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By Chloe Jiwon Kim
Korea prides itself on a rich culture, with over 5,000 years of history, much of it still preserved to this day. Over the past century, Korea, once a secluded nation, has transformed into a major part of the globalized and ever-changing world.
Much of Korea's traditional culture was modernized to fit today's culture during this process. "Hanbok" (traditional Korean attire), is an example of such modernization by means of simplification, for convenience and aesthetic purposes.
Many oppose such changes, claiming that these precious items lose their cultural identity. However, such alteration and modernization are how we can keep a culture alive even into the future and spread it throughout the world.
This dilemma is similar to the Ship of Theseus paradox. Much of Korean culture, like hanbok, is changing to fit the current culture of modern Korea. During this process, Korean culture has lost some of its traditional components ― though it does not mean that it is becoming a different type of culture.
The essence of culture and the meaning behind it, which defines it, remains unchanged. As aforementioned, Korea is now part of the ever-changing world. As time passes, our culture will continue to change and become gradually dissimilar to traditional customs.
Modernizing a culture helps it to become more accessible to people. Modernization will encourage more people to engage in the culture and sustain it, allowing it to live on and prosper through time.
One of my hobbies is painting "minhwa," a type of Korean traditional painting. Minhwa has become my method of connecting with Korean culture as a third-culture kid.
At my most recent exhibition, one of the most common comments was, "I didn't know that minhwa could be this beautiful!" People were amazed and shocked by the diversity of subjects and the stylization, which were significantly different from their expectations of minhwa, which are usually saturated paintings of tigers, mountains and flowers.
The other artists I worked with experimented with different materials, styles, colors, and more to create original works of art. Their paintings were far different from traditional ones but they struck the interest of the viewers and pushed them to reevaluate their opinions of minhwa. Seeing the beauty of minhwa can encourage people to try out minhwa, contributing to preserving and spreading the culture.
Altering traditional culture shouldn't be shunned, but it doesn't mean that preserving traditional culture the way it is should stop either. Conserving traditional culture has value because it preserves the authentic traditional ways of the past that define traditional culture.
Altering traditional culture is a way that can help people more actively take part in it and sustain the tradition. Furthermore, it could also help spread the culture more swiftly; people outside of Korea may more easily interact with the altered traditional culture and thereby, gain interest in Korea's traditional culture.
Newfound interests could drive foreigners or Koreans who feel disconnected from their culture to immerse themselves in Korea's traditional culture.
Altering traditional culture may be a bitter pill to swallow for some in Korea, but modernizing culture opens new opportunities for the culture to spread and flourish. It's time for Korea to view the alteration and modernization of traditional culture from a different angle and support it.
The writer is an 11th grader at the Yongsan International School of Seoul.
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