ㅇMedia - 밴쿠버 중앙일보 ㅇPublication date - 2024. October. 11 ㅇWriter - 배하나 기자 ㅇLink - https://joinsmediacanada.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=news&wr_id=41130 밴쿠버 중앙일보가 만난 '유인촌 문화체육관광부 장관' 10월 '한국 문화유산의 달' 특별 기획<1> 한국 문화의 저력, "전통 바탕의 현대적 감각" 꼽아    “한-캐 문화교류, 정신적으로 깊이 있는 소통의 장”   한강 작가의 노벨문학상 수상 등 해외에서의 한국문화의 위상이 엄청난 수준으로 높아지는 가운데, 올해 캐나다에서의 한국문화도 최고의 꽃을 피우고 있다.  먼저 2024년과 2025년이 '한국-캐나다 문화교류의 해'로 지정되어 지난 6월 유인촌 장관이 캐나다 오타와에 방문해, 2000여 명이 참석한 가운데 캐나다 문화부 옹주 장관과 함께 문화교류 개막행사에 참석해 자리를 빛냈으며, 현재도 양국협력 공연, 전시 다양한 문화교류가 이뤄지고 있다.  이와 함께 지난 6월 4일, 캐나다 상원에서는 또 하나의 역사적인 순간이 펼쳐졌다. 연아 마틴 상원의원의 발의로, 매년 10월을 '한국 문화유산의 달'로 지정하는 동의안이 만장일치로 채택된 것이다.  이는 한국 문화의 다양성과 풍요로움을 인정받은 결과이자, 양국 간 문화적 유대를 한층 강화할 전환점으로 평가받고 있다.  한국문화가 피어나는 이러한 감동적인 상황들을 기념하고자 본지는 3회에 걸친 특별 기획 연재를 준비했다. 그 첫 번째 순서로, 지난 8월 21일 서울 국립현대미술관에서 유인촌 문화체육관광부 장관과의 독점 대담을 가졌다.  이 자리에서 본지 기자는 유 장관과의 인터뷰를 통해 한국과 캐나다 문화교류의 현주소를 짚어보는 한편, 앞으로의 문화 발전 방향에 대한 유 장관의 심도 있는 견해를 들어보았다. [인터뷰: 밴쿠버 중앙일보=배하나 기자] 원문은 링크를 통해 확인하실 수 있습니다

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.