Ben Weller Photography

The women divers of Jeju Island begin diving for sea products at an early age and often continue well into their sixties. The "sea women", or "haenyo", as they are known, are an independent and economically powerful group on the island. They are integral to both the local economy and the export market, but with young women now going into other tourism related jobs, their numbers are dwindling.

The oil started spilling into the mouth of Gwangyang Port around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, January 31, 2014. A Singapore-registered vessel, piloted by a port captain and exceeding speed limits, ran into pipelines at a GS Caltex petrochemical facility, damaging the pipelines and dumping 164 tons of oil into the coastal waters off Yeosu, South Korea.

As South Korean cities like Busan rapidly develop, high rise buildings and businesses push local farmers off their land. But while the city has come to the farms, the farms haven't left the city. Instead, small farmers and the traditional markets they supply coexist with the "new" Korea, though it is an uneasy relationship. The Korean government has made some attempts to protect small farmers and traditional markets from the encroachment of big business, but free trade agreements and changing consumption habits in South Korea threaten their existence. Stats: 40 percent of South Korea's farmers are over the age of 60. Women comprise more than half of the country's farmer population. Images from this series were included in "The Other Hundred"---www.theotherhundred.com

Bullfighting in South Korea involves two bulls and no matador. A long tradition that nearly disappeared, bullfights today are revived at events like the Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival.

Two to three times each year, a narrow, 2.9-kilometer path opens in the Jindo Sea at the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. The natural phenomenon, caused by the tides, is celebrated yearly at the Jindo Sea-Parting Festival, an event that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. People dance, sing, collect shellfish and other sea creatures exposed by the low tide, while others cross the land bridge between Jindo Island and Modo Island.

Men carry a wooden phallus on a portable shrine during Honen-sai, a fertility festival at Tagata Shrine in Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The traditional Shinto festival celebrates fertility and a bountiful harvest. The principal offering during the festival is a large wooden phallus. Each year a craftsman carves a new phallus from a Japanese cypress tree. It measures almost 2.4 meters long and weighs 280kg.

Korea’s rapid economic growth demands enormous amounts of electricity, and it’s that demand that has met the fierce resistance of the farmers of Miryang, a small city 47 kilometers northwest of Busan. To these mostly elderly farmers, the most visible effect of “development” is not cell phones, flatscreen TVs, or air-conditioning. It is the high-voltage transmission towers that have sprouted along the ridges of their mountain valley.

In South Korea, the term "boknal" refers to the hottest days of summer, pre-designated days based on the lunar calendar. On these days (and others), some people consume dog meat, which they claim has a cooling effect on the body. Though the practice continues, many South Koreans are opposed to eating dog meat. Here, dogs are butchered at Gupo Market, Busan, Korea.

Oni Matsuri is a demon festival at Akumi Kanbe Shinmeisha Shrine in Toyohashi, Japan. Oni Matsuri, in which two people dressed as a goblin and a demon perform a choreographed battle, celebrates the coming of Spring, and people are showered with sweets and flour. Getting covered with flour is considered especially lucky, as festival lore says it will keep you healthy in the summer months.

Sports photographs of the women's rowing and crew team at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

In 2008 South Korea exploded in waves of demonstrations against the government of Lee Myung-bak and a trade deal with the United States that, among other products, would allow US beef into the country. Media reports about "mad cow disease" helped stoke public outrage against the deal, and thousands of people took to the streets in protests that sometimes resulted in violent clashes with the police.

Then candidate Barack Obama visited Bloomington, Indiana in April, 2008, during the Democratic primary campaign. He spoke at Indiana University. He went on to win the primary and later defeated John McCain to become president of the United States.

Cosplayers and comic fans attend Busan Comic World, a bi-monthly comic convention in Busan, South Korea, May 5, 2012.

On Thursday, November 11, the Korean People's G20 Response Action held a demonstration at Seoul Station Plaza. Around 1,000 demonstrators representing Korean and international civic groups rallied in the plaza and then marched south towards the G20 Summit before being stopped by police. The non-violent protest addressed a range of issues including the US_Korean Free Trade Agreement, Lee Myung-bak's 4 Rivers Project, and neo-liberalism and financial liberalization. Photos by Ben Weller/www.wellerpix.com

Tezutsu Hanabi are handheld Japanese fireworks used in celebrations like this one for setsubun, a festival marking the beginning of spring.

Jagalchi Market is Busan's largest and most famous fish market. The market is a top tourist attraction and an important economic hub. Visitors will often hear the fish vendors yelling, “Oiso! Boiso! Saiso! (“Come! See! Buy!”).

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people converge on the city of Boryeong in the Republic of Korea to participate in the annual mud festival. The locals claim the mud has healing properties, and sell mud-based products to cure a variety of ailments. True or not, everyone agrees getting down and dirty in the mud is tons of fun.