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Sup sogŭi Hosu
Sup sogŭi Hosu (Korean: 숲속의 호수; lit. Lake of the Woods) is a language immersion summer camp for the Korean language in Bemidji, Minnesota, United States.[2] It is part of the 501(c)(3) non-profit Concordia Language Villages school, and is sponsored by Concordia College.[3] It first opened in 1999,[4] and as of 2023[update] it had over 3,000 attendees across its history.[5] Its founding dean is Ross King, head of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia.[6] The camp is currently led by Dafna Zur, an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University.[5] HistoryEarly on in the camp's history, there was spare capacity each year for more students. However, after the success of the Korean Wave, the camp has seen a significant increase in popularity, with over a hundred participants each year and a waitlist of 120 students in 2023.[7] The camp originally did not have its own dedicated facilities; King rented out buildings in the Russian language village for the camp. But in 2018, it received $5 million in funding via a private donation from the Korean handbag company Simone Corporation. This enabled the camp to create its own separate building, which was set to open in Spring 2019.[6] The donation was the single largest in support of Korean language education in North America, and the largest in Concordia's history.[6][4][8] Kenny Park, the CEO of Simone, attributed the donation to a radio interview of King that he heard, where King advocated for greater public and private support from Korean companies to fund international Korean language education.[8] The building was designed with the consultation of Korean architects, who used elements of Korean culture and architecture. The camp was also expressly designed to include a dojang, a training hall for Korean martial arts (notably taekwondo).[8] The Korean camp was the eighth such camp to have its own facilities in Concordia, and the only one for an East Asian language as of 2022[update].[9][better source needed] In 2024 the first phase of the new site was completed and opened for the summer session. It includes two dormitories, a dining hall, soccer field, waterfront, and more. There is ongoing fundraising for the second phase of development which will add a sports center, more villager dormitories for increased capacity, and a cultural center.[10] The camp experienced a slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, but by 2022 it reported being back up to 70% of its capacity.[9] ActivitiesAs a language immersion camp, counselors are required to speak Korean at all times. All signage in the camp is even written in Korean. Participants engage in cultural activities, including calligraphy, K-pop dance, taekwondo (reportedly once taught by Zur, a fan of the sport[11]), fan dance (buchaechum),[7] Korean paper crafting, and Korean tea ceremonies.[5] Korean food is served at the camp.[7] References
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