Visiting General MacArthur
On Friday, Jessica and I decided to make a day trip to Incheon, the site of General MacArthur's famous amphibious landing that changed the course of the Korean War. Incheon is about an hour outside Seoul, and is connected to the capital via the Subway system.
Incheon's most famous landmark is a statue of General MacArthur situated in Freedom Park, a pleasant park that overlooks Incheon harbour. With Korean/American tensions on the rise lately, the MacArthur statue has become a flash point, and there is a growing movement to have it removed from the park. As a result, the statue is protected by a 24 hour a day police presence. We counted at least 20 police officers (some carrying riot shields!) hiding just out of view around the statue. Jessica asked one of them why they were there, and he answered by saying that they weren't allowed to tell us.
To see more pictures from my day in Incheon click here. Or, click here for a slide show.
For background on the Incheon operation check out this Wikipedia entry: Battle of Inchon
For more on the MacArthur statue controversy, check out these links:
Clashes Feared Over MacArthur Statue in Incheon
MacArthur's star fades in South Korea
posted by Bryan @ 8/05/2005
1 comments
1 Comments:
i remember visiting 'freedom park' and being inspired. regardless of anyone's view of the usa now, a proper examination of the korean war will show that what macarthur did was brave and strategically brilliant and undoubtedly saved the entire korean peninsula from being a stalinist state. what is also great about this park is that it shows how koreans are serious about their memorials. there are quite a few around seoul and each one is unique and well-kept. nice photos!
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