From sweet wrappers to noodle packets, Prof Kang Dong-wan collects litter that floats to South Korea from the repressive North. Can military secrets really be uncovered in their surprisingly sophisticated designs?
n a clear day from the beaches of Yeonpyeong, a tiny South Korean island, you can see the coast ofsome 12 km distant. Glance down, however, and you might see something else. Amid the tangle of seaweed and greying driftwood, the chunks of bleached polystyrene and shreds of fishing net, there may lurk bits of brightly coloured plastic.
The Five West Sea Islands were occupied by the South at the end of the war and now form the de facto maritime border between the two countries. Yeonpyeong, the closest island to the North, was the subject of a tit-for-tatthat left four dead and led to the evacuation of about 80% of the island’s 2,000 residents.
Foremost among the preconceptions shredded by Kang’s scraps is the idea that the country is unsophisticated, that what goods there are are basic. “The packaging is surprising in its refinement,” he says. Perhaps most surprising, he adds, is the way products from the North mirror those of the South. “In a capitalist economy,” he says, “packaging and design are tailored to appeal to consumers.
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