Would the Real Korea Please Stand Up?

As I am writing this, the Taliban is holding a busload of South Korean Christian missionaries hostage. From what I understand, they were only planning to be there a week or so and were doing more service work than proselytizing. Even so, both the South Korean government and the Afghan government have warned Christian missionaries to stay away from Afghanistan especially the Southern area for fear of their safety; now the Taliban is using them to force the South Korean peacekeeping troops out of Afganistan. The South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has said that he already planned to withdraw them by the end of the year.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2878299

On the subject of Christian missionaries, I encountered some of them in the foreigner's peoples' republic of Itaewon tonight.

Hmm.. I might as well tell the story of my day backwards.

Before leaving Seoul and returning to my home in Gamdan, I spent some time in Itaewon, which is right by the military base and has an interesting blend of Korean, Western and even Middle Eastern restaurants and shops. It's a great place, and you'll always find something interesting (I found a Mexican restaurant where inside a black guy was talking to two white girls in French), but it has a reputation for being a bit seedy. I didn't walk but a few blocks before a woman popped out of a door and tried to grab me to get me to go into a place called "Peach Phuzz." Nope didn't do it, and I don't think I missed anything.

So back to the Christian missionaries (in Itaewon, not Afghanistan), there they were in Itaewon with acoustic guitars singing Christian songs in Korean. They were probably there preaching against the evils of exploitation, excessive alcoholism and debauchery. Reminds me of my days back in the historic Carytown district of Richmond, Virginia where Southern Baptist groups were doing the same thing. Goes to show that sometimes, the farther you go, the closer things remain.

Before Itaewon, I had just come from the National Theater, where I was expecting to see a free cultural performance outside. There was none but there was the musical production of Cats and an exhibit about the history of the National Theater. But after hearing the Jellicle cats song repeated over and over again, I had to get out of there and fast.

On my way to the National Theater, I had decided to bypass the busy streets and subways and walk through Namsan park (the Park where the Seoul Tower is) to get there. Big Mistake. This "park" ended up being a mountain, and I had already walked a great deal already.

The place I had come from was Yongsam electronic market...except there was so many electronic markets around it was hard to tell which one was the electronics markets. Picture . Floors and floors were full of cell phones. Other floors had monitors and cpu units. Still others had DVDs (mostly illegal) and video games. The deals were great; the appliances plentful, but I had walked so many miles (actually I hadn't walked yet only taken the subway..the walking came later chronologically meaning earlier in this passage) for a single item: an American plug adapter: 40 cents.

The day was partly cloudy and there were a few raindrops here and there. I decided to declare Saturdays: Seoul Saturdays because I was such a short way from the city, and there was so much to do.

I woke up.