Man, this forum has really been looking abandoned lately, hasn't it? Surprised that hasn't resulted in an influx of urban explorers trying to get in.
We still get the occasional signup who is promising. One of the latest ones is Doctor Paper Bag, who does drone videos of the countryside, all the way out in Korea (the democratic south one, not the democratic people's north one). But he didn't get enough attention because nobody checks the
Video forum where he has posted three intriguing videos.
By random chance, one of the moderators on this site is also in Korea, and the Doctor's joining has made the world a smaller place. He introduced me to the growing domestic Korean UE community, which nobody in my network had been able to find on our own.
Recently I had a +1 for a
secretive exclusive event in the center of Seoul, so I invited the Doctor.
1.
2. We drove all around the 90% abandoned base on my electric bike.
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4. He was surprised to see some of the landscapes on post, with oddly somewhat American structures.
5. But in the distance you can see Seoul landmarks.
6. When the Qing Chinese first garrisoned here in the late 1800s, it was not surrounded by Korean highrises.
7. But over the ages, the land of this garrison has not been returned to Korea, at least never for long. Imperial Japan took it over sometime after defeating China in the 1894-95 First Sino-Japanese War. Then after the Americans defeated Japan in 1945, guess who moved in next. Uphill from the garrison is a community called Haebangchon, literally Liberation Village, where refugees mostly from North Korea ended up settling. Both my cats were born in the big white building on the left, 17 years ago.
8. An interesting logo.
9. Inside the Navy Club, one of the few abandoned buildings that is very easy to get inside.
10. In an active corner of the base, we found a big barbecue event. I saw this on the back of a woman's jacket and couldn't help but shoot nothing but it.
11. I realised I had set focus to manual at some point in the Navy Club, so after the party we went back to reshoot things. Here's us with a soldier with a Hitler moustache who apparently likes dick.
12. A bomb shelter with a wooden door.
13. I think "Assignment of Choice" is a slogan for Korea as a whole, but this does make it seem like this garrison is the posting of choice (rather than the more remote ones farther out of the capital).
14. Literally right next door, there's the Korean presidential compound. It moved there in May 2022 with the inauguration of our current president, in the former defense ministry building overlooking the garrison. Imagine if the US presidential office were moved out of the White House and into a nondescript building next door to a massive foreign military garrison in the center of Washington.
I'm in such a remote outpost in Korea that I don't know if UE is declining worldwide, or just on old sites like this one. Thanks to the good Doctor, I've learned that it is expanding in Korea, after years of being relatively off the radar yet offering so many sites everywhere. It's a bright future, I guess ironically considering what we pursue.
Also, follow Doctor Paper Bag's
Drone Explorer channel on YouTube! He's an ethical explorer, and he goes to a lot of trouble to provide English subtitles for his videos. Plus, the stuff he's uncovering is pretty wild.
