Yun Jeaung Chung, our Wf360 intern from Korea, tells me my blog post of yesterday is all well and good for lovers of all things Parisian, but the Pont Des Arts "lovers locks" display has been left in the dust by Seoul's Nam-San Tower (called the N Tower) which for years has attracted the same kind of padlock display of lovers' affection for each other.
Yun Jeaung tells me the Koreans have been putting their locks up there for years ("since I was a kid," she says) and from the pictures she gives us here, it's clear the Koreans have won the lovers lock contest hands down. At least in quantity. And the view from the N Tower is pretty fabulous as well.
What's more, Yun Jeaung tells me the Koreans have surrounded their lock placement moment with a ritual that includes throwing away the keys off the tower (and since the tower itself is on a mountain, there's no getting those keys back!). The idea is that they're committing themselves to each other--locking their relationship--and it's forever. Sounds like an engagement ring would be a mere afterthought. But Yun Jeaung says that yes, people still get engaged in Korea and it's a ritual unrelated to whether or not they also placed a lock on the Tower N fence.
Hmmm. How many of the locks on Seoul N Tower--and on the Pont Des Arts too, for that matter--were placed there by people who have since then unlocked their relationship? Must be a bit of an embarrassment to pass by that lock later in life if it has your name linked to someone else who is no longer in your life. No easy way to remove that lock once the keys are thrown away...
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
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