At last,

I climbed Namsan.

For the first time.

All my life

I had longed for this mountain.

And Namsan welcomed me

as though it had been waiting

for ages beyond counting,

through millions of years of stone and sky.

When King Taejo,

Yi Seong-gye,

moved the capital to Hanyang,

this mountain became

the heart of a nation.

How beautiful it is.

The tallest tower of the modern city

stand not in pride,

but quietly,

cradled by gentle mountains

that surround them

like a painted folding screen.

The clamor of the great metropolis

seems to sink

to the floor of a distant sea,

while above,

a deeper silence remains.

And the mountain spoke:

Welcome, my friend.

Why have you come only now?

I know the storms you have endured.

I know the years that shaped your heart.

The long road has prepared you.

Come and rest.

How could I fail to know

the richness hidden

within your ancient breast?

Your heart,

once pierced by foreign powers,

once nailed by the ambitions of empires,

once drenched in tears of blood,

still beats beneath

these blue forests.

Only yesterday,

it seems,

cannons shattered your crown

and scattered your people.

Only yesterday,

children crossed frozen rivers

upon their mothers’ backs,

fleeing through winter

toward uncertain horizons.

And yet,

through every bend of history’s river,

love endured.

Though divided North and South,

though brothers accuse brothers,

the blood remembers.

Love flows deeper

than borders.

Brothers may quarrel,

for brothers grow together in struggle,

yet the ancient bond remains.

Our people scattered

to distant nations,

selling their labor,

giving their lives,

building homes

beneath foreign skies.

Now let us become

a compassionate people,

reaching out

to struggling neighbors,

sharing the blessings

hard won through sacrifice.

Let us build

a greater world together.

At the Palgak Pavilion,

the drums begin.

The rhythm rises.

The dancers sway.

Deong-sil, deong-sil—

the joyful pulse

of earth and heaven.

The sound circles the mountain

like a festival of life.

And standing high

upon the summit of Namsan,

I see the world gathered before me—

Alaska,

the Smoky Mountains,

Mexico,

Brazil,

New Zealand,

Africa,

Europe,

Asia—

all drawn together

beneath one sky.

Come,

let us meet here,

on this mountain of vision.

Let us become

the Three-Legged Crow

of a new millennium,

the messenger of wisdom,

the guardian of peace.

Let us spread our wings

like the albatross,

crossing oceans,

crossing borders,

crossing old divisions.

And let us fly—

toward a thousand years

of peace,

prosperity,

and the shared destiny

of all humankind.

*Namsan is located in the heart of Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

— TaeHun Yoon, 6/22/2026