(Day 107) Seoul Nambu Correctional Facility-day 12 D-144

sit-ups	push-ups	chairlifts
50 x 8	50 x 4	40 x 5

Breakfast	coffee
Lunch	noodles in soy sauce with pork & potatoes mandu yellow radish
Dinner	rice & kimchi cucumber kimchi kimchi & tofu in hot water fish cake and cabbage in hot pepper sauce

I was looking at the box my instant coffee mix comes in and I noticed the expiration date. What struck me as unusual was that it had a time. What happens to the coffee mix if no one drinks it on March 24th 2014 at 2:57 in the afternoon? And is that 2:57 Asian Time or Eastern Standard Time or Pacific Standard Time? Does it suddenly become stale at that time? Does it taste more chalky then it usually does? Does it become poisonous or blow up and self destruct? That would be a neat trick. The idea that it stays fresh for nearly two years before suddenly self destructing at 2:57 Eastern Standard Time is funny. I have another box of instant coffee and it self-destructs at 2:56. According to the serial numbers that follow the time, there are seven more potentially hazardous boxes of instant coffee mix all timed to go off within a minute of each other on March 24th 2014.

All my clothes, my electric razor, notebook and paper all have a stamp or logo of Korean Prison Industries on them. You can only buy these items (as far as I know) if you are in prison. It's quite a scam. In order to get time off long sentences, prisoners can work in factories producing these items. They don't get paid with money, but with time. However, to get or use these items, we prisoners have to pay cash for them. The prisoners work for free to buy the same items they are making. To sell them outside the prison, all you really have to do is change the logo, which I'm sure they do. I wonder how many “made in Korea” items are made in Korean prisons? And do we do the same thing in Western countries? We should. Do something with all those “war on drugs” victims we have locked away. It’s not forced labour unless you're wrong the convicted. I tried to volunteer, but my sentence isn't long enough.

Dinner sucked. That is all.

On TV there is a show that seems to be nothing but a bunch of guys talking eating and sleeping. That's it. Nothing else. There's no game or challenges, no one gets kicked out at the end. It’s just a bunch of famous (in Korea) actors goofing around. This is entertainment? People like watching this? It makes me want to slit my wrists.