Yekaterinburg, Russia - Meetings introducing the culture of Korea were held in the cozy Ural Library Cultural Center within the framework of the project “The Tree of Nations" Oct. 5 and 12, 2013. A distinctive feature of the project, which was launched two years ago, is its approach to inter-ethnic dialogue, with organizers believing that knowledge about different ethnic traditions plays an important role in building a peaceful society, especially when the focus is on searching for and identifying the fundamental values that are present in every culture and common to all the peoples in the world.
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The activities included a variety of formats and a lot of interactivity, encouraging people to "investigate" the Korean character that shaped “the Korean miracle.” For two Saturday evenings, organizers and guests shared information about Korean history, politics, ethnic, cultural and culinary customs. They watched remarkable videos and photos of natural, historical and architectural sights of both ancient and modern Korea. Various people shared their thoughts, impressions and feelings inspired by traveling around Korea, among them Russians, ethnic Koreans who had lived in the Soviet Union and Russia for many years, and Koreans who had recently arrived in Russia to study or work.
Participants were deeply touched by poems about the Motherland, filial piety, and the moral quest that were read in the original Korean and then in Russian translation. Every participant had the opportunity to taste authentic Korean dishes, take photos in traditional costumes, play the national game "jute," learn the Korean alphabet, play a role in the makeshift staging of instructive ancient legends, and much more.
Such information and sampling of cultural diversity also gives people a foundation to understand how a small country with such a painful history, surrounded by the "Asian Dragons" of Japan and China, made an incredible leap forward in its development within three decades without losing its cultural and spiritual values. Participants could recognize that South Korea is a country with real harmony of modern and traditional, material and spiritual. There is harmonious coexistence among different social groups, subcultures and faiths, and rich and poor are not segregated. There is significant urbanization and modernization with a high level of general culture and low crime rate.
At the end of the two evenings, participants drew conclusions about the character of the Korean people and the nation of Korea. The main feature is service, which is the basis of another important feature, filial piety as a fundamental principle of social order, as well as extraordinary patriotism and national cohesion.
Additional conclusions of this collective creative "investigation" were that sustained high morals are the key to national prosperity and that the economic breakthrough became possible through the Korean people’s exceptional diligence combined with a desire for learning. Another valuable conclusion was a recognition of the importance of preserving the uniqueness of a nation and preventing fragmentation.
These were examples of insights that people and nations can learn from each other in the quest to create a safe and prosperous society.
UPF-Urals would like to express its sincere appreciation to the Ural Library and Information Center and its manager, Olga Smoliakova, for hosting such a significant event for the community; the National-Cultural Autonomy of Russian Koreans in Yekaterinburg led by Valery Thay and Rosalia An; the Korean Cultural Center led by Dmitry and Sofia Belyakovs; as well as the author and curator of the project, Catherine Shkel.