Online Cultural Festival Held to Commemorate the 117th Anniversary of Yi Yuk-sa's Birth

The First Cultural Festival Celebrating Yi Yuk-sa's Birth Since Opening 'Cultural Space Yi Yuk-sa'... Yi Yuk-sa Cultural Festival to be Broadcast Live on Seongbuk Cultural Center YouTube at 6:30 PM on the 18th to Prevent COVID-19 Spread... Exhibition Featuring Calligraphy of Poems by Yi Yuk-sa and Han Yong-un, Prominent Independence Activists and Writers of Seongbuk-gu, Also Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) will hold a non-face-to-face cultural festival on the 18th to commemorate the 117th anniversary of the birth of the national poet Yi Yuk-sa.

On the 18th, an online cultural festival will be held to commemorate the 117th anniversary of the birth of Yi Yuk-sa, an independence activist and poet. The "117th Anniversary Cultural Festival of Yi Yuk-sa's Birth" is hosted by Seongbuk-gu, organized by Seongbuk Cultural Center, and supported by the Cultural Space Yi Yuk-sa.

Yi Yuk-sa (李陸史, May 18, 1904 ? January 16, 1944) was an independence activist who fought against Japanese colonial rule by moving between China and Korea, and a national poet who sang of the nation's sorrow and the desire for the liberation of the homeland.

After moving to 62 Jongam-dong, Seongbuk-gu in 1939, Yi Yuk-sa lived there for about three years and published representative literary works such as "Cheongpodo" (Green Grapes) and "Jeoljeong" (The Peak).

Due to Yi Yuk-sa's connection with Jongam-dong, the residents of Jongam-dong took the lead in actively promoting the local historical figure. With the help of various institutions such as the Yi Yuk-sa Literature Museum in Andong, where Yi Yuk-sa's birthplace is located, and the Seongbuk Cultural Center, which leads the discovery of local content in Seongbuk, the "Cultural Space Yi Yuk-sa" was opened in Jongam-dong on December 17, 2019, to commemorate Yi Yuk-sa's life and literature.

The Yi Yuk-sa birth anniversary cultural festival has been held steadily since 2016, but it was not held in 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and this will be the first time it is held since the opening of the "Cultural Space Yi Yuk-sa."

At this year's Yi Yuk-sa cultural festival, a talk concert titled "Yi Yuk-sa, Jongam-dong, and Memory" will be held with the participation of Lee Ok-bi, executive director of the Yi Yuk-sa Memorial Project, who is Yi Yuk-sa's daughter, residents of Jongam-dong, and students from Seongbuk-gu.

Also, music such as "Cheongpodo" and "Jeoljeong," songs based on Yi Yuk-sa's poems, will be performed by the band Vintage Franky.

The Yi Yuk-sa cultural festival will be broadcast live online on May 18th from 6:30 PM via the Seongbuk Cultural Center's YouTube channel.

Exhibitions and related programs linked to the Yi Yuk-sa cultural festival will also be held at the Cultural Space Yi Yuk-sa.

An exhibition titled "The Heart That Loves My Path: From Reading Poetry to Writing Poetry," named after Yi Yuk-sa's essay "The Five Elements of the Seasons," will be held from May 19 to June 3 in the third-floor planning exhibition room of the Cultural Space Yi Yuk-sa.

This exhibition is conducted in collaboration with the Seongbuk Art Association, a group of cultural and artistic professionals active in Seongbuk-gu. Visitors can experience calligraphy written by residents featuring poems by Han Yong-un, a representative independence activist and literary figure of Seongbuk-gu, and Yi Yuk-sa. A participatory exhibition will also be held where visitors can directly engage in the exhibition through drawing and transcription experiences, ultimately completing the exhibition.

Additionally, from May 18 to May 23, concurrent with the Yi Yuk-sa cultural festival, experience programs such as eco-bag making, calligraphy workshops, and tumbler decoration will be offered.

These experience programs require advance reservations to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and reservations can be made through the Seongbuk-gu Office website.

Lee Seung-ro, Mayor of Seongbuk-gu, said, "We have prepared various non-face-to-face and face-to-face programs to commemorate the birth of Yi Yuk-sa, a representative independence activist and literary figure of Seongbuk-gu. I hope this will be a good opportunity to experience Yi Yuk-sa's poetry while strictly adhering to quarantine rules. I look forward to the day when COVID-19 ends soon so that residents can freely gather to read Yi Yuk-sa's poems and learn about independence movement activities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.