Odusan 오두산 Unification Observatory

Written by admin on May 26, 2008 – 1:47 am -

I’ve been getting information about places to visit in South Korea from the numerous bloggers .  This time I’m going to give something back to the community and write about our visit to the Odusan Unification Observatory. 

Built in 1999 this facility was to commemorate the efforts in unifying North and South Korea. To this date the Korean War has not yet ended and is the only divided country in the world even after the end of the Cold War.

Getting there from Seoul is fairly easy, just get on the westbound Gangbyeon expressway and you won’t miss the signs as you get closer After parking the car at the Paju City public parking lot the kids and I  took a free shuttle bus to get to the observatory. There is an admission fee of W 2,500 for adults and W 1,700 for kids. Upon entering there are various exhibit halls and an A/V presentation in english describes the propaganda village to the north and it’s surrounding geography. Binoculars are available in two outdoor viewing decks that afford an excellent view of the area. Restaurants, souvenir shops and snack kiosks are available. 

I’ve always been fascinated about North Korea and have watched almost every documentary that’s been shown on the Discovery and NatGeo, and can’t believe that just across that river bank are people who are hungry, oppressed, and have been brainwashed into thinking that their ‘Dear Leader’ is looking after their best interests. 

The top half of the photo is the North Korean propaganda village, Kim Il-sung Historiacal Monument Hall, Primary School, People’s Cultural Assembly Hall and the Anti-South Media Propaganda Base while the bottom part shows the riverbank on the South Korean side. Take note of the heavily barbed fence which is guarded 24/7.

The expressway which runs alongside the riverbank is heavily fenced with barbed wire with watch towers every 1000 meters. 

For more info click here. 

More photos here.

 


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Posted in Seoul, South Korea, Tourist Destinations, Travel | 4 Comments »

The Surgeon General has…

Written by admin on May 13, 2008 – 6:00 am -

I swear that this is the first time I’ve seen this anywhere, patients at a hospital allowed to go out to take smoke breaks, with their I.V.’s attached nonetheless. This is isn’t the first time I’ve seen this, patients in Korea are allowed to step out to take a smoke, I was fortunate enough to have my digicam handy at the time, too bad I could not get closer to clearly show the cigarette he was holding. I guess this patient isn’t in for lung cancer or emphysema.


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Posted in South Korea | 2 Comments »

F3 status finally!

Written by admin on May 10, 2008 – 6:00 am -

It’s official! I received my family’s passports from immigration last Friday and I’m pleased to say that they indeed issued my family F3 visas in Korea, Could we have been lucky or have the rules changed allowing for a change of status in South Korea. Whatever it is… I’m glad we did get them here. Included with the passports were their Certificates of Alien Registration.

 

Just to recap, my family arrived on tourist visa’s and changed their status in country by filling out a visa application form with photos, marriage certificate, birth certificate (for children), a copy of work visa and alien registration card plus W110,000 for each applicant. Next stop, renewal of my wife’s driver’s license.

 


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Posted in Immigration, South Korea | No Comments »

Wii on sale

Written by admin on April 27, 2008 – 11:12 am -

Over a year and a half late the Nintendo Wii finally hit Korean shores yesterday. The Wii is a gaming console just like Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s XBOX 360  but Nintendo chose not to compete directly with those consoles. Instead they made their games more gesture oriented which rely on its innovative controller which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can sense acceleration in three axes.This means you can have golf club, a baseball bat, boxing glove, steering wheel controller and actually swing it, steer it or move it in the air as opposed to just pressing buttons on traditional gaming platforms. The Wii is also backwards compatible with the older Nintendo Game cube.

Before you rush out and buy one there is one caveat, the Korean Wii is region locked to Korea. Only Korean titles will be playable on it. If you’re on a short term stint here and plan on bringing the Wii out of the country you can toss that thought out the window. Also titles sold in Korea will not have English as an option.


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Posted in Gaming, South Korea, Tech | 3 Comments »

F3 (Dependents) visa update

Written by admin on April 22, 2008 – 11:07 pm -

You’ve probably noticed a decrease in my blogging activities. No, I have not run out of things to write about, It is because have been pretty busy with work and also due to my family’s arrival last week.

In my previous post I’ve been venting about how confusing and inefficient the procedure is for getting the F3 visa. A few days ago I accompanied my family to the Immigration Office at Mokdong to apply for a dependents visa. Everything went very smoothly as I had made an appointment the week before online.

First of all I’d like to comment on how polite the immigration officer was, he was very patient and helpful in answering all of our queries. I was pleasantly surprised that he was going to issue the F3 visa and the Alien Registration cards. The process would take 10 days and all the documents would be couriered to my office. 

So I guess how you get your F3 visa varies on a case by case basis, others get it on the spot from the Korean Embassy, others get it by coming to Korea as a tourist and applying for it in Korea but have to leave the country to get their passports stamped and return, and in our case, coming to Korea as a tourist and be issued an F3 and alien registration cards on the spot.

Documents submitted to the Korean Immigration Service :

1. Marriage Certificate

2. Birth Certificate of children

3. Employment Certificate 

4. Photocopy of the principal’s Alien Registration Card

5. Passport size photos attached to the application forms

6. And of course, the passports.

Oh and don’t forget to bring cash to buy revenue stamps. I paid W110,000 (US$110) for each application, this includes a 1 year multiple entry visa, the Alien Registration card and courier fee.

 


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Posted in Immigration, South Korea | 4 Comments »
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