Shells

For those who are unaware of Korean relations over the past year, I'll give a quick catchup before hitting today's news.  In late spring/early summer of this year, North Korea fired on and sunk a South Korean ship.  In late summer, North Korean artillery fired shots into the water between the two countries.  Today, however, things changed again.

At around 2:30 p.m. today, North Korean artillery began bombarding Yeonpyeong island, a populated island off the Western coast of South Korea.  Many homes were destroyed in the attack, but injuries have only been speculated, among civilians.  One South Korean soldier was killed and four were injured.  The sourth returned fire and scrambled fighter jets to the island, and the US responded by dispatching F22s to the area. 
That was about three hours ago. 
Thirty minutes ago, the North picked up the bombardment again, in the same area, and I'm told over 200 artillery shells have hit Southern soil.  I don't yet know the results of this attack, but I want everyone at home to know I'm fine.  The island IS relatively close to Incheon, but not close enough that I heard the artillery.  The North's guns may be quiet again now, but I can't tell you if they are, or if they'll stay that way. 

The North's spokesman declared the barrage as a reply to South Korean troops training in that area.

This map shows the location of Yeonpyeong with Incheon being the highlighted area of the Mainland and Incheon airport marked with the jet icon. 

Coteachers gravely informed me of the emergency, asking if I was scared.  Then their serious faces cracked and they asked if I wanted to run away (-The only direction someone in south korea could "run" to escape the country is North.)  It was a joke.  Students asked me if I'd heard of the emergency, their faces shining, each wanting to be the first messenger of the misfortune...and then they returned to their computer games. 

Surreal, to an American, to imagine shells falling on your homeland, homes on your sovereign soil burning from an enemy military's attack, and children still in school in the city nearest the barrage.   Imagine joking about it at work, while you continue business as usual.  There's no backlash or anger here.  The lack of general fear might serve to put a wary foreigner at ease.  And calm reason does tend to help in crisis situations. 
But gallows humor?
Excitement?


Where in the hell am I?


It's life as I've never seen it- living in America, it's easy to assume conflict is something that happens within a small village in MiddleEast-istan, or a tribal war in Africa.  Either way, neither is much of a threat to the actual safety of Americans going about their lives. 

Here, conflict is real.  It doesn't creep around in whispered words in foreign neighborhoods, it knocks at the front door with coastal shells.  Even as I write this, I wonder if I should feel foolish-
If everyone else is calm, am I worrying for nothing?
Is this only an American's inability to deal with the reality of conflict? 
Or is this shell of Korean bravado just a way of dealing with the fact that their elephant in the room is crazy and armed?

Erich Maria Remarque said (of being on the recieving end of artillery) "...we are in a good humor, because otherwise we should all go to pieces."

The response of adopting a holiday mood is, thus, the only one that makes sense.  If there is danger, or if there isn't, no one benefits from being panicked.  Shells (or worse) may fall on South Korea, but this country understands a reality that Americans (myself included) have yet to fully grasp-
If children begin their martial training at 3 years old
If ALL men of the country must serve in the military
If clear and present danger is understood to be a ridiculous concept (since you always border such danger)

-Then maybe that country won't suffer from the violent inability to handle violence that plagues Americans.  I would remind you here that many in the US on September 12, 2001 (the only time in my lifetime where I've seen an enemy attack MY home soil) were crying out to the government to make the middle east a sea of glass. 
I've wondered before at this toughened, militarized way of life.
I've seen how it manifests in everyday life.  I've seen the people that live it.  I've seen what they do.
Thanks for joining me in finding out why.

In a recent update, pressure has been increasing on China to reject North Korea's proposed Nuclear Delivery Device, as China is currently the only country with the manufacturing capacity to deliver on the 1.5 million rubber bands required to power the 2-acre slingshot.

See?  I can do it too.  I'll be developing weapons-grade wit tonight when I'm done with Taekwondo.
Til next time, I'll keep you updated
Jeff