By Kim Ji-soo
This year, the year of tiger, went by at the speed of a tiger leaping toward its prey. With such the speed of a big cat toward its prey, here is the last column of the year from me.
Every year seems to whizz by, that’s true. But it’s even truer that time goes by faster as people age and dramas become more complicated. Perhaps that happens with countries as well.
Earlier this year, South Korea revisited such past histories as 100 years of Japan’s annexation of Korea and 60 years of the outbreak of the 1950-1953 Korean War with a dignity that comes from one who knows he or she has surmounted obstacles to make it. There was the attack in March on the South Korean frigate where a North Korean torpedo split the ship into two and killed 46 sailors and created a huge sadness in the nation. But the Cheonan attack nevertheless strengthened the solemn dignity, despite some dissention over what caused the ship to sink
The artillery attack eight months later on Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea has dramatically had South Koreans scrambling to a reality that we had forgotten about. That the two Koreas remained divided and we are still technically at war for the Korean War ended in an armistice. South Koreans had long forgotten the threat of North Korea that was present even in the 1980s. This is when North Korean secret agents detonated a bomb at Aung San cemetery in Myanmar in October 1983 where former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan was making a state visit. Seventeen high-level government officials accompanying Chun were killed. There were also frequent shrills of sirens going on and off, saying at once it’s a drill and then saying it was a real emergency situation when it actually turned out to be a North Korean pilot defecting to the South in a MiG-15.
The return of the dark cloud of uncertainty comes as North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il, 68, ages and has turned to none-other-than his youngest son, Jong-un, to succeed the “throne” of the communist regime. There is so little information about Jong-un to the extent that he is believed to be either 27 or 28. The youth of its leader and the poverty of its economy have re-registered the North in South Korean minds in 2010 as a source of volatility that we must deal with effectively in the years to come.
Belatedly, the South has leapt if not with speed but with the pouncing of a tiger in dealing with this new reality. In particular, the attack on Yeonpeyeong Island on Nov. 23 prompted Seoul to act. The attack was the first on civilians since the Korean War. Four South Koreans including two civilians were killed in the artillery attack.
The graveness and the devastating loss occurred by a series of the North’s provocations led the South to sober up during year-end holidays rather than party away. The glitter and the successful hosting of the G20 Seoul Summit in November were its bright moments in the year. But the after-glow soon gave away to new realities. It’s just as well, as things sure look complicated as we close out the first decade of the 21st century. The new year will usher in the year of the rabbit, the cute bunny known for its nimble leap and warm images. With that spirit in mind is how we should usher in the new year, as challenges wait us.