Coming up for air: Done with city life, midlifers dive into Jeju’s haenyeo trade

Discover how midlifers are embracing the traditional Jeju haenyeo trade, finding a new life and purpose in the sea. Read more at straitstimes.com.

JEJU – In the opening scene of the 2025 Netflix hit series When Life Gives You Tangerines, main character Ae-soon stands before the open sea and calls out for her mother in a plaintive voice. From the waves, her mother, a “haenyeo” – a “sea woman ”, one who freedives to harvest seafood – surfaces and releases a sharp, piercing whistle before slipping beneath the water once more. This whistle is known as sumbisori – sound of breath. It is a breathing technique passed down through generations of haenyeos. Mimicking the breathing of whales and dolphins, it is a rapid purge of carbon dioxide followed by a lungful of fresh air, designed to ward off the dizziness that follows a deep dive. The sumbisori is also a signal of life. When a haenyeo surfaces from dives 20m-deep with bare essentials and no oxygen tank, her sumbisori cuts through the air as a triumphant declaration of survival. For Madam Choi Soon-duk, who gave up her life in Seoul to become a haenyeo, the sumbisori represents ...