DMZ Lotte World

I did not do a single one productive thing for the whole day so at least I decided to write this entry. South Korean overdone consumerism has always driven me a little bit nuts. Especially that it is very homogenous consumerism and that I am a part of it each time I go to Starbucks. Each time I go anywhere else. Or each time I just go out of my industrialized prison camp at Ajou.

The place where it is especially felt is DMZ - Demilitarized Zone. I have written a bit about this one here or there. But this time it is really an unforgettable advert.

 photo by Justinas Simanavici

''Thirsty? Try a DMZ water, fresh from the purity of intact land", says an advert of one of the brands which apparently found the way how to earn cash on the lasting Korean conflict. Crowds of tourists dragged by curiosity each year come to learn something about the situation in the penninsula. Mistery of last hermit non globalized country in the world is what brings them here. They want to feel that, experience that, how does it taste to be in clear and present danger.

South Korean soldier stands still protecting tourists from North Koreans...propaganda? Photo by Nathan Price
Typical program of the tour to DMZ is to see Panmunjom where Joint Security Area is located, watch North and South Korean soldiers who stand like salt statues half starring at each other. After that one is taken into a very well equipped tunnel which, as US soldiers in the role of guides say, had been digged for the purpose of infiltration. After portion of movies showing hope for reunification one is taken to a souvenir shop. Well, souvenir shop sells a tourist what reminds him about a visit to any tourist attraction later. But is it really a good idea?

Good or not, organizers will not let you get lost, they made sure to indicate which way is North Korea and which way is the toilet ( very needed sometimes ) and which way you may go to buy a souvenir T-shirt after you defected successfully.

photo by Nathan Price
Cheap souvenirs, cups, magnets, t-shirts and gadjets of all sorts with DMZ written on it contrast very sharply with dangerous communist buildings on the other side and soldiers ready to fire a gun in a blink of an eye.


There are even better things. A plastic worm just next to Korean warfare reminds you that it is only a tourist trip. When you are bored with all that talking about conflict, reunification, etc, you may also drop by amusement park nearby. And when you are thirsty, drink DMZ water.

 photo by Justinas Simanavici

This all represents the reality of two different countries of both sides. After all, South Korea is a capitalistic democracy and has right to do cash on anything it wants. But it poses a question, what happens to DMZ if ever it stops being the most hostile border in the world? Will it be changed into a National Park because it has intact ecosystem, or will be changed into another land of skyscrappers and Starbucks? That is the question.

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Thanks to Justinas Simanavici and Nathan Price for these photos above.
You can visit Nathan's blog here: http://bigbadboonis.blogspot.com/, it is full of satiric eye comments, some of them sharply described impressions from DMZ

Sleeping with the enemy - DMZ

Several recent posts supposed to be about G20 related stuff and the economy. But sometimes more important things pop up and nothing can be done about that.

Today North Korea shot 200 shells at the South Korean Yeongpyeong island  injuring 13 people and killing one and putting several dozens homes on fire.

Apart from sinking the Cheonan fregate that was the most important incident since the Korean War. Rising tensions in the region are caused by current power shift in North Korea where supposedly ill Kim Jong Il is trying to put his youngest son as a heir to the regime.

Last Monday I talked to colonel Ulf Persson who works at the Swedish base at Pammunjom. As we exchanged several diplomatic remarks as on such banquet occasions is normal, the colonel joked: "We are sleeping with the enemy".

Although for an average tourist DMZ is nothing special. The possibility of war apparently was so misty that South Korean business invented DMZ brand. Gadjets with DMZ, DMZ cola, DMZ t-shirts sell out very well among tourists who go for a trip to Panmunjom.

Despite that, chaos in the North is apparent. For many years status quo relied on simple exchange: we don't hurt you and you feed us in reward. North Korea was blackmailing doing something small from time to time and receiving economic aid as part of Sunshine Policy of the South government. So on one hand everyone earns money on anything they can and on the other those who have to be aware are aware and the silent tension of warzone is present in the air.

Now it is no longer that sure whether the game has still the same rules. It seems like there is some chaos in the North related to power shift. It is enough that small thing happens between fighting fractions and the war is ready.

The irony of fate is that DMZ is the only genuine ecosystem habitat in the entire penninsula. If the North and South is ever reunited this area might be one of the biggest National Parks in the world, and one of the only in this particular area, where development had paved everything in concrete across hundreds of kilometers. Typical irony of fate shows that where people can't boost, nature does, taking advantage of human hostilities.

Blind brother parasite

It happened again.
North Korea threatened to take military action Sunday, blasting the South Korean defense minister for his remarks on a preemptive strike against the North in the case of an imminent nuclear threat.

Last week, Minister Kim Tae-young said in a defense forum here that Seoul would have to undertake an immediate appropiate action if the North shows a clear sign of attacking with nuclear weapons.

In a statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency that was commented as an open declaration of war

It continued that Pyongyang may take prompt and decisive military action.

The warning came two days after the North proposed having military talks to discuss telecommunication, customs and immigration issues regarding the joint Kaeseong Industrial Complex in the North.

A senior official of the South's unification ministry said, asking to remain anonymous, that the government will suggest holding the meeting after Feb. 1 when working-level inter-Korean talks over the operation of the industrial park take place. (see more @ Korea Times online).

History of a conflict between North and South Korea is long and complicated and this post is by no means attempting to be a handbook on that.

Yet the Kaeseong Industrial Complex is a good area to study relations between two Korean states.

Approximately 15 South Korean companies employ more than 40 000 workers from North Korea with perspective to employ 26 000 as soon as possible. Everything is supported from Seoul, facilities, constructions, energy and transportation system together with money to pay for wages. By 2012 the Complex is said to employ approximately 725 000 North Korean citizens and generate more than $500 million of income for North Korean Economy.

North Korea supports physical power of homo sapiens. Because in this communist heaven in the Earth nothing else exists. There are hardly any cars, electricity is only in Phoenyang and even there sometimes windows are dark in the evening.

In her "Access to evil" Ewa Ewart shows Northern Korea as described above. Guarded 24/7 by her silent security angels dared to ask why she could not see anything apart from the authorities in Phoenyang scheduled for her to see. Without any possibility to shoot by hidden camera she still saw a lot of trush hidden so eagerly under the carpet.

Will the situation between two Korean states change, will they be unified? Despite that there is a will to unify the countries shown by South Korean authorities and intellectuals, the very process of it is a long way to go and full of obstacles.

One of them is a burden which would be caused by joining undeveloped impoverished sister country to the 21st century economy. A demand for jobs, wages and social securities so typical in the fresh post communist countries would weaken South Korean economy for a long time, just like it slowed down Germany after unification 20 years ago.

Another issue is South Korean society itself and its psychological attitude. Refugees from North even now are not considered members of community and live in isolation. They are lucky if they run restaurants or other businesses, but most often they are at mercy of church communities which help to organize their escapes. But, as I have mentioned, in the society they are not very welcome.

However the Ossie and Wessie in Germany still distrust each other and tend to pay attention to the West or East German origin of a person, the individualistic trait in Western mental construct makes it easier and in the current generation this will not be important anymore.

But the community and group identification in confucianist society like South Korean will not make the adaptation of North Koreans easier, especially of those who do not have families in south from DMZ.

Another possible scenario and more likely to happen is North Korean regime growing only in power due to economic profits from such projects like special industrial zones. Foreign investment in China had only strengthened the current system which builds huge nuclear arsenal with the very same dollars earned on trading their working power for Western corporate investment. The very same scenario is equally possible in North Korea.

On the contrary Soviet State collapsed due to central planned economy of shortages, when food was difficult to get and basic goods hard to achieve, and in such condition social devotion to the Party and system gradually faded. What would happen if instead of fierce arms competition and trade embargo Ronald Reagan decided to economically support Soviet Union...?

There is a chance, yet slight, that economic improvement will empower North Koreans enough to get rid of the regime on their own. With networking, internet access and some level of economic prosperity transformation might happen, like it happens in Vietnam.

That is all for now. Next post is coming soon.