Seoul: A Giant Neighborhood

This city is pretty amazing. It is the largest city in Korea and it’s capital.

A short history of Korea: over the centuries the country was invaded and occupied by many other civilizations (Mongolia, China and Japan, etc). The Japanese invaded in 1910 and held strict rule until their surrender of WW 2 in 1945.

The Potsdam Agreement by the Allies stipulates that Korea would be divided into two countries at the 28th parallel. The north would adopt communism under the USSR with Kim Ll-sung as the premier. The south would be a Republic which the US Military administered for three years.

When the US reduced it’s presence, the north aggressively invaded the south (1950) escalating into what we know as “The Korean War”.

The US assisted the south in stopping the invasion. After 3 years and over 3 million casualties, The Korean Armistice established “The Demilitarization Zone” back around the 28th parallel.

We were scheduled to visit the South area of DMZ (about 2.5 hours drive) but the current Mr. Kim has bombed the roads and rails on the North side to put emphasis on his position of NO interactions with South Korea.

South Korea( population 52 million) is an area about as big as Kentucky (4.5 million). Seoul and it’s surroundings has a population of 15 million.

Our first day we toured the Gyeongbok-gung Palace. The Chinese influence is evident and this looks a lot like The Forbidden City in Beijing. Citizens of The Republic visit the Palace and many come in the traditional costumes.

After a lunch at the large city market we visited The National Museum of Korea. There are many antiquities that show the progression of Korean civilization over the centuries.