Dan - The Big Elephant in the Room

Dan here. When Catt and I told everyone about our initial decision to teach in South Korea, we were met with two reactions. Either excited expressions of joy, or a worried glance with gritted teeth. As if we had just told them we were going to go surfing in an active volcano on a board made of ice. Not exactly the reaction we had hoped for, but in fairness it was back in April at the height of a certain world leader's temper tantrum.

To be blunt, this is nothing new for North Korea to be doing. And it's nothing for us to worry about. The people of South Korea certainly aren't.

The history of the two Koreas dates back all the way back to WW2, in which Japan invaded Korea and a part of China known as Manchuria. When Japan lost the war, Manchuria was returned back to China but Korea was split into two: The North and the South. North Korea, assisted by Kim Il-Sung was developed into a communist state, friendly with China and Russia. The South adapted a democratic state and was assisted by the US and Europe.

In 1950, North Korea invaded the south in hopes of unification. Even with the assistance of Russia and China, the North couldn't break the South and their allies. This created much tension between the two states, though in this day and age many Koreans feel a sense of remorse for their families across the borders and have a pipe dream of unification; even if the logistics are more than depressing.

What happens after the Korean war imitated the global scale of the Cold War. The South adapted capitalism and became the country with the 15th highest GDP in the world. The North struggled and as a result, their problems are numerous.

Satellite image of Korea at night taken within the last few years. 

The North Korean military is large, but they have no technology to back it up. They have no air force or functional navy to think of. And they know it. Their current leader, Kim Jong-Un was educated in Switzerland and is fully aware of North Korea's place in the world. He knows a direct war with the South, backed up by US forces, would practically be suicide. But he was practically born into a starving, failing country and occasionally must flex what military muscles he has to appease his citizens. Thus, there have been several small disputes that make the US news over the past decades. There will likely be more when we are over there. It's a normal part of the South Korean life, and you would be hard pressed to find any South Korean citizen who takes them seriously anymore.

Why make a trillion when we could make... billions? 

To further illustrate the Looney Tunes level of villainy North Korea is capable of, there were several tunnels into South Korea from the north discovered in the 70s. When discovered, North Korea turned face and claimed they were all coal mines. To help their story, the walls were painted black. South Korea was not easily fooled.

To yes, to summarize. Our USA media is a bunch of fear-mongering and there is no chance North Korea would last in an outright war with South Korea. They realize this, but to appease their citizens there are often displays of power that piss the rest of the world off. There will likely be more when we are over there, but trust us when what you see on the news is more worrying than what we're experiencing over there. Most of South Korea won't even notice.

And I will still consider them to be the funniest evil dictatorship today.

Though South Korea does have a pretty rocking military themselves.