Okhwan Yoon
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Okhwan Yoon is a South Korean cyclist who has traveled to 191 countries by bicycle since 2001.[1][2][3] He is also a philosopher, writer, political analyst and peace activist.
Okhwan Yoon got his first bike when he was 6 years old and started to cycle around the rooms of his family home.[citation needed] In his teenage years, after coming back from school, he would ride around the villages near Seoul until it got dark. He wondered who lived behind the mountains and what it looked like there.
His mother raised him to be independent. In 1984, Okhwan was arrested while demonstrating against South Korea's military regime, and brutally tortured by police forces
In 1987 Okhwan graduated in law with a bachelor degree and in 1991 he started a trading company in South Korea. In June 2001 quit his career as a businessman.[citation needed] He embarked on a bicycle journey, his stated purpose to support the idea of a more peaceful world and to plant the seed of the reunification of Korea. He has survived car crashes, malaria and kidnapping, and he almost lost his life from extreme heat and cold. In September 2009 Okhwan met Marek Mackovič, a Slovakian director, on Cyprus. Marek started to shoot a feature length film about Okhwan. On July 24, 2010, he filmed him in Kathmandu, Nepal and submitted the footage for the Life in a Day project, directed by Kevin MacDonald and produced by Ridley Scott. As top contributors, Marek Mackovič and Okhwan Yoon were invited to the premiere at Sundance Film Festival, where it debuted in January 2011.
In the summer of 2010, Okhwan visited Bhutan, the 191st country on his journey that has spanned over six continents. He has been to every U.N. country aside from North Korea. He ran marathon in Prague in 2011 and in France (Nice -Cannes)on 20th of Nov 2011. He plans to climb Mt. Everest with his bicycle, and visit Micronesia, Tuvalu, Aruba. He eventually hopes to join the South Korea Parliament and publish a book about his journey.[citation needed]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "Okhwan Yoon - Pedalling for Peace" by Laila Azzeh, The Jordan Times, September 10, 2010
- ^ "No detour around danger for globe-gliding cyclist" by Don Norcross, The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 17, 2008
- ^ "International Cyclist, Okhwan Yoon visits The Bahamas" by Andre Cartwright, The Bahamas Weekly, March 17, 2009
