Visiting an old friend

On January eighth, I returned to Seoraksan and hiked to the peak, Daecheongbong.  I had a great time getting reacquainted but I have to admit that I was nervous the day before.

It's been a few years since I last climbed it and my fitness has declined.  The night before, I slept at a friend's apartment -he took excellent care of me gave me a Pine Ocean hoodie as a gift -and my anxiety woke me frequently through the night.

I didn't get lost exactly, but I did take a wrong turn briefly in Yangyang; The road to Osaek has improved greatly since my time there.

I started my hike around 8:00

Almost immediately, I wondered if I had enough clothes.  I soon discovered I did.  Fifteen minutes into my hike, I had my hat packed away, my coat strapped to my backpack and my shirt entirely unbuttoned.

There were many birds to be seen during the hike.  My camera isn't great and birds are typically small, but these ones allowed me to get quite close.

I normally don't pay much attention to the trees but you have to admire their tenacity in growing at over a kilometre in altitude.

I love how spiralled the trunk is on this old cedar(?)

I've never see the sky this clear at the peak.  This was around 11:00 and I feared there would be too much haze.

 You can see I am wearing a lot more clothing now!

 Here is an awkward bit of stitching.

The climb was great.  I carried 'ijen' or half-crampons but chose not to use them.  I did use them in the descent and they gave me great traction.  In light of my poor fitness level, I allowed for four hours to reach the peak.  In my prime, I typically made it in two and a half. This time, under three, so I am happily surprised.  The confounding variable may be my advanced age; I just took it slow and steady and enjoyed the view wherever I could.  Never fast, but without any long breaks either.

So, the climb was great.  The first half of the descent was pretty good, too.  Then, the pounding on my knees took it's toll.  Although I rested more frequently on the way down, I was hobbling painfully by the time I reached the ranger station.

I saw some rangers on the trails and am unsure what to think.  They were dressed in beige and had good boots and gloves and walking sticks and a garbage bag.  I found them at about the halfway point and they were dressed appropriately to collect the garbage and orange peels that jerks leave as they hike but insufficiently to reach the summit and without any rescue or first aid materials - unless their pockets were packed.

I stumbled to my car and dropped off most of my belongings, then stumbled further down to Osaek hot springs!

My knees are sore now, but I think the soak I took will speed my recovery.  Whatever, it sure felt great at the time.

I am at an ESL camp near Wonju and using my nine-year-old computer.  It is working great for it's age but I am limited.  I have a video I made at the peak and will consider posting it when I get home.

Obligatory Flood post

It seems too early yet to have a strong opinion, as a layman, on what the flooding and resulting deaths and property damage means.  Newspaper articles try to connect the weather to global warming and the damages to negligence or malfeasance by the Korean Meteorological Administration:  I don't know.  I do know the destruction was terrible but not how it relates to larger issues.

I am currently in Gangwondo and inconvenienced by the incredible rains, but my life and belongings have not at all been threatened.  In this, I am very lucky, compared to the people in Seoul, Chuncheon and elsewhere in Gangwon and Kyeonggi Provinces.

From the Dong-A:

Safety standards for flooding should be urgently raised. Unexpected heavy rain can fall at any time, so drainage ways, underground water storage systems and levees should be built in areas vulnerable to floods. Existing flood prevention facilities are ineffective against torrential rain because they were designed based on standards of the past. Accuracy of weather forecasts and public awareness of the danger of flooding should also be raised. The landslide in Chuncheon is akin to a manmade disaster. The Korea Meteorological Administration’s weather forecast was incorrect and residents in the affected areas were not evacuated though houses were deluged due to blocked drainage ways an hour before the accident. In Seoul, evacuation orders were repeatedly issued for people near Cheonggye Stream Monday night amid the forecast of regional torrential rain, but most of the people along the stream remained.

I remember the typhoon flood in July, 1998, almost exactly 13 years ago, that drowned many people camping on the banks of a mountain-fed river in Chilisan.  They were camping in places where camping was forbidden.  I haven't heard enough yet to say for sure that the Chuncheon deaths were due to any kind of malfeasance.


From The Hanky:

On the morning of July 27, an automatic weather station in Seoul’s Gwanak District measured 110.5mm of rain per hour (4.4 inches per hour), although this was not included in the Korea Meteorological Administration’s (KMA) official statistics.

Such powerful banks of rain clouds normally pass by in a few hours. This time, however, a cold anticyclone near Russia’s Sakhalin blocked their way. As this configuration of air pressure persists, heavy rain continues to fall.

In South Korea, the pattern of a monsoon season followed by a period of sweltering weather is being broken. Even after the monsoon front dies out, heavy and localized downpours, like the current one, resulting from atmospheric instability continue until September. There is no longer a long-term forecast of when the monsoon will begin and end.

The first paragraph of the Hanky's report reinforces the claim of the Dong-A article that some of the damage and deaths could have been prevented.  Why didn't the KMA report the weather correctly?

mine found in Gangwon- not a coal mine, either

UPDATED: I'm updating this on Aug 1, 2011, after a week of nightmarish rain and deadly floods in Seoul and Gangwondo.  Mudslides occurred in various mine fields and there are now mines that are not accounted for.  We don't know where they are.  Friends of mine wonder how the mines could have been tumbled in a multi-ton mess of mud and not have gone off.  I do too, but they were first to bring it up.  I suppose these are old and unstable mines.  Hit them with a hammer enough and something might happen on the twentieth try even if it didn't the previous 19 times.

From Marmot's Hole, The Herald and the Joongang.

Joongang: The areas where the search is focused on include air-defense entrenchments in Mount Umyeon, Gyeonggi and Gangwon, as well as some areas in Yangju, Gyeonggi. The border areas where North Korea’s wooden land mines are often discovered at a time of flooding were also included. 
Note that Umyeon is in Seoul, just south of the Han.  I lived near Sadang Station and learned the danso at the Korean Traditional Performing Arts Centre just below Umyeon mountain.

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ORIGINAL POST
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The Joongang reports that recent storms in North Korea have washed land mines -the exploding kind, if you really didn't know -into South Korea.  It appears that two mines drifted in the ocean and landed on South Korean islands, but the one in Gangwondo was carried by a river.

I have heard that mines shifted by storms, floods and mudslides are a problem in South Korea, too.  Without being able to recall the specifics, I do recall hearing that some mine fields in South Korea are impassible to South Koreans because the current locations of the mines is unknown.

Arirang is also reporting on the story.
Hmm.  the Joongang seems to describe the Gangwon mine as being in a river:

One mine was found on Gyodong Island, one on Bolum Island in Incheon, and the other in Suip Creek in Yanggu District in Gangwon.

. 
...but Arirang states that it was found at sea:
.

Two were discovered in waters off the west coast near Incheon and the other on the east coast off Gangwon Province.

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  I have discussed cross-border flooding before.

storing electricity

As readers know, I have moved out of Gangwon Province and so post here much less frequently.  In addition, I was in Canada for a month, having recently returned - to Korea, not Gangwon, which I miss very much.

Consequently, I missed the whole "Corrupt Governor" story and now am commenting on an article that only slightly relates to Gangwon Province.

National Geographic has an article about ways to store electricity for utilities.  We are not talking about AA batteries, but ways to handle demand surges for large regions.  Storing electricity is important if new alternative energy production methods are to become mainstream.  Solar and Wind power can provide great quantities of electricity, but not consistently.

The article discusses using flywheels and compressed air as energy storage but also mentions pumping water uphill during off-peak periods.

Beacon's flywheel facility can dispense power for up to 15 minutes, but if a power plant wants to store energy for a longer period of time, it can do so by pumping water uphill. When the energy is needed later, the water flows back downhill, powering turbines that generate energy.

This so-called "pumped-storage hydroelectricity" is one of the most common forms of electricity storage now being used on the grid. But the DOE is looking into cheaper systems that rely on compressed air instead of water.

One thing I find interesting here is how this is not really that new.  As a scout, thirty-something years ago, at the electricity generating dam in downtown bracebridge, I was told how, during low demand periods, they reduced the amount of water flowing through the turbines and building up the 'head'.  I have to admit that the dam in Bracebridge could not have stored much water this way as stakeholders upstream would complain, but I do like the idea. Instead of having the water flow down to produce energy used to pump water uphill to later flow down again, just leave it up there.

I guess the pumping to a purpose-built reservoir would solve the complaints and environmental problems.  it is also the route Yangyang Gun in Gangwon Province took five or ten years ago.  Also, here (an excerpt although the rest is behind a paywall):

ANGYANG, South Korea, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has completed its biggest pumped-storage hydroelectric power station after 10 years of construction, a state-run electricity company said Monday. The power station in Yangyang, 215 kilometers northeast of Seoul, was constructed at a cost of 932.4 billion won (US$972.7 million) and is capable of generating a maximum of 1,000 megawatts ofelectricity an hour, according to the Korea Midland Power Co., one of the subsidiaries of state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp.A dedication ceremony for the facility, the country's fifth pumped-storage …

Not entirely on-topic, but still interesting is a discussion of how much power we will need in the future.

Or, you could close the door, I guess

The Herald has an article about saving energy by reducing the room temperature for businesses and government offices.

Banks, major retailers and hotels plan to keep their temperatures down at 20 degrees Celsius on recommendations, or some say indirect pressure, from government officials, who themselves have pushed their office temperatures down to 18 degrees Celsius to reduce power consumption.

In a meeting the Ministry of Knowledge Economy had with representatives from the services industry yesterday, a 5 percent decrease in power consumption was made as an industry-wide goal this winter.

Participants also agreed to encourage employees to wear long johns and turn off decorative lights.

"Most banks maintain their office temperatures at 20-22 degrees Celsius, but I expect more companies to join the nationwide campaign and lower it soon," said Shin Dong-gyu, chairman of The Korea Federation of Banks.

I've gotten used to teaching while wearing a winter coat.  somewhere I have a pic of me teaching while wearing a wool hat, scarf and gloves in addition to the coat.  18 degrees isn't anything like that bad and one could easily be comfortable without extreme measures.

I approve of trying to saving energy, but I think they are going about it wrong.  If citizens could be taught to close doors when they enter or leave a building, energy costs could be cut tremendously and rooms would be much warmer.

Another option would be to properly seal doors and windows to keep the heat in.  This option might be dangerous if gas powered heaters rather than electrical heaters are used.  There's a geek in Korea trying this out now.

Previously at Gangwon Notes:  controlling air conditioner use and open door policy(1, 2).

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Sorry about the lack of posts recently.  I just haven't felt like writing much lately.  I'm sure there will be more to come.

Clownfish

In an interesting coincidence, I received January's National Geographic with an article on clownfish about the same time I read the Dong-A's article on the Finding Nemo star.

The Nat Geo article (which I read in hardcopy- I don't know the exact contents of the online version.  The magazine photos are fantastic) mostly describes the symbiosis between the clownfish and the host anemone., but also mentions how the movie's success has lead to some locations being fished out to supply the aquarium trade.

Beautiful Friendship

 

(image from the National Geographic article)

The Dong-A article mostly describes how the fish are new arrivals to the area, possibly due to increased water temperatures which are making Jeju waters sub-tropical.

both articles are interesting and mostly well written, although the Dong-A briefly reaches Korea Times-quality editing:

A scuba diver said he witnessed a 30-meter long green sea turtle, which is likely to spend winter in neighboring waters.

That's one Hell of a sea-turtle!

What if we create a better world for nothing?

Joel Pett had a thought provoking comic on Dec. 13:

This has really been my point over the past few years.  I think Global Warming is happening and needs to be combatted, but even if it is not, there isn't that much oil in the world and we are running out.  Conserving fossil-fuel based energy and following other proposals set by global warming advocates -and other environmentalists even in the 70's - are good ideas regardless of the root cause.

HT to Pharyngula.

"But how could the government possibly conduct a project that hurts water quality?"

Lee Myung Bak made a good point in defending his 4-rivers project.  The quote I am using as a title, though, sounds improbably naive or poorly translated.

From the Chosun Ilbo (I have italicized the 'good point'):

...He pledged to stop answering questions on the issue and "proceed with the projects without listening to further criticism." 

At the ground-breaking ceremony, he declared that no future can be opened with "old ways of thinking" and parties' regional interests, and that the projects will be conducted in a "future-oriented" manner with best efficiency, environment-friendly and state-of-the-art technology combined. "Some people allege that water quality will deteriorate in the course of the projects," he said. "But how could the government possibly conduct a project that hurts water quality?" 

Some civic groups say that the four-rivers projects will hurt water quality, but it makes little sense to leave already polluted rivers alone without even trying to improve them. As the president remarked, would a head of state carry out a project to deliberately pollute the environment? 

I do think there is some merit in the first sentence I quoted.  I would have approved of the late Roh Mu-hyun more if he had been firmer in his decisions, even if I didn't care for those decisions themselves.  Still, some merit is a long way from something I would accept.  I feel this way chiefly because I am not sure when he ever answered questions on the subject.

Still, I do agree that the rivers are already polluted to some degree.  GI Korea has frequently pointed out that Koreans pollute their own rivers, it is only when Americans do it, that it becomes news.

The GI linked to this Korea Times article:

It is shocking news that 29 timber companies were found to have released 271 tons of formalin over the past three years into streams feeding the Han River, the main source of drinking water for Seoul and Kyonggi Province.

Okay, the rivers are polluted.  I can't say whether President Lee's project will help or not, but we clearly aren't dealing with pristine rivers here.

And the rivers aren't surrounded exclusively by forest, pristine or not.  I have written before, describing floods, nearly yearly and the need for some flood control.  This is the one reason I am ambivalent about the project.

Again, we crash into the quote I used as my title.  This might (maybe) be reasonable for a president with no historic ties to heavy industry or who had not recently been thwarted in another river project that could be seen only as a big-money project for heavy industry with no conceivable benefits.  President Lee, once leader of a Hyundae construction group and architect of the Trans Korea canal project, does not get the benefit of the doubt.

To keep up, Korea should have Cabinet meetings at Panmunjeom

... And Canada should have it's meetings in the High Arctic.
From the Dong-a:

Members of the Nepalese Cabinet raise their hands yesterday in convening a ministerial meeting at a base camp on Mount Everest, which soars 5,250 meters above sea level. The Nepalese government assembled the “high mountain meeting” to publicize the melting of permanent snow at the Himalayas ahead of the Conference of the Parties under the U.N. Climate Change Convention in Copenhagen.

Ah, my title is based on Nepal being best known for the Himalayas, as opposed to global Warming, although my suggestion for Canada still applies.

More Mulling! About the DMZ!

I recently wrote about plans to mull wine (and what a weird word 'mull' is after a few repetitions) and about the DMZ.

It's interesting that the Chosun has an article "Gov't Mulls Turning DMZ into Eco-Peace Belt".

The ministry laid out potential plans mainly focused on making the DMZ an eco-peace belt that would include biosphere preservation districts, geoparks and an ecology tour program. 

The ministry also plans to turn the 495-km line that runs between Ganghwa in Incheon and Goseong in Gangwon Province into a bicycle path, possibly holding an international mountain biking competition once it is completed. 

Areas surrounding the truce village of Panmunjom are to be turned into a symbol of world peace. Efforts to establish a United Nations peace conference center and a UN peace university are currently underway. 

I like the bicycle paths and the other plans but hate, HATE the idea of making the DMZ a symbol of peace.  That is as wrong as George Bush II's "Mission Accomplished" banner.  Make it a peace zone after there is peace, don't distract the people away from the horrors on the other side (this is what my previous post on the subject was about).

What does the DMZ symbolize?

A tank-trap near the DMZ.

At four kilometres wide and a few hundred kilometres long and with almost no human presence, the DMZ might reasonably be considered a haven for wildlife.  It is the reverse of a scar, a band of natural, healthy green between developed and over-developed land where even the farms cover the ground in black plastic wrap.

Some wildlife does thrive there, with many reports of deer (saber-toothed deer, cool!), boar and giant pheasants. Still, as GI Korea notes, this is a bit much (quoting from another source):

It is a refuge for Asiatic black bears, leopards, rare Korean tigers, and birds such as the red-crowned crane, which has long used the area as a wintering grounds.

Yes, the crane are there, but no bear, leopards or tigers have been seen (sorry, some bad quoting - GI Korea reports that no bear or the like have been seen - he quoted a journalist as above).   The four kilometres in width is too narrow: if a bear or tiger had been there, it would have been seen by now...and probably seen limping along on three legs.

Yes, there is nature aplenty in the DMZ and, aside from possibly-leaking explosive mines, very little pollution.  Depending on where this water actually comes from in the DMZ, it likely is very pure (the link is to another GI Korea post, more recent, but behind the times as the water has been around for a while now).

So, is the DMZ a wildlife sanctuary?   As I've described, it is more and less than that.

Can it be a symbol of peace?

"The DMZ has created a natural reserve for endangered species at the cost of the tragic war," said Lee O-young, professor emeritus of Ehwa Woman's University and an advisory member for the group.

"We have to make the DMZ a symbol for the so-called Natural Capitalism, a new trend that avoids over-production and over-consumption."

Gyeonggi Governor Kim Mun-soo asked for the group's efforts in order to preserve the area's cultural and historical meanings.

The group plans an orchestra performance themed on world peace next year near the Peace Dam on the Bukhan River, which was built in 2005 to prevent possible flooding of North Korea's Imnam Dam.

The 2010 DMZ Peace Forum is also scheduled in August next year, the group said.

I guess it can be, but it seems to require some serious double-think.  The DMZ, a boundary between two heavily armed nations and where no one goes to preserve a delicate armistice, one that is broken every few years, is also a symbol of natural beauty and home to animals too light to trigger the land-mines.  Because it is so natural and wild, it seems peaceful if you don't look too closely (to see those mines) or too widely (to see the huge military presence on either side).  Because it seems peaceful, it is a symbol of peace.

Okay, got it.

Oh, this Natural Capitalism thing ("a new trend that avoids over-production and over-consumption") sounds a lot like the slow cities of Jeolla Province.  In both cases, the end product was never intended.  Here, the land is not over-developed because it is a war-zone! The slow cities are slow because the young people are flocking to the big cities.  The cities can well be described as dying, and the DMZ, well, are Natural Capitalists planning on starting wars, then signing armistices to create more?

Now, symbol of peace or not, it is one thing that Korea is famous for.  No, my parents did not know about kimchi when I first came here, but we all knew about the DMZ.  It is Korea's most famous landmark and a tourist attraction.

As a tourist attraction it is a popular one:

According to the provincial government, about 27.06 million tourists visited the province during the first half of the year, up about 1 percent from 26.78 million on-year. The number of foreign tourists rose by 175,000....

The number of tourists to the Cheolwon area, where tours of the demilitarized zone are being promoted, grew by a hefty 180,000. 

These numbers seem hincky - half the population of Korea visited Gangwondo?  There were really 175,000 more foreign tourists visiting Gangwon Province in half a year?  Perhaps I am being racist in not believing this number -foreign does not mean white after all.  I likely would not recognize most foreign tourists as foreign.

Anyway, it is a tourist site and I strongly recommend visiting panmunjeom.  This place lives up to it's reputation and I felt simultaneously scared and fascinated.  From the Korea Times:

...the DMZ was once said to be the ``scariest place on Earth’’ by former President Bill Clinton. 

According to Time, that should not serve as an excuse not to visit. 

Inside the bright-blue-hued conference rooms that sit atop the tense border in Panmunjeom, visitors are able to cross a few timid feet into North Korea. 

Outside the buildings, a look across the border will be met with icy glares from a North Korean soldier with binoculars. 

Some see this as a problem, however (same article):

Time magazine listed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as one of the top experiences one can have in Asia in its latest issue, but South Korean officials and marketing consultants question whether it spoils the country’s image. 

From South Korea's perspective, the DMZ magnifies its negative association with communist North Korea, which policymakers are seeking to avoid. 

The country’s image has been damaged and clouded by the actions of the Stalinist state. Whenever Korea is mentioned in any corner of the world, many ordinary people often conjure up negative images of nuclear weapons or dictator Kim Jong-il.

This badly damages the positive image of South Korea, which is an OECD member, the ninth-largest exporting country in the world and a tech-savvy nation. 

Michael Breen, a Korea Times columnist and a PR consultant in Seoul said, ``Many Korean officials consider the DMZ to have a negative impact on tourism and would prefer that it is not promoted.''

Again, it is a symbol of peace or war?  Can a land where humans literally fear to tread due to land-mines ever be accepted as a positive?

The DMZ has given South Korea fifty years of prosperity and stability; at the same time it has kept the North Korean people out-of-sight and recently (without Russian aid) suffering greatly. The DMZ has given us four kilometres of distance and curtaining so we can't see what is happening, but we are getting reports that beyond the DMZ is a hell-hole and Kim Jong-il is probably thrilled that we are looking at the DMZ and thinking about the DMZ and not beyond it.

The DMZ is a pretty bandaid hiding a hideous wound and we are admiring the bandaid.

The DMZ is a beautiful place and you should go and see it.  I wish it were as endangered as the animals it protects.  See it, but look around and see more than it.  It is a symbol of deliberate, selective blindness.
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Added later: More of the same at the Herald:
 Well, perhaps not quite the same.  In one article they discuss making the DMZ an ecological park and dividing the DMZ into regions for industry and development.

The government plans to develop border areas with North Korea into a center for inter-Korean cooperation, international peace and ecological protection.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security yesterday announced the plan during the meeting of the Presidential Committee on Regional Development attended by President Lee Myung-bak.

The ministry will designate the Demilitarized Zone as an ecological preservation zone to protect rare wildlife and the natural environment.

More than 3,000 rare species of animals and plants are found in the 907-square-kilometer heavily fortified border.

...

"Supra-regional belts represent new territorial growth axes of the nation combining industries, culture, tourism and infrastructure," said Lee Yong-woo, a senior researcher of the state-run Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements.

The strategy seeks to make the best use of the nation's geoeconomic advantage, as it is located in the center of Northeast Asia and positioned to serve as the gateway both to the Pacific Rim and Eurasia, he said.

The government plans to finalize comprehensive plans for each of the supra-regional belts including financing, infrastructure and industrial development in the first half of next year, the committee said.

Actually, these regions may encompass area outside the DMZ, but seem to include it.

I guess China won't absorb North Korea if the government falls

There has long been concern that, should the North Korean government collapse, China would move in on a 'peacekeeping' mission and somehow end up in full control.  I have seen many articles and posts on the subject, but only found this one while preparing this post.

To many Koreans, judging from past actions, this fear is reasonable.  Look at koguryo. And Gangdo.  All, right, just go to this search I made at the Marmot's hole.

And why not?  Norht Korea is said to have great natural resources that the locals were unable to recover and exploit.  Plus, the population is less well-off than China's so any assistance would go a long way.

Here is why not.  From the Dong-a:

North Korean organizations in charge of raising foreign currency are bringing in and burying industrial waste from China for money, a report released yesterday said.
...
One North Korean scientist said, “Our country in effect is turning into China’s industrial waste site,” adding, “Even tap water in Pyongyang has become so polluted that it is no longer potable.”
...
North Korea is reportedly taking in foreign industrial waste in secret in the form of its border trade with China.

Dong Yong-seung, head of the economics and security team at Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul, said, “Though no data is available that can tell us the exact situation, Chinese companies might believe that sending industrial waste to North Korea for burial is cheaper than disposing of it in China in compliance with Chinese environmental regulations.

North Korea is also not just bringing in waste just from China. Former North Korean defector Kim Heung-kwang, now head of a coalition of former North Korean intelligentsia in South Korea, said, “Companies that earn foreign currencies brought in waste vinyl from Germany and France for 300 U.S. dollars per ton in early 2000 and buried it in soil.”

I suspect that if China is sending toxic waste to North Korea, the Norks aren't carting it across the entire country, yet perhaps we need to even more closely monitor the water that crosses the DMZ.

S.K plans forestation project for N.K.

From the Herald:

[F]orestation has been one of the top priorities among President Lee's North Korea policy tasks ever since he vowed as a presidential candidate to plant 100 million trees north of the border.

The president ordered related ministries on Tuesday to gauge the impact of the planned forestation project on the entire Korean peninsula and review measures to support North Korea's forestation.

Lee made the instruction while presiding over a Cabinet meeting which finalized the South Korean government's plan to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below expected levels in 2020, or a 4 percent reduction from 2005 levels.

"POSCO went all the way to South America to plant trees," the president said, referring to the steelmaker's ongoing forestation work in Uruguay to secure carbon emission rights.

...

Images provided by NASA showed that vast forest fires hit a large part of central North Korea last month.

The U.S. space agency said multiple fires had been burning in North Korea since mid-October, with several hot spots located in a mountainous region in the center of the country.

Here is an Lee Myung Bak project I can agree with wholeheartedly.  It seems to have everything one wants in an aid project: benefit to the North Koreans, benefit to the South Koreans and benefit to the world.

For the North Koreans, planted trees will stabilize hillsides, reducing erosion and mudslides.  In the long term, the wood can be harvested.

For the South Koreans, stabilized hillsides and deep tree roots hold water in the soil, reducing floods - like the one that on the Imjin River, starting in North Korea, but killing six South Koreans in late summer.

For the world, well, the article discusses carbon offsets, so that's clear.  There's more.  When a poor country loses it's forests, it becomes a lot poorer, fast.  I am thinking of the world's best/worst example of that: Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  The D.R. side has forests and is relatively well-off, while Haiti is a craphole.

Guess its time to learn what the four river project actually is.

This seems like a difficult project for a westerner, particularly a Canadian, to accurately judge the value of. My country is thinly populated and we have a surplus of water. Korea, on the other hand, is densely populated and inland Gangwondo has suffered severe water shortages in recent times. I do want to protect ecosystems, but people are part of the ecosystem and we naturally have to count ourselves as at least as important as the other parts. Further, Korean rivers don't run steadily through the year. When water flows increase, they can increase dramatically and cause flood damage.

From the Times:

Korea's 22 trillion-won civil engineering project, aimed at restoring the basin areas of four major rivers, has passed an environmental impact assessment test, giving momentum to a project critics argue will devastate the country's ecosystem.

From the Joongang:

The controversial four-river restoration project will begin tomorrow following an announcement that the government-led evaluation of the environmental impact of the project was completed last Friday, according to the Land Ministry yesterday.

The report concludes that the quality of the water in the rivers will have improved on [I think they mean 'improved to 2006"] 2006 levels after the project has been completed in 2011, the ministry said.

From the Donga:

President Lee Myung-bak’s project to restore the country’s four major rivers will finally begin this week with the construction of 15 dams to start Tuesday.

The venture has long faced resistance from opposition parties but is set to proceed this week. With the completion of the government assessment of the project, operations are expected to be accelerated.

In his 2007 presidential campaign, President Lee had pledged to build a cross-country canal in Korea, but strong resistance from the opposition and a faction in the ruling Grand National Party prompted him to give up the project to prevent dividing public opinion. He then suggested the restoration of the country’s four major rivers.

The Donga article seems to best summarize why the project is controversial. Building fifteen dams seems a strange way to help river ecosystems recover, and the apparent connection in the final quoted paragraph is what seems most ominous. No canal? Okay, let's call it river restoration.

forest fires report

The Chosun announces that "forest fires burn nearly 900 hectares yearly". I say, that sounds pretty damn good. Canada loses 516,000 hectares a year -granted Canada is much larger, but still we also have fewer people to start fires. Korea had an average of 453 fires a year over the past five years, of which just over 200 a year were caused by hikers, with around a 100 caused by farmers.

By way of comparison, The Seoul Times (dated today?) states that the Naksan fire alone burned 973 hectares

Maybe I just can't process how much larger Canada is than South Korea or I am not reading these numbers right. One way or another, I gotta say loosing 900 hectares a year sounds like peanuts (my condolences to any who lost their homes or loved ones. I understand that any amount of fire might be considered too much) Congratulations to Korea's forest fire fighting crews.

Transboundary flood control talks

About a month ago, dams in North Korea released a flood of water into South Korea which killed six people. (Self-promotion links, but which also hold links to other bloggers and newspapers: here and here. Oh, and here, where I presciently discussed the threat for Water Blogging Day).

This week, talks are beginning regarding the flood and how to prevent new surprise floods. Again showing their bizarre negotiation tactics, the North have tested missiles recently as well. They seem to also be linking the flood control talks with talks about reunions.

From the Times:

North Korea has accepted South Korea's proposals to hold inter-Korean talks this week over flood prevention and humanitarian issues, the Ministry of Unification said Tuesday.

The North's latest conciliatory gesture comes one day after it test-fired five short-range missiles off its east coast.

Pyongyang is showing signs of preparing another missile test off the west coast as it warned ships not to sail through waters off South Pyeongan Province, government sources said, adding that it could be part of a routine military exercise aimed at improving capability.

And the Joongang:

North Korea yesterday agreed to the South’s proposals from Monday for the talks. Today in Kaesong, representatives from the two Koreas will sit down to discuss ways to prevent further floods at the Imjin River. Six South Koreans were killed in a September flash flood along the Imjin River caused by the North’s unannounced discharge of dam water.

The river originates north of the border and runs into the Han River in the South. Floods at the Imjin have previously caused damage to fishing farms south of the border.

North Korea has yet to apologize for the September incident. It has only said it would provide prior warnings in the future if it is forced to release water from one of its dams. The South Korean delegation is expected to further press for the apology today.

Yes, that'll be an expensive apology to get.

UPDATED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY: Yonhap announces that North Korea officially 'regrets' the deaths of six South Koreans. Again, I suspect goods changed hands to receive those 'regrets' but you take what you can get.

Gangwon and the view north

This photo, from the Joongang Ilbo, was taken near Cheorwon and shows productive fields in South Korea and grim, brown ones in North Korea.

HT to The Marmot

I like the look of this

I first noticed the Gyopo Wife mentioning a 'car-free day' in Seoul and now the Joongang Ilbo has photos. As it is currently so early in the morning, I think I am reading yesterday's news and today's on the same page: I can see the announcement and a photo (below) of the result next to each other.

The recent 'green party' in Sokcho also included a long section of street closed to automobiles but cars that did travel through town had to take a somewhat torturous detour. It may have been well-advertised but I didn't see much before the day itself.

Anyway, these events where people can walk on the road always seem so much fun. I don't know if it is the usually forbidden pleasure of dallying where once you had to scurry but I do know I like to walk up and down the middle of the street.

They are so much fun, in fact, and are intended to benefit the environment, so I don't know why they are not more frequent. Perhaps various cities should start 5-day markets, closing the street every fifth day, or make the event once a month. Its not like a joke -if once a year is good, many times a year should also be good.

I'm starting to get carried away - how about opening the roads to automobiles once every five days? This would be a good time for stores to be restocked and ready for the next four days without daytime deliveries.

More invasive species likely on the way for the Great Lakes

I don't know if Korea has any "great lakes" - no offense or anything, I'm just saying most lakes here are above dams. Anyway, this post is about the Great Lakes between Canada and the US.

One example of an invasive species is the Zebra Mussel.

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Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are small, fingernail-sized mussels native to the Caspian Sea region of Asia. They are believed to have been transported to the Great Lakes via ballast water from a transoceanic vessel. The ballast water, taken on in a freshwater European port was subsequently discharged into Lake St. Clair, near Detroit, where the mussel was discovered in 1988. Since that time, they have spread rapidly to all of the Great Lakes and waterways in many states, as well as Ontario and Quebec.

Diving ducks and freshwater drum eat zebra mussels, but will not significantly control them.

Likely means of spread: Microscopic larvae may be carried in livewells or bilgewater. Adults can attach to boats or boating equipment that is in the water.

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According to the blog Journal Watch Online, due to the recession, many ships are sitting at anchor longer than normal. This means more local critters are able to attach themselves to the hull to be carried to the next harbour.

...researchers have raised yet another possible downside of the economic crisis. Global merchant vessels are sitting idle at ports, potentially accumulating marine organisms that could be carried to other parts of the world when business picks up.

Ships that transport organisms on their hulls have likely helped non-native marine species invade new habitat around the globe, resulting in damage to both ecosystems and economies. Coating the hulls can prevent “biofouling,” but many of these treatments lose their effectiveness on inactive ships. For instance, a 200-meter ship could amass more than 20 tonnes of organisms if left unused for a long period of time, the authors write.

More on invasive species here (I think this is the site I got the zebra mussel info -there was a long, but necessary gap in the writing of this post - my son wanted to play outside).

In the US, windfarms might be replacing dams

I've written about windfarms and about the 4 rivers project (written that way, it has an ominous 3 gorges project sound to it) and I've just found a sort of connection between them.

Part of the Big Rivers project is the construction of dams. The dams should assist in controlling flooding and allow irrigation. I am not sure if they are also designed for power generation.

Perhaps they shouldn't be. In the western US, windfarms are becoming more popular and dams less so.

I'm torn on the issue. Certainly in the past, hydro-electric dams were the cleanest possible method of electrical generation. Nowadays, as they are perhaps less necessary, the problems, known, but minor compared to the other options, are becoming more onerous.

In the article linked above, dams interfere with salmon runs. That isn't such an issue here as, in Yangyang at least, salmon are collected as they enter the river and spawn in tanks at the hatchery.

Still, I am cautious about accepting President Bak's assurances regarding plans for the rivers after his trans-Korea canal scheme that was stopped.