Jeju's iconic female divers get first-ever retirement ceremony

For centuries, a community of women on Jeju Island, known as haenyeo, have made their living by harvesting seafood from the ocean floor. Jeju Island recently held its first-ever ceremony to honor the retirement of haenyeo.

Retiring haenyeo, or female divers, Kim Yoo-sang, left, and Kang Doo-gyo smile for a photo after their final dive last Saturday, which took place before the retirement ceremony began later in the day. [YONHAP]

For centuries, a community of women on Jeju Island, known as haenyeo, have made their living by harvesting seafood from the ocean floor.

Jeju Island recently held the first-ever ceremony to honor the retirement of several of these remarkable women.

Haenyeo, or women divers, free-dive to collect seaweed, shellfish and other seafood without oxygen masks. The divers harvest for up to seven hours daily, diving down to about 10 meters (30 feet) for minutes.

The retirement ceremony, named "Last Mooljil (working in the water)," took place last Friday at the community center of Gwideok 2-ri fishing village on Jeju Island.

Hosted by the Institute of Jeju Haenyeo Cultural Heritage and Gwideok 2-ri fishing village association, the ceremony honored nine haenyeo — Kim Yoo-seung, 92, Kim Doo-gyo, 91, Kim Shin-saeng, 83, Kim Jo-ja, 89, Park Jeong-ja, 86, Boo Chang-woo, 83, Lee Geum-soon, 89, Hong Soon-hwa, 79, and Hong Hee-sung, 86.

They attended the event clad in their traditional bodysuits.

Kim Yoo-sang, left, and Kang Doo-gyo hold out seaweed and abalone collected from their final dive in the ocean last Friday. [YONHAP]

Before the ceremony, two retiring haenyeo, Kim Yoo-seung and Kang Doo-gyo, with a combined experience of 148 years, took their final dive into the ocean. Each time they surfaced with sea creatures like abalone, cheers and applause came from bystanders.

"I will continue to work in the water even in the afterlife if you scatter my ashes in the sea," said Kim. Born in Jeju, the 92-year-old has been a Jeju haenyeo for 77 years since the age of 15, raising five children.

During the ceremony, the retiring haenyeo were honored with achievement awards in gratitude for their contribution to preserving haenyeo culture. The Gwideok 2-ri village hall and haenyeo association also offered them congratulatory funds.

Some female divers shed tears as the Hansupul Song Preservation Society choir performed "Haenyeo Arirang," a song dedicated to them.

Around 200 family members of the retiring haenyeo and Jeju Hansupul Haenyeo School students attended the ceremony.

Sponsors, including Jeju Free International City Development Center and Jeju Shinhwa World, provided scarves and daily necessities to celebrate the retirees.

Yang Young-cheol, the chief director of Jeju Free International City Development Center, presents scarfs to nine retiring haenyeo, including the 92-year-old Kim Yoo-sang, at the first retirement ceremony honoring haenyeo at a community center of Gwideok 2-ri fishing village. [YONHAP]

Kim Sung-geun, the president of Jeju Hansupul Haenyo School and the chief of the Gwideok 2-ri fishing village association, expressed pride in hosting the first retirement ceremony for haenyeo, Jeju's cherished treasure, and announced plans to hold the ceremony annually.

Following its listing as Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016, the "culture of Jeju Haenyeo" was also recognized as a national intangible cultural property in 2017.

In 2015, the Jeju Haenyeo Fisheries, or the sea-diving industry on Jeju, was designated by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries as the first National Important Fishery Heritage and was recognized as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization the following year.

The retiring haenyeo, along with Kim Sung-geun, the chief of the Gwideok 2-ri fishing village association, left, Jung Young-ae, the head of the haenyeo association, and Yang Young-cheol, the chief director of Jeju Free International City Development Center, right, pose for a commemorative photo last Friday. [YONHAP]

The efforts to acknowledge haenyeo follow the dwindling of Jeju's haenyeo population, which dropped from 14,143 in 1970 to just 2,938 last year.

With 87.3 percent of haenyeo over 60, the importance of recruiting and nurturing new haenyeo and providing retirement benefits to current divers has risen to the fore.

BY CHOI KYEONG-HO, CHOI CHOONG-IL, WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]