No, today I'm referring to touring around Korea. What does Korea have to offer the average foreign tourist? If you're the average foreign tourist, you may be asking yourself, "Where is Korea?" I don't blame you for asking that question. Although I haven't been able to relate to that question since maybe 5th grade, I would like to point out the public's general ignorance to Korea and it's cultural heritage sites because it is not the public's fault. It is Korea's fault. Their growing tourism industry has...mishandled marketing in the past. There are still many instances of manhandling what could be a pretty rich tourism market in the future.
The first problem is not the Koreans' faults. I give them complete immunity from charges on this one. The first problem is that many, if not a vast majority of, tourist sites have been destroyed in the past. I have relayed information on Korea's vast history of being invaded, and since invaders are generally not privy to what's important culturally, the peninsula has laid in shambles more often than Courtney Love.
You will often go to a site that originally was built before William Wallace's parents taught him to bellow "Freedom!" Unfortunately, throughout history it has probably been burnt to the ground by the Mongols, by the Chinese, by the Japanese, and bombed twice by each side during the Korean War. They will point this out to you readily. I understand that relaying the truth is important, but, Korea, don't be so quick to point out that what we're seeing is a reproduction of the original. That makes it half as exciting, unless there's an awesome story to go with it.
Speaking of which, when you go to the Place de la Concorde in Paris, the first thing you learn about it is that it is the spot where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded. Cool! When you go to the Taj Mahal, you learn very quickly that it was the product of a fascinating love story. Awesome! When you visit the Kremlin in Moscow, besides being able to see a waxy old dead Communist, you know that Ivan the Terrible used to chuck animals and babies off of the walls. Totally tubular! When you go to any Korean historical site, what you will learn is that it is 5015 square feet, constructed in 1362, and has over 11,000 unique carvings in the wood. Meh.
I know fascinating stuff happened in Korea. Kings have been assassinated; heretics have been beheaded; inspiring love stories have taken place; spies have been tortured; for God's sake, they had ninjas! Why don't we hear about this stuff? Because Korea has a hard time with its own history. I can't tell if there is just a blatant disregard for history as "old stuff" or just a general ignorance to its importance, but either way the tourism industry is suffering for it. It feels like they're almost ashamed of their past and compensate by measuring the size of everything.
Hell, even North Korea does it right. Take the Seonjukgyo Bridge for example. A Korean statesman/poet was murdered by Mongol sympathizers on this bridge and there's still the rusty brown blood stain from 800 years ago! Obviously they buy the crimson paint at Home Depot and paint it back on every time it rains, but that's some good marketing if I've ever seen it.
What I'm saying is that Korea needs to up its tourism game. Let's take a look at a couple of Korea's top tourist sites as an example. First...
Namdaemun.
Korea's National Treasure #1. Numero Uno. Its name means "South Big Gate." This site is featured in every tourist publication about Korea and even has its own prime time sitcom. It must be friggin majestic, right?
Oh...it's just a box.Turns out someone burnt it down two years ago and it's being rebuilt. You know what you do in that case? You find something else to boast about. Advertising a tourist site you can't see is kinda silly, isn't it?
Gyeongju.
Gyeongju is an immensely important historical city. It is in the top ten most important ancient cultural cities in the world. Why haven't you heard of it? Good question. The fact that you haven't heard of it is actually a more difficult feat to achieve I think. It's like they went out of their way to assassinate all the people who left Korea to sing its praises. Hmm, I might be in trouble...The DMZ
The de-militarized zone (what a lie that name is, right?) is probably the most famous part of Korea these days. It's something I plan on doing in the coming year that I haven't gotten around to in the first. I do know some friends who have gone and it seems to be a giant and expensive, but rewarding, hassle. We understand this, as it is the most heavily guarded border in the world. Land mines, soldiers, guns, dogs. It seems like there should be a lot of precaution taken for something like this. Waivers and helmets and photography bans. But wait. Apparently the North Korean side is a big fat cake walk filled with happy rose pedals falling at your feet. The Chinese tourists just roll right up to it and laugh at all the precautions the Southern side has to take. Then again, I suppose it's kind of unheard of for people to sue the North Korean government for being injured at one of their tourist sites. Regardless, why so serious? It's gotta take a toll on tourism. The price of democracy, eh?At least Korea is on its way to remedying this poor tourism management strategy. Not incredibly long ago, my friend Kristen made me aware of this commercial for Korean Air:
Now, if that doesn't make you want to come to Korea, I don't know what will. You can draw in the desert sand and enjoy a fancy dinner on the wings of an airplane with a sexy librarian or even lie down on a bridge in downtown Seoul. It's probably the coolest thing I can think of this side of James Bond.
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