Passport and First Week of School

So after a day off class for Independence Movement Day, I had two new classes on Wednesday. I had Korean Politics and Diplomacy and International Society. They are both taught by the same professor, who is a professor at one of the top universities in Seoul. He comes to SCH once a week to teach these two classes, so I am so happy I chose to take these two. He is very knowledgeable and organized, plus he is an amateur yodeler. Yes, you read that right, yodeler. He sang us a few of his personal favorites while handing out the syllabus for the class. It was the most unique first day of class. Usually the teacher hands out the syllabus, answers a few questions, and then heads out the door. My professor gave us the syllabus, and then asked us if we had any requests for him to yodel. My class was not too knowledgeable in the yodeling world, so we asked him to sing his favorites. I think those two classes will be interesting, not only for the subject, but for the yodel ballads we will hear every week from our teacher.

I am also excited about these two classes because our teacher wrote a book specifically for our class (like I said, he is organized). I skimmed the book, and it is absolutely fascinating. We will cover a brief history of Korea, the relations South Korea has with the world, and the politics of North and South reunification. It is everything that I wanted to learn this semester, especially considering the latest tension between the two Koreas.

Speaking of latest tensions, this week the South Korean army is doing joint drills with the USA army. The North has threatened to "turn Seoul into a lake of fire" because of the drills. It is the annual Spring drill that the two armies conduct, so it isn't anything out of the ordinary. The only concern is that the North cut talks with the South a few weeks ago, so the two sides aren't speaking, which is usually an indicator that the North may cause a skirmish at the border.

It is interesting, there is a trend of actions from the North: North needs food, supplies. North cuts talks with the South. North causes an incident. South calls for a truce. North demands food, supplies for truce. South agrees. North begins talks again with South. North needs more food...

It's a simplified set of events, but that's pretty much the relations between the two. It breaks my heart because the South Korean government wants so badly to reunite with the North, but the preconditions made by the North are absurd.

In order for talks of reunification to begin, the North has for about ten years demanded that:
1.The USA military leaves the South
2.The two sides continue their own sets of government.
3.A central government is established with equal representation from each side, instead of representation based on population (The South has twice as many people as the North).

Of course, the South would never agree to these preconditions. The South believes that if the USA military left, North Korea would invade and disregard the other two parts of the North's preconditions. The South wants one Korea under one government. The North's idea of government would cause a lot of internal contradictions within the proposed central government. It would also mean that the leaders of the North wouldn't have to answer for all the atrocities they committed against their people.

So, no agreement, the cycle of tensions continue. The North would be foolish to attack the South with USA troops stationed minutes from the border, and additional allies hours away. I think they continue these "incidents" because believe it or not, they depend on aid from the South to survive.

I personally believe that the North will eventually collapse. The military monster that the North has created cannot be sustained forever. Since the Soviet collapse, the North only has one true ally and friend: China. But China has begun to step away from its past ally (N. Korea) because China wants to be accepted in the free world. China has begun to trade with S Korea considerably. It will be interesting in the next few years who China will choose to have close ties: their old but backwards friend (N Korea), or their new trading partners but past enemy (S Korea). As aid from both China and S Korea is removed, the North will face a difficult choice: Open themselves like China, and risk backlash from their people when their eyes are opened to how atrocious their government, possibly leading to a revolution. Or continue this incident making trend until the aid no longer outweighs the need, leading to an internal collapse.

Gosh, get me talking about the North and South, you can't get me to stop. Oh well, back to the joint drills, security is high, especially near the border.

On Thursday, I didn't have class, so I went to Seoul to get my passport renewed. Korea has absolutely amazing public transportation. I got up at 8am, walked to the subway station. My school is the last station on one of the Seoul subway lines. I got on the subway at 9am. Two and half hours later, I was downtown Seoul in front of Gyeongbukgung (the famous palace near the USA embassy), and the trip cost me 2,500 Won (about $2). Crazy cheap, considering it was a 60 mile trip. Once I got to the embassy, I waited in the USA citizens service line. In line in front of me was this American couple who were at the embassy to get a drivers license. We started talking about life in Korea, it turns out they had been teaching here for about five years. They gave me some tips about the spring (yellow dust season), and some good places to travel. They have traveled extensively in Asia since living here, so their information was very helpful.

After waiting for about half an hour, I went through security, got an ID card, and proceeded to the citizen's service office. It was really strange to be surrounded by so many Americans speaking only English, I felt like I was on USA soil for a time. My number was called, and I proceeded to the counter. The lady informed me that my pictures background were too dark (I don't know how a white background can be too dark, oh well) so I had to take a second set of pictures. Regardless, passport pictures always look atrocious, so it didn't make a difference to me, I just wanted to submit my application that day. The embassy has really weird hours: every weekday, no weekends, from 9-11am, and 1-3pm. So once my picture was the right tint of white, I submitted my application and it's now USA bound for processing. I will have my new passport in two weeks.

My lessons with my Korean suitemates are going really well. They are some tough teachers! I feel like I am really understanding the language. Something is just "clicking" for me, and it's exciting! I hope that I can continue to learn more as the semester progresses.

Please keep me in your prayers this week. I have recently faced a situation where God is shutting a door but opening a window. I just want clarity to see where God wants me to go from this situation. I will give you more details when I think it is the best time.