Great Blight North #3

I recently asked well-known blogger The Korean from askakorean.net fame for his thoughts on North Korea. At 16 he left Korea with his family to live in California, and he now lives in New York City. Although off the peninsula for quite some time, his views on the DPRK are similar to many of the South Koreans I have interviewed.

WAP: What was your earliest memory of North Korea or its people?
TK: When I was in the first grade, we learned about the story about this brave boy about our age. (Don't remember if it was in the textbook or if the teacher was free-styling.) The boy lived in a northern part of Gangwon-do near the Armistice Line with his parents, and some armed communist spies broke into his house, demanding food. The boy exclaimed, "I hate communists!" and one of the spies killed the boy by ripping his mouth open with a bayonet.
Apparently this is a true story, but what a thing to teach to 6 year old kids!

WAP: Do you want reunification?
TK: Yes.

                                                    Seoul's War Memorial of Korea

WAP: Do you want comprehensive and immediate reunification, similar to East and West Germany -though the DPRK's economy is much worse shape than the GDR's ever was- or do you want a more gradual process of reintegration? 
TK: Gradual process, by a small margin. But I think realistically, the only possible way in which reunification would happen is the comprehensive and immediate version.


WAP: Is the reunification of the two Koreas paramount, or does the continued success of the South Korean economy trump sweeping change? 
TK: I don't think it's an either-or proposition, because I don't think reunification will doom South Korean economy (although it will likely depress South Korean economy for a little while.)  Eventually, reunification will be a boost toward Korean economy, for example, by providing cheap labor and cheaper access to China.

WAP:How do you feel about the presence of American troops on the peninsula?

TK: I think American troops are indispensable for maintaining peace in the Korean peninsula.


Here is a paper that brings up some interesting points regarding reunification vis-a-vis the German example.

Honduran Supreme Court Drags Its Feet, Lawyers Fight Back

Mere weeks before the highly controversial national elections slated for November 29, the Supreme Court of Justice is in no rush to rule on the restoration of overthrown President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya.

With a muzzled press towing the Micheletti regime's party line and little connection to the outside world - less than 10% of Hondurans are internet users- many Hondurans are looking towards the Supreme Court for an impartial solution to the crisis that has plagued the country fore more than four months. Yet many Zelaya supporters think they are seeing their worst fears confirmed that the court which backed the coup will prolong any decision on Zelaya's return to power until after elections.

After the recent attempt at a unity government failed - Zelaya refused to join the team made up entirely of Micheletti nominees- the reinstatement of Zelaya is the coup regime's only chance of the elections gaining a shred of legitimacy.

Amidst the backdrop of the cooperation between supposedly separate organs of the state, partiality lawyers in the industrial center of San Pedro Sula have set their sights on the Supreme Court with a pronouncement made public yesterday. Here is the full text of from The Resistance Lawyers Front's (RLF) :

WE URGE THE SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE TO BE INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIAL

The Resistance Lawyers Front in the North Zone, due to the actions of the Supreme Court of Justice since the 28th of June, appeal to the Honduran people and the international community:

FIRST,  during recent years we bore witness to the deterioration and politicization of the institutions of  Justice. We thought the new appointments in Supreme Court of Justice this past January would make important changes possible in the areas of strengthening the independence and impartiality of that branch of the State. Sadly, this did not happen in the following six months, as the 15 Supreme Court Judges made it clear that justice would continue to serve the powerful political and economic groups of our country. In doing so they deeply defrauded the aspirations of the Honduran people who genuinely thought that by electing these judges they could make a difference.

SECOND: With the awful coup d'état of June 28th, the Supreme Court of Justice -forgetting its role as an impartial organ- has publicly put forward supposed legal arguments in an attempt to legitimize the illegal and unconstitutional actions taken by this de facto regime. Likewise, it has fully neglected their duty to protect the people. It is complicit in all the violations suffered by the Honduran people and has postponed or blocked the processing of constitutional claims presented by the citizenry.

THIRD: In addition to all its actions mentioned above, the Supreme Court of Justice has unleashed a campaign of persecution against those judges and their employees that -valiantly and lawfully- stood against the coup d'état and for the reestablishment of the constitutional order.


IN VIEW OF THE AFOREMENTIONED, WE URGE:

1. That the Supreme Court of Justice rectify its partiality, which only searches to legally justify the completion of the coup and the continuation of a de facto regime, and honor their obligation to protect fundamental rights.
2. That the Supreme Court of Justice immediately cease its persecution of judges and employees that,  exercising their civil rights, have demonstrated against the coup d'état.
   
3.  That the Honduran Bar Association affirm their support for the Constitution and its legality, preventing legal judgments that only look to legitimize the coup, and that they request the Supreme Court of Justice to correct all its biased claims.

WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE JUDGES WHO ARE VICTIMS OF PERSECUTION AND WE SUPPORT THE NECESSARY ACTIONS TO GUARANTEE THE STABILITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF THEIR ACTIONS.

San Pedro Sula, Cortes, November 9th of 2009

(Photo courtesy of the RLF)

November 11th

This Wednesday, while many people back home in Canada will observe a moment of silence to honour the many people who sacrificed their lives in the wars of the past century,  the consumers of South Korea will be munching down on little chocolate sticks. As a result of marketing genius - and the fact that South Koreans commemorate their fallen in June- every November 11th  on the peninsula is  a frenzy of candy consumption known as Pepero Day. 


Why is it Pepero day?  Numerically, November the 11th looks just like 4 Peperos in a row. Korea's answer to Japan's Pocky candy, these thin cookie sticks dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with assorted accompaniments are given to loved ones, friends and classmates. 



On a side note, Pocky is definitely better than Pepero and also has many more flavours. Below are a couple more ridiculous ones:

The Great Blight North #2

Saemi H. is an English teacher in her twenties who has traveled outside of Korea and lives in Central Seoul. I sat down with her this past week to pick her brain about the her brethren to the North.

WorkingAndPracticing: What's your earliest memory of North Korea (DPRK)?
Saemi H.: I was really young, I was just plain scared. I thought the North was a different world and they still wanted war. I remember images of soldiers marching in Pyongyang and especially the Mass Games being held in a big theatre.

WAP: Are you still scared the North will attack?
SH: No, not really, but I think us South Koreans have the lowest level of fear regarding the DPRK. We should be more aware because nowadays they have new weapons and I am especially scared about the West Sea where they continually test their weapons and cross over national boundaries.


WAP: Do you wish for reunification?
SH: Do I want reunification? Honestly, I haven't thought a lot about it. I think it will take time, but in the end we must. We are all taught growing up that one day we will eventually reunite.

WAP: Are you in favour of the American Forces' (USF) presence here on the Korean Peninsula?
SH: I have complex feelings about this.  I don't think that the ROK's army is is strong enough on its own if something happens, but the USF have a very bad image in my mind. We know how they treat us Koreans and what they think about us. They are up there looking down on us. They create a lot of problems like pollution. After the USF leave a location they leave behind hazardous chemicals and our government has to spend thousands of dollars cleaning up the mess! Add to that problems of off-base sexual crimes and the USF seem to get off Scot-free. Rarely do any of their people face prosecution for crimes committed on Korean soil as they can just escape to the US. Despite all this, I think we still need them.

WAP: Are you in favour of Lee Myung Bak and his new hardline policy towards the DPRK?
SH: That's a really hard question. The DPRK politicians are very clever and no matter what, they gain the upper hand in their dealings with us. Whatever we do it seems they are able to take advantage of it, but I think we still think we need to soften our approach and keep with the "Sunshine Policy."

The Great Blight North #1

Activists frequently set up shop in the center of Seoul's main shopping district to decry the horrible human rights abuses perpetrated by a repressive regime against its seemingly peaceful citizens. Extrajudicial killings and wanton torture are all palpable in graphic colour photographs posted next to petitions urging help. Yet the call to action is not to fight Kim Jong-il and his henchmen, but the Chinese authorities for their persecution of Falun Gong practitioners!

Living here in the wealthy suburb of a relatively rich country - surrounded by the apex of consumer goods consumption - it is easy to lose sight of the fact that mere kilometers away lies one of the worst totalitarian dictatorships left on the planet. Movies like Children of the Secret State offer truly depressing portraits of what life is like for rural North Koreans not lucky enough to be part of the military cadre, yet the mainstream media in the South seem uninterested in publishing much more than the most recent diplomatic brinkmanship in the cat-and-mouse nuclear talks. Understandably, South Korean news agencies do not want to inflame tensions on the peninsula by sending in undercover reporters.

However, the media's lens is tightly focused above the 38th parallel and as a result a clear lack of open dialogue and reflection exists in this country with regards to the North Korean question. How does President Lee Myung Bak's hardline policy of engagement resonate with his compatriots? How do people here feel about reunification?

Funny you should ask, because this and many more questions will be answered in a new weekly post called "The Great Blight North." These posts will aim to tell interesting stories and gauge the everyday citizen's opinions on the North.

This week starts off with an short interview of Ginger, a thirty-something English recruiter who lives in Busan.

WaP: What is your earliest memory of North Korea or its people?

G: We were taught in elementary school that the communists are bad and I didn't realize that it wasn't a fair education for a long time.

WaP: Do you live in fear of the North attacking?
G: No, I don't live in fear. But there were times that I got nervous but I don't think they will attack without any warning.


WaP: Do you want re-unification?



G: Re-unification is ideal thing to happen but it's not as ideal as it sounds I think. I'm hoping that we can go there just like we travel to other countries and all the divided families can meet their families in North freely.


WaP: How do you feel about the presence of American troops on the peninsula?
G: Well, I think it's a necessary evil because we don't spend as much money for military.

WaP: Is the "Sunshine Policy" the right way to engage North Korea?


G: I can't say it's right way but I like it better than Lee Myung Bak's way.

South Korea: Exploring Suburban Seoul's Latest Blitzstadt

(Ed. Note: feel free to check out an interestingly edited version of this story that ran in the October issue of Groove Korea.)

Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work. A land full of places that are not worth caring about will soon be a nation and a way of life that is not worth defending.

- James Howard Kunstler The Geography of Nowhere

Cars and trucks were parked haphazardly on half-finished sidewalks and streets that broke down into trampled pits of muddy rainwater. Rows of identical buildings stood gutted, half-painted and devoid of plumbing and electricity. If it weren't for the handful of tradesmen working their way through a Sunday afternoon, Pangyo New Town would have felt like post-apocalyptic old town.

Developers hope come January these boulevards will house thousands of families. Pangyo – South of the capital's city limits- will be the newest in a series of blitzstadts growing out of the greater Seoul conurbation.

As a former high-rise construction worker in Vancouver I'm always amazed at the incredible pace of South Korea's residential development. As a resident of an overpopulated planet showing irrefutable signs of stress, this development fills me with dread.

In cities and towns across this peninsula wet concrete formed by metal frames vaults the vertebrae of identical apartments into the smog-filled atmosphere. South Korea is roughly the size of Kentucky, but with 49 million residents it is the third most densely populated country in the world. Many Koreans live cheek-to-jowl in homes that would make the average North American claustrophobic.

These suburbs may not be as environmentally devastating as the acres of detached single-family dwellings that scar the North American landscape, still such density developing so rapidly cannot be ecologically sound, as Seoul’s constantly clogged commuter arteries can attest.

Neighbouring residents have also complained about putrid runoff water from the construction site fouling their area further downstream one of Pangyo’s four waterways. Like many suburban frontiers, the border where Pangyo meets the natural world is a distinct and disturbing landscape.

Upon first entering one of the main boulevards from the Seoul Ring Expressway, the sheer scale of the development shocked me. Fields of dirt destined to become parks, plazas, and river-side “greenspace” were strewn with heavy machinery and waste from construction.

The subdivision I walked around included 25 towers with 4,000 units, however, Pangyo’s entire population could be close to 80,000 people by next year. It is part of the federal government's wider plan to construct 300,000 homes in and around Seoul by 2017. Despite this ecologically devastating and seemingly archaic form of development people need to live somewhere. And even though South Korea’s population is projected to decrease 13% by 2050, thousands will continue to stream into urban areas in search of an better life.

That afternoon, walking through Pangyo I wondered: if this is the development model for a country with a decreasing population, then what does it look like in a place where the population is booming?

By Mike Hager