ROK Drop

By on November 6th, 2010 at 7:13 pm

Cheju’s Youngest Haenyeo Diver

She is definitely the youngest and most beautiful haenyeo I have seen on Cheju Island considering the age of the women who still work this profession:

For generations, South Korea’s haenyeo have been free-diving for shellfish, a way of life that has brought power to the women of the sea. Though the tradition is fading, a few young women are still learning the lessons of the deep.

Reporting from Mara Island, South Korea —
The sea is restless as Kim Jae-yeon perches on the rocky shoreline, eyeing the churning waters at her feet. Slowly, she wipes her goggles with a fistful of grass to keep them from fogging underwater and offers a prayer to the pounding surf for her good fortune.

Like six generations of women before her on this treeless speck of land in the East China Sea, the young mother of two is preparing for a dangerous job no man here is allowed to perform: free-diving for minutes at a time to catch abalone and other shellfish.

Kim is learning to join the ranks of the haenyeo, or women of the sea, whose role as ocean hunter-gatherers has long given them special status in a Korean culture dominated by men. These women on a group of islands south of the South Korean mainland have turned tradition on its head. [LA Times]

Read the rest at the link about this interesting update on the future of the haenyeo divers on Cheju Island.

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8
  • Leon LaPorte
    5:11 pm on November 6th, 2010 1

    Never fart in the gimp suit.

  • Praying4U
    9:21 am on November 7th, 2010 2

    …but I detect a certain hotness here. :smile:

  • Tom
    9:42 am on November 7th, 2010 3

    ^ it never fails. It was just a matter of time. :lol:

  • Atwork
    10:32 am on November 7th, 2010 4

    Tom,

    Do you honestly believe the picture is about the shellfish? Then, you clearly know nothing about how these women are portrayed in Korean culture.

  • Vince
    10:33 am on November 7th, 2010 5

    How ARE they portrayed?

    Anyone who can free dive like that is a hell of an athlete.

  • Ole Tanker.
    11:14 am on November 7th, 2010 6

    My wife is from Cheju, she's HOT!!!

  • Jeff
    5:49 am on November 8th, 2010 7

    It won't be long before the wind, surf and sea takes their on her. She'll be craggy as the rocks in no time.

  • jslim
    9:06 am on November 8th, 2010 8

    cutie!

 

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