In order to talk about skateboarding in South Korea, we first have to talk about Korea as a whole. Geographically speaking, Korea sits between China and Japan. It is a country split in half, divided after the end of the Second World War, when the Soviet Union instituted a communist state in the North, and the US controlled the South. In the early 1950s, North Korea launched a surprise attack to reunite the two halves – thus began the Korean War which would last for three years and leave South Korea with a series of capitalist dictatorships, finally succeeded by democracy in 1960. Today, with Seoul as its capital, South Korea is as modern and safe as a place on planet earth can be. Roughly half of its 51-million-plus population live in and around Seoul. Talk about urbanisation, right? The largest city after that is Busan with about 3.5 million souls. One of them, a particularly beautiful one, belongs to our friend Yuri. She’s currently one of the brightest shining stars in Korean skateboarding, riding for New Balance Numeric and competing for some of the industry’s most coveted trophies. And we were lucky enough to catch up with her between two trips, though not in the best of places physically.
Words and Shots by Jin Yob Kim
Yuri, how are you? Please, tell us where you are in the world right now?
I’m in Busan. Actually, I’m at the hospital right now. I came this morning but things took a little longer than expected. I’m done though now, all finished.
What happened?
During my last trip to Japan the area around my achilles tendon started to give me trouble. I was there for three weeks and could only skate maybe once, can you believe it?
Sorry to hear that. Tell us about the trip.
The Korean national team went for a training tour and the coach asked me if I wanted to come along, you know, learn about coaching the kids and also skate a little myself. Last year, I did the same trip as a skater. To go this time, sort of as a sub-coach, was definitely different. Much more fun when you’re a skater though. [Laughs]
It’s been a busy couple of years for you. You were on the national skate team as well! How have things changed in that time?
Yeah, I was on the team last year. It was four boys and two girls. Hyunju Cho was the girl in the park category, while I was in the street one. She was the youngest and I the oldest, back then. This year, well, I wasn’t able to join because I had a bad foot injury last winter. I was supposed to be out for a month but the recovery took me much longer. Until a day before the contest, where they pick the national team riders, I was still in a cast. I couldn’t compete, so that was that. But also, on a personal level, since I’m married and live here in Busan, to be with the national team means training in Seoul all the time. Last year, I wanted to be a part of it so much that I was barely here. But my husband and I talked about it this year and we both agreed that it wouldn’t be easy to go through that two years in a row. But at the end of the day, my foot was in such bad shape, I was nowhere close to entering any contests.
Let’s go back to how it all began. Are you originally from Busan?
Yes, born in Busan in 1989. We used to live in a different part of the city but yeah, I’m a Busan local.
And how did you first get in touch with skateboarding?
I really dislike sports. [laughs] I don’t understand why people do activities like hiking, even the bicycle – I only learned how to ride maybe two years ago. I’m really not into anything sporty, but I felt different when I first saw somebody skate. I was on the way to the movies with my girls one day, and they were holding a school festival at the nearby university campus. We went in and they had a skateboard demo on. It wasn’t students who skated but real local skaters that the school had hired. I thought they looked really unorthodox and, I don’t know, happy and free. So that same night, I ordered my first board.
Do you remember your first setup?
Yes, it was a Blind complete board. You know with a Blind deck, Blind trucks, and Blind wheels. And the funny thing is, they were soft wheels. Later, at the spot, I was wondering why everyone else’s wheels made cool sharp sounds while mine made lifeless rubber thuds. [Laughs].
So how old were you then?
I was exactly twenty then.
What were you into before that?
Good question. I always liked music. Listening to it, I mean. It’s funny when I think about it now. I was a student then, a Nursing major at PKNU (Pukyong National University) and my friends and I would just dress up and hang out. We’d play around with make-up and it was super fun. One of us would say, let’s go to the cinema, and so we’d go to the cinema. If someone said, let’s go shopping, we went shopping. But after that day at the demo, everything changed. In my friends’ eyes, it was me that had changed. First my shoes, then my clothes. Suddenly, their friend looked like a skater. We’re still super close. They all work in hospitals now but when we meet we still laugh about it.
Did you get any odd reactions from your parents? I feel like our parents’ generation was quite strict and sent us to stereotypical classes, e.g. Taekwondo for boys or the piano for girls.
I actually did both, Taekwondo and piano. [laughs] Wow, I almost forgot that I took piano lessons. As a kid, I was easily fed up with everything. All grown up now, I’ve found in skateboarding the first thing that I really put my mind to and it stuck. My parents were hoping that this one wouldn’t last too long either. [laughs]
Was it easy to find people to skate with back then?
A friend of mine had gotten a board a week, maybe a month, before I got mine. Together we went to the nearby elementary school yard and some skate lessons. She soon quit, though. Today, I skate a lot with my husband, who, by the way, was MCing that first skate demo I saw on the campus. Hyobin [Lim], who was skating at the demo, has become a good friend also.
That’s not a big crew though, without back-up did you get any negative reactions because you skated?
Because I’m a skater yes, because I’m a girl, no. Personally, I’ve never had anything gender-related happen to me in skating. When I started, there was a sense of awareness regarding the small number of girls who skated… I don’t think it had anything to do with gender. And I think it’s still the same. Plus, when I started, that friend of mine – Seungin [Kim] – was right there with me. She’s the best. I never felt like there were no skating girls.
Is Busan a chill place to skate overall?
The locals here are all very warm-hearted. Sure, if you do a trick in a flamboyant way that someone else is killing himself over or if you cut someone’s line when he’s running up to an obstacle, well, that will earn you a scolding. But that has nothing to do with gender or age or hierarchy, all of which are big things in Korea. Perhaps it’s because the Busan scene is comparably small but everyone I skate with is respectful and nice.
Let’s talk about Busan in comparison to Seoul, where I’m from. Two major cities – do you feel any big differences when it comes to skating them?
What’s a little frustrating is that a lot of stuff is happening only in Seoul. For example, most skate events, or if you guys [Jin is editor of The Quiet Leaf] launch a new issue and people gather for a party and exchange news and information, it’s quite tough for us to participate out here in Busan. Not only is it far, but often we learn about things only a few days before they happen, so it’s hard to get out of jobs and other commitments. That kind of sucks. Oh and also, we don’t have a single skate park in Busan. It would be great if we got one provided by the city.
Yet you still managed to get on the Timber Shop team, which is mainly located around Seoul. Can you tell us about that?
I’ve known the team riders for a long time. We’re all friends. And before I was on, Seungin was a team member first. She was living in Seoul at the time. But I saw how much fun they all had, always hanging out and skating together, filming clips and creating content. I was jealous, with my friend being part of it all, I’m not going to lie, I tried to get their attention as well. [laughs] At the time, the shop made an effort to support each team rider with a brand that fit their individual skating. Seungin was skating Hoopla, but then the shop started carrying Meow Skateboards. And so Yangsoo [Cho], who pretty much runs Timber, put me on and really took care of me with that brand. It’s been about five years on the team. And when it comes to Meow, I have so much respect for the brand and everyone who’s involved – it’s the best.
Then, boom. NB Numeric happened.
In a way, that too is thanks to Yangsoo. Anthony [Claravall], who is running the entire NB program in Asia, is good friends with him. And Timber was the first skate shop in Korea to get Numerics. Anthony supports a lot of girl skaters, especially in Asia, and he already had a friend of mine in China hooked up. One day she asked me if I liked New Balance. Of course I did, and so she said she would talk to Anthony. I don’t know what she said to him, but I think I owe her a lot too. One time, when Anthony was in Seoul, he talked to Yangsoo and I guess they made it happen. [Laughs]
Yuri Lee, 30 years old, married for five years. How do you feel about injuries?
I’m very concerned about them. I mentioned earlier, my body isn’t too fond of athletic behavior. [Laughs] No, but all kidding aside, sometimes I think I get hurt more easily than others. It helps that I’m a nurse, but still. I always worry about the next time I fall.
In spite of this, you’re still going harder than ever. Does skateboarding still have a long-term place in your future?
That’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. And I think it has shifted a bit. I used to have a job and skate on the side. Then, I left my job to be on the national team last year. I went to Seoul and did my part. Now that I can look back on that, I’ve been thinking about things that I can do in and around skateboarding. Recently, I had two opportunities to visit the US where I met people like Lisa [Whitaker] at Meow, and I made friends who are active in their communities in so many different ways. And they’re so cool. They skate today but they care about the kids who will skate tomorrow. Skateboarding for them doesn’t end with them in the first person. They all gain pleasure and gratitude in helping others.
Who else inspired you on that trip?
It was last year, the Timber guys took me to LA with them. And then this year in May, I visited Seattle and attended Wheels of Fortune. I watched the panel talks and learned about Skate Like A Girl. Seeing Kim Woozy, Lee Baker, Una Farrar, etc. talk on that stage, that really made a huge impression on me. So my thoughts about future stuff took a turn in that direction. I’m not saying I’ll become a national team coach [laughs], I’m just evaluating what I have and how I can use it to share and help the people around me. But first, I really want to skate more myself. It’s just too much fun.
All the best in your endeavors and, of course, best of health. Thanks for your time.
Thanks to you and everyone at Skateism, Timber, and Meow. And big shout out to Anthony at NB.
IG: @yulanna89
