Yesterday afternoon, around 2:00 pm North Korea fired shells at South Korea near and on the island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea. South Korea responded with firing back. This dispute left two young Korean soldiers dead, 16 soldiers injured and 3 civilian injuries. The BBC says that this is one of the worst disputes on the Korean Peninsula since the end of the Korean War. To read more articles about the dispute on Yeonpyeong please click on the images bellow.
I am completely fine and safe, just to put that out there. The action was however, definately too close for comfort considering I live in a western suburb of Seoul. On the map below you can see the City of Incheon (which is 90 km from Yeonpyeong island). I live only a 25 minute subway ride from Incheon in Bucheon.
Yesterday afternoon, everyone was listening to the radio and watching the news on their phones, their eyes and ears glued. However, there was no panic and life went on as normal. I did received a direct message on twitter from one of my students Son Sam (9th grade) concerning the North Korean firings. See below.
As you can see, many Koreans feel that this is a tragedy and all they want is peace between the two separated countries. Many of my students when asked where they would like to travel the most in the world answered North Korea. Also many of the Korean's I have spoken to about this issue would like to see their peninsula reunified in the future. There is hope in the South Korean's eyes for a unified Korea.
Life goes on in South Korea like the day prior; however, I am very interested to see how this North Korean firing plays out. There is no sense of panic, but I know people are seriously concerned. "North Korea is simply a fact of life that South Koreans have learned to live with for many years" from the BBC.
Watching this dispute from the South Korean perspective is extremely fascinating and I will be continually updating you with more of my thoughts and experiences.
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