Paul Salopek has put a lot of mileage on his legs and feet — it took the National Geographic Explorer 28 months just to walk across China.
Salopek is determined to complete his journey across the globe, a project known as Out of Eden Walk. His latest stop after China is South Korea.
Paul details his approach toward an old fort in Incheon, a large coastal city near the border with North Korea, in his latest dispatch. The area has a long history of Americans popping up along its shores.
Salopek joined The World’s Host Marco Werman about his last two months walking through South Korea.
Marco Werman: So moving from China, where you’d spent a lot of time on foot, especially in some rural areas, taking a car ferry across the Yellow Sea, you put China in the rearview, as it were. What was that experience like after more than two years immersed in the People’s Republic?
Paul Salopek: You know, Marco, honestly, I think I’m still processing it. You know, more than 2 1/2 years and, on foot, mostly, as you mentioned, in rural China. And then to show up at a very busy, heavily industrialized port in South Korea, you know, heavily globalized country. Everybody’s heard of K-pop. And it was like coming through an Alice in Wonderland here, right?
Yes. So, what else is remarkable about Incheon? And this is where you started your walking journey in South Korea.
Well, you know, for students of history, Incheon, if Americans remember anything at all about Incheon, it’s a somewhat less remembered American war, the Korean War. Back in 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, and Incheon was where Gen. Douglas MacArthur staged an amphibious assault to push back the North Koreans to what is today the current dividing line to the 30th parallel between North and South Korea. Even less known was an even older first contact between these two nations, with a long and braided history between America and Korea. And that was called the Shinmiyangyo, the first kind of American expedition to open up what was then called the hermit kingdom to American commerce and diplomacy. The Americans sent five gunboats in the 19th century in 1871 to force this issue.
So, I mean, this history of American expansionism seems to be occurring in multiple parts of the globe at the same time. What impact would you say this expansionism had on Korea itself?
It was part of a continuum of foreign incursions into the peninsula. The Joseon Dynasty that ruled the peninsula and at that time was very aware of sort of Western military, political, cultural expansion in this part of Asia. They knew that China had been forced to open trade ports. The opium war had happened in China. Matthew Perry, the American Commodore, had forced Japan to open its ports to American trade a few decades earlier in 1854. And indeed, only about a quarter of a century after this Korean first contact, at the muzzle of cannons, the US had a war with Spain over the Philippines and basically annexed the Philippines in 1898.
So prior to interactions like all of this, Korea was known as the hermit kingdom. You kind of dropped that notion a few minutes ago. There’s an interesting story behind that, though. Explain.
So when the Americans came in 1871, they were ostensibly looking for another lost American ship called the General Sherman, which had disappeared in that area five years previously. The ship had been sunk, and the American crew killed. And when they arrived, typically, as always happened, they said, “We want to come and talk to you about this.” The Koreans either don’t reply, or they say, “Please go away.”
So in your latest post, you also talk about meeting a descendent of a Korean resistance leader who fought against the US invasion in 1871. What did he tell you? And did you get any sense why the US might have thought it would be successful at either pacifying or shaking hands with the Koreans?
Yeah. Mr. Eo is the great-great grandson of Comdr. Eo [Jae-yeon], who led the Korean forces. In the 1870s, Korea was still basically a feudal society. They were still using old bronze cannons and matchlock muskets that were basically designed on 16th-17th century Portuguese weapons.
Yeah, you describe that something that’s like positively medieval.
Yes, exactly. Whereas the Americans, again, coming out of the Civil War had some of the most modern military technology in the world at that time.
Ultimately, though, what happened in this 1871 conflict?
You know, it was sort of predictable. They defeated the Korean defenders, killing more than 350 of them, some of whom apparently committed suicide rather than surrender. Among the dead was Mr. Eo, the historian I met in Incheon, his great-great grandfather, who was last seen charging the American guns with a broken sword in one hand and a bag of musket balls in the other. When I went to these sites, these old forts, these Korean forts that defended the mouth of the Han River and that battled the Americans, they’re still there. They seem a bit dusty and neglected. My walking partner and I were basically the only people there. They didn’t seem to be that well-visited. And the signage, interestingly, was very carefully worded to make it seem like a neutral perspective.
South Korea, at least, is no longer part of any hermit kingdom. How would you describe the country’s position today, though, amid ongoing globalization?
Well, this is one of the rich ironies of history, right? The kind of who gets the last laugh, and there’s no kind of occupation without counteroccupation. The so-called hermit kingdom of some 150 years ago is now an exporter of global pop music and movies, right, TV dramas. It’s a cultural powerhouse. South Korea punches way above its weight in terms of the kind of audience that it has globally for its cultural exports. I mean, there are K-pop fans in Angola, as well as in the United States. It’s pretty amazing. And it’s like, somebody gets the last joke.
How did it feel to return to a place where US chain stores are visible again?
Marco, I’ve been on this project continuously, you know, walking out of Ethiopia toward the tip of South America, following the footsteps of the ancestors. And what some readers don’t realize is I don’t go home. I mean, this is a continuous journey. So, I’ve been walking since 2013. The last time I was in the US was in December 2012. Obama was still in office. And so hearing about these kind of chain stores and the familiar junk foods, it was like again stepping through the mirror in Alice in Wonderland, out of a time capsule.
Parts of this interview have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Writer and National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek has embarked on a 24,000-mile storytelling trek across the world called the “Out of Eden Walk.” The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world, has funded Salopek and the project since 2013. Explore the project here. Follow the journey on X at @PaulSalopek, @outofedenwalk and also at @InsideNatGeo.
Invest in independent global news
The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!