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www.groovekorea.com / May 2014 4 When Park Ji-young’s father died two years ago, she dropped out of school to support her family and went to work for Chong- haejin Marine Co. in Incheon. Six months ago, she joined the crew of the Sewol passenger vessel. As the ferry sank on April 16, and even as her crewmates were escaping safely, she refused to leave. Instead, she stayed to help distribute life jackets to passengers in chest-deep water. Later that day, she was the first confirmed dead in what has become Korea’s worst maritime disaster in two decades. As the effects of the Sewol tragedy continue to play out, Park has become a heroic figure for the Korean people, and rightly so. Per- haps it was the 22-year-old’s youth that allowed her to act so self- lessly, or to somehow relate to the 325 second-year high school students on board. Or perhaps, on that ill-fated vessel, Park did what she knew was right because she simply saw no other choice. Once the trouble with the ship became obvious, passengers were told to stay where they were. But survivors say that when Park saw the water rising as the ship continued to tilt, she urged passengers to make their way to the deck, where they could abandon ship. They say she wasn’t wearing a life jacket but was distributing them, even as water inundated the cabins. She gave out life jackets until the supply ran out, and then went down to another floor to get more. They asked why she wasn’t wearing a life jacket herself. She reassured them she would be fine, and that she would leave the ship only after the passengers had escaped safely, as was her duty as part of the crew. The funeral home where her body laid for visitation the follow- ing week was filled with flowers for Park, given by strangers, with messages like “We will never forget your noble spirit” and “We will always remember your sacrifice.” One man came to pay his respects, saying he was “indebted” to her for putting a towel to his bloody head and helping him to escape. An online petition to the government was circulating to give her, along with several other heroes of the Sewol tragedy, a Good Samaritan award. The award would give her the honor of being buried in the National Cemetery and would provide compensation to her family. During this national tragedy, it is impossible for us to separate ourselves from the nation’s shared sorrow. We at Groove Korea express our solidarity with the community of Ansan. There is little we can do to ease the pain of the affected families and friends, but we hope the anguish and blame does not linger and that they may find peace. Instead of dwelling on what could and should have been done in the aftermath of the disaster, we take this opportunity to celebrate Park and the other heroes who risked their lives to save their fellow humans. We hope they will become role models for the people they saved, and for the rest of us as well. From their sacrifices we should remember to act selflessly when others need us. Rather than cowering in the fear that we could die any day, let us take risks, live every day to the fullest and show appreciation to our loved ones. There are many everyday heroes in our lives who deserve to be celebrated, and this month we give a nod to a few: our female friends, coworkers and mentors, our daughters, sisters, mothers and matriarchs, those who give up their own ambitions to raise a family or make ends meet, those who forgo having children to pur- sue other dreams — money, travel, academia or entrepreneurship — and those who attempt to do both. Our special women’s issue features the challenges they face in pursuing their ambitions, and a few of their successes. We hope that featuring these women who live as they choose will encourage others, and that we all can find inspiration to do the same. Food The spicy food challenge Groove Korea searches for the hottest dish in Korea Once, when taking a friend to a local agu jjim (monk fish) restaurant, we were devastated to find that the red volcanic sludge in the pan was neutral in hotness — it turned out that the well-intentioned ajumma had gone to extra lengths to tone down the heat of this characteristically fiery dish for foreign- ers. On another occasion, some foreign friends were guests on a TV show sampling kimchi. Behind the scenes the producers had urged them to act as if it was unbearably spicy for their delicate taste buds. This act was met with peals of laughter from the audience, further confirming the mythical frailty of the waygookin palette. Some contend Korean food is the spiciest in the world, and it can certainly raise a grim smile on the red, sweaty face of a hot food aficionado. Groove Korea set out on a crusade in Seoul to test the hottest local foods we could find, enjoying the soothing flow of beer mixed with soju, and spurred on by the hope of identifying the single spiciest Korean dish. Story by Ian Henderson and Matt Crawford Read it online in May or in print in June Music & Arts Abandoned Korea Exploring the decaying remnants of cities past Regularly the cinematic background when junkies shoot up or blonde babes get ax-murdered, abandoned buildings have a bad rep. And while many people would do their best to avoid the often graffiti-ridden spots that litter cities and towns around the world, others actively hunt them down, explore and document them. One such urban explorer is Korean-American Joseph Jung, a New York City native who has been living in Korea since 2011. Armed with his ul- trawide-lens camera, Jung captures the innards of abandoned schools, institutions, amusement parks and other decaying or forgotten structures across the peninsula, and then shares the powerful images on his website, Abandoned Korea. Interview by Remy Raitt Read it online in May or in print in June Hot on: www.GroovEKorEA.com To comment, email editor@groovekorea.com EDITORIAL ThE EvErydAy hEro By Elaine Ramirez, Editorial Director EditoriAl This month, let us refect on and celebrate our role models