land, the people actually eat… other people. That’s because the people have a disease where they see other people as cows and can’t tell the difference between the two.

National Foundation Day celebrates the creation story that tells how Korea came into being.  Hangul Day celebrates the historic creation of Korea’s alphabet by King Sejong the Great.  Both celebrations give us windows into the richness of Korean tradition and culture.

I hope everyone had a great Chuseok (Hangawi) Holiday!
In Korea, to celebrate Chuseok, families gather around to eat Songpyeon (송편), and commemorate our ancestors with Jesa (제사). We remember those who are no longer with us during the holidays.

BY EUN BYOUL OH & SHARON STERN

For Chuseok, we eat a lot of food. A LOT OF FOOD.

We cook a lot of food, eat a lot of food, and have a lot of leftovers.

So, for this month in the Korean-American community, we brought some news about food!

And, a special note on the release of PBS Frontline Documentary South Korea's Adoption Reckoning.

For many Korean adoptees, traditional holidays like Chuseok hold a unique significance. They represent not only a cultural celebration but also an opportunity to connect with their heritage and identity in a meaningful way. This year's Chuseok was particularly poignant, given the recent  AP News article that exposed the troubling history of international adoption practices in South Korea, revealing systemic fraud and unethical conduct. Despite these revelations, Chuseok continues to serve as a reminder of adoptees' unique journeys and the diverse ways in which families are defined and experienced....

BY SHARON STERN

We thought it would be fun to share a Chuseok recipe with everyone this month.  It might seem like an intimidating thing to try to make Korean songpyeon, but they aren’t that hard to make!  

By Hannah Elliott
방탄소년단 DEEP CUTS

This month, we put together a collection of BTS Deep Cuts spanning their entire catalog. You won’t find any “Dynamite,” “FAKE LOVE,” or “DNA” here. If you are already a hardcore BTS fan, these songs, most likely, won’t surprise you. But it may be a nice trip down memory lane or remind you of a song or two that you may have forgotten about over the years.

BY SHARON STERN

This month’s new dramas feature a really wide variety of genres.  We have a pretty serious teen drama, a goofy cop comedy, a demon who takes over a judge, a woman juggling two personalities, a dog who communicates with a has-been actor, a family laundry that is laundering money and a second season of a drama that should have never been made in the first place.  There is never a dull moment in dramaland and this month is no exception!

BY JOSHUA KIM

This month we have a short fairy tale called The Golden Ax and the Silver Ax - 금도끼와 은도끼. 

In it, there are two woodcutters: Deokbo, the kind one, and Yunbo, the lazy one. One day, Deokbo goes to chop wood in the forest with his iron ax but accidentally drops it in a pond, crying out in sadness. In the form of an old man, a mountain god, Sanshinryeong, comes out of the pond holding a golden ax....