My good friend Shawn left Korea last year after seven years there, most of that spent immersed in the local indie music scene. Since moving to Hamilton, Ontario (that would be Canada), he’s had a weekly radio show about Korean indie music on McMaster University radio, CFMU.
As I am currently visiting family nearby, Shawn invited me to join him on last week’s show. It was good fun. For an hour, I shared some of my favorite Korean music, and we chatted a bit about music things. You can listen to the results on Mixcloud. (I also briefly wrote about it over on the Korea Gig Guide).
Given that Canada has just elected another Trudeau to be Prime Minister, I thought it would be fun to revisit this blog entry I wrote a couple of years ago on Chun Doo-hwan’s visit to Canada in 1982.
I re-watched the video a couple of times and, sadly, there’s no signs of a young Justin Trudeau. But I hope you might enjoy it nonetheless…
I just came across this Daehan News feature about South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan visiting Canada in 1982 and thought some people might get a kick out of it.
Chun, of course, came to power in 1980 (officially), following the assassination of Park Chung Hee in 1979 and the short-lived presidency of Choi Kyu-ha. It was a pretty dicey time for North-South relations, so Chun probably needed all the legitimacy he could find.
There’s a short New York Times article on his visit here.
Just to give an overview of this video:
0:00 – Leaves African leg of his trip
0:05 – Ottawa and Parliament buildings (“Canada is a peaceful country,” says the narrator)
0:31 – Chun Doo-hwan and his wife Rhee Soon-ja disembark their plane. Greeted by Edward Shreyer
1:13 – Rideau Hall for official reception
1:31 – Prime Minister’s residence for some garden party
2:01 – Choppers to Montreal to meet with Korean War veterans
2:45 – Back to Ottawa for an awkward-looking meeting with Pierre Trudeau
Not mentioned in the video (unsurprisingly) is the assassination plot to kill Chun during his visit. Choi Jung-hwa, a son of the International Taekwondo Federation founder and North Korea-friendly Choi Hong-hi, had been living in Mississauga at the time. The younger Choi allegedly tried hiring a couple of people to kill Chun while the South Korean president was in Canada. But apparently that plot was broken up months before the visit — Choi went into hiding in Europe for years before returning to Canada and spending a year in jail.
There’s more about Choi and his return to Korea in the JoongAng Daily, including the great news that North Korea disguised its agents as taekwondo masters working for ITF and dispatched them abroad. Given that I studied taekwondo at an ITF gym while in high school, it makes me wonder if I could be a sleeper agent.
Sorry for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks. I was traveling in Canada, doing an early-Christmas with the family. Good fun, but not exactly blog-rich material. But a very good trip:
I checked out the distillery district in downtown Toronto for the first time. Very pretty location, with all the old buildings. It’s a part of town that used to be all run-down when I was growing up (I remember using it for free parking, along with the Esplanade), but has gentrified nicely. Good food, and since it is pretty tourist-free this time of year, it was quite quiet.
Went to a Raptors game. Raptors lost badly, but this crazy season, losing is actually a positive. And during bad seasons, tickets are much more affordable. At least Rudy Gay is no longer with the team.
Met the amazing science-fiction author Peter Watts. His novel Blindsight is one of my favorite “hard sci-fi” books ever (you can download it for free at his website). Fascinating and fun guy.
Met with several conservative politicians, including one who said that Rob Ford “is the best Toronto mayor in my lifetime.” Seriously. I thought his wife was going to slap him for that remark — but after a couple weeks or seeing Toronto politics first-hand, I kind of get where he was coming from (I’m not saying I agree … just that I understand).
The last day before we leave Canada, we suddenly get hit by a big cold snap — but upon arriving in Korea, it is also in the middle of an early freeze, so no one comes out ahead on that one.
It’s the end of year, which in Korea means plenty of concerts. I should have a few chances to talk more about music in the coming weeks. I also have my first “speaking tour” (well, kind of), coming this spring, to announce. And hopefully some other fun stuff.
I just came across this Daehan News feature about South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan visiting Canada in 1982 and thought some people might get a kick out of it.
Chun, of course, came to power in 1980 (officially), following the assassination of Park Chung Hee in 1979 and the short-lived presidency of Choi Kyu-ha. It was a pretty dicey time for North-South relations, so Chun probably needed all the legitimacy he could find.
There’s a short New York Times article on his visit here.
Just to give an overview of this video:
0:00 – Leaves African leg of his trip
0:05 – Ottawa and Parliament buildings (“Canada is a peaceful country,” says the narrator)
0:31 – Chun Doo-hwan and his wife Rhee Soon-ja disembark their plane. Greeted by Edward Shreyer
1:13 – Rideau Hall for official reception
1:31 – Prime Minister’s residence for some garden party
2:01 – Choppers to Montreal to meet with Korean War veterans
2:45 – Back to Ottawa for an awkward-looking meeting with Pierre Trudeau
Not mentioned in the video (unsurprisingly) is the assassination plot to kill Chun during his visit. Choi Jung-hwa, a son of the International Taekwondo Federation founder and North Korea-friendly Choi Hong-hi, had been living in Mississauga at the time. The younger Choi allegedly tried hiring a couple of people to kill Chun while the South Korean president was in Canada. But apparently that plot was broken up months before the visit — Choi went into hiding in Europe for years before returning to Canada and spending a year in jail.
There’s more about Choi and his return to Korea in the JoongAng Daily, including the great news that North Korea disguised its agents as taekwondo masters working for ITF and dispatched them abroad. Given that I studied taekwondo at an ITF gym while in high school, it makes me wonder if I could be a sleeper agent.
Sept. 21 – Montreal – Quai des Brumes (part of Pop Montreal)
Sept. 22 – Toronto – Bovine Sex Club
And here is the rather cool poster the band has whipped up for the tour:
Pretty sweet poster, imho.
Just in case you are not convinced, you can listen to the wonderfully noisy postrock band here:
This article on the band is also very good. And you can also check out Apollo 18 on Facebook.
Young-hee and the Pullocho
Young-hee stumbles into a magical world, where the fairy stories of her childhood are real and all the frustrations of her everyday life fade away — until her little brother is kidnapped by a goblin. The only way Young-hee can save him is by finding a magical plant called a pullocho, but little does she realize the fate of a whole world hangs in the balance.
Pop Goes Korea: Behind the Revolution in Movies, Music and Internet Culture (2nd edition) is the only English-language book to examine the whole of Korea's entertainment industry and how it became such a powerhouse over the past 20 years. With profiles of many of Korea's top stars (including Lee Byung-hun and Rain), Pop Goes Korea features chapters on movies, music, television, comic books, the Internet, and more.
The original edition of Pop Goes Korea is now out of print.
K-Pop Now!
K-Pop Now! takes a fun look at Korea’s high-energy pop music, and is written for its growing legions of fans. It features all the famous groups and singers, and takes an insider’s look at how they have made it to the top.
