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Patriotic Teen Puts Together 'Arirang' Relay Clip

One-hundred and thirty Koreans from all walks of life have contributed a phrase of the traditional folk song "Arirang" to a video clip uploaded on the YouTube.

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The four-minute clip is the work of 16-year-old Park Kyung-min. On hearing the news that China tried to list a version of "Arirang" as its own intangible cultural asset in August last year, Kyung-min came up with the idea of a kind of relay rendition. He uploaded a clip on his blog, asking people to send him a clip of them singing the song and received 110 responses in a month.

Park runs a history blog. He did not have much interest in history at first but started gathering information last summer for his vacation assignments. The trigger was a plan by Japanese lawmakers to visit Ulleung Island, the nearest easily accessible island to the Dokdo islets, which Tokyo lays a dubious territorial claim to.

Park wondered what he as an individual could do about current historical issues and he decided to make video clips. He now has 10 similarly themed clips in his portfolio. "I will continue to make clips that can help us reclaim lost history, territory and culture. I want to be a historian to restore the truth about Korean history", he says.

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