Today my KATUSA’s took a group of my soldiers including myself on one of their bi-weekly KATUSA trips that we run from our camp. The trips are used to introduce new soldiers to Korea and provide an opportunity for other soldiers to get out and experience and see more of Korea than the inside of a club. The trip the KATUSA’s organized this time was a trip to the Korean President’s home, the Blue House, followed by a tour of Gyeongbokgung Palace, and a look at the Korean Folk Museum. We arrived at the Kyongbukgung subway stop which emptied out right into the grounds of the palace.

When we arrived we were excited to see that a changing of the palace guards was taking place. The guards wore armor and carried medieval weapons and marched around with flags:

I asked one of my KATUSA’s what the flag represented and he didn’t know. So he told me he would ask one of the people who worked at Kyongbukgung if they knew. He walked over to a young lady in a traditional hanbok who obviously worked at the palace and asked her if she knew what the flags meant. She didn’t know and my KATUSA asked the other palace people if they knew. None of them knew.  My KATUSA walked back over and told me that none of them knew. I commented that it was odd that people who work at the palace didn’t know what the flags meant. I then checked a tourist brochure of Kyongbukgung and I started laughing because all the definitions for all the flags was in the brochure the whole time we were trying to find out what they meant.

Front gate to inner Gyeongbok Palace.

Right after this the young female worker came over and started screaming at me in Korean and then in English she said that this is an anti-American area that we cannot go here and should leave. I told her if she is anti-American that is her problem, not mine because I get along with Koreans just fine.  She then began screaming at my KATUSA in Korean saying that we were laughing at her because she didn’t know what the flags meant and wanted me to apologize. My KATUSA told her we were not laughing at her and she misunderstood what we were laughing at. We were laughing at having the brochure with us the whole time and not knowing what the flags meant. She kept going on in Korean screaming at us trying to get me to apologize.

So if anybody reading this was out there today at Kyongbukgung I was the tall goofy looking white dude with a young Korean female in a Hanbok screaming at me. I was just really amazed with what was going on and there was no way I was going to apologize. I couldn’t believe an employee at a park was screaming at me like this. This would be the equivalent of somebody at the Grand Canyon in America screaming at Korean people telling them that they cannot come to the Grand Canyon because we hate Koreans there. That is exactly what this was. I was in Korea from 2000 – 2002 and returned in February of this year. I go out and tour Korean historical sites and hike the mountains here alot.

Never once in all my time here have I had anyone verbally assault me with anti-Americanism to my face like that. Usually everyone I meet is very nice and I never have any problems. I had to put up with this verbal assault just because I showed some interest in Korean history by wanting to know what the flags meant. I am still pissed off by this. What pissed me off more than anything is that she did this in front of some of my young soldiers who had just arrived in country and are still trying to figure Korea out. So one of their first experiences in Korea is one of being verbally assaulted for being American. By the way I did not apologize and we just walked away after I told her to take off her hanbok and put on a Kim Jong Il T-shirt because it would look better on her. What is going on in this country?

Also if you are wondering the flags represented the different units involved in the ceremony.  Anyway after leaving we linked up with a security guard from the Blue House who was responsible for taking us there. We got to the Blue House and took the tour. The Blue House really is a beautiful building and the grounds outside are also really spectacular. In contrast to Kyongbukgung the guides at the Blue House were extremely nice and helpful and even gave us all official Blue House commemorative coins. From the Blue House we walked to a local restaurant near the Blue House which is supposed to be quite famous. The restaurant was just like any restaurant in Korea. Nothing spectacular but the food was really good and the people again very nice.

From there we went back to Kyongbukgung and took the guided English tour. Our tour guide was really nice and gave a great tour. We learned that the palace was constructed in 1394 by King Taejo the first king and founder of the Joseon Dynasty.  The palace continued to expand and serve as the seat of government for Korea over the decades to include being the court for Korea’s most famous monarch, King Sejong.  However, the palace would be completely destroyed in 1592 due to the Japanese invasion of Korea during the Imjimgaeran War.   The palace remained in ruins until 1867 when King Daewongun ordered the palace reconstructed.  The palace consisted of 330 buildings with 5,792 rooms.

The Korean King ruled his nation from the building named Geunjeongjeon:

The building is quite large and impressive.  This is where the Korean King met high officials, held official ceremonies, and greeted foreign dignitaries. The stones on the outside of Guenjeongjeon are ornately carved with some nice artwork:

The roof of the building is decorated with small, decorative statues of animals that represent an old Asian tale about a monkey king:

The inside of the throne room was quite dark so I couldn’t see too much of the artwork.  The throne room did have a manequin of a Korean King sitting on his throne inside:

As large and elaborate as this palace was, Gyeongbokgung would remain the home of the Korean royal family for only a few more short decades when in 1895 Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by Japanese agents.  After the assassinaton her husband, King Gojong fled the palace and hid at the Russian legation for one year.  Gojong would eventually leave the Russian legation and set up his throne at Deoksu Palace where he would be put under house arrest by the Japanese. The royal family never returned to the palace and the Japanese over the years would slowly demolish all but 10 of the buildings on the palace’s grounds.

Fortunately something that wasn’t destroyed was a very impressive piece of tapestry hanging in the King’s office building:

The most scenic building that remains on the palace’s grounds is the Gyeonghoeru Pavilion:

The first pavilion was constructed in 1412 and like everything else on the palace grounds, was destroyed during the Imjimgaeran War of 1592.  The pavilion was reconstructed in 1867 and served as a location for royal banquets.  On my way over to the pavilion I also just happened to notice this ornately carved stone wall:

Some of the stone artwork I have seen in Korea has really impressed me.  The next impressive structure at Gyeongbukgung is the Hyangwonjeong Pavilion:

This scenic pavilion and artificial island was constructed in 1873 by the orders of King Gojong.  After checking out this beautiful pavilion that pretty much ended our tour of Gyeongbokgung.

After the palace tour we went to the Folk Museum. The Folk museum didn’t have to much in it but they are stilling doing construction on it. They do have live traditional Korean singing and dancing performances which were really cool to see. From there we called it a day and headed back home. All in all a very good day despite the anti-American incident. Hopefully this is just some freak incident with a person with obvious emotional issues and not becoming a new trend in Korea where foreigners get verbally assualted for going to National Parks.