SEOUL: In the business district of the 10-million strongmetropolis of Seoul, professionals pour out into the streets and stroll into nearby restaurants at midday.
Older women distribute flyers in pedestrian zones, and tourists walk along the greenery and water of the city’s Cheonggyecheon Stream.
If the residents of Seoul — located just 55 kilometres from the North Korean border — are concerned about an escalating war of words between Pyongyang and Washington, they’re doing their best not to let on.
“Most Koreans are more worried about the summer heat,” says 23-year-old student Lee Ji Yoon.
“North Korea has been threatening the rest of the world forages,” Lee said. “Most of us think that it will just pass once again.”
Some international observers, however, say public opinion is only a limited indication of the seriousness of the situation.
“Hidden behind the people’s composure, there is always a little fatalism,” says Lars-André Richter of the German-based Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Seoul.
Richter, who has experienced several North Korean crises in his five years in the South Korean capital, says the situation has never been as tense as it is now.
“This is not only due to Trump, mind you, but above all to the progress of North Korean nuclear and rocket policies,” Richter said.
The tension has also spread to diplomatic circles. During an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday, North Korea was called upon to cease all provocations.
The possibility of dialogue remains open, according to a spokesman for South Korean President Moon Jae In.
For Moon, the current conflict could be described as a tightrope walk between his peaceful convictions and an escalating national security crisis.
Moon’s first months in office saw the establishment of aid projects in North Korea and family reunions among long-separated relatives, but there are no such conciliatory stances today.
Instead, Moon has called for the “complete” reform of his armed forces and has asked US President Donald Trump to renegotiate the provisions of a bilateral military treaty, allowing South Korea to produce more powerful warheads.
For the conservative opposition, the government’s defence plans don’t go far enough. On Monday, the Liberty Korea party called for the US military to deploy nuclear warheads to South Korea.
The North Korean army renewed its threat of a rocket attack against the US on Thursday following Trump’s inflammatory remarks, this time taking the unusual step of naming the Pacific US territory of Guam as its target.
For Richter, North Korea’s provocations are above all intended to attract attention, which it can then use for domestic policy purposes.
“Kim Jong Un and his entourage want to show the world that they exist,” says Richter. “I cannot imagine that the country would fall into a trap.”
— dpa
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