A Difference of Perception

Today North Korea attacked a small island off the coast of South Korea, raining down 200 rounds of artillery fire on a South Korean military outpost and wounding at least 16 people. The South Koreans responded with a salvo of 80 rounds, in addition to scrambling fighter jets. The event was on the front page of CNN.com and most major news outlets.

So what does this actually mean here in South Korea? It depends on who you ask. At my hagwon, the foreign teachers were in a bit of a tizzy. Some hurried to check the financial markets (Christmas break is coming up and nobody wants to see their vacation money suddenly devalued), some sent off "I'm OK" emails to friends and family, and some (like me) simply stared at their computers and tried to figure out if this was a big deal or not.

But for the Korean co-teachers and students, the attack was not nearly as startling. Our co-teachers continued to create worksheets and grade papers, and the kids still didn't seem very interested in properly conjugating verbs. The general action was much like a typical American's response to the actions of an annoying neighbor: "Oh, Jerry knocked over the mailbox again? That guy's such a tool..."

Like most citizens under the age of 50 living in the West, I've never experienced my country being attacked by the organized military forces of another nation. Never had to deal with bombs dropping as I walk to the grocery store. Never wondered if those loud crackling sounds off in the distance are anything more sinister than fireworks. And to be honest, the city where I live, Cheonan, is not exactly in the middle of a war zone right now. In fact, daily life wasn't really altered at all by the North Korean attack.

But the calm attitude of the Koreans today was still surprising. For a foreigner who has only been here a few months, it seems that people would be more upset at an unprovoked attack by a neighboring, belligerent, nuclear-armed nation. But I suppose when you have lived with the world's most heavily militarized border for the last 50-odd years, you get used to minor skirmishes like this. Still, coming from a country that hasn't seen military conflict on its soil since before electricity, any skirmish at all seems pretty substantial.

Chances are, this incident will blow over in a few weeks and relations on the Korean peninsula will return to their previous uneasy-but-peaceful state. As any Korean will remind you, this has happened before, and it will probably happen again. Remember when North Korea sank the South Korean military ship Cheonan last year? Probably not. It's just another quickly forgotten blurb in the news that happened halfway around the world.

Odd to be in the middle of it as it happens, nevertheless.