KJCKorea
Journal Central

(1) Objectives: This study reinterprets Han River culture from the perspective of K-Culture and proposes strategies for utilizing it as a resource for urban cultural tourism. It examines the Han River not merely as a natural landscape or leisure space, but as an urban cultural platform where Seoul’s everyday life, waterfront leisure, night tourism, public art, and K-lifestyle converge. (2) Methods: This study reviews previous KCI-indexed research on Han River culture, public art, waterfront spaces, and cultural tourism, together with recent policy projects such as the Han River Festival and the Great Han River Project. Based on this review, the study analyzes the Han River through the perspectives of K-lifestyle, K-waterfront leisure, K-night tourism, K-public art, K-food picnics, and K-storytelling. (3) Conclusions: The Han River functions as a representative space of Korean urban everyday culture, where picnics, running, cycling, night walks, food trucks, busking, water leisure, festivals, and public art are organically combined. It also has strong potential as a cultural tourism resource that connects ecological value, historical memory, urban sensibility, and contemporary K-Culture. Therefore, the Han River should be understood not simply as a scenic or recreational space, but as a dynamic cultural platform that can expand the meaning of K-Culture into everyday urban experience, waterfront tourism, and public cultural participation.

(1) Objectives: This study examines the cultural and political significance of Korean language and Korean sounds represented on the global stage through the two Academy Awards won by K-Pop Demon Hunters. It explores how K-pop, pansori, and traditional Korean cultural elements were reconfigured within contemporary animation and global popular culture. (2) Methods: The study analyzes the Academy Awards performance of “Golden,” focusing on the use of Korean lyrics, pansori vocality, samulnori rhythms, hanbok, and traditional performance elements. It also examines the discourse surrounding the film and its creators to investigate issues of language, representation, and diasporic identity. (3) Conclusions: The success of K-Pop Demon Hunters demonstrates that Korean language and Korean sounds can be received globally without translation or cultural dilution. The film reinterprets traditional culture through the aesthetics of K-pop and animation while highlighting the cultural agency of diasporic creators. This case illustrates how Korean language, pansori, and K-pop have emerged as important cultural resources within the global expansion of K-Culture.

(1) Objectives: This study examines how Gunwi-gun is being repositioned as a hub of historical and cultural tourism within the Daegu metropolitan tourism sphere after its incorporation into Daegu. It interprets Gunwi’s Buddhist heritage, Samguk yusa narratives, mountain landscapes, and modern everyday cultural resources as archetypal content connected to K-Culture. (2) Methods: This study analyzes major cultural and tourism resources in Gunwi, including the Amitabha Buddha Triad Grotto, Ingaksa Temple, Palgongsan Mountain, Hwabon Station, Hwasan Village, and Sayuwon. It also reviews recent tourism policies and projects related to stay-oriented tourism, historic site development, scenic resource designation, city tours, and demand-responsive transport routes. (3) Conclusions: Gunwi’s tourism strategy should be understood not as the promotion of separate attractions, but as an integrated regional model that connects history, place identity, accessibility, and stay-oriented tourism. Through this approach, Gunwi has the potential to develop into an archetypal space for K-Culture tourism in the Daegu metropolitan region.