Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
The watchtower and red brick wall of the prison enclosure.
The female inmates were imprisoned in these underground solitary cells. Inmates were interrogated and tortured here - these cells were named Ryu Gwan-sun cells after the independence movement's heroin.
The wailing tree outside the execution house. On the way to their death, prisoners would hold on to this tree crying, before being dragged off to the house where they were hanged. A hidden tunnel behind the house was used to secretly dispose of the bodies.
VISITORS
Opening hours: Mar - Oct, 09:30 - 18:00
Nov - Feb, 09:30 - 17:00
Closed on New Year's Day, Full-moon festival, and every Monday (if the Monday is a public holiday, then the museum is closed the following day).
Get there: Take line 3 (Orange line) to Dongnimmun station, exit 5. Walk straight for two minutes. The prison and Independence park is on your left.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Africans un-unite!
Afro-pessimissm (n.) - 1. the perception of sub-Saharan Africa as a region too riddled with problems for good governance and economic development.
"Is this what I'm feeling," my friend asks from Cape Town. She's worried. This feeling does not sit well with a native of Africa.
Afro pessimism. That's what we're feeling. And dammit, it's not like you want to!
And to be in a different country, safe and far away from all the doubt and speculation in SA, you feel a little like a pansy. Like you've become one of those people who left SA because they're running from a horrible place with no future.
And I don't believe that.
But here I am. In Korea. With a perfect transportation system. With a capital city that is the safest in the world. I've seen one homeless person - and he looked reasonably happy, eating a can of tuna with pretty chopstix on his warm blanket in the subway.
I want to go back home eventually, but now I'm a little scared to do that. I'm scared to send money home before I've seen the outcome of the next presidential election (what will it do to the exchange rate?).
And I partly blame the media - the only time news from SA is important enough to air, it is bad news. So, that's all I hear.
Partly I blame afro-pessimism. If you believe something bad is going to happen, it probably will - eventually. And you did nothing to prevent it.
But mostly I blame bad government. But this could be a good thing, because governments are changeable and fix-able.
So, speak up, change, keep the most beautiful country beautiful and don't lose hope. But most of all don't be a pansy.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
This is a true story.