Back From Kŏje Island
My second attempt to explore Geojedo was far more successful than my first. A dozen years ago, I set of alone took half-a-day by bus and ferry to reach the island, only to discover that figuring transportation, food, and lodging in an unfamiliar place was no longer as fun as it once had been, and then decided over a meal of hoedeopbap to talk the remaining half of the day and return to my apartment.
This time, I traveled with my wife, two kids, and a plan. We stayed at the Geoje Natural Recreation Forest, one of many such facilities run by the Korea Forest Service. This was perhaps the best of the ones we've visited thus far, being seculded in the very lush woods of the island. There's quite a lot of natural beauty on the island, like Hakdong Pebble Beach. But for us the highlight was Historic Park of Geoje, P.O.W. Camp. During the Korean War, the site held a total of 170,000 prisoners of war, 20,000 from China and 150,000 from North Korea. Today, it is one of Korea's finest museums.
What made it great for us was the interest it sparked in my four-year-old son. He had questions about every weapon and artifact on display. My six-year-old daughter couldn't have been less interested, which is either evidence that there are innate differences in the sexes or that my wife and I are indoctrinating our children into the "gender roles" assigned by a patriarchal society. Both kids, however, were interested in why their mother's country should have been at war with herself. I took the opportunity to explain the evil of war, then the evil of communism. The evil of interventionism will be saved for a latter lesson.
One thing I can say is that the longer I stay in this country the more interesting it becomes. It has been years since I last set foot off this peninsula and I have no compelling desire to do so, as much as I miss my homeland. That said, I could never think of giving up my American citizenship. Not only will I never be anything other than an American nor ever want to be, I am opposed in general to the idea of Korea granting citizenship to male foreigners. But that is the subject perhaps of a future post.
This time, I traveled with my wife, two kids, and a plan. We stayed at the Geoje Natural Recreation Forest, one of many such facilities run by the Korea Forest Service. This was perhaps the best of the ones we've visited thus far, being seculded in the very lush woods of the island. There's quite a lot of natural beauty on the island, like Hakdong Pebble Beach. But for us the highlight was Historic Park of Geoje, P.O.W. Camp. During the Korean War, the site held a total of 170,000 prisoners of war, 20,000 from China and 150,000 from North Korea. Today, it is one of Korea's finest museums.
What made it great for us was the interest it sparked in my four-year-old son. He had questions about every weapon and artifact on display. My six-year-old daughter couldn't have been less interested, which is either evidence that there are innate differences in the sexes or that my wife and I are indoctrinating our children into the "gender roles" assigned by a patriarchal society. Both kids, however, were interested in why their mother's country should have been at war with herself. I took the opportunity to explain the evil of war, then the evil of communism. The evil of interventionism will be saved for a latter lesson.
One thing I can say is that the longer I stay in this country the more interesting it becomes. It has been years since I last set foot off this peninsula and I have no compelling desire to do so, as much as I miss my homeland. That said, I could never think of giving up my American citizenship. Not only will I never be anything other than an American nor ever want to be, I am opposed in general to the idea of Korea granting citizenship to male foreigners. But that is the subject perhaps of a future post.
Labels: American History, Commies, Corea, Family, War and Rumors of War
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