David’s Weblog

1. How has the international media responded to North Korea’s missile launch?

The international media received North Korea’s missile launch with various emotions.  First, while it seems to deride North Korea’s military capabilities, it also acknowledges that North Korea’s regime and threats are still powerful enough to scare other big countries like the US and Japan.  Japan has threatened to retaliate if North Korea’s missiles risk damaging Japan.  Overall, many  countries are cautious about North Korea’s missile launch.  They do not want to immediately attack and threaten N.K. for its missile launch, because they fear that this may cause more tension and increase the chances of a North Korean missile attack.   However, foreign countries are also careful not to completely ignore North Korea’s missile launch, because doing so may result in a stronger North Korean military.

North Korean Missiles

2. In what ways might international perceptions of North Korea impact how the world views South Korea?

I feel like North Korea’s fearless attitude toward its missile launches can either harm or benefit South Korea’s image.  In the international view, South Korea might seem like the rich counterpart to North Korea that is unable to retaliate when North Korea threatens to test its missiles and nuclear weapons.  Even though it is economically and politically much more stable than North Korea, it cannot disrupt Kim Jong-il’s regime because it might be under attack.  Although some views might perceive South Korea as the victimized country, other countries might criticize South Korea for not taking a more aggressive stance on North Korea’s reckless actions.  It’s true that President Lee Myung Bak has been more firm than his predecessors about giving large sums of money to North Korea, but the rest of the world might not think that South Korea is doing enough.

3. Has anyone ever asked you “which Korea are you from, North or South?” What does that question reveal on the part of the speaker?

I have been asked the question, “Are you from North or South Korea?” before.  Whenever I get asked that question, I feel like the person who asked me that doesn’t know anything about the country I live in, and I am reminded that while living in South Korea defines who I am, the rest of the world is still ignorant of the geography and politics of the country I live in.  To them, North and South Korea are nearly the same thing, and they are unaware of the political divide that exists between the two nations.  I also feel like people who ask this kind of question are ignorant and are not interested in the news and current events.

When I first saw this documentary, I was shocked that there were “schools” for North Korean children that escaped to the South.  Although I have lived in South Korea for almost all my life, I was never aware of this fact until I saw this video.  Many of the students in these schools appeared to face a “culture shock”, where they were simply overwhelmed by the difference in lifestyle between the two Koreas.  In North Korea, the students explained how they were restricted from doing things they wanted.  However, in South Korea, their lives were completely reversed.  The kids could shop whenever they wanted, had freedom of speech, and could go visit anywhere they wanted at anytime.  Another aspect of the culture shock was that the North Koreans were unfamiliar with technology and the internet.  It was ironic how teenagers (around my age) had to be taught how do use the internet and operate cell phones.  The students inability to use technology showed how under developed North Korea is in comparison to other countries.

Although North Korean refugees have more freedom in South Korea they had to sacrifice living with their family.  It was inspirational and touching to see how the refugees optimistically hoped for a reunification between North and South Korea and wished to see their parents when they visited the DMZ.

The DMZ

The news article “How Hard Is It to Fire a Rocket?” questioned how threatening North Korean missile launches were.  Many people tend to think that North Korea is a major threat that is capable of firing deadly missiles.  This article, however, asks the readers to rethink whether or not North Korea is actual an “international threat”.   Many people fear North Korea because of their capability to fire nuclear arms.  However, their most recent missile launch failed miserably, showing that North Korea may be “bluffing” about their ability to start a nuclear war.  The article basically described the difficulty behind successfully launching a rocket and analyzed whether North Korea was capable of doing so.  According to the report, although N.K does not have the economic base to manafacture a rocket, it can still construct one by smuggling.  Despite the fact that North Korea can construct a rocket, the nation is not developed enough to guide a rocket to a certain destination.  For example, North Korea managed to build and start a satellite launch, but failed to guide the satellite to its destination.  This demonstrates that although the country can successfully build rockets, launching the rockets is another story.

North Korea's Rocket

In the end, the article concluded that North Korean missiles are capable of bombing near by countries such as South Korea or Japan, but cannot harm U.S territory as of now.  Therefore, the fear of North Korea bombing the U.S with nuclear warheads is an irrational fear – until North Korea further develops their technology.

Dr. Strangelove