Photos

I hope you find this one interesting, a lot of my pictures are on the older parts of Korea and this one is a daylight view of contemporary Korea. The colors are bright and thin because it is very early morning light. Working with the large file was much more difficult than I expected.

South Korea is now 85% urban and only 15% rural agrarian. In the time I have been here I have seen the size grow before my eyes. There are a dozen apartment complexes under construction that will each raise 800 to 1000 new apartments. I do not have substantiation as to family size but from the people I work with I would estimate it to be 5 or more per home. There is no country wide social security and the elderly live with their children.

This is a view from my home, and the towers in the center were barely above ground when I moved here 2 years ago.

Daegu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Daegu, also spelled Taegu, officially called Daegu Metropolitan City, is the 4th largest city in South Korea after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon. It is the capital of Gyeongsangbuk-do province, although it is not legally part of that province. As with South Korea's other metropolitan cities, Daegu's government reports directly to the national government. Its geographical location is 35°52?N, 128°36?E.

Throughout and before recorded history, Daegu has served as a nexus of transportation, lying as it does at the junction of the Geumho and Nakdong rivers. During the Joseon Dynasty, the city was the administrative, economic and cultural centre of the entire Gyeongsang region.

Ancient historical texts indicate that during the Proto-Three Kingdoms of Korea period, Daegu was the site of a chiefdom or walled-town polity known in historical records as Dalgubeol.

Daegu and all of North Gyeongsang saw heavy guerrilla activity in the late 1940s, as thousands of refugees arrived from the fighting in Jeolla. In November 1948, a unit in Daegu joined the mutiny which had begun in Yeosu the previous month.
During the Korean War, much heavy fighting occurred nearby along the Nakdong River. Daegu sat inside the Pusan Perimeter, however, and therefore remained in South Korean hands throughout the war. As in many other areas during the Korean War, political killings of dissenters were widespread.
In the second half of the twentieth century, the city underwent explosive growth, and the population has increased more than tenfold since the end of the Korean War. The city was heavily politically favored during the long military dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, when it and the surrounding area served as his political base. Conservative political movements remain powerful in Daegu today.

Daegu is also home to the K-League soccer club Daegu FC.
The 2011 World Championships in Athletics will be host by Daegu.