South Korea's Drunken Uncle

by Gillian Farber

On December 19th at 8:30am, Kim Jung Il, dictator of North Korea, died. On Thursday December 22nd, a staggering 3 days later, South Korea, woke up to find their neighboring country in a state of national mourning.

Kim's regime lasted seventeen years and was harshly criticized for human rights abuses and isolationism. Nevertheless, news clips and videos portrayed their citizens filling the streets of North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, consumed with alleged grief.

Throughout my two years in South Korea teaching English, I have experienced a unique culture, tradition, and language. With North Korea just a few hours drive, news of Kim’s death hit very close to home. Since his death, I have received worrisome emails asking about the state of North Korea’s military and how South Koreans are dealing with the persistent threat of war. I put it simply: South Koreans think of North Korea as that inappropriate, drunk uncle. You know he's always there, and sometimes he acts up for attention but for the most part, you ignore his pitiful outbursts hoping, one day, he'll come around.

Clearly the South had a different way of mourning the death of Kim Jung Il. For example, my elementary school students were ecstatic, “Kim Jung Il is dead!” they cheered with naïve smiles plastered across their young faces. These were words they heard their parents or the news repeat, but it held no emotional connection. These eleven-year old children were not thinking long-term. All they knew was an evil man their parents hated died today.

Others reacted differently. Dr. Sanghyo Ryu, Chief Neurologist at Good Morning Hospital in Gwangju, South Korea reflected what I was basically hearing from many South Koreans. Like others, Dr. Ryu was pleased, but also concerned for the future. “He deserved to die early with agony,” he told me but continues, “I’m now worried about the tension between South Korea and North Korea and China’s ambition for taking over the North." Like many Koreans, Dr. Ryu hopes for reconciliation between the North and the South, but believes this may be unrealistic. “Factoring in the situation going on between China and North Korea, this reunion seems to be a far-fetched dream." Uncertainty has shrouded Kim’s death, with his 28-year old son, Kim Jung Un, next in line to rule this nuclear-armed, yet depressed country.

My fellow teachers in Gwangju come from all over the world. It’s kind of a mini-UN. Like me, many did not know how to feel about Kim Jung Il’s passing. We felt the palpable fear in the streets and even with our limited Korean, we could hear the fear in the voices of our Korean colleagues. In the two years I have lived here, I have come to understand that North Korea is the proverbial albatross that hangs around the neck of this vibrant democracy.

No one outside North Korea will ever really know how North Koreans felt on December 19th. What we do know is an impoverished and potentially dangerous country has become the centerpiece of the world’s attention. And while my young students cheer today, their parents and grandparents continue to wonder and worry about the future.

Image courtesy of Microsoft Office.