With Cheryl L. Duncan. Photos by Hosang Yu.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently led this year’s 29th annual celebration of Korean civic pride, culture, and cuisine in New York’s Midtown Manhattan – through New York City’s Koreatown.
Serving as Grand Marshal for the parade, which drew a Who’s Who of New York politics, industry, and culture, Mayor Bloomberg helped make a giant vat of bibimbap (beef and mixed vegetable rice) in Koreatown on 32nd Street.
Korean martial arts, traditional dancers, regal apparel, and spectacular floats were on dazzling display at the Korean Parade and Festival 2009.
Mayor Bloomberg, Council member John Liu and other notables “cooking” in Koreatown.
The event, themed “Cooperation and Peace in Troubled Times,” was organized by the Korean-American Association of Greater New York (KAAGNY) with the support of the Korea Times.
Approximately 200 organizations and up to 5,000 participants marched down Sixth Avenue from 41st Street to 21st Street. The event is sponsored every year by the Overseas Koreans Foundation and the Korean Culture Service New York.
“The Korean people are peaceful, and take great pride in the fact that we have never invaded another country. On October 3, we called on all New Yorkers to join us in the Korean concept of jeong, a word meaning love, compassion, humanity, and connection… for life.”
“The Korean people are peaceful, and take great pride in the fact that we have never invaded another country. On October 3, we called on all New Yorkers to join us in the Korean concept of jeong, a word meaning love, compassion, humanity and connection… for life,” said KAAGNY President Yonghwa Ha.
KAAGNY President Yonghwa Ha and his wife Keumsook Ha.
Ha heads the umbrella group for the 1,000 Korean business, religious, artistic, sports and civic groups representing the approximately 500,000 Koreans living in the New York metropolitan area.
“With businesses and people hurting locally and world affairs in turmoil, we must unite in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that enduring bond between us. We invited all to come out and to wear the color blue both in tribute to Korea – and in the spirit of peace,” Ha said.
Jim Luce remembers fondly his trips to Seoul when he was in college studying at Waseda University in Tokyo. On each trip he would meet his friends at the prestigious Yonsei University, home of the Henry Luce Chapel.
The first wave of Korean immigrants came to the U.S. in 1903. In the 1920s some Korean students who had come to Columbia University and other area colleges founded KAAGNY.
While many of these students returned to Korea to return to head up institutions in South Korea after independence from Japan in 1945, many others remained in New York to rise to prominence in fields such as business, arts, law, religion, media, and medicine.
Many Koreans are entrepreneurs; in fact, according to the New York Times, in 2000, nearly one quarter (24%) of area Korean immigrants are self-employed.
With a strong network of Korean media and Christian religious organizations, Korean-Americans are politically organized, particularly surrounding business issues.
Approximately 500,000 Korean-Americans now live in New York and the surrounding areas.
Korean-American electric violinist Eugene Park headlined the Korean Music Festival.
The day’s activities culminated with the Korean Music Festival at 32nd Street and Fifth Avenue, headlined by acclaimed Korean-American electric violinist Eugene Park.
This Juilliard-trained musical innovator, who made his professional debut at age 13 at Lincoln Center, seamlessly melds classical traditions with popular music.
Described in 1993 by William Grimes in the New York Times as “Paganini with a few dashes of Pete Townshend thrown in,” Park has gone on to record two CDs for Sony Music, selling more than one million copies.
The Music Festival included appearances by Vongku Pak’s Blue & White: Korean Fused Band, merging traditional Korean rhythm with that of other cultures; Kwon Jeon, the #2 ranked soccer freestylist; the Korean-American Youth Chamber Orchestra, a 25-piece orchestra performing well-known Korean classics; and Su Lee, a New York-based pop singer.
Attendees enjoyed dance performances by the Song Hee Lee Dance Company, the Cheongsah Chorong Company, Naru Korean Traditional Performing Art Dance Company, the Jung Hyesun Traditional Dance Company, the Woori Garak Dance Academy, the Korean Traditional Music & Dance Institute of New York, and Korean Traditional Dance of Choomnoori (Korean traditional puppet dance).
The Korean Channel (TKC) hosted the TKC Singing Contest.
This year for the first time New Yorkers could take their chance at singing Korean songs for prizes including a round-trip ticket to Korea.
Soccer star Kwon Jeon, the #2 ranked soccer freestylist, appeared at the event.
A great family event, the Korean Parade and Festival included a wide variety of activities for children at their Kids Korner on Broadway between 31st and 33rd Streets. Kids enjoyed face painting, Korean dancing and drumming, and entertainment by clowns.
Delightful Korean culinary creations were a part of a Korean street fair along Koreatown.
Delightful Korean culinary creations showcased the Korean-themed street fair held on 32nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
Among the popular Korean cuisines offered were kalbi (BBQ short ribs), bibim gooksoo (spicy mixed noodles), bulgogi (grilled marinated beef), bibimbap (beef and mixed vegetable rice), japchae (beef and vegetable vermicelli noodles), and kimchi (fermented chili pepper cabbage).
Every year, the Korean-American Parade offers colorful costumes and floats.
Founded in 1960, the Korean-American Association of Greater New York (KAAGNY) not only represents half a million Korean-Americans residing in the New York Metropolitan area, but also advocates for the enhancement of political rights and interests of Korean-Americans, thereby helping them to achieve their dreams.
The Korean-American Association of Greater New York is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) organization which has served as a bridge to connect Korean-Americans to the American mainstream as well as the approximately 1,000 Korean-American community, professional, educational, religious, and trade organizations in the New York metropolitan area.
KAAGNY will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2010 with a full calendar of events and activities.
Every year the Korean-American Parade and Festival offers a spectacle of floats.
Cheryl L. Duncan in president & CEO of Cheryl Duncan & Co. She may be reached by e-mail and followed on Twitter and Facebook. In a related story, Jim Luce wrote “Young Korean-American Hahn-Bin Wows Carnegie Hall In Debut Performance” for the Huffington Post last month.