#traveldiaries

This week on Arirang Travel Diaries, we meet a real Joseon general whose life somehow became stranger after he died. Nam Yi was a military superstar in his twenties, rose to become Minister of War, and then was executed for treason in 1468 but later generations transformed him into an unjustly killed hero who could see ghosts, rescue women from evil sipirts, and eventually protect an entire Seoul neighborhood as a guardian deity. And the story is still alive today: the 44th Nam Yi General Shrine Festival begins tomorrow in Yongsan, with a shrine cemerony, military procession, and traditional shamanic ritual.

This week on Arirang Travel Diaries, we continue our royal-palace series by turning from the woman to the men. Being born a Joseon prince sounds like winning the lottery, bu the palace could look surprisingly like Survivor - with a little Game of Thrones mixed in: brothers, uncles, rival mothers, political alliances, and only one throne. Through Yi Bang-won, young King Danjong, and Gwanghaegun, we'll ask what it actually took for a royal son to survive long enough to become king - and whether becoming king meant you had really won.

This week on Arirang Travel Diaries, we enter the women's side of the Joseon royal palace and ask a deceptively simple question: how did someone actually become the king's wife? We'll meet Queen Inhyeon and Jang Hui-bin, revisit The Red Sleeve, and use the fictional palace mothers of Under the Queen's Umbrella to see why motherhood could become one of the most political jobs in the palace.

This week on Arirang Travel Diaries, we leave the royal palaces behind and step into the village '마당', where ordinary people sang, danced, played games, and sometimes put on masks to laugh at the people above them. We'll look at why masks could be sacred, funny, and surprisingly critical of society; experience some of the most memorable characters from Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori; and connect that living tradition to this year's Andong International Maskdance Festival. We'll also make a quick pop-culture stop with Bridal Mask, because Korean storytellers are still fascinated by what becomes possible once someone hides their face.

This week on Arirang Travel Diaries, we celebrate Hangeul Day by going back to the surprising story behind Korea's alphabet. In 15th-century Joseon, King Sejong decided that ordinary people needed a writing system that actually matched the Korean language; then faced opposition from scholars who thought creating easy new letters was dangerous. We'll look at how the original 28 letters worked, the political fight behind them, the drama Deep Rooted Tree, and why 2026 is a particularly special Hangeul Day: 580 years since the promulgation of Hunminjeongeum and 100 years since Koreans first began officially commemorating the day.