The "Han River Miracle"

     The "Han River Miracle" is what brought South Korea into the modern world and has propelled it even beyond some of the developed countries that were ahead of it before.  Supposedly the "Han River Miracle" began in the 1980s when the South Korean government went all out to help its struggling businesses and industry to develop.  It seems that almost overnight South Korea developed an automotive and electronics industry that has now become a serious rival to Japanese companies that have dominated the world market.  Prior to "Han River Miracle," South Korea, having been devastated during the Korean War, was one of the struggling, poor countries in the world, far behind many developed nations.  Japan was literally light years ahead in development.  All that has changed in a remarkably short time.  By the 1990s South Korea was seriously beginning to compete with Japan for its automotive and electronic share of the world market, especially in Asia.  South Korea also emerged as the leading shipbuilder in the world!
     As the economic miracle began to raise South Korea's GNP and the earning power of average South Korean, the city of Seoul naturally began to spread, increase in its size.  Prior to the start of the so-called "Han River Miracle," the city limits of Seoul ended just short of Han River, which in Korean is called Hangang ("gang" in Korean is river, like "gawa" in Japanese).  It seems that the popular form of referring to Han River is Hangang River, which is wrong.  That is like saying Han River River!  But be that as it may, whether it is called Han River or Hangang River in English, it is a river that has always been an important part of Korean history in one form or another.  The capital city of Seoul was build close to its shores because of the importance of Han River as a transportation route, and the industrial miracle of South Korea began on its shores.
     Through the 1970s, the city of Seoul ended its limit at the Han River shore.  But with the sudden birth of industries, new factories and office buildings, more space was needed so the city of Seoul began to spread outward in every direction, except north.  Going north would have put the city even closer than it is now, to the DMZ and North Korea!  Within a decade, the city of Seoul spread across the river and in every direction.  So now, the city occupies both banks of the river, stretching southwest almost to the city of Suwon, while former towns such as Yongdonpo, Kimpo, and Yijongbu, just to name a few that used be towns on the outskirts, have become part of the city of Seoul.  The city of Seoul has grown rapidly, both in size and population!  A friend of mine who was in Seoul in the early 1970s used to go duck hunting on the shores of Han River where now high rise buildings stand!
     I last visited Seoul, South Korea in April of 1993, some 25 years ago.  I was astounded at how modern the city had become with high rise buildings, glitzy electronic signs, and heavy traffic.  A friend who was transferred to Seoul from Tokyo in 1980 told me that Seoul seemed like a small town compared to Tokyo at that time!  By 1993 when I visited, Seoul was close to catching up with Tokyo, it no longer was like a small town!  I can well imagine what it must be like today, 25 years later!
     Back in March, I did a blog called "SNAFU, BUBAR - Still Taking Place!"  In that blog I talked about the screw-ups that our military seems to continue to do throughout the years, no doubt dating back to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War!  I ended that blog by recounting my personal experience of having flown from very hot, tropical Philippines in the month of February and making a parachute jump with my unit over semi frozen shores of Han River.  Well, that particular shore area where we made the jump was a regular drop zone for the military use in those days.  South Korean troops as well as U.S. troops used that particular shore area as a drop zone for military training.  It was one of the areas along Han River that had the widest expanse of sandy beach along all of the shoreline.  Despite the frigid conditions, I did note that it was indeed a beautiful area with very unusual expanse of sandy shore.  Well, you guessed it.  Today it is part of the Han River Park, much of it paved over and turned into a vast area for people to use for various activities.  How time changes, or is it that I am so damn old?  After all, I made that jump in February of 1964, that is some 53 years ago, more than a half a century!  I guess time does change things, nothing is the same.