Apparently, there is a horror movie of the zombie kind, made in Korea, with the above-named title.

I discovered this by chance, through Sarge Lacuesta, a Philipino writer with whom I’d attended the Pyeongchang Humanities Forum in Seoul and Pyeongchang in late January. We had been informed a few minutes earlier as we sat in the Orchid Room at the Westin Chosun Hotel that a planned trip to Busan later in the week would take us through a newly commissioned bullet train ride from Seoul.

Train to Busan, the movie, Lacuesta said rather enthusiastically, exhibited some of the best of Korean cinema which, according to him, had come into its own over the last couple of years, with compelling visuals showcasing the brilliance of Korean storytelling. It would be my first time of hearing of Korean cinema and I expressed same to him. When we were young, in Nigeria, we saw lots of Asian movies, but it was hard for us as kids to tell which was Japanese or which was Chinese. When we grew up a bit, we could recognize Jackie Chan and knew that he came from China. For the other films we watched, it was enough to enjoy the synchronized violence of the entertaining martial arts the movies were known for. As an adult, of course, I’ve since figured out that some of the biggest brand names in electronics came out of Korea, from Samsung to Kia to HiSense to Daewoo to Hyundai.

I’ve also come to learn more about the really impressive story of the Korean entertainment industry, from Psy of the Gangnam Style fame (we did visit Gangnam too) to G-Dragon, Taeyang, and the many other popular K-Pop stars the country has blessed the world with. The Busan Film Festival, as well, has come to represent one of the most impressive annual gatherings of artists and moviemakers from all around Asia, making great and beautiful movies for a global market. These are things I knew little about until I visited Korea for the first time.

I never did see the movie Train to Busan though I intend to in the coming weeks. Neither did we encounter any zombies on the really comfortable train ride from Seoul to Busan and back (how often do you get to use fast internet on a moving bullet train without paying extra for it?). But a few weeks after I returned home, I was able to travel back to Busan a, nd to the Korean film universe through the current blockbuster Marvel movie Black Panther. Those who have seen it will remember some of the most action-packed scenes took place in Busan and featured phrases of Korean and fine pictures of Hangeul calligraphy.

The event I’d gone to attend in Busan was called New World Literature Beyond Eurocentricism, and it featured conversations with some of the city’s finest artists, writers, scholars, on the direction of the arts and literature in languages and schemas other than the ones dictated by English and other European thoughts. I enjoyed it. My recent knowledge of the successful and dynamic movie and literary culture from Korea – I realize now – is a fitting coda for that fascinating trip.

____

All photos taken at a Book Café run by Kim Soo Woo, Korean travel writer and translator, one of our hosts in Busan.