Kudos to Korea's 4 Ts, but please no complacency

From pariah in February to role model in March, South Korea illustrates what kind of swings to expect from the roller coaster our species boarded last December. Watch out for Loch-Ness-monster-shaped graphics - there won't be just one curve to flatten, but series of waves that can either be reduced to wavelets by sound leadership and smart citizens, or grown into tsunamis by covidiots of all sizes and shapes. In between, normal people will deliver results that anyway won't belong to normal times.

As the 'Spanish Flu' illustrates, fighting pandemics requires whack-a-mole resilience

As a French Seoulite (right now experiencing the transition between confinement in Paris and quarantine in Seoul*), I can't help but draw parallels between Korea and France, who both saw their first major clusters originate from mass gatherings held by cults in February: Shincheonji in Daegu, Porte Ouverte Chretienne in Mulhouse.

As an observer of national politics and international affairs, I can't help but draw parallels between Korea and the US, who both registered their first COVID-19 case on January 20, or between Korea and Japan, who both received international praise for the way they managed to 'flatten the curve'.

Of course, as we speak, Korea seems to emerge as the clear winner in all parallels:

•  Korea better trained and equipped, swifter than France:

  - After posting record numbers of new cases, Korea swiftly implemented containment measures around Daegu and the region, but also at the micro level, around each actual or suspected case, aggressively multiplying tests, treatments, and tracking with as much precision as possible. The population didn't need much pedagogy to put on face masks everybody's already used to wearing in case of flu or bad air quality. For starters, Korea also keeps remarkable track of most of its senior citizens and of their health, and boasts a greater and more modern ICU capacity.

  - France's health system, which was already imploding long before SARS-CoV2 showed up, is now literally choking. Not enough testing material, not enough face masks for a population anyway totally oblivious of their existence, not enough protection gear required for doctors and nurses coping with a pandemic... France even lacks the legal framework to track and monitor as acutely as in Korea, where all members of the cult could be tested: since the Occupation, databases featuring religion are illegal in France, and Korea's amazing(ly intrusive) apps tracking COVID-19 patients wouldn't pass the CNIL cut either. 

  - For a change, France is lagging behind Korea in terms of return on experience. It took us years to find out that the 2003 heatwave killed 20,000 people instead of the 3,500 initially thought, and only a few days ago was it made public that our COVID-19 statistics didn't include cases or fatalities outside of hospital systems. To start with, we can't even keep track of our senior citizens that stay all year round in their retirement homes. During the H5N1 crisis, the French government did create a stockpile of one billion masks, but the country was relatively spared by the virus, and a few years later this safety net was deemed unnecessary and abandoned. Korea took a hit during that crisis, and learned the lesson. The government didn't hesitate too long before containing Daegu while France waited until after the elections to take significant measures.
  

• Science and facts first, 4Ts for Korea vs only 1T for the States:

  - To the most obvious 3 Ts (Testing, Tracking, Treating), Korea didn't forget to add the fourth one, Transparency. This time, the vaccine came from the Sewol tragedy: MOON Jae-in knows what happens to leaders who fail when their citizens' safety is at stake.

  - Unfortunately, this President Of The United States focused from the start on the only T he cares for: TRUMP. Because he thinks as usual that everything is all about him and his election, and that he can never fail, as usual he rejects science and facts, and everybody pays the price. How many lies, denials, delays? How many weeks wasted, how many lives lost forever? At best tens of thousands, because the US have at long last started to move, and once they do they can move mountains, but Trump's behaviors could well have cost hundreds of thousands of American lives.

  

  "If #Korea has the best protection mask against #AirPollution and #covid19,
  #USA had the best #protectionmask against #Science, facts, and #truth thanks to this #MAGA #Trump #mask:
  http://e-blogules.blogspot.com/2020/03/coronavirus-protect-yourself-100-from.html  @blogules" (@theseoulvillage - 20200309)

  

  "So #DonaldTrump wants to see full #churches on #Easter day. Well that's very easy to do. Even #Italy manages just that right now (see photo below). #COVID19US" (@stephanemot - 20200326)

• Korea more decisive and transparent than Japan's government**: 

  - when most international media applauded Japan for its remarkably low number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities, only a few observers pointed out the fact that these numbers were not to be trusted, that very few people were tested, and that the government was responsible for many fatalities with its disastrous handling of the outbreak on board of the Princess Diamond cruise ship. Sadly, much more lives will be lost on the archipelago because Shinzo Abe and his team deliberately tried to hide the pandemic under the rug to save face, Tokyo 2020, and their own corrupt regime. The reason why figures were so good and the temperature didn't show? They deliberately got rid of the tests and the thermometer, treating cases as 'pneumonia', and refusing even to release statistics about pneumonia. For many, reality hit home only yesterday, when Dishonest Abe exposed his total lack of visibility and control:

  

  "After #Trump's #ITakeNoResponsibility, #ShinzoAbe's 'I-dont-have-a-clue-how-deep-I-dug-#Japan-In-but-in-a-fortnight-after-cases-have-multiplied-a-hundredfold-I-might-consider-declaring-a-state-of-emergency (scary quotes via @motokorich):" (@theseoulvillage - 20200328)

Of course, this is certainly not about countries competing against each other, but about mankind vs the invisible enemy, about humans vs their own failures.

Furthermore, Koreans already know how quickly and dramatically situations can evolve for the better and for the worse with this pandemic. And like everybody else, they are not out of the woods yet. Particularly with these recurring stories of churches holding services in spite of the ban, or this handshake-happy covidiot of a politician on the campaign trail:

"If #Korea govt locked up 'religious' leaders who persist in organizing mass 'services', prisons would be packed. Particularly their mass murderer sections." (Quote Tweet Raphael Rashid / @koryodynasty "This at the Yonsei Central Baptist Church today. I wonder how far spit particles can travel.") (20200329)

Frederic Ojardias / @fredojardias: "I just saw a campaigning politician (from the majority party) walking in a park in Seoul and shaking the hands of *every people* he met. Seriously, Korea. The #COVID crisis is not over. @moonriver365  @wonsoonpark
Seoul Village / @theseoulvillage: "I'd #facepalm if touching one's own face weren't forbidden" (20200329)
So don't count on me to feed the ambient complacency. Or to complain about systematic screenings and tests upon arrival in the country.

One can only be impressed by the attention given to each and every one of us ever since we landed, from the welcome pack (masks, hand sanitizer, disinfectant, disposable thermometers, special trash bags...) to the daily calls from the district office, the neighborhood health center, and even the psychological support provided to anyone in need. Yes, during this quarantine, we're tracked by GPS, we have to report on two different self-quarantine apps every day (ministries of Health and Interior), we have to take our temperature twice a day for good measure, even if we tested negative to the coronavirus after arrival. But in too many countries, too many people would die for - and sadly too many people will die without - such attention.

"Free #protectionMasks, hand gel, disinfection spray, special trash bags for contaminated materials and instructions to handle them... dropped at your home. #Seoul welcomes you back in a country that copes seriously with #covid19." (20200326)

These days, Korea manages to maintain a significant level of economic activity, but that's a very delicate balancing act, and I'd settle for a trade-off where the economy is steadily running at around 85%, instead of 90% for the first week, but 70% afterwards. If we want most restaurants to remain open much longer, maybe limiting their activity (e.g. to take out) could make that more likely.

Avoiding complacency and relapses should be consistent at all levels. And if MOON Jae-in is enjoying a well deserved boost in the polls because of the way he handled the outbreak, that shouldn't be a green light for bringing back such rotten apples as CHO Kuk or SOHN Hye-won.

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* see this 20200328 tweet:

** as usual I make clear differences between Japan, Imperial Japan, and the politicians that are now ruining this great nation, betraying this great people.

Moving matter and hearts - Choe U-ram in Daegu

If you happen to pass by Daegu, you may witness a very rare gathering of elusive creatures, but be quick, they're about to take off very soon: only a few days left for CHOE U Ram's exhibition at the Daegu Art Museum!

CHOE himself is a very rare creature: at the same time a brilliant artist producing spectacular works, and an extremely modest human being, who sometimes refers to himself as a 'Cheonggyecheon dog', because according to him, even a dog would have learned all these techniques by just roaming the workshop neighborhoods the way he did as he grew up. A poet, a dreamer, and a maker, U-ram also happens to be one of the kindest people I ever met.

This robot hero he painted when he was 7, and the story that came with it were already very touching.

If nowadays, his 'anima machines' use more complex mechanisms and technologies, they are still about turning his fertile imagination into reality.

  URC-1, 2014 by Choe U-Ram from U-Ram Choe on Vimeo.

It was really moving to see all generations of visitors mesmerized by U-ram's poetic wonders.

In front of Choe U-ram's Scarecrow (www.instagram.com/p/BPHnOKHjdhr/)

And I can't wait to discover what will come next from his Yeonhui-dong workshop.

'Choe U-Ram: [Stil laif]'
1 Nov 2016 – 12 Feb 2017
Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea
40 Misulgwan-ro, Suseong-gu, Daegu 42250, Korea
T +82 (0)53 790 3000

DaeguArtMuseum.org


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PS: also from last month's trip to Daegu:

Modern art or carwash? (www.instagram.com/p/BO_N9TFDjvF/)

Vincent Van Gogh's poppy field, or buchujeon? (www.instagram.com/p/BO_j2BejYdL/)

From urban mirages to urban decay

The KRIHS (Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements - 국토연구원 - krihs.re.kr) delivered last week a grim portrait of Korean rust belts: of the 144 industrialized zones it surveyed, 23 would show early signs of urban decay, and 44 would be seriously emptying themselves. Some counties have never recovered from the collapse of the textile industry, but I'm more interested in the stories of urban centers.

Over the past few days, the Korean press buzzed about the findings, and I'm not surprised to see the Korean JoongAng Daily focus today* on the example of Incheon's Nam-gu, and the failures of short sighted urban development. I precisely took downtown Incheon as the textbook case of downtown sacrificed by Korea's suicidal urban planning in a recent focus ("Wet eyes for wetlands and urban mirages"), from which I reproduce here the 'About New Towns and the laws of gravitation' part:

"New cities must always be conceived with a long term vision that encompasses the past as well as the future. And one of the great tragedies in Korean urbanism is the fact that developpers prefer to build from scratch a new city instead of improving existing ones, even if it means the eventual failure of both. I understand the short term economics, but that's simply not sustainable.

That's true for both "Urban New Towns" and "Greenfield New Towns". The first expression may sound like a tautology, but that's how I define New Towns replacing partly or totally an already urbanized area. I often lament about how, in Seoul, New Towns tend to obliterate all reference to the past. There's a quantum leap between improving a city and negating it, and that's exactly what happened when whole neighborhoods vanished, replaced by over-sanitized and over-standardized blocks of tombstone "apateu". If the spirit of Seoul villages could somewhat survive in certain complexes, the city may face new challenges as the generation that ignited the baby boom passes away.

Moving on to "Greenfield New Towns", now. If you want to evaluate their impacts, don't just consider their direct environment. Take Incheon, for instance: even if you remain within Incheon territory, Songdo is only part of a gigantic scheme that involves other greenfield projects (eg Cheongna), and partial redevelopments of existing neighborhoods. But at the heart of the city, many places have regressed over the past decade, surviving in some kind of limbo. In other countries they would have been priorities for improvement, but they don't stand a chance when money talks first in urban planning. What may seem good for business in the short term may prove to be socially, politically, and economically counter-productive in the medium to long term.

In countless places across the country, some cities are already schizophrenic entities with brand new districts totally disconnected from former city centers stuck in the wrong side of the eighties, and if authorities don't invest now to fix the balance, the mess will only get worse (note that the winners of today may not be the winners of tomorrow considering the end of the universal "apateu" model, the relatively low cost of land downtown...).

If you can try to pass the buck to the next administration, you simply can't escape demographics."

In the US, downtown Pittsburgh somehow manages to bounce back after lost decades, but only after land value dived to the point whole parts could be redrawn with a sounder environmental approach. Downtown Incheon remains far from that stage, and will need to find its own model for revival.

The KRIHS found similar patterns in most cities, but I note a clear difference between Seoul and all others. If you take Incheon, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, or Daejeon, cities are hit in their historic centers, generally in their "Jung-Buk-Nam-Dong-Seo-gu" (Center, N-S-E-W districts). In Seoul, it's more in the periphery, with Eunpyeong-gu, Nowon-gu, and Gwanak-gu in the 'early decaying' stage, and Gangbuk-gu and Jungnang-gu in the 'hollowing out' stage.

Of course, it's not that simple. The survey is based on demographic trends and proportions of old buildings which could also become opportunities, and situations may differ spectacularly at the micro level. Eunpyeong-gu, for instance, exposes spectacular disparities between its new town areas, the Tongil-ro axis, and more withdrawn neighborhoods. Some projects are already under way: Gangbuk might bet a needed boost from the future Ui-Sincheol LRT (Light Rail Transit) line, Nowon from the renovations around its center (see "Nowon confirmed as Seoul's northeast hub"), and Seoul can play on more levers than other cities... but the lack of strategic vision remains embarrassing.

Even with their significant cultural assets, it's hard to tell how Gwanak or Jungnang are defining themselves, let alone where they're heading for. Excluded from major projects, they are more considered as transitional spaces than well defined urban entities, and the only literature I can find about them recycles the usual cliches. Both have the opportunity to build themselves a more balanced future than their neighbors, but for that to happen, they need to solve their own identity crisis, and to stand for something.

And of course, Seoul has the mission to make sure no one is left behind, that each and every one belongs, and at the same time to respect and nurture the originality and diversity that make metropolises sustainable. It's like a soccer team: it's not just about star power, and you can tell the strongest ones by their weakest points.


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* "Old downtowns in Korea’s cities are hollowing out" (20121112 Korea JoongAng Daily)

Daegu 2011 IAAF World Championships

Usain Bolt and Oscar Pistorius are expected to run in Daegu Stadium this summer for the 13th World Championships in Athletics.

Since both athletes have been enjoying enhanced performances for years, let's hope Korea will be spared another Ben Johnson moment ahead of the London 2012 olympics. If anti-doping officials share their hairdos with Sarbi the mascot, the Jamaican and the South African don't risk much : this Sapsal dog sports a colorful mop that completely cover its eyes...

Let's hope competitions can be both spectacular and fair. This stadium deserves more animation than the struggling Daegu FC can provide in the K-League (BTW Korea's pro soccer league is experiencing its worst year ever, plagued by a pervasive game fixing scandal).

Except in marathon, Koreans don't have a strong tradition in athletics, but they are now a top tier power in world sports. Daegu was selected in 2007 ahead of tough competitors : Brisbane and Moscow, who will organize the 2013 edition. Note that just like in Olympics with Seoul 1988 or Pyeongchang 2018*, Korea is again the first Asian country to claim major sports events after Japan (except Formula One**, where petrodollars came first). And regarding the tie in soccer, we all remember how the 2002 FIFA World Cup was split between both rivals to prevent one tragic loss of face.

Anyway, it is very positive for Korea to put "new" cities on the global map : this country is certainly not just only about Seoul***, and Daegu or Pyeongchang reached the global sports stage even before Busan (yes, Korea's second biggest city did organize Asian Games, but that's a regional event and it was held in 2002, in the shadow of the World Cup).

Dae(hanmin)gu(k)!

13th IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011
'Sprint together for tomorrow'
20110827-0904
website : daegu2011.org.

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* Pyeongchang (pyeongchang2018.org
) won logically as the best candidate... even if the bidding team looked more than suspicious (see "Pyeongchang 2018 vs Sejong City 2010 ?").
** see last year : "Yeongam-gun braces for inaugural Formula One Grand Prix"
*** again, for such a big capital, even a G20 Summit is a non-event : "G20 Seoul Summit 2010"

7 zones

LEE Myung-bak's government is facing big hurdles these days but at least something seems relevant : grouping provinces and big cities around 7 economic zones, and accelerating bullet train projects at the national level. I hope this won't alter the "cluster" approach but boost each region.

The 5 major zones will be :

- Central metro : Seoul + Incheon + Gyeonggi-do - major : finance & hi tech
- South East : Busan + Ulsan + Gyeongsangnam-do - major : heavy industries
- Daegu / Gyeongbuk : Daegu + Gyeongsangbuk-do - major : electronics, textile, energy
- Chungcheong : Daejeon + Chungcheongnam-do + Chungcheongbuk-do - major : science, R&D, education
- Gwangju / Jeolla : Gwangju + Jeollabuk-do + Jeollanam-do - major : tourism

Two provinces remain on their own :

- North East : Gangwon-do - major : tourism and medical
- Jeju : Jeju-do - major : tourism

Not a dramatic change for Jeju but some hope for Gangwon, now a segment of one potentially more advertized overseas. Splitting Gyeongsang is an even smarter move. Jeolla remains untouched and focused on tourism, but a "Sun Belt" Economic Zone is also planned from Mokpo to Busan along the South Coast in order to rival Seoul and accelerate the demographic and economic development of Mokpo area. Top chaebols will be invited to open vice-national HQs in the new zone. Preferably not in the Busan area, already a major hub by itself.

If new administrative levels could limit the intranational competition between self proclaimed Asian hubs, they are not necessarily good news - poorly handled they would even destroy value everywhere. I also suspect some potential cannibalization / coopetition with Korea's existing cluster strategy.