I was just wondering, does anyone know if the RAS is ever going to set up a branch in Busan? I’m sure there’d be enough interest and support, and if not then I could drum it up myself if necessary.

… and i’m sorry that it took me so long to put this question to my fellow RAS-K Council members and round up answers from them. But there is finally in answer i can give to James, and i’ll post it publicly here, in case others are interested or have something to say about it.

Our answer is: no, we have no plan to establish any ongoing activities in Busan, because we have enough going on in Seoul to keep us occupied at this time, and although we have some members down there, they are not yet enough to justify trying to stage an event.

We would welcome, however, increased involvement of the good residents of Busan in the activities we hold, attending lectures or going on tours (for tours in the southern part of the nation, people living down there could easily meet up with the tour bus at a convenient spot near the destination, with some simple advance arrangement). The KTX makes the distance between us much shorter…

We would welcome new tour-leaders from the Busan area to guide a tour or two for us of great places you know well. We would welcome qualified speakers from Busan or anywhere else in the nation to come to Seoul to give a lecture for us; and if there is any reason why the lecture should happen there in Busan (or, say, Gwangju) rather than Seoul, we’d be happy to set that up with assistance from James or anybody.

Are you already a member of the RAS - Korea? That would certainly be the first step towards establishing closer relations and scoping out further southern possibilities. Get your friends in, too — the more members we have down there, the more we’ll lean towards having activities there.

Of course, if you (James) or anyone else wishes to start holding lectures in or running tours from Busan (without using our name), you’re perfectly free to do so — you would just need to find a place, recruit speakers or tour leaders, obtain financing, follow the relevant Korean laws, etc. If it developed into something lasting and with good attendance, then there would probably be some way for us to link-up for mutual benefit…