Comments on: Turner Sees DMZ as Future Nature Reserve

By: OneFreeKorea

OneFreeKorea — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:25:28 +0000

Carnival of the Revolutions, 29 August 2005

Welcome to the Carnival of the Revolutions edition for August 29th. Hosting next week’s edition (Sept. 5) will be Thinking-East; next up (Sept. 12) is Quid Nimis.

By: Jens-Olaf

Jens-Olaf — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:22:19 +0000

That?s right - the mine fields will stay for a long time. So is the situation in Croatia and Bosnia 10 years after the Dayton treaty. Even in areas with international army troops. When you go to the Unesco protected lakes and waterfalls of Plitvice -a tourist attraction- there are warning signs along the road.

By: virtual wonderer

virtual wonderer — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 09:58:47 +0000

Turner gave 1 billion dollars from his own pockets. What’s so bad about that? UN is such an evil organization that it is morally bankrupt to write 1 billion dollar checks to UN? Are you suggesting that Turner or any civic minded moral person would work hard to destroy the institution that is the UN? Bottom line is that SOMEBODY has to talk about what will happen to that strip of land. Of course, whether or not anyone talks about what they will do to teh DMZ, it’s just too dangerous and expensive to convert that land for practical use. They are going to be finding land mines in there for ages and ages to come.

It’s as if everyone’s mad that Turner isn’t going to the DPRK to talk about human rights and they automatically think Turner=Liberal=Evil Ergo by Transitive Property Turner’s actions in DPRK must be evil. ????

By: Guns and Butter

Guns and Butter — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 05:24:33 +0000

I linked this story to my new Asia blog “The Asianist” here, but I don’t seem to be able to do a trackback to it. Can someone instruct me on how to do that? Thanks.

James
aka Guns and Butter
aka The Asianist

By: Kushibo

Kushibo — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 00:56:43 +0000

I’ve wondered about that, too, foreigner (#9), but is that really what we’re talking about? Don’t the mines require a certain amount of weight put on them, something close to adult human weight? And if that’s true, are there other mammals on the DMZ that could set one of those off? A korani deer or a wild boar, for example, might weigh nearly that of a human, but the weight is distributed over four legs, not two, so when it is stepped on, the entire weight of the animal is not there, thus it might not set it off. I’m just thinking out loud is all… I think this was covered in a nature documentary I worked on, but I think the answer was that most of the animals would not be affected.

Nature preserve tourists, on the other hand…

By: foreigner

foreigner — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 00:09:40 +0000

I’ve seen a few stories that say “any animal heavy enough to set off a land mine no longer lives in the DMZ,” so they could call it “Nature Lite Preserve.” Seriously, wouldn’t the DMZ need major remediation, even for the animals there?

By: Shenzhen Whitey

Shenzhen Whitey — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:01:44 +0000

Nice idea and a historic opportunity to preserve land that has been almost untouched for many years. However, the cultural implications need to be taken into account. If/when Korea is unified, the border preserve could be seen as a scar upon Korea’s history. It also would still be a post-unification dividing line for the country. Selected pieces of the DMZ would be appropriate but not the majority of the land there. For the Norks, it would be nice in that they can see what uneroded hills look like.

By: Jens-Olaf

Jens-Olaf — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 05:22:43 +0000

But to keep this status one don?t need a master plan, or protection plan, or signs with: Trespassing prohibited!

By: Jens-Olaf

Jens-Olaf — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 05:02:23 +0000

Now it?s the first issue what is most comparable to the German unification: How to preserve the nature along the former border zone. What makes this zone so interesting is that the impact of agriculture was at a minimum. The vegetation in Germany changed most or a lot because of the massive use of fertilizer. Plants, those who need open fields were outcompeted by fast growing ones in the spring time etc.. I don?t know the current situation in the DMZ but I think it?s comparable.

By: Wedge

Wedge — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 02:05:30 +0000

Yeah, it’s easy to pick on Turner, especially having Hanoi Jane as an ex-wife and giving $1 billion to the United Nations of Sinecures and Corruption. Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean I’ll stop, though.