trek up nam san and the greater view in to Korean culture

There is a mountain in the middle of Seoul with a large tower, I think it is Seoul Tower. I passed Seoul City Tower on the way up. Walking up this his is a daily exercise for many Seoul folk. It is a hike, but offers great views of the city.Using the Lonely Planet as my guide, I set out to go up the hill and get some exercise.When I get home, I will show pictures.Let me get my thoughts down now.As I am hiking up the mountain, mountain is a proper definition, I come to an area off the path where the city has placed exercise equipment. There are ellipitical like machines, bench press, and even one of the contraptions that you can hang upside down. I try a few, but not the upside down thing. The notion of being injured and having some of the Dragon gang rough me up while I am defenseless is not appealing. Also being 6 foot two inches...I am not sure that I would not wind up hitting my head and getting a concussion.Laying before me is the mountain and stairs. More stairs and then a park. In this park is a statue and a memorial museum. The two heroes enshrined have this in common. They are anti-west. Patriot Ahn assasinated Emperor Ito in 1904. Today we would call that an act of terrorism. However, in Korea it is one of the more heroic acts of modern Korea. Ahn killed Ito to free his country from Japanese oppression. Ahn's plan did not work, but still in the mind of Korea on of the most famous mountains is this shrine at the base. Now, this shrine opened up Korean thought to me. Many years before the assisnation, Ahn stated to his French priest after the Archbishop blocked some of his social work that he found the thought of Catholicism correct. However, he was not going to learn another language, because he found that by learning another language he would soon be enslaved by the native speakers. There may be some truth to that notion. Continuing, he dreamed of a day when the world would come to Korea to learn Korean.As I am having difficulty learning the language, I am beginning to understand why. There is a predisposition in the story of the people that to learn a foreign language is to be enslaved by it. In our global world where the world needs Korean semiconducters for computers and cell phones how does that play out? Who are the key leaders in a Korean company? The one's who speak Chinese and English or the one's who know only Korean?Key thing is that once, I am beginning to feel the force of what it means to be Korean. My vision of a Korean is Chan Ho Park the pouting ball player. The Korean hostage crying like a baby not to be killed. However, as I stand here in Seoul I feel the power of this Homogenized culture. This is like being in Western Kansas, lily white. Instead, is saffron yellow. Is this something to celebrate? I am not sure, how about you?joy,Guido