(From right) Bok-soo, Su-seon and Han-ok are female free divers in Jeju, also known as the haenyeo. — LEE JIN WOOK
At 71, Lee Bok-soo still gets up before dawn to dive with a group into the chilly waters off Jeju Island in South Korea, to find sea urchins, abalones, seaweeds, and other sea creatures.
She’s part of a team of women – together with Lee Han-ok, 68, and Kim Su-seon, 74 – who have been free-diving deep into the sea in Jeju to gather seafood for their families.
Known as “haenyeo” or “sea women” in Korean, these women can free-dive as deep as 10m and stay underwater for up to two minutes without using any breathing gear. This has been around for centuries and often, the women who practice it can do it well into their 70s and even 80s.
In 2016, Unesco recognised haenyeo as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Bok-soo herself has been free-diving every day for the last 50 years, always looking into the ocean for food, and then selling her catch at local markets or to the restaurants.
But Bok-soo knows she’s one of the last remaining haenyo in Jeju, since many young locals or even South Korean youths in general are no longer interested in pursuing it.
The Sagyeyi village in Jeju, where Bok-soo lives, currently has 35 haenyeo, and most of them are over 65.
“We have three new people joining us in their 40s and 50s,” she happily shared in an interview recently.
Bok-soo understands why people may not want to be a haenyeo today as it is a tough job – she doesn’t even want her two daughters to do follow in her footsteps.
“It’s a mix of emotions. I hope the haenyeo tradition continues, but I also know how tough it is to be a diver. I wouldn’t encourage the younger generation to do it,” Bok-soo, who started diving at age 17, said.
Han-ok shared that even though each dive is a challenge, being a haenyeo is what makes them feel like they belong on the island.
“This is our life and our culture,” Han-ok said, adding that the job is very demanding.
“Younger people see it as too hard, too dangerous, and not paying enough money. None of our children want to go down that path,” Han-ok said.
Bok-soo added: “It’s really hard work. The water pressure gives us headaches, and we have to take medicine when we go in.”
Bok-soo, who is also the head of the Sagyeyi Haenyeo Association, said that the lead weights the divers wear around their waist to stay underwater have taken a toll on their bodies.
“We need more than 10 of these plates to stay in the water, and it causes a lot of back pain,” she said.
Each dive comes with many risks including unpredictable waves and low oxygen levels; many haenyeo divers also end up with arthritis and dental problems after years of doing it.
“Now that my body is worn out, I don’t think I would become a haenyeo if I were to live again. Instead, I would study and work in an office,” Bok-soo admitted.
Korean reports show that the number of haenyeo that are still around today is decreasing. Last year, 90.3% or 2,565 of the 2,838 divers on Jeju were over 60.
Out of that, only 99 were under 50, six were under 30, 27 were in their 30s, and 66 were in their 40s.
The Jeju Provincial Govern-ment gives women between 40 and 44 who decide to become a haenyeo a settlement fund of KRW500,000 (RM1,403) each month for three years.
The women divers in this age group also get extra help to cover village association fees and health care costs, but it’s still not enough to get enough people to join.
Meanwhile, Bok-soo said that the haenyeo tradition is getting a fresh look thanks to the Netflix K-drama, When Life Gives You Tangerines, which came out earlier this year. Her village has been buzzing with tourists eager to dive into the haenyeo experience since then.
“Usually, we get a lot of visitors from early May to the end of October,” Bok-soo said.
“One haenyeo will guide four tourists through the water, and they’ll even get to wear the wet suits.”
She believes that the Korean series has really helped people from other countries understand the haenyeo tradition, and Jeju better.
“Haenyeo is a big deal in South Korea, and we’re still working hard to keep it alive,” she added.
According to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute recently, the number of foreign tourists who visited Jeju rose for three consecutive quarters this year, reaching 8.9% in the first quarter, 9% in the second and 10.5% in the third quarter.
The third-quarter figure marked a 0.6% increase from 9.9% during the same period last year.
Even the Jeju Provincial Government attributed the rise in tourism to the series.
