2023 SPRING (Vol. 68)

<The Dream of Raising a Round Sum: Korean Modern History as seen through Investment Techniques> is a special exhibition aimed at answering questions related to raising money. It opens on March 3rd. Let's see various experience programs and exhibits to help you easily understand the flow of investment in our modern history, from investment techniques before the birth of financial institutions to the present time.

The modern history of investment techniques through various materials and experiences

“How much do you need?”
The exhibition opens with this question. Since each person has a different scale or concept of a round sum and how to go about making a round sum, the first question was raised to motivate people to think about its meaning in a profound way.

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  Asahi Vault (Japanese colonial period) © National Museum of Korean Contemporary History

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  1 trillion savings moneybox in agricultural and fishing villages (1970s) © National Museum of Korean Contemporary History

In the ‘self-planning financial technique-my money buried somewhere’ corner, you can see how people made huge amounts of money before the introduction of modern financial institutions. The history of asset management can also be seen through the exhibited materials, which include a massive moneybox and a storage box for rice.

In the ‘self-planning financial technique-my money buried somewhere’ corner, you can see how people made huge amounts of money before the introduction of modern financial institutions. The history of asset management can also be seen through the exhibited materials, which include a massive moneybox and a storage box for rice.

The exhibition also introduces the history of investment techniques, starting with real estate. This corner, which begins with the question, ‘When will it be possible to buy my own house?’, provides necessary information for trading real estate, not simply as a means of increasing assets but as a means of stabilizing housing prices. You can also see Korea's unique housing system, lump-sum deposits, the history of living in an apartment, and episodes where people underwent vasectomy to get an apartment.

The dream of raising a round sum that will continue throughout civilization

Visitors looking at securities-related materials © Yonhap News

There is also an investment story corner focusing on stocks, and you can see the evolution of different trading tools, from the opening of the Korea Exchange in 1956 to the present-day practice of stock trading with smartphones. Moreover, there are opportunities where the meaning and dreams of making big money can be explored in ‘Trading Floor’, a stock investment game of Korea Exchange. Visitors can play an asset investment game with 1 billion won.

The dream of ‘raising a round sum’ will continue as long as mankind exists. This exhibition examines the history of wealth accumulation, which has contributed to national economic growth beyond those driven by individuals and households. I hope this exhibition will serve as an opportunity for you to think about what we need to do today to lead a wise economic life.

Rapidly reduced economic growth rate and economic crisis

Korea's economic growth rate over the past five years (Source: Statistics Korea)

Korea's economic growth rate was 10% in the 1980s, and over 8% in the 1990s. However, the economic growth rate declined sharply in the 2010s, following the IMF crisis in 1996 and the US financial crisis in 2008. Now, it is difficult to expect a substantial increase in asset values. In the meantime, the economic crisis caused by Covid-19 has overlapped, and stocks and real estate assets have suffered tremendous volatility.

Social networks as the new realm of investment techniques

Recently, major changes have been detected in the investment techniques market, which is centered on the MZ generation. In the formation of a market, which is an essential element for investment techniques, consumers and suppliers must meet at a certain venue. A small number of interested parties gathering for a specific field can increase the growth of the area of investment techniques infinitely. Making this scenario a reality is ‘the social network service,’ which transcends space and allows many people to gather and share information instantly.

Now, the scope of investment techniques can be expanded even with only a small number of entities. These include the second-hand trade, resale market, and barter, which have been recently implemented. As the concept of the market expands to the Internet, a strange phenomenon occurs in which even consumer goods, not assets, can increase their resale value. A typical example is luxury investment. Cha-tech, which uses a specific luxury brand, is one of the interesting investment techniques for the MZ generation these days. It includes ‘rol-tech,’ using luxury watch brands, and ‘shoe-tech,’ using popular sneakers.

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  Starting investment techniques with plants
  © Yonhap News

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  Public relations hall of Korea Exchange
  © Yonhap News

The practice of combining hobbies and investment techniques is also increasing in popularity. Investment techniques by using Lego, which is based on assembly-type toys, are a representative example. A market is formed when a rare toy item attracts the attention of a small number of people. The toy is then transformed into an excellent investment item in that market.

If a coin issued in a specific year becomes rare, its price rises by more than 10 percent each year, attracting attention as an item that raises yields that are three times higher than bank interest.

Moreover, art-tech, which makes money through famous works of art, and music-tech, in which individual investors jointly invest in a specific sound source and then share ownership, are also becoming more lucrative.

Investment techniques in 2023: you should focus on stable assets for the time being

Ultra-low growth and stagflation are typical characteristics of capitalism as it matures. As Korea enters an advanced economy, it is difficult to expect high growth like in the past. In ultra-low-growth societies, assets with high stability tend to become more expensive. Likewise, there is a recurring surge in prices of gold, dollars, and apartments during frequent economic crises.

In this era, if ordinary people who invest with living and housing funds are easily swept away by the atmosphere and fail to make a rational decision and take risks, they will find themselves in big trouble. Furthermore, it is necessary to drop the idea that profit in the later years is guaranteed, and that the economic situation can change dramatically if investment is done well as in the past.

In other words, the economic stability of the future depends on the growth of my work, the strengthening of my position at work, and long-lasting work in good health. Success is not determined only by investment techniques. In 2023, it is recommended that people focus on stable assets rather than risky assets while also considering the recent economic downturn and financial instability.

A digital archive covering modern Korean history

Currently, there are various online platforms where each person can enjoy different types of videos. But, in the past, images transmitted through fixed TV channels created a collective consciousnessㅡas almost everyone witnessed the assassination of President Kennedy, the video of the Hindenburg airship fire, and the first lunar mission on the same screen. There are such videos in Korea as well. The scene of the opening of the highway built for the 1988 Olympics, and the first meeting between President Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jeong-il can be said to dominate our consciousness as major scenes in Korean modern history.

That's why it's heartening to see many videos featuring Korea being released in the days when cellphones didn’t exist. In the digital archive titled, ‘Modern History in Motion: A Vivid History’, jointly created by KBS and the National Museum of Korean History, you can examine the documentary videos covering modern Korean history from 1904 to the 1970s.

Korean modern history through documentary videos

Joseon's Olympic ice skating team (1947)

I would like to discuss some of them. First, the video titled ‘Joseon’s Olympic ice skating team’ shows skaters training for the 1948 Winter Olympics on the frozen lake of Gyeongbokgung Palace. National team players in the video are practicing in baggy pants on a frozen lake. It is quite different from today, where people practice wearing ergonomically designed suits in a state-of-the-art ice rink.

Seoul Sketch (1947)

The videos on Korean life at the time were also interesting. If you watch videos such as ‘Seoul Sketch’ (1947) or ‘Seoul after Liberation’ (1947), you can see the daily life in Seoul after the country’s independence. The streets of Seoul, which used to be filled with sparsely attached low-roofed houses, village pumps, carriages, and people carrying A-frames, have now turned into high-rise apartments and forests of buildings, roads that are clogged all day, and office workers holding smartphones.

King Youngchin and Itō Hirobumi (1909)

The videos on Korean life at the time were also interesting. If you watch videos such as ‘Seoul Sketch’ (1947) or ‘Seoul after Liberation’ (1947), you can see the daily life in Seoul after the country’s independence. The streets of Seoul, which used to be filled with sparsely attached low-roofed houses, village pumps, carriages, and people carrying A-frames, have now turned into high-rise apartments and forests of buildings, roads that are clogged all day, and office workers holding smartphones.

Awakening memories of the not-so-distant past

There is also an archive in the UK where you can see these documentary videos. A British organization called British Pathe News has released news footage taken over the past 100 years for free viewing on their website (https://www.britishpathe.com/). A total of 2,278 Korean-related videos are also uploaded, shot mostly from the 1920s to 1980, and feature battle scenes that took place at the forefront during the Korean War or major sports records achieved in Korea.

The time to listen directly to modern history as described by those who lived through that time is getting shorter every minute. That's why recorded video is becoming more precious. For all of you reading this, how about pausing the food shows you see every day for a while, and rekindle memories of the not-too-distant past by accessing the digital archive platform, <Modern History in Motion: A Vivid History>?

On February 24, 2023, a small exhibition, <The Unknown Story of the March First Independence Movement>, was held. This exhibition, which is held in the lobby on the first floor of the museum, 『Bando Journal(半島新聞)』, and is the only collection of the Korean museum, is being unveiled for the first time. The 38 issues of 『Bando Journal』 to be released in this exhibition contain articles related to the March 1st Movement to commemorate the 104th anniversary of the March First Independence Movement at home and abroad. The journal contains information on the independence movement of students from Baejae High School and Baehwa Girls' School, Shinhan Village in the Maritime Territory (Primorsky Krai) of Russia, and Korean students studying in Tokyo. You can also check the intensive coverage of the death by shooting of Choi Jae-hyeong, the financial secretary of the Shanghai Provisional Government. He was known to have helped An Jung-geun's assassination of Itō Hirobumi.

Citizens and U.S. soldiers cheered on the street after John R. Hodge, commander of the U.S. Military Government, received the signature on the Instrument of Surrender from the representative of the Japanese military in September 1945.

The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History has unveiled <Modern History in Motion: A Vivid History>, a video archive platform on modern history. On this platform, you can enjoy film materials that record the scenes of major events and daily scenes in Korean modern history, including independence activists who worked abroad, Koreans drawn in the Pacific War, the period of liberation where joy and conflict coexisted, and war and division of territory. Some 335 videos totaling 2,422 minutes were first released on the museum’s website (archive.much.go.kr/history_films.do) on March 3, 2023, and an additional 460 videos related to the Korean War are planned to be released in June.

The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History will hold the cultural performance to commemorate the Day of People with Disability: <On the Same Page in the Museum – Concert with Tacit Understanding>. As a joint performance of disabled and non-disabled artists, vocalists Park Min-kyu and Yoon Yong-joon, and popera singer Juen will appear to present songs about overcoming prejudice and adversity, communicating with each other, and conveying hope. Anyone can participate in the cultural performance by making a reservation one week in advance on the museum’s website (www.much.go.kr), or by registering on-site.