by Scott Cressman
I live in a country at war. The conflict that split Korea into North and South has never formally ended, just cooled to simmering rhetoric and threats. Enough time has passed that the new generation of South Koreans have never met their estranged relatives stuck on the other side of the demilitarized border. But making peace and reuniting is still on everyone’s mind. Korea is a country proud of its long history and resilience, and this communist/capitalist split is not what they want for the country.
It’s easy to sometimes forget this war exists. Certainly, the signs have faded under Korea’s wildfire city growth and economic development of the past decades. But, now and again, there’s a moment that reminds you of the dormant conflict. I went to the northern coast’s beautiful beaches and saw barbed wire and search lights to repel spies from the North. Lately, the reminders have been scarier, as North Korea tests nuclear weapons again and defies the world to provoke them. I’m sure my home in South Korea would be their likely first target.
But there’s not much I can do. Like so many other around the world, I can leave my life here and flee, or sit powerless to await the outcome. It’s not that I expect war to rekindle. In my eyes, the costs are too high, the outcome too risky, for any nation to pursue war. I just hope the people who can launch missiles see it the same way. Knowing that I am mostly helpless against war is a new feeling.
The price would be steep to truly end the war. The North is so poor and so isolated that mixing their culture with the South’s westernized lifestyle would be a big shock. Then, there are the expenses of mending separate peoples into one nation again. But the current cost of constant mistrust and military readiness must be worse. Every man here spends 22 months of life as a soldier. There are the mammoth costs to patrol the truce line and maintain vast armies prepared to mobilize. How much could South Korea reduce its $22 billion CAD defense budget (in 2008) if there was peace with its neighbour?* The war’s price must be even more amplified in the North, where people starve on a tragic scale.
In Korea, the price of making peace might be high, but perpetual war costs more. I can see here how conflict splits families and divides nations, making life harder for everyone. Meanwhile, I get to a mild taste of how so many others live in a dangerous world: uncertain of the future, praying God will provide peace.
*I was surprised to learn that Canada’s 2008 military budget of $18 billion almost matches South Korea’s number, especially when Canada’s population has 15 million fewer people.
Scott Cressman is from small-town New Hamburg, Ontario. He has wrestled a journalism degree from Carleton University, planted forests in B.C., and served in a Mennonite summer camp. Now, he teaches English to South Korean children.
No Comments Yet
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
