The Kimchi-ite: Living And Traveling South Of North Korea

One of the top stories this past week on CNN, BBC, Fox News, Reuters and so many other major news organizations was that of North Korea‘s plans for a nuclear test. However, in South Korea, no one seems to care. It was certainly not the biggest story for Korean news outlets, sometimes even buried under stories about a coming cold front, the president-elect’s cabinet choices and advice on how not to get your cellphone stolen from a sauna. People often worry about whether or not it is safe to travel to less talked about South Korea because of the psychotic neighbor to the north. The truth is that even with today’s threats, which are only the most recent in a long string of hostility, South Korea remains one of the safest travel destinations in the world. When traveling throughout the country, rarely will there be an instance of theft or physical abuse. But obviously, travelers are not so much worried about pickpockets and scam artists when curious about the Koreas, but instead are much more worried of World War III breaking out.However, many feel safer in Seoul, roughly 30 miles from the North Korean border, than in the United States. And that is taking into consideration that the Korean War technically has not ended and also that the world’s largest artillery force is likely pointed at the capital right this minute. Much of that safety can be attributed to how ill equipped North Korea is and how well allied South Korea is.

I have asked my Korean friends how they feel about the situation and many reply that it is extremely complicated and they are numb to it all. They have grown up with this constant threat of North Korea. Very rarely does a month go by without some sort of threat to South Korea or the world at large. Most feel that these threats are empty and are simply ways for the nation to intimidate other countries into giving them food aide.

There is a feeling of sadness and sympathy for the people of North Korea. Their situation is dire and there is little anyone can do about it. In many ways, South Koreans don’t feel as though North Korea is a neighbor. Even though it is the only country South Korea shares a land border with, there is no real communication or travel between the two nations, making ties to nearby Japan and China stronger.

All of this is not to say that any report of danger in a foreign country is false, but it’s always important to consider a local perspective. The truth is, there are risky and dangerous aspects to almost all facets of travel. Whether it be the threat of attacks from North Korea while checking out a palace in Seoul, an imminent hurricane while at Miami Beach or having your camera stolen from your hotel room.

Be sure to check out all the other Kimchi-ite posts here.

[Photo credit: U.S. Army Korea Historical Image Archive]

Zombie Survival Map

“When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth,” they say in the zombie movie classic “Dawn of the Dead.” Let’s hope they don’t have smartphones, or they might find you stocking up supplies or searching for the closest gun store. Map of the Dead is an interactive, Google-map based website designed for zombie survival. Just enter your location and you’ll get nearby resources like liquor (hey, you might as well have a drink) and hardware stores to help you survive the zombie apocalypse. The map also shows you danger zones marked in red, basically areas with large, man-made structures where more zombies are likely to congregate, so steer clear of airports.

Should the apocalypse be more of the mutant-and-killer-robot variety, this film has you covered for post-nuclear survival.

SkyMall Monday: Nuclear Globe

Since the Cold War, we have lived in fear of nuclear war. Nuclear disasters from Chernobyl to the recent events in Japan have showed the force and dangers of nuclear power. But, what if I told you that something nuclear could also be fun? While we don’t power SkyMall Monday headquarters with fusion, we do appreciate a good nuclear device. With summer just around the corner, we were thrilled to discover that SkyMall has combined the excitement of nuclear power with the thrill of water sports. Before you worry about fallout, radiation and strange genetic mutations, you should know that this device is only dangerous if poked with something sharp. Here to usher in the zenith of the nuclear age is one of the pinnacle’s of human invention. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for the power of the Nuclear Globe.Man has always wanted to walk on water. Now, we all can thanks to the aquatic version of the American Gladiators Atlasphere. Whether powered by a nuclear reactor or just a little elbow grease, man can finally conquer water and enjoy spherical travel.

Think that boats are all we need for water travel? Believe that this globe is not really nuclear? Well, while you tread water we’ll be reading the product description watching the promotional video:


Leave your radiation-blocking lead vests at home, because the only vest that this Nuclear Globe requires is of the floatation variety and if yours is made of lead you’re screwed.

Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.

Bowermaster’s Adventures — Russia’s nuclear legacy

Just around the corner from Petropavlovsk, ten miles by land or sea, located across Avachinskaya Bay on a small peninsula called Krasheninnikova sits Russia’s largest nuclear submarine base. It is off limits to outsiders and a shell of what it was during the Soviet Union’s heyday. Today – judging by a simple Google map search – there are just a half-dozen active nuclear subs sitting at its docks. Worrying to those who pay attention to such things are the shadows on the far edge of the docks on the same map, indicating somewhere between a dozen and twenty subs piled up next to each other. They are said to be at varying degrees of decommissioning.

For decades the submarine station and a couple nearby support bases provided good jobs for locals and drew many Russians and Ukrainians to live in this easternmost outpost. They are also the reason that until the end of the Cold War Kamchatka was off-limits to the rest of the world. Even today, twenty years later, Russia continues to maintain a heavy military presence here.

The operation of nuclear-powered submarines generates considerable amounts of nuclear waste. Liquid and solid radioactive wastes need to be removed from submarines and stored. In addition, periodically the submarine needs to be refueled, thus spent fuel needs to be removed from the submarine and also stored. Decommissioning a nuclear submarine generates these streams of waste and in addition, the refueled reactor compartment must be dealt with.

It is a little worrying to me, an outsider, that the region’s two biggest industries overlap: Nuclear sub decommissioning and fishing. If the same worries locals, I can’t get it out of them during my day wandering the streets of Petropavlovsk. Most likely they are concerned too but are not going to share their feelings with a stranger.

Occasional testing of local air and water for radiation is done and recent tests suggest levels of both near the Rybachiy base had “slightly-elevated-levels. How much radioactivity is too much? One expert told me a story of some smalltime crooks who broke into the subs waiting to be decommissioned to steal gold used in their construction; stashing the goods under their beds was apparently not a very wise thing to do, given their radioactivity, which extracted the ultimate payback.

There are other concerns. In recent years there have been a handful of accidents involving Russian subs, fires, mostly and a couple very publicized sinkings. The Russian Northern Fleet’s main storage for nuclear waste at Kola Peninsula is reportedly leaking radioactivity. During 1997 all spent nuclear fuel, which was sent to Andreeva Bay, was stored in the open, without protection. At other big submarine bases, including the big one at Murmansk, there have been reports of nuclear subs being scuttled – sunk to the bottom of the ocean – without proper clean-up of the nuclear reactors aboard. Russians have previously admitted to dumping nuclear waste at sea, off the coast of Japan. The future of Ribachiy remains a big question.

This is from a U.S. State Department report: “In Russia every step of the process is facing problems. The support complex which was already in poor shape and accident-prone during Soviet times has been particularly burdened in the last few years. Shore-side waste sites are full of low-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. Shipments of the spent fuel for reprocessing have been delayed due to lack of funds and equipment. The service ships, which unload the spent fuel from submarines, are also full and in poor shape (and some have suffered accidents). The shipyards where the work is done are facing financial shortages, power blackouts and strikes. There are no final land-based storage sites for decommissioned reactor compartments removed from submarines, so they are being stored afloat in bays near naval bases. Finally, contamination is widespread at waste storage sites in the North and Far East due to accidents. Lower-level contamination is thought to plague virtually every support facility for the fleet. In addition, accidents on submarines have lead to contamination of the surrounding area.

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“The massive retirement of nuclear powered submarines has further aggravated this problem. The number of nuclear-powered submarines has declined substantially since the end of the Cold War as many first and second-generation nuclear powered submarines have been decommissioned. Also, due to lack of financing and arms control treaties, even third generation submarines are being removed from service. The Soviet Union/Russia constructed some 248 submarines by 1996 and some 150-170 have been removed from service. Only some third of these have had their spent fuel removed. Of the fifty or so submarines that have had their fuel removed only some 20-25 have been partially scrapped and their reactor compartments removed, sealed up, stored afloat. A particular problem is that at least one submarine in the Northern Fleet and three submarines in the Pacific Fleet were retired due to nuclear accidents. They have damaged spent fuel on board and the Russian Navy is uncertain about how to decommission them.

“Another concern with decommissioned submarines which still have their spent fuel onboard is accidents. Naval officers fear another major accident could occur, like what transpired on 10 August 1985 when an Echo II nuclear-powered submarine reactor exploded during a refueling at the Chazhma Bay shipyard. Another worry is that a decommissioned nuclear submarine could sink at dockside. On 29-30th May 1997, this happened when a decommissioned submarine sank at the submarine facilities in Kamchatka. Reportedly a vessel collided with the moored submarine, and it sank. The Russian Navy claimed all fuel had been offloaded from the submarine, and it posed no environmental hazard. However, such reports are not reassuring.

“The most acute problem today is that of the decommissioned submarines and the shore-side support facilities and maintenance ships. Little thought or planning had gone into what to do with retired submarines prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since 1991, a lot of thought has been devoted to this problem, but the absence of finances has meant serious environmental problems continue, and will probably continue for a decade or more to come. The Russian Navy and surrounding countries remain concerned that a major accident could ensue.

“In March 1993, after several years of revelations about the dumping of radioactive waste at sea, the Russian government released a White Paper describing some 30 years of the dumping of radioactive waste at sea. The so-called Yablokov report detailed how 18 damaged naval nuclear reactors and two internal reactor screen assemblies were dumped in the seas around the Soviet Union. Sixteen reactors were dumped in the Kara Sea and 2 in the Sea of Japan. One reactor screen assembly was dumped in the Kara Sea and one off Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the northern Pacific Ocean.

“Several scientific expeditions to the dump areas in the Arctic found local contamination from dumped materials. But there is no evidence of migration so far. However, all dump sites were not found and fully investigated.”

After reading various high-level reports, and looking out over what would appear to be a beautiful northern Pacific seascape from the hills above Petropavlovsk … I don’t think I’ll be buying second-home property here.

Would you want to stay here? Wait for it …

Aww, isn’t this bed and breakfast nice and quaint? According to their website:

Alicja Hotel is a modern hotel facility located only a few minutes walk to the city centre and 500 meters to the covered market of international trade shows that often take place in Lodz. The outstanding location, family atmosphere and high quality of services are our good points.

Now, here is that same exact hotel from a slightly different angle. I usually I tend to stay away from places that are almost entirely hidden on Google Maps because of the smoke from the nuclear reactor in the backyard, but that’s just me.

Goes to show you not to trust completely what you find on the hotel’s own website).

And for extra points, see this unexpected sight in the bar.