Hwacheon Peace Forum

This weekend I participated in the Hwacheon Peace Forum, which is a program where the best 1st year high school students in Hwacheon and Fulbright ETAs travel to various famous sights in Hwacheon. The Peace Forum was started two years ago by my host father and is a great opportunity for the students to practice English and for the ETAs to explore a different part of Korea. Hwacheon is very remote and rural and very few ETAs visit even though Hwacheon is home to many famous Korean War landmarks and is very close to North Korea. The Peace Forum motivates ETAs to come to Hwacheon and allows them to learn more about the Korean War.

On Saturday 15 ETAs from all over Korea descended upon Hwacheon and were joined by me and another Hwacheon ETA as well as 18 extremely eager students. Upon our arrival each ETA was paired with a specific student and we were given time to talk and get to know each other before visiting the Hwacheon Folk Museum. The Folk Museum is across the street from my apartment and I had always been curious about what was in it so I'm glad I got the chance to go to the museum for free. The museum wasn't very big and didn't offer very much but it did allow us all more time to get to know each other.

From the museum we boarded a bus and started our drive to the Chilseong Observatory, which is on an army base within the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone). At the Observatory we spoke with a Captain in the Korean army and looked out at North Korea. We also saw a North Korean Guard Post, which was simultaneously monitoring us. I really appreciated seeing a different side of the DMZ. The two previous times I went to the DMZ I went near Paju, which is close to Seoul. Therefore the DMZ there is a little touristy and much more developed. In contrast, the Observatory was nearly empty except for our group.  I felt like this view of North Korea and the DMZ is a bit more accurate. The Captain really gave us a sense of the monotony and yet, danger, that comes with working at the DMZ. Unfortunately, it was really foggy and we didn't get too clear a view of North Korea. Nevertheless, we were able to see a North Korean bathing in the river.

My partner, Dong Hyun, and I with North Korea behind us.

On Saturday night we slept in hanok, which is the traditional Korean homes. At the Hanok Village we also made ddeok. Ddeok is a super common Korean food and is basically rice that is pounded down until it is smooth. We were given two huge mallets and alternated hitting the rice cake with a partner. It was really cool to see how Koreans make ddeok and after we finished we were able to eat it! We also had Korean barbecue prepared by several of the students parents.

After breakfast this morning we traveled to the Peace Dam. The Peace Dam is an enormous dam across the Bukhan River, which runs into South Korea from North Korea. At the dam there is a large bell called the Peace Bell. The bell is a symbol of peace and was constructed out of artillery shells from conflicts in over 30 countries. Additionally, at the top of the bell there are doves carved without their wings. The wings of the doves were also carved but will not be attached until North and South Korea reunify. In order to ring the bell you must pay 50 cents and that money then goes into a scholarship fund for an Ethiopian student. Every year Hwacheon County gives one Ethiopian student a full scholarship to university to thank the Ethiopians for fighting alongside them during the Korean War. My host father works for the Hwacheon County Office and traveled to Ethiopia a month ago to deliver the scholarship money.

The wingless birds

Some of us ringing the Peace Bell

Our two last activities were watching a traditional Korean music show and taking a boat from the Peace Dam back to downtown Hwacheon. The boat ride was on Paroho Lake and was a really relaxing way to end the weekend. I was very impressed with how well run the program was because the other Hwacheon County Programs I participated in weren't always the most seamless operations. I was also very relieved that the students and teachers all seemed to really enjoy themselves because I was responsible for recruiting all of the ETAs. I hope the program continues to be just as successful in the future.

Dong Hyun and I on the boat