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Yasuyo Ko, center, a Japanese marriage migrant, teaches her Korean neighbors how to make "umeboshi" rice balls at a public kitchen inside a local library in Seongbuk District, Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Seongbuk District Office

Local cooking club tries to mend ties broken by Japan's colonial occupation

By Ko Dong-hwan

While maintaining diplomatic ties often proves to be a complicated matter for presidents, ministers and industrial leaders of all nations, the task can be less burdensome and sometimes even joyful at a certain down-to-earth level.

Such a breakthrough took place in the Jangwi-dong neighborhood of Seoul's northeastern district of Seongbuk on Friday, where Japanese and Koreans from the neighborhood gathered to make the iconic foods from their respective countries.

Since 2020, members of Ong-Gi-Jong-Gi Jangdokdae, a cooking club based in Jangwi-dong, has been breaking the language barrier and the cold relationship between Korea and Japan ― caused by Japan's colonial occupation of Korea.

The club's latest meeting at a shared kitchen inside a local library in Jangwi-dong was themed in celebration of Korea's Liberation Day, which falls on Aug. 15 and recognizes the country's liberation from the Japanese occupation forces in 1945 following Japan's defeat in World War.

In Friday's meeting, four Japanese women taught their Korean counterparts how to make Japanese fermented soybean paste, better known as "miso," as well as "natto" (sticky fermented soybeans) and "umeboshi" (pickled Japanese plum or "ume") rice balls.

The meeting is not just a typical cooking class ― it offers a rare opportunity for the locals to meet neighbors from a different country and make friends through food. Despite living in the same neighborhood, the fear of COVID-19 and the country's general atmosphere in which people keep their doors closed at all times has made it difficult for people to bump into their neighbors during their daily lives.

August is a good time for miso to ferment well, not only coinciding with Korea's Liberation Day, according to Park Soo-jin, an official from Seongbuk District Office who also joined the meeting as an observer.

The club's previous meeting was in March and was the right time for "gochujang," the traditional Korean pepper paste, to be fermented into large crocks stored outside called "jangdokdae," which coincidently is also a part of the club's name. In March, Korean members taught their Japanese peers how to make the hot pepper paste.

The March occasion overlapped with another Korean national holiday related to Japan ― the March 1 Independence Movement Day. On March 1, Koreans commemorate the symbolic resistance movement by Koreans against Japanese occupation forces in 1919.

To the cooking club members, those holidays were seasonal gathering opportunities for culinary fun and to strengthen their bonds rather than getting sentimental about the complicated past involving the two countries.

Members of Ong-Gi-Jong-Gi Jangdokdae cooking club make "miso" (Japanese fermented soybean paste) out of soybeans under the direction of Japanese marriage migrant Yasuyo Ko, far right, Friday. Courtesy of Seongbuk District Office

The club was founded by Yasuyo Ko, a Japanese woman who came to Korea after marrying a Korean national. The mother of six first organized the club with other Japanese marriage migrants in Jangwi-dong and has been serving as the club's president since then. What started out as a simple get-together of Japanese migrants in the neighborhood has developed into an initiative to create common ground for her Japanese and Korean neighbors.

She first knocked on the doors of the Jangwi Community Center and asked if she and her Japanese friends could learn how to make "gochujang" and other Korean traditional fermented food. The local authority put them in touch with several local Korean women in the neighborhood who have been making fermented Korean food for decades. The authority also allowed them to use a public kitchen inside a local library.

"I wanted to get connected with my Korean neighbors, but raising six children kept me from doing so, which was why I had proposed this joint cooking class idea," said Ko. "I feel grateful that I can better understand the country of my in-laws and also help my Korean friends understand my country better. I also got to learn more about my neighborhood."

There are many marriage migrants in Jangwi-dong and Seokwan-dong, another neighborhood in Seongbuk District, according to one of the Korean members of the club.

"But there were few chances to engage with them. Now that we are in the club, I hope Korea and Japan make stronger bonds by making healthy fermented food together that represents both countries," the Korean member said.

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