Three spend private money to publish magazine on contemporary Korea


Three young women are blazing a trail in the field of Korea promotion with a fresh magazine which highlights contemporary aspects of the nation.

Launched by Byon Sarah, Park Sang-aa and Choi Jung-yoon last August, Roking is a free magazine that shows the cool side of Korea to the world.

The title Rok uses the initials of the Republic of Korea, and “ing” the present progressive form.

Each of the three women was on a roll in her own way before publishing Roking. Byon, now 26, youngest of the three, was at that time a graduate fresh from Washington University; Park, 27, was a clothes stylist; and Choi was a translator and writer for a Korean TV channel. Choi currently doubles as a Korea-based junior reporter for a major U.S. newspaper.

Byon was the first to come up with the idea of publishing the magazine on modern Korea mainly for young foreign readers. The Roking publisher, who left for the U.S. alone to study after completing the first year in a Korean high school, experienced foreigners’ ignorance about Korea.

“When it comes to Korea, many foreigners whom I talked to in the United States remembered the Korean War, North Korea, its famine and the like. TV footage of the damaged Yeonpyeong after North Korea bombed the South Korean island may have reinforced their misconception of Korea as a country of conflict,” Byon said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “Americans are not well aware of how developed South Korea is.”

In 2009, Byon met Park, who agreed with her vision of Korea promotion. Sponsored by a Korean-American businessman, they made 50,000 bracelets in a drive to promote the Korean islets of Dokdo and distributed them mostly in New York.

The bracelets were engraved with the phrase “Dokdo is Korean territory.” Thanks to foreigners’ general preference for promotional bracelets, the campaign was a success, inspiring Byon to dream of launching a magazine on contemporary Korea, not only historical issues such as Dokdo.

“Existing publicity materials look stale and focus on the traditional culture of Korea. I wanted to let the world know a sparkling modern Korea as well as its tradition.”

Her dream turned into a reality after meeting Park and Choi. However, the publication of a magazine seemed foolhardy for the three young women hard pressed by a shortage of funds. They emptied their savings, and borrowed money. Whenever unexpected problems arose, they collected their ideas to weather difficulties.

“We were and still are convinced that we are doing what’s valuable and worthwhile for our country. Though it was a rough sailing before the launch of the magazine, my parents were understanding and supportive,” Byon said.

They did anything they could to keep alive their dream. Park and Choi chipped in by working part-time jobs as a stylist and a translator, respectively. The three entered an SK Group contest for social entrepreneurs, and won a 6 million won sponsorship for their project.

The first issue came out in August, five months after drawing up a plan. The 5,000 copies were split in half and distributed at home and abroad. They mailed the magazines to their Korean acquaintances living in the U.S., who placed them around universities. They also used social media to promote the magazine.

“More Korean-Americans living in the United States own successful businesses and have gained social influence. They are willing to help us. I see little difficulty in physical distribution of our magazine,” Byon said, “We are in negotiation with Korean Air over the possible distribution of our magazine to its foreign passengers.” 

Yu Bo-young, who recently joined Roking as regular staff, said that some Korean Americans subscribe to the magazine to use as a teaching material for their children who want to know contemporary Korea.

They have published the second and third issues of the bimonthly in October, 2010 and January, 2011. The number of copies has doubled to 10,000. The fourth issue should have come out last month, but the lack of private funds meant it had to be delayed by a month or so. First, they will upload the latest issue on their website (www.roking-korea.com). “The webzine format is a stopgap. We promise to publish the fourth issue offline as long as financial conditions permit.”

“We rack our brain to develop sources of income as a way at least to sustain the magazine. One of the profit projects under way is a board game of yut (a Korean traditional game with four sticks), the prototype of which we will get ready next month and sell it overseas,” Byon said. “Young foreigners like board games. Yut, if well developed, will not only give them pleasure but also a taste of Korean tradition.”

“Though we are in financial straits, we don’t want to charge regular subscribers and earn lots of profits through the magazine.” They just charge delivery fees, she says.

“The main audience of our magazine is young foreigners, so we try to play up the visual side in designing pages. We strive to shed the dull image of existing publicity materials which look like difficult history textbooks,” the publisher said. Musical and jazz, fashion and beauty in Korea are among major topics of the magazine.

“As to the Korean tradition, we try to introduce modern, interesting stories that other magazines miss,” Park said.

“Unlike other Korea publicity booklets or periodicals funded or published by the government, we are free to choose topics. We can even cover clubs and hangouts for young people.”

Roking is made of articles and photos contributed free of charge by people they call Rokians. They include active reporters, a famous chef, a photographer and foreigners. Park herself covers interesting events and issues for the magazine. The editorial staff also translate articles into English if needed.

She says in the long term, she wants to provide a kind of brand consulting service to those who are interested in promoting Korea-related items and issues overseas.

“We feel rewarded in that we have created a space in which to show a cool modern Korea. We will continue to publish the magazine, no matter how hard it will be,” Byon said. “By doing this, I have realized that many young people have a similar dream to ours and are eager to join our project. We want to make a good model for them and show that our vision is viable.”

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)