2012년 5월 10일 목요일
Lovely children in Cambodia
2012년 1월 19일 목요일
Where Koreans Go to Reunify (Hint: It’s Not the Koreas)
By THOMAS FULLER
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — At a roadside restaurant here near the sprawling ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, busloads of South Korean tourists file in to witness an unexpectedly exotic spectacle: doll-faced North Korean women performing everything from saccharine ballads to a rousing number from Bizet’s “Carmen.”
On the frosty Korean Peninsula, relations between North and South are perennially tense. But here amid the balmy breezes of this Cambodian tourist town, Koreans from both sides of the border are enthusiastically fraternizing at the North Korean restaurant as if reunification were just days away.
“Everyone is very excited,” said Jung Myong-ho, a South Korean tour guide watching the show one recent evening. “Back in South Korea, we don’t have any opportunities to meet North Korean people.”
You would not know that North and South Korea were technically still at war by the beaming faces all around, the loud applause for the North Korean performers and the frenzy of picture-taking afterward. Northerners and Southerners pose shoulder to shoulder, a moment of cross-border kinship captured with the latest South Korean gadgetry.
The restaurant, called Pyongyang after the North Korean capital, is part of an ambitious expansion plan that has established outlets in some unlikely places, with branches in Bangladesh, Dubai, Laos and Nepal, said Bertil Lintner, the author of “Great Leader, Dear Leader: Demystifying North Korea Under the Kim Clan.”
He calls the restaurants, which have opened over the past decade, a “North Korean capitalist experiment,” where wine goes for $30 a bottle and meals can run $100 a person.
It is an awkward moment for such a venture. These are uncertain days in the real Pyongyang, where the death of the longtime leader, Kim Jong-il, and the succession of his son, Kim Jong-un, have raised fears of instability, creating an atmosphere in which the slightest deviation from hard-line Communist doctrine is an invitation to a lengthy prison term in a labor camp.
Mr. Lintner says the Pyongyang franchise is an attempt by the government to generate hard currency, a supplement to the country’s sales of missiles and nuclear technology. There is no doubt it is desperately needed, to cope with food and fuel shortages, and a socialist economy in a state of collapse.
Indeed, generating hard cash may be more critical now than at any time since the 1990s, when perhaps two million North Koreans died of famine. For along with endless economic woes, Kim Jong-il bequeathed to his son a propaganda campaign promising that 2012 would be, “a year when an era of prosperity is unfolding.”
South Koreans fly thousands of miles for the temples, the shopping — and a little political détente in one of the two branches of the restaurants here with the North Korean staff.
North Korean performers, dressed in hanbok, a billowing, traditional Korean dress, wear permanent smiles as they play a Western-style drum set, electric guitars and accordion — and demurely shuffle across the stage. When one performer spins like a dervish, her frilly polyester dress filling out like a parachute, the South Korean crowd erupts with cheers and passionate applause.
On the menu are specialties ranging from the obvious (kimchi) to the more obscure (dog meat casserole), all prepared by a team of five North Korean chefs.
The performers, who double as waitresses, say they come to the restaurant from North Korea for three-year stints. But when they are asked for details about the restaurant and its ownership, their faces turn vacant. They requested that a reporter and photographer, the only non-Asian clientele in the restaurant, delete photographs of the restaurant from their cameras.
There are reminders of North Korea throughout the place, which has the feel of a wedding banquet hall. The walls are covered with murals of what the staff says are scenes of North Korean mountains. Glass cases hold North Korean herbal remedies and tea.
But perhaps more notable is what is missing from the restaurant. There are no propaganda posters, no slogans and no portraits of Kim Jung-un, or his father or his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the previous great leaders. The waitresses avoid any discussion of politics.
Mr. Jung, the South Korean tour guide, said the restaurant was a kind of neutral ground for North and South Koreans to meet. Inside the restaurant “politics disappear,” Mr. Jung said. “We are one family.”
The warm feelings seem to be helped along by ample orders of Cambodian beer and the fact that nearly all the South Korean patrons are in vacation mode.
South Koreans visit Siem Reap in greater numbers than any other nationality, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism. Last year, more than 260,000 of them came here, accounting for 16 percent of all foreign visitors.
Cambodia offers sunshine during the drab Korean winter, and food, hotels and golf courses at cheap prices.
A meal at a Pyongyang restaurant is one of the more expensive in town. In a country where a bowl of noodles costs $1.50, a hungry customer can easily pay $100 for a simple meal of kimchi, beef shoulder, stir-fried squid and a bottle of wine.
As they depart the restaurant, South Korean patrons snap pictures with the waitresses and settle their bills with wads of dollar bills.
“Dashi man nap shida!” the North Korean performers say. “See you again!”
Siem Reap is a popular destination for South Koreans.
The performers say they work for three-year stints.
2012년 1월 1일 일요일
Cambodia Newsletter Update
Since our trip to Cambodia over the summer, a lot has happened. During that span of time, each member of the team was able to progress on his/her research, making substantial steps along the way.
Likewise, in Cambodia, a lot has happened to those we have worked with. Students were given opportunities to pursue a higher-level education whereas some others made significant life commitments.
Overview
This newsletter serves to provide an update as to the status of the Cambodia project currently led by Prime Education Consulting. In this edition, we will talk about the possibility of sponsorship of Cambodian students (along with students Prime Education Consulting is currently sponsoring), Sarun’s wedding, and a proposal our members made to submit to the Points of Light Institute.
An Opportunity to Sponsor a Student for a University Education
Over the summer, our team met and worked with a few students who if they had lived in a first world country would be of age to attend a university to continue their education; however, since they neither had the resources nor the opportunities to do so, they had to forgo their education to take up jobs and other work. Noticing this, Prime Education has stepped in to sponsor these students through 4 years of education at a local university, hoping this will open up a path of opportunity for them and for younger aspiring students as well. Tuition is based off of academic achievement in high school (the higher the marks received, the lower the cost). There is an opportunity here to help students open a new path by sponsoring their education. Our team is currently in the process of coming up with ideas for funding in the foreseeable future. Help is greatly appreciated.
Student Bios
These students are currently sponsored by Prime Education Consulting to attend a local university.
1. Kimoun Lun
Sex: M
Date of birth: March 19, 1993
Age: 18
Place of birth: Tadorkpong Village, Boengtranhthbong, Samrong District, Takeo Province
Subject: Management
2. Savet Hen
Sex: F
Date of birth: February 16, 1991
Age: 20
Place of birth: Hangheng Village, Boengtranhthbong, Samrong District, Takeo Province
Subject: Tourism and Hospitality
3. Savoeun Rous
Sex: F
Date of birth: July 14, 1992
Age: 19
Place of birth: Hangheng Village, Boengtranhthbong, Samrong District, Takeo Province
Subject: Tourism and Hospitality
Subject: Tourism and Hospitality
Sarun’s Wedding
A few months ago, Sarun, who was the head of the local school our team had worked with, married his fiancé in Japan. Below are a few of his wedding pictures. We wish him and his fiancé a happy and long-lasting marriage.
Proposal for a Call to Action
During the past few weeks, our team had been brainstorming methods in which we can take our research projects and apply them on a practical real-world level. While researching ways to do this, we stumbled on the Points of Light Institute’s 2012 National Conference on Volunteering and Service (which takes place June 18-20 in Chicago). This conference would give us an opportunity to present our research, our goals, and additionally, to inspire others to join in this project. Before we could do so, the prerequisite was that a proposal be submitted by mid-December. The next few weeks, our team, in conjunction with professor Seagull, was able to write up a proposal to submit for a possible slot and chance present at the conference. In it, we detailed the events and results of our trip to Cambodia during the past summer. Additionally, we included information regarding each student’s research regarding Cambodia (music therapy, the role of NGOs, and the ways the two topics coincide), and the opportunities available in overseas volunteering. All in all, our proposal called for action amongst those of us who are blessed with more resources than those from Cambodia. Our hope was to encourage people to initially show interest then join in our project by showing the results and improvements our research has brought forth so far. The results for the proposal will not be out for another few months, but until then, we remain faithful. Whatever the result, we remain focused on our research, our mission, and we will work hard to achieve our goals.
피드 구독하기:
글 (Atom)