Got Seoul?

On Saturday, April 13, the Korean Student Association will host its annual Korea Night celebration, an evening when members of the Korean community and the community at large can get together to share and learn about Korean culture.

Korea Night is the KS association’s biggest night of the year. This year’s theme is “Soul Korea,” and, yes, it is a pun on the Korean capital of Seoul, but it’s also a chance to experience the true soul of Korean culture, with a mixture of the traditional and modern.

The evening will begin with a dinner of authentic Korean cuisine catered by Toji Restaurant. After dinner the evening’s entertainment will begin.

For traditionalists, there will be a traditional Korean mask dance, which will be performed by PSU students in collaboration with professionals.

The mask dance dates back several centuries to the Korean caste system, a time when members of the lower classes were forbidden from voicing their opinions. Performers began to use masks to hide their faces, along with music and dance, to perform silent plays that allowed them to mock the powerful and wealthy.

Each year Korea Night hosts a martial arts demonstration. The past four years have seen a focus on the well-known art of taekwondo, but this year the KSA will present soo bahk do, a martial arts form that is currently becoming popular in the U.S. and Europe.

“This demonstration may broaden our understanding of Korean martial arts,” said Eunbin Choi, one of the event’s organizers. “It will be interesting to look at the similarities and differences between soo bahk do and taekwondo.”

For those more interested in the modern, there will be a fashion show, comedy skits, K-pop and hip-hop dance and rock band performances throughout the night.

The KSA is an organization of both students of Korean heritage and non-Koreans interested in Korean culture.

The mission of the organization is to promote awareness of Korean culture on campus and to build strong relationships among Korean students, faculty and Portland’s Korean community to preserve the culture for future generations.

In addition to Korea Night, the KSA hosts other events throughout the year, such as the Korean Language Exchange Program, a new-student welcoming party, a Thanksgiving dinner and an annual sporting event. These events are designed to foster a spirit of fellowship within the Korean community and further the organization’s mission.

As the big night draws closer, Choi and the other members of the KSA are excited to once again have the opportunity to share the food, arts and customs of Korea with the PSU community.

“We hope that this year’s Korea Night [will] provide a great opportunity for people to share and enjoy [the] performances and learn more about our culture,” Choi said.