Korea is a peninsula of land bordered by the East Sea (sometimes called the Sea of Japan) on the East and the Yellow Sea on the west. There are approximately 3,000 islands belonging to Korea. The total area, including the peninsula and islands is 222,154 square kilometres, of which about 45 percent (99,313 km²) constitutes the territory of South Korea, officially known as the Republic of Korea. The combined territories of South and North Korea are similar in size to Britain (244,100 km²). South Korea itself is about the size of Hungary (93,000 km²).

Since its independence and the end of the Korean War, the Republic of Korea has achieved what is widely acclaimed as an economic miracle over the past four decades. South Korea was one of the fastest growing economies in the Asia Pacific region and ranked tenth in the world by ‘The World Bank’ with a Gross National Income of US$680 billion in 2004.

Korea’s greatest asset is its highly educated and hard working population, which numbers over 48 million with a high literacy rate at 98%. In fact, there are more PhDs in Korea per capita than anywhere else in the world. The capital Seoul is the largest urban centre, supporting 10 million residents. Incheon, is the third largest city in South Korea with a population of over 2.5 million. It is often regarded as part of Seoul due to its proximity and linked subway systems. Samick’s headquarters are located in Incheon.

Korean is the national language, but English is now widely spoken as Korea works towards becoming Northeast Asia’s new business hub. It has started by becoming an IT powerhouse with broadband internet on all computers across the entire country.

Companies such as Samick are working hard, gaining prodigious results and exceeding the standards of their competitors.

This is one of the sayings on the Samick Korea website. It is actually a true reflection of deep Korean belief and philosophy, influenced by their ancient Confucian and Buddhist religions which now exists alongside Christianity as the major religion in the country. The Korean view is that life should be lived physically, intellectually and emotionally. Music therefore is not a static action existing by itself in a vacuum. Music interacts with you and you with music. It is part of your being, and helps develop a closer connection to yourself. Thus ‘Enjoy Music Enjoy Life’ is not a request, but more a wish for all people to realize this truth and receive inner peace, satisfaction and self-awareness from living music everyday.

To truly understand the basis of the statement above, simply look at the ancient art of Taekwondo, that originated in Korea around 5000 years ago. Taekwondo is an important part of Korean life and demonstrates how Korean people focus not only on developing technical skill, but place equal importance on spiritual refinement.

The World Taekwondo Federation explains the philosophy:
If we learn philosophy from books, we tend to forget it as soon as we leave them, because it is not related to our actual lives. But since Taekwondo is connected with our lives like every movement of ours is, we can never forget its philosophy…We can understand the philosophy of Taekwondo by doing Taekwondo, and this understanding should lead to better understanding and enhancement of our life…It is the Korean traditional martial art characterized by the trinity of body, mind and life.

In the same way, Samick believes music is a discipline and art form that must be actively experienced every day in order to receive its benefits. Music provides a way for people to enhance their spirit and life through training both body and mind.

The final goal is to achieve harmony with nature and oneself. This principle is illustrated in the circle called the ‘T’aeg?k’ or ‘Great Ultimate’ on the Korean flag, consisting of two whirling elements. The two swirls stand for Yin (‘?m’ in Korean) and Yang, or negative versus positive, darkness versus brightness, tranquility versus activity, weakness versus strength. The sphere on the flag symbolizes the inevitability of change and states that the sum of conflicting parts, ?m and Yang forms one balanced whole, the reality of life. The circle is surrounded by four black trigrams, one in each corner. Each trigram symbolizes one of the four universal elements: Heaven, Earth, Fire and Water.

A similar belief of managing change and creating oneness and harmony between different parts of life, is the principle of ‘Samjae’ which means ‘Three Elements’ (Samick similarly stands for ‘Three Benefits’). Samjae refers to a balance between Heaven, Earth and People. Heaven represents non tangible, abstract entities, the framework of change. Earth refers to tangible things, concrete entities, change itself. The will or intentions of People act as a catalyst between Heaven and Earth to enact change and keep everything in harmony.

Korean people view positive and negative occurrences as part of life and actively work at changing their skills to ensure they can meet life’s challenges head on. After we understand these philosophical Korean principles, we can better understand, enjoy and develop our own lives through Samick and music.