Ibike Korea People-to-People Program
Photo essay: Geoje-do to
Busan
Geoje-si to Busan (31mi, 50km) Cross a hilly island
and take a ferry to Busan.
Points of Interest: POW Camp, fishing villages, beaches, rocky coast, coastal defenses,
ferry.
Geoje Prisoner of War Camp opened in
1951. The Incheon Landing created a rapid increase in the number of
captives. With the intervention of the Chinese and the change of fortune
for the Korean and UN forces (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Columbia, England,
Ethiopia, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines,
South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and USA), they need a place to houses the POW remote from
the front, with security, ample water and good access. G
eoje Island was
selected. Eventually it filled two valleys and held 170,000 POWs (150,000 North
Koreans, 20,000 Chinese) among 28 compounds in 4 enclosures.
The camp was served by the 64th Field Hospital.The camps were not always tranquil: There was a series of riots by pro-communist prisoner, violence between pro-communist and anti-communist inmates, and on May 7, 1952, the communists abducted Brig Gen Dodd, camp commander.
The sections of the exhibition included: Fountain Square, a tribute to the
National leaders that played a role in the Korean War (upper right), dioramas of
POW camp, Invasion by North Korea, defense by South Korea, a
sculpture of a famous picture of refugees clambering across a destroy bridge on
the Daedong-River (right), the lives of the POW, turmoil in the camp, and
repatriation.
The
last section is a replica of the camp with dormitories, mess and other buildings and
a few remnants of brick buildings the were used by the camp guards.
Here
is a convenient intersection, with a convenient store and a convenient large
tree to rest under. If you need some extra protein in your diet there is a
convenient box of dried fish. The fish don't taste fishy and probably have
a high oil content.
What
you probably didn't know is that there are five species of loons that come to
Korea to spend the winter. The coastal area on the Island of Geoje is an
important refuge and the only place in Korea where the loons can be found in
large flocks. One rare specie, the gray-headed loons has a winter population of
1000-2000, but their numbers are decreasing.
In
Jisepo there is a Fishing Village Folk Museum and Ship Building Marine Museum.
The fishing museum is about the economy and culture of fishing on the South Sea
islands. The marine museum covers the past, present and future of boats and
shipping.
The link for the marine museum is two of Korea's big three ships builds on Geoje Island; Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering (DSME) (second largest ship builder in Korea and the world) and Samsung Heavy Industries (number three). Korea and the world's largest shipwright is Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan). In 2011, these with four other Korean top ten ship builders, had a 53.2% share of the global market.
Busan
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