Fortress Seoul

When I first arrived in Gimpo, a satellite of Seoul, all those dizzying years ago, I remember being floored by the excessive military hardware and fortifications. Every small mountain peak up there is honeycombed with bunkers and pillboxes, all aimed north. Military convoys trundle past oblivious masses. AA guns and armored personnel carriers peek out from underneath camo netting. Choppers weave their way through valleys, every day like clockwork. The Han River, especially, is fortified to a depressing extent, wrapped up tight in razor wire and little intruder-alert rocks wedged into fence holes. Tiny-waisted soldiers in uniform go shopping with their girlfriends, purses in hand. I have a whole bunch of good pics of military crap on a disc somewhere, I'll put them up one day. I get a kick out of the satellite antennae posing as trees. Nice try, I doubt if anyone is fooled. I tried to get a shot of the deadfall tank traps that line the roads that lead in and out of Seoul, but a truck cock-blocked me from getting a good picture. On the left of the last picture is a concrete pillar, one of many lined up next to the highway. The small circular hole is for explosives. Once the smaller support pillars are blown, the whole pillar falls onto the road, slowing down the red hordes for a few minutes. Apparently there are 30,000 red artillery pieces aimed at Seoul, and KJI threatens to turn Seoul into a 'sea of fire' at regular intervals. I've said it before, but I think South Koreans wouldn't have a problem with this, as long as it was referred to as 'The EAST Sea of Fire'. (Koreans whine that the Sea of Japan should be known as 'The East Sea' - grow up, I say...)