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[HanCinema's Korea Diaries] "Wonju" July 1st-3rd

Going up through slow trains it's actually quite cheap to get to Incheon, passing a lot of smaller cities on the way. Wonju is one such city. Though important for administrative reasons, Wonju is a rather scattershot area for sightseeing. There is the Gangwon Administrative Office (강원감영), which is located downtown, but aside from the traditional architecture the main noteworthy aspect are these monuments to exceptional civil servants. Which is appropriate- if you've ever had much contact with unhelpful government officials, it's easy to see why someone would want to memorialize the good ones.

Elsewhere, next to one of Wonju's many health centers, are a couple of planes. Fun fact- Wonju's main calling card is that it's the healthiest city in South Korea. They proudly advertise this everywhere, and the health centers probably contribute to that, as does the city's relatively out-of-the-way location in the northeast part of the country. As for the planes, well, they're a better visual aid for discussing the health centers than the actual centers mostly. The attached monument explainss how they're a kind of metaphor.

This curious painting is the work of artist Lee Jae-yeol, whose work was on exhibition in at the Chiak Art Center (치악예술관) in Wonju as part of a series on teaching people how to draw like certain artists. For a sake of contrast, these are the works of art people drew having read up on Lee jae-yeol's method-

...Bright, colorful, and strange. If there's another way to properly interpret Lee Jae-yeol's work, I can't imagine what it could be. For anyone in doubt, though, a few artists did drop by to discuss their work personally.

Kim Wan-gyu (on the right), for example, explained his love of comfortable chairs. That's the main takeaway I got at least. He said it with prettier words, encouraging persons to sit on the the ones provided to better understand his point about art imitating everyday feelings of comfort.

Adult participation notwithstanding, the main reason for this event was to teach kids about art, and how to make art fun. Jang Sang-cheol, the artist spotlighted at this particular station, was a sculptor, so the helpful assistant here teaches these little girls how to sculpt a little so that they, too, may be the artist. It's all cute, local stuff that I'm always glad to be around for. There was even a nice musical show afterwards.

Just popular standards. Movie soundtracks and the like. But the audience still demanded an encore because live xylophones are amazing.

The purpose of this rather casual monument is to note the home of Olympic weightlifter Jang Mi-ran, who is set to "inspire" the new drama "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo". Why they felt the need to drag Jang Mi-ran's name into that is unclear- maybe because she's the only lady weightlifter that people in this country have heard of? That's not a snide remark- she's the only lady weightlifter I've ever heard of either. The point is, Jang Mi-ran is from Wonju, and was probably well assisted in her Olympic ambitions by the copious number of health and training centers in this town.

And lastly, the Tower of Visual Memorial (충혼탑), a name which comes off about as strange in Korean due to the Chinese roots. Located in the northeastern outskirt of the main city, the Tower of Visual Memorial was funded through a large number of donations after the Korean War as dedication to those soldiers who died in that war.

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This smaller structure next to the gigantic one puts a more human face on the memorialization effort my recognizing Major Sim Il, who's famous for managing to destroy four tanks. Alas, that was in 1950, and it's little surprise to learn that Major Sim Il did not survive the overall war.

At least his statue here has an excellent foundation. It's a little morbid to think that memorials ought to be pretty, like having a nice park is a substitute for the senseless loss of human life. Still, it's better than nothing.

Article by William Schwartz

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