In search of Hwang Sunwon & Korean War-era fiction / Korean Literature Club trip

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Greetings, friends of the Korean Literature Club (KLC), guests, and newcomers!

We are going on a day-trip to Yangpyeong (양평군) on Sunday, November 1, 2026. YOU ARE INVITED!

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Note for MEETUP: This trip is being organized off Meetup. We have about 20-25 attendees. If you have founds this event via Meetup, you are WELCOME to join, without any special qualification!

We may be able to get even late joiners in (registering as late as evening of Saturday October 31), depending on bus capacity.

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The rural district of Yangpyeong is on the far-easterrn-most edge of Gyeonggi Province. It is in the East-West center of the Korean Peninsula.

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TRIP PURPOSE AND GOAL
This trip links past with present in Korea, through Korean literature. We are calling it our "Sonagi trip," after our main destination: the Sonagi cultural village, connected with fiction writer Hwang Sunwon.

Really it's a trip "in search of Hwang Sunwon." We are focused on his Korean War-era fiction. The the insights to gain, however, are far wider...
If you have any interest in 20th-century Korea(n literature), or in the drama of Korea's 19th-20th-21st century arc, you don't want to miss this, our latest KLC excursion.👍

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WHO WE ARE
Our group, the Korean Literature Club, has been active in-person since 2012. We have regular in-person gatherings to discuss Korean literature in English translation. We are a 100%-English-speaking group.

We are open, welcoming, and, on these trips, we are relatively flexible.
We want to accommodate different people's circumstances, as best we can. In other words, the purpose of the trip is wide participation by our community! If you want to come but have time or space limitations, don't give up. Read the "Info & Logistics" section and let's try to work something out.

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INFO & LOGISTICS

• Day: Sunday, November 1, 2026.
• Main meeting point & time: Private bus pickup near Yongsan (Seoul). Prompt departure at 8:00am!
• Exact assembly location in Yongsan: Meet us at Paris Baguette Cafe at Shin-Yongsan Station (Line 4), Exit 5. It is also few minutes walk from Yongsan Station (Line 1), Exit 1. We will depart from near there.
• A few early arrivers will meet at the Paris Baguette (opening time: 7:00am).
• Secondary meeting point in Yangpyeong: Meet us near Yangsu Station at 9:00am, if you can.
• For those who, for any reason, prefer to go to Yangpyeong by other means (other than our private bus departing from Yongsan at 8:00am; if you live close to Yangpyeong or Yongsan(Seoul) is too far), we will be glad to link up with you via Yangsu Station (양수역). You can join our bus group there.
• -- By train: If you can make it to Yangsu Station on the eastbound-train that arrives at 8:44am, you WILL be able to join for the full day's events! Come out Exit 1 and proceed south on foot about 10 minutes to Yang-seo Library (양서친환경도서관). Please meet us there at 9:00am.
• -- By car: If you can make it by 8:50am to the 24-hour free parking lot "Semiwon Minyoung Parking Lot" (세미원 민영 주차), south of Yangsu Station), we can link up with you there, and you can join the full trip. This is ideal. (We would like if you would park there for the day and join our bus, to keep the group together. We do not want to juggle coordination with multiple private cars. Come by car, but then join our bus and get to know us! You'll like it!
• LATE JOINERS: If your circumstances mean you have to arrive at Yangpyeong later than the 8:44am-arriving train at Yangsu Station: ***As long as you let us know the exact arrival time ahead of time, we can arrange to link up. *** (Train arrivals on Sunday at Yangsu coming from Seoul: 8:44am, 9:15am, 9:43am, 10:25am, 10:49am, 11:16am, 11:45am, 12:13pm; 12:45pm; any arrivals beyond this is unrealistic to join our trip.)
• Late joiners who will arrive via Yangsu Station: Please plan ahead to see which arrival you need, and let us know! We want as many in the KLC community (and beyond) to be able to join as possible.

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PURPOSE & BACKGROUND

• WHY ARE WE DOING this trip: It's 's because the KLC has been reading works by the 20th-century fiction writer Hwang Sunwon (황순원, 1915-2000). The Club had previously read him several sessions in 2019, but the current generation of the KLC is mostly new to him.
• Our 2026 study of Hwang Sunwon started in September 2026 ("The Cloudburst" or Sonagi). It continues now (see "Read a bit," just below) and through our reading of his 1960 novel Trees on a Slope (November 12 gathering).
• Goals: In general, we want to get a firmer perspective on Hwang Sunwon and his fiction and what it means, his "place in history," that kind of thing. Specifically, we are reading his Korean War-era fiction (which includesTrees on a Slope).
• The "Sonagi site": The grandest site anywhere on Earth dedicted to Hwang Sunwon and his work is the so-called "Sonagi cultural villae" in Yangpyeong. That is the center-piece of our trip.
• We'll make several other stops on the same general theme of Korean War and rural Yangpyeong, including the Chinpyongni battle-site memorial and museum, a traditional Korean "Hyanggyo" dating back ot medieval times, and a rural "fermentation festival" nearby.
• Read a bit first: Those joining our "Sonagi trip" should have read a little of Hwang Sunwon, to get the most out of the trip.
• Everyone should have read Sonagi. We recommend two to three other stories, as well, dealing with the Korean War: "Mountains," "Crane," and "Time for You and Me." These are short stories -- lengths: 1600 words, 3300 words, and 8000 words. For your convenience, we've shared these stories in their published English translations:

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RECOMMENDED READING:
To get the most possible out of this trip, you should have read a few Hwang Sunwon stories. As this group deals with Korean literature in translation, we urge even those who can read Korean to read the stories in English (additionally or solely), so that we're all "on the same page."

We recommend the following stories, one the classic "Sonagi" and the other three dealing with the Korean War: "The Cloudburst" (Sonagi, 1952), "Mountains" (1956), "Cranes" (1953), and "A Time for You and Me" (1964). All these stories put together could be read quickly in under one hour. (The shortest, "Cranes," is only 1600 words.)

• -- PDF of "The Cloudburst" (Sonagi, 1952);
• -- PDF of "Mountains" (San, 1956);
• -- PDF of "Cranes" (Hak, 1953; tr. Richard Rutt, 1963) (see also: "The Crane," translation by Brother Anthony of Taize);
• -- PDF of "Time for You and Me" (Nŏwa Naman-eui Sigan, 1958)

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GENERAL ITINERARY

• Morning: Enter rural Yangpyeong. Trip orientation.
• Late-morning and midday: the Hwang Sunwon "Sonagi" cultural village, including museum and grounds. Hiking in the Sonagi village vicinity (optional, 1 hr).
• Lunch (covered by your participation fee).
• Afternoon: the Chipyongni Korean War battlefield site, memorial, and museum; a traditional Korean rural elite Confucian school (Hyanggyo); the annual "Jipyeong fermentation festival." Time allocated to each is up to the individual, depending on interest!
• End of trip -- Expected arrival back in Yangsu: 5:30pm. Expected arrival back in Yongsan/Seoul: 6:30pm.

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Participation cost:

• 40,000 KRW for the full trip. This includes transportation by our private bus, entry fees, a full lunch, and snacks and drinks along the way. It does not include purchases you may choose to make at the fermentation festival in the afternoon.

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QUESTIONS

• Any questions before the trip on logistics or anything else, You may reach out via the Eventbrite "Contact" button, or any other ways you know how to reach us (Email, KakaoTalk, Instagram, GoodReads).

FOLLOW UP

• Follow up from the Organizers before the trip: After you register, we will contact you directly by email, starting the evening of Wednesday, October 28. We want to follow up some details related to this trip and contact information, to secure your participation.

Emergency contact, day of the trip:

• Call: 010-8864-0904 (Sung, co-organizer)

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This is going to be a great trip! It will rival or exceed our recent trip to Paju Book City (34 attendees; a great time had by all).
If you're reading this and are unsure if you want to join or not, just know that we would LOVE to have you! Join friends, old and new.

Thanks,
--- The KLC Organizers; &
--- The Sonagi Trip Planning Committee (five members: W, P, H, K, S).