Jeffrey Miller's Blog: Jeffrey Miller Writes, page 21

North Korea: What, Me Worry?

Well, North Korea is at it again.

North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its “sworn enemy”. (Reuters)

Sworn enemy? Who writes this stuff. It’s been a while since the Norks have rattled their sabers. However, I figured it was about time for Pyongyang to come out with some spiel following the election of Park Geun-hye last month. To be sure, this is per North Korea’s playbook. As the Website ROK Drop suggests, we have been done this road many times before.

So, I am going with Alfred E. Neuman’s thoughts on this one.

What, me worry?

Students from Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico Visit SolBridge

Thirteen bachelor students from SolBridge International School of Business’s  partner university Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico are at SolBridge for a special two-week program, “Doing Business in East Asia”.

The purpose of their visit is to learn Asian economics and culture.

During the program they will attend high quality lectures and take part in cultural and industrial trips, including, but not limited to visits to SK Telecom, Samsung, ETRI, and Hyundai Heavy Industry.

This is the second visit by students from this university to SolBridge.

The Man from Choson

Going through some more old photos I took back in my early digital years. I snapped this one while on assignment for The Korea Times (a travel article) in Suwon. The city is famous for Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Someone came up with this great idea to have men dress up in Choson (Choson Dynasty 1392-1910) threads and hang out at Kyongbok and Toksu Palaces in Seoul as well as Hwaseong. This was right around the time of the 2002 World Cup and another chance for Korea to highlight some of its history and culture.

What would a Man from Choson think if he was suddenly teleported to the future and modern-day Korea? What would be going through his mind?

Ice Fishing Anyone?

Although I’ve never enjoyed the fine art outdoor of ice fishing, I am sure this is not the way you go about it.  This photo, which comes via the English Chosun, was taken at some ice fishing rodeo in Korea. Could someone please tell me where’s the fun in all this? And if anyone caught a fish it would probably be a miracle with all the folks tramping on the ice above. I’d be worried about all the holes in the ice, too.

Crowds. Got to love them in Korea.

January 21, 1968 — The Blue House Raid

It’s been forty-five years since North Korean commandos attacked The Blue House (Korea’s version of The White House) in an attempt to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. Thirty-one men were handpicked from an elite unit and spent two years training for the raid.

On the night of January 21, 1968 the commandos, (having infiltrated through a sector of the US Second Infantry Division on January 16 and changing into ROK army uniforms) got within 100 meters of The Blue House when they were question by a Jongro police officer. The police officer was suspicious of their answers, but when he drew his pistol he was shot by the commandos who then started firing and throwing hand grenades. The commandos then dispersed.

During the course of this assassination attempt, South Korean casualties totaled 26 killed and 66 wounded — mainly military and police, but also about two dozen civilians. Four Americans also were killed in attempts to block the escaping infiltrators from crossing the DMZ. Of the thirty-one members of Unit 124, twenty-nine were killed, one (Kim Shin-Jo) was captured and one was presumed to have escaped back into North Korea

But wait, there’s more:

On this day, North Vietnamese regulars launched an attack on American forces at Khe Sanh.

And just in case this day wasn’t surreal enough, it was also the date that Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in premiered.

Two days later, the USS Pueblo was seized by North Korea.

And so began 1968.

Ice Cream Headache: My Journey Back to 1968

I’m a student and a teacher of history and when it comes to writing both become quite evident in what I write.

My first novel, War Remains, A Korean War Novel took me back to the opening months of the Korean War, the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, Kunu-ri, and the battle at Hoengseong. My interest in the Korean War was in part due to my coverage of Korean War commemorative events in Korea between 2000-2003 for the Korea Times, which also included meeting many veterans.

Although Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm is about my twenty-plus years living and working in Korea, the book is also a personal history of Korea and the changes which have occurred on the peninsula since I came to Korea in 1990. Besides the essays and articles about the Korean War, there is a special section about Panmunjom, including the article I wrote in 2001 about the 25th anniversary of the Panmunjom Ax Murder Incident.

There’s also a lot of history evident in Invaders from Mars and Other Tales of Youthful Angst. Though most of the essays are about growing up in Oglesby, Illinois, a town of 4,200 back in the 1960s and 1970s, there are a number of historical references, including, but not limited to, the Vietnam War, the Apollo space program, and 1960s television. Many of the essays in this collection started out as blog posts which I later revised and expanded. I tell people that if you like Bill Bryson or Dave Barry, you’ll like this collection.

And that brings me to Ice Cream Headache when I travel back in time again, this time back to 1968. I’ve always been fascinated with this year. A lot has to do with my own sort of prepubescent coming of age when I first really became aware of the world around me. Although Johnny Fitzpatrick is the only one directly affected by the historical backdrop, everyone has their own stake in the historical backdrop of the novella.

In many ways the history that ended up in Ice Cream Headache is also me waxing nostalgic about the Illinois Valley. (For those of you not familiar with the Illinois Valley, it is a geographical area approximately 90 miles southwest of Chicago with three main towns located along the Illinois River: LaSalle, Peru, and Oglesby; to the east there’s Utica and Ottawa and to the west Spring Valley.) It’s been over six years since I last was home; the history I remember and write about is also my way of maintaining an umbilical cord to “home.”

Reading Ice Cream Headache, Invaders from Mars and Other Tales of Youthful Angst, and War Remains, is reading me: who I am and where I’ve come from.

Come along for the ride.

Will China Block Korean Unification?

Here’s an interesting article in the Washington Post that suggests China could block the eventual unification of the two Koreas:

A recent report by Senate Republican staff members warns that China, because of its deepening economic ties with North Korea as well as its ancient claims on Korean land, could attempt to “manage, and conceivably block,” an eventual unification between the two Koreas, if ever the Kim family falls from power in Pyongyang.

The report was released last month with little fanfare, but North Korea watchers say it gives voice to an increasingly popular but still-sensitive sentiment: that China will ultimately try to prevent the South from absorbing the North, the long-assumed post-collapse scenario.

Read the rest of the article here.

Well, this changes things drastically. On the other hand, I have always believed that Japan and China are quite happy with a divided Korea. A unified Korea would drastically alter the balance of power in Northeast Asia and make Korea an economic threat to China and Japan. In the past, Korea was often referred to as a “shrimp caught between two whales.” If Korea does reunify one day, this will not be the case.

Photo courtesy of Washington Post

Seoul — 2002

Came across this photo the other day of downtown Seoul and the Kwangwhamun area. This was taken right before President George Bush’s visit to South Korea (I would later be part of the press pool at Osan Air Base where Bush delivered a speech prior to departing).

Why you should read this book

There are still over 7,900 Americans listed as missing in action from the Korean War.

This is the story of one of those Americans.

Is that a good enough reason for you?

 

War Remains, A Korean War Novel (eBook)

Korea: Up Close and Personal — A Review of Korea: The Impossible Country

When I came to Korea in 1990 to live and work, my knowledge of Korea was what I was able to glean from a South Korean Fodor’s travel guide, travel information from the Korea National Tourism Agency, a couple badly photocopied pages of firsthand experiences by English teachers at the language school I would be teaching at in southern Seoul, and a feature story in a 1979 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Nowadays, finding out information about what life is like in Korea is easy thanks to all the websites and blogs devoted to Korea and the trove of books which have been published about Korea in the past 20 years (including one from this reviewer: Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm). There is no dearth of information about Korea and it seems with every new book or blog about Korea another “expert” chimes in.

Well, another expert, Daniel Tudor, has chimed in with Korea: The Impossible Country and this is one expert who knows his stuff about Korea. Indeed, this old Korean hat found a trove of fresh insights about Korea as well as some succinct explanations of Korean customs and traditions and one of the best explanations that I’ve ever come across of that ever so explanation-evasive Korean “cultural code”, han.

It’s all here. Anything and everything you’ve heard or wondered about Korea is explored here, up close and personal. He examines everything from Shamanism and Confucianism to the rise of democracy in Korea and nationalism. With journalistic flair and the desire for getting at the truth, whether to satisfy his own curiosity or not, Tudor unravels all that is mysterious, intriguing, and sometimes frustrating about Korea to get at the very heart of what makes Korea, Korea.

Although this is not an academic study, (those looking for a more of an academic study about Korea might want to choose Don Oberdorfer’s, The Two Koreas or Bruce Cumings, Korea’s Place in the Sun) there is much to be learned and digested here. And even if you have already lived and worked in Korea for any length of time, Tudor offers fresh insights into contemporary Korean society whether he’s talking about Korea’s drinking culture or the role of women (though he might need to update his book soon with the election of Park Guen-hye).

Though a bit heavy on the historical, cultural, anthropological, psychological attributes of Korean society and things Korean for short term visitors to Korea, it should be standard issue for anyone who is going to be here for the long term. Tudor excels with his ability to describe the Korean-ness of Korea. Additionally, it should be required reading for anyone doing business in Korea: from students and military personnel to business persons and diplomats.

Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm (ebook)

Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm (paperback)