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