Many ex-pats like me received phone calls and letters last night in the wake of the shelling skirmish between North Korea and South Korea yesterday, which unfolded in and around Yeongpyeong-do (연 평도), an island near the border. I’ll link here to the New York Times’ South Korea news page so that any visitors will see the most updated news versus the early initial coverage.

I’m posting my response to my friends and family here as a reference for them, and for anyone else who’s curious about one person’s perspective. Granted, it is the viewpoint of an English speaker new to the country, with limited language skills (but with plenty of Korean-speaking friends), living in Seoul as a teacher. So it does not carry with it all the historical perspective or cultural context one might have as a Korean. However, I can say with some confidence that it is also relatively free of the biases one might have as someone with a greater stake in the narrative.

Especially a Korean politician. Or a university analyst. Or an international reporter. Or anyone else with a story to sell.

So, feel free to take that for what it’s worth.

Hi loved ones,

A few of you have emailed me about the latest scuffle between the Koreas. And I agree, this picture is pretty epic.

However, everything seems fine here now. We heard about the shots fired yesterday while in school. The kids took it in stride and with good humor (“We can’t talk about The Scarlet Letter right now. We have to go get our armies”). No further info has been forthcoming from any official channels, so it’s business as usual in Seoul.

From where I sit, it seems ludicrous to me that South Korea would consider military action now, as South Korea recently sent food aid to North Korea when there was flooding, and there’s a strong sense among South Koreans (and all the Asian allies at large) that peace, or at least the absence of outright war, is very much the desirable thing. Life is good in SK (I just posted last night about how lovely the fall has been here in both the city and countryside), and most people want to keep it that way.

So, reading the stories coming out of the conflict is a bit frustrating for me, as it seems the media is choosing some fairly extreme, saber-rattling, mostly uberofficial government quotes to run with these stories and saying that we’re “on the brink of war” due to “the most serious provocation since etc etc.” This is also what they wrote about the Cheonan sinking, after which there was no escalation. And in the intense timelines that the international reporters are all putting together, what’s most telling is the long gaps in between any sort of action whatsoever.

It is of course incredibly sad that life has been lost and homes have been burned due to this attack. But Yeongpyeong-do is no Gaza Strip. North Korea may be making a desperate bid for attention with this shelling — after all, their leader is dying, they need food, and if you’ve read 1984, you know that nothing solidifies support for a shaky government like an outside conflict. But it seems the media and the various governments are also fighting to make this storyline relevant to the world, and in the process, distorting it — at the expense of Korea’s residents. It is worrisome and bothersome to me that so many people seem eager to build a narrative around war rather than around the much more likely and desirable narrative of peace. I’ve never lived in a place with a lifestyle of relative calm punctuated by sporadic military scuffles like Korea, so watching this coverage from the inside has been interesting.

(I know, I know, you’re all going to shake your heads and say, “How can she philosophize about culture and journalism at a time like this?” ….The answer is, because that’s what I do on a normal day, and today appears to be a normal day.)

This NYT article provides a slightly more balanced rundown with some perspective.

That said, we have no way of predicting the future, and as the article states, “[North Korea does] things that could not possibly be predicted in a rational world.” I’m registered at the US embassy and keeping an eye on the sitch. Will let you know if any issues arise.

Love you all, and happy almost-Thanksgiving — I’m very thankful for your love & support throughout my time here!

Ryan