LETTER FROM THE EDITOR - VOL. 5

KCCNYC Monthly - Vol. 5
By Eun Byoul Oh

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.

National Foundation Day and Hangul Day both celebrate the history that makes Korea a special place in this world. One brings us Korea’s unique creation story and the other sheds light on a critical and revolutionary moment in Korea’s history.

As we were preparing the October issue, our team wanted to take a moment to celebrate the power of myth, literature and language as it becomes the medium of remembrance and commemoration. National Foundation Day presents us with the myth of a culture’s beginning.  Hangul Day gives us a celebration of Korea’s evolution into its own uniqueness.  Han Kang’s literature is not only a form of art, but it is the effort to preserve the voices of the atrocities of the Gwangju Uprising and the 4.3 Jeju Uprising. 

Traumas and atrocities are often erased and forgotten, and the erasure of the past causes another form of violence against the victims, survivors, and the remaining families. However, there are people who always fight against the oblivion, and struggle to remember and preserve the moment of history. Han Kang’s nomination for the Nobel Prize therefore, will be remembered as a victory for everyone who has fought that battle against time and erasure of memory. 

Both myth and history, including histories traumas, are indelible as long as someone keeps them alive by passing them on to others. Bringing awareness to and sharing the stories of pain with everyone in the world will keep the victims alive in our world.  KCCNYC will always strive to fulfill its mission to not only promote the present culture of Korea, but also the past of Korea, including those voices of sorrow and pain. We hope the newsletter/blog will become a digital archive of our effort. 

And as we come upon the 2 year anniversary of the Itaewon Halloween Crush of 2022, we are thinking of the survivors and the family and friends of those who lost their lives – many of whom feel they don’t yet have all of the answers they are seeking.

Thank you for your continued support for the newsletter and our programs.

감사합니다.

Eun Byoul Oh