In an effort to raise awareness about the territorial dispute between Korea and Japan over a little island in the Pacific called, by the Koreans, Dokdo (and by the Japanese, Takeshima), Dokdo Racer, a group of student performers from top Korean universities, held a cultural seminar last Friday, featuring traditional Korean dances and a series of stories regarding the history of the dispute. The event, which took place in the Charles Common Multipurpose room, began around 5:30 p.m. and continued until about 7:00 p.m. Over the course of the hour and a half the troupe, which consisted of six people, performed three traditional dances punctuated by three stories, told by two members of the troupe, about the island’s history and the origins of the disagreement between Korea and Japan regarding it.
The first performance of the night was an example of Samul nori, a traditional Korean musical genre. Samul nori is performed using four traditional Korean instruments, including a small gong, a larger gong, an hourglass-shaped drum and a barrel drum. The performers dressed in traditional Korean garb, sitting on the ground and swaying to the rhythm of the music. On occasion, the performers would yell out a few words in Korean over the sound of the drums, which at times were nearly deafening, making for a thoroughly dramatic performance.
After the first performance ended, a member of the group apologized for the 30-minute delay in starting the performance, which was caused by traffic. He explained that the group had already traveled over 8000 miles on their tour of the United States, which started in Los Angeles on Feb. 25 and took them all over the Southwest and through Canada before coming to the East Coast earlier that week. He noted that the group still planned to visit South America and Eurasia, among many other places, before their tour was over. He then described the format of the event: there would be three performances, each of which would be followed by a story about the group’s cause, and explained the underlying purpose behind the group’s being there.
“We are here to show you our performance and also tell you our stories, the stories of our island Dokdo,” he said.
The second performance of the night featured a Gayageum, a traditional Korean string instrument. The woman who played the instrument sat on the floor, the instrument propped up on her lap, and wore a traditional pink dress. The music she played was significantly more melodic than that of the first performance, evoking a sense of sadness and bitterness, but also endurance and hope.
The third performance involved Bongsan Talchum, a traditional Korean dance often performed by dancers wearing masks while also miming, talking or even singing. In this instance the performers briefly chanted along to the beat of a drum and at one point the audience joined in the chanting as well. This was the most interactive and engaging performance of the night with new performers coming in and out the whole time.
Between each performance there was a story. All three stories touched on the broader theme of the territorial dispute between Japan and Korea and how their efforts would hopefully shed light on the issue. Throughout the three stories the performers established the importance of the island, explaining the motivation behind their significant efforts.
The island is a symbol of Korean independence from Japan because even after Korea gained its independence from Japan in 1948, Japan still asserted its claim on the island. Currently, the island is occupied by Korea, but recently Japan has been increasing its efforts to assert dominance over the territory by changing its textbooks to alter the history of the dispute. Their official position has always been that Japan owns the island.
This is still a point of disagreement, which audience member, Minji Kim, elucidated on. ““I’m Korean, so I obviously think that Dokdo is Korean territory, and I think Japan shouldn’t have revised their textbooks . . .” Minji Kim said.
One of the group’s leaders, Eun-ryeol Kim, also discussed the controversy surrounding the group’s efforts, which come at an especially sensitive time for Japan. “Because of the tragedy [that] happened in Japan, lots of people think that [bringing up] Dokdo in this time is not a proper thing,” Eun-ryeol Kim said. “We really feel sorry for the tragedy that happened in Japan. They are our neighbors and we are very sorry for them. But Dokdo is another story . . . Humanitarian support must be continued but we have to tell them our truth,” he added.
Of the varied historical accounts, student speaker Byung Gil Choi also spoke of why this issue remains pertinent. “It’s not just about a small island, it’s kind of a big issue, because to the Koreans it’s not just an island, it’s the whole Korean territory,” Choi said. “Because when Japan colonized the Korean peninsula, they [sic] forced the Dokdo. After 1905, about five years later, they colonized the whole peninsula. So that means Dokdo is the first step for colonizing the Korean territory,” Choi said.
“It’s just an issue between two countries . . . It is a little complex, but [the] USA did something good for Japan and that’s why Japan claimed that Dokdo is their territory. They made some proofs, but not officially. We are telling people around the world about this issue . . . And Japan’s textbook is also a big issue in East Asia. We have to tell more people and make them know about that,” Choi said.
Event response was primarily positive.
“I think them spreading awareness, that’s great,” sophomore Yoona Kim said, “it’s essentially a non-disputable issue but Japan is continuously trying to make it a disputable issue so that they can claim at the end. So, I think international awareness and international interest in the issue will really help especially because I think Japan is trying to do this for their position in international society to dispute this little island that we have, to extend their territory essentially.”
The success of the event was partially because the troupe is comprised of college students from top Korean universities.
“I would never be able to drop out a semester and do the things that they are doing. I think it’s great,” Yoona Kim said. “I think the performance was effective, because it wasn’t just giving information; they put an interesting cultural aspect in and people weren’t bored.”
Eun-ryeol Kim, a student from Seoul National University, mentioned that the group hopes to visit 20 countries. “We do not get any funding. The problem is a very complicated issue, and lots of companies, they do not want to . . . We tried it and some companies, like Kia motors helped us with their cars, but most countries don’t want to get involved in political issues,” Eun-ryeol Kim said.
One criticism, though, concerned the lack of diversity among audience members. “It would have been better if there were more people who weren’t Korean who attended the event,” Yoona kim said. “I don’t think it’s bad because a lot of Koreans say that Dokdo is [a] Korean territory but they’re not able to explain well why . . . so Korean people here can go out and tell other people if the topic arises,” Yoona Kim continued.
“When we go to some street performances,” Choi said, “we can meet a lot of foreigners, but when we have an event like this one . . . I think most USA citizens doesn’t want to know about this issue. For their respect, it was like kind of a regional issue . . . I want to have some more chance to reach [out to] Americans to talk about this issue.”
Senior Yuho Doh, the president of the KSA, spoke about the problems surrounding the event. “We were supposed to have this thing at a better room over there, like a conference room . . . so that’s one thing that did not go as I expected. And they were supposed to go at five, but they came 30 minutes late. But I understand because it’s their first time performing in America and they probably weren’t aware of traffic issues and stuff,” Doh said. In general, Doh spoke positively of the event’s organization and the group itself.
“[Raising awareness] is crucial, actually, because taking a protective stance, for economics, or politically. Korea is a weaker country compared to Japan. And we don’t make the world aware of this issue . . . so it’s a really good thing to have people who are trying to convey their issue around the world,” Doh said.
Despite the controversial nature of the issue, at least to the Japanese government, about which the Korean performers were trying to raise awareness, KSA treasurer Byung Joon Park emphasized that escalating the situation was not what the KSA was trying to do when it hosted the Korean performers.
“The primary aim of [Korean performers] is not to instigate political controversy related to territorial dispute,” Park said. “The group assumes that the Dokdo island belongs to Korea, and under that assumption, they travel around the world in order to inform people of the beauty of the island and to let foreigners know more about traditional Korean music.”
