▲ JDC junior journalists had caught top shells at the Hado village. Photo by Kim Jinmi

[This article is written by a JDC Junior Journalist. The JDC Junior Journalist program is an educational project sponsored by Jeju Free International City Development Corporation (JDC). JDC Junior Journalist articles are only briefly edited by mentors before publishing.]

On June 15, JDC junior journalists visited Hado village to interview real working haenyeo and learn more about haenyeo life.

Haenyeos are Jeju’s traditional woman divers. They usually catch Bomal(Top shell), Sora(Big top shell), Junbok(Ear shell), which is a type of shell fish and seaweed.

Ham Souk-hi(68), a haenyeo in Hado village said “You can earn quite a lot of money if you’re lucky, but it’s a hard work for many haenyeos.” Because of that, many haenyeos are taking pain-killers to protect them from the water presure.

Bark Mi-gyung(53), the other haenyeo in Hado village said “ The hard part is to hold your breath. And when it’s time for high tide (ebb wave) because you have to go deeper into the ocean to get to the bottom.”

Due to the hard work, haenyeo’s age more quickly. They are at risk of heart disease and chronic headaches. The difficult labor makes them weak more quickly than other people. Due to the hard work, Both haenyeo said they don’t want their daughters to be haenyeos. Even they feel sorry for decreasing of haenyeo, they said they are wanting to quit.

Haenyeos are divided into three classes or levels: Sang gun, Jung gun and Ha-gun. The levels are divided by your ability to catch sea creatures. The top class for the most skilled haenyeo is sang gun. Usually sang gun haenyeos can hold breath for more then 3 mintes.

Recently, the government began giving suits and free medical care for haenyeos to protect them. Also, to protect the environment, haenyeos are only allowed to catch sea creatures twice a week.

But, even though the government is trying to help haenyeos, they are facing their own problems. Some of these problems include pollution in the sea, which kills many sea creatures that haenyeos catch as well as the risk of getting tangled by fishing line or net.