A Trip to 'Ejak-do' Island(II)

[Left – A breathtaking view of a strait between the islands of Dae (Big) Ejak-do and So (Small) Ejak-do), as well as the surrounding islands from the top of the 'Mt. Bua'.]

After a brief lunch with bowls of rice, ramyeon and some frozen crabs as side dishes, all of our team members left our base camp pension for nearby 'Bua Mountain'. The road en route to the tracking courses near the summit was mostly paved and the neighboring villages were developed pretty well by the folks with much needed help probably from the county authority. As proceeding through the narrow and rocky mountain trail, finally, we were able to reach to the top of the mountain, and the panoramic view from the spot was really fantastic. We were particularly happy with the fact that we could see almost everything from the islands-scattered Seohae (Yellow Sea) in the west to the numerous skyscrapers in Songdo new town and other modern villages in mainland Incheon opposite side, thanks to a big telescope established at the ridge. And the climax was a view like a watercolor painting of a strait between the islands covered by a thin sea fog.

A Trip to 'Ejak-do' Island(I)

On July 24, 2010, I was able to leave for my annual two-nights/three days’ summer vacation together with my wife, brothers-in-law, their spouses, and sisters-in-law as usual. After parking my passenger vehicle at the designated parking lot, I went on board a ferry steamer, the Rainbow, accommodating around 320 passengers and connecting Incheon Yeonan Wharf to the island. Actually the island, DaeEjak-do, is a part of Incheon, specifically 'Ejak-ri, Jawol-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon Metropolitan City.' Therefore, Incheon citizens can have the advantage of getting 50 percent discount of passenger fares, 20,000 Korean Won for a round trip for each passenger. To get the discount, you are required to give your resident registration number to the reservation desk or ticketing counter of the ferry boat company, enabling them to verify your Incheon City residency. I picked up boarding passes at the ferry boat counter in time.

The ferry left for the island at 08:40 in the morning on time and the sea was calm and peaceful enough for the passengers to enjoy their voyage. The ferry was running through a broad expanse of water toward the west after departing the mainland. Around 10 o’clock in the morning, about one and half hour since the departure, the ferry went into the dock of the island after a couple of stopovers at 'Seungbong-do' and 'SoEjak-do' Island on its way. After transferring to a light truck at the nearby parking lot, provided by the owner of our reserved pension, we started to move to our final destination ‘Jangkol’, located at 458-1 Ejak-ri, Jawol-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon, near ‘Jakeunpul’ seaside resort.

Shortly after arriving and checking-in at the pension, we moved to the nearby ‘Jakeunpul Seaside Resort’ which was located only one minute walking distance from our pension in swimsuits. The beach was not crowded at all as expected, not similar to those resorts at the mainland, and therefore pretty calm and peaceful enough to relax.

(The wooden post shown at the center of the photo indicates it's one of the places where a famous Korean TV variety comedy show 'One Night/Two Days' was shot on location last year.)

South Korea in the Year 2010

The World Bank recently announced that South Korea's GNI (Gross National Income) per capita last year reached to U$19,830, increasing U$2,700 from U$17,175 calculated by the Bank of Korea for the same year. The gap is reportedly occurred due to the difference in applying the exchange rate between the Korea Won and the US Dollar. The Bank of Korea simply applied the average exchange rate of last year to the assessment. The World Bank, however, applied the average exchange rate of the previous 3 years, so as the data not to be influenced by the rapid change in exchange rate during the short length of time.

The GNI per capita, anyway, stepped backward to the world's ranking number 54th, 5 stairs downward comparing to the previous year. Considering the fact that South Korea's overall economic scale (from the eye of the GNP) is the world's 15th, our nation's GNI per capita is still far lower than those of the advanced countries. Based on the PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), measuring the actual purchasing power of consumers, allowing for the different prices of commodities by each country, the GDP is ranked as the world's 13th and the GNI per capita ranked as 48th, respectively. It is generally expected the GDP world ranking will be rising and particularly the GNI per capita will be over U$20,000 in this year.

As the South Korean government forecasts it's economic growth rate can be reached to 6% by the end of the year, the IMF revises it's forecast to 5.75%, as well. The Bank of Korea says "If the exchange rate could be kept lower equilibrium this year, it would be a matter of time for our nation's GNI per capita to return to U$20,000 level." It also says "The remarkable rising of the World Bank's ranking in terms of GNP, GDP and GNI per capita, etc. can be expected, too."

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* GNP per capita shows what part of a country’s GNP each person would have if this GNP were divided equally. Knowing a country’s GNP per capita is a good first step toward understanding the country’s economic strengths and needs, as well as the general standard of living enjoyed by the average citizen. A country’s GNP per capita tends to be closely linked with other indicators that measure the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the country and its people. For example, generally people living in countries with higher GNP per capita tend to have longer life expentancies, higher literacy rates, better access to safe water, and lower infant mortality rates.

Mayor Song's Big Mistakes

There are big controversies over the construction of a new main stadium in Seo-gu (District) for the 2014 Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea. Incheon was awarded as the host city of the games at the 26th OCA general assembly in April 2007 held in Kuwait and the construction plan for the Seo-gu main stadium was announced by the city officials in early 2008 and supported by the central government shortly thereafter.

The central government actually did Incheon a favor to unfreeze sufficient size land of the so-called green belt in Yonhee-dong, Seo-gu, to construct the stadium and the city officials have already compensated more than 80 percent of the land to those owners on site. And the magnificent design has also been completed as shown above.

The quarrel started as the mayor-elect Song Young-gil visited Kuwait to meet OCA chairman late last month, shortly before his inauguration as the administrator of Incheon, and announced that he was able to persuade the OCA chairman to allow the host city not to build a new stadium in Seo-gu, but re-use the existing Munhak World Cup Stadium, located in Nam-gu in the same city, as the main stadium, a venue of the opening and closing ceremonies for the games, as well as various track and field events, by simply renovating it to host 5,000 more spectators from the existing 50,000 capacity. It is reported, however, that the OCA officials recommend the main stadium’s capacity should be at least 70,000 for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Basically, I share his concerns about the increasing revenue deficit of the city as a newly elected mayor of the city. I believe, however, he made a couple of big mistakes: Firstly, he has brought down the decency and pride of Incheon and even the national image, and humiliated his own supporters, as well as his predecessors, by making a sudden, unscheduled and rude visit to OCA chairman and doing diplomatically ill-mannered and/or immature behaviors from the international standpoint, ignoring the diplomatic channel. As a mayor of the big city like Incheon, Mr. Song should pay more attention to become a good city administrator, rather than a sly politician who is an expert in playing a political engineering game that is still prevailing in domestic political horizon, unfortunately.

Secondly, he should have tried to communicate with his own people i.e. Incheon citizens as a first step, primarily with the Seo-gu residents who would be greatly influenced by any change in this regard before leaving for Kuwait. More haste, says the proverb, less speed.

One thing clear, at this point of time, is that any community in which an individual simply cannot expect even what would happen tomorrow to him or to his family can't be entitled to be called as an advanced and stable society, apart from his inaugural commitment to make Incheon the economic capital of the Republic of Korea. Mayor Song is now leading innocent Incheon citizens into the battlefield and encouraging his own people to fight with each other by his terrible mistakes, intentionally or unintentionally.

It would be appreciated if he could change his mind to build the main stadium in Seo-gu District as originally planned for all concerned, however, because I wish him every success and would like to participate in his success in the forthcoming future as the mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City.