ㅇMedia - CTV ㅇPublication date - 2024. October. 10 ㅇWriter - Daniel Niemann and Mike Corde ㅇLink - https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/nobel-prize-in-literature-is-awarded-to-south-korean-author-han-kang-for-her-intense-poetic-prose-1.7069236 Nobel Prize in literature is awarded to South Korean author Han Kang for her 'intense poetic prose' STOCKHOLM, Sweden -  The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded Thursday to South Korean author Han Kang for what the Nobel committee called “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson praised Han’s “physical empathy for the vulnerable, often female lives” of her characters. He said her work “confronts historical traumas and in each of her works exposes the fragility of human life. She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in a poetic and experimental style, has become an innovator in contemporary prose.” Han becomes the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel literature prize. She also becomes the second South Korean national to win a Nobel Prize, after late former President Kim Dae-jung won the peace prize in 2000. He was honored for his efforts to restore democracy in South Korea during the country’s previous military rule and improve relations with war-divided rival North Korea. Nobel literature committee member Anna-Karin Palm said Han writes “intense lyrical prose that is both tender and brutal, and sometimes slightly surrealistic as well.” Han, 53, won the International Booker Prize in 2016 for “The Vegetarian,” an unsettling novel in which a woman’s decision to stop eating meat has devastating consequences. At the time of winning that award, Han said writing novels “is a way of questioning for me.” “I just try to complete my questions through the process of my writing and I try to stay in the questions, sometimes painful, sometimes - well - sometimes demanding,” she said. With “The Vegetarian,” she said, ”I wanted to question about being human and I wanted to describe a woman who desperately didn’t want to belong to the human race any longer and desperately wanted to reject being human, (humans) who commit such violence." Her novel “Human Acts” was an International Booker Prize finalist in 2018. Olsson, the committee chair, called “Human Acts” a work of “witness literature.” It is based on the real-life killing of pro-democracy protesters in Han’s home city of Gwangju in 1980. The literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers of style-heavy, story-light prose. It has also been male-dominated, with just 17 women among its 119 laureates until this year's award. The last woman to win was Annie Ernaux of France, in 2022. Six days of Nobel announcements opened Monday with Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the medicine prize. Two founding fathers of machine learning — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the physics prize on Tuesday. On Wednesday, three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the economics award on Oct. 14. The prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor (US$1 million) from a bequest left by the award’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death. Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2792225

ㅇMedia - CBC ㅇPublication date - 2023. July. 29 ㅇWriter - Jennifer Yoon ㅇLink - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/wildfires-quebec-south-korea-firefighter-1.6921380 It's all the same forest, say Korean firefighters battling blazes in Northern Quebec Responsibility to help extends beyond borders, say firefighters far from home South Koreans are learning a new way of firefighting through battling blazes in Northern Quebec by extinguishing ground fires, like this one seen here near Lebel-sur-Quévillon in July. (Submitted by Korean Disaster Relief Team) Dressed in their red uniforms, the men of the Korea Forest Service move as one, stretching and chanting along with the staccato instructions of the drill instructor. Next to where they're warming up is their base camp, where boxes of ramen noodles, instant rice and sweet Korean snacks are scattered all around. At first glance, you could mistakenly believe you are somewhere in South Korea. But these firefighters are in Lebel-sur-Quévillon, a small city in the north of Quebec that's been evacuated twice already this summer due to the threat of wildfires. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) told CBC News over 3,700 foreign firefighters have travelled to Canada to help battle the historic forest fires this summer — including 140 South Koreans, the first-ever team sent from there to help battle the blazes. ●CIFFC says Costa Rica, Spain, Portugal, France, Brazil and Chile have all sent firefighters to Canada for the first time, too. ● The South Korean foreign ministry told CBC News their team was selected after a competitive process, and those who made the cut are the best of the best. The team includes former spies sent to infiltrate North Korea, special army forces and Navy SEALS.  They've been camping next to a golf course in the small town that's about 625 kilometres northwest of Montreal, with a population of 2,000 people.  They've spent their days here since the beginning of July, waking up around 5 a.m., travelling an hour or two on yellow school buses to the fires, then coming back to the campsite, exhausted and covered in bug bites.  One of their tasks is digging up the earth still smoldering below ground, and extinguishing it. It's a kind of firefighting none of them are used to.  WATCH | Inside the base camp: A day with the Korean team fighting Canada’s wildfires 4 days ago Duration5:45 Thousands of firefighters from around the world have been helping fight Canada’s wildfires. CBC got special access to an elite team of South Korean firefighters in Northern Quebec where they’re adapting to different techniques and foods, and making friends along the way. "None of us believed it at first. But putting out fires here, we saw how the fires are burning through the roots of the trees," said Jang Puruensol, a 28-year-old firefighter from Gwangju, in the country's southwest, who left behind his fiance to fight fires in Quebec.  "We're used to going several kilometres, putting out fires as we go," he continued in Korean. When the team got to Quebec, Jang says Quebec's forest fire prevention agency told them they would only be able to advance around 600 metres in a day. Jang Puruensol, 28, with the Korea Forest Service, says none of the Korean firefighters believed at first that they could only advance several hundred metres at a time. He's pictured at base camp in Lebel-sur-Quévillon on July 20. (Jennifer Yoon/CBC) Working together The team has had to get used to more than a new style of firefighting. Some said it took some time to get used to the food, too. But the Korean community in Montreal sent some familiar items up their way, the South Korean foreign ministry told CBC News. Now, the Koreans are fighting fires with canned kimchi in their pockets. Canadian wildfires are burning at an unprecedented pace this year. There were 1,004 fires across Canada as of Friday, according to the CIFFC, burning 12.3 million hectares – a total area larger than South Korea, itself.  The team is working closely with U.S. firefighters, who have also been deployed to the area. Each day at a morning briefing, the teams go over the situation on the ground, and come up with a plan for how to fight the blazes.  It's not the first time Canadians, Americans and South Koreans have worked together – they're old allies from the Korean War over 70 years ago. Now, they're again working across languages to come up with a battle plan. Kim Dae Hyun, with Korea's National Fire Agency, says his fiance worries about him fighting fires so far away, but he knows how important it is to be here. (Jennifer Yoon/CBC) Kim Dae Hyun, 36, is getting married next month. He says his fiance has been worrying about him. He, too, worries about loved ones back home, as heavy torrential rains have claimed dozens of lives there.  "The situation in Korea right now is quite bad, and on that point I want to go back and help, too, but I also know that it's important for me to be here and help out," said Kim.  Kim Man Ju, 54, who has over 15 years of experience fighting fires, says the heavy rains back home and the historic wildfire season in Canada show the global scale of climate change. The responsibility to help, he feels, extends past borders. "In my mind, it's the same forest. We should keep the forest. That means a promise to the future, a promise to the globe." Kweon Ki Hwan, who is leading the South Korean disaster relief effort, says it's what friends do. "We remember Canada sent 26,000 troops to Korea during the Korean War to defend the freedom and democracy of Korea, and you paid a heavy price," Kweon said. "We Koreans never forgot your sacrifice." WATCH | July likely to be the hottest month yet:  July will be the hottest month ever recorded, scientists warn 5 days ago Duration2:31 Climate scientists say July is poised to be the hottest month on record 'by a considerable margin.' The United Nations is warning an 'era of global boiling' has now replaced the era of global warming. Wildfires likely to get worse It's possible Canada will need their help again. Scientists say wildfire seasons are likely to get more intense in the future.  And even with the thousands for international firefighters already here, CIFFC says more will certainly be needed before the summer's finished. The Canadian government says it recognizes all the help it's getting from other countries, and is working to bolster domestic firefighting capacities. In a statement, a spokesperson for the office of the Minister for Emergency Preparedness said Canada is hiring more than 300 Indigneous firefighters and buying more specialized equipment. The South Korean team is seen is digging up the earth still smoldering below ground, and extinguishing it, in July. (Submitted by the Korean Disaster Relief Team) "While we don't know what the next wildfire season has in store, we'll continue to build our capacity to respond to these events and work to mitigate the risks facing Canadians," said Annie Cullinan, a spokesperson at the Office of the Minister of Emergency Preparedness, in a statement. The Koreans CBC News spoke with in Lebel-sur-Quévillon say they'd be happy to come back if the need should ever arise again.  They add they also hope Canadians will also step in to help out if they ever need the help, too.

ㅇMedia - Le Devoir ㅇPublication date - 2023. July. 22 ㅇWriter - Catherine Lefebvre ㅇLink - https://www.ledevoir.com/plaisirs/voyage/795181/coree-du-sud-la-cuisine-de-temple-a-seoul Catherine Lefebvre La cuisine de temple est délicate, jouant avec les textures et les arômes naturels pour mettre les convives en appétit. Séoul est une destination hors pair pour les fines bouches. Au-delà des plats savoureux, agrémentés de toutes sortes de kimchis, et des délicieuses soirées barbecue, la cuisine de temple est dans une classe à part. La cuisine bouddhique remonterait à l’an 260 avant notre ère. Elle se pratiquait dans les temples de l’Empire maurya, qui régnait à l’époque sur le sous-continent indien. Dans son ouvrage Cuisine et empire, l’autrice Rachel Laudan raconte que cette cuisine s’étend ensuite dans les différents royaumes de la Chine au Ve siècle de notre ère, puis en Corée le siècle suivant. Aux antipodes des festins sacrificiels, la cuisine de temple propose des plats végétariens et un menu sans alcool. En plein coeur de Séoul, le restaurant Balwoo Gongyang, situé en face du temple Jogyesa, est tenu par l’ordre Jogye du bouddhisme coréen. C’est Voyageurs du monde, un voyagiste spécialisé dans les séjours sur mesure, qui nous recommande chaudement cette adresse dans son carnet de voyage personnalisé. Photo: iStock Le temple Jogyesa En passant la porte du restaurant, au 5e étage d’un centre de retraite bouddhique, nous avons l’impression d’entrer dans une clinique dentaire plutôt que dans un établissement ayant obtenu une étoile au guide Michelin en 2016, lors de la première édition du palmarès à Séoul. Mais dès que les portes coulissantes de notre salle à manger privée se referment, nous sommes aussitôt transportés dans un temple silencieux et calme. Nous entendons à peine nos voisins de table chuchoter dans la pièce d’à côté. Déguster le moment présent Lors de notre passage, le printemps est au menu. Nous optons pour la dégustation intitulée won, voeu vertueux en coréen. L’aventure culinaire débute par un tout petit bol de soupe froide à base de haricots blancs fermentés. Selon les principes de la cuisine de temple, il sert à humidifier la bouche et à améliorer la digestion. En effet, chaque plat a ses vertus. Le bol de juk qui suit, un gruau à base de riz, permettrait de rassasier, d’étancher la soif, d’apaiser les problèmes digestifs et même de prévenir les accidents vasculaires cérébraux, selon le Vinaya Pitaka, le livre de préceptes bouddhiques. Une chose est sûre, c’est délicieux et tout en finesse. Puisque la cuisine de temple est délicate, on joue beaucoup avec les textures, les arômes naturels et les couleurs pour mettre les convives en appétit. Les différentes températures de la nourriture permettent aussi de faire de l’effet en bouche. C’est d’ailleurs l’idée du troisième service, composé d’un trio de salades froides : l’une est composée de nouilles à base de farine de fèves mungo et de racines de campanule — une plante herbacée —, la deuxième comprend du tofu et des feuilles de périlla — connues sous le nom de shiso en japonais — cuites à la vapeur et la troisième, des verdures fraîches printanières. Bien que ce type de repas ne soit pas assaisonné à grands coups de salière et de poivrière, tous nos sens sont stimulés. En portant une attention particulière à chaque élément dans l’assiette, on peut justement mieux goûter chacun des plats. On se croirait presque dans une séance de méditation de pleine conscience ! Tous les sens sont dans la nature Avant le plat principal, un service de nouilles, dit seongso, est de mise. Toujours selon les principes bouddhiques, celui-ci sert à faire sourire les pratiquants. Les nouilles froides, faites de farine de sarrasin — un classique de la cuisine coréenne —, sont servies avec une sauce légèrement épicée aux champignons shiitakés et à la poire, pour donner de la texture et une pointe de sucre au plat. Cela est effectivement réjouissant. Puis arrive le plat de résistance, nommé youmi. Il s’agit en fait d’une dégustation en soi, comprenant deux bols principaux : du riz collant enveloppé d’une feuille de lotus et une soupe miso. Le tout est évidemment accompagné d’un duo de kimchis — le condiment par excellence en Corée — et d’un trio de légumes verts, tendres à souhait, annonçant le printemps. Ce service aurait le pouvoir de soulager la fatigue et le stress, rien de moins. Enfin, le dessert est particulièrement à l’image du concept même de la cuisine de temple. Il est constitué d’une infusion à l’armoise, une plante herbacée de la même famille que l’estragon et la citronnelle, et de quelques fines tranches de kumquat confit. Une petite touche de douceur pour terminer ce splendide repas sur une bonne note et une boisson chaude, sans doute aux vertus calmantes et digestives. Bien que nous ne puissions probablement jamais mesurer les réels bienfaits de ce repas, nous venons certainement de vivre l’une des expériences culinaires les plus mémorables. Notre journaliste était l’invitée de Voyageurs du monde et de l’Office du tourisme de la Corée du Sud. BONNES ADRESSES DANS LA CAPITALE À voir : le temple Jogyesa Pour mieux comprendre les origines et la pratique du bouddhisme coréen, Voyageurs du monde offre des visites guidées en français au magnifique temple Jogyesa. D’abord construit en 1910 sous le nom de temple Gakhwangsa, il est le siège de l’ordre Jogye depuis 1954. Bien manger : Mr. Ahn’s Craft Makgeolli Mr. Ahn’s Craft Makgeolli — reconnu comme Bib gourmand dans le guide Michelin — propose une impeccable cuisine coréenne traditionnelle au goût du jour. Comme son nom l’indique, on peut aussi y déguster d’excellents makgeolli, l’alcool local à base de riz glutineux, et soju, un spiritueux fait traditionnellement avec du riz, en accord avec le menu. Bien boire : Zest Le Zest fait partie de la réputée liste 50 Best des meilleurs bars en Asie. Le concept : concevoir des cocktails maison, en plus de réutiliser les ingrédients du bar pour en faire de nouvelles garnitures. On va par exemple recycler les pelures des agrumes utilisées pour décorer les cocktails en les distillant de nouveau pour en faire un gin maison. BON À SAVOIR • Voyageurs du monde propose divers séjours en Corée du Sud, en plus de combinaisons avec d’autres destinations en Asie, comme Taïwan, Hong Kong et le Japon. • Pour s’y rendre, Air Canada propose deux vols directs vers Séoul à partir de Toronto et de Vancouver.