OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Korean Girls Testing a New "Short Drop" Parachute Design

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Smokin', Gamblin', and Gossiping

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- High Class Family

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- The Short-Cut Home, or, a Korean SPIDERMAN Does His Thing. SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Kids On the City Wall, SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- A Crowed Scene on a Side Street, PYONGYANG

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- A Rustic Road Near SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- The Bean Grinder, SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- A "Greasy Spoon" Restaurant in SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- The Chicken Seller, SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Charcoal Carriers, SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Junks Along the Han River at YUNG SAN, a Logging Town Near SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Two Kinds of Loads on the Streets of SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNIG CALM -- Public School With a Holding Cell Under the Floor Reserved For Wild Kids, SEOUL

Wonder what the little girl behind bars did to get thrown in the klink? Obviously, the pipe-smoking old teacher-sage doesn't take any crap from his young pupils. Photo by Herbert Ponting, 1903.

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Tiger Hunters in the Hills Outside of SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Shoeing a Horse at the Blacksmith's Home, SEOUL

In the past, these guys were evidently kicked clear into their neighbors yard by a horse that didn't care to get shoes nailed into its hoofs....and there is NO WAY they will let THAT ever happen again ! 1903 photograph by Herbert Ponting.

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Japanese Make Sure the Koreans Know Who's in Charge !

This is Korea ca.1897-1900. Commenter idea0853 believes it is actually September 6th, 1897. See his comment far down below. As a stereoview, the first record I can find of its being published is in 1901.

The image is tragically symbolic. A crowd of Koreans stand under the shadow of the Japanese "Rising Sun" flag, while their own Korean National Flag is relegated to the size of a bath towel.

Although Korea has not yet been formally annexed to Japan, a series of subjugating treaties backed by military force had allowed the Japanese to "call the shots" and "run the show", basically doing whatever they wanted with Korea and the Koreans.

I have never seen such a graphic image demonstrating the lack of respect Japan had for any of its neighbors in the Century leading up to WW2 -- well, except for a pile of photographs I have that show the Japanese Military abusing the Chinese, which a National Magazine in Tokyo told me they could never publish in Japan. "It is not good for Japanese Morale and the Nation of Japan to know what happened in the past", I was told.

Of course, they did not have to tell me that, as I was already familiar with the so-called "History Books" approved by the Ministry of Education during my over three decades of living there. Of course, some of the History Books published in America for their schools are in the pits as well. No doubt every nation (to either a LARGE or small degree) lives in some amount of corporate, official denial about not only the present, but especially the past.

KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Human "Dirt Pounders" Harden the Foundation for a New Post Office. SEOUL, 1903

KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Officials of the Imperial Department of Communications. SEOUL, 1903

KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Four Peace-Loving Korean Gentlemen at the Temple of the God of War. SEOUL

KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Heathen, Idol-Worshipping,

Blinded-by-the-Devil, Superstitious Koreans (According to the Christian Missionaries,

that is). Near SEOUL

KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Two Happy Guys Winnowing Barly in the Streets of CHEMULPO

Photo by HERBERT G. PONTING, 1903

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNIG CALM -- Public School With a Holding Cell Under the Floor Reserved For Wild Kids, SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Happy Kids With Grandma and the Water Boy, SEOUL

Photo by UNKNOWN photographer, ca.1899-1900.

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Chowing Down at an Old "Greasy Spoon" Where the Food Tastes Great. SEOULPhoto by UNKNOWN photographer, ca.1899-1900.

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- The Wedding party (2), SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- High Class Dandys on a Nature Hike. Near SEOUL

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- The Royal Tombs

Photo by UNKNOWN photographer, ca.1899-1900.

OLD KOREA - LAND OF THE MORNING CALM -- Sticks, Mud, Rock, and Rope.

Building a Home in SEOUL