Chuseok and the world’s last Cold War frontier
By Lee Jae-Won
Chuseok, or the Full-Moon Harvest Festival, also dubbed the Korean Thanksgiving is one of the country’s biggest traditional holidays. Nearly 30 million out of South Korea’s population of 50 million will visit their hometown during the three-day holiday which ended October 1.
The Imjingak pavilion, a well-known tourist destination, is located just south of the demilitarized zone which divides the Korean peninsula into the capitalist South and communist North. It is the closest point to the inter-Korean border, where visitors are allowed to observe the North’s territory from the South without any specific government approval. The northern tip of the Paju city which the Imjingak area belongs to is only 130 miles south of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
The truce village of Panmunjom
By Lee Jae-won
South Korea is surrounded by the sea on all sides but one. The country is virtually an island as it is bordered to the north by reclusive North Korea.
There is only one place, called a truce village, where South Koreans and visitors can see the border and soldiers from the secretive state.
Seven months atop a crane
With almost seven months atop a crane, a 51-year old woman trade unionist is staging a solo protest to end layoffs at a shipyard in South Korea.
Kim Jin-Suk, 51, climbed the 35-meter tall crane in the Yeongdo shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) in Busan, the hub of South Korea’s shipbuilding industry on January 6 this year and has been there ever since to protest against what she says are “mass layoffs” at the country’s former biggest shipbuilder.
Outspoken South Korean singer taps populace sentiment
On June 13, 2002, when South Korea, Japan and the rest of the world were captivated by the 2002 FIFA World Cup, a 50-tonne U.S. army vehicle crushed two South Korean schoolgirls to death during a drill in Yangju, north of Seoul. The girls, Shin Hyo-soon and Shim Mi-seon, both 14, were on their way to a friend’s birthday party.
Thousands of South Koreans protested for several months to demand then-U.S. President George Bush apologize directly for the incident and hand over the U.S. soldiers involved to South Korean court.
South Korea vows retaliation against any further attack
MALLIPO BEACH, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed retaliation against any further provocation by the North after it attacked an island last week as anger grew at the government’s weak response.
Lee made his first address to the nation since Tuesday’s attack as U.S. and South Korean warships took part in military maneuvers, prompting concern in regional power China and threats of all-out war from North Korea.
China under pressure to rein in N.Korea after attack
INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – China came under heavy pressure to tame its ally North Korea on Wednesday after the reclusive state attacked South Korea, while the United States moved to cool tension in the economically powerful region.
U.S. President Barack Obama, woken up in the early hours to be told of the artillery strike on a South Korean island, said he was outraged but declined to speculate on possible U.S. military action.
South Korea talks tough after North Korea artillery attack
INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korea warned North Korea on Tuesday of “enormous retaliation” if it took more aggressive steps after Pyongyang fired scores of artillery shells at a South Korean island in one of the heaviest attacks on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.
The South fired back after Tuesday’s attack and sent fighter jets to the area, close to a disputed maritime border on the west of the divided Korean peninsula and the scene of deadly clashes between the two rivals in the past.
S.Korea talks tough after N.Korea shelling attack
INCHEON, South Korea, Nov 24 (Reuters) – South Korea warned
North Korea of “enormous retaliation” if it took more
aggressive steps after Pyongyang fired scores of artillery
shells at a South Korean island in one of the heaviest attacks
on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.
The South fired back after Tuesday’s attack and sent
fighter jets to the area, near a disputed maritime border on
the west of the divided Korean peninsula and the scene of
deadly clashes between the two rivals in the past.
S.Korea talks tough after N.Korea artillery attack
INCHEON, South Korea, Nov 23 (Reuters) – South Korea warned
North Korea on Tuesday of “enormous retaliation” if it took
more aggressive steps after Pyongyang fired scores of artillery
shells at a South Korean island in one of the heaviest attacks
on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.
The South fired back after Tuesday’s attack and sent
fighter jets to the area, close to a disputed maritime border
on the west of the divided Korean peninsula and the scene of
deadly clashes between the two rivals in the past.
North Korea shells South in fiercest attack in decades
INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – North Korea on Tuesday fired dozens of artillery shells at a South Korean island, killing two soldiers and setting houses ablaze, in one of the heaviest attacks on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.
The attack, with South Korea returning fire came as the reclusive state has been pressing regional powers to return to negotiations about its nuclear weapons program, and it follows revelations at the weekend that Pyongyang is fast developing another source of material to make atomic bombs.
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