Korean Soul

Jung’s wound is still there, but through his encounter with Joy, it begins to heal. Something
resisted, and a sense of calm emerged.
Years later, he regularly checks in on Joy, like an older brother to his younger sister.
Kimchi, the emblematic traditional dish of South Korea- embodies culture, transmission, and
survival. It is also the nickname Joy continues to give her child. By keeping it, she inscribes Jung
into her son’s story and turns this name into a living, indelible link between them an act of
recognition, transmission, and repair.
Jung, an adopted child, grew up without a name given by his biological mother.
By naming Joy’s child, he performs a gesture he never received.
By keeping her “Kimchi” with her, Joy performs a gesture that transcends her own story: she
embodies a Korea that has once again become a nurturing mother, breaking with a history long
eroded by abandonment.
The symbolism asserts itself forcefully: food, maternal bond, and identity merge into a single
act. To nourish is to remain.
Finally, when Kimchi meets Jung, he unknowingly expresses silent gratitude toward the one
thanks to whom he was able to stay with his mother. He had the chance Jung never had. In his
childlike gestures and natural trust, the child Jung once was is reflected.
In this intimate face-to-face, Jung sees what he lacked replayed differently, and understands
that his work of transmission, in turn, bends the thread of destinies...