South Korea: A vacation from the vacation

My time in South Korea can be summarized well into hanging out with the family, trying to put some of the 15-20lbs I lost since the beginning of my trip back on and otherwise enjoying the perks of being in a developed country (e.g. drinking tap water). 

The day after I met my parents in Seoul, we took the KTX (Korean Train Express) to Busan.  The 420Km journey took roughly two and a half hours.  In an Indian train, that same journey would have taken about nine hours.  The weekend in Busan is aptly summarized by the intro.

The next stop was Daejon, where Andy (my brother) teaches English to 4^th, 5^th and 6^th graders.  The highlights from Daejon were a night out at Andy’s favorite bar called Santa Clause with the other teachers in the area and watching Andy play telephone with a group of 5^th graders. 

The over shadowing experience during our stay in Seoul and the trip to Korea as a whole was the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) tour.  Technically the Korean War is still going on; a treaty was never agreed upon, only a cease fire.  The DMZ between the two halves of Korea extends two kilometers in both directions from the Demarcation Line that lies along the path of the last troop placements when the cease fire was signed.  In the middle of the DMZ, straddling the Demarcation Line is the JSA (Joint Security Area); this is where most, if not all, of the negotiations between the two nations take place.  In the South’s side there is a small town named… wait for it… wait for it… “Freedom Village” and in North’s side a town named… wait for it… “Propaganda Village.”  In Freedom Village, the South built a 100m tall flag pole; in response, the North built a 160m tall pole.  The South pays the people who live in Freedom Village well and subsidizes their cost of living, including any higher education, in return for the villagers committing to living in the village for at least 280 days of the year, where they are under constant guard/surveillance and must adhere to very strict policies (yay irony); while the North’s Propaganda Village actually contains no people.  All of the buildings are empty shells with only the side towards the South even painted and until a few years ago, there was a system of loud speakers that blasted propaganda up to 16 hours per day.  The JSA was previously common ground and is now divided down the middle due to a series of events where North Korean soldiers attacked the South Korean forces.  During the Cease Fire negotiations, the talks typically lasted for an hour or two.  Only one talk lasted longer, for a total of 11 hours and it was on no other topic than the flags on the table.  The North Koreans repeatedly placed platforms under their flag to raise it above the others.  These are just a few representative tales of the antics between the two halves of Korea.  As horrible as the history and current situation is, I couldn’t help but to have a small chuckle at the whole thing.

Assessment: One working theory on the North Koreans is that they aren’t actually crazy.  They only act it because they have no other option.  In the Cold War, the idea of mutually assured destruction was reliable only because each side believed the other to be sane and didn’t wish the destruction of the world.  If North Korea was rational, they would have to know that they have no chance, leaving them with their best defense as being perceived as insane.  Anyways, just an idea and one that I like to believe because I think I would rather believe that people chose to oppress people in that manner, than that they are inherently evil.