Busan - The Only Major City Not Conquered by the North During the Korean War

Another interesting piece of information that I have learned about the Korean War has to do with the city that I currently live in, Busan.

The Korean War began in June of 1950, and by September of that year, the North Korean army had almost completely conquered the entire Korean peninsula.  The only major city remaining under South Korean control was Busan.  In the region surrounding Busan, the South Koreans effectively fought a  final stand against the invading north, in what came to be called the battle of the Busan perimeter (or battle of the Pusan perimeter).  They successfully thwarted the Naktong offensive, and by November of 1950, had pushed the North Korean army almost all the way back to the current border between China and North Korea.  At that point, China entered the war, and the North Koreans regained the territory that is today North Korea.

The Nakdong river (낙동강) flows just to the west of Busan.  It falls into the Pacific ocean within the administrative limits of the city.  But the river's source, though it's exact location appears to be disputed, is far to the north, in the Taebaek mountains (대백산맥).  The Nakdong river is the namesake of the Naktong offensive, as it demarcated the western front of the Busan perimeter.  And during an afternoon hike last autumn, I noticed on the western flank of Gudeok mountain (구덕산), overlooking the Nakdong river, structures that I thought were military fortifications.

The Nakdong river, as seen from Baekyang mountain.

To the north, the boundary of the Busan perimeter lay a short distance beyond the cities of Daegu (also known as Taegu) and Kyongju.  Last year, I visited Kyoungju with a Korean friend, and as we drove to the north-east of the city, towards the city of Pohang, he said to me that this was an area where the fighting had been particularly intense during the Korean war.

Because it was never conquered by the North Koreans, many refugees found their way to Busan during the Korean war, hoping to find some safety here.  As a result, the city's population grew a lot during this period, perhaps by as much as half a million people.  An interesting article about Busan during the war was published last year in the Korea Times.  Not surprisingly, life was pretty rough around here for a lot of people during that time.  But Busan has since developed into South Korea's second-largest city, and it's most important port.

Bodies of Some 100,000 Korean War Dead Still Missing

Another aspect of Korean history that, I believe, is still very meaningful to Koreans today is the Korean War.

A few months ago, I was surprised when I stumbled across an article reporting that the government of South Korea is planning to excavate the remains of 1,300 soldiers who died in the Korean war.  I assume that they will be relocated to a war cemetery.  The article also reported that, since the year 2000, the remains of 5,500 Korean war casualties have been discovered.  However, after a quick internet search, I discovered another article, this one published in mid 2009, stating that the remains of over 130,000 soldiers are still missing.

I guess that, during the war, there simply was no time to properly take care of the remains of the casualties, and so they were simply buried where they lay at different locations in the country.  And so now, about 60 years later, the government is trying to find the remains of these fallen soldiers and identify them. 

But what a brutal thing it must have been for these people's families, to have to carry on for all these years not knowing where their loved ones rest!

Ghosts of the April Revolution Still Haunting Korea

Before the crisis in Japan distracted me, I had begun to write about the history of Korea.  As I began to learn about Korean history, I came to believe that both the recent history and the ancient history of Korea are rich and complex.  I found more reason to believe this around April 19th.
 
April 19th is the anniversary of the April Revolution.  The April 1960 Revolution was a popular uprising against the government of Syngman Rhee, president of Korea's First Republic.  Notably, Rhee was the leader of Korea during the Korean War.  He professed to be a democrat, but he violently cracked down on his opposition and on protest movements against his presidency, both during and after the Korean War.  By 1960, Koreans were increasingly fed up with the Rhee administration's authoritarianism and corruption.  In March 1960, when it became clear that an election was rigged in favour of a candidate favoured by Rhee, a large protest erupted in the city of Masan, located a short distance to the west of Busan.  This protest was violently repressed by the police.  Shortly thereafter, it came to light that the police had not only murdered one of the protesters, but also tried to hide the evidence of this crime by tying rocks to the victim's body and throwing him into water.  When all of this was reported to the public, many Koreans were outraged.  Around April 19th, in Seoul, a large group of students marched from Korea University to the presidential residence, demanding that Rhee resign.  The police again fired on and murdered some the protesters, this time possibly as many as 200.  But they failed to scare away the demonstrators.  As more and more people joined the protests, Rhee was forced to resign and seek refuge in exile a few days later.



Fast-forward now to April 19th, 2011...
Reading the news last week, I stumbled across a fascinating article featuring parts of an interview with a military official from the Rhee government era, a man who is now more than 80 years old.  This individual explained that, in the days following April 19th, Rhee and his associates in government were willing to murder more and more people in a desperate attempt to cling to their power.  But some police and military officials, including the interviewee featured in the article, subverted them by refusing to dispatch more troops and by refusing to distribute ammunition.  This fascinating and insightful information was obtained thanks to a research project led by the Korea Democracy Foundation.  This foundation is dedicated to the study of the history of democratization in Korea, and to strengthening Korean democracy.  The Foundation has published on-line an insightful history of democracy in Korea.

Furthermore, reading other news articles, I learned that many of the people who were murdered during the April 19th revolution are buried in Seoul, in a special cemetery dedicated to their memory.  Every year, on April 19th, a ceremony is held there in their honour, in the presence of some of their descendants.  Well, this year, the adopted son of former president Rhee decided that he was going to make an appearance at this ceremony and read a statement of apology.  This received favourable press in some news outlets, for instance in a KBS editorial arguing that historical events should be placed in "an objective and accurate light".  But the family members of the April 19th revolution's victims would have nothing of it.  They physically blocked the passage of Rhee's adopted son into the cemetery, and prevented him from reading his statement.  In one editorial, the statement of apology was denounced as an attempt to revise history, and a shameful act of disrespect to the memory of those who sacrificed their lives in the name of democracy in Korea.  When I first read about the apology, I saw it as a noble attempt at reconciliation.  However, I am now firmly convinced that it was rightfully resisted.  Following the April 1960 events, former president Rhee got to live peacefully in exile for a number of years, completely escaping responsibility for his role in the murder of hundreds of people.  Since no one has accepted responsibility for these murders, apologizing for them is meaningless.

Turning Away From Fukushima, Back Towards Busan

OK...  Things appear to be calming down around the Fukushima nuclear plant.
No, things are not settled over there, nor will they be for 6 to 9 months...  But the quantity of Fukushima-related news in the Korean press is slowly diminishing.

I was surprised, actually, at how the disaster in Japan became the number one news story even in Korea.  At the same time, it is perhaps not surprising that this happened, as Japan is a neighbouring country of Korea.  But for some time after the March 11 earthquake, events occurring in Japan seemed to be getting more coverage in the South Korean press than events involving North Korea.  This is a big deal, I think, as North Korea is a major news-maker over here.  So much so that the English web-site of the KBS has an entire section dedicated to stories tagged as "Inter-Korea".

Given the dramatic events that have occurred in Japan, I have only written 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 blog entries in the last month that did not discuss some aspect of the situation in Japan.  The Japanese crisis is certainly still having repercussions in Korea.  For example, a nuclear power plant located close to Busan has recently stopped operating and is now undergoing a detailed inspection, possibly as a result of public worries about nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima crisis.  But I expect to be able to write more about Korea now that the situation in Japan is slowly coming under control.

Snow Yesterday in Gangwon-Do

A major snow storm occurred yesterday in the north-easternmost province of South Korea, Gangwon province (강원도).

This is an unusual occurrence for April in Korea.

Photos of the snow were published by the KBS.

Le Cirque du Soleil Passe Maintenant à Séoul

Quelques semaines passées, j'ai été surpris d'apprendre que le Cirque du Soleil passe à présent à Séoul.

Grande oeuvre des montréalais Guy Laliberté et Daniel Gauthier, le Cirque du Soleil est une institution franco-canadienne que je n'ai malheureusement jamais eu l'occasion d'apprécier lorsque je vivais au Canada.  C'est pourquoi je n'ai pas manqué ma chance d'aller voir la représentation offerte à Séoul, celle nommée Varékai.

J'ai beaucoup apprécié l'expérience du Cirque.  Elle m'a plu autant à cause de son attrayance visuelle que parce que les acrobates-acteurs qui y jouaient étaient extraordinaires.  Les acrobaties étaient à en couper le souffle et les costumes étaient de véritables oeuvres d'art, transformant les humains qui les portaient en insectes, en reptiles, en poissons ou en d'autres êtres fantastiques.

Malheureusement la prise de photos était interdite durant la présentation.  Par contre, il est possible de se faire une idée du spectacle à partir de quelques vidéos qui sont disponibles sur YouTube.

6 to 9 Months Needed to Completely Cool the Fukushima Reactors

A few recent news pieces about the Fukushima disaster have provided information about the human side of the tragedy.  One article published in Japan reports on some of the economic repercussions of the crisis, repercussions that are falling on the shoulders of precisely those people who were affected the most by the original earthquake and tsunami.  Another, this one a radio show produced by the CBC, is an interview with a journalist who ventured into the disaster zone to see it for himself.  His account is interesting, to say the least.

Also during the week-end, a Japanese paper reported that seismic activity has remained extraordinarily high, in and in the vicinity of Japan, since the earthquake of March 11 struck.

At the Fukushima plant, the struggle continues to prevent more radioactive water from spilling into the Pacific ocean.  At the same time, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that it may take six to nine months to finally completely cool the Fukushima Daiichi reactors.  A few weeks ago, professor Kiminori Itoh from Yokohama University provided interesting commentary about TEPCO's handling of the Fukushima disaster to Roger A. Pielke, a US climate scientist.  In a guest post on Roger A. Pielke's blog, Kiminori Itoh wrote:

"One of the biggest mistakes of Tokyo Electricity Co. (TEPCO) is that they could not decide to abandon (I mean “decommission”) the troubled reactors at the first stage of the event due to the tsunami. Because of the past several accidents at their nuclear reactors at other places (2005 and 2007, in particular) and resultant financial problems, they did not want to close the DF1 plant, I guess.

Moreover, there are several “human errors” by TEPCO. One of them is that they did not suitably prepare for the risk of tsunamis. In fact, the designer of the oldest reactor of the FD1 plant reportedly did not consider tsunamis when he applied the design provided by GE to the plant. This is totally different way from the bottom-up approach which is necessary for local management."
*  The previous 2 paragraphs are quoted from:
Itoh, Kiminori.  (2011, March 28).  "Guest Post By Professor Kiminori Itoh On The Earthquake and Tsunami In Japan On March 11 2011"
Retrieved April 17, 2011 from:  
http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/guest-post-on-the-japanese/



Dr. Itoh's guest post on Roger A. Pielke's blog is a worthwhile read, both for the criticism that it provides of TEPCO's handling of the Fukushima disaster, as well as for the commentary that it provides about designing disaster resistant infrastructure and resilient societies.

Korea Will Monitor the Radioactivity of the Ocean

It was announced today that the Korean government will monitor the radioactivity of the ocean between Korea and Japan, and along the Korean coast.  This comes a few days after Japanese scientists published theoretical predictions of the diffusion of the radioactive materials into the Pacific ocean.  Though the dominant surface currents in the Pacific ocean near Japan flow eastward, away from Korea, the prospect of radioactive pollution being carried to the Korean coast by ocean surface currents is worrisome, as Koreans eat a lot of fish.  Some radioactive materials can accumulate in sea life, and then be ingested by humans.  I therefore think it's a good thing that the Korean government wants to monitor the radioactivity of the ocean.

I am not sure if progress is being made in the effort to stop the leakage of radioactive water into the Pacific ocean at Fukushima.  Japanese officials have announced that they will try to use a zeolite mineral to try to absorb some of the radioactivity in the ocean waters near Fukushima.  But there remains about 50,000 tons of radioactive water still trapped at the Fukushima plant, and it was reported today that some of this water may be leaking into the ground.

At the same time, the Japanese government has announced a review of safety measures at nuclear power plants across the country.  And in Korea, one article called for the closing of older nuclear reactors, notably one located near Busan that has recently had its operating life extended.  The latter article reports that: "Yesterday, the Busan Bar Association applied for an injunction suspending operation of the number one reactor at the Gori Nuclear Power Plant. This reactor has entered extended operation, just like Fukushima’s number one reactor that exploded. The safety assessment used as the basis for the extension was poorly conducted, and its results were not even disclosed publicly."  I will try to keep an eye on this issue.

Latest Developments in the Fukushima Crisis - in Korea and Japan

Since last week's forecast of radioactive rain in Korea, I am not entirely at ease anymore when it rains.

On Monday, it rained again in Busan, and I have been wondering about the radioactivity of the rainwater.  Today, on Tuesday, the Korean Institute for Nuclear Safety (KINS) published measurements of the radioactivity of Monday's rain.  I was relieved to read that the measured radiation levels of the rainwater are lower than Canadian drinking water standards.  But I would obviously prefer it if no radioactivity could be detected at all.

Yesterday, though they did not publish measurements of the radioactivity of the rainwater, the KINS published measurements of the radioactivity of the air, measurements of the radioactivity of drinking water, and measurements of the radioactivity of various sea foods.  The Korean Broadcasting System reported the air measurements and sea food measurements with the right units.  Some radioactivity was detected in the air and in sea food.  Thankfully, no radioactivity at all was detected in drinking water.

Unfortunately, it was reported today that some radioactivity has been detected in some foods produced in Korea.  I will keep a watchful eye on this issue.

(By the way, the documents published by the KINS are in HWP format.  On this web-site, they can be converted into PDF's, sometimes on the first try and sometimes on the 4th or 5th.)




In Japan, the Fukushima accident was upgraded to a category 7 nuclear accident, the same category as the Chernobyl disaster.  Japanese officials chose to upgrade the severity of the accident because it resulted in the release of large quantities of radioactive pollution, in the order of terabecquerels, into the environment.  They maintained, however, that the Chernobyl disaster was much more serious than the Fukushima accident.  Nonetheless, the Fukushima accident has already had, and will continue to have serious consequences.

It was also reported today that dangerously large accumulations of radiation have been detected in some locations outside the emergency evacuation zone around the Fukushima power plant.  As a result, the government has ordered more people to evacuate their homes.  This comes about one week after it was reported that the Japanese government temporarily withheld the publication of computer simulations predicting that radiation levels could be higher than initially thought outside the original evacuation zone.

Finally, during the last week or so, Japanese officials dumped large quantities of radioactive water into the Pacific ocean.  Doing so could not be avoided if more water was to be sprayed onto the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors in order to keep them cool.  I remain worried about the radioactive materials that have been dumped into the ocean.  Specifically, I wonder if it is possible that this material could be carried into clouds by evaporating rain water, and then dropped on land masses in falling rain.  This is particularly worrisome to me because typhoon season is coming in the Asia-Pacific region.  Typhoons are storms that carry water evaporated from the Pacific ocean onto the Asian land mass.  Each year, many Asian countries are affected by typhoons, including Japan, and Korea.  I fear that there could be serious consequences if the rainwater carried by typhoons became radioactive.

Last Week's Rain Was NOT Dangerously Radioactive

Over the last few days, more analyses of the radioactivity of the rain that fell in Korea during the last week have been published.  In the end, it appears that the rain was indeed radioactive, but not dangerously so.  Nevertheless, the government's handling of the possibility of radioactive rain has been criticized.

One aspect of the situation that I am personally becoming quite annoyed with is the continuing confusion surrounding the units of radiation measurements in the news broadcasts that I have been reading.  I have pointed out such confusion in previous posts (see here and here).  It seems that the KBS again misreported units of measure in a news article published yesterday, this time claiming that analyses of water and air revealed radioactivity in MEGA-becquerels!!!  Yup, of the order of MILLIONS of becquerels.  Looking at the original data published by the Korean Institute for Nuclear Safety, it seems that the actual measurements are of the order of milli-becquerels per cubic meter (one thousandth of a becquerel per cubic meter) for the radioactivity of the air, and of the order of becquerels per liter for the radioactivity of rain water.

Published criticisms of the governments' handling of the situation has touched upon 2 issues.  First, the Korean Meteorological Administration was criticized for its reporting of weather predictions that forecast radioactive rain.  Last week, before the rain fell, weather simulations conducted by Norwegian and German meteorologists showed that, by Wednesday or Thursday of last week, radioactive materials originating from the Fukushima nuclear plant may have reached Korea.  But the KMA published its own analysis, predicting that little radiation would reach Korea.  Before the publication of the measurements showing that last Thursday's rain was not dangerously radioactive, I did not believe the analysis of the KMA, as I felt that the agency may have been trying to downplay the concerns of Korean citizens vis-à-vis the possibility of radioactive rain.  But now, I believe that the KMA's prediction may have been more accurate than the Norwegian and German one.  Nonetheless, I believe that the credibility of the meteorologists at KMA could have been bolstered if they had provided clear justifications for why they disagreed with the Norwegian and German weather simulations, and if they had presented their predictions in a more transparent manner, clearly explaining to the public how they obtained their results.  I also believe that KMA meteorologists should now undertake a detailed comparison of the European predictions, their own predictions, and the now available measurements of Thursday's weather, in order to ascertain the successes and failures of both predictions.  Doing so could help both the Europeans and the Koreans to refine their weather simulation software.

The second criticism of the Korean government's handling of the possibility of radioactive rain touched upon the disorganised manner in which the government attempted to mitigate the effects of this radioactivity.  The latter criticism is essentially an argument that the Korean government should have taken a more cautious approach to the situation, and should have strongly urged its citizens to minimize their exposure to last Thursday's rain.  Though I understand this point of view, I also understand that the government probably wanted to avoid over-reacting to the situation.  In addition, the available information about the situation was not all self-consistent.  On the one hand, European meteorologists predicted that last Thursday's rain could have been radioactive, but the meteorologists at KMA predicted that it would not be.  The Korean government chose to act on the basis of the advice of its own meteorologists, and in the end, the predictions of the Korean meteorologists appear to have been more accurate than the European ones.  However, I believe that the government should have more closely monitored the radioactivity of the rain throughout the day last Thursday.  I was disappointed, when the rain began last Thursday, to find that the Korean Institute for Nuclear Safety published measurements of the radioactivity of the rainwater only twice during the day.  I understand that it is perhaps not possible to take measurements of the radioactivity of falling rain at any desired time, as sufficient quantities of rainwater must be collected in order to conduct a meaningful analysis.  Nonetheless, I believe that more measurements could have been carried out and reported.  This would have allowed Korean citizens to better protect themselves if the rain did become more radioactive than expected.  In addition, I felt that the irregular time intervals separating the reported measurements could be interpreted as a sign that officials was selecting which measurements to report, thus mining their credibility.  In order to bolster the public's confidence in their work, the KMA and the Korean Institute for Nuclear Safety should report radioactivity measurements in a consistent fashion, at regular, pre-determined times, as they have already begun doing with measurements of the radioactivity of the air throughout Korea.

Rain Comes to Korea - Is It Radioactive?

I woke up this morning to the sight of clouds rolling over Busan from the southwest, as predicted by meteorologists a few days before.

Clouds moving over Busan on Thursday morning, from the southwest.

  

The citation of the central article in the scan above is as follows:
Lee, Geunyeong.  (2011, April 5).  "'Radioactive material could be delivered directly to the Korean peninsula on the 7th of April'".  Hankyoreh, volume 3, number 7191, p. 1.
or in Korean:
이근영.  (2011년 4월 5일).  "'방사성물질, 7일 한반도 직접 유입될 수도'".  한교레, 3판, 7191호, 1면.


Early in the morning, news outlets reported that rainwater on Jeju island, an island located just to the south of Korea, contained radioactive materials, but in quantities smaller than maximum acceptable concentrations for drinking water in Canada.  Later in the day, it was reported that concentrations of radioactive materials in today's rain are not harmful to the human body, but no data was provided to substantiate this claim.  Later in the evening, in yet another article, concentrations of radioactive materials in rainwater collected on Wednesday and early Thursday were reported, but no information was provided about the rainwater that fell throughout the latter part of the day on Thursday.  Information about Thursday's rain, the article reported, is to be announced to the public tomorrow. 

On the web-site of the Korean Institute for Nuclear Safety (KINS), concentrations of radioactive materials in the air at Jeju island were reported throughout the day, but I could only find information about concentrations of radioactive materials in the rainwater until 6AM today.  The good news is that concentrations of radioactive materials in the air have fallen to undetectable levels over the course of today.  But I would really like to know why information was not provided in real time about the radioactivity of rain water?

In the process of searching for this information, I discovered that there is probably an error in an article published yesterday on the KBS web-site.  In this latter article, it was reported that a a maximum concentration of 0.758 Becquerels per cubic meter of radioactive materials was measured in the air in Korea earlier this week.  Today, I found a document on the KINS web-site that indicates that the actual concentration was probably only 0.758 milli-Becquerels per cubic meter, a value 1000 times smaller than that reported in the KBS article.  So it appears that some journalists are still making errors when reporting the units of radioactivity measurements.  I think this is a relief, as 0.758 Becquerels per cubic meter of air could be a dangerous concentration of radioactive material, according to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

I also found an article, published today, that is critical of the Korean government's handling of the possibility of radioactive rain falling on Korea.  This article criticized the Korean Meteorological Agency and the Korean Institute for Nuclear Safety for issuing contradictory statements, over the course of the last few days, about the likelihood of radioactive rain falling on Korea.  I'm not sure that I agree with the specific criticisms that are raised in this article, but I cannot understand why measurements of the radioactivity of the rainwater could not have been published every few hours throughout the day, today.  This would have alleviated people's anxiety about the possible radioactivity of the falling rain, and allowed people to avoid being exposed to it if the rain was significantly radioactive.

Tomorrow, I'll be looking for the measurements that were promised today.

Radioactive Rain Forecast in Korea

Bad news...
Rain is forecast for tomorrow in Korea, and it may be laced with radioactive materials that emanated from the Fukushima reactors.

Until today, I was convinced that there was no reason to be concerned with radioactivity in Korea as a result of the disaster at the Fukushima power plant in Japan.  Radiation levels reported by the Integrated Environment Radiation Monitoring Network (IERNet) looked like normal background levels and, though radioactive materials likely to have been emitted at the Fukushima plant were detected in the air and in water in Korea, it was thought that this radiation travelled a long distance to get here, perhaps following a path around the north pole.  As a result, the detected quantities of radioactive material were very small and not expected to affect the environment, nor the drinking water supply. 

But Thursday, this may change.  It was announced that a spring-time weather pattern is going to cause an air current to flow south-westward out of Japan, and then north-eastward over Korea, bringing with it radioactive materials (see scan below).

The citation of the central article in the scan above is as follows:
Lee, Geunyeong.  (2011, April 5).  "'Radioactive material could be delivered directly to the Korean peninsula on the 7th of April'".  Hankyoreh, volume 3, number 7191, p. 1.
or in Korean:
이근영.  (2011년 4월 5일).  "'방사성물질, 7일 한반도 직접 유입될 수도'".  한교레, 3판, 7191호, 1면.

 
Today, it has already been reported that radioactive iodine and cesium have been detected in the air in Korea, in quantities larger than maximum acceptable human exposures published on the web-site of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.  Rainwater that fell on Korea a few days ago has also been found to contain the same isotopes, but in smaller quantities.  And, a Japanese newspaper published an article stating that, in the long term, the radiation from the Fukushima reactors will affect Korea, probably as much as it will affect the Japanese city of Osaka.

There has also been debate, during the last few days, about the quantity of radioactive material that will fall on Korea in tomorrow's rain, and this evening, an article arguing that it is unlikely that any such material will fall on Korea was published.  I expect to wake up to the sound of rain tomorrow morning.  Usually, the sound makes me feel nostalgic.  Tomorrow, I will be wondering if the rain is radioactive.



For information about radioactivity levels in Korea, consult the web-site of Integrated Environment Radiation Monitoring Network (IERNet).
For a good explanation of the different units used to measure radiation levels and quantities of radioactive materials, Benjamin Monreal of the University of California at Santa Barbara has made public an insightful presentation.  Just be aware that his analysis of the situation at the Fukushima reactors is now outdated.
Finally, the web-site of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has useful information about the ways in which humans can be exposed to radiation, as well as the Canadian maximum acceptable exposure levels for radioactive materials in air, drinking water, and food.

Rainy Days in Taipei - A Short Trip to Taiwan

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China, for a conference.  During my trip, I learned a lot about the culture and history of both Taiwan and China.

The conference was in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, and one of its northernmost cities.  I expected that Taipei would be quite warm, given its location just 2 degrees to the north of the Tropic of Cancer.  But to my surprise, when I arrived, it was rainy and much cooler than I expected.  I nonetheless found the city to be beautiful and interesting.

The city of Taipei has a population of approximately 2.5 million people.  It is therefore a fairly large city by Canadian standards, but a small city in Asia.  It is well organized, and has many trees and green spaces.  There are also a number of mountains in its vicinity, and they are visible from the city.  In addition, its air is very clean.

A view of Taipei, on a rainy day.

A river in Taipei.

A view of Taipei.  The Taipei 101 building is in the background.

There are a number of interesting urban landmarks in Taipei, like the Taipei 101 building, the Grand Hotel, as well as a number of museums containing important Chinese historical artifacts, and shrines commemorating the founders of the Republic of China.

The entrance of the National Palace Museum, in Taipei.

A sculpture resembling a totem pole, at the National Palace Museum.

The Taipei 101 building is unmistakable in the Taipei skyline.  Until 2010, it was the world's tallest building, and it is impressive both for its height and for its architecture.  The view from the top is also amazing.

A view of Taipei at night, from the top of Taipei 101.

A view of Taipei at night, from the top of Taipei 101.

Looking down at 20-story buildings from the top of Taipei 101.

Another view of Taipei from the top of Taipei 101.

In addition to appealing to my aesthetic sense, Taipei 101 also appealed to the scientist in me.  In order to stabilize it, its engineers designed an interesting device for damping the wind-induced oscillations of the building.  The device consists of a large heavy ball (it weighs a few tons, if I remember correctly) that is free to swing, but linked to the building via a number of large shock absorbers.  When the building sways, the ball swings and compresses the shock absorbers.  This attenuates the swaying motion of the building.

The vibration damper of the Taipei 101 building.

As for the history of Taiwan, I knew before visiting Taipei that the the country had been founded by the Kuomintang after the Chinese communists, led by Mao Zedong, defeated them in the Chinese civil war.  However, I did not know that, prior to the civil war, the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party had momentarily set aside their differences in order to overthrow the Japanese Empire in China.  In the mid-1800's, Japan began colonizing parts of Asia and establishing the Empire of Japan.  By the late 1800's, Japan had already attacked China and invaded Taiwan.  In 1931, Japan invaded northeastern China outright.  Prior to this, China had been mostly ruled by its own royal emperors.  The last Chinese emperors, the Qing dynasty, ruled China from Beijing.  Shortly before the Japanese invaded in the 1930's, China had undergone a republican revolution, and the last emperor of China had abdicated.  But there were many artifacts from the imperial period that were still stored in the Forbidden City, the residence of the Chinese emperor in Beijing.  Fearing that these treasures could be stolen or destroyed by the Japanese, the Kuomintang moved a number of them to southern China.  Then, after the fall of Japan and the resumption of the Chinese civil war, the treasures were moved to Taiwan.  And so today, the buildings of the Forbidden City are preserved in Beijing, but many of the imperial treasures are preserved in the National Palace Museum of Taiwan.  Photos of these treasures can be seen on the web-site of the National Palace Museum.  Of particular note is a 17-layered sculpted ivory ball.  It is not featured on the Palace Museum web-site, but a picture of it is available here. 

One of the halls of the National Palace Museum, in Taipei.

I was also interested to learn of ties between France and the Chinese republicans.  In the National Palace museum of China, there is a statue of Sun Yat-Sen.  Sun Yat-sen was involved in the overthrow of the Chinese emperor and the foundation of a republican political system in China in the early 1900's.  It seems that, for a short period, France supported Sun Yat-Sen's efforts to establish a republic in China.  I wonder if France's influence had any significant impacts.  I think that it might have because, at the airport in Taipei, there is a display of Taiwanese postal artifacts.  In one of the displays, mailbags are labelled in French.

The statue of Sun Yat-Sen at the National Palace Museum.

Taiwanese mail bags, labelled in French.

And I was surprised to learn that, prior to the arrival of the Kuomintang, the island of Taiwan was populated by a number of aboriginal occupants.  Taiwan's aboriginal communities interacted with the Chinese as well as with Portuguese and Dutch colonists who arrived on the island in the 1500's.  Today, their relationship with the Taiwanese government appears complex.  It is perhaps similar to the relationship between the Canadian government and the First Nations of Canada.   


Prior to leaving Taiwan, I had the opportunity to visit the Taipei International Flora Expo.  This is a horticultural exposition organized by the city of Taipei.  It features information about the culture of flowers, as well as a number of floral design competitions.  The flowers at the expo were beautiful.

Flowers at the Taipei International Flora Expo.

Flowers at the Taipei International Flora Expo.

Flowers at the Taipei International Flora Expo.

Flowers at the Taipei International Flora Expo.

The Sea of Flowers at the Taipei International Flora Expo.  The Grand Hotel is visible in the background.

Finally, on my last day in Taiwan, the sun came out.  In the shining sun, the lush greens of Taiwan's vegetation were pleasant to the eye.

Greenery beside a highway, southwest of Taipei.

A small rice paddy, southwest of Taipei.

A field and mountains, near Taipei.

A view of the Taipei skyline.

I hope to visit Taiwan again some day, and highly recommend it.  It is a beautiful, culturally rich country.  And Taiwanese people are warm, friendly, and very generous. 

Crisis in Japan Seen from Korea - Part 8

In my previous post, I discussed the macabre trade-off that Japanese officials dealing with the Fukushima nuclear plant are faced with.  On one hand, it is possible that a nuclear meltdown occurs at the plant.  On the other, highly radio-active runoff can escape into the soil, groundwater, or into the sea.  They must choose which is the most dangerous possibility.

In two interviews, aired on the CBC news in Canada during the last few weeks, experts gave detailed explanations of how a nuclear meltdown could occur, and how plumes of radio-active pollution are emitted from the Fukushima plant.  These videos are worth a view, as they are highly informative.
 
The extent of the damage at Fukushima has recently been made public by the unveiling of a series of aerial photos taken of the nuclear plant, and it was announced that 4 of the Fukushima reactors will have to be decommissioned.  Today, workers at Fukushima continued to evacuate radio-active water from buildings and water collection vessels at the plant.  But officials of the company that owns the Fukushima reactors are not sure how exactly they should proceed to finally regain control of them.  Thankfully, French and American nuclear experts have agreed to help.

In Japan, questions are being raised about the safety of the people living between 20km and 30km of the Fukushima plant, as these people have not been ordered to evacuate their homes.  The Japanese government has defended its decision to advise these people to stay indoors, rather than ordering them to evacuate.  Concerns about the safety of the workers at the Fukushima plant are also being raised, as not all of them have been given radiation monitoring equipment to carry with them as they work.  This is disconcerting, as without this equipment, workers cannot know how much radiation they have been exposed to.  An article in the Guardian has suggested that cutting edge stem cell technology could be used to treat these workers should they suffer illnesses as a result of their exposure to radiation.  If I was one of these workers, I would find very little comfort in this, and would want to have a radiation monitor to know exactly how much radiation I am exposed to.

In Korea, a comment published by the KBS called for a measured response to the possibility of rising radiation levels in Korea, but not an over-reaction.  It was also reported that officials in Seoul wanted to test the city's tap water.  Such tests were conducted and no significant concentrations of radio-active pollutants were reported to be found.

Radio-activity measurements taken throughout Korea can be found on the web-site of the Integrated Environment Radiation Monitoring Network.  And the Guardian is maintaining an interesting data page summarizing the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant.