Photographs Of Seoul

Gyeonghoeru, Gyeongbokgung
Jongno-gu, Seoul

National Folk Museum, Gyeongbokgung
Jongno-gu, Seoul

Banporo, in front of Hanguk Eunhaeng
Jung-gu, Seoul

Namsan, Hoehyeon-dong
Jung-gu, Seoul

Banporo from the eagle statue
Jung-gu, Seoul

Cathedral Church of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Myeongdong
(Myeongdong Cathedral in Korean)
Jung-gu, Seoul

Gangnyeongjeon, Gyeongbokgung
Jongno-gu, Seoul

Bridge of No Return
Joint Security Area, near Panmunjom

Gyeongbokgung
Jongno-gu, Seoul

Seoul, South Korea

One day after school I was talking to Boss Lady and she said that for the next break she was going to go to Bali. I asked her why she was going to waste the New Year break (our longest break) on someplace she has already been to a dozen times. She then informed me that in less than a month we would be on another break. This was news to me. My school takes a break at the beginning of summer and another at the end. It was assumed that I would just automatically know this. I have asked around and this is not at all usual for other schools. Since the only times I can really travel are during breaks I now had more late planning to do.

I really do not like the way Boss Lady’s travel agency does business, but they can get very good deals. So once again I put my fate in their hands. I have a list of all the countries in the world I can go to without a visa, since there is never enough advanced notice for me to get a visa, and gave it to Boss Lady. She looked at it and suggested Korea. I told her anyplace on the list would be fine. So for the first break I had a list of four or five places and it took weeks to choose one. For this break I had a list of a hundred places and one was chosen almost immediately.

I went about my life thinking I was going to Korea when I was suddenly told that they found a good deal for Thailand. When she asked me if that was ok I told her that anything on the list was fine with me. But this deal only included airfare. I would have to find a hotel on my own. At least I would not have to change hotels in the middle of my trip. Finding hotels in Bangkok is relatively easy, and I found what looked like a pretty good one for about US$20 a night. I was all set to see Siam when two days before the break I was given a plane ticket to Seoul and told that Bangkok fell through. I had thought I would be going there most of the time anyway, but now I had two days to find a hotel. This proved to be difficult. Boss Lady had already thought ahead, which is pretty amazing, and booked me a room at some hotel three subway transfers away from the nearest bus that goes to the subway that transfers to the main subway. I found a hotel surrounded by subway stops and one block away from the bus to the DMZ and the bus to the airport. Boss Lady seemed slightly offended that I did not want to stay in the inconvenient hotel that her travel agent found. My point of view was, is, and always will be that I should stay in whatever hotel I want to stay at since I am the one who has to find all the trains and buses. Boss Lady and I have very different ways of thinking. I changed the reservation without much bloodshed.

Junggu
A very small part of a very large city
taken from Seoul Tower

Sungnyemun, Junggu
National Treasure Number 1
Update: The wooden top of the gate was destroyed by a fire in February 2008.

The Great South Gate to what was once the fortress of Seoul. Built in 1398 and rebuilt in 1448. As unimpressive as it is, this photograph was a royal pain in the ass to take. I climbed on top of some concrete structure to get above the traffic and a police officer decided to park right in front of me and just stare at me. He refused to get out of my shot and we played a game of patience. I won. One benefit to being a foreigner in Asia is that the local authorities assume you do not speak their language and most of them seem to feel that whatever crime you may be committing is not worth the trouble.

After being created from the sea and clouds by the god-king Tangun in a few thousand BC, Korea experienced thousands of years of invasion and internal wars. In 1910 the last King of the Joseon Dynasty signed over the entire peninsula to the Empire of Japan for a barrel of cash and a nice little retreat on Hokkaido. After the Japanese surrender in 1945 the United States and Soviet Union decided to divide Korea along the 38th Parallel and each control half under a “trusteeship”. In 1948 the United States saw fit to appoint that pillar of human rights Syngman Rhee as the president of the not very democratic Republic of Korea. Not to be outdone, the Soviet Union appointed party lackey Kim Il Sung as Chairman of the less democratic Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Everybody was happy, except the Koreans.

Being forcibly divided by foreign occupiers left some of the people a little testy and, with Soviet consent, the People’s Army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea invaded its lower half and rather impressively pushed the Republic of Korea’s army all the way to Pusan. Invited by the ROK and with the support of the United Nations, the United States led an actual coalition and drove North Korea’s army well beyond the 38th Parallel and, at some points, into China. This brought China to the party, and the actual coalition was pushed back to the 38th Parallel, where both sides wrought most of their destruction for the next two years and worked wonders for Alan Alda’s career.

Between 1951 and 1953 representatives from both sides met in the tiny village of Panmunjom in an effort to bring about some kind of lasting peace. It was eventually determined that a really big Demilitarized Zone (patrolled by the military) would act as a buffer between North and South. A cease fire was signed by appointed representatives of the US-led United Nations Command, the People’s Army, and the Chinese People’s Volunteers in 1953, marginally ending hostilities. A permanent peace treaty has never been signed, and both sides are still technically at war. To date the Republic of Korea has not signed the armistice.

The DMZ can only be visited via authorized tour. There are several different tour packages, but most visit Panmunjeom and the Joint Security Area, where the Military Demarcation Line divides North Korean and United Nations (American) troops. Most tours more or less begin at Camp Bonifas, United Nations Command Advance Camp, where each tour group is assigned a stiff and, in our case, rather humorless low-level American soldier who does pretty much nothing, but has the most precise haircut I have ever seen. At the Joint Security Area stands the conference room where the longest lasting cease-fire in the history of warfare was signed. Tour groups are allowed in the actual conference room, but photography is not allowed in the Joint Security Area and most of Panmunjeom. And not in the way that photography is not allowed in most Shinto temples. This rule they enforce.

On the tour there is a dress code which, to my surprise, is also enforced. Items of clothing that are not allowed include jeans, sandals, shorts, t-shirts, sleeveless tops, sportswear, sheer clothing, tight clothing, stretch pants, sweat suits, and military apparel. According to Sgt Verbosity this is out of “respect for our foreign hosts”. Fortunately I chose not to wear my CIA hat and “Kill Jong Il” t-shirt that day.

There is a good deal of tension in the air, probably because every few years someone on one side or the other does something stupid enough to almost kill the cease fire. In 1986 a Soviet spy defected via North Korea and caused a good old fashioned shootout in the Joint Security Area, killing several North Koreans and a couple of Americans. The Soviet survived and now lives in Europe. As far as we are told. In 1976 a few North Korean troops used their tree-clearing axes to kill a few American troops, including the base commander, in what is now creatively called the “Tree Chopping Incident”. Because of this, North Korean and American/South Korean troops are now segregated. Apparently no one considered segregating them beforehand. In 1978 a North-built tunnel large enough to move an entire division was discovered. They call it the Third Infiltration Tunnel because it was the third tunnel discovered, although the other two were much smaller and not included in the tours. In 1968 the North Korean army broke through the DMZ in what is now called the Infiltration Place. According to something I read somewhere (fortunately I am not required to site sources here), “Their propose was blasting of presidential mention and destruction of vital organ.” We can all be thankful that never worked. But just a month or two before I arrived both the North and South abandoned their decades-long practice of blasting propaganda at each other from enormous loudspeakers. This is, some say, an initial step toward reconciliation. I was looking forward to some tunes.

Joint Security Area, DMZ

War Memorial, Yongsangu

King Taejo, first monarch of the Joseon Dynasty, built Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1395 right after moving the nation’s capital to Seoul. When those pesky Japanese invaded 200 years later it was almost completely destroyed, but rebuilt by Daewongun when Andrew Johnson was president of another country. During the Japanese occupation 50 years later the Japanese saw fit to obliterate all of the palace except Gyeonyeongjeon Hall and Gyeonghoeru Pavilion. In 1990 the South Korean government once again restored Gwanghwamun Gate and Gangyeonjeon Hall. Complete palace restoration is expected by 2009.

Gyeonyeongjeon at Gyeongbokgung

National Folk Museum at Gyeongbokgung

Gyeonyeongjeon at Gyeongbokgung