Looks like the SamcheongGak is back in business:
Even though it was originally built for hosting North Korean delegates for the July 4 South-North Joint Statement in 1972, it is now better known as a symbol of the “closet politics” of the authoritarian junta of the 1970s. It played the role as a secret gathering place of higher-rank officials during what for many is a dark period in modern Korean history.
However, times have changed and now SamcheongGak, after going through renovations for 50 days, has been reborn as a new city attraction for both local residents and travelers. It reopened as a privately managed center on Aug. 22 after being run for three years by Seoul City.
Paradise, a hotel franchise that took charge of the business, plans to provide several offerings: a new Korean restaurant “Yigung,” a cultural experience program and improved service. In addition, SamcheongGak will offer “Paramui Tohak (The Spirit of Wind),” a performance that will combine various traditional dances and music, starting tonight.
Read the rest on your own.
4 Comments
Are Japanese visitors getting through to the Marmot today? I get a blank page (as in, not even “page not found” but BLANK) if I try to access it through my standard proxy server in Japan.
“…it is now better known as a symbol of the ??closet politics?? of the authoritarian junta of the 1970s. It played the role as a secret gathering place of higher-rank officials during what for many is a dark period in modern Korean history…”
Have the 1970’s and early 1980’s now supplanted 1950-53 as “the” dark period in modern Korean history?
I suppose it depends on your definition of “modern” (as Bill Clinton might say).
I was under the impression that Korea has yet to come out of the darm period of modern Korean history although I suppose that view is relative.
Paul, the article said “a” dark period of Korean history, but you referenced it as “the” dark period.
Korean history is a series of dark periods, some less black than others, but just about all of them with some really negative stuff going on: the end of the Chos??n period, the Japanese occupation, division and war, the Rhee administration, military rule, and later the economic crisis.
This is why so many Koreans would like to emigrate. It’s so much better in places where all you have to worry about is earthquakes and crime.
I don’t know what impression you get of it where you’re sitting, but the Park era is seen as a mixed bag: some very important positive developments in raising Korea out of poverty, but some very dark stuff regarding government oppression (which included imprisonment, torture, and killings, though nothing like what occurred during Japanese occupation, or in North Korea).