Monday, June 1, 2009

Equal Brothers

The next day I spent in Inteawon, a multi-cultural commercial district near the US army base to eat a little different food. The thousands out on the Saturday night were far away - both from the Police lines of City Hall and any understanding of the issues facing the divided Korea. A nuclear Bomb had exploded underground in a country 30 miles away, but few here in the streets seemed to care. Young people I spoke with in the classroom when I asked them if the state of war and the nuclear test made them scared said simply...it’s just North Korea again.

It will take some pushing on both sides of the ocean to get the leaders to awaken to the fact that war/sanctions/isolation will never lead to peace. As Gandhi said, “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.”

This is the problem with Obama surrounding himself with so many of the “experienced” foreign affairs people from prior administrations. They don’t accept that change is needed and think that what they did before was on track, instead of outdated. The Clinton folks just don’t get it. Few of the players int eh higher positions have been bold players. I believe Obama wants to lead in a new direction, but it will take him having the time to lead and realizing that a comprehensive bi-lateral peace is needed -not the same old 6 party crawl. Relationship is not a reward in international affairs - it is a PRE-requisite.

In my last hours in Korea I decided to visit the Korea War Memorial. No I’m not a gluten for gore and punishment, but knew it would be a treasure chest of B Roll footage and photos for any future film, You Tube etc. It was mammoth and oddly enough had attached to it a huge kids play area and a wedding Hall. “Hey hun. Lets get hitched at the old war museum.” I guess everyone has a different notion of romance. It reminded me of the “Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum” in Pyeongyang, though the description of the war varies greatly. It had a “DMZ” Cafeteria. 

I wonder how they will grapple with the Truth Commission findings when they are complete. They clearly need to be included, but what is generally absent in most “war” museums is an honest critique about the horrors of war, unless inflicted by the other side, or any failings or wrongdoing of the “fatherland.” Yet, its never so black and white. I was impressed at Hiroshima where the museum was devoted to the dangers of aggression in general, including Japanese imperialist aggression. However, the difference is that they were memorializing the “peace” and it is known as a “peace” park and museum. Hmmm.

What also drew me there was I’d read that there was a “brothers” statute of two embracing soldiers from the North and South, “a symbol o the hope of reunification.” As I walked through a wall like the Vietnam Wall with the names of the lost soldiers, I emerged at the huge brothers statute. I was so disappointed. It was a huge South Korean soldier with a rifle hugging a tiny DPRK soldier who had no weapons - a clear symbol that brothers are united when the North has given up and surrendered to the South. Strip off the rifle and give them comparable stature and we’d have a powerful symbol of peace and reunification. That would be the approach of a peace museum. I left sad. This oft-dysfunctional family has a way to go in a world that still memorializes war and demonizes peace. I’m drawn to a Korean Poem that the TRC uses in its material:

Daffodils of the Sea
by Seo Young-sun

I am an ever tragic bird
I am wandering in a dark cave and a deep valley.
Hit by a wave, my soul cannot fly
The sky is torn and the earth is divided
My soul has been wandering for half a century.

My wounds have not yet healed over the many years.
Time has passed, but nothing seems resolved.
I wish I could see eternity.
I hope our dearest wish can move the heavens
And the heavens send us fresh spring water
ad peaceful doves.

No comments:

Post a Comment