January 28th, 2013 at 3:09 am » Comments (2)

Busan Haps has an interesting post about Canadians playing hockey on the Imjim River during the Korean War.  The post is based on this article in the National Post which has a number of historic photographs from the war of Canadians playing hockey: “It was quite cold in the wintertime. We didn’t have much snow but we did have snow. And certainly the river in the shallow parts froze up,” said Goodman. “I can remember one game — and I think I have a picture of it — with me
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August 1st, 2010 at 3:27 am » Comments (10)

I have been expecting the North Koreans to try and do something in response to the recent Naval exercises and this may have been it: A man died and another was injured from what appears to be an explosion of a wooden box landmine that drifted south from North Korea, local police here said Sunday. The explosion occurred around 11:20 p.m. on Saturday in a border city 60 kilometers northeast of Seoul. A 48-year-old man, known only by his last name Han, died at the scene, while a 25-year-old man
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April 23rd, 2010 at 6:33 am » Comments (5)

Besides being the week that honors the Battle of the Kapyong, this week is also the anniversary of the Battle of the Imjim, which is best known by the last stand of the Glorious Glosters on Hill 235.  The British Gloucestershire Battalion held Hill 235 over 4 days before finally being defeated by the numerically superior Chinese force.  However, the stand of the Glosters on Hill 235 allowed the United Nations Forces time to regroup and repel the Chinese’s 1951 spring offensive: You can read more about this engagement known
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April 3rd, 2010 at 1:00 pm » Comments (12)

Via the ROK Drop Forums comes this 1987 image of Freedom Bridge.  ROK Drop reader Thomas was nice enough to upload the images of the bridge from his tour there over 20 years ago in the Forums.  Please be sure to check them out. Looking at this image it is hard to believe that south side of the bridge has turned into a carnival.

September 16th, 2009 at 4:51 am » Comments (6)

It appears with public anger growing against the North Korean water attack, South Korean authorities are trying to minimize the culpability of the North Koreans: North Korea’s abrupt discharge of millions of tons of water a week ago is not seen as an intentional water attack against South Korea, a government source said Sunday, citing the results of an analysis by U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities. Satellite photos taken before Sept. 6 have shown that water had risen to the top of the Hwanggang dam, the source said, on
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September 9th, 2009 at 5:26 am » Comments (3)

The South Korean government as officially responded to the intentional flood caused by the North Koreans two days ago: North Korea appears to have deliberately opened a dam that sent water surging down a river into South Korea, a top South Korean official said Wednesday, but he stopped short of calling it an attack. Six South Koreans camping and fishing at the river were swept to their deaths last weekend after North Korea unleashed an estimated 40 million tons of water from a new dam into a river at the
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September 8th, 2009 at 6:43 pm » Comments (0)

What nonsense: North Korea on Monday claimed a sudden massive discharge of water from an Imjin River dam that led to flash floods on the South Korean side of the border was occasioned by “rising water levels” at the dam. Six campers were swept away in the floods, but the North offered no apology. An intelligence officer said the explanation was “unconvincing” since about 300-400 mm of rain fell in the upper reaches of the Imjin River in early July, but there has been no record of more than 200 mm of
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September 7th, 2009 at 7:14 am » Comments (8)

There is just no way that this flood created by the North Koreans wasn’t intentional: The government is asking North Korea for an explanation about a flash flood on the Imjin River that has presumably killed six South Koreans. Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said the government sent a message to the communist state on Monday expressing regret over the massive damage. The South Korean government suspects the flood was caused by the North’s apparent discharge of an estimated 40 million tons of water from its Hwanggang Dam near the
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April 2nd, 2009 at 7:52 pm » Comments (31)

Here is a ville memory from the small Korean village of Changpa-ri in 1969: The deuce-and-a-half revs it diesel engine as thick black smoke billows from its exhaust pipe curved toward the sky. In summer months wearing khakis with the blue infantry braid, polished brass with blue backgrounds, and our unit crest affixed to our epaulets, we pile onto the back of the truck. (In winter months we will wear the strack OD-green wool uniform with pants tucked into our combat boots.) The truck bounces past the front gate of
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