Korean Totem Poles

When I flew from Los Angeles to Incheon I wondered why, rather than a straight shot across the Pacific, the flight map showed us creeping up the Western U.S. Coast towards Alaska, and over the Behring Strait, then along the Coast of Russia, China, over Japan and then into Korea. Maybe the unpredictability of weather conditions over open sea was a concern? It got me thinking about the route early humans supposedly took over land bridges from Russia to Alaska and into North America. They basically walked the path I flew in reverse from Asia to North America. This is all an overly conflated way to be saying that when I saw these Korean Totem Poles their link to Native Americans was made in my mind for the first time. It's obvious they share a cultural heritage when you compare the woodwork. These cartoonishly whacky sculptures were meant to scare to the shit out of trespassers on a tribe's territory and protect the camp, but to the eyes of someone who's grown up in a post Ren and Stimpy world they're just sort of interesting and funny.