0:00:00.624,0:00:04.672
It is said that the grass is always greener

0:00:04.672,0:00:07.726
on the other side of the fence,

0:00:07.726,0:00:10.872
and I believe this is true,

0:00:10.872,0:00:13.456
especially when I hear President Obama

0:00:13.456,0:00:15.954
often talk about the Korean education system

0:00:15.954,0:00:19.465
as a benchmark of success.

0:00:19.465,0:00:21.862
Well, I can tell you that,

0:00:21.862,0:00:25.409
in the rigid structure and highly competitive nature

0:00:25.409,0:00:27.600
of the Korean school system,

0:00:27.600,0:00:29.934
also known as pressure cooker,

0:00:29.934,0:00:35.593
not everyone can do well in that environment.

0:00:35.593,0:00:38.218
While many people responded in different ways

0:00:38.218,0:00:41.218
about our education system,

0:00:41.218,0:00:44.594
my response to the high-pressure environment

0:00:44.594,0:00:47.524
was making bows with pieces of wood

0:00:47.524,0:00:50.268
found near my apartment building.

0:00:50.268,0:00:52.788
Why bows?

0:00:52.788,0:00:55.539
I'm not quite sure.

0:00:55.539,0:00:59.484
Perhaps, in the face of constant pressure,

0:00:59.484,0:01:01.731
my caveman instinct of survival

0:01:01.731,0:01:06.053
has connected with the bows.

0:01:06.053,0:01:07.787
If you think about it,

0:01:07.787,0:01:11.200
the bow has really helped drive human survival

0:01:11.200,0:01:13.925
since prehistoric times.

0:01:13.925,0:01:17.192
The area within three kilometers of my home

0:01:17.192,0:01:19.375
used to be a mulberry forest

0:01:19.375,0:01:21.665
during the Joseon dynasty,

0:01:21.665,0:01:26.122
where silkworms were fed with mulberry leaves.

0:01:26.122,0:01:30.828
In order to raise the historical awareness of this fact,

0:01:30.828,0:01:35.163
the government has planted mulberry trees.

0:01:35.163,0:01:36.941
The seeds from these trees

0:01:36.941,0:01:39.740
also have spread by birds here and there

0:01:39.740,0:01:43.218
nearby the soundproof walls of the city expressway

0:01:43.218,0:01:47.584
that has been built around the 1988 Olympics.

0:01:47.584,0:01:50.085
The area near these walls,

0:01:50.085,0:01:53.065
which nobody bothers to pay attention to,

0:01:53.065,0:01:56.259
had been left free from major intervention,

0:01:56.259,0:02:02.159
and this is where I first found my treasures.

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As I fell deeper into bow making,

0:02:05.360,0:02:09.571
I began to search far and beyond my neighborhood.

0:02:09.571,0:02:11.689
When I went on school field trips,

0:02:11.689,0:02:14.913
family vacations, or simply on my way home

0:02:14.928,0:02:17.763
from extracurricular classes,

0:02:17.763,0:02:19.862
I wandered around wooded areas

0:02:19.862,0:02:21.601
and gathered tree branches

0:02:21.601,0:02:25.572
with the tools that I sneaked inside my school bag.

0:02:25.572,0:02:29.273
And they would be somethings like saws, knives,

0:02:29.273,0:02:31.519
sickles and axes

0:02:31.519,0:02:36.207
that I covered up with a piece of towel.

0:02:36.207,0:02:38.088
I would bring the branches home,

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riding buses and subways,

0:02:40.077,0:02:43.466
barely holding them in my hands.

0:02:43.466,0:02:47.342
And I did not bring the tools here to Long Beach.

0:02:47.342,0:02:48.898
Airport security.

0:02:48.898,0:02:50.978
(Laughter)

0:02:50.978,0:02:54.697
In the privacy of my room, covered in sawdust,

0:02:54.697,0:02:58.751
I would saw, trim and polish wood all night long

0:02:58.751,0:03:01.218
until a bow took shape.

0:03:01.218,0:03:05.713
One day, I was changing the shape of a bamboo piece

0:03:05.713,0:03:10.468
and ended up setting the place on fire.

0:03:10.468,0:03:15.257
Where? The rooftop of my apartment building,

0:03:15.257,0:03:18.897
a place where 96 families call home.

0:03:18.897,0:03:21.488
A customer from a department store across from my building

0:03:21.488,0:03:22.978
called 911,

0:03:22.978,0:03:25.025
and I ran downstairs to tell my mom

0:03:25.025,0:03:30.242
with half of my hair burned.

0:03:30.242,0:03:32.370
I want to take this opportunity

0:03:32.370,0:03:36.074
to tell my mom, in the audience today:

0:03:36.074,0:03:38.415
Mom, I was really sorry,

0:03:38.415,0:03:42.061
and I will be more careful with open fire from now on.

0:03:42.061,0:03:44.695
My mother had to do a lot of explaining,

0:03:44.695,0:03:47.024
telling people that her son did not commit

0:03:47.024,0:03:50.483
a premeditated arson.

0:03:53.250,0:03:57.405
I also researched extensively on bows around the world.

0:03:57.420,0:03:59.466
In that process, I tried to combine

0:03:59.466,0:04:01.907
the different bows from across time and places

0:04:01.907,0:04:05.690
to create the most effective bow.

0:04:05.690,0:04:08.043
I also worked with many different types of wood,

0:04:08.043,0:04:11.231
such as maple, yew and mulberry,

0:04:11.231,0:04:13.171
and did many shooting experiments

0:04:13.171,0:04:15.670
in the wooded area near the urban expressway

0:04:15.670,0:04:18.505
that I mentioned before.

0:04:18.505,0:04:20.530
The most effective bow for me

0:04:20.530,0:04:23.297
would be like this.

0:04:23.297,0:04:27.510
One: Curved tips can maximize the springiness

0:04:27.510,0:04:31.041
when you draw and shoot the arrow.

0:04:31.041,0:04:35.938
Two: Belly is drawn inward for higher draw weight,

0:04:35.938,0:04:39.599
which means more power.

0:04:39.599,0:04:43.911
Three: Sinew used in the outer layer of the limb

0:04:43.911,0:04:46.816
for maximum tension storage.

0:04:46.816,0:04:55.055
And four: Horn used to store energy in compression.

0:04:55.055,0:04:58.053
After fixing, breaking, redesigning,

0:04:58.053,0:05:00.984
mending, bending and amending,

0:05:00.984,0:05:04.291
my ideal bow began to take shape,

0:05:04.291,0:05:08.146
and when it was finally done,

0:05:08.146,0:05:11.600
it looked like this.

0:05:12.673,0:05:14.910
I was so proud of myself

0:05:14.910,0:05:20.984
for inventing a perfect bow on my own.

0:05:20.984,0:05:24.416
This is a picture of Korean traditional bows

0:05:24.416,0:05:26.312
taken from a museum,

0:05:26.312,0:05:31.796
and see how my bow resembles them.

0:05:31.796,0:05:33.362
Thanks to my ancestors

0:05:33.362,0:05:38.653
for robbing me of my invention. (Laughter)

0:05:39.542,0:05:41.394
Through bowmaking,

0:05:41.394,0:05:44.455
I came in contact with part of my heritage.

0:05:44.455,0:05:48.018
Learning the information that has accumulated over time

0:05:48.018,0:05:50.856
and reading the message left by my ancestors

0:05:50.856,0:05:53.455
were better than any consolation therapy

0:05:53.455,0:05:58.404
or piece of advice any living adults could give me.

0:05:58.404,0:06:01.322
You see, I searched far and wide,

0:06:01.322,0:06:04.798
but never bothered to look close and near.

0:06:04.798,0:06:07.043
From this realization,

0:06:07.043,0:06:09.864
I began to take interest in Korean history,

0:06:09.864,0:06:13.261
which had never inspired me before.

0:06:13.261,0:06:16.637
In the end, the grass is often greener

0:06:16.637,0:06:18.427
on my side of the fence,

0:06:18.427,0:06:21.604
although we don't realize it.

0:06:21.604,0:06:26.355
Now, I am going to show you how my bow works.

0:06:26.355,0:06:29.476
And let's see how this one works.

0:06:31.568,0:06:33.705
This is a bamboo bow,

0:06:33.705,0:06:37.637
with 45-pound draw weights.

0:06:37.637,0:06:39.821
(Noise of shooting arrow)

0:06:39.821,0:06:44.779
(Applause)

0:06:48.285,0:06:52.694
A bow may function in a simple mechanism,

0:06:52.694,0:06:55.245
but in order to make a good bow,

0:06:55.245,0:06:59.257
a great amount of sensitivity is required.

0:06:59.257,0:07:01.787
You need to console and communicate

0:07:01.787,0:07:04.533
with the wood material.

0:07:04.533,0:07:06.225
Each fiber in the wood

0:07:06.225,0:07:09.051
has its own reason and function for being,

0:07:09.051,0:07:12.446
and only through cooperation and harmony among them

0:07:12.446,0:07:16.043
comes a great bow.

0:07:16.043,0:07:17.833
I may be an [odd] student

0:07:17.833,0:07:20.024
with unconventional interests,

0:07:20.024,0:07:22.966
but I hope I am making a contribution

0:07:22.966,0:07:26.855
by sharing my story with all of you.

0:07:26.855,0:07:29.108
My ideal world is a place

0:07:29.108,0:07:31.321
where no one is left behind,

0:07:31.321,0:07:34.614
where everyone is needed exactly where they are,

0:07:34.614,0:07:38.210
like the fibers and the tendons in a bow,

0:07:38.210,0:07:41.479
a place where the strong is flexible

0:07:41.479,0:07:45.272
and the vulnerable is resilient.

0:07:45.272,0:07:46.923
The bow resembles me,

0:07:46.923,0:07:49.971
and I resemble the bow.

0:07:49.971,0:07:54.835
Now, I am shooting a part of myself to you.

0:07:54.835,0:07:57.585
No, better yet, a part of my mind

0:07:57.585,0:08:00.424
has just been shot over to your mind.

0:08:00.424,0:08:02.668
Did it strike you?

0:08:02.668,0:08:04.208
Thank you.

0:08:04.208,0:08:09.870
(Applause)