My day started with breakfast at the hotel. I slept in until 10, so I missed the breakfast buffet, but instead got the "American Breakfast." It was pretty good.
After breakfast, I lounged around the hotel, and eventually called a fellow Freemason named Peter Dietrich. Turns out, he is from Michigan, and has been living in South Korea for 4 years. I met him for coffee and it eventually turned into dinner with his fiance and their friend.
We had Korean barbecue which is basically a bunch of side dishes (including delicious kim-chi) and coals with a grill over it for steak.
In talking to Peter I learned quite a bit about the North-South political issue. As I understand Peter has a friend who is a soldier at the army base, and it was explained to me that unification of Korea really isn't a practical or viable option. The main policy in the South is to keep the staus quo. According to Peter the North will obliterated Seoul should war break out, and, of course, Seoul is the Republic of Korea (ROK) capital which contains 2/3 of the population of ROK.
Moreover, tomorrow, the South Korean President will be making an announcement declaring that North Korea sunk a South Korean naval vessel back in March. So tensions are pretty high.
After dinner, I went back to Peter's apartment, and met some of Peter's fellow Masons at the Lodge he belongs to. They were in the process of writing up a legal document which will define what Freemasonry is in the ROK in order to establish it as a legal and recognized organization.
I wasn't much help in their discussions, but I did get to hang out a bit and enjoy some fellowship.
Pictured left to right are Brothers Jack, Charles, Peter and myself.
Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow is Panmunjom and the DMZ!
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