#81 On the Road with the American Ambassador

[스티븐스 대사]

Greetings, netizens.  Those of you who have read my earlier blogs may know that bicycling is one of my favorite activities.  And I know some of you have heard that very soon I will start a biking trip across Korea.  It is being called, “On the Road with the American Ambassador.”  But this trip is not about me.  It is about something much bigger.  I am joining together with Embassy riders and Korean friends and university students to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the Korean War.  We will explore by bicycle parts of Korea where much was risked and sacrificed sixty years ago, to see what it looks like today, and to reflect on the U.S.-Korea relationship in the future.

I have always loved bicycles and biking, ever since I was a small girl and rode my bike to my first school in El Paso, Texas.  Since then, I have ridden bikes almost everywhere I’ve lived as a student, Peace Corps volunteer, or diplomat.  I’ve always found it’s a cheap and environmentally friendly form of transportation, a wonderful way to see a place, and a great way to make friends.  It’s been the same for me in Korea, where at the U.S. Embassy Seoul our “Team Embassy” has biked throughout the country – from numerous routes along the wonderful Han River Trails, to biking in the opening of the Songdo Bridge, to following the Geum River from Kunsan to Nonsan.  And I’ve met Koreans who share my passion for bicycling, and they have introduced me to wonderful countryside in Gangwon-do, Jeolla-buk-do, and many other places. 

This year, the sixtieth anniversary of the Korean War, I began to read more deeply about the history of the War.  And I became interested in seeing for myself the sites of some of the terrible battles that were fought.  The officer at our Embassy who is responsible for our programs outside of Seoul, has a passion for biking and for Korean history that perhaps even exceeds my own.  His name is Tom Underwood, and he was born in Korea to a family with deep roots here.  So Tom and I and other biking and history buffs at the Embassy began combining our two interests with bike rides that took us to Cheolwon (we rode last December, when it was well below freezing), to Hwengsong and Chippyongri, and to Andong.    In each of these places, we planned trips that allowed us to pay tribute to veterans at memorial sites and talk to them about their experiences, and to meet local officials.  Equally interesting were the chance meetings we had with residents in the area, whose accounts of their own lives are examples of the enormous changes Korea has experienced since the Korean War.  We all felt this was a more satisfying and in-depth way to explore Korea than to confine ourselves to cars and office buildings.

So with that in mind, we decided to invite some new friends, mostly Korean university students, along for our next trip, which begins in a few days.  We will be visiting key battle sites along what was known as the Busan Perimeter, or sometimes the “Naktong Perimeter,” exactly sixty years after UN and ROK forces took a final “stand or die” position in defense of freedom.  I want to pay my respects to those whose sacrifices shaped the world we enjoy today, and to think with young Koreans about what the future holds.  Stay tuned for some blogging from the road!

In the meantime, here are a few photos from recent biking trips around Korea.  

This photo captures what happens when you go biking.  We were riding on a hot day on a quiet country road in Yangpyeong, and stopped for a moment to adjust a bike.  This  friendly grandmother was sitting under the shade of a chestnut tree on  her 평상, and she graciously welcomed us to join her and cool off.    (June 28, 2010) 

Team Embassy (and I) are somewhere in this crowd, the second time we participated in the Hi Seoul Bike Festival (July 18, 2010).

When my Amercan friends visited Korea, thanks to my Korean biking friends we discovered the dolmens and beautiful scenery of Gochang.

June 28, 2010 – With former student soldiers from Hwoengsong Middle and High School in front of the War Memorial Tower for Student Soldiers during the Korean War. 

June 28, 2010 – With former student soldiers from Hwoengsong Middle and High School in front of the War Memorial Tower for Student Soldiers during the Korean War. 

Our winter bike ride in Cheolwon included meeting local officials and visiting the former north Korean labor party building.

Gangwondo, Odaesan, riding up the highest (unpaved) bikable point in Korea. (June 27, 2010)

This is called “hike a bike”

Riding in Gochang.  A rider smoothes over wet concrete that she mistakenly rode over!