Upon entering the ship's office I was greeted by the Korean captain who immediately recognized me. We had met before when I was accompanied by two Korean students. He asked me how they were doing as we drank a cup of Korean tea and had nasi goreng for lunch. The Chief Engineer also joined us making it a 3 x 60 luncheon. During our conversation, we discovered that all three of us were born in 1952 and hope to celebrate our sixtieth birthdays this year! We noted that the year 1952 was at the height of the Korean War. It was also the year that a record number of Dutch nationals immigrated to Canada and other countries overseas. I remember my parents often talking about the threat of a third world war, since world peace was only 7 years young and nuclear war seemed imminent at that time.
The captain shared some of his concerns about today's South Korea. He is worried about the fact that the 30 largest companies in his country control 75% of the economy. Another concern is the number of young people that enter university. When he was a student only 20 - 25% of students would enter university but now, it is over 80%. Our discussion turned to what they call in South Korea the " Three Dirty D's meaning Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult and has everything to do with the kind of work you do. It is harder and harder to find workers who want to do the ' dirty ' work in Korea. I asked them if being a seafarer is considered a " Three D " job. An affirmative ' Yes ' was the answer!
Being Canadian, we often fail to realize that a nation such as South Korea is always under the threat of being attacked by North Korea.On this particular ship, 18 of the crew members are Korean nationals, while the rest are Indonesians. On most South Korean ships only the captain and chief engineer are Korean. This particular ship is one of 20 ships that belong to the Hanjin Shipping Company and is assigned, by Korean law, to immediately be used for the country 's survival in case of war. I know that the nation of Israel also has such a law in place. ( The captain is seated left and the chief engineer on the right )
After lunch the captain allowed me to take some pictures. I hope to see them again soon!
