By Now here is a great idea:
An off-hand comment about graffiti painted by Americans on a rocky South Korea mountaintop has sparked an unusual hobby of sorts for several servicemembers of a Yongsan Garrison unit.
Call them Graffiti Busters or the Paint Peeling Posse.
Members of the C2 Intelligence, Plans and Exercise Division of the Combined Forces Command Headquarters in Seoul are making a habit of hiking up mountains to clean graffiti apparently left decades earlier by some of their countrymen.
“Good neighbors don’t leave graffiti,” Air Force Maj. David Abrahamson said when asked why he has spearheaded the hike-and-scrape missions.
Abrahamson explained that in the spring, a Korean member of the Sanyangsarang hiking club told him about a boulder on Sapaesan — a mountain overlooking Uijeongbu — covered in graffiti apparently painted by U.S. servicemembers “that cast a bad light on Americans. He said it would be great if an American went with them and helped to clean it off.” [Stars & Stripes]
I have said this for sometime that Cheonbosan mountain in Uijongbu needs to be cleaned up along with graffiti on Suraksan Mountain, but it would take quite an effort to do. It is great to see that Major Abrahamson has organized the manpower and resources to at least start making a dent in the graffiti left in the Uijongbu area by prior USFK servicemembers.
12:35 am on November 19th, 2009 1
GI,
What was the mountain behind our base? That had a lot of graffiti on it as well. I was amazed that no one went to do anything about as it stoodout throughout the whole city of Uijeongbu.
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November 19th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Matt, it was Cheonbosan and I actually tried to get permission from the LTC to clean it up but couldn’t get approval because it required rapelling and thought it was too dangerous for soldiers to be hanging off the side of the mountain to clean up. I brought it up to MG Higgins as well during an OPD as a Good Neighbor project, but nothing ever became of it. That is why I have highlighted the cleaning of graffiti on this blog. The work this Major is doing that has been highlighted by S&S may actually cause 2ID to finally do something about the graffiti.
It would take an incredible amount of work to clean it up and if 2ID doesn’t want soldiers to do it for safety reasons then hiring a team of local Koreans to do it should be explored.
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November 19th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hell, it took an act of God to get permission for us to even run off Camp Sears post, let alone go up Cheonbusan. He was a zero-defects guy to the point of paranoia when it came to safety.
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November 19th, 2009 at 10:44 am
If I were in charge I’d make 702nd come down from Casey and clean it up since it’s their unit crest. Lineage and honors has to have its pros and cons!
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1:20 am on November 19th, 2009 2
Hold on there partner. Let me be the Advocates Devil.
According to this article, most of this graffiti is over 40 years old. The article didn’t mention that any of the graffiti was lewd, obscene, anti-US or anti-Korean or otherwise objectionable other than some considered it an “eyesore”. I suspect it was unit motto’s and insignia of units that have served here in Korea. I know Korean units also have practiced, shall we call it “military tagging”.
What I am pondering is at what point does graffiti go from being an eyesore to being a historical artifact? 40, 50 100, 500 or 1000 years. What of its’ cultural significance to future generations? The Korean war and subsequent military buildup (US and ROK) over the last 60 years were significant and defining moments in Korean history. In 300 years or so some of this graffiti would possible be eligible for UNESCO protection, and we all know how much the Korean people value such designations for any of their cultural assets.
Not to mention that these eyesores represent generations of soldiers and their units, both US and ROK, who have sacrificed these many years to ensure freedom and prosperity on the southern half of this peninsula.
In extremo: Many petroglyphs are exposed along the hillside rockface in Taegong-ri, Onyang-myon, Ulsan, mostly of prey, including deer, wild boars, bears, whales, and fish. This could also be considered graffiti. Let’s hop to it Graffiti Busters! I know there is some 30,000 year old graffiti in Chauvet Cave in France. Perhaps some nice spelunkers will venture in there and clean that place up too! C’mon Paint Peeling Posse!
…and don’t get me started on Mt. Rushmore. Gutzon Borglum really F*kced that whole mountain up.
Personally, when I am gazing at the majestic peaks of Korea which surround me (as I do often), and I spy a bunch of wrinkled, rumpled and sweaty hikers sporting bulging back packs and walking sticks, slurpping from camel backs and water bottles, their hairy legs bare, trudging across or atop those same majestic peaks, I do so admire, I often consider THAT an eyesore.
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November 19th, 2009 at 3:16 am
“According to this article, most of this graffiti is over 40 years old. ”
…and therefore may well be artifacts of the Korean War…
Accuse me of having a defeatist attitude if you will, but given that construction workers were given permission to dynamite a bolder on which a Chosun king would rest upon while write poetry (and at one point inscribed his name and poems in it), I wouldn’t hold my breathe for this to stop.
In any case, if we are to talk about eyesores, lets talk not forget the propaganda slogans carved on the flanks of rocky North Korean mountains.
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November 19th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Good points…
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