Now THAT’S an Embassy!

by Robert Koehler on March 21, 2008

China will build the largest embassy in Korea with a 24-story tower to go up at the site of their old embassy in Myeong-dong.

I just hope they keep the old Chinese embassy gate. At any rate, at least all the Chinese tourists who hang out around the fountain in front of the Bank of Korea won’t have far to walk.

Currently, the Russians have the largest embassy in Korea, as anyone who has been to Jeong-dong probably already knows.

{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

1 SomeguyinKorea March 21, 2008 at 2:11 pm

There are a couple of strategic reasons why one would want to have the rooftop away from the noise of the traffic below.

2 hardyandtiny March 21, 2008 at 2:54 pm

American architecture with a Chinese hat

3 andy March 21, 2008 at 3:23 pm

Well, they do need a bigger occupation headquarters.

4 GI Korea March 21, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Any bets if anyone in Korea will protest the building of the new Chinese Embassy like they have protested in the past the building of a new American Embassy?

5 pawikirogi March 21, 2008 at 5:11 pm

Why do the Chinese need a 24-story building in a small country like South Korea? I mean, why do they need so much space? What are they going to be doing in there? Perhaps most of the building will be an apartment complex for the embassy staff. OR it might be repository for the soon-to-be-dead Tibetans as the Chinese army moves in.

Ah Tibet.
Too many dollars to be had to give a rat’s ass about you.
Sorry.
The Chinese are going to start killing you.
And the people of the world will just stand by.
Waiting to see how their team does at the Olympics.
This is the real world.
You don’t make people money.
So, nobody really cares about you.
Sorry.

6 Robert Koehler March 21, 2008 at 5:41 pm

But you care about them. And that’s all that really matters.

7 SomeguyinKorea March 21, 2008 at 6:38 pm

#5,

Industrial espionage.

8 pawikirogi March 21, 2008 at 7:35 pm

I do care about them and do hope they can garner enough world sympathy to induce the major countries of the world to threaten a boycott if the Chinese start killing.

But since they’re communist Chinese, we know the bloodbath will begin shortly.

Jing?
Can you answer for your people? Sonagi?

9 R. Elgin March 21, 2008 at 8:31 pm

Pawi, Jing and Sonagi could talk about being Chinese or maybe their experiences but they can hardly answer for the monsters that run the Chinese Communist Party. It would make more sense to ask the devil about them than the average person.

10 dda March 21, 2008 at 8:39 pm

One of my native HK friend has a favorite expression when speaking about the mainland. The first time I heard him, I thought I misheard, but numerous occurrences since confirmed what I had heard: “Fucking Chinese!”.

OTOH, when I, or some other non-Chinese, criticize China, the tune is quite different. He keeps harping on the Party line that a few bad guys are the root of the troubles, and the rest of the population doesn’t really want secession…

11 Yu March 22, 2008 at 4:31 am

Two towers of unequal height enclosed together? I can’t believe the SK gov allowed this to be built.

12 Jing March 22, 2008 at 8:05 am

Apparently the second larger tower is according to the JoongAng a residential apartment complex, the smaller 10 story office is actually the embassy itself.

As nice as it is, it isn’t a match on the new U.S. forbidden city in Iraq. The Chinese embassy in South Korea is less than 1 hectare in size, the U.S. covers more than 42 hectares with no fewer than 10 apartment buildings and it’s own separate water treatment systems and power plant. Now THAT is an embassy.

13 anunsaram March 22, 2008 at 10:56 am

” Why do the Chinese need a 24-story building in a small country like South Korea? ”

Because if it were any shorter it would be difficult to do intel-intercept on the U.S. Embassy down the road.

Jeez,….thought things like this were obvious.

14 tbonetylr March 23, 2008 at 4:37 pm

# 12

Her is a link to the future US Embassy in Iraq…
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/29/photos-embassy-iraq/

Anyone have a photo of the U.S. embassy in Seoul?

15 Paul H. March 24, 2008 at 1:32 am

“Anyone have a photo of US embassy Seoul?”

Here’s one. Looks like it’s from the official US embasssy web site.

I found it by googling for “photo of US embassy Seoul” — it’s got one of those infinitely long URL’s, so if the link it doesn’t work you should be able to find it in a similar manner.

I’m not knowledgeable or adept enough to make a architectural size or layout comparison between it and the prospective Chinese embassy, but I’d be interested in anyone else’s opinion if they care to do so. Perhaps it will prove to be an augur for the future — & as Osama bin Laden said, everyone always want to know which is the strong horse.
http://lh3.google.com/_-jhOgyDFJHs/RjH0oPxhyRI/AAAAAAAABuc/aAFxfx7N_G0/s800/DSCN7893.JPG

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