- Overview
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- Book Intro
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In 2017, Mt. Jiri celebrated the 50th anniversary of its designation as a national park. The author, Joo Ok Yoon, who has been working as an activist for the conservation of Mt. Jiri, took a long time to write this book, which is both an ecological report and a love letter. Written in a simple and approachable style, the book reveals Yoon’s special attachment to beautiful Mt. Jiri and her struggle against unsustainable development in the national park. She also introduces the lives of local people, who live harmoniously with Mt. Jiri, growing together with nature. Walking along the trails of Mt. Jiri, Yoon expresses her gratitude for the mountain, which endlessly nurtures and embraces. While reading her stories, which are peppered with lively episodes and detailed descriptions of animals, flowers and trees living and growing in various parts of Mt. Jiri, readers can encounter Mt. Jiri as if the mountain were in front of their eyes. <Mt. Jiri, Ah, Human Beings!> is at the same time a record of Yoon’s struggles against unsustainable development in the national park, the result of human greed and hubris. Readers can see how the author has tirelessly fought against the construction of dams, cable cars and highways in Mt. Jiri, to conserve the national park.
- About the Author
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Yoon, Joo Ok
Yoon worked as a volunteer at the Korea Federation for Environmental Movement and at the Research Center for Environment and Pollution. She also worked as the policy director of the Civic Committee for Environmental Conservation. Since 2000, she has served as the administrator of Keepers of the National Parks (KNP). Currently, she is the committee chair of KNP, representative of NGOs of the Mt. Jiri Area, representative of People of Mt. Jiri under KNP, and director of Friends of the Asiatic Black Bear. In 2008, Yoon settled in Gurye, a town in the vicinity of Mt. Jiri. She has participated in various activities to realize a world where the national park of Mt. Jiri, its local society and local people can harmoniously live together. She dreams of a simple life and always feels thankful for Mt. Jiri, with which her fate seems to be intertwined.
