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Korean martial artists seek the seclusion(?) of Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon:

Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province is starting to establish itself as the home of all but forgotten Korean martial arts. The fortress, built in the days of King Jeongjo in 1796, is being transformed into the Korean version of the Shaolin Temple, the legendary home of China’s Kung Fu.
Last Wednesday afternoon, the Society for the Preservation of Muye24 (http://muye24ki.or.kr), a non-profit organization, got ready to give the last public demonstration of the year at the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum in Giheung District, Yongin.

(…)

“It was an exhibition to wrap up the year,” says Kim Young-ho, 42, the head of the society. “Since we are always on the move to pass on traditional Korean martial arts, we are going to seclude ourselves in Hwaseong Fortress this winter and concentrate on training.”

I don’t know if I would call Hwaseong Fortress secluded. For those who haven’t been there, the fortress is completely surrounded by the metropolis of Suwon.

However, that doesn’t mean Hwaseong fortress is not a great place to go visit. It is actually easy to access by subway or bus, features beautiful architecture and surroundings, plus an interesting history. Yet, every time I have been there I have never found overwhelming crowds visiting the place. Now the fortress has this martial arts exhibition so that is an added bonus to any trip there. You can read more about my visit to this UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site by click here. Highly recommended.

It is ironic how the same human rights activists condemn the ROK Army for the mandatory military service obligation but remain silent over North Korean gulags and treatment of defectors:

The National Human Rights Commission on Monday recommended that the government recognize conscientious objectors to military service on the grounds of religious conviction and work out a system whereby objectors complete an alternative form of service. For now, anyone refusing to enlist or to carry weapons for reasons of religion or conscience is punishable with up to six months in prison or a fine of up to W2 million (US$2,000) under the Military Service Law, just like ordinary draft dodgers.

I got to hand it to the Chosun Ilbo because they did provide a great response to the decision:

The commission notes that other countries have accommodated conscientious objection. But do these countries also face 2 million troops across an armistice line? Already because of the low birth rate, the number of eligible conscripts is predicted to fall to 232,500 or so by 2010, over 100,000 fewer than today, and to a little over 164,300 by 2050, or half as many as there are now.

What does the HRC propose to do if, once conscientious objection becomes legal, everyone simply refuses to serve in the military citing their conscience? The least the commission should do is draw up criteria to distinguish genuine conscientious objectors from draft dodgers in disguise.

A South Korean professor who made headlines earlier this year with his pro-North Korean activities has now finally been suspended by Dongguk University:

Dongguk University said Sunday it is suspending a controversial sociologist whose inflammatory pro-North Korean remarks have already brought down a prosecutor general. The university will temporarily suspend Prof. Kang Jeong-koo pending the outcome of a criminal investigation. The proposal was submitted by key figures in the university and will be put before university president Hong Ki-sam and the Ven. Hyun Hae for approval.

This whole thing from the beginning was foolish because Kang was made into a hero for the left by the rightists trying to shut him up. It was better to let him wallow in obscurity than giving him a national platform to preach his idiocy.

The Chosun Ilbo has some advice for revelers that may be attending New Year’s Parties next week:

Bohae Brewery’s first commandment is to drink the first draft slowly. Gulping down a glass of liquor in one gulp, or “bottoms up,” raises the blood alcohol level too fast. As a result, the respiratory center and nerves can in the worst-case scenario become paralyzed. Since the body is unprepared for the onslaught, it is best to take it nice and easy with the first drink.

Taking anti-hangover drugs in the course of drinking, it says, puts an even greater burden on stomach and liver. That is because drinking while taking medication forces the poor liver to wrestle with both alcohol and the drugs simultaneously. “Smoking while drinking is poisonous,” the brewer states categorically, and exhorts, “Decline a drink if you don’t feel like it.”

“Decline a drink if you don’t feel like it.” Sure, like that really works.

In case you have forgotten it is the 112th birthday of the most enlightened, honorable, and greatest leader ever, at least according to those well known “mainstream professors” at the University of California at Berkley. No I’m not talking about that other Great Leader Kim Il Sung, but the real Great Leader Mao Zedong the founder of communist China:

I wish too that my country, the United States, would go back to the spirit of hard work and self reliance that Mao himself exhibited daily, swimming 9 miles across the Yangtze River at age 73. His instillment of these honorable virtues, as well as a sense of pride in being a nation with such an enlightened Leader, through the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution helped his people break the ties of slavery that had bound them to the West.

In fact, the Great Leader never suffered from that Western affliction known as hypocrisy and suffered along with his people during the noble Times Of Transition. Still, very few actual deaths occurred during these prideful years, and the claims of “73 million” are simply examples of the mendacity of the reprobate Taiwanese. In fact, Mao can be applauded for laying the foundations for the current Chinese boom, attributable to innovative Cultural Revolution programs such as the re-education of the Bourgeoisie and groundbreaking reform of the Chinese school system.

Yes folks this is the education our tax dollars are going to support at American universities. Simon has a great rebuttal to this nonsense that is required reading.

I wonder if South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young will lodge a protest to Berkley over stealing the Great Leader term that is reseverd only for Minister Chung’s idol, Kim Il-sung?

The North Korean regime is trying to clamp down on their citizens secretly traveling to China. After reading this New York Times article Kim Jong Il best hurry up and seal the border because his lies are rapidly being exposed.

In interview after interview, they spoke of the huge shift in perspective they experienced upon entering China. “When I lived in Korea, I never thought my leaders were bad,” said one woman in her 50’s, a farmer who had brought her grown daughter to Yanji recently from her home not far from the other side of the border for treatment of an intestinal ailment. “When I got here, I learned that Chinese can travel wherever they want in the world as long as they have the money. I learned that South Korea is far richer, even than China.”

Asked how they felt now, after having seen some of the outside world, each person interviewed said his or her illusions about North Korea had been shattered. “There is no way I can believe my government again,” said one person who had been in China only a few weeks. “They spend all their time celebrating the leaders. There is one thing I have understood in China, and that is, as long as there is no freedom, we will never get richer.”

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I would also like to thank everyone for checking out my blog the past year. I have learned a lot from everyone and hope I have been able to shed some light on the many interesting aspects of Korean history and culture. Plus I hope everyone get’s a sense of what it is like to soldier here today in the Land of the Morning Calm. Have a Merry Christmas (I think I can still say that?), Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

Here is one Japanese filmmaker that probably won’t have to many fans in Korea after they read this:

Japanese filmmaker Shinji Aoyama, recently in Korea to attend the Seoul Independent Film Festival, has unusually strong opinions about the Korean Wave. Aoyama visited Korea on Dec. 9 to participate in the Shinji Aoyama Specials, one of events of the Seoul Independent Film Festival, where he opened up in an interview with CineSeoul about his discomfort with the Korean pop culture fad that is sweeping Japan.

“I really want to say this,” the director said, clearly exasperated. “To me, Japanese women who flock to see Yonsama (Korean actor Bae Yong-joon) are repulsive. When I see something so repulsive, whoever they are carrying on about, it makes me feel profoundly sick.”

The way I look at this is that if he is so repulsed by Bae Yong-joon movies than he should make better movies than his. If Japanese filmmakers put together movies of higher quality and better story lines that appealed to the Japanese female audience than they would not have to worry about Bae Yong-joon taking over Japan. Instead this filmmaker in an effort probably to boost his own sagging popularity is trying to appeal to Japanese nationalism in order to slime Bae Yong-joon instead of attempting to make better movies. Playing to nationalism, this just goes to show that Koreans aren’t the only ones who do it.

Oh My News International has an article about the revelation over President Bush’s domestic spying program. The author of the article does not agree with President Bush’s domestic spy program:

Americans should be concerned because it seems that Sept. 11 has become the catalyst for eroding the civil liberties of Americans. First it was the Patriot Act, now it is the domestic surveillance program. Who knows what else has not been revealed? The president is doing a great job defending the country, but how would he feel if he was not the president and someone else put this measure in place? He would probably have issues with it. The means do not always justify the ends. Sept. 11 should not be the reason to take away the rights of Americans. Isn’t it ironic that the issue that the Islamic world has with America is our freedom and now our nation is chipping away at it?

Many in Congress are calling for an investigation, but since the program is classified it would appear that the public might never know the scope of the program. Is this impeachable? Could our country have a second impeachment in eight years? One has to wonder.

I keep hearing from the left about our civil liberties being taken away. What civil liberties has the Patriot Act or the domestic spying program taken from me? I can’t think of one instance where any of these government programs effected my life but the President’s critics continue to hammer way that my rights are being taken from me yet they can’t produce anyone that has been falsely charged and imprisoned because of this program.

Basically the program allows the NSA to listen to phone calls from the US to a suspected terrorist. So if you are trying to call your Uncle Kim in Korea from the US; the NSA will not listen in to your phone call unless your Uncle Kim is really Uncle Kim Jong-il which of course the NSA will listen in to your call. No one I know of is a suspected terrorist and if one of my friends in the US is a suspected terrorist than I hope the NSA is listening in.

Yet this issue is continuing to be hammered away on by Bush’s political enemies in order to create an impression that the government is listening in on all your phone calls. These arguments are ringing very hollow to me because past presidents including the Democratic hero John F. Kennedy wiretapped people. JFK wiretapped Martin Luther King Jr. of all people and Bush is wiretapping suspected terrorists and yet Bush is worse and needs to be impeached. How come? Because Ted Kennedy the guy that didn’t care about the civil liberties of the girl he killed, said so.

How come Ted Kennedy does not complain about the civil liberties that have already been taken away from Americans that they can feel, such as teachers not being able to say the Pledge of Allegiance in some schools, or students not being allowed to say prayers in school. Then there is plenty of words that are de facto banned due to political correctness. The ones that claim to defend free speech are the first one’s to condemn those who don’t agree with them as racists. A perfect example of this is if someone makes an argument against affirmative action they are declared racists.

If the liberals really want to know what having civil liberties removed is like they need to come to USFK land. Here due to a number of reasons, some I agree with, some I don’t, these reasons cause the soldiers here to have curfews, can’t drive, can’t wear or say what they want to, and a host of other rules.

If USFK is not enough of a taste of what having your civil liberties removed is like they can always go to Iraq and see how the soldier there live. You cant’t even have sex there. USFK is trying their best to outlaw sex, but at least they haven’t achieved that yet with the human trafficking and prostitution campaign. In Iraq the military has accomplished this plus a host of other restrictions on the soldiers.

Now before someone accuses me of mindless whining remember what I said before that some restrictions I agree and disagree with. However, just because I disagree with it doesn’t mean I don’t follow them because I know there is a reason for the decision and I have to sacrifice some of my liberty in Korea for example for the good of the US-ROK alliance. It is the same thing in Iraq the soldiers there sacrifice their freedom in order to help advance democracy in the country.

The bottom line is that the military is doing all the sacrificing for the good of the US including not only individual freedoms but also our lives, and complains little, while the average American citizen is sacrificing very little under the Patriot Act, but complains the most. A perfect example of this is all the complaining about having telephone calls to terrorists wiretapped. Imagine what the out cry will be like if the NSA is caught listening in on two terrorists communicating within the US. Is it going to take another terrorist attack to get people to wake up to the fact that there people out there who want to kill us? I actually think the average American citizen is willing to sacrifice more, but the fight for political power in our country is more important than the security of our country.

Until another terrorist attack does happen, which the military and government though handicapped by regulations, are working endlessly to prevent, I foresee that the military will keep on sacrificing and the American public will sacrifice very little because politicians are not putting the interests of America ahead of their own ambitions. This is only increasing the disconnect between the American public and the US military. Once the public is disconnected from the military there will be no hope of winning the war on terror.

The anthrax shots may be coming to an aid station near you again:

A government agency’s ruling that the controversial anthrax vaccine is safe should clear the way for resumption of mandatory shots for military personnel, government attorneys argue in a new court filing.

A Dec. 19 ruling by the Food and Drug Administration that the vaccine is “safe and effective” against all forms of anthrax should lead to either reversing a federal judge’s ruling halting the vaccinations, or tossing the case out as moot, Justice Department lawyers argue in a request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

I wish they would make up their minds on this. I already had to restart the anthrax series of six shots once and I wonder if I will have to start over again. The first time I was stopped on shot #2. This last injunction I was stopped on shot #4. I am going to be pissed if I got to start from shot #1 again.