"In Korea people don't say -- they never have said -- that birds are singing. They say instead that the birds are crying, weeping for some tragic reason that is only known to them. Korean birds never sing. They always weep. What a very sad, sad country this always has been. Such a mournful place, and yet so very lovely. It is not a country that will be easy to forget." (From "Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles" by Simon Winchester, 1988)
Situated in the northeast of Asia between large, looming China and the
islands of Japan is small, mountainous South Korea. The Republic of Korea,
also known as 'Land of the Morning Calm', has not enjoyed a very calm history.
The Korean War of 1950-1953 wreaked havok on the peninsula and left it
divided into two hostile parts: communist North Korea and the capitalist
South. Before this time there were numerous invasions, attacks and occupations
by warriors from China, Mongolia and Japan. Korea itself, however, was
never an agressor. This trying history has doubtless shaped the character
of Koreans, a tough, gregarious and direct people. One writer has called
Koreans the Irish of Asia, due to the geography of the place and the sad,
sentimental personality of the people.
South Korea is my second home in Asia (after Thailand) and after spending
more than two years in Seoul (1996-1998, 2001-2001), I am familiar
and reasonably comfortable with the place. The capital of this country
of 47 million people is Seoul,
a vast modern metropolis of nearly 20 million people. Surrounded by mountains
and split by a large river, it is a busy, crowded city, but convenient
and containing certain charms.
