South Korea has 33.9 million internet users, the highest number of broadband connections per capita in the world, and is a leader in Third Generation (3G) mobile technology. Its ports are home to the three largest shipbuilding companies in the world – Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Heavy Industries. Evidence of its manufacturing boom can be found all over the country in the form of factories, warehouses and the haze that is the unavoidable result of such swift industrial expansion.
Yet, this small community – of 100-plus villagers – continues to defend traditional principles in order to escape from the turmoil of a hectically paced modern world. Dressed in traditional clothing, they spend their lives studying, meditating and gathering food.
The community ascribes to an unusual philosophy that is a fusion of Confucian, Buddhist and Christian teachings, with a strong underlying dose of Tonghak, a 19th-century religion that emerged at the time of Korean peasant liberation movement in the 1890s.
They are as passionate as ever about clinging to their traditional existence, because they believe emphatically that it is their route to paradise. But perhaps for them, paradise on earth is already here; in the form of an uncomplicated way of life, surrounded by the lush natural beauty of the Jirisan Mountains.
