hondamon - 27-3-2012 at 03:12 PM
Just thought I would share another strange story with you that happened to me yesterday in this seemingly odd country I live in. So yesterday my
school had a day off ... no work and good wind means kiting, right? A friend and I drove to a park in northwestern Seoul. There was little to no wind
at this point, so set up a couple of kites. We sat and drank coffee while we waited for some wind. Finally, there was some, so we flew my smaller fb
since it was his first time. The wind picked up a little more, so I hopped on my board to see if there would be any pull, but not enough. So we put
that kite down and started to set up my Unity. Then, a couple Korean guys with some badges came over and asked if they can take a picture. They told
us they were from the Nuclear Safety Commission. Then they got on the radio and soon there were some other fellas that showed up, including a couple
high ranking older guys. Then the police. Then members from the army. All taking pictures of me, my kites, my bags and my id. Asking me all sorts of
questions...."where do u live, where do u work, what do u do, how did u get here...." Finally they told us that we cant fly the kite today because of
the Nuclear Summit in Seoul, although we were on the complete opposite side of the city from there. Anyhow, of course the winds picked up as we were
escorted off the park. What a bummer! Its,not every day that I have a day off work and winds are good and there arent a billion and one people in the
park. :shocked2:
BigMikesKites - 27-3-2012 at 06:05 PM
you might have been a spy trying to fly over the summit with your kite.
PHREERIDER - 27-3-2012 at 07:02 PM
dude you rank! government threats... now thats heavy esp. a nuclear handed one.
follow you here too. hi!
hondamon - 27-3-2012 at 07:21 PM
Haha...i could be famous. 25 miles acrossthe city was the summit. I was in a park where others were running around and playing.
The young fellas who questioned me were really nice though. When they first asked me what my kite was, I saw their electronic dictionaries...they had
managed to find in English the word UFO. 
WELDNGOD - 27-3-2012 at 07:23 PM
bet they were concerned it was a paraglider...
indigo_wolf - 27-3-2012 at 07:34 PM
I am kind of surprised that you are surprised by this reaction.
"Nuclear Summit in Seoul" pretty much explains everything.
Do a Google search on "Rezwan Ferdaus" and "F-86 Sabre"
During the G8/G20 Summits kites of any type were banned from the area.
http://www.cbc.ca/toronto/features/g20/2010/06/excuse-me-sir...
Seems silly?!? This is an open forum so it would be a tad naive to get into a deep dialog about this.
Anything that can be flown and controlled from the ground can easily be made into a viable security issue at a government meeting.
ATB,
Sam
PHREERIDER - 27-3-2012 at 07:53 PM
about ufo over seoul?
or the dude flying the kite?
or the notion of threatening a nuclear armed nation?
both
or
all
hondamon - 28-3-2012 at 04:52 AM
Im glad they are aware of whats going on during a summit. I was just nowhere near anything. I was just telling a story, thats all.
PHREERIDER - 28-3-2012 at 05:04 AM
they found you ...you can't hide now. cool story
ragden - 28-3-2012 at 05:05 AM
Good stuff. Glad you managed to stay calm and collected with those guys.
I heard a story once from a friend of mine who was kiting near the Washington Monument using an HQ Neo 11m. Apparently he got swarmed by the Secret
Service because they thought he had used the kite to descend from an airplane. He got asked a lot of interesting questions, and asked to leave. There
wasn't anything going on that time... just paranoid government folks.
hondamon - 28-3-2012 at 05:22 AM
Hehe...yeah the 2 guys who first asked to take pictures and talk to me were really nice. My students got a kick out of my story as well.
Living about 15 miles from the border of North Korea, nuclear is a common everyday word. All good.
Kamikuza - 28-3-2012 at 05:54 AM
Rude to ask I know but... are you gringo/gaijin/gwailo/goyim/pakeha or what? Did that get them all het up?
Taking photos of gear :o last guy who tried that with me got his camera grabbed and SD card formatted. Park nazi's and I don't get along well :D
hondamon - 28-3-2012 at 06:01 AM
In Korea, the word for foreigner is waygookin. I'm certainly about as non-Korean as they come. I know Gaijin is for Japan and Gringo for Mexico.
I've never heard the others. Haha...yeah the guys were actually really nice and asked to take photos first. Their supervisors weren't so friendly
though. At first I thought it was the park folks who tried to tell me a few weeks ago that I couldn't fly my kite there. My girlfriend and I did
however verify there is no rule against it there though. Except when Mr. Obama is in town.
jimbocz - 28-3-2012 at 06:02 AM
Over here in Europe, almost every time I cross from England to France with my buggy they grill me about it and search my car. It could be that they
are just bored and looking for something interesting to pass the time, or maybe it looks funny on the whole car X-Ray they do to look for illegal
immigrants hidden away. If the buggy is dissembled and in the back, it must look suspicious with a bunch of pipes, cloth and empty spaces. Always
happens when I am alone, sometimes a little with the family.
It's never been a big deal, just a curiosity.
hondamon - 28-3-2012 at 06:08 AM
The funniest part was that my buddy, who is from England (the Midlands), was standing there with me and they never asked him anything. And I always
thought my looks were rather innocent. Though I have been known to make a Korean kid or two cry in the elevator at Costco by them simply looking at
me. :ticking:
Kamikuza - 28-3-2012 at 06:14 AM
Ah the Prez... yeah I've heard they get funny when he's around.
Wife made a kid piss it's pants here... kid said in a loud voice "Hey look a gaijin" and the wife said "Hey look an alien" 
she's nasty though, I wouldn't mess with her ...
bobalooie57 - 28-3-2012 at 06:15 AM
At least their "interrogation" method was friendly enough. They could have scooped you up and held you 'til the summit was over "just to be safe". I
can't tell you how many people have asked me, "How are you controlling that thing?", never having seen a power or stunt kite before. I can imagine
some officials, already nervous about a Summit, and the eyes of the world on them, seeing your kite and immediately thinking "James Bond"! I've been
wondering hondamon, how do you get a chance to fly over there anyway, without attracting a crowd? I was over there in 1980, and couldn't go to the
beach with a few friends without attracting a crowd, sometimes a few hundred deep, standing in a circle around us to watch the mi-gu's play frizbee!
I went to a batting cage one evening, and by the fourth ball had a crowd watching. I'm only average, but I swear they were betting on me!(Watch the
mi-gu screw up!) And after I paid for my second set, they paid for the 3rd, and wanted me to keep hitting after that!
And if you don't know it by now, those folks take their security, and the possible threat from the north, very seriously.
hondamon - 28-3-2012 at 06:34 AM
Certainly, and understandable. I was just a bit confused about why because of the huge distance between where I was and where the meeting was at.
It's no biggie, just quite a fiasco for about an hour.
Well, I was only 6 in 1980, so I can only assume that S. Korea is quite different now than it was then. These days, there are loads of foreigners
here, so I'm nothing special. Unless you talk to my mom.
8 years of living in this country, so I know they are very aware of the threats from the north. But at the same time, you ask any of them if they are
worried about the north and they will say, "Nope, why?" Like my girlfriend did 5 seconds ago when i asked her, just to check on her reaction to the
question. When I first moved to Korea in 2004, I remember getting nervous over some hostile rhetoric by the north. My coworkers and other Korean
friends I knew were as calm as could be. They do still have a huge fence with barbed wire lining the Han River here near Ilsan where I live, and
military posted in gunhouses. It's too bad the two nations haven't opened up, because there is some really good kiting areas over there.
bobalooie57 - 28-3-2012 at 06:56 AM
Yeah, sometimes I forget that was 32!!!years ago! They still held air-raid drills every Friday at noon when I was there, and usually by 3pm, half the
population was drunk on soju(many times, myself included). I assume you are there on a teaching visa? I was military, when it was allowed for
military to teach conversational english in "institutes", and so got close to a few folks over there, and was able to see the country from a different
perspective than just military. I'll never regret the experience, I just wish it hadn't been so damn lon ago...:duh: