“Physical fitness is the foundation of national strength. We must not forget for even a moment that cultivating a strong and fit people, and making sport an everyday part of people’s lives will provide the vitality necessary for the task of...
It was Saturday morning. I took Line 2 to Dongseoul Bus Terminal and then cruised down the highway to Cheongju. This time, however, I was not there on Jikji business (although I was carrying a copy of Jikji, and One NGO’s Lonely Fight to Bring It...
The 125-kilometer bus ride from Seoul to Gongju in Chungcheongnam Province is usually about 2 ½ hours long, but on this Thursday morning and afternoon it lasted almost six. The Chuseok holidays caused the roads to be packed. Gongju was not my...
It was liberation day—the defeated Japanese having begun a hasty exit from Korea 74 years ago—and President Moon Jae-in, in a pale blue hanbok, was addressing the nation from Independence Hall in Cheonan. I saw him on the TV from my seat at the...
Each of the last two weekends, I have left the friendly confines of Gangnam and traveled north of the Han River to explore Gwanghwamun, and I may very well go back next weekend. There is always so much to see—maybe too much. What is this place...
About this time a century ago, the “war to end all wars” was over. Some 17 million people died in World War I, along with 23 million wounded. Germany had been defeated along with its ally Bulgaria, and the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires...
You will find me at Tapgol Park on the first day of March, every year—no exceptions. Of course, 2019 was especially important as it marked a century since the promulgation of the Korean Declaration of Independence. The air was bad in Seoul on...
On this 223-kilometer bus ride to Korea’s east coast, I had two seat mates. The first was a young woman who had recently been through plastic surgery; I could see her bruised face underneath a mask. The second was a burly man who reeked of...
Having lived in Texas (mostly Dallas and Austin) for half a century, I still have some affinity for the place. And as a serious amateur historian, I recognize the centrality of the Korean War in my adopted land; you will find me at Seoul National...
After lots of discussion and planning, Lee Su-hyeon (“Vicky”) and I arranged for me to visit Hayang, her hometown in North Gyeongsang Province, to give a talk about Jikji and my NGO’s efforts to extricate it from the clutches of the French...
I am a sucker for a good historical episode, and this is one. Please allow me to summarize. On April 15, 1885, three British warships (HMS Agamemnon, HMS Pegasus and HMS Firebrand) and two transport ships steamed out of Nagasaki and headed west...
I had been to Incheon before—once for a baseball game (the hometown SK Wyverns vs. the Nexen Heroes) at Munhak Stadium, once to visit friends and once to join a group catching a ferry up to Baengnyeong Island. But those were just brief visits in...
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