I  go to a  lot of weddings in Korea. My wife works for a big company and  all her friends are of Korean marrying age. Going to a  bunch of weddings might seem  like torture for some of you, but I  enoy  it. Well, I enjoy the buffets.  This probably sounds rude if you’ve never been to a Korean wedding, but trust me, most  Koreans feel the same.  

This past weekend I had the chance to attend a wedding that took place at a convention center inside Ulsan Munsu Stadium, which was built and used during the 2002 World Cup. I’ve long been interested in the nine World Cup stadiums in Korea  – those I’ve seen in person are beautiful, impressive creations. Thing is,  today they’re largely unused and most  incur huge deficits. It’s a catch-22 because the government can hardly afford to let them fall into disrepair — I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to call the 2002 World Cup (co-hosted with Japan) the (or at least a) pinnacle of post-War Korean History, even more so than the 1988 Seoul Olympics, which despite being on  a larger scale, was more or less  a  coming out party the country. The World Cup was a declaration, and it circumvented a great deal of the nationalism we  see in Korea  today. Nothing associated with  the 2002 World Cup  will simply be  left to decay.  

Korea spent approximately two billion dollars to build 10 World Cup stadiums. The construction began in 1998, and even though some suggested remodeling or renovating the existing stadiums rather than building brand new ones, the government went ahead and built all new venues. As a point of contrast — and trust me, this was a major factor in Korea’s decision making process — Japan built just three stadiums in preparation for the event.

Not surprisingly,  there isn’t  a lot of current data on the deficits the stadiums incur these days. One report I found says that the nine stadiums outside Seoul accumulated 30  million dollars of debt just from 2002 to 2004. Today all the stadiums are used by K-League (the Korean Soccer League) teams, which play a total of 13 home games per season. In 2007 total attendance of the K-League was 2,073,808, an average of 11,786 fans per game. Anyone who’s watched a K-League game on TV knows those figures are  a tad  questionable.

But undoubtedly these places (or at least the three I’ve seen in person) are world class venues. I was able to walk inside Munsu after the wedding — the place is spotless. I don’t follow the K-League, but there was a sign advertising an upcoming game on June 26.

Inside the convention hall is a museum dedicated to the 2002 World Cup. I’m sure everyone has fond memories of these guys — whatever their names and genesis may be…

Note:That’s Ato, Kaz and Nik — three (or at least two)  entirely Japanese names if I do say so. According to Wikipedia:

Orange, purple and blue (respectively) futuristic, computer-generatedcreatures. Collectively members of a team of “Atmoball” (a fictional football-like sport), Ato is the coach while Kaz and Nik are players. The three individual names were selected from shortlists by users on the Internet and at McDonald’s outlets in the host countries.

I found the museum itself pretty interesting. As you’ll see it gets bit in depth.  There are display cases featuring several of the ceremonial balls used to start games. In total there  are 20 balls.  The Brazilian, Spanish and Turkish teams all trained in Ulsan at newly built training facilities in separate parts of the city. So make that a total of seven fields and four complexes. Inside the museum there are models of each. They must have cost millions.

The plaque also says Ulsan “was labeled the land of promise during the world cup.”  Brazil won the tournament, Turkey placed third and Spain fifth, so I’m sure there was a great deal of talk about that during the cup (or not). This stands out to me because if you’ve been to Ulsan you know it’s hard to imagine the city’s name and the phrase “land of promise” fitting together in the same sentence. I suppose it was the land of promise of Hyundai — in the 80s.

I thought this was pretty funny — a display case containing the agreements signed by Brazil, Turkey and Spain. Unfortunately much of the ink has faded away. Never forget.

I’m not sure what this mural is made of, but it’s very impressive in person.

I also liked this display of the individual display posters for each venue (click to enlarge).

The museum also contains the original model for the Munsu Sports Complex. In addition to the soccer stadium there’s some kind of gymnastics or swimming center next door. I was surprised to discover the original model also contained plans for a baseball stadium. Sadly this never happened. I was actually hoping the Hyundai Unicorns (now Woori Heroes) would move to Ulsan, since it is the 5th or 6th largest city in Korea (pop 1.1 million). Every other large city in Korea has a baseball team, so Ulsan would be a natural choice. I suppose had the baseball park been completed it might have happened.

Analysis: Ah yes, the buffet. I have to say, considering the fact that the buffet was happening at a world class stadium I was a little disappointed. Upon entering the buffet hall there appeared to be several large tables containing food, but as I grabbed my plate and started in, I could see that most of the dishes were repeated two and even three times throughout the line. Not a great sign.

Korean buffets almost always have a raw fish area and I’ve come to find that a good indicator of a Korean buffet as a whole is the raw fish area. If there are several different kinds of fish in a small area (preferably on ice)  you can rest assured that the turnover is high and the fish fresh. If there are three trays with sushi, each piled high with one kind of fish, it’s probably safe to assume the rest of the buffet will be lacking.

This was just the case at the buffet at Munsu. The food was decent, but the selection left me wanting. Occasionally, at high quality Korean buffets, there’ll be a steak station, or someone making udon noodles for you. There was nothing like that at Munsu.

There was a nice bowl of Bibim guksu (비빔국수) - spicy cold wheat flour noodles, and a pasta salad with zucchini and some sort of white sauce that was tasty. As is common at Korean wedding buffets there was coke in the bottle on the table, which I always enjoy. On the downside the only coffee was a gross hazelnut flavored concoction.

By no means the worst buffet I’ve been to in Korea, but certainly not the best. The food itself has me thinking three out of five stars, however the fact that we were given two free loaves of desert bread on our way out has me tacking on an extra half star.

Rating: Three-and-a-half stars.