▲ All over the island are traditional meeting areas in villages like this where the older generation congregates. Photo by Kang Bong Soo

Legend has it that Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang sent an envoy to Jeju looking for a mythical elixir rumored to exist on the island. There seems to be no scientifically proven medicine as of today that promises an eternal life for islanders, but some recent numbers show that Jeju’s elders are enjoying comparatively longer and healthier lives than people elsewhere.

The number of those alive well past 100 was 8.75 per 10,000 people in Jeju, higher than any other province in Korea, according to a recent study at Wonkwang University. The research concluded that the island’s clean natural environment may have helped them to live longer despite the relative lack of proper medical service in the island.

The latest data shows that it is not just aging natives that are making Jeju an increasingly graying island. According to the Jeju provincial government, the island’s population has grown to 565,339, a 0.48 percent increase to last year. The prime contributor to the growth of population was an increasing number of immigrants from the mainland. Among those immigrants, the ratio of people over 60 in particular was higher than any other age group.

Influx of graying immigrants to the island means that Jeju is turning to an island of silver towns for aging Koreans. In fact, development of healthcare towns targeted at the aging population in Korea and East Asia has been one of the key strategies for the provincial government in attracting investment to the island.

Pinx Resort built Pinx Biotopia in Seogwipo, an upscale silver town targeted at wealthy retirees from the mainland. The silver town sold 31 of its planned 116 mansions in Nov. 2005 despite the high unit price comparable to some luxury apartments in southern Seoul. Berjaya Corporation Berhard, a Malaysian hotel and resort group, is building another resort-type residential and healthcare complex in Yerae, Seogwipo, which will attract wealthy Koreans as well as East Asian retirees.

Coupled with countless numbers of individual second homes commissioned by those soon to be retired and other nursing homes scattered throughout the island, it is only a matter of time until the islanders find one day that Jeju has turned in to Korea’s Florida. If you are not one of those retirees, are you ready to accommodate yourself to this increasingly graying culture of the island?

Gambling the island’s future on casinos

▲ Hyatt Regency Hotel Casino. Photo courtesy Hyatt Regency Hotel

The recently leaked government research paper that stirred the nation’s media shows that Seoul has secretly studied the possibility of running river-cruise casinos open to Koreans along the nation’s four main waterways. If the river-cruise casinos are ever approved by the government, it would deal a devastating blow to the island’s already cash-strapped casino industry. Making the matter worse, two provincial governments have proposed recently to build casino towns in the mainland open to domestic gamblers.

The pressure is mounting on the governor that Jeju should restart the debate about opening its own casinos to Korean tourists. “While Jeju is dragging its feet, other provincial governments will get a head start on the issue,” warned Kim Hee Yeon, Democratic representative of Jeju Provincial Assembly on Sept. 17. Kim asked the Governor Woo Keun Min to engage in the debate immediately, suggesting that the cash from the casinos would finance the construction of the envisioned free international city.

Governor Woo did not rule out the possibility of restarting the debate on the proposed casinos, saying that he would review the proposal after the controversial naval base issue is resolved.

Eight of 16 foreigner-only casinos in Korea are currently running their shops in the island’s deluxe hotels. The extent of competition among Jeju casinos can be easily imagined given the limited number of foreign visitors to Jeju. The recent explosion of gambling-crazy Chinese visitors to Jeju may cool down the heated race among Jeju casinos to lure foreign customers. Still, it is a tricky game for them to turn around considering the huge up-front investment needed to open a casino. For the island’s casinos to turn profitable again, the industry insiders asserted time and again, admission of Korean gamblers—or at least tourists—would be inevitable.

Opening a casino in Jeju that admits Korean tourists, however, would potentially trigger a backlash from islanders who are wary of an unbridled spread of compulsive gamblers in the island. Islanders saw earlier that betting on a horse racing, though limited to how much one could gamble a day, still spawned lots of gambling addicts in the island.

‘China Express’ to shuttle Incheon-Jeju

▲ Courtesy Airbus SA

It is estimated that some 277,000 Chinese travelers visited Jeju as of August this year, an 81 percent increase compared to the same period last year. This Chuseok holiday alone will see some approximately 45,000 Chinese tourists visiting Jeju or Seoul.

To accommodate the growing number of Chinese travelers, Asiana Air announced last week that the company will fly a 143-seat A320 shuttle airplane between Incheon and Jeju International Airport beginning Oct. 1. The flight, aimed exclusively at serving Chinese travelers, will fly four times a week initially but will soon fly daily. The company has even assigned the flight numbers 8989 and 8988 to the airliner to delight Chinese customers. Chinese are known to love the number 8 since they believe the number brings them great fortunes.

Asiana Air’s decision to fly between Incheon and Jeju daily will ease the current shortage of seats for Chinese travelers but it also poses an uncomfortable question for the Jeju provincial government.

To transport the exploding number of Chinese visitors to Jeju, the province has so far focused on opening more direct flights from Jeju to Beijing, Shanghai and other key Chinese cities. No matter how many direct flights Jeju opens in the future, however, Jeju International Airport may never be able to compete head on with Incheon International Airport, with four airlines currently flying from Incheon to over 30 destinations in China. If Asiana Air’s shuttle service between Incheon and Jeju becomes popular in the future, travelers will start to question the merit of turning Jeju Int’l Airport to an independent hub of Korea.

Furthermore, Korail announced recently that KTX trains will soon link key local cities directly with Incheon International Airport, whisking away travelers from the doorstep of Korea’s international hub to their final destinations. If this happens, overseas travelers could transit at Incheon to KTX bullet trains for a two-and-half hour train ride via planned underwater tunnel to Jeju, undermining again the need for building another hub airport on the island.

The Jeju-Incheon shuttle flight may have just opened the Pandora’s Box of Jeju’s aged battle with Seoul about financing a new hub airport in the island.

Golden peanuts of Udo to woo Chinese shoppers

Udo farmers have succeeded in harvesting “golden peanuts,” Udo Golden Peanut Farming Union announced on Sept. 19.

The farmers have been experimenting with growing golden peanuts together with SM Nanotech, a nano-technology venture start-up. After a couple of trials, they have finally succeeded in extracting 13.1 micrograms of gold per 1 kilogram of golden peanuts they harvested recently, the union said.

To grow golden peanuts, SM Nanotech first dissolved gold bars into very fine particles less than 2 nanometers in diameter by electrolysis. Udo farmers then sprayed the gold particles over 2.3 hectares of peanut fields.

Some 4.5 tons of golden peanuts to be harvested by Oct. 20 will be either sold at Hyundai Department Stores or exported to China after processed to peanut jam. Udo farmers are hopeful that a potentially huge market may soon open to them in China as Chinese love anything that is coated with gold.

For years, farmers in Udo have been growing the idiosyncratic harvests befitting the island’s distinctive status among visitors.

Much smaller than the usual crops found in the mainland, Udo peanuts have been loved by tourists for their extra-crunchy texture and fresh aroma. Farmers here have grown them together with garlic since the island’s strong winds made it impossible to grow tangerines and other specialties ubiquitous on Jeju.