Expressions - Food: 금강산도 식후경
금강산도 식후경
You should eat even before sightseeing at Diamond Mountain.
Eat first, no matter what temptation or chore awaits. People often say this when they mean: "Let's take a break and eat."
From ancient times, Koreans have flocked to Diamond Mountain (금강산), and it's beauty has inspired poets, singers and artists. The mountain is in the southeastern corner of North Korea.
Koreans used this expression well before 1945, when their peninsula was divided in two. For North Korea, Diamond Mountain turned out to be as precious as its namesake. The country opened the mountain to South Korean tourists in 1998 and earned hundreds of millions of dollars in desperately needed hard currency. The venture became a symbol of South Korea's "sunshine policy" (햇볕정책) of trying to pry open North Korea through economic and other exchanges, but it ran into trouble because not enough tourists signed up for the trip.
Notes
금강산도 식후경 - You should eat even before sightseeing at Diamond Mountain.
금강산 - Diamond Mountain
햇볕정책 - sunshine policy
산 - mountain
금강석 - diamond
금강 - most excellent; adamantine
식후 - after dinner, after a meal
경 - scenery
햇볕 - sunshine, sunlight
정책 - policy
*Looking for a Mr. Kim in Seoul - pg.11
You should eat even before sightseeing at Diamond Mountain.
Eat first, no matter what temptation or chore awaits. People often say this when they mean: "Let's take a break and eat."
From ancient times, Koreans have flocked to Diamond Mountain (금강산), and it's beauty has inspired poets, singers and artists. The mountain is in the southeastern corner of North Korea.
Koreans used this expression well before 1945, when their peninsula was divided in two. For North Korea, Diamond Mountain turned out to be as precious as its namesake. The country opened the mountain to South Korean tourists in 1998 and earned hundreds of millions of dollars in desperately needed hard currency. The venture became a symbol of South Korea's "sunshine policy" (햇볕정책) of trying to pry open North Korea through economic and other exchanges, but it ran into trouble because not enough tourists signed up for the trip.
Notes
금강산도 식후경 - You should eat even before sightseeing at Diamond Mountain.
금강산 - Diamond Mountain
햇볕정책 - sunshine policy
산 - mountain
금강석 - diamond
금강 - most excellent; adamantine
식후 - after dinner, after a meal
경 - scenery
햇볕 - sunshine, sunlight
정책 - policy
*Looking for a Mr. Kim in Seoul - pg.11