Will Yeonpyeong Island be deserted?

By Lee Hyo-sik

A mass exodus has been ongoing with residents fleeing Yeonpyeong Island, which was devastated by a North Korean artillery attack Tuesday, as they find it impossible to stay there amid fears of further military confrontation between the two Koreas.

Houses and other buildings burned following the North’s shelling, while power and communications transmission towers as well as other infrastructure were severely damaged.

Given this, it has become quite impractical for Yeonpyeong residents to remain on the island. On the day of the attack, about 1,200 residents out of the total 1,700 fled their homes and escaped to the mainland, seeking shelter. Many other residents fled to air-raid shelters Tuesday and Wednesday.

With ferries resuming operations Thursday afternoon, most of the residents arrived at the emergency shelters set up in Incheon. Government officials said 43 remaining residents will depart the island early today.

For the time being, there will only be engineers and other manpower involved in recovery efforts, along with journalists, on Yeonpyeong Island. Dozens of fire engines, pickup trucks, and other construction equipment, along with firefighters and restoration crews, were dispatched to the island to contain the fire caused by the artillery shelling and to restore damaged infrastructure.

Emergency medics and hundreds of first aid kits were also sent to the island, with dozens of engineers to restore the crippled telecommunications and power-generating facilities.

Choi Sung-il, the chairman of an ad-hoc Yeongpyeong Island emergency residents’ committee, said Thursday that most residents have decided to leave the island, with South Korea planning to hold a joint military drill with the United States from Nov. 28 through Dec. 1 in the West Sea, which will likely increase the military tension with the Stalinist state.

On Thursday, all residents escaped to Incheon. ``We will establish a larger and more powerful task force to protect the rights of Yeonpyeong residents and demand the government support our livelihood,’’ Choi said.

He told Ahn Sang-soo, leader of the ruling Grand National Party who visited the island to assess the damage, that the government must make every effort to help the residents resettle on the mainland and make a living in a new community

``Our lives were threatened in the past when military patrol boats from the two Koreas clashed near the island. The North’s attack this time has made it impossible for us to live here. Even though our parents lived here and we were born here, we cannot live here anymore,’’ he said.

He urged the government to come up with a comprehensive package of measures to support the relocation.

One Yeonpyeong resident who fled to Incheon Tuesday said most people are reluctant to go back in fear of further military conflict with the North, adding he will stay on the mainland until he feels it’s safe to go back, despite poor living conditions that they have to endure in a refugee camp. Some of them had to spend the night on boats Tuesday and Wednesday, while others slept in 24-hour public spas.

``It feels extremely unsafe to return to the island because something like what happened Tuesday can be repeated. If I am given a place to live on the mainland, I will probably not go back to Yeonpyeong Island,’’ he said.

Many residents also expressed concern that growing public sentiment supporting harsh military retaliation against the North will worsen the situation for them.

``Those who saw what happened to us on TV do not understand what we have gone through. We think taking a tougher stance on North Korea could draw more military attacks on our village. We do not think it is a good idea to provoke the North,’’ another resident said.