The Fall of the Leaf in Incheon(II)

(Left - A panoramic view from the top of the 'Samnangseong Castle')

One of my favorite places to visit near my home in northwestern part of Incheon is Ganghwa Island, especially 'Jeondeungsa Temple' which was reportedly built in AD381 during the ancient 'Goguryeo' dynasty at the skirts of 'Jeongjoksan' Mountain'. Actually, I can get there within an hour and half in most cases by driving my SUV through the 'Choji Grand Bridge', connecting 'Choji', southern part of Ganghwa Island to the mainland; 'Daemyeong Port'. On my way to the mountain, additionally, I can look around some historic sites, such as 'Chojijin' fortress, built in 1656 for the first time and later became a big battleground, defending Joseun Dynasty from the foreign invasions primarily in late 19th century when American, France and Japanese troops started to pour into this country of Morning Calm to nudge the rulers, central or provincial, into opening its doors to the outside world for trading and cultural exchanges, etc.

I was able to visit the temple in the spring of 1967 when I was in the 6th grade of 'Seogot' Elementary School as a school field trip for the first time. At that time, we had to cross the river by a ferry boat together with two chartered buses on board at 'Tongjin' because there was no bridge connecting the island to the main land at all. At this point of time, however, there are two bridges available to and from the island.

The Fall of the Leaf in Incheon(I)

I can taste and actually smell the fall of the leaf from the middle of September every year. After a long, hot and humid summer, cool and barmly autumn tints season is finally coming around the corner.

The 'Chuseok' holidays, one of the biggest national holidays in this country, dating back to more than 1,500 years ago, is coming this time of the year in our nation. Actually it comes on August 15th each year in the lunar calendar. In the case of this year, it comes on Saturday, October 3rd, bringing the weekend to a long weekend. In South Korea, the day before and after New Year's Day (lunar) and Chuseok are nominated as holidays as well. The 'Chuseok' in Korea is a festival which thanks to those ancestral gods who has helped their descendants to have a good year, as well as practicing a feast to the ancestors with some songpyeons, half-moon-shaped rice cakes (stuffed with beans or sesames and flavored with pine needles), rice wines and the first fruits on the table.

Shortly after practicing a feast to the ancestors at home, family members (mostly male members) go out to visit their ancestral graves with a roll mat and a kettle rice wine and some fruits and cakes. In my case, it takes only several minutes to get to the grave site which is located at the skirts 0f a nearby mountain by walking. I think I am pretty fortunate, ain't I?

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (IV)

On August 2, 2009, the 3rd day of my summer vacation, my wife and I decided to visit our secret place to hide from the outside world one more time, a narrow beach near the Two-brothers Rock, instead of go fishing with other members. As soon as we got to the place with a small lunch box, we erected a small tent on the pebble beach to slipped into swimsuits in it.

Actually, the beach is not ideal for swimming because there was no sand to accommodate swimmers comfortably. There were only rocks covered with numerous oyster shells and the water temperature was pretty low, considering the time of the year - peak summer. It's not safe to touch any rock after reaching to the other side of the beach by swimming other than the beach pebbles because the oyster shells attached to the rocks pretty tightly were dangerously sharp like the edge of a knife. As a matter of fact, I got some cuts on my palms and fingers inadvertently. Notwithstanding all of such things, however, it's like a paradise to stay in. It's too beautiful, peaceful and relaxing place to leave, as well.

We spent a couple of more hours in the haven before returning to our base camp, and waited other members who had joined the captain on the offshore fishing trip...

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (III)

The sea was continuously calm and the sky was very bright and sparkling.. brilliant. It was a glorious day, with little sign of any storm clouds to come. The water looked like a big, emerald blue carpet. My brother-in-law started to catch a fish with his lure fishing rod, as shown on the picture, shortly after the captain had dropped the anchor about one nautical mile away from the port.

Most of the other members, however, were using a fishing reel with a longline with several hooks on it, usually used in deep sea fishing, respectively. Soon I was able to catch a frog flounder from the bottom of the sea, about 20 meters deep. Actually, there was no specific skills needed to hook fishes other than the bait. Since fishes, such as frog flounders like to hang around near the bottom of the sea, we put fishlines deep into the water as possible. We can estimate the depth of the sea by the feeling of the sinker touching the bottom through the line. The catched fishes are thrown into a water basin under the deck after being released from hooks.

The captain moved the ship frequently to other places to allow his fishermen and women to catch as more fishes as possible within the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea. If any fishing boat approaches the line, a Marine Police vessel ship near this area gave warning not to cross the line inadvertently.

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (II)

Our daily routine on the island started from early in the morning the next day, August 1, 2009. It's sunny and breeze day. Shortly after breakfast with fish soup, we walked along the beach west bound over the hill to the core of 'Dumujin'. As we went down the steps from the top of the hill, we could get a splended view of crystal blue seawater and the surrounding rocks of fantastic shape, including the Candlestick Rock, Lion rock and Two-brothers Rock, etc., as well as the peaceful and nostalgic horizon. I can surely say it's enough to be called as 'Mt. Geumgang in the sea', in view of its breathtaking view. We started to look around every corner of this area, while posing each other to take pictures individually or as a group, before returning to our base camp at the village. During the bad weather with the gusting wind, especially in winter time, however, it's reportedly not allowed to have access to this area.

Around 11 o'clock in the morning, we went on board a fishing boat 'Parangsae-ho' to go fishing to the sea (offshore). Anothe reason for the sailing was for sightseeing, of course.

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (I)

One of my longstanding dreams is to go into retreat to a remote island far from the bustling city in mainland to relax for a week or two. And, finally, I was able to make my dream comes true. On July 31, 2009, together with my wife, brothers-in-law, their spouses, and sisters-in-law, I went on board a ferry steamer, the Princess, connecting Incheon Yeonan Wharf to the island of Baegryeong-do, located in north-westernmost Seohae (Yellow Sea), which is only 12 KM away from 'Jangsangot', Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Actually Baegryeong-do is a part of Incheon, specifically 'Baegryeong-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon Metropolitan City.' Therefore, Incheon citizens can have the advantage of getting 50 percent discount of passenger fares from early this year.

The ferry left for the island at 1 o'clock in the afternoon on time and the sea was calm and peaceful enough for the passengers to enjoy their voyage. We reserved our seats on the 2nd floor and the decision turned out to be right because it's more comfortable, comparing to the 1st floor. I started to read a paperback novel 'The Pelican Brief', written by John Grisham, while sipping beer out of the can. From time to time, I went out of the cabin to hit the deck for fresh air. The ferry was running throuigh a broad expanse of water toward the north.

Around 5:30 in the afternoon, four and half hours since the departure, the ferry reached Baegryeong-do after a couple of stopovers at 'Socheong' and 'Daecheong' Island on its way. After transferring to a passenger van at 'Yonggipo' Port, located at the southeastern part of the island, we started to move to our final destination 'Dumujin'. En route to the location, we stopped by at 'Kongdol' beach. As the name indicates, the broad beach was covered by numerous small satiny pebble stones. The Korean word 'komgdol' can be interpretted into English language by stones that looks like soybeans. Swimming, however, is not allowed at the beach probably because it's too dangerous to swim. The depth of water turned out too deep to guarantee a safe and pleasant swimming.

We proceeded to 'Dumujin', our final destination, through mostly paved country roads to unpack our luggage and suitcases at a local fishman's house which served as our base camp during our stay on the island. The fisherman owns a raw fish restanrant, named 'Parangsae' (Blue Bird) at the waterfront and two fishing boats, as well, with the same name.

A Memoir of the Old Places of My Military Service in Late 1979

During the two and half years of my military service, I spent the first 7 months in Yeoncheon, northern Gyeonggi Province, surrounded by the snake shape, crystal blue Imjin River as a second lieutenant, from late 1970's to early 1980's. The military bases where I served were actually located northern part of Buksam-ri village which was located in the so-called 'civilians are not allowed to trespass without getting approval from the regional military authority'. Recently, I was able to take time to visit the Buksam-ri Ferry site which is one of the places that brings back some particular memories that were scorched into my brain many years ago.

In retrospect, the period of my military service can be said as a 'convulsive historical events', including the assassination of president Park, Jung-Hee on October 26, 1979 and the following military coup on December 12, 1979. I experienced the whole events as a platoon leader of the 80th Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division. I was on watch (officer) at the company headquarter located at Ssuggol in the night of October 26, 1979 when I got a phone call from my boss, Lieutenant-colonel Lee Seong-geun around midnight to check if everything was ok in my unit. There was an 'Jindotgae' watchdog alert issued from the authorities an hour before, therefore I just finished to take subsequent actions to my soldiers through the line of command. As an answer to my personal question about the nature of the alert, he just mentioned that it's probably a normal watchdog alert for the soldiers to be fully prepared for any possible attack or happening in the frontier. Based on the facts, accordingly, he didn't know what actually had happened in the center of Seoul on that day; the assassination of the president by his close staff.

From early in the morning of the following day, October 27, 1979, however, the situation was changed dramatically as sad and solemn pieces of music were broadcasted continuously from the radio without any explanation or comment. And soon the back-to-duty order for all officers and/or noncommissioned officers who resided outside barracks was released from the regiment headquarter as well. Personally I had to visit a small farmer's house near the Buksam-ri Ferry site in which one of my fellow platoon leaders in the company, lieutenant Park, lived with his newly-wed wife by renting a room to address the order to come back immediately.

For about a month and half from that day to December 12, 1979, security was pretty tight throughout the military bases across the nation. All military officers and soldiers should wear war attires with light military equipments during the period of time. From time to time, I was able to hear news about the progress of trial for Kim Jae-gyu, ex-KCIA chief, who had assassinated President Park from radio or TV. I can clearly remember a particular situation in my unit during the night of December 12, 1979. My unit was posted at the 'Gunja' mountain bunkers due to an RCT(Regiment Combat Training) at that time. Late in the evening near midnight, I just started to fall a sleep in my sleeping bag after a hard day of maneuvering with my soldiers when I heard a siren, signalling an immediate gathering on the ground outside of the bunkers. Interpreting it as another harsh training, we were prepared to get a following order soon.

On the supply road below the ridgeway, dozens of trucks were ready to accommodate our units and move to somewhere else. It turned out later that we were destined to move to someplace near Seoul to put down the military coup, headed by general Jeon Doo-whan. Fortunately, however, the maneuvering schedule was cancelled at once and we were ordered to return to our base as soon as possible to wait following orders there. And a shortcut to our base in Ssukgol where our company headquarter was located and 157 OP where my platoon HQ was located from the Gunja Mountain bunkers was crossing the river by a ferryboat at Buksam-ri Ferry. It took about an hour for our troops to reach the Gunnam ferry by marching over the mountains and through Hwangji-ri. It's very cold early in the morning (around 2 o'clock) on December 13, 1979, but not enough to freeze the river. My soldiers were severely tired after a day-long maneuvering and the lack of sleep for a couple of days since the start of the R.C.T. which is the abbreviation for the Regiment Combat Training.

Though the river was covered by ice, it's not thick enough to cross the river by walking on the ice. The small ferryboat, therefore, should made round trips several times to carry my platoon soldiers to the other side of the river completely. The big tree shown on the picture was there on site 30 years ago to witness everything, as well. I was there at 157 OP until late March of the following year before moving to the frontier between the South and the North Korea to do the mission of defending the DMZ, by switching the mission with the 81st Regiment, as a platoon leader of the same 2nd Battalion of the 80th Regiment.