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Last Joseon royal banquet brought back to life

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2022

“Imin Jinyeon,” meaning a royal banquet held in the Imin year, or 1902, is known as the last royal banquet in the 500-year history of Joseon and the Korean Empire.

The year 1902 was a turbulent time for the Korean Empire.

King Gojong declared a change of name for the country from Joseon to Daehan Empire, or Korean Empire, in 1897, in what would turn out to be a futile effort to protect the country’s sovereignty against foreign powers.

Emperor Gojong oversaw partial modernization and westernization of the country but the Daehan Empire was weak among the world’s great powers.

Hoping to consolidate the imperial rule and dignity through a demonstration of the empire’s majesty — both internationally and domestically — the Crown Prince made repeated requests to host a royal banquet celebrating both the 40th anniversary of Emperor Gojong’s ascension to the throne and his 51st birthday.

“Imin Jinyeon,” meaning a royal banquet held in the Imin year, or 1902, is known as the last royal banquet in the 500-year history of Joseon and the Korean Empire.

Now, 120 years later, the banquet is being brought back to life on stage by the National Gugak Center.

“It was not easy, of course, but it wasn’t impossible either,” said Kim Young-woon, chief of the National Gugak Center, at a press conference held on Thursday, ahead of the five-day performance.

The performance is reenacted based on “dobyeong,” or paintings of folding screens, and “uigwe,” or a collection of royal protocols compiled during the Joseon era.

Kim said the documentation is so detailed that the names of musicians, dancers, and even flag bearers and how they were later rewarded were recorded.

“The royal banquet was the most refined artwork of the time for the emperor to enjoy,” said Kim. “It is now recreated on stage for citizens. I hope the value of the precious cultural heritage and the spirit inspire us.”

The performance is staged so that the audience will see the banquet from the perspective of the emperor’s throne.

The “Imin Jinyeon” was truly a feast of colours on an elaborately recreated stage. Traditional court music and dances were revived by the troupe from the NGC.

The members of the royal family — starting with the prince, and then the crown princess — offered drinks to the emperor — in this performance, to the audience.

Poetry recitations and court dances followed each offering of drink and delivered hopes for a reign of peace.

In the court dance “Hyangryeongmu,” dancers had bells sewn to the sleeve hems which tinkled to the rhythm of the music performed by the gukak troupe behind the beaded curtain. In “Seonyurak,” dancers gracefully gathered around a large boat while singing a song to float the boat.

Park Dong-woo, who directed the “Imin Jinyeon,” said the show took about one year to prepare.

“The emphasis was on reenacting the royal banquet rather than adding creative elements,” he said. “That we are performing the banquet 120 years later was also important. And because the 1902 banquet one was so impressive, the more we stuck to the original, the richer the performance would be.”

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asean/40023262

Number of flood victims soars as Malaysia’s East Coast states hit hard

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2022

As of 10pm on Monday, over 45,000 flood victims have been evacuated to flood relief centres in five states in the peninsula, with the East Coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu the hardest hit.

The number of evacuees rose slightly in Pahang, and decreased in Johor, while it remained unchanged in Perak from this evening.

In Terengganu, the number of flood victims rose sharply to 29,717 people from 8,214 families compared to 19,601 from 5,699 families in the evening.

There are currently 273 relief centres operating in all eight districts in the state.

Kemaman was the worst affected district involving 8,375 victims (2,109 families), followed by Hulu Terengganu (5,996 victims from 1,837 families); Besut (5,492 victims from 1,506 families); and Setiu (3,172 victims from 1,015 families).

Apart from that, Dungun recorded 1,963 victims (527 families); Kuala Nerus 575 victims (129 families); Kuala Terengganu 542 victims (129 families); and Marang 379 victims (81 families).

Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department fire safety department director Datuk Ahmad Izram Osman said his team was conducting aerial monitoring to get an accurate account of the flood situation in Terengganu and would do similar monitoring in Kelantan tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in Kelantan, according to the state’s official flood portal, the number of flood victims increased to 14,359 people from 3,942 families tonight, compared to 12,104 people from 3,295 families in the evening.

A total of 104 relief centres were opened involving nine districts, namely Kota Baru, Pasir Mas, Tumpat, Bachok, Tanah Merah, Pasir Puteh, Kuala Krai, Machang and Jeli.

The ‘PublicInfo Banjir’ portal reported that river water in nine areas had exceeded the danger level including Sungai Lebir in Kampung Tualang, Kuala Krai with a reading of 40.71m; Sungai Golok in Kampung Jenob, Tanah Merah (24.84m) and Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang, Pasir Mas (10.78m).

In Pahang, the number of flood victims rose slightly to 865 victims from 218 families, compared to 647 victims from 159 families at 4pm.

Eight relief centres were opened in Kuantan to accommodate 803 individuals from 198 families, while another 62 flood victims from 20 families were evacuated to three relief centres in Raub.

The water level of Sungai Keratong in Rompin has been receding but was still recorded above the danger level tonight.

In Johor, the number of flood victims in the Segamat district reduced to 53 people as of 8pm, compared to 75 in the evening.

The affected locations in the district are Kampung Seberang Batu Badak, Kampung Batu 5 and Kampung Kuala Paya.

The victims have been placed at the Kampung Batu Badak Community Hall, Kuala Paya Community Hall and Kampung Tasek Community Hall.

In Perak, 54 people from 17 families remain in two relief centres, namely SM Abdul Rahman Talib Batu 4 and SK Sungai Tiang Darat. 

The Star

Asia News Network

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Netherlands PM Rutte apologises for role of Dutch state in slavery

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2022

Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday apologised on behalf of the Dutch State for its historical role in slavery and for consequences that he acknowledged continuing into the present day.

“Today, I apologise,” Rutte said in a nationally televised speech at the Dutch National Archives.

“For centuries, the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled and stimulated slavery and have profited from it,” he added.

“It is true that nobody alive today bears any personal guilt for slavery…(however) the Dutch state bears responsibility for the immense suffering that has been done to those that were enslaved and their descendants.”

The apology comes amid a wider reconsideration of the country’s colonial past, including efforts to return looted art, and its current struggles with racism.

The prospect of an apology on a December afternoon in The Hague had been met with resistance from groups who say it should have come from King Willem-Alexander, in former colony Suriname, on July 1, 2023 – the 160th anniversary of Dutch abolition.

Rutte acknowledged that the runup to the announcement had been handled clumsily and said the Dutch government was sending representatives to Suriname, as well as Caribbean islands that remain part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with varying degrees of autonomy: Curacao, Sint Maarten, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius.

Rutte was responding to a national advisory panel set up following the 2020 killing of George Floyd in the United States.

The panel said that Dutch participation in slavery had amounted to crimes against humanity and in 2021 recommended an apology and reparations. Rutte on Monday said his government embraced those conclusions, including that slavery had been a crime against humanity.

However, he ruled out reparations at a news conference last week, though the Dutch government is setting up a 200 million euro educational fund.

Dutch press agency ANP reported that in Curacao a Dutch government delegate said in a speech that Tula, a historical figure who led a slave revolt in 1795 and was executed, would have his reputation restored. The report said the speech was greeted with long and loud applause.

Historians estimate Dutch traders shipped more than half a million enslaved Africans to the Americas, mostly to Brazil and the Caribbean. Many or more Asians were enslaved in the East Indies, modern Indonesia.

Many Dutch people take pride in the country’s naval history and prowess as a trading nation. However, children are taught little of the role in the slave trade played by the Dutch West India Company and the Dutch East India Company, key sources of national wealth.

Despite the Dutch reputation for tolerance, racism is a significant problem.

Citizens of Antillean, Turkish and Moroccan ancestry report high rates of discrimination in their everyday lives and recent studies have shown they face significant disadvantages in the workplace and in the housing market.

Reuters

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Six neighbors die including suspect in Toronto condo building shooting

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2022

Six people, including a 73-year-old suspect, died and one person was wounded in a shooting at a residential building in the Canadian city of Vaughan on Sunday in an incident the city’s mayor described as horrifying and shocking.

Police were called about an “active male shooter who had shot several victims” at a condominium in Vaughan, less than 50 km (31 miles) north of downtown Toronto, at about 7:20 p.m. local time on Sunday (0020 GMT on Monday).

Police found and fired at the suspect in a hallway and he was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) told reporters on Monday.

Authorities then recovered dead bodies from several floors as well as a semi-automatic handgun that is suspected to be the weapon used in the shooting, authorities said.

Vaughan Police Chief Jim MacSween said the suspect had been identified as Francesco Villi, a resident of the building. No information was shared about any potential motive.

The York Regional Police Department said it was working to confirm the identities of the victims and inform their families. Vaughan is located in Ontario’s York region and has a population of about 320,000.

The SIU, which investigates deaths involving police, said it was looking into the suspect’s death and that a post-mortem was scheduled for Tuesday.

Canada has much stricter gun laws than the United States, but Canadians are allowed to own firearms providing they have a license. Restricted or prohibited firearms, like handguns, must also be registered.

Reuters

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Elon Musk poll shows 57.5% want him to step down as Twitter chief

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2022

Twitter users voted in a poll for Elon Musk to step down as chief executive of the social media platform, in a backlash against the billionaire less than two months after he took over.

Results on Monday showed about 57.5% of votes were for “Yes,” while 42.5% were against the idea of Musk stepping down as the head of Twitter, according to the poll the billionaire launched on Sunday (December 18) evening. Over 17.5 million people took part in the vote.

Musk said on Sunday he will abide by the results of the poll, but did not give details on when he would step down if results said he should.

The poll comes after Twitter’s Sunday policy update, which prohibited accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social media firms and content that contains links or usernames for rival platforms.

Wall Street’s main stock indexes were subdued at the open on Monday after two straight weeks of losses on recession worries, while Tesla shares rose after a poll showed Elon Musk should quit as Twitter’s CEO.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.99 points, or 0.00%, at the open to 32,921.45.

The S&P 500 opened higher by 1.43 points, or 0.04%, at 3,853.79, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.03 points, or 0.02%, to 10,707.44 at the opening bell.

Reuters