"Hometown Submerged Under Water": The Warmth of Yekki Village, Created by Displaced Residents and Newcomers Who Have Endured for 50 Years

In 1976, with the construction of the Andong Dam on the Nakdonggang River, the livelihoods of 34 villages and approximately 20,000 people disappeared underwater. Seobu-ri in Yean-myeon, which had been a center of administration, commerce, and transportation, was submerged in such a way. People who could not leave their hometowns far away carved out a new village on the barren mountain slopes overlooking Andong Lake. That place is the current 'Yekki Village' in Andong.

A barber who has kept his place for 50 years, "I settled in a place overlooking my hometown"

In the narrow alleys of Yekki Village, there is a barbershop that has kept its place for 50 years. Kang Seok-su, who has been active as the village's only barber from before the submersion until now, is a displaced resident who moved up to the mountain slopes because he could not leave his hometown. He shared his feelings at the time, saying, "Because farmland was scarce, the people of my hometown left for higher ground one by one, but I simply could not bring myself to leave."

Elder Kang's barbershop serves as more than just a place of business; it acts as the village's community room. In the past, there were times when customers flocked so heavily that the threshold wore down, with men from four neighboring townships all visiting. Currently, it has become a space where displaced residents and newcomers from outside sit together and chat. The video captures a displaced resident and a newcomer, who have been friends for 30 years, naturally mingling and conversing.

Elder Kang recalled the memory of the first winter he faced immediately after the submersion in 1976. Saying it was "the coldest weather," he reminisced about a wedding he held at the time, saying, "We held the wedding as the stars fell from the sky." Although the foundation of life changed due to the dam construction, the years are infused with living together through thick and thin with friends, attaching themselves to a strange new land.

"Under the water is our home" Andong Lake, which has become a grave of memories

To the villagers, Andong Lake is not just a beautiful landscape. Under the water where the bridge passes, that very spot is where the old village used to be. In the eyes of the elders looking down at the water, saying, "That house is our house," there is a sense of longing. Before the submersion, Seobu-ri was a prosperous center encompassing the surrounding areas. The memories of the days when it was vibrant enough to have over a thousand students remain vivid.

In the video, scenes are depicted where the elders return to childhood, imitating the sound of a school bell at the start and end of class. Andong Lake, which was once filled with the pain of loss, has now become a mirror that revives beautiful memories for the villagers. While the village was a place where people left for decades, new changes have recently begun to start.

New vitality brought by artists and rural settlers, "Hometown exists between people"

Recently, new neighbors have been moving into Yekki Village. Lee Mi-ok and her husband, who moved into the village nine years ago after falling in love with the scenery of Andong Lake, live by gathering wild mountain herbs, a gift from nature. They personally harvest mountain herbs such as wind-shielding herbs, water parsley, and charmui to prepare a 'wild herb table.' They enjoy the taste of nature by blanching the herbs—which produce new shoots the more they are cut—and dipping them in red chili paste or making pancakes.

They visit the village barbershop carrying the harvested herbs. By handing the herbs to the 50-year veteran barber, they convey the sentiment that "affection deepens when shared together." Although they are not descendants of the displaced residents, the sight of them living alongside the elders for nine years and considering themselves 'village residents' is a new landscape for the village.

Furthermore, a new resident who moved into the village as an art artist is breathing artistic vitality into the village by remodeling old houses and preparing galleries. Just as new water continues to push the waterway even when a dam blocks a river, Yekki Village flows, adding new connections and warmth from the newcomers onto the memories of submersion. Beyond a physical space, the hometown is breathing again as a community where affection flows between people.