The Earth for Travel — If There Were a Planet Just for Travel, an Interview with Producer Kim Garam

The Earth For Travel — If There Were a Planet Just for Travel: An Interview with Producer Kim Garam

Kim Garam, a producer of KBS culture and documentary programs, once traveled the world to capture the earth's most delightful sights, and now travels to examine its more worn and weathered sides. Here is her story of sustainable travel, in which she finds hope even while confronting uncomfortable truths.

Interviewer Parc Jinmyoung
Interviewee Kim Garam*
Photos Shin Donghun
*Producer Kim Garam has made programs including 'Walk Expedition,' 'My Hometown at 6,' 'The Secrets of Life and Death,' and 'TV Kindergarten.' She currently directs 'Environment Special.'

How long have you been with the company?
I joined in 2011, so this is my thirteenth year. I was the youngest among my fellow new hires at the time, and I still haven't worked with a junior colleague — I don't have one yet. So I've spent all thirteen years as the 'youngest' PD on the team. Usually, in our culture department, one producer is assigned per episode. In fact, we don't often get the chance to work alongside colleagues.

From 2016 to 2018, you were in charge of 'Walk Expedition,' and you handled filming, editing, and writing the narration script all by yourself. Is that even possible? How long does it take to produce one episode?
Each episode takes about eight weeks. The first two weeks go into deciding which country to visit, then researching and arranging what's needed for the trip. After about two weeks of filming on location, I come back and spend another two weeks on file ingest (converting the raw footage into a usable format). The following week is spent editing the footage and writing the narration script, and the last week before broadcast is devoted to post-production — adjusting sound, brightness, and so on. What drove you to keep traveling the world nonstop for three years to make this program? I felt like I'd been given the chance to travel and work at the same time. Being able to choose where I wanted to go for each episode was also a huge motivator. If you look closely at each episode of 'Walk Expedition,' you'll notice that every producer travels differently. Some producers comfortably tour famous attractions with a Korean-speaking guide, while others head off into remote areas or focus on trekking. Part of the fun of watching 'Walk Expedition' is seeing how each episode's mood shifts depending on the producer's personal style.

Among the countless travel content out there, why do you think 'Walk Expedition' is especially beloved?
Even though it's a video program, I think 'Walk Expedition' leaves room for the viewer's imagination. It lets you picture 'what would it be like if I were there.' It's often compared to EBS's 'World Theme Journey,' but the biggest difference between the two programs is whether there's an on-screen host. 'World Theme Journey' has a host who's constantly explaining things, whereas 'Walk Expedition' has no one like that — aside from the producer, who occasionally appears briefly. Take eating traditional food as an example. If there were a host, they'd explain the ingredients or background information first, eat the food, and then give a review. But in 'Walk Expedition,' the producer just takes an awkward bite in front of the camera, like any traveler would, nods, and that's it. These days, in most video content — not just travel entertainment — a particular persona often becomes the face of the show, driving its appeal. But 'Walk Expedition' has no such figure. I think when viewers watch footage without subjective narration, they feel as if they've stepped 'into the world' themselves, walking along and wondering, 'I wonder what that tastes like.'

I think the raw, unpolished visual style plays a part too.
That's right. Honestly, we use very few cameras, and when the producer needs to appear on camera, sometimes the interpreter ends up filming instead. I think that's part of why it feels closest to the real situation. People often end up disappointed at their travel destinations, right? Since 'Walk Expedition' often isn't set up in advance, viewers get the sense that 'even an ordinary person like me could probably experience something like that if I went there.'

Roughly what percentage of what happens on location is planned in advance?
If I had to weigh planned versus spontaneous moments, I'd say it's about fifty-fifty. You've probably seen scenes in travel programs like 'a local family invited me over' — right? When it's really necessary, we do arrange things in advance. Once, I wanted to capture the daily life of a Sikh family in India. I was curious whether young people today still follow the old Sikh rituals, so I arranged in advance to meet a Sikh family spanning three generations, from grandfather to grandchildren. It was the same in Romania. We arranged to meet a family with a grandfather who had fought in World War II, a father who had resisted the dictatorship (the dictatorship collapsed when Nicolae Ceaușescu, who ruled Romania for 24 years, was executed by firing squad in 1989), and a daughter who currently works for the European Union — and we listened to each of their stories of the turbulent eras they lived through. Of course, sometimes invitations come out of nowhere on location. Once, while filming a festival in Puerto Rico, Argentina, the headman of the neighboring village came up to me and invited me to visit his village too. The next day, we went and had a great time, eating lamb and enjoying ourselves.

Situations like that must throw off your set schedule sometimes.
I tend to keep my schedule loose, and by nature I don't get too stressed when plans fall through.

By any chance, does your MBTI end in P?
Completely. Unlike me, some of my colleagues start by digging up academic papers when beginning a program. I find that really admirable. I'm considered one of the more proactive arrangers on the 'Walk Expedition' team, but I still can't keep up with my J colleagues (laughs).

I imagine things rarely go according to plan on location. Those difficult moments often end up captured on film just as they happened.
I suppose it's true of everything, but making this program often involves rough patches. Whenever I go out to film, something disappointing always happens. Someone inevitably gives us trouble, something that seemed certain falls through, or we're denied entry to a place altogether. We end up filming all of that too. If you try to make something work no matter what, something new tends to emerge. Through experience on location, I've naturally built up some know-how. Since this isn't a daily program, there's no interview that absolutely has to happen today, so I have the peace of mind to think, 'If it doesn't work out today, I'll just do it tomorrow.'

Some destinations must give you more than enough usable footage, while others leave you with barely anything.
As soon as I arrived in India, I knew this episode was going to work out (laughs). For one thing, when there are lots of people on the streets, that means lots of things are happening. Puerto Rico, Argentina, on the other hand, has low population density, and even though it was summer, the wind was so strong that we struggled quite a bit. The episode was scheduled to air in December, and I'd chosen that city thinking it would be interesting to show South America's vacation season in contrast to Korea's dead of winter. But as it turned out, only trash bags were blowing around the beach, and the sky stayed dark the whole time. In Romania, people were extremely reluctant to be interviewed. Even 34 years after the fall of the dictatorship, it seemed like the memory of people surveilling one another still lingered — even just holding up a handheld camera on a cable car made people ask, 'What are you filming right now?' with a hostile edge. I remember even our local university-student guide was surprised by how sensitive Romanians were about cameras.

Is there an episode where you thought to yourself, ‘I really nailed this one’?
Honestly, every single time I finish an episode, I think, ‘Great, I didn't mess this one up either!’ (laughs) But among them, I especially love the episodes where I felt I conveyed the emotions I experienced on location. There are two in particular. One is the choral festival in Latvia. Every five years, Latvia holds a massive song festival where 30,000 people gather to create an enormous harmony. Hearing that many people sing in one voice filled me with awe. The other is a busking samba performance in Brazil. In Brazil, people dance samba in the streets every Friday. It had the kind of atmosphere where, if I ever go back with family or friends, I'd want to share a drink and join in the fun. Honestly, the moment I arrive on location, I usually get a sense of how many minutes of footage I can make there. But in those two places, I wanted to take the extra time to show why it's so fun to hang out there, and why the producer filming it was so captivated by the scene. The audience response was great too. I still go back and rewatch it sometimes. It's fun every single time (laughs).

Does it feel different each time you watch it?
I tend to pay close attention to preserving the ambient sound on location. Rather than just capturing interview soundbites, I try to focus on the voices of the scene itself — the jokes people exchange, the back-and-forth as people shyly defer an interview request to someone else. I think it's thanks to that attention to detail that, even after time has passed, the atmosphere and emotions of that moment come back to me vividly whenever I watch it again.

What travel content do you personally enjoy watching?
Honestly, I mostly just watch what I've filmed myself (laughs). I don't even have the YouTube app installed on my phone — I don't watch other travel content at all. It makes me too envious (laughs). The only thing I rely on before a trip is Google Maps. I click through key cities on the map one by one and just imagine them from the images. Oh, I did happen to catch 'Born to Travel the World,' currently airing on MBC. I watched it because there was a scene of free meals being served at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, which I had also filmed before. Watching it, I found myself entertained, thinking, ‘Did I film this place too? Oh, they filmed somewhere I didn't — nice work.’

What was your criteria for choosing travel destinations?
Well, I never really set out with a specific theme in mind. I’d always end the narration at the close of an episode with something like, ‘For these reasons, this is Argentina,’ or ‘For these reasons, this is India.’ That’s the kind of reflection you can only have after a trip is over. Actually, ‘Walk Expedition’ has a strong archival character. We’ve been to over 150 countries at this point, so it’s harder to find a country we haven’t visited. With other travel shows, when planning an episode, they’d definitely ask, ‘Why on earth are we going to this country?’ But when viewers watch ‘Walk Expedition’, they never wonder ‘why are we going here now?’ It’s simply the nature of the show. I tended to choose places that hadn’t been introduced in domestic media, or countries that ‘Walk Expedition’ hadn’t covered in a long time.

What’s your personal travel style like?
I get bored quickly, so I don’t have a particular favorite place or style—I just go wherever the flow takes me. Before I took on ‘Environment Special’, every Friday after work I’d hop on an express bus or a train. Since my husband is a foreigner, he finds everything fascinating no matter where I take him. Watching him, I sometimes find myself seeing familiar domestic scenery in a new light. That’s why I love day trips or overnight one-night, two-day trips. I really am a P type, aren’t I? (laughs)

No matter how much you travel, don’t new places keep popping up on your list?
I’ve never been to any Middle Eastern countries or Mongolia. I’d like to explore those regions a bit.

Your recent book, ‘I Walk into the World’, just came out. It’s a single volume that condenses all the trips you’ve taken so far. Is it thanks to notes you jotted down here and there during your work trips?
Honestly, and I’m not joking, I didn’t write a single line during the trips (laughs). I pieced it together by reviewing the aired footage and photos my husband took. I don’t really take photos much myself either. Maybe because of my job, I’ve grown tired of recording things. That’s also why I don’t have any social media accounts.

Among the episodes in the book, I was deeply moved by the story of the siblings Maureen and Kath, who mine cobalt at a mine in Kolwezi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. You named it as the place where the second chapter of your travels began—what impression from that trip has stayed with you the strongest?
I went to Kolwezi in the DRC for filming for ‘Environment Special’. The moment I stepped out of the hotel door, my eyes, nose, and throat hurt so much. There was so much dust that even with all the windows closed, if I didn’t wear a 3M mask, my throat would go raw almost instantly. I was truly shocked to see children mining cobalt in a place where it was hard just to breathe and keep your eyes open. The first thing I said to the cinematographer was, ‘This could be a documentary.’ But after three or four days, I started to see the children’s lives for what they were. Some kids were there to help their mothers; others, with no parents, picked up shovels just to survive. What frightened me most was how quickly I started getting used to it.

So child labor exploitation is happening as if it were completely normal.
Apparently 70 percent of the world’s cobalt production comes from Kolwezi. The U.S. could mine cobalt too, but mining permits haven’t been granted, because the environmental pollution caused by cobalt extraction is so severe. But no one in the world wants to suffer, and no one dislikes lush green scenery. The same goes for the people living in Kolwezi. Looking at how the world runs these days, it seems like the planet has designated certain places to serve as its factory or its bathroom. Who exactly enjoys the luxury made possible by children mining cobalt all day long? Those children certainly aren’t using iPhones. So does the average iPhone user feel any gratitude toward them? Not at all, it turns out. I once saw a comment that said, ‘At least that kind of work lets them make a living.’ Meanwhile, entirely different people get praised for their ESG management or eco-friendly image. Perhaps we’re happily exploiting the desperate circumstances of children exposed to danger. To solve environmental problems, we shouldn’t just chant difficult, superficial words like sustainability, recycling, and Green New Deal—we need to start from the question of how we treat people. Without that, I think it’s all meaningless.

Maybe people look away because knowing the truth makes things uncomfortable.
That’s exactly why I think we need to travel more. Seeing it with your own eyes lets you ask yourself, ‘If I had been born in this country, would I really have been able to speak up, no matter how much I cared about the environment or how creative my work was?’

While making ‘Environment Special’, have you ever felt a sense of helplessness?
If you think, ‘What difference can I alone make by trying?’, then everything becomes pointless. This might sound presumptuous, but making this program has actually been healing for me. If ‘Walk Expedition’ set aside issues like racial injustice or animal protection to show the joyful things happening around the globe, then with ‘Environment Special’ I feel rewarded because I get to point out the things that felt uneasy during our travels. Honestly, I think the role of media workers is to show what kind of life is morally and ethically ‘cool.’ For example, just five years ago people took it for granted to use disposable products, but now that’s become something uncool and embarrassing. I think it’s the media’s role to gradually shift that kind of perception.

How can viewers put into practice what they take away from watching ‘Environment Special’?
When asked to say a word to viewers, some environmental activists say this: send an email to the makers of whatever product you love. A company’s most important goal is maximum profit and economic growth, so let’s say, generously, that we can understand turning a blind eye to child labor exploitation in order to buy cobalt at the lowest price. But if that’s the case, they shouldn’t talk about being eco-friendly, ethical, or moral at all. Our program keeps delivering that same message to viewers, too. A single inquiry email carries no weight, but imagine if 1,000, or a million, came in. Then companies wouldn’t be able to ignore their unethical practices. You don’t even have to take action. I think it’s already meaningful just to look at a company with a false eco-friendly image and think, ‘not cool,’ or to feel uncomfortable watching a YouTuber constantly filming fashion haul videos with clothes made of eco-friendly materials, after watching our show.

I imagine some people might find the idea of ‘eco-friendly travel’ contradictory.
I read somewhere that it was compared to a ‘hot iced Americano’ (laughs). Honestly, taken to the extreme, simply being alive is environmental pollution. If we’re going to stop people from doing human things just to cut carbon emissions, then what’s the point of protecting the planet in the first place? We talk about the climate crisis and sustainability precisely so we can live like human beings, and live joyfully.

Pitch by Magazine has always talked about sustainable travel, but it makes me newly confused about what truly sustainable travel means.
I think sustainable travel is the opposite of ‘exclusivity and monopoly.’ In other words, it means traveling as an ordinary person instead of trying to become someone special. People tend to think that package tours on group buses aren’t sustainable. They don’t seem cool. But I actually think package tours align much more with sustainability. When you ride a tour bus, you don’t have to worry about parking, and you don’t have to drive either. About 40 people ride in that one bus, whereas a car half the size of the bus can carry at most 4 people. Just looking at carbon emissions alone, the difference is huge. At some point, individualized travel started being treated as if it were inherently eco-friendly. Going somewhere with no people and enjoying your own private rest—sure, that’s nice. But I’m critical of giving that kind of travel a higher eco-friendly or ecological score. Travel that anyone can do, and that as many people as possible can share in—that’s what I consider sustainable.

In that sense, there’s clearly a reason why sustainable travel provokes backlash from people.
Travel is one of the few truly special moments in daily life. If you finally go to a nice hotel wanting to splurge for once, and they tell you to reuse your towels or sheets in the name of eco-friendly policy, it’s bound to be annoying. I don’t think that’s a matter of people’s awareness. Take COP 26 (Conference of the Parties 26, referring to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference held in 2021) held in Glasgow, UK, as an example—apparently 600 private jets flooded the airport, causing traffic congestion during takeoffs and landings. The people we call leaders show up to meetings discussing the climate crisis as if it’s only natural to arrive by private jet, so would ordinary citizens really listen when told to fly on low-carbon-emission planes and save water at hotels? Honestly, how many trips does an average person take in a year? And how many people are packed into those cramped airplane cabins? Backlash is inevitable. The same goes for accommodations at travel destinations—I think eco-friendly policies should be applied first to suites and expensive hotels. If a leader attending COP 26 said, ‘I won’t take a private jet, I’ll travel together with neighboring countries’ leaders,’ then their message would finally start to resonate.

The role of travel and environmental documentaries really does feel important.
As I mentioned earlier, gradually shifting people’s perception of what’s truly cool—that’s the role we should play in an era flooded with video content. I don’t think it’s ineffective. If ‘Environment Special (2021)’ episode ‘There Is No Planet for Clothes’ had aired five or six years ago, I think most people’s reaction would have been, ‘So what?’ But in recent years, almost no one questions the call to reduce plastic bottle use. Everyone has come to agree on it, to some extent. Media has gradually shifted that kind of awareness, which is why I believe what we do is never insignificant.

Where do you think a PD's role ends in this context?
There's a clear difference between a scenario where a natural disaster caused by the climate crisis suddenly strikes Southeast Asia, creating a million refugees overnight, and one where environmental pollution progresses slowly, scattering 100,000 people a year. In the latter case, we still have time to respond to the problem. There may even come a day when it's resolved. I like to think that the programs I make could help slow the pace of climate change, even just a little, and buy us more time to respond.

Lastly, can you give us a hint about your next destination?
I'm preparing for a trip to Indonesia for the next episode of ‘Environmental Special.’ It'll cover another story on the theme of waste, so please look forward to it.