tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129468452024-03-19T13:53:53.031+09:00Gusts Of Popular Feelingwhich pass for public opinion in a land where no such thing exists can be found only in Seoul - Isabella Bird Bishop, 1898matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.comBlogger1743125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-62133469809362638812024-01-14T17:01:00.004+09:002024-01-14T17:11:46.905+09:00Experimental artists challenge 'suffocating' conformity in 1960s Seoul<p>This Tuesday, January 16, I will give a lecture for the Royal Asiatic Society titled “'We feel like we’re suffocating’: Experimental Artists Confront Conformity in Seoul, 1968-70.” My latest Korea Times article, "<a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/01/177_366860.html">Experimental artists challenge 'suffocating' conformity in 1960s Seoul</a>," gives a preview of the lecture. For more information about the lecture see <a href="https://raskb.com/event/lecture-1502-we-feel-like-were-suffocating-experimental-artists-confront-conformity-in-seoul-1968-70/">here</a> (note that the lecture will be given at a new venue).</p><p>I’ll be leading a follow-up excursion to Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art to view the <a href="https://www.mmca.go.kr/exhibitions/exhibitionsDetail.do?exhId=202306300001670">Kim Ku-rim Exhibition</a> on Saturday, January 20, at 2:00. (The exhibition has a 2,000 won admission fee.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdeupt2zO0jYRcWo-0xzYrRNQrqOboXbFttPbJ8wSKbPNVazTYV-N_6p3hB9kVCI5MbSYhbHcjOxWW3jQP2tzFIcDczV79rGrYAJjs8i0r8u-yioWOGhoRHJvPffyHRqSiR8KCmYOSxj3xEIMNQxu9FCVttGVTnTkZ3160W-BZOo6XnO0A1OS2w/s1774/2024%2001%2016%20lecture%20poster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="1774" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdeupt2zO0jYRcWo-0xzYrRNQrqOboXbFttPbJ8wSKbPNVazTYV-N_6p3hB9kVCI5MbSYhbHcjOxWW3jQP2tzFIcDczV79rGrYAJjs8i0r8u-yioWOGhoRHJvPffyHRqSiR8KCmYOSxj3xEIMNQxu9FCVttGVTnTkZ3160W-BZOo6XnO0A1OS2w/w640-h388/2024%2001%2016%20lecture%20poster.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This lecture is based on years of digging through the weekly magazines that began proliferating in the 1968. The first few years saw some of them publishing risque material, including nudity, but the government's crackdown on the artists featured in the lecture also affected the weeklies, and they become less interesting after 1970 (though, to be clear, they still had lots of interesting material, just less so than before). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Two sources I recently discovered were the websites of <a href="https://kangkukjin1949.wixsite.com/kangkukjin/np196719">Gang Guk-jin</a> and <a href="http://kimkulim.com/home/bbs/board.php?bo_table=c2">Kim Kulim</a>, which have digitized a lot of newspaper and magazine articles from that time.</div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-91480768263097167622024-01-11T13:54:00.004+09:002024-01-11T16:20:47.796+09:00Running with the Devils in Itaewon, 1968-70<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2LWiZ7Wc_2r4fCzi8YjxAUDpnAtK7mJtLdDL-Cen9hPa9Yl4Y91MEjfLvpc5WFaY39vhSkhs9AV6cdLs5CcXW9fNn2r7x_Y7KPTsqTRvh2_Qnn-8thfIcEs4oalzm1-umL7Ab3vdhp2P4pXSrsJNxY8bsB9FxtEJDEtf-3DhDoPpv-I7_gle4w/s783/1970%2006%2018-21%20Citizens%20Hall%20concert%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="783" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2LWiZ7Wc_2r4fCzi8YjxAUDpnAtK7mJtLdDL-Cen9hPa9Yl4Y91MEjfLvpc5WFaY39vhSkhs9AV6cdLs5CcXW9fNn2r7x_Y7KPTsqTRvh2_Qnn-8thfIcEs4oalzm1-umL7Ab3vdhp2P4pXSrsJNxY8bsB9FxtEJDEtf-3DhDoPpv-I7_gle4w/w640-h320/1970%2006%2018-21%20Citizens%20Hall%20concert%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Larry Tressler performing with the Devils (and the girl group Happy Dolls) at Seoul Citizens' Hall, June 1970. (Courtesy of Larry Tressler.)<p></p><p>A decade or more ago, I bought CD reissues of the first two LPs by the Devils, a Korean rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and was surprised to see, in the accompanying booklet, photos of the band with an American. “Who in the world is he?” I wondered. In 2022, I found out it was Larry Tressler, and conversations with him (on Facebook, email, and in person during his visit to Korea in October) provided the basis for my <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/01/177_365531.html">latest Korea Times article</a>.</p><p>Not included in the article is this list of songs (covers) that the band used to play:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>From what I remember, some of the songs in our normal set included:</p><p>Proud Mary – Ike and Tina Turner</p><p>Soul Man – Sam & Dave</p><p>Security – Otis Redding</p><p>I’ve Been Loving You Too Long – Otis Redding</p><p>Na Na Hey Hey, Kiss Him Good bye – Steam </p><p>Land of a Thousand Dances – Wilson Pickett</p><p>96 Tears – Question Mark & the Mysterians</p><p>Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf</p><p>Everyday People – Sly & the Family Stone</p><p>Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival</p><p>Get Back – The Beatles</p><p>Evil Ways - Santana</p><p>Dock of The Bay – Otis Redding</p><p>My Girl – The Temptations</p><p>I Got That Feeling – James Brown</p><p>Arirang (Sung by me, the American, in Korean)</p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/mKYA-nvB2Gs?si=naqg4_758jTXmxe8">하얀집 / White House</a> [based on the 1968 song ‘Casa Bianca’ by Marisa Sannia, and sung by the Pearl Sisters] - it was classic back then - with a rock beat. </p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/Umw-l5PCgp4?si=KVc5yB3Gbm76tC2D">Nima</a> – Pearl Sisters</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Released in late 1968, the latter song was the first rock(ish) song to become a hit in Korea, making the Pearl Sisters and songwriter/guitarist Shin Joong-hyun hugely popular and ushering in the age of Americanized pop music in Korea.</p><p>Many thanks to Larry for sharing so many of his memories.</p><p>[Note: The Devils were unique due to their focus on soul music, though covers of such music are absent from their LPs (their first album only features a cover of '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOS7PSrhw8w&t=1272s">Proud Mary</a>'). A number of the rock bands that had come out of the US Eighth Army stage (미군무대) scene recorded English-language covers of rock songs such as the Key Boys (Steppenwolf's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xKwdfsHKiU&t=1920s">Born to Be Wild</a>") and Shin Joong-hyun and the Questions (Iron Butterfly's "<a href="https://youtu.be/eSoe3-eBXmA?si=XWRbm8lM6l6YLvIx">In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida</a>"), or devoted entire sides of their LPs to covers, such as <a href="https://youtu.be/PHCQ5cXd76c?si=9zpWkAdvAfc_jA4Y">He6</a> ("Proud Mary," Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," The Archie's "Feeling So Good", Fifth Dimension's "Aquarius Let The Sunshine In," and Santana's "Evil Ways"), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEGYrY6-pzM&t=1117s">Trippers</a> (Santana's "Evil Ways," CCR's "Molina," Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Knock Three Times," the Archie's "Feeling so good," and Glen Campbell's "By the Time I get to Phoenix"), and the <a href="https://youtu.be/VE4A8AV9pn4?si=28NPVP2ORlNFUevR">Pearl Sisters</a> (though they sang their covers of songs like Scott McKenzie's "If you're going to San Francisco" or the Temptations' "Get Ready" in Korean).]</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-74500572618888522792024-01-04T22:07:00.002+09:002024-01-04T22:17:24.335+09:00Tim Hortons betrays Korea!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX85Dj9Iv26K5gOsqj5K8Y6Y2l6kwYvmQ7X8n-KU4avX2810SgbO3Kfhnvca48G8h50Hob2MJMNW2dXclB2AT1vRONyD36ls51DLf90alPiZYbC3oRPRKTKqFacg-aoOWfZpSFz1Z5i493bAaMwe1Y56Oq3L6992JiqhTfGydZQHew916GhPCj_w/s960/IMG_1445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX85Dj9Iv26K5gOsqj5K8Y6Y2l6kwYvmQ7X8n-KU4avX2810SgbO3Kfhnvca48G8h50Hob2MJMNW2dXclB2AT1vRONyD36ls51DLf90alPiZYbC3oRPRKTKqFacg-aoOWfZpSFz1Z5i493bAaMwe1Y56Oq3L6992JiqhTfGydZQHew916GhPCj_w/w640-h480/IMG_1445.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>So, Tim Hortons (aka the Church of Canada) opened up a franchise or two in Korea in 2023, with plans to expand to 150 stores within... a time frame... in the future. You might be able to guess how much I care about this.</p><p>Now, don't get me wrong - Timmies was a staple of the Canadian (or Ontarian) experience by the 1990s. If you're not from there, I'd explain it by saying it was an omnipresent experience, unless you lived in a rural area like I did and didn't get one until...sometime in the mid 2000s (by which I mean 2005 or so). But there was one or two in Peterborough, a city 45 minutes from home, and I <strike>learned to stomach</strike> developed a taste for coffee drinking Tim's double doubles (double cream, double sugar), but the real draw was the donuts. </p><p>To be honest though, I preferred Country Style Donuts' donuts to Tim's... their cherry crullers were to die for (though a friend who worked there later told me how many eggs went into a batch of those donuts - I think it was 48 eggs per dozen... those things were <i>heavy</i>... but delicious). At any rate, Tim Hortons and their drive throughs were all over the place on highways in Ontario, so they served as a good way to refuel with caffeine on hours-long drives across wide-open Ontario spaces, as bathroom stops, or, as time went on and their menus broadened, a place to grab a slightly-wider range of sandwich and soup options, in addition to donuts and coffee. But my memories of working in Guelph, Ontario, in the late 1990s, feature runs to Tims to grab a cardboard flat that would hold 4 or 5 coffees to bring back to work for your coworkers, and in that way Tims contributed to fuel the office and retail grind of suburban Ontario (I can't speak for the rest of Canada). </p><p>But now, Timmies has opened up franchises in Gangnam, the 'Beverly Hills' of Korea, or whatever. And while the the company and its Korean partners are clearly banking on a "premium" image to propel sales in Korea ("Canada's <strike>greatest</strike> most popular coffee and donuts!"), this is being undone by Korean media outlets keen to question things foreign and - more importantly - the throngs of Koreans who have studied in Canada, which can't help but make me chuckle, considering the effort the Canadian embassy was putting into promoting university or English language study in Canada a decade ago (when I had contacts there), which I'm sure continues now. </p><p>The Korea Times <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2024/01/129_366333.html">reports</a> on the woes of someone who studied in Canada years ago:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Stepping inside Korea's first Tim Hortons that opened last month, however, he scanned the menu and was disheartened to see that everything was way more expensive than he remembered. A medium-size cup of black coffee was 3,900 won ($3.97 Canadian). The same is sold in Canada for $1.83. </p><p>"I was hugely disappointed," said Kim who expected prices similar to Canada's. "If Tim Hortons in Canada sold their double-double and French Vanilla at the same prices as here in Seoul, I would have never gone there and neither would local patrons there."</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Similar woes are reported by a former language student in Canada who "couldn't accept the fact that the brand's prices are almost on par with those of other high-end coffee brands here. 'I don't get why they raised the prices to the levels of other coffee brands here. Is this some kind of localization?'"</p><p>Um... yes? Obviously? The only way to feel you're at some place on the cutting edge of hip in Korea is to feel a bit (or a lot) sore in your wallet at the cash register. If you want cheap, you can go to campus cafeterias, but you're not going to find the Instagram influencers businesses are increasingly spending their advertising budgets on there. Thinking Timmies could expand here by undercutting local budget places would be a good way to guarantee they close up shop within a few months. </p><p>Mostly, though, I'm surprised at the focus on coffee and the lack of mention of anything about the cost of their old fashioned glazed or their timbits. What of their sandwiches? Do these coffee drinking philistines care nothing about Canadian cuisine?!? </p><p>Postscript</p><p>I don't remember Timmies having anything like Country Style's cherry crullers, but apparently last year, for a limited time, <a href="https://torontosun.com/life/food/doughnut-give-up-tim-hortons-bringing-back-two-old-favourites">Tim's brought back "cherry sticks"</a>, which I don't remember from back in the day (trust me, I would have noticed if they had something like a cherry cruller), but which is very similar. Those things were heavy bars which could likely take out someone's eye if you aimed just right. </p><p>The second thing to note is that, whatever fun I may poke at Tims, whenever I've gone home and eaten one of their donuts (an obvious choice since Tims is rather ubiquitous at this point), I've thought they were delicious, but when this prompted me to have a Dunkin' Donuts donut in Korea, I'd remember that Koreans like their sugar spread throughout their food, and not concentrated into a singular point like the bottom of a gravity well the way Canadians do, and I'd wrinkle my nose at the local donuts' blandness and avoid them thereafter.</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-11231567672346576992023-12-01T16:45:00.003+09:002023-12-03T01:58:23.942+09:00Drug scandals and why celebrities are held to such high standards in South Korea<p>A recent article at Korea Pro by Chris Tharp (author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dispatches-Peninsula-Years-South-Korea/dp/9881516110">this excellent memoir</a>), titled “<a href="https://koreapro.org/2023/11/unpacking-south-koreas-strict-drug-policy-amid-celebrity-scandals/">Unpacking South Korea’s strict drug policy amid celebrity scandals</a>,” examines societal attitudes toward drug use by celebrities and raises an important question as to “why so many South Koreans seem to hold celebrities to such high moral and ethical standards when, in Western countries, public figures are not usually held to such standards.”</p><p>It seeks answers from PNU professor CedarBough Saeji, who has spent a great deal of time studying K-Pop fandom, summarizing them as follows:</p><p></p><blockquote>when feelings of personal aspirations and closeness induced by parasocial relationships combine with the far-reaching nature of social media platforms, allegations of drug abuse can often lead to South Korean fans feeling betrayed and questioning their idols’ integrity or worthiness, thus profoundly affecting the fan base.</blockquote><p></p><p>Chris also sought input from me about the history of South Korea’s drug laws, but he informed me apologetically that this material was cut by the editor. What I sent him would be a bit of work to edit into a blog post, but I did want to write a few paragraphs laying out why, from a historical perspective, I think celebrities in South Korea are held to such high moral and ethical standards.</p><p>One reason for this is that in the past, entertainers – meaning those who earned a living through performing, rather than those taking part in, say, musical performances during local festivals or while working – came from the lowest social strata. As was noted in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/world/asia/gaythemed-film-gives-closet-door-a-tug.html">this 2006 NYT article</a> about the hugely successful film “King and Clown,” which was about Joseon-era traveling performers, </p><p></p><blockquote>One person the director consulted was Kim Gi Bok, 77, who is considered the last surviving itinerant clown. Mr. Kim was amused at the attention he had gotten because of the film. “Before, we were treated as beggars, but now we are considered traditional artists[.]”</blockquote><p></p><p>Gisaeng might be seen today as a few rungs above itinerant performers, but they were tainted in many peoples’ eyes by their association with the provision of sexual services. </p><p>This caused issues during the initial rise of popular culture in urban Korea during the colonial period, leading to people in the early 1930s denouncing the negative effects of radio because “Drunken songs with corrupt lyrics from the mouths of kisaeng come into our homes every night…to great harm and spiritual corruption,” leading to “struggles in households all over Korea… between fathers who hate the sounds of the new songs and want more traditional songs and their sons…who want to hear Western music.” All of this prompted the question, “Should we not be cultivating the cultural consciousness of the masses?”* </p><p>This gives some hint as to how entertainers were perceived, and even then their private lives were scrutinized by news media. Though working as an entertainer is certainly seen in a better light today than it was in the 1930s, elements of past attitudes linger, and media scrutiny has only intensified. </p><p>One reason for this can be found in the question “Should we not be cultivating the cultural consciousness of the masses?” This raises the other issue that goes beyond entertainers to the role of entertainment itself. As Haksoon Yim’s article “<a href="https://cau.ac.kr/~seronto/KOREAN%20CULTURAL%20IDENTITY.pdf">Cultural Identity And Cultural Policy In South Korea</a>,” put it, “The arts have… come to be seen as an integral part of cultivating morality.” </p><p>Or, as ROK Minister of Culture and Communications Sin Pŏm-sik described youth culture, or mass culture, <a href="https://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.naver?articleId=1970042300329201018&editNo=2&printCount=1&publishDate=1970-04-23&officeId=00032&pageNo=1&printNo=7552&publishType=00020">in 1970</a>, it was “something that emerges healthily in the mass media in a spirit of assigning tasks to citizens and lighting the way forward for the nation.” </p><p>Yim further described how the South Korean state perceived and promoted mass culture: </p><p></p><blockquote><p>Park [Chung-hee]’s government differentiated “sound” culture from “unsound” culture. The term “soundness” was strategically used to enlighten and mobilize people for the political purpose of Park’s government. Park’s government sought to promote a “sound” culture conducive to anticommunism, nationalism, traditional morality and state-led economic development strategy. [...]</p><p>[S]ince the 1980s, culture and the arts have been considered to be a solution to social problems. Governments have tended to attribute social problems to the deserted spiritual world and the confused ethics caused by rapid economic growth. Thus, the government has stressed that the enrichment of the spiritual world by culture and arts was necessary to counteract the negative effects of materialism and commercialism. This demonstrates that cultural policy has considered the moral mission of culture and the arts. Culture and the arts have been mobilized as a cement of social cohesion.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Olga Federenko <a href="https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/33994/1/Fedorenko_Olga_201211_PhD_thesis.pdf">has highlighted</a> how this even affects the advertising industry (that link is to her thesis; her highly-recommended book is <a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/flower-of-capitalism-south-korean-advertising-at-a-crossroads/">here</a>), noting that</p><p></p><blockquote>in South Korea, the marketing instrumentality of advertising is subordinated to the ethos of public interest, and both advertising consumers and producers strive for advertising that promotes humanist values and realizes democratic ideals, even if it jeopardizes the commercial interests of advertisers.</blockquote><p></p><p>Also, beyond previous attitudes towards entertainers and official perceptions of the role of entertainment in society, the first time drugs and entertainers were really linked in news media on a wide scale was the marijuana scandal of 1975, which I looked at <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2022/09/113_335641.html">here</a>, and which was used by Park Chung-hee’s government at the height of its authoritarianism (and deployed along with extensive song bans) to enforce morals and silence the slightest hint of defiance (let alone dissent) that might appear in entertainment media. This lesson reverberates into the present, shaping attitudes toward marijuana use in general and drug use by celebrities, as well as making it clear to entertainers that when it comes to politics, they should keep their goddamned mouths shut. Almost 50 years later – and even 30 years after the arrival of democracy and greater freedom of speech (marred, to be fair, by Park II's artist blacklist) – entertainers continue to steer clear of political commentary unless they feel their opinion is a very, very popular one, such as during the candlelight demonstrations in 2002, 2008, and 2017. Only when there is a clear alignment in political opinion between those opinions felt personally and those articulated as the will of the people (the present day mandate of heaven?) will some entertainers take the risk of speaking out.</p><p><br /></p><p>* Michael Robinson, “Broadcasting, Cultural Hegemony, and Colonial Modernity in Korea, 1924-1945,” in <i>Colonial Modernity in Korea</i>, ed. Gi-Wook Shin and Michael Robinson (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), 65, 67.</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-36060397301391411162023-11-23T16:17:00.000+09:002023-11-23T16:17:32.134+09:00Wooing your lover and modernizing the fatherland with Goldstar radios<p>I found this Goldstar portable radio ad in the Seoul Women's University (서울여대) newspaper from the summer of 1972. While the images initially caught my eye, the text proved to be rather interesting:</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6dT4IAZsjW_fWiZcEVBiWlZEZwJPCxzgb-g9glUMEuOceOHYQ0avHr5M2iE94UOr745oF7f-HT1RIxjgry7OihZyPtb27GuYvq2CIGptfPZlTBWJSJdXtuhrV-PabeuQt6sEgbHLhznm_3UtA8dIVrXlrKDxbffiV65k6klUZcBeP5tYAb9HwQ/s3404/IMG_3491a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1492" data-original-width="3404" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6dT4IAZsjW_fWiZcEVBiWlZEZwJPCxzgb-g9glUMEuOceOHYQ0avHr5M2iE94UOr745oF7f-HT1RIxjgry7OihZyPtb27GuYvq2CIGptfPZlTBWJSJdXtuhrV-PabeuQt6sEgbHLhznm_3UtA8dIVrXlrKDxbffiV65k6klUZcBeP5tYAb9HwQ/w640-h280/IMG_3491a.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><p></p><blockquote><p>A symbol of prosperity and modernization of the fatherland</p><p><b>A radio for love, friendship, and active people, RM-707</b></p><p>The mini-transistor radio RM-707 for active people and friends and lovers amid overflowing youth is ideal for...</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Campus singing groups where friendship grows</li><li>Enjoying go-go rhythms while picnicking</li><li>Conveying the thrill of being at sporting events</li><li>Background music while with your lover</li></ul><p></p><p></p><p>The RM-707 is a high-performance portable radio uniquely designed by Goldstar for the styles of active youths.</p><p>Clear sound, sophisticated design</p><p>Goldstar transistor radios</p><p>Sold at Goldstar specialty stores nationwide.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Battery-powered transistor radios gave one the freedom to roam and integrate music or other broadcasts into your activities as never before (with such activities including singing groups on campus, picnics, sporting events, or even romantic escapades). I also couldn't help but note the phrase at top left: "A symbol of prosperity and modernization of the fatherland." While advertising a product that allowed young people to take part in frivolous activities, name-checking the authoritarian state's development drive was probably a good idea. Note the price of the featured product: 2,980 won. This <a href="https://www.inflationtool.com/south-korean-won">inflation counter</a> suggests that would be around 60,000 won today, but I suspect it felt like a lot more at the time.</p><p>I should note that in 1966, anthropologist Vincent Brandt, who was doing ethnography in a remote village on Korea’s west coast, described "the sudden development of a new youth culture" facilitated by the growth in the number of transistor radios and the resulting exposure of young people to broadcasts from Seoul. As Brandt described it,</p><p></p><blockquote>the constant expression on the radio of romantic love as an ideal through popular songs and radio dramas seemed to have substantially undermined the repressive force of Confucian puritanism and made a severe dent in parental authority within an extraordinarily short time. The influence of Seoul broadcasts was also evident in the outspoken determination of many young people to make their own decisions with regard to occupation, place of residence, and choice of spouse.*</blockquote><p></p><p>Brandt also described the consumer goods which appealed to the young: "A transistor radio, dark glasses, new clothes, trips to town, and for some a guitar, have an immediate fascination that may conflict with the requirement that individual interests be subordinated to those of the family."*</p><p>There's a certain irony here, since in the early 1960s the military junta that took power in 1961 oversaw the distribution of thousands of radios to towns and villages throughout the country so as to disseminate official news and propaganda, but the commercial broadcasts (such as TBC and MBC) that were also available provided "counter-examples" that could also undermine authority.</p><p><br /></p><p>*Vincent Brandt, <i>A Korean Village Between Farm and Sea (Harvard University Press</i>, 1971), 16, 102.</p><div>(I should note that I was initially left scratching my head figuring out what 빅게임의 드릴에 찬 중계도 referred to, but was later clued into the fact that 드릴 was 'thrill' and not 'drill' as I'd thought, since I was imagining practicing for the mass gymnastics or card sections of university sports competitions at the time.)</div><p><br /></p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-72752711061454970172023-11-15T16:59:00.004+09:002023-11-15T20:26:02.063+09:00Foreign English teacher received constant verbal abuse and even assault at hands of Yeosu hagwon owner<p>MBC <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kLXkyUz5Xg&ab_channel=MBCNEWS">reported last week</a> on the egregious abuse of a foreign English teacher taking place at an English hagwon in Yeosu:</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-kLXkyUz5Xg?si=vdqY1bNbPUcf6-2M" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Hearing the level of abuse left me shocked until I realized the teacher was from South Africa, which then led to me think, "Gee, I wonder what colour their skin is?" (For a backgrounder on Korean attitudes toward Africans, see <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/2020/07/blackface-and-depictions-of-indigenous.html">this post</a>.) </p><p>Yesterday the site laborplus (참여와 혁신) published <a href="https://www.laborplus.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=32693">this report</a> on a press conference held in Seoul by the KCTU in regard to this case, which featured two of the teachers involved (hat tip to Mike C):</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;">Verbal abuse and assault against native speaker instructor continued at a language school in Yeosu, Jeollanam-do</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">KCTU: "What is the Ministry of Employment and Labor doing---all workplaces should be investigated"</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DrpXDGbnHH8ZomN7ftCFhYZ7_zWMYM0OmStZEswQfGTW6ki7xIemVqL5Ln7pAJogvWlnYk4JFYuSdN52e58cOHutkfER9gnZhOKL6heBJWaTtl4e_tyilewBUy4xmYXU-O-AH43IrF78Dt4X_oTlYLOf8DYVodlrNG0kf3OqIK2ATENULk9AZA/s960/32693_49756_1254.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DrpXDGbnHH8ZomN7ftCFhYZ7_zWMYM0OmStZEswQfGTW6ki7xIemVqL5Ln7pAJogvWlnYk4JFYuSdN52e58cOHutkfER9gnZhOKL6heBJWaTtl4e_tyilewBUy4xmYXU-O-AH43IrF78Dt4X_oTlYLOf8DYVodlrNG0kf3OqIK2ATENULk9AZA/w400-h266/32693_49756_1254.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><i>Comforted by a fellow instructor, an native-speaking instructor speaks through tears at the 'Emergency Press Conference of the National Democratic General Labor Union on the Incidents of Racial Discrimination, Verbal Abuse and Assault of Native Speaking instructors and Migrant Workers' held in front of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Thursday morning. Reporter Gang Hang-nim </i></p><p>The director of a language school in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, has been accused of verbally abusing and assaulting native speaking English instructors, prompting calls for the Ministry of Employment and Labor to take active measures to protect migrant workers.</p><p>The KCTU’s Democratic General Federation’s National Democratic General Labor Union (co-chair Kim I-hoe) held a press conference with native speaker instructors in front of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office at 10 a.m. on November 14, saying, "What is the Ministry of Employment and Labor doing when verbal abuse and violence against migrant workers is widespread in Korean society?" and demanded from the Ministry a full investigation into and special labor supervision over migrant worker discrimination, verbal abuse, and assault.</p><p>On November 9 it was revealed through media reports that the director of a language school in Yeosu, Jeollanam-do, had been verbally abusing native speaking instructors, saying things such as, "Servile people should be beaten," "Those kids should be killed," and "Tell me, you’re stupid, tell me." The native speaker who shared a recording had to repeat the phrase "I'm stupid" in response to his rant. The reason given by the director was that he didn't like the way she was correcting students’ English journals, among other things.</p><p>The harassment continued in other ways. At the press conference, the native instructors disclosed that the harassment was chronic, including assaults and unannounced visits to their lodgings from the owner. "He tried to enter my home unannounced, and I had to stop him. I felt like my life was in danger and was afraid to go to work out of panic and anxiety after that day," said Ms. A, a native speaking instructor who worked at the hagwon. "He locked me in the teachers’ office, made me memorize the teaching instructions word by word, and didn't allow me to bring lunch." </p><p>However, the South Korean government did not help her. Ms. A said, "I asked the Yeosu Labor Office for help twice, but the case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence. I even asked the National Human Rights Commission for help, but no one thought my case was valid." "I thought filing a civil lawsuit would at least help, but my employer provided false testimonies from other teachers to frame me as a perpetrator of workplace harassment. When my case was dismissed, I lost faith in all legal systems."</p><p>Ms. B, who also worked at the same place, said, "I couldn't even expect common courtesy from people, and without intervention, these problems will continue." "The main obstacle for most foreigners is not language, but policies that exclude us and treat us as commodities," she said.</p><p>At the press conference, Kim I-hoe, co-chairperson of the Democratic General Union, said, "How can there be a hagwon in South Korea owner in 2023 who makes such senseless remarks?" "The Ministry of Employment and Labor should not dismiss this as the shamelessness of a single individual, but should immediately investigate the treatment and conditions of foreign workers and take appropriate measures," he demanded.</p><p>Ms. A left the hagwon and is working in another area. Ms. B also left and is looking for a job. The process hasn’t been easy. Under the current law, native speaking instructors who entered the country on an E2 (conversation instruction) visa and work at foreign language hagwons, language institutes, and continuing education institutions must obtain a transfer letter from their employer if they want to change jobs.</p><p>Participants in the press conference said, "It is the state’s structural violence caused by the current immigration law which allows employers to limit workers’ ability to change jobs.” "Workers on (not only E2 visas but also) E-9 visas are not allowed to change companies without their employers' consent. It is an institutional problem that creates structural violence."</p><p>"The government is increasing the number of migrant workers, but it gives all the rights to the employers and asks migrant workers to become their machines," said Udaya Rai, head of the Migrant Trade Union. Even if the employer assaults, verbally abuses, and sexually harasses them, the employer has all the rights, so we can only watch." "Korean society cannot run without migrant workers now. Migrant workers must be accepted into the fabric of Korean society. To do so, we need to create laws and systems that allow them to change workplaces freely," he said.</p><p>Lee Hyeon-mi, acting head of the KCTU’s Seoul headquarters, also said, "By restricting workers from changing jobs, the government shackles them so that they cannot escape if they are exposed to violence and discrimination in the workplace." "The government should establish laws and systems against racism and abuse of power and actively enforce them," she urged.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Yeosu language hagwon in question has reportedly been unable to operate normally due to a sharp drop in students after the verbal abuse and assault of the native speaking instructor became known to the local community. The press conference concluded with the participants conveying a request for a meeting to officials from the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office.</p></blockquote><p></p><div>MTU's head, Udaya Rai, makes a good point about Korea's need for migrant workers, particularly as Korea's demographic implosion continues apace, and for the need to ease up on rules tying foreign workers to one employer. It should be remembered that this system was implemented in 1984 after the <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/2009/12/french-foreign-language-teacher-scandal.html">news media here flew into a tizzy after Le Monde published an article</a> talking about how easy it was for travelers to find language teaching jobs in Seoul, where one even managed to marry a local girl from a "good family"; in response, the government changed the law. As David Mason remembered it:</div><div><blockquote>I left back to America in the fall of 1983, the French scandal happened in 1984, and when I returned in early 1986 there were these new rules. No teaching at all on a tourist visa, and when a school or company sponsored your teaching visa they became your "owner" -- you couldn't have any other jobs unless they officially approved it. And if you stopped that job for any reason you just had to leave the country within five days, returning if you had another job that would sponsor your visa, or if not, not. Reentering on a tourist visa to find a new job, if you hadn't found one before your left, would be your only option. I remember some good quality longtime teachers who left in disgust and protest between 1985 and 1987, because they felt disrespected by all this.</blockquote></div><div>Considering the role foreign workers will play moving ahead, maybe visa portability is something not to aspire to, but to return to?</div><div><br /></div><div>On a somewhat-related topic, perhaps foreigners hoping for better treatment and representation could ask the Chosun Ilbo for help? But then (in comparison to the <a href="https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-11-01/national/socialAffairs/Fear-and-loathing-in-Seoul-as-city-combats-bedbug-menace/1903529">Joongang Daily's take on the bedbug problem</a>, which pointed out that at least one Korean had been exposed to them while travelling abroad) considering Chosun Ilbo's <a href="https://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2023/10/23/2023102301203.html">report on the spread of bedbugs in Korea</a>, which might as well be titled "Dirty foreigners bring bedbugs to Korea," perhaps not:</div><p></p><blockquote><p>A mysterious bedbug infestation that first made headlines in Paris earlier this year seems to have made its way to Korea, traveling in the luggage or clothes of foreigners.</p><p>A dormitory at Keimyung University in Daegu and a public sauna in Incheon where bedbugs were sighted recently are believed to be inhabited or visited to foreigners, although it is still too early to make definitive conclusions. [… (<i>Oh, they're making conclusions, all right</i>)]</p><p>An official at the National Institute of Biological Resources said, "Hygiene standards are very high in Korea, so even simple maintenance can prevent a major spread. But bedbugs could continue to be spotted in areas frequented by foreigners." [...(<i>who by inference must have very low hygiene standards)]</i></p><p>In Korea, bedbugs are often traced to areas with high numbers of foreign laborers. "There was even a case where bedbugs arrived here still attached to the body of a foreigner and spread in his room," the official said.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Maybe this is not the best way - <i>in your English-language edition</i>, of all things - to speak about the people who may well be ensuring you receive your pension in the future. </p><p>Oh, and maybe put systems in place (and enforce them) to try to protect foreign workers from abuse, so that they don't give up after being failed in so many way by officialdom here?</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-4786621215119111132023-10-31T15:47:00.001+09:002023-10-31T15:47:38.047+09:00"Paradise" by the projector's light, and real estate databases<p> For my <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/10/177_361826.html">latest Korea Times article</a>, I
interviewed Todd Henry and Minki Hong about their documentary, ‘Paradise,’ which
uses oral history and animation to explore the history of Seoul’s last-standing
(if no longer operating) theater that once served as a venue for gay cruising.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxvCURQN_WDEy7DHl8N8xtbe8npGdIvtVrbt7tPTMcMSo8NDUYzXN0mG0rwJCax8wfldEioC7bPgiol-Novs6SQ1n9Yzldu-twVwbUNOy7gqcyGKHkAqUU0g3EBUmi12eGK_OnyWP4-8fcE8-X_FO_8yQAL0jd8TUuJ0omGd_5Egny7UCOSmGROw/s2586/IMG_9410%20pano%20b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1243" data-original-width="2586" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxvCURQN_WDEy7DHl8N8xtbe8npGdIvtVrbt7tPTMcMSo8NDUYzXN0mG0rwJCax8wfldEioC7bPgiol-Novs6SQ1n9Yzldu-twVwbUNOy7gqcyGKHkAqUU0g3EBUmi12eGK_OnyWP4-8fcE8-X_FO_8yQAL0jd8TUuJ0omGd_5Egny7UCOSmGROw/w640-h308/IMG_9410%20pano%20b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>I didn't have the space to discuss Todd's other project, which he shared when Paradise was first screened at the theater late last year, which is mapping out queer spaces in Seoul, some dating back to the 1960s and 1970s, which have mostly disappeared (including one grouping of such spaces in Sindang-dong, the neighbourhood I now live in), almost all of which were "anchored" by the presence of second-run theaters where gay cruising took place. The maps he put together were assembled from "a fragmented variety" of sources, a "combination of real estate databases, aerial photography, oral histories, and textual sources" such as weekly magazines. </p><p>I recently discovered a two online real estate data bases, <a href="https://blcm.go.kr/cmm/main/mainPage.do">one which you have to enter an address for</a> (and provides building information such as the year it was built), and <a href="https://www.kgeop.go.kr/ ">another which provides a map</a> which you can click on to find similar information, as well as information about the lot. Both are great tools which can be used to learn more about whatever neighbourhood or building you might be interested in.</p><br /><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-10155481698085226762023-10-30T15:02:00.000+09:002023-10-30T15:02:03.984+09:00Exploring Gaehwasan with the RAS this Saturday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7eDku62B9bz6bEBWvVqaVJOV2Qu4Kef3_J6WWDrQwNYhdgVqGgsP3S3GJlazjGJ-DCyQAAA50lhZjRSVSYNZSef7WtNiFwsmMeAQMGHx1Lci-iQyxFuBd-ozbIIYFzWTEnluKTdgwQvuyFM26LIfaVTwNnm7nXpdAtopuJc6c4b6yuJ4HpDEbSQ/s1080/Gaehwasan-Tour-Promo-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1079" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7eDku62B9bz6bEBWvVqaVJOV2Qu4Kef3_J6WWDrQwNYhdgVqGgsP3S3GJlazjGJ-DCyQAAA50lhZjRSVSYNZSef7WtNiFwsmMeAQMGHx1Lci-iQyxFuBd-ozbIIYFzWTEnluKTdgwQvuyFM26LIfaVTwNnm7nXpdAtopuJc6c4b6yuJ4HpDEbSQ/w640-h640/Gaehwasan-Tour-Promo-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>I’ll be leading an excursion next Saturday, November 4, for the Royal Asiatic Society to Gaehwasan (near Gimpo Airport), a low mountain covered with temples, tombs, a Korean War memorial, and fall colours. It also overlooks Haengju fortress, site of Imjin War and Korean War battles. </p><p>Starting from Banghwa Station, at the end of Line 5,we will pass through a park with a number of 400-year-old zelkova and gingko trees and then head up the mountain to see the numerous, beautifully carved tombs, flanked by stone statues, of the Pungsan Shim clan, who for several generations served the Joseon kings and were memorialized for their meritorious deeds, including taking part in the overthrow of the notorious king, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeonsangun_of_Joseon">Yonsan-gun</a>, and, generations later, organizing righteous armies during the Imjin War.</p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfrqWiZvxCdxgDEr3LfgnvM4LKsg4oZ78la7U3gaoo4G3E9ALNpR_b2REiHu3_XOlr2DLaQ433voqwUcWQn6gySdTNO7jhm0WLvh6IqByVtzm2FqOQp-icPMJ4dfSGm7abaLEaAA/s1600/shim+tomb1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfrqWiZvxCdxgDEr3LfgnvM4LKsg4oZ78la7U3gaoo4G3E9ALNpR_b2REiHu3_XOlr2DLaQ433voqwUcWQn6gySdTNO7jhm0WLvh6IqByVtzm2FqOQp-icPMJ4dfSGm7abaLEaAA/w640-h480/shim+tomb1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8MGv0eUcjOkwT4EMcsmTvyOJach1_qlUL-53FPR77Gy0jtiKULXMM-7YfWDDQPOMACf5L_Yn-64str41rEyQf3ZIVQwgoJ0FFSoaPX6g_5k4Gp2nI8TtElyQurXrbtbEtBWcTA/s1600/2013+06+photos+044a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8MGv0eUcjOkwT4EMcsmTvyOJach1_qlUL-53FPR77Gy0jtiKULXMM-7YfWDDQPOMACf5L_Yn-64str41rEyQf3ZIVQwgoJ0FFSoaPX6g_5k4Gp2nI8TtElyQurXrbtbEtBWcTA/w443-h640/2013+06+photos+044a.jpg" width="443" /></a></div><br />We will also go to Yaksasa Temple and see a statue of the Buddha and a three-story stone pagoda which date back to the Goryeo Era.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVVJVccf0gOwIVBBVuF7g3dUy2JMnYhlxCLUieE2-UzeC5KFjauPwFUkskIxHBW5JJJ73fYJdlKKZYbtth93BS9UDdHIQKgvwzpcB-MCDrcty3HJgYAE7x4AdpYJpN7oRxWzt-w/s1600/yaksasa+1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVVJVccf0gOwIVBBVuF7g3dUy2JMnYhlxCLUieE2-UzeC5KFjauPwFUkskIxHBW5JJJ73fYJdlKKZYbtth93BS9UDdHIQKgvwzpcB-MCDrcty3HJgYAE7x4AdpYJpN7oRxWzt-w/w265-h400/yaksasa+1.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br />We'll see an even larger such statue dating from the early Joseon period outside Mitasa Temple, on the other side of the mountain. The statue was found buried in the 1930s, when the temple was rebuilt. Both temples were destroyed during the Korean War, but the pagoda and statues survived.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvyVHIwSnF3B0uK_ApolKlfnPQLuMI7yL1yU0izraHUSIINyt8whzWlzIzOVRgNseVCP9JcvxMopRcoz3jOk11M4D7s-YiPrER67DfaZEVbzEb_4absZJ_jlUsUMlMHxhfhyU-Q/s1600/IMG_0093a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvyVHIwSnF3B0uK_ApolKlfnPQLuMI7yL1yU0izraHUSIINyt8whzWlzIzOVRgNseVCP9JcvxMopRcoz3jOk11M4D7s-YiPrER67DfaZEVbzEb_4absZJ_jlUsUMlMHxhfhyU-Q/w480-h640/IMG_0093a.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Next to Mitasa is the Memorial to the Loyal Dead, which was erected to remember the 1,100 soldiers of the Korean 1st Army Division who died defending Mt. Gaehwasan - which overlooks Gimpo Airport - during the opening of the Korean War, which will provide an opportunity to learn more about the fighting which took place on the mountain during the war, as well as its military importance in the present. I'll also touch on the importance of the area during the Imjin War.<br /><br />Being a mountain, of course, there will be lots of opportunities to take in views of the Han River and surrounding area and enjoy what nature has to offer (below is a spring view).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC0MKZexy-XzPDuB0023y1EXTZ47z_V9w3xVuMCgqXJTofJehZORn7r1S5eOZu7GvwoADmw82bR0ZdLs0OeaW_zWs8ht7V7ImrWpoRunMgWkI5E_ZdjIqDVTj7zi_5eCJpl_IR78C_oh31w5WXQo_V77IQ_O_QBT1UZwAPfyO5Vjcztlw54zc/s2736/IMG_1503.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="1824" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC0MKZexy-XzPDuB0023y1EXTZ47z_V9w3xVuMCgqXJTofJehZORn7r1S5eOZu7GvwoADmw82bR0ZdLs0OeaW_zWs8ht7V7ImrWpoRunMgWkI5E_ZdjIqDVTj7zi_5eCJpl_IR78C_oh31w5WXQo_V77IQ_O_QBT1UZwAPfyO5Vjcztlw54zc/w426-h640/IMG_1503.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">.</div>For more information about the tour, or to sign up, see <a href="https://raskb.com/event/walking-tour-gaehwasan-the-monumental-mountain-where-the-loyal-dead-lie/">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-4239634599632375792023-10-26T15:31:00.000+09:002023-10-26T15:31:12.157+09:00Yeouido sinkhole redux<p>The <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20231025000764">Korea Herald reports</a> that yesterday a "4-meter-deep, 5-meter-wide sinkhole was found on a traffic island between IFC Mall and Parc 1 Tower in Yeouido, western Seoul at around 11 a.m."</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUgdQJ7S4607CRu-Pi0_HkVB71PlGYSwi8OHrlsPybefRfgSz1ZDU7XE3bTjMoI_bCnpxam7p9nIBePwHaaNcyPUWxiP1Xzp-knL1CzCheFnkgGALB1jodALsaHzGwKwx_neTWYQiFQaWj2Qqrn8FHIzw5vgtKGgZTqwRNV_fBSNcn8CuPCMWCYg/s1393/0%201%20Yeouido%20sinkhole%202023%2010%2025%20KH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1393" data-original-width="1045" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUgdQJ7S4607CRu-Pi0_HkVB71PlGYSwi8OHrlsPybefRfgSz1ZDU7XE3bTjMoI_bCnpxam7p9nIBePwHaaNcyPUWxiP1Xzp-knL1CzCheFnkgGALB1jodALsaHzGwKwx_neTWYQiFQaWj2Qqrn8FHIzw5vgtKGgZTqwRNV_fBSNcn8CuPCMWCYg/w480-h640/0%201%20Yeouido%20sinkhole%202023%2010%2025%20KH.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p>It only took a quick look on Kakao Map to find its exact location. As it turns out, it's about 200 meters from the bunker turned into an exhibition space I mentioned <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/2023/10/restored-palaces-tunnels-and-bunkers.html">here</a>.</p><p>More disturbingly, it's about 150 meters from the site of retaining wall collapse that occurred <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/2007/09/craters-and-redevelopment-in-yeouido.html">during the construction of IFC on September 19, 2007</a>, which created a 50-meter-long, 20-meter-wide and 30 meter-deep crater that swallowed several cars.</p><p><img alt="" border="0" height="421" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5114145262211861490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzUHe8Fdq-IwcZN2XveqSsf5UXlTLglVZWQyTW_jRue4BipuwG39e2_xFy07TpdBtsrDv0qeVDZvHxJyNAOB-hKnJH5sXtiYToipOW47xWTf59sQXA5ZL0QWuw_v6SazXEzJH/w640-h421/2007+9+19.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="640" /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrPT8O_gncG7Flk4gpbHeFiirAzZpDztuO3lxrSc9NgbnEfA_MPNh5T2f3ItWBGogTqOgQb42yOSu2yLtJByGs5nf333HLh0gUTV1NPP6m8l9NzAY7k232ttf8vfV0CbuF4FKQpUb0w_Wt0Z_Lpj97L3YK8O9I1CxT1VtelWLN94V-vb_OWP9hg/s1256/0%201%20Yeouido%20map%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1256" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrPT8O_gncG7Flk4gpbHeFiirAzZpDztuO3lxrSc9NgbnEfA_MPNh5T2f3ItWBGogTqOgQb42yOSu2yLtJByGs5nf333HLh0gUTV1NPP6m8l9NzAY7k232ttf8vfV0CbuF4FKQpUb0w_Wt0Z_Lpj97L3YK8O9I1CxT1VtelWLN94V-vb_OWP9hg/w640-h412/0%201%20Yeouido%20map%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><p>This might be something to keep in mind as authorities investigate the cause of the current collapse.</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-80713988440859338642023-10-05T15:03:00.000+09:002023-10-05T15:03:54.896+09:00Restored Palaces, tunnels, and bunkers (among other things)<p>Over the Chuseok long weekend I visited a number of sites that might be of interest. First up was Dondeokjeon, the European-style building in Deoksu Palace that was demolished in the 1920s and, after being restored, was <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/10/113_359959.html">opened to the public last week</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIx_RAijDjuWNeXlGr_fWNV2Ld99zn7c92IuofAugaNdJVnomWI22UWtt3XyoofcJN_6ybmJrxsan2czqWmTT-na7GqshqslvhWHuvOQScLITM5G_MX3Q4qc1NJOZ6LJ_X49zkrn2xXYcl7tMuzdfl_f_iUyFbtSjXl8eOPuwx_QHbwe49tJbeZg/s2736/IMG_2332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIx_RAijDjuWNeXlGr_fWNV2Ld99zn7c92IuofAugaNdJVnomWI22UWtt3XyoofcJN_6ybmJrxsan2czqWmTT-na7GqshqslvhWHuvOQScLITM5G_MX3Q4qc1NJOZ6LJ_X49zkrn2xXYcl7tMuzdfl_f_iUyFbtSjXl8eOPuwx_QHbwe49tJbeZg/w640-h426/IMG_2332.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpwNDkCKgtfJCqH98y3l1EV3MkRoLgM_4YJ_Zgl30mDaU-DZAwWTEmvhlTfG051KqmFENOCgToOguk7ZnW3a5VOGXOoK3NOZ-zZ7F-GQ98sE3_d7wb3M3L9Yc3_ObymmPMa3kVCH0Z2CyUe7Jz1cFCXHQ8BcaWx4TLGIf8OLL5NWIRSxD8dqhSQ/s2736/IMG_2293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpwNDkCKgtfJCqH98y3l1EV3MkRoLgM_4YJ_Zgl30mDaU-DZAwWTEmvhlTfG051KqmFENOCgToOguk7ZnW3a5VOGXOoK3NOZ-zZ7F-GQ98sE3_d7wb3M3L9Yc3_ObymmPMa3kVCH0Z2CyUe7Jz1cFCXHQ8BcaWx4TLGIf8OLL5NWIRSxD8dqhSQ/w640-h426/IMG_2293.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">A model of the building.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7TcFYuwIyrJMbpAitAPqPuPZHYqSgbPqwp1unpxHmrob1_GLB22R2wLqqjPLCYG_rAf1WEuxISv2KeG1ezCJjZ2e1HAPlfC_km6S_toWJ_v_aE2deQg8NsXS5mgJxevYoCLAWBvyD_SeUluwyEkGecm2eztluoS_-Q-tv0OLGYcQIw74edQ4nw/s2736/IMG_2286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="1824" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7TcFYuwIyrJMbpAitAPqPuPZHYqSgbPqwp1unpxHmrob1_GLB22R2wLqqjPLCYG_rAf1WEuxISv2KeG1ezCJjZ2e1HAPlfC_km6S_toWJ_v_aE2deQg8NsXS5mgJxevYoCLAWBvyD_SeUluwyEkGecm2eztluoS_-Q-tv0OLGYcQIw74edQ4nw/w426-h640/IMG_2286.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamaQBV15qBjP9H69JO6jbWSe_dqrZ3vhWjLt4Twxa5_zf4Hm_1-A_uiWadlXMCYe_YTWNpI-VbbnTZIQeN7WDNP-z1sqvU1oEiFmcLkUpWRsWNZyg5MvnCpJgwH35HE4gfMS510zl8bBuKWACm0ugh4uWE2jDt-V-yuY_pn99GPwaERKQQ6DPPQ/s2736/IMG_2303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="1824" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamaQBV15qBjP9H69JO6jbWSe_dqrZ3vhWjLt4Twxa5_zf4Hm_1-A_uiWadlXMCYe_YTWNpI-VbbnTZIQeN7WDNP-z1sqvU1oEiFmcLkUpWRsWNZyg5MvnCpJgwH35HE4gfMS510zl8bBuKWACm0ugh4uWE2jDt-V-yuY_pn99GPwaERKQQ6DPPQ/w426-h640/IMG_2303.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9n0HPZdMkAKcof7hIIRiPJvIgVC9Y2JWeFbs7zxKWDVji-vut6H8rb5I41GEDrMqHae64TiavdXND6HDFo5dkoKa2fQLoyfzvqrPa71GOF3DLX1GGT5LIPppTFgeo4IJKAno82n9BY2eabTiJfr4AVRIMPiaZ2gOaPgm_irNH-MHFRwm4cQxlUQ/s2736/IMG_2306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="1824" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9n0HPZdMkAKcof7hIIRiPJvIgVC9Y2JWeFbs7zxKWDVji-vut6H8rb5I41GEDrMqHae64TiavdXND6HDFo5dkoKa2fQLoyfzvqrPa71GOF3DLX1GGT5LIPppTFgeo4IJKAno82n9BY2eabTiJfr4AVRIMPiaZ2gOaPgm_irNH-MHFRwm4cQxlUQ/w426-h640/IMG_2306.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-57IJmvGRkKGuoPqPyOPTecHokMXcZCEjB6fFhHOnZxqg3XnaT5MXsBUv8cdrtaJ1Wah8q_baDUibNkwiaSMmgnLmP09BB9J5WadUmk7Zyv7WY8TKXGPUNG-3CwWWGaGC4pDHmGbwPAMtOOV-3DIwoZrSipo1c25X75SmUheqdWmlI21CtpGJw/s2736/IMG_2308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="1824" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-57IJmvGRkKGuoPqPyOPTecHokMXcZCEjB6fFhHOnZxqg3XnaT5MXsBUv8cdrtaJ1Wah8q_baDUibNkwiaSMmgnLmP09BB9J5WadUmk7Zyv7WY8TKXGPUNG-3CwWWGaGC4pDHmGbwPAMtOOV-3DIwoZrSipo1c25X75SmUheqdWmlI21CtpGJw/w426-h640/IMG_2308.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT7hgwYOcXcmQtIxi3ZHo530aj9grwJR5Dky5dJNFelHIZ7bflSt1MiIcbPB_AMA03DHuQ9f-3hckLOy33X9ttB5eIQtJXylZ5wTYZi-VmWLmi-Ef5R8VCol3uzN-LKEAMFj7FQcR8tTCGk8ycNNrlHzYUO8SAVWCMZ0Oa82i1EA074MouLLT9jQ/s2736/IMG_2315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT7hgwYOcXcmQtIxi3ZHo530aj9grwJR5Dky5dJNFelHIZ7bflSt1MiIcbPB_AMA03DHuQ9f-3hckLOy33X9ttB5eIQtJXylZ5wTYZi-VmWLmi-Ef5R8VCol3uzN-LKEAMFj7FQcR8tTCGk8ycNNrlHzYUO8SAVWCMZ0Oa82i1EA074MouLLT9jQ/w640-h426/IMG_2315.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFmmxb3wlkC82gwqUAlXsKCVgnsLi_h3mSn96SAmDBF_fUqWp-uEC3pftc-0j1nRRVVLjHAaNVTjBcXrmp1wxt0ZCquGTrdTKuS8vfmDjbdK5YLFRMJfuOIP8VAFKSIDqiBWXlA9Ix6JH2V_XFjeO0NYXfqfqE3LX9owmRNxNMrsqxUubmC3TmUw/s1557/dondeokjeon%202a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1507" data-original-width="1557" height="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFmmxb3wlkC82gwqUAlXsKCVgnsLi_h3mSn96SAmDBF_fUqWp-uEC3pftc-0j1nRRVVLjHAaNVTjBcXrmp1wxt0ZCquGTrdTKuS8vfmDjbdK5YLFRMJfuOIP8VAFKSIDqiBWXlA9Ix6JH2V_XFjeO0NYXfqfqE3LX9owmRNxNMrsqxUubmC3TmUw/w640-h620/dondeokjeon%202a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I guess I hadn't been inside Deoksugung since 2018 (other than grabbing a coffee with a friend by the pond during Covid since it was a central and scenic place to sit outside), so I was surprised to see the gate that once stood in the southwest corner, where it sheltered a water clock, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQhSXA3AKh4&ab_channel=ZPUN">hwacha</a> (multi-cylinder rocket launcher), and a temple bell, was gone. As it turns out, it was moved in 2018 closer to the entrance and back to where it originally stood as the gate to Gojong's sleeping quarters.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCOvU8dAhqEbT8QH-qigFy9CILVhEXNuk7x1JmrmwrpyNls9XiqPJK9su1XHFV1P2jgpwS51fUIHOb0DlPEndFaor7dKg7OA0VFefXtotCxxwbKPol3-ttdHqwOv-b82M02Ok83-WObDYT5b5zUmDtq_oc_rFOOi5kZp4PnipiiN5DTQAVvWgdQ/s2736/IMG_2372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCOvU8dAhqEbT8QH-qigFy9CILVhEXNuk7x1JmrmwrpyNls9XiqPJK9su1XHFV1P2jgpwS51fUIHOb0DlPEndFaor7dKg7OA0VFefXtotCxxwbKPol3-ttdHqwOv-b82M02Ok83-WObDYT5b5zUmDtq_oc_rFOOi5kZp4PnipiiN5DTQAVvWgdQ/w640-h426/IMG_2372.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Gwangmyeongmun </div><p>I'm not sure where the relics it sheltered went. The bell was from Heungcheonsa, a temple built on the grounds of what is now Deoksugung in 1397 by King Taejo in honour of his recently deceased wife, Queen Sindeok; its bell was commissioned by King Sejo in the 1460s in response to his feeling a bit bad about killing his nephew to take the throne, and the temple stood until it was mostly demolished under the tyrant Yongsan-gun and the sari hall burned by fired-up Confucian students out to destroy heresy in 1510, after which the bell moved from palace to palace, landing in Deoksugung by the 1950s and now gone to who-knows-where. (For more on that temple, and Jeong-dong's history, see Gregory Henderson's article "A History of the Chŏng Dong Area and the American Embassy Residence" from the RAS Transactions Volume XXXV (1959), which can be found <a href="http://anthony.sogang.ac.kr/transactions/tablesofContents.html">here</a>.)</p><p>A couple days later I headed to Mullae-dong. While I'd visited it before, I'd never been there on a warm evening, and it had quite a different feel to it as the narrow alleys had tables with customers spilling out into them. It makes for a unique urban space, which would explain the past decade of gentrification.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfj30gLVNPfsYzzla8Zib885LIrA5h32OdBI_kurZmkiFZdYyiuEzmtDgSOSyTMFTLMen_f2Tx2KfvEQPE9KGSXOz61xZiASZszW5bB194q-2BAi1iHy_8HunhXfzwh_8zAWRYg7-DIvTYx7GSRUerAD_lnaUSZqAyh5mLsi0Ci9Zi_a4LIJLFDg/s2736/IMG_2410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfj30gLVNPfsYzzla8Zib885LIrA5h32OdBI_kurZmkiFZdYyiuEzmtDgSOSyTMFTLMen_f2Tx2KfvEQPE9KGSXOz61xZiASZszW5bB194q-2BAi1iHy_8HunhXfzwh_8zAWRYg7-DIvTYx7GSRUerAD_lnaUSZqAyh5mLsi0Ci9Zi_a4LIJLFDg/w640-h426/IMG_2410.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgohvbgFPRPRqRx0IAuxmLNXxJp8YX7O23egoo1NnTzLEOX63Zz1LawhD0UuVuCAjnPuztAkXa65OMXDs5yZJQLBtg7SebgjFGQIleSvD_xSqQNO979b59t97MczG_Pelok74_gtV9N81Md7mim_0vPJ0-8Be_IVENUQtOPXi-0CUWxHhkczxKazw/s2736/IMG_2412.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgohvbgFPRPRqRx0IAuxmLNXxJp8YX7O23egoo1NnTzLEOX63Zz1LawhD0UuVuCAjnPuztAkXa65OMXDs5yZJQLBtg7SebgjFGQIleSvD_xSqQNO979b59t97MczG_Pelok74_gtV9N81Md7mim_0vPJ0-8Be_IVENUQtOPXi-0CUWxHhkczxKazw/w640-h426/IMG_2412.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Oo17X0yHcZ7wAf-WGhJNYyRd6rYrRlggB7ikBMfc3JXqZvhzYbLUMZBlAFlzFjF979Z-WYWuryMr1NjVXY3cfJ8G43uiv9jq9PPg6476vZM0IhoPv49Y3ko9MzfHvUzpEn4TfaGXys66Aqen7w3d0YEOIi9kwrgJTXSZYjjMBhtRq2os_6qNdA/s2736/IMG_2425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="1824" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Oo17X0yHcZ7wAf-WGhJNYyRd6rYrRlggB7ikBMfc3JXqZvhzYbLUMZBlAFlzFjF979Z-WYWuryMr1NjVXY3cfJ8G43uiv9jq9PPg6476vZM0IhoPv49Y3ko9MzfHvUzpEn4TfaGXys66Aqen7w3d0YEOIi9kwrgJTXSZYjjMBhtRq2os_6qNdA/w426-h640/IMG_2425.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCRC5dwj-6iPEyB72Xbd21lAS_6jMi6dPBjIbh4DYtnVXqT6HKf8X1ByA5cIn_C15_4SfTX9AgZsV_U4mivmDAxrpA2mhOt0Kw-V5t5QVtfdDptPncFgt6VnxezsC-Z-e2rQZGjOOFEDltbcK46UaHYT6Bskqo67up4xSQR0QlNm4jkpyNM1E3Q/s2736/IMG_2432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCRC5dwj-6iPEyB72Xbd21lAS_6jMi6dPBjIbh4DYtnVXqT6HKf8X1ByA5cIn_C15_4SfTX9AgZsV_U4mivmDAxrpA2mhOt0Kw-V5t5QVtfdDptPncFgt6VnxezsC-Z-e2rQZGjOOFEDltbcK46UaHYT6Bskqo67up4xSQR0QlNm4jkpyNM1E3Q/w640-h426/IMG_2432.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p>The next day I visited the Noryangjin Underground sewer, a restored tunnel dating back to perhaps 1899 which has various shapes and is an interesting place to explore (though it is only 92 meters long, so it's not a place you'll spend a lot of time in). It's near exit 7 of Noryangjin station (walk straight from the exit for 250 meters).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tV6I0Yu7VDWPesyZHVEPbIHTUvLn8AFw5AJCxRvenFqXkVL59oPLEHd0Kjuu1NZhxlMvoyEghwHlPq-kuYmbS75Yz0iHHCVrJNSUfNcpDeiGKqPTAzuT2uGGmZ3IARznc6J8joGqYOF71p8i892zPIMgg4rWdkXFu62vut559IEdtd1BqD7tMQ/s2736/IMG_2440.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tV6I0Yu7VDWPesyZHVEPbIHTUvLn8AFw5AJCxRvenFqXkVL59oPLEHd0Kjuu1NZhxlMvoyEghwHlPq-kuYmbS75Yz0iHHCVrJNSUfNcpDeiGKqPTAzuT2uGGmZ3IARznc6J8joGqYOF71p8i892zPIMgg4rWdkXFu62vut559IEdtd1BqD7tMQ/w640-h426/IMG_2440.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxeKR_aX4CAugvqsWKLRKjpjXTDaQLGMNu-_V635_J1Qb9gvAUn_kc3j30cq5LjPcGKZNY6YHTlF0OTyBzsclp5C7bsKLtLs1QzLohAnRmS_gH2TQnBcWqgK7WOL7C35LbJD5kNb2aAdkFsj99yGxZM5ZGJKvYqy9SyI0r6PzfLRJh5gIQyIoX-A/s2736/IMG_2447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="1824" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxeKR_aX4CAugvqsWKLRKjpjXTDaQLGMNu-_V635_J1Qb9gvAUn_kc3j30cq5LjPcGKZNY6YHTlF0OTyBzsclp5C7bsKLtLs1QzLohAnRmS_gH2TQnBcWqgK7WOL7C35LbJD5kNb2aAdkFsj99yGxZM5ZGJKvYqy9SyI0r6PzfLRJh5gIQyIoX-A/w426-h640/IMG_2447.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKVHjihF-qWtzGrvX7x1k8-bM24ET8HUy85bHWxlzwC1OQw8WFh4eoXszXPB2SHtec04UxJWqd5YwwcJlj2zUz6DK3d-RlVDQqNNt2BJe-G29WIyFN_TEb8tvOI_zDlBzCEBgbLkhP5meRDMB7t3Bwgupu6KOgomKo7ZYjVkOrKOtnifA7RIOFg/s2736/IMG_2459.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKVHjihF-qWtzGrvX7x1k8-bM24ET8HUy85bHWxlzwC1OQw8WFh4eoXszXPB2SHtec04UxJWqd5YwwcJlj2zUz6DK3d-RlVDQqNNt2BJe-G29WIyFN_TEb8tvOI_zDlBzCEBgbLkhP5meRDMB7t3Bwgupu6KOgomKo7ZYjVkOrKOtnifA7RIOFg/w640-h426/IMG_2459.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>If you continue walking in the same direction for five minutes, on the south side of the street you'll find this building, now a wedding hall. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTm6SM6hoYveAJMrbZziW1MQlxcKC68h-lFA-NDw5vgv_oFjEdPzB4WIA7l7CCAUpLzXqdcDhiw8dxNEngxAKExiJSzWXah6KBoP04Q4AyaBM5J5IpUXTiwhOhFqFQ7o9b_718_T5q_kDczbpBvM43WTXbJKl-DJBbCKG_jNZoKfz0sBJTFhyphenhyphenPQ/s2736/IMG_2473.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTm6SM6hoYveAJMrbZziW1MQlxcKC68h-lFA-NDw5vgv_oFjEdPzB4WIA7l7CCAUpLzXqdcDhiw8dxNEngxAKExiJSzWXah6KBoP04Q4AyaBM5J5IpUXTiwhOhFqFQ7o9b_718_T5q_kDczbpBvM43WTXbJKl-DJBbCKG_jNZoKfz0sBJTFhyphenhyphenPQ/w640-h426/IMG_2473.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It doesn't look like much, but this is where the 1971 Silmido incident (which inspired the 2003 film of the same name) ended when the soldiers in a hijacked bus were stopped and they blew themselves up with grenades (I wrote about it <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2007/03/truth-commissions-and-silmido-incident.html">here</a> long ago, where I first posted these photos). The second photo confirms that the bus was stopped at the right of the above photo (before the road was widened).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZm9LXKR5_TXyWjxvBWEZ0n2AjPaRCrq616v1nfbvGsYMtEntJ-_5EyMeZTsdtUyskdZ-Rpl2amBoX58qzoUhly2By1VJqHBpppLpVifcrKMkDDhzIcedFmUpfMkUQQy8NhWeiuavnPicozlG2wuOoTKDMULrTYOhIEATLQZ2fzJ4TS4oPwiJJQ/s680/silmido%2003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="680" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZm9LXKR5_TXyWjxvBWEZ0n2AjPaRCrq616v1nfbvGsYMtEntJ-_5EyMeZTsdtUyskdZ-Rpl2amBoX58qzoUhly2By1VJqHBpppLpVifcrKMkDDhzIcedFmUpfMkUQQy8NhWeiuavnPicozlG2wuOoTKDMULrTYOhIEATLQZ2fzJ4TS4oPwiJJQ/w640-h478/silmido%2003.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHepHtHy9vmX9tkw_A7EF8B0Hlc65L31NPwqVwQz-iRRlRDcszXyDQ_AYjYNBChqgvBxkOMNcqEectp_DkDVu8ep97dceMAV8DPWjZUb-GNm5SeP2lhrQNyreT6UqpgnfdeltkHYBDVa1ci4PJ8s9Ium53dpFm_ZJY_WJCMmr-kppxZn6-1tXvuA/s680/silmido%2002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="680" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHepHtHy9vmX9tkw_A7EF8B0Hlc65L31NPwqVwQz-iRRlRDcszXyDQ_AYjYNBChqgvBxkOMNcqEectp_DkDVu8ep97dceMAV8DPWjZUb-GNm5SeP2lhrQNyreT6UqpgnfdeltkHYBDVa1ci4PJ8s9Ium53dpFm_ZJY_WJCMmr-kppxZn6-1tXvuA/w640-h430/silmido%2002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div></div><div>Older brickwork is visible in the sections behind the main street:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Hgm6nd3ieaw9eS9r5Yxw6IYXxAwLvdOWdkUoss9rKrKzsO9poNLzOIwHE8otaeXIS9JPd0fCnKu9ZYT2VZXspahXqlnbv6bo-CyObcmPIVqkf4onDopS2Iz7e8pUfNH-R4y7RDH9w1glEiJbp1NDL-yTAd5dw_kZuIXPmkGNmIM_MltQQde0Tw/s2736/IMG_2480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Hgm6nd3ieaw9eS9r5Yxw6IYXxAwLvdOWdkUoss9rKrKzsO9poNLzOIwHE8otaeXIS9JPd0fCnKu9ZYT2VZXspahXqlnbv6bo-CyObcmPIVqkf4onDopS2Iz7e8pUfNH-R4y7RDH9w1glEiJbp1NDL-yTAd5dw_kZuIXPmkGNmIM_MltQQde0Tw/w640-h426/IMG_2480.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The cornerstone makes it clear that it was constructed in 1961 by the Yuhan Corporation, the pharmaseutical company established by Ilhan New (Yu Il-han) in 1926. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilhan_New">Wikipedia</a> has more interesting information about him, with even links to the OSS during WWII.)<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaoTPGvpgFnDjer_Yyx1uOC8orMNF2Sze6p5mtPJf7OeuPJ6vkJEfLJqKBCxGVup-sWTAGIZIeCV_dF88jGeEfNAYSMT5vU7CTpswNjLq0Yfrl_odSAnghbGTPtEIxAgKBO1AMdHl_mE7gAp_Zq_R1bDg_CW0vchz2_YBR7nAJHSbM81vk2cjBQ/s2736/IMG_2482.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaoTPGvpgFnDjer_Yyx1uOC8orMNF2Sze6p5mtPJf7OeuPJ6vkJEfLJqKBCxGVup-sWTAGIZIeCV_dF88jGeEfNAYSMT5vU7CTpswNjLq0Yfrl_odSAnghbGTPtEIxAgKBO1AMdHl_mE7gAp_Zq_R1bDg_CW0vchz2_YBR7nAJHSbM81vk2cjBQ/w640-h426/IMG_2482.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Then it was off to Yeouido, passing over the ecology park on the "inner side" of the island</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkhKbe3ae6pm3c2AyZ8QbD-Go0rJ4vrBS2YA89JjYykKN5Aa1Qp2_9Hw085nLe0ge2M3PkQyMwwZCdfGeFqGONij8TH5SM7-1J_ezKGMJyJfk_h8QC33oL6fxPgk1q1CuC45SCuet0AgVo22mG51MNYhWbvdhT3OLMd9E4xUXJ9dzjg84LXpOSQ/s2736/IMG_2500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkhKbe3ae6pm3c2AyZ8QbD-Go0rJ4vrBS2YA89JjYykKN5Aa1Qp2_9Hw085nLe0ge2M3PkQyMwwZCdfGeFqGONij8TH5SM7-1J_ezKGMJyJfk_h8QC33oL6fxPgk1q1CuC45SCuet0AgVo22mG51MNYhWbvdhT3OLMd9E4xUXJ9dzjg84LXpOSQ/w640-h426/IMG_2500.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Robert Fouser led an interesting excursion for the Royal Asiatic Society here back in June, when I took the following photos, which make it clear just how rural it feels down there in certain areas:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiov3ghK6edYyR7rYT9y5dqHqHGQYF1iE4MeMQGNqvngG0ytuJzaMcNbWlHdEntktkhfKonw67OMJGKlT9Lc7b9v15nX6mfdrXVcqaSqklV5wMR9UxRk-vVEvzLDSciomLMx-nMfjvjJAvwvi42esMQfd22RFzGoy1bD6f-HcSLEi8MH7kEStTeXQ/s3648/IMG_7492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2432" data-original-width="3648" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiov3ghK6edYyR7rYT9y5dqHqHGQYF1iE4MeMQGNqvngG0ytuJzaMcNbWlHdEntktkhfKonw67OMJGKlT9Lc7b9v15nX6mfdrXVcqaSqklV5wMR9UxRk-vVEvzLDSciomLMx-nMfjvjJAvwvi42esMQfd22RFzGoy1bD6f-HcSLEi8MH7kEStTeXQ/w640-h426/IMG_7492.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsoJMuNgSOVrDSrIBGeMipzvo9goFiMJ09uBSeBMJfk7Mq6t_kL5Y_0nGMtCM_QgLXD051aKPzf9l7FK8u3MmiZGUKICWDd55bwiSFy8L6fFr540q1XqK__avPYsvR88kN3qo-FZ3QVGHpwUawRZrxpC4-pBwHi4jGwoutc4EYcFq-gTll80LRA/s3648/IMG_7497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2432" data-original-width="3648" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsoJMuNgSOVrDSrIBGeMipzvo9goFiMJ09uBSeBMJfk7Mq6t_kL5Y_0nGMtCM_QgLXD051aKPzf9l7FK8u3MmiZGUKICWDd55bwiSFy8L6fFr540q1XqK__avPYsvR88kN3qo-FZ3QVGHpwUawRZrxpC4-pBwHi4jGwoutc4EYcFq-gTll80LRA/w640-h426/IMG_7497.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The next place to visit was SeMA Bunker, the underground bunker, likely built in 1977, that lies beneath Yeouidaero next to the bus stops near the International Finance Center and across from Yeouido Park. (The entrance is <a href="https://kko.to/Vs87tcyc-t">here</a>.) The bunker was located beneath where stands were placed when Park Chung-hee would oversee military parades. It was perhaps last 'checked on' in the early 1990s, forgotten about, and rediscovered in 2005, and opened to the public as a gallery space in 2017 under management of the Seoul Museum of Art. The large space inside serves as a gallery, while a smaller section which housed sofas and a bathroom serves as a museum.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFbQbQq6BRp5bE-oVv11l9kpuaGKiuFCc1N9NxV-tbUHret56c_QF0J6-1lzJAMSXImh6bC8b2oEPJsquS6Knby7ZPhCc5uJ-plryLqosTiuWB2avfteN2ZOGJfJeX0Pv8MXWEvrVJhvRMMh1ldykhd5aqo3FFrM5GQEqx2-3B2QKIHbghwZWz6w/s2736/IMG_2507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFbQbQq6BRp5bE-oVv11l9kpuaGKiuFCc1N9NxV-tbUHret56c_QF0J6-1lzJAMSXImh6bC8b2oEPJsquS6Knby7ZPhCc5uJ-plryLqosTiuWB2avfteN2ZOGJfJeX0Pv8MXWEvrVJhvRMMh1ldykhd5aqo3FFrM5GQEqx2-3B2QKIHbghwZWz6w/w640-h426/IMG_2507.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNWEYvulFaLiL_etBHkJIgCbhw_eajEOJUyMj7SYCbQ5COm_hAZzCjs733Rvd3KT43CLAa3fcpvGWsxcC_pnATMIC3OohZuFXC4uL8wq7FatkuxBISGVMEfsyrwiUhzRX_IR-fgQPxxBbIcmcyFt3HHz0gKGS0ZrGHxP0Oprr4W1MneFmRD09pg/s2736/IMG_2515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNWEYvulFaLiL_etBHkJIgCbhw_eajEOJUyMj7SYCbQ5COm_hAZzCjs733Rvd3KT43CLAa3fcpvGWsxcC_pnATMIC3OohZuFXC4uL8wq7FatkuxBISGVMEfsyrwiUhzRX_IR-fgQPxxBbIcmcyFt3HHz0gKGS0ZrGHxP0Oprr4W1MneFmRD09pg/w640-h426/IMG_2515.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0SSkkNIMRg4aGAV2MoAuKnoZjdsgWoasYgTP5NTXdbjR9VdMTzRYChzASSVfIZpU7d9mKTjvnDMDyIzh1OETI-YUD48ccC1t8QbQV_nQ9Mzq5PXUXTiL720LAgPTPMgGeQ5SHtJeuwIwxrNC-NoLZWXYFziX3EWy-LgR9s3UVp2Ua5QtDRwLMg/s2736/IMG_2521.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0SSkkNIMRg4aGAV2MoAuKnoZjdsgWoasYgTP5NTXdbjR9VdMTzRYChzASSVfIZpU7d9mKTjvnDMDyIzh1OETI-YUD48ccC1t8QbQV_nQ9Mzq5PXUXTiL720LAgPTPMgGeQ5SHtJeuwIwxrNC-NoLZWXYFziX3EWy-LgR9s3UVp2Ua5QtDRwLMg/w640-h426/IMG_2521.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">What the bunker, inundated with water, looked like when it was rediscovered.</div><p>Perhaps one of these days it would be worth documenting the slow, though increasing, gentrification of the area around Sindang Station. </p></div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-36805933630526867592023-07-11T17:07:00.002+09:002023-07-11T17:07:40.559+09:00MMCA Exhibition on "Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s-1970s"<p> The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul (next to Gyeongbok Palace) has an exhibit - until next Sunday, July 16 - titled "<a href="https://www.mmca.go.kr/eng/exhibitions/exhibitionsDetail.do?exhFlag=1">Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s-1970s</a>" which is well worth a look. The Fourth Group (제4집단) was a mainstay of the weekly magazines in 1969-70 as they organized all kinds of 'happenings,' so it was fun to see some of their artworks, or preserved pamphlets, up close. (The Korea Times has an article on the exhibit, along with photos of some of the works, <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2023/06/690_353910.html">here</a>.)</p><p>Two notes: The museum is open until 9 pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and after 6pm entry is free (though the exhibit is only 2,000 won), and I'll have to go back since there's a whole second room (the part I went to was spread over two floors) that I missed.</p><p>Also worth noting is that I found it fascinating that - as he notes in <a href="https://youtu.be/Brkxjf8RzDE ">this interview</a> - Kim Ku-rim could find little information about avant garde art in Seoul in the 1960s... until he stumbled upon Life and Time magazines in a bookstore that had come from Yongsan Garrison. I imagine at least some in Korea's authoritarian government found the cultural influence of the US military presence to be a nuisance at times.</p><p>At some point I'll likely put up translations of some of the articles about these artists from the 1968 - 70 newspaper weeklies. For now, here are some photos not in the exhibit, from the June 17, 1970 issue of Weekly Woman (주간여성), which show members of the Fourth Group at the exhibition organized by the Hankook Ilbo at Gyeongbok Palace abstractly "painting" the ceiling with balloons:</p><p></p><blockquote>[It] is the work of avant-garde artist Jeong Chan-seung (29, Hongik University grad), a self-proclaimed heretic of the Korean painting scene, and is titled "Neutral Space." It is said that it is an attempt to abandon the conventional painting tools, which have limitations for aesthetic expression, and use a more expressive object (balloons) and expanded space (the ceiling) as a canvas.</blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwOjOXtj9aM4tOY05Z8jhooBBYL2kR97vA3BSCtSWuIBQV82cZRjMyAnemt8Ov3Zcq5cwKzIvaYMZ9YW_VdPJT2xwfudRnWKQut3TkzkIrBgDukGmuAdCjjJIm8NMi1vN7Rlxhp3JGWA4-Fmutjat0YDzPnUQA5GaQawEjmRd4mSoIhyPM-GhkDA/s2177/IMG_0103%20Fourth%20Group%20exhibit%20a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2177" data-original-width="1473" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwOjOXtj9aM4tOY05Z8jhooBBYL2kR97vA3BSCtSWuIBQV82cZRjMyAnemt8Ov3Zcq5cwKzIvaYMZ9YW_VdPJT2xwfudRnWKQut3TkzkIrBgDukGmuAdCjjJIm8NMi1vN7Rlxhp3JGWA4-Fmutjat0YDzPnUQA5GaQawEjmRd4mSoIhyPM-GhkDA/w434-h640/IMG_0103%20Fourth%20Group%20exhibit%20a.jpg" width="434" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTx-yZdvt7dO5-xgq5bksfDtj77p9_NPHSS8c48Dzr1ZszLrT8vuOfbBY8VKqE0q0YpyiGj6XJmZ_-LKSBT0vfg0DF1fwkPFmd8s6nykMGN9g_fymkUmsQgg6P0mss5seXHeQwks8mDQ5DojdYcrlUgb5V72b3lCz1sO34U9gBmVFjPGH49t9aA/s1373/IMG_0104%20a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1218" data-original-width="1373" height="568" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTx-yZdvt7dO5-xgq5bksfDtj77p9_NPHSS8c48Dzr1ZszLrT8vuOfbBY8VKqE0q0YpyiGj6XJmZ_-LKSBT0vfg0DF1fwkPFmd8s6nykMGN9g_fymkUmsQgg6P0mss5seXHeQwks8mDQ5DojdYcrlUgb5V72b3lCz1sO34U9gBmVFjPGH49t9aA/w640-h568/IMG_0104%20a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWZY7CBMgFABduVChXJUBv4psVoDMSXy3WfKei9Xb6lLzIFoM2dFfpFcKHFqGUQFV2S09Lr_NlhjPD_T2DVXqPsYNdtD0BOXxCNRlRv-ej3__wdcvHnJQlItZ_RmAmsx6hSB2YnqeXI0gdzG-5Z27cDdeCA7YB0zHz2G7h1HKx6AbmFOAaZ25Pg/s1634/IMG_0106a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1634" data-original-width="1159" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWZY7CBMgFABduVChXJUBv4psVoDMSXy3WfKei9Xb6lLzIFoM2dFfpFcKHFqGUQFV2S09Lr_NlhjPD_T2DVXqPsYNdtD0BOXxCNRlRv-ej3__wdcvHnJQlItZ_RmAmsx6hSB2YnqeXI0gdzG-5Z27cDdeCA7YB0zHz2G7h1HKx6AbmFOAaZ25Pg/w454-h640/IMG_0106a.jpg" width="454" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITu4ReiDgNRWshl90t0u5dff0IGCb1E-EJQuMtlRVq04R7wc8cbFToY4mCdkAVnzslm_zMmp0RV2ZxvHkBdISrShW_K7r4KCrlcX46H4D0ihzXouENbfOV2qbqBExo8ev42zLKtKBDUNXtf5bidSmKF837vOJBbIHlQ8pdD3-Wku9qBTjLzXBaA/s1741/IMG_0107%20a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1393" data-original-width="1741" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITu4ReiDgNRWshl90t0u5dff0IGCb1E-EJQuMtlRVq04R7wc8cbFToY4mCdkAVnzslm_zMmp0RV2ZxvHkBdISrShW_K7r4KCrlcX46H4D0ihzXouENbfOV2qbqBExo8ev42zLKtKBDUNXtf5bidSmKF837vOJBbIHlQ8pdD3-Wku9qBTjLzXBaA/w640-h512/IMG_0107%20a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Oddly, a week later the same magazine showed photos of the other exhibits there - some of which are visible above (particularly the sculpture in the third photo) - but there's no sign of the balloons. Were those photos taken earlier, and if not, had the balloons fallen down, or were they removed? It's hard to know...</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-48750189128605349622023-06-25T21:53:00.004+09:002023-07-11T15:20:13.444+09:00Evacuating the US embassy in June 1950, and the photos Shirley Dawes took of Korea in the late 1940s<p>For my <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/06/177_353270.html">latest Korea Times story</a> I look at the events surrounding the evacuation of the US Embassy during the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. </p><p>Some time ago I was contacted by Lynn Thompson, who had worked as a journalist at the Seattle Times and was writing a novel based on her parents' lives. Her mother had worked for the US Embassy from around 1948 to 1950, which was then based in the Bando Hotel (about which I have a post <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2010/08/bando-hotels-interior.html">here</a>). She shared with me numerous photos her mother, Shirley Dawes, took (or at least collected during her stay in Korea) and I answered questions about them. She also gave me permission to share the photos, and from that starting point came the idea for this article, supplemented by other sources such as interviews with <a href="https://adst.org/2013/06/the-little-emergency-that-was-the-korean-war/">political officer Donald MacDonald</a> and <a href="https://kdva.vet/2020/08/06/the-story-of-cwo-george-v-lampman-usmc-ret/">Marine guard George Lampman</a> [update: there's much more about him <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2017/11/135_238848.html">here</a>], and John C. Caldwell's 1952 book <i>The Korea Story</i>. </p><p>Below I share the photos Shirley Dawes' photos that were shared with me - many thanks to Lynn Thompson for giving me permission to do so. She really did capture a variety of scenes in Korea at that time.</p><p>But first, here is the Seattle Times article (which Lynn also shared with me) about her mother's experiences during the outbreak of the Korean War:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIcJsOLdR5tkJnFai7EI00M6fiuCLA22geCKZgDNgdyGt1Ycw7i6KFkhml_S_pHCCwfxpj3adQvPIq7Q59YGChukuiRKJ8GLDEI4GIfpNAe7tfx4iSan1-1vNr6kD1VNZzveRBWH_g5PsN7yh-t5IkEFt1xRidjYUt8-57WNz2YnLThCXDDfZ9w/s1072/1950%20Seattle%20Times%20-%20Enough%20Excitement%20for%20Seattle%20Girl%20in%20Korea.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="539" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIcJsOLdR5tkJnFai7EI00M6fiuCLA22geCKZgDNgdyGt1Ycw7i6KFkhml_S_pHCCwfxpj3adQvPIq7Q59YGChukuiRKJ8GLDEI4GIfpNAe7tfx4iSan1-1vNr6kD1VNZzveRBWH_g5PsN7yh-t5IkEFt1xRidjYUt8-57WNz2YnLThCXDDfZ9w/w201-h400/1950%20Seattle%20Times%20-%20Enough%20Excitement%20for%20Seattle%20Girl%20in%20Korea.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbi_CTbHJB4cUblZPP9pcroU7v_a-IzRhCNt6RV8XPOOl4C3dlCJ_HNxzMIB3vJWcAYJruiIz0MgcQygJNmtZ62R_3QwN1rxCrEYW6ElK1Dvrc0JJJ17Zbi29pIl8ZdfpYDcW8nNmtt0Ij2Qi3MZBCMki0If5MkY9eEJ_8WAirYcCm4UKnie8x9Q/s640/IMG_0051.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbi_CTbHJB4cUblZPP9pcroU7v_a-IzRhCNt6RV8XPOOl4C3dlCJ_HNxzMIB3vJWcAYJruiIz0MgcQygJNmtZ62R_3QwN1rxCrEYW6ElK1Dvrc0JJJ17Zbi29pIl8ZdfpYDcW8nNmtt0Ij2Qi3MZBCMki0If5MkY9eEJ_8WAirYcCm4UKnie8x9Q/w480-h640/IMG_0051.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hwanggudan altar on the grounds of the Chosun Hotel.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5sVoNxeMCcUG98fnDFToVx0o3U5FwC38-TQpVDzQcnwCpw-Vb-PqZ1xrAtfoNpai7JEKs08AEXrOr3DAoldttSrBAlGlUt7Ei63fJn1qd9joCAeofG4S6jOOUD6qPgygTtLtstmUhQ25hoLcuYPtUeiZ0YyG8sK-PuhiwQjltrFcF4OUNW5k9Cg/s640/IMG_0052.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5sVoNxeMCcUG98fnDFToVx0o3U5FwC38-TQpVDzQcnwCpw-Vb-PqZ1xrAtfoNpai7JEKs08AEXrOr3DAoldttSrBAlGlUt7Ei63fJn1qd9joCAeofG4S6jOOUD6qPgygTtLtstmUhQ25hoLcuYPtUeiZ0YyG8sK-PuhiwQjltrFcF4OUNW5k9Cg/w480-h640/IMG_0052.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Seoul as likely seen from the former Mitsui Building, now the Seoul City Euljiro Annex.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSv4AuTvkoDP4O-IW6Z34rj2AXLQKeKbhz7sOEm40S9E2wHLse3ErjRiVLC_uevoo_wxmtBoTfJLrPtVnKghkCSyNE3VHaDw4DxxkybSsnX9flEsl60rz2imrQgcYWDHW8jibzZtdDpytEHR9x0Yhoa0ghmgOIc4jsyYjQe_4URJzNqxbMtmE3-g/s640/IMG_0053.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSv4AuTvkoDP4O-IW6Z34rj2AXLQKeKbhz7sOEm40S9E2wHLse3ErjRiVLC_uevoo_wxmtBoTfJLrPtVnKghkCSyNE3VHaDw4DxxkybSsnX9flEsl60rz2imrQgcYWDHW8jibzZtdDpytEHR9x0Yhoa0ghmgOIc4jsyYjQe_4URJzNqxbMtmE3-g/w480-h640/IMG_0053.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">The frozen, snow-covered pond in the secret garden in Changdeok Palace.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtx6vb3YSR_C7zfvzf-MHkEzUNVeA1dH4l4yHFcqd_DytM5b9H_3rDukQgaJw0ce13aGTJ_xPMr_fxEemc5781qeLQH_qs7_CzjpspweGGmrbBO9SqPpo7waQh3I0IOL2I7vAJatf8ZZgjCRjqx97XooiuZRb3KgpmZUkhl5uSprc-CYUa6pB9hg/s640/IMG_0054.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtx6vb3YSR_C7zfvzf-MHkEzUNVeA1dH4l4yHFcqd_DytM5b9H_3rDukQgaJw0ce13aGTJ_xPMr_fxEemc5781qeLQH_qs7_CzjpspweGGmrbBO9SqPpo7waQh3I0IOL2I7vAJatf8ZZgjCRjqx97XooiuZRb3KgpmZUkhl5uSprc-CYUa6pB9hg/w480-h640/IMG_0054.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Children play on a see-saw.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSmbahx2oGZz8RvgtmVcFFKhaXvDz_kejM1KSvzN2127uPBtL0z1pFgU1OXDkBYkKVzLKqXD9O8gJeBntNcQwdlNAQ9NtJfiiL0RbEaJK2RV-Z03hRVSRGDpVvL9PK-jxTfXjA0IOcIbvSBUfFPnv7q560LjnONcC-nIrMlXhIEmqf9WhEADL-Vg/s640/IMG_0055a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="640" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSmbahx2oGZz8RvgtmVcFFKhaXvDz_kejM1KSvzN2127uPBtL0z1pFgU1OXDkBYkKVzLKqXD9O8gJeBntNcQwdlNAQ9NtJfiiL0RbEaJK2RV-Z03hRVSRGDpVvL9PK-jxTfXjA0IOcIbvSBUfFPnv7q560LjnONcC-nIrMlXhIEmqf9WhEADL-Vg/w640-h472/IMG_0055a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Women do laundry near Hwaseong Fortress’s Hwahongmun in Suwon.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUTjBPZw91cTy0RVNrfYxPpcaatuBe0KaxjWpRE5ealAjcGW9nLWpYvU8u8SOWR45VX-xQ-OOCAChOTSD5PsfQPx8dco8pkf6SCDJBcvrYGeoSrJw1tT13LjwCTAjw7f3AYRztWG5jhIWZG6GVj9HHRHQRWeVfbq2BJkHQ3XesNjL2e5qDI0r3IQ/s640/IMG_0069.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUTjBPZw91cTy0RVNrfYxPpcaatuBe0KaxjWpRE5ealAjcGW9nLWpYvU8u8SOWR45VX-xQ-OOCAChOTSD5PsfQPx8dco8pkf6SCDJBcvrYGeoSrJw1tT13LjwCTAjw7f3AYRztWG5jhIWZG6GVj9HHRHQRWeVfbq2BJkHQ3XesNjL2e5qDI0r3IQ/w480-h640/IMG_0069.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">A monk at an unknown temple.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB3KKBxpzDj4G4Jq8FIXbNvA7yr9rBjF6fhHK3p6-k4DiW3s4LSCsuTK-AX6ytN2vjJwNsC_CK1M0716G1-dbVuZPLvS6NujaZCm-jtKW3aDg7zgptq3QsO457OPqJT13iJc_FrEmQM-7O9OI6kKIYI6lVqdqP6rKsOSNQBSGiLlCmZBemNkeEJQ/s640/IMG_0070.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB3KKBxpzDj4G4Jq8FIXbNvA7yr9rBjF6fhHK3p6-k4DiW3s4LSCsuTK-AX6ytN2vjJwNsC_CK1M0716G1-dbVuZPLvS6NujaZCm-jtKW3aDg7zgptq3QsO457OPqJT13iJc_FrEmQM-7O9OI6kKIYI6lVqdqP6rKsOSNQBSGiLlCmZBemNkeEJQ/w480-h640/IMG_0070.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">A sailboat, whether for fishing or transport is not clear (though perhaps the latter).</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX0JEe8Z8Y5odJYi61ItbfcxZacKscx4NytXZjfngqiNVLiFYEQbEHyu1QQ3NOC-spix3rOq5NwO4zGSTjHdHzbdTR7ZYgmLqnLypwa7ksPnbvdnC-267gnLgcVtR-iEtIkrUz2ZFWkjzUWFZv7XK8_VFGM3fQa-rqWBurcyp3HAVo4uDPmZEcIw/s640/IMG_0071.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX0JEe8Z8Y5odJYi61ItbfcxZacKscx4NytXZjfngqiNVLiFYEQbEHyu1QQ3NOC-spix3rOq5NwO4zGSTjHdHzbdTR7ZYgmLqnLypwa7ksPnbvdnC-267gnLgcVtR-iEtIkrUz2ZFWkjzUWFZv7XK8_VFGM3fQa-rqWBurcyp3HAVo4uDPmZEcIw/w480-h640/IMG_0071.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div>Dried fish being sold, perhaps in a market. Note the hairstyle of the girl in the center, which was very common for younger girls at that time.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibD52sS3WeLabOn0901ptiUCIq0xeNOCtbhzD9HG3sQlx4C6ZiR4CnHdVEEVuqTy90nmmmVM4s0wHJo5tjVSx8MdHzly3Omwd8fC5xHgtdW2B0JncznibnTd-NlcHsIyjSlP0Rb7E-2KHLIVE-oZT2yoE5QOXNioRMAZ9fGwLdZdfaneedLtDzAw/s640/IMG_0072.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibD52sS3WeLabOn0901ptiUCIq0xeNOCtbhzD9HG3sQlx4C6ZiR4CnHdVEEVuqTy90nmmmVM4s0wHJo5tjVSx8MdHzly3Omwd8fC5xHgtdW2B0JncznibnTd-NlcHsIyjSlP0Rb7E-2KHLIVE-oZT2yoE5QOXNioRMAZ9fGwLdZdfaneedLtDzAw/w480-h640/IMG_0072.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I suspect this is a 'honey bucket', collecting human waste to use as manure.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZl-w_W6xp3_s6iN-qtOpXikmeqYbjF7LtoWRPTKjkpX_HYbdSvc8uDjsdjzLLSdUnTUyF_vHzhF_q-kNm25QTyLZfFvySPbFYAhk6xziUOPcqc8pf9yjxwtLLvTpc9fQzEkunrDcWVgTJhHh3Fbx-sqs6hsLjRlqs1aZlTShzpP1OIq27bmv3Q/s640/IMG_0074.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZl-w_W6xp3_s6iN-qtOpXikmeqYbjF7LtoWRPTKjkpX_HYbdSvc8uDjsdjzLLSdUnTUyF_vHzhF_q-kNm25QTyLZfFvySPbFYAhk6xziUOPcqc8pf9yjxwtLLvTpc9fQzEkunrDcWVgTJhHh3Fbx-sqs6hsLjRlqs1aZlTShzpP1OIq27bmv3Q/w480-h640/IMG_0074.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div>A police officer directing traffic in the days before traffic lights. <i><a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/c4a9c61c491c73e6.html">Life Magazine</a></i> documented a very dynamic officer in action in the late 1940s.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygOdw7CgWwyGDLChM3vNAt5VrxtA-akecg8hGGtYYbq9LZUFXxNNC4FTrmGtaGFY-PR3QB6_YNc27mPOabY6CVlA0p291PV8HMH473L318-cxOf-aE7O1enesycCGLnHKiLY7bJkCbelU6daOnwUTYU4MSFU2X-Z6IYgBBa0jsR8ndpzg8U6jyA/s640/IMG_0078.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygOdw7CgWwyGDLChM3vNAt5VrxtA-akecg8hGGtYYbq9LZUFXxNNC4FTrmGtaGFY-PR3QB6_YNc27mPOabY6CVlA0p291PV8HMH473L318-cxOf-aE7O1enesycCGLnHKiLY7bJkCbelU6daOnwUTYU4MSFU2X-Z6IYgBBa0jsR8ndpzg8U6jyA/w480-h640/IMG_0078.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">An American on a mountain top, perhaps north of Seoul.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD2iF_uZxRTSs5UtUUbwCPnBqNZ8HkrdE6juLf1ePp1AlL7pkwIIWE6mieEifcnDZLipY7sfqmGzKqN1CZyLhVlkjDbC26mULOIaP1gGTMcZ3nIXHmsV6AXv_iuM-xu5gNFRktq8jWSxdrn84hus2TXdn5bR2GmCFKyyp58OROk-cuUJjJ0Lxsag/s2016/IMG_0131.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD2iF_uZxRTSs5UtUUbwCPnBqNZ8HkrdE6juLf1ePp1AlL7pkwIIWE6mieEifcnDZLipY7sfqmGzKqN1CZyLhVlkjDbC26mULOIaP1gGTMcZ3nIXHmsV6AXv_iuM-xu5gNFRktq8jWSxdrn84hus2TXdn5bR2GmCFKyyp58OROk-cuUJjJ0Lxsag/w480-h640/IMG_0131.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfv3jBwVigAfF11CjIRvYRp05VYORyk_cwws1Zes-DSWN1BOq-lMCuYJIT2OgbS1Z2mHAfEHylvfN77_DAvuGPqD25DPVU6Qx-6nAM1_iOywWQkzGW-yw3V1Fj3N0430WgcAcKmg7yE7wmUcjQg95X8CBHxh4S7B8biG6oPcgA3LtTya5Zw0rxqw/s2016/IMG_0132.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfv3jBwVigAfF11CjIRvYRp05VYORyk_cwws1Zes-DSWN1BOq-lMCuYJIT2OgbS1Z2mHAfEHylvfN77_DAvuGPqD25DPVU6Qx-6nAM1_iOywWQkzGW-yw3V1Fj3N0430WgcAcKmg7yE7wmUcjQg95X8CBHxh4S7B8biG6oPcgA3LtTya5Zw0rxqw/w480-h640/IMG_0132.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1JGsY1Pl4j9o8e0y8rG_WiYln1sXSqatthKJJVIK2x9Hyonx1pDpTnYVe41Yze18K7cgeCja2qvCIMbSgFhFFsXoeMS_BpXOp8oEpMz2dIrdw2XJ9o93kvsC1687r7_yNO2z1y6qBXrASYBbQtjQKRG56Z44NyGHv24I5iWxZrRgaIv0ONw5hA/s2016/IMG_0133%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1JGsY1Pl4j9o8e0y8rG_WiYln1sXSqatthKJJVIK2x9Hyonx1pDpTnYVe41Yze18K7cgeCja2qvCIMbSgFhFFsXoeMS_BpXOp8oEpMz2dIrdw2XJ9o93kvsC1687r7_yNO2z1y6qBXrASYBbQtjQKRG56Z44NyGHv24I5iWxZrRgaIv0ONw5hA/w480-h640/IMG_0133%20(1).jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">A US embassy employee poses next to the White Buddha in northwestern Seoul.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin8HTzEalZNV_0z-2jfklG5azxQsxWUNUPGTnyh3IgQnFF3Mn72KNQ-ejBJJpHNElj6uw04jJUowzBaqGmsp-Tjt2qu_TvpsbgYmFntvi5qCIkKelrAH1yEsvd-G69pAz3TLAVhJQ4ov26TBGJc4Zkg2lAhXiTO40B67aUwPgvxm7pO7NIV0gUgQ/s640/IMG_0080.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin8HTzEalZNV_0z-2jfklG5azxQsxWUNUPGTnyh3IgQnFF3Mn72KNQ-ejBJJpHNElj6uw04jJUowzBaqGmsp-Tjt2qu_TvpsbgYmFntvi5qCIkKelrAH1yEsvd-G69pAz3TLAVhJQ4ov26TBGJc4Zkg2lAhXiTO40B67aUwPgvxm7pO7NIV0gUgQ/w480-h640/IMG_0080.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A Korean farm scene. The photos that follow are clearly also farm scenes.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVN1UT3o3BSwT2fP5paWgQlLFRqUj-X9c97BwRzXWhcG4lwTLTjOoEFWaU6yUizNRQRm-2D3-SGSfGPt36E0pCHAKmuG8aIg7GdwX0R27AuzgCRc8wS_YGK_muJY0IQ1ZyXJhb0w0aGgVCrl5ARKlQDw_mdkOTAsr2J2dNWvxk5m6OjB73bOpyg/s640/IMG_0056.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVN1UT3o3BSwT2fP5paWgQlLFRqUj-X9c97BwRzXWhcG4lwTLTjOoEFWaU6yUizNRQRm-2D3-SGSfGPt36E0pCHAKmuG8aIg7GdwX0R27AuzgCRc8wS_YGK_muJY0IQ1ZyXJhb0w0aGgVCrl5ARKlQDw_mdkOTAsr2J2dNWvxk5m6OjB73bOpyg/w480-h640/IMG_0056.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Planting rice.</div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg2NvcHc8qIl9a_doP3JLMMmI63Xq3Nb2jydbVyEBvki0aP7UmvoUTYCvu0Otk67iZXkFHFxKWUrG4MLI4tgGsrAUFiug5WuVcdAucT6GE1jaC6guo1cTCLxMCsy1tMiHXe2EQQiRbboqRYpJK9A94b8pBnaxDEFrlmqtnAo9cVSexI-OBe4sEOA/s2016/IMG_0134.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg2NvcHc8qIl9a_doP3JLMMmI63Xq3Nb2jydbVyEBvki0aP7UmvoUTYCvu0Otk67iZXkFHFxKWUrG4MLI4tgGsrAUFiug5WuVcdAucT6GE1jaC6guo1cTCLxMCsy1tMiHXe2EQQiRbboqRYpJK9A94b8pBnaxDEFrlmqtnAo9cVSexI-OBe4sEOA/w480-h640/IMG_0134.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjom1MTbc1p_oexE6Cks8gJ1O0x0px8oAgSRuC94xRCPBua5aog83L7I-cNdbWqb7D41DcfXMbIT6Rh0CxWUlCaR3mYK5n5b-mhq77q3_p2T5GtASwcero44u9yAIzfFy1o2dR2ZLESDV_7RdZ2nzSOeaYF8ubyYZVi3ri0gYS2ArAqbzev2H6L9A/s640/IMG_0073.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjom1MTbc1p_oexE6Cks8gJ1O0x0px8oAgSRuC94xRCPBua5aog83L7I-cNdbWqb7D41DcfXMbIT6Rh0CxWUlCaR3mYK5n5b-mhq77q3_p2T5GtASwcero44u9yAIzfFy1o2dR2ZLESDV_7RdZ2nzSOeaYF8ubyYZVi3ri0gYS2ArAqbzev2H6L9A/w480-h640/IMG_0073.jpg" width="480" /></a></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTwsR8tAqCK86HatABFLRumeKhqQyyIJQGpv4eXK-OcfrN_CovWtWxSwPgWECIBDWpSzN3TDssOugRBjbRE7B8Mg8TCICq1W5sd059iuSon-khAGSL0gw_1Ge5NqoUEc1MID8z1M0y7fBdmb3uW891va52YlEbMm7ZPNF98Hkvs3OA8V-t_B5ang/s2016/IMG_0135.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTwsR8tAqCK86HatABFLRumeKhqQyyIJQGpv4eXK-OcfrN_CovWtWxSwPgWECIBDWpSzN3TDssOugRBjbRE7B8Mg8TCICq1W5sd059iuSon-khAGSL0gw_1Ge5NqoUEc1MID8z1M0y7fBdmb3uW891va52YlEbMm7ZPNF98Hkvs3OA8V-t_B5ang/w480-h640/IMG_0135.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO1SJoqyi7XcE1VV17xdimTtg6NuDapVKYv5jbCZA9S03pb-cD7ERpnl5Wes2-4ndnLX6JO0YN8bUcaxd0zJ7Dp-u8eLQeP1RlqBqqL0bCqTv0A2xqX13dDoZfmZweoYjDp6Lt2mqXAo-3wEbC5rDYIvPEkEmtFwIxEcPWiUabUeptNjvAizUCMg/s2016/IMG_0136.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO1SJoqyi7XcE1VV17xdimTtg6NuDapVKYv5jbCZA9S03pb-cD7ERpnl5Wes2-4ndnLX6JO0YN8bUcaxd0zJ7Dp-u8eLQeP1RlqBqqL0bCqTv0A2xqX13dDoZfmZweoYjDp6Lt2mqXAo-3wEbC5rDYIvPEkEmtFwIxEcPWiUabUeptNjvAizUCMg/w480-h640/IMG_0136.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3W6pUO_e1Ic4TAYbXutoZYCuwukZb1aCkVrxeY6LdFgBulCAaSeXFszRWw0ESBQrvY-EIOwJr0hmHrFj46Q22QQQ_iKtn3O3k5xQnnTFqb_Ab2YDh0magAYfxVANSjgvwpForXtDAVTfTqBrcOE8ZNAHJz58wl3ihIJ95mOQ37OcxPJ4I80n1kw/s640/IMG_0085.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3W6pUO_e1Ic4TAYbXutoZYCuwukZb1aCkVrxeY6LdFgBulCAaSeXFszRWw0ESBQrvY-EIOwJr0hmHrFj46Q22QQQ_iKtn3O3k5xQnnTFqb_Ab2YDh0magAYfxVANSjgvwpForXtDAVTfTqBrcOE8ZNAHJz58wl3ihIJ95mOQ37OcxPJ4I80n1kw/w640-h480/IMG_0085.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Employees of American Mission in Korea sunbathe on the roof of the Naija Hotel.</div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YIUrRQqH_mzbewCwSBVlRontsAmXNvcpG3ajQMBvOvyfu31RM4iP0I_43yOtbdya6gFuCP2CTV-WzLlY_h8uAebsfCbQpt09GFczAS0ySUCDXYp2tL46Bli4jeGLEMGPaP8FwhlYA6Ftf9aR8mOXwn4G-aBbaP4oCJONXh9tKFAV1SdyGgjZgA/s2016/IMG_0137.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YIUrRQqH_mzbewCwSBVlRontsAmXNvcpG3ajQMBvOvyfu31RM4iP0I_43yOtbdya6gFuCP2CTV-WzLlY_h8uAebsfCbQpt09GFczAS0ySUCDXYp2tL46Bli4jeGLEMGPaP8FwhlYA6Ftf9aR8mOXwn4G-aBbaP4oCJONXh9tKFAV1SdyGgjZgA/w480-h640/IMG_0137.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div>An employee of the Naija Hotel poses on its roof. Below are two more (out of focus) photos of the same woman. Note the former Government General building is can be seen clearly in the photo below on the left.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4W4cuDI4N1ZxCeWnDARqyTkoz1Kktw8Ro7pVoA1Z900iq3n12aBXKd8wrG8zqBnJ35uOFE9w27pmg7wiWo934O1YNrSpesSfRJ1O-LLbhbla4Ok0lZvzRcr7Z_FnU5tJoj_07f3ehCcPU3r90u2C0CZrCZp9TiUn5oejFndYQVT6-HDvDoKBBmw/s640/IMG_0063.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4W4cuDI4N1ZxCeWnDARqyTkoz1Kktw8Ro7pVoA1Z900iq3n12aBXKd8wrG8zqBnJ35uOFE9w27pmg7wiWo934O1YNrSpesSfRJ1O-LLbhbla4Ok0lZvzRcr7Z_FnU5tJoj_07f3ehCcPU3r90u2C0CZrCZp9TiUn5oejFndYQVT6-HDvDoKBBmw/s320/IMG_0063.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ZFL2X2_s_54-O_iq6rp-M3NRaFuFyCqiQHUeKnurMZx6gCvdltUHQ7P2PG-QU-9dEDGEG9SIChddI3SOmQ8h-bldjIZbp8zsNrVoagSfmkpvrd5kL04OaBLO8_LKjwluN69CopkoPeawyv9wamA5FnCYR15l3HHacpO37j72s_8LQWNhdlIfPA/s640/IMG_0082.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ZFL2X2_s_54-O_iq6rp-M3NRaFuFyCqiQHUeKnurMZx6gCvdltUHQ7P2PG-QU-9dEDGEG9SIChddI3SOmQ8h-bldjIZbp8zsNrVoagSfmkpvrd5kL04OaBLO8_LKjwluN69CopkoPeawyv9wamA5FnCYR15l3HHacpO37j72s_8LQWNhdlIfPA/s320/IMG_0082.jpg" width="240" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OKszP8JRE_oIWNMSKEKwnXwR8n-OtObHkA0zIBsnVPGuO6N_Z0BDpRfy5_gpbEXls5gZZbzr5URpX_X7U3UP3gdzdUYRY4Ww0R71uX_8AykEzXr_wCq7dtU1mrsRslwyi1GT6w37JITHGFTwRh3VsxwTyelHeZSFJutuXxoTUrO-5cgegRti5Q/s480/IMG_0064a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="480" height="604" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OKszP8JRE_oIWNMSKEKwnXwR8n-OtObHkA0zIBsnVPGuO6N_Z0BDpRfy5_gpbEXls5gZZbzr5URpX_X7U3UP3gdzdUYRY4Ww0R71uX_8AykEzXr_wCq7dtU1mrsRslwyi1GT6w37JITHGFTwRh3VsxwTyelHeZSFJutuXxoTUrO-5cgegRti5Q/w640-h604/IMG_0064a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div>Embassy employees play tennis on the grounds of Paichai High School (Thanks to JiHoon Suk for identifying the location.)</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRgQpzGPtT3rnKbaofRqH0mQ2drZVZPkCpRrEhRpHNx7_Unt_yRDB3c9TVPln-cwb9oWvGzGoFmkn659vR5PQPLMcbkWPFr2KLxVSlJyV3Dj303wKMbyw4GKY3XpseRlVSKfS9tKb33AYA-xW0VQbXVD74lmGNqZQBnCBFtW9QGT7jw_5xVexPQg/s640/IMG_0083.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRgQpzGPtT3rnKbaofRqH0mQ2drZVZPkCpRrEhRpHNx7_Unt_yRDB3c9TVPln-cwb9oWvGzGoFmkn659vR5PQPLMcbkWPFr2KLxVSlJyV3Dj303wKMbyw4GKY3XpseRlVSKfS9tKb33AYA-xW0VQbXVD74lmGNqZQBnCBFtW9QGT7jw_5xVexPQg/w640-h480/IMG_0083.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Gimpo Airport. The relaxed poses suggest this was not taken when she left the country in June 1950.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbX4wDmlfYgU5fW43YVVWUv6BEWHQWci_nVaAA9b01ohTyiYaE-Dm_CExj7PokToQO2i2A-AtZv-dzlRYfuejuWrlxW_pzaBQcM0NWXUvUdbEIc5FUcj7pXCPTQ6GmfD_GmU361XO2o5WQYOsPMsv_Dx9jWPCSSYlVuy4WX7AvhC_f_Y0QdPVYTQ/s640/IMG_0065a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="640" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbX4wDmlfYgU5fW43YVVWUv6BEWHQWci_nVaAA9b01ohTyiYaE-Dm_CExj7PokToQO2i2A-AtZv-dzlRYfuejuWrlxW_pzaBQcM0NWXUvUdbEIc5FUcj7pXCPTQ6GmfD_GmU361XO2o5WQYOsPMsv_Dx9jWPCSSYlVuy4WX7AvhC_f_Y0QdPVYTQ/w640-h438/IMG_0065a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>US AMIK staff boarding a plane. Was this during the evacuation? Perhaps more eagle-eyed military plane experts could identify the plane to help give a clue.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-22171749499902048122023-06-17T17:51:00.009+09:002023-07-26T11:28:29.101+09:00Blaming victims of a go-go club fire amid anti-decadence campaigns in 1974<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoavKRfjTOkwaaQlWx7DyqCe3OufB2yWJ9f2mKiKhFiYvQOdXXrSoCqCx8KTtVyA5wqeM1Wm6oqC2Cn22XnejArGc_uKWq_NEk5n9Eo1d52KZZ-ohVO6_FkdrRIrDiMjo8TQSXgWqPYTOIP8tLSNLXE_IRqT4FzLWX668plW6LTi6GLhR_hE8/s797/IMG_9335a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="797" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoavKRfjTOkwaaQlWx7DyqCe3OufB2yWJ9f2mKiKhFiYvQOdXXrSoCqCx8KTtVyA5wqeM1Wm6oqC2Cn22XnejArGc_uKWq_NEk5n9Eo1d52KZZ-ohVO6_FkdrRIrDiMjo8TQSXgWqPYTOIP8tLSNLXE_IRqT4FzLWX668plW6LTi6GLhR_hE8/w400-h316/IMG_9335a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: both; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A firefighter amid the charred ruins of a go-go club where 72 people died (Weekly Hanguk, Nov. 10, 1974)</div><p><br /></p><p>My <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/06/177_353005.html">latest Korea Times article</a> examines a series of fires which took place in Seoul in the early 1970s, culminating in the Daewang Corner fire of November 3, 1974, in which 88 people - mostly young people at a go-go club that was operating illegally after hours - were killed in the blaze. </p><p>The newspaper descriptions of unidentified victims made for sobering reading, while articles in the weekly magazines, with their clear aim of denouncing decadence and blaming the victims, are far more infuriating. In three articles spread over eight pages of 주간여성 (Weekly Woman)'s November 17 issue, the magazine ignored the fact that people had continued dancing because they were unaware of the fire and twisted this into the headline, "Even if I burn to death, I'm going to dance." </p><p>Should parallels with a more recent tragedy become apparent, that's not accidental.</p><p>Below are photos not included in the article, translations of a so-called "memoir" of a survivor of the fire and another article's introduction, and a scan of a Korea Times article on how these clubs operated.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDm8WGTateyH4hElaZytd8lMfQ0aPhDWhf7dj12NJzKSOtKNgFvz5oAf_OA_1iZaclPpcCX0Ml5PNq-t1Lj9Hnf3FEKHZ6RGG1bGW_JxsrIQoJku0iDNSmQD1LWLD9keKK0lR9KdtKV2porXKOKRoii64OiZHJvkhsbPqpY2zVHGAilf9zKA/s1832/19681103%20Chosun%20-%20Daewang%20Corner%20opening%20ad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="1832" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDm8WGTateyH4hElaZytd8lMfQ0aPhDWhf7dj12NJzKSOtKNgFvz5oAf_OA_1iZaclPpcCX0Ml5PNq-t1Lj9Hnf3FEKHZ6RGG1bGW_JxsrIQoJku0iDNSmQD1LWLD9keKK0lR9KdtKV2porXKOKRoii64OiZHJvkhsbPqpY2zVHGAilf9zKA/w640-h162/19681103%20Chosun%20-%20Daewang%20Corner%20opening%20ad.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>An advertisement for the new Daewang Corner building reads "The birth of a deluxe city in eastern Seoul!" (<a href="https://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.naver?articleId=1968110300239104012&editNo=1&printCount=1&publishDate=1968-11-03&officeId=00023&pageNo=4&printNo=14632&publishType=00010">Chosun Ilbo</a>, Nov. 3, 1968)<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkVWXWrf5hH23YOLOlkMUAVA3f--ISeATVUN0zyS7oKCOCZ-klXNOtbWkP5oLeSQG8j9ngO-92PieyzraPtEv_jOU43e_U1VWMdXvNLgGfaeMe5tv0M66dYygUvdW-Iue_UDwVaoVlMACdMtfx102A98O4_l0dSQREk0ftYIScvk2gi0kThYk/s718/19720806%201%20seoul%20fire%20at%20Daewang%20Corner%20pic%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="718" height="586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkVWXWrf5hH23YOLOlkMUAVA3f--ISeATVUN0zyS7oKCOCZ-klXNOtbWkP5oLeSQG8j9ngO-92PieyzraPtEv_jOU43e_U1VWMdXvNLgGfaeMe5tv0M66dYygUvdW-Iue_UDwVaoVlMACdMtfx102A98O4_l0dSQREk0ftYIScvk2gi0kThYk/w640-h586/19720806%201%20seoul%20fire%20at%20Daewang%20Corner%20pic%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">A photo of the first large fire at Daewang Corner (Korea Times, August 6, 1972)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2Z-ZzodFvVNVhFZhZIfX5wL4Jwee-NDvMel8XR001c4ETkNMeDoMUeRTON4J8HkkHDuQRYbebOkN17xPwcEZsS-bmVldR8TWiDkCRKLplx8h3RO17-WZnT5mBr7WljmVDTd0fBQrmmiK3D6h192VlhnVejDYs80xDXn_rdDqtPpA_brNoKs/s753/19721203%208%2036%20dead%20in%20citizens%20hall%20fire%20pic%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="483" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2Z-ZzodFvVNVhFZhZIfX5wL4Jwee-NDvMel8XR001c4ETkNMeDoMUeRTON4J8HkkHDuQRYbebOkN17xPwcEZsS-bmVldR8TWiDkCRKLplx8h3RO17-WZnT5mBr7WljmVDTd0fBQrmmiK3D6h192VlhnVejDYs80xDXn_rdDqtPpA_brNoKs/w410-h640/19721203%208%2036%20dead%20in%20citizens%20hall%20fire%20pic%201.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><div>Photos of the fire at Citizen's Hall where Sejong Cultural Center now stands (Korea Times, December 3, 1972)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnutxkrDXhW6izfj-Ude-TKVPOxeb8m3JSdEfOK3e9Vq6FWh9SArBFjdI6hFk2a1gezRTHH5lJPNkzkGYzbIzixkq2GR3TafmJ7wd5MICoEQZ_oDoPfU7xLE7YMZEPnP9SRc_wIZx_UxVHRfRowNJP3T7CrJ2b2KcvVK9ooLB_rYV2qbz2ato/s627/19721203%208%2036%20dead%20in%20citizens%20hall%20fire%20pic%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="483" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnutxkrDXhW6izfj-Ude-TKVPOxeb8m3JSdEfOK3e9Vq6FWh9SArBFjdI6hFk2a1gezRTHH5lJPNkzkGYzbIzixkq2GR3TafmJ7wd5MICoEQZ_oDoPfU7xLE7YMZEPnP9SRc_wIZx_UxVHRfRowNJP3T7CrJ2b2KcvVK9ooLB_rYV2qbz2ato/w494-h640/19721203%208%2036%20dead%20in%20citizens%20hall%20fire%20pic%202.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCxEkGu8aV63reVVH-scj3gRNbieMBbAOqCbnDIUScPyPbEaVEMoo8_6awLa-NsjJGwgqCloPLGEH4u7l2MTjzx4X0WHF_mOutJG47g9s5R6M_a8cQhhrxfE71OxJSroioI_WV826zAD2uiJXS3vPD_ziRJPf6aVBkAxkb9mKrRqe15MDPr7I/s3436/1974%20gogo%20fire.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2496" data-original-width="3436" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCxEkGu8aV63reVVH-scj3gRNbieMBbAOqCbnDIUScPyPbEaVEMoo8_6awLa-NsjJGwgqCloPLGEH4u7l2MTjzx4X0WHF_mOutJG47g9s5R6M_a8cQhhrxfE71OxJSroioI_WV826zAD2uiJXS3vPD_ziRJPf6aVBkAxkb9mKrRqe15MDPr7I/w640-h464/1974%20gogo%20fire.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>A grotesque photo of the victims of the fire at Daewang Corner which appeared in several newspapers and magazines (Korea Times, November 5, 1974)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymgk2oi5iDbXwp1QqZIO3dOAl4QgN8qwwUvmuTtgEdBdjvoVq2lYmxX3a6itv-pbC6c4g8DNnNBNgQpebK0JFSom92J6zOANfni2cPhPeKT8lqVUhIUL6Yij3jbeBNkZbOSq3GKUNNkM2MvT1rEtVJ-SoZxBmQQFJRZsLSXtnDC87bH3x05I/s2061/19741110%206%20gogo%20dance%20club%20-%20fires%20c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2061" data-original-width="733" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymgk2oi5iDbXwp1QqZIO3dOAl4QgN8qwwUvmuTtgEdBdjvoVq2lYmxX3a6itv-pbC6c4g8DNnNBNgQpebK0JFSom92J6zOANfni2cPhPeKT8lqVUhIUL6Yij3jbeBNkZbOSq3GKUNNkM2MvT1rEtVJ-SoZxBmQQFJRZsLSXtnDC87bH3x05I/w229-h640/19741110%206%20gogo%20dance%20club%20-%20fires%20c.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">An article about how many go-go clubs operated illegally (Korea Times, November 10, 1974)</div><div><br /></div><div>Below are a few pages of the November 17, 1974 issue of 주간여성 (Weekly Woman) magazine, including the open splash page that introduced the following group of three related articles. This was pretty standard in the weekly magazines that were published in a magazine format (as opposed to broadsheet format).</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucwP5Quxp6-Ukh68JJBVC6NS8IPMUvSog7QU5Zc_2YcG4FT_HyBnr8nw2BshYo_GsoDzIJZqRBP8SfwfaxnU6HxIEWwj6Hb3S-cUhbnhAUyKH0HEkcFAggMPJ1UX1FinNo8Ul1Vm9hfIkUxvf8puoe8A8FuIma1ktFyLU_ukaQmDylosGkqU/s1080/capture_10172021_163945.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="759" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucwP5Quxp6-Ukh68JJBVC6NS8IPMUvSog7QU5Zc_2YcG4FT_HyBnr8nw2BshYo_GsoDzIJZqRBP8SfwfaxnU6HxIEWwj6Hb3S-cUhbnhAUyKH0HEkcFAggMPJ1UX1FinNo8Ul1Vm9hfIkUxvf8puoe8A8FuIma1ktFyLU_ukaQmDylosGkqU/s320/capture_10172021_163945.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4IDITxNZ9o3CiwGQJHjDGU1RTrio493X74WM1-mY_29S9WFXBRlwnW_KCv2NJTK5bnSXgUqoCdPxQmrxU0lXTBwTI5uz9KkZk5wBEgSxEtXpctaY10T5OycqmwxDUeGTsnQZk74QoNPOYtUfWBRcHUnyM-hazUl9LkRo0AuE5DXFHbWvHEkc/s1080/capture_10172021_163936%20Seoul%20night%20sex.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="761" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4IDITxNZ9o3CiwGQJHjDGU1RTrio493X74WM1-mY_29S9WFXBRlwnW_KCv2NJTK5bnSXgUqoCdPxQmrxU0lXTBwTI5uz9KkZk5wBEgSxEtXpctaY10T5OycqmwxDUeGTsnQZk74QoNPOYtUfWBRcHUnyM-hazUl9LkRo0AuE5DXFHbWvHEkc/s320/capture_10172021_163936%20Seoul%20night%20sex.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><p><b></b></p><blockquote><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Exposing scenes rife with sex</span></b></p><p><b>Decadent packed clubs… Seoul nights</b></p><p><b>Frenzied go-go clubs, pink bars, indecent bathhouses</b></p><p><i>The New Namsan Hotel-Corner fire unexpectedly exposed a cross-section of sexual promiscuity, and the forms of promiscuity have taken on unprecedented and bizarre forms, making Seoul feel like a "place rife with sex." Just to name the typical forms, "pink bars," "obscene bathhouses," "call-girls at inns and hotels," and "broad daylight go-go meetings" are all decadent. We will expose all of these scenes that are rife with sex.</i></p></blockquote><p><i></i></p><div>The introduction of another article reads as follows:</div><div><div></div><blockquote><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJvVNwruwxKeONUSyAkpX3qRznFRxWKVKbdsQgXykGuWCDcIHt4inyx5u2p6VS5SsRfV6MBeZaRMwz5i_DnFGBYOk_xNyfJruWst_IxtUWBcqlRwKGnOByMap7EVKJ4idYsiPShHyAFpkWXguXdj_TranNyCfkc_23IN1psZB79kUCG4O73_I/s1079/capture_10172021_164002%20gogo%20club%20fire.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="762" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJvVNwruwxKeONUSyAkpX3qRznFRxWKVKbdsQgXykGuWCDcIHt4inyx5u2p6VS5SsRfV6MBeZaRMwz5i_DnFGBYOk_xNyfJruWst_IxtUWBcqlRwKGnOByMap7EVKJ4idYsiPShHyAFpkWXguXdj_TranNyCfkc_23IN1psZB79kUCG4O73_I/s320/capture_10172021_164002%20gogo%20club%20fire.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><br />“Even if I burn to death, I’m going to dance.”</span></b></div><div><b>The 'stay up all night ecology' of the go-go tribe that grows like poisonous mushrooms</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Amidst moody hallucinatory lighting and deafening psychedelic music, the number of go-go tribe members who go crazy all night is growing like poisonous mushrooms every day. What is the ecology of these go-go people who even give birth to the dark humor of “go-go dancing while burning to death”? If you go to the go-go site from opening to closing time… </div></blockquote><div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"Poisonous mushrooms" indeed. We can be certain that it was the media (with who knows what direction from the government) that gave birth to the so-called dark humor of "go-go dancing while burning to death", not the "go-go tribe" members.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the more egregious articles (and obvious anti-decadence propaganda) is the following "confession of a go-go girl" which is obviously fictional. Many articles in these magazines were titillating mixes of fact and fiction meant to both decry decadence and obscenity while also knowing they would draw in readers.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNgnI9bw411ZuhGXdkbXKO066qFjBER-zIf0cY9uvBHX3efvCZt9GBANdSJzduOGzqzeTcQTmTnMQNFsjQRgukBpYHuYKoUtz0_bpqMkAmUUizclYo4F2gYx0WHC8Bu25DNHfHpMTSjTFV4R61whsL0kg99c_-SoAXAAeQwJmdwzXI078RqQ/s1080/capture_10172021_164016.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="759" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNgnI9bw411ZuhGXdkbXKO066qFjBER-zIf0cY9uvBHX3efvCZt9GBANdSJzduOGzqzeTcQTmTnMQNFsjQRgukBpYHuYKoUtz0_bpqMkAmUUizclYo4F2gYx0WHC8Bu25DNHfHpMTSjTFV4R61whsL0kg99c_-SoAXAAeQwJmdwzXI078RqQ/s320/capture_10172021_164016.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijMtffH3tB4xYBYTuZ-oJ7f2wTKxmtxTQ3MR3VjLwGHCGO2S1QuR7cfsBvsRqbVbxpA7aN-USGE9KsaeqDspTELAmNc6qXypTIg-Sj_J5nVd78-VGF_nwvLBiLUXwdqmhsfWf9hjvByZ1C0bhRKIw2KcyeBneMrJK8KGoMLIP073yuPVbrUqM/s1079/capture_10172021_164011%20gogo%20sex.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="765" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijMtffH3tB4xYBYTuZ-oJ7f2wTKxmtxTQ3MR3VjLwGHCGO2S1QuR7cfsBvsRqbVbxpA7aN-USGE9KsaeqDspTELAmNc6qXypTIg-Sj_J5nVd78-VGF_nwvLBiLUXwdqmhsfWf9hjvByZ1C0bhRKIw2KcyeBneMrJK8KGoMLIP073yuPVbrUqM/s320/capture_10172021_164011%20gogo%20sex.jpg" width="227" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEQtNJBTcsudNlXqlAZX09tB6SmWwkbCfkbmTpegChu-3e-b_LvXAc84E6rqyo3mrfoBijGSqziEKJ9OK193rHAmrTiR3k4-nwEK4Umrh1x2k7PH301oaEAcH4rwwbOqAmBqffdxnKUgbwLumIFuKcDunTL6ybcYhj2aJFLW3MTdEuj_6SbM/s897/capture_10172021_164330a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="897" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEQtNJBTcsudNlXqlAZX09tB6SmWwkbCfkbmTpegChu-3e-b_LvXAc84E6rqyo3mrfoBijGSqziEKJ9OK193rHAmrTiR3k4-nwEK4Umrh1x2k7PH301oaEAcH4rwwbOqAmBqffdxnKUgbwLumIFuKcDunTL6ybcYhj2aJFLW3MTdEuj_6SbM/w400-h349/capture_10172021_164330a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><blockquote><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">90% of the Go-go tribe fall into the trap of sex</span></b></p><p><b>A 24-year-old go-go girl's memoir of surviving the Daewang Fire</b></p><p><i>A go-go girl who was lucky enough to survive the Daewang Corner fire recounts her hellish experience and the death of her friend, and how "go-go is cursed without end". This account of a naive girl's strategy amidst the excitement of the go-go hall is a lesson for many in the go-go tribe.</i></p><p><b>Meet, shake it to your heart’s content, have fun, and then part ways without warning </b></p><p><b>"Were you still a virgin? Hey, you ripped that band aid off quickly”</b></p><p>Youngja is dead. I rub my eyes and look again, but there's no mistaking her name on the death list in the newspaper. Age 24, the address is Youngja’s house exactly.</p><p>She's the same age as me, pretty, slender, and full of charm, and I can't believe she's dead.</p><p><b>Let's play with empty-headed men </b></p><p>It was Young-ja who taught me about go-go, the same go-go that’s causing me to feel so much remorse. After graduating from the girls' school, while not up to much, I got a job and there I met Youngja. She was my senior BG, so to speak.</p><p>She chuckled and told me stories about her boys.</p><p>"When you're bored or depressed, go play with the boys."</p><p>With that, she led me by the wrist. I followed her to a so-called go-go hall that I had never seen before.</p><p>The first thing that overwhelmed me was the deafening music, but it was the atmosphere in the hall that stole my heart. After exchanging pleasantries with some of the boys, Young-ja sat down at one of the tables.</p><p>"Hey, don't look like a chicken, act like you're having a good time. They are no big deal either.”</p><p>Youngja whispered in my ear. There was no need to say hello to the boys. She went out into the hall and shook her ass, and I joined in with one of the guys. Go-go was like a drug.</p><p><b></b></p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghlqmtogCMCBTTH6_Z27f4aSirfcok7bOWvVObYu3hrPO1oOpYODy-KjaTWWqToifkntMKZ25mCfDIoGYk7VknCs7Td9j-Tcyiu_ErzMAZ7sJ9lC5ugHw_M2FGQSdDntwh5TCWhbzot94trJc9Ze05WN9dPGdcfFXv6iQWEn7H7o8PaSwERXU/s1397/capture_10172021_164358.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="1397" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghlqmtogCMCBTTH6_Z27f4aSirfcok7bOWvVObYu3hrPO1oOpYODy-KjaTWWqToifkntMKZ25mCfDIoGYk7VknCs7Td9j-Tcyiu_ErzMAZ7sJ9lC5ugHw_M2FGQSdDntwh5TCWhbzot94trJc9Ze05WN9dPGdcfFXv6iQWEn7H7o8PaSwERXU/w640-h362/capture_10172021_164358.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><blockquote><b>To the next room...</b></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p>This was the beginning of my go-go life, and it was like a rush of water. I even moved out of my house and went to a boarding house with the right excuse. The go-go hall was a convenient place for women, especially for girls, and at around 9:00 p.m., there were men who flirted with me as I passed in front of it.</p><p>"Enjoy the go-go," they would say, and all you had to do was go in, let the men bite, and shake you, and have fun. To be honest, I was a virgin until I entered a go-go hall. In my experience, the physiology of the go-go hall and the maintenance of virginity had a treacherous element to it. It was on my third go-go hall visit that I realized Youngja was not there. It must have been around 2 a.m. When I asked the man who was there, he said that he had a headache and was resting in his room.</p><p>Worried, I asked the man to take me to Youngja's room. He led the way and went into a room. Youngja wasn't there, and I don't want to imagine what happened next.</p><p>Suddenly, I realized that I had fruitlessly lost my 21 years of virginity to a man whose face I could barely remember. I was so upset that I sobbed and told Youngja. Youngja was surprised and asked, "Were you still a virgin?" Youngja continued, "You ripped that band aid off quickly. It's for the best!"</p><p><b>"See you later" is funny. </b></p><p>Losing my virginity gave me a convenient excuse to play with men. I had nothing to lose, so I would play with them in moderation, and when I felt their eyes on me eagerly, I would take my clothes off, sometimes with a fire in me that made me crave a man. All my relationships had a clean aftertaste. "Let's see each other again!" I thought there was nothing ugly about men: having fun, flirting, and then breaking up without warning. I thought it was funny how outdated conventional morals were. It was only a short time, half a decade or so, that passed before I changed from a well-behaved child to this.</p><p>We were free of shame and shyness. Looking back on it now, I was an amazingly bad girl.</p><p><b>If I get pregnant, “It’s nothing!” </b></p><p>Look at the people who frequent go-go halls and ask. I can say with certainty that eight out of 10 girls who return beautifully after dancing go through the haejangguk house in the morning and find an inn or hotel. The only time my go-go-mad self came to my senses was when I found out I was pregnant last year... “No problem, what are you worried about? You can just get rid of it,” Youngja said with a smirk. I couldn't do anything about it, so I followed her to the gynecologist's office and got it taken care of. The shame I felt at the time was excruciating...</p><p><b>Unbearable pleasure </b></p><p>But the go-go-hall had a strange magic. Even though I was determined to stay away, I couldn't help but feel my shoulders shake at night. The temptation to go and have a good time was too much for me to resist. I swayed frantically, and with a man I'd never met before I went from the haejangguk restaurant to the inn. Pleasure that took my breath away. I fell deeper and deeper into that pleasure.</p><p>Then the fire at the New Namsan Hotel shocked Young-ja and me.</p><p>I'm afraid I'll be a little more careful now!" she said. "Shouldn't I also get married?"</p><p>She said it just like that.</p><p>"When I see girls who keep their virginity, I feel envious!" This was a remarkable thing to say for Youngja. But that Youngja died.</p><p>She lost her life during the Daewang Corner fire that shook the world to its core. On that night as well she and I went there together. We were dancing and having a great time when all of a sudden there was a commotion. It was absolute pandemonium. I ran out without thinking. I didn’t think of Youngja or the men at all. Thankfully, I didn't even get a scratch. I came back to the boarding house scared out of my wits, trembling along the road.</p><p>I couldn't breathe as I watched the TV news that evening, and it wasn't until I saw the report that more than 80 people had lost their lives that I rushed to read the list of deaths, wondering about Youngja’s safety. Youngja, my Youngja, was dead. That pretty body and charming face had been turned to ashes! I thought I was lucky to be alive, that God had given me one more chance. The horrors of that hellish ordeal and the death of Youngja made me bite my tongue. I bit my tongue and swore that I would never go to a go-go hall again.</p><p>In the three years of my madness, my body and mind were torn to shreds like rags. Now I'm going to sew it back together, stitch by stitch. I am ashamed to death of my past. I am regretful. There has never been a woman as unfortunate as me!</p><p>God, please wipe the evil go-go madness from this world! </p></blockquote><p></p><p>Not exactly subtle, but such was the propaganda of the time. I can't help but wonder if the name "Youngja" was chosen deliberately, especially considering of the main characters in Choi In-ho's book "March of Fools", which was serialized in <i>Ilgan Sports</i> from October 1973 to May 1974 (and which supposedly doubled <i>Ilgan Sports</i> readership), was named Youngja (who features heavily in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PvzT5WnNrA&ab_channel=%ED%95%9C%EA%B5%AD%EA%B3%A0%EC%A0%84%EC%98%81%ED%99%94KoreanClassicFilm">the film</a> adapted from the book which was released the next year).</p><p><br /></p></div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-91510457334756508542023-06-08T16:01:00.003+09:002023-06-08T18:51:23.711+09:00No Way Out: A conversation with Jeffrey Miller<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JUwpz4kXwPP749ld4LoMNHuwkrmWVnuRYcnBxZ_oSy_7uP5F6t4v0YfY3gL_nEY5HL4-iM1EvQ8VH43o01GFvidFcGuqpJIOugDtsYRiz6MPf6PwARSyhZdKa-JU-oVNhPSg0wB5-Kvw-sF4havbbnho2OPp_DLQeid2hwydtImc6x12XSw/s500/No%20way%20out.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JUwpz4kXwPP749ld4LoMNHuwkrmWVnuRYcnBxZ_oSy_7uP5F6t4v0YfY3gL_nEY5HL4-iM1EvQ8VH43o01GFvidFcGuqpJIOugDtsYRiz6MPf6PwARSyhZdKa-JU-oVNhPSg0wB5-Kvw-sF4havbbnho2OPp_DLQeid2hwydtImc6x12XSw/w250-h400/No%20way%20out.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><p>I first encountered Jeffrey Miller's writing back when he worked at the Korea Times more than 20 years ago (see <a href="https://www.facebook.com/koreatimesarchive/posts/pfbid03321wrzdbFiWWRKSmNTwwU4dxH9pWQ6Kv7M5QWFNfdYU3Sij4K7fhw8LtfTw2qv85l">here</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=724416376353891&set=a.316079356899479">here</a> for examples). He has since written ten books, of which <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/No-Way-Out-Jeffrey-Miller-ebook/dp/B0BRNJ1LF5?ref_=ast_author_mpb ten books">No Way Out</a></i>, published by Winding Road Stories, is his most recent. The story, about an English teacher arriving in Korea in 1990 and being framed for murder, piqued my interest as soon as I heard about it. What I hadn't expected was what a page-turner it would be - I read its 250-or-so pages in two or three sittings. Miller clearly used his own experiences as an English teacher who arrived in 1990, lived in Jamsil, and spent time in Itaewon to paint a vivid picture of that time period, but what I didn't expect was the way it branched out to shed light on a broad swath of Korean society at the time. He also drew on various historical events from the early 1990s which basically coalesce to put the protagonist and those around him under even more pressure, all while peopling the novel with well-drawn characters and seasoning it with references that reveal his knowledge of modern Korean history (such as the fact that Shinsegae Department Store was the American PX during the Korean War) - something I (unsurprisingly) appreciated. </p><p>While Jeffrey and I have been Facebook friends for years, we'd never had the chance to meet or speak with each other, so, curious about some of the influences upon the book, I rectified that by asking him questions about it a couple weeks ago. The conversation, edited for clarity, is below, with my questions in <b>bold</b> (and one spoiler-ish question moved to the end).</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</p><p><b>I really enjoyed the book - it was a real page-turner, and I enjoyed how the story drew upon so many details of that time period. What led you to set the novel during the 1990s?</b></p><p>Thank you. I'm really fascinated with Korea’s modern history, in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, because there were so many things happening at that time. Korea had growing pains, moving towards democracy, and the shackles of the authoritarian governments were still there but whether it was music, art or movies, you knew something was going to happen. And also at that time, this was in the midst of the economic miracle. </p><p>When I came up with the idea for the book, I wanted to set it back in time, because, first of all, it's a lot easier to write in the past, because you don't have to worry about modern technology. The book would never have worked if it was set in 2023. With smartphones and videos, the book would have been over after page one. In the 1990s, a lot of things could happen as they’re depicted in the book. </p><p><b>I’ve researched the era around the 1988 Olympics, and am well aware that after democratization had been achieved, and after the Olympics, there was a change in the perception of the US, and less willingness to tolerate American actions in Korea. <i>No Way Out</i> reflects that shift. Was that something you felt when you arrived?</b></p><p>I didn't really feel the anti-Americanism as much when I first arrived. It really wasn’t until probably 1991 or '92. There were all of these demonstrations, and in 1991, the student from Myongji University was killed [<i><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B0%95%EA%B2%BD%EB%8C%80">Gang Gyeong-dae,</a> in April 1991; a month later <a href="https://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002745765">Kim Gui-jeong</a> was <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1991/05/26/student-dies-in-s-korea-protest/">killed at a demonstration</a>, and a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/258c4a25680fd252d1504d2d1ab08f58">student bystander was shot by police that September</a></i>], and then the demos continued until June. Of course, I'd seen them before on television, you know, back in the 1980s, so I had some idea. But I think for the most part, when I came in 1990, I was, I would say, ignorant. I had known there was a hit TV show about Korea [<i>MASH</i>], and that they had hosted the Olympics, but I think that was as far as many people’s knowledge of Korea went. But when I was with students, they would start talking about these things in class. I think the first time it really hit me was actually about a week after I arrived, and some students invited me and other teachers to a party for their graduation from the language school. There were several students there, but there were also two men who had just gotten out of the military, where they had been riot policemen, so it was a really awkward moment, because the students had been throwing rocks at them. I had no idea what was going on until one of the teachers told me. That was when I first started hearing about the demonstrations. </p><p>Anti-Americanism had been around for some time, but during the authoritarian governments, I think Koreans basically had to put up with Americans and the crimes they committed. But the Dongducheon murder [<u><i>of </i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yun_Geum-i" style="font-style: italic;">Yun Geum-i</a>]</u> changed all of that, and that really soured things for a lot of people. And then there was the nuclear crisis of 1994, and the threat of war with North Korea, and there were a lot of people who thought the US had worn out its welcome. I remember I had one student who really hated America, but she wanted to study in America, so there was a bit of a dichotomy there. There was also the <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2007/12/1995-subway-incident.html">subway incident of 1995</a>, where a GI was accused of touching a Korean woman [<i>who turned out to be his wife</i>] and a brawl broke out. And then much later, in 2002, after the middle school girls were run over, some GIs were kidnapped on the subway, dragged to a rally and forced to apologize for American crimes. There was also a student at Yonsei who tore down some banner or poster about the USA, and students sort of held him, put him in a room and they thought he was CIA, so things like this were happening in the 1990s. Things like the subway incident made it into the International Herald Tribune, and that was new, its coverage of Korea, so by the mid-1990s people were beginning to write more about Korea and look at things that they hadn’t before. </p><p>I remember back in the early '90s, I think it was the Korea Times or Korea Herald that did a story or a series of stories talking about the eventual Yongsan base relocation, and they mentioned Itaewon, and said there was a love-hate relationship with the Americans, with the older generation seeing America as their saviors, but the younger generation was tired of hearing that. So, in the story, I wanted to allude to that, to the fact that these attitudes were changing. Americans couldn't just keep saying, “We sacrificed blood for this country, so you have to let us have our way.” I didn't want to offend anyone in the military because obviously I was in the military myself, but I did sense that sort of arrogance at the time and maybe that still happens.</p><p><b>I’ve spoken with Europeans who were teaching English here from 1985 to 1990 and they said that in the mid-1980s English hagwons were for adults and were centered on the area around Jongno 2-ga or Jongno 3-ga, but by 1990 the center of gravity had shifted to Gangnam.</b></p><p>Right, I think it was 1983 when 시사영어사 first opened their language school. That would have probably been in Jongno, near Pagoda Park, as it was called then, then they had a school in Pusan, and then the school in Gangnam. And of course, in Gangnam, back in 1990, there was nothing there. I think the tallest building was the New York bakery, and the city limits were at Yangjae, and there were empty lots all along up Tehranro. I don't know when exactly they opened that school, but they did have three schools. And there were several other smaller schools that operated in the shadow of ELS, like in the book where he’s teaching and he looks out the window, and across the alley is another classroom where there's another guy teaching and, you know, I saw that all the time. These were really small hagwons, and I don't know how they survived but there was such a craze then. I remember going down to the Gangnam subway station in one of the bookstores and it had all these English books, and the one thing that always struck me as being kind of strange was AFKN English: “Watch AFKN and learn English.” There were all these books; you could watch General Hospital and learn English idioms. At the time there were so many hagwons, including university hagwons like Yonsei and Sogang, but ELS had a good reputation. We were taken very good care of, I will say that; you couldn't have asked for a better gig. We lived in Jamsil, just across from Lotte World, and could hop on the subway and be at work in 10 minutes. We’d teach in the morning for two hours, got the afternoon off, and taught at nighttime. </p><p>I liked Korea back then, I have to say. I really liked the diamond in the rough allure that Korea had. I guess I wax nostalgic about it a lot. Being an English teacher, you were a novelty; you were not seen as a threat yet. This was years before <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2012/03/2005-english-spectrum-incident-part-1.html">English Spectrum</a> - after that, things changed drastically. I remember one day, it was probably in early January of 1991, I was walking through Myeong-dong, and suddenly I heard somebody yell my name. It was a student of mine. She was shopping with her mother and wanted to introduce me to her. This was in the middle of Myeong-dong on a Sunday, but then, having red hair, I probably stood out a lot more than I do today. There was this sort of novelty then of taking the English teachers out. There were still some of the Confucian underpinnings in Korean society where teachers were respected. I remember one time walking outside and having a cigarette, and some students were smoking, and they put out their cigarettes right away, because it was considered not polite to smoke in front of a teacher. </p><p>I liked that time in Korea, because everything was new to me, and there was this roughness to it, but you knew things were changing, that things were going to get better. And the longer I stayed, the more I began to see those changes. I also began to see things differently. When I moved across the river and started teaching at Yonsei, I started seeing an entirely different aspect of teaching in Korea. Then when I started writing for the Korea Times, I started seeing different aspects of society, and I saw things differently than when I first came here, when I was fresh off the boat, and didn’t know much and was trying to learn the language and learn the culture. </p><p>It was kind of weird, because I lived in a nice apartment complex, and on my first night in Korea, I got to my apartment and I turned on the TV, and there was David Letterman, and it was so surreal, to see that after just arriving in another country. I lived just down the street from the Olympic Stadium, and the Olympics were still fresh in my mind. But things were changing. Korea opened up the educational market in 1994 or 1995 and suddenly all these teachers were coming over, but I think maybe it was the tail end of the euphoria that followed the Olympics and then things started to taper off going into the mid '90s, especially with the economic crisis in 1997. The '90s were kind of up and down. </p><p><b>Having worked in Gangnam and lived in Jamsil starting in 1990, did you hear anything about the murder of Carolyn Abel? She was stabbed to death in her Jamsil apartment in December 1988, so that was only two years before you arrived.</b></p><p>Yes, folks were still talking about Carolyn Abel's murder in 1990. She taught at the ELS school where I taught. In 1992, I was the interim academic director for the Hyundai Sisa Language Institute in Jongno, which was under the Sisa Yongo-sa umbrella. One day, all the academic directors had lunch with YB Min and he brought up the murder or the topic came up, and I remember him saying that there was an unsolved murder in Thailand that was similar to the one in Jamsil. When I started at ELS, I was told that the murder in Jamsil was some bizarre love triangle. I tried to find out about her murder for the book, but I couldn’t find anything, in part because I thought it happened in 1989. [<i>More about her murder can be read <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/carolyn-abel-case-is-justice-out-of-reach-for-an-american-teacher-murdered-in-south-korea-48-hours">here</a>.</i>] </p><p>There is also the unsolved murder of Monte Dhooge in 1993 in Thailand. We wrote 12 English books for the Hyundai Sisa school in 1992, which in itself was a major accomplishment back then using Microsoft 3.1. A few months after we finished he left Korea and went to the Middle East to teach. While vacationing in Bangkok someone broke into his Khao San Road guesthouse and murdered him.</p><p><b>Part of the book involves police interrogation and scenes in prison. Was this influenced by <i>Brother One Cell</i>, the book by Cullen Thomas, who was an English teacher arrested for smuggling hashish into Korea in 1994 and sentenced to 3 years in prison?</b></p><p>Yes, that's right. I got some ideas from that book. I did take some liberties when imagining what the interrogation and prison would be like, but his book helped to give me an idea of what it would have been like at that time. That was probably one of the hardest parts to write. I think what gave me the most trouble was trying to make the story believable enough for somebody who's never been to Korea, to understand that these things happened, that even up to the early '90s, there were blacklists and banned books and the National Security Law. So I was trying to write about that, and corruption and police brutality and then going to prison. A lot of that was based on what I've read, but I did talk to a few people and asked if somebody would be arrested like this and a few people I talked to said, yeah, that stuff could have happened. So yes, definitely that book was one of my influences. Another was Martin Limon’s books [<i>about US CID investigators digging into crime in places like Itaewon</i>] - that was probably my biggest influence, even though he’s writing about Korea in the 1970s. By the 1990s, a lot of those things were still taking place, such as the way that the GIs dealt with women and the way that the women grew callused because of that. His first book, <i>Jade Lady Burning</i>, came out in the early 1990s and his writing was really important for me, as it helped me with my own story. So those were my biggest influences writing the book.</p><p><b>Itaewon plays a large part in the book, though certainly not a defining one. You paint a picture of what it was like there in the 1990s.</b></p><p>Right, that was not difficult to write because I remember it quite vividly. Like in the book, one of my colleagues said, “Let’s go to Itaewon,” and I asked, “What's that?” I had been in the military, so I knew what a camptown was like. It reminded me of when I was 18 and away from home, stationed in the Canal Zone, and we’d go to Panama City, though Itaewon was sort of a surreal version of Roppongi or something like that. A few people who were here in Korea at that time read the book and told me I’d nailed it with the Itaewon scenes, of showing what it was like at the time. There’s a scene where they're at the Twilight Zone where one character says of the GIs that they make it difficult for the rest of us here, because Koreans sort of lump us all together. I’m sure you remember how as soon as Koreans saw a foreigner, they automatically said, American, <i>miguk saram</i> - it didn't make any difference who you were, everybody was an American. And as Americans, we do carry a lot of cultural baggage with us, no matter where we go. And you end up becoming an ambassador, whether you want to be one or not, and that’s something you have to deal with.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc7w9waL4ZAZHi75wHsDU_eGkL3Bf5BPDkXgxAScS7ndByi0ZU79BuDizsIuPlpv59DBWlfpqK0ui4kTB-v-96PYMiHOj-IoyEyqXvjdOPFb1ZiZI_3UJQAW_p1mq3nCUyFqbaa3QpxUCzvGWQCdtF1HnotExsSgX3Pz6CWPmPS37ip7n6uuM/s2593/IMG_9140%20pano%20a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="2593" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc7w9waL4ZAZHi75wHsDU_eGkL3Bf5BPDkXgxAScS7ndByi0ZU79BuDizsIuPlpv59DBWlfpqK0ui4kTB-v-96PYMiHOj-IoyEyqXvjdOPFb1ZiZI_3UJQAW_p1mq3nCUyFqbaa3QpxUCzvGWQCdtF1HnotExsSgX3Pz6CWPmPS37ip7n6uuM/w640-h320/IMG_9140%20pano%20a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Twilight Zone in December 2022.</div><p>The first place I visited in Itaewon was the Twilight Zone, just like in the book. There was also King Club, but I think I went to King Club only once or twice in all my years in Korea - it wasn’t my kind of scene. Another popular place was Polly's Kettle. Later, when Stompers opened up, in 1993 or 1994, a lot of people started going to that bar. At that time things began to change and people started going to other bars that had opened up on the main strip. First there was Nashville, then the Nashville extension. There were other bars, I forget the names now, but there were so many on the main strip. Things began to change, and I think a lot of that had to do with more people coming to Korea, young Koreans who had gone overseas coming back, and it was around the 2000s that we saw all of the eating spots and micro breweries opening up. I've always been fascinated with Itaewon, because there was always something about it, a roughness kind of like in the old wild west where GIs and English teachers and expatriates were all thrown into the mix. Up and down the hill there were places like the Grand Ole Opry that even Martin Limon has written about in stories set in the 1970s, so there's a bit of continuity from that era. It was sometimes rough, and fights were pretty common - I've seen a lot of those bars empty out. It was often due to guys coming off the field, coming down from Camp Casey or someplace like that - they never got along with the guys in Yongsan who worked nine to five and then got to go home. The fact that there was this slice of real estate behind the main strip, where all these things were happening and the government was looking the other way, and then you had the courtesy patrol with American MPs and Korean police coming in, made for a weird, weird scene. It was like Jim Morrison’s “weird scenes inside the gold mine” when you were going up to Itaewon.</p><p>In terms of English teachers, most of us later started gravitating towards the places on the main strip, because that’s where you could get better beer and food. There was a place called Old Germany that was sort of a German Hof - that was closer to the Japanese section of Itaewon. That's another thing people don't remember - that there was a Japanese part of Itaewon as well, where there was karaoke and Japanese style bars. Japanese tourists headed there, so there were two parts of Itaewon at the time.</p><p>I remember back at the Nashville, they had a sign that said ‘No Korean men allowed’ on the door. I did a story on the owner, Skip Tuttle, back in the early 2000s, and he told me that the reason was that if you let Korean men in, there were going to be fights. You know, even then the hostesses that had to dance at certain times of the night and do a Texas two step or something, which was really weird, but all the old GIs there got a kick out of it. Still, it was the best place to get a burger or a steak in town for many years. In the early 2000s the government shut them down because of some bad spices or something, and at the time, Outback was trying to set up shop down the street, so I always wondered if maybe that was a good way to get rid of the Nashville.</p><p><b>I was curious about the gangsters who appear in the book. Did you do any background reading to flesh out these memorable characters? Have you ever had any encounters with them yourself?</b> </p><p>Only at the sauna. I've got several tattoos and usually they would often take a look. But I’ve never really had any run-ins with any gangsters. This was different from Japan, where I actually had run-ins with the Yakuza. I taught in Japan before I came to Korea, and I remember going out and actually being invited into a hostess bar, because this Yakuza guy invited me in since I was an English teacher and he wanted me to teach him English. He brought me into this bar but it was just to show off his English. I never had any run-ins like that in Korea, though.</p><p>A lot of the gangster scenes were imagined. I’d come up with my own idea of the gangsters by watching Korean movies. Thanks to Netflix, I had a steady supply of Korean movies that I probably would not have had the chance to watch otherwise. One involved a drug lord in Pusan who was trying to sell drugs in Japan. Actually, I also drew on Black Rain (1989), though that was about the yakuza. I was using some of those movies to get an idea of the way they carried themselves, of their mannerisms, but a lot of it was the product of my imagination. Those were some of my influences, and hopefully the gangster scenes were realistic enough to be believable for readers. Guns do come into play, so I had to make that believable, since that’s not common in Korea - so it was a policeman’s gun. I remember reading an article back in 1992 or ‘93 where there was a big gang fight around the Seoul express bus terminal. These two rival gangs got out baseball bats and clubs and hatchets and axes, and started going at each other in the middle of the street. It was a lot more brutal than simply using a pistol. It's a lot more physical and in-your-face kind of violence, which does come into play in the story, with a pickaxe used at one point.</p><p><b>I want to keep spoilers to a minimum, but the story doesn’t just take place in the city, but moves farther afield.</b></p><p>I wanted to do that - to get him out in the country. It brings out the whole idea of not knowing where you are, especially having just arrived in this new country, and you're trying to survive the best way you can, and then you have a snowstorm. That was kind of more of a nostalgic touch for me, because, you know, I love it when it snows in Korea. I was trying to recall that [<i>certain location</i>] because I'd been there before. I remember walking through the park on a road, and finally I went to Google Maps and was able to find it. Google Maps has made it much easier to write these days, because you can always refer to it to get details about a city or a place. You can quickly answer questions like, “Was there an alley back there?” So it's made writing a lot easier.</p><p><b>I remember when you were working on the novel and you mentioned on Facebook that you’d gathered a playlist of songs that were popular in 1990, and couldn’t help notice that some of them appear in the book, particularly during the Itaewon scenes, like Vanilla Ice’s “Ice ice baby” or Roxette’s “It must have been love.” </b></p><p>That’s something that always works for me, if it's a period piece. I can refer to music, and not only does it help me when I'm writing, it also helps to push me back to that time. Some songs will always be Korea in 1990, for me, like Sinead O’Connor [Nothing compares 2 u], and [The Righteous Brothers’] Unchained Melody because of the movie Ghost. When songs are popular in Korea, they can kind of get beaten into the ground, so you couldn't go anywhere without hearing Unchained Melody. I remember in Pusan - I went down with a buddy for New Year's Eve for my first trip out of Seoul - we were near the fish market, and we passed one of those vendors selling cassette tapes, but the sign written on the cart didn’t say Unchained Melody, but “Unchanged Melody.” And I thought, “Oh, that's beautiful.”</p><p>Whenever a popular movie came out, it seemed like all the coffee shops and restaurants were named after it; there must have been about 20 “Bodyguard” restaurants in 1993. And with my students, they always had English nicknames. I’d ask, ”What do you want me to call you?” And they’d reply, “Oh, call me The Terminator,” or “Arnold” or something. You'd have a whole class and their names would reflect whatever movie was popular at the time. And during my first couple of years in Korea, I think almost every bar I went to was playing Hotel California, despite the fact it was an older song. So in No Way Out, this music appears when they’re in bars. Having playlists of these songs really helps. I like having the music from the time playing when I'm working on the story, or I’m at the gym and thinking about the story. I’ll also look on the internet and find photographs from that time and put them up on the wall in my office where I'm writing. It’s a good way to immerse yourself in that time period and it helps with writing the story.</p><p><b>What are you working on now?</b></p><p>I'm working on a novel right now. It takes place in 1962. So, once again, I've been listening to music from 1962 as a soundtrack. It won't actually feature in the novel, but again it helps to puts me in that frame of mind, and helps me to paint the characters. As well, I will soon be coming out with my memoirs of living and teaching in Korea. I wrote them back in 2011, but they were mostly my musings about life in Korea and many of the articles I wrote for the Korea Times; this time around they are more focused and look at how I basically “came of middle age” in Korea.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Postscript</b></p><p>[This is a bit of a spoiler and meant for those who have read the book.]</p><p><b>There is a switch fairly early on in the novel from first person to third person narration, which changes the nature of the story. It’s a surprise because it suddenly changes from being the story of an English teacher caught in a nightmarish situation to a portrayal of various aspects of Korean society as shown from the point of view of different Korean characters. </b></p><p>That's what I intended it to be, because I was really torn between whether I should make it third person or first person. But if you go with first person, you obviously can't tell the story of Korea at that time because the narrator would not know anything about it because he's only been there for 48 hours. But then you switch to the other characters, and they fill in the gaps and get into the back story, which helps to understand what was really going on that time. I wouldn’t say it’s a historical novel, but there are points where it is depicting what was happening at that time.</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-71691458194661272023-06-01T16:29:00.000+09:002023-06-01T16:29:28.180+09:00"North Korean Reactions to Instability in the South" and "The South Korean Political Scene "<p> On December 20, 1979, the CIA released a report titled <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP83R00184R002600320007-2.pdf">"North Korean Reactions to Instability in the South</a>." This report came 8 days after Chun Doo-hwan's December 12 insurrection and takeover of the ROK military, and the authors of the report clearly had this on their minds, since they thought the "emergence of fighting between South Korean military factions" was a possibility moving forward. It's also clear that such intra-ROK military tension was perceived as being as much a source of instability as "widespread civil disorders". The report followed years of debate over Carter's troop withdrawal policy that was postponed and ultimately quietly shelved after new intelligence <a href="https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/22880-document-06-charts-re-reporting-north-korean">in mid-1979 showed large increases in North Korean troop numbers and tanks</a>.</p><p>This report is also important because it was one of the files provided to CIA Director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stansfield_Turner">Stansfield Turner</a> prior to the May 22, 1980 Periodic Review Committee meeting in which Chun Doo-hwan's military coup of May 17, as well as the Gwangju Uprising, were discussed by prominent Carter Administration officials. In fact, according to the <a href="https://kjmbc.co.kr/article/w1MgohUiA8">Platt Memo</a>, Turner stated at the meeting that there was a "50:50 chance on whether North Korea will do something, whether they will attack or infiltrate", which shows this document's influence on the CIA director (though it should be noted that General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_C._Jones">David Jones</a>, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at that meeting that "We doubt that North Korea will make an attack, but are likely to infiltrate").</p><p>Here is the report:</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * * * </p><p>SNIE 42/14.2-79 </p><p><b>North Korean Reactions to Instability in the South </b></p><p>Information available as of 20 December 1979 was used in the preparation of this Estimate.</p><p>This estimate is issued by the Director of Central Intelligence. </p><p>The National Foreign Intelligence Board concurs, except as noted in the text. </p><p>The following intelligence organizations participated in the preparation of the Estimate: </p><p>The Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. </p><p>Also Participating: </p><p>The Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Department of the Army </p><p>The Director of Naval Intelligence, Department of the Navy </p><p>The Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Department of the Air Force </p><p><br /></p><p><b>North Korean Reactions to Instability in the South </b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Note</b></p><p>This contingency estimate addresses the likelihood of a North Korean attack on the South if severe fighting between South Korean military factions and widespread civil disorders develop there during the next two or three months. It assumes a level of instability which may not develop. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Key Judgements</b></p><p>The emergence of fighting between South Korean military factions and widespread civil disorders in South Korea would prompt Pyongyang to consider forceful reunification of the peninsula.</p><p>However, Pyongyang would face a crucial imponderable in attempting to determine the US response to a North Korean attack, given the presence of US ground forces in the South and the virtual certainty of their being engaged. With the US-South Korean relationship clearly strained by the chaos in the South, and the United States preoccupied with events in Iran and possibly elsewhere, the North would probably calculate that US capability and resolve to defend South Korea had been weakened. </p><p>In view of the magnitude of the decision facing Pyongyang and the risk involved, we cannot judge with confidence whether or not it would opt for military action. We believe, however, that the chances of such action could be as high as 50-50 under this scenario.* If the North should decide to intervene, it would most probably launch a massive assault designed to destroy organized resistance and consolidate its control over the South. </p><p><i>* The Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, believes it impossible to calculate odds in circumstances that demand so many subjective judgments, including North Korea's perception of the risk of war with the United States and loss of so much of the progress of which North Koreans are so proud. He agrees, however, that there would be a significantly higher risk of hostilities. </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Discussion</b></p><p>1. North Korean President Kim Il-song would view the emergence of fighting between South Korean military factions and widespread civil disorders in the wake of South Korean President Park's death as a unique opportunity to reunify the Korean Peninsula on his terms. In 1975, Kim publicly declared that the North would not stand idly by if "revolutionary conditions" developed in the South, a sentiment that Pyongyang has subsequently publicized. Privately, Kim has described the unsettled period between the resignation of Syngman Rhee in 1960 and the military coup in 1961 as a golden opportunity that the North was militarily unprepared to exploit. Given the significant expansion of North Korean military capabilities over the past decade, Kim is now in far better position to take such action. </p><p><b>The Deterrent </b></p><p>2. In considering an attack on a militarily weakened South Korea, Pyongyang would weigh the attitudes of its major allies and, most importantly, the US security commitment to Seoul. For years, Moscow and Beijing have cautioned Kim, but their influence has decreased as the North's military self-sufficiency has grown. If Kim were otherwise convinced that military intervention were in his interest, it is doubtful that China or the USSR could veto the venture. </p><p>3. We judge that North Korea would attack the South if there were no US military presence. The presence of US ground forces, however, and the virtual certainty of their being engaged during any sizable North Korean assault must give Pyongyang pause. The North has long recognized that the presence of US infantry north of Seoul is a deterrent above and beyond the US treaty commitment to South Korea. We continue to believe that one of Pyongyang's key objectives throughout the 1970s has been to end the US troop presence in the South. </p><p>4. The North would be aware of strains in the US-South Korean relationship flowing from the domestic chaos in the South. Pyongyang would probably calculate that US resolve to defend South Korea had been weakened to some extent, more so if a debate on Korean policy developed in the United States. </p><p>5. The North would also consider US concerns and involvement outside Korea. It might perceive current US preoccupation in the Middle East and Southeast Asia as a factor that would decrease its degree of risk in taking military action. On the other hand, Pyongyang might consider US frustration and anger over the Iranian situation and evidence of a renewed mood of American assertiveness as ominous indicators of Washington's willingness to respond to an attack on US forces in Korea. The North would also assess US ability to respond rapidly. If the United States were to become militarily involved elsewhere in a major way, we would expect the North to see the degree of risk substantially reduced. A key indicator for Pyongyang would be the continued presence of US forces in Korea and elsewhere in Northeast Asia, or earmarked for use there. </p><p>6. In view of the magnitude of the decision facing Pyongyang and the risk involved, we cannot judge with confidence whether or not it would opt for an all-out assault. We believe, however, that the chances of such action could be as high as 50-50.</p><p><b>Military Options </b></p><p>7. Pyongyang might consider either: (1) some form of limited military intervention that would minimize risks, test US resolve, and add to the process of disintegration in the South, or (2) launching a major offensive. We believe that Pyongyang would reject the first course. Since the Korean war, the North has tried a wide variety of lesser measures with little success. In view of those experiences, the North might well calculate that limited action would be a net loss. US and South Korean forces might not accurately gauge the North's limited objectives; if so, the North's risks would not be lessened. In the past, the assumption of a menacing posture by the North has had a unifying effect upon the South, and Pyongyang would have little reason to judge otherwise this time. Finally, measured North Korean military action would yield limited gains at best, and yet could help to suspend US troop withdrawals indefinitely. </p><p>8. Thus we believe that North Korean military intervention would likely take the form of a large-scale, coordinated ground, naval, and air assault against the South. Large numbers of ranger-commando troops would be inserted both immediately behind the South's frontlines and deep into the interior to support frontal attacks by conventional ground forces across the Demilitarized Zone. The North's Air Force would attempt to neutralize the South Korean and US close-air-support capability by attacking airfields and command and control and air defense sites. The North Korean Navy would support assaults on key coastal targets and conduct antishipping operations off the South's coasts. </p><p>9. Although control of the Seoul area would be an initial objective, we believe that the North's ultimate goal would be the unification of the entire peninsula through military conquest. Our knowledge of North Korean military tactics and strategy has improved in recent years. Available information indicates that the North plans to seize all of South Korea by employing the principles of surprise, rapid movement, and destruction of as many South Korean troops as possible. Both military and civilian defectors and captured agents from North Korea speak of total victory as the purpose of a campaign against the South and deny that the North plans for a war with limited objectives. </p><p>10. In our view, North Korea would attempt to continue the invasion and to consolidate control over the South as long as its military operations were successful. The North's increased numbers of military units, personnel, and equipment would permit sustained operations far longer than we considered possible even two years ago. North Korea's transportation net is sufficient for continued resupply unless seriously interrupted by enemy action, and if the North's storage tanks were full, there would be sufficient POL [Petroleum, oil, lubricants] to support military operations for several months. Other critical supplies are believed sufficient for at least 30 days of heavy combat. </p><p>11. The USSR and China, as treaty allies of Pyongyang, almost certainly would respond cautiously to a North Korean attack on South Korea. Both would want to avoid a direct military confrontation with the United States; the Chinese in particular would be loath to jeopardize their developing relationship with the United States. Nonetheless, because of their mutual rivalry and the strategic importance of maintaining a nonhostile state in North Korea, the USSR and China would feel compelled to provide at least some material assistance to Pyongyang. </p><p>12. The level and nature of Soviet and Chinese support would depend, among other things, on the magnitude of the US reaction, the extent and duration of the hostilities, Soviet and Chinese expectations concerning the outcome on the battlefield, and the importance the two countries attach to competing with each other for influence with the North Korean regime. Neither ally would be likely to intervene directly in a conflict on the peninsula unless, as in 1950, the survival of the Pyongyang regime were threatened.</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * * * </p><p>On February 14, 1980, the CIA published a report entitled "<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00287R000100390002-9.pdf">The South Korean Political Scene</a>" which examined all of the prominent political players and other groups jockeying for power, as well as the economic factors that threatened stability.</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</p><p>14 February 1980 </p><p><b>Intelligence Memorandum </b></p><p><b>The South Korean Political Scene </b></p><p><b>Summary</b></p><p><i>The government of President Choe Kyu-ha is moving gradually towards a more liberal political system, but his task will be complicated by a deteriorating economic situation, concerns as to the military's internal stability and fears that the army might attempt to take full control of the political process. Martial law is likely to remain in force for the foreseeable future to deal with expected student demonstrations in the spring and deter labor riots that could erupt as a result of the economic downturn. Anti-government elements have so far adopted a pose of moderation, hoping to keep the political temperature down during the tense months of transition. This mood of moderation probably will dissipate as the political parties and politicians vie for supremacy. Seoul’s recently resumed dialogue with Pyongyang is likely to put further pressures on the government during the transition period.</i></p><p>Since the assassination of President Park last October, the new government of Choe Kyu-ha has been moving steadily toward a loosening of Park's authoritarian political system (Yusin) and a greater measure of political liberalization. Having moved quickly to remove some of the detested trappings of the Park era – such as the restrictive Emergency Measure No. 9 – and having released most political prisoners, Choe is now overseeing the drafting of a new constitution. He has said that he will step down after the new constitution is approved by popular referendum and new presidential elections are held - probably in the spring.</p><p>Choe – who lacks the decisive leadership skills and power base of Park – will be hard pressed to maintain stability in the months to come. Several factors complicate this task. First, the South Korean economy, after years of rapid growth, is now in the midst of a sharp downturn. A currency devaluation of nearly 20 percent and a 59 percent increase in oil prices last month will further fuel inflation this year, raising the rate to about 25-30 percent. Unemployment is also expected to increase during 1980. Some government officials fear that skyrocketing prices and rising unemployment will lead to labor unrest in the spring. Though the Choe government has taken economically sound measures to deal with these problems, both the pro-government and the opposition party have begun to attack the administration for its economic policies. </p><p>The most disturbing unknown, however, is the simmering turbulence within the Army. The faction of Major General Chon Tu-hwan – the strongman who seized control of the army in a violent military action last December – appears to hold a firm grip on power, but numerous elements have been angered by his takeover. Although there is no firm evidence that there is any cohesive group within the military strong enough to challenge Chon, we cannot discount the possibility that such a group will emerge and attempt a counteraction. Should more restiveness surface, it could undermine domestic political stability, erode business confidence at home and overseas, and even encourage North Korea to launch a military thrust against the South. </p><p>Even if there is no further instability within the military, the army will exert an influence – direct or indirect – on all major policy decisions. General Chon has steadfastly denied that he has political ambitions or that he plans to become involved in politics, but the pervasive fear that he might has served to keep political emotions in check. There is also a question as to the degree of political liberalization the military will tolerate. They clearly will not permit the election of a controversial dissident figure as president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Many civilians fear that, if confronted by a deteriorating political situation, the military will not hesitate to intervene, extending their martial law powers and perhaps even supplanting the civilian authority. </p><p>Although the military has taken care to reduce its visibility, its influence nevertheless has been pervasive. Martial law – In force for nearly four months – has put a damper on political activity by prohibiting certain kinds of political meetings and by implementing an effective press censorship. The military will probably be unwilling to lift martial law as long as the danger of anti-government activity exists. </p><p>Government and military authorities are also concerned over the prospect of campus demonstrations this spring. Should these demonstrations spill over into the streets, they could stimulate the unemployed and the economically disadvantaged elements to vent their grievances, thus acting as a catalyst for riots such as occurred in two southern industrial cities last October. The government has been working to mollify the students before the new school semester begins next month, but many issues remain unsolved. </p><p>An uneasy truce continues between the two major political parties, the majority Democratic Republican Party and the opposition New Democratic Party. Aware of the dangers of exciting the political atmosphere, the opposition elements have adhered to a moderate course and have not pressed the government on a number of sensitive issues. This moderate pose will probably not last much longer, as the exigencies of politics will force the opposition and pro-government parties to sharpen their differences. As these differences begin to surface, hard-line dissidents are likely to begin to press demands that will be clearly unacceptable to the government and the military. Such intemperate activities could force the authorities to resort to harsh action to suppress dissidence, which would in turn further inflame the situation. </p><p>Fear and distrust of North Korea continue to influence Seoul's policies. Acting on a North Korean overture, South Korea recently began a series of preparatory meetings with Pyongyang aimed at an eventual meeting of the prime ministers of the two sides. The North Korean move seems designed to put further pressure on Choe during the delicate transition period and to create an atmosphere that would facilitate the loosening of the US-ROK security relationship. Although Seoul is suspicious of the North's intentions and is expected to move cautiously, this new dialogue with Pyongyang might be exploited by anti-government politicians, who are likely to criticize any unilateral arrangements with North Korea made by an "interim government" without the participation of all political parties.</p><p><i>This memorandum, requested by the Secretary of the Treasury, was prepared by [ ] the East Asia-Pacific Division, Office of Political Analysis. The paper has been coordinated with the Office of Economic Research, the Office of Strategic Research and the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia-Pacific. Research was completed on 13 February 1980. </i></p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</p><p>This report examines the various forces at play through the lens of threats to stability, with a mention of "the dangers of exciting the political atmosphere" amid the "fear that, if confronted by a deteriorating political situation, the military will not hesitate to intervene, extending their martial law powers and perhaps even supplanting the civilian authority" - a fear that turned out to be fully justified, though it's entirely likely, as noted in the reports <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-cia-on-political-reconstruction-in.html">here</a>, that Chun was trying to provoke students so as to encourage instability that could be used as a pretext for a military takeover. </p><p>At any rate, according to pages 16-20 of <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP83B00100R000200130001-0.pdf">this pdf</a>, with the two CIA reports above and the two CIA reports from May 1980 posted <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-cia-on-political-reconstruction-in.html">here</a>, we can see the bulk of the files given to brief the CIA director before the May 22, 1980 meeting at the White House to discuss events in Korea. Other, more recent CIA reports from Korea (heavily censored as they are) can be found <a href="https://timshorrock.com/2020/05/26/cia-reports-from-gwangju-may-21-22-1980/">here</a>, and reports from May 22 note that "Violence has spread to about 16 towns within a 50-mile radius of Kwangju, all in South Cholla Province", as well as the prediction that "The military would be hard pressed to deal with simultaneous uprisings of the same magnitude in other areas." When taken together with the report "North Korean Reactions to Instability in the South," summarized in the May 9, 1980 memorandum "Growing Unrest in South Korea and Prospects for Takeover by Military Strongman Chon Doo Hwan," with the statement "the emergence of widespread civil disorder in the South would prompt Pyongyang to consider forceful reunification of the peninsula", it's clear at least some high-ranking US officials believed there was a 50/50 chance of North Korea taking advantage of events in the South to the point of, in the worst case, invading.</p><p>Below is a map I made of the towns and cities where arms seizures or demonstrations took place during late May 1980 (based mostly on information in <i>Memories of May 1980: A Documentary History of the Kwangju Uprising in Korea</i>, which is downloadable <a href="http://www.kdemo.or.kr/dn?type=book&src=file_19860610011571.pdf&filename=Memories_of_May_1980.pdf">here</a>). </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQbhj-3v1zDUv_HHcT0lVadm4Lfm5UKNxbRwxO1hgyASnWIzLuTWcCxLSew6fRTZvyT2zIBTqtnaQGLXEFGgbTI7OCAOalQI3I8rwIxtjSACdsnVi9ptX5fB4VirEeWfd1BRMiyBpllq-8EzTzNqUnoDkSsR6jJUVTF6VATgj-Jdzn6vLkW4/s1506/Spread%20of%20the%20Gwangju%20Uprising%20Map%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="1506" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQbhj-3v1zDUv_HHcT0lVadm4Lfm5UKNxbRwxO1hgyASnWIzLuTWcCxLSew6fRTZvyT2zIBTqtnaQGLXEFGgbTI7OCAOalQI3I8rwIxtjSACdsnVi9ptX5fB4VirEeWfd1BRMiyBpllq-8EzTzNqUnoDkSsR6jJUVTF6VATgj-Jdzn6vLkW4/w640-h460/Spread%20of%20the%20Gwangju%20Uprising%20Map%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-79772271007031070032023-05-26T16:52:00.004+09:002023-05-27T12:32:29.506+09:00Gregory de la Haba’s exhibition at Hangaram Art Museum opens tomorrow<p> My <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/05/177_350546.html">latest article for the Korea Times</a> looks at New York City artist Gregory de la Haba’s art, and his connection to the NYC landmark <a href="https://youtu.be/NulESOYoiAI">McSorley's Old Ale House</a>, ahead of his exhibition opening at Hangaram Art Museum in the Seoul Arts Center (as part of the annual Design Art Fair) this weekend. The exhibition will run from May 27 to June 4, and the artist will be present during the afternoon on the opening day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVc2W_r_2CFy_fsIIjIENYQcODFB-yK1lkfyOupoH1abLtQHM7mTgNh2bmm0YAf67sxbA7eHE67fZsFZdMSi4KKwht3mnlpuTVp2A6BEw3B92xOo631GF6F1uTlS_o4zVsDKVQtGa9vpRgkEVsSYlLuWsn1ypky4Dd1MlMGRtajVkyNJe5FEI/s861/De%20la%20Haba%20exhibition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="861" data-original-width="648" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVc2W_r_2CFy_fsIIjIENYQcODFB-yK1lkfyOupoH1abLtQHM7mTgNh2bmm0YAf67sxbA7eHE67fZsFZdMSi4KKwht3mnlpuTVp2A6BEw3B92xOo631GF6F1uTlS_o4zVsDKVQtGa9vpRgkEVsSYlLuWsn1ypky4Dd1MlMGRtajVkyNJe5FEI/w482-h640/De%20la%20Haba%20exhibition.jpg" width="482" /></a></div><p><br /></p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-72429775679170690302023-05-22T16:17:00.002+09:002023-05-22T19:36:29.113+09:00The CIA on "Political Reconstruction In South Korea" in 1980 and "Prospects for Takeover by Military Strongman Chon Doo Hwan"<p>The <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/home">CIA Freedom of Information Act Reading Room</a> hosts a great many FOIA CIA documents from over the decades. Some are released in their entirety, though most have sections censored. I've discovered a number of articles during the past week or two, but have likely only scratched the surface (one problem, and the reason for the use of 'likely,' is the fact that you can't easily search by the year a document was produced, only by the years they were declassified or released, which forces you to wade through a lot of unrelated material). I've discovered a number of documents related to the months leading up to the Gwangju Uprising. Two are below.</p><div><div>On May 14, 1980, the CIA published a report titled "<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00287R000101140001-6.pdf">Political Reconstruction In South Korea: A Difficult Road</a>." As it notes, however, "Research was completed on 2 May 1980," so its analysis does not include the moves by student activists in the previous two weeks (such as releasing <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-student-statement-of-may-10-1980.html">this statement</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Political Reconstruction In South Korea: A Difficult Road</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Summary</b></div><div><br /></div><div><i>South Korea is finding the transition to a new government tortuous. The major political parties are riven by dissension; low wages and apparent government disinterest have led to unprecedented work slowdowns and rioting; and students are beginning to demonstrate against what they--and many other South Koreans--see as government unwillingness to expedite the transition process. Most important, however, is the growing public suspicion that the powerful military establishment is bent on manipulating the transition to its advantage and in sharply slowing the pace of political liberalization.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Indeed, General Chun Doo Swan, military strongman and new head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), has emerged as the most powerful figure in South Korea. The military establishment and most businessmen, whose principal interest is stability, appear to have accepted his appointment to KCIA on the grounds that Korea now needs tough-minded leadership although some have reservations about Chun's style and intentions. The politicians, who see Chun's growing power as a threat to their own aspirations, and the students are opposed. While Chun probably would prefer--at least for the time being--to continue to manipulate the political situation from behind the scenes in hopes of avoiding additional opposition, he also has made it clear that the military would step in if serious instability developed.</i> [2 lines redacted]</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>The combination of a volatile political atmosphere and an ambitious, conservative military leadership appears to be driving South Korea toward more turmoil. The students, disgruntled workers, and others who are criticizing the interim government and the military most loudly seem to be playing into Chun's hands. Their recent call for an immediate end to martial law could provoke the kind of instability that Chun needs to step in. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>General Chun almost certainly will move in this direction if the situation on the campuses and in the streets gets out of hand. Nonetheless, he probably recognizes the risks involved. Korean military officers view Chun's move to KCIA as the principal factor behind the US postponement of the bilateral security talks originally scheduled for this summer. This, in turn, has created some concern about Chun's ability to manage relations with the US effectively. If Chun were to assume even greater power through the extension of martial law, uneasiness about the prospects for the all-important relationship with Washington could grow. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>In addition, a military takeover might--at least initially--generate even more chaos in the streets. Fearing that, many within the government would almost certainly urge mollifying the students and others opposed to Chun by removing him before he could seize power. On the other hand, many would argue that a strong hand was needed to control the situation, especially because of the widely held view that North Korea would attempt to take advantage of any drawn-out disarray. We believe that the military could bring enough force to bear to at least reduce the turmoil and that Chun would be able to maintain his position. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>The prospects for political liberalization in South Korea will be influenced heavily by both the nature and the outcome of any confrontation. All parties--including Chun--appear to recognize that a return to the excessive controls of the Park era would not be acceptable to the Korean people. Neither Chun nor the leaders of the current interim government, however, are likely to permit the kind of liberalization that the students and opposition are demanding. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>If a confrontation between students and the military can be avoided, the government has a better than even chance of sticking to its transition schedule, which calls for constitutional revision later this year and presidential elections next summer. If a confrontation develops, the entire transition process will be slowed; it is an open question when or whether Chun Doo Hwan would relinquish the authority he would acquire from the resulting turmoil. </i></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Introduction</b></div><div><br /></div><div> As President Choi Kyu Hah enters his seventh month as South Korea's chief executive, the political situation is becoming more uncertain and unstable. Students and laborers have begun to demonstrate against the government, calling for an end to martial law and speedier political liberalization. Opposition politicians also are losing patience with what they see as foot-dragging in the government, especially the government's unwillingness to discuss its plans for constitutional revision. Most important, concern is growing that army strongman and KCIA chief Chun Doo Hwan is preparing to use domestic instability as a rationale for seizing control of the government. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Constitutional Revision amid Political Uncertainty </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Working under the watchful eye of the military and its leader Lieutenant General Chun Doo Hwan, Choi has pledged to guide the country through the process of revising President Park Chung Hee's authoritarian Yusin constitution and holding new elections for President and the National Assembly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Choi is determined that the government take the lead in constitutional revision, despite protests from the political parties, which have drafted their own document in the National Assembly. Choi has made it clear that he places the emphasis on national security, economic growth and political development--in that order. He has indicated also that he is opposed to radical changes in the political system. Moreover, Prime Minister Shin Hyon-hwack's defense of some aspects of the Yusin constitution have led politicians and the public to believe that the government will not greatly modify the current system, or that it will institute a form of government that makes it impossible for liberal democratic forces to assume power. </div><div><br /></div><div>In drafting a new constitution, Choi must balance popular expectations of democratic reform with the need to preserve national security. He clearly hopes to salvage those aspects of the Yusin constitution that provided stability and economic growth, such as a strong executive. At the same time, however, he will have to accede to certain demands for a greater measure of liberalization and a broader-based democratic system. On balance Choi's draft is likely to be conservative and may not measure up to the demands of the liberal opposition. </div><div><br /></div><div>Although popular sentiment appears to favor direct, popular election of the president, many--including President Choi himself--would prefer an indirect election by the National Assembly. This would ensure the election of a conservative candidate acceptable to the military. Such a system--in which the candidate best able to control or buy National Assembly votes would become the President-- would be violently opposed by the opposition political forces, students and hardline dissidents. Indeed, an effort to institute such a system--even if it had explicit military backing--might provide more widespread unrest. </div><div><br /></div><div>An alternative would be to institute a "dual executive" system with a relatively weak president and a strong Prime Minister. If the government attempts to press for such a system, a prolonged fight could ensue between the government, on the one hand and the National Assembly and the coalition of political parties on the other. Given Korea's national security considerations, the final document is likely to provide for some kind of strong executive and provisions for emergency powers to deal with internal and external threats. </div><div><br /></div><div>The government's ambiguous attitude toward constitutional revision and its steadfast refusal to make a commitment concerning the basic form of the new government has heightened suspicions among political leaders and students. Choi's refusal to set a specific timetable has further raised suspicions and will continue to fuel opposition demands that the government make known its intentions. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Party Politics </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Although presidential elections are still at least a year away and the form of government remains undecided, maneuvering for presidential nominations is already dominating party politics. Many Koreans continue to see the pro-government Democratic Republican Party (DRP) as the beneficiary and handmaiden of the Yusin system. Moreover, the government and the military do not appear to support the party and its president, Kim Jong Pil. </div><div><br /></div><div>Kim, one of the architects of the 1961 coup d'etat that brought Park to power, and founder of the KCIA and the DRP, is a consummate politician. He is probably the most experienced and best qualified of the three presidential aspirants. Kim suffers, however, from an image of corruption in his early career and from his close association with the Park government. Although he is the party's obvious choice for presidential candidate, he faces challenges from Yi Hu-rak one of his political rivals, as well as from "young Turks" who are attempting to bring about a "purification" of the party by forcing out corrupt elements. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another threat to Kim Jong Pil's position might come in the form of a new pro-government party. Such a party-- supported by the military, big business and the bureaucracy-- would presumably be a "reformed" pro-government party that would stand for security, stability and economic growth-- Yusin themes couched in new language. Reports that such a party might emerge have been rife since early this year. Forming its nucleus would be members of the Yujonghoe-- Park-appointed National Assembly deputies--members of the old National Unification Conference numbering 2,500 persons and other former government personalities. </div><div><br /></div><div>Although Korean political observers suspect that Choi, Shin and Chun Doo Hwan are privy to and support such efforts, there is no convincing evidence that this is the case. Suspicions abound that political funds for the new party were accumulated by illegal means--including foreknowledge of the currency devaluation earlier this year--but the evidence is heavily circumstantial. </div><div><br /></div><div>New Democratic Party (NDP) efforts to nominate a single opposition presidential candidate have so far failed and, in fact, appear to be leading to a deep schism that could only benefit the DRP. Popular dissident Kim Dae Jung-- realizing that he would be at a disadvantage as a member of an NDP dominated by party president Kim Young Sam's supporters--has decided not to join the party and is hinting that he might form a second opposition party. </div><div><br /></div><div>Kim Young Sam will continue to appeal for opposition unity behind the NDP, to recruit new members, and to strengthen his grass roots organization. He will refrain from directly attacking his rival and maintain a pose of moderation and reason, but he will attempt to purge Kim Dae Jung's supporters from the NDP or to weaken their influence. </div><div><br /></div><div>Kim Dae Jung, meanwhile, has already taken steps to form a confederation of opposition figures who may not be willing to support Kim Young Sam. Kim Dae Jung is taking the position that only the out-of-office dissidents who refused to compromise with the Yusin system are the "core of the democratic forces," and is attempting to rally these to his cause. If he finds adequate support he might form another party, but in doing so he risks splitting the opposition forces to the point where the DRP would win in a fair election. </div><div><br /></div><div>Although opposition and majority parties are likely to continue to cooperate in the National Assembly in the interests of forcing the new government to accept a more liberal constitution, this marriage of convenience is not likely to last beyond the constitutional referendum. Should the government submit to referendum a form of government centering on a strong prime minister, the three Kims would in all probability shift their attention to winning election to the National Assembly. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Role of Chun Doo Hwan </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Army strongman General Chun Doo Hwan--who last month assumed command of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA)--is now clearly the most powerful man in South Korea. Since his takeover of the Army last December, Chun has gradually increased his power and influence, and has filled the power vaccuum created by Park's assassination last October. He commands the powerful Defense Security Command and has de facto control over the country's armed forces, exercised through his "core group" supporters and Korean Military Academy (KMA) graduates. </div><div><br /></div><div>Through his position in the KCIA, Chun enjoys direct access to the President and has an important voice in national security questions, particularly those involving domestic stability and relations with North Korea. President Park used one security agency to balance off the other, but Choi has given up that lever of power by putting Chun in control of both. Choi has thereby made himself even more a captive of Chun and whatever ambitions he might have. </div><div><br /></div><div>Chun almost certainly will play a decisive role in constitutional revision and the election of a new president. Excepting the KCIA, the military has permitted the civilian leadership to carry out the day-to-day administration of the country without direct intervention. The military does, however, exert its influence on civilian decision-making and the political process, in part through the direct personal contact that Chun has with the President and the Prime Minister, and in part through the atmosphere of fear and suspicion generated during nearly seven months of martial law.</div><div><br /></div><div>Reaction to Chun's takeover of the KCIA has been mixed. The military has generally supported the move, and business interests and others whose primary concern is economic stability have also welcomed a strong hand at the security helm, although some have misgivings about Chun's style and ambitions. Major presidential aspirants, however, generally regard the young general's rise to power as a threat to their own prospects and to the nation's political liberalization program. Students are highly suspicious of Chun's motives and have begun calling for his ouster. </div><div><br /></div><div>Publicly, Chun has disavowed political ambitions and has reiterated to Americans and Koreans alike that his sole ambition is to become Army Chief of Staff. He has attempted to portray himself as a simple soldier who wishes only to serve his country. To many of his fellow officers, however, he has long been known as a "political general." He probably sees himself as a great patriot and potential national leader in the mold of Park Chung Hee, whom he served closely and whom he regarded as a father figure. Chun may, therefore, regard himself as Park's rightful heir and may believe that it is his mission to preserve and continue the Yusin tradition. </div><div><br /></div><div>Chun's actions so far suggest that eventually he will move to extend his authority even further, although he may have no concrete, long-range game plan. It seems obvious that the longer he retains his absolute control over the military and civilian security organs, the less willing he will be to return to a position of lesser power. What Chun eventually decides to do will be determined - at least in part - by his ability to maintain his support within the military. Although Chun has consolidated his Army support by removing dissident elements, disgruntled officers remain. He does not seem automatically to have his way in his dealings with the military; he is rather considered first among equals, with important decisions being made by a small group of his close supporters in a collegial fashion. As long as this "core" group - which controls the key combat units in and around Seoul - is satisfied with Chun's actions, he has a good chance of retaining his position. </div><div><br /></div><div>Two possible developments could weaken Chun's Army support. First, his support would weaken if it became obvious that he was attempting to expand his powers over the civilian government because of purely personal ambitions. If, however, his act were seen as justifiable because of social or economic instability or a North Korean threat, Chun probably would be able to weather opposition to an extension of his power. Indeed, he has had little difficulty to date in removing pockets of resistance to his growing political strength. Second, Chun's support would weaken if it appeared that the US-ROK security alliance was endangered because of his political maneuvering. </div><div><br /></div><div>The US Government's recent postponement of the annual US-ROK Security Consultative Meeting is recognized by influential South Koreans as a demonstration of US dissatisfaction with Chun's appointment as acting director of the KCIA. So far, however, there is no evidence that Chun's maneuvers are jeopardizing his support in the military. Nonetheless, should a widespread perception arise that the security alliance had been damaged irreparably or that a US troop withdrawal was imminent because of American displeasure with Chun, anti-Chun elements could coalesce and demand his ouster. Faced with such a prospect, Chun probably would move quickly to seize control of the entire government in the name of national security. </div><div><br /></div><div>Many senior military officers might come to regard the US attitude as interference in Korean domestic affairs and rally to Chun's support. Even if widespread dissatisfaction with Chun were to develop, it is doubtful that anti-Chun elements would attempt to press for his removal, given the perception that any armed attempt to remove Chun would be almost certain to lead to a bloody internecine struggle within the military. Chun, meanwhile, probably would continue to attempt to convince the United States that he has no political ambitions and to press for an early rescheduling of the Security Consultative Meeting. It is highly unlikely that he would resign any of his posts in the face of a US threat.</div><div><br /></div><div>For the near term, Chun will probably continue to consolidate his position both in the military and in the civilian sectors. He will continue to purge those officers who do not show him their full support, and to reward those faithful to him. He will proceed with his reforms of the KCIA in a like fashion, removing all older, senior officials who were supporters or proteges of former KCIA chief and Presidential assassin Kim Chae-kyu and replacing them with younger military officers and persons he can trust. Although he has pledged to remove the KCIA from civilian politics, he is more likely to reduce its public visibility while in fact strengthening its position in civilian matters. </div><div><br /></div><div>Over the short run, Chun probably would prefer to remain behind the scenes, influencing civilian decision-making by advising President Choi and Prime Minister Shin. If, however, there is a serious disruption of public order or widespread instability, Chun would almost certainly intervene and expand his control of the government. Indeed, the rapid retreat from tight Yusin controls and the lax enforcement of martial law and censorship over the past few months could mean that Chun is deliberately permitting the situation to deteriorate, hoping to demonstrate that the country needs a strong leader and a conservative constitution. Such a deterioration could evoke a sense of disgust among the majority of the population, who would undoubtedly draw parallels with the situation in 1961, when social-political order suffered a near-collapse. </div><div><br /></div><div>The development of a chaotic situation would facilitate a complete military takeover. Civil instability of this magnitude would endanger national security, and a military takeover could be carried out with the concurrence and support of the Korean military, who are already being told through DSC briefings that the situation is as dangerous as that of 1961, when the military staged the coup d'etat that brought Park Chung Hee to power. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Destabilizing Elements </b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Students: </b></div><div>Government fear of widespread student unrest led the authorities earlier this year to take measures to remove potential student grievances before they could lead to disruptions. The authorities have capitulated to the students on one issue after another. They have virtually dismantled the unpopular Student Defense Corps, which had been used under Park to control student activities; they reinstated hundreds of students who had been expelled from school for their anti-government activities; and they have permitted the students almost unlimited campus autonomy. Moreover, the government and Martial Law Command have followed a policy of nonintervention in on-campus rallies and demonstrations, even though they technically are in violation of martial law decrees.</div><div><br /></div><div>These concessions, however, appear only to have whetted the students' appetite. In mid-April student demonstrations began to shift from campus-related issues to national issues, with students demanding the abolition of compulsory military drills. Early this month the demonstrations grew in scope and intensity as students attempting to take their protests into the streets were blocked by riot police in Seoul and other provincial cities. Further escalation of the student demonstrations could lead to more violent encounters. The death of a student at the hands of the police would produce an even more violent confrontation between students and authorities and would dramatically increase the chances of military intervention. </div><div><br /></div><div>Most of the current turmoil is being caused by a small number of hardline student agitators and the majority of the students would prefer to follow a more moderate line. Nonetheless, an emotional issue could spark massive demonstrations against the government. One such issue is the government attitude toward constitutional revision. Students are already criticizing what they perceive as an unresponsive government position on political liberalization. The continuation of martial law also has come in for heavy student criticism. </div><div><br /></div><div>Students also will almost certainly attempt to exploit economic issues, especially labor problems, and the execution of Park's assassin, Kim Chae-kyu, expected later this month. Many students and dissidents regard Kim as a hero and patriot whose deed has returned democracy to Korea. After the Supreme Court upholds Kim's death sentence, the pressure will be on Choi to grant clemency. Student demonstrations demanding clemency for Kim are likely to excite further the tense campus atmosphere as the execution date approaches. </div><div><br /></div><div>Unless student demonstrations become more violent, or move off the campuses into the streets, the government might continue its policy of permitting on-campus rallies and demonstrations without police intervention. The military will be content to let the police handle student demonstrations and will be reluctant to sully the image of the military by using troops to quell student protests. Both the government and the Martial Law Command, however, have issued stern warnings that they will act to prevent further student violence and there is little doubt that there is a limit to military patience. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Labor: </b></div><div>Although the government has long experience in dealing with student disruptions, it now faces a new, unfamiliar threat from labor turmoil and strikes, which have begun to proliferate. </div><div><br /></div><div>The condition of the South Korean economy, long a source of political strength and stability for the government, has turned against Seoul during this difficult political transition period. Largely due to adverse external developments, inflation and unemployment are on the rise and will continue to increase over the next several months, bringing new demands from labor. In particular, workers have demanded wage increases many times higher than the government guidelines.</div><div><br /></div><div>Compounding the problem is the sudden release of workers' pent-up resentment over labor union collusion with management. Indeed, a bloody labor riot in a coal-mining town in late April may mark a turning point in the tone and direction of the Korean labor movement. Workers now appear ready to protect and expand their interests and rights parallel with political liberalization, and are likely to be bolder in making demands for better treatment, pay, and fringe benefits. </div><div><br /></div><div>Exacerbating the situation is the threat of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (DKTU) to organize a nationwide struggle committee to force the government to repeal its controversial National Security and Defense Law, which prohibits strikes and calls for binding arbitration in labor disputes. Such open resistance to the government--in the form of mass rallies in major cities throughout the country-- is certain to encourage workers to press their demands for higher wages. This new mood in labor-management relations is likely to lead politicians to use the economy as an issue against the government, further encouraging students to join in with workers in anti-government riots. Social activist organizations such as the Urban Industrial Mission - largely quiescent since Park's assassination - might attempt to encourage workers to press for their demands. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fearing that government resistance to worker demands could lead to more bloody confrontations, President Choi seems inclined to settle future wage disputes in favor of the workers. As more unions receive higher wage settlements, others will be encouraged to raise their demands. This, in turn, will result in a further upsurge of the inflationary spiral. Higher wages would also make it more difficult for Korea to compete internationally with other low-cost labor economies. If strikes proliferate, a decline in foreign investor confidence could have a serious impact on the long-term development of the economy. </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</div><div><p>On May 9, 1980, the CIA issued an Alert Memorandum for the National Security Council titled "<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP83B01027R000200020024-8.pdf">Growing Unrest in South Korea and Prospects for Takeover by Military Strongman Chon Doo Hwan</a>." Though it was published before the report above, it contains much more recent information about student protests and opposition moves. As the report notes, </p><p></p><blockquote>The Alert Memorandum is an interagency publication issued by the Director of Central Intelligence on behalf of the Intelligence Community. Its purpose is to ensure that senior policymakers are aware of impending potential developments that may have serious implications for US interests. It is not a prediction that these developments will occur. This memorandum has been coordinated at the working Level with CIA, DIA, NSA, and State/INR. </blockquote><p></p><p>The first page, which seems to serve as an introduction, is signed by CIA Director Stansfield Turner. The following two pages contain a fuller report.</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</p><p><b>Alert Memorandum: Growing Unrest in South Korea and Prospects for Takeover by Military Strongman Chon Doo Hwan</b></p><p>1. Current reporting indicates that the level of anti-government activities by South Korean students, supported by opposition political leaders and workers, is coming to a head. Student activists and sympathizers have enumerated a series of demands and set a deadline of 14 May for government action, failing which they threaten demonstrations in the streets. ROK authorities are reportedly devising a series of steps to forestall a confrontation, with the use of force the last resort. It appears doubtful, however, that the activists will respond to government pleas for moderation. The outcome of clashes by students and troops, if they occur, will depend on the response of several key actors, and certainly on the state of mind and the role played by military strongman Chon Doo Hwan. </p><p>2. While what we have observed of North Korean reactions to developments in the South since the Park assassination does not yet suggest an intention to exploit the situation militarily, I continue to be concerned about the adequacy of warning on Korea. In this light, the current South Korean unrest, which brings with it the possibility of a military takeover, is yet another in a series of recent events that could undermine stability in the South and tempt Pyongyang to attack. </p><p>Stansfield Turner</p><p><b>Alert Memorandum: Growing Unrest in South Korea and Prospects for Takeover by Military Strongman Chon Doo Hwan</b></p><p><i>A serious confrontation between ROK authorities and South Korean students is taking shape. While only a portion of the university student enrollment is involved, activists appear determined to test the permissiveness of the authorities and have put forward a series of political demands deemed unacceptable by ROK authorities, including the Lifting of martial Law by 14 May and the dismissal of top government leaders. Students in many parts of the country are planning to take to the streets and stage marches if their deadline is not met. </i></p><p>These developments have caused great concern among ROK officials, particularly since they are occurring at a time of labor unrest. Officials are particularly alarmed about the possibility that student and labor demonstrators will join forces in the streets. President Choi is reported to be considering a variety of measures to deal with these threats but probably lacks the will and ability to act decisively. The ROK Army Chief of Staff placed the infantry regiments of five divisions, the Special Warfare Command, and the Capital Security Command on standby alert. They are to be prepared to move into Seoul to support Martial Law Command efforts to control student demonstrators. On 6-7 May, two special forces brigades moved into the Seoul area, joining four others garrisoned there. </p><p>[3-4 lines are censored.]</p><p>The outcome of clashes between students and troops would depend upon the reactions of opposition figures, the business community, and the general public. Opposition political leaders already have expressed support for some student demands and have called for a special National Assembly session later this month to discuss the situation. Sympathy for the students among other elements, however, is limited. The majority of South Koreans probably hope that actions which might lead to instability, to a military dictatorship, and to a loss of foreign - and especially US - confidence can be avoided. It is possible, therefore, that the authorities would be able to suppress student activism without causing the confrontation to spread to other sectors of society. It is also possible, however, that such clashes -especially if they involved loss of civilian life - might bring workers and opposition political leaders into the confrontation and rupture the process of political reconstruction under way since President Park's assassination. </p><p> The attitude and role of military strongman Lt. Gen. Chon Doo Hwan with respect to these developments probably will be decisive. If, as [ 5 lines censored ]</p><p>All of the actors in this situation will, however, be very mindful of US Government attitudes. Student and opposition party leaders will be looking to the United States to restrain and inhibit crackdowns by the ROK Government and the military. Chon himself will want to avoid as much as possible provoking US reactions that could undermine his position or the US/ROK security relationship. Nevertheless, if Chon believes that the United States is out to get him and that his power within the ROK military is eroding as a result, he may be prepared to discount US attitudes in the interest of taking full control of the government. </p><p>North Korea does not currently appear to be taking any military steps in response to the deteriorating political situation in the South. However, the events of 26 October and 12 December 1979 caught the North by surprise. That is not true of the present situation. As we pointed out in SNIE 42/14.2-79, 20 December 1979, and in an Alert Memorandum, 8 February 1980, the emergence of widespread civil disorder in the South would prompt Pyongyang to consider forceful reunification of the peninsula. If Washington were seen to be preoccupied with the situation in South Asia and domestic issues, Pyongyang would probably be further emboldened by a conclusion that the US capacity to resolve the situation in the South or to defend South Korea was seriously weakened.</p></div><div style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>There are a number of interesting observations in these reports. In the second, this is noted:</div><div><blockquote>The ROK Army Chief of Staff placed the infantry regiments of five divisions, the Special Warfare Command, and the Capital Security Command on standby alert. They are to be prepared to move into Seoul to support Martial Law Command efforts to control student demonstrators. </blockquote></div><div>Special Warfare Command and the Capital Security Command were not under Combined Forces Combined Operational Control (CFC OPCON), so these could be moved without any US oversight, but it's not clear which "infantry regiments of five divisions" are being referred to. Two of the Twentieth Division's three regiments were not under CFC OPCON at the time, and not all ROK troops were a part of CFC, but I would be curious to know which troops in particular are being referred to here.</div><div><br /></div><div>As well, in the first report, it is noted that "President Park used one security agency to balance off the other, but Choi has given up that lever of power by putting Chun in control of both. Choi has thereby made himself even more a captive of Chun and whatever ambitions he might have." A number of US reports from this time provide insights into the way Korea's "political architecture" functioned.</div><div><br /></div><div>It also notes that Chun's control of the military was not complete and he was more of a "first among equals," and that he could lose support "if it became obvious that he was attempting to expand his powers over the civilian government because of purely personal ambitions. If, however, his act were seen as justifiable because of social or economic instability or a North Korean threat, Chun probably would be able to weather opposition to an extension of his power."</div><div><br /></div><div>In response to Chun's appointment as acting director of the KCIA in mid-April 1980, the US Government postponed the annual US-ROK Security Consultative Meeting, which perturbed many in the ROK military and government (so much so that Chun actually sent officers to Washington to lobby for the SCM to be reinstated). As the report noted, "Many senior military officers might come to regard the US attitude as interference in Korean domestic affairs and rally to Chun's support." It also predicted of Chun that "It is highly unlikely that he would resign any of his posts in the face of a US threat."</div><div><br /></div><div><div>The report both noted the extreme likelihood of Chun expanding his power in the face of instability and suggested he may be trying to promote such instability: </div><div><blockquote>If, however, there is a serious disruption of public order or widespread instability, Chun would almost certainly intervene and expand his control of the government. Indeed, the rapid retreat from tight Yusin controls and the lax enforcement of martial law and censorship over the past few months could mean that Chun is deliberately permitting the situation to deteriorate, hoping to demonstrate that the country needs a strong leader and a conservative constitution. </blockquote></div><div>I don't know that this has ever been proven - I imagine those in Chun's inner circle who could testify to this are either dead or unlikely to talk. But the fact that Chun had himself made head of the KCIA just days before the 20th anniversary of the April 19, 1960 student uprising may suggest he was hoping to provoke a similar outburst on that anniversary (though this never occurred). </div><div><br /></div><div>I found it interesting that the Chun-controlled Defense Security Command (DSC) was already propagandizing to support his eventual takeover. As the report notes, "a military takeover could be carried out with the concurrence and support of the Korean military, who are already being told through DSC briefings that the situation is as dangerous as that of 1961, when the military staged the coup d'etat that brought Park Chung Hee to power." That's something I've never seen mentioned elsewhere, and hints at what new information USFK, DIA, or unreleased CIA cables or documents might contain.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>While the report predicted that "The development of a chaotic situation would facilitate a complete military takeover," it did not predict that a military takeover could provoke a far more "chaotic" situation, as is what occurred in Gwangju. This is counter to <a href="https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/memorandum-donald-gregg-zbigniew-brzezinski-date-korea">Donald Gregg's comment</a> (admittedly after the fact, on May 21) that "Regardless of the justification given, the Korean Government's actions in the last five days heighten rather than reduce the dangers of growing tension, demonstrations, and political turmoil." He added, "This is not only a setback to Korea, but also to our policy. From the President on down, we have made it clear repeatedly that the sorts of actions taken in the last few days would have serious consequences for U.S.-Korean relations," which makes clear that the CIA's suggestion that Chun "may be prepared to discount US attitudes in the interest of taking full control of the government" was correct.</div><div><br /></div><div>As to why more wasn't done to censure Chun, particularly after the US government issued a travel advisory and began cancelling economic visits on May 18 in response to the expansion of martial law and arrests of politicians, these lines of the second report are important ones:</div><div><blockquote>As we pointed out in SNIE 42/14.2-79, 20 December 1979, and in an Alert Memorandum, 8 February 1980, the emergence of widespread civil disorder in the South would prompt Pyongyang to consider forceful reunification of the peninsula. If Washington were seen to be preoccupied with the situation in South Asia and domestic issues, Pyongyang would probably be further emboldened by a conclusion that the US capacity to resolve the situation in the South or to defend South Korea was seriously weakened.</blockquote></div><div>That report gave a 50/50 chance of North Korea taking military action in the face of widespread civil disorder, and the ROK government's loss of control over almost an entire province certainly, for US policymakers, fit that description. As Gregg put it, "It is fortunate that Cholla-Namdo is far from the DMZ. If it were not, the situation would be far more explosive." </div><div><br /></div><div>I'll post the two documents referred to above next.</div><div><br /></div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-32843232966664246402023-05-19T16:44:00.005+09:002023-05-24T14:22:56.247+09:00The Student Statement of May 10, 1980<p>Update, May 24, 2023:</p><p>The title of the statement below in Korean is "제2차 시국에 대한 공동 성명서". A full copy of the translation doesn't seem to be online but its three pages are shown on <a href="https://archive.much.go.kr/data/05/folderView.do?jobdirSeq=1710 ">this page</a> and the first page of it can be found on <a href="https://blog.naver.com/5555d/221993373988">this web page</a> (the image is located <a href="https://blogfiles.pstatic.net/MjAyMDA2MTBfMiAg/MDAxNTkxNzgzMzcwODYx.hg0XHejVMLonlHJQCmwvcW0GLCWX19nCRLwAqkAXJ0wg.rpv4Yk7nUlhKCNZywSljrv4sSaKv9HuhEGBeQph4pvAg.JPEG.5555d/%EC%A0%9C2%EC%8B%9C%EA%B5%AD%EC%84%A0%EC%96%B8%EB%AC%B8.jpg">here</a>). Many thanks to the reader who shared this with me.</p><p>Original post:</p><p>In May 1980, after student activists had achieved many of their goals for campus liberalization after Park Chung-hee's death, they began to turn their attention toward national politics, prompted in large part by Chun Doo-hwan being appointed acting director of the KCIA (while also still retaining his position as head of Defense Security Command, thereby controlling both the civilian and military intelligence organizations). The fact that Chun received this appointment just days before the 20th anniversary of the April 19, 1960 student protests that overthrew Syngman Rhee may suggest that riling the students up had been one of his goals. </p><p>On May 10, 1980, student leaders released a statement which was translated and sent in a diplomatic cable by the US Embassy to the State Department on May 16, 1980 (Telegram 80Seoul 006247, which can be found <a href="https://www.518archives.go.kr/books/ebook/9/index.html#page=128">here</a>).</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</p><p>Subject: Text of May 10 statement by student leaders </p><p>To give Washington readers some local favor, this message conveys a rough translation of text of the May 10 statement of Seoul student leaders. Text reveals substantial traces of xenophobia and radical rhetoric. To some extent this reflects student newspeak plastered on top of the harsh tone usually employed in Korean manifestoes. However this statement was signed by student leaders from all universities in and near Seoul. </p><p>Begin text:</p><p>The Second Joint Statement on Situation.</p><p>The 26 October incident will have its historical significance only when it is regarded as an extension of the great struggle that has erupted in succession in the form of the self-immolation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeon_Tae-il">Chon T'ae-il</a>, the <a href="https://koreanology.wordpress.com/2021/02/09/kim-shiducks-conflict-city-2019-seongnam-city/">resistance of the settlers of Songnam City</a>, the struggle of the workers of the <a href="https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/korean-women-textile-workers-fight-fair-union-election-1976-1978">Tongil Textile Factory</a>, the <a href="https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002730211">farmers’ movement in Hamp’yong</a> and, finally, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busan%E2%80%93Masan_Uprising">mass uprisings in Pusan and Masan</a>. </p><p>The 26 October incident was, indeed, a great victory of the anti-fascist struggle in this land. However, it has its limit in that the masses shall not be given the victory in its real sense unless we thoroughly liquidate the accumulated irregularities through our continuous struggle, because the victory was only a result of the self-split of the dictatorship. The fact that Chon Tu-hwan and Sin Hyon-hwak, who fawned upon the Pak regime under the Yushin dictatorship, still hold power by means of controlling the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprador">comprador</a> forces clearly shows the limit.</p><p>Therefore, the tasks remaining before us now are to repel the foreign power completely which supported the dictatorial regime in the past 20 years, liquidate the comprador bureaucrats and business groups, the hirelings of the dictatorship, who employed the methods of fictions of violence, and accomplish self-reliance in economy, correcting the dependent economic structure distorted by the remnants of the Yushin system.</p><p>Look, after the transition government of Ch'oe Kyu-ha embarked, Chon Tu-hwan and Sin Hyon-hwak and their ilk, while stressing the national security-first policy, mobilized the troops from the DMZ for the coup of 12 December, secured their political fund by raising the conversion rate and oil prices, appointed Chon Tu-hwan acting director of the KCIA, and are refusing to lift the unjustifiable emergency martial law in an attempt to realize the dual executive system and the medium-size constituency system by railroading the government proposed [draft] bill for the constitutional amendment. They are now overtly hatching the plot for maintaining the power basis of the running dogs of the Yushin system by means of the emergency martial law and the government-controlled press.</p><p>They are paying lip service that the government has no plan to introduce the double executive system and that the time schedule for democratization shall not be changed. But they still refuse to lift the unjustifiable martial law. Indeed, we cannot but suspect their ulterior intention.</p><p>Look at the pitiful [struggle] for existence of the <a href="https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2012/06/29/fountain/The-Sabuk-incident-and-reconciliation/2955337.html">Sabuk Coal Mine</a>, the Tongguk Steel Mill and elsewhere. Let us look back on how our farmers have suffered and how their right to existence have been threatened under the undemocratic system of the agricultural cooperatives under the Yushin system, our national economy has at last marked a "minus growth rate” under the ruinous, dependent national economic structure. It is an inevitable outcome of the policy of economic growth by export which has protected only the interests of the comprador capitalists, totally ignoring the minimum demands of the masses. </p><p>We are united as one and uphold are banner of national struggle. We make it clear that we declared our struggle in the name of the nation and masses, and therefore, we will not withdraw even an inch.</p><p>On the emergency martial law: the entire masses demand lifting of, the emergency martial law. They clearly know that the logic of the national security by the remnants of the Yushin system is fictitious and is a lie aimed at maintaining their power. Their "national security" is not for the nation but for the continuation of the Yushin system and for its comprador forces. In other words, their "national security" is for the protection of all the anti-nationalist forces. Their emergency martial law is not for the national security but for the suppression of the masses. It is the cold water to cool the masses’ zeal for democracy, and therefore, is detrimental to the genuine national security. If the current situation is as serious as they claim and, therefore, the martial law cannot be lifted, how can you explain the Ch'oe Kyu-ha's recent visit to the Middle East? How can a head of state leave his country if the situation at home is so grave? We are convinced that there is no reason whatsoever for continuing the martial law, and we cannot but suspect that Ch'oe's visit to the Middle East is aimed at abetting a coup by Chon Tu-hwan.</p><p>On government-initiated draft of constitutional amendment and the double executive system: The so-called "eclectic type" double executive system is a scheme hatched by Sin Hyon-hwak and Chon Tu-hwan, the running dogs of the Yushin system, in the self-contradiction of political development under the martial law. The double executive system is basically an expression of their sense of crisis that they, the remnants of the Yushin system, cannot seize power through direct and popular presidential elections. According to this system, the president shall be in charge of foreign relations and national security, while the head of the cabinet shall be in charge of home affairs, and in case of an emergency, the president shall hold the total power. Under this system, a president who alone is in charge of foreign relations and national security can suppress the masses' demand for the rights of existence under the excuse of national security and prevention of social disorder. This system is designed to justify the military intervention in the national politics and pave the way for military strongmen to wield power in handling state affairs under the pretext of pseudo national security...</p><p>On the other hand, the medium-size constituency system is a system under which candidates need enormous amounts of money and runner-ups can also be elected to the national assembly.</p><p>The Yushin clique hatching a big plot now to maintain their power is composed of a handful of the Yushin remnants within the military including Chon Tu-hwan who are utilizing the military for political purposes, concealing the zeal of the majority of soldiers for democratization, and some bureaucrats including Sin Hyon-hwak who have fawned upon the Yushin system. </p><p>They are now trying to realize the double executive system and the medium-size constitutency [sic] system against the wishes of the majority of the masses, controlling the press, holding public hearings of the government's amendment deliberation committee, and fabricating public opinions. For this, they are maintaining the emergency martial law and are supressing [sic] the masses' indignation.</p><p>On the press: the press tycoons who forcibly drove to the street the reporters of the <a href="https://libcom.org/library/dong-workers-struggle-confronting-kcia">Tong-A Ilbo </a>and the Choson Ilbo who struggled for their rights, haven't cast off their habit of parasites and are still serving the running dogs of the Yushin system. They are distorting the true picture of the just struggle of the Sabuk workers by describing it as "riot by rebels" and "a lawless world", etc. They reported the campus democratization movement and the demonstration against the military training at army bases as "violence" and "riot" and even "acts of those who have nothing else to do".</p><p>Of late, they report the students' movement quite in detail, using such words as "peaceful" and "pure", etc.. However, if theirs is the simple logic that the students' movement is peaceful and understandable only because it is limited to on-campus movements, they will surely report it as "creating social disturbance" and "not peaceful" if we take to the street to expand the arena of our struggle.</p><p>Men of the press, don't you think the entire press should have joined in the sit-in struggle at the Chungang Ilbo (newspaper) company which was staged in protest against the recent police assault on reporters in Sabuk? Don't you think it is now time for the press to formally demand the lifting of the martial law and regain your rights? The entire masses will extend their full support for the struggle of the press. At the same time, you should strongly demand the re-employment of the dismissed reporters.</p><p>We affirm that our struggle is vital to attaining a country in which the masses are its true masters, a country unified on the basis of the masses. We firmly believe that our struggle is not only for us but is linked with the struggle for survival of the working masses, and we will not lower in vain our banner which we have raised high.</p><p>We will further intensify our struggle in the name of the masses and will sublimate it to the rising of the entire collegians to achieve this national task. </p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lift the emergency martial law.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Out with Chon Tu-hwan and other political soldiers.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Out with [PM] Sin Hyon-hwak and other Yushin remnants.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Release [poet] Kim Chi-ha and other conscientious offenders.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dissolve Yujong-hoe* and stop government-initiated drafting of constitutional amendment.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dissolve the national council of unification.**</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Release the hundreds of students who are imprisoned in connection with the democratization movement. </p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Guarantee the three labor rights, abolish the national security defense law and other evil laws, and release the imprisoned workers.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Democratize the agricultural cooperative associations and guarantee the farmers' rights.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Press tycoons should stop breaking faith and support the reporters' struggle for the free press.</p><p>On possible school closure: we firmly believe that the peaceful democratization movement of the collegians, demanding reforms in the "order of violence" which has suppressed the people's right to live and corrupted the righteous spirit and conscience of the nation, is the expression of our national consensus. We have not forgotten even for a moment either our zeal for study in the course of expressing our opinions. Therefore, if the campus is ordered to close down, we shall regard it as a blatant attempt to suppress our peaceful and just demands. We want to make it clear therefore that we will hold the Yushin running dogs, including Chon Tu-hwan and Sin Hyon-hwak, who have become the mark of national criticism, entirely responsible for the consequences arising from it. If it becomes impossible for us to hold on-campus meetings, we shall hold meetings outside the campus to proclaim far and wide the injustice of the oppressive regime and the justice of our demands. We therefore expect the rational judgment of the responsible authorities and hereby proclaim our resolutions as follows: </p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We reject orders of campus close-down.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We will stage peaceful on-campus demonstrations in principle for the time being.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If and when campus close-down is ordered, we will hold separate demonstrations at six p.m. on the first day of the close-down at the following places: Yongdungp'o Intersection in Kangnam, Kongdok-dong rotary in Kangbuk area, Ch'ongyangni rotary and in front of the Seoul Stadium in Kangdong area.</p><p>-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We urge all the conscientious students of colleges, junior colleges and universities in Seoul and provincial cities to join us in our decisions.</p><p>General student councils of Kon Guk University, Kungmin University, Toksong Women's College, Industrial College, Seoul National University, Songgyun'gwan University, Sungmyong Women's University, Yonsei University, Ehwa Women's University, Hanguk Theological Seminary, Hongik University, Korea University, Tan Guk University, Tongguk University, Sogang Jesuit University, Seoul Women's College, Songs In Women's College, Sungjon University, The Han Guk University Of Foreign Studies, Chung Ang University, Hanyang University, and Taeyu Junior College of Engineering.</p><p>End text.</p><p>Gleysteen</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * * *</p><p>* The Yujeong-hoe was the one-third of the National Assembly appointed by Park Chung-hee under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Republic_of_Korea">Yushin Constitution</a>, which allowed his loyalists to control that body even if the opposition won a majority in elections. </p><p>** The national council of unification was the appointed body tasked with electing the president.</p><p>Near the beginning, the statement speaks of the need to "repel the foreign power completely which supported the dictatorial regime in the past 20 years". This kind of rhetoric is worth remembering when it's argued that anti-Americanism began in Korea after the Gwangju Uprising. (I've noted before that Park <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-1968-blue-house-raid-seizure-of-uss.html">allowed anti-American protests by students in 1968</a> in order to pressure the US.) As well, though I haven't read this in Korean, I'd bet the term for "foreign power" (to be repelled) is 외세, a term which usually connoted Japan, but which was used not only by the students, but by Park Chung-hee's government as well to obliquely refer to the US when criticizing it. </p><p>[Update: It is indeed 외세. That sentence in Korean reads "그리므로 10.26은 또한 20년간의 독재를 가능케했던 외세의 완전한 배격, 그 하수인으로써 폭력적 대중 수탈에 근거한 매판관료와 재벌의 철저한 해퇴, 그리고 이 매판적 유신잔당들에 의해 왜곡되어진 종속적 경제구조의 자립화를 우리에게 다시금 과제로써 남겨놓고 있는 것이다."]</p><p>It's also interesting how the statement leverages the memory of Cheon Tae-il and the Gwangju (Gyeonggi-do) settlers' uprising (events from 1970 and 1971) and the Donga Ilbo struggle of 1974-75 to create a genealogy of resistance to Park Chung-hee.</p><p>The "double executive system" referred to is explained in a May 14, 1980 CIA report titled "<a href="http://cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00287R000101140001-6.pdf">Political Reconstruction In South Korea: A Difficult Road</a>":</p><p></p><blockquote>Although popular sentiment appears to favor direct, popular election of the president, many--including President Choi himself--would prefer an indirect election by the National Assembly. This would ensure the election of a conservative candidate acceptable to the military. [...] An alternative would be to institute a "dual executive" system with a relatively weak president and a strong Prime Minister.</blockquote><p></p><div>The report's summary also offered this in regard to possible student demonstrations:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>The combination of a volatile political atmosphere and an ambitious, conservative military leadership appears to be driving South Korea toward more turmoil. The students, disgruntled workers, and others who are criticizing the interim government and the military most loudly seem to be playing into Chun's hands. Their recent call for an immediate end to martial law could provoke the kind of instability that Chun needs to step in. [...]</div><div><br /></div><div>If a confrontation between students and the military can be avoided, the government has a better than even chance of sticking to its transition schedule, which calls for constitutional revision later this year and presidential elections next summer. If a confrontation develops, the entire transition process will be slowed; it is an open question when or whether Chun Doo Hwan would relinquish the authority he would acquire from the resulting turmoil. </div></blockquote><p>The full report - which I'll post soon along with another - does not come across as very positive about the prospects of Chun relinquishing power should he gain it, and in fact offers this: "the rapid retreat from tight Yusin controls and the lax enforcement of martial law and censorship over the past few months could mean that Chun is deliberately permitting the situation to deteriorate, hoping to demonstrate that the country needs a strong leader and a conservative constitution."</p><p>The Student declaration posted above was released on May 10, when students were still demonstrating on campuses. These student on-campus rallies were disrupted on May 12 by rumors that North Korea might attack and the ROK military might move onto campuses. Student leaders called the rallies off, but by the next day they realized they had been fooled by these rumors, which they assumed had been spread by the military. This angered even the moderate students and gave the upper hand to the radicals who urged that protests move into the streets, which they did, in historically large numbers, on May 14 and May 15. </p><p>These protests were used as a pretext for the military takeover of May 17, (though it may also have been influenced by the fact that not just the political opposition but also former ruling party politicians like Kim Jong-pil announced their openness to the student demand that Martial Law be lifted, and a National Assembly session was just days away), and it's hard not to notice the fact that it was rumors of a DPRK attack that students attributed to the military that ultimately led to large scale protests off campus. It's not known if this was a deliberate attempt to foment unrest by the military or not... perhaps some day we will find out. </p><p>There is a record of how one key member of the military group felt about student rhetoric. In his meeting with Martial Law Commander Lee Hui-seong on May 18 when he asked for an explanation of why martial law had been expanded, <a href="https://uploads.mwp.mprod.getusinfo.com/uploads/sites/67/2022/03/DOCUMENTS_Kwangju_Kwangju_DOC_0C06534574_C06534574.pdf">US Ambassador Gleysteen reported</a> Lee’s comments about the students:</p><p></p><blockquote>On studying the students' statement issued following the meeting at Koryo University, he had become concerned over the communist terminology. The statement urged class struggle, denounced the capitalist system, supported communist themes, and called for a mass uprising of the people. In amplification or this point, General Lee said that students who had initially refused military training but later reconsidered had been taken to the Third Military Academy. Several statements heard from these students caused serious concern. One said that while Vietnam had changed its system and might not have achieved democracy, at least the country had been unified. Another student had suggested modification in the ROK to a system between the present one here and that in the north to achieve unification. Another student had questioned ROK support for U.S. and Japanese capitalists. When asked where they had learned such things, 50 percent of the students said from older students and 20 percent said from the societies and clubs on their campuses. These were students with only two months of university and he was very concerned over this type of thinking taking hold so quickly on the nation's campuses. If it were not controlled, Lee feared the ROK would be communized in a manner similar to Vietnam.</blockquote><p></p><p>While Lee’s attitudes were dismissed by Gleysteen as “pure Yushin thinking,” they were clearly shared by the generals who had met the previous morning and decided a takeover of the country by the military was necessary. How the ROK's cabinet felt about this when they met to "discuss" the expansion of martial law on the evening of May 17 was immaterial, according to<a href="https://timshorrock.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMPOSITION-OF-MARTIAL-LAW-MAY-18-1980.pdf"> a Defense Intelligence Agency report</a>:</p><p></p><blockquote>From the time they left their car in
front of the main capital building, moved through security and then up to the
conference room, received an explanation as to what was wanted, given an
opportunity to sign the document which was prepared and awaiting signature, and
returned to the car was approximately 20 minutes. Source observed that, in
order to get to the conference room being used, participants had to use
hallways lined with armed soldiers. Source felt this had an overly ominous
effect on the proceedings. It was apparent a few of the ministers were fearful
that they might be arrested. At least one expressed such fears privately after
the experience was over. This report reflects the strong handed way the army
and the PM [Prime Minister] handled the meeting at which total ML [Martial Law]
was approved.</blockquote><p></p><p>All attempts at holding demonstrations over the next few days were immediately pounced on by troops or police and stopped before they could happen, except in Gwangju.</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-77828640083469008122023-05-18T15:26:00.002+09:002023-05-18T15:26:19.266+09:00The Gwangju Uprising after 43 years<p>Today marks the 43rd anniversary of the beginning of the Gwangju Uprising. </p><p>An index of my posts over the years about the uprising can be found <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/p/my-posts-about-gwangju-uprising.html">here</a>.</p><p>I've spent time over the past few years reading through US diplomatic cables from a variety of sources (which appear in <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2006/05/bibliography-of-kwangju-uprising-in.html">this bibliography</a>, which I've just updated). Interestingly, many of the cables which had parts redacted that have been more recently released in unredacted form turn out to have not been censoring material that made the US look bad - they were censoring material that was critical of their ally or that might make prominent Koreans look bad (three of these people became president of the ROK in the 1990s). </p><p>The cables actually provide fascinating windows into what was happening in Korea at that time, and I'll post, over the next week, some of the more interesting ones I've found, such as a May 1980 Student manifesto.</p><p>Also worth noting is that a new book has been released:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKvTzCjv98CB6am87LxsHKHTsJPc3w4UlJg9BttQ9jFw5UO5vYnZNKhSpkdHYBFZWHgKhxg40-Q3Q6rpFpNROx4KqsJG2PmSGow4w0MJv8Au0kDArk0btkMxkRN3uPGZwz-bmPWd22lTnV5pRyXqO_gtJLzycoy57vMYIiuNUuHY6-G9UR4lk/s677/SELECTED%20ORAL%20HISTORIES%20OF%20THE%20MAY%2018%20GWANGJU%20UPRISING.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKvTzCjv98CB6am87LxsHKHTsJPc3w4UlJg9BttQ9jFw5UO5vYnZNKhSpkdHYBFZWHgKhxg40-Q3Q6rpFpNROx4KqsJG2PmSGow4w0MJv8Au0kDArk0btkMxkRN3uPGZwz-bmPWd22lTnV5pRyXqO_gtJLzycoy57vMYIiuNUuHY6-G9UR4lk/s16000/SELECTED%20ORAL%20HISTORIES%20OF%20THE%20MAY%2018%20GWANGJU%20UPRISING.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>Kim Yeon-min, Robert Grotjohn, eds, <i>Selected Oral Histories of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising: Vol. 1. Testimonies from Various Locations</i>, Chonnam National University Press, 2023.</p><div>This is the first of at least four planned volumes of oral accounts of the uprising (and is available from online Korean booksellers like <a href="https://product.kyobobook.co.kr/detail/S000201209943">Kyobo</a> and <a href="https://www.aladin.co.kr/shop/wproduct.aspx?ItemId=312728006">Aladin</a>).</div><p>The Hankyoreh also reported on disturbing findings by the May 18 Democratization Movement Truth Commission: <a href="https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1092181.html">Martial law forces continued killing Gwangju citizens after suppression operation, says eyewitness</a></p><p>The May 18 Democratization Movement Truth Commission's chairperson was also recently <a href="https://timshorrock.com/2023/05/15/gwangju-and-the-fort-benning-connection/">interviewed by Tim Shorrock</a>, and there is some interesting material there. The chairperson noted that requests have been made to the US for military and CIA documents (State Department and Carter Library documents were released in 2021) and that they may be able to disprove claims by Chun's group, while Shorrock implies they could shed light on the "dark alley that investigators call 'the Fort Benning connection' – that is, the close relationship between Chun and his accomplices with American generals and special forces operatives in Korea." The article does little to shed any light on this, however, merely pointing out a handful of references to American officers who interacted with the ROK military as part of their duties and implying newly-declassified materials may implicate them. </p><p></p><blockquote>In the aftermath of the “12/12 Incident,” U.S. embassy, military, and State Department officials claimed that Chun [Doo-hwan] was an obscure general little known to US Forces Korea, and said they had been assured at the highest levels it would never happen again. But those claims were untrue, according to James V. Young, who was the military intelligence adviser to U.S. Ambassador William Gleysteen at the time. </blockquote><p></p><p>Skipping over the fact that Young was the assistant defense attache, the last sentence implies that Young’s revelations (in his 2003 memoir <i>Eye on Korea</i>) reveal that U.S. embassy, military, and State Department officials were lying, whereas Young actually wrote that prior to 12.12, “I began to wonder whether the left hand knew what the right hand was doing—obviously we were in big trouble if Washington had such a superficial understanding of the situation that it did not know who Chun was, especially after all the reporting we had done. The problem was that, while the DIA and CIA obviously had large amounts of information, the State Department, at least at the working levels, was only peripherally aware of this important personality.” [Page 63] Rather than lies, Young points to bureaucracies with differing priorities at work, hence Chun Doo-hwan being "little known" to the State Department. </p><p>As well, we're told that </p><p></p><blockquote>Young wrote that Chun was especially close to Col. Donald Hiebert, a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who was the U.S. embassy’s defense attache in 1980. Hiebert first met Chun in the 1970s. At that time, “One of [Hiebert’s] frequent associates was a young colonel, Chun Doo Hwan,” Young wrote. “Hiebert had met the colonel in Vietnam, where Chun had commanded a battalion, and had continued their association in Korea. They met rather frequently.” Young said he met Chun for the first time at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in 1972 and several times after that, “usually accompanied by Col. Hiebert.”</blockquote><p></p><p>The problem with this paragraph is that there's an error in it that renders it pointless: Hiebert was the U.S. embassy’s defense attache in 1972, not 1980. The Vietnam War-era NYT article about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/koreans-weighing-shift-in-role-and-combat-tactics.html">the ROK military in Vietnam</a> that is linked to is interesting enough, I suppose, but Hiebert had nothing to do with the events of 1979-1980. </p><p>That said, Shorrock is always able to dig up fascinating material, like <a href="https://www.38north.org/2017/10/tshorrock100317/">this interaction between North Koreans and Americans</a> in early June 1980 about the Gwangju Uprising. </p><p>Hopefully the US will release the military and CIA records that have been requested, particularly because they provide such an interesting window into that time period; the Embassy cables, for example, feature accounts of meetings with the president, his secretary, military leaders, politicians like Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, dissidents, and more. I only recently started digging into the FIOA declassified CIA reports, searchable <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/home">here</a> (though not very conveniently). Some I will post soon, while others, like <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP89G00643R001000050039-9.pdf">this one</a>, provide a list of cables (titles, dates, recipients) from 1979-1980 turned over by General Wickham when he retired for declassification review. </p><p>Needless to say, there will always be more to uncover about the events of 1979-1980.</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-64014528307356171382023-05-16T15:42:00.003+09:002023-05-16T15:42:34.703+09:00Leading an RAS excursion to Jeong-dong this Saturday<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj06Y2_aS3_zfcm8_23mM8-MUj47ho050M0j4znsI67SbQtKuLW9b79u2pW57MlooZtlOM4OELlYWUzuC3vqUctWcdsmonc7Jm5HcHPIF-IIid7wN7Ije0udN2435wxBHA_4ka7kRjszV0S5_uh2-c71-I_9tuv2nhngqaRYrNlf14xPK3R-o/s4160/20150531_151155_HDR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2340" data-original-width="4160" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj06Y2_aS3_zfcm8_23mM8-MUj47ho050M0j4znsI67SbQtKuLW9b79u2pW57MlooZtlOM4OELlYWUzuC3vqUctWcdsmonc7Jm5HcHPIF-IIid7wN7Ije0udN2435wxBHA_4ka7kRjszV0S5_uh2-c71-I_9tuv2nhngqaRYrNlf14xPK3R-o/w640-h360/20150531_151155_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><p>This Saturday, May 20, at 1pm I’ll be leading a Royal Asiatic Society excursion to Jeong-dong, the historic area behind Deoksu Palace, where missionary schools, churches, and Western Embassies can be found. There I’ll tell the stories of how Americans, Canadians, British, and others took part in Korea’s history between 1883 and 1945, a period of initial contact, wars, and resistance to Japanese imperialism. </p><div><p>On this excursion we’ll visit sites such as the former National Assembly, the Anglican cathedral, the Salvation Army, Ewha Girl’s High School, Jungmyeongjeon Hall, the former sites of the Russian Legation, the Sontag Hotel, and the Baejae Hakdang, as well as the Jeong-dong First Methodist Church and the Seoul Museum of Art, which is housed in the colonial era-built former Korean Supreme Court building. We will also observe various dilapidated or vanished buildings and paths that are currently being restored and discuss the preservation of the past in Jeong-dong.</p><p>For more information or to make a reservation, please look <a href="https://raskb.com/event/cultural-excursion-discovering-the-treasure-trove-of-koreas-early-modern-history-in-jeong-dong/">here</a>.</p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvkv65cSpNtLSB32FKnvcUjWv39ax5yc_qraIrmyJbpTHZrtMbzWGQeEV64Xt8RxnPFO78UgWwhwZXST4KItfesrJnEejjhLim78ce_wRHH8sO3EYyBRl_fy8Fo--0aaTjgyyt18N4Gus1kv1C-QdNGZUlnhYlCVIxx2Ezj-dRqACkCosXHFo/s4160/20150531_153027_HDR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2340" data-original-width="4160" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvkv65cSpNtLSB32FKnvcUjWv39ax5yc_qraIrmyJbpTHZrtMbzWGQeEV64Xt8RxnPFO78UgWwhwZXST4KItfesrJnEejjhLim78ce_wRHH8sO3EYyBRl_fy8Fo--0aaTjgyyt18N4Gus1kv1C-QdNGZUlnhYlCVIxx2Ezj-dRqACkCosXHFo/w640-h360/20150531_153027_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiRVVhODAjEX5SGZHUixDHCU0j3NDtzzsP0P3aNE--hc-cXtZLZkipMsTf16Ot3hN3yXkYfHn1gImHGd1KvgOirDloWDX1jhcH7VJUK1r8i3AXNvFEKMMKD3eAYAUTHxm5oILXEc2rBuTniNRr49aoI7bFyjz8nY0_h9pEJ_WHtAFoE7pAmXc/s2068/IMG_7967a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1264" data-original-width="2068" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiRVVhODAjEX5SGZHUixDHCU0j3NDtzzsP0P3aNE--hc-cXtZLZkipMsTf16Ot3hN3yXkYfHn1gImHGd1KvgOirDloWDX1jhcH7VJUK1r8i3AXNvFEKMMKD3eAYAUTHxm5oILXEc2rBuTniNRr49aoI7bFyjz8nY0_h9pEJ_WHtAFoE7pAmXc/w640-h392/IMG_7967a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9VFKJrHI0gCsq07-bwjGMWQuUBoXVPOlT_mP7xBzBGXcX4ZJmevy9EBgOzi8BBefh2ZkrYULnot3XURI9QqinalyJQ3sooHgoyzG7I6Rmbf2bU8ccgR20sirbAEMWHf8V3uRNgHUssAlo7G8YaIX2svLSc4_-cgBlas0djBR7N1xEpPSyuFY/s2336/IMG_7973a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1204" data-original-width="2336" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9VFKJrHI0gCsq07-bwjGMWQuUBoXVPOlT_mP7xBzBGXcX4ZJmevy9EBgOzi8BBefh2ZkrYULnot3XURI9QqinalyJQ3sooHgoyzG7I6Rmbf2bU8ccgR20sirbAEMWHf8V3uRNgHUssAlo7G8YaIX2svLSc4_-cgBlas0djBR7N1xEpPSyuFY/w640-h330/IMG_7973a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggYOPDkOwV6N7XBtnEGn93dT4bicmJEOCwcehFKjmb1ZMtVLA5fh_7cI5fR8s6OQje8f1jGNIG57FVaJMmfW4IeASNFKwyyhFx8qUxY1A9Lu5-0GzbiYMS56HRb6WcaqvU2JEbVgWZDzXSAkYF17G6j1d_c9Dt-xd8LFG083K-jSi84ZMSr8A/s1576/seoul%20city%20museum%20of%20art%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1467" data-original-width="1576" height="596" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggYOPDkOwV6N7XBtnEGn93dT4bicmJEOCwcehFKjmb1ZMtVLA5fh_7cI5fR8s6OQje8f1jGNIG57FVaJMmfW4IeASNFKwyyhFx8qUxY1A9Lu5-0GzbiYMS56HRb6WcaqvU2JEbVgWZDzXSAkYF17G6j1d_c9Dt-xd8LFG083K-jSi84ZMSr8A/w640-h596/seoul%20city%20museum%20of%20art%201.jpg" width="640" /></a>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-85537611378717658912023-05-03T21:25:00.000+09:002023-05-03T21:25:29.783+09:00Sundown (or when Koreans covered Gordon Lightfoot)<p>I was sorry to hear of Gordon Lightfoot's passing - his music was certainly part of my childhood, and I know my parents saw him play live back in the early 70s and in 1989. At one point circa 1983 or 1984 the only tape player my family had was in the car, and we didn't have that many tapes yet, so a Gordon Lightfoot collection with 'Did she mention my name' and 'In the early morning rain' got played a lot, which is a good thing. </p><p>Many years ago I was given an mp3 of a Korean cover of his song "Sundown," but because it had the wrong singers in the filename, I could never find any information about it. It was only in the last year or so I realized that it was by Seok Chan, from <a href="https://www.maniadb.com/album/107157">his first full length album released in 1974</a>. Unfortunately, it's not clear when in 1974 it was released (Lightfoot's song was released in late March 1974), but we can be sure that, with Sundown going to number 1 in the US, it got played on AFKN, heard by Koreans, and within 9 months <a href="https://youtu.be/2xPFTXKqX80">this cover version</a> had been recorded and released. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="316" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2xPFTXKqX80" width="380" youtube-src-id="2xPFTXKqX80"></iframe></div><br /><p>(By the way, a useful term when looking for Korean-language covers of Western songs is 번안곡.)</p><p>My favourite cover of Lightfoot's music is also my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXqsiwXxskQ&ab_channel=scottdunlop">favourite song by The Unintended</a> (off of an EP of Lightfoot covers):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="317" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EXqsiwXxskQ" width="382" youtube-src-id="EXqsiwXxskQ"></iframe></div><br /><p>And while we're at it, here's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEVQiUMbvHU&ab_channel=ClearSkys">1971 hour-long concert</a> by Gordon Lightfoot (broadcast by the BBC in 1972).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="368" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PEVQiUMbvHU" width="443" youtube-src-id="PEVQiUMbvHU"></iframe></div><br /><p>Thanks for the music, and rest in peace.</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-62906447403532102232023-04-25T23:28:00.006+09:002023-04-25T23:33:15.857+09:00Wood, Water, and Stone in Western Seoul<p>This Saturday, April 29, from 1:00pm to 5:00pm, I’ll be leading a cultural excursion for the Royal Asiatic Society to the areas around Guam Park, Yangcheon Hyanggyo, and Magok-dong. Along the way, we’ll visit museums dedicated to Joseon era physician <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heo_Jun">Heo Jun</a> and landscape painter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeong_Seon">Jeong Seon</a> (and compare the scenes in his paintings to surviving sites nearby). We’ll also visit the 600-year-old Yangcheon Hyanggyo, a Confucian shrine and academy (which I first visited here), descend into a Japanese-built tunnel dating from World War II, and take in views of the Han River from Mt. Gungsan.</p><p>The excursion will end with a visit to Magok Cultural Center, a former pumping station constructed in the 1920s and the only remaining colonial-era agricultural structure in the city, now restored as an art space, as well as the Lake Park near Seoul Botanical Garden. </p><p>To learn more about the tour, or to sign up, see <a href="https://raskb.com/event/cultural-excursion-wood-water-and-stone-in-western-seoul/">here</a>.</p><p>As I mention in <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/04/177_349712.html">this Korea Times article</a>, titled, "<a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/04/177_349712.html">Tracing southwestern Seoul's underappreciated history</a>," I lived near this area for over a decade and watched first-hand as Magok turned from a large stretch of farmland to a nearly-completed urban development. This, and changes in how the past has been documented in this area, will also be discussed on the excursion.</p><p>Many of my encounters with this area have been documented on this blog. Mentioned in the article is <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2007/02/railway-update-and-holiday-wanderings.html">my first visit to Yangcheon Hyanggyo in 2007</a>, <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2008/06/magok-station-opens.html">the opening of the long-dormant Magok Station in 2008</a>, a review that same year of <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2008/07/han-river-renaissance-plan.html">plans to develop the Han River, including Magok lake park</a>, a <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-own-private-subway-station.html">look inside Magongnaru Station in 2009</a>, five years before it opened, the <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2009/07/abandoned-peninsula.html">last days of a village on Magok's edge</a> that same year, and the <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-first-phase-of-magok-development.html">near-completion of the first phase of Magok's development in 2014</a>.</p><p>A few more photos:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6owggpvvts3T0Aa1SamxIvZQYvEBV7rRLMMOV5EIRSY3q6rjHvMHA_eK4f-5ipWlMpdlAvDYWVfFHgi0h0qG3pjHP0fyWBFOhkoB1QtB6jzd5gBuX1qZ5yNYC4uZt01r5X5jyKLZDEXw3yEnw6k5bCPOmaXqzsN_HdaF6q6BLDh-r4JbhzN0/s2736/IMG_1699.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6owggpvvts3T0Aa1SamxIvZQYvEBV7rRLMMOV5EIRSY3q6rjHvMHA_eK4f-5ipWlMpdlAvDYWVfFHgi0h0qG3pjHP0fyWBFOhkoB1QtB6jzd5gBuX1qZ5yNYC4uZt01r5X5jyKLZDEXw3yEnw6k5bCPOmaXqzsN_HdaF6q6BLDh-r4JbhzN0/w640-h426/IMG_1699.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yangcheon Hyanggyo as it looks today.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiyUXljW4Sh8UBVP7VaWWxmFfd8aELQatYbedzwycwO_u_e9-A4Pe2oY3I67nLbv5OgeGERkhsQizHOcF1vIekNXfUpl0TAragH1VOdWWf5GNlusX622oYaxrAwTx4z_WQ4AlGzxC0pQbLgOLrlLghjEfqNlfHX6YTdEowlxDWqfsCv3iUmRs/s3648/IMG_3093.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2432" data-original-width="3648" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiyUXljW4Sh8UBVP7VaWWxmFfd8aELQatYbedzwycwO_u_e9-A4Pe2oY3I67nLbv5OgeGERkhsQizHOcF1vIekNXfUpl0TAragH1VOdWWf5GNlusX622oYaxrAwTx4z_WQ4AlGzxC0pQbLgOLrlLghjEfqNlfHX6YTdEowlxDWqfsCv3iUmRs/w640-h426/IMG_3093.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Japanese-built tunnel from WWII under Gungsan, near Yangcheon Hyanggyo.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-A84u6XAZcTBDi5Qp1G21MiN2niDIhfuAgBeffsx772dzjHvrFnf8cdukldotMLyUCFZ4quKK5kVU_-Uhpi11JxRWCkboIf_Fde-DPXVWDAumG02MdTMB4Di1bdxlPHSA3Rf8TYAjatRGvPJ6fvgc57sJE8maR79Ii8QrIdaOfE0MuM-AR0/s3456/IMG_6684.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="3456" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-A84u6XAZcTBDi5Qp1G21MiN2niDIhfuAgBeffsx772dzjHvrFnf8cdukldotMLyUCFZ4quKK5kVU_-Uhpi11JxRWCkboIf_Fde-DPXVWDAumG02MdTMB4Di1bdxlPHSA3Rf8TYAjatRGvPJ6fvgc57sJE8maR79Ii8QrIdaOfE0MuM-AR0/w640-h480/IMG_6684.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A now-removed diorama of Yangcheon Prefecture (Gangseo-gu) that once stood in the Heo Jun Museum.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMhKNL7FZji5sc-9Y-6qQfKLgHLINx56Eo2z069wtXa4A-YcbwlfGYZh6AU6irHE0AyoU_8wEy04ujgmQv5drUvLrCOX1yD5M_CEzTgK-VOFS4HGz04kbmmc4qbzrKrev-5sY-LAn2VBEB7EZ-uLKihRkL0oR2p4jn349a3UpsivHYObbnng/s800/Magok%20ppump%20house.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="800" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMhKNL7FZji5sc-9Y-6qQfKLgHLINx56Eo2z069wtXa4A-YcbwlfGYZh6AU6irHE0AyoU_8wEy04ujgmQv5drUvLrCOX1yD5M_CEzTgK-VOFS4HGz04kbmmc4qbzrKrev-5sY-LAn2VBEB7EZ-uLKihRkL0oR2p4jn349a3UpsivHYObbnng/w640-h366/Magok%20ppump%20house.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magok Pumphouse in 2008, before its restoration.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsNrZDYiGi3UihekYVxu4ggI0-wZxM5vfwUiOH3Fm1UsKMwPS8s68Fk2EetCpY75DAsM4Ai0fhT8L0X1kpWMHxTEyRFaI1hiW9rfR_v7bkdAtOFigf9dMwe2erj9TOZkmm_2Xw_JxDFeHyiPi-7Gopv0q6jZLHmeaiGgJSfYICJqQ1bPhKMYs/s2736/IMG_1922%20Magok%20Pumphouse.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2736" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsNrZDYiGi3UihekYVxu4ggI0-wZxM5vfwUiOH3Fm1UsKMwPS8s68Fk2EetCpY75DAsM4Ai0fhT8L0X1kpWMHxTEyRFaI1hiW9rfR_v7bkdAtOFigf9dMwe2erj9TOZkmm_2Xw_JxDFeHyiPi-7Gopv0q6jZLHmeaiGgJSfYICJqQ1bPhKMYs/w640-h426/IMG_1922%20Magok%20Pumphouse.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magok Pumphouse, now the Magok Cultural Center, after its restoration.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsbxab_zcES87NCgLZjK7kWmBAa4BJUyK_rbJzFa0RttlZ6g6GF9fLB2g4weKSA15mnc7cYicUjGweIW3zrNfjHTeHSBYwsAHYtxH_B6uuAd4ZxvtNyfRO9OV7fFbrnudqpZXrDBfxfZ0upQIbajuezSZkCZ78IALoGp5Sj_geqj2hdMOSRE/s669/Jeong_Seon-Soyo.jeong.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsbxab_zcES87NCgLZjK7kWmBAa4BJUyK_rbJzFa0RttlZ6g6GF9fLB2g4weKSA15mnc7cYicUjGweIW3zrNfjHTeHSBYwsAHYtxH_B6uuAd4ZxvtNyfRO9OV7fFbrnudqpZXrDBfxfZ0upQIbajuezSZkCZ78IALoGp5Sj_geqj2hdMOSRE/w478-h640/Jeong_Seon-Soyo.jeong.jpg" width="478" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeong_Seon#/media/File:Jeong_Seon-Soyo.jeong.jpg">Jeong Seon's painting of Soyojeong</a>, the rocks now known as Gwangjubawi, from the early 1740s.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ-fCNQqePYK9CV_g_Eq5ftYp0rcpbr0y6BHY8UTT69gVVc9cHnT7DAAKsvSxVViO6udctqrUpf_JImkQtG0Efu-VPK92S43uRsdATLMFrYwICCyURvaJjTQWRqo7m7JFJDMtLC2IQo0AH0MNExNb7TWUE8x50eEDxi5ZEXjctRXuL0Ser6tI/s3456/IMG_6717.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="3456" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ-fCNQqePYK9CV_g_Eq5ftYp0rcpbr0y6BHY8UTT69gVVc9cHnT7DAAKsvSxVViO6udctqrUpf_JImkQtG0Efu-VPK92S43uRsdATLMFrYwICCyURvaJjTQWRqo7m7JFJDMtLC2IQo0AH0MNExNb7TWUE8x50eEDxi5ZEXjctRXuL0Ser6tI/w640-h480/IMG_6717.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gwangjubawi as they look today in Guam Park.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhof_OM97_xF1Wqa2rtu_HPphi8eWEj-xym19IWrB0WXl5cV9UIPFjM1C6MSq6bElOATEMixIO8RhDQFZ5F6ehpp-2PMiucIicPjydnymqlaUOLmujhulmDmFT9bHUe4MYoqJXhRVN9WF26JojplY2TZXQJ9BzdlmgbLm7XONzsmcWnyEgzA10/s800/pile%20of%20dirt.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="800" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhof_OM97_xF1Wqa2rtu_HPphi8eWEj-xym19IWrB0WXl5cV9UIPFjM1C6MSq6bElOATEMixIO8RhDQFZ5F6ehpp-2PMiucIicPjydnymqlaUOLmujhulmDmFT9bHUe4MYoqJXhRVN9WF26JojplY2TZXQJ9BzdlmgbLm7XONzsmcWnyEgzA10/w640-h270/pile%20of%20dirt.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The big hill of dirt made up of the earth displaced from digging AREX's tunnel through Magok, 2009.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuUAsEIcTzLbJhmoFUSalsp5fGesO9UP7yOxDHtIFqt4YEPQgToO98OKJZJk-kv8vcAtf1VHpPICoDpXFMrLFldT1l0x1b7czwHfiF3HbkJ9-lj4oWM5wcA6dMyX10mU-NVjScZfMpLkckS5DlEjD8YKSfjkzpK__L2s-WSAX8UV8dU6GRzPk/s700/Magongnaru%20station%20entrance%201.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="700" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuUAsEIcTzLbJhmoFUSalsp5fGesO9UP7yOxDHtIFqt4YEPQgToO98OKJZJk-kv8vcAtf1VHpPICoDpXFMrLFldT1l0x1b7czwHfiF3HbkJ9-lj4oWM5wcA6dMyX10mU-NVjScZfMpLkckS5DlEjD8YKSfjkzpK__L2s-WSAX8UV8dU6GRzPk/w640-h480/Magongnaru%20station%20entrance%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magongnaru Station Exit 1, 2009.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo5leeJ_beaJ29NWnkJeb7UemqVIQFV9ZMd7gugQlDKTCvI4g54RX58ljoADuJV-mP3V8rZt2sGuvr0HqW7AzqjemOXSbxOg3W0ew1xfuN1FiyYMF2Nobid9Q9SGtd_e-qAj6529mcygjrVtGvFr0hxkLuGq5aeGQls3PQwdGOt9vB5X6dXsg/s1612/Magongnaru%20station%20entrance%201a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="1612" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo5leeJ_beaJ29NWnkJeb7UemqVIQFV9ZMd7gugQlDKTCvI4g54RX58ljoADuJV-mP3V8rZt2sGuvr0HqW7AzqjemOXSbxOg3W0ew1xfuN1FiyYMF2Nobid9Q9SGtd_e-qAj6529mcygjrVtGvFr0hxkLuGq5aeGQls3PQwdGOt9vB5X6dXsg/w640-h332/Magongnaru%20station%20entrance%201a.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magongnaru Station Exit 1, 2022 (Kakao Map)</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnHjS-3cjp3RMLxu1ec3TuMDnix-rmwk9aFl7PwsRH9XooGnxLYw-0s72SLSngit6mS9pl4uBFgQBCaTcGqo5WcvWreFGVLrUK4MsNAOAexY15zduND-vqDgmDRwQnwhOQdYKQaVSarbdF2hd0QpsWSl56KbHXG6b11_3wdBe8sLe8-tm068k/s900/Magongnaru%20station%201.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="900" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnHjS-3cjp3RMLxu1ec3TuMDnix-rmwk9aFl7PwsRH9XooGnxLYw-0s72SLSngit6mS9pl4uBFgQBCaTcGqo5WcvWreFGVLrUK4MsNAOAexY15zduND-vqDgmDRwQnwhOQdYKQaVSarbdF2hd0QpsWSl56KbHXG6b11_3wdBe8sLe8-tm068k/w640-h152/Magongnaru%20station%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magongnaru Station in 2009. The loops of cable on the floor are where the gates will go.</td></tr></tbody></table>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-31609228557201436092023-02-06T14:46:00.004+09:002023-02-06T14:46:31.966+09:00Korean media reaction to discovering a confessed killer taught English in Korea (2006)<p>[This is based on a post no longer online (though used with permission) and is expanded with additional information and my translation of the Segye Ilbo article.]</p><p>In mid-August 2006 Korean media were reporting, as many outlets were, on the story of John Mark Karr, who had been arrested in Thailand and was due to be extradited to the US after confessing to the 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey. Karr had lived outside the US since 2001 after he was arrested for possession of child pornography, divorced, and then had become a fugitive after he violated the terms of his supervised release. In the time since, it was discovered, he had taught or supervised children in various locations around the world. (And, as it turned out, he had nothing to do with Ramsey's death.)</p><p>As more details were unearthed about his live, however, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-john-mark-karr/ ">a new revelation came to light</a> on August 18:</p><p></p><blockquote>Karr, who arrived in Thailand earlier this year looking for work as a teacher, claims to have spent years skipping from job to job, country to country, nearly all the time working with children. Karr taught for two months in early 2002 at I&S Language School in Seoul, South Korea, said Kim Sun-tae, an official at the Seoul Dongbu District Office of Education. And in Taiwan, the National Police Administration said Friday that Karr entered the country in August 2005 and left two months later.</blockquote><p></p><p>A year and a half after <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2012/03/2005-english-spectrum-incident-part-1.html">the English Spectrum Incident</a>, months after the <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-politicization-of-sexual-harassment.html">English Village cases</a> (which didn't involve native-speaking instructors, but that didn't stop some from saying so anyways) and amid Break News' numerous negative articles about foreign instructors, this news led to a good deal of criticism of English teacher hiring practices in Korea.</p><p>First of all, however, there was a rush to confirm that Karr had actually taught in Korea. As <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/001/0001387364?sid=104 ">Yonhap reported</a> on the 18th, the Korean Justice Ministry was not yet able to confirm whether Karr had actually taught in Korea. In a briefing that day, the head of Korea’s immigration service said that without specific information, namely a passport number and a date of birth, it couldn’t say for sure whether the man suspected of killing Ramsey had come to Korea.</p><p>According to a source at Incheon International Airport, however, an individual by the name of John Mark Karr entered Korea three times between 2001 and 2005. On all three visits he came without a visa, meaning he could stay no more than 30 days. The source was unable to confirm whether the person in question was the same one under arrest in Thailand.</p><p>Later that day, <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/001/0001387612?sid=102">Yonhap reported</a> that Kim Seon-tae, the official quoted by CBS above, had stated that "It is highly likely that John Mark Carr served as an English instructor at a private academy in Bongcheon-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul from January to March 2002" but did not know for sure since they "could not confirm whether it is the same person as the murderer."</p><p>Yonhap also noted that in an online resume, Karr claimed that he taught 22 hours a week at a language academy in Korea for three months from 2001 to 2002, and that he gave and graded assignments as the only English instructor at the academy.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.khan.co.kr/national/national-general/article/200608182215541">Kyonghyang Sinmun added</a> that said person worked at the academy for two months from January 14, 2002 to March 14, while an <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/214/0000014808?sid=115">MBC interviewed</a> an Official from Dongjak Office of Education who said, "The language school notified me that he was dismissed while working. The reason for dismissal on March 14 is not recorded." MBC also, correctly, as it turned out, noted that "it is still questionable whether Karr is the real culprit" in the murder he confessed to.</p><p>Despite Karr ultimately not being involved, the fact that a confessed murderer with child pornography charges in his past had taught in Korea prompted calls to strengthen Korea’s ability to keep out foreign sex offenders and improve the standards for hiring foreign teachers.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/08/19/2006081970015.html">Chosun Ilbo concluded an editorial</a> titled "[Korea is also defenseless] There is no way to know even if a foreign sex offender enters the country" with the following:</p><p></p><blockquote>However, if these foreign sex offenders enter Korea, because there is no information sharing with the other countries, there is no way for the Korean government to prevent them from entering the country and commiting sex crimes. There was an incident in May when an American assistant teacher at Seongnam English Village, Gyeonggi-do, was accused of sexually harassing an elementary school student, so the American's contract was canceled.</blockquote><p></p><p>The problem with the provided example, of course, is that said (Korean) American assistant teacher was not hired as a native speaker but as a Korean-speaking teacher.</p><p>On August 19, the <a href="https://www.segye.com/newsView/20060818000574">Segye Ilbo</a> published the following article which contributed this memorable cartoon:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kWO24C-ao2AuxAxlbusIxzd-SIDlGyi2LdB4jwd0-y3fGdZ-1OxmiOawLEPNvEJA740IzUy8k7tnC5DGUICLVEOMkuCngkL7BHEX4Y6QxWp5obTxTQrynBFjf4KUfdaJdVqdt_fKmy1bj1ku8shu0LYgfrf7DjSxXLTEnonel9NoRFgte-8/s449/20060818%20segye%20ilbo%20unqualified%20teacher.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kWO24C-ao2AuxAxlbusIxzd-SIDlGyi2LdB4jwd0-y3fGdZ-1OxmiOawLEPNvEJA740IzUy8k7tnC5DGUICLVEOMkuCngkL7BHEX4Y6QxWp5obTxTQrynBFjf4KUfdaJdVqdt_fKmy1bj1ku8shu0LYgfrf7DjSxXLTEnonel9NoRFgte-8/s16000/20060818%20segye%20ilbo%20unqualified%20teacher.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(The podium reads "unqualified")</div><p>Blond hair, blue eyes, big nose, English coming out of his mouth, holding a girl toy, unqualified, money sticking out of his pocket? Check, check, and check!</p><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;">As long as they speak English... the 'don't ask questions' hiring of foreign instructors</span></p><p>Mr. A (26) visited an English academy in Seocho-gu, Seoul last June to become an English instructor. Mr. A, who introduced himself as an American, stated that he had a lot of experience teaching English and went to university in the United States. As Mr. A wore a neat suit, spoke English fluently, and did not demand a higher salary than other instructors, the academy hired Mr. A without checking his nationality or academic background. Mr. A lectured for 1 hour and 30 minutes a day and received 2 million won per month. However, as a result of an Immigration Office crackdown, it was discovered that Mr. A was not an American, but rather a Nigerian national, and had not not even gone to university.</p><p>Mr. A said that he’d heard he could earn money by speaking only English in Korea, so he came on a tourist visa in 2001 and went around Gangnam and other areas teaching English. He was caught and deported on August 10.</p><p>While a number of private academies and kindergartens are hiring foreign English instructors due to the recent countrywide craze for learning English, some private academies are causing controversy by hiring unqualified English instructors to save money.</p><p>According to the law, if foreigners want to teach English at hagwons, they must obtain an E-2 visa, which is an employment visa, and submit to the hagwon a diploma from a 4-year university. However, among the large number of foreigners who work as English teachers, there are many cases in which they entered Korea on tourist visas, lied about their nationalities, or forged diplomas.</p><p>In October of last year, 69 foreigners who forged university diplomas and transcripts from English-speaking countries such as Canada and the United States and worked as unqualified English instructors in Korea were caught by prosecutors and forced to leave the country.</p><p>According to the Seoul Immigration Office, about 240 unqualified foreign instructors were caught last year in Seoul alone, and 20 to 30 have been caught every month this year as well. There are cases where people who have committed crimes such as murder abroad openly work as English instructors in Korea.</p><p>In the case of John Mark Carr (41), who was recently arrested in Thailand for the 1996 murder of 'Little Miss Colorado' John Bennett Ramsey in the United States it was reported in the foreign media that from January to March 2002, he worked as an English instructor for children at a private academy in Seoul. </p><p>Even if the authorities catch them, they only receive light punishment due to the lack of related laws. Most of the unqualified foreign instructors and the employers who hired them are fined only a few million won. Even among foreigners, there is a widespread perception that even if they’re caught, they will only be fined and deported, so they calculate that they will come out ahead as long as they are not caught for more than a year. </p><p>An official from G English Hagwon in Jongno, Seoul said, “The students want foreign instructors and the hagwons rush to bring in foreigners, so there are many cases where unqualified instructors are used.” </p><p>Reporters Lee Gwi-jeon and Jang Won-ju</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Also reporting on this case was the online issue discussion site Buchaejil, which posted <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070214052909/http://www.pulug.com/Issue/View_01.html?IDX=336&boardtype=news&boardcode=1">an article</a> on the netizen fury over low-quality English teachers and the Korean women who love them.</p><p>Pointing to the shock many felt at learning that the prime suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey killing may have taught children in Korea, the writer noted that netizens were outraged that even murderers could apparently get jobs teaching in Korea and were calling for employment conditions for native English speakers to be strengthened.</p><p>The article pointed out that questions about the behavior of native-speaking English teachers in Korea had been raised for some time. Hagwon officials complained that they were going crazy because of the behavior of their foreign teachers.</p><p>It noted that not so long ago, a "native speaking instructor" at an English camp sexually assaulted a student, but hagwon officials said such incidents happened all the time. [Except for the fact that the English Village cases did not involve native speakers.]</p><p>According to a netizen familiar with the problem of decadent foreign teachers, the foreign instructors, who apparently thought of Korean women as sexual playthings, were only part of the problem. Also problematic were Korean women with a weakness for foreign men.</p><p>The netizen said there were many instances of foreign teachers seducing women at nightclubs and the clubs of Hongik University by telling them they would teach them English.</p><p>The article cited an assortment of netizen comments about foreign English teachers and the women that chase after them, such as this one by an individual going under the online ID of asleychung:</p><p></p><blockquote>The place you’ll find a lot of low-quality English teachers is the JJ Mahoney's nightclub of the Seoul Hyatt Hotel. It seems even moneyless, beggar-like English teachers can get in. They all get together to hit on Korean women. Whart’s worse, also going there are garbage-like gyopo from Canada who come to Korea because they can’t get jobs back home. To make a living, they teach children English in places like Budang and Pyeongchon, but at the club, they act like big shots intimidating and seducing the women who come there.</blockquote><p></p><p>[One has to watch out for <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2013/09/no-more-lion-us-swimmers-prank-becomes.html">Americans in JJ Mahoney's</a>, of course.]</p><p>In the wake of the revelation about Karr teaching in Korea, netizens were calling for regulations on the hiring of foreign teachers to be strengthened. One netizen decried how foreigners don’t appear subject to background checks when hired as teachers. Another complained of all the "American beggars" coming to Korea to teach low-quality English and fraternize with local women, and called on the government to strengthen its qualification requirements. Still other netizens complained of all the low-class foreigners teaching English in Korea.</p><p>The article concluded by saying that some people were taking things into their own hands. The Korea Foreign Teacher Recruiting Association had released a blacklist of foreign instructors and some patriotic netizens had banded together over at Naver.com to form a movement to expel illegal English teachers (ie. Anti English Spectrum).</p><p>While this case did not lead to changes in hagwon hiring policies or E-2 visa regulations, it provided more material for Anti-English Spectrum and <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2017/09/2006-flashback-foreign-instructors.html">outlets like Break News</a> to work with in pushing for change that summer.</p>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-14484889416684314682023-02-02T10:08:00.000+09:002023-02-02T10:08:20.098+09:00The native-speaking English instructor blacklist (2006)<p>On August 15, 2006, Yonhap published <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/001/0001384596?sid=102">the following article</a>:</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;">Native-speaking English instructor ‘Blacklist’</span></p><p>Amid the growing demand for native-speaking English instructors, a 'blacklist' containing the full names of instructors who have disappeared or quit after causing 'problems' has been posted on the internet and is attracting attention.</p><p>According to the Korea Native-speaking Instructor Recruiting Association (www.kftra.co.kr) on August 15, the blacklist, which has been posted since February on the association's website, features 19 cases of causing problems such as showing insincere attitudes toward work or running away after committing criminal acts, along with the names of the teachers involved.</p><p>This blacklist, which was prepared based on the claims of hagwons or elementary school officials who hired the instructors, contains specific examples such as 'forgery of university graduation degrees', 'submission of fake documents', ‘quitting without notice after vacation', 'fleeing to their home country with a school laptop', and 'sexual harassment by often touching students' bodies.'</p><p>Choe Hyeok, president of the association, said in a greeting on the website, "We set up this homepage to share information about poor, low-quality, and illegal instructors." "There are many excellent native speakers of high quality, but as time passes there is a lot of damage to the field of education due to low-quality instructors with many problems," he said.</p><p>Since 2002, the number of E-2 visas required to get a job as a foreign language instructor in Korea has reached more than 20,000 every year.</p><p>Reporter Lim Hwa-seop</p></blockquote><p></p><p>YTN also broadcast <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/052/0000125509?sid=115">this report</a>. As it states above, this blacklist had been public since February 2006. This blacklist may have been publicized (perhaps with Anti-English Spectrum's help) <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2017/10/from-2006-parade-of-lascivious-foreign.html">by BreakNews</a> two days earlier (or perhaps it was two days later, since there are two dates posted). </p><p>One lawyer's take on the blacklist was rather unequivocal:</p><p></p><blockquote>The blacklist is quite unlawful. Not only is it a criminal defamation violation under the Criminal Code, but the Labor Standards Act forbids employers to share blacklists. These teachers ought to complain to the prosecution.</blockquote><p></p><p>I should also note that this <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/2019/02/aids-6-on-april-5-2007-post-by-lee.html">would not be the last we heard</a> of the instructor accused of 'sexual harassment by often touching students' bodies.' </p><p>And, as we see <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2016/03/immigration-statistics-showing-e-2.html">here</a>, Yonhap used the wrong statistics when discussing E-2 numbers (for whatever reason, the number of E-2 visa holders in the country was half that of the numbers Yonhap discussed (and which are brought up in more detail in the following article)).</p><p>On August 16, 2006, the Seoul Sinmun followed up on the Yonhap story by using the bare-bone contents of the blacklist to write <a href="https://v.daum.net/v/20060816084015313">this tour de force</a>, complete with a cartoon: </p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;">Troublesome native-speaking instructors cause headaches</span></p><div><img border="0" data-original-height="115" data-original-width="520" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcJBTcwfnxUH7yuhdlU4ow5EBcU7syoLJccJa4CoA2fT2ckVFfo1DC2CfrhCcMaEtdh2CBcIiOAquJs31o6sENS4j5igkcp0m3mR-kuT2kJ3UmJS1gFwhABu-VWDrjTwzFRxvRxxwtP0TJ6Km95ScXLFxfpiAyFWql8AlSZGB6z0YsTkGDUI/w610-h135/20060816%20seoul%20sinmun%20oops%20cartoon.jpg" style="color: #0000ee; text-align: center;" width="610" /><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">Late, absent / gets money and does a runner / sexual harassment</div><div><p>Mr. A, a [Korean] English teacher at an elementary school in Gyeonggi-do, is having a hard time because of native-speaking instructor B (29). B is of course often late or absent from work, and he does not do even basic preparation for classes. However, finding a native-speaking instructor who entered the country legally is practically impossible. He has no choice but to endure this for the sake of the lesson.</p><p>● Stealing class equipment and running away</p><p>The tyranny of native-speaking English instructors is going too far. Claiming that they entered Korea with an E-2 (English Instructor) visa legally, all over they are acting self-indulgently and arrogantly.</p><p>C (29), from Canada, entered Korea on August 2 to work as an instructor at a summer vacation camp organized by an elementary school in Seoul, but disappeared almost immediately after his arrival. D (28, from Canada) signed a contract to teach for a year at an elementary school in Paju starting last August but only worked for 8 months and ran off with a laptop provided by the school for class use.</p><p>More serious problems, such as sexual harassment, have also emerged. At one private hagwon, many students complained that native-speaking instructor E (30, from Australia) was sexually harassing them. However, he so intelligently and technically carried out sexual harassment in a way that made it too ambiguous to report to the police, so he ended up being fired in June. Before that, in May, a native-speaking instructor at an English village in Gyeonggi-do was fired for sexually harassing an elementary school student.</p><p>● Native-speaking instructors are arrogant due to excessive demand</p><p>The number of E2 visas issued reached 20,682 in 2002, 22,345 in 2003, 23,134 in 2004, and 25,014 in 2005. More than 20,000 people come to Korea every year to teach English, but, absurdly, this falls short of the explosive growth in domestic demand. Due to the culture of focusing on skin color, the preference for white instructors regardless of skill or qualifications is also fueling a labor shortage. Even if someone is an excellent lecturer who graduated from a great university, the reality is that if they are not white, they won’t be treated according to their ability.</p><p>An official from a company specializing in recruiting foreign instructors pointed out, "Since foreign instructors share information actively, they know that they can get a job anywhere even if they quit their job." "Basically, from their standpoint, there is nothing to be sorry about [in quitting a job], especially for white instructors.”</p><p>● We must hurry to implement follow-up management standards and strikeout systems</p><p>The government has no proper measures. An official from the Immigration Office explained, "It is a law that cannot be specially managed just because they are foreign instructors." "There is no way to sanction them unless they commit a crime or leave their workplace without a convincing reason, just like other foreign workers." In fact, Mr. F (31), an instructor from Australia, breaks his contract every 3 to 6 months and changes his job, but there is no legal way to stop it. He has had a good career [at home] as a teacher, so it's enough to say, 'I can't work because of cultural differences.' </p><p>As a result, in March the Korea Native-speaking Instructor Recruiting Association posted a blacklist of illegal, bad, and problematic instructors on the association's website (www.kftra.co.kr). However, less than 30% of job placements are achieved through recruiting companies, so they are not getting a great effect.</p><p>Choe Hyeok, president of the association, said, "Compared to the number of complaints related to foreign instructors, the staff in charge of this seems to be ridiculously insufficient." "As it is related to children's education, foreign instructors should be managed at the government level by creating a minimum follow-up standard and introducing a strikeout system," he said.</p><p>Reporter Na Gil-hoe </p></div></div></blockquote><div><p></p><p>While this "parade of bad foreign teachers" type of story is not new (the tabloid BreakNews was doing <a href="http://populargusts.blogspot.ca/2017/09/2006-flashback-foreign-instructors.html">far worse stories at the time</a>), it is an example of the type of story that would become common enough in the mainstream media moving ahead. Note also the error of describing the "native-speaking instructor at an English village in Gyeonggi-do" who was "fired for sexually harassing an elementary school student." That teacher, of course, <a href="https://populargusts.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-politicization-of-sexual-harassment.html">was not hired as a native-speaker</a>, but the reporter either couldn't be bothered to check this or didn't care since it was more grist for the mill. </p></div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-32864886745744766992023-01-31T16:09:00.002+09:002023-02-01T11:48:20.185+09:00The politicization of sexual harassment cases at Gyeonggi-do English Villages (2006)<p>In the mid-2000s a number of English villages were opened in Korea to provide an immersion experience in which students could practice speaking English, with the first being opened in 2004 in Ansan, Gyeonggi-do. As <a href="http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000333459">this</a> (and <a href="https://www.segye.com/newsView/20060524000812">this</a>) article notes, Seongnam English Town was opened in December 2005 in the Saemaeul Movement Central Training Center in Bundang and run by Edu Chosun (a subsidiary of the Chosun Ilbo). 6-day camps were attended by 250 local Grade 6 students at a time. It cost 350,000 won, of which 110,000 won was paid by participants and 240,000 won was subsidized by Seongnam City. Upon entering the village, students underwent a level test and were divided into 20 classes, and then spent 6 days with 24 native speaking teachers, 12 Korean teachers, and 4 safety teachers. (More on the Paju English Village can be read <a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/05/09/2006050961038.html">here</a> in English.)</p><p>On May 24, 2006, the <a href="https://www.segye.com/newsView/20060524000812">Segye Ilbo reported</a> that "An allegation has been raised that a native-speaking teacher at Seongnam English Town sexually harassed students during class" and that "civic groups are demanding a fact-finding investigation and countermeasures".</p><p>The "Seongnam English Town Sexual Abuse Countermeasures Committee," composed of six Seongnam women’s groups and educational associations, claimed that day that some sixth grade girls from a Seongnam elementary school who were accepted into the Town complained to their parents that a Korean-American English teacher had made excessive physical contact with them. </p><p>The girls claimed that during an outdoor hiking activity, the teacher pulled the strings of the girls’ underwear, put his hand inside their clothes, stroked a certain part of their bodies, and stared excessively at their chests.</p><p>As a result, parent representatives and the school’s principal visited the English Town on May 5 to inform them of what had happened and demand the dismissal of the teacher.</p><p>The English Town authorities explained that the parents informed them that nine students had complained of inappropriate physical contact from one of their teachers. Though the facts were not clear and they stated that the teacher had only good intentions, the personnel committee there made a decision to dismiss the teacher, which the teacher did not accept, so he ended up voluntarily resigning on May 19.</p><p>In response, the countermeasure committee declared the English Town's measures to be insufficient and argued that it was not fulfilling promises to post an apology on the its website."</p><p>Later on May 24, <a href="http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000333459">in an article</a> titled "Controversy over sexual harassment of elementary school students in Seongnam English Town"(and written by the secretary general of the Seongnam Secondary School Branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union), Ohmynews provided more information about the case, particularly from a letter sent to the girls' elementary school on May 8.</p><div>It noted that the students had attended the camp from May 1 to May 6, and on the 4th had complained to parents who were visiting that a Korean-American English teacher had pulled their bra straps, touched their necks, heads and shoulders (while telling them he was knocking off bugs) and stared at certain parts of their bodies during a hiking activity.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>The next day, three parent representatives from their Elementary School, the vice principal, principal, and their homeroom teacher visited the English Town in person to discover the details of what happened through interviews with the students and the teacher in question. They also asked the Town director to organize a personnel committee and propose a disciplinary (dismissal) plan for the teacher, to post an apology on their homepage, to report the incident to Seongnam City Hall and the Office of Education, and to strengthen sexual harassment prevention education for all teachers and management.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>An official from Seongnam English Town spoke to OhMyNews on May 24:</div><div><blockquote>"The instructor has resigned now, but he vehemently denies the fact of sexual harassment. In addition, our own investigation found that a female native-speaking teacher who was with the teacher in question testified that no sexual harassment took place." "However, even if it was done with good intentions, it is true that the students felt displeased, so the [hiking] program was done away with. In the future, we plan to come up with measures to prevent recurrence through sexual harassment prevention education for teachers." The official added, "Whether or not to make a public apology is a matter that requires permission from the head office, and the head office's position is that it is difficult to make a public apology in a situation where the statements of the relevant parties are in disagreement."</blockquote></div><div><div>The Countermeasures Committee was reportedly requesting a meeting with the mayor of Seongnam on May 25, where they would suggest a further joint investigation to confirm what happened, a severe reprimand for those responsible, a public apology and the posting of the apology, the disclosure of qualifications and backgrounds of English Town teachers, the provision of professional counselors at the school the girls attend, an improvement in the quality of English Town teachers and the ensuring of transparency in their recruitment, and the strengthening of sexual harassment prevention education.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>In a Daves ESL Cafe post days later [no longer available] the foreign coordinators of Seongnam English Town wrote the following:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>We are the foreign coordinators of Seongnam English Town and felt we should write and post our statement about the allegations of sexual harassment. [The Segye Ilbo article] was incorrect in two aspects – firstly, the teacher allegedly touched their bra strings through their clothes, as well as their shoulders, neck, upper back. The teacher alleges he was brushing off bugs, the students allege it was sexually motivated.</div><div><br /></div><div>Secondly, the teacher involved, from the beginning, has vehemently denied the accusations. He never admitted responsibility as the article originally claimed. He has since resigned but maintains his version of the story.</div></blockquote><div></div><div>They also released a statement:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Statement on Accusations of Sexual Harassment at Seongnam English Town</div><div><br /></div><div>The accusations made against a Korean-American English instructor at SNET have left all the instructors here feeling uneasy. Accusations of this nature are very serious and have been considered with due attention since the incident was first reported. The Canadian English Instructor who was facilitating the hiking class alongside the accused Instructor was consulted for her input and has maintained since the beginning that she had all the students in sight throughout the hike, and that she did not witness any inappropriate behaviour or language directed towards the students.</div><div><br /></div><div>Accusations of this nature are extremely difficult to substantiate, and the Instructor in question has maintained his innocence since the beginning. The students have also asserted the truth of their account. It is almost impossible to prove exactly what happened that day, and we have only the word of each party to judge by. The complete truth will likely never be known. That said, due to the discomfort of parents, teachers, students and the community, the Instructor was removed from the situation and has subsequently resigned from SNET.</div><div><br /></div><div>Without denying that the students had an upsetting experience, I think it is also important to recognize that there can be different intentions behind actions that result in a person feeling discomfort. Different people have very different comfort levels about their personal space and contact with their bodies. It could be the case that the Instructor did not intend to make the students feel uncomfortable, and was viewing them simply as children who needed some encouragement to join in the hike, but some action or words may have had a different effect on the students in question. Our obligation is to investigate this incident to ensure that the rights of all parties are respected. We have also talked with the staff about the nature of sexual harassment and are putting policy into place to ensure that an incident like this never happens again.</div><div><br /></div><div>May 23rd, 2006</div><div>Seongnam English Town Coordinators</div></blockquote><div></div><div>The English Town also released a statement (actually, one statement and an apology - neither of which is now available) clarifying what took place. It pointed out that contrary to initial press reports, the instructor was not one of the camp’s native speakers. Although an American citizen, he was a native Korean speaker, and as such was listed as one of the camp’s Korean instructors. The English Town also noted that the day before the story hit the media, the camp got a call from the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union asking about the incident. They will come up again momentarily.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>As this was happening, 196 students from a middle school in Gyeonggi-do were undertaking a similar, 6-day course at the Ansan English Village from May 22 to May 27, with six students staying in each dorm room. The dormitory was patrolled until 1 am by four employees to confirm students were asleep.</div><div><br /></div><div>As <a href="https://www.nocutnews.co.kr/news/156507?c1=191&c2=193">NoCut News reported</a> on May 27, the night before, a 28-year-old Korean employee teaching at the camp came into the dormitory after a night of drinking around 2 am and opened unlocked door(s), woke up six (or seven, by some reports) sleeping female students, and touched their upper bodies. (As the English Village explained it, the teachers' lodging was temporarily in the same building as the student dormitory). The teacher was relieved of his duties, and on May 27 <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/001/0001309233?sid=102">Ansan police filed for an arrest warrant for the teacher</a>. The article stated that "the Korean instructor in question is a graduate student majoring in English education at a graduate school of education in Seoul" and that the incident was "shocking because he is known as a diligent instructor." </div><div><div><br /></div><div>In order to prevent a recurrence in the future, the Village authorities planned to control all personnel other than on-call instructors in the camp after work, ban Korean and foreign instructors and administrative staff from drinking in the camp, and control entry for those who went drinking outside. As well, they decided to conduct regular training at least once a month to enhance the quality of instructors, to strengthen the night watch system and locks, and to expand 24-hour CCTV monitoring and patrols.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>The <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/081/0000091316?sid=102">Seoul Sinmun also reported</a> that </div><div><div><blockquote>Six women and education organizations, including the 'Seongnam Women's Hotline', formed the 'English Village Sexual Harassment Countermeasure Committee' and viewed the sexual harassment incidents in Seongnam and Ansan as a structural problem and requested the authorities to prepare countermeasures. In most English villages, nighttime management for students is not performed well, and many teachers with untested qualifications are hired, which is likely to cause problems.</blockquote></div></div><div>The fact that the accused in the Seongnam case was not a native-speaking teacher, and that the accused in the Ansan case was Korean, was overlooked (either accidentally or deliberately) on a number of occasions. For example, on June 6, <a href="http://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=47123">Media Today ran a piece</a> criticizing the Chosun Ilbo and Joongang Ilbo for their silence about the harassment cases the Gyeonggi-do English camps, alleging that their silence was due to business interests the two papers have in the English camp business. While taking Korea’s conservative dailies to task for failing in their journalistic responsibilities, however, Media Today decided to print as-is (quoting the press release of a Seongnam civic group coalition) the original allegation that the Seongnam Camp assault was carried out by a "native speaker" (which it wasn't) while also failing to note the Korean nationality of the English teacher accused in the Ansan case. (To be fair, they removed "native speaker" from an updated article <a href="http://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=47201">the next day</a>.)</div><div><br /></div><div>If Media Today's article made clear how some were politicizing the case, the Korean Teachers Union went even further, taking the English Village Sexual Harassment Countermeasure Committee's concept of the cases being due to structural problems in a more extreme direction. On May 30, <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/003/0000090543?sid=102">Newsis published the following</a>:</div><div><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-size: large;">KTU: "Sexual harassment in English Village is a structural problem, we must strengthen public education"</span></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Regarding the recent successive cases of sexual harassment of students by English village teachers, the Gyeonggi branch of the National Teachers and Educational Workers' Union (KTU) said on the May 30, "Sexual harassment at English villages is structural problem deriving from unverified native speaking instructors," and insisted on strengthening public English education.</div><div><br /></div><div>The KTU's Gyeonggi branch said in a statement that day, "Regarding the sexual harassment in Seongnam and Ansan English Village, Gyeonggi Province Governor Sohn Hak-gyu announced that he would prepare measures to improve the overall English Village operating system to prevent recurrence." “However, because it is a structural problem deriving from unverified native speaking instructors, there is a potential for it to happen at any time.”</div><div><br /></div><div>The Gyeonggi branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU) stated the bases of this opinion as follows: ▲Anyone with a bachelor’s degree can become a native speaking instructor regardless of whether or not they have a teacher’s license ▲ Native speaking instructors’ unrestrained sexual consciousness and mode of expression ▲Native speaker instructors' lack of a sense of responsibility, since few feel they are answering a calling, but rather have as their goal to stay for a short time to experience Korean culture and build up their resumes.</div></div></blockquote><p></p><blockquote>An official from the Gyeonggi branch of the KTU said, "Educational effects cannot be achieved in a classroom with 40 native speakers per class." "If we set up English experience rooms at each school and increase the number of English teachers to reduce the number of students per class in English classes, the effect of English education in public education will increase." </blockquote><p></p><div><div></div></div><div>However, in <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/003/0000090862?sid=102">a follow up article</a>, the Gyeonggi English Village refuted the KTU's claim, saying, "It is one-sidedly denouncing the qualifications of foreign instructors at the English camp."</div><div></div><blockquote><div>In response, an official from Gyeonggi English Village said, "We feel entirely responsible for the drunk and inappropriate behavior of a Korean instructor at Ansan Camp," but added, "However, the claim of hiring unverified native English instructors, and the claim about their [lack of] educational sense is a distortion of the facts, as the qualities of foreign instructors at Gyeonggi English Village are recognized through a thorough preliminary verification process.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province Governor Sohn Hak-kyu visited Anseong A Middle School, which the sexually harassed students attend, apologized, and conducted on-site inspections of Ansan Camp and Paju Camp.</div></blockquote><div></div><div>The Gyeonggi branch of the KTU blatantly ignored the fact that both the Seongnam and Ansan sexual harassment incidents were allegedly committed by non-native speakers in order to promote xenophobia. The KTU's only foreign member, Jason Thomas, responded <a href="http://iktu.blogspot.com/2006/06/i-quit.html">as follows</a>:</div><div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>First, I'll attempt to explain what I think Gyeonggi KTU was doing with the release.</div><div><br /></div><div>The English Villages in Gyeonggi were founded by Governor Sohn, who is an important member of the conservative Hanarra Party. Public education is not a big priority for Sohn or Hanarra, and the KTU used the publicity surrounding the incidents to score some easy political points against Sohn, and to promote public education. Worthwhile goals, in my opinion.</div><div><br /></div><div>But this is NOT an apology.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gyeonggi KTU is cynically exploiting the currents of xenophobia that exist in Korea, to its own ends. The release deliberately targeted ill-informed and biased newsreaders, and I was shocked that teaching professionals would do this. The statement attacks EVERY FOREIGN TEACHER IN KOREA.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, despite appeals from various union members and foreign teachers, the Gyeonggi office has refused to retract their statement.</div><div><br /></div><div>As SOMEONE must accept responsibility for this inane and hateful piece of propaganda, I will resign from the KTU.</div></blockquote><div></div></div><div>(Thomas went on to become a founding member of <a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2009/03/113_41083.html">ATEK</a>.)<br /><br /></div></div><div>The memory of these cases, and, in part, the false memory of them being committed by a "native speaker" would linger for some time. They also reveal that Anti-English Spectrum was not the only group willing to use distortions of the truth to fuel xenophobia in order to achieve political goals.</div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.com0