EZ: The Walking Storyteller of Seoul

Before I became a guide, I worked as a staff member at events like the royal guard changing ceremony and traditional performances held at Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung palaces. That's where I first saw guides explaining Korean history and culture to foreign visitors in their own languages, and I was fascinated. I felt that I could do a better job of showing visitors the real Korea. I got my tourism interpreter guide license in 2016 and started guiding in 2017.

What I love about Seoul is that tradition and modernity coexist, with Korean history and culture compressed into one city. I didn't just want to explain buildings and places. I wanted to tell the stories of how they shaped Korean culture, through the people who lived there.

I joined a guide cooperative, planned tours, and built a brand from scratch. This was before COVID, when local tours in Korea were just getting started. An artist based in the Euljiro district introduced me to the old factory owners in the back alleys, and I created the 'Heroes of Euljiro' tour. That tour got me featured in National Geographic Traveler Korea. Even though I'd only recently gotten my license, I was recognized for being proactive and creative, and ended up serving as executive director of the cooperative.

I mainly work in Seoul and the DMZ. I've led over 70 DMZ tours alone. But I also guide in Busan, Gangneung, Jeju, Andong, and anywhere else in Korea. I can build custom itineraries based on each traveler's interests.

If I had to choose one from the five tours I currently run, it would be the Seochon Art Tour. It's a 3-hour walk through the stories of Seochon and the artists who lived there. I put it together when Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature (2024, first Korean laureate). Climbing Inwangsan makes it a bit tough, but it's deeply rewarding.

But if you asked which tour I'm most attached to out of everything I've ever created, it would be the Euljiro Tour. I built it piece by piece, interviewing factory owners through introductions from artists working in Euljiro. That tour got me featured in National Geographic Traveler Korea's 'Euljiro Phenomenon' issue. Unfortunately, redevelopment has torn the area down, so it's no longer possible to run.

The Paju DMZ course is a must for foreigners visiting Korea. Every year I guide university students who come to study language. The foreign teaching assistants join as DMZ staff, and at the end of the tour they told me my explanations were easier to understand than their professor's.

The National Museum of Korea has become one of my regular in-depth tours. I spend about 2 hours walking through the museum, telling Korean history at a level that makes sense for foreigners. With every gesture, people's eyes follow along. They'd say they finally understood Korea, then head off to see the rest of the artifacts on their own. Even when a university group requested the museum's official highlight route, they ended up saying my custom route was better and asked me to lead it that way.

The Seochon Art Tour covers places like the Yun Dong-ju Literature Museum and the House of Yi Sang. Yun Dong-ju was a beloved poet who resisted Japanese colonial rule, and Yi Sang was a pioneering modern writer. Most tours to these spots are designed for Koreans. Mine is different. It's for people who've been living in Korea and studying the culture, or repeat visitors who want to go deeper. After one tour, someone learning Korean told me they wanted to buy and read the books of the artists and poets they'd just discovered through the walk. Hearing that honestly moved me. These are the moments that make guiding truly worthwhile.

Even for corporate tours, I prepare stories about Korea tailored to each company's interests and route. On a tour I did for LG, the last stop was Myeongdong, and usually it's just free time for shopping. But one executive asked me, if I didn't mind, could I tell them about the history and stories of the area instead. Moments like that are why I guide.

There was a VIP I guided who was personally traveling through East Asia, studying culture and history along the way. They had requested tours of Korean tea houses and palaces. During the tour, they suddenly asked: "When do Korean people smile?" I gave a surface-level answer — when watching comedy shows, meeting family, seeing someone they love. But they kept wondering about the expressions of people on the street. So I explained: "Service workers tend to smile a lot because smiling is measured as part of service quality in Korea. That might be what you're noticing." They said my insight was excellent. They told me next time they visit Korea, they want me as their guide again. That was truly rewarding.

When traveling in Korea, temples and palaces are essential stops. So I've set a lifelong plan to write a guidebook on religious sites across the country. In 2024, I published Buddha's World in South Korea on Amazon, and was commissioned to write for Monthly Buddhist Culture magazine's 'Let's Do It Together' campaign. Right now I'm working on the biography of a monk who ordained in India and re-ordained in Korea.

I have a deep interest in people's memories and the stories of places, which is why I registered as an artist with the Korea Arts Foundation in 2019 through local archiving work in Incheon. I don't just show you places. I interpret the lives and souls of Korean people, layers built over centuries.