HAE-NYEO AT ASIA DIVE EXPO
SINGAPORE AND CHINA
Hae-Nyeo divers Kim Jae Youn
and Kim Ok Ja travelled to ADEX
Singapore in 2016, accompanying
photographer Y.Zin Kim. In an ADEX
interview, Kim Ok Ja offers a snippet of
her life as a Hae-Nyeo.
“I went to school when I was nine
years old, and by the time I graduated,
[before then], we only wore traditional
suits, which are now displayed at the
museum. [In the old suits] we could only
be in the water for an hour maximum,
because it was too cold. Now that we
have this new diving suit, we go into the
water at least once a day, working for
five hours on average, because this suit
maintains my body temperature. I could
hold my breath underwater for around
two minutes when I was younger, but
now, only one minute or so.
“This [motioning to the buoy basket]
is the most important thing. I put
every fish I catch into this net to carry.
My swimming goggles [are] also very
important. Without these goggles,
I can’t see anything in the water.Honouring
Hae-Nyeo
Heritage
THE HAE-NYEO WERE LISTED ON
UNESCO’S LIST FOR INTANGIBLE
CULTURAL HERITAGE AFTER THE
ASIA DIVE EXPO (ADEX) IN 2016
I was 15. Things were different then.
At that time, we didn’t sell fish to the
market. We just ate what we caught.
By the time I turned 18, I went inland
to make some money, and came back
three years later. After that, we could
sell what we caught at the market. Back
then, seaweed was the best thing to
sell. So we earned some money like
that, and each village did the same
thing. We only ate barley rice with
soup. I saved money by working as a
Hae-Nyeo to raise my kids. They all got
married and now live in Jeju.
“I go into the water once a day now,
but when I was young, I went in three or
four times a day. The [modern] diving
suit came out about 30 years ago, but