Dr. Smoke by Lee Gumienny in Busan, South Korea

Smoking culture isn’t discouraged here like it is in my own country, America.  The high schoolers do it, the old men, the university students, the salary men, the fashionistas… 33% of the country is lighting up.  All walks of life.  Cigarettes are dirt cheap.

Unlike America, health care is provided for pretty much everyone (the country successfully implemented this in only 12 years time, 1977-1989).  The out-of-pocket payments for medical care and medicine are almost as cheap as the cigarettes.  It continuously baffles me that a mostly pre-industrial country that was completely ravaged by war could build itself up to be one of the world’s top economies within 50 years or so, provide universal health care for all of its citizens, and yet my own country, the world’s #1 economy, cannot do the same for its own people.

Name:Lee Gumienny

Place you live:  Busan, South Korea

Place your photo was taken: Busan

Occupation: ESL (English as a Second Language) Instructor

Preoccupation: street photography

A perfect day in Busan?  No obligations other than to follow my whims and wander – a comfortable 75 to 80 degrees with a light breeze.

If someone was visiting what must they do?  Haeundae Beach – It’s the most popular beach in Korea and therefore great for people-watching.

A little known fact?  Busan is the largest port city in South Korea, and the fifth largest port city in the world.

leegumienny.com

Comments