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Great Korean Railway Journeys S01E03 Daejeon to Busan
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00:01South Korea by rail
00:04These trains are capable of more than 200 mpH
00:08The opportunity to explore one of the world's most successful countries
00:14amidst towering skyscrapers in gleaming mega cities
00:18architectural statement
00:21I'll ride the wave of Korean culture sweeping the West. It's got this very spicy sauce
00:27And encounter ancient civilizations and traditions
00:33On a peninsula divided by war along a border between capitalism and communism
00:39The sense of tension here is powerful
00:42I'll see how out of destruction and partition South Koreans have forged an impressive new identity
01:14This morning from Seoul's main station. I'm leaving the capital and heading south
01:20I've been looking forward to this state of the journey on board the high-speed Korea train Express or KTX
01:29Its first such service ran in
01:332004 and these trains are capable of up to
01:37330 kilometers per hour more than 200 mpH
01:41I'm keen to experience that velocity and to discover what contribution is trains have made to Korea's economic
01:49Miracle
01:52Starting at the demilitarized zone on the North Korean frontier
01:56I traveled to the teeming metropolis of Seoul
01:59My route would take me southeast via Daejeon to the ancient capital of Gyeongju
02:04And on to the international port of Busan
02:08In the West I'll visit Gwangju
02:10Emblem of the fight for democracy before ending my travels on Jeju
02:15The largest of over 3,000 islands
02:22Today this high-speed service will take me almost 260 miles
02:31Seoul's vast metropolitan area eventually gives way to open countryside and rice fields
02:39One difference I notice is that people on the train are very silent
02:43No one is yelling into a mobile phone and at the station people joined a long line to get into
02:51the carriage door
02:52This reminds me of the politeness of Britain
02:5550 years ago
03:00My first destination is Daejeon, a city of 1.6 million people
03:08Located in the middle of the country in the Gyeong river valley
03:11It's a center of research and education with more than 20 universities and colleges
03:21Many of my fellow passengers appear to have been shopping
03:28As I came to the station it was very noticeable that lots of people were carrying the same bag
03:34From this bakery, Sung Sim Dang
03:38Their signature pastry is known as Tuiseau
03:43Number six, please
03:50Thank you
03:53The first of the bakery's branches opened here in the station in 1956
03:59This is a fried bread with a streusel top, a crunchy top
04:07And it tastes like a doughnut with crunch
04:11It's really good
04:12The story is that a refugee from North Korea
04:15At the end of the Korean War came here to Daejeon
04:19And as a charity a local church gave him two bags of flour
04:23And from that he was able to make some steamed buns
04:26And he went on to make these brilliant tasty products
04:30Now, it's never been franchised outside this city
04:34And so, if you want this, you have to come here to buy it
04:51Twenty miles south of Daejeon is the mountainous region of Gyeong San
04:57It was the first area to cultivate what has become Korea's most prized plant
05:05Ginseng has been known to the Chinese and Koreans for many centuries
05:10And has been used as a herbal medicine
05:14With a whole variety of claimed health benefits that have made it a very popular remedy
05:21More recently, it's also been used in skin care products
05:25And that has become a major industry in Korea
05:29Foreign visitors flock to the specialist shops to stock up with facial products
05:36Ginseng, therefore, can be a good living for farmers
05:40And I've come to an institution which conducts research to improve the crop
05:46Gyeong San has been the centre of the country's ginseng trade for over 1,500 years
05:53Today, Korea's market is worth around 900 million pounds
05:57And it's the world's second biggest producer after China
06:01The Institute was established in 1995 to support local growers
06:05Yong Yun Lee is one of the researchers
06:08Yong Yun
06:10Hi, Michael
06:11Great to see you
06:12Nice to meet you
06:13So, this is ginseng
06:16You grow it under shade?
06:17Ginseng is like the strong sunshine
06:20So, they need the under the shade cultivation
06:25Why is this a good area to grow ginseng?
06:29We have many mountains
06:30Almost 3,000 mountains here
06:33And high
06:34So, daily temperature difference is very large
06:38It makes the ginseng grow well
06:40This government-funded research centre develops new cultivation techniques
06:45And novel varieties to help to support the industry
06:51How long does ginseng grow? How old is this plant, for example?
06:56It's different, but this plant is five years old
06:58With ginseng, you're interested in the root
07:02The leaf is not very useful, is it?
07:04Yeah, not useful
07:04I will show you
07:08Ginseng nutrition or beneficial ingredients in the root
07:13Right
07:15How many different species are you trying out here?
07:18We have almost 400 species
07:21If you want better crops, you have to choice the good species
07:27Yeah
07:28We have to research about the response to the climate change
07:33Improved soil fertility or soil water content
07:37And is there competition between China and Korea for ginseng?
07:43In Korea's quality, China's quantity
07:47Different
07:49This laboratory investigates the best ways to process the ginseng root
07:55Hello, Miki Yong
07:56Hello, Michael, nice to meet you
07:58Great pleasure
08:01Miki Yong Won is the institute's director
08:04Do we know why ginseng is good for us?
08:09Ginseng can help for boosting the immune system
08:14Yes
08:15And improving overall energy
08:18The main chemical is ginseng oxide
08:22We can analyze 22 kinds of ginseng oxide
08:27At the same time with this machine
08:30So we can produce more useful processed products
08:35It's interesting to me
08:36For centuries people have been using ginseng
08:39And they feel it's been doing them good
08:41But only now can we begin to explain scientifically why it's good for us
08:46Yes, so we can analyze
08:50We can check which compound is the best for our body, our health
08:58Yes
08:59During your lifetime
09:00Have you taken ginseng?
09:04Yes, sure
09:05Yes
09:05So that is why I keep younger face and health body
09:13Exactly, exactly
09:14When I was a child and when I had a cold
09:21Yes
09:22My mother gave me ginseng with honey
09:26And I became better
09:29The team is currently evaluating the different ways to extract the beneficial ginsenicides from the ginseng root
09:38Powder is better or sliced ginseng better
09:42We test
09:44Traditionally we use sliced ginseng
09:47But these days we can make ginseng powder easily
09:52Yes
09:53So I think it's better
09:55The powder?
09:57Yes, with new technology
09:59The discoveries made here are used to develop an array of products from snacks and tea to face cream
10:07Would you try this?
10:08I would love to
10:10This one obviously looks like the root
10:12Shall I try this one?
10:13Korean people, yeah, like this snack
10:17Ginseng and honey
10:20Yeah, that's very easy to eat
10:24I can tell there's an underlying bitterness but the honey has made it very, very palatable
10:32Buzzing with ginsenicides, I continue my journey
11:05To the historic city of Gyeongju
11:07Back in Daejeon, the next stage takes me east to the historic city of Gyeongju
11:15Korea opened its first railway in 1899
11:20Six years later, the Gyeongju line connected Seoul to Busan
11:26In 2004, Korea opened its first high speed line to connect the two cities
11:32To find out more about the history of rail in Korea
11:35I'm joining Ho Lee, head of railway research at the Korea Transport Institute
11:40Hello Ho
11:41Hello Ho
11:42Hello, hello
11:43I'm Michael
11:43Good to see you, Mike
11:44Good to see you
11:48We're travelling on this excellent high speed line between Seoul and Busan
11:53When was this built?
11:55The construction of high speed railway started in 1992
12:02First page connecting Seoul to Daegu opened in 2004
12:08Second page connecting Daegu to Busan is opened in 2010
12:14Is it right that this train is based on the French train Grand Vitesse?
12:19Yeah, right
12:20This train and the technology of the high speed railway
12:25And increasing the train were transferred from France
12:30It looks as though you need more capacity now
12:34Right, right
12:35Because the trains are very full
12:36From 1980s, most people owned an automobile
12:43Yes
12:44So, at the times, people prepared the automobile rather than public transportation
12:51The railway services is not good at the times
12:54But right now, high speed train is so popular in Korea
12:59The number of passengers every year is dramatically increasing right now
13:05Do you think Korea will build more high speed railway lines?
13:09Yeah, yeah, yeah
13:11Currently, we have the three dedicated high speed rail lines
13:14We are planning to build more high speed railway
13:19Because in the K-Tex changes the way people live
13:23Making long trips shorter, more convenient, more reliable
13:40After a two-hour journey, we arrive in Gyeongju
13:57With an impressive collection of historic temples and palaces
14:01This is one of the best preserved ancient cities in the country
14:09It was once the capital of one of Korea's great royal kingdoms
14:13And beneath the mounds is a series of tombs
14:18The Royal Shilla dynasty lasted for about a thousand years
14:23Occupying roughly the first millennium AD
14:27And at the height of its powers between the 7th and the 10th centuries
14:30It occupied almost all of the Korean peninsula
14:33Its upper classes had a love of gold
14:37As has become apparent from the excavation of burial mounds
14:41Which are yielding a large number of artefacts
14:45And a mass of information about Korea's history
14:52In what is now Great Chumulai Park
14:55In the centre of the city, the first treasures were found in the 1920s
15:00But many were not documented
15:01Around 200 tombs have since been discovered
15:05And a team from the Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage
15:09Has spent the last 18 years recording their findings
15:14Ji Hyun Kwon is one of the team's research curators
15:18Hi, I'm Ji An, nice to meet you
15:20It's great to see you
15:22Now, these remarkable burial mounds that you have in this area
15:26I believe they're from the Shilla dynasty
15:29How do we know that these were royalty and that these were aristocrats?
15:34The objects excavated from the site are like some sort of golden earrings
15:41And some armours and lots of pottery that many ordinary people couldn't have at that time
15:47Were these people quite artistic? Were they very good at craft?
15:52Yeah, Shilla was famous for its gold
15:54They produced a lot of golden ornaments, golden crowns and earrings and things like that
16:02So these are beautiful
16:03The mounds appear to be big
16:06Yes
16:07How were they constructed?
16:09They placed the wooden coffin structure and then tons of stones
16:15After that, they cover the whole thing with the earth
16:20The burial mounds on this part of the site were once levelled to build houses
16:25When the excavations are complete, they'll be restored to their original form
16:31Great to see you, hello
16:33Hi
16:34I'm joining archaeologist In Tae Chung, who's working on one of the smaller graves
16:40Thank you very much
16:42Here's the Shilla people, the hair is on the other side
16:47Okay
16:48So let's go to the hair side
16:51So let's go to the hair side
17:02So we begin with this small implement
17:04Just to take away some of the earth around this pot
17:09So if you look at the hair side of the head
17:11There are many small pieces of the pots that are broken
17:17So you can see this is where people die
17:21and put it in the middle of the world
17:23and put it in the middle of the world.
17:27A very nice idea.
17:29Now, let's move on to the head of the person's head.
17:35This is a knife.
17:38It's a big knife.
17:40This is the handle here.
17:43You've found objects like this in other graves as well.
17:47Yes.
17:47The knives and knives are very popular.
17:54That sword has become much clearer just in a moment.
17:56What are the most beautiful objects that you've found?
18:00It's not in this grave,
18:01but there's a crown.
18:03There's a crown.
18:04There's a crown.
18:06There's a crown.
18:07There's a crown.
18:07There's a crown.
18:08There's a crown.
18:08There's a crown.
18:09There's a crown.
18:10There's a crown.
18:12There's a crown.
18:14Very exciting.
18:27Do we know what sort of ritual?
18:30Do we know what sort of ritual?
18:42Do you feel that you have learnt a lot about this civilization?
18:47Do you feel that you have learnt a lot about this civilization?
18:59I think the world is less and more and moreIVI?
19:00Do we know what kind of ritual is?
19:01What do you do?
19:02Do we know what kind of ritual is?
19:03Do we know what kind of ritual is?
19:05So, we've been talking about what kind of ritual is.
19:07Is there a crown orlin ?
19:07If you know what kind of ritual is,
19:08Once unearthed, the artifacts are catalogued and analysed.
19:13what very beautiful things he's a superb so pottery jewelry
19:31it's extraordinary to touch an object that is 1,500 years old
19:45very very slender sheets of gold
19:54yes so even their animals had to look beautiful
19:58very skillful people this has been a wonderful introduction to deep Korean history
20:33my final destination today is the city of Busan at the southeastern tip of the peninsula
20:48during the Korean War Seoul fell to communist forces
20:52and was then recaptured on two separate occasions
20:56vast numbers of refugees fled to the south
20:59in particular to the port city of Busan
21:02when it filled up they moved to the adjacent hills
21:06and cut down the forests and built shanty towns
21:10over time the houses in Gamchon were made sturdy and permanent
21:15and today it is officially recognized as a culture village
21:24with spectacular mountain peaks and long sandy beaches
21:29Busan is the country's second city and home to three and a half million people
21:46overlooking the Korea Strait
21:48that links the Sea of Japan or East Sea
21:51and the East China Sea
21:53it's an important strategic location
21:55with a port that is now the sixth busiest in the world
21:59and I'm excited to explore the city
22:12I'm turning towards the hills for my first stop
22:16the strikingly colorful village of Gamchon
22:19built over a series of terraces and connected by a maze of alleyways
22:25this extraordinary art-filled habitation
22:28has become a popular tourist destination
22:30for both Korean and international visitors
22:40they say that a high tide lifts all boats
22:43the tremendous economic growth in Korea
22:46has affected most people in most places
22:50and here, yesterday's hovels, are today's chic
22:56To explore the village's history
22:58I'm meeting Chang Ho Lee
22:59who's lived here for over 50 years
23:02Hello Mr Lee
23:03I'm Michael
23:05How do you do?
23:06You've studied the history of Gamchon
23:08Please tell me about the arrival of the refugees in the 1950s
23:14War refugees fled south and came down to Busan
23:17The city faced the challenge of finding places for the refugees to live
23:24Back then there was no transportation
23:26and this area was relatively close to the city centre
23:32During the Korean War, Busan was the only major city
23:36not to be occupied by North Korea
23:38By 1951, 700,000 people had fled here to escape the fighting
23:44and it became the temporary capital of the south
23:48Before the refugees arrived, what would this area have looked like?
23:53This whole area was just hillside farmland
23:56At the time there were only about 10 thatched roof houses
24:01What was the village like when you first came here in the 1970s?
24:05What did it look like then?
24:08Back then this area was a shanty town
24:13Despite government investment to improve housing in the 1980s
24:18Over the following decades the village's population fell dramatically
24:21leaving homes and shops abandoned
24:24In 2009, the Ministry of Culture backed an extraordinary initiative
24:29bringing together local artists and residents
24:32to try to revive the community
24:34The results are spectacular
24:38Ten artworks were selected through a national arts programme
24:42The artists searched all over Busan
24:45and decided to install the artworks here
24:49Photographers from across the country came to capture the installations
24:53After their photos were shared, tourists began to visit
24:59With all the changes that you've seen, how do you feel about this transformation?
25:06Without that change, I think this village might have fallen into ruin
25:11Tourists brought new energy to the village
25:16From the open-air gallery of Gamcheon village
25:19To the many cultural spaces across the city
25:22The art scene in Busan is thriving
25:25I'm making a stop at the Modern and Contemporary History Museum
25:29To take in an exhibition inspired by the city's heritage
25:32As a wartime refugee capital
25:35Jaywon Kim is one of nine artists taking part
25:41Jaywon
25:43Great pleasure
25:44Nice to meet you
25:45You've contributed to this exhibition
25:47Do you have a personal connection to the refugees?
25:50Yeah, actually my grandmother came to South Korea
25:54from North Korea during the Korean War
25:56And then my father's brothers were also refugees
26:00Did you hear much about their experiences?
26:03Did they have a very difficult time?
26:07Yes, my grandmother used to tell me stories about her experience as a refugee
26:12So I started thinking about how to connect refugee stories to Busan's history through my work
26:20What is the link between these pieces and the refugees?
26:25This work uses the technique of Gamani weaving
26:29They hung Gamani woven straw sacks from the ceiling to create temporary walls and make private spaces
26:38And that weaving method was originally brought in during the Japanese colonial era
26:43To send Korean rice to Japan
26:47What interested me
26:50Waswagamani once symbolized exploitation under Japanese rule
26:53For refugees during the Korean War
26:55It became a tool to create even the smallest space of their own
27:02Your connection, your personal connection
27:04And your explanation makes it really very emotional
27:08Thank you
27:25For hundreds of years the Korean Peninsula was united under the Shilla dynasty
27:32And then in more recent centuries it has been violated by its neighbours
27:36The Korean War which brought so many refugees to Busan
27:40Played out a global conflict between communists and capitalists
27:44And each half of the peninsula today is a shop window for its political system
27:50One of the world's poorest countries and one of its economic miracles
27:55The division of Korea seems permanent
27:59But so too did the partition of Germany
28:02And those north of the ceasefire line
28:06Share the same language and culture and heritage with the south
28:11And the making of history never ends
28:15Next time
28:17What shall we order?
28:19Small octopus
28:20Yes
28:23Let's have some of that
28:26I am so impressed by this port
28:29It stretches to the horizon as far as I can see
28:35Today is a bank holiday Sunday
28:37And the sun has got his hat on
28:39And Koreans have come out to play in vast numbers
29:03Nelson
29:04To the solange
29:05See you later
29:13I feel a lot of hope
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