Eco Park in the DMZ Planned

The Gyeonggi Province government has proposed the development of an eco park in and around the DMZ.  With cooperation from the military, fences that restricted civilian access to areas near the DMZ have been taken down.  The DMZ is supposed to be land jointly managed by both Koreas (technically, North Korea and the UN).  Yet so far there has been little static from the North about the plans.

The Chosun Ilbo article states that devlopment and access will be restricted to South Korean territory within the DMZ, but there’s no such legal designation.

The park proposal includes the following:

• 3,000 sq km of land.
• Imjin River cruise on a traditional ship.
• Restoration of Freedom Bridge, the only bridge that connects the two Koreas.
• Shopping complex.
• Will open in 2010.

I support this development, which I think is a better alternative than to cover it with concrete. Ideally, I prefer to leave is as it is.  But this is unrealistic since land is at such a premium in one of the most densely populated countries in the world.   So the best way to preserve the green space is to find economic uses that minimize the environmental impacts of development.

DMZ as Noah’s Ark?

This article, from the Chosunilbo, is about ecologist, Alan Weisman. He’s the author of The World Without Us. I read most of this book while browsing in a bookstore. I couldn’t put it down. In it, he writes about what would happen if humans suddenly disappeared from the earth, describing how nature would reclaim developed land.

The most interesting quote is his comparison of the DMZ to Noah’s Ark. This is a narrative I haven’t run across: the DMZ as a repository of nature to be seeded later once the ‘flood’ recedes.

Also of note: two relevant events were mentioned in the article.

1. An “international conference on DMZ conservation”.
2. And “the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands”.

Vietnam War Memorial Opens Near DMZ

A Vietnam War veterans memorial village will be dedicated on Thursday in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, where a total of 300,000 Korean troops underwent training prior to their departure for Indochina in the 1960s and 70s. Weapons used during the undeclared U.S. war will be put on display, and a Vietnamese village and a replica of the network of tunnels used by the victorious Vietcong as their hiding spots and communication and supply routes will be on display.

Read the rest of the Chosun Ilbo article here.

It’s odd that near the epicenter of war is a memorial to another war. Unlike the mournful US Vietnam Memorial however, the Korean one appears to be more of an educational complex. Displays of weapons and faux villages suggest a traditional museum-like quality. This is consistent with Korea’s experiences during the war. The Vietnam War for Korea gave birth to an economic boom, as a main supplier to the US military effort. And thus it is not viewed as a national tragedy as it is in America.

Korea, U.S. to Excavate Bodies in DMZ

Korea and the United States will begin excavating the remains of soldiers who died during the Korean War from the demilitarized zone. The Defense Ministry on Monday said the Agency for KIA Recovery and Identification and the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) will carry out a preparatory survey for excavation in the DMZ from Munsan and Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi Province to Cheolwon and Hwacheon in Gangwon Province, and in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province from Monday until Nov. 25.

Click here for more of the Chosun Ilbo article.

130,000 Korean bodies and 8,100 Americans are still missing from the Korean War. It’s a staggering number. I imagine there were even more Chinese bodies.  While it may bring closure to some families, I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to just let the bodies rest in peace.  What better cemetary than an uninhabited wilderness.

DMZ Guestbook: Eagles, Nukes, and Generals

These are notable visitors to the DMZ between September 21 to October 4. I’ll make this a regular entry and post it perhaps every 2 weeks.

Eco Park Launch
September 25?, 2008

Environment Minister Lee Maan-nee, right, participates in a ceremony to launch the Gyeonggi province eco-friendly tourist complex.

Purpose of visit: Ceremonial.

A UN Ceremonial Visit

September 26, 2008.
Srgjan Kerim, the President of the UN General Assembly wrapped up a three-day tour of Korea with a visit to the DMZ. The visit to Korea and the DMZ appeared largely a ceremonial one. He lauded South Korea’s role in UN and development projects. He also met with the Korean President and the Prime Minister.

Purpose of visit: Ceremonial.

UN News Centre

Salvaging Denuclearization Talks
October 1-3, 2008

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill crossed the DMZ into North Korea to continue deteriorated negotiations concerning North Korean denuclearization.

The US wants the Yongbyon nuclear reactor to stay sealed and inactive.
North Korea wants the US to take it off the US list of terrorist states, as agreed.

Purpose of visit: Just passing through, by car.

The Associated Press article.

Resuming Inter-military Dialogue
October 2, 2008

Military leaders of the Koreas met for the first time in 8 months. The talks were initiated by the North.
The North demanded that propaganda leaflets that were distributed by visiting South Korean organizations cease.
The South insisted that the North stop insulting President Lee Myung Bak, and that measures be taken to guarantee the safety of South Koreans visiting the North.

Results: No agreements reached. Just the usual 90 minutes of the North berating the South.

Not discussed: Denuclearization, Kim Jong-il’s health.

Purpose of visit: Military negotiations.

A nice summary by the Financial Times.

The Xbox Vision of North Korea

The Xbox video game, Mercenaries 2, was released this past August. I don’t play video games but a review of the game came to my attention and I found that the original Mercenaries, the 2005 iteration, was based on a scenario in North Korea.

Here’s an excerpt of the review from xbox.gamespy.com.

At its core, Mercenaries is a third-person action game that puts you in the combat boots of one of a trio of hired guns, dispatched to North Korea to try to take down a maniacal general. He decided to stop the machinations of his father, who figured that the best way to go down in the annals of history was to unify the two Koreas once and for all. His son, General Song, wasn’t about to let this happen, so he killed the old man, along with a group of high-ranking officials from both countries. Now, it’s up to you to take down Song and his men, presented as a series of playing cards, similar to the system used in Iraq.

According to the review:

A renegade North Korean general takes over North Korea by force.

The Chinese lurk at the border and wait to annex the country.

The Allied Nations, which I suppose is a US-led force, enter North Korean territory.

The South Koreans are frozen in fear and do nothing.

And the Russian Mafia offer their services to the highest bidder.

Security Tourism

There have been a lot of articles on the net describing the DMZ as Korea’s most popular tourist attraction. This would be sad if this was true. I wonder what sources the writers used to make that claim? I suppose it could encompass not just visiting the Joint Security Area, but also the various parks and mountains along the DMZ.

I ran across a term to describe this kind of tourism: Security Tourism. Security tourism includes any place where there are men with guns standing guard. It has a long, venerable history that includes the Swiss Guards of the Vatican and the Beefeaters in London. The article is tongue-in-cheek, but I like the term.

An Introduction

My name is Wind Edward Kim, and I’m a graduate student with the University of Bradford Peace Studies Department.  One of my friends, who’s in higher education, told me that the vast majority of PhD students, something like 80%, do not finish their doctorates.  I’m not sure if this means that they never do finish it, or if they haven’t finished it within, say, 7 years.  I’m afraid I have been flirting with being one of the non-completers.

One of the reasons I haven’t been working on my PhD as assiduously as I should is because I spend a lot of time on the internet.  Most of that is keeping up on the news, especially about my research topics.  So instead of passively reading about events, I want to actively process it.

I’ve decided to start this new blog concerning my research topic, which is about how a reunified Korea is imagined and narrated through the DMZ.  I’ll also write about Korean territorial issues in general, both geographic and narratological.  It will necessitate that I venture into East Asian issues.  And finally, I’ll write about borders and boundaries, and the nation and nationalism, in general.