North Korea: A Threat or A Big Joke?

So, North Korea and their “great” and “dear leaders” Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un are notorious for their threats against the South and the US. Their “nuclear testing” is also common knowledge among the rest of the world; many times it has been made a big deal or even a threat to others. Frequently, the United States and the Republic of Korea team up as allies and long-term friends to keep peace between the nations and ask China for help keeping their ally sedated. Even the news often exaggerates conflict and Kim Jong-Un’s threats but the thing is, how does South Korea really view these threats?

Simon and Martina Stawski of Eat Your Kimchi, Youtube Vloggers from Canada, lived in South Korea for 7 years first as English Teachers then ran their own business and evened opened a cafe`! The reason they opened their vlog (video blog) is in the first place was because their families were worried about them traveling to South Korea due to North Korea! However, they quickly found out that nobody gave a- and I quote from Mr. Stawski, “nobody gave a shit that Kim Jong-Il died! There were kids flying kites in the park! Nobody here cares!”. They even went as far as describing a fire drill a school had which world news channels labeled as a “lockdown drill”.

Another point Mr. and Mrs. Stawski pointed out is that North Korea isn’t even creative about their threats! They make the same threat over and over and nothing happens which really doesn’t help their “big, bad, and serious” case. The South Korean Government, of course, takes the threats seriously simply because the one time they don’t something bad could happen and they prepare accordingly; fact of the matter is citizens don’t care if anything it’s just annoying and clearly gives their nation a negative name which doesn’t help if they happened to have foreign friends or even family over for a visit and puts them in a scare.

Many citizens have even described being more afraid of taxi drivers and fires than North Korea! Many citizens even explain how the media outside of the Korea’s do a splendid job at making people outside of the Korea’s feel uncomfortable about both the Korea’s. Such as pinning a fire drill as a lockdown drill or there was a graph or something about all the nukes North Korea has and how each one can destroy things and the human body, also not a lovely way to introduce foreigners, travelers, tourists, etc to South Korea. So the media does a good job at making things look more dire and panicked than what it really is.

So, is North Korea really a threat? Or just a massive joke? According to its closest neighbor, it’s just annoying fly at your window.

Works Cited:

Eat Your Kimchi. “The Threat of North Korea.” Eat Your Kimchi. Eat Your Kimchi. Youtube., 2013. Web. 18 May 2016.