ROK President Visits Great Wall

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 10, 2003

ROK President Visits Great Wall

President of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Roh Moo-hyun regrets not being able to spend longer than 20 minutes visiting the Great Wall of China.

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President of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Roh Moo-hyun regrets not being able to spend longer than 20 minutes visiting the Great Wall of China.

After climbing the first tower, he said his tight schedule meant he had to stop and return to official duties.

At about 9 am on Wednesday, Roh and his wife Kwon Yang-sook began climbing the Badaling section of the Great Wall.

Roh was very curious about the Great Wall: Were there any soldiers on guard now? Could the soldiers ride horses on the wall? Where did the stone come from? And the bricks?

He said to his wife that it was hard to imagine how people had created such a wonder.

Built 2,000 years ago, the 6,300-kilometer Great Wall was the greatest military defense project in ancient China.

The president said, with such a long distance, even with one soldier per kilometer, 6,300 soldiers were needed. And if there were three shifts each day, at least 20,000 soliders were needed. What's more, there had to be people to make their food. It's really hard to image who created such a project and how it was defended.

He said all his friends had already visited the Great Wall and he was the last of them to see it.

Smiling, he said: he had photos taken with local officials.

During his visit, Roh stopped twice for the press to take photos and posed according to the "demands" of Korean journalists.

After his visit, he wrote in the message book that the Great Wall was a proud monument for later generations.

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