South Korea Keeps Its Cool

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When I found out I had the opportunity to make a return visit to South Korea this past month, I was incredibly excited. Seoul is one of my favorite cities and during this trip I would have the chance to visit Busan as well.

Then North Korea started testing missiles and making nuclear threats and riots broke out in South Korea over the suicide of their former president. Many people asked me if I would still be going. In fact, I was quite intrigued and excited to visit a country at such a historic time and have a first hand view of the situation from as close to a local perspective as I would ever get.

What I found in South Korea was quite the opposite than what I expect you’d find in the U.S. if our neighbors were threatening nuclear war. From what we saw, the threats from North Korea were not monopolizing the news (TV or print) and there wasn’t a sense of outward panic. In fact, they seemed much more concerned about visitor’s bringing in swine flu (they took our temperature as we disembarked the plane).

Instead of being consumed by fear and their own political issues, we found the Koreans incredibly warm, friendly and upbeat - stopping to help us find our way when we looked blankly at maps, civilians driving us to the train station when it started pouring, helping us learn some simple Korean, taxi driver giving us a free ride.

We did see several peaceful demonstrations which revolved around the death of their former leader. We unfortunately missed the massive gathering in Seoul Plaza, as we were in Busan that day. This was probably the only major outward sign of any controversy in the country.

The final test was our trip to the DMZ. First, I was a bit surprised they still offered this tour, and was excited to participate (my second time, though still incredible). I was equally surprised at how open our guide was in talking about relations with North Korea, over the course of the last 60 years or so, at the present moment and what they expect for the future.

My conclusion: South Korea is still a safe and fascinating country to visit. If you have the chance to visit, do so. Enjoy the welcoming people people, the karaoke, the 10-course meals, the Buddhist temples, the lively cities and maybe take away a lesson from a culture that seems to keep it’s cool during what must be a very stressful time.

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