In 1653, Jeju met its first foreigner. It came in the form of a shipwrecked Dutchman named Hendrick Hamel. The local community must not have liked what they saw, as they immediately shipped Hamel and his crew off the island to live in captivity in Seoul. It took Hamel and a handful of crewmates nearly 13 years to escape.

Nowadays, Jeju is far more hospitable to its foreign guests. The island attracts an eclectic group of foreigners who have come to live here for wildly different reasons. Their lives and dreams have become the subject of an award winning photo project by fine art photographer Kim Oksun.

When contemplating a visit to the eastern side of Jeju Island, your thoughts may immediately turn to visions of Sunrise Peak. There is, however, much more to this part of the island than Seongsan Ilchulbong. Jeju’s east coast is quite literally a hub of haenyeo history. Haenyeo (해녀) are the women of Jeju who dive deep into the sea without air tanks to gather seaweed, abalone, and various other types of seafood. There are approximately 5,400 haenyeo working on Jeju Island, and 10% of them live in and around Hado, located in Gujwa-eup, about 15 minutes north of Seongsan by bus.

With sixty years passing since the Jeju Massacre (4.3 or 사삼) in which twenty-five to thirty thousand people died, a poignant, recently opened, memorial complex sits on the slopes of Hallasan. Chronicling the events of that time, it handles a sensitive subject that still resonates today for many residents and families.

The Japanese departure in 1945 and the ensuing power vacuum on the island saw the rise of various left wing groups that, according to one report, labelled Jeju a “red island” on which “ninety percent of residents have a leftist hue.” Further, the practice “of using Jeju as a place of exile for minority political groups and governmental maladministration gradually built up on the island a separatist psychology.”

Local photographer Kim Ok-Sun will be holding a solo exhibition in Jeju, containing about twenty-eight images and entitled ‘Hamel’s Boat’. It’ll be running July 5th through August 26th at the Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art (located in Jeoji, telephone: 064-772 4003). The opening is at 3pm on July 5th. The museum is able to arrange a charted bus if there are more than twenty people.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Many visitors and residents of Jeju become enthralled by the natural beauty of this place and so try to capture the island’s essence through the medium of still photography. But most fail to do so, as they are limited by lack of skill and also patience to wait for the “golden light.” However, some succeed in capturing stunning displays of nature where you can almost hear the wind blowing through the tall pampas grass. Such a photographer would be Kim Young Gap.

The history of Kim Young Gap