The arrest of a Canadian working for a university in Daegu on charges of growing marijuana in his apartment has once again ignited a discussion over how foreigners & drugs are depicted by South Korean media entities, & a blog post written by prominent expat researcher & Gusts of Popular Feeling writer Matt VanVolkenburg has drawn increased attention to the issue. Korea FM spoke with VanVolkenburg & Korean studies professor, NY Times contributor & Korea Expose managing editor Se-Woong Koo about how the recent case, & previous incidents, have been portrayed in the ROK.
There are numerous observatories at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, Odusan Unification Observatory (오두산 통일전망대) is one of them. It has opened its doors to the public for nearly 25 years. The observatory has about 2-kilometer distance from the grounds of North Korea.
On the fourth day of our family trip, Danny and I brought them to Gyeongbokgung or Gyeongbok Palace (경복궁), the biggest among 5 of the palaces in Seoul. In English, Gyeongbokgung (Hanja: 景福宮) means The Palace of Shining Happiness. Another name they call it is The Northern Palace due to its locality. Moreover, it is one of the most visited tourist spots in the capital. A great place to strengthen those hamstrings, too.
It was built in 1395 during the Joseon dynasty and had been destroyed by fire, but King Gojong was able to restore it during his reign. I won’t elaborate more of its history because it’s quite long, repetitive and probably boring to some. To learn more about the palace, please visit their website. Link is at the bottom part of this post.
Statue of King Sejong (father of Hangeul) at Gwanghwamun Square
