The Sejongno Insult

 This is just wrong:

PARK Chung-hee parading on Sejongno in 2013

PARK Chung-hee parading on Sejongno in 2013, at the feet of the Government building and facing - among others - the highly controversial National Museum of Korean Contemporary History? That's simply shocking.

Of course, the artistic alibi doesn't stand one second: the former dictator didn't land here by chance anymore than Shinzo Abe landed on jet fighter #731 by chance last spring*.

This is not the kind of messages Korea needs to send these days, particularly as the nation asks Shinzo Abe's Japan to stop revising history.

Yesterday, PARK Chung-hee's daughter paid a silent tribute to Uncle Ho at the Ho Chi Minh Memorial, but missed a golden opportunity to issue formal apologies for Korea's wrongdoings during the Vietnam War. Yes, "in 1992, when Korea and Vietnam established diplomatic ties, Vietnam agreed not to ask Korea for an apology for fighting on the American side in the war"**, but we're talking about apologies for crimes that didn't belong in a war.

Again, PARK Geun-hye has the legitimacy to become a game changer in East Asian politics, and she could even deserve a Nobel Peace Prize if she had the courage to make the first move. We can't go like this any longer, all nations have to face correctly their own dark moments, regardless of the relative importance to what their neighbors did. Korea must apologize for the crimes committed by its troops during the Vietnam War, and as the President of the Republic of Korea, PARK Geun-hye must make sure that Korean history is correctly taught at home, recognize that her father was a dictator, state firmly that it is wrong to present only the positive sides of his reign, and restore the Truth and Reconciliation process.

Only then can she expose Shinzo Abe and his fellow revisionists without any reserve.

Until now, she's only half-distanced herself from her father's heritage. Typically, she said that the future Park Chung-hee museum shouldn't be funded with public money, but that's not enough: the State should make this museum illegal unless it exposes both sides of the coin, and involves victims of the regime in the process.

There's no better moment than right now, following the embarrassing exposure of other enemies of democracy, at the other side of the policial spectrum (see "LEE Seok-ki's Arirang Spring"): this is not a witch-hunt, we want Korea's democracy to be stronger, and see, we're cleaning our own mess.

To be consistent, PARK Geun-hye must also give her full support to investigations on the "NIS-gate", the scandal that cast a shadow on her own election. And she should even be ready to call for new elections, if that's what the outcome demands.

That's what a great leader would do to reunite at least this side of the DMZ, and at long last, propel Korea into the new millenium.


Seoul Village 2013
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* See "Can't top that? Shinzo Abe posing as Shiro Ishii, the Josef Mengele of Imperial Japan". I'm not comparing PARK's dictatorship to Imperial Japan, but precisely: Korea must realize that such tasteless provocations are undermining the nation as a whole.
** "Park vows $70B in Vietnam trade" (Korea JoongAng Daily - 20130910)

A happy event to share? Call "Basketball Diplomacy" Inc.

Following the tradition started last February ("Dennis Rodman in North Korea (live feed)"), here's the live Tweeter feed of The Worm's second coming to DPRK.

By the way: I'm typing this post without my left index, stung by a caterpillar while I was gardening this morning - probably an agent sent by Pyongyang to prevent me from achieving this most vital mission (like Ali, they float like a butterfly, sting like a Bae). Two hours later, the pain has yet to subside.

G2 between #KimJongun and #DennisRodman: rebel hairdo, rebel tattoos, white wine diplomacy pic.twitter.com/OEfOi8ZFrV via @adamcathcart
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/376145352136462336



#DennisRodman: nothing to declare except cigars and wine from #KimJongun duty free. Couldn't bring #KennethBae (excess bagage). #DPRK
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/376185835676123136



At least #DennisRodman solved the #Cuba missile crisis (two cigars up in smoke) #DPRK
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/376186262094225408

#KimJongun-#DennisRodman G2 Summit debriefing, courtesy Dennis - expletive - Rodman http://nyti.ms/167AOLG  #DPRK
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/376238121412612096

@dennisrodman what? #KimJongun traded to the Los Atomic Leakers? Got an #AirJordan ticket to Chicago for #KennethBae?
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/376898884817022977

Baby #KimJuae news, a US- #NorthKorea basketball game... next stop for #DennisRodman: Damascus? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/09/dennis-rodman-north-korea-baby-name …
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/376917307026456576

A happy event to share? Call #BasketballDiplomacy: .cigars provided by #KimJongun .public birth announcement by #NBA star #DennisRodman
theseoulvillage/status/376937419389411328

I'll keep you posted about Rodman's trip to Damascus: I can't wait to learn the name of Bashar's new pet canari, and to hear about the organization of a basketball game between the Cigaro Bulls and the Sarindiana Pacers.

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Magok District on cruise mode

Since last January's focus ("Magok District: SIM City as in "Seoul Intra Muros"? Alleyways as in "Seoul Inter Muros"?"), Magok District has steadily made the headlines, most notably:

• Business: extension of the LG Science Park project (from 130 to 170,000 sqm, and from 20 to 30,000 Research and Development staff)

At the core of the business district project. New batches of lots are regularly being proposed.

 

• Environment: Seoul city announced for 2016 an eco park combining a lake with a 60,000 sqm urban botanical garden, in addition to wetlands

Forget about the costly and futuristic waterfront project. This ecosystem will host 5,000 species, and might draw researchers as well as tourists.

• Public spaces: selection of Wooridongjin Architects for Magok Central Plaza

A sunken plaza reaching across the street, hopefully more open than the Coex mall patio. Now the neighborhood also needs to care about pedestrians at street level, and this diagonal canal has an interesting potential.

• Commercial and service areas: Shinsegae just signed for a new site connected to the subway. Earlier, Ehwa Hospital confirmed the move from Dongdaemun Gate to Magok.

• Residential areas: emboldened by last July's successful launches, developers started a rather off-the-wall campaign for the new residential blocks (if the visuals are deja vu, you don't often see 'stupid' splashed on the headline of a real estate ad in this town):

The 3 dumb real estate investors: the one who doesn't know Magok, the one who knows Magok but is not interested, the one who knows Magok, is interested, but doesn't buy

 

 

•  ...

The new district is step by step completing its puzzle, leveraging on key assets: Seoul intra muros, the Gimpo airport connection, the DMC-Magok-Guro triangle..., and of course major public transit infrastructures - particularly subway stations - that have been laid out first, far ahead of the inauguration (unlike for most new towns, or Sondgo IBD).

Now the most important remains to give some soul and consistence to this alleywayless place. You want to see residents and researchers venture beyond their homes and campuses, roam the streets, enjoy the city. The park and diagonal canal can give purpose, but let's not forget to optimize every single street for pedestrians and bicycles, make this neighborhood a destination from all directions, in continuity with Hangang Park, and the new neighboring communities (Banghwa, Balsan...).
 
 
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Interview in the dark

Interview with

Benjamin Joinau, "L'Atelier des Cahiers"

This short video interview (in French) with the publisher of 'Impressions papier hanji' was recorded in the middle of the summer and in the heart of Seoul (Seochon, Jongno-gu, my favorite neighborhood and Benjamin's new lair). I'm at my Bela Lugosi best, but this is about 'de Vermis Seoulis', haunting places, and the dark side of Seoul. 




Ce bref entretien vidéo avec l'éditeur d'"Impressions papier hanji" a été enregistré au coeur de l'été séoulite, et au coeur de la capitale (à Seochon, Jongno-gu - mon quartier préféré et le nouveau repaire de Benjamin). Ambiance sombre, mais il est question 'de Vermis Seoulis', de hantise, de fantastique, et du côté obscur de la ville.


See also / Voir aussi:

• "Impressions papier hanji" release (2011)
• "Impressions Papier Hanji" / Kindle" on Kindle, paperback (2012)
• L'Atelier des Cahiers

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LEE Seok-ki's Arirang Spring

Last week, North Korean propaganda confirmed that the nation was ready to invade the South in case of a pro-DPRK popular uprising.

This week, South Korean National Intelligence Services revealed a conspiration aiming at a pro-DPRK insurrection. The usual suspect? LEE Seok-ki, the member of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) with the most documented history of norkphilia. He was rumored to have fled, but showed up at the National Assembly this morning (see "Lee Seok-ki Appears!" - The Marmot's Hole 20130829).

Of course, the best defense is a good offense, and both KIM Jong-un's regime and the NIS were feeling the heat: the former as the world braces for intervention against fellow WMD-lover Bashar al Assad, the second as the critics mount on the 2012 election scandal. The NIS is accused of manipulating public opinion ahead of the vote, and already detonated the "ROH Moo-hyun-NLL" scandal a couple of months ago as a Weapon of Mass Diversion.

BREAKING - according to NIS, #NorthKorea gas masks for #Syria were Gwangju surpluses smuggled through NLL (Agence Fausse Presse) ~,~ - @theseoulvillage 20130829theseoulvillage/status/372884583446228992

Note that UPP firebrands are convenient diversion tools for the conservatives: even if LEE Jung-hee eventually withdrew from the presidential ballot, she had time to torpedo the first two debates ("Time is up"), and her figure was used in the final hours of the vote as the ideal "devil" to mobilize the base behind their own lackluster candidate.

Trying to picture #LeeSeokki's #ArirangSpring: a dozen pro-NK gunmen parading among tourists on Gwanghwamun Square? Ask a Korean Dud - @theseoulvillage 20130829twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/372907761425588224

Are there crypto-kimilsungists in South Korea dreaming of a reunification under the Juche banner? Of course, just like you'll always find a few crypto-fascists dreaming of the return of dictatorship. Right now, the more visible minority of right and left wing radicals that keep polluting national politics, rewriting history, and preventing sound debates from emerging are more dangerous for the nation.


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Hashima, Yawata Steel: enshrining slave labor in UNESCO World Heritage List?

This year again, Japanese revisionists are pushing the candidacies of highly controversial industrial sites to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list: the island of Hashima (Nagasaki-ken) and Yahata Steel Works (aka Yawata Steel Works, Fukuoka-ken) are both intimately associated to forced labor under Imperial Japan rule.

'Nagasaki shipyard among old industrial sites named for World Heritage list' (The Japan Times 20130827)

This year, the provocation looks even more outrageous: the Prime Minister (Shinzo Abe) is the grandson of the war criminal in charge of forced labor in Hideki Tojo's cabinet (Nobosuke Kishi), and the Deputy Prime Minister (Taro Aso) and his family still have links to his father's company, Aso Mining company, then a massive 'consumer' of slaves.

My position hasn't changed since last October, when I mentioned the Hashima case under similar circumstances (see "Dokdo, Senkaku, Ieodo, Kuril,... Hashima?"): sites like Hashima cannot be listed, except as symbols of forced labor, for the world to remember past war crimes.

Again, that's not what people like Shinzo Abe or Taro Aso have in mind: they want to discreetly enshrine war crimes in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list, the way their predecessors discreetly enshrined war criminals in Yasukuni Shrine or Mount Sangane Cemetery**.

I can't help but feel nauseous when I read the submission in the tentative list ("The Modern Industrial Heritage Sites in Kyûshû and Yamaguchi" - whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5399): no, I don't consider forced labor to be the best model for "indigenous modernization" or "proactive importation of technology". And I don't think the UNESCO had in mind forced labor when it chose its first two criteria for selection: "1. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; 2. to exhibit an important interchange of human values".

Yet I do believe in a "Justification of Outstanding Universal Value" for Hashima, and I could even accept to see it listed among UNESCO World Heritage Sites... but only to to denounce forced labor and honor the slaves who suffered and died there.

Yes, Hashima could join sites like Auschwitz-Birkenau or the Island of Goree on the list.

But no, Hashima shouldn't be remembered as a "Modern Industrial Heritage Site". We've already read these "Arbeit Macht Frei" signs.


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** the latter by none other than Abe's grandfather: "The Elusive Independence Day - When will Japan officially proclaim its Independence from Imperial Japan?"

--- UPDATE 20130828 ---
Tentative list
Tweets about "#abeignomics"

 

KIM Han-sol - Episode IV, Striking Back At The Empire?

KIM Han-sol will study political sciences in Sciences Po Le Havre  (see "Un petit-fils de Kim Jong-il à Sciences po" (20130827 - L'Express).

The first time KIM Jong-nam's son (KIM Jong-un's nephew, KIM Jong-il's grandson, KIM Il-sung's great-grandson - NB: nothing to do with KIM Yu-na) made the world headlines was when he distanced himself from the North Korean dictatorship as Elisabeth REHN interviewed him for Yle, Finland's public broadcasting company (see videos below):







The teenager was then studying at the Mostar campus of United World College because Hong-Kong authorities didn't grant him a student visa, and BIH was a friendlier destination. Han-sol had less trouble living in another SAR, Macau, where his dad majored in Gambling magna cum laude, with an exchange student experience at Tokyo Disneyland University, and a Master's Degree in Fashion Disasters.

KIM Han-sol will not study at the main Sciences Po, the prestigious IEP Paris, Rue Saint-Guillaume. But Le Havre campus does makes sense: that's the one devoted to Europe-Asia, all courses are delivered in English, and there's even a Korean language program.

The main news, of course, is that a fourth generation KIM is venturing into politics, and for the first time, with notions of actual democracy reaching beyond the experience of life in a Western democracy.

And if you don't like KIM Han-sol's ear piercing, that's another positive leap forward from the previous generation:

KIM Jong-nam majored in Gambling magna cum laude at Macau International School of Jokers, was an exchange student experience at Tokyo Disneyland University, and got a Master's Degree in Fashion Disasters

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