Today we leave Japan and travel on to Bali, via South Korea. More accurately, Incheon International Airport, Seoul, for a 2hr 20mins layover.
Enjoying breakfast, we commented on the roar of a ridiculously large aeroplane landing at a nearby airbase; an American military base. The American footprint on the island of Okinawa has revealed itself to us incrementally over the four days we have spent here. Whether that be signage advertising a tire [tyre] depot, a group of young American lads enjoying a beer together, or Camp Lester Middle School, which we walked past on our exploration of the area yesterday. The American presence had become immediately obvious to us on day one. And then, right on cue, as we climbed into our taxi, bound for the airport, another deafening roar from the airfield!
Stating the obvious now, World War II impacted the whole world. Its legacy continues to do so. We saw this for ourselves when visiting Vietnam, last year – discussed here.
We are flying on this leg with Korean Air, from Naha Airport, Okinawa, via South Korea, to Denpasar, Bali. We accept that a short layover in Incheon Airport shouldn’t really count in our ever increasing tally of countries visited. What do you think?
Korea itself most certainly remains deeply impacted by WWII. Following Japan’s defeat, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to divide Korea to oversee the surrender of Japanese troops. The temporary military boundary at the 38th parallel became a permanent political one as the U.S. and USSR’s wartime alliance fractured and evolved into the Cold War.
The two powers failed to agree on a plan for a unified, independent Korea, and instead supported the establishment of two separate governments in 1948:
1. The Soviet-aligned Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
2. The U.S.-aligned Republic of Korea (South Korea).
We intend visiting South Korea sometime soon. Visiting North Korea requires a visa, is usually only possible through an organized tour, and involves being accompanied by guides at all times, with strict restrictions on free movement. Not our idea of fun, however intriguing.
The backwash really does continue to play out doesn’t it. We marvel and despair at the fact that Trump and Putin haggle over Ukraine (mineral and strategic interest), while Ukraine’s democratically elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is subject to ongoing, obscenely public humiliation and absented from the room when big decisions are made (or not!).
Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un (Supreme Leader of North Korea) is said to have offered 12,000 soldiers to bolster the Russian invasion (‘Special Operation’). Trump has just announced a multi-billion dollar shipbuilding deal with South Korea.
How far do you take this? Nothing original in all of this, of course. Take British responsibility for the ‘carving up’ of the Middle East in 1917, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
The agreement ignored existing ethnic, religious, and tribal boundaries, with borders drawn primarily by European interests. The arbitrary borders and the creation of the mandate system are often cited as root causes for many of the region’s ongoing conflicts and instability.
Ok, enough of the politics. Although, as Adrian Leftwich, who advocates the broadest of definition, contends:
Politics is at the heart of all collective social activity, formal and informal, public and private, in all human groups, institutions and societies
In this sense, politics takes place at every level of social interaction; it can be found within families and amongst small groups of friends just as much as within nations and on the global stage.
Time for something lighter…
Security at Naha Airport, Okinawa, was tight, as you would expect. Although…
And I wasn’t the only one fascinated by this ‘security’ robot…
How hot is hot? It was surprisingly tasty actually, and quite hot. Forrest Gump made the observation:
life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get
For box of chocolates, read in-flight meal. This Korean Air one was actually not bad; chicken something or other.
We cannot choose where we are born: North or South of any given country; which side of the Parallel; which side of a line drawn arbitrarily on a map.
In our personal social interaction – families, small groups of friends, e.t.c. – we will inevitably influence politics at that level, accepting Leftwich’s definition. At the State level, if Volodymyr Zelenskyy cannot wholly influence the ultimate outcome for the country of his own people, then any current definition of ‘democracy’ is a nonsense.
The ramblings of a travelling man! Bali tomorrow! Time to chill out! 🏝️
Sailing off to Sparta 
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