GIN Haenyeo Seminar

On March 6, KIS Jeju’s Global Issues Network (GIN) club invited a speaker to showcase a brief seminar regarding Jeju’s intangible cultural asset, Haenyeos.

Eric Kang, the president of GIN, explained the reason behind preparing such opportunity: “The reason why I started the Haenyeo presentation is because of a Japanese drama. The drama was about a girl becoming a Haenyeo like her grandmother, and it made a huge boom. This drama caused Japan to trigger Haenyeo revival movements and various campaigns to let Haenyeo registered as Unesco Heritage. By looking at this huge boom in Japan, I felt that Korea needed this kind of steps too; therefore I started to create presentations to let people acknowledge more about Jeju's unique culture. This campaign is significant because it led people to experience the value of Haenyeos and allow them to recognize why we should preserve their own Culture.”

GIN invited the Nonprofit Organization of Jeju Haenyeo Cultural Heritage Preservation. The presentation lasted for about an hour, in which the speaker, Mr. Lee, explained about what it is like to live as Haenyeos in Jeju, the danger that Haenyeos are in, why we, as Koreans, should be more active in preserving part of our own culture. Jeju Haenyeos are in danger of losing their identity, as the Japanese are trying to register their Haenyeo, Ama, as a cultural heritage as well. Furthermore, most of the Haenyeos in Jeju are elders, and the average age of the Haenyeos is over 70.

Students also signed their names in petition, requesting Haenyeos to be accepted as Korea’s official intangible cultural asset, in order for them to be registered as Unesco Heritage.

KIS Jeju’s GIN is working on other various projects that promotes global and regional interactions of KIS Jeju.