아세안 역사문화 엽서 (2019)

Korea & ASEAN are Friends! Sharing the Story of Korea and ASEAN's History and Culture ASEAN When you think of Asia, what comes to mind? Do you think of images of western colonization, developing countries, or vacation spots? Textbooks, books, maps and websites all around the world emphasize the impressive history of the Americas and Europe, but a distorted conception of history of an invaded Asia is left behind. But there is an everlasting history and a glorious culture in each Asian country that has not been shown to the world yet. More than anything, each country has great heroes devoted to saving their countries in times of crisis and a strong history they protect with pride. In order to spread the word about this, the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) and the Asia Development Foundation (ADF) are training the Goodwill Ambassadors of Asia and nurturing activities to heighten Asia’s amity and friendliness. The Goodwill Ambassadors of Asia are promoting each Asian country’s history and cultural assets to the world. They are also reforming the European and American biased perception and changing the world’s view on Asia. We hope these ASEAN’s History and Culture postcards contribute to spreading the word about ASEAN and informing the world about Asia’s dynamic history and culture. There is a temple called Wat Phu in the Champasak village of south Laos that symbolizes brilliant ancient Asian history. In Laos, “wat” means “temple” and “phu” means “mountain”, so when put together, Wat Phu means “temple in the mountain”. The temple was constructed from the 5th into the 15th century and is a historical site of 1,000 years of history. Especially because it spreads a vast area from the river to the mountains, you can feel the traces of the amazing ancient civilization. In 2001, Wat Phu was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, titled “Vat Phou and Associated Ancient Settlements within the Champasak Cultural Landscape.” As a request from the Laos government, starting from 2013, Korea has been part of a project that restores the historical site. In February 2019, while restoring the temple, the Korean Cultural Heritage Administration and Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation found the ‘gilt-bronze yoni’, a statue of a woman who represents a Hindu goddess, and a basement in the base of the Buddhist temple that was constructed to keep misfortunes out. Experts said that the gilt-bronze yoni statue is an important piece in learning more about the history of Khmer’s trade activities. Also, the Wat Phu office said that this is the first Yoni found and thanked Korea for their discovery. Not only is it Korea’s dream to restore Laos’ cultural heritage assets together with its government, but also they want to revive, protect and restore the cultural heritages that mankind shares. Did you know there is a tourist destination in Malaysia that was made by the hard work of the Korean company Hyundai Construction and 940,000 Korean engineers? It is Penang Bridge, which connects the mainland of Malaysia with Penang Island, an island that is generally referred to as the “Oriental Pearl”. Penang Bridge is 13.5 km long and was the largest bridge in Asia when it was built in 1985. Now, it is known for being the third largest bridge in the world. Malaysia’s other gems are the Petronas Twin Towers located in the capital of Kuala Lumpur. These towers which represent Malaysia today were also made with the help of a Korean company, Samsung C&T Corporation. With a height of 452m, these towers were the world’s tallest buildings between 1998-2004, and they are still currently the highest twin towers in the world. The Penang Bridge and Petronas Twin Towers that were made together with the help of many Koreans’hard work and sweat are a symbol of Korea and Malaysia’s close friendship and collaboration. Shwedagon Pagoda is Myanmar’s sacred place. At the size of about 33,000m², the Shwedagon Pagoda is the spiritual hometown of Myanmar citizens and is a brilliant representation of Buddhism. This palace is known for being the world’s highest golden pagoda at a height of 98 meters. It is a brilliant and magnificent pagoda with 6 tons of gold adorning the top wall. According to history, the pagoda was made in 486 BC, before Buddha died. Including the 72 karat diamonds on the top of the pagoda, a total of 4,448 diamonds and 2,317 other gems like rubies and sapphires are incorporated. There is also a temple in Korea that is just as famous as the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is an artificial stone temple built during the Shilla kingdom(57 B.C. – A.D. 935) period called Seokguram. Unlike Indian or Chinese natural stone temples, Seokguram is an artificial cave made from stone with advanced construction tools. The cave was able to stay undamaged and intact for a thousand years to this day because it was planned and constructed in a scientific way. Seokguram is an amazing cultural asset of Korea that shows the talented architectural abilities and artistry of the people of Shilla. Ho Chi Minh(1890-1969) is the father of Vietnam’s independence. He appears on the Vietnamese currency and even has a city named after him. He was a leader of the independence movements during the French and Japanese colonization. He was a nationally recognized activist, and even when he was given the highest honors after the protests, he still lived a frugal life, like living in a wooden building for example. Did you also know Ho Chi Minh shared the same dream as Korean freedom fighters in 1920? When France colonized Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh held a protest in the capital of France in the late 1920s. During that time, Ho Chi Minh shared the same dream as the Korean freedom fighters living in France then—their country’s independence. In the French Overseas Territories Portal, there is an official surveillance document about Ho Chi Minh as well as Korean freedom fighters that says, “During Japanese Imperialism, Ho Chi Minh’s plans were just about the same as Korean freedom fighters.” Similar to how Ho Chi Minh and Korean freedom fighters shared the same dream and companionship to set their countries free a hundred years ago, young Korean and Vietnamese individuals can come together to do the same now and change the world. Do you know what Brunei means? It means “Warm Peaceful Place”. As an Islamic temple that symbolizes Brunei, the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque is one of the most beautiful religious buildings in the world. Made in 1958, the mosque is named after the twenty-eighth sultan of Brunei. It was designed so the river, manmade lake, and mosque are all connected. Similar to the beautiful Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, Korea also has a beautiful building that is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site called the Changdeokgung Palace. The palace was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 for including a harmonic arrangement of nature and a sentiment of Korea. After the 16th century, a village, called Kampong Ayer, formed around the Brunei river. Now, six hundred-year-old traditional houseboats are still preserved there and Brunei is planning to construct a smart city in Kampong Ayer as well. Seoul, the capital for six hundred years, has become a major worldwide city. With both cities having six hundred years of history and being a smart city with cutting-edge technology, there are many similarities between Kampong Ayer and Seoul. Have you been to the Marina Bay Sands hotel, the face of Singapore? The Marina Bay Sands hotel is Singapore’s signature building. It is a grand hotel comprised of a large boat-shaped Skypark that is connected with three 57-floor buildings and a rooftop floor. The Skypark rooftop is the size of two soccer fields, from which you can enjoy the view of the entire city of Singapore. The Singapore Tourism Board introduces the Skypark as taller than France’s Eiffel Tower (about 300 meters) and longer than four-and-a-half airplanes. The Marina Bay Sands is the place every visitor to Singapore wants to see! This hotel was also made with the help of SsangYong, a Korean construction company, so it is a symbol of Korea and Singapore’s friendship. There is also a symbol of Singapore’s traditional and modern culture called Peranakan. Today, you can easily find Peranakan designs in hotels, architecture, shops, restaurants, and streets all over Singapore. Peranakan refers to the descendants of foreign merchants married to local women. Their mixed culture that is reflected in food, ceramics, clothing and performing arts has become representative of the culture of Singapore today. Similar to how Peranakan culture shows Singapore’s dream to become the world’s center of trade and finance, Korea also has something that shows their version of that dream. Korea has the most efficient passageway that connects land and sea. With this, it has a political, geographical, and cultural advantage and will lead a worldwide economic cultural change. In Korea, there is a city of which the entire area is a museum without walls or a roof called Gyeongju. In the span of 5,000 years of Korean history, Gyeongju was the capital of the Shilla kingdom(57 B.C. – A.D. 935 which holds 1,000 years of history. In Indonesia, there is also a historical city called Yogyakarta that is a borderless museum like Gyeongju. The Borobudur Temple, the world’s largest Buddhist temple and a registered UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Prambanan Temple, the world’s oldest Hindu temple, are both located in Yogyakarta. Also in Indonesia, there is a traditional dyeing technique called Batik. Now all Indonesian clothing and goods made with this technique are also called Batik and it has become a symbol of modern Indonesian culture. In Korea’s long history, if Hanbok is Korea’s traditional clothing that has received lots of love from Koreans, then Batik is Indonesia’s own traditional clothing. Indonesians love Batik to the point where they even wear it to school and to work. More than a thousand years of history is preserved in the Angkor Wat, the world’s largest temple. Meaning the “Capital of Temples”, the Angkor Wat stretches 1,500 meters to the east and 1,300 meters to the south, and it is the biggest temple which is made of stone. Angkor Wat was constructed in the beginning of the 12th century by King Suryavarman II and the superior architectural techniques used were shown to the world. Next to Angkor Wat is the capital of the Khmer empire, Angkor Thom. At the time of its construction, one million people lived there and now the ruins of the empire are preserved there. As a brilliant and marvelous UNESCO World Heritage Site, the world now knows that the creation of the world’s most remarkable civilization of the 12th century was not in the West, but in Cambodia. Similar to Cambodia, Korea also has a great cultural asset that can change the bias of the West. It is a book titled Jikji. The first country to invent movable metal type technology was a country in Korean history, Goryeo(918 – 1392). The Jikji was printed in 1377. This is 78 years earlier than the Gutenburg Bible, a book printed using movable metal printing technology in Europe in 1455. Westerners say that the most influential invention that changed history is movable metal type printing. The printing and supply of information was made possible because of the invention of movable metal type and this eventually led to the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Civil Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. If you ask today’s Koreans to pick the greatest figure in Korean history, they will pick King Sejong(1397-1450) without any hesitation. King Sejong not only advanced the Joseon dynasty(1392-1910)’s politics, economy, culture and military, but also made it into the most scientifically advanced East Asian nation in the 15th century. King Sejong’s greatest achievement was that he transcended age, gender, and economic status, and made an alphabet that everyone is able to read and write called Hangeul. Similarly there is a figure in Thai history that receives lots of respect and love as a great King. He is the ancient Sukhothai Kingdom’s King Rham Khamhaeng. In the same way that King Sejong made Hangeul, King Rham Khamhaeng independently made an alphabet based on Khmer script to fit the Thai language. Thai people have lots of pride in the Thai system, similar to how Koreans have lots of pride in the creative and original Hangeul. Jeju Island is internationally recognized as Korea’s representative tourists destination. It earned a trio of UNESCO Internationally Designated Areas; it is designated as a Biosphere Reserve, confirmed as a Global Geopark, and registered as a World Natural Heritage Site. There is a tourist destination in the Philippines which is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site like Jeju Island. It is the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park located in Palawan. This river is 8.2 km (5 mi) long and is the longest river in Asia among the rivers in which people can enter. The river boasts extravagant scenery that shows why it is chosen as one of the Seven Wonders of Nature. It is famous for being a heaven for living things, having it being home to about 800 variations of plants and 233 species of animals. There is yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Philippines that is even printed on their currency. It is the rice paddies carved in a stairway fashion on a steep mountain slope in the Cordillera Mountain Range of Ifugao Province, called the Banaue Rice Terrace. With an altitude of 1000-1500 meters, the hillside rice terrace has been farmed on for more than 2000 years and is currently still being maintained. With an incredible length that can be wrapped around half of the world (around 20,000 km), the Banaue Rice Terrace is also known as the eighth Wonder of the World. Have you heard of this country? It is a land that was colonized by another country from 1910 to 1945 and fell to ruins due to war in 1950. At that time, experts predicted that it would take 100 years for the country to find itself again. Foreign press even said, “After 35 years of Japanese colonization, ideological conflict, and now a war, I think there is more of a chance of a rose blooming out of a trash heap, than this country being able to stand on its own.” It was the poorest country in the world in 1960 with a $67 GDP per capita. But they joined the OECD in 1996, and their GDP per capita rose to $30,000 USD, becoming the 12th richest country. It grew from being the most poor country in the world to being the 12th richest country in the world. More than anything else, this country is the only one to have become an OECD development aid country after being an aid recipient country since the OECD was formed. Among countries that gained independence after WWII, this country is the only one that experienced democratic movements at the same time as an industrial revolution. Now, it is the second country that sends the most people overseas for volunteer projects after the United States. In order to help Asia and Africa, this country has sent 14,000 volunteers to 67 different countries between 1990 and 2016 for overseas volunteering opportunities. As of 2020, this country’s population is not even 1% of the world’s population. But, there are 8 millions Overseas Koreans, sharing their music and mainstream culture, ultimately growing their fan club to be 100 million of foreigners. It is difficult to find another example of a country that naturally spread its culture to the world without imperialism and hegemonism. In its 5,000-year-old history, this country has been promoting Asian values and is using its cohesive cultural power to get people interested in Asia and share its dream and friendship with the world. An investing company, Goldman Sachs, predicted that in 2050, this country will step ahead of Japan and Germany, and have the second highest GDP per capita in the world with $81,000. This country is the Republic of Korea.