Chu-seok, the biggest national holiday in Korea, is coming up this week. It is a rare occurrence for such a large movement of people to return to their home town. So how do international residents in Korea spend Chu-seok
International residents in Korea are gradually increasing. Korean cultural experience programs have been held at some places but attract few participants. Most of the foreigners spend a lonely time. Matthew Weigand (U.S.A), who has stayed Korea for a little over 5 years, said "Every Chu-seok that I've ever experienced, I just slept in my home and surfed the Internet." He added "Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day with anyone who can attend, and all are invited such as friends, the homeless people. Homeless people have Thanksgiving Day meals cooked for them by kind community workers. In contrast, in Korea Chu-seok is family-only. Chu-seok seems to be closed to strangers." That Chuseok should be a holiday spent with strangers is not widespread. According to the statistics of listed foreigners issued by the National Statistical Office in 2008, the number of foreigners in Korea is 850,000 people. At DAU last semester 453 foreign students have attended. As a multicultural society, it is time to consider the welfare of these people. At present, there is 'Korea living traditional culture experience' of Busan Metropolitan Women's Center, which is the only one in Busan. But the program is for family units and women, so singles cannot participate in the program. Every year, however, from church to church and companies, such programs are being opened to foreign laborers who belong to them or working for them.
There are many foreigners who don't know what Chu-seok is. G. Enkh-Ochir (Mongolia, DAU tourism) said, "I have lived 2 and a half years here. But, so far, I don't know about Chu-seok." Questioned about Korean culture experience programs, he answered, "I did not even know about it. If I had known, I would certainly have attended." He added, "Tasgaan Sar ('A white moon'--Mongolia's new year) is analogous to Chu-seok. I'm really wondering how different they are."
All of the foreigners interviewed thought Chu-seok was "interesting", "new", and they expressed lots of interest about our culture. But there are no cultural programs for them. Though foreigners in Korea make up less than 2% of our population, we will have to let them know of our festive days and make good programs so that they can experience them firsthand.
September 25. 2009 By reporter Park Chan-young |