South Korea's young shamans revive ancient tradition with social media

SEOUL - With statues of the Buddha and local gods, candles and incense sticks, Ms Lee Kyoung-hyun's shrine looks similar to those of Korean shamans from centuries past.

But the 29-year-old shaman - also known as Aegi Seonnyeo, or "Baby Angel" - reaches her clients in a thoroughly modern way: through social media accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers.

"Shamanism... was believed to be an invisible, mysterious and spiritual world," Ms Lee said, adding that she had noticed more South Korean shamans posting videos about the spiritual practice since she started her own YouTube channel in 2019.

South Korea is among the world's most modern and high-tech economies. More than half its population of 51 million is not religiously affiliated, polls show. But the appeal of shamanism has stood the test of time.

Mr Kim Dong-kyu of the Academic Center for K-Religions at Sogang University, a private research university in Seoul, said shamans used to promote themselves in newspapers. It was a "natural phenomenon" to turn to social media, he said.

Google Trends shows that searches on YouTube for "shaman" and "fortune-telling" in Korean have nearly doubled over the past five years.

The spiritual tradition was central to the plot of a blockbuster South Korean film this year, 'Exhuma', in which shamans are tasked with lifting a curse on a family.

The movie depicts well-dressed shamans in their 20s and 30s and director Jang Jae-hyun said he discovered many young shamans while doing his research.

The movie has grossed at least 132 billion won (S$129 million) internationally, raising interest in the religious tradition. Roughly one in five South Koreans has seen 'Exhuma,' according to Korean Film Council data.

"People used to hide