Conditioning Our Minds to the Threat of War

It seems like everyone is wondering about the situation between North and South Korea (and let's not forget the U.S., Russia, and China...)



Today, I talked with a friend of mine who travels to Korea two to three times a year. She said something like, "Normally, my concern level is at a 2. But now, it's definitely more." To me, that's saying something.

Then, just a few minutes after that, someone at worked asked me, "Have you talked to your family in Korea?"

Clearly, it's on a lot of people's minds... well, at least if they're American.

When I got off work tonight, I called my sister, Hyun Jeong. And like usual, she said she is not concerned. Not concerned? How can this be?

Then, I talked to her husband, Glenn. He said he was a little worried, but his voice didn't have the same urgency as the voice in my head. Really?

It has occurred to me over the years that South Koreans really don't consider the North to be a threat. They don't believe that the North wants to really go to war. They are used to crazy threats from Kim Jung Il and his regime. They even shrug their shoulders at a torpedo now and then.



It's unimaginable to me. My parents were so concerned when Jim and I went to Korea back in November... I can't imagine what they'd be thinking now.

I'm getting off subject a bit, but generally Korean people are so hard to understand. In one regard, they're super healthy with the way they nourish themselves. The food seems so healthy. Yet, when we were in Korea, people kept sneezing on each other and us during the height of swine flu. Jim was outraged! No one taught them to cover their mouths?

The same thinking goes for the tense situation over there. How can people ever get scared? They live next to an unstable country with a leader who's eccentric and aging. What does he care if he starts a war? The countries never signed a treaty to end the war in the 1950s. They just signed a cease fire. UH, HELLO?

I know South Koreans are just used to this kind of behavior from their naughty neighbors to the north, but it sure scares the daylights out of me. South Koreans are (again, generally) such happy, pinky-ponky people. I worry about their internal threat meters sometimes.

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Gold for Yu Na!

From the Associated Press:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- South Korea's Kim Yu-na has won the women's figure skating gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics -- and did it by setting a record.
Photos: Women's Figure Skating Finals

South Korea's Kim Yu-Na performs during the women's free skating event.

Ms. Kim shattered her own world mark by scoring 228.56 points, more than 18 higher than her previous record. She is the winner of South Korea's first Olympic medal in the sport.

Mao Asada of Japan won the silver, but finished 23 points behind Ms. Kim.

Joannie Rochette, whose mother died four days ago, got the bronze, Canada's first women's medal in the games since 1988. American Mirai Nagasu finished fourth.

NORTH KOREA AND NUCLEAR DEVICES

As of 11:40 pm, October 8th:

South Korea's official news agencies are reporting that North Korea has performed a successful nuclear test.

A South Korean seismic monitoring center also confirms tremors felt at the time of North Koreas alleged nuclear test. They say they were not natural occurrences. This would be North Koreas first ever nuclear weapons test.

North Korea said last week it would conduct a nuclear test as part of its deterrent against a possible United States invasion.

Last Friday the United Nations Security Council issued a statement warning North Korea not to do the test. Also, a UN statement says if nuclear tests were conducted it would jeapordize peace, stability, and security in the asia region and beyond.

***The closest experience I had with North Korea was going to the DMZ, or the demilitarized zone. It is basically the place where North and South Korea meet. I remember walking through the area feeling scared. (We had to sign waivers basically relinquishing the US of any liability in the event of being maimed, shot or killed. Afterwards, we went to a massacre site where North Korean soldiers had once ambushed American troops.) Soldiers from both the North and South were standing silent and tall with their guns. I stood at the top of a hill where I heard eery propoganda-opera-type music and saw these white, Hollywood-type signs in the distance--both used to apparently entice South Koreans to cross the border. I saw the propoganda village North Korea built to give the appearance of being a rich country, when actually no one lived there at all. But something I will never forget was walking to the bottom of an infiltration tunnel and seeing a young (18 or so) South Korean soldier standing on guard with his gun at a metal door with a small glass window...then seeing an equally young North Korean solider on the other side. At that moment, I remember feeling sorry for the boys because they had to stare at each other all day as enemies, even though they were cut from the same cloth.***