Anxiety grows among residents on front-line island

By Park Sae-jin Posted : March 15, 2016, 16:56 Updated : March 16, 2016, 10:46

The wall of a public playground on South Korea’s front-line island of Yeonpyeong shows a hole created by the shelling of North Korea’s artillery in 2010.  [photo by Terra production]



YEONPYEONG ISLAND - Anxiety is growing across South Korea as North Korea has  ratcheted up apocalyptic threats following its nuclear and long-range rocket tests that prompted the UN Security Council to impose tough sanctions against the isolated country.

South Korean troops have maintained a high level of alert along the heavily militarized inter-Korean border since they embarked on the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises in early March.

North Korea have condemned the exercises as provocative rehearsals for a nuclear attack, threatening to attack South Korean and US military facilities with atomic bombs.

There has been little sense of panic, yet, among ordinary South Koreans who have become largely inured to Pyongyang's regular threats of imminent war.

But fears of cross-border fighting haunt residents on Yeonpyeong Island, which is one of South Korea's five front-line islands near the disputed Yellow Sea border and is closer to North Korea's coastline than South Korea's.

The two Koreas, which are still technically at war, recognize different sea boundaries in the Yellow Sea. North Korea argues the demarcation recognized by South Korea is invalid because it was unilaterally drawn by US-led United Nations forces after the 1950-53 conflict.

The maritime border has always been a flashpoint and was the scene of brief but bloody naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009.
 

Sokdo, a rocky island controlled by North Korea, is shown across the sea from South Korea's front-line island of Yeonpyeong
[photo by Terra production]



On November 23, 2010, North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong, killing four people and, wounding 18 others. The sudden attack damaged dozens of civilian houses and briefly triggered concerns of a full-scale conflict.

"We maintain our close watch on North Korean troops with our troops placed on the highest level of vigil and combat readiness," a military spokesman on Yeonpyeong Island said during a recent visit.

Yeonpyong is in a state of tranquility on the surface, although island residents live in the permanent danger of being caught in an unheralded attack by North Korea's coastal artillery kept in artificial caves.

Many residents here feel uneasy about the current military standoff but they said they have become used to North Korean threats.
 

[photo by Terra production]


"Anxiety is growing among residents here, but I'm not so scared because (North Korea) appears to be making empty threats," Kim Ui-yul, a 65-year-old housewife, said.

"I don't understand why North Korea is so rash and foolish. They should know that the entire peninsula will be demolished if a conflict breaks out," she said.

South Korea has reinforced its military personnel and equipment following North Korea's deadly shelling in 2010. New bomb shelters have been built for the evacuation of residents, furnished with heating and cooling systems, bathrooms, kitchens, medical kits, and power generators.

But scars from the 2010 exchange of gun fighting are still preserved in a public playground, bombed houses with their walls blackened from fire and other areas to enhance security awareness.

"Fears were sometimes evoked by the arrival of a helicopter to transport a patient," Park Kyu-don, a 79-year-old woman said, recounting the horrible scene of houses and buildings shelled by North Korea in 2010.

"Many old people like me live alone and remain nervous," she added.

Aju News Bae Jong-hwa  
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