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News of North Korea¡¯s claim to have conducted a nuclear test hung like a mushroom cloud over South Korea on Monday. Many could not believe the North would actually go ahead with a test, with shock, anger and fear mingling in their response.
After the news came out at noon on Monday, some staff at a KTF technology research center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, were afraid that war would break out and many worried about the future. After lunch, they returned to work, looked at stock prices online and questioned their stock brokers what the market held in store for them or called their parents to tell them to stock up on instant noodles ¡°just in case.¡± Kim Young-joon (28) said, ¡°I feel really nervous. I thought the North was just threatening a nuclear test to show off its military power, but I didn¡¯t imagine it really would. The situation here is already bad and I have no idea what will happen if it gets worse.¡±
Seoul National University student Choi Yu-mi (24) heard the news when she was having lunch with friends at her school dorm. ¡°At first, I couldn¡¯t believe it. It was just like a movie or a novel,¡± she said. ¡°It did announce it will conduct a test, but I didn¡¯t think it would be so soon.¡± Her friends said they received constant text messages saying ¡°Will it be okay?¡±
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People read the Chosun Ilbo evening edition on Monday with news that North Korea said it carried out a successful nuclear test.
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Park Un-joo (22), who studies at Korea University, also got the news at a restaurant near his school. ¡°Just a minute ago, we joked that since the Chuseok holiday is over, North Korea will not carry out a nuclear test, but then we saw just the opposite of what we hoped on TV.¡± The news ruined his and his friends¡¯ lunch. Fears voiced included the birth of deformed babies due to heavy fallout caused by the test. Some worried about friends serving their compulsory military service.
Kim Hyung-soon (60) was at a restaurant in Seoul at 3 p.m. ¡°If a nuclear bomb lands in Seoul, it kills half of the population here and the Korean War will seem like nothing when compared to this,¡± he said. ¡°The Kim Jong-il leadership says its nuclear program is for its self-defense, but we have lived peacefully for a half century without nuclear arms.¡± Shin Oh-dong (64), the owner of the restaurant, said, ¡°In the first nuclear crisis in 1994, North Korea boasted it could turn South Korea into a sea of fire, and that has virtually become a reality.¡± Besides declining profits, the news made him feel extremely nervous, he confessed. Shin and his four brothers were scattered far and wide during the Korean War when he was nine years old, and he does not know whether some of them are still alive.
¡°The administration including President Roh Moo-hyun should be held responsible for the test,¡± one citizen commented. ¡°We can¡¯t trust a government that is only good at playing upon words and does not care about national security.¡± People from all walks of life, from students to housewives, public servants and the self-employed were deeply worried. Park Bong-hee (45), a housewife from Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, said, ¡°It¡¯s the first day after Chuseok, when everyone returns to their workplace, and I can¡¯t understand why North Korea is doing this. I have kids to take care of and I wonder whether I should emigrate.¡±
Kim Ki-beom (30), a graduate student, said, ¡°I have kept calm about all kinds of news about North Korea¡¯s nuclear issues including its pulling out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the announcement that it has nuclear arms and its warning of a possible nuclear test, but this time, I felt that something serious happened. I realize now that North Korea¡¯s nuclear problems have become part of our reality.¡± He said the test ¡°just provides an excuse for the U.S. to impose further sanctions against the North. North Korea is trying to kill itself by doing so.¡±
Intellectuals also denounced the test. Prof. Lew Seok-choon, a sociologist at Yonsei University, said, ¡°Korea-U.S. cooperation is absolutely necessary to address the North Korean nuclear issue, but we gave up on the alliance ourselves and decided to dismantle Combined Forces Command. We don¡¯t have any force to respond.¡± He added the government brought on the problem itself with its emphasis on independent self-defense. Nam Sung-wook (47), a North Korea specialist at Korea University, said, ¡°The test means that the military balance between the two Koreas, which relied on conventional weapons, has broken up, and that will reverse the inter-Korean relationship. South Korea now finds itself in a position where it has to accept policies and demands that the North makes in the future.¡± Kim Seung-hwan (58), a professor of International Affairs at Myongji University, said, ¡°The U.S. will further isolate North Korea and UN sanctions led by the U.S. and Japan will get even tougher. If the North joins hands with Iran or moves in the direction of nuclear proliferation, North Korea cannot bee an exception in becoming a target of military action¡± despite the presence of South Korea just beside it.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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