July 16, 2026

introducing JIN YOB

WHILE THE WORLD IS BUSYRUNNING, JIN YOB KIM IS QUIETLY ENJOYING THE MOMENT.

When he's not documenting the world of skating, he's immersing himself in its cultural elements and creative projects.

Most of the time, the two go hand in hand.

jin yob kim, a second-generation korean born in germany, started his skateboard publication, the quiet leaf, as a humble blog while in university. now, the title is an international print magazine that has covered local skateboarding scenes around the world.

today, he reflects on the evolving state of skate culture in his home, seoul, and speaks about what it means to be fully present in the moment.

location: cinecube

ept: i read that one of your earliest introductions to skating was the film 'gleaming the cube' with christian slater. and the printing press where you produce the quiet leaf is located in chungmuro, which is the former home of the korean film industry. it feels like film is enmeshed in your life, particularly in the context of skating. tell me about your relationship with film.

jin yob: christian slater, man, he showed me the way [laughs]. as a kid, a lot of the things i was drawn to lived on film. not only did i meet skateboarding through a movie, but skateboard culture and its documentation were primarily shot on film. everything was very analog, and i developed an interest in that. also, some of the first digital releases looked ass [laughs]. i have fond memories of taking a 40 minute train ride to cologne just to visit made in.

they always had a rack with the latest vhs tapes and a counter with ma-gazines. i think i got into filming and shooting photos organically through that. i never had any formal training, but i always enjoyed experimenting with it. developing a photographic eye came naturally. learning that light is important, structures, etc. and, as a skater, you see spots everywhere.

a bench is not just a bench, a staircase not just a staircase. you see the world, but you decide where you want to zoom in and out.

ept: film and skating really seem to go hand in hand.

jin yob: yeah, skate photography, like any action sports or sports discipline, has its own aesthetic. i think skaters are the worst, man [laughs]. because we're so detail-oriented. for example, if we shoot a trick and the arms look weird, we'll want to redo it. things like that are what i learned from ma-gazines. even then, grant brittain and fred mortagne were always great with composition and light. helge tscharn in germany, too. mike o'meally and tobin yelland were masters of the documentary style. also, many great skate photographers were known for their skating first. when you look at people like jerry hsu, he pushes you on how far you can take it. lots of names, but yeah, the two go hand in hand for sure.

film in terms of video, too. girl and chocolate skate videos were directed by spike jonze, who put small skits in his full-lengths. they were so crea-tive, in my opinion comparable to his music videos. early transworld videos were another source of inspiration. the music and the editing, there was so much to learn from.

"as a skater, you see spots everywhere. a bench is not just a bench, a staircase not just a stair-case. you see the world, but you decide where you want to zoom in and out."

ept: what brings you to cinecube today?

jin yob: cinecube is one of the oldest art movie theaters in korea. and it's currently showing ryuichi sakamoto: diaries. it's about his time after a diagnosis of cancer. he decided to document his creative process, final pro-jects, and views on life through small journal entries.

i guess i'm old, but i'm not that old [laughs], but it's never too early to set up your thought process and your values. i think it's important to be creatively active, in whatever form that is. i mean, if you're into that stuff. not for others but for yourself. i think that output is just as important as input; to produce something and leave it for a later point for you to reflect on has great value.

location: dongmyo

ept: sometimes, seoul feels like a city that moves at the pace of the latest trends. but here in dongmyo, it almost feels like time slows down a bit. what draws you to this place?

jin yob: i really like clothes. i don't know much about fashion, but i like digging. i like to have fun with it. right now, i feel like "asian uncle" is the way to go [laughs]. and dongmyo is just a place that makes you feel alive, especially on a sunny day like this. there's so many people. there's old people, young people, a feast for the eyes. i think korea has gotten used to secondhand and thrifting. for dongmyo, that has been the case for a long time, but for the general mass, it wasn't always that common. we take pride in being super open to everything, but then many people still need all their shit brand new and top-of-the-line. i'm glad to see a trend in reusing and repurposing. vintage stores pop up everywhere, and resell apps like dangeun seem to be thriving. i'm not an expert or anything when it comes to fashion, but browsing satisfies my search for unc style, and the coolest uncles are in dongmyo.

ept: are there any special pieces you've picked up here?

jin yob: i really like the accessories that you get here. they have a lot of cool watches and glasses. very ahjusshi (uncle). i enjoy mixing old items with skate or street stuff. i find it healthy to care less about what's hot right now or how flawless things are. or perhaps that's the skater in me talking. comfort is king. the shirt that i'm wearing, for example, has a hole and i don't really mind it. i get annoyed by people who take their clothes so seriously that if something happens to them, it ruins their whole day. ob-viously, i also like my stuff, but i don't want to give a stain so much power.

"i get annoyed by people who take their clothes so seriously that if something happens to them, it ruins their whole day. obviously, i also like my stuff, but i don't want to give a stain so much power."

location: pisache

ept: in the past decade, many legacy subculture-based magazines have shuttered their print operations. what motivates you to keep your work in a physical format?

jin yob: it was part of my generation, part of how i grew up. i like physical things. i like the haptics of a book. if you hold a copy of the quiet leaf, it's got some weight to it, and the cover paper is pretty rough. the printer first told us not to use it, because it's going to leave marks and stuff. for me, it was exactly right. it reminded me of grip tape, and if you have it in your hands, it's gonna feel nice. i like that it's sensitive to marks or whatever. because then it becomes not one of a million, it becomes one of one. if you've been skating before, you'll have dirty hands, and whatever you have in your bag might brush against it. it becomes yours, and i like that about books. i understand that most people don't buy skate magazines anymore, or let's say fewer and fewer, but the ones who do have the same interest invested in it.

but yeah, just recently, grey magazine announced they'll stop doing print too. breaks my heart, but i totally understand. it's hard to maintain a mag, i'm still trying to figure it out. perhaps on social is where it's at now. even those throwaway magazines that had a huge circulation, remember them? they got tons of ads, and it paid their bills, i'm sure. they would come out every month, and then you would just see them in the club toilet. thos mags did their part, too, but the disrespect [laughs].

ept: tell me about pisache.

jin yob: a place like pisache has a similar effect on me as a skate shop. if you're a skater in a foreign country and you go visit a skate shop, you feel safe. it's a bit like a shelter, and i feel like pisache does that too. the owner is so nice, he explains everything. if you show interest in a book, he'll tell you about the photographer, but hell leave you alone if you want to be alone. a very thin line that he walks comfortably. and their selection is great, they have a lot of local artists. i just saw a book by a young korean photographer, lee cheong, so good.

"if you hold a copy of the quiet leaf, it's got some weight to it, and the cover paper is pretty rough. the printer first told us not to use it, because it's going to leave marks and stuff. for me, it was exactly right. it reminded me of grip tape, and if you have it in your hands, it's gonna feel nice."

location: posh-tihs

ept: you've now lived in korea for many years but you've also traveled ll around the world, skated in different cities. after all this time, wha eeps you in korea

jin yob: oh man [sighs]. there's a weird feeling of disappearing in the crowd that i find comforting. and there's a point, i guess in anybody's life, where we start building a network that feels safe. some people are more glo-bal, others are more the hermit type, but everybody has it: this feeling of knowing what's around the corner, the comfort of knowing that you're being accepted. i think it's a safety thing. while i believe that exploring new places is just as valuable, i think it's important that you can come back to someplace that feels safe, where you can let your guard down.

ept: earlier you said that skate shops also give you that sense of safety, like a shelter. tell me about pohs-tihs.

jin yob: i like how you swerved that curve [laughs]. it's very exciting if you have friends who run places. that's one of the great things that comes with age, i guess. okeh hyungnim (owner of pohs-tihs) is an artist i knew of way before we became acquaintances. and his creativity is what brings com-munity, or let's say, the type of people that i gravitate to, together. and i admire his taste. it's a mix of old stuff and new stuff. i always see something that i've never seen before, but then i also see a collection of spike jonze's works. it pokes different senses and i always leave inspired.

"it's very exciting if you have friends who run places. that's one of the great things that comes with age."

location: the edge

ept: eight years ago, you held the release party for the spain issue of the quiet leaf at the edge. how has the skate scene changed in that time?

jin yob: wow, has it been eight years? shit. the word generational shift comes to mind. the population of skaters in korea is not crazy big, but it's growing, and i'm very happy to see that the communal aspect is pretty healthy. whenever something happens, such as a video release, or in our case, a magazine release, a lot of skaters show up. a lot of the locals come and bring their friends. the local support has led to a lot of positive deve-lopment. the little homies have started to become regular homies [laughs].

kids are starting earlier to find their voices, to look at what they like, and to develop their own little brands. and it's fun to see that. i'm looking forward to seeing them make their moves and really push in that direction. when i first came to korea, there was an older generation of skaters that was a bit more strict - i'd say closed-up. and while skateboarding represents freedom of expression, equality and all that, there was a certain sense of hierarchy in skateboarding here. i feel like that's gone now, thank god. if you're at a spot and you see a kid that rips, then he's hyung (big bro). he's half my age, but he's a hyung [laughs].

this may be wishful thinking, but i hope that my generation has contributed to that a little bit at least. i'm always keen on giving back to the culture that shaped me and offering something to the next gen.

ept: if you could revisit that night, 8 years ago, when you held your release party here at the edge, is there anything you would like to tell younger jin yob?

jin yob: it's a heavy question, but honestly, i'm just realizing once more how lucky i am to be here. i wouldn't change anything big. if anything, i would tell myself to document more, and more consciously. it would be nice to revisit the details, register the things that changed, see how things have developed. sometimes you lose track of the small things that are gratifying, or terrifying, that could teach you a lesson.

at the time, we didn't know the pandemic would happen. we didn't know that traveling was going to be banned, and i didn't know that it would lead to me working in a corporate job for a while. i had to hit the pause button on the quiet leaf, and i think it would be nice to have a more complete archive of what we had done. in my defense, we were in the moment, and i'm kind of proud of that too, you know. i have no regrets for just enjoying the mo-ment, but experience has taught me that if you miss a moment, it's gone. fucking forever. people are going to read this and think, thanks, grandpa, time for bed now [laughs]. but for real, i think it's best to plan some things ahead and just live every moment consciously. and maybe when you get home, write down a few words.

"this may be wishful thinking, but i hope that my generation has contributed to that a little bit at least. i'm always keen on giving back to the culture that shaped me and offering something to the next gen."