Waiting for love

Last week I was privileged enough to spend some time volunteering at an orphanage here in Daegu. After contacting the orphanage via email to enquire as to volunteering opportunities I was invited to attend their annual Christmas party for games, pizza, carols and a movie.

To be honest I really didn’t know what to expect. I had no idea of their ages or individual circumstances or even what sort of organization the orphanage was. On Saturday afternoon I arrived at Ansim station where I met Todd, who is heavily involved with the orphanage and the local church. We also met several of the other volunteers and then headed over to the orphanage.

The building itself is located on the outskirts of Daegu in what appears to be a much lower socio-economic part of town. Slightly run down, it may have been a school in a former life although it is difficult to tell. It is in a slightly industrial area, which no doubt ensures a reasonable level of rent (assuming any is paid of course) and fronts onto a large and dusty outdoor recreation area and car park.

The kids were shy at first but quickly warmed up to the new faces – even the quietest of them were running around like lunatics and begging for piggyback rides. It was great to see their personalities coming out, as there were some rather nervous looking kids when we first arrived. Members of the local church began to trickle in throughout the afternoon along with local Korean teachers who also volunteer at the orphanage – some even living there full time to help care for the kids. The relationships between these teachers and church members appeared very strong and it was clear that these are very important people in their lives. After meeting with a lot of them and speaking to them you can’t help but wonder if these kids are in a better place now than they ever have been. The volunteers I spoke with were all kind, generous, intelligent, cheerful and infinitely patient. What better role models could you ask for given the circumstances?

Throughout the afternoon we played games, watched some performances by the kids and even staged a performance of our own. After carol time Santa made an appearance and gave each of the children a present which they were absolutely thrilled with. One of the little boys received a remote-controlled toy car which went down an absolute treat. He stopped playing with only long enough to jam a couple of pieces of pizza into his mouth before resuming ramming it into peoples ankles and mastering the art of the wheelie.

One little boy was absolutely adorable, and it broke my heart to think that someone out there simply didn’t want him, or his seven year old sister who was also at the orphanage. Apparently his parents split up and decided that neither of them wanted the kids so they simply gave them to the orphanage and moved on. He was a dear little boy with a very laid back and adaptable personality. At only 20 months old it was both fortunate and sad that he was so comfortable in the presence of so many strangers – whether this is testament to his personality or his unstable upbringing I do not know. His sister seemed very much the same – a very pretty little girl who was friendly and eager to participate in everything from singing to games to cleaning up afterwards.

Mi Young - aged 20 months

Oh boy, a present from Santa!

Looking at these kids it was hard to believe that some of them have had such turbulent pasts. I have no idea of the backgrounds of most of them, but for the most part the parents have generally split up and decided that neither of them wants to take the children. Or, in a number of cases the children have been left with the mother who is often young and generally unable to support them financially. A very sad situation indeed and one I find difficult to understand, particularly given some rather contradictory aspects of Korean culture.

On one hand, Korea is a very harmonious and collective culture and it could be argued that they look after their families far better than the majority of western countries. On the other hand, Korea is also a culture built on social hierarchies: where respect and obedience is critical to maintaining social harmonies. Any deviation from the expected social plan (i.e. school, university, marriage, children, and career) is considered shameful, particularly where children are concerned.

To be an unmarried mother in Korea is considered immoral and deplorable. These mothers are considered to be the lowest rung on the societal ladder, are socially ostracized and often alienated from their own families as a result. Unwed mothers are regularly turned down for jobs. There is no getting around this, as to not disclose this fact will only lead to accusations of dishonesty and termination of their contracts. The government takes a similar view – children born out of wedlock are entitled to only around US$45 a month in support. Korean children adopted into Korean families are entitled to US$85 a month. Incredible when you think how much money the government must give in order to subsidize the large number of orphanages throughout the country.

The government is trying to increase financial benefits for unmarried mothers but social stigma is proving to be a huge barrier. Nobody will come forward to claim these benefits – they would sooner have an illegal abortion or have their child in secret and relinquish it to an orphanage rather than face a lifetime of stigma at the hands of general society.

More recently, Korea’s first unwed mothers support network has been established – the first of its kind in the country. It is incredible to think that a country would sooner ostracize members of society and adopt its children internationally rather than provide the necessary support for women who genuinely need it. With any luck this organization (and future organizations) will, in time, help to remove - or at least lessen - the stigma of unmarried mothers.  In turn, the need for so many orphanages will no longer exist and the lives of so many women and children will not be so miserable. We can but hope.

If you want to read more on this topic I recommend checking out this article – a fascinating insight from both an unwed mother and a Korean adoptee. This is also a great article – a little older, but the sentiments and attitudes it speaks of are still rife in Korea.  Older still but equally as fascinating is this piece from the South China Morning Post (20/06/98) which refers to some orphans as ‘IMF orphans’, in reference to the IMF’s Korean bailout back in 1997 which was blamed by many for the economic downturn.

Me – I have signed up to volunteer regularly at the orphanage as an English teacher and as a general lackey. These kids need and deserve every opportunity in life and if I can do just a tiny little bit to help it’s got to count for something. Besides – who doesn’t relish the opportunity to be a big kid once in a while?

Singing Christmas carols in English

Having a treat - Dunkin' Donuts in the playhouse

Rugrat central

The Christmas feast put on by the orphanage

One of the evening's Christmas performances

A visit to the 38th parallel

No visit to North or South Korea would be complete without acknowledgment of the nation's turbulent history - so with that in mind, last weekend I headed north to Seoul to check out the DMZ. Formerly one of the most tense fronts of the cold war, it is now the most heavily militarized border in the world.

Being new to this country and still (relatively) young, my knowledge of the Korean war until recently was relatively scant. I have since done a lot of background reading and have been both intrigued and horrified by what I have learned. Nobody ever said war was pretty, but it is difficult to believe that a modern, liberated and capitalist country like South Korea has so recently been the subject of such conflict (and still technically remains at war!). 

Our trip began at 7.00am when we met at the US Army base at Camp Kim, and then headed north to the DMZ. The bus trip took around one and a half hours and offered very little in the way of scenery apart from twelve lane highways (increasingly lined with barbed wire) and the occasional guard post. Upon arrival in the DMZ, a member of the US military boarded our bus and checked our identification. Interestingly, there are a number of nationalities who are not permitted to enter the DMZ - I understand also includes South Koreans.  

After having our I.D checked, we boarded a 'secure bus' (see non-heated and designed for military use, not comfort) and headed through the DMZ and into the JSA (Joint Security Area).Our first stop was Freedom House, which was constructed in 1998 specifically for meetings between North and South Korea. We passed through the building and out onto the other side, where we stood facing a number of small single-room buildings (much like pre-fabs) and another building very similar to Freedom House directly across from us. 

As it transpired, we were looking directly at Panmun-gak, which sits on the North Korean side of the JSA. It was originally constructed in 1969, and an additional level has since been added by the North Koreans in an ongoing game of one-upmanship (our building is better than yours). On all USO tours you are permitted to enter the Military Armistice Commission conference room (see below), however on this occasion we were not able to do so, due to 'swine flu'. How we could infect an empty building is beyond me, but there you have it. Apparently illogical Korean flu paranoia transcends both cultures AND heavily armed borders! 

In the absence of a visit to the conference room (the main attraction of which is that it is half on North Korean soil), we were regaled with stories of bad behaviour by the North Korean soldiers. Apparently one of the buildings is known as a 'recreation room' but has no facilities for recreation. During MAC conferences the North Korean soldiers demonstrate their maturity by entering the building and making throat-cutting and rude gestures through the windows at conference participants. Consequently the name of the building has been changed unofficially from 'recreation room' to 'monkey house' by American and Korean soldiers. To be fair to the North Koreans, I suppose leisurely gesturing is a form of recreation, is it not?

As you will see from these photographs, the South Korean soldiers are still actively patrolling the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), or Armistice Line. The MDL is marked by a series of (1,292 to be exact) white posts, and was established as the ceasefire line at the end of the Korean War in 1953. As well as wearing their haute couture green uniforms (complete with too-short green pants), they also sport mirrored sunglasses as part of their uniform, ensuring that the enemy cannot look them in the eye. Rumour has it that their lovely short pants contain ball bearings to confuse the enemy - the rattling noise makes it harder to detect whether it is one or more people walking. Clever! 

We were told in no uncertain terms to refrain from making any gestures whilst standing outside Freedom House - North Korea's Panmum-gak building is heavily guarded and monitors all movement on the South Korean side of the border very closely. As you will also see from the pictures, there are many surveillance cameras on the building along with an observation room obscured by mirrored glass. No pointing, no waving, no YMCA and absolutely no flipping the bird.

After leaving the JSA we headed back to the outer limits of the DMZ to where it all happens .... the gift shop. You can purchase any manner of useless trinkets here - puzzles, purses, mini ROK army uniforms, money, glasses, and the world's most disgusting soju (compliments of Pyongyang). We opted to buy nothing, and instead headed out the door back to the bus only to discover it was snowing. It was a very chilly day but we didn't expect that! 

We then headed out of the JSA and off to lunch, passing through barbed wire-lined roads littered with land mine warnings. It is so easy to feel like a tourist on a trip like this (after all that is what we are), however seeing signs warning of live mines and being waved through checkpoints by machine-gun wielding officers brings you back down to earth with a thump and drives home the fact that this isn't just another fun trip on the never-ending tourist trail. War is real. The Korean war was (and potentially will again be) real. As you drive through this seemingly desolate and uninhabited no-mans-land you are constantly reminded of the turbulent history of these two countries, of the fragility of peace and the ongoing abeyance of war. 

One of the more positive aspects of the DMZ is the abundance of wildlife which now thrives in the absence of war and human habitation. It has become an accidental paradise: according to environmentalists there are around 2,900 different plant species, 70 different types of mammals and 320 different types of birds living and thriving in the DMZ. The mammal count includes the rather strange 'vampire deer' - called so due to their tusks (in lieu of antlers). Their eyesight is particularly bad, so when frightened, instead of running away, they actually run toward the source of the noise - rather illogical really. Their official name is the Siberian Musk Deer, but vampire deer sounds so much more ... enticing. For those Twilight fans (or otherwise), here's one I prepared earlier. We shall call him Edward. 

Unfortunately due to this accidental paradise's location (i.e. in a war zone) they also share their habitat with thousands of unexploded landmines due to heavy fighting during the war. There are apparently periodic explosions as unlucky deer stumble into mine fields.

After lunch at a Korean restaurant, we headed to the tunnels inside the DMZ. Tunnel 3 (or the 'third tunnel of aggression') has been opened to the public, so we donned our attractive yellow hard hats and headed a few hundred metres underground into the murky depths of what once was a planned assault route on South Korea. We did wonder at first what the hard hats were for (more Korean PC health and safety probably), however as the tunnels got lower and lower, and the 'thunk' of plastic hard hats hitting the metal beams got louder, it became apparent. Fortunately the more vertically challenged amongst us (i.e. me) barely had to bend down at all. At over 6 feet tall Jeremy was not so lucky, and divided his time between Hunchback of Notre Dame impersonations and contributing to the hard-hat symphony that had us laughing most of the way through the tunnel. 

The tunnel itself was discovered in 1978 after a tip-off from a North Korean defector. The North Koreans tried to downplay the existence of the tunnel, saying it was a disused coal mine. To further 'confirm' this statement, they painted the insides of the tunnel black. Unfortunately the geology of the region doesn't support this - it is predominantly granite. Oops. They also tried to attribute the creation of the tunnel to the South Koreans, however the tunnel started in the North and headed south, which begs the question - why would you invade another country only to spend years digging your way back? Logic isn't a Korean specialty but surely even George Bush could spot the flaw in this argument.

In any event, the tunnel came within spitting distance to Seoul (around 50km), and was capable of transporting a full division - around 30,000 fully-equipped soldiers - an hour. A very sobering prospect! In total, four tunnels have been discovered, however US and ROK militaries believe there could be anywhere up to a further ten in existence. They regularly drill in the hope of discovering more but have not found any more to date. 

Our final stop was the Dora-san observatory (a.k.a world's ugliest building), where we were able to see a large amount of North Korea through high-powered binoculars. Strangely enough, there was a yellow line painted on the ground at the observatory, from which we were not allowed to move past to take photos. You can take photos above your head looking out to North Korea, and you may use the high-powered binoculars to admire the view, but heaven forbid you cross that line. 

Foreign policy experts summit: I can see North Korea from my house!

Don't cross that line. And don't ask why ... because we don't know. 

 

The world's ugliest building.

We also listened to commentary from one of the USO guides who provided some fascinating insights to life in North Korea. Recently an industrial zone has been set up in North Korea which is staffed by North Koreans who are in turn employed by South Korean companies. In effect, most of the things you buy that are stamped with 'Made In Korea' were likely to have been made here. Workers under Kim Jong Il's totalitarian regime earn around USD$60 dollars per month, of which his gracious government liberates around USD$54.00. USD$6.00 is apparently an extravagant wage by North Korean standards, as your average worker outside the industrial zone receive around $2.50 after tax. Try imposing a 90% tax rate on any other country and see what happens! 

Another interesting view from Dora-san observatory is of the jamming tower. This effectively jams all incoming foreign TV and radio signals, preventing North Korean citizens from knowing what is happening in the outside world. They (by all accounts) exist in some sort of Orwellian dystopia and are fed a constant stream of propaganda assuring them that they are in fact the happiest citizens in the world and that they have more than they could ever want or need (despite the fact that a third of the country is quite literally starving to death). Communism - the liberation of the people from the burdens of liberty. 

 

“When provoking a war of aggression, we will hit back, beginning with the US!”

There are however murmurings of unrest within the country - defectors are beginning to make their voices heard, and Kim Jong Il's recent show of aggression and disregard for international sanctions has placed North Korea firmly in the spotlight. Famine and the economic crisis have resulted in unrest and lack of discipline in the 1.1 million-strong army. Hunger and poverty are driving North Koreans out of the country (those who make it out alive that is), so it remains to be seen whether the current regime will cease to be sustainable once Dear Leader has popped his clogs. To read more about these defectors, click here or here. Their stories are both heartbreaking and inspirational. 

I have been very tempted with the idea of a tour into North Korea - you can go for five days for around 1,000 euros including flights (ex Beijing) which is a great price. However, since NK is a communist country, all profits from tourism go straight to the government and it is a regime I have no interest in supporting.

And that, dear readers, is all from me right now. There is so much to learn about this part of the world, but I won't bore you with all of it now. There is plenty on the internet to keep you entertained/horrified/educated, so I urge you to check it out. The horrific story of the 1976 DMZ axe murder incident is definitely one to read up on.

Til next time!