Re: "Going Seoul-searching"

[Mike Yared <mikeyared@yahoo.com>]

Well, the Washington Post is more of a DNC organ and
too PC on the Korean War. Beside, the Washington Times
have good articles on Korea (both) over the years.
Mike

--- Love Shack <Home@DanSources.com> wrote:
> Washingon Times hmmm.
> Never been able to believe anything they print.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Yared" <mikeyared@yahoo.com>
> To: <KOREAN-WAR-L@listproc.cc.ku.edu>
> Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 12:44 PM
> Subject: "Going Seoul-searching"
> 
> 
> Going Seoul-searching
> By Willis Witter
> THE WASHINGTON TIMES
>
http://www.washingtontimes.com/travel/20030530-084030-5756r.htm
> Published May 31, 2003
> 
>     SEOUL - Many Americans spend time in Seoul with
> the U.S. military or on business. Only now is Seoul
> beginning to realize its potential as a draw for
> tourists as well. 
>     For those making their first trip to Asia - this
> is the place to begin exploring the other side of
> the
> world. 
>     The city is clean and free of street crime;
> people
> have little need to worry about terrorists blowing
> up
> buildings full of people; and there is no SARS. In
> one
> week, a writer and a photographer saw no face masks
> worn anywhere in the city, and that includes crowded
> markets, restaurants and entertainment districts
> that
> teem with people day and night. 
>     Seoul, like the rest of Northeast Asia, is off
> the
> beaten path for the militant Islamists. Of course,
> the
> ever-hostile North Korea lies just 30 miles to the
> north of Seoul, the sprawling capital of 20-plus
> million residents and commuters that offers living
> proof that South Korea won the Cold War. 
>     To appreciate how lopsided that victory was, the
> first-time visitor must join the 150,000 or so
> tourists who visit the demilitarized zone each year.
> Tours in English are readily available to several
> sites, including a peace park, mountain overlook and
> North Korean infiltration tunnels big enough for a
> two-lane highway. A visit to the truce village at
> Panmunjom tops them all. 
>     It isn't much of a village, just a bunch of
> simple
> one-story huts, scrubbed and freshly painted in the
> shade of baby blue that matches that of the U.N.
> flag.
> They sit in a tiny valley surrounded by guard towers
> and observation posts manned on the other side by
> real
> North Korean soldiers. In crisp, pressed olive
> uniforms, with pictures of North Korean leader Kim
> Jong-il on the lapel, they stare at visitors with
> furrowed brows, snarled lips and scowling eyes. 
>     When the guide takes visitors into one of the
> huts, sometimes a North Korean soldier will stroll
> up
> to the window and glare inside. Try taking a picture
> of the North Korean, but be quick. As soon as he
> sees
> a camera pointed in his direction, he runs away. 
>     The tours are well-organized. Tennis shoes,
> bluejeans, shorts and other casual wear are
> forbidden,
> lest they provide images for North Korea's
> propaganda
> machine to illustrate America's decadence. The tours
> come with a briefing from an American soldier, and
> there are plenty of opportunities to peer at North
> Korean guard posts atop rolling hills outside. 
>     There's a fake North Korean village, dubbed
> "propaganda village" by U.S. and South Korean
> troops.
> No one lives there, but sometimes the North Koreans
> bring in a busload of people to hang up some laundry
> and otherwise hang out to fool the VIPs they bring
> down from Pyongyang. 
>     A loudspeaker above the village blasts insults
> at
> the South, or classic communist propaganda. "Our
> great
> leader Kim Jong-il has done so much for us," it
> blared
> during a recent morning visit as pairs of white
> Manchurian cranes frolicked overhead. The species is
> said to be extinct everywhere except along the
> 150-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide demilitarized zone that
> divides the peninsula. No one walks through the DMZ
> except wildlife, except at Panmunjom - until
> recently
> the only land crossing between North and South Korea
> along the entire length of the DMZ. 
>     Here, huge letters decorate mountain slopes
> facing
> south. "Our victory is for our sunshine general, Kim
> Jong-il, hurray," says one mountain. Each boasts a
> giant flag on a skyscraper-size flagpole. North and
> South used to compete, building bigger and bigger
> poles and flags until, presumably, the South decided
> things had gotten out of hand. 
>     The North won that battle and today displays the
> biggest flag on the tallest pole. The problem is
> that
> the flag weighs more than 600 pounds, meaning it
> just
> hangs like a wet dishrag unless a typhoon happens to
> blow through. 
>     On the other side, the South Korean flag unfurls
> in the gentle morning breeze. 
>     Panmunjom has a history of ax murders,
> defections
> and shootouts, but the last serious incident was 20
> years ago when a defection by a Soviet officer, who
> stepped across the line, triggered a firefight. One
> can leave for Panmunjom early in the morning on a
> tour
> bus from Seoul and be back with plenty of time to
> spare in the afternoon. 
>     The experience is guaranteed to be so grim that
> Seoul will feel like paradise, and that's a good way
> to begin exploring. 
>     Five royal palaces ring downtown Seoul, each
> undergoing a massive restoration amid a nationwide
> renaissance of appreciation for the country's
> ancient
> history. The walled compounds, with towering wooden
> gates and curved tiled tops, defined the city a
> century ago, when kings ruled and the aristocracy
> lived in gilded splendor. 
>     At night, Seoul provides the cosmopolitan flare
> of
> dining, theater and nightclubs. There's also a
> futuristic side of Seoul. Check out the area around
> World Cup Stadium containing a power plant between
> two
> giant man-made mountain mesas - both former garbage
> dumps. Atop one dump sits an 18-hole golf course,
> and
> atop the other is a public park. The green is so
> lush
> it's hard to believe garbage lies underneath, and
> this
> is where the power plant comes in. 
>     The plant makes electricity by burning off the
> extracts from pipes deep underground. It supplies
> power to the adjacent World Cup soccer stadium,
> which
> is being converted into an upscale retail mall with
> luxury high-rise condos nearby. 
>     The 2002 World Cup - in which South Korea became
> the first team from Asia to make the final four -
> inspired the Seoul metropolitan government to begin
> an
> aggressive campaign to lure Western travelers. The
> campaign, with the slogan "Hi Seoul," focuses on the
> past, the present and, as with the reclaimed garbage
> dump, the future. 
>     Seoul City Hall, an imposing gray building from
> pre-World War II days when Japan ruled Korea as a
> colony, is a good place to start. 
>     Inside the front door, the tourist can pick up
> information on just about everything there is to do
> -
> written in English. 
>     A good subway guide and several maps are
> available, including one that shows the location of
> every public, self-sanitizing toilet in Seoul. The
> toilets are like giant portable commodes except that
> the entire interior gets sprayed with disinfectant
> after each customer. 
>     Look for the yellow pamphlet titled Foreigner's
> Favorite 10 Best Korean Foods. The brochure has
> color
> photos of all the delicacies so one can carry it
> into
> any restaurant and simply point to the picture. 
>     Topping the list is bulgogi, a sweet beef
> barbecue, and somewhere in the middle is kimchi, the
> fiery dish of pickled cabbage, cayenne pepper and
> garlic, which is served with every Korean meal.
> Other
> favorites include galbi, in which meat from prime
> beef
> ribs is grilled over charcoal, and samgyetang, a
> chicken dish without the hot spices. There also is a
> sushilike dish called gimbab, and Korean-style
> dumplings known as mandu. 
>     Though Seoul sprawls in all directions, its
> ancient palaces and teeming markets lie within a
> tight
> circle just several miles wide, which framed the
> city
> 
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