Kim Jung Il/The Dear Leader/The Big Kimmer

Well as you all have heard, Kim Jung Il tested his nuclear weapons a couple of days ago. We all knew he was crazy and most people expected it to happen sooner or later, I guess I was just lucky enough to be here when it happened. Whats the mood in the South???

A lot of my older students bring it up in class so I talk to them about it because it is sort of interesting to hear what kids think (you know half of it is just ad verbatim from their parents.) One girl told me that I should be worried about dying but she would be OK because she would be on a plane to America as soon as anything bad happened. I did not have the heart to tell her that my country is famous for its amazing mass evacuation abilities (think Lebanon :). Most other students just settled on telling me how they were scared and that the Big Kimmer was crazy.

As for me, I am not really worried at all. Generally, everything is the same here as it was yesterday. I have been following it all fairly closely and I think if you are informed enough you will realize that I, nor any one else in South Korea, is in any grave danger. For starters, just because they tested a weapon does not mean that they can actually use it. In fact, most people think that it will take about 10 years before the North Koreans will have the ability to use a nuclear device as a weapon. By that time I plan to be far, far away from this peninsula!!! My biggest worry is actually not Kim Jung Il but instead it is George Bush. Is this man rational enough to realize that you can't just go starting wars all over the world? If George decides to attack, I still count on having quite a bit of warning of it (remember Iraq) and will be able to get out. In the end though, I think even Bush for all his feeble-mindedness is smart enough to know better than to start another war right now. And from the way things have been going so far it is looking like Bush may actually be starting to show his first sign of human intelligence on this issue.