The Korean People are descendants of Mongolian tribal groups which migrated to the Peninsular from the North (or Manchuria as its known today). Today the Korean language, Han-gul, is still a linguistic anomoly, it is an 'altaic' language, a language group shared by Finland, Turkey , parts of the Urals, Mongolia and Japan (?). Yet of these languages, Korean and Japanese are the hardest to pinpoint. Hangul shares a similar sentence structure to Japanese but that is where the similarity ends. Chinese calligraphy was widely used in Korea, even after the introduction of written Hangul, during King Sejong's reign, yet in saying this Hangul has little, if no resemblance to Mandarin or any other Chinese language.
Despite the fact that the Korean people can find their prehistoric heritage in Siberia and Manchuria, they are a homogenous socio-cultural entity, that is they are different to any other culture. They are definately distinct from their North Asian neighbours; Japan and China.
These men (Agishi) are waiting in a somewhat linear fashion on the south bound quay, they are light in luggage so perhaps they are going to Kyonggi-do. Hmmm?
Between the background and the foreground is the railway line heading to the South West of Korea.
Between Yongsan and Namyong Stations, Seoul.
They are wonderful places to find, stuff at rock bottom prices, and some of the produce markets have a wonderful array of fine food!
Tomatoes for near nothing, and melon, mmmm, cut and ready to eat! Mushi so-yo!
This picture was taken in spring just north of Samgatchi Station (line 4), on a fine late Sunday afternoon. People work all the time in Korea!
