Sometimes I Forget ...

Being the self-involved person that I sometimes am, I often forget that I'm living in a country where Kim Jong-il is my neighbor. Yesterday, while bored out of my mind, willing someone to email me, a ridiculously loud alarm went off. Naturally, I assumed it was a fire alarm. However, there was no vacating of the building, and it just didn't stop. Minutes later, it took a short break, and started up again. Finally, I got up to investigate. I went into the teachers' office where I was informed that it's an air raid warning. South Korea has them periodically to practice in the event that North Korea invades. They were warned it was coming, hence the lack of alarm in everyone aside from myself. But, wow, this is still something they practice, and feel they need.

I asked a few of the English teachers if they were concerned about Kim Jong-il's possible, impending death, and many desperate North Koreans fleeing south looking for escape ... for a chance at a real life. They said it would never happen... impossible. However, if this were the case, would the DMZ remain? Would it disintegrate? I read that Seoul is concerned about this, as Kim Jong-il's two sons are far from ready to take command in the event of their father's death. They actually hope his military committee will resume protocol so as not to have a complete collapse, causing the population to flood south.

This morning, as I was getting ready for school, a story came on CNN that a North Korean woman had recently been arrested as a spy. She infiltrated the South Korean military and possibly the American military base in Seoul. Although charged with espionage, bribery, ifiltration, an the making of propaganda, she was only sentenced to 5 years, as she had not managed to gather any information that wasn't already available online. Perhaps she was trying to redeem herself after flunking out of spy school. Apparently, North Korea had their very own "Mata-Hari".

Wow.