Northeast Asia’s Paradox / Peace Boat

Recently, the Northeast Asian countries (Korea, China, and Japan) have had controversial issues between one another. On one point, they have begun to increase their economic interdependence on one another and have helped each other’s economies to strengthen and grow. Consequently, political issues between these three countries have been gradually intensifying, making it harder for complete peace and cooperation to be created between these three Asian powerhouse countries. One example is the struggle of ownership of Dokdo. Currently, Japan is still claiming sovereignty over Dokdo, when historically the island had belonged to Korea up till World War II.

Because of all the distortions in history written in some textbooks, a group of Japanese students began to travel by boat to other countries to gain a better understanding of other Asian countries to first person perspectives and also to help promote peace. Their boat was known as the “Peace Boat” and ever since 1983, they have been operating and voyaging around the world to learn more about other countries.

VANK, the world’s largest non-governmental organization for public diplomacy has also taken action to promote peace around the world. One of their goals to help peace is the promoion of unification of North and South Korea. They are helping to promote this by distributing maps that they produced which talks about the effects that Korean unification can have. With the unification of Korea, Asia will be able to achieve co-prosperity, peace, and also be the foundation to solving other issues. Since 2005, VANK has been distributing these maps and in 2013, more than 100 thousand maps have been distributed worldwide.

Join VANK and others in helping promoting peace and prosperity for future of the world!

[Modern Korea] Korea Tourism Introduction_city and festival

Ranked the 3rd highest in “The 31 places to go in 2010” by The New York Times, Seoul, Korea Seoul is a city bustling with people and places and an infinite amount of things to do. Seoul, which is divided by the Han River, is filled with culture and history in Northern areas and known for its business districts in its southern areas. With over 12 million tourists in 2014, Korea has become a go to place for many tourists to explore and have fun.

source: jmapping.com

With many places to shop, tons of places to eat, and with the help of the hallyu wave and the infamous night culture that Korea has been known for, Korea has become a growing tourism “hot spot” internationally with over 10 million tourists coming to visit Korea annually.

source: asianpacificarts.edu

One of the many things that Korea is known for is their plentiful festivals that they hold throughout the year. One of the bigger festivals that they hold is the Boryeong Mud Festival. This festival was given numerous awards and is also heavily covered by the media every year, and many people, children and adults partake in this mud festival. The mud is also known to be rich in minerals and thus healthy for your skin as well.

Every year, mud is colllected from the Boryeong mud flats and transported to the Deacheon beach where a variety of events take place involving mud. Mud games, mud wrestling, mud massages, and a mud parade are just a few of the events that take place during this festival.

Come and visit Korea for yourself!

And dive into the numerous activities that Korea has to offer!