2020 Summer Issue of ‘Koreana’ Published Before K-POP: Popular Music since the Korean War
The popular songs of Korea have a long history, from those that emerged in the 1910s, expressing nationalist sentiment under Japanese colonial rule, to later songs conveying the miserable experience of the fratricidal Korean War. The summer issue of Koreana, the comprehensive culture and arts quarterly magazine, looks into how Korean popular songs have responded and adapted to the changing times. The issue also highlights Director Bong Joon-ho’s movies Snowpiercer and Parasite; Simone Carena, the Italian architect well-known for his love of Hanok (Korean traditional houses); and paintings of South and North Korea that show markedly different features of the Korean War period. At a time when our global village is in confusion over the COVID-19 pandemic, an interview with Professor Choe Jae-chun, renowned ecologist, promises to be particularly enlightening. Koreana is also available online at www.koreana.or.kr.