What is Next For South Korea? A Commentary & Photo Essay

Kim Jong Il has been dead for a little over a month. Near the time of his death, if you went online and read the news from the perspective of Seoul or even expats residing there, you soon came to realize this was no time for celebration, but rather, a time of apprehensive calm as the South Korean people went about their daily lives wondering what was to come next.

Now the headlines expose a youngest son, Kim Jong-UN, who, it is rumoured, may have had plastic surgery to look more like his father (clearly the apple or NUT doesn’t fall far from the tree) taking over the role while his less-than-close brothers are getting their own coverage in books contrary to the new designate, or simply for their glaring silent absence from the scene. Family unity is not the underpinning here, which is hopeful. Given that Kim Jong-il allegedly wrote 6 Opera’s in 2 years, cited as "better than any in the history of music."; got 11 holes in one on his first try at golf; invented the hamburger; had a divine birth and didn’t defecate (ever), it is encouraging even from an evolutionary sense that a few of his offspring errr, strayed from the nest.

None of these revelations, of course, puts any of South Korea at ease.

While visiting South Korea very recently as a television producer, I was struck by the orderliness of Seoul, the calm almost gentility of its people, the goodness and open friendliness of the children playing in a city water fountain, as though Korea’s horrid past was all but a memory, perhaps wiped clean from a hard drive.

Seoul, South Korea’s capital city and perhaps heart, is a wonderful place to visit, the quaint markets and restaurants of old Insadong, the renewed reverence and attention being paid to the past through its temples, gardens and other ancient places, enshrouded in the thick of the city. Buddhism exists alongside Christianity as a key faith in the country; all seem to respect the historical value this has brought to the nation of Korea. In glaring yet fitting contrast, the modern nature of the country can be found everywhere you turn. From the Hyundai head office or the Samsung showroom, complete with interactive features such as a texted floor, content controlled by visitors; the people of Korea invite us into a prosperous and growing country of the future.

Enveloped in these two worlds, entwined peacefully into the city of Seoul, one easily forgets or perhaps does not even know that an active war zone, existent since 1953, the DMZ or Demilitarized Zone, lies only fifty five kilometers north of Seoul, with Seoul and its people in its cross hairs. A people that live their daily lives seemingly oblivious to this omnipresent threat; a people who have overcome most of the unfathomable ramifications this 2 kilometer wide stretch of the 38^th parallel brought to South Korea at its inception, the signing of the Armistice which did not officially end the Korean war, but brought it instead to a stand-off, beginning a period of volatility and danger that remains today.

South Korea has prospered under this ever present threat, overcoming a 3^rd world status whereby South Korea has risen from being one of the poorest agrarian economies to the 11th largest economy and exporting country in the world. Canada’s economic growth has been rolling along at about 3%, while South Korea’s has been nearly double this (6%) consistently. North Korea, on the other hand, has not fared as well, with minimal legal small businesses, world sanctions on trading and a declining GDP since the early nineties when a primary income for the country began to decline with the dissolution of Cold War nations, Arms Sales. It is reported that the people are starving and getting poorer, a situation that pains its neighbors to the South.

So what is to become of both countries in the shadow of North Korean dictator Kim Jong IL’s death? Will the north, as feared, become even less engaged with the international community and more insolent in its military dealings? Will the threat of nuclear armament in North Korea become even more real?

Being a lay person in history and politics, my mind turns only to the beautiful people I visited in South Korea, and the jarring contrast I experienced when I took a journalists tour of the DMZ.

I was at first amused to learn the DMZ has a gift shop along with limited tourist access when no imminent political volatility exists. Having had somewhat more access to the soldiers and various DMZ areas than a tourist, I can assure you, the DMZ is a tense and serious area, with a constant air of threat and negative possibility. The young soldier that led our television crew around was constantly and nervously looking everywhere, revealing both small and large stories of conflict that had occurred through the years. Some as simple as North Soldiers attempting to grab and pull South soldiers into the north, surely for their torture and doom; to more intricately planned and murderous events that have transpired over the decades.

Sitting in our western armchairs, it is easy to forget that very real, dynamic, everyday people live and manage to thrive under a constant threat of war. And now we all watch to see what’s next…