Foreword

Spring came late to Seoul this year. Dead gray and brown dominated the city past the end of March into early April. Along streets, alleyways, and even the long stretch of walking and biking trails of Han River, bare branches spread stiff arms into a yellow dust haze.

Yet despite this, spring has finally arrived. Cherry blossoms are blooming. The weather has warmed, the morning sky brightening at 6am. Puffy coats have been replaced by hoodies and windbreakers. University students wearing varsity jackets flock like birds of paradise through subway stations. Rebirth is in the air as winter’s death gives way to spring renewal. Amidst the vibrant colors painting Seoul, Samjoko Magazine releases its 10th issue.

Maintaining a digital magazine requires grit and determination after the debut issue. Going through submissions and choosing what pieces to publish is mentally exhausting with each new reading period, so any hints of validation or appreciation is viewed in the same way one may look at the first forsythias dotting the dead brush along Hangang.

For our 10th issue, we are proud to say that we have been profiled in The Korea Times. Acknowledgement of our efforts in providing a platform for content creators is truly appreciated. We are a small digital publication, but we are sincere in our efforts to showcase the work of creatives crafting their imagination into reality.

As always, we would like to thank our sole two patrons, Lowkey Worlde and B&B Tradewinds of Taiwan. We also received a nice donation on Buy Me Coffee, which we greatly appreciate. The reality is that publishing venues like ours can only be sustained through financial support from strangers.

To all the tens of thousands of people who have visited our magazine in the last three years, the thousands who have read, and the hundreds who have submitted; if you are genuinely interested in having publications like Samjoko survive, consider supporting us on Patreon or Buying Us Coffee to help cover technical costs and contributors’ payments.

Finally, we would like to take a moment to mention the increasing prevalence of AI generated content. We are considering having those eventually selected for publication to write briefly about how they created their content. We are not surprised at how rapidly people are racing to prove they can be replaced by artificial intelligence, though this does seem short-sighted and somewhat odd to us. In the end, money will become even more concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority: those who hold licenses over the AI apps.

We at Samjoko, however, will continue to strive to make sure human creativity and effort does not become obsolete. Perhaps it’s a losing battle, but we plan to go down fighting.

Welcome to the Spring Issue III 2024 of Samjoko Magazine.

Art