BUSAN - The streets are empty near
Haeundae beach and there is a war-time feel to the
neighborhood, with police stationed every 50 feet.
Sometimes dubbed the "Riviera of Korea", this is
usually the country's most popular beach and the
city's main party district, but the area is now
under lockdown.
Blame it on the arrival of
21 Pacific Rim leaders, including Chinese
President Hu Jintao and US President George W
Bush, and their entourages for the 13th Economic
Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC), which opened Friday in this
southeast port city.
The annual event,
which was held in Santiago, Chile last year and
Bangkok, Thailand the year before, goes on for two
days. The
forum, whose theme this year
is "Toward One Community: Meet the Challenge, Make
the Change", is the culmination of a series of
APEC meetings, which included the ministerial
meeting November 15-16 and senior officials'
meeting November 12-13.
This year's theme
of "Toward One Community" is ironic in that Busan,
South Korea's second-largest city, has been split
into two distinct sectors - those involved in APEC
and everyone else.
Haeundae beach is home
to five-star hotels as well as blocks of cafes,
bars, restaurants and a brothel street. At night,
the area explodes into light with gaudy neon
signs. It's a mix of global and homegrown fare -
you can sip a Starbucks latte while asking a back
alley fishwife to butcher a live snake snatched
from a plastic tub.
But not for a couple
of days. The main drag is blocked from all
connecting streets and no private vehicles can
pass unless APEC passes are taped on the
windshield. People mill around on the side streets
and business is slow. Police gunboats and navy
destroyers are moored in the bay. There are three
no-fly zones within a 5.6-kilometer radius of APEC
venues, and to counter against possible airborne
strikes, anti-aircraft missiles are stationed
around the city.
The majority of the APEC
scene is concentrated at BEXCO, up the road from
the Haeundae area. BEXCO is a massive futuristic
building built in 2001 and it's the largest
convention facility in the country, the size of
three football fields.
The APEC summit is
the biggest event ever held in the complex. Police
are stationed every five meters around the
perimeter. Only APEC ID holders can pass into the
parking lot area and once at the building, they
must pass through metal detectors and send their
bags through X-ray scanners.
Within BEXCO
is the IT exhibition, an orgy of self-promotion
for Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Korea
Telecom and SK Telecom. BEXCO is the main APEC
location, the one for the low-level ministers and
CEOs of various conglomerates. However, the power
players will meet at Nurimaru, a modern glass and
steel villa built among the rocks and pine trees
at the end of the Dongbaek peninsula near the
Westin Chosun hotel. Just finished a month ago,
the design is based on a traditional Korean house
and a flying saucer.
There the leaders
will discuss major issues such as avian flu,
terrorism and North Korea's nuclear capabilities,
though stalled global trade talks are likely to
take center stage.
APEC gatherings also
will extend to the central district of Seomyeon,
another city hotspot, which features the five-star
Lotte Hotel with a built-in department store
directly connected to a subway that daily feeds
thousands of commuters through a maze of shops and
boutiques. Riot police stand near all exits and
the gilded hotel entrances are blocked with X-ray
machines and arched metal detector stations.
Overall, all the city's five-star hotels
are fully booked by the 21 APEC entourages, which
are estimated to total 6,500, along with 4,000
Korean nationals who are involved with related
activities.
Although Seomyeon is always
busy, subway use has decreased at the stops near
the APEC venues: Centum City, Busan Metropolitan
Art Museum, Dongbaek and Haeundae. The stops are
quiet and with few people around, except for
uniformed police. Normally tinged with the patina
of Busan grubbiness, they are spotless and
scrubbed. It is one of the rare times a passenger
can find a seat. Local taxi driver Kim Gi-seok
said: "Business is good. People are taking the
taxis more because they are afraid of a terrorist
attack in the subway." There is slight paranoid
fear in the air, and all trash cans have been
removed to thwart potential bomb-dumpers.
Numerous senior citizen volunteers monitor
subway stations for suspicious activity. Normally,
foreigners in South Korea are stared at with an
odd curiosity, but now anyone with a non-Asiatic
face is given the utmost scrutiny in the security
zones. The elderly volunteers, decked out in APEC
garb, rush to any foreigner and attempt to give a
helping hand, such as for buying subway tickets.
With subway passengers choosing
above-ground transportation, road traffic has
increased. The horrific traffic Busan is well
known for has multiplied because of closed
streets, massive exclusion zones and a scheme
where vehicles with odd and even license plate
numbers alternate driving days. It is an
unenforceable rule since most police are on the
pavement, and lawless Busan drivers don't like to
be hemmed in.
APEC leaders won't have such
worries. They are riding in Hyundai-manufactured
Equus luxury sedans. The automaker provided 230 of
the fully loaded vehicles, as well as 200 other
assorted cars and vans for APEC use. And BMW Group
Korea supplied APEC delegates with 238 of its
760Li and X5 models.
Not only is security
tight, it is highly visible as well.
The
government mustered 37,000 security personnel from
the national intelligence bureau, police force,
military, fire departments, maritime police and
customs service. Nearly all are young men, some
fulfilling their mandatory military service.
South Koreans are no stranger to police
presence, but the APEC scene is reminiscent of the
days of Park Chung-hee, the country's
dictator-like president from 1961 until he was
assassinated in 1979, who suspended the
constitution.
Some of the young men wear
faded navy blue stormtrooper-like body armor, and
are armed with plastic swords and body shields.
Others are in standard police uniform, and firemen
patrolling the subway are obvious in their orange
outfits.
On the outskirts of the city,
such as at the Seobu bus terminal, conscripted
APEC police wear ochre jackets, red APEC ball caps
and are armed with billy clubs and walkie-talkies.
They use the buddy system. One who asked not to be
identified said, "I don't think there will be a
terrorist attack. Korea is a peaceful country. We
sent troops to Iraq but they aren't in the
fighting part."
Despite the increased
police presence, there may be protests, including
by farmers concerned about produce market being
opened to foreign imports. Another issue is the
possible resumption of US beef imports if the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry decides the
risks related to mad cow disease have diminished.
Since Japan is considering lifting its ban, South
Korea is feeling the pressure to reopen its beef
markets, much to the dismay of the farmers. South
Korean farmers are not the only ones feeling under
siege at this year's APEC meeting.
Early
on Friday, the police presence on the streets had
discouraged protestors. Only a few demonstrated as
the forum got under way and they were quickly
disbanded. However, there was a call for Friday to
be the day for all groups to unite and let their
voices thunder. Thousands were expected to take to
the streets. Some suggest as many as 100,000 could
join in various protests. There could be more,
since a lot of people have free time on their
hands. Because of APEC, school classes are
cancelled and certain businesses and government
offices are closed.
But, however hot the
action on the outside, the activity inside the
APEC forum promises its own high intensity.
The US has a high stake in a successful
APEC meeting. APEC economies account for nearly
two-thirds of all US exports and half of all
global trade. Washington hopes that APEC
agreements - though non-binding - will pressure
key factions among the World Trade Organization's
(WTO)148 members. Moreover, APEC's importance to
the US has increased amid a growing number of
Asian forums that exclude the Americans. The
leaders' summit is a valuable opportunity for the
US president to demonstrate US commitment to the
region.
The APEC forum is essentially
linked to the WTO ministerial meeting scheduled
for Hong Kong on December 17-18. US officials say
they will urge Asian countries meeting for the
APEC summit to help unlock the long-running WTO
trade negotiations, called the Doha round because
they were kick-started in the Qatari capital in
2001.
An important element of the APEC
summit will be the "Busan Roadmap", which will
outline actions to be taken to achieve goals of
removing barriers to trade and investment for
developed countries by 2010 and developing
countries by 2020.
The APEC summit also
will likely produce important agreements that
won't make headlines, but will clearly impact the
business environment, such as a comprehensive
anti-counterfeiting and piracy initiatives
sponsored by the US, Korea and Japan that aims for
region-wide measures to be adopted in 2006
including for online piracy; since Korea is one of
the world's most-wired countries, this was an
early goal for the US and its realization would be
a mark of success.
Meanwhile, views about
the summit vary on the street.
"I am proud
of Busan, it's my hometown and we are showing the
world it's a good place," middle school student
Jeong Yeong-hoon said.
"It's fun!" said
Kim Byeong-chang, a senior citizen volunteer
helping out as an APEC guide.
Others were
not quite as positive.
"Where is all the
money coming to Busan?" shopkeeper Choi Mi-la
asked. "It goes to the big hotels but it doesn't
come to my business."
Filipino factory
worker Rizal Tan suggested, "APEC does nothing but
make it worse for the working people."
For
others APEC is disrupting their lives.
"I
don't like APEC for me," said Lee Sang-heon, an
apple seller working the Haeundae neighborhood.
"For Korea it is good, but for me it's bad.
Because the police made me move my truck and I had
a good spot."
"The taxis cost more,"
grumbled Raisa Gromyko, a Russian entertainer
living in Busan. "Traffic takes too much time and
the fare makes too much expense."
James Card is freelance writer
living near Busan in South Korea. He can be
reached at www.jamescard.net
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