"Slow city" Jeung-do in transition.

Naver's looking out from above Eldorado Resort.

Claire Lee in the Korea Herald looks at Shinan county's Jeung-do nearly four years after it was one of four areas in South Korea designated as "Slow Cities" in December 2007.

Being the first slow city of Asia, along with the completion of the bridge that connects the island to the peninsula ― which opened last year ― brought many changes to Jeungdo. As the number of visitors increased dramatically, the island faced more demand for accommodations and tour packages. This had both positive and negative impacts on the island, placing Jeungdo somewhere in between further development and the expected “slowness.”

For more about Jeollanam-do's "slow cities"---actually two cities and two rural counties---over the years:

* February 15, 2008: Jeollanam-do's slow cities.
* March 24, 2009: Jeollanam-do is a little slow.
* December 28, 2009: "Slow City" in Shinan working hard to stay slow.

Nearly two years ago we read of Jeung-do in the JoongAng Daily that "A rare experiment to create an island free of cigarette smoking, cars and night lights has begun in Korea’s southern region." But in this month's Herald piece we see a conflicted Jeung-do:

Lee Jong-hwa, the representative of the local tour agency Gilbeot, on the other hand, has been receiving complaints from visitors and scholars, that Jeungdo isn’t “slow” enough. One of the scholars that contacted him pointed out that most buildings on Jeungdo are modern-day residential ones, carrying no particular aesthetic values. Unlike other slow cities in Korea, such as Changpyeong of South Jeolla Province or Yesan of South Chungcheong Province, Jeungdo doesn’t have any traditional Korean houses or ancient Buddhist temples. “He said we should in fact ‘create’ traditional homes, at least just to show the visitors, to serve the purpose of being a slow city,” Lee told The Korea Herald. “But we cannot live a lie for the sake of a slow city.”

Still interested in visiting? Search the Korea Tourism Organization's webpage for a couple of articles on it. There are a couple of big---well, um, slow city big---festivals: the Slow Salt Village Festival (SLOW 소금마을 축제) from May to July at the Salt Village, and a Mud Festival that hasn't yet been debauched (신안 섬갯벌 축제) in July.

3D Korea International Film Festival (3D 한국국제영화제) in Gwangju, November 17th through 21st.

The third annual 3D Korea International Film Festival (3D 한국국제영화제) will be held in Gwangju from November 17th through the 21st, it was announced on Wednesday. The festival's site has a list of movies and a schedule, in English and Korean.

아이고, fire at Suncheon's Drama Set.

From No Cut News.

Earlier this month there was a fire at Suncheon's Drama Set (순천드라마세트장 or 드라마촬영장), used to film TV dramas like "Love and Ambition" (사랑과야망) and "East of Eden" (에덴의 동쪽). According to the latest update on October 7th, a few hours after the fire spread through the recreations of mid-century Korea the night before, three buildings were destroyed: one theater and two hanok houses.


I think this is the theater they're talking about, but after a good bit of time comparing the fire footage with pictures of the theaters and the "town" layouts, I can't be sure. Just one disadvantage of blogging on Suncheon from half-a-world away.






The set is located in Jorye-dong and is a fairly well-kept secret I always enjoyed visiting. Even three buildings down it's worth a trip to see the mock-up of an anachronistically-named 60s-era Suncheon-eup (Suncheon was designated a city in the 40s), a 70s-era slum, and an 80s-era Seoul. Here's a September 2008 Korea Times article about it and the then-recent activity there, here's a Flickr gallery from 2007, and here's my second-ever blog post. Walk to it from New Downtown, take city bus #777, or catch it on the Suncheon City Tour. If you're interested in these sorts of displays and artifacts there are a couple other drama sets throughout the country that cover similar time periods. There's also a Daldongnae Museum (수도국산 달동네박물관, Sudoguksan Museum of Living and Housing) in Incheon.

Hyundai to build new Gwangju baseball stadium.

Artist's rendition of the new ballpark in Gwangju, from the 전남일보.

On October 20th it was announced that Hyundai Engineering & Construction will build Gwangju's new baseball stadium, home of the Kia Tigers. The site of a future "Culture Park" in Im-dong, it's expected to be done in December 2013 in time for the 2014 season. The new one will sit next to the old one, for now, but will replace and mean the end of Mudeung Stadium (무등경기장 주경기장), built in 1965.

Gwangju and Mudeung Stadium hosted the 46th annual National Sports Festival in 1965, where unfortunately 16 people died in a stampede
on opening day.

Yŏsu-Sunchŏn Incident (여순반란사건), October 1948.

By Carl Mydans, for Life magazine.

Wednesday, October 19th, marks the anniversary of the "Yŏsu Rebellion," written in English also as the "Yŏsu-Sunchŏn Incident" or the "Yŏsu-Sunchŏn Rebellion," one of several bloody exchanges in Jeollanam-do last century, and one whose background serves to foreshadow the violence of the Korean War two years later. The 여순반란사건 was a crackdown against suspected communists in South Jeolla province, specifically the cities written now as Yeosu and Suncheon, that resulted in hundreds or thousands of deaths, depending on the source.

Smooth.

One of my biggest weaknesses continues to be clicking on the ads on the Korea Times website. Today they led me to Flyday.co.kr and to

Only 14,000 won. Goes nicely with the G-ma$ta classic:

Yeosu Marching Band Festival (여수마칭페스티발): October 20th and 21st.

The second Yeosu Marching Festival (여수마칭페스티발) will be held on October 20th and 21st.

US announces participation in 2012 Yeosu Expo.

On the 13th the US State Department officially announced its participation in the Yeosu Expo, scheduled for May 12th through August 12th, 2012.

Joining more than 108 countries and international organizations, USA Pavilion 2012 will build on the Expo’s overall theme of “The Living Ocean and Coast,” and showcase the diversity, spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation, and commitment to sustainable development of the American people. U.S. participation in Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea demonstrates U.S. commitment to deepening our friendly ties and strengthening U.S. – Republic of Korea (ROK) relations and engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.

I'm sorry to see the theme will incorporate my least-favorite buzzword, the s-word:

Focusing on the themes of Diversity, Wonder, and Solutions, the USA Pavilion 2012 is expected to reach millions of visitors through a host of exciting technologies and storytelling. A highlight of the USA Pavilion experience for visitors will be their interactions with Student Ambassadors. In partnership with the University of Virginia, 40 college-aged American Student Ambassadors proficient in Korean will be selected to serve as representatives of the United States, engaging directly with USA Pavilion visitors and supporting the USA Pavilion operation.

Official site of the USA pavillion here, brochure for University of Virginia Student Ambassador Program here. Canada, we learned in August, will not participate.


The International Pavilion (국제관).


Under construction in September.