Korea

I'm just back from a lightening trip to Korea. I was there on the 59th anniversary of the start of the Korean War and was struck that apart from supplements in some of the daily newspapers, there wasn't much fuss.
That war was a big deal but has now seemed to have slipped into history.
Seoul changed hands three times and the country was pretty much flattened.
It was the first and last "UN" war and to many the last "just" gathering of a coalition of nations to fight in the name of forgotten ideals.
Lots of people were killed and the suffering was immense.
Who thinks about this footnote of the cold war now?
I'm always struck by the street grub in Asia. The German sausages available in NYC or Toronto are replaced by various creepy crawlies cooked on the grill. Not as shocking as the bugs and offal on offer in the Beijing night markets, but the lunch being scoffed by commuters around Seoul Central Station is still challenging for a western pallet.
This trip was a bit of a blur given I was there for less than 24 hours and right off a trip from Brazil but there were still some things of interest.
As on previous trips this one involved a ride on one of Korea's super fast trains.

That's fast.

The space, quietness, and ride put any train (including Eurostar) in Europe to shame.

South Korea is enjoying a prosperous time. Hyundai seems to be sucking up the void created by the collapsing American auto industry and the relative weakness of the Won is fuelling the growth of Samsung and LG, eclipsing the electronic giants in Japan. Despite this there are plenty of people being left behind.That's it.

I've had a ton of sleep and the heat and humidity of HK doesn't feel as draining as it did when I dragged my ass from the airport late last night.

I'm off to Bangkok on Sunday for three days and then its back home (?) until the 6th when I head to Canada where I'll celebrate another year on this planet a couple of days later.

I hope everyone is happy and healthy.

T

On Sunday I'm going to Korea

Tensions in the Korean peninsula have risen of late as Japan and the US have expressed alarm that North Korea plans to launch a satellite some time over the next ten days.
The US and Japan believe it is the final test of a medium range balistic missle.
Japan says it may shoot the rocket down and the US has been supportively silent in reaction to this.
Here are a couple of gems from the State run News Service in North Korea:
In view of the prevailing grave situation the General Staff of the KPA solemnly declares as follows in order to protect the supreme interests of the country and the nation from the war maniacs' reckless moves for aggression against the DPRK:

1. Our revolutionary armed forces will counter the enemies' any slight hostile acts of violating the sovereignty of the country and intruding into its inviolable territory, territorial waters and territorial air with prompt merciless military actions. It is the invariable stand of our revolutionary armed forces fully ready for all-out confrontation not to allow any enemies to intrude into our territory, territorial waters and territorial air even 0.001 mm.
2. We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means.
If the enemies recklessly opt for intercepting our satellite, our revolutionary armed forces will launch without hesitation a just retaliatory strike operation not only against all the interceptor means involved but against the strongholds of the U.S. and Japanese aggressors and the south Korean puppets who hatched plots to intercept it.
Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war.
3. As an immediate measure we will enforce a more strict military control and cut off the north-south military communications in order to guarantee the security in the opened Eastern and Western coastal areas under the control of the north and the south while the DPRK-targeted war exercises are under way. It is nonsensical to maintain normal communications channel at a time when the south Korean puppets are getting frantic with the above-said war exercises, leveling guns at fellow countrymen in league with foreign forces.
Accordingly, our army will cut off the military communications, the last channel which has existed between the north and the south, from March 9.

Sorry for the spacing here. Uncle Kim has deliberately messed up the code to stop a cut and paste!

Apparently all border crossings have been closed and the war mongers are about to get their due. I'm annoyed because all trips to the demilitarized zone are canceled. I got some awesome pictures there a couple of years ago ( here) and I wanted to try my luck with a better camera.

Ah well you can't have everything.

Stay well

Airport ramblings and strange breakfast food

As usual I find myself stuck in an airport (Seoul) with time on my hands. The one time I gave myself extra time to get get checked in there was no traffic and no crowds to slow me up. Though there are worse places to be than Incheon "International Hub of the Year" (all the airports in Asia lay claim to some accolade or another), I've walked around for an hour and had my fill of looking at $300 bottles of whisky, and hideous $150 ties.
I did have my first Turkish ice cream cone "Made with Real Goat's Milk" so I guess it hasn't been a total bust.

The Marriott in Seoul features a massive breakfast buffet. Asian hotels err on the side of overkill in these sorts of things, but the Marriott holds the blue ribbon in my books. Besides the usual eggs/bacon/sausage/toast, it features chefs making bespoke omelets and a variety of odd, Asian breakfasty "stuff" as well as the Korean take on what should be on the western brekkie menu:
Not really sure what the above is, but it was fishy and extremely spicy. It woke up my mouth, which I guess its supposed to do.

You just have to love a breakfast buffet which includes ice cream and cookies.

I had both, along with samples of all of the above.

All for the reasonable price of $32.

The staff at the Marriott got extremely agitated with my photos. They were afraid I was working undercover as an agent of the evil Hyatt empire I guess.

Losing the breakfast buffet edge is a serious business in the cut throat world of hotel catering.

This "What I had for Breakfast Post " shows you how airports can mess with your mind.

I need a smoke (you can still do that in Asian airports).

Hope everyone is healthy and happy

T

A long drive and an interesting stop along the way

The lady above is selling a local sweet whose Korean name sounds like "yuck" in English and is a sort of pumpkin toffee. Quite nice and not too sweet. She was selling the stuff at a service area along the highway between Seoul and points south. I was up at 5 this morning and on the road by 7. The most interesting part of the day was the stop to get gas and coffee. It was typical of similar rest stops in the UK and US except that there were none of the Burger Kings or Starbucks. The food was Korean, and consisted of these sorts of snacks:

There were a few innovations here that would probably be welcome back home. Strollers for young and old were available for hire.My favorite attraction however was the batting cage. After watching these two guys swinging and missing, I thought I'd have a go.


Suffice to say that no major leaguers need worry.

I never thought I'd be swinging a bat beside a highway in South Korea. It just goes to show that life is full of fun little surprises.

That's pretty much it for Korea. As usual the prices have been jarring. I'm also struck by the presence of over 50,000 US troops here ( all thanking their lucky stars that they are here), but the almost negligible impact they seem to have on Korean society. The Americans live a parallel existence. Arm Forces TV is on the hotel telly, but the average Korean is completely uninterested. They're here but not here.

That's it

Greetings from tomorrow as I'm 14 hours ahead of the US and 9 ahead of the UK.

Next time you hear from me I'll be in the land where "its glorious to get rich".

T

Seoul

I arrived at the airport at 6 pm and got to my hotel at 8:30. It seems that Asia and the Middle East are just one big traffic jam. Its 5 am and I'm feeling relatively well rested, though up way too early as my body clock is all messed up. At 7 :00 I'm being picked up and heading 2 hours south to some place I can't remember to meet some important guy whose name escapes me.
I'm a bit jarred by the change in prices and temperature. A cup of coffee at the airport cost me 10,000 won (£6-$10), the taxi was 90,000 won (£51-$90). The equivalent in Dubai would have been $1 and $8 respectively. Its also cool here (Celsiusus-40 f) versus 28C. .
I'm rambling as I have zip to do except sit and wait for morning to come.

With any luck I'll get some interesting snaps today.

Over and Out

T

Uncle Kim. He's quite a guy. Expert on Chicken farming and Machine Tool Factories....He just keeps on giving.

This little gem comes courtesy of the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)

Kim Jong Il Gives On-the-Spot Guidance to Kusong Machine Tool Factory and Kusong Chicken Farm Pyongyang, September 3 (KCNA)
-- General secretary Kim Jong Il gave on-the-spot guidance to the Kusong Machine Tool Factory and the Kusong Chicken Farm.
The first leg of his guidance was the Kusong Machine Tool Factory. He, conducted by leading officials of the factory, went round the room devoted to the education in the revolutionary history. He stressed the need to intensify the education through the room so that all the employees of the factory may always remember the boundless love and trust shown by President Kim Il Sung and devote themselves to implementing his behests. Going round the factory, he acquainted himself in detail with the progress made in its technological reconstruction and modernization and its production performance. Seeing the latest machine tools produced by the factory and the well-arranged production processes, he was greatly satisfied to learn that the workers of the factory are producing modern machine tools by devoting all their wisdom and enthusiasm with a patriotic determination to put the Juche-based machine-building industry on a higher stage as required by the new century. If persevering efforts are made, giving top priority to the scientific and technological development just as the workers of this factory have done, it is possible to successfully realize the Juche-orientation, modernization and scientification of the national economy, he said, calling upon all the sectors and units to follow their example. The most important task facing the factory is to equip all the production processes with new technology and build it into a model factory put on a highly scientific basis, he noted, indicating the tasks and ways to do so. He expressed the expectation and conviction that the workers of the factory would creditably discharge their honorable mission as pace-setters in the scientific and technological development. The second leg of his guidance was the Kusong Chicken Farm built on an expansion basis. He was briefed on the expansion project before a huge painting showing a panoramic view of the farm. Then he made the rounds of the production processes to learn in detail about how the production capacity of the farm has been expanded and how it has been updated and its production performance. In order to provide the people with sufficient meat and eggs, it is necessary to operate the newly-built chicken farm in full capacity and, at the same time, actively introduce hens and cocks of good breed suitable for the specific conditions of the country and pay deep attention to veterinary and anti-epizootic work. He said that the officials, workers and technicians of the farm should successfully carry out their duty as servants of the people as required by the WPK's slogan "We Serve the People!" and thus make sure that more meat and eggs are supplied to the people. He was accompanied by Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the WPK Central Committee, and Ri Jae Il, first vice department director of the WPK Central Committee.

Uncle Kim is clearly leading from the front.

Finally Blogger picture post cooperates- Here is more on Korea

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) winds 241Kms across the Korean Peninsula from East to West. It forms a buffer around the Military Demarcation Line, which is an invisible line agreed upon at the ceasefire agreement on July 27th, 1953. The Southern side of the DMZ is marked by barbed wire and a fence running the width of the peninsula. Every few feet or so there are white stones pushed through the fence, which will be dislodged should northern agents try to cut or climb it. This low tech radar seemed a bit odd to me given that the North has built three tunnels to facilitate infiltration, one of which discovered in October 1978 and was 1,635 Kms long, 1.95 kilometers high, 2.1 meters wide and penetrates 435 meters into the South. Running 73 meters beneath the bedrock, it was capable of moving a full division and hour.

Rocks in a fence?

To get to the DMZ you need to take a special tour costing around $60. The day before you submit your passport and are given strict instructions regarding dress code (no jeans, shirts without collars, flipflops etc). Apparently the North takes pictures of sloppy tourists and posts them for internal propaganda.

"Look at the poor degenerates from the west etc.".

South Koreans require a 1 month wait to get approval for a visit.

Its a bit weird to realise how close the North is to Seoul. The trip should take about an hour but the tour makes a couple of stops made along the way.

The first stop is a bizarre lunch break. It was just outside the city and the restaurant was up 3 flights of stairs and consisted of a cafeteria style buffet. Outside was a go-cart track and a series of drive-in "Love Hotels"

Not very "Cold War-y"

The next stop is a bit more to the point. Its at the last stop of a train line running South to North and represents the farthest North Southerners can go freely. As you can see its heavily fortified, but the rules seem to be laxly enforced.

At this stop I visited Imjingak (Freedom Bridge) which was the spot where the two sides exchanged prisoners of war. Its blocked now and has become a place of pilgrimage for many southerners who leave messages and come to pray for unification.

The peace bell below is rung here everyday at 10 am. If you give them 24 hours notice, and pay for the priviledge, you can do the ringing.

When you get back on the bus, the rules kick in. The guide stresses again and again that no one can point at anything, nor take any pictures unless specific permission is given, otherwise the tour could be cancelled immediately.

The next stop, Camp Boniface is named after an American soldier killed with an axe by the North Koreans in the "Joint Security Area" at Panumunjom on August 18th 1976. The Americans were trying to trim a tree obscuring the sightlines of one of their check points when the other side attacked them and killed the lieutenant.

My visit was on the 19th a day after the 30th anniversary.

For the full story of this horrifying event, go here:

http://members.terracom.net/~vfwpost/opn-PB.html

The Americans later cut down the tree, backed up by tanks, fighter bombers and a division of assault troops on stand by. The action was called "Operation Paul Bunyan"

We were issued passes, given a briefing and asked to sign a declaration waiving any claims and promising to do as we were told.

Some of the instructions on the declaration were as follows:

• The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action.... Although incidents are not anticipated, the United Nations Command, the United states of America, and the Republic of Korea cannot guarantee the safety of visitors and may not be held accountable in the event of a hostile enemy act.
• UNC military personnel will wear appropriate military uniform perceived by their service for off duty wear. Other visitors will be dressed in appropriate civilian attire so as to maintain the dignity of the United Nations Command
• Fraternization, including speaking or any association with personnel from the People's Army/Chinese People's Volunteers (KPA/CPV) side is strictly prohibited.
• The area and buildings (tan colored) under the military control of the communist side will not be entered for any reason. Permission of the tour guide must be obtained prior to entry into UNC buildings (blue colored) in the JSA
• If any incidents should occur, remain calm and follow instructions issued by security personnel

I took a picture of the declaration, but it came out too faintly to be posted. I've go it (they give it back to you on the bus home) and it makes for a cool souvenir.

The Joint Security Area is divided as follows:

From Camp Boniface, we got on a military bus and were driven into the DMC proper, and then into the Joint Security Area (JSA). Off the bus, and into a big reception building, spotless marble and empty ( no pictures allowed). It's just a showpiece building and its only real purpose is to face its communist counterpart .

Between the two buildings, are prefab looking structures in which the two sides meet from time to time. A low concrete slab runs along the demarcation line and cuts through the buildings. Here's a map of the area I poached off another site:

You could in theory, enter a building in the South, and exit the other end into the North. An unsmiling soldier stands firmly and menacingly in front of the door leading to the People's paradise.

An earlier post shows the inside of these rooms. They used to contain little flags from all of the participating countries, but these have been removed as Northern soldiers had a tendency to clean their boots with the American flag.

Outside soldiers stand aggressively staring half hidden, at their communists counterparts (10 meters away) . They adopt the "corner stare" in order to prevent being killed by a sniper (or so we were told)

So what was the target of all this fist clenched glaring?

One lone, bored looking Northern guy.

If I hadn't been looking closely, I would have missed him.

After our little stare down, it was back on the bus to another checkpoint and another look at the commies staring (or not) at us.

There are two functioning villages within the DMZ. The communist one has the worlds largest flagpole. Light winds meant that I couldn't give you a shot of what is supposed to be the world's biggest flag. The final stop was "The bridge of no return". We were not allowed off the bus so I snapped this picture through the window. The Bridge is the spot where prisoners of war were released at the end of hostilities. They were allowed to pick which direction they wanted to go (hence the name). Its also near the spot where the "axe murder" occurred. There was a little plaque marking the spot, but we weren't allowed off the bus , so I shot this lame picture from the window.

The DMZ has some observation facilities from countries who didn't participate in the conflict. The Swiss are there as well as the Czechs and Poles. The latter two sit on the Northern side and were part of the grand socialist alliance ranged against the capitalist imperialists, helping uncle Kim keep an eye on things. Given the political changes in Eastern Europe, I wonder what role they play now?

Despite all this drama playing out everyday an hour north, people in Seoul love to play and drink. Boozing is expensive as this menu from my hotel bar shows.

860 Won=$1, so that bottle of Singleton 12 year old malt costs $523.

You get a fruit plate to go along with your tipple so I guess its worth it.

If you don't finish your bottle, your name goes on it and it sits in a little cupboard until you come back. The thing that struck me was there were plenty of women buying bottles watching the cheesy Filipino band murdering Radiohead covers and playing the standard disco hits.

For those of us on a more modest budget, the local firewater works at $10 a bottle.Its a bit deadly so I stuck to $5 draft beer.

I'm in Beijing now and hope to go to the Great Wall tomorrow though the weather is pretty bad here.

I hope all of you are having a good end of summer.

T

More Korea

I've been slammed with work this week and only now, the morning of departure, have the chance to post.
There are only two countries in the world where 99.9% of the population has the same ethnic background: South Korea and North Korea. Regardless, society here cannot be characterized as a herd of homogeneous drones (though many say that's exactly the case in the North) . There are few guest workers doing the "3 D'" jobs (dirty, dangerous, difficult), but this is slowly changing as the population ages and demographics are forcing the government to look beyond its borders to find workers to fill the factories.
The first time I came to Seoul, I arrived at night and was struck by the forest of neon crosses that stand out in the the skyline in the evening. They're not noticeable in the daytime, and I would say that's more reflective of the population. Though the "Moonies", born again Christians, and Catholics all have a constituency here, it is Buddhism which is the main religious conviction. The statue above is in a Buddhist monastery across the street from the COEX conference center. Its over 400 years old and sits bang in the middle of a bustling part of the city.

There are two historical events which have had a profound effect on society here. The Korean war has had an understandable impact and the papers are full of the latest strange utterances coming out of the North. The DMZ, which I'll discuss later is a strange monument to the hostilities of 50 odd years ago. Technically the two countries are still at war as it was a cease fire rather than an armistice which ended hostilities. The US army has a very low profile, and one would be forgiven for not realizing there are 50,000 American troops in the country.

Japanese colonization of the peninsula has a less obvious, yet powerful resonance. There is an instinctive antipathy to all things Japanese, yet at the same time Japanese influence is undeniably present. Social rituals, business relationships, Karoke are all part of the social fabric and have a very Japanese feel to them. A love-hate relationship , complex and beyond my powers to explain is very much evident.

Koreans, like people everywhere, like to drink. The difference here is that it takes on an air of determination and expence which is equalled in few places (except maybe Japan).

It seems that blogger has said "enough" in terms of picture posting so I'll pic this up in Beijing.

Regards

T