situation here

Although most of my contact with Koreans is limited to children, there doesn’t seem to be much reaction to North Korea’s nuclear testing. Since the news media here reports in Korean, I find out about what is going on, like everyone else by watching CNN or reading stories on the Internet.

Of course I am worried and concerned particularly when NK has finally reacted to the sanctions on its country. Basically they said any sanctions against them are equivalent to a declaration of war.

Personally I don’t think anything serious is going to happen. But then again no one envisioned September 11 either. Maybe the appointment of Ban, Ki-Moon as the new UN Secretary General will calm down this wacko in North Korea.

I am teaching an interview class, where I help students prepare for a middle school entrance interview. You would think that asking ESL grade-sixers questions about North Korea would be too advanced and too difficult for them to answer. However, last year one of the interview questions posed was,”How does plastic surgery affect a person’s success.” Then you would also think that since we are in South Korea these Korean school children would have somewhat of an opinion. Not my students. All I got were, “I don’t care” and, “That’s good for us so when we unite with North Korea, we can protect ourselves against Japan” Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect eloquent answers from these 12 and 13 year olds, but apathetic responses were not what I anticipated. I think I have been here too long.