Relief after X-mas lights called off

By Kang Hyun-kyung

AEGIBONG, Gimpo — This small border town, located approximately 60 kilometers northwest of Seoul, has returned to normal as days of heated debate over its Christmas lights in the mountaintop area ended last week.

Last week, the Yoido Full Gospel Church announced that it won’t light the 30-meter white steel Christmas display installed on the Aegibong Observatory in Wolgot County. The ceremony was initially planned for Friday.

The nation’s largest church, based in Seoul, is one of the groups that has organized what North Korea calls a civilian “psychological warfare” project.

Kim Gi-yule, an activist who launched the campaign against the Christmas lights along with dozens of local activists, said he heaved a sigh of relief after the announcement.

Kim and his fellow activists from 14 local groups held rallies at several venues, including the Ministry of National Defense and Gimpo City Hall, to urge the authorities not to allow the church groups to proceed with their plans.

The 50-year-old activist said the annual Christmas event could lead to the North carrying out provocations as tensions have escalated after Kim Jong-il recently died.

Local activists hung placards accusing the organizers of the Christmas lights of putting local residents’ lives and property at risk in several parts of the city, calling on communities to join the campaign.

Kim said, “No one would guarantee the safety of the citizens,” including himself, if the church groups light the Christmas display in this highly uncertain time after the death of the North Korean leader.

On Dec. 11, North Korea warned of “irreversible consequences” should the South Korean government allow the religious group to light up the tower.

In an editorial posted on the North’s propaganda website, dubbed “Uriminzokkiri,” the communist state described the Christmas lights as an act of provocation aimed to demoralize its soldiers and residents.

The Aegibong Observatory was one of the candidate sites which analysts speculated North Korea would target following the artillery attacks on Yeonpyeong Island near the maritime border in the West Sea last November.

Taking the lives of four South Koreans, including two civilians, the attack caused considerable damage to the island’s forests, fields and properties.

Following the attack, Kim teamed up with fellow activists to protest the Christmas decorations.

Their voices were ignored last year. The church groups went ahead with their plan. “Controversy erupted at that time among local activists as the mayor of Gimpo participated in the ceremony despite protests among residents. He had to deal with a backlash from the residents after his presence at the event,” Kim said.

Spread of news

This year the organizers cancelled their plan after President Lee Myung-bak and Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin seriously encouraged them to reconsider it.

Asked why North Korea was so nervous about the Christmas lights, a North Korean defector said the authorities were wary of a technology-driven spread of the news.

“I assume that only a limited number of North Koreans, mostly soldiers, can see the lights,” said An Chan-il, the first North Korean defector to earn a Ph.D. in political science from Konkuk University in Seoul.

The display is visible as far away as Gaeseong in North Korea, approximately 70 kilometers north of Seoul.

“The problem is that these days many people have cell phones in North Korea, so the news of the Christmas decorations could spread rapidly among people there,” said An. “The North Korean authorities would be deeply troubled if their concerns become a reality.”

Meanwhile, citizens in this western border area can see dozens of buildings in North Korea across the river with the naked eye. When using a telescope, one can see North Korean soldiers moving near the buildings.

Despite the close vicinity, few South Koreans living in the border town displayed anxiety over the North’s provocations. A middle-aged taxi driver said most residents of Wolgot care little about the possible threat. Asking not to be named, he said the citizens were very concerned about their safety last year after the Yeonpyeong attack.

“But now, few people are scared, even after the death of Kim Jong-il.”

A 50-something woman, an owner of a store near a parking lot located near the front gate of the mountaintop area, said she was not afraid although she is aware of the news that the North may target the region.

Asking to call her by her surname Park, she said she was amused by the news reports that some local activists launched the campaign to urge the church groups and the military not to light the Christmas tower for fear of the North’s possible strikes.

“I felt the campaign was interesting because people like me who live just around the corner from the mountaintop area have no such worries,” she said.