Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Beageal]

Last Saturday, I walked past the U.S. Embassy up in Seoul and there were about 1000+ Korean riot police all semi-geared up, standing in formation, even lined up into the subway. There were a good 15-20 armored busses and I noticed some "secret" officers (out of uniform but with radios and some gear) out and about, as well.

Anybody know what this was all about? The Korea Herald's website search turned up nil for me, as did a regular web search. This was the first time I'd been up there, but everyone else seemed just as spooked as I was, so this couldn't be the norm ... could it? I mean, relations aren't at their best right now, but seriously...

On the plus side, if they do start rounding up the Yankees, I ain't one of them.

[Blind Willie]

Just a typical Saturday night as far as I can tell.

[JongnoGuru]

When I used to work for the Korean government, my secretary for two of those years was a Korean lady in her late 50s/early 60s. (no kidding) Whenever the electricity in our building went out for any reason, she would immediately check to see if the telephone was still working. She'd call her son or a friend (never mentioning why she was calling) and then hang up soon after.

According to her, if there were coup d'etat in the making, one of the first steps the rebels would take would be to immobilise the government, which included us. She'd been through a few coups in her day, so I suppose she knew what she was talking about, even if I was reasonably certain it was just a mechanical malfunction. Which it always was.

Cats would sometimes wander unnoticed into the basement floors where the power management equipment was housed, and get themselves fried crawling around on the high-voltage thingamabobs, knocking out the entire building for an hour or two. Still, we wouldn't know right away what was going on, and this lady -- one of most entertaining alarmists I've ever met -- would suddenly start babbling about recent rumours that the military was getting fed up with the ROK president at the time, and how it all made perfect sense, and how she'd been sensing it all along. Oh, and would she ever get scared if I happened to say anything the least bit unfavourable about the government over the telephone.

She had worked for the US Embassy back in 1960s or '70s. She told me the embassy was safe in case of a coup or attempted coup, because it had its own electric power generator, so the rebels couldn't take it out or sever communications. She also said it was where political & government leaders would flee if the rebels had them on the run. How many of her stories were credible I had no idea, but she certainly believed them.

Whenever I see rows of police busses in front of the US Embassy, I just figure there's a demo in Jongno.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

A few weeks back I had to go to the Canadian embassy and then walk past the American embassy on the way back. Sometimes Canada and the US look well nigh the same, but other times I feel damn lucky to be born where I was.

[nasigoreng]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[kangnam mafioso]

the american embassy in gwanghwamun is always surrounded by riot police. it gets even more guarded if there is any sort of demo starting up in jong-no or city hall.