Trump and the Columbo Close

I bet most people missed it, but our President got the Kim Jung Un to agree to help find and return the remains of our Korean War dead. He did this by adding on the request as their meeting was breaking up and Kim agreed without thinking. This is a well known negotiating technique known as the Columbo Close. It was made famous in the TV show of the same name when Peter Falk would turn as he walked away and say, "Just one more thing..." which invariably caught the criminal by surprise. Trump used it to perfection to add on the return of our war dead. This is one reason why a businessman can out perform a politician.

DMZ Rice

Bayou Renaissance Man had a recent post about Japanese rice farmers and their advertising techniques. South Korea entices farmers to work the DMZ between the north and south by giving them a tax exemption.  The rice they grow is marketed under the name "DMZ Rice". (Actually it's not grown in the DMZ but in the military exclusion zone just to the south.)

Korea Bound - Again

I will soon be on my way back to the Land of the Morning Calm again. Hmmmm, lets see, 56 hours of travel (round trip) for less than 16 hours of face to face time. Yep, makes sense to me. And I will remind them when they complain about the charges that "You called us, we didn't call you!"

And as one who will be getting on an airplane soon, let me say that I would prefer that the BVD Bomber spend a little time riding the Water Board and maybe give up some of his friends rather than sitting in country club jail with his ACLU lawyers protecting the rights that he didn't earn and isn't entitled to.

It's no longer a hypothetical question. He has stated that there are hundreds of terrorists training to do what he did and officials from Yemen agree. So it isn't hypothetical anymore. There are people who want to kill you and he knows who some of them are and where they train. I'm on the side that says enhanced interrogation is called for in order to save American lives (maybe mine!)

How about you?

The Travels of Red Dog

Hi! My name is Red Dog. Sometimes Grandma and Grandpa take me along when they travel. Grandpa took me to Korea with him.

I like Korea but the hotel was weird. Lots of mirrors on the wall. Grandpa said it was a place for Monkey Business. Here's a picture of me sending an email to Grandma.

I really liked the bath tub, although it was too small for Grandpa. Here's a picture of me enjoying a bath in the jacuzzi. After a nice hot bath, I like to enjoy the vibrating bed.

I like Korean food, too but there are somethings that I will NOT eat!

On the way home, our flight was cancelled and we had to spend the night in Tokyo. While Grandpa was handling the problems, I was meditating at the Zen sand garden.

Freedom Bird

My mal-adjusted internal clock woke me up in the wee hours of the AM. But as I am catching the Freedom Bird at noon, and want to sleep on the plane, I stayed up reading and web surfing. How I managed to stay awake for 2 days of meetings, most of which dealt with structural engineering esoterica, in a hot and cramped meeting room, is beyond me. And why they had us sit through two presentations, one on architectural concepts and another on landscape design, both given in Korean without translation, is also beyond me.

The meetings reminded me of my past experience with Korean engineering firms. They are great at analysis but short on concept. If you give them a basic design, they can analyze it until their calculator burns up, but if you give them a blank sheet of paper and ask for fresh ideas, they get that panicky deer in the headlights look. The architectural concepts were basically copies of another design. Variations on a theme, if you will. (they are designing a flood gate, and as it is 3 football fields long, they want it to look pretty)

I have to prepare some documents on the mechanical lift systems for them over Christmas and then return in mid-January for a follow up.

I'm Heeeere!

I have arrived at my hotel in Seoul. There's a reason that western businessmen frequent the popular chains. The hotel room is small. There is no closet, only a couple of hooks and some hangers on the wall. Everything is in Korean so I needed a tutorial to be able turn on the lights. The room is hot but as it's winter, the air con is turned off. I can fit in the tub if I hug my knees. The TV is all Korean. I haven't trried to make an international phone call yet. That is next.

Travel Plans

I usually make my own travel reservations. Just tell me where I need to be and when I need to be there and I will make the arrangements. That way, I know it has been done, I have all the confirmation numbers and if something is wrong, I have only myself to blame.

But the client for this Korea trip wants us to stay at a hotel nearby the office in Anyang-Si, a small city abutting Seoul. Unfortunately, there are no international hotels in the area. The first hotel they tried did not have room so they booked us into the second choice. I went to their website to look them up. It appears to be some sort of a Love Hotel. The interior decor is waaaay over the top. The decorations are garish red and gold, the rooms all have Jacuzzis and large screen TVs. I doubt that the staff speaks much English and I didn't see a business center or executive lounge anywhere in their information. Check them out here.

There is a meeting this afternoon about the trip. I'll let you know if I am successful in changing the arrangements.

ROK Bound

I received a panicked phone call last Wednesday while I was driving home.

"We have a client that wants someone in Korea next week. Can you go? He needs to know tonight!"

Well, of course I can go. That's what we troubleshooters do. It took them several days to iron out the contract terms but approval was given yesterday. So, this weekend, I am on the big bird for the trip to Korea, Republic of. Purpose of the trip is to attend a kick off meeting for the design of probably the worlds largest lift gate for flood prevention. The turnaround is quick. I will probably spend more time in the air than I will in the meeting.

The beginning of this week was taken up with Hazard Identification meetings on my other project. The client is replacing 5 motor drives with the same units that Cajun is having so much fun with. The biggest hazard? Working on, and around, cables carrying 4160 V as they swap out individual drives while the others are running. Discussions were very detailed and filled with stuff only an electrical type would love. Boredom ensued. Sleep was fought but I used the time to read up on the Korean gig.

Notes From the DMZ, circa 2004

Given the recent nuclear weapons test from the NKs, this email I wrote to friends from Korea seemed appropriate.......

Korea may be the last country that appreciates the USA. They still remember 1950 and the fact that 37,000 Americans guard the border with North Korea and that a state of war still exists between the two countries. Therefore, I was intrigued to discover that regular tours are offered to the DMZ.

The Barbed Wire Highway

The DMZ is less than 1 hours drive from Seoul. Highway 23 runs parallel with the Han River until it meets the Imjin River near the border. Since the rivers are an easy infiltration route, and infiltrators have been caught several times, the left side of the 6 lane highway is protected with 2 chain link fences that are topped with some serious razor wire. Every 5 feet or so, a smoke grenade can be seen hanging in the razor wire, I suppose to give warning should the wire be disturbed but it also must get exciting if a car jumps the guardrail. (I am astounded that military pyrotechnics are so easily accessible. If this was the US, they would be stolen and used for all sorts of mischief.) If you look to the right, everything is normal. But to the left it looks like the Maine State Prison. Then you notice that the median has sandbagged fighting positions and coils of razor wire ready to pull across the road.

The Cold War and Tourism

We arrive at Imjin-gak where we board another bus for transport through the civilian control line. At Imjin-gak, you can see Freedom Bridge which is where prisoner exchanges took place. Now, messages are written on ribbons and tied to the fence. Its a little surrealistic to be this close to North Korea and watch several thousand people gather to run a 10K foot race that was scheduled for the Sunday I was there. As our bus approaches the checkpoint, the driver points out some points of architectural interest. A block of concrete is positioned on an overpass and is rigged with explosives to drop and block the road. From this point, only tourists and farmers are allowed to go any closer. Our passports are checked against a list of names submitted earlier and we are allowed to proceed. The farmers till ancestral land that had the bad luck to be located near the DMZ. They must leave by nightfall. And the rice they produce is sold under the brand of DMZ rice. I guess it's a patriotic thing to eat it.

Now things are getting serious. Signs along the edge of the road advertise the presence of land mines. This is not a place to go "behind a tree" as Dad used to say.

Our first stop is the 3rd infiltration tunnel. It was built by North Korea in the late 70s and was the third of 4 tunnels discovered when a defector spilled the beans. (or maybe kimchee) The idea was provide a route under the mine fields in preparation for an invasion. We sit in a small electric car and travel 230 feet underground. We exit the train and walk in a slightly stooped manner (at least for me) to a point under the DMZ about 500 feet from the North Korean line. A concrete plug and a television surveillance camera now guard against the North. The walls of this tunnel are pink granite and it would make a Maine quarryman weep. It had to be hard digging. And it is engineered well, too. It slopes slightly back to the North so that water does not give it away on the South side.

After exiting this hole in the ground, we tour the small museum where we learn about the history of the border, but more space is given over to the ecological anomaly that is the DMZ. Since the area has had no human intervention in 50 years, it has become a de-facto nature preserve. It is now worthy of scientific investigation - if you could get in.

We next go to the Dora Observation Post (I don't know how they name these things) There is an observation point on every hill as well as large lighted signs that are used for propaganda. This particular post has an auditorium with a wall of glass that faces North Korea. Off to the right is Panmunjon. Also over there is Freedom Village, a small community of volunteers that live in sight of the enemy in exchange for a tax free existence. They are in a long standing war of the flagpoles with the North. The North is currently ahead with the tallest flagpole in the world. We hear music and are told it is North Korean propaganda being broadcast to the South.

But the story we keep hearing repeated is the fact that Korea has a 2-1/2 mile wide nature preserve running across their country. They would much prefer people remember that about the DMZ than its other history.

There is no doubt that South Korea is ready to re-unite. Our last stop is the Dora-san station - the last stop on the Korean rail system. President Bush (the second) helped to dedicate it in 2002. The North is slowly building their half as agreed, but South Korea is ready with a brand new station and a brand new customs and immigration building to process the hoped for future influx of North Koreans. They even designed Highway 23 to be expanded to 8 lanes if needed. So, it was with a strange mix of tension and hope that I left this last of the armed borders in the world.