News from Oceans day in Ulsan. Today we had the prime minsiter of Korea, the Minister for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries plus a hundred other suits and military big wigs on stage in front of a bussed-in rent-a-crowd of four thousand people; all within a few hundred metres of our embassy on the site of the proposed whale meat factory.

At the 11th hour KFEM organised two powered paragliders to fly over the proceedings, with the canopies reading "Ulsan city of Whale-watching - KFEM" in Korean, and the beautiful blue Greenpeace one reading "No Whaling - Greenpeace" in English. KFEM did an amazing job putting the whole event together. Even though the police stopped the second GP flier from taking off and flying during the prime ministers speech, they both took off soon after, gliding over the proceedings, the embassy and the freshly opened whale museum.

We had prepared ourselves for a humungously busy day in the dome that strangely proved be relatively quiet in terms of public visitors. The rent-a-crowd of OAPs proved to be disintersted in anything but their packed lunches. However we did get loads of press, half a dozen media interviews between GP and KFEM inlcuding a long interview with Yonhap national news agency and one with Japanese Kyodo newspaper. There was a lovely coincidental moment when we were being besieged by several tv crews in the embassy dome asking, 'so what is GP/KFEM planning to do today?' At that precise moment the mechanical buzz of a paraglider soaring directly over the dome, drowning out the conversation and scattering the camera crews outside. Another classic surreal memory was the grand opening of the whale museum by the prime minsiter to the theme tune of Star Wars..

Best,

Jim

Still Here

Just after 8pm this evening, we began a viewing of “Finding Nemo” for about 40 children and adults. This came after a successful day of english lessons and games for all the children that stopped by. We had been busy preparing right up until the first handful of people arrived, which consisted of cleaning up the embassy, hanging photos, buying supplies for the games our resident creative thinkers concocted in their creative minds.

Now that we have reached an agreement with the people of Jangsaengpo, our presence here is slightly less in limbo, which makes it just a little less stressful moving forward. (Just a little.) Some of the friends we made brought snacks which were shared with all, as well as traditional Korean drums (I’m sure there is an actual name for them, but being the American that I am…)

The performance from this handful of girls looked and sounded amazing – and this tiny, adorable girl whaling (no pun intended) on a drum half her size, was quite impressive.

Jan had this idea for a sort of mini-golf thing, which turned out to be a huge success…and as it was/is still a work in progress, some of the children got involved in building it themselves, hammering away…Our volunteer English teachers from Ulsan and Seoul arrived in the most dedicated fashion, and even helped with cooking and cleaning, so a huge THANK YOU to you guys!! We appreciate your presence more than you know.

Much more preparations are in order as Ocean’s Day is three days away, and it will be an enormous opportunity to reach countless people about protecting Korea’s whales and oceans; our whales and oceans. So keep your eye on us and watch what beautiful things unfold.

Kelly

FANTASTIC RESULT
For our meeting today with a local pro whaling group, the "jangsaengpo
defenders", we were preparing for the worst. Instead the hour long
meeting resulted in a triumphant clapping finale. After many days and
nights of continuosly being prepared for any number of outcomes, it now
looks as though we can now take a deep breath.
We have reached an agreement with the upset locals. Our
understanding of the situation has grown, and it now looks as though
we're seeing somewhat eye to eye. As Jangsaengpo is a community
with a historically declining population, our mound of earth and whale
tails has resembled a typical korean graveyard and struck a nerve fo'
shizzle.

So we have removed the whale tales and the mound will be leveled
tomorrow. They will place a sculpture of a large Korean grey whale on the
mound, and we have been permitted to stay for Oceans Day, right up
until the IWC. A wonderful result for the whales we have been working
so hard to protect, and a momumental event in working with a pro-
whaling nation.. We have opened up a dialogue for the future; the
agreement we have reached includes an active participation of both sides
to work towards alternatives to commercial whaling, such as the whale
watchng business.
This is exactly what we have come here for. Amazing. Boom!
Ra, Ja, Kel

----- End forwarded message -----

It all began at 6pm as promised. As the local development association leaders walked into the embassy, the police cars idled to a halt outside. The showdown had begun. What followed was a rollercoaster of a meeting with a wonderful result.

The local leaders spent a long time discussing the history of their community, how the number in their ‘dying’ community had dropped form 16000 to 1600 in only 10 years. They talked about how they accepted a polluting factory upwind so that they could have the whale research centre and whale museum as well. With trembling hands as they spoke, these community representatives obviously did not want to be fighting. They explained that the embassy was okay, but the mounds with the whale tails behind were painful for them, striking an all too real chord of the past, whilst preventing them from embracing the future with oceans day and the opening of the whale museum. At that moment one of the crew ran into the meeting to whisper in our ear that three coach-loads of riot police had just arrived and parked on the ground outside the embassy. After sending climbers up the mast, we continued with our meeting, while the police officers listened close by.

We explained that the whale tail mounds were erected by us to illustrate the certain demise of whales and whaling communities if whaling is ever resumed. We offered to take down the mounds to show the genuine intentions of our goodwill, both to the whales and to the coastal fishing communities as well. They could not believe what they heard and were genuinely blown away. We explained that we would like to help find alternative ways to economically revive the community in a sustainable but profitable way. Suddenly the president of the community group said he wanted to learn about whale watching and would welcome all the advice that we could give him on this. The guy next to him said that he would like to get the children from Jangsaengpo school to come and meet us and help design banners for oceans day to hang from the mast. Obviously over the moon, they added that because it was so obvious that we meant well, that Greenpeace could stay until the end of the IWC, and if we have any problems, then we should get in contact with them immediately. After a brief discussion of whale watching history in Australia, we all agreed that we would meet very soon to talk about each other’s concerns in more detail.

The meeting ended with a spontaneous round of applause and by the time we emerged from the embassy, the riot police had gone, disappearing as mysteriously as they had arrived. And so it was that the organization that wanted to blockade the Rainbow Warrior in Ulsan port last month and that publicly promised direct action against Greenpeace only 24hrs ago, ended up agreeing to reconnect our water, meet soon to discuss whale watching, send their children to the embassy to learn more about whales and insist on having a group photo together before they left. We have now opened up a dialogue and potential friendship with the most historically pro-whaling community in Korea, and a group who are pushing for the whale factory as a means of reviving the community. We now a month to create, persuade and help sell an alternative future for the community of Jangsaengpo.

The feeling in the camp is great and we are having pizzas to celebrate!

It all began at 6pm as promised. As the local development association leaders walked into the embassy, the police cars idled to a halt outside. The showdown had begun. What followed was a rollercoaster of a meeting with a wonderful result.

The local leaders spent a long time discussing the history of their community, how the number in their ‘dying’ community had dropped form 16000 to 1600 in only 10 years. They talked about how they accepted a polluting factory upwind so that they could have the whale research centre and whale museum as well. With trembling hands as they spoke, these community representatives obviously did not want to be fighting. They explained that the embassy was okay, but the mounds with the whale tails behind were painful for them, striking an all too real chord of the past, whilst preventing them from embracing the future with oceans day and the opening of the whale museum. At that moment one of the crew ran into the meeting to whisper in our ear that three coach-loads of riot police had just arrived and parked on the ground outside the embassy. After sending climbers up the mast, we continued with our meeting, while the police officers listened close by.

We explained that the whale tail mounds were erected by us to illustrate the certain demise of whales and whaling communities if whaling is ever resumed. We offered to take down the mounds to show the genuine intentions of our goodwill, both to the whales and to the coastal fishing communities as well. They could not believe what they heard and were genuinely blown away. We explained that we would like to help find alternative ways to economically revive the community in a sustainable but profitable way. Suddenly the president of the community group said he wanted to learn about whale watching and would welcome all the advice that we could give him on this. The guy next to him said that he would like to get the children from Jangsaengpo school to come and meet us and help design banners for oceans day to hang from the mast. Obviously over the moon, they added that because it was so obvious that we meant well, that Greenpeace could stay until the end of the IWC, and if we have any problems, then we should get in contact with them immediately. After a brief discussion of whale watching history in Australia, we all agreed that we would meet very soon to talk about each other’s concerns in more detail.

The meeting ended with a spontaneous round of applause and by the time we emerged from the embassy, the riot police had gone, disappearing as mysteriously as they had arrived. And so it was that the organization that wanted to blockade the Rainbow Warrior in Ulsan port last month and that publicly promised direct action against Greenpeace only 24hrs ago, ended up agreeing to reconnect our water, meet soon to discuss whale watching, send their children to the embassy to learn more about whales and insist on having a group photo together before they left. We have now opened up a dialogue and potential friendship with the most historically pro-whaling community in Korea, and a group who are pushing for the whale factory as a means of reviving the community. We now a month to create, persuade and help sell an alternative future for the community of Jangsaengpo.

The feeling in the camp is great and we are having pizzas to celebrate!

-Jim

After a fairly contentious press conference with locals today, a semi-full moon glows orange in the sky. Not surprisingly, this full moon coincided with a frenzy of activity. We have received a formal letter from a local body here who strongly oppose our presence. They have given us a formal letter with a deadline of 6pm tomorrow to remove ourselves, or they will do it for us. While receiving a deadline is not a first, the letter is, and something about this event was disarming enough to make us re-evaluate our approach with more intensity than ever before - which we have done thoroughly.

What happens in the next couple of days will likely have a tremendous
impact on both Greenpeace and KFEM’s work here, present and future – most importantly the latter. It is a delicate situation we have found
ourselves in; in the end it is what is best for the whales that we are
actually working to protect, that is most important.

Kelly

Well,well the 42nd day of our occupation rolls on and 7days after our eviction notice we still go from strength to strength.

Whereas during the last few weeks we have felt our eviction or a culmination of aggression towards us to be eminent, we now feel the situation is relaxing. And our outreach to the local community is rewarded with growing positive feed back. In the baking heat of today locals gave us edible gifts and drinks in appreciation of our work.

It is interesting to see the lack of knowledge regarding whales
and whaling in Korean waters and to observe how quickly an
awareness of the critical situation can be evoked by passing on
information. Comments like we all need to protect these
magnificent gentle giants for our children to witness too,are
a very satisfying response and give us all a lot of hope.

Yet another culinary delight has been created here. A mind dazzling dish of incredibly hot°n spicy tofu covered with a golden crust of caramelized sugar combined the characteristics of what one
could believe to be the favored food in both heaven and hell.
So here goes the recipe of this delicious dish named "the jangsaenpo
donkey kick cajun fever dillusions":
- heat up way too much chili powder and black pepper in oil
- fry striped tofu in the mixture for too long
- pour small piles of brown sugar over the crispy contents of
the pan
- cover in a generous cloud of cinnamon
-keep frying
-me say keep it frying mon aaaaiiiighht!
enjoy,

also we would like thank everyone who helped support the record breaking cyber action,its probably one of the main reasons why we are still here in one piece!

check out http://whales.greenpeace.org for the cyber march as another way to continue the pressure to stop the resumption of commercial whaling. As japan government will to overthrow the current moratorium at the I.W.C(International whaling commission) meeting which is here in ulsan next month.

The Japanese government has been playing dirty and sending aid to
landlocked third world country's in exchange for their pro whaling votes at the I.W.C

Jan and Raoni

The last 24 hours it has been all about kids at the embassy. And it was wonderful. With the help of local english teachers we have had a second english class taking place in the dome. Our flyers and mouth to mouth propaganda boosted the number of local kids who come to the class to about twenty. It is a very comforting thought that the parents attitude towards us must be one of sympathy or at least openmindednes if they are comfortable with their kids hanging out at the embassy.

After that a big group of KFEM members from Pusan came to set up
tents and stay for the night. As there were many kids coming with them , the camp was once more filled with laughter and positive energy.

While KFEM and Greenpeace members were discussing environmental
issues and strategies, the kids were doing all the work painting banners and turning the camp upside down. Sleep caught many of them by surprise when watching a movie on a big screen in the evening...

Hi All,

Quick udate from the Embassy. The day began today with a dawn start in prepartion for a whale tail showdown with the builders on the site. By the timne the diggers began to arrive to start work on the mounds that we have occupied, we had already had the place covered with activists. After a convivial cup of early morning coffee with the digger drivers, they agreed to work aorund our mounds, and so the day progressed with just an odd break where they fruitlessly asked if we could (please) move the wire support for the mast just a little bit (and they would help us secure it again afterwards). All good humoured and relatively quiet, despite the dramatic images. However given that they will soon run out of land to flatten over the next coule of days, it could get more heated when their attentions once again focused on us.

This evening a few of us went off to represent GP at the Ulsan Oceans poetry and arts symosium with our friend the mayor in attendance. You would think that a talk on whales and the threats they face would be fairly trouble-free at a poetry and literature recital night, however this experience was really one to remember. After sitting through two hours of korean poetry...we then had to endure the discussion papers. For the next hour we endured pro-whaling reminicising of the sort that you wouldn't think possible, lines such as "when I say I love whales, I really mean that I love whale meat', 'the biggest threat of extinction facing whales are the non-whalers', and my personal favourite 'I love whalemeat, i love it so much that i can't bear not to have it..in fact stright after this I am going to go and eat some'; stright after that, an awkward pause revealed myself sat in the middle of this less than hospitable crowd silently cursing myself for wearing a GP oceans t-shirt. According to Jeremy our photograher, when I held up the speech in front of the mike my hands were visibly shaking. As I waited for the chairman of the symposium to silence the obviously dissaproving whispers from the floor, I was told that I had five minutes and no longer to explain my case which, as the chairman honourably exlained to the audience, was actually a very interesting one.

After reading the first few sentences the lights in the whole room mysteriously went out, casting my speech and everyone else into pitch blackness..it was hilarious and ever so slightly disconcerting. After a while Jeremy found the schoolboy responsible, ejected him Glaswegian style from the proceedings, and the lights and talk continued unabated. Five minutes later we received a polite clap and some satisfyingly furious stares from the pro-dolphin hunt speaker who had preceeded me.

Anyway to make up for it they gave us free drinks and a whalemeat-free meal afterwards, where we were congratualted and supported by a couple of people. It was a long and expectedly surreal night; the mayor left soon after the beginning of the symposium, why we dont know, but to simply talk to these people face to face definitely raised the GP profile in some pro-whaling circles tonight.

Tomorrow we have 20 KFEM teenagers coming to camp nearby the embassy and a few expats from Seoul, so we have a busy weekend planned organising environmental workshops and guiding stray whale museum tourists into our embassy.

More soon,

Jim

Yesterday we had a visit from a man in a large steamroller, who kept rolling right up to our tents. If you don’t know what a streamroller is, think bulldozer, and you’ll get a bit of an idea. To see one of these rather large machines roll right up to the edge of your tent elicits a feeling that I will just leave up to your imagination. What seemed like passive posturing to us, also served as a reminder just how precarious our situation is and that we cannot let our guard down. (It also served as a reminder that as the tent furthest from the camp, mine would be the first to go!)

Later, one of the construction workers for the site also paid us a visit, letting us know they will begin work at the site at 7am sharp the next morning, about four hours from now. We have reacted and prepared accordingly, and we will no doubt be ready for their arrival, sending out the same strong message that we aren’t going anywhere until plans for this factory are abandoned.

Unfortunately, the KFEM meeting with Ulsan’s mayor was rescheduled, we will keep you posted. We did have people from KFEM Busan here for most of the day, strategizing and planning for the weekend ahead, should we be here. We have no choice but to carry on as though we will, and no hard evidence to indicate otherwise. We are all very excited as we have planned a weekend full of events and are expecting quite a lot of guests - from KFEM members, to ex-pats, and members of the community. There will be english lessons and games for children, talks on life aboard a Greenpeace ship bearing witness to whaling in the southern ocean, the folk band blue whale coming to perform, as well as a night-time projection of images we have captured of life in Ulsan. Hopefully at some point there will be some good old fashion celebrating of the fact that we have all come together.

Every day we connect with more and more people about this issue. I have only one week left here and despite the not so glamorous conditions, I will be sad to leave. There is much hope and inspiration to be found in our dusty little camp, and in the people of Ulsan.

Kelly

The dim gray light from the morning sunrise has just began to highlight the cars in view from the embassy. Marek, my fellow watch-mate is sipping a cup of tea outside; an orange tabby skulks by under cover of what darkness is left. After five full days here, and quite a lot of change from one moment to the next, things at the moment seem fairly peaceful…just like any other town, at 4:30 in the morning.

Recently however, words like surreal and bizarre have come to mind. We’ve had many mixed reactions and experiences with the people of Ulsan, most of them incredibly positive. Yesterday a gentleman stopped by just to drop off several bottles of water, and last night a woman offered to do some of our laundry. The night before there was a terrible wind storm and a fair amount of rain which shook our tents to the bone, and wreaked quite a havoc on our site. In addition, the morning began with an early visit from a television crew.

The day before yesterday a television station from Ulsan, (KBS-a local branch of a Korea’s top national station,) came to get an idea about life here at the camp. They wanted to focus on one person, and being an American from Korea, the powers that be decided it was me. It started with some hellos and name signings, and quickly led to a shot list of all the images they wanted to capture. Said list included washing my face, brushing my teeth, painting, climbing, cooking, washing dishes, and having a meeting with the camp. So we commenced with a ‘meeting’ in the whale embassy, where I was asked about non-violence tactics. At one point someone turned to me and said, “What do you think about curling up into the fetal position if attacked?” While in some non-violet direct action situations this is very relevant, at the time it was just funny. With the cameras rolling, I gave the most serious answer I could.

A lot of campaign questions were asked, tricky ones too-such has how do we feel about threatening the livelihood of local fisherman. Being someone that has always been uncomfortable in front of any lens, as well as just thrown into this campaign, I did my best to give them what they wanted, and answer all their questions in a way that was in line with everything this campaign has worked and continues to work so hard for. The day ended with a shot of me getting into my tent, showing them a few personal things, and telling them what my hopes for Ulsan were. I was relieved when they were gone – as kind as they were it was more tiring than you would think. The shoot ended with an early morning visit, to film me cooking and taking a trip to one of the local markets. I had been looking forward to this trip the day before, as it would be the FIRST time I had left the camp since I arrived, but unfortunately I was feeling rather surly this morning, and all I wanted was to crawl back into bed. (or sleeping bag, rather.) As much as I had lost patience towards the end, the crew were very kind, and if all goes well this will be tremendous exposure for the campaign.

While I mentioned that things feel ‘surreal’ or ‘bizarre’, in actuality there are many commonalties between ourselves and the locals here that do oppose our presence. We are all fighting to protect what we know and believe in; what is close to our hearts. Hopefully at some point in the near future, we will be able to see eye to eye.

Stay tuned.
Kelly

Hi All,

Just a quick update from the embassy. After the storms which ravaged the camp last night, we awoke to a ravaged embassy, plates and cups everywhere, with a KBS film crew onsite to film it all at seven in the morning. We have spent much of the day trying to repair the damage of the storm and enjoy the calm day a little more after the intensity of yesterday.

We will be getting a visit from the local whale meat restaurant elders tomorrow, although the police have infomed us that this particular bunch are too old to actually cause any trouble!

So today we have been enjoying the break in the storm, and took great pleasure at intercepting the international archery contestants who arrived in coachloads late this afternoon to visit the whaling museum. Despite the best intentions of the officials, we spoke with several of the contestants, gave out badges, and asked them to ask their guides why they hadn't been told about the whale meat factory plans in their tour of the 'city of whales'.

Tomorrow we wil be acompanying a meeting with kfem to the mayor's office, although we do not know if they will even agree to see us.

So we continue to prepare for attack and/or eviction, whilst simultaneously trying to focus on strenthgning our public engagement methods in the embassy. Every day more and more locals cautiously come by, bringing smiles and offers of help - today an offer to clean all our washing for example - the community here are obviously divided on our presence, and we need to win as many as we can over.

More soon,

Best,

Jim

Hi All,

I write from the embassy, a gale raging through the tarps as the local community seems to be raging at us. Only last hour we stood down from a possible confrontation as a group of locals left a whale meat restaurant opposite, then began to slowly circle the camp. Luckily it has all died down for now, and evening meetings with the local marine police have quietened things down.

We have had a storming day with the campaign as well. Things are rapidly reaching boiling point here. What I had hoped might be a slightly shorter meeting with the director of fisheries and his friends in city hall today, turned instead into a gruelling three hour extravaganza; this climaxed with myself not being allowed to leave the government building during my phone-call to a Whales conference call in Amsterdam, to discuss the proposed concession statement. There were protracted, ridiculous negotiations (who else would accompany me, where would I stand...?)

The statement was a wash out, essentially they were trying to sell us short with a shammy non-sensical letter, which flitted over the 'whale sanitation facility' in two sentences, without satisfying any of our embassy demands - that the statement should assure us that they will not build the factory this year or any other year. I handed back their statement, clarifying that it did not even come close to meeting our demands.

The meeting then turned all the more surreal; exasperated by the cheek of a foreign NGO coming to their office to tell them what to do, they expressed their extreme disappointment with the cyberaction sent to the mayors office; 'it has broken our server' they announced, demanding we stop it this instant. I said that only when the plans are dropped can the emails be stopped. This of course went down like a lead balloon, climaxing in a fit of rage 'you leave us no choice, we shall place an article explaining your illegal actions on the front page of the IWC Ulsan website!', and so it went on. We left the meeting after making clear that Greenpeace will not leave until the plans are dropped with the assurance of a moratorium, or until they drag us away.

And so we continue in high spirits, sailing into the rapidly escalating storm that is the Whale embassy occupation. We have front page on the Korean news website ohmynews.com tonight, and KBS have been in camp all day filming, whilst another Seoul based print journalist interviewed us as well for several hours. The activists here are a solid bunch, and there is a great team spirit circulating that seems to get stronger as the situation gets tougher; as I write the sound of operatic arabic folk music is coming out of the kitchen, only drowned out by the pots and pans as they are periodically blown off the kitchen shelves, as the gusts of wind get stronger.

The locals across the road are seething at our continued presence, and we are now only moving around in pairs. According to the police, the ominously-named 'Jangsaengpo defenders' will give us a few more days at most, but it feels like this may bubble over before that.

Meanwhile we continue to hold the most bizarre meetings with government officials. The last one a couple of hours ago was from two very concerned police officials, worried that we may try to steal the visit of the international archery championship visitors who are apparently coming for an official visit to the whale museum tomorrow. More Soon,

Best,

Jim

> New Zealand Greenpeace Activists - WE LOVE YOU!!
>
> I just wanted to express my appreciation to all the Kiwi's who have
> been actively reading and replying to the web blog. Your support is
> really appreciated here at camp and your support in sending letters
> and emails to various Korean governments is inspiring. I am reposting
> a reply sent to one blog in case some people missed it.
>
> This is from Miake
>
> The address of the Korean Embassy in Wellington for all the NZ activists:
> Korean Embassy
> ASB Tower, Level 11
> 2 Hunter Street
> P.O.Box 11143
> Wellington
> Love to you all at the hotspot in Ulsan
> Maike
>
> As requested, we will work on getting the fax number for the mayor of
> Ulsan's office and hopefully get that info out to later today.

Here it is: Mayor's office fax: 0082 52 261 0150

Thanks you wonderful Kiwi's. We love you and you guys ROCK!
>
> Jodie
>

>

Monday 16th, one day past our eviction notice. We were again all ready this morning for a forcible arrest, but by midday still no sign of any police presence.

Then a small, elderly group congregate outside the whale embassy,they are agitated and through out the 5min meeting told us they were not here to talk,only that we pack up now or they will use violence to pack up for us very soon. Their body language made it clear they were in no mood for dialogue. We repeatedly explained our staunch belief in non violent direct action even under violent circumstances.

This was an unpleasant meeting and we have had to rethink all of our safety procedures.

Soon after two men in their 70's arrive and tell us they are very thankful for our dedication to the whales and a third explained that had we not appeared on TV he had never known the whale situation was looking so grim. After this mornings unpleasant visit,it gave us all new strength.

Having to constantly keep my knowledge of whaling issues up to date for this campaign, I realise how much in dire need some species are of URGENT conservation-there are only an estimated 100 Korean Grey whales left with approx. 25 breeding females.

These whale meat factory plans are as ludicrous as building a factory in Kenya to process ivory from 'accidentally-killed' elephants.

Raoni

hey people, this is the first time for me to write on this weblog.

Watching the incredible amount of comments that Raoni gets on his fancy rethorics i thought i might as well try to get a piece of the pie (i just found out that's another weblog though).

By the way: You can see Raoni deeply pondering upon the life and enlightenment of Buddha, who's birthday is celebrated here today.

I myself have been at the embassy about a week. Altough life here is not easy and comfortable this wonderful team has created a camp in which the eviction that we have to expect at any time will make me feel a bit like having to leave home. We get more and more visitors and talking to them we learn a lot about korea and it's people as we try to pass on the reasons for our activity and our concerns.

As it is sunday the amount of people who come by is incredible today. Others have written a lot to give interested people an idea of how we are living here. A couple of pictures are probably nice to deepen that impression. The main building, the embassy dome, has already been on, so here goes our camp...

Our luxury kitchen resembling a circus tent inspires the changing chef's to the most incredible culinaric creations as we go for our first michelin star. Our cozy living room serves as a place for meetings and provides space for a bit of well deserved rest, as short as it may be.

- Jan

Well, there is no dating action happening, backstabing and voting people off. If they were to make a reality TV show of the camp, I wonder how it would actually fly on main stream media. First of all we have our diversity covered. We have got a good cross section of 12 different countries represented. Although all being sound activists, we lack that dramatic diversity in personality type; the arrogant guy, the bitch and the beauty queen are missing.. Even without without these personality subtypes, I think we would still manage in diversity.

Reality TV shows are shot over a week and then edited. So, I was thinking, if I were to be editor-in-chief of the "Life at the Whale Embassy" what 30 second clips would I include to convey life at the camp and give us all that semi-pop icon feel.

So for my Top 8 reality camp clips.

1. The arriving and introducing of new people and names. You got to introduce your team to the audience.

2. The passing out of chocolate and other treats as activists come in from other countries. …hmmm chocolate from Switzerland and along with chocolate sharing would be some heart felt bonding. Bless those Swiss! You know, some people just have foresight.

3. A climbing lesson up the pole. I mean, climbing up the pole just looks photographic. So that would get in, but there would have to be some added humour in it, like half way to the top the trainee would need to use the bathroom or need to take a call from home only it turns out to be a telemarkter.

4. Some random conversation of previous Greenpeace campaigns.

5. Tent mate issues. There are three of us without tents who sleep in a room off of the kitchen/living room in the hut that was built. One night, we had another tentless body in camp. Raoni gave up his sleeping bag and MY pillow. Then others proceeded to take my mat and blanket to sleep with. When I got to bed, I found my sleeping bag in the tangle, and some left over floor space inbetween Raoni and our other tent mate. Just as I got as comfortable I could get, both guys rolled over in there sleep leaving me sandwiched. The snorring started minutes later.

6. Little clips of random Koreans that come into the Embassy with a variety of activists answering the questions with the help of the interpretur. Some would be friendly, but at least one clip of drunken fisherman at 4am would be included.

7. A series of cliplets of the night shift. Shifts go from 11pm-1am, 1am-3am, 3am-5am, 5am-7am. The first and second shift have a variety of people still milling around and often just kicking back and telling stories. Then the 3am-5am, it is DEAD quiet. This shift worker looks TIRED and slightly bored, wearing lots of coats (it gets cold at night.) They are killing time on the internet and writing a web blog. 5am arrives, big smile! …smile fades as the realise they don't remember what teneavet houses the 5am-7am replacement. ",,,pst, pst, PST!! …is this Bart's tent." "No. it's over there." "Where?" "There. The small one." …the camera shows a sea of small tents. "…pst, PST. …Bart are you in there?"

8. Conversations about the different Korean things that activists run across they find intresting; the luxury of public bathhouses (a trip to the local spa is 4000 won), personal oppinions of kimchi and soju, and the fact that we were able to create a phoneline and internet connection to no registered address (a parking lot we don't own.)

9. The long and tedious conversations with city government officials who inevitably appear almost daily, trying to make us leave. The image would be of them smoking furiously, drinking hot camp coffee from our plastic tweety mugs..

10. And finally perhaps our forcible eviction - will it or won't it happen, only time will tell..

Any other suggestions?

Jody resident English teacher of Ulsan

Saturday, May 14th

A Korean-American’s perspective

It is 3:30 in the morning here, the end of a long day or perhaps the beginning of another. I am on “watch” from 3 – 5am, things are pretty quiet. Having just arrived yesterday, I am the only American here. After a very long flight to Seoul, a bus to Gimpo Airport and short flight to Ulsan, I finally arrived—only slightly weary and more anxious than anything, for what lie ahead.

I arrived in the evening, was introduced to everyone and given a tour. If you haven’t seen photos yet of the Whale Embassy and campgrounds, you should have a look. These activists have done an amazing job, creating a home thousands of miles away from their own, in the midst of what is essentially a construction site next to several incinerators. (This part of Ulsan is an industrial mecca, you can smell the toxic fumes immediately.) The Whale Embassy is a beautiful monument, which has served to be extremely educational for the locals, as well as the hub for all campaign activity. I am glad to be here--all the faces are new yet familiar—activists from different parts of the world, with great passion and dedication for what we do, always fascinating and unique in their own way.

The morning begins with a meeting to run down the day’s events. While the exact date is not certain, our eviction is imminent, and it is imperative that we are prepared for a peaceful interaction with the Korean police. Marek and Stufke are off on their whale watching expedition that sadly will result in no sightings. There is also a barbeque to prepare for, as KFEM members who have traveled a long distance will soon arrive.

I try to contact the US Embassy to let them know I am here but unfortunately, the embassy is closed. After a few other tasks I pop down to the public bath house where for 4000 won you can shower, sauna, and sit in a hot or cold pool. Being surrounded only by Korean women is a first…and find myself wishing that I spoke Hangul.

At home, its about 11pm. (1pm in Korea) I feel the jetlag hit me hard and try to take a nap. My tent is next to what seemed at night to be emptiness, but by day turned out to be a baseball and then soccer field for the locals. So between balls and bats it was hard to fall asleep, and instead I drifted somewhere between the waking world and dream one.

At the morning meeting I volunteered to help cook for the KFEM dinner, knowing how to make a Korean dish (jap chae) that is perfect for serving a lot of people. I am an American, but was born here in Korea. Adopted at just a few months old, I was raised in the states most of my life, this is my first time back to Korea.

As the cooking begins, four children arrive for our english lessons. This is a fantastic start, and would only grow with continued presence. They are so cute and eager…Michelle, (a Canadian teaching english in Ulsan) is leading the lesson which consists of standing, sitting, counting chopsticks, learning names of vegetables and fruits, playing with clay--the children made a large whale, with several little whales around it. It is so sweet, to see them here in the Whale Embassy, learning.

Cooking commences with myself, and Raoni. I prepare the jab chae, and Raoni decides to make a potato salad with a Korean twist, Asty (a new arrival from Switzerland) makes a fruit salad, and Jan cooks up several flavorful side dishes to be wrapped in rice paper. There is kimchee galore, and by the time dinner commences a delicious feast is to be had by all. I worry that my jab chae is a little bland and am relieved when it gets the thumbs up by So Yeon, (our interpretor), and Kim, a volunteer from Ulsan.

Over the next couple of hours people relax and mingle. A couple from New Zealand teaching English in Seoul arrived earlier in the day--they took a train down just to check out what we are doing, and to get involved. A brief meeting takes place around 10pm, where we learn that with the help and actions of YOU!, and other Greenpeace offices, we really are having an impact in Ulsan, and on the South Korean government. The mayor of Ulsan has even asked if we could just leave for Oceans Day. This is says a lot about how seriously our presence and this issue is being taken. Our most recent web action, as you may have read before, had such a huge response it crashed the server. So thank you, for doing your part to make all of this happen. Thank you for letting the South Korean government know they must do the right thing and continue the moratorium on whaling. (And stop all the ‘accidental’ bycatch!) Thank you for reading our weblogs, caring, taking action and being aware. This is the only way we can ever make change. Kamsahamnida! (thank you!)

Suspicions aside, friday the 13th has been another highly succesfull and productive day.

We have four more activists on board two from switzerland,one mexican and a American bringing our numbers of international activists up to 12,with our four korean friends 16 all up.Its all hands on deck ,getting camp ready for sunday the 15th our proposed eviction date.

Our days here may be numbered but a cyber action calling the mayor of Ulsan to scrap plans for the whale meat factory, has attracted 33,000 people - a greenpeace record! This is yet another cause for celebration.

Thank you very much on behalf of the whale embassy.

Unfortunately the server then crashed, a victim of our succes.

Both the Greenpeace sydney and two American offices have done succesfull direct communication at Korean embassys telling them clearly 'the world is watching'. There was a sucesful meeting with our lawyer this morning who has a lot of history, with korean protesting.He gave us very good advice and we feel relitivly confident about our safty in the hands of the korean police. We were also flat out organising a raft of events for tommorrow; Marek from Czech who is filming a whale docomentry and Stufke from slovakia will embark on a whale watching trip tommorow with K.F.E.M on a charted marine police boat. Sadly the chances are slim of spotting either a whale or dolphin,though they remain optamistic. Having said "will cook for reggae music", I was nominated to be chef for our evening barbacue tomorrow with our friends from K.F.E.M.,a celebration of succesfuly working together and many days hard work. Jan from Germany will be the chef's helper who's cooking is also exsquiste.

Today a few of us handed out leaflets for a free kids english lesson tommorow, Korean kids are very cute and I look forward to it, we have also recruited some english teachers and aim to make it a fun event with a whale and dolphin theme.

K.F.E.M also held a meeting and screening here tonight for their new members ,which consisted of constant clapping and signing of t-shirts.

Thank you for all the overwhelming support you have all shown - it gives us a lot of strength.

We are a mouthpeice for every one of you,

Raoni

I will need a big back pack to take all the wonderful and wacky experiences back home with me when i leave.

This morning we all contacted our embassy's to muster up some diplomatic support.

The New Zealand ambassador David Taylor who has already paid us a supportive visit was very receptive to my call.He gave me very good advice on our situation He also played a part in getting the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary put in place and had been in dialog with the mayor of Ulsan and city officials.Inviting them to visit Kaikoura,New Zealand which has a world renowned whale watch industry,and like Korea had a history of whaling. His helpfulness was a nice gesture and made me proud to be a kiwi,as some of the other embassy's were not so receptive.

Next we headed of to town for my hospital visit.I quickly lost my nervous smile taking my cloths off when i saw the doctors worried look,another case of suspected pollution poisoning, with a combination of sleep deprivation and sensitive skin.But my spirits remain high, the campaign is gaining more momentum and strength every day-we all feel it.

You can make your voice heard by taking part in the cyberaction which calls on the mayor of Ulsen to scrap the plans to build the whale meat factory-PLEASE do this is very much a winnable campaign -info on this on the website homepage. Our computers here tend to play up a bit and the phone line clicks,must be the Korean internet connection eh!

Next on our 'to do list' was a shopping trip to the vege market,a wonderful infusion of exotic smells,foreign voices and human frenzy all rotating around colorful and odd vegetables. The smells coming from the large fish market were not so foreign,but an amazing vast array of all aspects of sea life were on display from giant spider crabs to 2m long octopuses,most available live.Unpleasant but unforgettable.

To our surprise the threatening banners lining the opposite side of the street have all been taken down and we have a increase in visitors as people who saw the press conference come to meet us and ask questions,one activist Jim was shopping today and a lady pointed her finger at him ,said his name and then pointed at the whale embassy news clip on the TV,both smiled.

Raoni

We have now been witness to the butchering of 3 juvenile j stock minke whales in Ulsan over the last week alone; with an estimated population of less than 2000 .You don't have to be a genius to see that these numbers spell extinction.

Its the 31st Day of this occupation and we go from strength to strength. Our press conference at 11am ,announcing our eviction notice and our commitment to carry on this peaceful occupation, was a big success. National TV and newspaper crews turned up and showed a lot of interest.

The ultimatum issued by the city council informs us we must leave by the 15th may or face the consequences of a forcible eviction. James and I ascended the flag pole for the duration of the press conference to show our commitment to occupying this site.

Unfortunately i am now the second activist in this industrial port occupation to have fallen ill to suspected pollution poisoning.I have broken out in several disturbing looking rashes,along with our interpreter i will visit the hospital first thing tomorrow morning.

As i write this the city officials return to collect our signed eviction notices.We have not signed them and request individually addressed forms. There is more accusation of our willfull blocking of their oceans day, after long amounts of dialog regarding our passion for preservation of whales, they still fail to see the irony of their accusation.

We try to explain that whales are in a way barometers of the ocean .A healthy whale and dolphin population reflects a healthy fish stock. Their blaming of whales for lack of fish is like blaming a woodpecker for deforestation!.

Wow,as soon as the city officials left a Korean opera band arrived.A male and female singer accompanied by two guitarists played powerful songs to us about whale conservation and a song called whale mother where last century the whale was respected as a food source in times of hard ship. This visit was completely out of the blue and was a very rewarding show of appreciation for our hard work.

Raoni

Anyonghaseyo(hello) Friends

Well, well, we've been given our date upon which they have asked us to leave by, it happens to fall on Buddha's birthday-Monday 15 may, so unfortunately no birthday celebrations for us! We have made our stance very clear, that until the plans for the whale meat factory are abandoned we will continue to peacefully highlight this issue with our occupation...

If they would be so kind, I would get the eviction date extended by a day as i was looking forward to participating in the Buddhist celebrations.

This morning we were informed that Greenpeace head office in Amsterdam had received a fax from the Korean ministry of maritime and fishery's disputing our facts and that this was in fact not a whale meat factory but a whale sanitation processing plant aimed to improve hygiene-this is outrageously irrelevant as both would only encourage the slaughter and speed up the path to extinction.

Another interesting event was the New Zealand ambassador talking to the Mayor of Ulsan on the National news yesterday about his concerns regarding Korea's stance on whaling and alarm at their 'by catch'.This is great news for us,as we also are waiting for dialog with the mayor as he has the final say on the construction of the whale meat factory.

Yesterday we had the arrival of two new activists-Jan Schneider from Germany and Martina Badidova from Slovakia,bringing the numbers of foreign activists up to six. Both coming from country's who will Staunchly support whale conservation at this years International whaling Committee meeting here in Ulsan on June 20-24th.

Anyonghekasayo(goodbye)

Raoni

Blue Skies mark the arrival of my first dusty hot day, me and sidedish (adopted dog) retreat to the shady living quarters to quench the thirst.

During breakfast this morning we had our first diplomatic visit to the whale embassy-the New Zealand ambassador David Taylor who'd said he was following our progress with enthusiasm. He was being shown the new Jangsaepo whale museum when he spotted our flags and brightly colored dome in the waste land building site next door. Accompanying him was the same city official who was informing us to hastily depart two days ago.

Otherwise we've been spending our time informing the many Korean visitors, young and old via our interpretors of the many perils that our largest brothers and sisters of the sea face. Unfortunately not just 'bycatch' but pollution, global warming and overfishing and of course commercial hunting too!

We learn many interesting facts from our visitors, among some of the more disturbing 'bycatch' methods was that upon spotting a whale the captain of a boat would ram the boat into it,causing massive internal damage and gashing the body,the whale would dive down to escape but eventually would need to return to the surface to breath apon which the boat would repeatedly plough into the whale eventually killing it.

On the bright side a fisherman who had come in to give his full support, told us that three years ago he had caught 3 whales in his nets and sold them for $100 000. He said that he felt deep remorse, he wished us all the best in our campaign, hoping that he would once again see whales in the East sea.

anyonghekasayo Raoni and 'sidedish'

Hi. I am an English teacher in South Korea and have been living in Ulsan for the past 9 months. (If you find grammar errors in this blog, the real truth is I am actually a high school math teacher from Canada and am posing as an English teacher here in Korea) Aside from my profession, I am a social and economic activist from Ottawa, Canada. I met up with Greenpeace here in Ulsan about two and a half weeks ago. This is my first direct experience working with Greenpeace, and I would like to reflect upon my experience working with this group...

Excluding the media coverage about Greenpeace’s, my previous experience with Greenpeace was mainly through friends who had been canvassers. And of course many of my activist friends would occasionally sport a T-shirt or sticker, mostly because the name Greenpeace was synonymous with a cool environmental activist group. So wearing something with the Greenpeace name was like having the Nike swoosh.

So, in the past two weeks, I have really enjoyed my experience here at the Whale Embassy. The Greenpeace activists are really solid individuals. I guess what really impresses me is the degree to which the Greenpeace crew works in harmony together. Living at the Whale Embassy isn’t an easy task. Environmentally, they have to put up with being intoxicated with pollution, sleeping in tents, cold nights and hot days, dealing with rain, and a distant trek to a bathroom. On top of that, there is a steady flow of activists coming and going which has another host of issues; major jet leg, language barriers, different cultures, being able to pick up in the middle of things, and the uncertainty of what the Korean officials have in mind for trying to oust them from their occupation. So, with all of this to deal with, on top of LONG days, 7 days a week and a steady rotation of night watches, you would think that conflict or tension would boil?? NOPE!! These folks are SOLID!!

So what happens when you have a super group of Greenpeace activists together on a mission? A LOT!!! When I first arrived camp was pretty rugged. Now, well, with incredible scavenging abilities, a real embassy exists. The set up here is pretty impressive, and it has a real presence in the community. There is no doubt about it, Greenpeace means business. This isn’t a Mickey Mouse operation. Aside from occupying this space with style, the team is hard at work organizing to get the word out and strengthen their position to really create an impact and a real force to be reckoned with. The Korean officials take them as a serious threat because they present themselves as a well organised group with the power of a large international support network.

In the last couple weeks, I have found the Whale Embassy to be my new home and the Greenpeace crew to be my new family. While I still have to juggle my job in the mix, I more than enjoy spending all my free time and nights here. The vibe at the Embassy is nothing but good energy. Despite the living conditions and the tension of being on an action, with the imminent treat of arrest and possible imprisonment, everyone remains in positive spirits. I have felt nothing but warmth and inclusion as I went from being a random stranger poking my head around to moving in part time. I also have benefited a great deal from the knowledge and personal experiences that these activists have shared with me. I have noticed another fringe benefit about this campaign is the opportunity for networking. The activists here are able to really learn about the work being done in each others respective countries, built ties and essentially strengthen the Greenpeace movement internationally. I can guarantee one thing, when I do return to Canada, I have signing up with my local chapter of Greenpeace on the top of my list. From my experience here, I have nothing but positive things to say about what I have witnessed of Greenpeace.

My name is Raoni, I'm from Aotearoa-New Zealand I have a wide range of interest in many environmental and social issues, Back home i have recently been taking part in climate change actions and extensive work on the
Save Happy Valley Campaign which opposes further catastrophic mining practice's by Solid Energy.

Its my second event full day at the Ulsan Whale embassy.

Being on the 1-3am night watch i now have all the time i need for my web log. The recorded whale song creates a nice surreal atmosphere in here , outside across the road pictures of whales flash above restaurants . Rain is pouring off the roof with it comes a yellow silky layer along the edge of our moat ,unfortunately its ranked up there with some of the most polluted places on earth,one activist was hospitalized with suspected pollution poisoning. These toxins are inevitably washed out to sea Conservation of ocean life must therefore also happen proactively on land. Sperm whale meat was in 2002 taken off the both the Japanese and Norwegian market when discovered to contain 1.47ppm of mercury,well above the 0.4ppm guideline.

We are camped next to the harbor across the water is a enormous petrol refinery with the hum of very large tankers coming and going,tug boats dart about between walls of steel. There is constant coming and going,all night.

Our Other residence next door is a very cosy carpeted nomadic Arabian style tent ,which is our kitchen,lounge and chillout room. "will cook for beer" works anywhere ,its a bit different here almost nothing is written in english so i sniff my way through packets and powders ,I'm in luck,hungry people are great to cook for.

A group of official's and maritime police paid us a agitated visit today they want us gone, we are 'sabotaging' their efforts to make oceans day(next week) a success, oh they urgently need a car park for it right were we are camped!

Looks like we will expect a police visit rather soon, bummer i was just starting to get a bit more accustomed to my surroundings.

Ka kite,

Raoni

Today we had a really hard-nosed meeting with officials from the city council. They turned up with marine police officials, a broadcast camera crew and other suited men wandering around the camp with ominous looking brown envelopes tucked under their arms.

Long gone are the light-hearted chats over a cup of coffee. Instead the officials had come to talk hard-ball. In no uncertain terms they want us to leave. Asap. They claim that they need to build a car park where we are camped, but the reality is that they are simply embarrassed about our being here, concerned that we communicate a negative image of Ulsan to the international community, tarnishing their self-styled eco-credentials. So the meeting went on for about two hours, during which the officials had to take turns to go outside and let out their frustration with us.

We have told them that we will only leave when our demands over the whale meat factory, the bycatch trade in whale meat, and their ambiguous plans to resume whaling, are met. They have constantly denied us access to senior politicians to answer our questions, but today they grudgingly agreed (after telling us that we are selfish) to arrange a meeting with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (who are in charge of ‘whale resources’) sometime soon. However the bad news is that they are coming back tomorrow, unsatisfied at our lack of communications (ie that we are refusing to leave!). So will let you know how we get on.

Best,

Jim

Hi, I got some news from Ulsan, South Korea. My name is So Yeon Leem. I'm working as a Korean interpreter at the Whale Embassy here in Jangsaengpo, Ulsan. (I'll just assume that you all know why we - Greenpeace and KFEM - are here.)

It was around 9 o'clock this evening. I heard Ben calling another interpreter's name from outside. Then, he ran into the dorm and found me just sitting there. He said one Korean guy came and tried to say something to him. When I went out, there was a car and the driver guy told me one whale was being processed in a restaurant down there. He introduced him as a local resident. (Actually I remembered him. He was one of visitors to the Embassy the other day.)

We decided to go and look.

Stephanie (acting campaigner), Jae-Jung (another Korean interpreter) and I drove to that restaurant. It was only a few minutes away from the camp just by walk!!! When we got there, there were quite a lot of people watching it. At the first place, we're very careful to take photos. But there were already people taking pictures of and recording what's happening, so Stephanie started recording it too. (There was even a person from Ulsan MBC who was recording that process.) Well, let me tell you what I actually saw. I caught almost the end of the whole process. There were several wooden boxes staked up. They were filled with plastic-wrapped whale meats. One guy was using the axe to take flesh apart from the ribs and backbone. (Its rib looked like about 1.2~1.5 m to me.) The other guys was trimming those flesh. Blood was everywhere on the blue plastic cover. Of course, I could smell it!

After 20 minutes, We were back to the camp with one Korean guy, Baek-Sup Moon, who used to be a crew on Rainbow Warrier. He was there too and actually got some information. According to him, that whale was declared 'by-catch.' It was an immature Minkie Whale caught in Jook-Byeon 3 days ago. Jook-Byeon is located in a bit northern part of east coast, and 3 hours to drive away. (Surprisingly, it was quite far from Ulsan.) And then, that restaurant bought it for $30 000 . Since it was not illegal, people could process it publicly.

That's all I know about it.

--So Yeon Leem

After last night’s rain we can see yellow sulphuric sludge surrounding the puddles outside our tents. We’re feeling the impacts of the toxic environment here in Jangsaengpo. Melanie, our fellow activist has come down with a rash – an allergic reaction to working here. On doctors orders she’s been evacuated from the embassy for a few days while she recovers.

We’ve been here for three weeks now preparing for the impending monsoon season. ‘The Compound’, our living area beside the Whale Embassy is looking great, providing us with both a psychological sanctuary and a shelter from the sun, wind, sandstorms, and rain. We now know that our activists can work here in the coming months, communicating our message to the people of South Korea. We have created a functional platform to continue our campaign to stop Korea’s plans to build a whale and dolphin meat processing factory on this land we have occupied. If the processing factory is built, it will further encourage South Korea’s farcical “accidental” whaling, or even start “scientific” whaling, like Japan.

When the International Whaling Commission meets in Ulsan, we will have done our best to make the public and IWC delegates aware of the importance of this meeting. The decisions made here will have great impact on the future of life in the sea.

Off Topic: The 1st of May in Korea is some kind of shopping festival, apparently celebrating consumerism, providing a stark contrast from the activities which take place on this day in our respective homes, Denmark and Australia, on this day.

By Anne Marie Rasmussen and Adrian Wedd.